Chapter Five: Mirinoi and Rashon - Under Fire

Zordon looked down as the Ragnarok descended. The planet Mirinoi was lush and thriving, just as he remembered it. He hadn't thought he would ever come back to that place. It brought back many bad memories he wished he could completely forsake.

It's my fault. I hadn't tested Droid 5 fully before sending it out to battle. If I had, I would have known it wasn't ready and it needed more armor. I could have stopped the Dark Cloud from possessing Commander Zedd...

I failed. I promised I would save Zedd. I told the Morphing Masters that I would do everything in my power to save him from the clutches of evil. Now, more than ever, is Zedd ensnared with the forces of darkness... My promise stands firm: I will bring Zedd back. I will save him from the forces of evil... Zordon thought as he looked at the spot of jungle where the incident had occurred.

"You look like you're pretty lost in thought..." Trinity said as she approached Zordon.

"Yeah... it's tough... I fought a battle here a while ago, and it didn't turn out well. I feel responsible."

"Wow. I didn't know you were capable of feeling!" She said, giggling. She thought that if she played with him, she could get his mind off of the gloomy thoughts he seemed to be having.

Zordon blushed and looked down. He folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not a robot."

Still laughing, Trinity folded her own arms across her chest before making a pouty look on her face. She then tried to make her voice go as deep as possible while saying, "I'm not a robot."

"You have a problem?"

"You have a problem?" She said, winking.

He grunted and let his gaze fall back to the jungle. They had finished their descent.

"Oh, Zordon. You really need to relax. I'm going to help you be loosey-goosey. I promise!"

Zordon's mind was still on Commander Zedd when Trinity said that. He chuckled out of irony, not smiling.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." He said as he walked out of the room.

"You're so scarred... Why don't you let anyone in?" Trinity wondered aloud as she had her left arm lying at her side while the right one was bent, holding her left elbow. She cocked her head to the side in thought.

. . .

"There is another impending attack." General Risp said to the four soldiers standing before her. They stood at attention.

"This planet was once a highly political, extremely docile one. They were easily defeated by Vile's empire. Why they are attacking it again is up in the air. I need you guys to go down there and neutralize the threat. Afterward, try and determine why they are there again."

"Yes, ma'am!" They said as they saluted their superior. They made their way to the teleportation bay.

As they left, Risp looked over her computer panel at the data streaming down the various monitors. The universe seemed to be buzzing with activity. She had never seen it in such a state of panic. As she thought of this, she unconsciously felt the morpher on her belt buckle. She was glad she was a ranger, able to help. But, she knew her place.

Risp was first and foremost the tactical commander. That was what The Alliance wanted from her to begin with: to stay on the vessel helping the ranger team as a mentor type. If she was supposed to be in the field leading there, they would have given her Alliance Ranger One's morpher, the Red Ranger. She knew when it came down to giving orders in the midst of battle, Rahp was the one to call the shots. She knew the best way to ensure everything was in place was to follow the chain of command. When she was a ranger, she was third in command, behind Filcar and Rahp.

Looking at the activity around Rashon, she also noticed another familiar energy signal: the Gokaigers. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

Great. Now I have to deal with Louse and Luka again. Though they may be deserters, they were trained as Alliance soldiers. Just more problems... She thought, frustrated.

Down in the teleportation bay, the rangers went over the map of the terrain. They always made sure to be a little familiar with the planet on which they would descend before actually going.

"You all have the basic landmarks memorized?" Rahp asked.

As each ranger nodded to the affirmative, he punched in the code to have the map downloaded onto their morphers. They would then be able to bring up the map in their helmet during their time there. The map would also keep track of all five rangers' location, so each ranger would know where their teammates were at all times.

"Rahp?" General Risp's voice could be heard over the communication network of the ship.

"This is General Rahp. Over."

"I have bad news, General. The Gokaigers are on Rashon as well."

"Hmph. Fine, we'll bring them in as well." Rahp replied, a bad taste forming in his mouth.

"Good. I'll prep the holding cells. Over and out." Risp said as she ended the communications.

"Let's do this already. I'm always super antsy before a mission. Geez!" Reon said as he stood on the teleportation podium.

