MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS in THE EIGHTH COIN - Part 10 (Finale)
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.

The final chap. R&R. Enjoy.

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The Rangers summoned their Thunderzords and combined them to form the Thunder Megazord while the White Tigerzord was also summoned from its hiding place by White Ranger and soon converted to the more efficient Warrior Mode. Both soon stood before the powerful Reaper monster, but kept their distance. The creature's black rubbery skin, multiple tentacles, and its single, glowing eye made it seem utterly revolting, but then the looks would only complement its fearsome power that had ravaged worlds before.

The Reaper saw the two Zords firing their traditional energy bolts, none of which has done enough significant damage to harm the creature. The White Tigerzord slowly made its advance towards the Reaper, but was hit by a whipping tentacle. The Megazord was next to make its approach, but the Reaper shot a energy burst to keep the zord at bay. Both zords once again attempted to fire projectiles at the Reaper, but then they eyed glowed and between the incoming stream of energy beams and the creature appeared an energy barrier. The barrier destroyed most of the projectiles it blocked, causing the Megazord and Tigerzord to take a couple steps back in response. Soon, the barrier faded and the Reaper monster decided to launch the next phase of its attack.

The Reaper lashed out two of its tentacles, each one wrapping around the respective zords like a vine until they were firmly immobilized. With little effort, the Reaper raised its tentacles up with the captured Zords in tow and soon the tentacles were supercharged with electrical bolts that caused small sparks and explosions to erupt from the Zords. Finally, the Reaper raised the entangled Zords a little higher up before slamming them to the ground with such tremendous force that more mini-explosions erupted from the zords.

After what seemed like an eternity, the Thunder Megazord was the first to get up, the damage evident by the scorched burnmarks all over the metal skin of the Zord and the once-clean colors faded to a dull-gray. The White Tigerzord struggled to get back on its feet, but collapsed to the ground. This left the Megazord on its own to face the Reaper, so it pulled out the Thunder Saber and attempted to deliver the finishing blow to the Reaper, but the Reaper blocked the sword and shot a blinding energy burst that knocked down the Megazord.

---

The Command Center was dead silent as the events of the battle unfolded. No one could quite get themselves to say something, breath heavily, or even make an audible gasp. For the past minute, they had seen the Reaper manhandle two zords as if they were little plastic army men figurines. After the last fierce hit from the Reaper that seemed to shatter the protective glass of the Megazord's cockpit, Alpha broke into a wail as Gillian uttered profanity. Zordon didn't say anything; the hunter pretty much spoke for him.

It was then that the holder of the coin turned to Zordon and for a brief moment, both shared a staredown. When Zordon slowly nodded, Gillian nodded back and approached one of the computer console, which controlled power accolation between the Zords and the grid. She worked the controls of the computer with utmost efficiency despite never having touched the console before.

"What are you doing?" Alpha asked.

"Calm down, Alpha," Zordon said, "I believe we can trust her."

If Gillian heard the last bit, she certainly didn't show as she continued to operate the computer. Upon entering the last command, she glanced to her side to see the materialization of a small circular disc, measuring about three inches in diameter and was almost as thin as a compact disc box. The disc was featureless and transparent, but a hint of color could barely be seen within the disc. Gillian placed the coin on the disc and entered more commands into the keyboard. Both the coin and disc soon began to glow faintly, almost to the point where the two would be completely hidden in golden light.

"What are you doing?" Alpha cried, "What's going on?"

Gillian didn't reply. The next command inputted into the computer caused the Command Center lights to completely darken and some equipment to deactivate. Alpha was about to cry foul, but looked up at Zordon, who shook his head. Not noticing the background disturbance, Gillian continued working the console until light was partially restore to the Command Center. She then input one final command into the computer before stepping back. Alpha nervously approached the console she had worked on and checked the readings.

"I don't get it," Alpha replied, "You've just shunted power into the accelerators."

Gillian nodded. "It'll give them a chance to fight this thing."

