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Chapter Text

Dark Fortress, Earth Solar System.

Ecliptor was furious.

Dark Spectre's treacherous mercenary, Darkonda, had crossed not only him, but his beloved Princess of Evil, Astronema, yet again. And if the deadly android Ecliptor had his way: for the final time.

Darkonda and he had clashed many a time before over the wretched creature's selfish schemes, trading wins and losses, with Ecliptor himself slaying the nine-lived freak of nature twice in combat. With the idiot space pirate Divatox's equally bumbling nephew Elgar and a cadre of the robotic quantrons in tow, Ecliptor sought to make it three against Darkonda, and if the bastard rose again, Ecliptor would just kill him again until he stayed dead.

Spreading lies about Astronema! Claiming that she had an illicit affair with a Power Ranger and ran off with the band of multi-colored children...he refused to believe it. He had raised Astronema right: he raised her to be pure evil and loyal only to Dark Spectre, just as he was designed and built to be.

"DARKONDA! DARKONDA!" demanded Ecliptor as he stormed through the Dark Fortress in search of his hated rival. "COME OUT AND FACE ME!!"

"Why don't we talk about this, huh?" Elgar asked as the bumbling alien struggled to keep pace with the enraged android. "I'm sure we can all come to a peaceful-"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!" roared Ecliptor, knocking Elgar to the ground with a sweeping backhand.

Ecliptor reached the bridge, brandishing his large, grid-etched sword as Elgar kept his distance.  "WHERE ARE YOU, DARKONDA?! FACE ME, YOU COWARD!"

Darkonda stepped out of the shadows, brandishing a sword of his own.

"Now now, Ecliptor," Darkonda sneered. "No reason to be rude."

"You!" growled Ecliptor, pointing his sword threateningly at the cackling Darkonda.

"Me!" mocked Darkonda. "You should be thanking me, Ecliptor! I exposed the traitor for what she was!"

"Never!" snapped Ecliptor, inching forward, his sword pointed directly at Darkonda's chest. "There's more to this, and I know you have something to do with it!"

Darkonda batted away the sword with his own. "You have nothing on me, robot. Nothing at all. Perhaps Dark Specter would be interested in why you continue to protect a confirmed traitor?"

Dark Specter's monstrous form appeared on the oversized viewing screen, the orange-red cracks in his black hide glowing bright in anger as he glared at his quarreling generals.

"SILENCE, FOOLS!" roared Dark Specter as the denizens of the Dark Fortress bowed in submission to the demonic beast. "ASTRONEMA HAS INDEED BETRAYED US ALL AND IS NOW ALIGNING HERSELF WITH THE CURSED POWER RANGERS UNDER HER PREVIOUS NAME OF KARONE."

Ecliptor pounded his fist on the cold metal floor of the Fortress. Darkonda spared a glance at him, his souless, evil yellow eyes narrowing.

"IT SEEMS WE NOW HAVE A VOID OF LEADERSHIP IN OUR INVASION OF EARTH," Dark Spectre continued. "CONSIDERING YOUR COMPLETE LACK OF COOPERATION WITH EACH OTHER THUS FAR, IT IS MY WILL THAT THE TWO OF YOU WILL DUEL FOR THAT RIGHT!"

Ecliptor solemnly rose and once again bowed towards Dark Specter. "It will be my pleasure, my Lord."

Darkonda wasted no time in his attack, lunging so swiftly at his rival that only Ecliptor's cybernetic reflexes and skill saved him from the onslaught.

Darkonda was cunning, skilled, and pragmatic in his attack, but as ever, Ecliptor's cybernetic precision and enhanced reflexes allowed him to fend off Darkonda's offense and respond in kind.  

Ecliptor was simply far too determined to win, fueled by hatred, rage, self preservation, and the desire to prove himself to his creator, and after a close and intense skirmish that spanned only a matter of minutes, the android struck the decisive blow and Darkonda fell wounded and defeated to the ground before him and the watchful gaze of Dark Specter.

"ECLIPTOR, YOU ARE VICTORIOUS!" Dark Specter declared, impressed. "I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT YOU WOULD INDEED DESTROY THE POWER RANGERS!"

Ecliptor raised his sword in allegiance. "Your wish is my command, my Lord Dark Specter!"

"WOULD YOU STRIKE DOWN ASTRONEMA IF GIVEN THE CHANCE, I WONDER?" Dark Specter mused. "THERE, I DO HAVE MY DOUBTS."

"No, my Lord," Ecliptor swore. "All enemies to your lordship will be annihilated!"

"NO...YOU WOULD HESITATE, ECLIPTOR. IN YOUR YEARS AS HER GUARDIAN, YOU HAVE DEVELOPED COMPASSION FOR HER!" Dark Specter countered.

"No, my Lord!" Ecliptor beseeched. "I will destroy the Power Rangers!"

"THEREFORE, DARKONDA WILL COMMAND THE DARK FORTRESS-" Dark Specter commanded.

"No! No!" Ecliptor cried as Dark Specter ignored him.

"AND YOU, ECLIPTOR, WILL BE...RECONFIGURED," Dark Specter decided, his final judgment passed.

"NO!!!" roared Ecliptor, fending off the swarming quantrons. "NO!!!! DAMN YOU!"

Ecliptor swung his blade in wide swaths at the incoming horde of quantrons, but even a mighty mechanical warrior such as himself was susceptible to numbers, and he was thus overwhelmed.

Darkonda snuck behind him and ran him through with his blade. Sparks flew and electricity arced. The light in Ecliptor's red eyes faded, and Darkonda raised his blade in victory over his hated rival.

"Take that hunk of junk away, my quantrons!" cackled the newly established leader of the Dark Fortress. "Make him mine. Make him my slave! Ha ha ha!"

"DO NOT FAIL ME, DARKONDA," warned Dark Specter as Darkonda watched the lifeless body of Ecliptor being dragged away by the quantron drones. "OR HIS FATE WILL BE YOUR'S!"

Darkonda swept into an exaggerated bow. "I will not let you down, my Lord."

"SEE TO IT THAT YOU DON'T," growled Dark Specter. "FARE YOU WELL!"

Dark Specter's image faded from the viewing screen.

"Feh!" spat Darkonda as he surveyed the damage android had made.

In the corner cowered Elgar. His future was now uncertain, for there was no longer an Astronema or an Ecliptor to tolerate him on behalf of Dark Specter. Darkonda was his own agent, and even Elgar knew this, and he threw himself at Darkonda's feet.

"Please don't kill me please don't kill me!" groveled the pointy headed alien. "I'll do anything, but please don't kill me please!

"I get the overwhelming sense that you want to live," deadpanned Darkonda as Elgar began kissing his feet.

"Oh yes! Oh yes! I really want to-Oof!" Elgar begged before Darkonda kicked him square in the ribs.

"THEN DON'T TOUCH ME!" snapped Darkonda.

Elgar coughed, his body wracked in pain, but he knelt before his new master, awaiting his orders.

"You have no loyalties to anyone but me. Not to Divatox, not to the United Alliance of Evil, and certainly not to that fool Dark Specter," Darkonda pointed his sword threateningly at Elgar's throat. "I expect every order followed without question and without fail. If I even get the vaguest hint of any treachery, I will be eating my next meal out of your skull! Do I make myself clear?"

Elgar nodded, his eyes wide with fear.

"Good." Darkonda smiled, revealing rows of pointy teeth like that of a shark. "Today is only the beginning! First Astronema and that fool Ecliptor! Then the Power Rangers!"

Darkonda strode to the viewing screen where the blues and greens of planet Earth sat in full relief.

"First I will take Earth, and then one by one the United Alliance of Evil will join me or fall like the rest," declared Darkonda. "Once Dark Specter is defeated, the universe will be mine! MWAH HA HA HA!"

Chapter Text

Karone awoke with a start, a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach as she sat up. 

Zhane lay snoring blissfully beside her.

She rolled her eyes and sat on the edge of the bed, combing her sweat soaked hair out of her eyes. 

Karone could hardly sleep since she settled on the Astro Megaship, Zhane's snoring notwithstanding as the cause.

She's had plenty of time to reflect on the demons of her past, and it was those demons that kept her awake at night.

Karone sighed and stood up, stretching her aching muscles. She left Zhane to his slumber to prepare for her day. She had become somewhat of a custodian of the ship when she wasn't training, debriefing, or spending time with Zhane, but she didn't mind. The monotonous repetition of the mopping and dusting and scrubbing took her mind off her troubles and nightmares, and gave her a chance to bond with the Rangers and the ship's AI's: DECA and Alpha Six.

Life had become much more hectic lately, with the discovery of a hidden colony of KO-35 refugees on an obscure dust planet. With Karone's insider information on the future plans of the United Alliance of Evil, and more than a little convincing that Karone was on their side, the Power Rangers sought to recruit them in their battle against Dark Specter's forces, to come to Earth's aid and avoid another tragedy like KO-35. They agreed, sending a squadron of fighters to Earth and even gifted Zhane a powerful Zord of his own: the Mega Winger.

While the KO-35 rebels would be invaluable in the realm of space, the Rangers needed as much help as they could get against the combined forces of the UAE.

They needed more Rangers.

The Rangers of Earth had a previous associate, a teenager by the name of Justin Stewart, with whom they battled the space pirate Divatox and her forces as the Turbo Rangers, but those powers were destroyed. TJ had suggested their predecessors as an option, for he had reason to believe their predecessors still possessed the power of the Zeo crystals, a power that Karone had thought only existed on Triforia.

Tracking them down wasn't terribly difficult, fortunately, for Carlos had kept in close contact with Adam Park, the previous Green Turbo and Zeo Ranger Four. Adam pointed them in the direction of Blue Zeo Ranger Three Rocky DeSantos, who established a martial arts school in Angel Grove; Yellow Zeo Ranger Two Tanya Sloan, an aspiring singer; and the legendary Red Zeo Ranger Five Tommy Oliver, veteran of virtually every Earth Ranger team, whom retired from Ranger duty to pursue a degree in paleontology and settle down with his fiancee, Pink Zeo Ranger One Katherine Hillard.

There were of course Power Rangers on the aquatic planet of Aquitar, and the Rangers wasted no time in recruiting them for the upcoming battle. To the surprise of even Karone, however, there was a former Earth Ranger residing on Aquitar: Billy Cranston, of the Mighty Morphin team that had given the incompetent Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd so much trouble.

Billy had informed them that he had in his possession his ruined morpher for quite some time, and had been hard at work trying to repair it to aid in his Morphin Grid experiments, and had a breakthrough. If he could repeat the process on the five other Mighty Morphin power morphers, there was a chance of bolstering their forces even further with Earth's first power rangers team.

Billy went on to explain that the five other Zeo Rangers were the last possessors of the Mighty Morphin powers, but that the four other original Rangers could be called to reclaim their powers.

Jason Lee Scott, the original Mighty Morphin Red, was the first to heed the call. Of course he was. Brave and duty-bound, he had filled in as the Gold Zeo Ranger when the original, Trey of Triforia, had fell gravely ill.

Kimberly Ann Hart, the original Mighty Morphin Pink, was the next to join, reclaiming the mantle she had initially retired to pursue a career in gymnastics.

Through Kimberly the original Mighty Morphin Yellow, Trini Kwan, had soon joined, and that left Zach Taylor, the original Mighty Morphin Black.

Zach was initially reluctant, his career in hip-hop was about to take off and he had to prepare for a grueling tour. Duty won out, and the original Mighty Morphin team was as complete.

So Karone toiled during the early dawn, preparing the ship for the arrival of her possible future allies, and preparing herself mentally for the day ahead, the first step in the battle for the fate of the universe.

***

Three generations of Power Rangers were united, and brought to the Astro Megaship for debriefing, with the Aquitian Rangers and Billy present aboard the bridge via Aquitian holographic technology with a nervous Karone and her brother Andros.

"Wow," exclaimed Tommy as he and the newly arrived Zeo Rangers looked around the Megaship's spacious hangar, escorted by TJ, Tommy's successor as Turbo Ranger Red a year and a half prior.  "Bit of a step up from cars and the old Command Center, huh?"

TJ grinned. "Yeah, I guess. I still miss ol' Lightning Cruiser though. She was a beaut."

"Sure was," Tommy replied.

"Aye-yai-yai! Tommy! Rangers!" exclaimed the little robot Alpha Six, who rushed forward to greet them.

"Yo! Whaddup bro!" called Jason, who had arrived with the three other original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, accompanied by Zhane, who pointed out the various gadgets and gizmos to Trini, who shared her friend Billy's interest in science.

The Zeo Rangers and Alpha Six reunited with their former compatriots, with Tommy having served with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers first and Adam, Rocky, Kat, and Tanya having succeeded them as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers before receiving the Zeo powers.

Having been the Gold Zeo Ranger, Jason's greeting was short, and he graciously stepped aside for the others to catch up.

Jason walked over to where TJ and Zhane were chatting. 

"So when do you think we'll be able to get some answers around here?" he asked, glancing at Tommy. 

Tommy's head perked up from his conversation with his ex-girlfriend Kimberly and fiancee Kat, whom maintained a cordial relationship despite their differences. 

The former Rangers stopped talking and turned to listen to TJ and Zhane. They were about to answer when the sliding mechanical doors hissed open, with Cassie and Ashley emerging from them.

"They're ready," Cassie announced.

The Mighty Morphin and Zeo Rangers followed the Space Rangers to the bridge where Karone, Andros, and the holograms of Billy and the Aquitian Rangers were waiting. 

The Rangers excitedly greeted their former comrade and friend, and the crowded bridge was abuzz with conversation.

Zhane and the other Space Rangers took their places alongside their their leader. Zhane gave Karone a kiss and Andros gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

It was time.

Karone took a deep breath and stepped forward to address the former Power Rangers. They ceased their conversations and stood at attention.

"My name is Karone," she began. "But I am better known throughout the galaxy as Astronema, Princess of Evil."

A gasp reverberated throughout the bridge. Karone took another deep breath and continued.

