Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.


Chapter 3: Powerless

New Tech City, 2025

The Rangers picked themselves up, raising their guard for the impending charge of the Troobian soldiers. Cruger and Jack stood at the front, the commander's sword and Jack's Enforcer raised.

"Your time has come, Rangers!" Thrax hissed, his yellow eyes burning with a cold hatred. "Your kind ruined my parents, polluting them with goodness and robbing them of their power and heritage. Now, I shall avenge them, by destroying the legacy of the Power Rangers once and for all!"

"Enough talk!" Gruumm snarled, his own red eyes flashing as he raised his staff. "Attack!" he roared.

With a chorus of roars and snarls, the Troobian forces charged.

"Come on, Rangers!" Jack yelled, raising his Enforcer. "Let's do it!"

"Right!" the others chorused.

The six Rangers ran forward, racing headlong into the teeth of the Troobian army.


Gruumm roared towards Cruger on his cycle, snarling as he armed the bike's laser cannon. As soon as he was within range, he opened fire, sending a salvo of deadly beams screaming towards the Shadow Ranger.

Cruger ducked and dodged frantically, barely avoiding the blasts as they tore up the ground around him. Putting a surge of energy into his legs, he leaped high into the air as Gruumm neared him, raising his Shadow Saber for a downward strike.

Just as Cruger reached the apex of his jump, Gruumm yanked back on the bike's handlebars, rearing the front end of the cycle up until the cannon was aimed directly at Cruger. Another beam fired, this one hitting the S.P.D. Commander squarely in the chest and engulfing him in a powerful explosion. Cruger spun uncontrollably to the ground, trailing smoke, and landed hard. He scrambled to his feet, raising his sword again, as Gruumm circled and came around for another pass.

This time, however, the Troobian Emperor was prepared. He raised his staff, channeling his full power down it and charging up a crackling mass of purple electricity, before slashing the staff into Cruger's torso and unleashing the blast at point-blank range. Cruger was hurled backwards, tumbling across the ground, and this time he did not get back up.


Thrax barreled straight for Jack like a charging bull, whirling his staff. Jack met the alien's strike with a sweeping blow of his Enforcer, but he was quickly overwhelmed, sent staggering backwards as he desperately tried to keep up with his opponent. In addition to having the advantage in reach, Thrax was a masterful hand-to-hand fighter.

Trying to gain some distance, Jack backflipped high into the air, arming his double-barreled Enforcer and unleashing a rapid-fire volley of shots. Thrax's staff spun and twirled, batting aside the incoming bolts, as he leaped straight up after Jack with no hesitation, whirling his staff. Each fighter landed a blow to the other in midair, Jack kicking Thrax in the stomach while the alien landed a raking blow across the Red Ranger's chest with his staff. Sparks flew from the point of impact, and Jack let out a cry of pain as he lost control of his jump and plummeted to earth. He slammed into the ground and lay there for a moment, groaning, the wind knocked out of him.

Thrax landed lightly on his feet, turning to face the fallen Ranger and twirling his staff in a leisurely fashion as he advanced. "Come now, Ranger," he sneered. "Surely you must have more fight in you than that!"

Jack growled, hauling himself to his feet and readying himself. "All right," he snapped. "Let's see how you like this!" Raising his Morpher, he readied himself for the transformation into his powered-up Battlizer form.

Thrax sneered. "I don't think so!" Holding his staff out to one side, he began spinning it, flicking the grip from one hand to the other, twirling it to the left, then the right, all around his body, arcs of electricity crackling up and down the metal, before finally snapping it forward, sending the supercharged torrent of black-and-white lightning directly at Jack. The Red Ranger had no time to react or transform before the blast smashed into him, overwhelming his defenses and hurling him backwards across the abandoned lot, lifting him high into the air before the accumulated energy detonated, engulfing him in a massive fireball. Jack fell to the ground, slamming into the dust. He lay there, groaning for a few seconds, before his suit dematerialized in a flash of red light.


Sky and Bridge fought back-to-back, blasting away with their Enforcers as they raked the charging mass of Troobian robot soldiers with energy bolts. Win or lose, they were prepared to go down fighting.

