Ranger Tales
Chapter 15: Revenge of the Empire Part 3: Machine's Destruction
Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Saban/Disney, Carri Hillard and all things relating to Carri, including Jessica McClintock, belong to KJ with many thanks. Azazel belongs to Eric Kripke. Gol and Marx belong to me. Much thanks to KJ for helping me with the ideas for the planet Geeta and the name of the chasm.
A/N: This story is set in an alternate universe where the Alien Rangers arc never happened, although the Alien Rangers do exist. I used Phaedos as the source of the Ninjetti Powers, but Ninjor exists and is the acknowledged creator of Ninjetti. Also, this story has nothing to do with my previous two. The episodes in which Billy went to Aquitar did not happen in this fic. In this fic, Tommy and Kim have not broken up. This chapter will be the final one in the "Revenge of the Empire" arc.
As always reviews are appreciated. Timeline wise 1997 is at an end and '98 is getting ready to begin. So since I had the Astro team get started early, therefore playing with the timeline, these will take place right before the episode where Zhane is introduced. Also, a future villain makes a small cameo appearance at the very end, though it will be his only appearance.
Tommy jumped out into the clearing where Mondo and Machina were standing. The Machine looked startled, this made two unwelcome guests in a days time. Though he preferred Zedd to the Rangers. He knew what the red Zeo Ranger was after, too bad he wouldn't succeed. "Ah, Ranger, so good to see you." Mondo lied "If you're here to rescue Zordon, and I'm sure you are, I must inform you that your going to fail."
"Oh we'll see about that." Tommy said, pointing at the machine king. Looking beyond Mondo he spoke to Zordon. "Zordon, are you okay?" H efelt stupid asking the question, his mentor was in the hands on evil, of course he wasn't okay.
Zordon nodded, he did not want to worry his Ranger. He was proud of him, he had managed to track him down and even formulate a plan. Zordon glanced from side to side, taking note of Jason and the yellow Astro Ranger hiding in the woods. He was under the impression that almost all of the Astros had been killed. Tommy and the others must have met Andros and picked a new team. The thought that his Rangers hand picked their own Rangers made him truly proud in his own choices. "Yes Tommy. Quickly though, you must stop Mondo."
Tommy nodded and called for his power weapon as he engaged Mondo in combat. As Mondo threw the red Ranger to the ground Machina laughed. Suddenly Ashley jumped out from the woods and kicked Machina in her face, sending the machine queen flying. Ashley quickly called for her star slinger and fired at Machina. The machine queen pulled herself to her feet and began attacking the yellow Ranger.
While Ashley and Tommy had the rulers of the empire occupied Jason began silently taking out the Cogs. Once he was through with them he made his way to Zordon. "Zordon..." he let his voice trail off as he saw the lava at the bottom of his tube.
"It is good to see you as well." Zordon replied, smiling at his very first red Ranger, now the green Zeo Ranger.
Jason shook the memories of his first time meeting Zordon out of his head and began to work on getting ready to teleport him back to the ship. He hit the buttons on his communicator, but nothing happened. After a couple more tried with nothing happening he asked Zordon what was going on. Before he could answer him though, Mondo interrupted, sending Tommy flying towards them. "I have set up a barrie around the planet, disabling your teleportation sequence. Did you really think that I would believe that you only sent two Rangers?"
Tommy hit the ground and slid, stopping with his head hanging over the chasm. He quickly jumped up and took a defensive stance. "I'll admit we miscalculated, but that doesn't mean we won't still win!" He lunged for the machine king, sword ready to strike. To his surprise his sword was blocked by a black stone like blade. Confused at first he looked up to see Ecliptor standing before him. "Ecliptor! What are you doing here?"
The black and green cyborg ignored the red Zeo Ranger and threw him back. He grunted as he made his way for the green Zeo who was trying to help Zordon. "I won't let you save him."
