Once A Ranger, Forever A Hero
Chapter 7 – Of Reunions and Omens

Gamma Vile…

Almost immediately Lothor was rushed into the palace after word was sent of his return. It had been so long since he had seen the grounds and the structure. All the echoes of the past floated around him, decorating the very air he breathed. Nothing drastic had changed in the intervening years; the halls were dark stone walls illuminated with torches in brackets at regular intervals set opposite long windows that opened to the dark sky and stars. He remembered coming here for the first time and awing at the thought that each of those stars probably belonged to Master Vile. Except he knew things were different. Since 'the moment', Vile had withdrawn from conquering and gone into mourning, saving his anger and fury for his subjects that he already ran though it was obvious he was broken.

Which was probably why the once opulent throne room, meant to awe and intimidate was now dim and grim. He supposed it still worked to enforce Master Vile's authority but this wasn't the base of a conqueror anymore. Vile looked much the same but age had grizzled him. "Lothor?"

"Yes father," Lothor bowed respectfully.

"What has become of you, my son," Vile rose and moved to examine him closely.

"I was imprisoned in a laboratory on Earth. During an accident, I was infected with dinosaur genes that left me like this. I'm fine, nothing will happen to me."

"As long as you are not in danger." Vile looked around, "Where are my starlets? Marah and Kapri? They aren't –"

"No, worse in some ways," Lothor said gravely. "They've taken up with the rangers, became involved with two of them if the rumours are to be believed."

"Involved?" Vile spat. "Why would they do such a thing? They were loyal girls, they would never have dishonoured this family by doing something so shameful. Their parents, their aunt, how is this possible? What happened on Earth Lothor?!"

Lothor hesitated. "I don't know," he said at last. "We had been in conflict with the rangers for almost a year when they suddenly turned on me during the final battle. I almost had the rangers father, I really did. I opened the Abyss of Evil but they managed to trap me in it until that mad scientist dug me up and locked me in his lab."

"This is insanity!" Vile cried. "My granddaughters are traitors, my only son experimented on like a rat -"

"That is not all," Lothor forestalled him. "Very recently, Thrax went to Earth, while he did do some serious damage, the rangers ultimately destroyed him."

"No…" Vile breathed. "I told him not to go. He swore to stay away from Earth and the rangers."

"I do not know what to tell you father," Lothor said helplessly. "It took me long time to escape the lab, I had no idea until everything was done."

"I don't blame you Lothor," Vile dismissed. "This is just too much. Our family, my family has been decimated."

"Father please," Lothor pled. "Thrax did an excellent job shaking them up and the powers I gained from the genes are infinite. I'm sure if we launch one massive assault on Earth, we can take them by surprise and avenge our losses."

Vile thought it over for a long moment. "Fine. Assemble my armada and gather our forces from across the empire. We will destroy the Earth."

*ORFH*

Valencia Road…

Everyone had reconvened on the living room to go over their options on how to handle Lothor. Tommy ran down the list, "As far as active rangers go, there's the Overdrive team, the Dinos, the Ninjas, the Mystics, the Space team, and a handful of others from previous teams."

"We can't count on the Overdrive rangers," Kira stated. "They've got their hands full as it is."

"Yeah," Tori agreed. "Between recovering from Thrax's attack and dealing with Flurious and Moltor plus a whole bunch of others, it's crazy."

"Active is relative term too," Andros noted. "Sure we could still morph but we've been out of the fight for a while."

"Well that's never stopped a ranger," Adam chipped in.

"Zords are a different story," Hayley went over. "The Dinos are in serviceable condition at best and the Ninja zords are totalled unless the other teams…"

"The Mystic zords are fine," Tori said.

"That's because they are their own zords," Kira reminded her.

"Okay then what's left?" Tommy asked the room.

"We've got enough for a pretty decent ground force," Ethan analyzed. "But if they go big, which come on they will, we're done."

"Well we don't know how much but we have time," Hunter said. "We can work on the zords, send word to the other rangers to gear up and hope they don't show up until we're somewhat ready."

"Sounds like the only plan we have," Adam concluded. "Let's get to work."

Just then Andros's morpher went off, "Andros, come in!"

The Space ranger immediately grabbed, "Karone? What's wrong?"

"I don't know if this means anything but we're getting word that an army is being raised in another galaxy."

"M51?"

"…yeah…how did you know?"

"It's means something. You and others should probably start getting ready to come to Earth."

"Okay but I've got to tell you. This is huge Andros. The amount forces…if the numbers are correct, the Earth won't have seen an attack this large since Dark Specter."

"I got it, Karone. Don't worry we're working out." Andros cut out and there was a heavy silence in the room. "We better work fast."

A/N: Hey guys, I hope everyone had an amazing holiday. I thought to myself, why not kick off 2018 right with a whole slew of uploads. Of course this chapter had to include impending war but that couldn't be avoided. I just want to say that nothing has given me so much pleasure than writing on here and you can rely on me for a long while to come. Until next time my lovelies, ENJOY! R&R PLZ!