At first, it wasn't too difficult; dozens of Troobians were gunned down, blasted apart before they could reach the Rangers. But they just kept on coming, charging over the bodies of their companions, an unstoppable tide. Before long, the two Rangers were dragged apart, lashing out wildly in every direction. Sparks flew from their bodies as the robotic soldiers' attacks began to do damage, cracks and burns being scored into their suits.

For a moment, the mass of Krybots in front of them parted, revealing a column of Orangeheads and Blueheads – the more advanced foot soldiers in the Troobian arsenal – forming up to face the two Rangers. Before Sky and Bridge could react, the column of robots unleashed a furious barrage of energy blasts that smashed into the Blue and Green Rangers, tearing into their suits and tossing them away through the air amid an explosion of flames.


Morgana went straight for Z and Syd, her armored helmet snapping shut over her face as she charged. The Yellow and Pink Rangers raised their Enforcers and opened fire, but Gruumm's deadly second-in-command leaped high into the air, vaulting over the Rangers' barrage, and flipped, landing behind them and slashing down their backs with the wickedly-curved blades that extended from her forearms. Both Rangers cried out in pain, staggering uncontrollably forwards before spinning to face their adversary.

"Gotta say, I've been looking forward to this," Morgana sneered as she stalked forward. "Thrax had it right, I guess. All we needed to do was split you up, and then it's easy to take you down."

"Back off!" Syd snarled, firing a volley from her Enforcer. The bolts struck the ground all around Morgana, but the villainess dodged through the blasts, raking one of her blades across the Pink Ranger's midsection with a shower of sparks and then side-kicking her in the chest, knocking her flat on her back and sending her skidding away.

"Hey!" Z shouted, charging forwards with her Enforcer raised. She and Morgana collided in what resembled a street fight more than standard Ranger combat, going at it hammer and tongs, neither woman planning ahead, each just trying to get in one more hit than their opponent. They were deadlocked for a few seconds, but Morgana eventually landed a slash to Z's side, and when the Yellow Ranger flinched to that side, favoring the injured side, the armored woman was able to sweep Z's legs out from under her, landing another blow as she fell and knocking the wind out of her.

"You okay?" Syd asked anxiously as she grabbed her friend's arm, helping Z to her feet.

Z nodded shakily. "Yeah… yeah, I'm okay." She looked up over the Pink Ranger's shoulder, and her eyes snapped open wide. "Look out!"

"Fools!" Morgana cackled. The two female Rangers whirled to face her, realizing that they'd given their enemy an opening. Both of the curved blades on her forearms lit up with crackling pink energy, as she raised her arms, crossing them in front of her face. Before her opponents could react, she flung her arms out, launching a pair of energized shockwaves forwards. Both energy waves, launched in an X pattern, sliced across Z and Syd's torsos, blasting them off their feet as they involuntarily demorphed.


All six Rangers, battered and staggering, formed a ragged circle at the center of the lot. Gruumm, Morgana and Thrax stood facing them, the dozens of robot soldiers moving in to surround their defeated enemies.

"Excellent!" Thrax exulted, cackling cruelly. "At long last, the once-mighty Power Rangers are left groveling at my feet!" He turned to Gruumm and Morgana. "Now, Emperor, there is one final thing for us to do. Lend me your evil energy, so I may eliminate the Rangers once and for all!"

After a moment, Gruumm nodded. "Very well!" he snarled. "Morgana!"

"Of course, Emperor," Morgana replied with a cruel smirk. She raised a hand into the air, focusing her energy as her hands began to glow with pink light. Gruumm did the same, hoisting up his staff and sending a surge of deep purple electricity into the air around them, his eyes blazing red.

Thrax stepped forward, becoming the focal point for the three villains' combined power, his own staff lighting up with crackling black-and-white energy. Growling, he drew all the combined power into himself, using his staff as the focal point. Crisscrossing energy bolts arced through the air around the three villains, almost obscuring them from view.

"What're they doing?" Z gasped.

Bridge clutched at his head, groaning in pain; his psychometric power was normally dampened by the gloves he habitually wore, but the magnitude of the evil power building up in front of him was so great that he could sense it even through the dampeners' effects.

With a roar, Thrax hurled the barrage of evil energy outwards. Surprisingly, it wasn't aimed at the Rangers, but rather upwards, into the sky overhead. The bolts seemed to strike the heavens themselves, tearing open glowing purple rents in the very fabric of reality, which pulsed with the same sickly hue as the energy around the villains. The distortion quickly spread, racing outwards at the speed of light, enveloping the entire planet in less than a second.

