The Phantom Princess
A Power Rangers In Space Fic
By: Malaizjan P.J. Shultz
***Since I normally write Batman Beyond and Young Justice fics, I had this fic collecting dust in a notebook. When my fellow DC co-author Reina Grayson decided to re-write her PR fic, I decided to take a break as well and get my own PR fic out. And she has helped me improve a few parts so it's way better than what I wrote WAAAAAAYYY back in 2000... I don't own Power Rangers or any of its seasons because if I did…it would have had at least a PG13 and above rating…As such, my fic is rated teen. Also, Reina Grayson wrote a part in this and I would have been stuck on this chapter if it wasn't for her. ***
Chapter 2
20 Years into the future…on KO-35…
The formerly abandoned castle near the Posiplys Lake was alive with activity as menacing Cogs patrolled the grounds around the castle…as well as small ships and a dome of blue energy. The castle was the center of the new axis of evil…When Zordon had sacrificed himself to rid the universe of evil, his power wasn't all reaching…thanks to a specialized gear, two beings survived…and the Machine Empire thrived again, this time under the leadership of King Gasket, the late Queen Archerina, and their daughter, Archera.
The pair were in the throne room, plotting their next attack. 84% of the universe was under their control…and it would be a matter of time before the rest fell into their hands. King Gasket stared out of the window, thinking of his next scheme, but his thoughts were on his injured wife. A year prior, the Machine Empire suffered a blow when Queen Cerina of Eltar damaged Queen Archerina badly enough to temporarily take her off-line.
In retaliation, Gasket sent his most powerful assassin Mercerites after her in the past. He knew that getting rid of Zordon's lineage would be his only chance to do what his parents hadn't done; destroy all of the Power Rangers.
To achieve this goal, Gasket had activated his nanorites that he had injected into the Gold Ranger years before and now the Gold Ranger was under his control. All but 6 rangers fell under the might of the Gold Ranger. Speaking of, the Gold Ranger stood off to Gasket's left, waiting for further instructions.
"Gold Ranger…" Gasket finally spoke.
"Yes, my liege?" said the hard voice of the Gold Ranger.
"Please make the Blue Turbo Ranger…comfortable."
"As you wish, King Gasket." The Gold Ranger left the throne room to attend to his newest capture: The Blue Turbo Ranger.
"Father…will Mother ever awaken?" asked the young teen-looking Archera. She looked like her mother except that her metal skin was more granite-looking and that her costume was light blue with a short skirt and metal matching boots.
"She will…once we eliminate Queen Cerina and her rangers...," Gasket answered.
"I am ready when you are…Father…"
"I know. Go play, my daughter. I will need time to plan…"
In the past…back on Earth…
Justin sat in Storm Blaster's seat as he messed with the comm system on the dashboard. "Storm Blaster...can't you find them?"
Storm Blaster revved for a few seconds.
"Ok...keep trying..."
"...ustin...?" came a voice over the comm.
"Tej...is that you?"
"Yeah! Justin, what're doing on this channel?" TJ asked.
"Listen...I need your help. I'm looking for a girl..."
"Um..." TJ didn't know what to say.
"She's Zordon's daughter."
Ashley, Cassie and Carlos were right next to TJ.
"Um...Zordon has kids?" asked Ashley over the comm…
"Turns out we fought beside one of them... the Phantom Ranger."
"WHAT?!" cried Cassie.
"That's what Cerina's future self said."
"Cerina?" Carlos said.
"Justin, is this some girl you met in school?" Ashley asked.
"How do you think I'm in Storm Blaster again...she brought it with her to help me find her past self."
"Ooo...kay?" Carlos said, unsure of what he was hearing.
"Just...come can to Earth!"
"Justin...we're waiting on Andros and Zhane..." Cassie explained.
"Are you guys at KO-35?" Justin asked.
"We are," Ashley admitted.
"Good. See if there's an abandoned castle. Ok?"
"For what Justin?" TJ asked.
"To save the future."
"Ok. We'll see you soon I hope. TJ out."
Justin sighed. "Ok Storm Blaster. Take me home."
