Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters

A lot of work to be done, and so little time. I'm going to try to end this tribute by the beginning of next month, and the epilogue story by the end of February. On a side note, I'm in the process of possibly starting a new series of fanfics once I'm finished with this tribute series. It's not concrete yet, but it's going to be a completely new story with all new characters, plots, and villains.

Back to this chapter: It's finally time for Orion to meet his Legendary Ranger, something that he didn't get to do in the show like Gia. This Legendary Ranger was one of the first Rangers I wanted to include in this tribute series, because he's one of my personal favorites and the fact his actor was excited to reprise his role for Super Megaforce after being invited, only to be uninvited due to budget restrictions.

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 4: A Real Hero

Recap

Orion's voice: Previously on Power Rangers Super Megaforce...

"Guys, Zilas, is a human, like us." Noah said.

"We can't harm him." Troy agreed.

Scene cuts to the Rangers fighting the Armada clones as the Zeo Rangers. They de-morph back to Super Mega as they approach Zilas.

"Come on Rangers, give me your best shot!" Zilas taunted.

Cuts to Orion attacking Zilas relentlessly before being pulled away by Troy and Jake.

Command Center.

Orion argues with the Rangers. Gia twists his arm behind his back, and Troy takes Orion's morpher.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you are now relieved of your Ranger obligations." Troy says sternly.

Scene cuts to the quarry. Zilas summons the Ranger clones. Scene cuts to the Rangers fighting the clones, eventually losing. Then the elite guards appear with Orion held captive.

"Surrender all your ranger keys in one hour or you'll never see him again." Zilas told him.

Scene cuts again to the Rangers handing their ranger keys to Zilas.

"You're going to be okay, Orion." Troy told the weakened alien.

"Yes, but you're not." Orion grins as he headbutts the Red Ranger.

The X-Borgs take the Rangers back to the ship.

"Troy, what do we do?" Emma asked worriedly.

"I don't know, Emma. I just don't know..."

End of Recap

Harwood County, present

Orion was punched in the face by the thief. The force from the punch was strong enough to knock Orion off his feet, causing him to fall flat on his back.

"Ah..." Orion winced in pain.

The thief quickly looked around for an escape. He quickly ran toward an abandoned building.

Orion looked up from where he lay, seeing the thief breaking the door leading into the building.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Orion seethed as he got back on his feet and began chasing the thief up to the top of the building.

As the thief came to the last floor, he opened the door leading to the roof, with Orion following in pursuit.

Orion pushed the door open, leaving the thief with no where to run.

The thief backed away as Orion crept closer toward him.

"Look, kid, I don't want any trouble." The thief told him in a quivering voice.

Orion stared daggers at the thief. "Well, you got it."

Racing forward, Orion leaped up to perform a powerful kick on the thief.

The thief stumbled backwards, dropping the woman's purse in the process. He lost his balance and fell off the roof. Unlike the woman's purse, he managed to break his fall by grabbing hold of the edge of the side of the roof.

"Please, pull me up!" The Thief pleaded as his hands were beginning to lose their grip.

Orion walked over to the edge and looked down at the thief.

"Scum like you aren't worth saving." Orion said coldly.

Orion turned to leave when someone shoved him aside, knocking him off his feet. That person reached out and grabbed the thief's hand before he lost his grip.

"Hang on!" The person shouted as he strained his grip.

The person grabbed the thief's hand with his other hand, successfully pulling him back on to the roof.

Orion couldn't believe what he was seeing. This person just saved that thief.

Armada Warship

Vrak entered the Command room, accompanied by both Damaras and Levira.

"Fate has finally tipped in our favor, my underlings." Vrak declared as he approached the throne. "The Power Rangers are now within our control. The future of this planet rests in our hands."

"Sire, perhaps it's time to contact your father, the Emperor." Damaras suggested. "Then you can finally prove yourself as the true prince of the Armada."

Vrak sat down on the throne as he wagged his finger at Damaras.

"Not just yet, Damaras." Vrak coaxed. "The Rangers have not suffered quite enough. Besides, with them out of the way, we can start the real invasion."

"Real invasion?" Levira repeated.

"Yes, Levira." Vrak affirmed. "You see, our goal is to not destroy the planet, but to conquer it. The humans are a great resource that the Armada can make use of. That's why I have sent Zilas and the other commanders away from populated areas when the fighting the Rangers."

