Thanks to all my lovely reviewers: The-Chibi-Poe (thanks for the heads up on the error: I hate it when people point out that there's typos and mistakes but don't tell me where), gardien1204 (not a year… just a couple of months), beast575 (any chance I can take to redeem the dreck that is Turbo, I will take it), Ghostwriter, MovieGal007 (don't denigrate your own work. We all have fun here in this monster-strewn sandbox), Mirajane92 (I'm definitely going to do a time travel and memory loss story, though as usual I'll make plenty of changes and adjustments. Two time travel stories I think is a bit excessive, especially since there's a time travel element in the lead-up to Zeo), brankel1, The-Knight2000 (You will definitely have to contend with a slow update schedule—such is the life of an adult—but if I ever do have to drop it, there will be an ending chapter that will sum up what I never got to write. I don't intend for that to happen, though.), grannybe, McQuirk, Willz (is two months "several"?), KLR1 (This is a really big story, so some characters and settings might disappear for a few chapters, but I will get back to them.), Richardc269, Anon (Thank you! A lot of people didn't like the Greek gods, and I expected some resistance to the Trini/Zack thing—though I had been building that in the background a bit—but I'm glad you liked it overall), Halfcent (Thanks for all the reviews! I'm sorry you won't be able to binge-read anymore. I wish I could binge-write, but life just doesn't work that way.), GothamPowerKaiju (I'll use villains when they come up. The problem is, I stopped watching around the time of Turbo, so I don't have as much of a handle on In Space and later. I've been doing research, but that ends up cutting into my writing time.), falcon242, Son of Whitebeard, and jwstahle.


Brighter Paths

Book 2: The Sword of Power

Chapter 8: Outclassed

"Hey, I can't get a signal here," Aisha said.

Alpha peered over her shoulder at the readouts. He had just been showing Adam how to use his communicator, and Rocky was heading down to learn how to run diagnostics on the Zords. He'd left Aisha at the long-range communications array to keep watch over the Rangers.

"I'm not doing it wrong, am I?" Aisha said nervously.

"No, Aisha, you're handling the controls correctly," Alpha commented.

"What's wrong?" Adam said, looking over Aisha's other shoulder.

"If you guys will stop crowding me," Aisha said, "I… think I better let you drive, Alpha."

She stepped back and motioned to the controls, clearing up Alpha's confusion over the phrasing before he had time to articulate it.

Alpha poked and prodded the controls for a while, and finally the soft static began to clear. "…my to Zordon, …n… Tommy to…"

"We read you, Tommy," Zordon said, obviously relieved that they'd established connection. "Report your progress."

"Contact's…." Tommy's voice was drowned out by static.

"Repeat that, please, Tommy," Zordon said.

"… dead," Tommy repeated. "Our contact is dead."

Zordon's eyes flew open. "Tommy, gather the Rangers and prepare to teleport out. You're in grave danger."

All that answered them was static.

"I'm sorry, Zordon," Alpha said. "We lost the signal. I'm trying to regain it, but…"

"Keep trying," Zordon said. "Something might be disrupting the teleportation signal as well. The Rangers do not want to get stuck on that planet."

"Why not, Zordon?" Aisha said. "You guys said it was supposed to be a neutral planet."

"It is, for a very important reason," Zordon said darkly. "While slave ownership is widespread throughout the galaxy, the slave trade is strictly forbidden on both sides."

"Let me guess," Adam said. "All but that planet."

"But…" Aisha's face had taken hard lines, "there's got to be something you can do! I mean, they're not going to be…" She stopped at the word "sold."

"Only our contact could vouch for them if they got in trouble," Zordon said. "Without him, they're open for anyone to capture them. If they do get captured, they'll have to fight their way out."


Kimberly pulled herself off the floor. She felt a hand steady her.

"Slowly," Jason said. "I got up too quick and almost puked."

Kimberly nodded and closed her eyes at the wave of nausea. Whatever teleport beam had brought them had done a number on her. She wondered if it was an accidental side effect of being forcefully teleported, or if that effect was intentional, to keep new prisoners off balance.

"M'okay," Kimberly said, waving off Jason. "Zack?"

"Not here," Jason said. "I think he got away."

"I hope so," she said. "He can go get help."

