Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all its related logos are property of Saban and/or Disney Entertainment. I am using them without permission, but I do not intend to make a profit. I mean it, I don't. If I do happen to make some quick cash from it, I promise to sponsor a child for seventy-five cents a day with the money I made. Possibly even two of them.

A/N: This fic takes place with the assumption that power rangers are and always were real, though the secret identities of the rangers have remained secret over the years. You may see cameos from other rangers, but this will deal primarily with original characters. It is set some time after Dino Thunder, but before SPD.

Thank you to everyone who has made this fic a bigger success than I ever thought it would be. I will continue to write it as long as there are so many of you who will continue to support it. Gaby appears courtesy of Cmar, my #1 fan. Thanks Cammy!

Saturday March 5th, 2005 3:04am ... Reefside, California

"Okay, this is what we know so far…" Cam walked over to the control panel, pressing a button. A small holographic in the middle of the table appeared, and everyone sitting around the table turned their attention to it. "About 10,000 years ago, demons ruled the Earth. A small band of wizards and warriors were able to fight them off and restore peace not only to Earth, but the universe. The three demons who led the assault against the human race weren't killed, but confined by mystic energy and banished to an alternate dimension, the Nemesis Triangle," the image quickly changed. "This is Maligore, the first of the three demons. The only way for him to be released was to consume the goodness of two humans were pure of heart. According to reports, Jason Scott and Kimberly Hart were sacrificed to the demon to raise him, but the Turbo rangers defeated him and their souls were restored. The second of the demons was Dark Spector, who assumed control of the Dark Alliance and came close to controlling the entire universe. The details on how he was released are still sketchy at best, but he was betrayed by on of his soldiers and destroyed. Zordon, who sacrificed himself to save the universe, wiped out the remaining evil in the galaxy. The final demon is…" he was interrupted.

"Demorielle, right?" Ethan asked.

"Actually, no. Demorielle is only a servant to the third demon, Thoron."

"So there's someone worse than Demorielle out there?" Ms. Fairweather asked.

"He is considered the most powerful of the three, and for that reason, the wizards responsible made it close to impossible for him to be released for his mystic prison. First, you need all three of the Eyes of Thoron to release Demorielle, and only after she's released can Thoron be brought forth," Cam explained.

"But how?"

"The details on that seem to be lost. There are inscriptions, and I have been able to decipher part of it. There is a lot of gibberish, but the only phrase that repeats over and over is 'only with the liquid key shall he rise'. I've references and cross-referenced the liquid key, but there is nothing," he told them.

"How does the Dragon Dagger come into play?" Gaby asked.

"I don't know. We know it bares symbols that relate to Thoron, but what its function is escapes us. I'll keep looking, but for now, the dagger itself seems to hold no real purpose," he said.

"I suggest that all of us head home for now, try to get some rest. We're in possession of the Eyes, and Demorielle is nowhere near full strength yet. We're safe for now. We'll all meet back in this afternoon and see what we can come up with. Thank all of you for your extra efforts," Ms. Fairweather said.

One by one, they all stood up, making their way out the control center. Ethan waited for everyone to leave before he approached Ms. Fairweather. "I gotta admit, I'm worried. If Cam couldn't figure it out, I don't know if…"

"Cam is one of the smartest men I've ever known, and collectively, the group of people we have working on this are the most intelligent in the world. If there is an answer, we'll find it. I promise you," she assured him.

"I hope so," Ethan sighed.

Jen opened her eyes slowly, only to find herself in her bed. It seemed as though it had been weeks since she'd gotten a good night's sleep, much less in her own bed, but it was nonetheless refreshing. With a sigh she rose to her feet, wrapping her housecoat around herself and heading over to her closet, searching for something to wear.

It amazed her that her closet was filled with mostly dark color clothes. No signs of pink or anything else bright for that matter. Over the years she'd gotten away from what her mother called 'feminine clothes' and found herself drawn to darker colors; black, brown, gray. It didn't take her long to decide on a pair of jeans and a purple cut off shirt. Before she could remove her housecoat to get dressed, her morpher began to beep.

She hurried over to her nightstand, picking up the morpher.

"This is Spectra, go ahead," she said.

"We're off duty, remember? No need to be all formal," a voice said.

She immediately recognized the voice. "Hello Patrick."

"I was curious, what did you have planned for today?" he asked.

"I was just going to sleep, try to train a little. Why?"

"A new music store is opening across town and there's gonna be a big sale. I was thinkin' you'd want to go check it out… with me," he said.

