Now and Then: The Final Chapter of the Power Rangers

By: Terence Fitzgerald a.k.a SyndicateMan

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Prologue- Mystic End- The final episode of PRMF

An un-morphed Nick, the Red Mystic Ranger, stood on top of a hill looking up, crying, as the sky opened up to a bright red light.

"They all died! And for what? NOTHING!"

"They died because of your weakness!" the cracked skull of Octomus, the supreme master of the underworld screamed back, "And now you will die at the hands of the supreme ruler of all evil, Dark Specter!"

The people Nick and Octomus are referring to are the dead Mystic Force Power Rangers who lie behind them. In a bizarre twist of events… the tides had turned to total chaos and mankind had lost its best defense in the fight against evil.

Less than ten minutes ago even, the Mystic Rangers had all thought they had finally defeated the evil darkness that lay beneath the ground, or at least, they thought they had. In a final battle they destroyed Octomus and his minions. But Octomus came upon them once again in an awful fury that verged on pure madness. Octomus killed Madison, Chip, Vida, Xander, Udonna, Daggeron, and the revived Leanbow. Nick finally put a stop to the spree of death of Octomus, but in a last ditch effort; Octomus sacrificed himself to unlock a powerful entity, which had been imprisoned on the moon.

In this last kamikaze move; he had unleashed the remains of the once dead but revived, Dark Specter who had been locked away in the same crash-landed prison that Rita Repulsa had been imprisoned in. A revived titan of evil, Dark Specter returned to rule over the universe.

But the Earth wasn't without hope….

"I BELIEVED! I BELIEVED AND… AND WE STILL LOST!" Nick screamed into the red sky as a loud roar was heard from above, "WERE THEIR DEATHS IN VAIN! Madison… Chip, Vida, Xander…. NO… I cannot…. I will not accept this! I-I-I… I STILL BELIEVE! DAMN IT ALL!"

Tears streaming down his face, he reached into his pocket frantically and pulled out his Mystic Morpher Cell-phone and punched in 1-2-3 and said quietly to the his dead friends,
"This is for you guys." After a moment of silent reflection, Nick looked up once again and screamed, "MAGICAL SOURCE… MYSTIC FORCE!"

Red light erupted from all around Nick and shot out at Dark Specter.
The horizon shattered for in an instant, humanities future would be determined in this second alone.

But there would be no savior, for humanities last hope would fail. Dark Specter landed on Earth, unscathed by Nick's final attack.

Finally, the Power Rangers had truly been defeated by their enemy. The evil they fought to protect the Earth had finally succeeded. The revived Dark Specter immediately began to destroy everything in his path. The Era of Dark Specter's Return had begun.

Part 1- Familiar Places

Four years later...
September 22, 2010
3:23pm

"One by one, the evil had won. One by one, the screams were never done."

Earth in 2010, four years after Dark Specter's return, was distraught with peril, starvation, and injustice. Mankind tried to fight back but Dark Specter's power was too much for any army to handle. At one point, even nuclear missiles were used but to no avail.

It was no surprise that the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and many others who could still morph stood up all around the world to fight back. Led by Tommy Oliver, the ranger army fought back against Dark Specter… and lost miserably. He tore asunder the Ranger's futile attempts at harming him with their arsenal of weapons and Zords.

Dark Specter did not stop there though, for he immediately began destroying the different Morphing Grids and Power Sources that gave the different teams of Power Rangers their abilities to morph.

Without resistance, Dark Specter enslaved almost every single man and woman on Earth. By using the resources he found and produced on Earth, he once again was able to build a mighty army to storm the universe and conquer it. Unfortunately, for the people of Earth, the pollution caused from mining the large amount of resources for Dark Specter's army slowly destroyed the Earth, killing almost all plant-life and leaving mankind with an extreme lack of food. The Earth slowly started to die and thus deserts sprang up where mighty rivers and forests once stood.

There were some humans who fought back though; they were the Earth Freedom Forces or the E.F.F.

Comprised of united peoples who had been able to escape Dark Specter's clutches. The E.F.F Headquarters, whose where-a-bouts are unknown to Dark Specter, are located underground the city of Angel Grove. The E.F.F strategic and military leaders, however, are made up of the ranks of surviving former Power Rangers whose head leader, is none other than the infamous Mr. Tommy Oliver.

He has sent three men… or should I say: "Two men and one alien", on an important mission in the deserts outside Angel Grove.

3 men walked through the hot desert, or should I say, two men and an alien. Zack Taylor- the original Black Ranger, Justin Stewart- the Blue Turbo Ranger, and a rather odd, yet humorous alien called Piggy, were all walking across the burning endless ocean of sand. They were all dressed in light robe-like clothing with cloaks and goggles to block the sand. Of course, that didn't stop some from complaining about the lack of environment….

