Son of War

Disclaimer: Anything you can google is not mine.

Chapter 5 – MAK: Son of

"Wait a minute, something's missing," Andros said suddenly. "Where's Arry?"

"Who's Arry?" Shane asked.

"Lori," Zhane told him. "Her real name is Aeron."

"Aeron?" Dustin asked. "No wonder she keeps it a secret."

"The same way you keep your name a secret, Waldo," Tori teased.

"Okay, now that was just low."

The younger Rangers laughed, but the older ones were worried now.

"We just called an emergency meeting," Andros said. "She should've been the first one to get here."

"Lori doesn't have a communicator," TJ said. "Maybe she didn't get the call?"

"No, Lori has this," Cam said, showing the others the disk. "She heard me when I called for Blake and Hunter, she should've heard it when you called for us."

"Then where is she?" Ashley asked.

"Trent, she was with you, wasn't she?" Justin asked.

"She left not long after you did," Trent answered. "She said she was gonna go for a walk, to clear her head."

"Where did she go?" Cassie asked. Trent shrugged.

"Should we go find her?" Kira asked.

"I don't think we have the time," Hayley replied. She was at the main computer, typing away. "Look!"

The Rangers gathered around her.

"What isthat?" Blake asked, pointing to the gigantic coal/lava-like monster on the screen.

"Maligore," Tommy answered.

"Rangers, show yourselves before I destroy your pathetic little city!" the monster roared.

"Whoa, I didn't know Maligore talked!" Justin exclaimed.

"I guess he's had time to learn," Tommy replied wryly.

"So what do we do?" Connor asked.

"We show ourselves," Andros answered simply.

"But what about Arry?" Zhane asked.

"With a villain like Maligore on the loose, I don't think we can spare even one Ranger," Justin said.

"We can't just leave her out there then," Trent said, "if Maligore's really as bad as you say. What if something happens to her?"

"I'll have CyberCam run a scan for her," Cam volunteered.

"You still have CyberCam?" Hunter asked.

"Who do you think is running Ninja Ops right now?" Cam replied.

"All right, you do that," Tommy said. "As for the rest of us, we better get out there."

"Maybe you guys should go alone," Carlos suggested to the Dino Rangers. "This is your city and as far as Maligore is concerned, you're the only team of Rangers. If we keep the rest of us being here a secret…"

"Then we can have the element of surprise on our side!" TJ finished for him.

Ethan nodded. "That's a good idea," he agreed.

"Let's go then," Connor nodded. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Dino Thunder, Power Up!"

"White Ranger, Dino Power!"

Now morphed as the Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, and White Dino Rangers, Connor, Ethan, Kira, Tommy, and Trent ran off the meet the glowing lava monster as the others crowded around the main computer to watch. And it wasn't pretty. They had barely made it there before they realize it was an ambush and the Dino Rangers found themselves surrounded by foot soldiers as far as the eye could see. Foot soldiers from every past villain after the Zordon era were there, Stingwingers, Batlings, Putrids, Kelzaks, Kelzak Furies, Tyrannodrones, and Triptoids, all waiting impatiently to charge the small team of Rangers.

"Aw man, this is not good," Tommy said as he and his students dropped into a defensive fighting stance.

"Come on, we gotta go help them!" Shane exclaimed back at Dino Ops.

"Hang on!" Justin cried, pulling him back. "Look!" He pointed at the top of a building.

"Dr. O, any ideas?" Kira asked shakily as the horde of foot soldiers stated to close in.

"Fight together, hang tough, and don't give up," the teacher answered.

"How big do you think our chances of winning are?" Ethan asked.

"You're the brainiac," Connor replied. "Can't you figure it out?"

"Does it look like I can figure it out?" Ethan shot back.

"It looks like you guys need some help!"

The Dino Rangers looked up to the source of the voice. A relieved look came over their faces under their helmets.

"What is this?!" Maligore thundered.

"New Rangers!" Trent exclaimed.

"That's right!" shouted the one in the middle.

