Mighty Morphin Power Rangers- Dark Tides
Prologue
Earth-2820
Angel Grove was used to giant mechanical beasts and titanic monsters fighting it out in the warehouse districts and the adjacent cliffs.
The city was accustomed to their heroes fending off hordes of clay golems and predatory avian humanoids.
The people were habituated to the face of their alien attackers popping up in the sky and their magnified voices demanding the surrender of their planet or throwing temper tantrums and whining about their migraines, depending on the outcome of their weekly scuffle with the costumed superheroes.
It was part of their daily lives, and their protectors have not given them a reason to fear for their lives. Their successful streak made the alien warlords look like campy villains from a Saturday morning cartoon instead of credible threats to their safety.
Today was different.
The skies were red.
The streets were filled with panicked screams.
The putties swarmed the city, but they were different from the usual batch. Their grey hides were lined with lines of crimson lava, and thorns jutted off their backs, but the real fear came from the forces leading them.
The very heroes the city was so proud of.
Five rangers walked, firing at the civilians with their blade blasters.
It was apparent they were not themselves.
This was not the first time one of their ranks had fallen prey to mind control spells, but nearly the entire team, and even then, the signs of resistance, however feeble they might be, were visible.
But this time, their body language showed no hesitation. Their voices did not tremble. They had surrendered completely to whatever had taken hold of their body, to the point that the corruption was visible on their suits.
All their helmets had turned black, and their eyes lit up with a menacing crimson glow, which shined through their visors. The once white diamonds were now pitch black, and lava lines like that on the putties spread through their forms. Their gloved fingers had become talons, dripping with dark energies that reached up till their elbows. Dark veins spread across their suits, condensing in lumps around their shoulders, and converging in their feet from knees down. Even the metal of their belts and blade blasters were tainted dark, and their power coins in the center of their waists were no longer gold medallions with carvings of their totems, instead they were replaced by crimson embers.
The people of Angel Grove were truly afraid, for the first time since the day the Power Rangers had arrived all those years ago.
Just as the red ranger was able to fire at a helpless elderly woman who had stumbled to the ground, two parallel beams of red laser slammed into his hand, making him drop his blaster.
"Enough!" The white ranger said, her voice hoarse as she appeared between the lady and the army of corrupted rangers and lava putties.
"Run, now." She told the woman, who didn't need to be told twice, as she scrambled to her feet, and scurried away from the scene as fast as she could.
"Guys, stop this, now." The white ranger pleaded her team, her voice betraying her fear as her fingers tightened around her enchanted dagger. "Please."
"I am detecting immense amounts of dark energy, White ranger." The tiger head on the hilt of the dagger said in a morose voice. "I am afraid they are not in their senses."
"Listen to Saba." The red ranger growled, summoning his power sword, which seemed to be forged from obsidian, the way the darkness had clung to its surface.
"Jason, please!" The ranger cried desperately. "Billy, Trini, Zack… Kim! All of you, come back to your senses. I know you are in there, somewhere!"
"Or what? You will cry?" The black ranger sneered, aiming his blade blaster at her and firing. "What a loser!"
The white ranger deflected the blast with Saba only for Jason to charge at her with his sword. She bent backwards, avoiding being skewered by the sword before swiping her legs in a wide arc, and knocking the red ranger to the ground. She bounced back to her feet, only to be body slammed by the yellow ranger.
"Trini, what are you doing?"
"If you won't join us, our master has no need for you." Her friend said coldly, drawing her power daggers, and slashing at her wildly. She jumped back, instincts taking over, and she retaliated with a high kick to the other ranger's gut, sending her sprawling to the ground, coughing in pain.
"I am sorry." She whispered.
"White ranger, look out!" Saba cried, flying away from her hand to fire at the black ranger, who was preparing to shoot at her again. As the enchanted saber flew in circles around the black ranger, the other four rangers and the lava putties surrounded her.
"Give up now." Jason demanded.
"You have no chance." Billy added, running at her with his lance. "Zordon and Alpha are gone. The Command Center is destroyed, and you are vastly outnumbered."
She jumped over him, and struck him in the back, taking him down.
"I don't want to fight you guys. Please don't make me do this." She said again, hoping her pleas would get through to them, while she dodged their attacks. Their bonds with each other had shattered mind control spells before. She had to have faith it would do so again.
"Again, with the whimpering!" Kim said scathingly, and the sheer distaste in her voice made her recoil.
"I believe in you, Kim. You are stronger than this."
