POWER RANGERS: BREAKDOWN - Part 12: Duel to the Death
Written by DTM666

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.

Sorry for the delay, folks. Here's the new chap, a.k.a. the main event. Enjoy and review.

---

The desolate throne room of Lord Zedd's palace was practically empty when Thomas Oliver stepped through the doors. Not just a lack of people, but the usual decorations, chairs, and other things were missing as well. He didn't find this odd, but it did draw an air of suspicion. From the distance, he could hear footsteps echoing throughout the throne room. Nothing left to do, Thomas turned towards the refurbished balcony. Once providing an open view of the moon's surface and beyond, it was now completely sealed with an organic substance, oozing a perculiar transparent slime to the floor. Thomas slowly turned away and, standing before the giant fan, was the reason for his being here.

His clone... although at this point, he didn't look like it. He still had the long, grayed hair and the face was almost undeniably his own, but the clone's skin was blue-colored and his eyes were completely white with a greenish tint. Several blood veins were visible on the sides of his face, the nose had attained a much pointier shape, and the goatee that he had sported before had grown into a full beard, bits of white and grey scattered about. He looked older to boot, although not by much.

"It's been a long time, Tommy-boy," the clone mused, "don't you have anything to say to me?"

Thomas sighed. "I'd thought the dark side no longer had any control over you. I guess I was wrong."

"I don't have a dark side, Tommy-boy," the clone admitted. "I am the dark side. That's my driving force, the force that has kept me alive the past couple centuries."

"I don't believe that. Last time I left you, you wanted to stay behind and do some good. Now I see you and you'll doing this?"

"It's my nature to regain what was stolen from me," the clone told him, "and I was going to do by any means needed. Even if it meant screwing with a few lives, manipulate the playing pieces, or even kill them off.

Thomas almost flinched. The rage that was slowly building within him jumped up a notch, but Thomas managed to contain himself for the moment. The clone's choice of words were intended for him to lash out, but he wouldn't fall for that trick again.

"What did you do with Kat?"

The clone smiled. "I didn't do anything with Kat. Other than blow her house up."

That did it. Thomas sprinted at the clone, grabbed his coat, and pinned him against a nearby pillar. The clone flinched as Thomas' grasp on him grew firm. He didn't expect this kind of behavior from his original.

"Oh come now, Tommy-boy," he taunted, "You don't want to do that. That's a Green Ranger trait."

Thomas felt a sharp pain on his chest, inadvertently letting go of the clone. The clone soon followed his mental attack with a uppercut that knocked Thomas to the ground. A wicked smirk crept onto the clone's face as he saw his original getting back on his feet, wiping the blood off his lower lip.

"And you're no Green Ranger!"

"For once, you're absolutely right." Thomas replied before driving his fist into the clone's chest. The clone recoiled back a couple steps and was soon tossed back further with a blast from Thomas' spectral blasters, both of them continually firing shots and hitting various areas of the clone's body as he was airborne. Much to Thomas' surprise, the blasts did very little damage, nor was the clone feeling any intense pain. Thomas tossed aside the blasters and leapt at the clone, both legs firmly together in a dropkick position. The clone recovered quickly enough to sidestep the dropkick and roll away. The clone and his original faced each other, both of them taking similar stances, and grunted.

The clone extended his hand and fired several green bolts at Thomas, who swiftly dodged all the shots that flew his way. Thomas picked up the closest blaster and fired several shots at the clone, who did not stagger to each blast and slowly approached his original. Thomas continued to fire blasters without pause as the twisted mirror of himself drew closer. When the clone was almost close enough, Thomas landed a swift soccer kick between the clone's legs. The clone groaned in pain as the pain to his extremities grew unbearable and he staggered back a step, all semblance of a threat and defense gone. Thomas delivered a quick roundhouse kick across the clone's face, knocking the inhuman fighter down to the ground as he grimaced in continual pain.

Thomas stood still for a moment staring past the proverbial mirror into the very eyes of the demon itself. From his inner pocket of his coat, he pulled out an old-style revolver that had not seen much use in years. As Thomas slowly raised the revolver to the clone's forehead, the clone saw something in Thomas Oliver that he had never seen before. Something he had always thought his original would be incapable of having. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.

"Do it, Tommy-boy," the clone said, "Give in to your hatred."

