See chapter 1 for Story notes. Thanks for the reviews! Please consider leaving feedback. It really helps and is much appreciated. Here is individual responses to reviews:

Harry2: Yep, it's going to take everyone. Glad you're enjoying it!

Ghostwriter: Glad you like it! Thanks!

fallingstar22: I love the interactions too, glad you're enjoying it. I love the Hunter/Tori pairing so much too. :)

Amelia: It will eventually be revealed once this arc is over.

MMPRfancesin93: Glad you're enjoying!

Thunderstruck

Chapter 21: The Bounty, Pt 1

Onyx

Miratrix wrinkled her nose in disgust, as they walked into the dirty, foul smelling tavern. Beings from every corner of the universe milled about, gambling, drinking, or participating in other less than savory activities. Many were lackeys for hire or bounty hunters that often came to the lawless planet of Onyx to kick back between assignments. There was no better place to find someone to do a job than here, especially if your intentions were less than honorable. It was an employer's market. The best and worst in the business, all in a one stop shop.

"This place is disgusting. I can't believe we have to give one of the jewels to one of these heathens," Miratrix hissed.

"Relax, we have no choice for now. Trust me, I will make Lothor pay for this. But the rangers are the bigger threat, so we will play his game. Then I will regain the jewels in due time and when the Corona Aurora is on my head, I will show Lothor true power," Kamdor said, as they approached the bar.

"What can I get you?" the blue hued alien bartender asked.

"I'm looking to hire a bounty hunter...a good one for Lothor," Kamdor stated.

"So Lothor's back..." he stated.

"Trouble with the power rangers, I assume," he continued.

"Then you heard of them," Miratrix surmised.

"Of course. For a backwater little planet with a relatively weak species, these Earth rangers certainly know how to defend their planet. They've unseated some of the universe's worst. Lord Zedd was once a grand ruler and quickly became the laughing stock of this tavern," the bartender said.

"Yeah, and then you have the Machine Empire, which conquered everything in their path until the Zeo rangers made space dust out of them," another chimed in.

"And Lothor? He is the biggest joke of them all. He took their powers and they still defeated him," the bartender laughed, as many others joined them.

"We agree that he's a buffoon, but he has acquired an object that has made him possibly more powerful than even the great Dark Spector once was," Kamdor said, hating that his words were true.

"Please...in his dreams. If he needs to hire a bounty hunter, then he's not too powerful," another alien drawled.

"Earth rangers cannot be underestimated though. It hasn't mattered how powerful their adversaries have been. Aliens, demons, Orgs, Mutants...they have all fallen to these warriors," the bartender warned.

"The rookie team was manageable, but with the return of that buffoon came several veteran teams," Miratrix informed them.

"What is that whack job Lothor plotting this time?" another alien asked.

"Oh, he only plans to open the gates of Gehenna," Miratrix said nonchalantly. A hush fell over the Tavern.

"Lothor is going to open the gates of Gehenna?" one alien uttered in disbelief. She nodded curtly.

"I always knew he was never playing with a full deck," the bartender grumbled.

"And why does he need a bounty hunter?" he continued, as he did a shot himself, while pouring for others.

"Because these two are the only ones that can close the gates," Miratrix said, as she pressed play on the small device, showing the blue water and crimson thunder rangers combining their prism energies to create amethyst fire.

"Opening the gates would mean pure chaos not only on Earth, but throughout the entire galaxy," one alien said excitedly.

"It would be very good for our kind," another mentioned.

"So does anyone want the job?" Miratrix snapped.

"We're not going near those rangers. None of us have a death wish," the bartender said. Miratrix threw up her hands.

"This is a waste of time," she snapped. Kamdor raised his hand to stop her coming tirade.

"You need Heliya..." the bartender said, pointing to the table in the corner. They couldn't tell what kind of being the bounty hunter was, for he kept the hood of his cloak on, as he nursed his drink.

"Heliya is the best bounty hunter in this galaxy," the bartender said.

"Then how come I've never heard of him?"Kamdor hissed.

"Because most that have are either dead or my employers," a female voice said, as the bounty hunter dropped her hood. She was a female belonging to a race that Kamdor wasn't familiar with. She had orange skin and instead of hair, she had four long tentacles that extended out of her head and all the way down her back. Now that her cloak was removed, she clearly had a very toned, feminine body that was evident in the bodysuit she wore. But her transparent colored eyes were perhaps the most unnerving thing about her, as well as the metal mask over her mouth, probably part of the costume to make herself look more formidable. She took the device from Miratrix and examined the pair on the small screen.

"Ninjas?" she asked.

"Yes...a water ninja and a thunder ninja," Kamdor replied. She smirked.

"Lovers I assume. They might be an exciting challenge, but I don't work cheap," she snapped.

