POWER RANGERS: BREAKDOWN - Part 13: The War Begins (Epilogue)
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.

This is it, folks. The final chapter of Power Rangers: Breakdown. What lies ahead, you ask? Read on...

---

"Let's go, Justin," William Cranston told Justin Stewart as they stood before the glowing portal, "Project Prodigy awaits us."

Side by side, the two stepped into the portal, their bodies engulfed into the light source. Justin was almost taken aback by the sudden impact of cold air that caught him off-guard, but it wasn't enough for him to panic. He turned to Billy, who seemed completely calm and relieved when he stepped in. Justin didn't think up any ideas.

When the two Blue Rangers emerged from the portal, they found themselves in a darkened chamber. The portal behind quickly vanished, prompting Justin to let out a gasp. He was at wits' end, but didn't want Billy to notice. Not that it would matter anyway, because Billy also seemed somewhat anxious over the ordeal. When the two took several steps, there was a slight humming of an energy core powering up and before the Rangers could react, the lights went on to reveal the details of the chamber.

At first glance, it almost looked liked a carbon copy of the old Command Center that once served as the headquarters of the Power Rangers. The command consoles were set-up in a circular position, the columns of lights were placed in precisely the same positions, and sitting in the forefront of the chamber was a green-tinted version of Zordon's command module. However, this chamber was much more spacious, lacked the starfield backdrop of the old Center, was generally of older design, as the consoles seemed more archaic than Billy was accustomed to.

"The fourth chamber?" Justin blurted out.

"I assume so." Billy answered, though he wasn't too sure.

The furthest command console had a blinking light, bright enough for Billy to take notice. When he approached, he saw that the light came from a circular push button. Billy turned to Justin and nodded before turning back and pushing the button. Suddenly, an extra light activated, illuminating the chamber slightly and soon enough, a strange robot figure appeared and took control of the other consoles.

Justin's eyes widened as he realized who this was. "Is that Alpha?"

Billy nodded slightly. "It would appear to be an earlier model. Probably a first-generation Alpha."

"Oh my! Oh my! What is all this shaking?" the robot Alpha said, much to the surprise of Justin and Billy, who didn't feel any shaking whatsoever. "It's the big one! I know it! I know it! We'll shake apart!"

Billy approached the Alpha robot closer and studied the robot a little closer. He tried to get a good look at the robot's neck, where an identifier label was usually placed. Billy's eyes widened when the label identified this mechanical lifeform as the same Alpha 5 that had been Zordon's assistant in the Command Center. Billy looked up to see a floating head - presumably Zordon, but not looking much like him - form in the energy tube.

"Calm down, Alpha," 'Zordon' said, "It's Rita. She's escaped and attacking the planet."

"How can you be sure, Zoltar?" the Alpha robot shrieked, to which Billy raised an eyebrow. Zoltar?

"I can sense her evil vibrations," Zoltar said, "Push the big button to initiate Plan B. That will it teleport to us the most dangerous group of ruthless, underhanded, self-absorbed, and over-emotional humans in the area."

"NO!" Alpha cried in horror, "NOT TEENAGERS!"

That last comment caused both Blue Rangers to smile. Justin approached the busy Alpha robot and threw his hand in a slow, judo-chop manner at the Alpha robot, but the hand merely phased through Alpha without disrupting the robot's work.

"Oh, now I get it," Justin said, "It's a holographic presentation. That's why there's no shaking."

Billy nodded. "Apparently, this is something that was floating around the memory packs, but this doesn't seem right."

When the five teenagers emerged from nowhere as expected, Billy could recognize his old friends, the original Power Rangers, who also seemed to be part of the holographic presentation. Jason Scott, Zack Taylor, Kimberly Hart, and of course, himself. They looked somewhat younger than before and equally perplexed by their surroundings. However, he didn't recognize the girl with the white top and yellow khakis. And the thick frame of those glasses young Billy was wearing made old Billy roll his eyes in bewilderment and annoyance. Even at his most 'nerdish', he would never wear Steve Urkel's frames.

"Wow," Justin said in awe, "so this is how the Power Rangers got started?"

"More or less," Billy answered, "although I don't know who the girl in the yellow is."