"Our communicators aren't working," Jason said. "I haven't tried to…"

Kimberly cut him off with a gesture before he could say the word "morph," and then pointed to the corner. She wasn't sure there was a camera there, but that's where she would have put it. She wasn't even sure if they were listening in, but if they were, she didn't want to give away that they had power.

They heard footsteps, along with a familiar, high-pitched voice. The crazy monster from the bar…

"I've got the main one secured, but these two prisoners were giving off weird power signatures. Didn't know what you wanted done with them, so I put them in high security, too."

"Oh, good," a female voice answered. "I knew that little Edenoi rat was up to something. If he was contacting who I think he was, and our other guest makes me pretty damn sure about that, we've got something more valuable than the usual slave stock. Tell me, did he give any clues as to who these kids are?"

"I could always ask him," Elgar said. "Oh, wait! I killed him. Probably can't ask him, then. I'll just ask our guest then."

"You know," the woman sighed, "that's what I like about you. Always so dependable."

There was a clicking sound, and one of the walls of their cell suddenly disappeared. Jason and Kimberly shielded their eyes from the sudden brightness.

"Don't try to escape, the wall is still there, it's just transparent," the woman said boredly. "Now…" she grinned, "who are you, that an Edenoi prince would take such interest in you?"

Edenoi… that sounded familiar to Kimberly, but she couldn't recall why at the moment. She was too busy sizing up their situation.

Elgar was standing beyond their cell, grinning at them. Beside him was a tall, rather Amazonian woman in red and gold armor. She was folding her arms and had her eyebrows raised expectantly.

Kimberly took a pretty safe guess. "Divatox?"

Divatox's face split into a grin. "You recognized me. Elgar, that's the twentieth time that's happened. I'm officially a household name."

"Or would be if you didn't keep blowing up all those households," Elgar commented.

"Shush," Divatox said, and then turned back to the Rangers. "You are a sweet dear, but you haven't answered my question. You and your ilk planned a clandestine meeting with one of the most wanted men in the galaxy, and in the meantime you're showing power of your own. So, get this to make sense for me." Her grin widened. "You're after a tasty bit of power, aren't you?"

"Shopping for a vacation home," Kimberly responded blithely. "And we weren't meeting anyone."

"We were just having a drink," Jason said. "Then your psycho over there decided he'd interrupt that drink."

"He does that," Divatox sighed. "If you were innocently having a drink and not up to something, you'd be terrified of me. I think my nephew has caught a couple of heroes. What do you think?"

"Do we look like heroes?" Kimberly said.

Divatox looked them up and down slowly, ending with their eyes. "Yes. But we can put that to the test, if you wish."

The wall shimmered and turned opaque, leaving the room dimmer.

"Did you see a way out?" Kimberly said. "We'd need Billy or Trini to try to figure out whatever technology is keeping us in here."

"We could…"

Kimberly cut Jason off. He looked confused for a second, and then nodded. Divatox might still be listening, and she wanted to know what kind of power they had. If they morphed and couldn't get past the tech, things might go very badly for them. They'd lost their backpacks, but they still had their power coins and communicators. Kimberly felt the comforting weight of the coin in her pocket.

They'd have to play this carefully. Wait for an opening, and play their captors. In the meantime, all they had to do was wait.

"I wonder who the other prisoner is they were talking about," Jason said, covering his cut-off sentence.

"I hope it isn't Zack," Kimberly said. "But… it wouldn't make sense if they separated him from us."

They froze as a scream rent the air. It was faint, but clear. Apparently the walls were somewhat soundproof, but whatever "asking" Elgar was doing of the other prisoner was making him scream loud enough to go through the walls.

"That's not Zack," Jason said, somewhat relieved.

"Not sure who it is, though," Kimberly said, listening carefully. It sounded vaguely familiar, but not like any of her friends. "Not anyone I would want to be."


"Zordon. Do you read me, Zordon?" Only static answered Tommy's calls as he jabbed at his communicator in frustration. "Shit. We've got to get out of here."

"Yes. Yes, you do."

The voice at the door was soft, the words spoken in a flat tone. Tommy, Billy, and Trini grouped together, ready to defend themselves.

"I am not here to harm you," the man said softly. "I'm your real contact. Come, we have to move."

