Chapter 3

At a secret cave near Blue Bay Harbour…

"Ah, it's good to be home. Well, sort of home away from home anyway, " Lothor proclaimed loudly as he checked out his secret lair, the same one he used when he escaped from the Abyss of Evil.

"Now to do some tidy things up a bit. Kelzaks!" With a flick of his finger, dozens of the foot soldiers appeared, armed with brooms and rag cloths, and begin cleaning the place up.

"Make sure you get my high chair really clean. I'm quite the person for hygiene you know." Lothor directed. The Kelzaks nodded vigorously as they continued cleaning.

"Now, how do I defeat the Power Rangers?" Lothor said aloud as he paced the floor.

"I don't have any generals, nor any monsters. Bah, even my PAM is gone. Should I open the Abyss of Evil again?" Lothor considered for a few seconds.

"Nah, those monsters are no good. The last time the Rangers just threw them back into the hole. No, I need something that doesn't go away easily, something that can keep fighting the Rangers. Something like…" Lothor waved his finger vigorously as he thought hard.

"The Lost Ninjas!" Lothor snapped his fingers.

"Those ninjas are already dead, and they never get tired of fighting. But to control them, I need the Gem of Souls." Lothor began to grin nastily. He could vaguely recall the Rangers using bits of the gem to drill into his space ship once, but where did the rest of the fragments go? He began pacing around the cave, trying to think. He needed someone, or something, that could find the gems, that could sniff out the gems…

"Hmm, if I remember correctly that silly monster Amphibidor has a cousin called Dogidor staying somewhere nearby. Maybe he can sniff out the gems' fragments." With that, Lothor teleported away to look for Dogidor.

"Ow! Ow! Ok, ok I'm coming out." Dogidor yelped in pain as one of Lothor's lasers hit him. He was just enjoying a lazy afternoon nap in his den when someone called out his name. He looked out den hole to see Lothor. Remembering the fate of his cousin, he didn't want to go out. But it looked like he has no choice.

"Good doggie. Now, I've got something for you to do." Lothor smiled nastily.

"Why should I follow you? After all, my cousin did and he got blown into bits by the Power Rangers!"

"You seemed like a smart and reasonable hound. Let me make you a preposition. Either you help me to destroy the Power Rangers or I destroy you right now!" Lothor said, still smiling.

"Ruff choice! Fine, what do you want me to do?" Dogidor replied, all the fur on his body shaking as he waved his paws.

"I want you to find the Gem of Souls. It's been broken to several fragments, and I want you to sniff them out."

"That's easy. I found one near the beach one day, most probably it got washed up by the sea. Then I sniffed about and found 1 more in the sea."

"What? Excellent! Hand them over to me. Now go find the rest!" Lothor commanded.

"But it's afternoon now! There's lots of people at the beach. It'll be hard to find them with all these people around. And what if the Power Rangers find me?"

"Scary cat, I mean, dog. Don't worry, my Kelzaks will keep them busy if they come. Just go find the fragments!" Lothor ordered.

"Ok! Ruff!" With that, Dogidor teleported away.

At the Wind Ninja Academy…

"Hey dad, what's on your mind?" Cam greeted his dad as he walked up to him. His dad, Sensei Watanabe seemed intent on supervising the senior students training, but Cam could tell there was something else bothering him.

"I've been having an uneasy feeling the whole day. I could sense darkness looming," the Sensei answered gravely.

"Lothor's back?" Cam asked, guessing quickly that anything dark and evil most probably had to do with Lothor.

"I'm not certain yet. But that is a possibility." Sensei nodded.

Just then, Cam's communicator started beeping. Although retired as a Ranger, Cam still wore his communicator around, which was linked up to Ninja Ops. Ninja Ops was no longer used, but its surveillance system was still kept running 24 hours to detect any disturbances. It's been such a long time since then, that Cam actually jumped in surprise at the first sound of the beep.

"What is it, son?"

"The surveillance at Ninja Ops picked up something. I think I better go check it out."

"Very well, son. I will accompany you."

At Ninja Ops, Cam activated the monitors to reveal a furry dog-like monster at the beach, sniffing at the water. While a band of Kelzaks seems to be causing a chaos and terrifying everyone at the beach.

"Great. Well, it's confirmed then. Lothor's back." Cam said as he began typing and navigating to get more details on the situation.

"Unfortunate, but true. Inform Shane, Dustin and Tori and ask them to go to the beach immediately," Sensei responded.

Suddenly, Cam caught sight of Tori on one of the monitors. Apparently she had gone surfing at the beach that day. She was helping to direct the public to safety while keeping few of the Kelzaks at bay.

"Tori's already at the beach. I'll get Shane and Dustin there pronto. Meanwhile, I'll contact Hunter and Blake, in case they're needed." Cam replied grimly.

"Hey you! Big, ugly and furry! Back off before we hurt you!" Shane shouted at the monster as he and Dustin streaked to the beach. Tori ran up to them and join them, while pulling off her beach attire to reveal her ninja uniform.

"Uh oh, trouble! Kelzaks, get them!" Dogidor barked. Immediately the Kelzaks surrounded and attacked them. With a few deft moves, the Kelzaks were brought to the ground. They ran up to Dogidor, ready in their fighting stances.

"How bout some doggy treats?" Dogidor threw dozens of chew bones, which exploded all around them.

"Uh…That's brutal. How do we take down this monster without our Ranger powers?" Dustin asked, cluthing his chest in pain.

"I dunno. But we have to somehow." Shane replied grimly.

"It's been fun playing Rangers, but we'll have to continue this another time. This dog's got something to fetch." With that, Dogidor teleported away.

"Dude, what the hell was that about? I mean, I'm glad the monster's gone, but I have a bad feeling things are going to get a lot worse," Dustin asked, scratching his head.

"No doubt. And if it's Lothor, he definitely has something nasty up his sleeve," Shane answered.

"Well, there's nothing we could do right now," Tori added.

"Let's head back to Ninja Ops and discuss it with Sensei and Cam."