Monster Trap
Bandora Palace
"Every ranger we capture gives us another boost to the finish line!" Rita cackled as she placed the figurine of the yellow and green turbo rangers on the shelves connected to the device.
"It is funny. I never believed in the whole teamwork thing…" She turned to look at Scrozzle and her two robotic generals. "But together, they are more... More power for me, that is!"
She laughed maniacally, her minions joining in.
There was a beep and Minotaur looked at the scanner attached to his wrist showed new coordinates and six blinking dots in proximity over a map.
"Another six rangers just morphed in Angel Grove!" Minotaur growled.
"Shall we?" Snizzard hissed, excited at the prospect of capturing more rangers.
"Just go then!" Rita barked at them and they teleported away, leaving the witch to marvel at her contraption. Wisps of blue energy converged in front of the sphere in the centre.
"Ooh, higher power levels than I thought!" She said gleefully.
The two monsters appeared in the centre of the junkyard.
"Bingo." Billy said as he and the other rangers watched the robots approach them.
"So many… Empress is going to be pleased!" Snizzard said.
"Surprise, Rangers!" Minotaur said, aiming his club at the rangers.
"Oh, right there is perfect." Billy murmured seeing the monsters were standing directly underneath the magnet.
He pressed a button on the remote and the magnet activated, instantly drawing the monsters to it.
Both screamed shocked as their bodies clung to the magnet, unable to move.
Rocky chuckled at their yelps.
"What is this?" Snizzard groaned.
"Like your hairy friend said, a surprise!" Kat told them smugly, placing her hands on her hips.
"Thanks. I hate it!" Minotaur moaned.
"Bye now!" Kim waved at them before the rangers placed their hands on their belt buckles and teleported away.
Command Centre
"Yes, the trap's holding!" Rocky laughed heartily as they saw the monsters still stuck to the magnet in the Viewing Globe.
"Affirmative." Billy agreed as the rangers smiled at each other. "The powerful electromagnetic field will prevent them from teleporting away."
"Phase One complete!" Tanya smiled, giving Kat a high five.
"Now, to save my son and the other rangers on the moon." Nancy said.
"Right." Kim agreed. "It's high time we get everyone back."
"Wait. Hold up. You are letting them live?" Minh asked, moving closer to the Globe. "After what they did to Uncle Jason, Uncle Tommy, Ravi, and the others? That doesn't seem right, does it? What if they get loose?"
"This is the plan." Billy said. "Look, all-out destruction is rarely the most optimal strategy."
"What are you saying? I have seen the news. Ranger teams destroy monsters every other week!" Minh pointed out.
"That was a different time." Nancy sighed. "Things have changed in the last few years. Destroying monsters is now a last resort and according to S.P.D. regulations, we are supposed to contain them till they are taken in by S.P.D. for trial."
Minh pursed her lips, not saying anything.
"Now, where are the stealth tech projectors?" He asked.
"Sorry. Got lost in the vault again." Alpha said, coming into the chamber, carrying a steel suitcase, handing it over to Billy, who opened it revealing seven small pencil sized cylindrical objects in it with a red button on top.
"These are solar charged invisibility cloak generators, which I made from studying the Phantom Ranger Armour. Click here, and it projects a subatomic diffraction field that covers infrared and ultraviolet light." He explained.
"So, we will be invisible." Nancy surmised.
"Correct." Billy nodded.
"Ah, love it!" Rocky grinned.
"Rita will never see Phase Two coming!" Alpha said excitedly.
Minh chuckled. "Robot's got jokes!"
Zack and Kim turned towards her.
"We will be back soon, and when that happens, I need you to be here." Zack said firmly. "Alpha will keep you company."
"Be safe, you guys." She said to them. "And good luck."
Kim smiled at her. "We will be back in no time, sweetheart."
Minh nodded as the rangers pressed the red buttons on the devices and disappeared.
Minh blinked, trying to see them.
"Nice!" Rocky commented.
"Let's make it quick." Billy said. "Alpha, send us to Rita's lair."
"On it." Alpha said, hustling towards the teleportation panel on the opposite side, accidentally stepping on the rangers, causing them to yelp.
"Ah, that's my foot!" Rocky complained.