The man was identical to the corpse on the ground. He had dark curly hair, a thin somber face, and a gem gleaming in the middle of his forehead. Unceremoniously, the man kicked his twin corpse.

"I had to know," he said. "It's not safe for us here. It never was, but now less so." He frowned. "I can't vouch for you now. I can't even vouch for myself. Come."

"This was a decoy?" Tommy said.

"You made someone die in your stead?" Trini demanded.

The man flinched. "Wouldn't be the first time. But no. That's a fake. It will disintegrate in a few minutes. But the one targeting me will figure that out soon enough. We must hurry."

"Prince Dex?" Tommy ventured.

Dex flinched again. "That name's not safe here, either. Call me Rider for now." With a flick of his hand, he flipped his hood up and positioned a scarf over his mouth, and then swept out of the room.

Tommy, Trini, and Billy took one look at each other. This didn't seem to be quite as straightforward as Zordon had led them to believe… but then when was anything? They followed, careful to duck their heads and trying not to look too suspicious.

The street was busy, so it was easy to lose themselves in the throng. Dex had a talent for keeping in their sight, though. With his hood and stately tread, he looked more like a religious hermit than a fugitive. They kept it up for a few more streets, and Tommy was starting to wonder if they were ever going to get to their destination, when they saw Zack waiting outside a doorway.

Dex made a hushing motion at the clearly-confused Zack, then ushered them all past the door. They looked to be in a simple hotel room, though the hotel seemed to be long deserted. There was a layer of dust over everything, with sand and plant life starting to creep in through the sole window.

"Okay, how the heck did you do that?" Zack said. "I… I just got this impulse to be here, and I don't even know where here is."

Dex was busy barricading the door and covering the window. "First, tell your friends your bad news. Then we will plan."

"What is it?" Tommy said. "Where is Kim? Jason?"

Zack blew air through his pursed lips. "We were at a bar when this… something… named Elgar came in and did something and suddenly everyone was gone."

"Slaver teleport," Dex said. "Your friends are possibly in greater danger than we. Elgar is Divatox's nephew and assassin."

"Okay, D… I mean Rider, slow down," Tommy said. "We were here to gain the location of the Sword of Power from you. Now we have a space pirate after us, hiding from assassins, and part of our team has been captured by said space pirate. Can you start from the beginning and tell us what we've gotten ourselves into?"

"If Jason and Kimberly are captured, we need to go save them," Billy said. "If they were captured by an assassin, we don't have a lot of time…"

"Oh, Divatox won't kill your friends. They have information and power," Dex said, peering out the corner of a curtain before turning to face them. "Those are what Divatox craves the most, and that's at the root of our problems."

"She wants the Sword of Power," Trini surmised.

Dex's dark eyes hardened. "She doesn't entirely know what she's after." He dropped his hood. "I've been undercover as an arms dealer here for about a year. In reality, I sell subpar weapons and disrupt the slavers as much as possible."

"If slavery's so much of an issue, why do people come here?" Trini said.

"Some are criminals, other fugitives from both sides. Many don't have a choice. The slave trade was illegal until about a year and a half ago. That's when this planet left ownership of Count Dregon and came under the purview of some opportunistic gangsters. It's expensive to get off this planet. I was working on disrupting the center of the gangsters' power... their agreement with Divatox. Divatox found me out. I was laying low and figuring out my next more when Zordon contacted me."

"Sorry," Zack said.

Dex shrugged. "A friend in need. We have made everything worse on both our parts, however."

"We teleported here, and our communicator's on the fritz," Tommy said. "Sounds like we need to get to Divatox's ship if we're going to get our friends back. Rider, do you have a ship?"

Dex hesitated. "I do… It's ostentatious. We'll never get out of here without attracting attention, and we'll never be able to sneak up on Divatox." He took a breath, as if preparing for an argument. "I'm not helping you fight Divatox, though. You're on your own after this."

The Rangers stared at him, and he glowered back.

"I thought you were fighting the slavers," Billy pointed out. "Wouldn't helping us be mutually beneficial?"

Dex's crystal, which occasionally caught the light, seemed to darken. "You're not just rescuing your friends. You're fighting a war. That's not a war I'm interested in anymore. I'm just interested in helping people."