"I was originally chosen by the Supreme Leader of the United Alliance of Evil, Dark Spectre, to head the invasion of Earth to succeed where Rita Repulsa, Lord Zedd, the Machine Empire, and Divatox have all failed."

"Hold up. Hold up." Zack stepped forward. "Is this a joke? If you're a villain-"

"Former villain," interjected Zhane.

"Former villain. Whatever," Zack continued. "Why should we trust you?"

Andros stepped forward. "Because we trust her. Because she's my sister."

"Oh, your sister!" Zack snorted. "Because that makes this whole idea so much better."

"Hey, man!" snapped Zhane. "Wasn't Tommy Oliver over there a former villain?"

Tommy's head snapped up. He remained silent,  impartial, accessing the situation as Zack and Zhane argued.

"That was mind control," Zack replied. "Besides, Tommy has proved himself countless times. Astronema hasn't."

Katherine stepped up. "I was a former villain too, Zack. Do I need to prove myself to you to get you to trust me?"

Zach was about to retort when Tommy held up his hand. "How about you let Karone speak? I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt."

Zack glanced at Jason, who had also remained silent throughout Karone's introduction.

"I agree with Tommy," Jason shrugged. "I mean if we had kicked Tommy to the curb after his evil Green Ranger bit, then who knows?"

A mutter of agreement among the other Rangers and Karone continued. "Word of my defection has likely reached Dark Spectre and the Alliance of Evil. Dark Spectre will likely accelerate his invasion of the rest of the galaxy, especially Earth."

Andros nodded to the holograms of the Aquitian Rangers and continued where Karone left off. "The Aquitian Rangers have been notified and are in preparations to defend Aquitar from Dark Spectre's incoming forces. We have received word that Billy Cranston has successfully repaired his power morpher, hence why we had invited the original Mighty Morphin team here."

Adam took his ruined Mastodon power morpher out of his pocket and gestured to the four original Mighty Morphin Rangers. "You do know that Rocky, Tanya, Kat, and I were the last owners of these morphers? How do you know if they'll be able to morph?"

"We need everyone we can get. The Turbo powers are destroyed, but Tommy assures us that the Zeo powers should be intact...if you guys can perform a power transfer..." Andros speculated.

Tommy turned to the others. "Come on, guys. It's worth a try. I fought side by side with all of you. I know we can do this."

"The fate of the entire galaxy is in our hands," Zhane implored. "If we can't even trust each other, than we've failed already!"

Tommy walked forward to stand by the Space Rangers and Karone.

Jason and Kat followed, then Trini and Kimberly.

Adam and the remaining Zeo Rangers muttered amongst one other, and agreed to join the other Rangers, leaving only Zack.

"Well, it looks like I'm overruled!" Zack threw up his hands in exasperation. "Y'all freaking suck."

"Zack..." Jason grinned.

"Hold your butts," Zack grumbled. "I'm comin.'"

Chapter Text

Once all the Rangers of the past were on the same page with the Rangers of the present, and their controversial new ally in Karone, it was time to get down to business.

Because the discussion would involve the KO-35 Rebels, their leader, Commander Kinwon, was brought aboard the Astro Megaship as a representative of the Rebel fleet.

The Rangers stood behind and around Karone as her fingers danced over the Megaship's computer console.

"You were once a high ranking member of the Alliance," Jason neutrally pointed out. "Do you have any idea of what their future movements might be?"

Karone brought up a star chart of the known galaxies on the computer display. She pressed a button and the screen zoomed into a three-dimensional display of Earth.

"As I mentioned before, before my defection from the Alliance I was in charge of Earth's invasion," Karone explained. "Now, my second-in-command Ecliptor may be in charge."

Karone registered the horrible feeling coursed through the pit of her stomach just that morning. "But if Ecliptor isn't in charge, and Darkonda is...then we need to act quickly and judiciously."

"Is this Darkonda someone to fear or something?" Rocky asked.

"He's insane and power hungry," Karone replied, her stomach still twisting in discomfort. "Therefore he would be a lot less predictable than Ecliptor would be. I could plan around Ecliptor... not Darkonda."

Karone sighed and took a moment to clear her mind. "As you know, Dark Specter had invaded Eltar and took the wizard Zordon as a hostage, and has been trafficked throughout the galaxy. Since then he has displaced the citizens of my brother and I's homeworld of KO-35, and has prepared the Alliance to invade the planets of Triforia, Aquitar and even the homeworld of the Phantom Ranger. Any planet with Power Rangers."

"He wants to rid the universe of the Power Rangers before he can take over the rest of the universe," Jason realized.

"Yes," Karone confirmed. 

Divatox's forces have been spotted on Gratha, a neighboring planet of Aquitar, Delphine, the leader and White Ranger of the Aquitian Rangers, pointed out through her hologram.

"Of course," Karone nodded. "Divatox may be woefully incompetent but she is deadly in an undersea battle, which Aquitar primarily consists of ."

"Why not take the battle to Gratha?" TJ asked.

Gratha is a jungle planet, Aurico, the Red Aquitian Ranger explained. Our physiology is just not suitable for that environment. Aquitar is well fortified and can withstand a short term invasion by even the likes of Divatox.

It is a risk, yes, but a risk that we are most suited to taking, Delpine concluded.

"So that leaves Earth, Triforia, and The Phantom Ranger's homeworld," TJ pointed out, counting on his fingers.

"Well, if it's all the same to you guys, we got a favor to repay with Triforia," Tommy announced. "We can't leave Trey to defend the planet himself."

The other Zeo Rangers muttered in agreement.

"What about the Phantom Ranger?" Cassie asked.

"According to the intelligence I last had, the Phantom Ranger has enlisted the aid of the Blue Senturian in his search for Zordon. He'll no doubt enlist the aid of the planet's own military forces when the time comes," Karone replied.

"So that leaves Earth," Jason said gravely.

"Earth is the crown jewel to the entire Alliance," Karone replied. "No other planet has given them so much trouble."

"You should know," Zack interjected.

"That doesn't help, Zack," Zhane hissed, stepping up to the former Black Ranger.

"He's absolutely correct," Karone put her hand on Zhane's chest to hold him back. "I should know. I should know how hard they're going to fight to take this planet over."

"Okay. Okay. That was low," Zack apologized, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

"They will fight hard," Karone reiterated. "They will take no prisoners, and accept no surrender. They will not stop until the last man."

"Well, we'll fight just as hard," Jason replied defiantly. 

A murmur of agreement and Andros spoke up. "The Mighty Morphin team will remain on the ground while we aid the rebels in defending the planet and overtaking the Dark Fortress directly. Agreed, Jason?"

"Sounds good to me," Jason warned "This is your turf, my friend. But with all due respect, Earth is my turf, and my team ain't yours to command."

Andros blinked in surprise at Jason's retort, but ultimately nodded in agreement with his fellow Red Ranger. "Okay. Agreed. But we will need an open line of communication to coordinate our efforts. My apologies."

"No problem," Jason scanned the room. "Alright. So we're all in agreement here? We all know what we gotta do?"

The bridge murmured in confirmation.

"Good," Jason replied. "May the Power protect you." 

Tommy caught Jason's eye and mouthed, 'Once a Ranger...' 

Jason grinned and mouthed back, '...Always a Ranger.'

***

So it was decided: the Mighty Morphin Rangers and Zeo Rangers would travel to Aquitar via Aquitian transport, and would deliver the Mighty Morphin power morphers for repairs. If all went as planned, the Mighty Morphin Rangers would return home to Earth while the  Zeo Rangers headed to Triforia to reunite with it's champion Trey, the Gold Zeo Ranger.

With a fleet of KO-35 ships ringing the planet and a team of Rangers that she herself couldn't defeat in the lead, Karone was confident their plan was solid and offered the universe a damn good chance of survival.

So why did she feel so uneasy?

Chapter Text

Aquitar

The Aquitian transport carrying the Mighty Morphin and Zeo Rangers entered the blue atmosphere of the planet Aquitar, where they would reunite with former Mighty Morphin Ranger Billy Cranston, with the hopes of restoring  the Mighty Morphin power morphers. 

The surface of Aquitar was virtually all ocean. Aurico, their escort, explained that Aquitar about ninety percent ocean, with small rocky islands making up the surface terrain of the planet. The transport flew directly into the ocean, flying through the water as smoothly as it had the air and the vacuum of space.

Within minutes they came to the great city of Aquitropolis, a vast techno-organic wonder that stretched as far as the eye could see.

"Oh! It's so beautiful!" exclaimed Trini.

"Check visiting Atlantis of my bucket list," Zack quipped.

Atlantis? Aurico asked. Is this a dwelling on Earth? Billy Cranston has never mentioned this 'Atlantis.'

"Nah, its make believe man. Fiction," Zack replied dismissively.

"We're on a spaceship on our way to meet good aliens so they could help us beat up some evil aliens," Kimberly pointed out. "I'm just sayin'."

"The life of a Power Ranger is like some crazy fiction, man," Adam shook his head.

"Did it really get that much weirder after we left?" Zack asked.

"TJ told me he got almost got baked into a giant pizza," Tommy interjected.

"Yo, man!" Jason teased. "We fought a rapping pumpkin before and you look at the possibility of an Atlantis on Earth as being the farfetched idea?"

"I might be my own ancestor," Tommy added.

"Wait, what?!" Zack laughed.

"Evil clone becomes a good guy and we go back in time to the Wild West and beat an evil wizard monster." Tommy explained. "Clone stays in the past so there's not two of me in the present. Probably had kids and--"

"What the fu-"

I don't know if that phenomena is at all possible, but we are arriving now, Aurico announced.

"In the ocean, bro?" Zack asked.

We Aquitans are amphibians, Aurico explained. The interior is habitable by air breathers.

"Billy lives here, bro," Kimberly teased. "He could probably breathe air down here, bro."

"Alright, alright!" Zack put his hands up in mock surrender. "Damn Kim, you just going for my whole life today!"

The ship glided through a tunnel and surfaced at a cavernous hangar, where the Rangers filed off the ship to be greeted by the rest of the Aquitian Rangers.

Welcome, Rangers of Earth, Delphine greeted. I trust your travels were comfortable?

"Thank you, Delphine," Tommy nodded. "Very much so."

Trini gazed in wonder at the impressive technologies in the massive hangar, including arrays of alien computer consoles and Zords that she had never seen before: the Battle Borgs.

"Wow," said Trini. "No wonder Billy likes it here so much. Look at this place!"

"Speaking of Billy..." Jason asked the Aquitian Rangers, forgoing small talk in favor of action.

Certainly, nodded Delphine. Come now. He's been waiting.

***

Billy Cranston didn't look that much different than his former Mighty Morphin cohorts remembered, but his youthful appearance was a welcome sight for the Zeo Rangers: he had aged to advanced levels due to Lord Zedd's time warp, and had to be brought to Aquitar to reverse the process. Ever the scientist, Billy had decided to make a home on the alien planet for the past few years.

He wore a white lab coat over the purple and gray jumpsuits the Aquitian Rangers wore, his hair closer  cropped than his younger years, and a few days of growth matured his handsome face, a face that was smiling from ear to ear at the sight of his old friends.

"Billy!" shrieked Trini, who ran up to him and gave him a tight hug.

The others exchanged hellos and embraces with their old friend, and soon the clinical former Power Ranger was all business, pressing a button to a case that was on a nearby lab table.

A hiss of vapor, and the case revealed his newly repaired triceratops power morpher.

"The process of repair was a laborious one at first," Billy explained, turning to his friends. "But once I isolated the -"

"We don't need the how, old friend," interrupted Jason. "Will it work? Please."

"I forgot," Billy smiled, nostalgic. "Technical jargon."

Billy picked up and examined the repaired triceratops power morpher from its case, turning it over in his hands as the others looked on.

"Will it work?" Jason repeated.

"There's only one way to find out," Billy replied. He held out the morpher in front of him at shoulder height. "It's Morphin Time! Triceratops!"

With a flash of blue, for the first time in over three years, Billy Cranston stood as the blue Mighty Morphin Power Ranger. He flexed the white gloves of his uniform, grinning under his helmet.

"Stole my line," muttered Jason.

"How do you feel?" asked Kimberly.

"Morphenomenal," Billy replied.

"How long?" Jason asked.

"A day at most," Billy assured. "I got the process down to a science."

"Then there's no time to waste," Tommy smiled. "But in the meantime, we got a lot of catching up to do!"

***

The Aquitians were gracious hosts, showing them around the city and hosting a dinner for them, and they sampled delicacies that were recommended by Billy himself, as well as Earth crops that the Aquitians had taken a liking to during their extended time on Earth, the growing of which was made that much more necessary with Billy living on Aquitar.

The next day, the Mighty Morphin and Zeo Rangers reconvened at Billy's laboratory.

The restored morphers were displayed in a carrying case like Billy's restored morpher, and the Rangers gathered around, anxious and excited in equal measure.

"Shouldn't there be some kind of ceremony?" Tanya asked.

"That's right!" Rocky pointed out, gesturing towards the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. "They transferred the powers to us. Will they be able to morph?"

"If my theory is correct, the Sword of Light was used as a conduit to transfer the energies from the Morphin Grid," Billy explained. "The Aquitians have a similar artifact they use for events like this. It should work."

Delphine presented Billy with a sword, and he gestured for the participants to step forward and convene in a semicircle.

Jason, Trini, Zack, and Kimberly stood on one side of the semicircle, while Rocky, Tanya, Adam, and Kat stood on the other.

Billy raised the sword. "Reach your hands towards each other and focus."

They did, and the sword glowed with light, and arced electricity into the eight Rangers. The electricity changed color, connecting Jason and Rocky together with red, Trini and Tanya together with yellow, Zack and Adam together with black, and finally Kimberly and Kat together with pink.

"The transfer is complete," Billy smiled. "The floor is yours, Mr. Scott."

Jason grinned, stepping forward to examine his tyrannosaurus morpher. "Being gold was fun, but red will always be my color. Tyrannosaurus!"

With a flash of red, Jason jumped in the air and performed a roundhouse kick. "Hell yeah!"