Billy and Justin watched as the five teens left and Alpha began to sulk about things not going so well. For the next few minutes, nothing happened except for Alpha and Zoltar observing the five Rangers who were trying to make their way home. The next few moments happened exactly as Billy remembered, although even that has its discrepancies. Rita's fireball caught the teens off-guard and soon they were surrounded by Putties, just as it happened in real life. The teens were having trouble with the Putties and were subsequently defeated, as it happened in real life, although realistically they had an easier time despite being defeated. Billy groaned in embarrassment as the five teens called for help in high-pitched voices that rivaled Rita Repulsa's own screechy voice in annoyance. Finally, the five teens morphed, although the transformation procedures were different, but the end result was the five teens in the familiar colors of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

"They did it, Zoltar!"

Despite being different, Billy found the projection to be eerily similar to his first romp in blue tights. To see this from Zordon... er, Zoltar's point of view in the Command Center offered a unique perspective. He soon turned to Justin, who saw the events unfold not through a Ranger's eyes, but through the eyes of a wondering 12-year-old boy who got to witness a story that very few people have seen. Billy saw not just the awe-struck expression in this kid's eyes, but also the sheer wonder.

"Enjoying yourself, Justin?"

"Yeah." he said, "I never knew you were such a nerd."

Billy merely gave a cold stare that made Justin shut up. Their attention turned to the viewing screen, where the Rangers were battling King Sphinx, or Fly Guy as the projection referred to him. Eventually, the battle ended and the projection shifted again, bringing back the five teens as young Billy explained their adventures with a bit of excitement, which made old Billy perplexed. When young Billy attempted a leg split and hurt himself, Justin turned away to hide his laughter, while old Billy let out a painful groan. The rest of the projection seemed trivial and after the Rangers agreeing to fight on, the extra projections deactivated themselves, leaving Billy and Justin alone in the command chamber.

"That was fun," Justin said amusedly, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

His answer soon came with ferocious shaking, and blinking lights. Billy held firmly to a console to maintain his footing while Justin did the same. The shaking was vicious, but nothing threatening, as the chamber showed no signs of falling apart.

"What's happening, Billy?!"

"I don't know!"

The shaking soon stopped. In the green column of light before them, another spectral image appeared of another head. This head seemed more familiar to the Zordon that Billy recognized, but there wasn't the regular distortions of image delays that projection tubes of the past and present had been, and the image was presented in a crisp fashion that the head's movements and lip motions were almost fluid without flaw.

"Zoltar?" Billy blurted out.

The head twitched. "Billy, please. I need not be insulted by reference of that name."

Billy smiled smugly. "Sorry, Zordon."

The sage nodded politely but noticed the younger visitor. "Despite my vague recollections, I still recognize you, young Justin."

"But I thought you were captured, Zordon!" Justin cried out, "How can you be here now?"

"Actually, I am not really here," the sage said, "but by accessing this command chamber, I am able to communicate with you, if only for a short time."

"Are you alright?" Billy inquired, despite knowing better.

"For the moment," Zordon said, "Dark Specter is slowly draining my powers, but I'm still relatively strong. But let's not worry about this for now. Am I correct in assuming you are the process of initiating Project Prodigy"

Billy nodded. "We were going to do months ago, but problems abound."

"I understand," the sage said, "I had a feeling you were going to execute it sometime. There are two ways of implementing it; the short way and the long way."

Billy raised an eyebrow. "I was going to do the long way. Times are hectic these days."

Zordon nodded. "Correct, Billy. The forces of evil are gathering together in an attempt to conquer the universe in one fell swoop. Even as we speak, my energy tube is being transferred to another location. I cannot say where."

While Billy seemed to understand what Zordon meant, Justin was the only one confused by all this. "If there's a short way of doing this, why don't we do that instead?"

"The short way is faster, Justin," Zordon explains, "but it leaves the project exposed to evil forces to disrupt it or even gain possession of it to use for their own twisted purposes. The long way focuses on shielding Prodigy from evil forces, but it does not work as quickly. It is much more preferable this way."

Billy noticed the odd flicking of Zordon's image and worked the controls quickly to try and maintain a lock, but to no avail. "I'm losing contact, Zordon. I'll try to find a clear signal."

"Don't, Billy," the sage insisted, "Your efforts must be put into getting Prodigy running. At this point, it is our only hope. Good luck, my friends, and may the power protect you all."

On those last words, the image of the Eltarian sage Zordon blinked out of existence, leaving the two Blue Rangers alone in the Command Chamber. There was a minute of uneasy silence between the two, broken by the youngest Ranger who uttered two onimous words.