"We do help people," Zack protested.

"Which is why you and Trini are leaving the war, along with your friend Jason?" Dex said. At their confused expressions, he pointed at his crystal. "Telepathic. I can read some people better than others. I tried to make contact with you, Tommy, as well as Kimberly, and I couldn't break through."

"We've been subjected to mind control. Makes us a bit closed off," Tommy said. "And you're avoiding the question. What's the difference between fighting Divatox the slaver and Divatox the commander for the side of darkness? It's the same war."

Dex ground his teeth. "You can say that so simply. Nothing good can come from this war." He seemed to consciously calm himself. "You've suffered. I can read that much. You will suffer more. You will lose people. You will lose yourself. Because of you, a war rages on your planet, and you and the other side will tear each other apart until nothing of what you love remains."

Dex's crystal shone brighter with each word, until he raised his hand to his head, seemingly unable to stop himself. The room brightened with images projected from the crystal.

There was no sound, and the images were disjointed and seemed washed out. It showed Prince Dex, and then a motorcycle rider in a mask, fighting on a desert planet. Not the planet they were on, but one that was deep red, with towering rock formations and deep caves. Dex struggled with mechanical warriors, saw his friends fall around him, his mentor die, his people suffer the ravages of war. He fought against a man in a white mask, until only the two of them remained. Until the planet and all its inhabitants were dead, and Dex was standing over the man whose mask was stained in blood…

"Count Dregon," Dex whispered, though in the perfect silence he was easily understood. "My uncle. He sided with the forces of darkness, but it became much more than sides in a war. It became personal. He…" Dex swallowed hard. "He thought he was helping our planet. He had closed his mind from mine, but I could read that much. He had the best of intentions at first… but he became twisted with evil. He ravaged Edenoi, wanting power and resources… anything that Dark Specter wanted."

"Dark Specter…?" Tommy said hesitantly.

Dex looked up, seeming to wake from a nightmare. He chuckled darkly. "You don't even know who it is you fight against. You are truly lost." He looked at Trini and Zack. "You are wise to leave the fight."

"It's not like we're giving up," Zack retorted hotly, advancing on Dex, even as Dex regarded him coldly. "We're doing other things, letting others take our places. That's why we're here in the first place."

Trini held Zack's arm, pulling him back. "You're telepathic, Prince Dex. Then how is it that you haven't realized that, unlike you, we haven't lost hope. Would we be fighting for peace if we thought the Earth was doomed?" She smiled slightly. "Would you be fighting for your own enslaved people if you had given up hope?"

Dex looked a little sick, and he seemed to waver at her steady gaze. "How did you know?"

"That you're your uncle's heir?" Trini said. "That this planet was a colony of Edenoi, and is full of the last of your people? It was just an assumption that turned out true."

"And you're right," Tommy said. "Your place will be here, with your people, once we overthrow the gangsters' rule over this planet. You'll need to be here to sort through the chaos."

Dex's eyes flew open. "But… I refused to help you. Why would you help me and my people?"

"Like you said," Tommy smiled, "a friend in need. Now, you said your ship was noticeable, but will it get us out of here?"

Dex nodded slowly. "If your teleporter can get us to a certain place in the desert, that's where the ship is buried. I'll need help starting it, and we'll need a distraction."

"Then how about we use the overthrow of those gangsters as a distraction?" Tommy said, now smiling. "Where's that center of power you were talking about?"


Tommy, Trini, and Zack moved with the crowd, unencumbered by their backpacks, which were safe with Billy and Dex. The building to their right was unimpressive, almost remarkably so. It was also, if Dex's intel was correct, the center of all that was going wrong on this planet.

"Are we really going to assassinate those people?" Zack said in a low tone. "I mean, I know they're slavers, but…"

"I dunno," Tommy said under his breath. "If we can get our teleporters working, we can just get rid of them for a while, but…"

"Um… Tommy?"

They suddenly realized that the milling crowd around them had slowly been forming a circle. They heard a sudden mechanical whine from various points.

Tommy shrugged. "So much for incognito. IT'S MORPHING TIME!"

The words, suddenly yelled, startled the people surrounding them. One shot off an energy bolt, but it was absorbed harmlessly in the power surge of the Rangers transforming. The circle backed away from the now morphed Power Rangers.

