Chapter Three. Attack Of The Rejects.

It had been too long since he'd been here, but the Time Hole looked exactly as Dorlinda had left it. Well, if he was honest, it looked like there was some stuff missing, but that was only to be expected.

"Your brother, I take it."

He turned, a heavily breathing and pale skinned Clarence stood before him, stooped over in pain.

"Excuse me?"

"Think he might have been in and out," the Conduit said. "Borrow some stuff, never return it. You know what Errol's like."

"Yeah, I do," Dorlinda replied. "What I didn't know was what you were like. Thought you were invincible."

"Apparently not," Clarence said. "You look well rested."

"Wish I could say the same about you."

The Conduit shrugged. "Those of us who are about to die salute you." He brought a hand to his head and saluted Dorlinda. "You know, I always felt bad about the way you died."

"Probably didn't hurt as much as actually dying," Dorlinda retorted. "Dialga and Palkia told me to come here. You wanted to talk."

"We all have our time, but I still felt guilty," Clarence repeated. "Personally, I wish it could have been different. But now, this is my chance to make amends. I am dying, you know that. So when it came to picking a replacement, there was only one choice. Raising you up wasn't that hard; when your life is already forfeit, there's not really a whole lot more that worries you."

"You're cheating the rules then?" Dorlinda asked. "Bringing me up in exchange for yourself?"

"That's right," Clarence said. "Just thought you deserved to hear it from me before I passed along. You needed an explanation. It wouldn't be right to pluck you back into the land of the living without one."
"Thank you," said Dorlinda. "Although, I'm not going to lie to you. Paradise was excellent."

"I suppose I'll find out," Clarence grinned weakly. "Dorlinda. The first task will always be the hardest. But you've got some good rangers working beneath you. If anyone can pull it off, they can."

He gasped in pain as his body convulsed.

"It's coming!" he said, clutching his chest. "The onrush of death. I feel it. When it comes, my power will pass to you. Are you ready?"

Dorlinda hesitated only for a second before nodding his head. "I am!"
With a final scream, Clarence hovered up into the air, his body glowing with a ferocious golden light. Watching, Dorlinda covered his eyes from the glare before hearing a ripping sound tear through the air as Clarence was obliterated from existence.

And then the tidal wave of pure power struck him square on.

"Come on!"

Ever since the interloper had been dealt with, Nixysis had returned to his labs on the seventh moon of Vandor and set about working. His scientists had fixed up the book to the podium beneath the giant machine and the energy had started to bleed off into it, a metal spike pointing down at the book, from which the stuff emerged. For an hour, he had watched and the process was only just starting.

3% complete.

He wasn't impressed it was taking so long. In his mind, he had anticipated laying waste to Vandor by now, taking control of the planet and its resources. Instead, he was sat here watching and waiting.

"Or, you could take action."

He visibly jumped, almost bringing out his blaster pistol at the sound of the voice before calming down. He knew what it was, if not who, the female voice had been that which had guided him this far. He couldn't see her; he didn't know what she was like, other than the tone of her voice which was nearly always severely cold. Several times, he'd wondered if she was tapping into his telepathy, or if he alone could hear her. She'd spoken to him when others were in the room, and they had gotten nothing from her.

"Action?" he asked. "What do you mean? Action?"
"You have doubts as to the potency of the energy source?" she asked. "You think it could go faster?"

4% complete.

"I think it could," he said.

"There's a saying," she replied. "A watched pot never boils. Doesn't seem appropriate for this, but the concept is the same. Or, you could do something that would set a taste for the rest of the universe."

Nixysis nodded. "I like that idea. What do I do?"
"Like all energy, this stuff can be channelled and ordered about if you know how to do it," the female voice said. "You're supremely lucky that I know just how to do it. Give me a few moments and I'll…"
She tailed out of the conversation.

"You know," Nixysis said. "I always wonder how you know so much of this stuff. About this book, about the Lost Zone…"

"I suppose you could say I have close personal experiences with the Lost Zone," she said. "It's all around me, trying to suffocate what I am. My body has long since been lost, but the mind remains strong and healthy. I know that when the time is right, you'll do right by me. At least, I hope you will."

"You get me what I want and I'll try," he said. "Put you in a body, if you tell me how. And if that's what you want."

"Do you have a teleportation system in this place?" she asked. "Because, when you see what I have for you, fresh from the depths of the Lost Zone, you'll want to drop them off somewhere where they can cause the most damage."

"I do indeed," Nixysis said. "And I know where to send them."