There were nine of them total. Five regular Rangers: Red, Blue, Yellow, Pink, and Green. There was also a White, Gold, Crimson, and Silver. Those four looked different though, obviously the "Other" Rangers. The one in the middle was smaller than the rest. He or she wore what looked like gladiator armor, it was silver, accented with a shocky-lightning blue making it look like ice, crystal; the opposite of the colors of Maligore. Whoever that person was, it was obvious they were in charge.

"Forceful as Fire, Red Mystic Ranger!"

"Fast as Lightning, Yellow Mystic Ranger!"

"Fluid as the Sea, Blue Mystic Ranger!"

"Ever Changing as the Wind, Pink Mystic Ranger!"

"Strong as a Tree, Green Mystic Ranger!"

"Flurry of Snow, White Mystic Ranger!"

"Power of the Sun, Solaris Knight!"

"Burning Heart of Fire! Wolf Warrior, Defender of Truth!"

"Will of the Mind, Dimensional Gate Guardian!"

"More Rangers?" Maligore glowered.

"That's right, Maligore!" shouted the Dimensional Gate Guardian. "We're sending you right back to where you came from."

"Not unless I melt you first!" the monster sneered.

"Enough; let your fighting do the talking!"

"You got lucky this time, Dino Rangers!" Maligore cried, pointing down to the surrounded team with a claw. "But next time I will crush all of you, and your little planet too! Then we'll see who will get in my way against that pestering little monkey!"

And with that he was gone, with a sudden flash, along with the infinite amount of foot soldiers. The new Rangers jumped down, off the building, landing in front of the Dino Rangers.

"Who are you?" Ethan asked.

"Not now," said the Dimensional Gate Guardian. "Let's get back to the Lab; I think everyone should hear this."

"Wait, hang on, how do you know the Lab?" Kira asked.

"Kira, I was only gone for one day," the Guardian said before heading off, leading the others with her.

Confused and bewildered, the Dino Rangers followed the newcomers back to their own base.

"Power Down!" they all commanded when they reached the underground cave. Everyone in the already-packed lab gathered to see who these strangers were. Most of them were strangers, but one however, they all recognized immediately, and it cause them to go into shock.

The Guardian turned out to be a girl. A little girl, in her preteens. She broke into a wide grin when she saw the surprised faces of her friends. "I couldn't let you have all the fun now, could I?"

"Lori?" Tommy finally managed to say. "What—how—when?"

His young god-daughter shrugged. "I told you, I've always wanted to be a Ranger."

"Who are those new Rangers?!" Maligore demanded. He sat on his throne in his lair, hovering above a lava pit in the middle of a volcano.

"We…don't know, sire," said the highest of his generals.

"Psycho Rangers! You're supposed to be faster, stronger, and smarter than the Power Rangers. Tell me then, why have you not been able to defeat them? Why are you not even capable of capturing one, powerless human child?"

"She's hardly human," said Psycho Blue.

"And hardly powerless," added Psycho Black.

"Silence!" roared Maligore. "You five came from the energy of my dead brother, Dark Specter. Show me you are worth living before I destroy you and take that energy for myself!"

"Yes, sire," nodded Psycho Red.

"Go, and get me that girl!"

"Immediately!"

"Lori, how did you do it? How did you get your powers?" Justin asked after the girl had introduced the Mystics to the other Rangers (and allies).

"Yeah, come on Arry, spill!" Zhane encouraged.

Lori nodded, she knew she couldn't get away with not telling them how she became a Ranger—or Ranger-like, at least.

"Where did your powers come from?" Tommy asked.

"An old friend," Lori answered.

"Billy?" was the first person to pop into Tommy's head.

"No," Lori said, shaking her head.

"The Alien Rangers…from Aquitar?"

"Nope."

"The Blue Senturion?" TJ guessed.

Lori shook her head.

"The Phantom Ranger?" Cassie suggested.

Again, no.

"Ninjor?" Tommy guessed again.

Still wrong. Everyone was guessing old Ranger allies from different planets now.

"Auric the Conqueror?" Tommy asked.

"Magna Defender?" Andros inquired.