"Are you asking me out?"

"I would call it 'asking you out' per say. More like we'd be going outside, and we'd go there together. Not like a 'date' date or something, just two friends hangin' out," he said. "Besides, just in case something goes wrong and we have to ranger up, it'll be good for us to already be together, ya know?"

She couldn't help but crack a smile. "It makes sense, I guess. Count me in."

"Great… I mean," he paused. "Oh, that's cool. Meet me at the café in an hour," he told her.

"See ya then."

She set her morpher down and glanced over at herself in the mirror; surprised to see she was blushing. "What are you looking at? He just said its not a 'date' date, so stop all that giggly shit," she said, removing her housecoat and throwing it over the mirror.

Rick sat in the infirmary, leaning against the wall simply watching as the doctor attended to Liz. He kept going over the incident in his mind; they were fighting, Demorielle got the best of him, she forced him to stab Liz in the stomach. He tried his best to stop it, to avoid hitting her, but there was nothing he could do. That worried him.

'Demorielle isn't even at full strength yet, and if I don't have enough stop her now, I'll be no match for her when she is,' he thought to himself.

Liz was simply laying there, connected to machines. She hadn't moved or said a word since it happened, and Rick couldn't help but assume the worst. Finally, the doctor walked over to him.

"How is she doc?" he asked.

"I won't lie to you, the cut is deep and its pretty bad. She lost a lot of blood, but I've stitched up the wound and she's resting comfortably. It'll be a few weeks before she'll be ready to use her ranger powers again. Doing so would cause even more internal damage," she told him.

"But what are we suppose to do without her? We'll need her when it…"

"I understand that, but I'm telling you that if she tries to fight, it will kill her," she said.

He sighed. "Thank you Dr. Mitchell," he sighed.

"I'll keep you apprised of her situation," she paused. "And please, just call me Dana," she said with a cheerful smile.

"Yeah, it's a date," Elaine told him as she sat down at the table, taking a sip of her smoothie.

Patrick paced back and forth in the café, trying to keep himself calm. "Its not. I just want to go check out this new store is all, and I didn't want to go by myself," he pointed out.

"So why didn't you ask me? Or that Rick guy?" she asked him.

Patrick looked around, making sure there was no one around, then moved in close to Elaine. "Rick is still at the Aqua Base with Liz, it looks like she was hurt pretty bad. Besides, I didn't know what you had planned for today," he said. "Maybe you wanted to just stay here and make googly eyes at Trent all afternoon."

"What? I don't…"

"Oh please, everyone sees it. You've got a thing for him. Why not make a move?"

"Because… he's got a girlfriend. He's been dating that Kira girl," she sighed.

"Word is Kira isn't even around anymore. She's out traveling trying to get her music career off the ground. This is probably the best time for you to make your move on him," he told her.

"I don't make moves. I'm a girl, we get moved in on," she mentioned.

"Well, good luck with that," he sat down across from her. "Is Hayley here?"

"No, she went out to Marnier Bay to help out Mr. James and Ms. Fairweather. Trent is running the place today."

"I hear he draws. I'd love to see some of his stuff, maybe compare our works."

"Something tells me he's a little out of your league," Elaine said.

"Whatever, I'll have you know that…" he was cut short as Jen walked into the café, walking over to them.

"Hey," she said nervously.

"Hi, have a seat," Patrick said, moving over slightly.

Jen cautiously sat down next to him.

"Hello Jen," Elaine said coldly.

"Elaine," she responded.

"Oh come on you two, if we're going to be working together, you need to get over whatever little problems you guys have. Seriously," Patrick told them.

"As soon as she pays me for that smoothie we'll be fine. I ain't about to have my register comin' up short because of her. I need this job," she said.

Just then, Trent walked over to them.

"Hey guys, what can I…" he paused. "This is funny," he said.

"What?"

"The three of you sitting here together. It reminds me of when me, Kira and the others use to come here all the time," he said.

"Kira was a ranger?" Elaine asked.

"Yeah, but that was a long time ago. Has there been any word on Allumier Ranger yet?" Trent asked.

"No, but I'm sure they'll let us know if anything changes. Mr. James told us to get out and try to have some fun today, and I intend to," Jen said.

Demorielle found herself alone. While trapped in the void between worlds, Belial had been by her side. He was her most trusted companion, her truest friend… 'My only friend,' she thought. And now, thanks to the Power Rangers, he was gone.