For a second, Bridge swore his enhanced senses could detect… something… filtering through the tears in reality, a kind of energy that he'd never sensed before. Well… almost never. The only time he'd felt anything like it before was what he experienced during the moments when he went through his Morphing sequence, when the ethereal energy of his Ranger transformation flooded his body.

What… is that?! he wondered.


Sam whooped in delight, as the Omega Megazord's arm-swords sliced across the giant robot with a flash of light, carving through critical components and almost severing it in two. The robot staggered drunkenly for a moment, sparks and flame erupting from its wounds, and then toppled forward, erupting into a massive fireball.

"All right!" the Omega Ranger called out. "That's what I'm talking about!" He activated his communication link with the Delta Base. "Omega Ranger to base, target destroyed!"

Suddenly, the Megazord staggered, as what felt like an earthquake rumbled through the city. Sam looked up in astonishment as an odd, purple glow cut through the blue of the sky. High above, a tracery of jagged, glowing lines, like cracks in the sky itself, appeared, tracing their way off into the horizon in all directions.

Sam's eyes widened under his helmet. "What the hell is that?!" he exclaimed, forgetting that the communication link with the base was still open.

"I don't know," Kat's voice echoed over the communication link, "but that's not the priority right now. Commander Cruger and the other Rangers are in trouble. I need you to get there now and help them. Hurry!"

Sam nodded. "I'm on my way!"


The light and noise died down, and the glowing tears in the sky faded away. The warping, distorting effect on reality ended, and the world seemingly returned to normal.

Z was the first one to speak up. "What the hell was that?" she demanded, picking herself up.

"At this point, I don't care," Jack replied flatly. "All I'm concerned with is kicking their asses." He pointed at Thrax, Gruumm and Morgana. "This isn't over yet!"

"Right you are, Jack!" Cruger agreed.

Jack grasped his Morpher, raising it into his practiced stance. "Ready!" he yelled.

"Ready!" the other five Rangers chorused, doing the same. As one, they called out the familiar cry.

"S.P.D. Emergency!"

Only, this time… nothing happened.

Well, not quite nothing. Instead of activating the Ranger's transformations, all six Morphers let out bursts of sparks, shocking the fighters' hands and causing them to flinch back. All of the Rangers stared at their cracked, sparking Morphers with shocked expressions on their faces.

"Surprised?" Thrax chuckled, leaning on his staff and breathing heavily; the strain of casting such a powerful spell had left him severely drained. "Don't be. You see, with that spell, I've severed your connection to the Universal Morphing Grid." His eyes narrowed in sadistic glee. "Which means, you are no longer Power Rangers!"

Jack glanced over at the other members of B-Squad, seeing the horrified expressions on their faces. He wracked his brain, trying to come up with a solution, but try as he might, nothing came to him. He glared at his useless Morpher, now seeing the damage that had been inflicted upon it.

Damn it! he cursed inwardly. We couldn't beat them even with our powers; how the hell do we stop them now?!

"Excellent work, Thrax," Gruumm rumbled. "Now, let us finish this, once and for all!"

"Of course, Emperor," Thrax hissed. Gruumm raised his arm, and the Troobian army readied themselves for the final charge.

"Okay, guys," Jack muttered slowly as he glanced left, then right. "I don't see how we're gonna do this. Any ideas?" No answer came. Sky's eyes narrowed as he kept his guard up, clearly ready to go down fighting. Bridge and Syd were both trembling a little, Bridge still rubbing his temples from the aftereffects of Thrax's spell, but they stood firm. Z glanced over at Jack, shrugged, and managed a shaky grin. Cruger's gaze was focused on Gruumm, hard and unyielding, as he raised his Shadow Saber.

Gruumm raised his arm, preparing to give the command, his eyes burning red pits of wrath…

And then a brilliant flash of golden light lit up the air in front of them, causing the Troobians and the now-depowered Rangers to flinch back in shock. The light faded slightly, revealing a glowing figure hovering in the air, facing the villains.