"Trini, you know what to do," Tommy said.

Trini nodded and launched herself from the ground, only second to Kimberly in how high she could jump. She landed neatly on the top of the building, where a group of guards who were playing some kind of cards stared at her in shock.

"Anyone know where I can get to your bosses?" she asked.

They drew their energy pistols.

"Didn't think so." She quickly dodged and, drawing her Power Daggers, deflected each of the bolts back to her assailants, careful to aim for legs and arms.

Three had passed out. The fourth clutched her arm in pain, and she looked more ready to get to a hospital than to retaliate.

Trini approached her. "About those directions?"

The guard grunted. "Through that door, down one flight of stairs, third door on the right. Can't miss it. I do not get paid enough to deal with this."

"Fair enough," Trini said, and ran through the door.


Tommy and Zack fought back to back, surrounded by guards who seemed far stronger than they appeared to be. Tommy supposed he was using human standards: every alien he ever met was stronger than the average human in some way.

It bothered him, the way the mission was going. They'd already lost two members, the rest of the team had split up, and communication continued to be unreliable. In the meantime, they had gotten caught up in someone else's battle, someone who had told them in no uncertain terms that he wanted nothing to do with the war they were all fighting.

The war… That bothered him as well. Tommy had seen more of the universe than the rest of the Rangers. He'd jumped dimensions, served on the side of darkness, and maintained a complicated connection with his former captor. The others found it easy to think of being a Power Ranger as simply guarding the Earth from alien attack, but he'd seen a bit more of the war. But still, he was completely lost in this alien world. Lord Zedd's attack on Empress Rita and Earth had been devastating, but they had, for the most part, persevered. But now there was Divatox, and an intergalactic slave trade, and a warrior for their side who'd had to kill his own uncle, and now Dark Specter…

Once they got their friends back, and got the Sword of Power, he had much to discuss with Zordon.

He realized, though, that while he was worried about Kimberly and Jason, he wasn't flying into a panic. He knew they could take care of themselves. And, somehow, that heartened him.

"You know…" Zack said, his voice a little breathless in the speaker in his helmet, "there's something kinda weird about these guards."

"They're strong," Tommy acknowledged.

"No kidding… but there's something else," Zack said. "I think we need to break through the lines and get to Trini."

Tommy forced his brain to concentrate on the battle. Now that he wasn't worrying about far-flung space politics, he realized Zack had a point. There was something… off… about these fighters. "Agreed. Billy, do you copy? How's your part of the plan going?"

There was a pause, and then Billy's voice broke through the static. "We had to do some minor repair work. This ship has laid dormant for a year after a crash. We think…"

"Let me know when you're up in the air," Tommy broke in, needing to concentrate on the fight more than hearing Billy explain repairs. "And put a move on it. We may need back-up."

"Affirmative," Billy said.

"Okay, Zack, so we need to break through the lines?" Tommy said. "I think this calls for weapons."

Zack swung his Power Axe in a wide arc, scattering the fighters. "I'm way ahead of you."


Billy found himself in the odd position of giving assistance with repairs more than actually handling them. Had he the time, he could figure out Dex's ship, make repairs, and possibly even improve on the whole thing. He didn't have the time, so he watched Dex intently and handed him what he needed.

"You'll only have life support in the command deck," Dex said. "That's all we have time for. I'm also bringing some of the weapons systems online, but they'll mostly be for clearing space trash out of the way. You won't be able to take on Divatox with them."

"We greatly appreciate this," Billy said. "I will try to return this ship in better shape than you're giving it."

Dex was silent for a moment. "Do not worry yourself. This… this is not truly my ship."

Billy looked around at the command deck. When Dex had called this ship ostentatious, he hadn't been joking. It was enormous, white, and looked remarkably like a giant locust with multiple sets of curled legs at the bottom, all of which were buried in the sand currently. The command deck was dark and ominous, and looked rather familiar.

Billy suddenly realized. "Your uncle's ship."