She walked over to the symbol on the wall, admiring the design. The three open slots for the Eyes were unoccupied, but this time, she noticed something that she hadn't seen before. There were small slits connecting each of the open slots to one another. They were very thin, but deep, and the slits also connected to the circle encompassing the symbol itself. From the circle was yet another slit, this one going down the wall and into the floor. It stopped at a small circle in the floor, which seemed equally as deep as the slits themselves.

There was still so much she didn't know about herself, about her destiny. All she was sure of were vague images of her past as an enchantress on her home world; before the demons invaded. She wondered how long ago it was, how her life was before they came. She knew she enjoyed bringing happiness to others, but those were only memories. Now, her pleasure came from inflicting pain on the innocent. It amazed her that she could have enjoyed herself any other way.

"The rangers will pay," she paused, noticing as her energy levels were increasing. "Soon, very soon," she sighed.

Jake sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at his brother. He hadn't moved since they arrived there, and it concerned him. There were machines hooked up to him, tubes up his nose, monitors and other equipment connected to him, all of them humming and beeping. He couldn't help but blame himself for what happened to Carl.

'If I hadn't got mixed up with all this power ranger shit, he wouldn't have gotten possessed by that thing,' he thought to himself.

Now, whether or not he would survive was being called into question.

His thoughts were interrupted as Dana walked over to him with a clipboard in hand. "Carl is your brother, right?" she asked him.

He nodded. "Yes."

"You'll be happy to know he's in stable condition. All his vitals are in the norm, and he's receiving enough oxygen, but its as though…" she allowed her sentence to trail off.

"What? He's what?" Jake asked.

"Its like his life force has been drained out of him. Physically he's fine, but its like he just doesn't have the desire to get up," she told him.

"Will he ever be okay?"

"He's okay right now. He could wake up any second now, or he may never wake up. Its all up to him at this point," she said.

"Is there anything we can do to help him?" he asked.

"No, this is something he has to do on his own," she paused. "I don't know if this is going to mean anything to you, but when he came in there were high levels of radiation in his system. The radiation matches the patterns of the force field that surrounded the dark fortress. It suggests that…"

"He did this to himself to get the force field down," Jake sighed.

"The radiation present in his system was the same as the woman who was teleported here. There are lacerations on both of them, suggesting that the two of them were in a struggle of some kind. Either they were fighting one another, or they were fighting someone else. Still, full credit for getting the force field down goes to the two of them," she said.

"Do you know anything more about the woman?" he asked.

"No, there was no identification of any kind. I'm not sure who she is, but we're in her debt," Dana sighed.

"What is this place?" Jen asked as she stood outside the building, staring upwards.

"It's the Rock Porium, it just opened this week. The guy who runs the place is a music genius," Patrick told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her into the store.

Once inside, Jen found herself a little overwhelmed with the size of the store. There were isles and isles music, even a DJ booth towards the back of the store. Everything was very well organized.

"This place is…" she was cut short as a man walked over to them.

"Amazing, I know," he extended his hand to her. "The names Xander," he introduced.

The first thing Jen noticed was his ascent, but wasn't able to place it.

Patrick pulled Jen's hand back, standing in-between them. "I'm Patrick, and this is my… my friend, Jennifer," he replied.

"Well, have a look around, and if you need any help, ask for me," he said, walking away.

"You could point me to the new Linkin Park," Jen brought up.

"Towards the back by the DJ booth. When you get back there, ask for Vida, she'll be able to direct you to everything you're looking for," he told them.

"Okay, thanks."

The two of them walked towards the back of the store, where a young lady with short hair greeted them. "Welcome to Rock Porium. What can I do for you?" she asked them.

Patrick cracked a smile. "Linkin Park," he said.

"All the way in the back, we've got everything they ever recorded. Look around, and if you need me, lemme know," she said, standing aside as the two of them headed towards the back.

"For this place to be new, they sure do have a lot of employees," Jen pointed out.

"What do you mean?"

"That Xander guy and the girl with the short hair, and I saw two other people working here too. Look around, we're the only customers in here, how do they afford to have so many people work here if they aren't getting any business?" she asked.

He paused. "Good question."

"Who cares, these guys have everything," she picked up a CD. "I've been looking for this CD for months. You wanna go back to my place and listen to it with me?" she asked him.

"Sure."

Just then, they're morphers began to beep. "Oh great, as soon as we get a day off the world is in impending doom again," she sighed.

It was Patrick who pulled his morpher out. "This is Tempest, go ahead," he whispered.

"Guys, its Hayley. Can you come back to the Aqua Base? There's something here I think you need to see," a voice said.

