On The Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar was watching the action on Earth, his frustration building. Since the Free Joker had come to the Earth, narrowly missing a collision with his own ship, he had been spurred into action. He wanted to know who had brought that accursed ship, the one he was sure his forces had destroyed in a battle with Lafitte months ago, to his battle ground.
He had sent several waves of X-borgs to Earth, favouring overwhelming numbers over individual strength. Every time he had sent a Commander to Earth so far, all he had ended up with was one less Commander. He was sick of the Rangers and their constant interference. He already suspected that they had also gone to search for the Free Joker. As he sat, nursing his "injured" hand, his jaw hung open in shock.
"What? Another platoon down?" He screamed. "The first time I have an idea and its failing! Send more X-borgs!"
The others on the bridge just continued to carry out their tasks. So far, most of the ideas had been Vekar's, but he had a habit of deflecting blame for his failures. At least so far he was acknowledging that this plan, his plan to overwhelm the Rangers with X-borgs was his...though that was no guarantee that if that failed, he wouldn't somehow find a way to deny it was his plan.
"Without leadership, the X-borgs are falling in waves." Lavira told him.
"Perhaps it is time we sent in a Commander." Damaras suggested. "With a new plan."
"I have an idea!" Prince Vekar declared loudly, brushing Damaras aside. "We should send in a Commander! With a new plan!"
"Brilliant your highness." Lavira said sarcastically. "How DO you do it?"
Down in the streets of Paris, the Rangers had been running around ragged all day. They had been swamped with calls of X-borg attacks the length and breadth of the city. They felt like they must have run from one end of Paris to the other, but they didn't have time to do much sightseeing.
Every time they got there though, they found the exact same thing. X-borg lying in ruin, and citizens starting to come out of hiding, all saying the same thing, that they had been saved by a Silver Ranger.
"What is up with this?" Noah asked as they finally caught a break for a rest, opting to stop in one of the city's many coffee houses. "Every time we get to a battle, the X-borgs have already been defeated."
"Yeah, and Jordan's already gone." Emma answered. "Why wouldn't he wait for us?"
"Hey, you know what Jordan's like." Jake said with a smile. "He always did love action. After all that time in the Library, he's probably been itching for a decent workout. He probably just let it get the better of him."
"Well, it looks like he hasn't missed a step." Gia remarked, looking at Jake as she headed inside. "He was...oh..."
She paused as she accidentally walked into someone who was just leaving. He was taller than her, and given the fact she bounced back, while he barely moved at all meant she knew he was pretty solidly built. She felt his hands on her shoulders as she stumbled back.
"Sorry." She rushed out. "I wasn't..."
"Are you alright?" The stranger asked. Gia just looked into his face. He had smooth features, kind of ruggedly attractive, but with wild, blonde hair that looked like it hadn't been showered in a couple of days. He had steely grey eyes. His accent was strange, and she didn't quite recognise it, but she could tell it wasn't local. Her eyes strayed to a bracelet on his left wrist...it wasn't an especially attractive thing, or even look particularly expensive. In fact, if she was asked to describe it, it was like a piece of hammered tin. She didn't know why especially it caught her attention; she guessed it was kind of distinctive in its own way. She finally looked back up to him.
"Yeah, fine." She replied. "You...you're not from around here are you?"
"You could say that." He answered. "Glad you're alright." With that, he just left. Gia went in with the others, sitting down as Troy looked to the menu to order.
"What's the French word for cappuccino?" He asked. Noah just sighed and looked to the waitress.
"Five cappuccinos please." He said. "What pastries would you recommend?"
"We have an excellent carrot cake." She told him.
"Five slices of that please." He added. She smiled as she took the menu from him.
"Your French is excellent." She complimented him. "I'll just be back with your order."
As she left, Jake saw the smile on Noah's face and just grumbled.
"Show off." Jake muttered.
"I can't help it if you took Spanish." Noah answered.
"Dude, she was totally checking you out." Jake carried on. Noah just shrugged.
"I guess she just likes Americans who make an effort." He answered.
"Guys, can we focus here?" Troy asked. "X-borgs have been crawling all over the city all day."
"I've got to admit, it's been a long time since I've seen the prince send this kind of firepower." Gia conceded. "He hasn't sent a force this huge since Harwood."
"We have to be seriously eating into his robot budget." Jake chuckled. "I mean, after we decimated his fleet, it's not like he's had an inexhaustible supply of troops."
"That's the thing...we haven't been doing anything." Emma reminded them. "The Silver Ranger's been a step ahead of us every time."
"Yeah, he's just showing off now." Noah answered.
"That's Jordan alright." Gia agreed as their cappuccinos arrived. Just then, their morphers bleeped. Noah answered his morpher.
"Uncle?" He asked, seeing that the waitress was nearby. "Alright, we'll be there!"
He looked to the others.
"Guys, we have to go, now." He told them. "There's another...uh...show a couple of streets from here, on Rue de Saiban..."