Trini, excited by Jason's exuberance, rushed forward to grab her sabertooth tiger morpher. She wasted little time getting to her "Sabertooth Tiger!" morphing call before cartwheeling to her friend Kimberly, giving Kim an encouraging slap on the rear as the former Pink Ranger gingerly stepped towards the display case of power morphers.

Kimberly turned and met Tommy's eyes. He nodded. She scanned the others. Her former comrades. Her best friends. Her former lover. She's doing this for them. She's doing this for Earth.

With a blazing look of determination, Kimberly raised her morpher.

"Pterodactyl!" she called, and with a flash of pink, Kimberly Ann Hart was a Power Ranger once again.

Finally, it was Zack's turn to morph.

Kimberly jerked her gloved finger towards the mastodon morpher. Zack shook his head nervously as he strode past her and to the morpher case.

He picked up the morpher, turning it around in his hands, staring at the gold mastodon power coin in the center of it. He turned and faced his friends, waiting for him in their multicolored costumes.

"Well...it looks like I'm back in the game," grinned Zack, and he raised his morpher. "Mastodon!"

"Back in black, baby!" exclaimed Zack as he high-fived everyone. "Yeah!"

"There's one left," Tommy pointed out. "You restored my White Tiger power morpher, too?"

Billy nodded. "There wasn't any reason not too."

Tommy picked up the White Tiger morpher, his brows furrowed in concentration. Finally, he put it back in the case and handed it to Billy.

"Take it to Earth," Tommy requested. "Just a feeling."

Billy nodded and accepted the case. Tommy turned his attention towards his newly morphed former comrades, and Tommy reached into his knapsack as he strode towards Jason, who had his back turned as he animatedly conversed with the others.

Tommy put his hand on Jason's red shoulder. Jason turned his helmeted head in response and then his entire body when he saw what Tommy was presenting to him in his other hand.

"The Dragon Dagger!" Jason exclaimed as he received the dagger. "How'd you get this? Wasn't the Command Center destroyed?"

Tommy nodded. "It was."

Jason took the dagger and twirled it around.

"A while ago, after I retired from Ranger duty, I did some digging," Tommy explained. "So Kat and I thought we'd go up to the old site and see what we could find. The dagger was one of the things we salvaged. The dig was so rewarding it actually convinced me to study paleontology. Who woulda thunk?"

Jason held up the dagger to the light of Billy's laboratory as the others looked on. A gold light swirled around him and a shield appeared on his torso, across his shoulders, a diamond shape in the center of it, as well as armbands of the same color: the Dragon Shield. 

"Figured you'll need help from ol' Dragonzord back on Earth," Tommy grinned, running his hand across the ridged plating of the Dragon Shield's shoulder armor.

"This is unreal," Jason laughed. "Thank you old friend. Thank you."

Tommy nodded, and shook Jason's gloved hand.

Billy stepped forward, having just morphed, carrying case in hand. "The teleportation technology should still be functional on these suits. We should reconvene with the Space Rangers as soon as possible. We have little time to waste."

"Right," Tommy replied solemnly and moved to rejoin his Zeo Rangers team. 

Kimberly stepped forward and put her gloved hand lightly on his arm. "Stay safe, Tommy...I, I'm..."

Tommy put his hand on her's. "Yes. I understand. Stay safe."

The other Mighty Morphin Rangers shook his hand, and Tommy took his place next to Kat among the Zeo Rangers. Kat took his hand in her's as the Mighty Morphin Rangers stood in formation, their hands at their belt buckles.

With a flash of light, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were gone, on their way back to Earth.

Chapter Text

Angel Grove, California, United States of America. Earth 

"No, I tell you, you have it all wrong, young man," the elderly and quite possibly demented Professor Phenomenus explained to a harried security officer at Angel Grove's space station, NASADA. "Those spaceships around the Earth are from aliens. Aliens that want to come and take us over. They want to kidnap us from our homes and stick probes up our--"

"Noses, sir, our noses," his large companion interjected before the professor could say something that could turn into a restraining order. "What he meant to say was noses."

"I know what I meant to say, Farkas," growled Phenomenus.

"Like we knowses that obviously the ring of spaceships in the sky aren't aliens at all right, Skull?" the large man asked his much leaner friend, who was staring off into the scenery.

"Huh? Yeah, Bulk. Not aliens. No siree," Skull replied, airheaded.

"They're obviously from NASADA, right Skull?" Bulk asked.

"Yeah. PATATA. Er, NASADA," Skull nodded, confused, glancing at the security officer for clarification. "Er, right?"

"That's classified," the annoyed security officer replied through gritted teeth, glaring at the trio through his sunglasses.

"Of course, we are so sorry to take up your time, we're leaving," Bulk apologized profusely to the officer, blocking him from Phenomenus, who was getting just about as red-faced as the officer.

"Leaving? Nonsense!" Phenomenus snapped as Bulk and Skull started to drag him away from the officer, who had taken out a walkie. "You guys know something, And I'm gonna--mmph!"

Bulk covered the old man's mouth with his beefy hand. "You'll have to excuse him, he's getting senile in his old age. Once such a brilliant man.."

"Brilliant man," Skull repeated, as he guided the agitated Phenomenus away from the station. "Sad case."

"Sad case," agreed Bulk.

Bulk and Skull half dragged the mad professor to a long string of protests, and the weary security officer shook his head and put away his walkie, cursing the day the Power Rangers came to NASADA with the freaking U.S. Secretary of Defense with their hardboiled plan to put spaceships around the Earth. 

Now he's gotta keep amateur astronomers and crazy idiots away with their conspiracy theories and annoying questions.

He seriously didn't get paid enough for this!

***

"Why the heck did you do that?!" ranted Phenomenus when they were outside of NASADA's closing double security gates. "We had 'im right where we wanted 'im!"

"No, we almost got thrown out and possibly put in federal prison!" Bulk countered. "You can thank me later."

"Cowards! Both of ya!" Phenomenus growled. "No important scientific discoveries have ever been made in the comfort of someone's living room! Ya gotta go out and get your hands dirty!"

Bulk was about to reply but he was interrupted by the distant roar of what sounded to him like aircraft.

"That's them!" yelled Phenomenus gesticulating wildly. "See?! We're too late now because you got cold feet!"

"You're crazy, old man!" Bulk threw his hands up in frustration. "Its just a damn airplane!"

Skull shielded his eyes from the blazing sun as he peered into the blue sky, seeing much more than a single airplane. Actually, it looked like a whole swarm of airplanes.

Like little bug shaped alien airplanes. "Hey, er, guys?"

The spaceships came into full view, and began firing their weapons at the unassuming city below. Explosions and thunderclaps rocked Angel Grove. 

Bulk and Skull looked at each other in shock. "AHHHH!!!"

"They're coming!" screamed Phenomenus, running around wildly with his hands covering his bottom as more spaceships descended from the sky. "Protect your anuses at all costs!"

***

Astro Megaship. Earth's Orbit.

Andros watched through the viewing screen as the KO-35 rebels flew lazily around the Earth like sentries, protecting their new, if only temporary home. He remembered the battle that had lost KO-35, and vowed to never let that happen again.

The arrival of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers shook him out of his thoughts, their appearance bolstering his confidence that his adopted planet would avoid the same fate as his old one.

"I see everything went as planned," Andros greeted. He shook Billy's hand. "It's good to finally meet you in person."

Billy shook his hand and placed the morpher case on a nearby console. "Absolutely."

Billy walked over to a nearby view port where the Earth was visible, ringed by the orbiting rebels.

"Its a shame I had to return to my home planet under such dire circumstances," Billy sighed. Trini walked up behind him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"So I trust Tommy and the others are on their way to Triforia?" Andros asked Jason.

Jason shrugged as he watched Billy and Trini together. "That's the plan...I almost wish I could join them... i was a Zeo Ranger once, too."

Zack clapped him on the back. "So we're chopped liver, huh, bro?"

"I didn't say that!" Jason laughed. "Earth is my home! Besides, I was Mighty Morphin first!"

"I'm honored to serve beside you," Andros nodded.

"Hey man, about the other day...that was--" Jason began.

"WE GOT INCOMING!" TJ yelled suddenly from one of the bridge's computer consoles.

The Megaship shook violently, and DECA's alarm sounded and the lights turned a flashing red, indicating a serious emergency. 

"TJ! What do we got?!" Andros demanded over the blaring alarms.

TJ switched on the viewscreen, revealing a swarm of velocifighters emerging from deep space, each firing their arrays of deadly lasers.

"Damn it!" Zhane swore. "They're here already!"

"Who?!" asked Jason. "Dark Spectre? Darkonda?"

"Velocifighters!" answered Karone.

"TJ! How are the weapons systems?!" Andros asked.

"Negative!" TJ yelled. "They were targeted and taken out during the first wave of attacks!"

"Shields?!" Andros demanded.

"Failing!" TJ reported.

"So that rules out Megazord sequencing?!" Andros pressed through gritted teeth.

"Yes!" TJ pounded the console. "Damn it!"

"The Megazord would be no good for interstellar combat!" Zhane advised. "The only hope is the Mega-Winger and the Mega Voyager Zords!"

"What about us?" Jason demanded.

"Look!" Trini pointed to the viewport her and Billy were still standing at where the Earth was still visible. "The velocifighters are breaking through the rebels' blockade! They're pouring in!"

"No!" cried Zhane.

"We must get to the surface!" Billy declared. He and Trini stumbled to the other Mighty Morphin Rangers.

Jason swore. It felt wrong to leave them.

"Jason?!" Kimberly prompted.

"Not yet," Jason decided. "Not until we do everything we can possibly do here!"

"There's nothing more you can do!" Andros replied. "Go! The people of Earth need you! Now!"

Jason swore again, but gestured for the other Mighty Morphin Rangers. "Rangers...Karone...may The Power protect you!"

The Mighty Morphin Rangers vanished in a flash of light, and the Space Rangers gathered around Andros.

"No time to waste, Andros!" TJ yelled over DECA's screaming alarms and warnings. "We have to morph now and counterattack!" 

"What about Karone?!" yelled Zhane.

"And Alpha?!" added Ashley.

"Karone can teleport out of here!" responded Andros as he flipped open his wrist morpher.

"What about Alpha?!" repeated Ashley, her panic rising.

"I can't teleport!" yelled Karone.

"What?!" Andros snapped.

"My abilities as Astronema were tied to Dark Spectre!" Karone cried. "I can't use them anymore!"

Zhane took her face in his hands. "Why didn't you tell me?!" 

Karone smiled sadly. "I didn't want you to worry!"

"Karone!" Zhane choked. "The ship is dying!"

"I know," Karone mouthed, and the alarms slowed. The lights flickered. They started to float.

"Andros!" urged TJ.

Andros was stunned.

His sister, whom he just reunited with, had no escape from the dying Megaship. Zhane, his friend was going to lose the love of his life.

Alpha Six, the trusty android assistant of virtually every Power Rangers team, was trapped, too. The only reason this ship was still intact right now was the work that little guy was doing in the engine room to keep it alive long enough for them to escape.

"Andros! NOW!" roared TJ.

Through a haze of tears, Andros made the morphing call.

"LET'S ROCKET!"

Suddenly, the bombardment stopped. The velocifighters parted.

"It's here," Karone said through gritted teeth. "The Dark Fortress."

The Dark Fortress materialized in a green, grid-like light from it's own pocket dimension. It was a leviathan, an enormous spinning disk with dozens of long spires jutting out of its top and bottom.

The velocifighters ringed the dying Megaship, its lights failing, the artificial gravity failing, DECA's voice failing, life support failing, everything failing!

Already, just when it barely began.

No. She wouldn't let that happen.

"GO! NOW!" screamed Karone as the Dark Fortress slowly approached, having to grip the computer console just to keep from floating onto the ceiling. "GO!"

The morphed Space Rangers floated away behind her. The closest was Zhane, who stared at her through his silver, black, and gold helmet.

She turned. She tried to imagine his handsome face. Blonde hair. Bright smile. She wanted to hold on to that.

"Karone," Zhane choked. "I love you."

A bright green light filled the viewing screen. 

"I love you too..." Karone smiled. She turned away from him. "Now go!"

And within moments, that bright green light filled her entire vision, and the Astro Megaship was no more.

Chapter Text

Angel Grove, California. United States of America. Earth.

Five streaks of light shot across the blue sky through the besieged city of Angel Grove, landing amongst a panicked crowd of its citizens.

"Dammit!" Jason fell to his knees, pounding the ground with his white fists as the alarmed and confused citizens looked on. Billy and Trini quickly herded the bystanders away from the battle zone to a chorus of "the Power Rangers!" "It's them!"

Kimberly placed a hand on his armored shoulder. "There's nothing more we could have done. Andros said it himself..."

Jason pointed to the sky. "See that little flash in the sky? That was the Megaship. And we have no guarantee that they survived that. And if they did, they're probably stuck in the vacuum of space right now. And we're here, on solid ground, and we can't do a damn thing about it. So, you know what? Spare me, Kim. I don't need your empty pity!"

"Hey, that's not fair, man!" Zack snapped.

Jason got up and rounded on the Black Ranger. "Oh, so now you care, Zack?! What changed your mind, huh? Did you get what you wanted? The bad lady got what she deserved, huh?!"

Zack shoved Jason. Kimberly got between them.

"Enough!" Kimberly snapped, "There are people gathering! We're Rangers! They're looking to us for hope! We can't do that if we're at each others' throats!"

Kimberly pointed to the sky just as Jason had done. "You want to take your anger out on somebody? Take it out on those velocifighters!" 

Jason glared at Zack through his helmet. He turned and yelled "Power Sword!"

The weapon materialized in his hand, and he unsheathed the Dragon Dagger with the other. The weapons glowed with power, and Jason slashed at the sky as a velocifighter soared overhead. The velocifighter was cleaved in two, and crashed to a nearby park in a fireball.

"Let's go beat up some bad guys," Jason ordered.

"Power Axe!" Zack nodded as the velocifighters converged over to their new threat. He caught the materializing weapon, and switched it to gun mode, aiming and firing a bolt of energy from axe's handle.

