Author's Note: After watching Dimensions in Danger, I'm at least temporarily setting this story in the main universe following the end of Super Megaforce... at least until I decide how to reconcile the events that take place in that episode. That said, I'm mildly tickled that I named Kat and Tommy's son Jake, and in continuity, his name is J.J.

Chapter 8
Game Plan

Location: Command Center

Hours passed. Billy was running every scan known to every advanced civilization in the galaxy, and nothing was turning up. Tommy was about to put his fist through the monitor, and Kat was about ready to charge in herself. Adam had already disabled the teleportation system to keep her from doing just that.

"We can't wait any longer!" Kat yelled out, shoving Adam away from her. "Our children have been in there for three hours and there's still no sign of them!"

"Their powers are still active, meaning they are alive," Billy repeated for the fifth time. "But rushing in there unprotected won't net you a better result than they got."

"So what, then?" Tommy demanded. "We're not exactly accomplishing anything now. How much longer are we going to stand here?"

Adam and Billy exchanged glances. Neither of them had a good answer. The best Adam could come up with was, "Two civilians walking into what is very clearly a trap aren't going to fare better than morphed Power Rangers. I'm worried about Aiden just as much as you two are worried about Jake, but we can't just run in blind."

The Viewing Globe showed an image of Angel Grove Park, shrouded in an unnaturally black fog. It was clearly some kind of darkness-inducing spell, and when the Rangers went to investigate, the fog itself reached out and grabbed them, dragging them in. That was three hours ago, and the Rangers hadn't made radio contact since. Their powers were still active, meaning they were morphed, but no other readings escaped that bizarre blanket of fog.

"You keep calling us civilians," Tommy said, pulling up a sleeve. On his wrist sat a golden device atop a black wristband. It had lost its initial luster over the years, but it was still instantly recognizable. Tommy had his Zeonizers on him. Adam recalled that he had left the Command Center an hour ago to try and walk off the stress. What he'd apparently done is grab his Zeonizers.

Kat pulled up a sleeve to reveal her own Zeonizer on her wrist. "You can't seriously be considering this!" Adam said.

"You don't have any room to talk, Adam," Kat shot back. "Not after what you did during the invasion."

"I was still a kid back then," Adam argued back. "We're all older now. You should know better!"

Billy sighed. "Enough!" he shouted, causing everyone in the control room to look at him. "Arguing isn't going to help anything." He pulled up a holographic panel. "I've got your Zeonizer scans here, and I've re-enabled the teleportation system. I know nothing's going to stop you, but I can at least attempt to keep your powers stable while you go after them. But if you're not back in an hour, I'm cutting you off."

Tommy and Kat both nodded. They understood the risks of what they were about to do.

"Fine," Billy said.

"Aiyiyi Tommy! Are you both sure this is a good idea? You know that the Zeo Powers aren't what they used to be!" Alpha was clearly distressed.

"I don't care," Tommy said. "I'm a Power Ranger until the end. And right now, our son needs us."

"No more debate!" Kat demanded. "It's Morphin Time!"

Both Rangers raised their arms, bursts of pink and red energy trailing from their fists. In unison, they brought the two Zeonizers together, opening the panel and releasing the Zeo Sub Crystals to line up with the panel. "Zeo Ranger One! Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger Five! Red!"

The two vanished almost instantly and Billy was already hard at work keeping their powers stable. Meanwhile, Adam felt a shudder run through his body. He could feel the Zeo Crystal straining.

Location: Angel Grove Park

"More Power Rangers?" asked the bewildered cop. "You guys look familiar, are you one of the older ones?"

"Something like that," Tommy said, his bright red costume shimmering in the sun. "We're here to investigate this phenomenon. Can you tell us anything about it?"

"Only that it's terrifying," Officer Terrell responded. "We lost eight police officers to it, the same way the other Rangers got grabbed. "We haven't been able to make contact when them since we lost them an hour ago. But other Officers and scientists have gotten close and weren't grabbed. It's like this thing has a quota or something."

"Thanks, Officer," Kat responded. "Keep your men safe, we'll look into this." Courteously, Officer Terrell lifted the crime scene tape for them to duck under, not that it was necessary. The two walked forward to the mass of black fog. Tommy felt a chill go down his spine as he stared into the darkness. "What do you think, Tommy?" Kat asked, snapping Zeo Ranger V out of his trance.

