"How long have I been waiting for that moment!" said Deviot, "Rangers, you're doomed!"
The armored Mike stood in front of his weak teammates. Putting himself as a barrier between the three Rangers and his injured teammates. He sheathed his sword, bent the handle and pulled it out with its sheath, forming the Magna Blaster in Blaster Mode. Underneath the mighty helmet of the Magna Defender, Mike was terrified, while facing such menacing foes.
The Zenith Ranger had a gray suit, which was patterned nearly exactly the same way the Centaur and Strato Rangers' suit were. The silver armor was on his shoulders, knees and elbows. His helmet was formed after a shark, with a silverfish fin on the top. One of the most distinctive parts that made him stand out between the three was his belt buckle, which had some sort of a purple hexagonal gem attached to it.
"Magna Defender!" said the Zenith Ranger, his voice was deepened. "I remember you, you were a fine comrade. I allow you to leave unharmed, but the Rangers stay!"
"Never!" replied Mike, "I won't leave my friends behind!"
"You sound different, Magna Defender, why is it so?" He asked, confused.
"He isn't the Magna Defender!" shouted Deviot from above, "He's just a cheap imitation, a mere shadow of the Magna Defender!"
"Well." Replied the Zenith Ranger, "Consider my offer canceled."
He charged at Mike, who counter-charged at him.
They met in the middle. The Magna Defender was a strong warrior, but not strong enough to match the unbelievable power of the Zenith Ranger. Their swords clashed so strong, it sounded like thunder. The Zenith Ranger leaped backwards, making Mike slash the air. He charged at Mike again, who this time had his weapon in Blaster Mode. The Magna Defender shot several blasts from his weapon, but they had no affect on the Ranger. Before Mike managed to turn his weapon back into a sword, the Zenith Ranger slashed him in the chest. His Trio Saber moved so swift, it seemed as if Mike moved on slow motion. The opponent slashed him three times, and finished with a punch to his stomach, that sent Mike in the air. Once again, in what seemed like slow motion, Mike's body began dropping from the air. Before he even got to the floor, he took the final slash from the Zenith Ranger's Trio Saber, that quite literally made his armor glow gold. Mike's body hit the ground, motionless.
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The Zenith Ranger walked back to his comrades. His shoulder went up and down, indicating he was hyperventilating. It was more of an effort than in seemed to fight Mike. Then again, he was in a better state than his foe. Deviot jumped off the pillar, and joined the three Rangers. He reached to shake the Zenith Ranger's hand, but he was ignored.
The Rangers, who managed to recover by that time, surrounded Mike's body. The Centaur Ranger aimed his Centaur Cannon at the Rangers, but the Zenith Ranger quickly signal him to drop it.
"No! I shall destroy them on my own." He said, taking a step forward.
"You're not strong enough, your powers have been dormant for too long!" said the Strato Ranger.
The Zenith Ranger put his hand on his buckle, and removed the gem. "In here, I have all the I power need…"
"You won't get away with that!" said Maya, as she held her Quasar Saber firmly in front of her body.
"Don't worry, they always say that…" said Deviot to
"You can't defeat the Power Rangers!" said Leo.
"Watch me!" he exclaimed, and slapped the gem back on his buckle. "Armor-Up!"
What happened next, was absolutely incredible. It was beautiful, yet terrifying. The gem became pure light, and absorbed itself into the chest of the Zenith Ranger. The purple gleam covered his entire body, leaving only the helmet out. The gleam then began establishing a shape. His boots changed their shape, his torso became bigger, his shoulder grew wider, and what seemed like a cape dropped from his shoulders to the top of his boots. The gleam faded, to reveal a terrifying appearance. The Zenith Ranger had an armored suit on his body, from the bottom of his boots to the top of shoulders. That suit was very familiar, it was nearly identical to the armor of the Magna Defender, except for a few changes: The armor was a darker shade of gray than the actual shade of the Zenith Ranger's suit, rather than being black. Instead of having golden zigzag patterns on his shoulders and his belt, he had red cross patterns.
His cape was the exact same style and size, but white. And finally, the great hexagonal gem was purple, not green. The armored Zenith Ranger stood there, his sword between his hands, and exclaimed: "Zenith Defender, power up!", the ground cracked under his boots.
"No way!" said Damon. He was as scared as the rest of his friends, how could that be? How could he turn into a different Magna Defender? Mike was just there, still armored, behind them. The Rangers crowded together, none of them believed they had a chance.
"Guys, let's give it everything we got, are you with me?" asked Leo, the other nodded. They all charged together at the Zenith Ranger, or should he be called the Zenith Defender?
