Goldar and Scorpina materialized beside the white faced, dog-like Finster between the balcony and Zedd's dais as orange flames, facing Rita and Zedd, who were standing on the balcony.
Voluminous double braided hair stretched out in opposing diagonal upward angles from Rita Repulsa's leather rapped head, wrapped in leather brown cloth. Gold embroidery curled across her peach colored dress. Synthetic white feathers trailed down the back of her dress from her hip. Above them a wide collar of horizontal triangular dark blue spikes draped over her shoulders. Black breast covers stabbed through the air in contrast, giving her a beautiful but formidable appearance. Lord Zedd took no notice of her.
"Excellent work!" Zedd exclaimed.
"You could have kept Sean busy for a little longer though!" Rita said.
"Really, Rita?" asked a calm male human voice from far behind Zedd's throne.
Everyone looked in the voice's direction at the back of the Chamber. Shrouded in darkness, a hooded and cloaked individual, with the figure of a bodybuilder or wrestler stood by the foot wide, terra cotta colored column adjacent to the metallic wall with Zedd's spinning fan. Underneath his black cloak, the figure wore a couple layers of casual black robes that had a hint of authority to them, embroidered with Japanese and alien designs. After a pause, he walked in, his cloak swaying through the fog covering the floor.
Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa, Goldar, Scorpina, and Finster bowed without hesitation.
"After two weeks of being hunted, Sean would have been suspicious if Goldar and Scorpina hadn't tailed him today," continued the figure as though he was giving a status report. There was no cockiness in his voice. "You did well," he added to Goldar and Scorpina.
He lifted his head and the face of Jason Lee Scott, the first red Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger and temporary Gold Ranger, looked at Zedd and Rita with eyes that did not flash or glow and had no abnormal tint to them. To all appearances, he looked human.
"We'll give them a little more time and then I'll make an entrance," Jason said. "Sean won't expect me to show up so soon. Plus, we can't attack the others yet until Sean and Billy have performed their part."
Meanwhile, the former rangers were still engulfed in a haze of confusion and shock. Billy's display of telekinesis had driven the fact that Jason was evil out of their minds.
"I'm having trouble believing it," Zack said. "How could we not have known?"
"How well did you know Jason before and during the time he was a power ranger?" Sean asked which took them aback.
Zack and Kimberly glared at Sean with resentment. The thought of a stranger telling them about a lifelong friend was insulting to them.
Billy held his silence, too uncomfortable to talk. Yet he was glad that he no longer needed to keep the secret about Jason to himself. It had torn him apart with agony.
"And how well do you know him now?" Sean continued, ignoring the glares and unspoken objections and resentments. Better to get the anger out now than later, he thought. "A better question would be: How well did Jason know himself then?"
"Excuse me?" Rocky asked.
"He never knew that it was his fate to become evil," Sean answered, picking up the skeptical thoughts buzzing within the others' minds. "It makes you wonder why Zordon made him leader of the power rangers and become the Gold Ranger when I told him about the evil inside him."
"What are you talking about?" Trini asked as though she was listening to a person who was high off cocaine. She had heard everything about the Zeo Rangers' struggle with the Machine Empire from Tommy so she was on the same playing field as the rest of her friends were and had never heard of anything like this before. "Everyone has Good and Evil within them." This is a scam, she thought to herself. It makes no sense.
Sean turned his gaze onto her. Make such judgments after you have all of the information, Sean said to her with his thoughts, freezing Trini to the spot. He continued verbally. "Twenty-five years ago, Zordon detected a fluctuating evil. He summoned me to ascertain what was causing it because neither he nor Alpha 5 could pinpoint it. I traced the source to a hospital here in Angel Grove. I soon discovered that it was coming from a newly born human baby. Evil was not the only thing I sensed. There was huge amount of power within the child. I realized that his evil and the powers inside of him were dormant but could be released someday.
"After my discovery, I returned to the Command Center to inform Zordon what I had found and demanded that he allow me to watch over the child as a guardian. Zordon forbade me to remove Jason from his parents but he allowed me to keep an eye on him. I obeyed.
