Aboard the Arrowhead, Ignoblia was talking with two warriors. They were Spydus, a creature with 5 fronds for hands, a large hump and a green and pink colour scheme, and Poachhitter, who would look like an old man with prominent gut, a high moustache and skin that resembled a big game hunter's guard. "Alright you two. Archris is due to recover from his cellular damage fully later today. Which is why I'm tasking Spydus with eliminating the Rangers. And should he fail, You Poachhitter are to take his place with the task."

"Sounds like a simple enough task.", Spydus insisted. "The Rangers will be no match for my invisibility and vacuum powers."

"Pah, what poppycock.", Poachhitter retorted. "My array of weapons could bamboozle the weapons for more than any of your puny accoutrements."

"Just you watch old man.", Spydus exclaimed. "I'll have those Rangers quaking in their skin. Send me down, Lady Ignoblia." Ignoblia nodded, pulling lever that teleported Spydus to Earth.

Keldor and Cuborg then stepped forward as Ignoblia moved to leave. "Shouldn't you be here to provide aftercare for Lord Archris's return?", the latter asked.

"You two can handle that.", Ignoblia snapped. "It's time for me to prepare something wonderful." She then proceeded to teleport down herself.

In the woods, Tora walked forward a few feet and saw Jeremy drop down from a tree. "If you weren't a bird-man, I'd be worried for your well-being every time you do that."

"I'll live.", Jeremy assured her. "I assume it's your turn to comb the woods this week?"

"You'd assume correctly.", Tora nodded. "And Lenny tells me that you're close to figuring out where that creature that took Johnny's brother Luke lives."

"I am." Jeremy nodded. "I've been observing the patterns of the tracks it leaves behind, along with the areas they appear in. There's only one place in all of these woods where it could be living." He then set off walking. "Come along."

After roughly 5 minutes of walking, the pair came to an area where a rock face was visible. "There's a cave nearby.", Tora remembered. "Trunks showed me on the maps."

"Then that must be where that creature is hiding.", Jeremy concluded. "After all these years, I'm going to find him and make him pay for what he did to my-."

But as the pair emerged from the bushes, they saw that Ignoblia had not only beaten them to the location, but had managed to capture the creature with a chain. "Oh, were you here to capture this creature?", she asked the pair mockingly. "Well unfortunately, I've already laid claim to him. And we"re going to have so much fun together."

"Give him back!", Jeremy yelled as he tried running in to attack her. But Ignoblia was able to teleport out with the creature before he could connect. "No! I was close to getting answers."

"So was Johnny.", Tora lamented. "And we've no idea what Ignoblia's going to do with that creature." She then took out her Morpher and initiated the call function. "Johnny? I'm sorry, but we've run into a problem."

"So have we.", Johnny's voice came in from the other end. "A monster's appeared downtown and we need all hands on deck."

Tora looked up at Jeremy, who sighed. "Just go. I'm not your father or anything. As of right now, this search is at a dead end."

"Right.", Tora nodded as she ran off.

Up on the Arrowhead, Ignoblia had the creature strapped to machinery, as Keldor entered the room. "Ignoblia, what are you up to now?" He then took a good look at the machinery. "Isn't that based on my Hypodermic Blaster?"

"Indeed.", Ignoblia nodded. "I've run some tests, and this is no alien creature. At least, not entirely. It's a human, one who's been merged with the DNA of three distinct Animen and two Cubezords. Presumably through some sort of accident involving interstellar transmission."

"So, you're extracting this DNA from him to restore him to normal.", Keldor realised.

"Well, not exactly a full extraction.", Ignoblia informed him. "I'm going to leave parts of the Animen DNA within him, so that he'll be able to use their Primal Power. The rest of it, I'll use it to construct my own little project. After all, what is it that Master Archris always says?"

"'To crush vermin, you need vermin'.", Keldor answered her, realising now what she was working on. "I like your idea. Especially if I'm accurate as to what it entails."

"The only issue I might face is that of his mind having been trapped in this state for a decade.", Ignoblia stated. "But thanks to my conditioning machine, he'll be back to a functional level on par with his species given time. All that needs changing besides that is to implant a tastefully edited version of our manifesto and a user's manual for his upgrade."