"So you wouldn't be destroy any useful resources you could use." Damaras surmised.

"Correct, Damaras." Vrak confirmed. "When a planet is finally defenseless, we intergrate it to into the chain of planets under the control of my Royal family. Something my reckless brother didn't seem to consider when sending down the commanders."

"So, now we can finally make the humans serve the Armada." Damaras went on. "And they will do it willfully if they have no defense against us."

"Yes, but I think we need to entice that fear a little more before we conquer them." Vrak added as he snapped his fingers "Zilas!"

Instantly, Zilas entered the command room. "Yes, sire."

"It is time for us the final phase of our plan." Vrak told him. "Is everything ready?

"Yes, we are all set, Sire." Zilas confirmed.

Earth, several minutes later

The mysterious man handed over the thief to the police. Orion stood several yards away observing them.

"Thank you for your help, sir." The lead officer commended the man.

"My pleasure, officer." The man replied.

The officer tipped his hat to the man and climbed inside his car.

The man watched as the car drove down the street.

With the police officer gone, Orion walked over to the man.

"Hey." Orion spoke angrily.

The man turned to face Orion. "Yes?"

"What's your deal?" Orion fumed.

The man was taken aback by Orion's statement.

"My deal?" The man repeated.

"Yeah, you didn't need to save that creep." Orion went on. "He didn't deserve any saving. You should have let him fall."

The man let out a sharp sigh and began walking away.

"Hey, I'm not done talking!" Orion called out.

The man turned around to face Orion. "Look, kid, I admire you for trying to stop that thief, but I don't think you really understand what a hero does."

Orion raced toward the man as the latter continued walking down the sidewalk.

"I know what being a hero means." Orion retorted. "Being a hero is about stopping the bad guys from hurting people. Someone who is willingly to do whatever it takes to stop the bad guys from hurting innocent people."

The man gave Orion a very disappointed look.

"You just don't get it, do you?" The man sighed.

"Don't get what?" Orion inquired.

"Sometimes, the right choice, isn't the most obvious choice." The man continued. "It may seem that it's right to end a bad guy's life, especially if they've wrong so many people. But truthfully, if we did that, we'd be no better than him."

"But don't we help people by fighting evil?" Orion argued.

"Sometimes, yes..." The man replied. "But other times, no. Sometimes the best way to help someone doesn't involve fighting evil."

Something caught the man's eye; he bent down and picked it up.

"Do you see this?" The man asked holding the object in front of Orion.

"Yea, it's a feather." Orion replied in a disinterested voice. "So?"

The man brought the feather in front of his face. "Truth be told, often I can't look at a feather without thinking of one of the scariest days of my life."

The two men continued walking down the sidewalk.

Have you heard of a city called Mariner Bay?" The man asked Orion.

Orion thought back. "sure... A friend of mine brought it up once." Orion replied. He was thinking back to the time Noah gave him the list of cities that Power Rangers were spotted in.

Well, when I used to live there, this city was attacked by these... well, I guess bad guys who wanted take over the city." The man explained. "They had tried many different tactics for many weeks, but their latest idea was their most sinister one yet. They disguised explosives as white feathers like this one, and scattered them across the city, all set to blow at sundown."

Orion remained silent, so the man continued.

"I heard on the news a bulletin warning all civilians in the city of the explosive feathers. That's when I remembered I had met a boy earlier that day and gave him a feather that I had found. I realized that that boy was in danger and I raced all across the city. I didn't care about the bad guys, or anything else but to save that boy from the feather.

"What happened? Orion asked.

"I managed to find the boy with his mother and sister as they were crossing this bridge." The man resumed the story. "It was only seconds away from sundown at that point. I called out to them, but from their expressions I realized they probably didn't hear the news. So I ran as fast as I could, grabbed that feather from the boy, threw it in the air. I shielded them as the feather exploded."

"Wow." Orion breathed. "Did you stop the villains?"

"That's not the point." The man told him. "The villain was at large, but the biggest priority that day was to make sure no one would get hurt by his explosive feathers. If that happened, it didn't matter if I or anyone else defeated the bad guys. There would be no people that would need to be protected from that him if we did."

"I never thought of it like that." Orion whispered.