"Now what?"

After a moment of thought, Billy let out a hard breath and answered, "We're going to fulfill Zordon's final wish and initiate Prodigy."

Justin seemed puzzled by Billy's choice of words. "You sound like we're never going to see him again."

Billy didn't reply.

---

Jason froze in place when he found himself not in a dingy palace throne room that was about to fall apart, but aboard a space vessel. From the various containers neatly stacked and organized, he assumed that this area was the cargo hold. Nearby, Adam studied some of the container markings, which were clearly written in plain English. Before the two could ask questions, they were met with a familiar friend who had just walked in.

"Welcome to the Megashuttle, boys," Rocky DeSantos' cheerful voice boomed, "on loan from the Space Rangers."

"Rocky!" Adam blurted out.

Rocky staggered back a bit as the two Rangers stepped. The three clapsed hands with each other, knowing all is well. Jason

"Wait a minute," Jason said. "Something's not right."

Adam's jaw slightly dropped in realization. "You're right, Jason. Where's Tommy? And where's Kimberly? Shouldn't they be here too?"

Rocky's head hung, much to Adam and Jason's disappointment. "When the palace imploded, the shuttle's scanners showed two teleport beams caused by an unknown source, but I used the modulator or whatever it's called to bring the teleport beam here instead of wherever." He paused, not able to find other words. "I haven't found any other teleport beams."

Adam stared ahead at the wall. "Do you think they made it out before the palace imploded?"

"I hope so, Adam," Jason commented, "But now's not the time to worry. Right now, we have to get ready."

Both Adam and Rocky stared quizzically at the original Red Ranger. "For what?"

Jason's eyes met the others with great despair. "War."

---

He survived the battle with his old enemy, but the price for survival was high. His prized lunar palace had been destroyed. His generals were dead. His partner and trusted ally were dead. His once-mighty empire was in control of a doppelganger and his dumb wife. His powers had all but been depleted. Despite all that has happened, or rather in spite of what has happened, Lord Zedd was the happiest warlord in the universe.

Through his doppelganger posing as the dark lord, Zedd had learned of the United Alliance of Evil's plan to conquer the universe. Under normal circumstances, the Alliance would defeat the forces of good with their superior numbers and head-on approach. After all, everyone was friends, right?

However, this is far from normal circumstances. The Machine Empire had reached a turning point in its internal civil war, the Rugalian people have discovered a long lost Eltarian weapon of destruction, and there are rumored to be those who plan at striking at Dark Specter himself, since he would be defenseless.

And then, there was Lord Zedd. Before him, on a secluded planet that only he knows of, billions of his varied troops marched towards many strike cruisers and battleships, parked along various fueling stations. The Ranger Wraiths, now further enhanced than those before them, numbered in the near-millions. Of course, there were also his trusted Rock Putties soldiers and Tenga Knights, a rank higher than the Tenga Warriors of old.

Behind the fleshman, a Rock Putty appeared and bowed to the dark lord. Zedd turned to face his loyal soldier and nodded for the Putty to stand, who did just that. The Putty took a step forward to Zedd before speaking.

"What course, my lord?"

Zedd smiled wickedly behind his mask. He knew exactly where he was going to go. "Set a course for Eltare..."

---

Months ago, she found herself before the haunting image of a former Power Ranger. She felt an atmosphere of terror from this fallen warrior who had endured much pain in a short period of time. For the first time in her natural life, she felt the sensation of fear that struck her deeper than anything that had scared her to a degree. It was a sensation that showed her vulnerability.

It is a sensation she would not experience again.

In a few scant moments, she will teleport to her master's domain, where they will plot the final battle of the bloody and brutal Alliance Wars; the battle to end all the battles. In that one gathering, all that is good and just in the universe will fall and a reign of chaos and anarchy will be born, to be ruled by those who not only won the war, but those who are strong enough to endure and survive.

It would be her crowning achievement to bring forth that new era and increase her chances of taking down her master, becoming the undisputed queen of evil. Everything will go according to plan, all who oppose her will be destroyed and the new era of Astronema will erase all that came before it.

The pieces are set. The countdown to destruction has begun...

THE END...
The Countdown begins and the story concludes in Power Rangers: Zero Hour. Currently Online... so go read it, dammit!