"Kill them and a coveted jewel of the Corona Aurora will be yours," Kamdor tempted. She snatched it from his hand with lightning speed, alarming him.

"Expensive little bauble. It should bring a nice price on the black market. I'll take it as the first half of my payment. I'll expect more when the job is done," she said. Kamdor growled, but Miratrix stopped him.

"I'm sure Lothor will be more than happy to compensate you more once they're dead," she stated. She nodded and put her cloak on.

"Do you have a ship or do I need to acquire my own?" she asked.

"We have a ship. Let's go," Kamdor snapped, as they left the smelly establishment.

So far, the day had been quiet. The youngest team didn't see anything wrong with that and enjoyed a little relaxation in the rec room. Xander wasn't bothered either and used his time to talk on the phone with some girl he had met a couple days ago. Apparently, if "Plan Xander" went accordingly, he would have a hot date tonight.

Bridge was naturally eating his toast, of which Spencer made sure he was in possession of most of the time. Most of the others were doing light sparring or observing from the sidelines, while idly listening to the television nearby. The news reporter that suddenly mentioned power rangers caught their attention.

"Lately, San Angeles has been captivated by the appearance of multiple power rangers, some which have not been seen in years, popping up recently in the city. No one is sure why the Overdrive rangers have suddenly disappeared, as they have not made a statement. Before the Overdrive team, the identities of only a few teams have ever been revealed and some are calling for these other teams to reveal their identities. Joining me now is President of Gridiron Industries, Jared Zale, the country's leading source of energy and top provider of military weaponry, with multiple government contracts. Mr. Zale, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us," the female reporter said.

"You're very welcome, Ms. Larson," Jared said smoothly.

"Can you tell us about your interest in this subject?" she asked.

"Well, the power rangers have protected us for fifteen years and with the exception of a few teams like Lightspeed, they have largely operated on their own," he stated. She nodded.

"Some government and law enforcement officials consider the power rangers vigilantes," she stated.

"Yes and while I would not go that far, I think the opportunity to work together with all teams is too good to pass up," Jared responded.

"Yeah, the government wants to control us. That's just what we need," Hunter commented.

"Or them getting their hands on the morphing grid," Billy replied.

"Yeah, Jared Zale can definitely not be trusted," Bridge said, as he munched on his toast.

"Man...this toast is so buttery," he said, wiggling his fingers, as he continued to lose himself in the buttery goodness. But then he realized everyone was looking at him.

"Bridge...do we have a reason to worry about this Zale guy?" Adam asked.

"Uh...you know I can't talk about the future. I shouldn't even have said what I said...but I got lost in the butteriness," he rambled.

"Wow dude...and I thought I could ramble," Dustin joked.

"I know you can't talk about the future...but some futures should be prevented. Is this one of those cases?" Jason asked. Bridge avoided his gaze. Kira noticed the other reds giving him the "leader stare" as she called.

"Guys...leave him alone. He can't tell us. Besides, how much can this guy really do?" she asked.

"He's a billionaire, so you'd be surprised how much," Adam replied.

"Yeah, he can just throw money around to get what he wants," Hunter added.

"Billy...could there ever be any threat to the grid?" Jason asked.

"Even if this guy or someone else were to get access, I could shut them down in an instant," Billy replied.

"But my dad got access," Mack mentioned. Billy smirked.

"I knew the minute he tapped the grid and I could have shut him down right then and there. But he had good intentions and a new group was needed, so I let him continue," Billy replied.

"How big is your nerd envy right now?" Hunter teased Cam, who rolled his eyes.

"Funny," Cam deadpanned.

"Yeah, but from the look on Bridge's face, then we have reason to worry about this guy," Rocky said. Bridge sighed.

"Look, I can't tell you anything except that you're all alive and well in the future," Bridge insisted.

"But this won't be our last return to power, right?" Conner asked.

"I'm not answering that," Bridge refused.

"Guys...lay off. He really could do more harm than good if he tells us anything," Billy warned.

"Why don't you guys just tell them who you are? They know our identities and nothing bad has happened," Will reasoned.

"Yeah, in fact, it's kind of cool. We're local celebrities!" Dax added.

"No way, my career with the FBI would be over," Jason replied.

"And mine as a detective," Rocky added.

"We would never risk exposing the Academy," Shane said.

"Yeah, I can't afford to replace all the cameras I would break," Hunter added, as they snickered.

"The point of what we do is that no one knows about it or how much danger they might be in," Cam added.

"But...don't you want to get credit where credit is due?" Dax asked.

"The problem is they will want to exploit us and pick apart everything we do. And you should know better than anyone that the media loves to build their heroes up just so they can tear them down," Tori replied.

