It all began with another day at Mrs. Mack's shop, with the clock chiming at twelve. "Alright, all you ingrates get your half hour lunch break. Any longer, and I'm docking your pay."

"Alright, lunch break.", Tora fist pumped as she started to walk out.

"Tora, wait!", Adrien called out as he stumbled over his feet, barely catching himself. "I recently won some tickets for a day trip to a beach town." He presented three pieces of paper from his pocket, which Tora assumed were the tickets. "But unfortunately, I can't get out of town right now and I don't really have any other friends to give these to. Will you take them?"

Tora observed the three tickets with curiosity. "I'm sure I know some people who could use these." She then took them out of Adrien's hands. "I'll make sure they get them."

"Oh thank you.", Adrien smiled and nodded his head.

And after work, Tora presented the three tickets to Johnny, Marina and Lenny, explaining them. "Are you sure we should take these?", Johnny asked. "I mean, we are trying to keep the city safe from evil on a regular basis."

"Oh don't worry about that.", Tora insisted. "Trunks and I can handle anything the Hunters might throw at us. And I think Marina and Lenny wouldn't mind a chance to recuperate from Cuborg's assault."

"She's got a point here.", Marina wheezed, as she pulled herself up. "All work and no play killed the cat, or something like that."

Trunks slammed his hand into his face. "I don't even know where to start correcting you there." He then cleared his throat. "But you do make a good point. In your current state, we have no idea how long you and Lenny would last before exhausting yourself. 'Work hard, play hard'. That's what my father told me."

"What does that mean?", Lenny asked.

"It basically means that we've earned some time off.", Johnny explained. "And I assume you and Tora will keep an eye out for any problems to deal with." He then took out the Eagle Zord cube and handed it to Trunks.

"Don't worry.", Tora assured him as she took the cube. "We can handle anything that Archris throws at us."

However, unknown to the Rangers, the seal of authenticity on the tickets contained a nanoscale listening device. A device which Keldor was using to listen in as Tora said "Don't worry. We can handle anything that Archris throws at us."

"Archris, maybe.", Keldor laughed. "But let's see how well you do against me."

Later, on the bridge of the ship, Keldor had explained a plan to Archris. "You're suggesting that I face the Rangers myself?", the leader of the Hunters said with shock.

"Think of it, sire.", Keldor explained. "In their current state, the Rangers will be especially weakened. Two of their strongest fighters are recuperating, while their leader will be caught unawares by your presence. Cuborg almost defeated them, were it not for the interference of the veteran. Your superior strength will run into no such trouble."

"Master Archris, I must advise that you dismiss this plan.", Ignoblia spoke up. "Your body is still undergoing its reconstruction from your battle 200 years ago. There's no proof that, as Keldor says, you can overpower the Cubalian Rangers to any degree. Don't you remember the tale of Centitrax's attack on that planet?"

"Centitrax was a brainless fool.", Keldor said in response. "After all, who would attack their own planet and not expect the people to put up any kind of resistance?" He then brought up a hologram, that displayed a mock-up of the Ranger from the legend, along with his Zord. "Besides, all the information the stories give on Jonah and the Whale when compared to the data from our battles with the Rangers, indicate that the latter are much weaker."

"Enough arguments!", Archris growled, slamming his fist into his throne's arm. "I have already decided to crush these Rangers with my bare hands once I have achieved my objective of claiming the Cubezords. My plans will only need some minor modifications to account for this battle."

"And while you deal with Johnny, Lenny and Marina, I will take care of recovering the Zords of Trunks and Tora.", Keldor nodded. He then departed the room.

Ignoblia took the moment to register some shock. "Lord Archris, you aren't seriously contemplating leaving the safety of the Arrowhead to battle the Rangers. Weakened or not, they did manage to defeat Cuborg badly enough that he's still undergoing repairs."

"I'm sure of it.", Archris answered her. "I will do battle with the Rangers on Earth. But on my terms, not Keldor's."

Down on Earth, Tora and Trunks were waving their friends off on the bus. "Are you sure that we shoul-?", Lenny tried to ask.

"Just go.", Tora insisted, as she practically pushed him onto the bus. "We've got this." The bus then set off towards its destination. "Bye. See you in two days."

"Two days.", Trunks noted. "Hopefully, we've entered a temporary lull. But I doubt it."