"Okay, then. Ranger up everyone." Rahp replied.

Then, in unison, they yelled: "Victory!"

To finish the morph, they each proclaimed their ranger name:

"Alliance: Green!" Reon said.

"Alliance: Pink!" Priscilla declared.

"Alliance: Blue!" Shouted Filcar.

"Alliance: Red!" Rahp said as he brought up on the wrist tech under his glove the remote control application. It connected to the teleportation console, and as the ship got close enough to Rashon, beamed them down.

Meanwhile, in orbit around Rashon, Doc looked at his computer screen.

"Those Alliance morons. They've parked their ship in between that moon over there and Rashon."

Luka, sitting on a table behind Doc, looked away from the screen in thought. "Looks like they intend to stick around. They are just going to continue to be a thorn in our sides..."

Ahim looked down in thought. She hadn't seen Rashon since Novact chased them away six months prior. Since that time, she knew she would be a target on Vile's list, as the last non-captured royal of the planet. She did a simple name change in the past few months to help her stay under the radar: she took her name, Miha, and simply spelled it backwards. It took some getting used to, but the Gokaigers seemed to be warming up to her new name. Even Ahim herself no longer had problems referring to herself by the new moniker.

"I wonder if my people will be able to have their peace again..." Ahim said as she drank from her teacup. It was from her palace. She had always kept it with her for good luck, and it was one of the only artifacts from Rashon she had left. It was in her luggage at the time she had attended the commemoration for Master Animus and Master Dimitria, after their demise.

"That's their problem." Joe said from the other side of the room while playing solitaire. He had been employed for Rashon for quite some time, and now that he was fully embracing the pirate life, he did not want to go back to what he thought of as being a slave.

"I only wonder how our treasure hunt will go..." Joe continued. He felt that if he started thinking of the pain the different societies were feeling from Vile's pressure, he would lose his edge. That would make the whole point of becoming a pirate lost in his opinion.

"Yeah... it seems like we just keep getting caught up in fights." Luka replied, trying to avoid speaking of Rashon as well. She sighed. "I'm sure The Alliance has their eyes on us now."

Marvelous walked into the room at that point, not knowing the planet Villamax had picked for them to plunder next. "Guess we just need to get whatever treasure there is, then flee this planet. Doc, take the ship down."

As they began to hover over the city after entering its atmosphere, they threw down their anchors. From a distance on a bicycle he had brought with him, Guy watched them. He was nervous but knew he would need to act soon if he was to get one of their morphers. He kicked at his kickstand and started biking to where they had landed.

Jumping out of the Galleon, they looked at their surroundings. Ahim was touched to be back, but a familiar feeling washed over her: captivity. She had forgotten how much like a prisoner she had felt while being a royal. She had always wanted to be free and do things her own way, but her position in life never allowed her to be "loose", except if she had been willing to exchange fun for bad press against her family, which she never did. Although she had longed for home over the last six months, she was surprised at how she felt more comfortable with her band of pirates than on her own world. She did not want to go back to strict rules and pressure: she wanted to be as free as the wind, and the Gokaigers gave her that freedom.

Some ways away, the Alliance Rangers landed, morphed. They were in an area near where a surge of activity from Vile's forces could be detected. They began to look around from the rooftop on which they found themselves.

"Looks like this is the major place where Rashonians gather..." Alliance Pink observed, looking down.

"Uh... guys? We have company!" Alliance Green yelled.

They all turned to see goat-men hybrids and Tenga Warriors.

"Battle formation..." Alliance Red commanded. They fell into their staggered stance with Alliance Red in the middle and the others behind him, making a V shape. It was asymmetric without Alliance Yellow there.

"... Attack!" Alliance Red yelled as they ran to meet the foe.

Meanwhile, Marvelous took a break from looking for valuable items and leaned against a handrail on a bridge in the middle of the town square. As he did, Guy arrived. He was ecstatic to see them.

"Hey! You're the space pirates, right?" He asked from the level under where the Gokaigers were standing.

"What if we are?" Marvelous said, hardly turning his head.

Thinking quickly, Guy replied, "I know about treasure here on this planet!"