"I don't know, Kat. I thought getting closer would give us some answers, but I honestly don't see anything that can help us."

"The last two I need," a voice called from the darkness. Tommy summoned his Zeo V Power Sword and took a defensive stance. Kat drew her Zeo Laser Pistol and aimed at the mass. "Ranger royalty came to me. This couldn't be more perfect. I just need to shift a few things around."

"What have you done with the other Rangers?" Kat demanded.

"You'll find out soon enough."

Billy opened the comm line. "Get out of there now!" he shouted. But it was too late. The fog had formed into giant hands that reached out and grabbed the two Zeo Rangers and dragged them, screaming into the darkness.

"I'm ready," the voice taunted, loud enough for all of Angel Grove to hear. "Bring me a master so we can play this game to the end."

And then, nothing but silence.

Location: Command Center

"Readings are stable, nothing has changed," Adam reported as Billy rushed to another control panel. "I'm not getting enough of a signal to teleport anyone. Everything's identical to what happened to the others."

Billy slumped into a chair, rubbing his forehead. "We have to be missing something," he mused, staring at the readings. The Zeo Powers weren't fluctuating at all. They should have been. The Zeo Crystal was drained years ago with the war against the Machine Empire and the United Alliance of Evil. While the Crystal would always recharge itself, the rate at which they used it outstripped the speed at which it regenerated, leaving the Crystal weak and unstable. Sure, if they had another three thousand years they could fully recharge it, but... it was odd that the powers weren't fading or destabilizing at all. It was like they were in stasis or something.

Their thought processes were interrupted by flashes of light blue and yellow. The two turned to see familiar faces standing in the Command Center. "Tanya? Rocky?" Adam said. "What are you guys doing here?"

"I felt the Zeo Crystal... straining," Tanya responded, with Rocky giving a confirming nod. "What's going on?"

Adam gave the short version of what was happening, the two recently arriving veteran Rangers looking at the various holo-panels across the room.

"Man, this is weird," Rocky said, pointing to one of the panels. "Are you sure these systems are working? If it wasn't for the clock, I'd think the computer was completely frozen."

That was the first breakthrough Billy needed. "The Rangers are frozen. It's like time is stopped. None of them are responding because no time is passing for them. That's the only explanation as to why the Zeo powers are so stable despite being used. Fluctuations come with time."

"Okay," Adam said. "But what did that voice mean? And who did it belong to?"

"I'm not sure on either count," Billy admitted. "It may just be another generic monster. But it said a lot. 'Ranger Royalty... bring me a master so we can play this game to the end.'"

"And that Tommy and Kat were the last two he needed," Adam reminded him.

"Meaning he has eight Rangers," Tanya said, the answer starting to come to her.

"And... wait, didn't that cop say...?" Rocky started.

"Eight police officers!" Adam confirmed. "So he has eight Rangers, to include 'Royalty,' and eight police officers. And he wants to play a game."

"Exactly. Zedd just set up a game of chess!" Rocky shouted excitedly. But he paused. "...wait, why would Zedd set up a game of chess?"

"It's a distraction," Adam concluded. "Just like every other monster attack he's launched since he came back. He's got a master plan, but he's trying to keep us busy. This is just another over-the-top distraction."

"Yeah, but if we lose this match, we lose our Rangers and a bunch of cops, too," Rocky observed. "This isn't exactly a fair match."

"We don't exactly have much of a choice, do we?" Billy asked rhetorically as he called up the teleportation panel.

"What are you doing?" Adam quizzed.

"I need you three to monitor the Zeo Powers, make sure they don't go too far into flux once the fog lifts. I've got a game of chess to win."

Location: Angel Grove Park

A flash of light blue and Billy appeared, right next to Officer Terrell. He yelped and jumped back, then peered at the man, wondering who he was. Billy didn't care about keeping his identity a secret. Not only was he no longer a Ranger, but he also had no identity on Earth, not after spending so many years on Aquitar. He lived in the Command Center and only left for supplies or fresh air. He had no ties to any of the current or past Rangers outside of coming from the same city. The whole world could see his face and it would mean nothing.

