A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here). It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually. We've got one chapter and an epilogue after this one before we end this story and move on to the main event.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot. This chapter would be the continuation of her conquests; this chapter involves the planets of her good side's two Command Center mentors, Edenoi and Eltar.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 8: Edenoi Endings, Eltarian Evisceration

September 2011

Eltarian Capital City

Eltar

The good side of Kimberly Hart...or what was left of that good side, trembled as she heard the one known as General Finch report through a communication device...from some place that she knew not. The news was not good, she knew.

"Triforia is now under your command, my Queen," came the raspy voice of General Finch, who served under the command of Draco's army. "We completely overran them. Triforia's defenders can't hold a candle to us. Trey and the Phantom Ranger tried to stop it, but they were helpless to do so."

A devilish smile came over the face of the evil side of Kimberly. Another planet that Eltar, and Earth, held dear was now under the control of her evil side, joining KO-35 on that exclusive list. She'd conquered others as well but these were the big ones.

"Excellent," her evil side rasped. "And did you do what I asked you to do with Trey and that ruby wearing Ranger?"

"Yes, my queen, we have sequestered them helpless in their own Palace," Finch rasped. "My lead lieutenant Jorus and his men are watching them closely. We made sure to tell them that one false move and the Lost Galaxy Rangers, along with the Masked Rider die on the spot. Trey will not be of any assistance to Earth's teams when we go there."

"Wonderful, General Finch," Flammia said. "And what of the monetary value?"

"Spotty as compared to some other places my Queen, but good value can be had in the right places here. The queen kept some very expensive things here," Finch said.

What was left of the good side of Kimberly cringed. All the important planets were being conquered one by one. She'd never met Trey but she'd heard about him. If not for him the Machine Empire would be ruling right now.

"Very well, General Finch. Be happy, but just know that any time I need you, be prepared and trained to answer the call. When we get to Earth, I will likely need most in my army if we are to conquer it. Do I make myself clear?" Flammia said.

"Yes, my Queen," Finch said as he cut the connection short.

As her corrupted body sat on the throne that once belonged to Eltar's ex-Queen Rhiannon and ex-King Darien, she reflected on how, compared to other conquests, these recent ones had cut much, much deeper than the rest. The last two that she'd overseen, in particular, had been rough because Edenoi and Eltar played a major significance in her time as a Ranger.

June, Earth year 2009

Dark Fortress Mark II, somewhere in space near Edenoi's orbit

All those past conquests had been nice. To this day, Dimitria and her sister Diana, the former Divatox, still were considered her prisoners on their own planet. Andresia was nice because she was getting great monetary value from that planet, plus she was forcing the people of that planet to work the mines for her.

And she had the Lost Galaxy Rangers as her prisoners; a very nice bargaining chip indeed. She'd only wished Karone was with them knowing the ties the former Astronema had to that planet. Unfortunately she was on Earth and married, but Flammia promised herself to rectify that; that was for another time though.

In the meantime, though, these next planets were vital in the sense that she had to let the Earth Rangers know she wasn't playing around. She had to hit the planets that would hit them the hardest; those closest to Zordon. Conquering those planets would be worth their weight in gold.

The first of those was Edenoi. Flammia smiled at this; this was going to be fun. She had a distinct advantage as her top general Scorpina had inside knowledge of the planet; she was born there and was close with King Lexian in an earlier life. She knew where he lived, knew the hierarchy, knew just who to get to and how to make the planet suffer.

Scorpina also reminded her that there were two beings on the planet, one being robotic (Flammia's alter ego had shared a close relationship with this being) and one being the legendary Masked Rider who could prove huge bargaining chips. The girl known as Kimberly had not met Dex, so Scorpina had told Flammia just how to handle him.

"Everybody know the plan?" Flammia addressed her massive army who all nodded. They'd been through this before, but now they were going to take their act to a bigger stage. "Then let's move out."

Edenite Capital City, same time

For many years since Count Dregon had left the planet to pursue interests in destroying the Masked Rider and those associated with him, it had given the people of Edenoi time to regroup. After the defeat of Count Dregon, the planet had returned to its natural environment gradually as the influence of Dregon was no longer felt magically.

To make matters even brighter for Edenoi, Alpha 5 had managed to escape to Edenoi when Eltar had been attacked by Dark Specter, and many years later Dex returned home too. It had been a time of peace for them, and a much needed one.

It was another peaceful day on the planet, which had just about regained its golden form from days gone by. Lexian was busy attending to the matters of the day, and Alpha was helping him try to fix any issues. Elsewhere in the palace, Dex was preparing for the day himself. He was very athletic and loved to do different things to keep in battle shape.

Those were the last few moments of peace before the planetary wide alarm sounded. Before things went to hell in an hand basket.

"Aye yi yi, Lexian, it's the alarm! The planetary wide alarm! That hasn't gone off for a long time!" Alpha wailed.

"We are in trouble once again, Alpha. There is no way to defend our planet from what is coming," Lexian said sadly. "Observe."