Back onboard the ship, following their leader having departed to Earth, Keldor began rifling through Archris's coin collection, while also holding an unusual weapon, resembling a hypodermic needle. "Yes, these will do."

"Do for what?" Keldor turned around to see that Ignoblia had entered. "You're planning something while Archris is away, aren't you?"

"There are still two more Rangers that are out of Archris's reach.", Keldor explained. "And I will take care of them."

"With a syringe?", Ignoblia asked.

"Oh this is much more than a mere syringe.", Keldor answered back as he walked off. "If our soldiers can't defeat the Rangers, then maybe they'll defeat themselves."

Elsewhere, Johnny's party arrived at the beach. "Is there any reason that you made us wear these coarser undergarments?", Lenny asked. "Because the netting in them is starting to chafe."

"Oh there's a reason.", Johnny answered as he had them walk down the boardwalk, as they got a good view of the sea. "There's also a reason the Brits call these places 'the seaside'."

"No way! There's oceans on this planet too?", Marina said with shock.

"Um, yeah. Covering like two thirds of the planet.", Lenny commented dryly. "Even I knew that."

"Oh I've been waiting for this." Marina took off running like the devil in hell was chasing her, removing her DNA Cloak as she leapt into the ocean, taking a swim under seas to avoid attracting notice. "Ah, this feels like coming home."

However, despite her best efforts, her shark fins stuck up above the sea level, where everyone could see them. "Shark! Shark! Shark!", one of the holiday makers cried out as everyone on the beach subsequently fled in terror.

Lenny could only sigh, while Johnny facepalmed. "She does this every time she goes near salt water.", Lenny commented with annoyance. "She just loses all common sense to soak it in."

Johnny on the other hand, tried to look on the bright side. "Well, at least we have the beach all to ourselves."

"Oh indeed." Both turned around to see the figure of Archris standing there, towering over them. "I'd hate to spill the blood of innocent humans when I deal with you." Both Johnny and Lenny stared at their foe with appropriate terror.

Marina chose that moment to come running out of the ocean. "Ah, that was refreshing. What's next on…" Marina paused her thought as she saw Archris. "I think I answered my own question."

Back in Savannah City, Trunks and Tora were once more back at work. "Adrien's off again?", Trunks sighed. "Does that guy even want this job, considering how little time he spends working?"

"Hey, don't be too hard.", Tora insisted. "We all have our personal issues. Maybe Adrien's mean he has to skip work sometimes."

"You know what your issue is?", Trunks asked. "You're too soft. You'd rather take the easiest route to solving a problem rather than the most expedient." He then stopped, as his ears picked up the sound of screaming outside. "Something's up. We have to call-."

But Tora put her finger to his lips before he could finish. "They're resting up right about now.", she insisted. "We shouldn't bother them with an attack we can fend off ourselves." She then set out to fight the source of this attack.

"Like I said, the easy way." Trunks sighed as he ran off after her.

They soon came to an area where several Bacteri were attacking people. "They're only sending a load of grunts after us this time?", Tora asked. "Archris must really think so little of us." She ran in and removed her DNA Cloak, using her Tiger form to slash at the Bacteri. "I can take care of these guys without having to morph."

"I'd prefer we wait and scope things out first.", Trunks insisted. But he sighed and ran in, beating off the henchmen with his bare hands. "I doubt they'd just send Bacteri without a monster commanding them."

The two were then shot at by an approaching Keldor, holding a gun in his hand. "Your friend shows wisdom, Cubalian. It would be wise to do as he says."

"I knew they'd send down a minion to fight us.", Trunks commented.

"I am Keldor, the Technical Officer to the Space Hunters.", their foe introduced himself. "And I want to see what you two are made of."

"If it's a fight you want, you should've asked us.", Tora growled, as she pulled out her Morpher. "It's Morphin Time!"

Trunks nodded, and took his out with both initiating their morph sequence. "Primal Spirits, Awaken!"

The pair ran into battle, with Trunks easily manhandling the Bacteri, while Keldor observed Tora doing likewise with her acrobatic skills. "Impressive.", the evil alien nodded. "You'll do quite nicely." He fired his gun again, which Tora was unable to defend against, even with her

"What?", Trunks called out as he heard this and turned around. But he was disrupted by an increased number of Bacteri attacking him.