"When I found out that Zordon had chosen to make Jason the Red Ranger and the leader, I objected strongly; but Zordon told me there was no one else to use and that you were a team already."
"When did you talk to Zordon about that?" Zack cut in. "We didn't see you there!"
"Zordon and I were discussing it while you were teleporting to the Command Center," replied Sean. "That was why he was late in greeting you when you arrived. He told me to stay hidden as we would not be working together. When his powers were transferred to Rocky, I was thoroughly pleased. I felt as long as Jason had power, his evil would awaken and grow. Unfortunately, it didn't matter whether he had power or not."
"If you were worried about Jason having powers, why didn't you show up when I brought Jason back so he could become the Gold Ranger?" Tommy asked interrogatively before Sean could continue.
"He did," Billy answered, "but afterward." He told them about the time he had met Sean.
"Zordon should have told us!" Rocky said strongly after Billy had finished.
"No, he shouldn't have," said Adam.
"I agree," Tommy add. "I understand why Zordon didn't tell us. He was trying to prevent a galactic war."
Sean nodded. "If Jason had known what he was to become then Dark Specter's armies would have been looking for him endlessly. He was safe as long as no one knew. Unfortunately, that all changed when he was on Muiranthius. Due to Maligore's influence on his soul, Jason's evil began to grow even after Lerigot and his wife, Yara, had turned him good."
Tommy shook his head with nostalgic frustration. "We should have left sooner," he said. Tommy was referring to the ranger's spending time to build the new Turbo Zords before they went after Divatox.
"You left as soon as you were able to," Sean consoled. "Complete preparation was crucial to a mission like that. I would have come with you, but I was detained on another planet."
"So, Jason has turned evil," Trini surmised with the air of trying to make the situation look better than it was. "We handled Tommy when he was under Rita's control; so we can handle Jason."
"This is completely different, Trini," Billy said to her.
"How?" Trini asked.
"When we fought against Tommy," Billy began, "He was under a spell. Unlike Tommy, Jason isn't under a spell. But he is more powerful than any other evil being we have previously encountered."
"What can he do?" Kimberly asked.
"Much," Sean said. "And there is also the fact that when Jason was turned evil by Maligore, he was planted with Maligore's powers."
"You have got to be kidding!" Adam exclaimed, his face stretching and widening. Down his backbone, hairs sprang up. One slash from Maligore's claws had almost crushed Adam's chest while he was morphed. He quivered.
"I am not," Sean replied, penetrating Adam's eyes with his gaze.
Adam gulped.
Rocky glanced at Adam. "You're better than you were then," he whispered.
Adam nodded, his breath shaky. "I know."
"How much?" Tommy asked Sean.
"I believe all," Sean stated. "But Jason is not a fusion of Maligore and Dark Specter."
"What craziness is this?" Kimberly asked.
Sean turned, looking at Kimberly. "When Divatox lowered the two of you into the pit, you became more than simply evil."
"Yes," she whispered. "It was like I was something else."
"You were reborn. But while Lerigot's and Yara's cleansing restored your humanity, Jason was forever changed that day."
He paused, allowing the rangers to absorb what he had said.
"How can a human contain that much power?" Tommy finally asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Sean answered, turning to Tommy. "I have no idea. However, I know for a fact that Rita and Zedd take orders from him."
"Those two must have hated to take orders from an ex-power ranger," Rocky said with a laugh. Adam managed a breathy laugh but his fear remained in betted in his eyes.
"They hated it alright," Sean said taking a few steps past Tommy. "Though they found out the hard way why you don't challenge a Monarch of Evil." Immediately, a hand clasped on top of Sean's shoulder and whirled him around.
"What did you just call Jason?" Tommy demanded, scanning Sean's face for some detection of a lie with wide open eyes. To his dissatisfaction he found none.
"I'm sorry," Sean said. "I thought that Billy had told you already." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Approximately a few months before Dark Specter died, he appeared before Jason and asked him to become his heir. Jason agreed voluntarily."
"Did Dark Specter threaten Jason with anything?" Tommy asked, hoping against hope that the answer was different than what he thought.