Lexian used the crystal on his forehead to visualize what was happening just inside planetary orbit.

"Oh, no! Aye yi yi! That looks like the Dark Fortress only bigger and nastier!" Alpha said.

Suddenly the planet began shaking and the capital city was rocked with laser blasts and fire attacks and Edenites were running for their lives.

"It is very bad, Alpha and it is just as I have feared for a long time. Your mentor's Pink Ranger was never freed from evil's grip and now her army will overrun our planet. She has been building for this moment," Lexian said. If Alpha had a heart it would have dropped right there.

"You must escape to Earth once more and find your mentor's Rangers and the White Ranger's son Jayden. They are the only ones who can save the universe now."

"Oh aye yi yi, poor Kimberly," Alpha said. "If a ship is prepared, I will go."

Not ten minutes after Alpha had left the room, Dex came into the throne room, fully morphed and prepared to fight. It was then that everything changed; shortly after Dex arrived, he and Lexian could hear the sound of teleportation whooshes. Then, Dex and Lexian heard a scream. His senses were on high alert and he pulled out his weapon.

"Electro saber, activate," he called, but was stopped short.

"Not so fast if you want to live there, Dex," a familiar voice said. Dex turned to his right and saw a horrifying sight.

His wife and Dex's grandmother, the Queen, suddenly had a knife to her throat thanks to a girl he'd never seen before. Not only that, Scorpina had teleported in and thanks to her the court jesters lay dead, covered in their own blood.

"You make one move Dex, and I will have my Mistress kill your grandmother. Don't think I won't order it," Scorpina said.

"The hell is going on here?" Dex said.

"Why don't I show you, Dex?" Scorpina said, using the gem on her own forehead to call up an image; like all Edenites she had that capability though she'd never used it against the Earth Rangers before.

All over the planet, it was being ravaged. Cities were being destroyed. Edenites were being slaughtered left and right by Draco, Nepa, and the rest of Flammia's generals.

"What the hell are you doing here, Scorpina?" Dex said. "And who is your 'Mistress?'"

"I am called Queen Flammia, Masked Rider," the small, petite Earth girl said and as Dex got a good look at her, he gasped. This was the widely talked about sixth Ranger that hadn't come to Edenoi the time the other Rangers were there...and the one that had fallen to evil. Clearly, Zordon's sacrifice hadn't freed her.

If Zordon's sacrifice hadn't freed her, then what could?

"I see you are unsure of what to do, so let me help you out," Flammia said. "As we speak, your planet is being overrun by the forces of the Flame of Destruction. This planet will belong to us, one way or another. You have a choice. We can do things the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice."

"The easy way, you and Lexian surrender this planet to me and we take over this planet. You will be slaves, but we will let you live as long as this planet serves us."

Dex hissed under his breath and looked at Lexian.

"The hard way, you resist and fight, and we still take over this planet. But if you resist we will not stop until every last Edenite is dead. Are we clear?" Scorpina added.

Just then, Dex's grandmother kneed Flammia in her private area, causing her to scream and let go of the Queen.

"I know better than what you're offering. Evil never keeps their deals," the Queen said as she drew her staff and looked at Dex as if to say, 'let's get em.'

The skirmish that followed was short and decisive; Scorpina handled the Queen while Dex fought Flammia but Flammia was younger, faster and more athletic and quickly forcibly demorphed Dex. Just then, Dex heard a scream as Scorpina had run her stinger through Dex's grandmother. There was no chance she was alive.

"Jerk!" Dex shouted as he lay broken, brushed and battered.

"Nice try and wise decision not to surrender; we indeed would have killed your grandmother anyway. Too bad you're no match for me," Flammia said. "Nonetheless your planet belongs to us."

That was something that had come true; within hours, Edenoi had surrendered and Nepa had ordered one of her generals to take over as ruler of the planet. To make matters worse, Dex was taken prisoner. Edenoi was living its nightmare once again, only this time there was no Masked Rider to save them.

Unbeknownst to Flammia and her troops, a small ship was leaving the planet as all this was happening, heading directly for Phaedos and Dulcea. He would have gone to Aquitar but robots couldn't function on Aquitar.

End Flashback

That one had cut pretty deep, Kimberly reflected.

Not only was it the home planet of Alpha 5, she'd met Dex for the first time too and it hadn't gone too pleasantly for him which she was sad to see.

He seemed like a nice guy too, as did Lexian. She only wished that she had been well enough to go there when the others had gone there. Alas, she had been sick and luck hadn't been with her that time. Maybe she should have paid attention to her bad luck back then...

Of course, the planet she was on now, Eltar...that one was the worst. All of Eltar knew of her and her past accomplishments. The elders had begged her to stop her actions. Unfortunately, she still had to worry about Jayden's safety so the good side of her couldn't come to bear.

Those too were a good people and deserved a better fate.

Flashback

May, Earth year 2010

Dark Fortress Mark II, near Eltar's orbit

The events on Edenoi seemed to do nothing to get the Earth Rangers' attention, which is what she'd been hoping for. She was frustrated to a degree because she'd kind of been hoping to lure the Earth Rangers into a fight that they could not win. But, nothing had happened.