Nearby, a flashlight like device with a cube in the centre had the 4 visible sides have logos printed on them: a crocodile, a wolf, a rhino and a mural of all three together - as energy from the device was poured into them.

Down on the ground, Spydus had managed to knock Johnny, Marina, Trunks and Lenny down. "You guys are pushovers.", the alien laughed. "The 4 of you will be easy prey."

"What about 5 of us?" Tora came running and leapt forward, delivering a kick that knocked Spydus to the ground. "Sorry I'm late.", she said to the other Rangers.

"Actually, you're on time.", Trunks assured her. "We were about to beat down this freak."

"And we need all 5 to do that.", Marina added.

"I hear you.", Tora nodded as she took her Morpher out. "Primal Spirits, Awaken!" She was soon morphed into the Tiger Ranger. "Let's go, everyone."

The Rangers thus ran into battle. "Now you see me.", Spydus stated as he made himself invisible. "Now you don't."

Johnny tried leaping towards where the Hunter had been standing, but met only air. "He can make himself invisible?", Tora realised.

"Why do you think he was so tough?", Lenny asked.

"We can't see him.", Marina stated as she held her hands to her ears. "But we can still hear him." She turned around and fired a shot, revealing Spydus as he reeled from the blast.

But he merely made himself invisible again. "Marina's right.", Trunks realised. "If we can't see him, we have to rely on our other senses." He then started sniffing at the air. "Like my own acute nose." He turned and fired his own Primal Blaster, striking Spydus dead on once again.

"What's the point in being invisible if you don't need to see me?", Spydus bemoaned.

"Because then, you can see things coming." Tora ran forward with her Primal Saber, delivering a series of slashes to his face. "I'm really not in the mood for a fight, considering what I know." She then turned around and delivered a spin-kick that knocked the Hunter back. When Spydus tried to retaliate, Tora ducked down and spun around to his behind, delivering a kick with both feet that sent Spydus flying towards her team. "Alright guys, he's all yours."

"Primal Sabers, Wild Slash!" With the opportunity to do so now open, the Rangers ran forward and delivered slash attacks to weaken Spydus further. The 5 then prepared their claw attack with Tora in the centre. "Wild Fury Claw Strike!"

This was enough to mortally wound Spydus. "I never saw that coming.", he blurted out before exploding.

Onboard the Arrowhead, an alarm in the laboratory sounded. "What's that?", Keldor asked. "Is Archris awake already?", Keldor asked.

"No, I set that up so I'd be alerted if one of my distractions was defeated.", Ignoblia sighed. "You continue to monitor the subject, I'll deal with this." She then teleported out of the room…

…and appeared at the site of the battle, approaching Spydus. "You couldn't have lasted a little longer?", she asked as she inserted the growth coin into the slot on his hump.

Spydus was thus enlarged and revived. "No-one can miss me now!", he boasted.

"They'd have to be blind and deaf to miss you.", Ignoblia commented as she teleported back to her lab.

"Zords, combine!" The Rangers combined their 6 main Zords with the Giraffe and Mole Zords. "Jungle Beast Megazord, ready!"

"I'm not really in the mood for anything else from this fight.", Tora decided as she went and grabbed the control weapon. "Let's get this over with so I can share my news."

"Ok?", Johnny said with confusion. "But let's at least add some extra power to this fight. Bear Zord!" He threw the smaller cube, summoning the smaller Zord to assume its function as an axe.

"Hey, no fair. I'm not armed.", Spydus complained.

"Jungle Beast Bear Strike!", Tora announced as she inserted her Morpher into the control weapon, before bringing the axe down on Spydus, finishing him.

"But I didn't get to do anything!", Spydus bemoaned as he fell down and exploded.

"Top of the food chain.", Johnny stated.

"Now then, what did you want to tell us?", Marina asked.

Tora thought on this for a few seconds. "Let's head on back first.", she suggested.

Back on the Arrowhead, Ignoblia walked into the main control room, where Poachhitter was polishing his rifle. "Spydus has failed. You're up." She informed him before walking back out of the room.

"As you wish.", Poachhitter nodded, before teleporting to Earth.