Dex sighed. "This ship was once the terror of this quadrant. Count Dregon's flagship. He used this ship to rule the planets below. It used to be able to decimate a planet's population in hours… before I sabotaged it." He grunted as he pulled some wires out, and began carefully soldering some together. "When my uncle turned down the path of darkness, he stayed up here. He no longer set a foot on Edenoi, and he razed his own planet from the sky. And it was here he died…"

Dex's voice trailed off. Billy frowned. Dex had obviously gone through some horrible things. If Billy's interpretation of the images were accurate, he had been forced to kill his uncle in this very room, and only after the rest of his planet had been destroyed. It was horrific… but also it seemed that Dex had done what he'd had to do. That didn't mean…

"Yes, it was necessary," Dex said quietly, and Billy remembered with a jolt that Dex was telepathic. Apparently Billy's brief time being mind controlled by Rita had not given him the same mental defenses as had Tommy and Kimberly.

"I never doubted it was necessary," Dex continued. "We'll always find war that's necessary, actions and atrocities that are… necessary." He raised from the floor and leaned against the console he'd been working under. "Once there was a warrior, strong and pure and shining. He was the protector of his planet, but renowned around the galaxy as a force for good. He lived his life according to a strict code of honor: duty to family, duty to country, duty to planet, duty to galaxy."

"I take it things did not go all that well for this warrior."

Dex smiled bitterly. "His battles became harder. His opponents tougher. He had to become more powerful. He never escalated, but he had to defend his planet. The power… it changed him. Made him become something he wasn't. He did as I did. He defended his planet, but he compromised. He did what was… necessary. He did what he had to because of his honor." Dex took a breath. "All that remains of his glory is a statue. His planet long dead, and the warrior himself consumed in darkness. That's where you'll find the Sword of Power."

That turn caught Billy off guard. "The one we're looking for?"

"Yes. The only good thing left of the shining warrior." An alert sounded on the dashboard of the console, and Dex pulled himself to his feet. "I've left the coordinates of the planet programed here in the ship. Now, I must lend aid to your friends while you learn to pilot the ship."

"You know," Billy said, "I sort of assumed you were speaking of yourself when you were talking about this… shining warrior."

Dex closed his eyes. "Unfortunately, no. This story is all too common." He looked up. "It is a story I hope you will avoid."

Billy was about to respond when Tommy's voice blared on his communicator. "Billy, Rider, come in! We've made a discovery!"

"What is it, Tommy?" Billy said.

"We're not fighting humans… I mean, people," Tommy said. "That's what's been bugging me and Zack about them, but I just got confirmation when I broke the skin on one of them. They're machines!"

Dex grabbed onto the console, looking like he was going to faint. "I wondered… when I couldn't read them… but I never thought…" He grabbed Billy's wrist and brought the communicator to his mouth. "Tommy, you have to get yourself and your friends out of there. It's too dangerous!"

Tommy didn't answer, only static answering them.

"They'll be too busy fighting," Billy said. "But what's the difference? We fight Putties all the time, and they're not really… people. They're sort of like machines."

"No, they're not," Dex said tightly. "This… this had to be my uncle's doing. I didn't realize what deals he'd made to keep himself in power, and then when Dregon died they took advantage…"

Billy went cold. "Dex… what are we talking about here? Worse than Divatox? Worse than Lord Zedd?"

"Much worse," Dex said. "We can only hope no one from the royal family is here, or we're all dead."


Trini stared at what was supposed to be the center of power, where the "gangsters" were. She'd been expecting a lot of things, including a 1930s speakeasy (the term "gangster" conjured up cartoonish associations). Instead, she faced a metal man in a tricorn hat, who looked for all the world like a 17th-century highwayman.

"What's this?" the man said. "An interloper? Are you here to fight that Edenoi pretender's battles for him?"

Trini stared. "You… are definitely not what I was expecting."

The metal man advanced, causing Trini to put up her guard. "It appears I shall have to teach you manners. You will address me as Prince Gasket, heir apparent to the Machine Empire."

Trini held her daggers at the ready. "Impressive title for someone running slaves to a space pirate on a neutral planet."

"It's been an off year," Prince Gasket said airily. "Such happens when one's father disapproves of one's lady love. One has to resort to less than savory methods to raise enough money for the wedding… but enough about me. Let's talk about the little matter of you trespassing."

Trini opened her mouth to retort… but then realized she was flying backwards out of a third-story window. She had seconds to recover before landing on the street; the best she could do was roll when she hit the ground.