"Oops!"
"Ow." Kat cried.
"Sorry." Alpha said, finally reaching the terminals and setting the coordinates for the moon. "I know I have heavy feet."
There was a flash of coloured lights as the rangers were teleported away and Minh closed her eyes, praying to whatever force was out there, to look after the only family she had left.
The rangers arrived outside the moon palace.
"Rita rebuilt it." Rocky said. The last time he had been to the moon, the palace had been nothing more than rubble, thanks to the Machine Empire.
"Let's teleport to the terrace." Kat suggested. "It leads directly to the throne room and I am sure, that's where Rita is keeping our friends."
They adjusted their communicators and beamed up to the terrace. They saw the device placed in front of the throne, being guarded by four putties but no Rita in sight.
"Let's take them out." Kim whispered before they swiftly knocked the putties out and switched off their invisibility cloak, seeing there was no one else there except them.
Minh sighed, watching Alpha continue coordinate the ranger response to the still ongoing putty attacks with other teams as well do something else while speaking to himself.
"Guess I will warm up the volcano…" Alpha said and Minh rolled her eyes.
Minh looked at the Viewing Globe which still showed the robot monsters trapped to the magnet. It wasn't fair that those abominations continued to exist even after all the harm they have caused.
She looked around, her eyes landing on a spare blade blaster on the panel, alongside the yellow morpher.
While Alpha was busy, she snuck past him and pocketed the blaster in her jacket and tiptoed towards the exit.
She looked back at the robot who was busy talking to a red head woman on the monitor and sighed.
"I am sorry, Uncle Zack, but I got to do this."
"Wait!" Alpha shouted, finally noticing her absence. "Minh come back!"
"Sorry, gotta go! Catch you on the flipside!" Minh said, running out of the exit and facing steel doors.
"Yellow Power Morpher detected." A computerised voice said. "Access Granted. Authorisation Code: Y-093"
She whooped as the doors opened and she exited the building, the doors closing behind her.
"Whoa." Rocky said as they peered at Rita's contraption. "Well, it looks like we have got Rita's little science project all to ourselves now."
"Perhaps, our distraction might have worked for now, but it's not going to last long." Billy sighed.
"Oh no…" Tanya gasped, seeing the fifteen miniaturised rangers on the racks.
"They have got a lot of rangers." Rocky said.
"Ravi!" Nancy cried, spotting her son on the top left rack in between the red and gold beast morpher rangers.
"Snizzard is a nasty piece of work." Zack grumbled.
"Tommy, look at you." Kat sighed, her face contorting in apprehension as she saw Tommy and Jason on the top right shelf, black snakes coiled around them. She reached out with her hands, but Kim gripped her before she could touch the other ranger.
"Kat, don't!" Kim said. "The snakes are still on them! And if Snizzard created them, there is a chance they might bite us."
"Affirmative." Billy nodded, holding out his scanner and moving it over the captured rangers and the rest of the device.
"What does your scanner say?" Nancy asked.
"The readings show that their energy is connected to our friends." Billy grimaced. "If we don't destroy that monster, we can't move any of them without causing them harm."
"So, back to the junkyard or….?" Kat trailed off as blue energy swirling in the centre flared up before making a portal of sorts.
"What the hell is that?" Zack asked.
Billy held out his scanner and his eyes widened on seeing the readings. He looked up and saw the portal stabilise enough to reveal what was on the other side… the lunar landscape with something lying on it.
"No, that's what she's been up to." Billy said horrified. "My readings detect massive chrono energy."
"Chrono… as in time travel?" Nancy asked.
"Precisely." Billy said gravely, before pointing at the object on the other side of the portal. "And that is a space dumpster. Rita is creating a time portal."
"That's what she came out of when we…" Zack trailed off, recognising the dumpster.
"When Zordon chose us." Kim sighed.
"So, Rita is trying to contact her younger self." Kat caught on. "But… why?"
"Why?" A screech came from behind, causing them all to turn around in alarm.
Robo Rita stood in front of them with Minotaur behind her, who was forcefully dragging someone with him. Snizzard and Scrozzle appeared on either side of the room, surrounding them from all sides.
"No!" Kim's eyes widened on realising who Minotaur's captive was.