"WHY is it so hot?" Piggy asked.

"Welcome to Earth," Zack responded.

"Ya'know Piggy," Justin said as he opened his water container to take a swig, "You didn't have to come to Earth."

"And you didn't have to come with us on our mission," Zack added, "Especially if I knew you were going to smell and complain."

"Don't be racist Zack," Justin responded.

"The correct term is "species-ist" stupid mammal," corrected Piggy.

"Will you two shut-up!" Zack yelled, "We are almost there, and I don't want to have to go all the way back because I had a brain aneurysm because you two were SO annoying!"

"Cranky," Piggy whispered under his breath only loud enough for Justin to hear. Justin giggled a little bit as an annoyed growl was heard from Zack. They had become good friends, Justin and Piggy.

The three of them had survived a lot in the last 4 years. Zack at aged well, especially for someone who was had recently turned forty and had survived Dark Specter's return… mostly unscathed. Justin was still young and full of energy, as a guy in his mid-twenties ought to be. Piggy still was that sarcastic guy that came to Earth at the exact wrong time.

"Why did Tommy send us all the way out here anyway?" asked Justin.

"To pick roses," Piggy added, humorously.

"Yea Yea Yea cut it out…" Zack responded, "To be honest, I really don't know or care. But he said the morphing grid has been acting up all of a sudden. The old Power Coins have been glowing rather mysteriously."

"But that's impossible," Justin responded, "When Dark Specter returned and cut off any chances of reviving any of the old Rangers."

"Yea, but Tommy seems to think that somebody might have found a way to turn it on. So were going to the source to figure it all out."

"Well, at least Specter's goons won't be around in the desert." Piggy responded.

"Don't jinx us man," snapped Zack, "That is the last thing we need. More trouble."

"Hey Zack," Justin started, "When Specter showed up… did you ever fight him?"

"Nah," Zack responded, "By the time I got my Power Morpher it was almost all over anyway."

"What do you mean? You didn't have your morpher when Specter landed?"

"Yup. Dark Specter shows up and the whole world becomes a battleground, yet Adam still found time to come knocking on my door to recruit me and give me back this," Zack laughed has he lifted up a scratched up Power Morpher from his belt. In its center, rested a Mastodon Power Coin, which was now stone. The results of Dark Specter's destruction of the ability for the Rangers powered by Zordon to morph, "I can't seem to part with it. What about you kid, Ever fight the Big Bad Glowing Rock Man?"

"Almost, well you see I wasn't living in Angel Grove at the time. I was at collage and everything," Justin started, "I had my Turbo morpher and was ready but when I finally was able to get to Angel Grove to find T.J and the rest of my old team, I found Tommy instead."

"That was right after he and everybody else had fought Specter, right?" Zack asked.

"Yea, and Tommy looked pretty beat up. He took me and anybody he could find and started taking them to the secret shelter."

"Well, that's too bad," Piggy interrupted, "I fought Dark Specter. I kicked his ass but right before I was going to finish him, I got this horrible coughing fit and had to retreat."

"Haha… very funny," Zack said sarcastically, "Not."

"It's true!" Piggy responded seriously as a slight laugh was heard from Justin. Zack didn't seem to be too amused though.

"I kinda feel sorry for those Mystic Rangers though," Justin changed subjects, "They were the first ones killed."

"I met them once," Piggy responded.

"Really?" Zack said surprised.

"Yea, it was right after I got to Earth," Piggy answered, "Back then when I had so many dreams. I was going to win the lottery and open up a restaurant on wheels, a clearly brilliant idea, but never mind that. So…speaking of us walking through a barren wasteland, why would a source of a "disturbance" happen in the middle of the desert."

Zack did not answer, but instead raised his hand towards the top of a nearby mountain that randomly stood out of the desert. On top of it held the ruins of Zordon's Command Center.

"I saw that coming a mile away," Justin replied, "Literally."

"What is it?" Piggy asked.

"It's where the Power Coin's source of power rested before Specter somehow stopped it," Zack replied, "The old base where me and Justin once fought in the service of the great Zordon."

"He created the base and us Rangers to be saviors of mankind," Justin continued, "But the base was blown up and Zordon sacrificed himself to stop Dark Specter's plan to spread evil all across the universe the first time around, back when I was still a kid."

"Too bad we didn't have another Zordy-guy around," Piggy replied, "He coulda done that again."

The sun was slowly starting to fall into the horizon.

"Come on guys," Zack said as he started to walk at a faster pace, "We better get there before night."

"I wonder what's in there," Justin wondered out loud.

"If you ask me," Piggy answered, "It's probably some loner fooling around."

"Yea," Justin added, "Who else would it be?"

The 3 continued towards the old command center, in search for something that, even they would not expect. Stay tuned for the next exciting part of "NOW AND THEN! THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE POWER RANGERS!"

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