Keldor then converted his weapon into a sword, which he used to engage in a sword fight with Tora. A sword fight which ended swiftly with her disarmed and being knocked down, to the point she reverted to normal. "It's pointless to resist.", Keldor laughed. "But I like to see you struggle."

"If you like to see things…", Tora began, before prepping her claws and slashing his eyes and knocking his mouth plate off. "Let's see how long you last before I bust your-." Tora then took a good look at Keldor's face, which revealed a humanoid mouth underneath the plate. "Circuits?"

"Oh, you thought I was another like Cuborg?", Keldor asked. "I'm sorry, but I'm as flesh and blood as you two. I merely wear a total survival suit that keeps my body alive until I heal from my injuries."

+++Damage detected to suit hull. Initiate optical circuit repairs.+++ Keldor's eyes subsequently filled the cracks and lit up again, before he went and picked up the mouth-plate to reattach it.

"I need that to breathe.", Keldor stated, before he took out the syringe like gun. "Hold her." Two Bacteri held Tora in place, as Keldor approached with a gun.

"You're trying to take a blood sample?", Tora asked. "I hope you get a disease from it."

"Oh I'm taking more than just blood.", Keldor stated as he placed the gun to her neck, pulling on it. In an instant, Tora dissolved into a white and black striped light, before the insides of the needle were filled with a substance of similar pattern.

"No!" Trunks beat back the last two Bacteri. "What did you do to Tora?"

"Tora's fine.", Keldor insisted. "She's merely in need of a new receptacle to place her DNA and mind in. Fortunately I have no shortage." He turned and injected the needle into one of his Bacteri guards, whose head swiftly retracted, replaced with Tora's Animan head.

"What?", Trunks asked.

"Say hello to a your friend Tora reborn as a loyal Bacteri soldier.", Keldor announced. "A Bactora if you will. I've combined her DNA with theirs to create my ultimate obedient warrior."

"Tora's… a Bacteri now?", Trunks said with shock.

"Yes thank you, we've established that.", Keldor sighed as he presented Bactora, whose eyes had changed from Tora's own to a pair of pure red eyes, with his sword. "Now destroy your former ally and assert your newfound loyalty to me."

Bactora took the weapon. "No… problem.", she mumbled before charging at Trunks.

"Tora, please don't do this.", Trunks begged. "We're teammates." But Bactora didn't respond, merely using her new weapon to slash at Trunks, knocking him down. She then converted the weapon back into a gun, firing at her friend to knock him out of his Morph.

"I'm sorry, Trunks.", Tora mumbled. "But my new Master has ordered me to destroy you." She fired again, but Trunks sprang up and ran away, outrunning her shots. "I'm sorry, Master. Trunks escaped. I can follow him."

"No need.", Keldor assured her. "He'll be back. But until then, you'll have more training for your new life."

Elsewhere, the other three Rangers faced down Archris. "Well, the big bad decided to grace us with his presence.", Johnny commented. "This is an honour."

"The honour will be all mine.", Archris laughed. "Once I destroy you and take your Cubezords."

"Just one question.", Marina stated, before placing her DNA Cloak back in, reverting herself to human. "How did you find us?"

"Those tickets you used for this trip.", Archris answered. "My agent implanted them with a homing device so I could find you."

Lenny took the ticket out. "I knew this was too good to be true."

"Regardless, we have to take this opportunity to stop him.", Johnny insisted. "It's Morphin Time!"

"Primal Spirits, Awaken!" The three were instantly morphed, and charged into battle with Archris, who fired lightning from his fingers at them, creating an explosion behind them. The three then pulled out their weapons and fired on him. "Wild Blasters! Primal Blast!" The shots all hit Archris, but did nothing to damage him.

"Was that supposed to hurt?", Archris asked.

"He's pretty tough.", Lenny noted. "But we're tougher." He ran forward and ineffectually began delivering punches and kicks to Archris.

Back on the ship, Keldor presented the Bactora to Ignoblia. "So you managed to turn one of the Rangers into your own personal attack dog. Or should that be 'attack cat'."", she surmised. "I'm impressed."

"Indeed, this is perhaps one of my greatest triumphs." Keldor nodded. "But alas, she seems to retain some vestiges of her memories and personality. Preferably, I want them wiped."