"Booyah!" Zack exclaimed. "Direct hit!"

"Step aside," Kimberly shoved between them. "Power Bow!"

She fired bolts from the bow, rapid fire, taking out several velocifighters in succession as her male counterparts looked on, speechless.

"Amateurs," Kimberly quipped, shoving past them, grinning under her helmet.

***

Billy and Trini led the crowd away to the shelter of a nearby underground subway station. As they ascended the steps leading out of the station, a crowd of quantrons materialized, led by a pair of large, bug-like monsters.

"Barillian Bugs!" exclaimed Billy, drawing his Power Blaster.

"You know of these things?" Trini asked, following Billy's lead and drawing her own blaster.

"They're a sentient, parasitic species, going planet to planet, laying their eggs inside the natives, using them as hosts to reproduce," Billy explained. "Darkonda is a highly evolved and mutated member of their species...so it is Darkonda we're dealing with!"

"So this Darkonda..." Trini prompted, curious.

"He's notorious across the galaxy, even on Aquitar," Billy replied darkly as the quantrons approached.

The Barillian bugs gestured the quantrons forward to attack, and the robotic creatures raced up the steps toward Billy and Trini.

Billy fired a volley from his blaster, knocking back an oncoming quantron. "They cannot reach the subway! We must keep them out at all costs!"

Trini kicked one in the chest and shot another. "You know, I kinda miss the old Putty Patrol!"

Billy shot a few more and rammed another into a bannister, mangling the metal. "Miss wouldn't be the word I would use!"

Trini dodged a swipe from a Q-blade and shot the offender in the back of the head. "Well , I mean all you had to do to Zedd's Putties was kick'em just right in the chest and they'd disintegrate."

"Very environmentally sound, I suppose," replied Billy kicking back a fallen quantron into a group of its fellows as one of the Barillian Bugs advanced.

"These guys just make a mess!" Trini replied. 

Just then the spinning wreckage of a velocifighter crashed into the Barillian Bug and another group of quantrons, exploding into a small fireball.

"In all fairness, so do we!" Billy replied, shielding himself from debris.

A quantron crawled from the wreckage of the crashed velociifighter, only to be finished off by the other surviving Barillian Bug, which soared over the fireball and crushed its head with a splat.

"I think we'll need to bring out the big guns for this one," Trini said, holstering her Power Blaster. "Power Daggers!" 

Her weapons materialized in her hands, and like the prehistoric big cat she drew her power from, she leapt at the Barillian Bug, daggers poised for the kill.

"Right behind you!" Billy yelled. "Power Lance! Hyah!"

***

"Damn it!" Zack yelled as more velocifighters descended from the sky. "There are too many of them!"

The velocifighters ceased their direct attack on the three, instead keeping their distance, causing destruction elsewhere.

Instead, scores of quantrons materialized around them, enclosing them in a circle.

As the others readied for the next wave of attack, Jason looked to the sky, dotted with velocifighters. "Man, if the Space Rangers are alive...I sure hope they're having better luck than we are."

Chapter Text

Outer Space. Earth's Orbit.

Zhane had no idea how much time had passed between the last time he saw Karone, and when he heard Andros' desperate voice blaring through his helmet's transmission system, nearly deafening him.

<ZHANE! ZHANE! YOU'RE BEING RECKLESS!> Andros roared, breaking him out of his reverie.

<Wha? Whoa!> Zhane nearly collided with a peice of wreckage, likely from a velocifighter or a rebel fighter-- it was too mangled to tell.

He collected his bearings. He stood on his Galaxy Glider amongst a debris field orbiting the Earth. In the distance, the battle still raged on between the KO-35 rebels and the velocifighters. Even hovering so far away, Zhane could tell that his people were barely holding on. There were simply too many of those velocifighters.

He looked down at his right arm. His Silver Silverizer  guantlet weapon was attached. With a gut wrenching realization, he realized that the debris surrounding him wasn't just from the space battle, it was from him.

<ZHANE!> Andros roared through his helmet again.

<I'm here, Andros...> Zhane replied flatly. He felt empty. Like there was no anger left to give, at least not against Andros, who he knew had to be hurting as much as he was. He sighed. <Is everyone...okay?>

A pause. Zhane deactivated his Silver Silverizer, awaiting a response.

<Yes...we...us...Rangers.> Andros finally replied, emotion choking his words.

<Where are you?> Zhane asked, scanning the debris field for the other Space Rangers.

<We'll send you the coordinates> TJ interjected. <There should be a ruined satellite up a distance at your two o'clock.>

<What?> Zhane was confused. <Two o'clock?>

<Space human, TJ.> Ashley reminded TJ through the transmission.

<Man, whatever.> TJ growled. <Sending coordinates.>

Data streamed through Zhane's heads-up-display in his helmet, pinpointing their location.

<Got it.> Zhane announced. <Coming to you now.>

With a thought command, Zhane's Galaxy Glider guided him through space, through the wreckage wrought by his hand and countless others on both sides of the battle.

Zhane soon reunited with the others, hidden amongst the debris of a satellite balanced on their hovering Galaxy Gliders.

<What happened?> Zhane asked as he hovered to the middle of the debris field to engage with them. <I-uh...>

<You went nuts, Zhane.> Cassie supplied.

<We barely managed to get out before the Megaship exploded.> Carlos added. His black uniform practically blended him into the darkness, save for his white gloves, boots, and trimming. <When we found our bearings, the Dark Fortress was nowhere to be seen.>

TJ flew over and pointed an accusatory finger at Zhane's helmet. <And that's when you lost it and went off half cocked towards the battle over there! You're lucky you took out some of those fighters without taking yourself out in the process!>

Zhane was about to retort, but Ashley flew between them. She turned and placed her hand on Zhane's shoulder. <Look, Andros is dealing with a lot right now. We all are. You running off like that, it-->

<I'm sorry!> Zhane yelled, a lot more aggressively than he meant to. He lowered his voice. <I'm sorry.>

He broke off from Ashley and TJ. He scanned the debris field. <Where's the Dark Fortress?>

Carlos crossed his arms. <It disappeared by the time we came to.>

<Back to its dimension?> Zhane asked.

<We don't know.> TJ replied.

Zhane thought for a second. He snapped his fingers, not that it made a sound in the vacuum of space.

<Cassie! Recalibrate your Satellite Stunner to pick up on the Dark Fortress' energy signature!>

<It can do that?!> Cassie exclaimed.

<All of our special weapons have multiple uses.> Andros interjected, snapping out of his depressed stupor. <Do it.>

Cassie called forth her Satellite Stunner. <Okay, now what?>

<The Satellite Stunner operates by absorbing low frequency radiation waves and firing them back as concentrated beams of energy.> Andros explained. <Dialing it back to receive high frequency radiation and fire back low frequency radiation will turn it into a sort of sonar device.>

<Ooh! Like a sub?> Cassie asked.

<I guess...whatever a sub is.> Andros replied.

<Space human, Cassie.> sniggered Ashley.

<Whatever.> Cassie pointed her Satellite Stunner around the horizon of space, twisting the knobs on the device. <Okay...I think I got it.>

She fired a beam from the Stunner. It exploded a nearby piece of floating debris.

<Oops!> Cassie winced. She fiddled with the device some more. <Okay...got it. I hope.>

She tried again. Silence...and a screen on her Stunner lit up. <Okay! We are in business!>

Cassie glided around, pointing the device towards the reaches of space, firing a ping, checking it,  scoffing, and then firing again.

While he waited, Zhane tried to banish the thoughts of Karone's final moments out of his mind, to no avail. She was so strong, so selfless...perhaps he could draw from that strength. Use it. And then he could mourn.

<Guys!> Cassie exclaimed excitedly. <I'm picking something up! Its faint, but its definitely something big!>

TJ looked at the device. <That's the moon.>

Cassie clicked her tongue under her helmet. <Duh, I know. But there I'm picking up something BIG behind it!>

The others flew over to her.

<You mean the Dark Fortress could be behind the moon?!> Ashley screeched.

<Damn good chance.> replied Cassie.

<Whatever it is ...we need to investigate.> Andros ordered. <If it's a friend, we can use the help. If it's a foe, like the Dark Fortress, we need to try and destroy it.>

<Why not call the on the Mega Voyager?> Carlos demanded. <Why not help the rebels?!>

<Because if that is the Dark Fortress, we can't run the risk of its interference again!> Andros explained impatiently. <By going in on our Galaxy Gliders, we'll be too small for whatever that thing is to pick up on its sensors. If that is the Dark Fortress, we can use the cover of the moon for a surprise attack with the Mega Voyager then, and only then.>

<Karone told me that the quantrons are controlled by radio-wave signals given off by the Dark Fortress, like a hive mind. We destroy the Fortress and we destroy the quantrons, and by extension the velocifighters, too> Zhane pointed out.

Carlos nodded. <Well, let's hope Commander Kinwon and the rebels hold out till then.>

Zhane clapped him on the shoulder. <They will. The people of KO-35 are survivors. They'll get the job done.>

Andros looked ahead in the direction of the moon. <Damn right. Rangers! Let's Rocket!>

Chapter Text

Dark Fortress. Outer Space.

"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead!" a wicked voice filled Karone's pounding skull.

A sharp pain cracked upside her head...she could taste blood. Her eyes fluttered awake.

Darkonda.

What an awful sight to wake up to! Perhaps she had been spoiled by waking up to Zhane's handsome face every morning lately, but Darkonda's face was truly waking from a dream into a nightmare.

Zhane...was he even alive? Was Andros or any of the others alive?

She tried to move. She couldn't. She could bet even if she could move, it would be tremendously difficult. She was so exhausted. Her body felt like it had been run over by a velocifighter.

She was tethered to a metal slab, in an industrial-medical kind of room. Within seconds she recognized the room as an interrogation chamber within the Dark Fortress. She herself had performed a number of interrogations here as Astronema. She never thought she'd be the one on the slab awaiting whatever fresh torture her captor could dream up, but Karone figured it was just as well, for karma was just as much of a bitch as she was.

She could at least move her head. She looked away from the creature. She needed to gather her wits about her before she could face him.

Darkonda pushed her chin back with an outstretched clawed finger. His hideous face was inches from her's. His breath was fetid.

"Home sweet home, princess," Darkonda taunted.

"Why am I here?" Karone groaned, trying futilely to move her head away from Darkonda's gaze.

Why was she here? How was she here? All she could remember was the green light...and then nothing. The Dark Fortress was a marvel of technology. Her wildest guess as her senses returned was a teleportation beam followed extremely closely by a high powered blast wave, but it was hard to be sure of anything. 

With a flourish, Darkonda gestured towards a large viewing screen on the wall ahead. He pressed a keypad nearby, and she saw the space battle between the KO-35 rebels and the Dark Fortress' velocifighters raging on in Earth's orbit.

"Where are your Space Rangers, I wonder?" Darkonda asked cruelly, a rhetorical question that Karone feared the answer to.

He pressed another button and she saw the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers locked in a desperate battle against innumerable quantrons in the beleaguered city of Angel Grove.

The destruction was catastrophic. Hundreds, if not thousands had to be dead, injured, or missing, and the rebuilding would be lengthy.

"That's not all!" Darkonda bragged, gesticulating at the the macabre picture. "Let's see Triforia, shall we?"

The image changed, and Karone saw the marching approach of the sizable Triforian army, led by the five Zeo Rangers with the gargantuan Pyramidas, piloted by the Gold Ranger Trey, looming overhead, ringed by a squadron of the forward pointing Triforian Pyramid Fighters.

A swipe of his hand, and she saw Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa standing high atop a pinnacle awaiting the champions of Triforia, below them a vast army of Putties, dwarfed by a menagerie of several towering monsters of impossible shapes and proportions.

Another swipe of his hand, and advancing towards the planet Triforia was the Zord Serpentara, the over-mile long dragon-like machine of planetary destruction. Inside, the cackling duo of the golden winged ape Goldar and Rita's skeletal brother Rito Revolto guided the leviathan to its destination.

"How about Aquitar now?" continued Darkonda as Karone shook her head in disbelief.

A fleet of Piranahtron subs led by the massive amphibious dreadnought of Divatox descended into the oceans of Aquitar towards the oceanic city of Aquitropolis, a city that was not only home to the Aquitian Rangers, but millions of Aquitian citizens and countless life forms.

"Would you like to see The Machine Empire's progress against the Senturians?" Darkonda chuckled. "I heard that one is brutal."

"Why did you bring me here?" demanded Karone. "Why are you showing me this?!"

Darkonda crossed over to her, taking her by the jaw in his clawed hand again.

"You're going to watch as I take everything that you worked so hard for as Astronema, everything you worked so hard to dismantle and destroy as Karone, and flip it on its head as new dark ruler of the galaxy!"

Karone fought the urge to vomit as Darkonda's breath assaulted her senses. 

"Look at me," the beast demanded, holding her jaw firm. "Look at me! You are going to watch as my forces destroy the rest of the Power Rangers, the remainder of your filthy race from that backwater planet of your's...and when it's all over, when you are at your deepest, lowest point of despair, when you beg me for death...you will die...with the cruelest stroke...heh heh heh!"

Karone bared her teeth in defiance. "You delusional fool...even if you destroyed the Power Rangers...even if you killed me...you'll still have Dark Spectre to contend with!"

"You are the fool, child!" Darkonda laughed. "I have orchestrated this entire saga from the beginning! Don't you understand?! Everything that has transpired has been from me! My design!"

"You're mad!" Karone exclaimed.

"No!" Darkonda pointed to the war playing out in front of their eyes on the viewing screen. "One man's madness is another's genius, child!"

He turned to her, pointing his clawed finger in her face. "Who do you think suggested that Zordon's containment tube be infected, ever so slowly, with dark energy, consuming him until nothing is left? Me!"

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Karone asked. What was he going on about? She couldn't focus. Her head was pounding, and his breath still hung in the air, turning her stomach.

"What Dark Spectre failed to realize, in his infuriating hubris, is that Zordon and he are connected, two sides of the cosmic scale. They cannot exist without the other. They maintain the balance of the Morphin Grid. One goes, the other will follow."