"Who are you?" Officer Terrell asked.

"Billy," he responded. "Technical advisor to the Power Rangers."

Officer Terrell's first reaction was to be skeptical, but he did just see the man materialize from nothing. "I don't think you should get too close. That thing has already taken eight Rangers and eight Police Officers. I don't need it snatching civilians, too. Even civilians working with the Power Rangers."

Billy waved him off. "It's not going to take any more people," he said as he ducked under the police tape. "It has what it needs. I'm the last piece of the puzzle." Officer Terrell moved to stop him, but decided against it. This was way above his pay grade. "The game master is here, Zedd!" Billy shouted to the sky. "Let's do this!"

Underneath the former Blue Ranger's feet the ground began to shake. Without further warning, a circular piece of ground shot straight up in the air underneath Billy, raising him up two stories. The entire time, Billy stood, arms folded across his chest, unmoving. The black fog began to disperse, revealing a massive chessboard. On Billy's side stood his allies. Zeo Ranger V and I as the King and Queen, respectively. Two Bishops (Kerri and Thuy), two Knights (Jake and Ty), and two Rooks (Bryan and Aiden). As he suspected, the eight captive officers served as the pawns. On the opposite side were monstrous versions of chess pieces, all dark, as if made of shadows, with glowing red eyes. Just beyond them was the new General, Cyrus, elevated just as high as Billy.

As the last of the fog cleared, Billy's communicator started going off with a vengeance. Every Ranger on the board was frantically asking what was going on, trying to get status reports from each other, and were failing to activate the Teleporter. Finally, Rocky's voice broke through it all. "Guys, cool it! You've been in suspended animation for hours because Zedd thought it would be fun to start a game of chess with you guys as the pieces. We're working on getting you free, but something in the area has our teleporter disabled. Hang tight, we're doing all we can."

"In the mean time, Billy's going to focus on the chess game," Tanya cut in. "As long as we can keep that general of his occupied, we should have time to figure something out."

Some of the officers tried to walk away but were rewarded by crashing into an invisible force field. Soon, they'd taken to it with their nightsticks, though to no avail. One of the officers began to draw his pistol. "Don't!" Aiden yelled, causing the officer to hesitate. "This barrier might ricochet the round back into you!"

"Then what are we supposed to do?!" the cop demanded.

"Sit tight," Jake said. "There are a lot of people trying to get us out of here. They'll come through."

"You may go first," Cyrus said smoothly. The sound of his voice sent a chill down Aiden's spine. He hadn't encountered him since the incident at The Grove. "Seems fitting I give you a sporting chance."

"Got tired of Goldar kicking your butt?" Aiden shouted in an unusual move of arrogance.

Cyrus smirked. "Try not to take offense to your position on the board. You were supposed to be the King, but how could I pass up Zeo Ranger V himself? Besides, you're certainly a defender, aren't you?"

"Whatever," Jake yelled. "The King's the worst piece anyway!" He realized what he said as it left his mouth and could feel his father's eyes boring holes through his helmet.

"Enough chit chat," Billy said loudly. You want to play? Let's play. How are we doing this?"

"Descriptive or Algebraic Notation will work," Cyrus responded, the fingers of his left hand caressing the hilt of his blade. "The board is very smart. The question is, are you?"

Billy took a deep breath. "What happens to the 'pieces' that get captured?"

"Why, they're put away in these boxes." With a gesture, large force field cages appeared on either side of the board. "The loser's pieces are destroyed, but only after the game is over."

"And if I don't agree to those terms?"

"Then the pieces are destroyed now." The transparent force field around Billy's leftmost pawn suddenly turned a visible red, and electricity surged through the officer, causing him to scream and drop to his knees. It ended very quickly.

"Okay!" Billy shouted. "I'll play your game."

"I knew you would," Cyrus replied smugly. "Still your move."

Billy brought his Communicator to his face. "Guys, ready your weapons. I don't know how the capture part of this works, so be prepared to attack any monster that comes after you." He lowered his wrist and shouted loudly. "Knight to C3!"

Jake yelped in surprise, gripping his sword as he was suddenly lifted into the air, then lowered onto an empty space in front of the police officers. "Whoa!" he yelped once he got his bearings. "That was weird."