"Understood.", Ignoblia nodded as she took out some silver coins, inserting them into the Bactora, until her demeanour became more akin to a common house at, meowing and rubbing up against her master. "As you can see, all that remains of the Tiger Ranger is her DNA and combative instincts. She will remember nothing of her life as an Animan."

"Good.", Keldor laughs. "When I next face the Rangers, they'll be reluctant to destroy one of their own. And with the Tiger Zord and one of their Morphers merged with her DNA, the Bactora will wipe them out in an instant." He began laughing maniacally.

Back at the Zoo, Trunks came running in. "Are you okay, Trunks?", Grandma Rose asked. "You seem stressed."

"Of course I'm stressed.", Trunks practically hissed. "Tora's been kidnapped and turned into a monster. And I'm all that's left to try and save her. I need to call in the others."

"Do you really think they'd be able to help?", Rose asked him.

"What are you talking about?", Trunks asked. "Of course they'd be able to help. The four of us could easily overpower Tora and free her from her current condition."

"Or, it's likely they'll be just as afraid as you're acting.", Rose pointed out. "In addition, you're the only one who saw what happened to Tora. Which means that you're the only one who knows how to fix the problem."

Trunks bought back to the fight, remembering how Keldor had used the syringe like gun to absorb all of Tora's DNA to merge with a Bacteri. "Of course, I should've realised it before. I don't need to overpower Keldor. I just need to outsmart him by getting him to lower his guard while that gun is out. Then I can take it and free Tora." He hugged Grandma Rose in gratitude. "Thanks for your help." He then turned and ran out.

"It's my pleasure, child.", Rose commented. "Now go and save the world."

Back at the beach, Lenny was knocked back, as Marina was the next to move in and attack. "Primal Mode: Tidal Impact!" She spun forward to collide with Archris, who casually stopped her midair with his bare hands, before tossing her back. "It's no good. He's shrugging off all our attacks."

"We just need to keep hitting him with all we've got.", Johnny declared as he took out his weapon. "Chain Saber!" He then extended the sword and began swinging it at Archris…

Who caught it effortlessly with his bare hands. "Are you quite finished?", he asked sarcastically, as he sent a jolt of energy down the sword to its welder.

"Not quite yet!", Johnny announced as he pushed through the electricity. "Primal Change: Gorilla!" He shifted into his new form, before running forward to deliver a punch that managed to knock Archris back a few feet.

"I almost felt that.", Archris hissed. "Maybe you are everything I've heard."

Johnny then had an idea. "Perhaps if we gave him a Mega powerful blast, if you get what I mean." He pulled out the Gorilla Zord cube.

"Right.", the other two nodded as they presented their own Zords. The three then enlarged and combined. "Jungle Megazord, Beast Formation, Ready!"

"This… was unexpected.", Archris stated.

"Savage Blaster, fire!" The Jungle Megazord fired its sidearm at Archris on the ground, blowing him to smithereens with one shot.

"Well that went swimmingly.", Marina noted, before realising her Morpher was glowing. When she opened the phone function, the number 4 was glowing. "Trunks left us a message."

"Things must be bad back there.", Johnny realised. "Play it."

Marina complied. "Johnny, Marina, Lenny. Tora got captured by some bad guy named Keldor and turned into a Bacteri/Animan hybrid. I'm gonna need your help to free her and beat this guy." The message ended.

"It seems that those two weren't able to keep out of trouble.", Lenny sighed. "I guess we'd better get back there."

Back in the city, Keldor was sitting atop a throne at the stairs in the plaza, with the Bactora snuggling up to him, purring. "They're there, my pet. You'll get your chance to kill soon enough." He looked up to see Trunks coming. "Very soon enough."

"Keldor.", Trunks stated. "If I win this next fight, then you have to return Tora to normal, with no harm coming to her."

"But if you lose," Keldor pointed his laser at a nearby pillar and fired, breaking part of it off. "Tora, you and all of your friends will suffer the same fate as that pillar." He then converted the weapon into a sword and handed it to Bactora. "But I hope you won't mind if I get to select your opponent. Get him, Bactora."

The Bactora hissed as she ran in and began slashing at Trunks. "Tora, try and fight it. I know you're still in there." All he got in return was a growl.