"No," Sean answered, regret in his voice. "I was there. Jason said 'yes' all on his own."
Complete silence followed these words. All of them knew that no one in the entire universe would ever lie to them about this. Still all of them made eye contact with Billy, silently begging for confirmation to the contrary. Billy met their eyes, his face full of regret and sorrow. Unable to speak, he shook his head, confirming their fears.
The color drained out of Tommy's face. Grabbing his stomach, he dashed over to a nearby dumpster that was to the right of the Academy's door, hunched over, and threw up. Kimberly's heart skipped a beat. Zack tossed his head from side to side, mouthing words of confusion and denial. For a handful of moments, no one spoke. Panting, Trini lifted her left hand – her wedding ring almost a blur as she stared at it. Her eyes grew heavy. The man she had married had been a lie. And as she thought this a weight of sorrow and grief crushed the last of the miniscule happiness and hope within her as talons dug trenches in her heart. Her eyes grew heavy as she sought words for her pain.
"How could you keep this from us?" Kimberly finally asked Billy.
Billy turned. He stared into her eyes. "With great difficulty," he replied, his expression unchanged.
"I understand that this is a grievous blow to you all," Sean said, "But the more all of you know, the more in danger you are in. It would be best to prepare for it."
"And what would you like us to do?" Kimberly snapped. "We have no powers!"
"Yes, you do." Sean corrected her. "Hasn't Billy's display of telekinesis shown you that? You've had powers inside of you since you were born."
All of them stared at Sean as if he had just grown hair everywhere.
Sean stretched out his hands. At once, two blinding flashes of light expanded from them. From his left hand, came a green light and from his right hand, came a golden light, both of which solidified into two swords. One was the green katana he had used against Goldar and Scorpina and the other was a long golden broadsword with green and red jewels embedded within the blade.
The former rangers stared in amazement for they had seen that sword once before. If it hadn't been for that sword, Rocky and Adam would never have become power rangers – The Sword of Light.
Sean indicated the katana. "This is the Sword of the Phoenix," he said. "With these swords, I can transform all of you into Power Rangers once more."
An unsealed pouch materialized in a flash of flame on the ground in front of him. Inside it was a mound of familiar golden dust.
Tommy gaped. "Those are the remains of our power coins!" he exclaimed. His friends gasped. As far as they knew, Rita and Zedd had reduced them to dust.
"Uh, Sean, aren't our coins a little useless?" Rocky asked.
"As dust— yes," Sean said, getting to his knees. He laid the Sword of Light in front of him. "Zack, may I have your power coin?"
"I don't have my power coin or morpher anymore," Zack said, perplexed at the question. "I gave them to Adam after my powers were transferred."
"I've got yours right here," said Adam, handing them to Zack.
Zack brushed his fingers over the face of the morpher, thinking of the battles Adam must have endured as its owner.
"Zack?"
The former Mastodon ranger shook himself out of his thoughts. "I don't see how my coin could help," Zack said. "The Mastodon coin was from a different team."
"I know, but don't worry about that," Sean said, holding out his hand. "May I have it?"
Zack cocked his head to the side like a dog with a quizzical look on his face, staring at Sean. Billy stifled a laugh.
"What's so funny?" Zack asked.
"You remind me of my wife," Billy replied with a grin. "Go ahead and give it to him."
Still baffled, Zack handed the coin to Sean.
Sean held the coin at eye level with his hand open. He closed his eyes and nodded his head. At once, tiny green energy discharges crackled around and on top of it, slowly intensifying. At once, Adam was on to him.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
In response, the coin disintegrated. Opening his eyes, Sean sprinkled the dust into the pouch while ignoring the shocked looks on the other's faces. Hovering over the Sword of Light, he poured all of the dust carefully over the entire blade without spilling any onto the ground. Picking up his katana, he rose to his feet.
"Would you please form a wide circle around the Sword of Light?" Sean said, gesturing with his katana.
The rangers did so uncertainly; unsure what to expect. Billy joined them.