Rage, the same rage that had been building in his soul since the death of his would-be fiancee, the rage that had grown bigger with each passing day. Anger, the only emotion he feeds on, the anger that would multiply each time he reached a supposed dead end. Hatred, a faltering trait that had brought out the intents and dark dreams that he shunned long ago. A younger Tommy Oliver would have claimed these feelings weren't a part of him. A younger Tommy Oliver would renounce his dark side and claim he would never succumb to its temptations. A younger Tommy Oliver would walk away from any situation with his head up, regardless of its costs and sacrifices.

But that Tommy Oliver is long gone, shattered and destroyed by an event that filled him with bitterness, guilt, and an immeasurable desire for revenge. What remained was slowly transformed into a man with a new light on things, a man who saw all his hard work fighting monsters and evil warlords from outer space burn in dust, a man who drifted from his closest friends because he wanted to pursue the one who committed the heinous act on his own. But as his mind shifted to these thoughts, his hand held firmly to the revolver.

"What are you waiting for, you gutless son of a bitch?!" the clone screamed, "Kill me! Put me out of my misery!"

Thomas's face grew dim and for a second, the clone thought he would actually do it. But before the clone could say anything else, Thomas lowered the revolver slightly and extended his other hand. The clone knew that even with all this rage, his original would never...

"Give me your coin," Thomas said, "and I'll consider it."

The clone nodded in agreement and pulled the coin from his pocket. He tossed it at Thomas, who caught it with his free hand and placed it in his own pocket. Thomas took a step back and tossed aside the revolver. The clone also let out a cough that could have easily passed as a laugh.

"I knew that you wouldn't have the guts to kill me," he said bitterly as he slowly got back to his feet. "Take your sorry coin! I don't really need it anymore!"

Thomas took a step back as the clone pressed the palms of his hands together and recited a prayer in an alien language. As the clone muttered the prayer, his body began to glow and the glow caused the clone's heavy trenchcoat to be vaporized. On the back formed two pairs of long, white-feathered wings with a tint of green on the edges of the feathers. The blue-colored skin soon became a darker blue and his eyes, which were merely dark before, were now a bloody crimson glow. At first glance, it seemed like he had grown a foot, but then Thomas realized his newfound ability of flight. Thomas stood there dumbstruck and didn't know what to do.

"You should have killed me, Tommy-boy!" the clone cried out. "Now you're going to feel my true power!!"

Unable to act in time, Thomas was hit with a thunderous blast of energy that sent him crashing through the walls of several rooms. By the time he had hit his seventh wall, he crumbled to the ground, groaning in pain. Regaining his senses, he looked up to see the angelic form air dashing straight for him at a blazing speed. By the time Thomas was on his feet, he was met with a hard-hitting clothesline, sending through another wall and causing him to tumbled down several flights of stairs in the vertical tower. The pain was getting unbearable for Thomas, it was almost a miracle he was able to merely survive each blow, let alone be able to recover quickly.

Standing back on his feet, he saw the winged beast that was his clone dive straight for him. Thomas pulled out his Zeoniser morpher, but saw that it had been damaged somehow. It would need extended repairs and Thomas had no time for that. Suddenly, time seemed to slow down and reality somewhat shifted. The thunder-like sound of the diving enemy grew silent and all Thomas could hear were voices, none of which he could recognize, all speaking at the same time sounding like gibberish. On instinct, he slowly pulled out the green coin and saw that it was glowing a faint green. From his other pocket, he plucked the white coin, which glowed to match the intensity of light emanating from the green coin. Slowly, Thomas clasped both coins together and contained the light within his hands. When he took them apart, only one coin sat within his hands, alternating between green and white auras glowing brightly.

He had the morpher. He had the coin. What's to stop him?

"Here goes nothing." Thomas muttered to himself, quickly slipping the glowing hybrid coin into the old broken morpher. To his amazement, the morpher began glowing as soon as he slipped the coin into its slot. When the glowing stopped, Thomas found himself holding a fully functional power morpher, its damage seemingly repaired. With a renewed sense of purpose, he quickly raised the morpher into the air and let out a cry of pure rage.

By chance, the morphing process worked. Soon after being enveloped in light, the form of Thomas Oliver faded, leaving only the familiar form of the original Green Ranger, except the helmet now had a silver streak and the shield was much more sturdier than before. Thomas felt as if he was welcoming an old friend, although he felt somewhat naked without the Dragon Dagger by his side.