As the light ebbed enough for the team to get a good view of the mysterious new arrival, Jack was surprised to note that this figure was unlike anyone or anything he'd ever seen before. The mysterious figure was clad in glowing golden robes over gold-and-black armor, like some kind of medieval knight. A pair of luminous green eyes, giving an impression of immense age and wisdom, flicked from side to side, taking in the scene.

"Get away from them!" the mysterious being thundered to the assembled villains in a deep, echoing baritone, his voice seeming to rumble through their bones.

"You!" Thrax snarled, his expression instantly dissolving into one of pure hatred. Then he sneered, a twisted smirk crossing his face. "This just keeps getting better, doesn't it?"

"Whoever you are, do not interfere!" Gruumm roared, raising his staff. "Stand aside, or be destroyed!"

"No!" To the Rangers' surprise, Thrax raised an arm in front of the Troobian Emperor, stopping his advance. "You can't destroy him, unfortunately." His eyes gleamed as he turned back to the glowing figure. "But I know what can."

The glowing figure glanced over his shoulder to the Rangers. "Come, Power Rangers," he intoned in an urgent tone. "We've got to get out of here!" He waved his hand in an arc, there was another brilliant flash of light, and the glowing figure – along with all six Rangers – vanished into thin air.

Gruumm froze for a moment, not sure what to make of this. Then, realizing that his prey had escaped him, just at his moment of victory, he let out a roar of fury, his eyes blazing red.

"Calm yourself, Emperor!" Thrax snapped, cutting Gruumm off. The Troobian Emperor rounded on him, but the horned alien didn't seem worried. He smirked. "Let them go. They're powerless now; they shouldn't cause you any more trouble."

"So now what?" Morgana inquired.

Thrax chuckled. "Well, now that the Rangers have been dealt with, Earth is yours to plunder as you see fit. And as for me, I plan to get my revenge on the Sentinel Knight!"

After a moment, Gruumm nodded. "So be it," he growled. He thrust his staff into the air, and, with a flash of light, the three villains and their assembled army vanished, leaving the industrial lot empty and silent once more.


The brilliant flash of light faded away, and the six S.P.D. Rangers found themselves suddenly standing in the middle of the Delta Base's Command Center.

"Guys!" Boom exclaimed. He and Kat had been standing at the computer console in the center of the room, monitoring the battle, and he rushed over as soon as they appeared. Kat sent a quick message over the communications network, recalling the Omega Ranger from his mission to go assist the others, and then joined them.

"What… what happened out there?" she asked, her eyes wide in shock. "I was monitoring the battle, and all six of your Ranger energy signatures just… vanished. I thought you might have been…" She fell silent, unable to finish the sentence.

"We're all right, Kat," Cruger reassured her. He held up his black-and-gold Morpher, examining the extensive damage that was now visible, just like all of the others' Morphers. "Somehow, Thrax was able to sever our connection to the Morphing Grid, thereby disabling our powers."

"Hang on, quick question," Z spoke up. "So… what the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"And while we're at it," Bridge put in, "who was that guy who saved us?"

"Not that I'm complaining," Syd remarked.

"I believe I can give you the information you need," the voice from before echoed, as the glowing, golden-armored figure from before materialized in the center of the room. Kat and Boom flinched back, but the Rangers had all seen this before, and weren't as shocked as they would otherwise have been. At close range, they could now see that their mysterious benefactor wasn't as solid as they were; he was semi-transparent, like a hologram, and the observers could see the wall behind him through his body.

The figure inclined his head, looking down at them. "Greetings, Power Rangers of Space Patrol Delta. I am the Sentinel Knight. Like you, I am a defender of life and peace throughout the galaxy."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Cruger greeted the strange being.

The Sentinel Knight nodded in greeting. "You as well, Commander Cruger. I wish we could have met under better circumstances. Unfortunately, however, this entire planet is now in grave danger."

"Because of this Thrax guy, right?" Jack spoke up. "Who exactly is he, by the way?"

"To put it mildly, he's very bad news," Kat explained. "Thrax's parents, Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa, were some of the worst, most infamous villains in all of history. They were the first supervillains to attack the modern-day Earth; in fact, it was their invasion that prompted the creation of Earth's first team of Power Rangers. They were defeated many years ago, but clearly, Thrax is still out for revenge."