"She's right. They've been tearing the power rangers down for years," Adam said. Jason nodded.

"Yeah, you really think that if they knew who we were that people wouldn't try to sue us for all the damage that's done during our Megazord battles?" Jason asked.

"Lightspeed was backed by the government and I don't want to jinx you guys, but I'll be surprised if someone doesn't try it. They did with the Space rangers, even though they didn't get anywhere," Billy replied. The Overdrive rangers looked horrified.

"Sorry guys, we don't mean to scare you, but being a ranger isn't as completely glorified as it seems. Some of us have been out of the game a while and we see how civilians and officials view the rangers. Some love us...the innocent people we protect," Tommy tried to explain.

"But there's a lot of humans out there that aren't so innocent," Adam continued.

"Some are just evil," Hunter said more bluntly.

"We learned that all too well in Goldar's Dark Dimension and in Mexico," Tori recalled, shivering at the memories, as Hunter squeezed her hand.

"What happened?" Dax asked curiously. As they were about to tell the more recent stories, the alert sounded. They hurried to the view screen and saw some of Flurious' and Lothor's monsters attacking the city.

"The dark ninjas are moving toward the city too. You'll want to head them off," Jason said. Hunter nodded.

"If too many people see them, it might endanger the existence of the Academy," he said.

"The rest of us will take the city. Ready rookies?" Jason asked. Will rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but can you stop calling us that?" he asked.

"Nope," Jason replied, as he took the lead.

"It's Morphin Time!" he called.

"It's Morphin Time!" Adam called, with the Zeos.

"Shift Into Turbo!" Justin called, as the sole member of Turbo.

"Time for Time Force!"

Wild Access!"

"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!"

"Thunder Storm, Ranger Form!"

Samurai Storm, Ranger Form!"

"Dino Thunder, Power up, ha!"

S.P.D...Emergency!"

"Magical Source, Mystic Force!"

"Overdrive Accelerate!"

"I don't believe this!" Blake hissed, as he stared at the flight board above him. He was on a layover in Denver and now because of an intense electrical storm, his flight was delayed indefinitely.

"Great...the fate of the Universe hangs in the balance and I'll be a no show," he grumbled. He had no choice. He was going to have to rent a car and drive. Even if he drove straight through, it would be two days before he could get to San Angeles.

"A thunderstorm is what is keeping me from getting there," he said in exasperation.

"You're a real comedian, fate. Hunter would be laughing his ass right now if he knew," Blake joked to himself, deciding that he should call his brother. As he took out his phone, an older woman, maybe in her sixties passed by and handed him one of the brochures she seemed to be handing out to everyone. He looked at it and then back at her. She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on why.

"Thunderbird Mountain?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, to many Native Americans, great thunderbirds fought underworld spirits. The Lakota and the Cheyenne called it that because of the spectacular light shows that occur around the mountain. Their legends say that a powerful artifact was placed there by the great Thunderbird himself and it is responsible for the magnificent light shows that go on there. It is a very popular attraction here if you have time to kill," she said, before she walked away. Blake glanced down at the brochure and sighed.

"It couldn't be..." he said, recalling Hunter's recent possession of a prism much like the one pictured in this brochure. He was about to dismiss it when he happened to catch a glimpse of another person's brochure, revealing it was one about the Great Divide. He looked around and found that he was the only one with this particular brochure. He looked around for that woman and found her to be nowhere in sight. He sighed and his ninja instincts wouldn't let it go.

"This better not be a wild goose chase," Blake said, as he left the airport to follow the conveniently enclosed map.

The five rangers stopped on the ridge that overlooked the grassy valley below where Lothor's dark ninjas, dozens in numbers, approached the outskirts of San Angeles. Leading them were Tamara and Zara.

"We need to get those prisms from them," Shane said.

"Easier said than done, dude," Dustin retorted.

"You two go after Zara and Tamara. The three of us will hold off the others," Cam said.

"Dude...where is Blake? Shouldn't he be here by now?" Shane asked.

"I'm not sure. We'll have to do without him for now," Hunter replied, as they ninja streaked to the valley below. Nearby, a river and a very large waterfall that cascaded into the canyon lake below. The ground was soft with moisture, making for uneven and precarious terrain.

Tamara used the air prism to sail into the air, but Shane was right behind her, using the same abilities he had mastered to propel through the sky. He shot an air beam at her and slammed her into a tree. She tumbled to the ground and he landed beside her.

"You'll never get this prism," she growled.

"It's not meant for you. You don't know how to use it or control it," Shane retorted.