Cuborg then stepped forward, now that no-one else was in the room. "Odd, Poachhitter doesn't seem to have discussed a plan for recovering the Cubezords. And neither did Spydus, given he merely attempted to kill the Rangers in battle."

"Very odd, indeed." Cuborg turned around to see the figure of Archris, now fully recovered, looming over him. "Cuborg, what has been happening in my absence?"

Down on Earth, Tora had finished explaining her story to the other Rangers as they were walking back to the zoo. "So as of right now, we're straight back to square one with the search for Luke."

Trunks was confused. "Why would the Hunters kidnap some random alien creature? It doesn't add up."

"Maybe they thought it would be a powerful asset.", Lenny suggested. "After all, don't bad guys usually go after unusual creatures for their future plans, Johnny?"

"Well I've heard of it happening.", Johnny answered. "Though I'm not sure what some feral chimera made of cubes would help them achieve."

"Wait a minute, cubes?", Marina realised. She remembered that the creature had had features from a wolf and an alligator, and that Jeremy had mentioned Cubezords with those motifs having been scattered by the transporter accident. But she also remembered that the creature also had features from a rhino. Before she could vocalise her thoughts on the matter, a shot rang through the air, barely hitting her. "Where did that come from?"

Poachhitter then emerged from behind a building. "I almost had you, but you just had to hear me coming, didn't you?"

"Two of them in one day?", Lenny questioned. "Can't we get our breath back first?"

"No rest for the weary, it seems.", Johnny commented, as he took out his Morpher. "It's Morphin Time!"

The others followed him in doing so, pressing their buttons and configuring the Primal Morpher to display their emblem. "Primal Spirits, Awaken!" In a flash, everyone was morphed.

"Let's go, ugly!", Lenny said to Poachhitter, as everyone ran into battle.

Back onboard the Arrowhead, Cuborg and Archris entered the laboratory. "Ignoblia, what are you up to?" The latter of the two demanded to know.

"Ah, Lord Archris. It's good to see you up and about again.", Keldor greeted him.

"Dispense with the pleasantries, you snivelling sycophant.", Archris growled. "Ignoblia, why did you send down two warriors in one day, with no orders to recover the Cubezords?"

"Because those two are my distraction.", Ignoblia answered. "One that will lower the Rangers' guards by being challenging, but not too difficult to defeat. Which is when I'll surprise them with this." She presented the test subject, now restored to a humanoid appearance.

"He's just another human.", Cuborg pointed out. "What can he do against the Power Rangers?"

"The Rangers derive their power from having the Primal Power of a single animal within their bodies.", Ignoblia explained. "And this man has been bathed in at least three different kinds of that same energy for 10 years. And with the data the White Ranger provided us during her association with both Keldor and Professor Nozu, we acquired the data to create our own Hunter Morpher." She then presented the flashlight-like device, which the figure stepped off the table and picked up.

"So we now have our own Power Ranger.", Archris realised. "One who has the power of three Rangers in one. I like it, very much."

"Oh great.", Keldor bemoaned. "Now we have to hear 'Primal Spirits Awaken' on this ship as well."

"No.", came the reply from Ignoblia. "He won't awaken primal spirits."

The figure pressed a button on the bottom of the Hunter Morpher, and prominently presented the side with all three animals on it. "PREDATOR SPIRITS, AWAKEN!" He pressed the button again, creating a flash of light, that left everyone but Archris reeling. When it cleared, the man was now wearing a Ranger costume that was primarily black, with the mouthplate of the helmet and the right of his chest being gold, while the lower half of the helmet and the left of his chest were silver. He also wore a white belt sporting the images of his three animal motifs - the alligator, the wolf and the rhino - which also adorned the right, left and centre sections of his chest respectively. He helmet on the other hand, was a black rhino design with prominent red eyes.

"Ah, now my servant the Chimera Ranger has been born.", Archris stated. "I entrust you with the task of defeating the Rangers and recovering the Cubezords in their possession."

The Chimera Ranger got down on his knees and lowered his head. "As you command."

"And speaking of the Rangers.", Cuborg interrupted. "Let's see how Poachhitter is doing in his battle with them."

