The Final Battle Part Three
During his time as a Time Force officer and later a Hyperforce ranger, Jack Dealgoode Thomas had witnessed several tragedies. Heck, he had seen his entire timeline get wiped away and his reality rewritten into one where evil had prevailed over good for over a thousand years. After many failed attempts, his team along with allies across the multiverse had managed to put the timeline back on track, but it was not the same as before.
In the original timeline, Billy Cranston had made a gross mistake during his attempt to find Zordon by accidentally consolidating Rita Repulsa's dark energies, which had scattered across the cosmos, into a spirit form. Rita had swiftly taken possession of Billy's assistant, Alpha 7 and manipulated his robotic shell to create her new physical body. In this new timeline, Rita was resurrected by Lord Zedd and his robotic ally Scrozzle and simply intercepted Billy's beacon, tracing it back to the Command Centre and attempted to stop him before he could potentially bring back her greatest enemy.
In addition to this, many other things have changed.
Scrozzle was never part of Rita's minions and she was destroyed by the rangers before she even crossed the time portal, negating the involvement of Time Force. The energy drain on the captured rangers were far more severe and they had remained trapped in miniaturized forms till the healers of Aquitar had restored them.
But one thing had been pivotal to Rita's defeat. In the original timeline too, Minh Kwan had jumped in front of Billy Cranston and taken brunt of the attack but the attack had been non-fatal and her selflessness had proven her worthy to the yellow power coin, paving the road for her to be the next Yellow Mighty Morphin Ranger.
Jack really hoped it would hold true in this timeline too but despite events occurring similarly, all bets were off, mainly due to the reason, they were in 1993 not 2023 and nothing can be predicted. If it were occurring in 2023, the timeline would auto correct itself and try to replicate the events of the original timeline.
So, he watched the original rangers surround Minh with bated breath. It had only been a minute but it seemed as if hours had passed since Minh had been hit by the chaos energy attack.
He looked at Matthias and Alpha 55, unsure of how to proceed.
"Alpha, can you scan her for life signs?" He asked.
"Ay, ay, ay, Jack! I already did but…" The robot trailed off and the assembled rangers wilted at the assessment.
"No…" Nancy whispered.
His eyes wandered over to the Saffron Ranger, who leaned against the wall, the color having drained from her face.
"What a tragedy!" Rita sneered and Jack resisted the urge to punch her deformed face. "That's what being selfless gets you!"
"Minh!" Zack shook his ward. "Minh, can you hear us? Minh!"
"Zack…" Jason murmured, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder.
Kimberly was bawling her eyes out, Tommy holding her.
Suddenly, Nancy squinted and rushed over to the others, kneeling beside the others near Minh.
"Guys, see this!" She said, pointing at where Rita's blast had hit Minh, having burnt off a hole in her jacket, exposing the power coin in the pocket beneath, which was glowing with yellow energies.
Jack's eyes widened and he smiled.
He knew what was about to happen before it. Rita had no idea what was coming for her.
Billy narrowed his eyes as yellow energies radiated out of the power coin and wrapped around Minh's unconscious form like creeper vines.
He could sense the power and he let himself hope once again, placing his trust in the Grid the first time since Trini's death.
"Please…" He whimpered, holding Minh's hand. "Please come back to us, Minh!"
Minh inhaled sharply as her eyes snapped open and she sat up.
"Minh!" Zack yelled, enveloping her in a tight hug.
"You are okay!" Kim cried tears of joy, wrapping her arms around both.
Nancy stood up and looked at the others, exchanging grateful smiles. They had seen miracles happen before… weapons and new abilities empowering them when all had seemed lost, but they had forgotten all about those after Trini's demise.
"I am back…" Minh whispered as her godparents let go of her.
"What!" Rita screeched, raising her staff, only to be hit by a burst of yellow energy that threw her backwards. She slammed her staff against the floor, using it to spring back to her feet.
"You!" She snarled at the yellow Hyperforce ranger, who held a canon on his shoulder. Before she could counter attack, the ranger leapt at her, as he turned the canon into a giant hammer.
"Putties, protect me!" She yelled, her minions jumping in front of her, taking the blow meant for her and spreading out.
Matthias and Alpha 55 fired their blasters, preventing any putty from even nearing the morphin rangers and Minh.
"Okay, that's cool!" Minh said awestruck.
"You know what's cooler?" Nancy smiled at her, pointing at the yellow energies that enveloped her.