"It's no good.", Keldor laughed. "I've removed her personality, leaving nothing but the most useful parts of Tora."

"Listen to me Tora. I can free you.", Trunks insisted. "You just need to give me a sign that you're still in there, even if I die in the attempt." In response to this, the Bactora placed her finger to his lips, before converting the weapon into a gun and firing at his chest, seemingly killing him.

It was then that Johnny's party appeared, fully morphed. "Oh no, we're too late.", Marina cried out.

"On the contrary Marina. You're right on time.", Keldor commented as he walked over to Trunks' downed body, pulling out the needle gun. "I'm going to turn all of you into my new elite attack force."

As if on cue, the Bactora used her borrowed sword to knock the weapon out of his hand, grabbing onto it and passing it to Trunks, with her subsequent meows sounding like "Trunks, do it now."

Trunks, who was not dead, rose up and jabbed the needle into the Bactora, extracting his friend's DNA and leaving behind a confused Bacteri. He then pressed on the back of the needle, releasing the DNA, which coalesced back into Tora. "Now we're taking our friend back."

"He must've planned this all along.", Lenny realised.

Johnny continued the thought. "Trunks knew that if the Bacteri Tora appeared to have defeated him, than Keldor would pull that gun out."

"And he couldn't have done it without my help.", Tora said as she reinserted her DNA Cloak, resuming her human guise. "You may have cut off my ability to speak, but I was able to communicate another way to show I was still there."

"You can't rewrite our instincts so easily.", Trunks stated as he removed the piece of metal from beneath his shirt before destroying the needle gun by stepping on it.

"Now we just need to take this guy down.", Johnny stated, as he, Marina and Lenny pulled out their Primal Blasters. "Savage Blast!"

All three fired, but Keldor deflected the shots, before launching one of his own, which Johnny managed to block with his Chain Saber. "It seems that right now, we're equals."

"Whereas I am the master." A bolt of lightning came from out of nowhere, hitting the Rangers down, before the one who launched it revealed himself. "I, Archris. The supreme hunter of the universe."

"That's impossible!", Lenny stated. "We wiped him out back at the beach."

"I must've forgotten to mention I made a clone.", Archris responded to this. "I knew Keldor's plan seemed like,let to result in my premature end before I could achieve my goals. So I split off a portion of my cells to create a second copy of my body, controlled telepathically. But don't think of your efforts as a waste. You've given me an idea of your full power, and how it will enhance me."

But before anything else could happen, Archris keeled over in pain, clutching his chest. "Lord Archris. Allow me to escort you to safety.", he grabbed onto his leader, teleporting the two of them away.

"So that's the enemy we have to beat.", Trunks noted. "And you guys fought off a clone of him?"

"It's a long story.", Johnny clarified. "Hopefully, not as crazy as what you guys went through."

Back aboard the ship, Ignoblia and a recovered Cuborg helped Archris into a chamber, which surrounded his body with a thick green liquid. "The stasis tank is holding.", Cuborg reported. "He'll be out of action for a few weeks, at most."

"That's a few weeks too many.", Ignoblia growled, before turning to Keldor. "This is your fault. You made him use too much of his energy."

"Oh? I certainly didn't ask him to split his cells to birth a clone.", Keldor pointed out. "And besides, you can't get rid of me. Especially with the date I recovered on the Rangers' Morphers and Zords from this latest escapade." He presented a hologram to accentuate his point. "Since you're in charge, you can execute me for his, if you want. But I am the only one with enough knowledge to make full use of this."

Ignoblia suddenly calmed down. "You're right. Until our master returns, I'm going to need your support in ensuring the mission goes as planned. And like you said, information on the Rangers' arsenal could be an asset to us."

Back down on Earth, Johnny had taken the 4 Animen to the beach again. "Alright, this time I made sure to book this trip, so we aren't likely to run into any aliens here."

"Thank goodness.", Tora sighed. "After a walk in the shoes of a Bacteri, I could do with a rest. But still, I have to ask. How did Keldor manage to modify the exact tickets Adrien won in a raffle for the purpose of finding us."

"Unless he modified a whole buttload of tickets.", Marina suggested. "After all, it never hurts to prepare for failure."

But Trunks was no longer listening to the conversation, as the question Tora had posed remained in his head. How did Adrien come to have the exact tickets that Keldor had bugged?