As the space jeep headed back to Justin's house, a lone tiny camera watched with the pair for a moment before disappearing in a flash of light.
The doors to the bridge opened and Andros and Zhane stepped onto the bridge. Andros saw the looks that the Earth Rangers had. He had his own issues…but the way they looked… "What is it?"
"We just got a call from Justin. He wanted us to come back to Earth," TJ explained. "Do you two know a Cerina?"
Zhane sat in the nearest chair, a crestfallen expression on his face.
"Zhane?" Ashley said with concern.
"We do. She was the Purple Space Ranger," said Andros.
"She was also my betrothed," Zhane said quietly.
"Ok...didn't see that one coming..." Carlos commented.
"Why did you ask?" Andros said.
"Justin got a mission from Cerina's future self. He needed our help," Cassie added.
"This day is just getting better and better..." Zhane replied sarcastically. "And who's Justin?"
"He was our former teammate," Ashley said. "He's 13 now."
"So why did you two get called back to KO-35?" TJ asked, wanting to let Zhane calm down. He wasn't his usual go-happy self.
"We just found out...that Cerina faked her death..." Andros said. "We saw the footage that was found recently…"
"Yeah...and we're going to find her...and find out why." Zhane sounded...almost angry about being deceived.
"Let's go to Earth and see Justin first," Cassie said. "Then we can search for this Cerina…"
"DECA...set course to Earth," said Andros.
On Omega Ship…
Cerina sat in her room as Beta piloted Omega to the next stop on their list: KO-35. She wore a glittery halter-top long wrap dress with white leggings under it. She held a tablet with a display of a group photo. It was of her, Zhane, Andros, Shadow and Trey when they just got their Ranger powers.
They were all so young, barely mid-teens...and she was just 12, the youngest of their group. Cerina undid her braid with one hand as she stared intently at the display. She missed them all…even her annoying older brother, Shadow. She hoped Zhane was still ok. She had heard about him falling in battle...and that he hadn't woken up. She loved Zhane. He had made her laugh and wasn't afraid to play rough. He was the prefect prince for her.
How she wished she could see him and Andros and her cousin Trey; but the Mercerites were unrelenting. And she didn't want them to get hurt like before. If she hadn't faked her death…
"Princess?" came Beta's voice over the intercom.
"Yeah Beta?"
"We're about 42 minutes out from KO-35."
"Thanks Beta." Cerina sighed.
She was really homesick. And she was risking lives by going home. But she needed a final stand. She was tired of running and hiding.
She was ready to die.
Back on Earth…
Life has been different since Evil was defeated and the Rangers saved Angel Grove…but the lives of five friends haven't been the same for a long time. This is especially true for Jason Lee Scott and Zach Taylor. Four years ago they were ambassadors for the peace conference in Switzerland and it wasn't long after that the conference was attacked. After that they couldn't find their fellow ambassador, Trini Kwan. They hoped that she was alright, but they haven't seen her in all this time.
They finally figured, if she was with that strange girl they saw at the conference, then she's going to be fine; but they missed their friend. After the conference was over, Jason and Zach returned to Angel Grove and opened a dance/martial arts studio. As they were finishing the final touches; they saw another old friend; Kimberly Hart. As the three talked, the boys found out that she had recently opened a gymnastics studio about five blocks away.
If that wasn't the icing on the cake, it was just a week ago that Billy Cranston had returned to Earth from Aquitar. After his first return to Earth, he soon missed Aquitar and wanted to return to help Cestro and the others. He wasn't sure how he would adjust or even what he was going to do without helping the Alien Rangers, but he was getting homesick, so he had to return. Today Billy and Kimberly were meeting up with Jason and Zach at their dojo/dance studio as the Jason and Zach had a surprise for Billy and Kim.
"So, what's going on, I mean seriously." Kimberly asked.
"Judging by our lives as rangers, it has to be something morphinominal." Billy remarked.
"You might say that…but you'll just have to wait," Jason said, a secret hidden in his words.
"So, is anyone going to welcome me back?" A voice said as the doors of the business opened and a ding filled the air.