It was fine in one sense though because the more planets that got conquered, the worse the Earth Rangers looked for not coming to their aid. Perhaps she could use that when she finally did invade Earth.

In a way, Flammia wondered what had happened to her body's good side. She, along with Maligore, assumed that part of Kimberly was dead and gone.

She hoped so, anyways. In any case, Kimberly's good side if it existed had not fought her; it had been very easy to take control of Kimberly's body.

However, as long as the Crane still existed there was still the slightest chance she could be defeated.

In the meantime, this planet was going to be the big notch in her belt. This conquest that she hoped to accomplish couldn't not send shockwaves throughout the universe.

It would get the attention of the Earth Rangers there was no doubt.

"We're in orbit, Mistress," Draco boomed. "The planet does not look heavily defensed."

"Don't let looks fool you, Draco. Don't underestimate anyone least of all Eltarians. Zordon came from here. We will conquer it but keep your eyes on the prize. Everyone move out," Flammia ordered.

As the ship entered the atmosphere, she was surprised that it had gotten in so easily.

She was even more surprised that as they got closer to the capital city, there was little to no resistance. A few stray ships had fired on her, but they had been destroyed within a matter of moments.

What shocked both the good and bad sides of Kimberly though was, as her forces descended on the capital city, it was really easy to invade. How had these guys lived in peace for so long, was the thought going through Flammia's (and Kimberly's) mind?

She expected at least an army of Rangers to confront her like what happened on Mirinoi, or the Masked Rider like what happened on Edenoi, but there were none to be found; as mentioned before, Eltar hadn't seen Rangers in many thousands of years.

Their palace and capital was also extremely poorly defended and ill-equipped to fight; Flammia's forces were slaughtering security and civilians left and right.

Shaking her head, she motioned for a couple of her soldiers to keep watch of the Mark II as she teleported directly into the palace.

"Boy, do I know how to make an entrance or what?" she giggled. "This being Zordon's planet, I'd expect a whole lot better defenses."

"It can't be..." King Darien gasped. Darien's good friend Zordon had talked about the girl standing in front of her, but no one on Eltar had ever seen her like this.

"Apparently news doesn't get around, which is a good thing," Flammia said. "I am Queen Flammia. New ruler of your planet. I'd say you should surrender, considering you have little to no defenses. Where's your little wife, Rhiannon?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Darien said, smirking as he did so.

"Please stop this, former Pink Ranger," two of the elders pleaded. "You don't know what you do."

"Please, I know exactly what I'm doing," Flammia said.

"And as for you, perhaps you can keep on feigning ignorance...in the afterlife. That is, unless you wish to surrender and tell me where she is, in which case I'll let you live. I might even let my prisoners live to see the light of day," Flammia said, grunting as she did so.

She thought briefly about sending someone to search for the former Queen Rhiannon, but decided against it.

Taking after Zordon, however, Darien stood defiantly, even though he knew he didn't have a chance in hell. If he was gonna lose he would go down swinging.

"I'll never surrender to the likes of you," he growled.

Darien suddenly gasped as he felt something go through his chest like it was nothing. Scorpina had stabbed him as he was speaking, leaving a gigantic hole in his chest. He fell lifeless to the floor and was dead on the spot, his magical energy leaving him.

"Too freaking easy," Flammia said. "This planet is mine."

As expected, with the King being dead, the planet soon surrendered and the planet's residents were being escorted into their new lives...lives of slavery.

Eltar's time of peace had been rudely disturbed and had given way to a time of great darkness and evil...symbolized when Flammia started chanting a spell that blocked out the sun, and turned the entire planet dark.

It was symbolic of the darkness that was enveloping the entire galaxy.

End Flashback

What remained of Kimberly never wished for this fate, but here it was.

Had standing by a child for the sake of life, even an evil one, really borne the most sour of fruits?

Her dark side had gotten completely out of control and now, suddenly, had an ironclad grip on a lot of the important planets to the side of light, the latest three being key amongst them.

Worse yet, Zordon had sacrificed himself, the Kerovian Rangers had moved to Earth to live their lives there, and Trey and the Phantom were sequestered in their own palace so they couldn't help in the fight against Earth. The loss of Trey was a very bad thing for sure.

Speaking of Earth, she could still feel the Phoenix spirit, so as far as she knew, Jayden was still alive and fighting Xandred.

That brought to bear another question though: Would Jayden accept what was his destiny? As far as he knew, the Shibas were his parents, not the Olivers.

She hoped and prayed that when Jayden found out about his destiny, that he would understand and accept. If he rebuked his destiny, then the whole galaxy was doomed.

The battle for Earth was coming, and one thing Kimberly, and her evil side knew, it would be a battle to end all battles.

But only Kimberly (or what remained of her) and those close to her good side knew the deciding factor in this battle. Jayden needed to defeat Xandred, and even if he did, he would have to accept his destiny or lose all he held dear.

The battle was coming, but there were still a lot of cards to be played before that point.

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