The man reached into the satchel and pulled out something Orion never expected.

It was the old woman's purse.

It was the lady's purse!

Orion's jaw dropped. "How did-"

"Does it really matter?" The man grinned as he held out the purse to Orion. "Another thing about being a hero is sometimes you just have to perform a random act of kindness to be one."

The man pointed to the bus stop, where the old woman was still sitting at.

"Take it to her." The man told Orion.

"Excuse me, ma'am." Orion spoke up as he walked up to the woman.

The woman looked up at Orion.

"Oh, it's you." The woman gasped as she stood up. "I thought you were gone. Did you stop the thief?"

"Well, not exactly." Orion winced. "But I did get this back."

He held out the woman's purse to her.

"My purse!" The old woman laughed as she took it. "Thank you, young man."

At that moment, a bus pulled up.

"Oh!" The woman gasped. "And not a moment, too soon."

The bus doors opened and people began clambering out of the vehicle. Among them were two children, both around the age of 8.

"Grandma!" The two kids exclaimed as they raced toward the old woman.

"Oh, it's so good to see my grandbabies." The woman sighed as she hugged her grandkids.

Orion smiled at the happy reunion.

"Oh, I have something for the two of you." The grandmother remembered.

She dug into her purse and pulled out two pieces of candy for each of the children. "I know these are your favorites."

The two kids gladly took the candy.

"Thank you, Grandma!" The kids told her.

"Oh, don't thank me." The grandma as she turned to face Orion. "Thank this young man. He stopped a bad guy from stealing my purse from me."

The kids looked up at Orion.

"You helped my grandma?" The boy asked.

Orion smiled and nodded as he got down on his knees. "Yeah, I guess. I did."

"You're my hero." The little girl smiled as she went in to hug Orion. "Thanks for helping our grandma."

Orion hugged back for a few seconds. "You're welcome."

"Oh, kids come on." The Grandmother urged. "Grandpa's waiting for us at home."

The two kids walked back to their grandmother, each taking her hands as they walked down the sidewalk.

Orion stood up and watched them go. The man walked over and stood next to Orion.

At the last second, the two kids looked back one more time and waved good-bye to Orion.

Orion, standing motionless, was beginning to feel something he never felt before. Despite being a Power Ranger for some time, he never felt that he was a real hero like the others...That changed today.

The man, on the other hand, could hear similar voices in his head as he recalled a certain memory.

"You saved us!" A young girl's voice echoed in his head.

"You're my hero!" A young boy's voice echoed.

The man grinned as he reminisced the fond memory. After a few seconds, he redirected his attention to Orion

"It's a great feeling, isn't it?" The man inquired as he faced Orion.

Orion nodded slowly. "Yeah, it is."

The man looked down for a few seconds then looked back up to face Orion.

"Listen, Orion." The man told him. "Being a hero is about helping and saving other people who can't save themselves.

Orion nodded. "But what happens if that bad person doesn't want to be saved?"

"I think we all want to be saved." The man replied. "but some of us are trapped in our own minds, preventing us from wanting to be saved. That's why you have to keep trying. And if, and I say if, that person is completely two far off to save, then it's up to you to make that decision to stop him, but you musn't do it lightly.

"I just don't know if..." Orion began.

"They chose you, Orion." The man told him. "They chose you out of all the others. Those three could have chosen a human from Earth, but they chose you, because you understand the stakes against the Armada. You were always meant to be the Silver Ranger."

Orion scowled at the man. How did he know he was an alien?

"Who are you?" Orion questioned. "And how do you know so much about me?

"You haven't figured it out yet?" The man grinned.

Orion shook his head.

"I am a Legendary Ranger Orion." The man answered as he held up his left arm. Attached to it was the Titanium Morpher. "I'm Ryan Mitchell, the Titanium Ranger."

"Titanium Ranger?" Orion squinted in confusion. "Never heard of it."

Ryan answered. "I'm the Sixth Ranger of Lightspeed Rescue."

"No way, you're the missing Sixth Ranger that we've been searching for!" Orion exclaimed in amazement. "This is unbelievable!"

Ryan grinned proudly. "Believe me, it's an honor to meet the Ranger who was chosen to wield all the Sixth Ranger powers. And despite everything, you are more than worthy to be the Silver Ranger."