"Ugh!" Kim spat. "You are pathetic, you know that right? Zordon called you the strongest ranger in the universe, but you know what you are deep inside… An imposter. You do not deserve these powers. Tommy did!"
The white ranger choked. The words stung. She always knew about the rangers' close bond with the former green ranger, but they had never made her feel unwelcome in the team before.
The pink ranger laughed, launching a flurry of kicks at her. She crossed her arms, shielding herself from the attack, her gauntlets taking most of the assault.
"You don't mean that." She said, shoving her back.
"Of course, we do." Jason snarled, charging at her. "You are weak!"
She moved sideways, letting the sword by her, before she retaliated with a kick, forcing him to drop the sword to the ground, and then a series of jabs to his chest.
As the putties tried to jump on her, she pushed them back.
"Saba!" She yelled, raising her arm and the sword whirled through the air, shooting off bolts of lightning that took off some putties, and landed on her hand.
The rangers were back on their feet, and advancing towards her.
She gulped. There was no way she could beat them all by her own.
But she can't give up.
She won't.
The city was counting on her.
She rolled up her fists.
If she had to go down, she would go down fighting.
Just then, lightning crashed down in front of her, throwing the other rangers back, and taking out a few of the putties as well.
A crimson skinless figure with a chrome exoskeleton over exposed flesh stood before her, holding a silver staff with a 'Z' on its top.
Her saviour turned around.
"We don't have much time, ranger." He said in his gravelly voice.
"Zedd?" She balked. "Why are you helping me?"
"This is bigger than you, me or even this pathetic backwater planet of yours." He said, as a golden blur flew past them to tackle the red ranger, and another collided with the yellow ranger.
Goldar and Scorpina, and they were not holding back, and neither were Jason and Trini.
The sky was filled with caws, as hordes of ravenous tengu warriors descended on the unsuspecting putties. Multiple monsters they had faced in the past teleported around them, and wasted no time in engaging the other four rangers in combat.
"What is going on?" She asked in bewilderment.
"It is too late for our universe." Zedd sighed, flexing his arm, and a pentagram appeared on the ground, comprised of crimson light. Runes and symbols she didn't recognize hovered in the air.
"What are you doing?"
"Saving you." Zedd said, his voice devoid of its usual malice. "Sending you to the next universe. Find Zordon of that world. Warn him the Morphin Grid has been corrupted, and he has broken free."
"What!" The white ranger shouted, trying to step out of the pentagram, only to find herself stuck within its limits. "I am not leaving my friends or my world… My family. I will fight!"
"Then you will die in vain." Zedd said coldly. "My forces will hold off this incursion as long as they can, but this world is already doomed. All worlds in this universe are."
A whirling portal of purple light suddenly appeared in the sky, and tendrils of black energy shot out, tearing through the tengus and Zedd's monster army.
"We don't have any time left!" Zedd cried in alarm. "Go now. You cannot save this universe, but you can save the next one. Remember, the White Light is the key!"
He raised his staff, and the spell circle underneath her lit up with white light.
"NO!" She screeched, lunging at him.
"As Zordon would say, may the power protect you. The fate of all existence may depend on you." Zedd gave her a last nod, before slamming his staff on the ground, and the runes and symbols glowed with white light, swirling around her before converging on her form. The pentagram lit up with blinding white light, and beams of light rose from its surface and shot up to the skies.
She felt herself dematerializing. The sensation was like teleportation, but more disorienting. Her body became energy… lightning as she was beamed up as well, shooting alongside the light from the runes, reaching for the stars and beyond.
The world did not make any sense anymore, but she knew one thing. Within an hour, her city was razed to the ground. Her friends were turned into mindless minions of an incomprehensible evil, and she was being saved by her sworn enemy, and now… She was leaving her own universe, after being told she was helpless to save it or any of her friends and family.
Part of her wondered if it was one of Zedd's tricks, and it was some elaborate scheme to remove her from the battle, but she knew in her heart, it was not. A terrifying power like this was beyond his capabilities.
She only knew one thing… she was going to find a way to fix everything, no matter the cost.
This fic is my take on writing a sequel to the "MMPR: The Return" comics, and though, I am hopeful we will get an official sequel, I wanted to explore that universe and those specific versions of the characters.
This prologue is set in another alternate universe, and takes some inspiration from the "Darkest Hour" comic storylines. It is written from the perspective of the white ranger, and we will know more about her in the coming chapters.
Hope you all liked this prologue, and please review. :)