"Trey of Triforia?" Tommy had been a Ranger the longest, so he knew the most people. He was just throwing names out there. Although Lori had done her homework (learning all she could about the past teams of Rangers and their eras) she was soon lost by their guesses.

"All right, we give up!" Justin cried in frustration. "Just tell us already."

"I can't believe you guys missed him…" Lori sighed, shaking her head. "It's Zordon!"

"Zordon?!" demanded Tommy, Justin, and the Space Rangers.

"But that's impossible, Zordon was destroyed. I did it myself," Andros said.

"Yeah, it was the good energy from his tube that saved the universe from the UAE," TJ added.

"I never said he was back," Lori pointed out.

"Then how?" Zhane asked.

"The Mystic Rangers are, well…mystical. They have this book called the Xenotome that knows everything (it was what told us that we're actually from different dimensions, but we'll get back to that). Anyways, I told them about the prophecy and asked them if the Xenotome could tell who the Son was."

"And did it?" Hunter asked. Several people shushed him.

"Well, just when we were about to ask, the book began to flash like it never before--"

"And that's when Zordon showed up," Tommy said.

Lori nodded. "A giant blue head floating in the midair is way freakier than a giant blue head in a tube. Anyways, he told me about my history."

"Your history?" Justin asked.

"Yep," Lori nodded. She turned to him. "Did you know my father is Maligore?"

Everyone gasped—everyone that is, except Tommy and Justin, just as she expected.

"I knew it. You knew. You knew all along and you never told me! Why would you do that? You two are the closest people to me. And you kept something like that a secret?!"

"Lori, we couldn't tell you that," Tommy said. "We couldn't just say that your father is a monster living inside a volcano on a lost island in a different dimension."

"Why not?"

"Do you think you would have believed us?" Justin asked. "Besides, if you didn't know then you'd be safe."

"That's what you said for not telling me you were a Power Ranger," Lori retorted.

"Because it was also true in that case. And that our identities are for--"

"'Me to know and them to find out'," Lori recited grumpily. "I know."

Justin gave her a look that said, There you go. Lori sighed.

"Wait," Kira said, "if Maligore is your father, who's your mother?"

Lori turned to her. "Do you know the Greek Goddess, Athena?" she asked her. "Known to the Romans as Minerva…goddess or wisdom, war, and arts and craft…patron goddess of Athens…"

"Yeah, we know," Ethan said, cutting her short. "What about her?"

"You know how they say she was born to Zeus alone, breaking out of his head through a massive headache?"

"You're not saying…" Cam asked.

Lori nodded. "I'm Athena, Maligore is Zeus."

"You…?"

"I'm a part of Maligore, further speaking, I'm his heart. That's why I'm not evil when he was. Where his heart should've been, he ripped it out. It became me. Zordon said the power I have in me matches, or maybe even exceeds, the power of Maligore. And that's why he's after me. The Psychos, they're working for him now."

"The Psychos are working for Maligore?" Carlos asked. "So they're back?"

"They're definitely back," Lori confirmed.

"That's not good," TJ said. "Psycho Blue put me into extensive medical care without even breaking a sweat. It took all six of us to defeat him alone."

"Don't worry," Shane said. "You got all of us now."

"The Psychos aren't the only monsters under Maligore's command," Cassie reminded them. "We can't all just focus on the Psychos."

"Yeah," Ashley agreed. "Just today, there were thousands of foot soldiers that just appeared out of thin air. I have a feeling there's a lot more of them wherever they came from."

"Well, if you want to kill a snake, cut off his head," Cam said.

"Huh?" Conner asked.

"When you want to stop an army, take out the general," Justin explained.

"How are we going to fight the big guy, if we can't even handle the little ones?" Dustin asked.

"You leave him to me," Lori said. "He's my father…my host. Let me handle him, you guys can deal with the rest."

"You can't go up against that thing all by yourself!" Blake said. "No offense, but he'll just squash you like a bug."

"Said the beetle-boy," Lori muttered sarcastically.

"Hey, at least I have a Zord to battle him with? What do you have?"