Sean raised the Sword of the Phoenix over the Sword of the Light. The blade of the ancient katana began to blaze with flames, which began to pour onto the Sword of Light. The Sword of Light began to glow bright gold as flames began to emerge and expand from the golden sword. The rangers were soon engulfed in a swirling vortex of flame. The golden dust began to swirl along the flames around the rangers. Soon they were clothed with their Ninjetti outfits. As the flaming tornado swirled, the rangers' bodies began to glow with there own ranger color as though there was a star underneath their skin. The rangers continued to glow even though Sean was lowering his hands and the flames ceased. He looked around and saw that all of them still had the same color and animal as they had when they were on Phaedos.
Zack was in a silver Ninjetti outfit with a lion on the golden medallion that on his chest. "How does it feel to be a Ninjetti, Zack?"
"Fantastic!" Zack answered. "I have never felt anything like this in my life!"
"Exactly!" Sean said, beaming with enthusiasm as he clasped Zack's shoulder. Around him, the others were just as excited.
"This is amazing!" Tommy exclaimed. "I thought that the Ninjetti was destroyed when Rito destroyed our Zords—we all did."
"The Ninjetti can not be destroyed unless your sacred animals are destroyed also," Sean said. "I merely resurrected the Great Power and the powers you from Ninjor."
Trini had a puzzled look on her face when she saw that she was the Bear. "Sean, how can I be the Bear?" Trini asked. "That was Aisha's."
"It is no different than sharing the same astrological symbol," Sean explained.
"Guys, look!" Adam gasped, pointing at Sean's bag to the ground before his feet.
Engraved with the familiar images of their sacred animals, their power coins lay in the bag, shining in the light. They scoped them up immediately, gawking at the golden coins.
Billy burst with laughter. He had been anticipating this for eight and a half years. Yet in the back of his mind, the familiar twinge of anxiety reared its head. Now that he was a fully energized Power Ranger (not just a Ninjetti), his choice to fight with Sean was cemented. Once again, he thought of his children and Cestria.
"I never thought that we would see these again," Rocky gasped, unintentionally tearing Billy out of his thoughts.
"How did you make them?" Tommy asked Sean.
"From the remains of your old coins," Sean answered. "Put the power coins in your morphers. Oh, Zack, I made you one." He handed it to Zack.
"That's why you wanted us to bring our morphers!" Zack exclaimed at Billy. Behind his face mask, Billy grinned, chuckling pulled out his morpher from his back.
Placing their coins in the morpher's centers, both of them shined with golden light. The morphers repaired themselves, no longer charred. As they glowed, the Great Power surged from them like heat from a furnace, warming not just the rangers' bodies but their souls.
For the ones who had been to Phaedos, feeling the presence of their sacred animals once more delighted them. It recalled to them of when Ninjor had given them their Ninja Ranger powers, his version of the Ninjiti. Joy had swum within Tommy, Kimberly, Adam, Billy, and Rocky then as with Ninjor they deepened their connection with the animals their powers were drawn from.
However, since Billy had already had his sacred animal reawakened, he only felt the surge of Great Power from his coin; yet he, like the others, was overcome with the same amount of joy his friends were experiencing. The warmth of the benevolent power in their hands and the awareness of their sacred animals made each of them whole once more in a way that they had not been since Rita and Lord Zedd had destroyed their Power Coins—all of them except Trini.
Underneath her confused face was a void. She felt nothing new—no warmth … no Power. Instead she stared at her morpher. The brilliant light was brighter than a traffic light at night yet nothing flooded into her. She spun her eyes around the circle, studying her friends, who had removed their face masks and hoods. At first she believed her lack of change was because she had never been to Phaedos. Yet when her eyes fell upon Zack, she was dismayed. Zack was chattering away about how wonderful he now felt. What little hope that was left in Trini vanished at once. She had learned from the others that had been to Phaedos that the Sacred Animals were some sort of internal guide for them, nudging the others to the right course of action with benevolent reassurance. When Tommy had said that they were Ninjetti again, hope bloomed with the force of a waterfall within her, filling every fiber in her body. Yet this hope did not help connect her with her Sacred Animal nor her power. She was still normal Trini. She felt no hope, no intuition, nor reassurance.
