It was lunchtime on the first day back to school after winter break, Tommy and the other rangers along with their friends Adam, Rocky, and Aisha along with Kat's cousin Rachel sat at a large round metal table in the shade of a large oak tree. Tommy picked up the ripe pear he had brought with his lunch and bit into it. The sweet juice burst from the fruit and began to trickle down his chin. He chuckled at himself as he wiped his chin.
Zack looked around before he bit into his turkey, ham, and Swiss sandwich. As he did he did not fail to notice that nearly every student and staff member quickly averted their eyes. All except for Mister Caplan, their well-meaning, sometimes strict, and occasionally inept principal. The middle-aged man was looking over at the rangers with a stern look on his face. "Is it just me, or does Mister Caplan look like he's about to flip his wig?" Zack asked looking over at Jason.
Jason fought back a laugh as he chewed on his roast beef sandwich. "I know what you mean," he said after swallowing. "I've never seen Miss Appleby in such a fluster when I saw her see Tommy and Kat come in this morning," he laughed. Tommy and Kat looked at one another and blushed slightly.
"On the other hand," Rocky began after swallowing a bite of his meatball sub, "Mister Wilton gave Billy a death glare when he and I walked into first-period chemistry together." Everyone at the table except for Rachel shuddered.
"I take it that's a bad thing?" she asked looking over at Adam.
"Mister Wilton is the strictest teacher Angel Grove High has," Adam answered with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Great, I have him next period," Rachel said letting her chin rest in the palm of her right hand. The others at the table laughed and Kat reached over and clapped her cousin's shoulder.
A short time later, just as the rangers' school day was nearing its end, on the moon, Lord Zedd sat on his throne contemplating his latest plan. the tapping of his metal-tipped fingers against his stone throne filled the air of the throne room. His staff rested across his lap and his chin rested on his closed fist. He had wished that Darth Sidious had not revealed the identities of the rangers to the people of Earth. His intent had likely been to sew division among the people of Earth, as he had when he overthrew The Republic in his dimension and established his Empire. However, the people of Earth had seemingly rallied behind the rangers more, the idea that they were teenagers seemed to bolster their pride in Zordon's selected champions.
Zedd growled as he stood and walked to the balcony, his staff in hand. He focused his telescopic vision on the planet he now wished to conquer more than any other in the galaxy. "Yes, you'll do nicely," Zedd said before laughing evilly. "Rise and serve your master, Vultura!" he shouted as he held the end of his staff with the Z on it towards Earth and white lightning erupted from it.
Zedd's lightning tore through the desert sky and struck a large vulture that was perched on a rock formation overlooking a barren valley. The vulture vanished and was replaced by Zedd's latest creation Vultura. The creature stood over six feet tall on enlarged bird feet with razor-sharp talons. It wore black pants with a dark brown leather jacket left open revealing the creature's muscular chest. The arms of the jacket had been cut off allowing the creature's wings to pass through the arm holes obstructed, the feathers of the wings were razor sharp, and at the end of the wings were the creature's hands, each with another set of talons. Vultura's beak was razor sharp as well, his eyes a deep red with small black pupils at the center. On top of his head, he wore a leather flight helmet with goggles, much like the type worn by pilots in the early days of aviation.
"Look out rangers! Here I come," Vulture yelled as he vanished.
Moments later, he reappeared in Angel Grove's Financial District. Lieutenant Jerome Stone was sitting in his car on a side street when Vultura appeared only a hundred yards or so off of the front of his car.
"Come in dispatch, this is Lieutenant Stone," he spoke into his radio.
"Go ahead Lieutenant," a female dispatcher responded.
"Monster attack in progress, monster sighted on New Holland Ave, near Ellison Square requesting backup," Lieutenant Stone said as he began getting out of his car.
"You're no Power Ranger," Vultura said with a growl.
Meanwhile, The Command Center's alarm system blared.
"Aye aye aye aye aye! Zordon, Lord Zedd has sent a monster to attack The Financial District!"
"Open a communications channel to the rangers immediately, Alpha."
"Right, Zordon," the robot replied before hitting a button on one of the computer councils.
Just as the ranger's last class of the day was about to end, the familiar sound of their communicators going off filled the air. Miss Appleby stopped mid-sentence to glance at Tommy, and give him a slight nod. The other rangers moved closer to their leader as he pressed a button on the wrist-mounted device, answering the call.
"We read you, Zordon."
"Rangers, teleport to The Command Center Immediately. Lord Zedd has sent a new monster to The Financial District."
"We're on our way," Tommy said as he stood.
"Good luck Rangers," Miss Appleby said as the six teens vanished in streaks of light.
Seconds later the beams of light landed in The Command Center and faded away. "What's Zedd up to this time, Zordon?" Trini asked.
"Rangers, observe The Viewing Globe," Zordon instructed. The rangers turned and looked at The Viewing Globe, it showed Vultura stalking Lieutenant Stone as he used what cover he had to avoid the monster and draw it away from civilians.
"Oh, no, Lieutenant Stone," Kat said as they watched the man shout to draw the monster away from a civilian, and nearly get cut by a razor-sharp feather the monster had thrown from its wing.
"Zordon, I know time is short, but what abilities does this monster have," Billy asked.
"Vultura, as you've seen can launch his feathers like razor-sharp darts and talons sharp enough to pierce most materials, and the ability to shoot energy beams from his eyes."