Jason looked over at Ecliptor and said "Yeah, I'd like to see you try and stop me." With a growl Ecliptor charged the green Ranger, swinging his sword at him, only to have it blocked by Jason Zeo Laser Blade. The two clashed swords furiously, neither one backing down. As they dueled Tommy made his way to Zordon in an attempt to save him, Mondo temporarily forgotten. Zordon knew there was only one way to put an end to Dark Specters plan. His Rangers were powerful, but Dark Specter would be too much for them to handle.
"Tommy," he spoke "listen carefully, you must shatter my tube. It's the only way to put an end to everything."
Tommy shook his head "I won't do it. There is another way, and we'll find it." Tommy would never sacrifice his mentors life, he meant too much to him. He would find a way to stop Dark Specter, one that didn't involve any of his friends needlessly dying. Before Zordon could say anything else he was transported to the Dark Fortress and Mondo resumed his attack on Tommy.
The red Ranger jumped out of the way of Mondo's sword and stuck the machine with his own sword. Mondo knocked Tommy's sword away from him threw him to the ground by the chasm, rendering him unconscious for a moment, he then raised his sword for the final blow.
As Tommy and Mondo raged on, Ashley had her hands full with Machina. She dodged the machine queens attack kicked her back, noticing a fallen branch behind her enemy. She allowed herself to concentrate on it, using the telekinesis that Andros had taught her, and brought it forward into Machina back. As Machina stumbled towards her she shot her with her pistol and star slinger, blowing her head off and allowing her body to fall to the ground. She looked up and saw Mondo getting ready to kill Tommy.
Jason battled Ecliptor while all of this went on, Jason eventually struck hard enough to break Ecliptor's sword, causing the cyborg to retreat. He looked up and saw Mondo preparing to kill Tommy. In a desparate act he ran toward shim shouting "no" and once he was close enough he jumped for him, throwing both himself and the machine king over the edge and into the chasm.
Down on Earth the remaining Astros and Zeo's, plus Billy and Emily were all hanging out in the Youth Center. The Rangers had insited that Billy get out of the Power Chamber for a while. He had been couped up in there for weeks trying to get the place fully operational again. Though, knowing Billy he'd try to make i even better than it was before. They were all having a good time, though they were all worried about their friends and boyfriends. Carri was in the middle of picking on Rocky's eating habits when Emily suddenly excused herself and hurried for the bathroom.
Kim and Carri nodded and excused themselves as well, leaving everyone else confused. The two Zeo Rangers entered the bathroom and saw Emily standing over the sink, wiping tears away from her face. "Emily..." Kim said, letting her voice trail off. "What's wrong?"
Emily sniffled, she didn't know how to describe it. She suddenly got this pain in her heart, like something had happened to Jason and she wasn't sure what. But whatever it was it wasn't good. She wiped away the remaining tears and plastered a fake smile on her face as she turned to face her friends. "It's nothing. I just suddenly felt really sick." Kim and Carri both narrowed their eyes, after years of having to lie about their whereabouts they knew when someone was lying.
"Tell us the truth." Carri said simply. "We know you're lying. Now spill, what's wrong?"
Emily sighed, she should have known better than to try and lie to them. "It's...it's Jason...I just have a feeling that something happened...something bad..."
Kim was the first to approach her. "I'm sure he's fine." She said in an attempt to comfort her.
"Yeah," Carri agreed as she walked up on her other side. "After all, he is the original red Ranger, and Oliver is with them. I think you're just worrying toomuch is all." Neither one of the girls wanted to admit that Emily was probably right, something very well may have happened. But they didn't want her to worry about it.
Emily wiped some fresh tears away and said "Yeah, you're probably right. It's just, it's so stressful having a boyfriend who is a Ranger, and not being one yourself, not anymore I mean."
Kim offered her a smile. "I know what you mean. Remember I was in Florida while Tommy was here in Angel Grove as a Ranger. I worried about him day in and day out. It isn't easy, and I don't think you ever get used to it. You just have to trust that he knows what he's doing, trust me that's harder with Tommy than it is with Jason," she joked. "But seriously, Jason was a Ranger long before Tommy and Ashley. If anyone knows how to play it safe its him."