"Huh?" Doc said as they all ran to the side of the bridge to see who this new informant was. They all leapt down from the bridge and landed in front of Guy... except Doc. His foot got caught on the bridge's handrail, sending him falling. Luckily, he landed on a pile of pillows outside of a shop that seemed to specialize in bedroom apparel and accessories.

"You space pirates are amazing!" Guy said.

"You've seen us before?" Marvelous asked.

"Yes. I saw you morphing before on another planet."

Not wanting to prolong the discussion, Marvelous got straight to the point by asking, "So... where's the treasure?"

"Uh..." Guy didn't know what to do. He hadn't thought about what he would do once he had their attention. "Oh, before that, sir, do you mind if I take a picture? I'm sure my mother would be so happy to see a picture of you with me!" While he said this, he pulled out a tiny camera.

"Uh..." Marvelous said, confused. He looked at the others and they all seemed to be on the same page as him. They did not know why someone would want to brag about being with or having met pirates.

"As I take this photo, could you make it look like you're about to morph?" Guy asked.

Oh... it's because I'm a Power Ranger! Marvelous thought. He began to smile and get an air of arrogance about him.

"Ah, well... that sounds fun!" He said as he pulled out his red crystal. He held it in front of him, the sun reflecting off of it.

"Can you hold the crystal out a bit further?" Guy asked.

Immediately Marvelous figured out what Guy was trying to do, but decided to play along to teach the kid a lesson.

"Like this?" As he asked, he stepped forward.

Luka looked at Marvelous nervously. She was getting the same vibe Marvelous was and hoped he wasn't going to be taken advantage of. She started nervously wringing her hands.

"I'm taking the pic now..." Guy said as he lunged for the crystal. Before he could grab it, Marvelous pulled it back and caught Guy's arm.

"You're pretty green when it comes to thievery, aren't you?" Marvelous said as he threw Guy to the ground. He began roughing Guy up a little as the others watched. Doc covered his face as Luka looked on, shaking her head. She couldn't believe someone had tried so blatantly to steal from them.

"What are you trying to do? Talk!" Marvelous demanded.

"Let me go!" Guy yelled. As he said this, Guy quickly reached into Marvelous' jacket and slipped the crystal out and into his own pocket. He then broke free and ran forward, running into Doc as he did. Doc fell flat on his back.

"You're crazy!" Guy screamed as he jumped on his bike and pedalled away. He was happy he had the crystal. Now he could try and analyze it to become a Gokaiger himself. He thought that once they realized his ability to steal, and also with his own morpher, they would surely allow him into their marauder's circle.

"Looks like we can't let our guard down..." Marvelous said as Guy biked away.

"No... and it looks like you already did..." Joe said, arms folded across his chest.

"Ahhh!" Marvelous said as Joe's implication dawned on him. He searched his jacket and could not produce the crystal.

"That brat!" He exclaimed.

"To fall for such a trick... you are a disgrace to the name Captain Marvelous." Joe said with a snicker in his voice. He was still upset Villamax chose Marvelous over him to lead the team, and every chance he got he tried to jab Marvelous with an insult because of it.

After staring at Joe for a second, he scoffed. "I'm going to catch him... then destroy him!" Marvelous then turned and started after Guy, pushing Doc out of the way as he did. Doc fell back on his back.

"Why!? Again!?" Doc yelled in pain.

"You can't destroy him! Marvelous, come back!" Ahim yelled as she ran after him. While running, she did not notice Doc and stepped on his stomach.

"Oof!" Doc exclaimed in pain.

"Let's go after them..." Luka said, rolling her eyes.

"Villamax would he upset if we didn't." Joe said, winking. Luka gave him a knowing smile and they ran ahead. As they did, they both knocked over Doc as he finally had gotten himself back up.

Close to where Guy was heading, the Alliance Rangers were encroaching on a large power source.

"Just a bit further!" Risp yelled into through their communicators. She could see the power source frequency on her computer monitor. She knew they had to get to it before it was too late.

Suddenly, Guy began biking through the scene. He prayed he wouldn't be hit by either of the forces fighting each other. He figured he was safer biking through a battlefield, as opposed to the other option of slowing down and getting caught by Captain Marvelous.