"You're weakening him," Karone deduced.

If it was possible for Darkonda's permanent grin to get wider, it did here. "Yes."

Karone screwed up her eyes in concentration. "With Zordon and Dark Spectre gone..."

"The balance of the Morphin Grid is fair game," cackled Darkonda.

"And you rigged the game," Karone accused.

Darkonda laughed. "Yes! Yes! And you will have a front row seat! You will pay witness to the end of the galaxy as you know it, and the birth of a new galactic order...remade in my image!"

"You'll never win," Karone hissed. "Even if you do kill Dark Spectre and Zordon, you have an entire galaxy full of people who hate you. Do really think the Alliance is going to go along with whatever you have planned?"

"They'll have no choice! With control of Dark Spectre's forces and the entire hive planet of Barillia at my disposal, those fools will have no choice but to join me or be vanquished!" raved Darkonda.

"They'll never join you," Karone retorted. "They're just as egotistical and power hungry as you are."

Darkonda gestured to the viewing screen. "Perhaps they'll simply destroy themselves along with the Power Rangers, eh? Hmm... Let's have a look."

Chapter Text

Triforia

Lord Zedd, the Emperor of Evil, watched atop a pinnacle overlooking the vast battlefield where the champions of this wretched planet approached his grand army of Z-Putties and gigantic monsters.

"You seem tense," his wife, the wicked sorceress Rita Repulsa observed. "Much more than usual."

Zedd scowled, his exposed muscle glowing red under his gleaming silver exoskeleton, his long staff shifting in his hands as he continued to gaze upon his most hated enemies with his telescopic vision. 

They could change their ridiculous costumes all they wanted-- the smell of Tommy Oliver and his band of self-righteous children were unmistakable. It was only fitting that he be the one to finally destroy them and take possession of the Zeo Crystals, the Zeo Crystals that had flayed his skin, warped his appearance so many eons ago, but had amplified his already impressive powers. After that, he would have the power necessary to enact revenge on the meddling Machine Empire and pry control the galaxy out of the grubby claws of Dark Spectre.

His plan was foolproof. Well, perhaps not entirely foolproof, considering the track record of a particular pair of fools.

"That idiot brother of yours should have been here by now!" growled Zedd. "And where is Goldar?!"

"Knowing them, they probably got lost on the way here," Rita sneered. "They'll turn up."

"They better!" Zedd speared the rock with the bottom of his staff.

"Oh, stop your grumbling, Zeddy!" Rita snapped. "Look at those puny Power Rangers! Even without those two half-wits, we have this won! Ha ha ha!"

***

"That's a lot of putties," Adam pointed out as he nervously twirled his twin Power Hatchets.

Rocky looked at him through his triangular visor, his twin Power Tonfas tight in his fists. "All those giant monsters over there, and you're worried about the putties?"

There was a lot of putties, and too many monsters for comfort, but all Tommy Oliver could see was Lord Zedd. He could feel Zedd's gaze on him like a spotlight. He thought the Machine Empire ran Zedd and Rita out a long time ago, but it was just as well--he had unfinished business with them. He'd never forgive her for taking away his freedom and making him an evil Ranger, nor Zedd for the destruction of the Command Center, among other things.

Everything he's ever done since, all those years of service as a Power Ranger...all to repent for the pain and destruction he'd wrought as Rita's Green Dragon Ranger.

Kat nudged him with her Power Shield, shaking Tommy out of his thoughts. "Nervous?"

Tommy gripped his Power Sword tightly, nodding to the pinnacle. "Zedd."

Kat nodded. "Yeah..."

Kat had unfinished business with Zedd, too. He had not only taken her freedom once, but also her humanity, turning her into a monster called Katastrophe. Perhaps that's one of the reasons they got on so well: they knew exactly what the other had gone through.

"We got this," an optimistic Tanya said, Power Clubs in hand, raring to go as a gold light streaked away from the looming Pyramidas, which casted a shadow above them 

Landing a short distance ahead of the Zeo Rangers was Trey, a composite being of enormous power representing Courage, Wisdom, and Heart, a lord and the champion of Triforia, his gold armor gleaming despite the shadow of Pyramidas.

He stared up towards Lord Zedd and Rita with the same fury Tommy and the others felt, and raised his golden scepter to the air towards the evil monarchs.

In solidarity, the Zeo Rangers raised their weapons in unison, and with a mighty war cry, they charged toward the menagerie that awaited them.

***

Aquitropolis, Aquitar

Alarms blared through the city of Aquitropolis as the massive dreadnought of Divatox approached like a metal whale through the water, swarmed by her fleet of Piranahtron Battle Subs.

In defense against the invaders came the Battle Subs of the Aquitian Grand Army, filing through the water like a school of chrome-armored fish, ringing the city protectively like a halo. 

The Battle Subs soon parted for the ascending Battle Borgs of the Aquitian Power Rangers, five towering,  multi-colored sentries, ready for war.

Corcus, the Black Aquitian Ranger.

Tideus, the Yellow Aquitan Ranger.

Cestro, the Blue Aquitan Ranger.

Aurico, the Red Aquitan Ranger.

And their leader, Delphine, the White Aquitan Ranger.

All willing to lay down their lives in service to the people of Aquitropolis and all of Aquitar.

The young and the elderly Aquitians were sheltered, and those who were able-bodied stood by for relief and medical attention. The defense of Aquitar was truly a unified effort by all, and the invaders would rue the day they trespassed Aquitar's shores and raised arms to Aquitropolis' citizens.

From inside her deadly dreadnought, the space pirate Divatox wished that they had stayed on the jungle planet of Gratha for the battle, but it was just as well. The power and technology of her dreadnought was unparalleled.

'These fish-people on this cursed waterlogged planet have no chance!' thought Divatox with an overconfident bluster. 'Besides...the humidity would've just ruined my hair!"

She stopped at the edge of the city. 

"BZZT! BZZT!" An incoming transmission.

She answered it.

<Divatox. This is Delphine of Aquitar. We will give you one warning and one warning only. Cross the boundaries of this city and we will be forced to take whatever measures necessary to remove you. Turn back now or face the consequences...I repeat-->

"Save it, you overgrown seabass! I'm here to claim Aquitar in the name of Dark Spectre!" snapped Divatox. "It's nothing personal, Dolphin-e, just business."

<...So be it.> Delphine replied bitterly. <Prepare to defend yourself, Pirate.>

"Yesss," hissed Divatox. "Piranahtrons, attack!"

<So it begins...> Delphine said from the cockpit of her white Battle Borg, centered among the wall of Battle Borgs the Aquitian Rangers created.

The Piranahtron Subs cut through the ocean, firing  the first shots of the battle, and Delphine responded in kind, charging towards the invaders.

<For Aquitar! Rangers! Attack!>

***

The Dark Fortress, Dark Side of the Moon, Deep Space 

From behind the moon, Darkonda watched aboard the Dark Fortress as his Barillian Bug fell from Billy and Trini's combined efforts in the streets of Angel Grove, California. A captured Karone laughed mockingly behind him, and with a scowl, he fired the satellasers to grow the monster giant-sized. 

The beam zoomed past the Space Rangers, racing through space atop their Galaxy Gliders, confirming for them that the ship that they were heading for was indeed the Dark Fortress.

Finally the beam streaked through Earth's sky and struck the prone body of the Barillian Bug, rejuvenating it and growing it to skyscraper-sized proportions.

Billy and Trini leapt back towards the subway station building.

"We should make sure the civilians are safe!" cried Trini.

"No!" Billy replied. "We go in there and the Barillian Bug will crush us like, well, bugs. No. We have to get into contact with Jason!"

"Right!" Trini nodded. She activated her communicator. "Jason! Jason! Come in!"

A few blocks away, mobbed by a small army of quantrons, fought Jason, Zack, and Kimberly. 

Zack switched between the axe-mode and gun-mode of his Power Axe in rapid succession, while Jason slashed and kicked with his Power Sword and mighty kicks. Kimberly shot off Power Bow bolts like a machine gun. They weren't winning. They were simply keeping the quantrons at bay.

Suddenly, a streak of light and a great rumble temporarily interrupted the mob, and they all looked up.

"That ain't good," Zack said as the giantized Barillian Bug grew from the Satellaser's blast, roaring in rage at the couple of tiny Rangers below who defeated him was he was his orginal size.

A quantron leapt into the air from behind Zack, and Kimberly shot the robot down. The battle resumed.

<Jason! Jason! Come in!> Trini cried over the commutator.

Jason answered it while delivering a wide slash with his Power Sword. "I see the monster Trini! Not a good time right now! In the middle of fighting a small frigging army of murder-bots at the moment!"

<Didn't Tommy give you the Dragon Dagger?> Trini demanded. <Use it to call the Dragonzord!>

"Geeze, why didn't I think of that?" replied Jason with more than a little sarcasm as he booted a quantron. "I need a little help here before I can get high enough to play the dagger!"

<We're trapped up here by the oversized cockroach, smartass!> snapped Trini.

"Then I--" Jason began. Something caught his attention. "What the hell?"

The mob of quantrons began to part. Something was barreling and blasting its way through.

<What is it?> Trini asked.

What looked like a blue jeep on steroids barreled through before them, and emerging through the driver's side firing a blaster bolt at an unlucky quantron was none other than Justin Stewart, the young Blue Turbo Ranger.

"What's up dudes?" Justin Stewart asked cheerfully. "Looks like you guys can sure use some help!"

Chapter Text

Angel Grove, California. Earth.

It was a standoff. Jason, Zack and Kimberly were surrounded by a mob of quantrons, the robotic adversaries held back only by a blaster wielding Blue Turbo Ranger and his car, Storm Blaster, which seemed to have a mind of its own, as it revved its engines and charged foward every time a quantron would step up to them.

"Wow! This is so neat! The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!" Justin exclaimed.

"Good of you to show up, Justin," Jason greeted. The car revved almost expectantly. "You too."

"Wait, why does he sound like he's twelve?!" Zack asked, incredulous.

"Hey! I just turned thirteen, actually!" Justin replied defensively, blasting a bold quantron back.

"Look, there's really no time to explain and it's a long story," Jason shoved by the others and gestured to Storm Blaster. "Kid, I'm gonna have to use the car for something."

"Yeah," Justin replied. "Wait what do you mean by--"

But Jason had already jumped up on the hood and leapt towards one of the skyscrapers that was still standing, beaming up towards it in a red light.

"What is he--" Justin asked as Jason streaked away.

"You'll see," Kimberly replied, nodding to the rampaging monster roaring ominously in the background.

"So what's that, 'H.E.R.B.I.E. the Love Bug' or something?" Zack gestured towards Storm Blaster.

The car revved an angry response, nearly running him over, and caused the increasingly emboldened quantrons to rethink their approach.

"That's Storm Blaster," Justin replied proudly. "She can be very temperamental."

"I can tell," Zack said dryly. "Kinda seems more like a 'Christine" than a "Storm Blaster" to me though..."

"Zack, would you stop it with the pop culture references?!" Kimberly snapped, pointing her Power Bow threateningly at the quantrons.

"You got a plan, 'Knight Rider?'" Zack asked Justin, ignoring her.

"You ever play 'Grand Theft Auto'?" Justin asked with a sly tone to his voice.

"Are you kidding me?!" sighed Kimberly in exasperation.

Zack thought for a moment and chuckled as he climbed into Storm Blaster's back seat. "Kid, are you suggesting we do a driveby?"

Justin twirled his blaster as he stepped into the driver's seat. "That's precisely what I'm saying. You game?"

"Oh brother..." Kimberly shook her head as she climbed into the back seat alongside Zack, her Power Bow at the ready.

***

Jason always felt a little odd every time he brought the Dragon Dagger up to his helmet's molded lips. He was sure Tommy had to have felt the same way all those times he used the Dagger as Green Ranger.

First off, the Dagger was a weapon but the handle was also a flute. Secondly, no air passed through the helmet to the handle of the dagger, so therefore it shouldn't make a sound.

But it did. He never pegged Zordon as one to have a sense of humor, but you never know.

Jason played that familiar triumphant tune, and waited.

The tune carried throughout the city, and over the harbor and into the surrounding waters of the Pacific Ocean. 

Deep in on the ocean floor, something stirred. Bright red eyes glowed, and a mechanical whirl shifted millions of tons of ocean water as the Dragonzord roared to life, answering the heralding call of the Dragon Dagger.

Despite the incredible volume of water crushing upon its black and silver chassis, the Dragonzord shuffled along the ocean floor, slow at first then picking up speed, gaining ground and height, each step bringing it closer to its master's call.

It's tall head fin broke the surface of the shifting tides, and its wide metal mouth soon followed, its red eyes scanning for an opponent to sink its teeth into.

The Dragonzord rose from the water and onto the shores of Angel Grove, its long, silver segmented tail swinging from side to side, the drilling end spinning threateningly, eager to bore into the hide of whomever challenged its supremacy.

The Dragon Dagger called. It was time for battle.

***

Triforia

It was total bedlam on the battlefield of Triforia. As the Zeo Rangers and Triforian soldiers engaged the grey sea of Putties, the overhead Pyramidas and the Triforian Pyramid fighters attacked the towering monsters.

Tommy and Trey fought their way through the masses of Putties and monsters to reach the pinnacle where Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa stood, sending lazy bolts of lightning from their staffs at the Pyramid fighters below, which Trey deflected the best he could with his scepter.

Tommy was a whirling dervish with his mighty Power Sword and Pod Saber, his twin blades making short work of the Putties as he gained ground toward the evil monarchs. A lightning bolt from Zedd nearly hit him, giving him pause. He glanced around the battlefield to make sure no one else got hit.

Kat knocked a Putty away with her Power Shield and slashed at another with her Pod Saber. Adam and Rocky fought back to back with their Power Hatchets and Power Tonfas, efficient and deadly. Tanya was formidable as she battered the Putties with her Power Club like nunchakus and slashed with her own Pod Saber. The Triforian soldiers kept pace, holding their own against the Putties, even without the Zeo powers.