"Trini!" she heard Zack yell. Tommy and Zack had made their way to the front of the building past what now Trini realized were mechanical fighters.

"Guys!" she yelled. "Watch out! There's…"

Before she could formulate a more coherent warning, there was a loud metal clang, and the metal man landed in the street between Trini and the others.

"You heroes are certainly colorful, but you are proving to be an inconvenience. I would have preferred to remain incognito," Gasket said. "Though perhaps 'cogs' are exactly what we need right now."

It wasn't until that moment that Trini realized that the street was deserted, all except for her friends, Prince Gasket, and his fighters, who had decided to shed their skin disguises to show metal and gears. She wondered how many people actually lived on this planet still, and how many were machines in disguise.

She launched herself into battle, trying to angle herself closer to Tommy and Zack. Fortunately, her friends were doing the same, and soon they'd grouped together. Unfortunately, they were surrounded, and these "cogs" were significantly stronger than any Putties they'd faced. They didn't have the painful feedback of Zedd's Putties, but they were, on the whole, tougher.

"So…" Tommy said, "we may have gotten in over our heads a little."

"Ya think?" Zack yelled.

"We need backup!" Trini called over her communicator. "Billy… anyone!"

Soon, the three were on the ground, with Prince Gasket standing over them.

"It was a valiant struggle, one for the history records," Gasket said, his arms folded. "But I think we all knew who would be the victor here. You have power, but you're all woefully inexperienced… and you just don't have enough. And, let's be honest… this wasn't your fight in the first place, was it?"

"You're right… it wasn't," Tommy said grimly. "We were just flushing you out."

Prince Gasket regarded the white-and-gold-clad warrior. "I can't tell if that's bravado or just plain stupidity… or both."

"He gets that a lot," Zack said. "But he wasn't lying."

"We're not the ones you should be worried about," Trini said.

Gasket looked as if he were going to reply, but he was cut off by the loud growl of an engine.

It was a figure clad in green armor and an insect-like helmet, brandishing a glowing sword and riding a motorcycle. He had already cut through a line of cogs without Gasket even noticing, and he looked like he was preparing for another pass.

"Who dares…?! Wait." Prince Gasket laughed. "The fallen prince finally decides to stop hiding."

"I should say the same for you." Dex's voice sounded clearly through the helmet. He obviously felt no need to disguise his voice. "I should have done this a long time ago."

"And yet you'd rather send others to fight your battles for you," Gasket mocked. "Perhaps they won't destroy the entire planet in the process, unlike some."

Dex calmly dismounted his motorcycle, looking for all the world like an alien knight walking from his steed. His sword stayed at the ready. "I admit it. I've done wrong. I've made compromises. And I gave up. But no more. I refuse to allow any more suffering to feed your avarice, Gasket. I give you one chance, out of respect for your situation, to leave this planet… before I run you through."

Prince Gasket laughed. "Out of respect… I am the heir of the Machine Empire. One of the most powerful forces in the galaxy, second only perhaps to Dark Specter itself. I may be having a tiff with my old dad, but that does not change the fact that I outclass you on all counts, Edenoi scum."

Dex advanced slowly, holding his sword at the ready. While he looked completely relaxed, the Rangers could tell at a glance they were witnessing a warrior far more experienced and skilled than they… one who was absolutely confident.

"What you've said is true, in all but one point. Yes, you are the heir to the Machine Empire, Prince Gasket. Yet you do not outclass me in any way. You see… I hold the powers of the Masked Rider. Powers that were given to me by my grandfather, King Lexian. Powers that my uncle, Count Dregon, craved, enough that he tore apart the planet and near tore apart me to get at them. But they are mine. You understand."

Gasket stared. Even the Rangers were rather confused at this point.

"I am my uncle's heir, but more importantly, I am my grandfather's heir. King Lexian chose me… and King Lexian is dead. You're looking at the rightful king of Edenoi, and you're standing on a planet almost entirely peopled with Edenoi refugees. I outclass you, I outrank you, and you've hurt my people. So, and I will say this only once more…" He crouched, raising his sword, "get off my planet, or suffer my wrath."

Prince Gasket launched himself at Prince… King Dex, apoplectic with rage, all false civility stripped from him. Dex countered calmly, using the wild attacks against the machine prince.