"Cease fire!" Alliance Red ordered upon seeing the crazy cyclist. As they stopped, Vile's henchman ran forward. They were able to get to the power source uninterrupted and teleport it to a location cloaked from Alliance systems. The last piece to their bomb was ready.

"... we lost them." Risp said, deflated.

"What is a kid doing biking in the middle of our battle anyway!?" Alliance Blue shouted in frustration.

"Get. Back. Here!" Marvelous yelled as he appeared on the scene.

"I should have known you were involved." Alliance Red said in disgust. "Your stupid conflict cost us a fight against Vile!"

"That doesn't concern me." Marvelous said out of breath.

"What about her?" Alliance Blue said, pointing at Ahim. Ahim stared at him with a startled look on her face as she caught up to Marvelous.

"Princess Miha. We have been asked to secure you for an Alliance protection service. You are to come with us." Alliance Pink said.

"Shh! Don't say my name!" She said, looking around. She didn't want people knowing she was there. She knew it would bring her more guilt when she would eventually leave again for the stars with her fellow pirates.

"Gokaigers, you are under arrest. Come with us now." Alliance Green said, pointing at all five of them as they made their way to Marvelous.

Marvelous smirked. "You guys are lucky I can't fight you today. Joe? You take this one."

Joe smiled. "Gladly. Gokai Change!"

"Gokai Blue."

"Gokai Yellow."

"Gokai Green."

"Gokai Pink."

"Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger!" They yelled together.

"Attack!" Alliance Red yelled.

"Remember to not destroy any property this time." Risp reminded them over the communicator.

Gokai Yellow charged at Alliance Red as the other rangers attacked their color counterparts. Marvelous stood by and watched as they initiated the battle. He wanted to go after the kid who stole his crystal, but he didn't know whether or not he should stay and watch his team or not.

This wasn't in pirate training... Marvelous thought.

A few blocks away, hidden in an alleyway in his ship, Guy studied the crystal. He was shocked to see how complex it was.

"A Dilithium Crystal... geez, where did the pirates get something like this!?" Guy said aloud to himself. He studied the crystal matrix with great care.

"Now, if I do this..." He said as he played with his morpher. "... I should be able to replicate the energy signature from this normal crystal to look like a Dilithium Crystal..."

His thought process was that if he routed enough energy from the Morphing Grid into the crystal he currently used, he would be able to mimic a Dilithium Crystal. He wasn't sure if it would work, but he would know soon enough.

. . .

Novact looked at the planet from the Skull Ship. It had been quite some time since he had been on Vile's main vessel. Since he had been given command over the Dark Wave he had spent the majority of his time there. He looked around. The main room felt empty without Rito in a corner saying something ludicrous or just wasting time with video games on the ship's console. Although he irritated Novact, Rito had a certain charm to him. Novact actually missed him.

"Novact. It is good to see you." Master Vile said as he entered the room. His authoritative demeanor had lost its sheen, so to speak, since Rito's demise. Although he didn't like Rito as much as Rita, he loved him more than he loved her. It was a complicated relationship he once had with Rito, but now that he was gone, he realized how much he cared for him. Because of this, for the past six months Master Vile was running on autopilot, letting the empire run itself.

"Master. How are the empire's affairs?" Novact asked as his greeting.

"Everything is fine. I invited you here not to speak about politics, though. I need your splinter group to get rid of Master Orion and Master Magnus for me."

"Why, Master Vile? I mean, I don't mind doing assassin work, I just don't know why you mean to target them specifically. They are here on Mirinoi and I was under the assumption Goldar and his soldiers would be taking Mirinoi. I mean, that was what was on the docket last I heard." Novact said, curious for the purpose behind Vile's task.

"Revenge, Novact. Revenge. Sentinel Knight, Ivicar, Orion, Magnus, Gerlit, Gosei, Delphine, Burai... those are the Alliance scum who walked out of that room that day. They are the ones who survived, while my boy was destroyed. So, now I want them destroyed. Both Magnus and Orion are down there. Make them gone." Vile said, clenching a fist.