Assured that his friends were unharmed by the lightning and capable, Tommy glared up at the impending Zedd through his star-shaped visor. He pointed his Power Sword threateningly at the evil alien, and continued his approach.

***

Serpentera, Triforian orbit. 

"Heh heh, there it is," Rito Revolto snickered from the spartan cockpit of Serpentera. "Triforia. I say we just blast it from orbit and be done with it!"

Goldar drove the levitation forward, protesting adamantly. "You idiot! Lord Zedd and Mistress Rita are on the planet, too!"

Rito cackled back. "I know, you flying monkey! Here's our chance! Why the hell do you think Darkonda dug Serpentera up for us? So we can be lackies for the rest of our lives?!"

Goldar slammed his golden fist down on the console. "No. We come in, surprise them, destroy the Power Rangers, and we'll be set for life! They'll be so grateful that they'll have no choice but to take us seriously!"

Rito grabbed the controls from Goldar. "You stupid boot-licker! Since when has Lord Zedd and Rita ever been grateful for anything?! Do you really want to be stuck under their feet for eternity?!"

Goldar and Rito wrestled over the controls, and in their struggle, activated the weapons array. A countdown initiated as the mouth beam powered up.

"Uh-oh," Goldar and Rito squeaked, their feud all but forgotten.

***

Triforia 

Lord Zedd growled in annoyance as Tommy and Trey leapt upon his and Rita's pinnacle, weapons at the ready.

"It's over, Zedd! You can't hide behind your Putty Patrol any more!" Tommy threatened, pointing his Power Sword towards Zedd for emphasis.

"Bah! I seem to remember the last time you challenged me, Tommy!" Zedd hissed, brandishing his Z Staff, sending a bolt of lightning at the Red Zeo Ranger. "It didn't end well for you!"

Tommy deflected the bolt with his Power Sword. It took some effort and his hand hurt from the vibration, but he did it.

"The Zeo powers grow stronger as time passes," Tommy replied confidently. "You'll find I'm much more powerful than before!"

"And this time, he has the might of Triforia on his side!" Trey declared, standing beside Tommy. "Your invasion of my planet is at an end, Zedd!"

"Oh shut up! Both of you! You're giving me a headache!" Rita snapped, sending a bolt of energy at the pair. Zedd joined in with his Z Staff, and together they pushed back the Rangers, who had to deflect them with their special weapons.

Trey pushed a button on his scepter, and the six-pronged top opened up, absorbing the energy and redirecting it back at the senders.

Zedd stumbled backwards, and was about to send a another attack when a glint in the sky caught his attention. "WHAT?!"

He pointed his telescopic vision to the source, and saw Serpentera preparing to fire its mouth beam directly at the planet. "WHAT ARE THOSE IDIOTS DOING WITH MY ZORD?!"

"Zord?" Tommy demanded. "You don't mean Serpentera?!"

Zedd growled an affirmative.

Tommy fell to his knees, pounding the rock with his gloved white fists in frustration. "Dammit! It's all over then! Is this your plan, Zedd? You find yourself on the losing end so you take everyone with you?!"

"No, you dimwitted child! This is obviously the work of Goldar and my defective brother-in-law!" Zedd snapped indignantly. 

"Tommy?" Trey asked uncertainly.

"It's over, Trey," Tommy sighed. "Serpentera has the power to destroy planet's with a single blast. There's nothing we can do."

Trey looked to the sky. "Then I know what I must do..."

Tommy stared up at the Gold Zeo Ranger. "What?!"

"It was an honor fighting by your side, Tommy Oliver," Trey crossed the scepter to his heart. "May the Power protect you."

"No, TREY!" screamed Tommy, but the Gold Ranger beamed into Pyramidas, and the massive machine glowed with a brilliant light before disappearing with a flash.

Moments passed, and the Triforian sky filled with blinding light, blowing a hurricane gust of wind and raining debris across the planet as the two leviathans passed away into the cold reaches of space, exploding like a pair of twin supernovas.

***

Aquitropolis, Aquitar

Much to her displeasure, the space pirate Divatox severely underestimated Aquitar and the fight they would put up against her.

The Aquitian Rangers' Battle Borgs soared through the water like gigantic Olympic swimmers, cutting down Divatox's Piranahtron Subs with surgical precision.

Whatever Piranahtron Subs did manage to get by the Battle Borgs, they were cut down by the phalanx of Aquitian Battle Subs that ringed the city, a nearly impermeable defense.

If Divatox fired any of her dreadnought's powerful cannons into the fray, she risked hitting her own subs as well as the subs of her enemies.

Divatox slammed her fist on the console of her dreadnought. If only Elgar was here! Her nephew might have been a complete and utter moron in almost every situation, but he was a damn good pilot, a prodigy, practically a savant. It was really the only thing that had kept him alive all this time. His skill in the cockpit was unmatched, and was too valuable to lose.

But Dark Spectre had reassigned him to Astronema! She knew it was punishment for allowing the Rangers to live even though she had obliterated their Command Center.

Now that mad dog Darkonda had him, and was likely using to head his quantron fleet to invade Earth.

Darkonda...

Of course! Before the coordinated assault by the United Alliance of Evil on the galaxy, Dark Spectre called a meeting. After the meeting in which the monstrous monarch impressed the importance of the assault and threatened painful death upon anyone who failed him, Darkonda took her aside and offered Divatox a little help.

"I've developed this Ultra-Megaton Neutron Bomb, carrying a massive payload and capable of being fired in virtually any environment, from the vacuum of space to...well, the deep oceans of Aquitar..." Darkonda had said. "A little...compensation for the use of your nephew's talents, hmm?"

Divatox had accepted the bargain, but had soon forgotten about the bomb, unsure if it was a powerful as Darkonda had claimed or was a dud. 

Considering the desperation of the situation, as she was so overmatched by the Aquitar and their Power Rangers, Divatox took a chance on the bomb and fired...

Chapter Text

Aquitropolis, Aquitar

Like a giant gunmetal grey shark threatening to devour everything in its path, Divatox's torpedo bomb speared across the Aquitian sea towards Aquitropolis, with only the five Aquitian Ranger-piloted Battle Borgs and a fleet of Aquitian Battle Subs ringing the city to stop it.

<Hah hah hah!> Divatox cackled, taunting the Rangers from the bridge of her dreadnought. <There is no escape, Power Rangers! Aquitar will fall!>

<That pirate has no idea what she has unleashed!> Corcus cried, the readouts of his scan of the bomb running across his screen. <That bomb is not only powerful enough to level the city, but it will likely destroy the planet, too!>

<Then it must stopped.> Delphine replied solemnly as Corcus sent her the data.  <As leader, I will take the burden.>

<No, Delphine! I am closest!> Cestro objected, already driving his Battle Borg towards the incoming torpedo. <Cover me!> 

<Do you know what could happen, Cestro?!> cried Delphine.

<Yes, I do!> replied Cestro, diving underneath the torpedo to try and direct it upwards towards the ocean surface. <I am prepared to do what is necessary, even if it costs my life!>

<And so am I!> Tideus added, the second closest Battle Borg to the torpedo. <You have my aid, Cestro!>

Cestro was having difficulty maneuvering the torpedo, so Tideus drove to the nose cone and helped angle it upwards.

<Weep not for us, my friends,> Cestro assured as the pair diverted  the bomb. <There is no greater honor than dying for the preservation of the life and freedom of the People.>

<May the Power protect you and all of Aquitar, fellow Rangers!> Tideus added.

<Goodbye for now, my friends...> Delphine murmured. <You will be remembered, and your sacrifice honored for generations henceforth...>

Cestro and Tideus guided the deadly torpedo bomb past the crashing waves of the surface and towards the Aquitan sky, where it finally detonated, taking the two brave Aquitan Rangers with it, illuminating the ocean surface with a blinding light and sending a shockwave across the water, sending hurricane force winds and tsunamis for hundreds of miles throughout the planet.

Aquitar, hundreds of feet deep in the impact-absorbing ocean water, was spared from the blast, and Divatox was left without a trump card, meaning the sacrifices of Cestro and Tideus were not in vain.

The remaining three Aquitian Rangers charged forward with a small company of Aquitian Battle Subs, cutting through the remainder of the Piranahtron Subs that were protecting Divatox's dreadnought.

In desperation, Divatox opened fire with her dreadnought cannons upon the Subs, taking out a number of Aquitian Subs as well as few of her own Piranahtrons.

With only a few Piranahtrons left to defend her dreadnought, the Battle Borgs were quickly able to take out Divatox's cannons, leaving the dreadnought defenseless.

The remaining trio of Battle Borgs and a dozen Aquitian Battle Subs quickly surrounded Divatox's dreadnought, their weapons aimed. 

"Oh sh--" Divatox lamented to herself before a transmission from the Rangers cut her off.

<Divatox! You are surrounded! Surrender now or you will be destroyed!> Delphine warned, a deadly edge to her voice.

It was here the usually boisterous and arrogant Divatox understood the depths of her folly. She was a pirate, a very successful one, due to the strength of her fleet and more than a little bit of ruthlessness and cunning. But she was no military strategist. And she took on a planet that not only had Power Rangers, but a well oiled military force with a natural home field advantage. She had hedged her bets on her Piranahtrons, and when they failed, gambled on an untested bomb given to her by a madman. 

For the first time in her life, Divatox felt humility, and with defeat ringing through every syllable, promptly surrendered herself to Aquitar.

***

Triforia

Minutes passed since Trey had taken the massive Pyramidas Ultrazord into space to sacrifice himself to destroy the Goldar and Rito Revolto piloted Serpentera, which threatened to blow up the entire planet of Triforia with its devastating mouth beam.

Debris rained down on the planet, and the Triforian fighters had to call a retreat to avoid getting hit with the larger chunks in the high atmosphere above the battlefield, where the twin explosions took place.

The remainder of Zedd's towering monsters were not so lucky, and were pelleted by the debris, mortally wounding them. Kat, Adam, Rocky, and Tanya of the Zeo Rangers, as well as the Triforian soldiers on the ground, had to hurry and find cover while the remaining Putties scrambled stupidly about like an army of ants trying to avoid a crushing shoe.

Lord Zedd and Rita had protected themselves with a magic bubble, the debris bounced harmlessly off the bubble like raindrops off an umbrella.

It was a wonder Tommy had survived as he crouched just feet away from the wicked pair, clutching his Power Sword in one hand, and in the other...Trey's scepter.

He didn't know how it came to him, for it was in Trey's possession when he died, but he had it, and it saved his life. Tommy wasn't much a religious type-- though he did consider himself to have a strong spirituality from his Native American roots--but he felt then that there was a power looking out for him, and that Trey was a guardian spirit of sorts, passing on whatever he could to defend Triforia from beyond the grave.

He stood, weapons in hand, seething with righteous fury, and overhead the Pyramid Fighters streaked by, firing upon the wounded monsters as the battle below had resumed.

"It's over, Zedd!" Tommy roared, his Power Sword and Trey's scepter crackling with energy.

"Over for you, Power Ranger!" Zedd roared, sending a massive surge of lightning at Tommy that crackled the air and produced a thunderclap that could be heard over the battle below and the whistle of the falling debris.

Zedd was using the entirety of his awesome power, and Tommy took it full force through Trey's scepter. It was like holding a livewire, and but Tommy held onto it like it was the last handhold keeping him back from falling into oblivion.

With one of the hardest physical efforts of his life, Tommy sent the lightning back, and Zedd had to block the energy with his staff, pushing him back and kicking up a cloud of dust and debris.

Using the dust cloud as cover, Tommy speared Trey's scepter into the rock and lunged forward, using the suit's teleportation ability to accelerate him forward to aim a deadly strike with his Power Sword.

Zedd was just barely able to parry the blade with his staff in time, and the clang of the metal sent a sonic boom that reverberated throughout the battlefield.

The pair were evenly matched, both unwilling to give an inch. The ground beneath them splintered and chapped from their struggle, and the air crackled with electricity, their weapons sparking. 

"Grrr...What are you waiting for, witch?!" Zedd yelled over to Rita, who was shielding herself from their battle. "Hit him!!"

"Feh!" growled Rita, raising her staff, ready to attack when--

TSEEWW! TSEEWW! TSEEWW! TSEEWW!

Four Triforian Pyramid Fighter cannon beams raked across the rock, stopping Rita from interfering.

The fighters surrounded the pinnacle face, boxing the three in, and atop the fighters stood the Zeo Rangers, weapons at the ready. Higher above them still, even more Pyramid Fighters.

"Hey Zedd!" Kat called from her perch atop a fighter.

Zedd turned his head to her, a low growl emanating from his mouth grill.

"What a catastrophe this turned out to be for you, huh?" Kat taunted.

"Hnn...You are surrounded, Zedd!" Tommy gritted. "Surrender!"

"Never!" roared Zedd. "This isn't over, Power Rangers!"

A bright flash of light from the "Z" of his staff, and Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa disappeared, retreating away to a distant planet. 

Tommy's Power Sword scraped across the rock, no longer held back by Zedd's staff. He speared it into the rock and fell to his knees, exhausted.

Kat landed deftly beside him and knelt down beside him, putting a comforting arm around his shoulders. "We won."

The others leapt from their fighters, beside the pair, awaiting Tommy's next words.

"We did," replied Tommy, looking over at the scepter that stuck into the rock like a grave marker. "And we lost just as much."

***

Angel Grove, California, United States of America, Earth

"Man, I miss our old Zords!" cried Trini as she leaned on a pile of rubble to avoid crashing to the concrete as the giant Barillian Bug's footfalls shook the ground like and earthquake. "We would've creamed this guy already!"

"Which one?!" Billy yelled over the deafening roar of the giant beast.

"I've always been partial to our old Dinozords!" Trini yelled back. "Goes with the costumes!"

Billy pointed towards another giant figure in the distance. "Will that suffice?!"

"The Dragonzord!" Trini exclaimed as the mighty mechanical reptilian stomped up to the towering Bug. "Bout time!" 

"Heads up!" Billy called, gesturing towards the incoming Storm Blaster as Justin, Zack, and Kimberly stood inside her open roof, firing at a mob of attacking quantrons.