Kimberly stiffened as if stricken with fear, but then she turned and saw the person the voice belonged to she ran and gave him a hug.
"Hey Tommy, it's good to see you." Billy said.
"Yea, same here Billy; how was Aquitar?" 'Tommy' asked.
"It was great to hang out with Cestro and the Alien Rangers again; but I was really missing home. Besides, I was thinking we needed to have a memorial service for Zordon."
"I did speak to Andros from KO-35 some time ago; he said he had no choice…and Zordon even told Andros to do it," Tommy said. They all bowed their heads; Zordon was the one that brought them together, and now he was gone…but NEVER forgotten.
"Jason, have you heard ANYTHING from Trini….I mean she couldn't have just disappeared after that strange girl saved her at the conference." Tommy stated.
"Wait-Trini's missing!?" Billy cried.
Jason and Zach sighed, but it was Zach that spoke up. "There was an bombing at the peace conference. We looked everywhere for her and nothing. Man, I wish we still had our powers back then; we could have helped against those metal things."
"I know how you feel…" Kimberly said. "Wait…metal things?"
"So how have you all been since then?" Tommy asked.
"Great, my gymnastics studio is doing wonderful, I mean a lot of girls and even some guys have said that they watched me in the Pan Global Games." Kimberly said with a smile.
"How's the racing circuit treating you, man?" Zach asked.
"It's been fun, but I'm considering going to college to be a Paleontologist." Tommy answered.
"Interesting choice, why that?" Billy asked.
"I want to know more about the dinosaurs that you guys got your power from." Tommy remarked.
"Sounds good, but there's more to it…isn't there?" Jason asked.
Tommy knew his fellow ranger leader saw it. "I like racing, but I don't want to be stuck doing it forever. I've always been interesting in dinosaurs since the first rangers appeared on Earth." Tommy was smiling.
"Can't wait to see your name in the articles then." Billy said, showing that he would be watching. "Oh, I know we're not rangers anymore, but Cestro and I made some communicators so we can stay in touch, they have the same frequency as our old ones did." Billy said as he pulled out a box and opened it in front of his friends.
"Always the genius," Zach said as he grabbed the black one.
"Thanks Billy." Kimberly said as she took the pink communicator from the box.
"Next time you get in contact with Cestro, thank him for his help," Tommy said as he took the one that was colored green and white.
"It was nothing, I did develop our first ones…remember?" Billy said as Jason nodded to him and grabbed the red communicator.
"So, want to go get something to eat?" Jason asked and everyone nodded with smiles. Today was going to be just like the good old days when they use to hang out as friends after becoming Earth's first Power Rangers. Deep inside though, they all hoped that Trini was still alive…and that wherever she was nothing bad was going to happen to her.
On KO-35…
Cerina stood before Castle Pakriya, which was located on Posiplys Lake. She saw the lack-luster blue hue that was now covered by foliage and overgrown trees. She felt Trini and Beta behind her and she didn't look back. Her mother's family castle was the one place she felt like she could be herself. She walked to the door and her hand touched the door.
It creeked open slowly.
Cerina took one step inside-
A red beam hit her in the shoulder and she was thrown back into Beta, who caught her.
Trini tapped her wrist morpher right away as Mercerites filed out of the castle. "Griffin Thunder, Power Up!" She transformed into her old Yellow Ranger costume, except the yellow was metallic-looking and she had a skirt. Her Griffin Daggers were in her hands as she ran at the Mercerites.
All 12 opened fired on Trini as Beta's hand slid into his arm and a gray energy beam shot out, hitting one of the Mercerites square into the chest plate. The other arm held Cerina, as she panted in obvious pain.
"By order of our leader, Princess Cerina is scheduled for termination…" said the lead bot as it continued to fire.
Cerina got to her feet and touched her Space Morpher. She typed in 6-6-3-4-2. The word OMEGA flashed across its screen and she changed into her Purple Space Ranger costume with a very short split skirt and it was glittery. She pulled out her double-blade bo staff and charged into the Mercerites as Trini kicked one of their heads cleanly off. "Terminate THIS!" she cried, slicing one Mercerite down the middle…