And down on Earth, the battle with Poachhitter was proceeding apace. The Rangers had disarmed him of his rifle, but the Hunter was no less dangerous for it. "A good hunter always relies on help.", Poachhitter stated, as he threw down Bacteri coins.

"Primal Change: Gorilla!" With Johnny having switched forms, the Rangers took on the Bacteri, managing to take them down with Lenny using his fingers to take one down, while Trunks picked one up and threw it over his head. Marina also ran up and used her legs to take down one Bacterus. "Alright, let's take out the hunts master."

"Don't underestimate the array of tricks I possess.", Poachhitter announced as he fired missiles from his shoulders, that inadvertently destroyed the Bacteri while leaving the Rangers unharmed. "Confound it."

"Thanks for clearing a path.", Johnny stated sarcastically, as he ran forward to punch Poachhitter in the chest, sending him flying. He fell off the top of the car park they were fighting atop and fell to the floor.

As Poachhitter recovered from the fall, he noted the Rangers swinging towards him via the Chain Saber. "Oh dear.", he stated as he ducked out of the way, narrowly avoiding a hit. Until they swing backwards the other way, sending the Hunter rolling. "See how you like my Boomoustache." He removed his facial hair and threw it like a boomerang. But they failed to hit their targets, merely floating aimlessly in the air.

"Learn to hit stuff, ya old coot.", Lenny mocked as he ran forward with his Primal Saber, the two projectiles following him. He then delivered a slash to Poachhitter, before two more that knocked one of the moustache halves back, before delivering more slashes to his foe, before grabbing him in an armlock. "Here, let me show you." The two projectiles then came back, hitting Poachhitter right in the chest, before bouncing off to the side. "You can't miss at this range." He then delivered more slashes to Poachhitter, eventually knocking him to the ground.

Poachhitter pulled himself up to find that Trunks was pointing a Primal Blaster at his head. "One wrong move, and you'll need a growth coin.", he commented. Poachhitter tried to resist, getting shot down as a result. He was then hit with more shots as he tried to shuffle out of the way. Soon enough, the other three Rangers joined Lenny and Trunks. "Now then, let's get this over with." Everyone then pointed their Primal Blasters. "Wild Fury Savage Blast!"

The blasts all merged into a cube, which collided with Poachhitter, ensuring his defeat. "I've been outfoxed.", he called out as he exploded.

All of this had been observed by the main Hunters, having screened it for the benefit of their new adversary. "So now you've seen what the Rangers have to offer on the ground.", Ignoblia told the Chimera Ranger. "And now it's time to show you what their way of going all out is." She then teleported down to Earth.

In a few seconds, Poachhitter had been enlarged and revived. "I'm not past my prime yet." He then fired his cannons at the Rangers on the ground. The Rangers narrowly got out of the way of the explosion.

"Looks like we have one last thing to do today.", Johnny commented, slightly annoyed. "Cubezords, enlarge!"

The 6 Zords then combined once more. This time, they went for separate formations, with the Eagle, Elephant and Toger making up one Megazord, while the Gorilla, Shark and Lion made up another. "Beast Force Megazord Jungle Formation, ready!"

"Jungle Megazord Beast Formation, ready!"

"Looks like you've forced me into this.", Poachhitter growled as he held onto a building, before presenting his foot in their direction. After about a second, a flurry of lasers came from the foot, knocking the two Megazords back.

Inside the Beast Force Megazord, Trunks and Tora were buffeted. "I guess we shouldn't underestimate this guy just because he's old.", Tora commented.

"I never was.", Lenny radioed from the other cockpit, as he, Johnny and Marina recovered. "We need to get to cover."

At their main controllers' command, the two Megazords then moved behind one of the skyscrapers, just as Poachhitter stopped firing. "Consarn it, my trick knee just ain't the same anymore.", he lamented. "The power runs out too quickly."

"Now's our chance.", Marina stated as the Jungle Megazord emerged from behind the building to host Poachhitter with a shot from its rifle, blowing him back.

"Now let's keep up this offensive.", Trunks added as he had the Beast Force move in to kick the old man down.

"I still have my Boomoustache!", Poachhitter announced as he removed his moustache once more, and threw it at the Rangers.