"He is," the Sentinel Knight confirmed. "He tried to wreak vengeance upon the Earth once before, but I was able to stop him then. Thrax possesses great power and evil despite his youth, and I did not have the strength to destroy him, but I was able to use my magic to seal him away in an enchanted prison. But eventually he escaped, and I no longer have enough power to seal him away again." He grew silent for a moment, his voice and attitude grave. "This time, I fear that I cannot stop him."

"Especially now that he's teamed up with Gruumm," Sky muttered.

"Precisely," the Knight confirmed. "Alone, Thrax would be a significant threat, but nothing that your team could not have handled. However, by joining forces with the Troobians, he has created an evil far more potent than anything else you have faced before."

"Especially considering what he's done to our powers," Cruger murmured.

"Yeah, I don't understand that," Boom admitted. "I mean, what did he do to them, exactly?" He indicated the Rangers.

The Sentinel Knight considered that question for a moment. "To put it simply, Thrax's spell was able to affect the Morphing Grid: the dimension from which all Power Rangers draw their morphing energy. Thrax used his spell to disrupt the inner workings of the Morphing Grid here on Earth, and severed your connections to it. By doing that, he cut these Rangers off from their morphing powers."

Boom gulped audibly. "Well, that sounds… terrifying," he managed.

"So what do we do?" Sky demanded. "How do we stop him?"

"I am not sure if you can, particularly without your powers," the Sentinel Knight said sadly. He paused, perhaps thinking things over. "But without you, the world is helpless against Thrax and the Troobian invaders." His voice firmed, and he seemed to reach some sort of decision. "This cannot be allowed to happen. I must do something." With that, his outline rippled oddly, there was another flash of golden light, and he was gone.

For a long moment, there was silence in the Command Center.

"So," Bridge murmured quietly. "Where does that leave us, then?"

Jack pulled out his Morpher and opened it, flinching as sparks sputtered from the damaged device. Its screen was shattered, and sparks crackled from several damaged inner components. He hastily deactivated it, then sighed and looked up at the others. "Powerless," he sighed.


Gruumm stalked back onto the bridge of the Terror, followed by Morgana and Thrax. "So," he rumbled. "Your strategy has succeeded… but the Rangers are still alive, and they may still be a threat to my plans for Earth."

"And what about this Sentinel Knight?" Morgana pointed out. "He's not going to be an easy target, is he?"

Thrax smiled, inclining his head. "Well, Emperor, the Rangers do still live, but, apart from their comrade, the Omega Ranger, they have all been rendered powerless. Rest assured, there is nothing they can do to regain access to their Ranger powers, and as such, they are no longer a threat to your plans. As for the Sentinel Knight, I have a plan in place that will enable me to deal with him." He chuckled. "But, to make sure that our conquest will go unchallenged, even if the Rangers do still have some tricks up their sleeves, I took the liberty of calling in some backup."

"Backup?" Morgana frowned. "Who?"

Thrax grinned, holding up a small signaling device and pushing a button on it. With a flash of light and a crackle of electricity, two figures materialized next to him, both dressed in golden armor. One was more animalistic in appearance, looking something like a gargoyle from a medieval cathedral, with dark blue skin, black fur and glowing red eyes, and a cruel, bestial snarl on his sharp-toothed visage. The other was a beautiful young woman with long dark hair and a confident smirk on her ruby lips.

"My dear Emperor," Thrax said with a grin, "allow me to introduce two of my parents' old friends, Goldar and Scorpina."

"Are we going to war, Lord Thrax?" Goldar growled eagerly.

"Indeed we are, my friend," Thrax replied with a smirk. "It's about time."


Notes: Hello, everyone, and welcome back!

Bringing back Goldar and Scorpina was another method of mine to make sure there were some more significant villains in this story, as I'm trying to make this a more action-packed story than the original Once a Ranger crossover during the Operation Overdrive series. Plus, Thrax did have a lot more allies in the canon story than he initially did here, so this is my attempt to give the Rangers a bigger challenge to overcome.

Shoutouts to brankel1, Jokermask18, RHatch89, Son of Whitebeard, Kaiju Ranger, Guest(1), Guest(2), Guest(3), Guest(4), and Guest(5) for reviewing! You guys are all awesome!

Next chapter, the now-powerless B-Squad Rangers attempt to defend Earth against their enemies' renewed assault, and the Sentinel Knight's desperate plan comes to fruition, in Chapter 4: The Last Stand! See you all then!