"Sure, stand by for teleportation," he turned to Jen. "Go ahead and get your CD and I'll meet you outside," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder, then walked away.

Hayley stood in the infirmary with her arms folded, unsure of how to react. When all of this started, she was aware that things weren't going to be cut and dry. Even as far back as her time with Tommy preparing the dino gems, there were moments that were more bizarre than others, and she knew that when Ethan asked her to help him with the Virtual morphers she was prepared for unusual events… 'but this,' she sighed inwardly.

She blamed herself for it. 'I knew something was wrong, I knew there were things going on. I should have done more to make sure she was alright,' she thought to herself.

Just then, there was a stream of light, and Patrick teleported in, immediately turning to Hayley. "What's up Hayley? The world need saving again?" he asked.

"Not this time," she sighed in a monotone voice.

It didn't take long for Patrick to realize the seriousness in her demeanor. "What is it? What's wrong?" She didn't respond, she instead motioned for him to turn around. He turned around, getting a look at the woman lying on the examining table. "Who is that?"

Before she could respond, there was another stream of light as Jen teleported in. As soon as she did, she saw…

"Mom?" she gasped, rushing over to the table and checking on her. "What happened here? How did she get here?"

"She came to the café last night looking for you. I told her I'd bring you home later. The video footage from outside the café shows her being possessed by demonites and eventually transforming into Belial," Hayley told her.

"Oh God," Patrick sighed.

"I didn't know this was going to happen. If I had, I'd…" she was cut short.

"I don't blame you. You couldn't have known," she turned around. "If she was possessed, why isn't she now?" Jen asked.

"I can answer that," Dana walked over to them. "I suspect that she was exposed to an electrical surge and low levels of radiation. The shock of it all was probably enough to expel the demon from her, but it also drained of her a lot of her life energy," she told them.

"Is she in a coma?" Patrick asked.

"In essence, yes. She could snap out of it at any moment, but then again she might not even snap out of it," she said.

"I am so sorry," Hayley sighed.

"You couldn't have known that…"

She was interrupted as a machine began to beep. The sound caught Dana's attention, and she hurried over to Liz, who was still laying motionless. Rick, who was leaning up against the wall, stood up, hurrying over to her as well.

"Whats happening?" he asked.

"Her body is going into shock. It looks like there is more internal damage than we anticipated," she turned to one of the nurses. "I have 20ccs of adrenalin NOW!" she called out. Within seconds, the nurse brought her a needle, and Dana jammed it into Liz's chest, but the equipment continued to beep. "Another 20ccs, NOW!"

"Its too much, it'll kill her!" Rick snapped.

"If we don't do something she'll die anyway. Get me that adrenalin!" Dana called out.

The nurse brought her another needle, but before Dana could use it, then machines stopped beeping and were replaced with one long, monotone beep. Dana sighed, setting the needle down and looked at her watch. "I place the time of death at 6:17pm," she sighed.

"WHAT? NO! THAT CAN'T BE IT!" Rick yelled.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing else I can do," she sighed.

Rick leaned over Liz, wrapping his arms around her. "This is my fault, I did this to you," he cried.

A hush fell over the group as they watched on. Patrick reached over, grabbing Jen's hand, who in turn squeezed his hand gently.

"Rick, I…" Hayley allowed her sentence to trail off. She instead turned her head slightly, knowing there was nothing she could say to him.

Rick gently set Liz down, wiping the tears away from his eyes as the look of pain and anguish were replaced by hatred and anger. He quickly reached for her morpher and teleported away.

"That can't be good," Jen sighed.

"I'm going to go to the main control room and try to track him. There's no telling what he's capable of in this condition," Hayley sighed, walking out the infirmary.

At that moment, another machine began to beep, and Dana rushed over to him.

"Oh no, mom," Jen cried.

Dana quickly examined her. "It looks like she's coming out of it," Just then, she opened her eyes and tried to sit up, but couldn't. "Try not to move, you've been through a lot," she said.

"W-What? I-I…" she tried to speak, but couldn't muster up the strength.

"Mom, are you alright?" Jen asked.

She turned to Jen slowly, reaching out and grabbing her hand slightly. "I-I remember it… I remember it all," she groaned.

"What is it mom? What happened?"

"I was taken over b-by one of th-those things. It read my thoughts, it knows what I know," she paused. "But I kn-know what it knows too," she sighed.

"Wait? What are you saying?"

"I know why they need the dagger, and I know how to defeat them," she told her.