"Then enjoy your little gift sweetener," she said cheerily.

In a flash of light, a surge of energy ripped out from close to the machine, depositing four figures out onto the floor of the lab. As the light faded away, Nixysis saw them for the first time. One of them had the body of an Aggron and the head of a Magnezone, another was a humanoid Sharpedo, the third was a humanoid Meowth with a large coin on its head, and the final one was a humanoid Ninetales with a chest plate, leg and wrist guards.

"Presenting four of the most legendary warriors from the Lost Zone," she said. "Or is my assumption. MagneHead, SharpMariner, The Great Purrie and NineWhips. They're yours to command."

"We are?" MagneHead wondered. "Really?"

"Nice to meet you," NineWhips said. "We're bent on destruction. It's our thing. You point us in a direction and we'll go rampaging off that way."

"Yeah!" SharpMariner added. "We're ready."

"I'll give you credit," Nixysis said, even though he wasn't sure if his mystery benefactor was still there. "They all look potent enough."

"What the mrek!" Lily exclaimed, as the figure in gold stepped towards them. "Is that…"

"It's another ranger!" Falco said calmly.

"How's that possible?" Diana asked, watching as he reached up to take his helmet in his hands. "Wait… Wait…"

"Anyone want to guess at what's under that helmet?" Sandy said, smiling under her own helmet.

"Some horrible monster no doubt," Nick remarked. "Such is the way things work."

The ranger in the gold costume removed his helmet to reveal a human face beneath it, a figure with light brown hair and green eyes.

"Hello morning goodness!" Sandy exclaimed.

"Who are you?" Max demanded, reaching down to his waist for his Cosmo Blaster to point at the figure. "Identify yourself or we will attack at will?"
"Who am I?" the new ranger asked. "My name… Ah, I know this. My name… My name… It'll come to me, it'll come… Payne. Nope, that's not right… Crane! My name is Crane Edwards."

He smiled across at them.

"Hello."

"Hey! Crane!"

Breaking out of his own thoughts, Crane Edwards looked up to the silver haired woman in a Cosmo Force uniform trying to get his attention. One of her eyes was covered by the hair; the other was an onyx black. Beside her, he saw a man with tanned skin and black hair with a red fringe and another with reddish hair and green eyes, both of them wearing similar uniforms.

"Yeah?" he asked. He wore a gold jacket with a black shirt underneath it and blue jeans, a simple gold ring around one of his fingers. "What?"

"You awake?" Sandy asked.

"Nah, he's sleep walking," Max quipped. "That explains the vacant look."

Next to him, Nick laughed.

"What's your excuse then, Maxie?" Crane wondered.

"Oh ha ha," the Red Cosmo Ranger replied sarcastically. "I'm weighed down with the burden of leadership. When you've felt that, let me know how you handled it."

"Pretty well," Crane replied. "Did it for a couple of months a few thousand years ago."

"Yeah, that never gets more believable," Sandy said. "Until you hear the explanation."

"Well I am very well preserved," Crane answered with a laugh. "Look pretty good for my age."

"That you do," Sandy said.

"Oh mrek," Nick muttered. "Might just be me, but anyone else praying for an Obliving attack so we don't have to listen to this the rest of the way to the Cosmo Force building?"

Ever since their adventures on the space station where they had met up with a revived Crane, they'd been working to try and discover what he was exactly. The Night Hawk's Medical Officer, Evelyn Bliss, had been confounded by his unique physiology, forcing them to return to the Galactic Stronghold and use the facilities at the Cosmo Force Medical Labs. They knew he was human, but as to how human they remained unsure. His abilities ranged far beyond the norm, his strength, his speed and his reflexes almost on a par with their CO, Commandant Peregrine Griote. Following a brief stopover on the planet Alvech for Max to do something, and the examination of the Night Hawk and the crew by a Cosmo Force inspector, they'd eventually gotten here.

"Don't think that's going to happen," Max said. "We're not going to be…"

From somewhere beyond them, a huge explosion rang out.

"Or we might be that lucky," Nick smiled. "Let's go."

The Genesis Rangers had appeared alone; no sign of Clarence, in the middle of what they soon discovered via a passing alien that resembled a Metagross was called the Stronghold.

"Nice place," Xavier said. "I mean, if this is where we go from where we are, then it looks pretty good."

"Not many humans though, is there?" Duo said. "We're getting some strange looks. And that thing that looks like a Fearow just gave me a wink."

"Kinky," Luke quipped. "Few years ago, you'd have gotten off on that."
"Few years ago I…" Duo started to say.