But the Megazords were able to separate and avoid the hit, before recombining in a different formation. "Jungle Beast Megazord, ready!"

"Bear Zord!" As Poachhitter ran in to use his moustache halves as blades, Johnny summoned a weapon for the Megazord, knocking them out of his hands. "Now let's end this." Johnny inserted his Morpher into the control weapon. "Jungle Beast Bear Strike!"

The Bear Axe made contact with Poachhitter, finishing him off. "Looks like this is my swan song as a hunter.", he cried out as he collapsed and exploded.

"Top of the food chain.", Johnny announced with some exhaustion. "Again."

"We should probably head home.", Marina decided. "And hope that's the last one for today."

Onboard the Arrowhead, the Chimera Ranger had observed all of this. "Well, we've shown you the Power Rangers in action.", Ignoblia reminded him. "What's your impression?"

"They don't seem so tough." When the Chimera Ranger spoke, his voice sounded unnaturally deep. "Don't worry. I'll defeat those Rangers in no time, and then take their Cubezords for Master Archris."

"I like your attitude.", Archris laughed. "But you'll have to wait in order to go out. Keldor, Cuborg, I task you two with finding an opponent who will make the Rangers lower their guard."

Both were visibly confused by this. "Master. Are you sure you've fully recovered?", Cuborg asked.

"No, I understand.", Keldor realised. "A crummy opponent will lower the Rangers' guard, so that our Chimera Ranger can catch them unawares and attain victory."

"What can I say?", Archris said in response. "Ignoblia's diversion today inspired me."

"And don't worry about their Megazords, my friend.", Ignoblia said to the Chimera Ranger. "I've made plans to help you with that little formality."

Down on Earth, the Rangers returned to the zoo house, where Jeremy was waiting for them. "Is Rose still not back yet?", he asked. "Sir Caesar's waiting for her to be back so he can visit."

"She'll be three more days.", Johnny informed him. "And before you ask, Tora did tell us about what happened in the woods, and we're just as clueless as you are."

"Which leaves us with one more question.", Trunks pointed out. "What do we do now?"

"For now, you carry on fighting the Space Hunters.", Jeremy answered. "As for me, all I can do is try to locate the remaining Cubezords on Earth."

"That's something I want to talk to you about.", Marina spoke up. She hen turned to the others. "In private."

Everyone was terrified by her face. "That's fine.", Tora said, fearing for her life.

"We know when we're not wanted.", Lenny added as everyone left the room.

Now alone, Jeremy decided to get in the next word edgewise with Marina. "Alright, what's so important you don't want to talk to the others about it?"

"I remembered what you said about two of the Zords being a wolf and an alligator.", was Marina's answer. "And I remembered seeing features of both on the Savannah Woods Creature, along with some cube-like textures and features from another animal… a rhino."

"So the monster is two thirds of the way an exact match for our missing Zords.", Jeremy stated. "What's your point?"

Marina continued "You said you came here with three others, who you believe were killed by the creature."

"That's right.", Jeremy nodded. "Al, Rhine and Were."

"'Al', 'Rhine' and 'Were'.", Marina repeated. "As in, 'alligator', 'rhinoceros' and 'werewolf', I assume?"

Jeremy was shocked. "Yes, those were their species. But how-?"

"Thinking about it, I realised that the creature didn't kill your friends.", Marina explained. "It is your friends, having merged with each other and with the Alligator and Wolf Zords."

"I - I suppose it would make some sense.", Jeremy acknowledged reluctantly. "The transport to Earth was erratic. I was lucky that all I suffered was having my Primal Power transferred to Johnny. It stands to reason that my friends were merged into one lifeform, and I can't imagine the mind of whichever individual was in control of a fusion of three evolved predatory animals wouldn't succumb to primitive urges." But he was still confused by one thing. "But why don't you want the others to know this?"

"Because if that creature is an accidental abomination attacking all in its sights…", Marina surmised. "Then what did it really do with Johnny's brother?"

On the edge of town, the Chimera Ranger observed the town below. "Soon, the Power Rangers will be no more, the Cubezords will all belong to Archris and I'll be able to reclaim my life and my family.", he stated. "The best has yet to come."