"Rangers, you must leave. Billy will have piloted the ship into teleportation range."

Tommy, Trini, and Zack heard the words clearly in their heads. It was Dex's voice, and it sounded just as clear as when he'd spoken to them in the hotel room, even across a battlefield.

"We can't leave you," Tommy retorted. "Not with this army."

"You must," Dex insisted. "Do not worry about me," he continued, almost with a smile in his voice. "You have given me the drive to face my foe head on, to fight again for my people. While I may not rejoin the same war you have, that does not mean I will allow this evil to fester any longer. And," he added, "you will always have an ally in me."

"Thank you, Rider… King Dex," Tommy said.

Before the cogs could renew the battle against the three Rangers, they teleported out.

"We're all here… good," Billy said as soon as they arrived in the dark command deck of the ship. "Dex wants us to break atmosphere now while he has the machines distracted."

"I still don't feel right leaving him," Trini said. "We could barely handle the cogs."

"Meaning we would probably just be in the way," Tommy said, hating that he had to justify them running away, taking Dex's only means of escape with them. "Dex can take care of himself… and he's right. That's not our fight. We have to rescue Jason and Kimberly, and we have to retrieve the Sword of Power. We… we all have our parts."

Billy still had the fight on the planet's surface on the ship's monitor, but he knew he could only monitor for long before they had to break orbit and pursue Divatox. They watched the fight for as long as they could, wishing they could help. Gasket and Dex were evenly matched, but Gasket had fighters with him. Dex was easily outnumbered.

And then they noticed a cog fall. Dex didn't cause it, as he'd had his back turned. Then another cog fell, this one at the hands of a middle-aged woman, whose hat slid back to reveal a crystal like Dex's. A man joined her, and then a group of young teens, all fighting the cogs with what looked like weapons they'd thrown together from whatever junk they could find in the street.

Before the display blinked out, the Rangers got to watch the tide slowly turn as King Dex was joined by his fellow Edenoi people in a battle for the planet.


Jason and Kimberly were inching around their cell walls for a third time, determined to find a weakness they could use for escape, when the opaque cell wall turned transparent again. The two Rangers shifted to lean against their respective walls, hoping they looked more bored than attentive.

Elgar stood before them, bouncing his finger from Jason to Kimberly as he chanted a little rhyme under his breath. Kimberly was fairly sure this was going to be an alien version of eeney meeney miney moe, and she didn't really want either of them to be picked for whatever Elgar had planned.

"Mind telling us when we're gonna be let out of here?" Kimberly asked, putting a little bored mallrat in her accent. "Cuz being locked up is not what I'd consider a party."

"Oh, you won't be bored for too much longer," Elgar said, chuckling. "In fact… no, that would spoil the surprise."

"What?" Jason said. "You'll do more stand-up comedy?"

Elgar's wide, red grin somehow got even redder and wider. "You know, I can't decide. I think you both deserve some fun." He pushed a button on what looked like a walkie-talkie, and a device appeared in the middle of Jason's and Kimberly's cell. It immediately started beeping.

"What… what's this?" Kimberly said, her nonchalance slipping.

"Oh, that? It's a bomb," Elgar laughed. "It can vaporize living tissue in a 10-foot radius, which, wouldn't you know, is just about the dimensions of your cell. It's set for an hour. Have fun trying to disarm it… or just give me a holler if you have any information." He pressed another button, cutting off Jason and Kimberly's surprised yelps as the wall became opaque again.

Chuckling to himself, Elgar turned around and opened up the only other occupied cell in the high security block. He was greeted by a bleeding simian face and tarnished golden armor.

"Same two questions, Goldar," Elgar said cheerily. "What artifact did Lord Zedd send you to get, and what the hell does your girlfriend Scorpina have against us?"

Goldar looked up dully. He was hanging from the wall, various instruments of torture that Elgar could control remotely still hovering in front of him. He cleared his throat, obviously trying to get enough moisture in it to talk. "Same two answers," he rasped. "Fuck you, and fuck your Aunt Divatox even harder."

Elgar's eyes glittered as he shrugged. "Oh, well."

With that, the only sounds in the corridor were Elgar's laughs and Goldar's screams.