"These are your Ninjetti morphers," Sean meanwhile explained. "You now possess a combination of the powers you received from Ninjor, the Great Power, and the Ninjetti: a power that rivals that of the Zeo Crystal. You are now Ninjetti Power Rangers."
Zack, Adam, Tommy, and Rocky gazed and gawped at their morphers, turning them in their hands.
"There is much you never learned about the Great Power and the Ninjetti before your powers were decimated. Nevertheless, even though the Great Power had been stripped from you, that event inspired you to find Ninjor, the creator of your original Power Coins. In time I will guide you in how to unlock and harness these powers. However, be warned rangers. Like Ninjor's coins, these are also linked with your life forces. As long as your coins are within the hands of Good, they shall remain energized, but if they fall into the hands of Evil, they will slowly deprive you of your life energy."
Kimberly shivered, recalling when Lord Zedd and Rita had destroyed their powers.
"Why do I feel nothing?"
Everyone whirled around at Trini.
Sean approached her, studying her eyes. "You don't feel anything different?" he asked.
She shook her head with her eyes nailed to Sean's. "What's wrong with me?" she asked.
Sean opened his mouth to answered, but stopped at once as the light of a fire reflected off of the right side of his face. All of them turned. Trini removed her mask and hood with eyes wide open with shock.
Jason solidified out of an eruption of black, red, orange, and yellow flames about twelve feet in front in of the group.
The rangers looked into the face of their old friend, wondering if Jason was indeed evil. Trini's heart stopped beating at the sight of her husband. Before them was not the person they had known. In his place a stranger stood.
"Nice speech, Sean," Jason said. "But I think I should take it from here." Immediately, fire burst from his palms toward the ground like a waterfall, splashing and spreading as they formed a pool of fire around Jason.
Goosebumps sprang up the rangers' necks. Sean held his ground with an unreadable expression on his face.
The flames rose and solidified into fourteen black humanoid creatures the size of Putties but much more muscular with hides a mixture of stone and metal.
"What are they?" Kimberly asked, worry in her voice.
"Muiranthian Gargoyles: Demonic footmen of Maligore's armies," Sean said. It was obvious from his tone that he had seen these before, but he kept his gaze fixed on Jason. "If you came here for a fight, then fight me. Leave them out of this."
"I wanted them to fight my Gargoyles," Jason replied with a sneer.
"As of now, they cannot," Sean retorted firmly.
"Then let's change that," Jason said, turning his head toward Trini. She met Jason's eyes with an expression of bewilderment behind her face. He continued to stare into her eyes, piercing them unyieldingly.
Trini began to tremble. The longer Jason held her in his stare, the worse it became. She fought to tear away from him, but her body refused to obey. Convulsions swarmed throughout her body. Her face stretched in a muted scream. She only whimpered.
"She doesn't remember!" Sean bellowed. "She has no power. Please, do not do this!"
With a sharp intake of breath, Trini collapsed backwards onto the ground, grasping her head as if a gash had been carved into it. As she fell, she gaped at Jason with terror and shock engraved in her face. She slid into Zack's arms—her vision blurring to black.
Anger flashed over Sean's face. In the blink of an eye, it was gone.
"What was that about?" Tommy whispered in Sean's ear.
"I'll explain later," Sean replied, keeping his anger in check. "I suggest you morph now. Follow my formula." Sean raised his morpher in front of him in the Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger style. "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME! Phoenix Ninjetti Power!" Green streaks of light shot randomly from his body and his morpher and the silhouette of his sacred animal emerged from his morpher. As the other rangers morphed (Trini lying beside Zack), the same effect happened to them.
"Falcon Ninjetti Power!"
"Lion Ninjetti Power!"
"Frog Ninjetti Power!"
"Crane Ninjetti Power!"
"Wolf Ninjetti Power!"
"Ape Ninjetti Power!"
The rangers looked at their outfits. Like Sean's suit, theirs were combinations of their Ninjetti and original Mighty Morphin' Ranger costumes, and their helmets resembled their sacred animals instead of their old dinozords.
"Attack them," Jason commanded. At once the Gargoyles marched forward, two per ranger.