Alpha took a glance at the Megazord and Tigerzord via Viewing Globe and saw that they glowed faintly before jumping up, seemingly rejuvenated by the power boost. Alpha took a closer look and noticed that all the damage both zords suffered in the fight had disappeared and the robot couldn't be more happier... until he noticed Gillian calmly walk out of the Command Center.

"Where are you going?" the little robot squealed.

"I'm going for coffee," she replied before teleporting away.

Alpha looked over to Zordon. "She's going for coffee at a time like this? Ayaiyaiyaiyaiyaiyai!"

---

The Reaper monster took several steps back as the Thunderzords were slowly being restored; their battle scars repaired. The Reaper shot another energy burst, but the burst dissipated before it could make contact with either Zord. As they were being restored, the Zords slowly got back to their feet; by which the miraculous repair was completed and the two Zords were whole once again.

"What happened?" Rocky asked, perplexed.

"All systems are repaired," Billy reported, "Although I am at a loss to explain it."

"I have a good idea how this happened," Tommy said over the comlink from the White Tigerzord, "but let's forget about it. We have a job to finish!"

No longer hampered by non-existing damage, the Thunder Megazord was the first to advanced towards the shadowy Reaper monster, who fired several more energy bursts. The energy bursts, however, had no effect on the Megazord, whose restored skin had effectively deflected the bursts. Once within melee range, the Megazord threw a fit directly into the Reaper's eye, which was enough for the creature to recoil several steps back in pain. From the distance, the Tigerzord fired several of its firebolts. All the shots impacted the Reaper, with one shot striking the creature's eye, causing it to growl in pain. Another quick jab from the Megazord to the eye was enough to knock the creature down. At the same time, the cold veil of the black sky was starting to crack, as beams of light began to seep through

"Now that's more like it!" White Ranger gloated, "Let's finish this guy!"

The smoking and weakening Reaper monster slowly struggled to get back to its feet, but its efforts would be for naught as the illuminated blade of the Thundersaber swiftly cut through its graying skin and the creature soon crashed onto the ground, its tentacles twitching until the life force of the creature was gone, its body still. The two Zords kept their distance, readying themselves for anything that could happened. As it were, the dead Reaper's corpse dissolved into specks of black dust before having completely vanished.

---

"My lord?"

Lord Zedd was silent. Hard to believe that the Rangers were able to hold off and defeat a large number of his monsters as well as his own Reaper monster, which had done its damage before the Eighth Coin re-energized them. Granted, such use of power is probably going to put a strain on the Command Center's power, but the fact is that the Rangers were still triumphant.

"I'm sorry, my lord."

Silence. Zedd took a quick look over the Putty chamber, where a few would usually stand guard in preparation for the next battle against the Rangers. But this time there were no remaining. Not even in the chamber itself, because every last one of them was used in the failed attack on the Command Center. All of them were either destroyed in the fighting or have fled to other points of the universe.

Finally, Zedd spoke two simple words in a low, calm tone. "Leave me."

The titan did as ordered and limped his way to the Chamber's main exit, which lead to the main staircase of the Command tower of the Lunar Palace. His own wound had healed, but he would not possess the same fighting capacity as he did before. He had almost been crippled by the White Ranger's fatal attack and he silently vowed vengeance.

"Goldar," he spoke out, stopping the gold titan, "As far as Rita is concerned, this never happened."

Goldar simply nodded in agreement before walking out, without an utterance of a word.

---

Just a short while ago, Tommy was told to meet Gillian in some rock quarry. Naturally, he was going to walk there, but Zordon teleported him there instead, deeming this to be official Power Ranger business. He would meet with Gillian and discuss the fate of the Eighth Coin that she held - a fate which would be decided by the Ranger leader. Gaining Zordon's confidence and assurance that he would approve any decision Tommy would make hadn't made it any easier, either.