"Excuse me; did you say you had to get to Rue de Saiban quickly?" The waitress asked him. Noah just nodded. "There's a shortcut down the alley to the right of the cafe. If you head that way, you'll be there in two minutes."
"Thank You." Noah replied as they got up, paying for their coffees, which sadly they had to leave. "Guys, come on, there's a shortcut."
"Great, maybe we can get there in time." Gia answered as they left.
A couple of streets over, more X-borgs were flooding the street as the latest Commander walked with them. He was an odd looking creature, even for one of Prince Vekar's minions. He was bright orange, and looked a little like a humanoid lobster. He was wearing a large, heavy, metal collar around his neck.
"We're going to have a real blast!" He declared as one of his X-borgs approached him, carrying a large explosive. "Finding that ship should be simple once we get rid of all these buildings!"
As he laughed, the Rangers arrived. Troy took the lead.
"Party's over monster!" He called out.
"Hey, it looks like we finally beat Jordan here." Jake stated as he checked around, looking for any sign of the Silver Ranger.
"Good, you're here!" The monster responded. "Prince Vekar's tired of you destroying his X-borgs, so he's sent me to blow you away!"
"Try it!" Troy yelled as he and the other Rangers morphed. "It looks like they have a bomb! We have to get it away from them before it blows!"
"Oh don't worry, I won't set it off." The monster replied, taking a seat nearby casually. "It's on a timer, and set to go off and take you with it!"
"Hey, come back here!" Jake yelled as he saw one of the Xborgs carrying the bomb. He set off, running after it, hoping to take the bomb from it. He wasn't used to seeing X-borgs running; their standard programme was for combat, with no let up. They had no fear, and pain didn't discourage them in the slightest. However, it seemed like this one had activated a programme for evasion. He lunged for it, but each time he got close, it would pull just out of the way. As soon as he had it backed into a corner, it threw the bomb overhead.
"You've got to be kidding me!" He complained as he ran after the new bomb carrier. The others hacked down their enemies as quickly as they could, hoping to cut down on the number of distractions and clear the way to the bomb.
Each of them chased after the X-borg carrying the bomb, narrowly missing him as he either just evaded them, or another blocked their path. Eventually he threw the bomb to the monster.
"What's the matter?" The Commander asked them. "Don't you want to save this city? Or is it that you just can't?"
More X-borgs arrived as he handed off the bomb to another. Gia growled and punched the ground as she got back to her feet after stumbling in her latest lunge for the bomb.
"These guys are seriously pissing me off now!" She complained.
They attacked with a renewed intensity as they heard the bleeping from the bomb becoming more rapid and intense. They had to presume that meant it was about to go off.
"This is the worst game of hot-potato EVER!" Noah snarled as he cut down the bomb-carrier, but not before he threw the bomb to another X-borg.
"What's the matter with you?" Jake yelled at the Commander. "Don't you know what'll happen if that thing goes off? It'll take you with it!"
The Commander just laughed hearing this. Eventually though, one of the X-borgs made a fatal error, concentrating on Troy, but failing to notice Emma right behind it, her sword in her hand. She sliced its arms off as it held the bomb overhead, out of reach of Troy. He caught the bomb, with the X-borg's arms still attached.
"Thanks Emma." He stated as he threw it into the air as hard as he could. With his strength augmented by the Ranger suit, he was able to throw it high enough that the street avoided the worst of the blast. They were all knocked from their feet, and some of the higher buildings lost some windows, but all things considered, the bomb was mostly harmless.
Back on the Armada Command Ship, Damaras turned to Prince Vekar.
"It seems Corcax has also failed." Damaras told him. "His device failed to destroy the Rangers as we hoped. We'll have to come up with another plan."
"See! I KNEW my plan was the best!" Prince Vekar screamed at him, conveniently ignoring the fact that he had claimed Damaras' plan was his when he thought it was going to work. "Send in an even bigger force of X-borgs! Am I the only one that can come up with an idea like that? We'll put the Rangers under so much pressure, they are bound to tire and fail!"
Down in Paris, the Rangers were finishing off what they thought would be the last of the X-borgs, before starting to advance on Corcax. The alien, realising he was on his own was about to act when he saw more ships arriving, carrying reinforcements. As they landed, he pointed to the Rangers.
"Go and get them already!" He yelled.
"More X-borgs?" Jake asked.
"You'd have thought they'd have learned their lesson by now!" Noah agreed, launching into action. However, it was quickly becoming clear that even as they wrecked wave after wave of the new arrivals, more quickly came to replace them.
"Is it Prince Vekar's birthday or something?" Noah asked. "Did he get a whole lot more toys to throw at us?"
"They just keep coming!" Emma agreed, blasting a couple down. "There's just no end to them!"
"It's like we take one down, and two more take their place!" Gia rushed out as she smashed another couple down, before quickly retreating from a couple of others as they attacked. She managed to blast down one, but as he started to get up, she lost her temper, and started smashing him over the head with the handle of her sword. "STAY DOWN!"