"Don't let them near Trini!" Tommy commanded, returning to his role as leader as he, Kimberly, Adam, Rocky, and Billy formed a circle around Zack and Trini. When the nearest Gargoyle was close, Tommy kicked at it. And nothing happened. The Gargoyle paused for a second and then kept on coming. "Great," Tommy added. He intensified his attacks in speed and in power. Yet even with his best attacks, he could not knock it down. What the hell? Tommy thought. Just as he thought this, another one joined the one he was fighting. Shit!
Rocky and Adam decided to tag team their opponents. Using combinations of air and ground attacks they relied more on speed then brute force, utilizing their own momentum for extra power in their attacks. Still, it was clear to Adam and Rocky that even one of these Gargoyles could rip a human in half without trying. Adam recalled the strength all too well. It was the same strength Jason had had when Maligore had turned him evil, which meant that the Rangers' enhanced strength was not enough to fight the Gargoyles one on one – let alone two on one. If all of the rangers had been fighting at full strength, they would have a better chance. But Jason had caught them unprepared, tired, and hungry at the end of the day. It would take a miracle for them to live thru this.
Meanwhile, Jason circled to the left of the fight, waiting for a chance to get Trini. Sean stormed after him, slicing the two Gargoyles that Kimberly was failing to fight off down with two strikes from his katana. "Help the others," he commanded without pausing.
Kimberly was in shock for half of a moment. Neither Gargoyle rose. Did he just kill them?
Sean halted in front of Jason, pointing his katana at the former red ranger's neck.
"That was uncalled for," Sean said.
"I kept my promise," Jason said, not fearing the blade at all and yet showing respect to Sean. "You brought her and I did the rest. Our pact is fulfilled."
"A pact I never started," Sean said, the tension turning the air around and between them into a heat haze. Neither of them blinked.
Without warning, in one move, Jason sidestepped to his left, unsheathed a straight bladed, medium sized black katana from under his cloak, and struck at Sean's midsection with an underhanded samurai slash. In less than a flash, Sean parried the blow. For a moment, they stood there with neither of them moving, eyes staring into the other's eyes. Sean pushed Jason backwards, who struck back with a variety of powerful and efficient kendo sword swings which Sean parried with a variety of circular swings along with kendo moves. This exchange of blows lasted for an eternity with neither showing signs of yielding. All of their attention was on the battle between each other. One mistake could end either of their lives.
Sean fought with perfection and fluidity in all of his moves as if they were as natural to him as seeing. It was far easy to tell that Sean was a master of masters compared to Jason, yet he did not strike Jason down. Tommy noticed this but paid for his lack in concentration as a Gargoyle slammed him into the Academy's wall. Adam dashed to Tommy's side and distracted the Gargoyle so that Tommy could escape.
Jason did not leave any room for error in any of his attacks, withdraws, parries, or poses as he fought. His combat thinking had drastically increased in order to keep up with Sean's moves and strategies – knowing from personal experience that Sean was not one to be taken lightly. Although Jason knew this, it did not deter him. He continued fighting. The Monarch of Evil never made a strike at Sean's back nor at his legs, yet that didn't stop him from targeting Sean's head. Strike after strike sliced through the air around Sean's head. No matter how fast Jason was he was never fast enough.
Meanwhile, the rangers were struggling with Jason's Gargoyles. Despite having bulky skin armor that felt like steel and stone, the Gargoyles were incredibly fast.
As a result, none of the rangers were doing any better. It was worse than when they had fought the gargoyles that had guarded the Monolith on the planet Phaedos. The main differences were that the rangers were outnumbered this time and that these Gargoyles were stronger than the guardian gargoyles. How the rangers were going to win was beyond them but they continued to fight or at least most of them tried to fight.
Kimberly was helping Zack fend off his two Gargoyles. The strategy was a hopeful one but a futile one. For even one on one, she was no match against a single Gargoyle. Yet her determination to keep them away from Trini fed her adrenaline. And she found new strength to keep on going.