"Will and determination, the source of my powers."

"Well, will and determination aren't going to protect you when a giant monster foot comes crashing down on you."

"You don't know that. Zordon said that I am the only thing that can truly destroy Maligore. It's like Trent's thing actually."

"My what?" Trent asked, confused.

"Remember your evil clone? How the two of you couldn't exist together 'cause there could only be one White Ranger? Well, that's kind of my situation now. Me and Maligore, we're two parts of one. Neither one of us can survive for long while the other is still out there, because as much as we are the same, we are also the opposite. The two of us are kind of like spirits, battling for control of the body. Right now, he has the body, and if I don't get it soon…" Lori trailed off suggestive, not wanting to say it out loud, but her friends already understood.

"But I still don't get the prophecy thing," Tori said. "Are you it? Are you the Son?"

Lori nodded.

"But you're not a boy," Connor said.

"Way to point out the obvious," teased Ethan. Connor gave him a sharp look.

"My initials spell MAK, which means son of," Lori answered.

"How do your initials spell MAK?" Dustin asked. "Your name is Lori."

"My full name is Mallory Aeron Kellen. Zordon said when a being is born they come into the world with two names, one that the dark side call them by, and one that good side call them by. Mallory is my so-called 'Evil' name. It means ill-omened. Aeron is my 'Good' name. It means battle ending. Kellen is a name I was given…after I came to Earth." Lori looked knowingly at Tommy.

He smiled. "We gave her that name," he admitted, "Alpha and I. Kellen means powerful, and she was. Zordon told us that if brought up the right way, Lori could be the most powerful being in the universe."

"Zordon never told us that," Justin objected.

"I was the only one who knew Lori had hitchhiked on the Turbo Megazord and followed us out of the Nemesis Triangle," Tommy told him. "Zordon decided to keep it that way. She couldn't remember anything, so Alpha and I made up memories for her, to make her think like a regular kid, to hide her from everything. Back then, we didn't know she was the prophecy…heck, we didn't even know there was a prophecy, at least I didn't. We just saw a baby that needed help."

"A baby?" Lori asked. "I must've been five when you found me."

"I know, a baby," Tommy nodded.

"Oh wow, thanks," Lori replied sarcastically. The others couldn't suppress a laugh.

"So how did you get your powers?" Justin asked, still confused.

Lori raised her left arm. A cuff-like bracelet was around her wrist. It looked exactly like the ones the Dino Rangers wore, but instead of having a Dino Gem set in the middle, Lori's have a Z on hers. The Z was basically a miniscule (bent) version of Zordon's energy tube; it even contains the blue energy that Zordon's had.

"Light and love, anything Good is the source of my powers, will and determination is the key to them," Lori answered.

That confused them.

"Huh?" asked the younger Rangers.

"It means that her powers have been there the entire time," Zhane explained. "And it'll always be there as long as there's Good wherever she is. It just takes will and determination to unlock those powers."

"Thank you," Lori nodded to her bleached-blonde-haired friend.

"So you're the Son…" TJ said.

Trent chuckled. "You've been whacking your head out trying to find yourself."

Lori laughed with him, it was pretty funny.

"Great," Shane said. "Now there are 26 of us, 26 Power Rangers. Maligore better watch his back now."

"Oh yeah!" cheered the other youngsters.

Lori didn't join in with the hooting; neither did Justin because his long experience counts him as an older Ranger along with the Space team, Tommy, and Udonna, Leanbow, and Daggeron. The two best friends exchanged determined looks, but they were set and serious, unlike the others who were happy and excited, they knew better than to look forward to a battle. Not that they were cowards, but they knew that violence should always be a last resort. Amidst the rowdiness of the other young Rangers getting pumped for the war ahead, Lori and Justin did not miss the looks the team mentors/leaders exchanged. They knew something that they didn't. Lori knew no matter how she pestered Tommy or Andros, they would deny it, but she had to find out what they knew, 'cause most likely, it was about her.

I know Maligore isn't supposed to talk, but how can he be an evil commander if he can't give orders? Review!