"What?" She asked, looking down and seeing the yellow tendrils that crawled out from her mother's morpher.
She took it out from her pocket and felt a jolt of electricity the moment her fingers touched it.
"No way!" She exclaimed.
"You know what it means, right?" Billy asked.
"But it wouldn't work for me before…" She frowned.
"Now, it does because it finds you worthy." Zack said with a smile as he and Billy helped her up.
"Go on." Kim gestured her.
"You wanna say it?" Jason asked.
"You're kidding?" She grinned, smiling wide.
"The spotlight is all yours, kiddo." Tommy chuckled. "Come on. Let's give them a helping hand."
The rangers smiled at each other before confidently walking forward, with Minh in the middle.
"It's Morphin Time!" She shouted as they took out their morphers and hoisted them forward.
"Garudazord!"
"Mastodon!"
"Pterodactyl!"
"Triceratops!"
"Saber Toothed Tiger!"
"Tyrannosaurus!"
"Dragonzord!"
"POWER RANGERS!" They shouted, transforming into their armour in flashes of coloured lights.
"Whoa! It actually worked!" Minh said disbelievingly, looking at her gloved hands.
"You are a ranger." Zack said.
"A legit ranger!" Minh agreed proudly.
"And you got a skirt too." Kim pointed out. "Your mom preferred one without."
"Yeah, it looks cute." Nancy said.
"Okay guys, as amazing as it is, we still need to take care of Rita here." Jason reminded them just as the sorceress let loose a burst of crimson magic that threw back Jack and Matthias, knocking them out of their morphs. Alpha 55 hovered over them protectively, firing at the putties near them with the repulsion blasts from his palms.
"Putties, surround them!" She snarled, and the putties true to her command, left the defeated time force officers and swarmed around the Morphin rangers.
"Time for Phase 3 of the plan." Billy said as the rangers took up fighting stances.
"Did we plan a Phase 3?" Kim asked.
"What phase?" Tommy asked Zack.
"Oh, the plan we came up with to rescue you and the others." The black ranger told them quickly.
"Let me guess, Phase 3 is laying the smackdown." Minh guessed.
"Precisely." Billy said jovially, snapping his fingers.
"Let's do it guys." Jason said, summoning their power weapons.
Nancy lashed out at the putties with her power whip, the energy of her weapon incinerating them on contact.
Billy snapped his lance into two bladed halves and cut through the putties. Zack swung his axe. Jason and Tommy and Jason sliced through the ranks of the minions with their dragon dagger and power sword respectively.
Minh swerved, getting punched in the face by a putty before swiping her left dagger at them, sending sparks flying through their chest and as other putties surrounded her, she felt her body move on instinct, slashing the grey soldiers apart with her daggers as if they were extensions of her body, almost as if they were claws.
"Love it!" She quipped, finishing the last of her attackers.
"Bring it!" Kim goaded Rita as she flipped over the army of putties to smack her face with the bow.
"You insolent brat!" The witch snarled, stumbling back. She charged at the pink ranger, tendrils of red energies shooting out of the red gem of her staff and darting towards her opponent.
Kim effortlessly dodged each blast with her typical grace and maneuverability.
"Yup, still got it!" She said smugly, as the attacks exploded behind her, leaving a charred mess on the floor.
The other rangers rallied behind her as they faced the evil empress.
"Ready to give up now?" Kim asked.
"Never!" She yelled, her eyes flaring up with crimson light as red lightning shot out from her fingertips. The ship shook violently.
"She is going to destroy our ship!" Jack yelled, staggering to his feet.
"Alpha 55, you need to teleport her off it." Matthias urged.
"Ay, ay, ay!" Alpha nodded, turning towards the witch.
"Your pathetic robot does not have the power to do anything!" She snarked.
"You are mistaken." The android said confidently, his chest compartment folded outwards and a canon flung out, pointed straight at the baffled witch.
"You got to be joking!" She grunted before the canon fired a powerful energy blast, that flung her against the wall, momentarily weakening her enough for Alpha to lock on to her energy signature and teleport her out of the ship.
"Rangers, I have teleported her to the moon." He told the assembled heroes. "You must take the fight to her. The ship won't withstand another attack!"
"Got it." Billy managed to nod his head though he was stunned to see an Alpha take out a villain all on his own. The future really was something to look forward to.
"Prepare to teleport rangers." Alpha 55 told them. "Ay, ay, ay, may the Power protect you."
Hope you guys liked it. A few more chapters left before the end of this story. :)