"Don't!" Katie said, the warning tone in her voice clear for all. "Nobody wants to hear it."

"I kinda do," Ryan offered. "Now you've just reacted like that."

They started to walk on, leaving behind their landing zone.

"So, where do you think we go from here?" Nahir wondered. "Just wander around and hope something happens?"

"No different from what we used to do when we were rangers full time, right?" Paige asked. "Hang around and wait for something to happen, then go run in and save the day. Something'll happen eventually. It always does."

Right on cue, they heard the explosion.

"I love it when stuff like that lines up," she said.

As Max, Sandy, Nick and Crane arrived on the scene, they were greeted with the sight of the four monsters, MagneHead, The Great Purrie, NineWhips and SharpMariner rampaging around, destroying things.

"These don't look your garden variety Obliving things," Crane remarked. "They look more like mutants."

"Bring your past up later, Sun-man," Nick said. "I prayed for this, and it's been answered."

"Ready to do this?" Max asked, raising a gloved fist with a silver box on the back. Nick and Sandy did the same, revealing their morphers, while Crane twisted the ring on his finger which immediately shifted its appearance into a golden gauntlet.

"Oh yeah," Sandy said. "Time to show them that they're messing with the wrong place at the wrong time!"

"Cosmosis!" Max, Sandy and Nick shouted, all clenching their fists.

"Solaris!" Crane shouted, beating his own fists together, a clang ringing out as skin bashed against metal.

In a flash, the four of them morphed into their ranger suits. Max went first; his was a dark red colour. It had a white belt with a blaster and a baton on each thigh. The boots and gloves were white, one of the gloves had a silver rectangle on it. The right side of the chest had a huge number one across it in black with a white outline. There were also white bands across the upper arms of the uniform. The helmet was Infernape based with a rectangular visor and circular mouthpiece.

Sandy's was a dark blue colour. It had a white belt with a blaster and a baton on each thigh. The boots and gloves were white, one of the gloves had a silver rectangle on it. The right side of the chest had a huge number two across it in black with a white outline. There were also white bands across the upper arms of the uniform. The helmet was Porygon based with a rectangular visor and circular mouthpiece.

Nick's was a d ark green colour. It had a white belt with a blaster and baton on each thigh. The boots and gloves were white, one of the gloves had a silver rectange on it. The right side of the chest had a huge number four across it in black with a white outline. There were also white bands across the upper arms of the uniform. The helmet was Grovyle based with a rectangular visor and circular mouthpiece.

Finally, Crane's ranger suit began to materialise across his body. It was a gold colour with a dark blue belt without any weapons attached. The boots and gauntlets were dark blue, the right gauntlet had a silver rectangle on it. The right side of the chest had a huge infinity symbol across it in dark blue with a white outline. There were dark blue bands across the upper arms. The helmet was Ho-oh based with a rectangular visor and circular mouthpiece.

"Hey, what the…?" SharpMariner exclaimed, seeing the four of them. "There are Poké Rangers here? Not cool man."

"This wasn't part of the deal!" NineWhips added.

"Hey, speak for yourself," The Great Purrie said. "Wherever green rangers may be, The Great Puree will be there to… Awww, no! I did it again! No! No!"

"He's going to get his ass kicked," MagneHead replied. "But we might survive."

"One way to find out," NineWhips said. "Let's fight. I want to rip the red one a new hole."

"I want to go to a place where it's not easy being green," Purrie quipped.

The fight began as NineWhips went towards Max, throwing a punch at him which the Red Cosmo Ranger ducked under and kicked her in the chest, his blow deflecting off her armour. She swiped at him again, and when he dodged, hurled a blast of flames at him.

"Oh, you want to try that?" Max asked, his fist bursting into flames. "Fire Punch!"

Hurling himself forward, he landed the punch into NineWhips' face. Giving off a laugh, she hit him with a punch that threw him back through the air.

"Flash fire, moron!" she chuckled. "I've felt more pain walking down the street."

Meanwhile, MagneHead had gone to battle Sandy and the two of them were trading blows. Flooring her with a punch, he reacted with surprise when the Blue Cosmo Ranger got up and smashed him in the face with her Cosmo Baton. He felt the blow, but remained strong enough to try and hit her back. His blow hit her in the chest and sent her flying into a wall. Before he could celebrate his minor victory, she jumped back up and shot him several times with her Cosmo Blaster. As the laser blasts razed across him, she leaped forward, her fist glowing with a bright purple light.