Cyrus took his time. He wanted this to last, and he was enjoying the game thoroughly. "Pawn to King's Knight Four!" he shouted, and one of his pawns advanced two squares.

"You need more modern books," Billy said as he examined the board. "They stopped using Descriptive Notation in the 80s. Pawn to G4!" A police officer yelped as he was tossed forward two spaces.

Cyrus chuckled, but kept his eyes on the board. "Oh, but there's a certain romance to it that Chess Algebra completely lacks. Knight to King's Bishop Three!"

The game crawled on, each player taking care to make the best move possible. Billy wasn't sure where this was going, but he was playing it overly safe. He was certain he could beat Cyrus, but he wasn't so sure he could trust this "deal" of his that if he won, everyone would go free. In a normal chess game, he wouldn't have minded sacrificing a pawn or three to achieve a greater goal. This wasn't really an option when his pawns were real people. He was distracted, and it cost him his first casualty. "Queen's Pawn to King Six!" Cyrus shouted.

His pawn shifted diagonal to an empty space, but the Police Officer behind the pawn suddenly sank through the floor with a scream as the square beneath him turned red. He materialized in the force field box to Billy's right.

"That can't be legal!" Kerri shouted. "The pawn didn't even touch the officer!"

Everyone turned to look at Bryan, even Kat and Tommy. Bryan piped up immediately. "The move is called En passant. If a pawn moves two spaces forward and passes through a square threatened by an enemy pawn, that pawn can be captured in the next round only, like it was taken during its movement. It's almost like interrupting your opponent's last turn to catch them while making a mistake. Only really advanced players are familiar with that rule."

Ty's heart sank. "Are you kidding me? It's bad enough this guy is an evil swordfighting whackadoodle, now he's some kind of chess master?"

"Pawn F to E3!" Billy shouted, and an officer flew toward the evil pawn. Before they made contact, the pawn sank into the now red square, which turned back to black in time for the officer to land safely. It was a solid move, but it was a retaliation and nothing more. The officer was already captured, and Billy cursed himself silently for forgetting En passant.

"Rook to Queen's Rook Three!" Cyrus shouted as his castle turret slid into place.

But Billy's earlier forgetfulness reminded him of another move he could pull out. "Castle King Side!" Bryan yelped as he was suddenly thrown into the air, and Tommy was grabbed at the same time. The two passed each other and landed side by side, Tommy now closer to the corner of the board. Everyone looked at Bryan again.

"If a Rook and the King haven't moved yet and there's no other pieces between them, you can Castle them, meaning they cross each other, allowing the King to move more than he normally can. It's the only move that lets you move two pieces at the same time, and it can only be used once per match."

"Any other wacky rules we should know about?" Thuy asked.

Bryan simply shrugged. "None that I know of. Then again, I never played Telekinetic Force Field Life-Size Chess before."

"You should check out the televised tournaments," Ty said dryly. "They're something to behold."

Location: Command Center

"Tell me you have something," Rocky said as he looked up from a console. "I don't know how much longer the Zeo powers will remain stable."

"Nothing!" Adam said, clenching his fists. "The teleportation system can't get a lock on any of them, and we can't risk Kat and Tommy demorphing with all those cameras and civilians."

"How much time do we have?" Tanya asked.

"My sensors indicate that with enough intervention, the Zeo powers will fail in approximately thirty minutes," Zordon boomed.

Rocky looked at Adam. "That is super creepy."

"Focus, Rocky," Adam barked. "Keep your eyes on that panel. Hopefully someone will figure out something."

Location: Angel Grove Park

Billy was in a bad place. He'd already lost three officers, and now Cyrus' knight had taken Bryan. The Blue Ranger yelled as he sank into the chessboard, appearing next to the police officers in the force field box. While Billy had taken several pawns from Cyrus, he hadn't managed to capture any of his more important pieces. Plus, Cyrus didn't care what happened to his pieces. Billy was playing with real people.

"Having fun?" Cyrus asked with a grin.

"Not really," Billy muttered under his breath as he stared at the board. He could beat Cyrus. He just needed to focus.