Emily smiled back at her. She was glad to have them both as friends. She knew Kim was right, but she still felt like something had happened. "Thank you." She said simply.
"Shall we return in a grand, dramatic entrance?" Carri joked.
Both girls looked at her and Kim replied "Sure, why not?" the trio laughed and made their way back to their friends table.
"No!" Ashley screamed, she couldn't believe what she had just seen. Jason had lunged at Mondo, knocking them both over the edge. She quickly tried to gather herself and began to concentrate on Jasons energy signature. This was the first time she was actually attempting to use her ability in combat, the first time she ahd no idea what had happened, only that a yellow flash shot out from her body and egulfed T.J, sending him miles away. She found his energy signature and began to force her own energy upwards and outwards. She could feel it rising, pushing out, and as soon as she felt she had control of it, she shot it out.
Tommy awoke just just in time to see his best friend and the machine king fly over the edge, followed by Ashley's shriek. Once he actually processed what had happened he stood and saw a yellow flash resonate from behind Ashley's visor, followed a yellow burst of energy shoot out from her body and fly over the edge. He then found a whole new set of questions buzzing in his head. What happened exactly while he was out? What was the yellow flash behind her visor? What was that outburst of energy? He was about to ask when he saw Ashley power down and saw the look of concentration on her face.
Jason didn't know where he was, only that he was surrounded by a black burning liquid, and that he felt evil all around him. It wasn't tar, it didn't smell like tar. And he could breathe, but, if he was submerged in a liquid of some sort, shouldn't he be drowning? He opened his eyes and was horrified by what he saw, thousands of corpses were floating around, and his flesh was slowly burning away. That was when he felt it, the liquid was scorching hot, yet freezing cold at the same time. It was as if every time a patch of flesh dissolved it was immediately replaced and the burning and freezing stopped in that area. He felt the heat, and he felt the coldness, yet he felt no pain. He didn't quite understand it. He could vaguely hear his name being shouted from above. He tried to call back out to them, but it was no use. His voice was muffled, just like it would be in water. This made no sense to him. Shouldn't he be dead?
He tried moving, and to his surprise he was able to walk around, not swim, but walk. He wasn't able to swim up though. He passed by all the corpses, even by King Mondo's deteriorating metal hide. The further in he walked the quieter everything became. He walked around until he found what appeared to be the oldest body in there, all that was left of it was the skull and little bit of torso. He able to make out the word "Marx" on a label on the shirt. The name meant absolutely nothing to him of course. As he no longer felt the burning and freezing he looked at his body. It felt the same, like nothing had ever happened.
He continued to venture through the black liquid, as he did the same face continued to pop up in his head. It looked like Maligore, but darker. Everytime it showed up he head the name "Dark Specter" in his head. He began to understand, this is where Dark Specters power came from. It was where he recharged his evil energies, in a way it was like Zedd's Centennial Recharge. Jason tried summoning his Zeonizers, if he could destroy this place then Dark Specter would have nowhere to recharge and would eventually run out of energy. To his dismay though, his Zeonizers wouldn't summon.
"Those won't work here." Said a familiar, cold voice. Jason looked up to see a familiar green clad teen with a mullet. "This is a place of evil, good is non-existant here. Soon, you'll either be evil, or you'll be dead. The others," he gestured to all the bodies that continued to float around, "were all too weak to handle the power of the chasm. But you are capable of handling it. As am I. Don't you want to pay me back?" Tommy asked. "After all, I did nearly kill your team, challenge your leadership, and after I became the white Ranger I stole the role of leader form you. You were never meant to lead the Power Rangers. Why do you think Zordon replaced you with me?"