"Psycho Cut!"

Her blow caught him square between the shoulders and the head, sending him reeling and before he could recover, she kicked him into a wall where he exploded.

"Piece of cake," Sandy crowed.

Across from them, Crane was fighting SharpMariner, kicking the Sharpedo humanoid in the face. As the monster swiped at him, he brought out his Solar Striker and transformed it into a shield, blocking the attack.

"Solar Striker! Sword form!"

As SharpMariner staggered back bemoaning his injured fists, Crane transformed the weapon into a sword and slashed at him, flaying scaled skin away from his body. Angrily roaring, he fired a blast of water towards the Solar Ranger, forcing Crane into throwing himself aside.

"How you going to hit me from there?" SharpMariner demanded, seeing Crane was easily further than arm's length away from him.

"Solar Striker! Boomerang form!"

"What the…"

The weapon transformed into a three pronged boomerang which he hurled through the air. It raked SharpMariner several times, sending him staggering back, before Crane flung himself through the air and hit him several times in the face. The Solar Striker returned to his hand.

"Solar Striker! Axe form!"

Even as it transformed, Crane swung it through the air and hit SharpMariner as hard as he could, the monster immediately falling to the ground and exploding.

Purrie had drawn the short straw of fighting Nick and was currently trying to Fury Swipe him to death.

"I'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyou!" he hissed, swinging a clawed fist at the Green Cosmo Ranger. "You're the face of every nightmare I've ever had."

Under his helmet, Nick rolled his eyes and kicked the Meowth monster in the face. "So, what are you then?" he asked. "The joke or the punchline?"

Hissing, Purrie tried to slash him again, only for Nick to duck and snap-kick him in the back.

"Maybe the punchbag," he said, holding both arms out in front of him. "Make like a tree and split. Leaf Blade."

Twin glowing blades of green energy sprung from his wrists, and with them aimed, Nick swept forward and cut straight through Purrie's neck, separating his head from his body.

"Okay, I didn't mean that literally," he admitted. "But it works as well."

"You can't hurt me, Red Ranger," NineWhips taunted. "Like so many of that colour before you, you're utterly dependent on fire attacks. And I'll just soak them up like the good little fire resistant creature that I am."

"Oh, if only you'd said that to me a few weeks ago, you'd be right," Max smirked. "But now, you're in trouble."

Bringing out both arms in front of him, he brought a large silver police shield before him.

"Every chance I get to test this thing out is a welcome moment to me," he said. "Rock King Battlizer!"

At his command, the shield began to glow with a bright red light, the energy spreading back across him. New red armour began to appear across his body, armour resembling a Tyranitar's skin materialising on his chest, arms, shoulders and legs, huge spikes rising up out of them. The design on his helmet changed from an Infernape to a Tyranitar and a sword appeared in his hand shaped like the tail of the rock type Pokémon. The visor of the helmet glowed with a bright red light and a pattern of flames appeared around the centre of the chest piece of the armour. Claws erupted from the boots

"Nuts!" exclaimed NineWhips. "Did not see that coming!"

"Rock Slide!" Max roared, slamming the sword down into the ground. And from the emerging shock wave, a barrage of huge boulders rose up and smashed her to pieces, the remains exploding even as they hit the ground.

"Huh," the Red Cosmo Ranger said. "Expected more somehow."

The Genesis Rangers had arrived on the scene a few seconds after the four of them had morphed, and had seen the whole battle.

"Cool Battlizer," Luke said. "Right?"

"Mine was better," Katie immediately said, as Xavier let out mutters of disagreement. Paige meanwhile was watching the Solar Ranger dispatch SharpMariner with a look of bemusement on her face.

"Anyone else see something familiar about that guy's fighting ability?" she asked. "It's bugging me."

"Ah, yeah," Duo said. "It does look familiar. And would no doubt feel it as well."

"What's your point?" Paige asked. "I'm not following you."

As NineWhips exploded, the four rangers demorphed. And Paige's jaw fell wide open as she saw the much younger Crane than the one who the seven of them had left behind in the past.

"Son of a bitch!" she exclaimed.

Author's Notes.

Ah, a brief but humorous note to end it on. After the action anyway.

Remember those guys from Lost Zone? Seen them enough to do so.

And, there's also Max's Battlizer which never got the chance to debut before this. But anyway, hope you liked it.

Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.

Some explanations as well, both about the return of Dorlinda and some of Nixysis' plan. And his, for want of a better term, muse.

Thanks for reading.

Don't forget to review.