"Me either. Let's make it more interesting." Billy looked up, eyes wide. This couldn't be good... and it wasn't. With a snap of his finger, the box began to shrink, the ceiling coming down on them. The officers yelped and stumbled, unsure of what to do. "Now it's a game of speed chess!" he said with a wink.

Bryan acted quickly. "Power Lance!" he shouted. When the weapon materialized in his hands, he slammed it down into the cement beneath them as the field began to press on it. The Lance bowed a little, but stopped for the moment. "This won't last!" he shouted, his eyes scanning the board in front of him. He had a side view of the chess game, but could offer little advice to Billy that he wouldn't already know.

Billy looked down at the board and analyzed it as quickly as he could. "Queen to A4!"

As Kat shifted positions on the board, Bryan had nothing to do but think. He had to figure a way out. Initially, he thought he'd find a way to bust out of the force field, but he quickly came to the conclusion that winning the game, or otherwise ending it somehow, would be their best bet of surviving this. So he started from the beginning. He closed his eyes to concentrate, trying to block out the sounds of the battle.

Location: Command Center

The room was completely silent, except for the sounds of holographic panels beeping and swirling around the Control Room. The Zeo Crystal had negatively spiked, and none of them had managed to apply a patch in time. By Zordon's most recent estimation, they had maybe ten minutes. Rocky walked to the Viewing Globe and stared at the match as Billy made one frantic move after another. Another pawn lost. Another enemy pawn taken. Rocky always had faith in Billy before, but he was still human, no matter how intelligent he was. More moves exchanged, and it was clear that Billy was playing on the defensive. He didn't know much about chess, but he knew a losing battle when he saw one.

Location: Angel Grove Park

Bryan kept his eyes shut, actively blocking out the sound of cracks forming in his Power Lance as the weight of the force field continued to place stress on it. Zedd's been gathering energy on the moon, he thought, trying to put everything in order. He's collecting and conserving it for an unknown purpose, which is why his recent monsters haven't been that powerful. I can't imagine Zedd would waste that massive amount of energy on such a gimmicky plan. No, this is just Cyrus having fun. What was it Alpha said before? It takes less energy to create a monster from an object than it does from scratch. That would explain why there's a massive chess board with chess pieces. But making that many monsters from a single object seems oddly inefficient.

That's only the first thing that doesn't make sense. There's also the mechanism by which the game works. We fly from place to place, like we're being thrown around telekinetically. When a piece is captured, no attack is launched. Why make all those monsters if they're not going to attack? Captured pieces sink into the board. Bryan took a deep breath. He felt like he was getting closer. The pieces sink into the board... the board... wait, Cyrus said something, didn't he?

"Descriptive or Algebraic Notation will work. The board is very smart. The question is, are you?"

Bryan's eyes shot open. None of the chess pieces attacked. Captured pieces were sucked into the board. The fog around the board could attack people. But there was no way Zedd made that many monsters. "The board is very smart."

Bryan opened a communication line inside the Rangers' helmets. "Guys, I figured out a new rule for the game, and it blows en passant out of the water. Summon your Power Weapons. Aim for the board."

The others didn't question anything. "Power Ax!"

"Power Bow!"

"Power Daggers!"

"Power Sword!"

"Dragon Dagger!"

"Zeo I Power Disc!"

"Zeo V Power Sword!"

Every Ranger (save for Ty) also grabbed their sidearm. With unparalleled synchronicity, all six Rangers slammed their weapons into the ground beneath them, simultaneously firing their sidearms at full burst. Cyrus called out for them to stop, but it was too late. All the force fields went down. Energy and sparks erupted from beneath the Rangers' feet. They, along with the chess pieces, were bucked off into the dirt as the board jerked into the air. The top layer of the outermost rows folded like origami into sharp fangs. It was a huge chess board monster that planned to chew the Rangers up.

Seconds later, Zeo Rangers I and V were teleported away, leaving Aiden's team to finish the battle. "I could have beaten him," Billy muttered under his breath as he too teleported back to base.