Billy, still not quite used to the air, was having difficulties of his own. If he had been fighting on Aquitar, his stamina would have been more than any of the others. Fighting on Earth was like fighting with less air. Like the others, his physical attacks were not accomplishing much so it was time for a different strategy. After ducking and dodging an attack, he telekinetically shoved one of his Gargoyles into the other one, crashing them to the ground. With growling roars, they struggled to their feet. Using that time, Billy unsheathed his blade/blaster, set it in blaster form, and fired at each of the Gargoyles attacking his friends. Sparks flew as they staggered, but it was not enough.
"Guys, this isn't working," Billy called out, backing away from his approaching Gargoyles. The blaster had only made them angry. Summoning his power lance, Billy slashed at their heads.
Taking the hint, the others did the same. Rocky and Adam hacked at their foes but to no avail. Kimberly never got a chance to shoot an arrow. Tommy, who had been fighting with Saba continuously, had not made a dent in his two Gargoyles. Zack, to his utter surprise, discovered that his power weapons were sais. Having no clue as to how to use them, they were quickly knocked out of his hands.
With their attacks neutralized, the rangers were huddled in a tight circle as the Muiranthian Gargoyles closed in on every angle.
Sensing the danger, Sean dodged what would have been a killing strike from Jason while charging his katana with green and yellow energy. Once he was clear of Jason, he launched a barrage of bright green and yellow energy discharges at the Gargoyles, reducing them to chunks of rock. Sean had to focus in order to not revert to his civilian form. The attack had drained him of more energy than he had anticipated.
Noticing the fatigue, Jason swung at Sean's right arm. At the last second, Sean parried it, though with difficulty. His ranger strength was waning.
"That was impressive, Sean," Jason said, shoving his weight down on Sean.
If his helmet wasn't on, the others would have seen Sean sweating. He was not afraid for himself but for the others. None of them would stand a chance if Jason decided to attack and Sean didn't have enough strength to protect or to continue this fight to the end. Restoring their powers had drained him of a lot of his strength. He was now thinking that he should not have used that huge energy attack.
"Step away from him, Jason!" Billy commanded, aiming his power lance at Jason. He was the only one of the rangers that was still standing. The rest were on their knees, gathering their breath. Trini remained unconscious on the ground.
Meeting Billy's glance, Jason complied. Backing off, he stared at all of the rangers. "So you fought against my Gargoyles," Jason said calmly to them as he strolled towards them, "But had it not been for Sean, you would've been destroyed."
It shocked the rangers as to how calm Jason was being about this. How could their own friend talk about their own destruction without any emotion? Tommy had never been this cold when he was evil, but then again, Tommy had been a mindless automation with a wicked laugh. Jason was worse.
"You were lucky today," Jason said, stopping about two feet away from them, "But don't count on it a second time."
"Stay away from them, Jason!" Sean commanded.
"Your threat would sound a lot better if you weren't sweating underneath your helmet," Jason retorted in a calm voice as he turned towards Sean, "Or if you had enough strength to stand."
Sean glared at Jason from behind his helmet. Indeed, he was having trouble standing though he hid it well from plain sight.
"This battle is yours, but be warned," Jason continued in the same cold voice, returning his gaze at the others. "It's only going to get worse." He turned and walked away as his body slowly evaporated into black, red, orange, and yellow flames which shot upwards to the sky.
All of the rangers demorphed automatically. Silence stilled their lips.
Sean inhaled deeply. "Is everyone alright?" he asked, immediately aware of his poor verbiage. He needed to rest, but his responsibilities were here.
He did need the others to respond. Their faces were enough. Zack, still by Trini's side, was in complete shock. For the first time in her life, Kimberly looked as though she was struggling to cry. Billy was extremely pale. Though he had been preparing the past eight and half years for this, shock, alien and unfamiliar, possessed him, battling against his discipline. Rocky and Adam eyes remained bulged open. Tommy turned his face away.
Noticing this Rocky peered at Tommy, approaching him. "Tommy," he whispered from behind. Grasping Tommy's shoulder, Rocky squeezed gently. Five coiled knots tensed underneath Tommy's skin.
Tommy turned around lifting his head. Pale, dry, and sapped of happiness Tommy peered into Rocky's eyes. His upper checks twitched.