Just as they were starting to feel their exhaustion starting to get the better of them, they were almost toppled as a huge gust of wind blasted through. It was only as they looked around, they realised it wasn't a wind, but that a sliver streak of energy. They all grinned broadly as they saw the Silver Ranger launch himself into the air, landing among the X-borgs.
"Stay back! I'll take care of this!" The Silver Ranger called out as he ploughed into the X-borg army before him. The others stopped in their tracks, unable to believe what they were seeing.
"I can't believe it, he really is here!" Emma called out.
"No matter how many times I see it, I always love watching Jordan work!" Jake agreed as the Silver Ranger smashed the X-borgs into oblivion.
"He really hasn't missed a step!" Gia complimented him. "I guess he wasn't just reading in that Library."
"I won't let you commit your atrocities on this planet too!" The Silver Ranger declared as he pulled out his blaster. "Silver Spear Blaster!"
The X-borgs went down in droves as he opened fire, taking them down with practiced volleys.
"He always was good with a blaster." Troy recalled. Unlike the rest of them, his time on military bases meant that Jordan had already had some firearms training. He had helped the others with their marksmanship once he joined the team as the Robo Knight. "Watch out!"
"Thanks!" The Silver Ranger answered as he turned in time to take down another couple of X-borgs that were trying to sneak up on him. Others formed up into a firing formation, levelling their weapons his way.
"Super Silver Spear!" He yelled as he transformed his weapon into a trident, smashing aside blasts as he ran towards them, slicing through them with his attacks.
"I'll make sure this world has a chance mine never got!" He roared as he attacked. "Unfortunately for you, I survived!"
He powered up his weapon, swinging it around, creating a series of energy waves that left the X-borgs in pieces on the ground, and the Silver Ranger standing alone before them. The Rangers continued to stare at him, unable to believe what they had seen.
"He took a whole platoon by himself!" Noah said, sounding gleeful. "I remember he was good, but he really picked up some tricks!"
"What do you think he meant about a chance his world never had?" Emma asked.
"He obviously means Eltar." Gia reminded her. "I guess having his Eltarian half kick-started gave him a sense of pride in that part of his heritage."
"I trust you can handle the Commander?" The Silver Ranger asked as he saw some X-borgs a little way off. "I see some stragglers!"
As he ran off, the others just looked at each other.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Troy asked them. "You heard the man, let's take this guy out!"
Up on The Armada Command Ship, Prince Vekar and the others were watching the screen. Vekar just looked alarmed.
"A Silver Ranger?" He screamed. "Why didn't anyone tell me they had one of those?"
"We...uh...we didn't know." Argus explained.
"Send in more X-borgs!" He yelled.
"There are no more ready!" Lavira told him. "You sent all the X-borgs we have powered up! It'll be hours before we can charge up more!"
"Corcax is failing miserably." Damaras stated. "He'll need more power if he's to succeed."
"Don't worry; I gave him a secret weapon." She assured them. "The Rangers will find he's not as weak as he looks."
Back down on the ground, the Rangers faced off against Corcax. Levelling their blasters at him, they opened fire, only for their shots to scatter in a blinding flash.
"Hey, what gives?" Jake asked.
"That's it?" He taunted them. "Come on, I'll even give you a free shot!"
Noah and Gia ran for him, swinging their swords, only to be thrown back aggressively in a blinding flash.
"Damn, it feels like my arm was nearly ripped off!" Gia snarled.
"Me too!" Noah agreed. "Guys, he has some kind of energy conversion device, a mechanism that converts kinetic energy into light and sound energy."
"What did he say?" Emma asked.
"A force field!" Jake told them.
"Maybe some more power will help us burst through." Troy suggested. "Legendary mode, Ninja Storm!"
They rushed Corcax, attacking him with everything they had. Unfortunately, any time they attacked, their blows were stopped by an unseen barrier inches from him, while his attacks seemed to be unimpeded, getting straight through and striking them down.
"Man, this guy's tough." Troy commented as he pulled himself to his feet.
"I'm tired of getting knocked around!" Jake snarled, gripping his Thunder Staff. Running towards Corcax, he dodged some incoming blasts, before launching himself into the air, coming down towards his head. He found himself bounced off the force field, and thrown over him, but as he did so, he dropped his thunder staff, which seemed to slip through the force field. All the Rangers watched as sparks flew from Corcax's collar and he screamed out in pain. Troy saw the energy dissipate, but to confirm his suspicion, he fired a ninja beam, which stung Corcax on the thigh painfully.
"Guys! The force field is down!" He called out as they regrouped. "Come on, let's take him down!"
Lighning arced from Corcax, taking them all down before they could get to him.
"I must retreat for now Rangers, but know this! Next time I will defeat you!" He screamed as he ran teleporting away in a bright flash. As they de-morphed, Troy just looked frustrated.
"Damn it, he got away!" He called out.
"Wait...where's Jordan?" Gia asked, looking around. The others started doing the same as they realised that somewhere in the battle, the Silver Ranger had disappeared after destroying the last of the X-borgs. Troy just sighed.
"What is going on here?" He asked, bringing up the question they all wanted to ask.