The monster lunged with an inhuman groan, but found its mouth stopped, propped open by a timely throw of the Power Lance. The Rangers scrambled to regain their footing as the monster bared down and finally snapped the Lance in half. The energy surge caused Bryan to go flying, screaming as he crashed into a nearby bird fountain. "Yellow, to Blue. Green, blow this popsicle stand. The rest of you, take out the chess pieces." Aiden saved the more dangerous job for himself as he began firing a beam of ice at the monster board, trying to slow it down. He kept backflipping, kick flipping, and every other kind of flipping maneuver he could think of while he dodged the monster's attacks. "Sergeant!" he shouted. "Pull your men back! We got this!"

Kerri's arrows found the rest of the pawns while Jake's Power Sword cut through a Knight like butter, and his momentum carried him into a horizontal slice through a Rook. Their defenses were practically nonexistent, and they weren't exactly putting up much of a fight either. Jake's sword cut through the two Bishops, the last knight, and finally the Queen. After finishing the Putties, Kerri fired four arrows at the Rook, disintegrating it. Both set their sights on the King. Kerri fired a charged up energy arrow just as Jake thrust his blade through the monster's torso, and with a squeal it evaporated.

"Checkmate!" both Kerri and Jake yelled at once.

Jake opened a private line to Kerri. "Don't tell Ty I said this, but that was kinda cool." He was already running back toward Aiden.

"Your secret's safe with me," she chuckled as she began running back herself. But both were stopped at the sound of a trumpet. They both looked up to see Ty up on the stone where Billy had stood, playing his Dragon Dagger. With massive stomps and a screeching roar, the Dragonzord approached. Changing directions, Kerri and Jake began to clear the surrounding area of civilians, as a few straggling reporters had stayed behind.

"Now!" Aiden yelled, and the entire team leapt up and landed on the Dragonzord's shoulders, Ty landing on its head.

"Alright, Dragonzord!" Ty yelled. "Game over!" With a tune from his flute, the Green Ranger ordered the Dragonzord to arm its finger missiles, which fired in rapid succession at the partially frozen monster chess board.

No explosion had ever felt so satisfying.

Location: Command Center

The Rangers returned to find Kat and Tommy sitting in chairs, looking absolutely exhausted. Using the Zeo Powers drained them more than they let on. But what caught their interest was a wall panel that was open, one that they never knew about. Inside, on top of a high-tech looking plinth, sat the legendary Zeo Crystal itself. It looked dim, failing to produce more than a faint glow that could be dwarfed by a simple nightlight.

Billy stepped forward and explained the history of the Zeo Crystal, starting from its placement, all the way to Master Vile's attempt to take it. He further explained what happened after that. "Each of the Rangers kept their subcrystal when it grew weak. They tried to return it to the Caves of Deception, but Thrax, son of Rita and Zedd, came after it. They had to reclaim it, but its powers are regrowing too slowly. Using the crystal is dangerous."

"Which explains why you guys never use those powers," Thuy said. She'd been wondering about that for a while. "You used them so heavily against the Machine Empire, there just wasn't anything left."

"Before I left for Aquitar, I built the Turbo powers, using these massive, power-generating crystal caves on Eltar to serve as their power source," Billy explained. "Since the powers were based off-Earth, I either had to use Eltarian creatures as the base, which would have made them unstable given my unfamiliarity with Eltarian zoology, or base them off inanimate objects that didn't need living DNA to operate. So I ended up just making cars."

Ty slumped into a chair as well. "That was harrowing. That chess game... I already hated chess, but now? Checkers for life."

"I wouldn't get too comfortable with that," Aiden warned. "Pretty soon we'll be facing Checkers, Backgammon, and Mancala monsters."

Kerri clasped a hand on Bryan's shoulder. "Nice job figuring out the board was the monster."

"Yeah, that was really something," Rocky agreed. "Reminds me of old times. The Blue Ranger figuring out the puzzle."

Bryan grinned. "Well I had to do something. Billy was really struggling out there."

The group started laughing at the taunt. Billy smiled broadly and walked over to Bryan. "You want to go? I have a chess board."

Bryan backed away. "No thanks. I think I'm good on chess forever."

Laughter and conversation continued, but eventually echoed away, leaving Adam and Billy in the Command Center together. It was late at night, several hours after the battle ended. The two former Rangers stood watching the image of Zedd's palace gathering more energy. Zedd hadn't stopped, and power readings were going off the charts.

Something was going to happen. And the Rangers were not prepared.