"I'm going to make you eat your words!" Tamara spat, as she used the prism to fire an attack. But to her horror, Shane took control of her air beam and morphed it into a swirling red cyclone before pushing it back at her. She screamed, as it picked her up and then spit her out about twenty feet away. She whimpered in pain, clearly hurt and injured. Shane streaked to her location and the prism glowed ruby red at his proximity. It seared her hand and she was forced to let go, as it flew into its chosen hand, as Shane glared down at her.

"Fine...you have it. Are you going to kill me?" she asked. He shook his head.

"You're already defeated and I don't fight those weaker than me," he replied simply, as he walked away.

Dustin chased Zara beneath the ground, as she used the Earth prism's powers. But Dustin was far more skilled and in tune with his powers. He quickly cut her off underground and blasted her to the surface with an earth beam. She coughed and started brushing herself off, as Dustin came to the surface as well.

"Dude, if you don't want to get dirty, then you shouldn't play in the dirt," he quipped. She growled and launched an earth beam at him. But Dustin stopped the beam with his palm and took control of it. The ground rumbled beneath her, as he sent it back at her. The ground underneath her erupted, spraying her with mud and tossing her about. He rolled away and cried out, as the prism in her hand glowed bright gold, searing her hand, before floating into the Earth ninja's hand.

"Oooohhh...denied, guess it likes me better, dude," Dustin said, as Shane joined him and they canceled their current morph.

"Time to join the upgrade club," he said, as they touched the prisms to their morphers.

"Ninja Storm...Ranger Form, ha!" they called. Their armor had not changed, but they both instantly felt a stronger connection to the power and their element. New weapons

appeared in their hands and Shane found his to be a saber with the hawk insignia. He heard Dustin call out in excitement.

"Sweet dude! Nunchucks!" Dustin said, as he examined his new Lion chucks. Shane shook his head.

"Someone out there has a sense of humor," he commented, as they charged their foes.

Hunter swung his thunder staff expertly, like it was an extension of his own body. It was alive with crimson thunder, enough to disable the oncoming ninjas, but not enough to kill them. He was all for frying evil space ninjas, but he wanted to avoid killing these former teachers and students. He hoped, like he and Blake, they could still be saved. Lothor could be very deceitful, persuasive, and convincing, so he hoped beyond all hopes that they would return to the light and not suffer the same fate as Nate.

Tori completed a series of back flips and swiped her ninja sword, sending gold flails of energy to keep her attackers at bay. They slowly surrounded them both and Tori tried to plead with them.

"Why do you follow Lothor?" she questioned.

"He'll kill each and everyone of you to get what he wants," Hunter added.

"Once he opens the gates of Gehenna, that's it. He could be unstoppable and he'll use all of you to fuel his own power!" Tori pleaded.

"Lothor is simply the means to an end. The end of you and your friends' disgrace and a return to the sacred tradition that made our schools great," the masked earth ninja hissed. Tori thought she vaguely recognized the voice, thinking he sounded like a former teacher.

"You're deluded if you think Lothor gives a crap about our schools," Hunter spat.

"We're not stupid..." a female voice hissed. It came from a navy thunder ninja

"But with you and the other rangers out of the way, Lothor will do what he wants and as a reward for our allegiance, he'll leave us alone, providing the six of you and your allies are out of the way," she continued.

"Then we can return to the ways of old...the days of glory," a male air ninja added.

"You mean when ninjas were disgraceful assassins for hire and morally bankrupt? The days where ninjas were loyal only to the highest bidder? No thanks," Tori spat.

"Yeah, not gonna happen. We've become honorable warriors and we're not going to let a few rejects ruin what we've built," Hunter agreed.

"We'll see," he replied, as they charged again. Suddenly, laser fire pelted the ground around them.

"Reinforcements have arrived," one of the dark ninjas said, as they backed away.

"What the..." Hunter began to say, but the words died on his lips, as they saw an alien approaching, armed with a smoking blaster.

"Sorry rangers, but your time is up," she said.

"Who are you?" Tori demanded. She smirked through her metal mask

"Your executioner. I've been paid very handsomely to ensure that this battle is your last, lovers," she said.

"You're a bounty hunter. Lothor must really be worried about us," Hunter stated.

"I don't know, nor do I care. I was paid to do a job and I always finish my jobs," she stated.

"Well, we'd love to make us the first one you fail at," Tori said and Hunter smirked as his hands became alive with crimson lightning.

"Please...they told me all about your little light show tricks and I'm not worried," she scoffed. But the energy formed into two crackling orbs that grew, as his prism fed the power.

"Crimson thunder clouds!" he called, as he hurled at least a dozen at her in rapid succession. Her eyes widened in surprise and she found herself dodging to avoid being pummeled and fried by the lightning. It was followed up by a wave attack that nearly bowled her over.

"Well, well, this might be a challenge, after all," she said, as she prepared to duel the pair she had been hired to eliminate...