"Master Vile... Is this not too petty? Shouldn't we focus on putting our resources toward fulfilling your plans for universal conquest? If we all just went after who had scorned us in the past, I think we would all be wasting a lot of time toward things out of your goal." Novact said, concerned he would be wasting the time of his part of the empire over something trivial.

"This is a part of my plan! I'm tired of taking orders. This time, I call the shots and what I want is to get my revenge! That is an order!" And with that, Vile left the room.

"Tired of taking orders"? Interesting... I knew Vile wasn't smart enough to do all of this himself. I need to find out who the puppet master is... Novact thought as he left the main room to find the Dark Wave in the Skull Ship's hangar.

Down on Mirinoi, in the midst of the battles with Tenga Warriors and Blue Globbor, Orion found his way to his meeting point with "Team Victory". Trinity and Yoraldecided to join the battle due to the dire circumstances Mirinoi was under. They hid the Ragnarok in some brush and activated the stealth from the golden cog Tria had "received" from Rito a while back. Orion looked incredulously at Zordon and ran up to hug him. His armor made the hug uncomfortable.

"My goodness! Zordon Zoltar! I saw you get vaporized from your heroic act back at the HQ! How in the world are you here!?" Orion asked, forgetting the battle he had just been a part of.

"It's a long story. I'll fill you in later." Zordon replied.

"What do we have here battle-wise?" Tria asked, hearing explosions in the distance.

"Tengas and Blue Globbor. Lots of them. I thought the Globbor would be easy because the sun is shining pretty good here, but the Globbor are concentrating themselves in areas of canopy trees where there is shade. I'd leave them be, but there are hostages involved... if we don't attack, they'll be lost forever."

"Alright. Lemme at 'em!" Yoral said, sword in hand. He was itching to battle.

"Calm down, Yoral. You'll get your chance." Trinity said, placing a hand on Yoral's shoulder. Suddenly, Zordon found his gut twisting in a knot. He didn't like seeing Trinity give affection to another man, he just realized. Especially someone like Yoral.

"I appreciate you coming here to help us. Follow me. I will lead you into the battle. Stick together. Please, don't get hurt." Orion said. He motioned for them to follow and they did.

A few hundred yards away, Magnus in his Defender Armor sliced his way through Tengas. The more he cut down, the more seemed to drop down from the sky, though.

"I will slice through all of you. Good will prevail on Mirinoi. By my power you will all fall." He said in his gravelly voice. His desire to stand for what he knew to be right kept him going past the point of fatigue.

Recently his planet, in honor of his heroics, had changed its name to honor him. The grey planet was now known as Magna. Shortly after the incident with the Orb of Doom during the Final Siege, Magnus was greeted with a joyous homecoming by his people, where the name change for his planet was announced by the president. He was greatly touched by the honor.

Outside of that, Magnus was engaged to be married. His to be wife, Piku, was a fine woman he had known from his time as a cadet at The Academy. She had always cared for him, but he kept putting her to the side for The Alliance. His people had been a dislocated one for many centuries, being housed on different planets for a time within The Alliance until they were passed on to a different host. They were for many a year known as The Alliance's foster children. Once he had seen the inevitable fall of The Alliance, he decided to focus on himself and proposed to Piku. It was time for his life to come first.

Magnus' most notable work was when he and Kamen had worked together to bring down a planet of gangsters. It was a difficult task, but they had one goal in mind: find a permanent place for Magnus' people to rest. Upon arresting the last of the criminals, Magnus' people were given the planet, which they named Kouevn. This was done when both Kamen and Magnus were members of The Top. Their success gained them even more notoriety and helped them eventually become members of the Morphing Masters.

As Magnus cut through the final Tengas he could see, he felt something behind him. He turned to see a new foe enter the area.

"Ah, the Magna Defender... How does it feel to have a whole planet named after you?" Novact said with a sneer on his face.

"The traitor... Oh, how many times have I dreamed of having my blade strike you down. Now is my chance to make those dreams reality."

"Tough talk from a tin can. Let's see if my blade can be your can opener, shall we?"

"Arrgh!" The Magna Defender yelled as he ran forward, shooting at Novact as he did with the Magna Blaster. Novact quickly weaved his way down, dodging the blasts as he went. As Novact pulled out his saber to strike, Magna Defender quickly activated the sword function of the Magna Blaster, promptly blocking the oncoming attack.