"Sounds like we've got our work cut out for us this time," Jason said looking over at Tommy. Tommy nodded before stepping forward.
"Let's do it guys! It's Morphin' Time! Dragonzord!"
"Mastodon!"
"Pterodactyl!"
"Triceratops!"
"Sabertooth Tiger!"
"Tyrannosaurus!"
The six morphed rangers teleported to The Financial District just in time to see Vultura ready to use the razor-sharp talons of his right hand to slash Lieutenant Stone, who was down on the ground defenseless. Calling on The Force, Tommy tapped and stuck his right hand out quickly. "Back off, you Looney Tunes Reject!" Tommy shouted as the creature flew back and slammed into a low stone wall.
Kat ran up and offered her hand to the police officer. "Lieutenant Stone, are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, thanks to you ki… you rangers," he said as he took Kat's hand and she helped him to his feet.
"Lieutenant Stone, get the civilians out of here, we'll keep Zedd's goon busy," Zack said as he and the others quickly made their way over.
"You can count on me, rangers," he said before saluting them. He ran over to a small group of civilians who had not yet been able to evacuate the area. "Come on everyone," he said to them as he began to lead them away from the area.
"That was a cheap shot," Vultura growled as he pulled himself to his feet. "Let's see how you handle this," he added as he summoned two swords and began to charge the rangers.
"Weapons up!" Tommy commanded and each of the rangers silently summoned their power weapons. What came next was a frantic fury of close-quarters combat. Zack attacked with arcing swings of his Power Ax, being too close to fire, Kat used her Power Bow like a staff, Billy joined the two halves of his Power Lance to afford himself some distance, Trini attacked with lightning-quick slashes and stabs from her Power Daggers, Jason leaped in with his Power Sword, and Tommy used both The Dragon Dagger in his left hand, held in a reverse grip, and his original lightsaber in his right.
Kat took a probing jab with her bow that Vultura deflected with one of his swords. As he did Billy slashed at the monster with one of the tri-bladed ends of his weapon. It too was knocked away. Trini however took advantage of the monster's distraction and slashed his back with her daggers making him cry out and stagger forward as sparks flew from his body.
"Yeah, nice one! My turn!" Zack said as he jumped into the air, flipped, and brought the blade of his ax down hard.
Vultura was just able to block the blow but he stumbled back where Tommy and Jason were waiting. The two most gifted martial artists on the team began attacking the monster with unmatched skill quickly putting Vultura on the back foot. In desperation, the creature swung his sword at Tommy, but Tommy blocked it with his lightsaber, he was not surprised when his weapon did not cut through the monster's lightsaber-resistant sword. Both rangers took advantage of the momentary distraction and slashed the creature with their weapons, Jason across his back with his sword, and Tommy across the chest with The Dragon Dagger.
"I've had enough of you Power Brats!" Vultura yelled as he sent razor-sharp feathers flying in all directions. Each of the rangers were hit by several of the deadly projectiles and knocked to the ground, thankful that their suits held up.
"I've had it with this birdbrain," Trini growled as she spun her daggers in her hands.
"You said it," Kat said taking advantage of the newly created distance to shoot an energy arrow at Vultura. The arrow struck the center of Vultura's chest knocking him to the ground. He quickly recovered however and charged at Kat and Trini. Kat fired a second arrow only to see it be deflected by the monster's two swords.
"Kat move!" Trini yelled as she flipped high into the air and landed on top of the building behind her. Just before Vultura's swords would have slashed her, Kat rolled on the ground avoiding the blades. As she did she managed to hook one of the monster's feet between the body of her bow and the drawstring.
She let out a scream of effort as she yanked hard, tripping the monster and sending him crashing to the ground on his beak. Tommy charged over having put The Dragon Dagger back in its sheath and activated his second lightsaber. He locked the two hilts together and used it like a bow staff, using the two glowing green blades to block Vultura's swords and project Kat.
"Not so fast, Beaky," Tommy said before kicking Vultura in the stomach forcing him to stumble back again. "Guys bring 'em together!" he said as he leaped clear.
"Right, let's do it guys!" Jason said his determination clear in his tone.
"Power Ax!" Zack called as he slid the Ax into its cannon form and threw it into the air.
"Power Bow!" Kat called as she threw her bow into the air and it stuck to Zack's ax.
"Power Daggers," Trini yelled as she threw her daggers up with the other weapons and they stuck near the ends of the bow.
"Power Lance!" Billy shouted as he divided his lance into two halves and tossed them into the air as well. They stuck to the bow as well, near the center grip.
"Power Sword!" Jason yelled before leaping into the air and placing the speed on top of the other weapons so that it rested on top of the ax and bow, pointing in the same direction as the ax's converted handle. He landed near the others and they each put one hand on each other's shoulders, and one on the now completely formed Power Blaster.
"Fire!" they shouted together as five beams shot from the weapon before joining into one and slamming into Vultura destroying him.
"Alright!" Zack yelled as the team began to high-five one another.
"Vultura was only a pawn. My next true attempt at capturing your pathetic word will not fail," Zedd said as he used his telescopic vision to spy on the rangers as they celebrated their victory. He turned to face a large black cauldron, in it a thick inky liquid slowly bubbled. Zedd began to laugh maniacally as he held his staff over the liquid and wave after wave of lightning into it.