"There's our ride!" Trini replied, and they left the cover of the rubble to join the other Rangers.

Billy leapt into the passenger seat of Storm Blaster, followed by Trini, who landed in between Zack and Kimberly, who were busy shooting at the pursuing quantrons.

"Nice of you to drop in," quipped Zack as he fired another bolt of energy from his Power Axe.

Trini recalled her Power Daggers and drew her blaster. "Nice of you to finally pick us up!"

Kimberly fired an energy arrow from her Power Bow. "We were held up!"

"Traffic?" Trini replied, joining in the fray and firing off a blast to a quantron that managed to climb on the bumper.

"You can say that," Kimberly quipped.

Justin turned to Billy, who had combined his Power Lance together and was jabbing at quantrons with the Lance in one hand while firing off blasts with his blaster.

"You're the original Blue Ranger!" marvelled Justin.

Billy picked up on the young voice. "And you're--"

"Justin," the Blue Turbo Ranger replied defensively.

"Billy," the Blue Mighty Morphin Ranger nodded.

"So you guys had a flying car?!" exclaimed Justin.

"Yea--" began Billy.

"You told him about the car?!" Trini yelled.

"Yeah, and I told him that we also had mechs that turn into giant robots and he has a sentient car that hates me!" replied Zack.

"A flying car is still pretty rad!" Justin called from the front seat.

"That's what we called it," Billy replied. The RADBUG. Remote Activated Drivingzord for Basic Ultra Geomorphology. "

"Really?" Justin squeaked. "Coool!"

"Watch it!" Trini shrieked as the the Barillian Bug knocked  the Dragonzord to the ground, causing Storm Blaster to swerve to avoid hitting the Zord's chest plate as the Dragonzord scrambled to get up.

They were caught between the duelling giants and a mob of quantrons. The Rangers stared down the mob, weapons at ready stood ready, and Storm Blaster revved her engines.

"CHARGE!!"

***

Dragonzord was barely holding its own. It fired its finger rockets at the Barillian Bug, stunning it long enough to swipe at it with its drill tail, but it wasn't enough to finish the Bug off, and the beast countered with a combination that sent the Dragonzord sprawling into the city street, nearly demolishing a building.

Jason could see Storm Blaster from his vantage point high up a skyscraper blocks away from the fracas, charging at the pursuing mob of quantrons like a toy car mowing down a bucket of plastic soldier figurines.

He would need more firepower. He didn't know if it would work, but it would have to be worth the gamble.

He raised an arm to the sky, as if beseeching the heavens and called "I call on the power of Titanus!"

He hoped, waited, and prayed, and to his immense relief he saw the clouds darken, and a bolt of lightning produce the gargantuan, brachiosaur-like carrierzord roll down the street like a white dinosaur crossed with a tank, its massive back cannons pointed forward to aide the Dragonzord in vanquishing the enemy.

Back then, they had the Mega Dragonzord to combine with Titanus to form the Ultrazord, which was almost always enough to defeat any foe, but without the Dinozords, that formation was impossible. He would have to trust in the Zords to work together.

Jason played one last note on the Dragon Dagger, and the Dragonzord faced the Barillian Bug, and fired another round of finger rockets and a beam from its head fin. The attack stunned the Bug, and Titanus finished the monster off with a thunderous blast of its back cannons.

The Bug fell atop the mob of quantrons as Storm Blaster raced away, and with a great explosion, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Justin Stewart won the Battle of Angel Grove.

Chapter Text

Dark Fortress, Dark Side of the Moon, Space

Darkonda stood seething at the theater of war that played across his viewing screens.

The campaign for Triforia had been lost. Goldar and Rito Revolto had failed with Serpentera. Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa had retreated.

He had never even expected for Divatox to have a chance against the Aquitian Power Rangers, but he did expect his bomb to at least take them out and her along with it, saving him the trouble of having to eliminate her himself later on.

The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers had defeated his Barillian Bugs and the army of quantrons that he could spare for ground combat with the help of a Ranger that he didn't even know existed.

He had to recall the Velocifighters invading the Power Rangers' home of Angel Grove in order to bolster the Velocifighter fleet for the battle in orbit that had been dragging on for much longer than he anticipated.

He could order reinforcements from Dark Spectre for a larger scale invasion, but then the oversized buffoon would keep a much closer eye on him than he would like for his plans to work.

At least the Space Rangers were dead...not that it kept that insufferable wench from mocking him from her restraining slab.

"Oh, Darkonda..." Karone said with mock concern. "You were so confident before! What happened? Did your hair-brained scheme fail as it inevitably would?"

"Shut up!" snapped Darkonda, still glaring at the viewscreens. 

"What did you you expect when you gave weapons of mass destruction to incompetents like Divatox and Goldar?!" Karone berated. "Did you expect the Power Rangers to just sit there and take it lying down? To give up hope?"

Darkonda turned to her, seething with rage.

Karone looked right into his evil yellow eyes. "What you don't understand, and will never understand, is that the Rangers are hope. What you don't understand is that the Rangers will sacrifice themselves for hope. That is why I failed to defeat them, time after time! And that's why you will fail now!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Darkonda roared, delivering a sweeping backhand that stunned her and cut her lip open. She could taste blood.

He was about to strike her again when an alarm went off. The Dark Fortress was under attack.

"Aargh! That damn alarm!" growled Darkonda. "Computer! Shut off the alarm and show the surrounding view around the Fortress!"

The Fortress' A.I. complied and revealed the incoming threat.

Displayed on the screen was a silver and gold spaceship contrasted with the starry blackness of open space. The Mega Winger. It was Zhane! Karone gasped in a combination of surprise, relief, and then fear, knowing of the very real possibility of losing him all over again.

"Oh look at this! The boyfriend to the rescue!" Darkonda sneered. "Survived destruction only to die like a fool. Computer, focus the cannons on that Zord!"

The Mega Winger accelerated forward, only to turn off at the last second as a rocket trailing behind it struck the Dark Fortress' force shield!

"What?!" cried Darkonda.

Immediately afterwards, The Mega Winger shifted into Warrior Mode and fired its powerful Wing Blaster behind it, compounding the damage to the force shield.

"They survived?!" roared Darkonda as the Fortress shuddered with the impact.

[Danger! Shield integrity compromised! Reboot necessary!] the A.I. alarmed.

"Computer! Take us to the Dark Dimension and fix the shields there!" Darkonda ordered.

[Negative! Interdimensional travel is not advised with compromised shields!] the A.I. replied.

"Then fire the main cannon, full power!" snapped Darkonda.

[Negative! Charging the main cannon will divert power away from shield reboot. Not advised!] 

"ARRGH! YOU USELESS MACHINE!" shrieked Darkonda. "THEN FIRE THE SMALLER CANNONS AT THEM!!"

Karone had to grin. It was all falling apart for him. The Dark Fortress had powerful shields, but they were designed to protect against interdimensionsal travel, atmosphere reentry, short term skirmishes with fighters and smaller star destroyers. They weren't designed to sustain long term attacks by Zords or even dreadnoughts. 

The Mega Voyager stayed hidden, likely on the Earth's moon, probably charging for another rocket attack as Zhane maneuvered the Mega Winger around in Spaceship Mode, deftly avoiding cannonfire as it fired blasts of its own, keeping the shields busy.

"You seem so flustered, Darkonda!" Karone taunted. "What ever could be the matter?"

Darkonda wheeled around and materialized his sword and pressed the razor-sharp blade to her throat, the lightest touch of it drawing blood from her soft skin.

"I was going to kill you last, but I'd be just as happy finishing you off right now just to shut you up!" Darkonda hissed, his fetid breath stinging her eyes and fouling her lungs, causing her to gag.

"Do it!" Karone gasped through blazing eyes. "You've failed, Darkonda! I've seen enough to die happy!"

Darkonda grabbed her by the jaw and squeezed, puckering her lips together like a fish.

"I'd love to feel my blade pierce your soft pink flesh and watch you bleed out like a stuck pig as your eyes begged me for mercy..." hissed Darkonda. "But I that would not be as satisfying as watching someone so very close to you do the deed for me!"

Darkonda removed his sword from her throat with a flourish and punched a button on a computer panel near her restraining slab. 

A coffin-like rig then came out of a chamber in the wall from the other side of the room, and Karone gasped as she saw who was inside when the containment seal opened.

It was Ecliptor, just as Karone remembered. Yet something was different. He had silver, cybernetic attachments welded onto his green-gridded black exoskeleton, most likely to keep him under Darkonda's control.

With a hiss of vapor, Ecliptor stepped from his containment rig, his glowing red eyes locked on Karone.

With a gesture, Ecliptor's gridded broadsword materialized in his hands, and he began to stalk towards Karone, his sword dragging across the metal floor, kicking up sparks as he did so.

There was no use begging for her life, and she would not give Darkonda the pleasure.

She was sad not for herself, but that Ecliptor, an android programmed for evil--who'd become the only real father she ever knew-- would be the one to end her life, and there was nothing either could do about it.

All that Karone could hope for was that her newfound friends, her brother, and Zhane, sweet Zhane, could destroy this Fortress and everything in it. That they could free Ecliptor and end Darkonda's reign of terror when she could not.

She stared Ecliptor in his expressionless red eyes, and waited for the end.

Ecliptor raised his sword to deliver a killing blow, but he suddenly stopped, as if frozen.

"Astronema...must...obey...can not...no...must..." Ecliptor shook, and groaned, staring at his raised sword, as if willing it to move, but it would not.

"I MUST DESTROY!" Ecliptor roared, and he turned to the computer hub beside Karone's restraining slab and savagely plunged his sword into it. 

Sparks flew and smoke poured from the computer hub as Ecliptor thrashed about, an unholy roar of rage emanating from his vocabulator as he fought against his programming, destroying anything that he could to satisfy his artificial bloodlust.

Darkonda lunged and cleaved Ecliptor in half, from hip to shoulder, just as Karone's restraints snapped away, his upper body falling before her as she fell to her hands and knees.

Time seemed slowed as she stared up at Darkonda, the beast poised to deliver a killing blow to her.

She could feel her heartbeat pulsing in her temples, and hear every breath drag on for what felt like hours. One would expect their life to flash before their eyes in a moment like this, but instead a memory flashed in her mind, the moment so brief she had practically forgotten about it.

FLASH!

Karone was on the bridge of the Astro Megaship. The Dark Fortress was coming for them. A green light filled her vision. She was floating. She had said goodbye to her friends. To Zhane, her lover. With tears in her eyes she waited for the end. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a briefcase. Billy Cranston had left it there. Inexplicably, it called to her. 

She held her hand out to it, willing it to her. Before the green light overtook her, she could feel something in her palm. Her fingers closed around it...

FLASH!

With Darkonda's blade coming down just feet away from her head, Karone looked down at her hand.

The object in her hand was white, hexagonal. In the center was a gleaming gold coin. Her fingers could barely close around the rim of the device. It was strangely heavy and warm, like it contained an enormous energy.

Taking the Power Morpher in both hands, Karone held it in front of her like a shield, the words forming on her lips before they were even a thought in her mind.

"WHITE TIGER!"

Chapter Text

Dark Fortress, Dark Side of the Moon, Deep Space

As the Mega Winger harassed the Dark Fortress with its blasts in spaceship mode, the Fortress shot back with green beams that the Mega Winger had to bob and weave to evade.

<How close are you guys to charging that V3 Rocket?> Zhane demanded in a huff. <I'm being shot at up here!>

"In case you haven't noticed, we are getting shot at by the Dark Fortess too," Andros snapped as the Mega Voyager fired beams from cannons on its chest plate. "Firing our big guns take major energy and recharging them takes time!"

"Its just that we've never had to use them more than once a battle," TJ added. "Monsters usually don't have force shields."

<So I've noticed.> growled Zhane impatiently.

"Also, we're not, you know, halfway up the Dark Fortress' ass," Cassie interjected. "Are you trying to get hit?!"

<Sounds like you are.> retorted Zhane, a threat in his voice.

Cassie was just about to say something back when Andros cut her off.

"Enough! Look, just keep on pressing the shields! Take your anger out on that!" Andros ordered. "By the time the V3 Rocket recharges for another blast, we'll have weakened them enough to break through the shields!"

<And then I'm blowing that thing all to hell...> Zhane replied darkly.

***

A brilliant aura of light surrounded Karone, lifting her off the ground, the force of it pushing the bewildered Darkonda back, and the beast had to shield his eyes from it to avoid being blinded.

A pristine white bodysuit coated Karone's skin, and a black and gold armor formed around her shins, forearms, and chest. A golden belt wrapped around her waist. A short sword with a cat-like pummel formed in her hand, and she opened her eyes when her boots touched the floor of the ship, the heads-up-display of a helmet filling her vision.

She examined her new suit. It wasn't quite the black she was used to, but the white would have to do. Power she hadn't felt in weeks flowed through her, but instead of power fueled by evil and the desire to do evil, it was a righteous power, a power to protect. She needed this power: the power to be a bright light in the darkness.

Without taking her eyes off of Darkonda, Karone reached out and summoned Ecliptor's gridded broadsword from the ground to her open hand with her telekinesis.

As if on instinct, like she had practiced it a thousand times before, she brought cat-like pummel of the short sword up and pointed it at Darkonda.

Saba, the name formed in her mind. Saba's eyes glowed, and fired a beam at Darkonda, who barely brought his sword up in time to block the beam.

Using the distraction, Karone charged forward, aiming a slash with Ecliptor's sword at Darkonda.

Darkonda spun out of the way and aimed a slash at her, which she blocked with Ecliptor's sword.

She fired another beam from Saba at Darkonda, this one finding its mark and catching him on the shoulder.

He fell back, rolling, and sent a blast of red energy at her from his free hand, which she blocked by crossing the weapons together, pushing her backwards a bit.

The swords weren't the Wrath Staff she had been used to, but she'd certainly be happy to use them to hack the son of a bitch to peices.

"Look at this! My little girl, a Power Ranger!" Darkonda taunted.  