"I can't believe it!" Orion laughed as he tried to contain himself. "I finally got to meet a Legendary Ranger."

Ryan grinned amusingly. "Okay, Orion, focus."

Orion nodded his head, going back to serious mode.

"Look, being a hero and a Power Ranger isn't an easy job." Ryan explained. "The people that become Power Rangers are the ones who want to make a difference in defending others. But they are never to use those powers for revenge or any other personal gain."

"But does that mean I can't destroy a human?" Orion asked. "Because that's what Zilas is and he's our greatest opponent. Not to mention that he's almost destroyed us on several occasions."

"Orion, you need to get all the facts in before you decide to end someone's life." Ryan answered. "Your friends were just trying to help you understand that. If there's a chance to save whoever Zilas really is, you have to take it. Because when you accepted that morpher, you became a defender of the Earth and everything on it."

Orion looked Ryan in the eyes. He was about to respond when...

Rumbling

"What was that?" Orion panted as the rumbling subsided.

Ryan looked around noticing that civilians were running toward the center of the city.

"Let's follow them!" Ryan suggested.

With that said, the two Rangers took off down the street. What they saw was something unbelievable.

"Whoa..." Orion awed.

In the center of the city was a giant Armada warship (not the Mothership). It had descended onto the center intersection.

"Looks like Zilas' up to something." Orion thought.

At the top of the Warship, a hatch was opened up. Smoke ascended from the hatch and Zilas slowly rose into view.

"People of Earth, I am Zilas!" Zilas declared loudly. "I am the ambassador of the Alien Armada."

The humans remained silent, out of fear of this alien general's words.

"It has been our goal to have complete control of this galaxy, and your precious planet is the last one on our list." Zilas continued. "I must admit it has been a challenge but you all have finally lost the battle against us. Behold!"

Zilas motioned his arm behind him as five panels on behind him opened up. Emerging from those panels were the Five Mega Rangers (all morphed in their basic Mega forms), chained to poles.

"NO!" Orion screamed, along with the rest of people observing the scene.

Zilas laughed at the humans' anguish.

"Yes, I have captured the Power Rangers, the last line of defense for this planet." Zilas bellowed. "You're precious heroes are under my control and you all are next."

Looking up to the sky, Zilas shouted: "Levira, send down the X-Borgs."

Armada Mothership

"As you wish." Levira replied as she clicked the controls to send dozens of ships to the city.

The X-Borgs and Bruisers were unloaded from their ships into the city, all armed for battle.

"Let the conquest begin." Zilas declared as the X-Borgs and Bruisers marched.

Ryan pulled Orion into the alley as the people began fleeing away from the alien troops.

"Orion, listen carefully." Ryan told him quickly. "You're the Earth's last hope. You have to break into that ship and rescue your teammates."

"What?" Orion said in disbelief. "I can't. They'd tear me apart."

Ryan reached into his pocket and pulled out something. "Not when you have this."

Orion gasped in shock. It was his morpher and Ranger key.

"How did you-" Orion began.

"No time, Orion." Ryan interrupted. "Look, I will try to distract Zilas' attention from you while you break inside the ship. You have to get your teammates free so they can help you save the city."

"But you can't go up against Zilas." Orion objected. "With my powers, I can..."

"No." Ryan said as he placed his hands on Orion's shoulders. "No, this is something that you have to yourself. Prove to me and all the past Sixth Rangers that you were meant to have this power. You are a hero, and your objective is to save the people of this planet. To do that, you need your friends."

Orion nodded. "Okay."

"And in case of emergency, take this." Ryan added as he handed Orion a black case.

Orion took the case and placed it in his jacket. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Ryan grinned. "Now go and save all those lives of Earth."

Orion nodded and stood up as he pulled out his morpher and Ranger key. He placed the key inside the morpher and held the device in front of him.

"Super Mega Mode!" Orion declared as he morphed. "Super Megaforce Silver Ranger!"

Orion struck a pose for a few seconds before turning to face Ryan.

"Ready!" Ryan asked. (Legend Shift: Titanium Ranger)

With that said, the two plunged straight into battle.

End Notes: Will Orion make it time to save his friends from Zilas before the planet is doomed to fall by the hands of the Armada

Tune in next time, as the Mega Rangers face their biggest battle

Rate and Review: I love all feedback and criticism (creative or otherwise)