The Zenith Defender, with a gesture that showed his disrespect to the Rangers, holstered his sword. Five Rangers, armed with Quasar Sabers, went against an unarmed opponent. They surrounded him. Kendrix was the first to charge at him, but he effortlessly avoided her slash, caught her in the arm and launched her out of the circle. When Damon tried his luck, the Zenith Defender merely grabbed his wrist, twisted it and kicked him at Kai and Maya, taking them down like a bowling ball. Leo was the only one left standing. The Zenith Defender made a step towards him, and Leo took a step back. That made his enemy laugh, he enjoyed toying with his opponent. Leo held the Quasar Saber over his head, charging it for the fire slash. Once the sword was fully charged, he slashed at his foe. The slash hit his armor, and simply bounced off.
"You'll have to do better than that!" said the Zenith Defender. He jumped and flipped over Leo, and before his enemy could turn around, he gave him a boot right to the back of the neck. The hit threw Leo at his teammates. The Rangers were on the ground, beaten and defeated. The Zenith Defender laughed diabolically, as he glared at his defeated opponents.
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Suddenly, the sound of a powerful engine roared above them. Everyone looked up, to see the Astro Megaship coming in their direction.
"Alpha to the rescue, Rangers!" said the little automaton, as he navigated the Megaship over the Rangers. "Firing Megalasers!"
The lasers were aimed at Deviot and the three Rangers. Three of them covered themselves in order no to be hit by the shots, but the Zenith Defender just stood there, looking at the Megaship and doing nothing, letting the shots hit him, with no effect. When he decided he had enough, he took out his Trio Saber, and held it up in the air.
"Zenith Saber, engage enhanced mode!" he exclaimed. His sword flashed purple, as it changed its shape. The blade widened at the bottom, and went into a single line with the sword tip. The blade's shape was then shaped like an arrowhead. The Zenith Defender swung his Zenith Saber in the air a few times, getting in touch with its motions.
The Astro Megaship kept firing. The Zenith Defender kicked the ground so hard, his kick left a boot print in the rocky terrain. He used the momentum from that kick to jump in the air. He jumped so high, he even got higher than the Megaship. Before he began falling back, he turned in the air to a position in which his head was turned towards the Megaship, and his legs were turned towards the sky. The Rangers could see his body go up in purple flames, eventually covering him completely. His body eventually got to the Megaship, piercing it as if it was nothing but a piece of wood. He went right through it, from one side to the other, he dug a hole in the Megaship's body. Eventually, he landed on the ground, the flames vanished.
"No!" cried Kendrix.
"The Megaship!" said Kai, and collapsed.
"Alpha!" cried Maya.
Sparks flew off the Megaship, as the wrecked part was put on flames. Then, it came. The Astro Megaship, and everything inside it blew up, was completely destroyed by the powerful attack of the Zenith Defender. Shards landed all over the place, the sound of the explosion was still echoing throughout the area. The Megaship, and Alpha 6, were no more.
The Rangers' spirit was completely demolished. Their powers weren't strong enough, the Lights of Orion were ineffective, Mike was unconscious or perhaps even worst, their fortress was destroyed. They no longer had any force to fight, their moral was down, they have been defeated. Their enemies on the other hand, couldn't be happier. They got what they wanted and more, the universe's greatest line of defense was simply sitting there in front of them, in bits and pieces.
The Zenith Defender fell to his knees, his armor glew purple again, and disappeared. He was back to being the Zenith Ranger.
The Centaur Ranger helped him up, "We told you, your powers are not stable, you've been locked for too long." He told him.
The Zenith Ranger shook off the hand that held him, and said: "It doesn't matter now, our enemies are defeated, the universe belongs to the three of us!"
Deviot quickly came forward, and said: "You mean, the four of us, right? That was the deal I made with your comrades."
The Zenith Ranger laughed evilly: "Of course, whatever deal you made with my comrades, will be done to the last detail. No need to worry about that right now."
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From out of nowhere, a rapid stream of laser blasts hit the ground near the four villains. It took them by surprise, forcing them to cover their bodies. When they looked up again, the five Rangers, and the Magna Defender were nowhere to be seen.
As they looked towards where the shots came from, they saw a spaceship, much smaller than the Megaship, flying away. Zenith Ranger growled in anger, for his victory was taken away from him.
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Kai woke up in a large room. He was demorphed, and all his teammates were lying next to him, demorphed as well. Mike was nowhere to be seen. They were all awake, but none of them had the energy left to say anything. They were still alive, but they didn't feel like rejoicing. A hatch opened in one of the walls, and through it came a cloaked figure. The figure held a tray with food and water, and put it next to the Ranger. The figure was just ready to leave the room, when suddenly…
"Who are you?" asked Leo, "Where are we? How did we get here?"
The cloaked figure turned around, and said: "Yes, I believe you deserve some answers."