A second of admiring his new form, Green Ranger quickly cocked his head upward, seeing his mutant clone dive straight down at him. With a thrust, Green Ranger leapt high to meet with his airborne opponent. At close proximity, Green Ranger threw a hard right hand across the clone's jaw, throwing him off-course and causing him to crash to the ground. Green Ranger, still airborne, was able to control his rising height and began dropping, facing his foe. The clone attempted to fly up at him, but was met with an ongoing barrage of green energy orbs. While he managed to block one shot and evade another, another struck him in the chest and the rest followed suit, pounding the clone as he crashed through the stone stairs and landed on solid ground several floors below.

Green Ranger landed gingerly on both feet and white light enveloped the Ranger, bright enough that the clone flinched and covered his eyes. When he dropped his arm down, he saw the White Ranger standing where the Green Ranger had been. The White Ranger was in familiar garb, although the golden gauntlets on the gloves and boots were replaced with the traditional gold diamond patterns. The clone shook off his dizziness and was able to back on his feet, but was met with a diving fist to the shoulder blade from White Ranger before he could act.

The blow was painful, enough for the clone to clutch on his shoulder. Noticing his opponent staggering, White Ranger channeled all his strength and power into one mighty uppercut, sending the dazed clone into the air once more. White Ranger looked up for a moment and then extended his right hand high as he saw the enemy fall. A white beam formed from his raised hand, but did not shoot at the enemy. The clone's flailing body grew wider and seemed to fall on top of the White Ranger, but when he was close, he suddenly stopped. The clone did feel a sharp pain on his chest, the feathers quickly falling off his bloodied wings. The clone mustered enough strength to look 'down' to see the source of his pain; being impaled by the White Ranger's Silver Broadsword, a weapon that had rarely seen combat.

White Ranger tossed the clone aside with the sword still impaled through his body. He studied the clone as he fought to gain some air, but blood bled from his nose and he coughed out crimson liquid. White Ranger stared aimlessly at his copy as he struggled to maintain his life. The clone's eyes soon went white and the twitching stopped. A moment later, the rotting corpse slowly turned into a pile of dust. Such was the end of the clone.

White Ranger quickly demorphed and thus remained Thomas Oliver in his battered armor. Thomas looked over with the morpher in his hand and saw that it had returned to its damaged state. The coin, however, was still glowing. Pulling the coin out and tossing the morpher aside, Thomas saw the single coin glow once more and splitting back to the respective Green Dragon and White Tiger coins, then slipped the two away in separate pockets. Thomas looked up the damaged staircase and made his way back up, careful not to slip on any debris laying around.

When he arrived on the top floor and back in the throne room, he saw his friends standing there, looking around to figure out what has just happened. Thomas' face held like stone, but gave an appreciative nod to his friends, who nodded back. Jason took a couple steps forward and paused, as his face contorted from relief to puzzlement. Adam and Kimberly, from a distance, saw what Jason saw and were equally puzzled.

Curious as to what they were looking at, Thomas turned to see the clone's spirit fly straight for his original, but Thomas was quick to dodge the flying specter. As a result, the spirit continued to fly at the target ahead of him, who just happened to be Jason. Jason did not move, nor did he flinch. Instead, he pulled out the experimental laser pistol, aimed it at the spirit, and fired. The beam flew straight at the spirit and both light sources collided with each other. The spirit was destroyed on impact.

Thomas rose up to see Jason holding the blaster in his hand. Once again, Jason pulled his ass out of the fire when all was over and done with. Upon taking a closer look at the weapon in the Red Ranger's hand, Thomas' face shifted from the grimness to one of awe and amazement, the first time in several months that he had felt such emotions. From the distance, Adam and Kimberly joined up with the two.

"Is that the laser gun Billy was building last year?" Thomas asked.

Jason sighed. "Yep."

"Did he upgrade it or modify it?" Adam inquired.

Jason shook his head. "Nope."

Kim slumped her shoulders. "You mean that's all it took to finish this?!"

"Yep," Jason replied. He then turned to Thomas. "You okay, bro?"

"No, I'm not," answered Thomas grimly, "It'll take time before I'll be okay, Jason."

On cue, a loud boom sound echoed through the halls of the palace and in the sanctums of the wrecked throne room. The former Rangers looked around see what could have been causing the sounds of explosions, but were then met with slightly rumblings of the floor. It wasn't long before the ceiling of the room began to show cracks.

"What's going on?" Kim called out.

"The Palace is imploding," Adam realized, "We have to get out of here!"

"I got an idea," Thomas said, "but I'm not sure it'll work."

Jason was about say something, but paused when he saw Thomas pull out a small control pad with a blinking red button on top. Before anyone could react to the device, Thomas firmly pushed down the button and...

To be concluded...