He reflected on the past week and the wild ride the Ranger team has gone through; the trip to Edenoi, the constant monster attacks, the revelation of an eighth Power Coin, the hunter that bore said coin, a furious (and failed) assault on the Command Center itself, and the fight with a monster that possessed more power than he saw in a typical monster. And when all was done, it was revealed that the power accelerators of most of the Command systems were heavily strained and another battle of that magnitude were be more than enough to completely wipe out their powers. In spite of that, Tommy wasn't worried. After having been through all that and winning, he knew that the Rangers were capable of taking on anything.

Then his train of thought was broken when he saw Gillian materialize out of nowhere, a sight he had never gotten used to despite various monsters doing it many times and despite he himself having done it. Tommy didn't move to her; instead she walked to him, unwrapping her left hand which held the Eighth coin firmly to her hand. Before he could say a word or do anything, Gillian extended the hand holding the coin to Tommy.

"Here." she said. "Take it. Hide it."

That was it, he thought, No questions asked and no arguments.

Reluctant at first, Tommy reached for the coin and picked it up. He glanced at the coin. He thought about what needed to be done with the coin. Do they try and adapt the coin to be used in conjunction with a morpher? Tommy knew it was impossible considering the coin's unique properties. Do they dispose of the coin with archaic means? Tommy rejected that thought immediately; knowing if it were disposed, someone might find it again and who knows how much havoc would be caused. A full power infusion had a slim chance of success, but failure would result in an complete overload of the Grid, and given their current woes, they can't afford such a mishap to occur. After some thought and deliberation, Tommy realized that there wasn't a decision to be made and only one course of action needed to be taken.

"No," he said as he handed the coin back. "Keep it. It's better off."

"I don't deserve it," she argued, "You've said it yourself."

"I was wrong," admitted Tommy, "You know how to use it, know how to control it. You know its powers better than anybody. There's no reason why you shouldn't keep it."

Gillian thought about it for a moment, then took the coin back, placed it on her hand, and re-applied new wrapping until she felt the coin secure. She looked at this Ranger who had proven to be a formidable fighter and a man of reason.

"I guess this is goodbye," Gillian quipped, "I'd like to say 'until next time', but quite frankly I don't want see any of you ever again until you're all retired."

Tommy laughed. "Yeah, right. This is a lifetime contract. It's either this or digging up dinosaur bones for a living."

The hunter grinned, a sight Tommy couldn't really get use to. But it sure beats having her knock him down on the ground again; he's had enough on that count. Gillian turned and walked away from the White Ranger.

"Take care of yourself," Tommy added.

"You too" was her last reply before teleporting away. Soon Tommy found himself alone in that rock quarry, his eyes affixed on the ascending scout ship that had dropped its stealth shield momentarily. Tommy saw a signal light under the ship blinking and Tommy waved back before the ship continued its ascent and flew out into space. Its destination... unknown.

For the past ten minutes, Tommy stood in that rock quarry staring into the sky. His attention was focused too much on the hunter that he hadn't noticed Kimberly teleporting in from behind him. When she stood next to him, he turned his head to hers, breaking out of his trance.

"And?" she asked.

"She kept the coin," he said with regret, although it was regret that she couldn't stay a little while longer.

"She's seems friendly enough," Kim added, "when she isn't trying to kill us, that is."

"Yeah," he said. He took one last glance at the sky. Kim noticed the frown on her companion's face growing.

"What is it?"

"I just have this funny feeling that we're going to meet again," Tommy said, "And that's before the 'lifetime' contract comes to an end."

"Could you stop with that?" Kim said, punching Tommy's arm lightly. "Let's get out of here."

Tommy nodded in agreement and the couple pressed the teleport button on their communicators, vanishing in respective white and pink columns. But not before Tommy was able to let out one comment.

"Were you listening in?"

THE END

Afterward
That's it. Thus ends the final chapter of this story. I'm thinking about whether or not I should do a follow-up piece to this story, but who knows? Anyway, thanks to all those who have read the piece and an extra thanks to those who took the time to leave a review and let me know what they think.