Jason heard what he was saying, but he refused to let himself believe it. He glared at the green clad Tommy as he continued. "I mean, what better way to pay me back than to turn evil yourself, and then throw me in here to either my death, or my ascention to evil once more? Think about it, you could be the leader again."
Jason continued to glare at him as he spoke "Never. I'll never become evil!" He flicked his wrists again, this time his Zeonizers did appear. "Zeo Ranger IV, Green!" In a bright green flash the image of the evil Tommy melted away and Jason stood as the green Zeo Ranger. Suddenly the liquid surrounding him began to glow, changing from black to green, the evil energy changing to good. He may not have destroyed this place, but he had purified it. All the bodies that were floating around completely dissolved, except for Mondo's as it was thrown out.
He looked around and saw the body he had identified as "Marx" reform itself. The man that stood before him had long blonde hair, a blue shirt and black pants. He slowly approached Jason, holding his hand out when he reached him. Hesistant at first, Jason took it and shook his hand. "Thank you." Marx said. When Jason looked at him curiously he explained about the chasm. He had been a force for good, much like Zordon, and he had been captured by Dark Specters ancestors. They brought him to the chasm after stripping him of most of his powers. As he fell in he began to try and chant a spell to save his life, but as he did they chanted their own and filled the chasm with the non-liquid liquid that had filled it. They then began the rumor that Marx himself had been evil and caused the chasm's evil energy.
"And now, thanks to you the rest of these souls and I can finally rest in peace. Thank you." Marx said as he vanished. After he vanished a bright yellow light encompassed Jason.
Up in space Ecliptor returned to the Dark Fortress after his defeat. "Ecliptor, prepare to return to Earth." Astronema said as she walked over to Zordon's tube.
"But, shouldn't we continue our attack? They are down one Ranger. It will be easy to crush them!" Ecliptor argued.
Astronema growled and turned to face him. "No. We need to get back to Earth and keep the others occupied. These Rangers will have a surprise coming for them now that Mondo is dead." Astronema's cat-like smile spread across her face and she shouted for Ecliptor to get moving.
Jason looked around and found himself standing in the clearing with Tommy and Ashley, and a fallen Machina and a washed up Mondo. "What...the hell just happened..." As the words left his mouth Ashley collapsed from exhaustion. Both male Rangers quickly ran over to her, Jason beating Tommy to her. He felt himself running faster than normal.
"Ash? Ash you okay?" Tommy asked as he reached her. He was definitely going to ask her what happened later. One minute a yellow burst of light flies out of her body, and a few mintes later Jason appears from the same burst of energy.
Ashley stirred a little. "Yeah..." she said weakly. "Jason...glad it worked..." she said as she passed out again.
"Come on, let's get her back to the ship and head home." Jason said as he lifted her up. Tommy nodded and walked over to Mondo's machine and estroyed it, allowing them to teleport. A few minutes later they were soaring through space, headed home.
A couple of hours after Tommy, Jason, and Ashley left, two familiar machines landed on the planet. They made their way for the clearing and the silver and pink machine walked up to Queen Machina's head. "Look at this poor excuse for a queen." She said as she stepped on her head, crushing it.
"And this poor excuse for a king." Gasket said as he blew his fathers body up. "Those Ranger will rue the day they crossed the Machine Empire. We shall rebuild it, better than it ever was before!"
Archerina clapped her hands. "Oh it shall be so wonderful to be queen! Dear-" she was cut off by a blow to the back, which sent her head scattering.
"Archerina? Dear?" Gasket said as he turned to face her. He saw her head roll around on the ground, and the man who killed her. He was dressed in a black trench coat and a black mask with a black pony tail sticking out of the back. Just before he could attack her killer, he too was shot down.
The man responsible let out a sigh. "Finally those two shut up. Zurgane, load them up on the ship. We may be able to use them for scraps."
"Right away sir!" Zurgane said as he lifted the two dead robots up and carried them away.
Lothor took in a deep breath "Ah, just a few more years and I'll be ready to return to Earth and attack!"