"Your sword skills are good, Defender." Novact admired.

"They are." Magna Defender grunted. "A shame I cannot say you match my ability." He said as he tripped Novact.

As Novact lay on the ground face up, he stared at Magna Defender's blade pointing at his face, mere inches away.

"Any last words, scum?"

Smiling, Novact said, "You know... there is more to fighting than fancy swordplay." As he made this remark, his eyes turned yellow, shooting blasts out at Magna Defender from them. He staggered backward as Novact brought himself back to his feet.

"Dirty fighting shows a lack of skill."

"Not fighting dirty shows a lack of commitment." Novact retorted.

"Then let my blade show you my level of commitment!" Magna Defender said as he assumed a fighting stance.

"No, thanks. I'd rather just end you now." Novact decided as he pushed a button on his sword. Currents of electricity shot out and hit Magna Defender. He fell to the floor once the blast ended, first to his knees, then onto his face.

Novact casually walked over to him and kicked him onto his back. "Little tidbit: I had moles in The Alliance. They gave me schematics to Zordon's Defender tech. I changed the frequency on my blaster to completely shut down your suit."

"Finish me then, dirty traitor." Magna Defender demanded.

"Hmm... I think I'll let you sit here and perish slowly. You know, your body can live quite a long time without nourishment... Three days? I don't know, I can't remember from my biology courses. I'll come back to check up on you. Oh, and don't bother trying to eject from your suit: I made sure to block that, too. Ta-ta!"

"Nooo! Get back here! Novact!" Magna Defender yelled, for all intents and purposes paralyzed. He screamed at Novact to return, but heard no reply. He was stuck.

As Novact made his way through the jungle, he stopped and looked at his sensors. He found his group of Blue Globbor were being attacked. Smiling, he teleported over to their location. When he arrived, he found Zordon, the Gold Ranger, and Orion slashing the trees in the area, attempting to down them so sunlight can pour into the area.

As the Gold Ranger toppled a tree, Novact quickly sprinted over and, with a jump, flew through the air and kicked the tree as it fell. It then flew through the air and hit the Gold Ranger square in the face. She fell over, weakened by the blunt force of the hit. She demorphed, pinned under the tree.

"Well, well! I came down here to destroy two people on Vile's list, and lo and behold I see a third! A blast from the past! Zordon... I heard you were blasted to kingdom come by the Orb of Doom."

"I've been getting that a lot lately..." Zordon said, dodging Blue Globbor in the meantime.

"You sure did depower that sucker. Vile is ticked. He doesn't know when it will have enough power to work again!" Novact said, having fun watching the pair of former Morphing Masters fight.

"Well, send him our regards." Orion said, sending a power ball of energy at Novact's direction.

"You see, that made no sense! What if you had hit me? Then how could I send Vile your condolences? That is what you and the rest of the Morphing Masters were doing with the universe: telling people to do things while you play god with their lives. 'No blood bending!' The Morphing Masters said, then they blood bend. 'No tapping the Morphing Grid, Tria!' In the meantime they have Zordon running around tapping other power sources himself! If they had only thought to ask, they would have seen they were falsely accusing the young lady! Haha! Fools!"

Tria heard everything Novact had been saying, and some of it rang true to her. She turned her head away in shame for falling for some of Novact's propaganda.

Zordon kicked one of the Blue Globbor away and slowly began walking toward Novact. "Not to mention you guys stacked the deck with a fake Gold Ranger. Tria was innocent, and we should have listened to her."

"Oh, yes! I had forgotten about that. Stroke of genius, really."

"There isn't an ounce of genius in your body, Novact." Orion said as he began running in Novact's direction.

"If that were true, then how could I have thought of this?" And with a snap of his fingers, five more Blue Globbor appeared in the area, quickly releasing their toxic ooze onto Orion, Zordon, and Tria.

"Ahhh!" Orion yelled, falling to his knees.

"Game over, kiddos. My Globbor? Bon appétit!"

And with that, the Blue Globbor around them began to drain them of their life forces. All the while, Novact just stood and smiled, proud of his handiwork.