"What the hell do you mean, Darkonda?!" Karone demanded, her weapons poised for another attack.

Darkonda raised his defensively and curled his hand for a other blast of energy, his fingertips crackling with red electricity.

"Who do you think took you as a child, hmm?" Darkonda taunted. "Dark Spectre sure paid a hefty sum for you!"

"Liar!" Karone was about to spring with an offensive flurry, but a voice in the back of her head told her to Wait for an opening. Don't let your emotions rule you! Saba! The sword was sentient!

She listened to it.

"Why?" Karone asked, centering herself.

"Dark Spectre always conscripts a child of a planet he plans on conquering, corrupting them to evil so they can betray and destroy their own species! Hah ha ha!" Darkonda cackled. 

Karone flinched, her vision filling with red-hot anger. It was Darkonda who had taken her! Who ripped her away from her brother Andros, from her parents! It was Dark Spectre who lied to her and told her the Space Rangers of KO-35 had killed them, engaging them in a battle that killed every Ranger except for the Red and Silver Ranger...her brother...and Zhane.

Oh no. Oh no. She felt sick at the realization.

Steady, White Ranger. Focus, Saba reminded her.

"Did he take you, Darkonda?" Karone asked, stalling. "Is that why you have such delusions of grandeur?"

"My homeworld is Barillia, child," Darkonda replied, edging toward Karone, his sword pointed directly ahead. "And I've always been my own agent. No one else's!"

Karone poised for an attack in a warrior pose-style stance, Ecliptor's sword pointed forward in front of her, Saba pointed forward overhead.

"Maybe he never considered Barillia worth taking, hmm?" Karone sneered. "Nothing but filthy overgrown bugs...with you the most overgrown of all!"

"Feh!" Darkonda shot his red energy blast at her, and with a mental signal from Saba, Karone threw the sword through the blast wave towards the fiend, who sidestepped it and spun around with a slash of his sword.

Karone blocked the slash, and the force of his attack and the metal against metal vibrated through her body, but she would not give ground.

Darkonda growled in her face, and Karone was glad to be wearing a helmet to filter the smell. Sparks flew from the swords as the blades grinded against each other, an unstoppable force against an immovable object.

Over his shoulder, Saba rebounded back, arcing an eye blast to the back of Darkonda's head. The eye beams were enough to distract him, and Karone pushed him back into the path of the still-spinning Saba, which stuck in the back of Darkonda's head.

Pushing him back, Karone spun and cut Darkonda in half with Ecliptor's sword, and the halves crumpled to the ground, lifeless. 

The top half fell face-first, and Karone put her foot on the back of Darkonda's corpse, pulling Saba out of his skull like Excalibur from the stone.

Striding over to where Ecliptor's body lay, she drove his sword into the floor beside him, kneeling before him in remembrance.

She closed her eyes under the helmet and sighed, taking a moment of silence, a moment to collect her thoughts.

Her job was not over. The Fortress shook with repeated impacts as her friends continued to bombard the force shields, flickering the lights and worrying the A.I. system.

She stood up, glancing at Darkonda's lifeless body as she headed towards the exit of the interrogation chamber.

Time was of the essence. She knew Darkonda would not stay down for long: the villain had multiple lives, and if she wanted to finish him off for good before he could regenerate again, she'd have to hurry.

She was going to turn off the force shields of the Dark Fortress. She punched the door button and headed towards the bridge.

Chapter Text

Dark Fortress, Dark Side of the Moon, Deep Space.

Karone raced through the twisting corridors of the Dark Fortress, its foundation shaking and lights flickering as the ship's A.I. fought to maintain shield integrity and a constant barrage of fire at the attacking Space Rangers.

Anybody else would probably get lost and get blown up by the time they reached the bridge from the Interrogation Chamber, but having spent almost a decade and a half living in this place, Karone knew all the shortcuts to get where she needed to go.

Curiously, it was empty. No patrolling quantrons. Nobody. It literally had been her, Darkonda, and the deactivated Ecliptor the entire time. Darkonda must have pooled all of resources to the invasion of Earth.

He must have been so confident that he would win, that he would kill her...he nearly did. If it wasn't for Ecliptor's compassion for her...compassion that even reprogramming couldn't erase...

Karone tapped into the suit's teleportation ability to accelerate to the bridge. She was going to blow this thing all to hell. To finish off Darkonda for good.

She was going to give Ecliptor the peace he deserved, despite the many terrible things he did in service to Dark Spectre, for she was guilty of a multitude of crimes herself as Astronema. He was the only father, the only protector she ever knew. Despite being an artificial being, he loved her just as any organic being could, and she loved him. 

"Computer, deactivate shields!" Karone demanded when she entered the bridge.

[Negative. Deactivating the shields would compromise the Dark Fortress and surely lead to its destruction] the A.I. replied.

"Computer, master override protocol. User Astronema. Code 1-9-9-8," Karone pressed.

[Negative. User Astronema, Code 1-9-9-8, is not authorized] countered the A.I.

"On whose authority?!" Karone shrieked, slipping effortlessly into her Astronema persona, stamping her feet for good measure. "I am the Princess of Evil and I demand you turn off the shields NOW!!!"

[Negative. Only User Darkonda is authorized to deactivate shields.] deflected the A.I.

"User Darkonda is dead, Computer," Karone snapped. "All your masters are dead and gone. Except for me. Now do what I told you or I'll reprogram you."

[Access denied. User Astronema is no longer authorized access to the Dark Fortress systems.]  the A.I. retorted. [Please leave immediately or you will be escorted out. Thank you for your cooperation.]

Karone chuckled darkly. The computer was threatening her with quantrons the ship didn't have.

She took out Saba. "You know, I tried to do this the easy way, but you had to go and piss me off."

She poised to release the sword. "Now you have Saba to answer to."

[Negative. A User 'Saba' is not recognized] the A.I. replied, almost mocking her.

"Recognize THIS!!!" Karone roared, and she threw Saba into the main bridge computer, sending up sparks as it sliced through into her open hand where she caught it. She twirled the blade in her hand and threw it in an arc, and it spun around the bridge, destroying everything in its path.

The A.I. protested, but Karone ignored it and continued to trash the bridge until she was surrounded by smoke, fire, and wreckage. It was cathartic to destroy the symbol of her lost childhood from the inside out, and almost more importantly, shut that damn computer up.

Or so she thought.

[DANGER! BZZT! DANGER!] The Fortress' alarms blared, flashing red as the A.I.'s voice cut above the din, intercut with static.    [INTERNAL SYSTEMS COMPROMISED! SELF DESTRUCT INITIATED! BZZT!]

"Shit."

***

"We got a hit!" cheered Carlos as the Mega Voyager's beams hit paydirt in conjunction with Zhane's Mega Winger blasts. In addition to the outside damage, the Fortress crackled with electricity as its internal systems failed. The Space Rangers were determined to take advantage.

<I'm switching to Megazord mode now!> Zhane announced. <Do you have enough power for a V3 Rocket attack?> 

"One hundred percent," TJ replied. "Ready for another double whammy, bro?"

<Double whammy?> asked Zhane.

"Space--" Ashley began.

"I know! 'Space human!'" laughed TJ. "We have the V3 Rocket ready for launch if you have the Wing Blaster ready!"

<Oh, right! The combination attack!> Zhane realized. <Wing Blaster ready. Let's send this piece of junk to the scrap heap!>

"Initiating V3 Rocket in three, two, one!" called TJ.

"FIRE!!" roared Andros, and TJ punched the launch button, and the V3 Rocket once again hurdled toward the Dark Fortress with destructive intent.

The V3 Rocket hit its mark, exploding a section from the hull of the dying leviathan. The Mega Winger raised its great Wing Blaster and Zhane took aim.

"This one's for you, Karone," he said, and he fired.

***

Karone stumbled among the wreckage of the bridge as the Megazords struck the death blow of the Dark Fortress. The Fortress would lose propulsion soon, and she would have to leave before it crashed into the Earth's moon.

She prepared to teleport, but a feeling pulled at her awareness. Inexorably, she went to the source of it, turning the corner to an innocuous corridor with a closed chamber. She stabbed Saba into the console and the chamber doors screeched open with a rush of smoke and flashing emergency lights.

She looked around and gasped. It was Zordon.

"Zordon!" Karone cried, dashing towards the wizard's containment tube.

*KARONE, THE DARK FORTRESS HAS LITTLE TIME LEFT* Zordon demanded. *YOU MUST LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!*

Like his counterpart Dark Spectre, Zordon's voice seemed to permeate everything, like she could hear it from outside and within. But unlike Dark Spectre, his voice radiated hope and wisdom, rather than dread and malice. Zordon's voice compelled, made you want to follow, because you felt it was right.

But not in this case. She couldn't leave him.

"No, Zordon!" Karone disagreed looking everywhere for a release mechanism. "I can't leave you! Not after everything I had done to put you here!"

*YOU HAVE DONE MUCH TO UNDO YOUR PREVIOUS ACTIONS AND HAVE PROVEN YOURSELF WORTHY OF THE WHITE RANGER POWERS.* Zordon replied. *FURTHERMORE, MY DEATH WILL SPELL THE END OF DARK SPECTRE'S REIGN OF TERROR.*

Karone shook her head. "No. There must be something I can do!"

*YOU CAN LEAVE SAFELY AND REUNITE WITH YOUR FRIENDS!* Zordon said warmly. *MOURN NOT FOR ME, FOR I WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU. I PASS ON TO YOU AND YOUR FELLOW RANGERS GUARDIANSHIP OF THE MORPHIN GRID.*

Karone nodded and steeled herself, placing her hands on her golden belt buckle, preparing to teleport.

*MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU, NOW AND FOREVER.* Were Zordon's last words, Karone nodded goodbye as fire and unrestrained energy filled the Fortress and consumed the Wizard of Eltar.

The Dark Fortress crashed into the Earth's moon and exploded into a fireball and blaze of energy that could be seen all the way from the Earth itself. 

What could not be seen from Earth, however, was the streak of white light that raced away from the inferno and toward the planet.

Chapter Text

The destruction of the Dark Fortress sent a shockwave through the solar system, activating a killswitch within the quantrons, shutting them down immediately. 

Above the Earth, the velocifighters fighting the KO-35 Rebels fell as if a light was switched off, and fell to the planet like meteors. Only one remained in orbit: that of their commander, Elgar. He quickly surrendered.

And on the Earth itself, Jason, the Red Mighty Morphin Ranger, sat the roof of the sentient car Storm Blaster as his teammates celebrated with the citizens of Angel Grove, who, as it turned out, had a hand in defeating the invading quantrons as they defended their homes and fellow citizens, and if one Professor Phenomenus was to believed, their anuses, from certain destruction.

Jason was proud of them, especially his old classmates, Bulk and Skull, who rallied the citizens together in the first place. They were a far cry from the bullies and punks they used to be. Sure, they were hanging around kooks like Phenomenus, but at least they weren't stuffing kids into lockers any more. 

The citizens cheered when the Space Rangers came on their Galaxy Gliders, followed by the KO-35 Rebels as the sky streaked with the wreckage of the Velocifighters like a meteor shower. They not only survived, but they had won.

They had all won, but with a price. A transmission from Tommy on the planet of Triforia told them of the loss of Trey. As Trey's one time successor as the Gold Zeo Ranger, it hit him hard. Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa had escaped. Tommy and the other Zeo Rangers intended to find them.

Billy had also received word from his new home of Aquitar that Tideus and Cestro were lost, though the pirate Divatox was in custody. He supposed that her capture was a silver lining--Jason hadn't forgotten about he and Kimberly being kidnapped and mind-controlled by her.

And then there was this feeling, like a sudden sadness, a cold chill in the air. It passed as quickly as it came, and then he felt a sense of hope and purpose. Perhaps he was lamenting on the loss of life, the destruction the day had wrought.

Perhaps it was the fewer ships and KO-35 Rebels than he remembered, the fact that the Space Rangers had lost Karone and Alpha Six in the explosion that destroyed the Astro Megaship.

Still, his heart was full as he welcomed them, as they shared in the collective celebration of life and victory.

"I'm glad to see you guys made it," Jason told Andros and Zhane as the other Space Rangers reunited with their old Turbo Ranger teammate Justin.

"Thank you," Andros replied. He gestured to the KO-35 Rebels mingling with the citizens of Angel Grove. "On behalf my Rangers, and my people, it was an honor."

Jason nodded. He sighed. "I'm sorry for--"

"Tommy?" Kimberly exclaimed as Karone's form materialized a few yards away from them, cutting Jason off.

The Space Rangers turned around.

"Well, I'll be," muttered Billy, the smile evident in his voice.

Karone took her helmet off and tossed her hair.

Zhane stepped forward slowly like a sleepwalker and quickly pulled off his helmet, as if there was something wrong with the visor and he had to see with his own naked eye.

"Karone?" he asked, daring himself to believe his eyes.

She nodded, tears of joy welling in her eyes.

Their helmets clattered to the ground as they ran toward each other with abandon, meeting each other halfway, colliding in a deep embrace for a tearful, joyous kiss as the crowd cheered in celebration.

Zack looked at Jason. "I don't think they're supposed to reveal their secret identities?..."

Jason chuckled. "I don't think they care!"

They didn't. Their only thoughts were of each other. They ignored the roar of the crowd, only focusing on each other's breathing, the smack of their lips, the warmth of their touch.

"Hey," marvelled Zhane.

Karone smiled. "Hey."

Andros stepped gingerly toward them, unwilling to interrupt them, but eager to reunite with his sister again. "Hey..."

Karone smiled and rushed forward to give him a tight hug. "Andros!"

Andros squeezed her tight and then stepped back to get a better look at her.

"You're a Power Ranger now!" Andros chuckled. " You got the Ranger team wrong, though!"

"There's only six slots, right?" Karone laughed, gesturing to Zhane and the five multi-colored squares on the Space Rangers' uniform. 

"I think you wore the Mighty Morphin uniform well," Jason said, offering his hand for her to shake as the other Mighty Morphin Rangers followed. "Can we count on you again or...?"

Karone shook his hand and considered. "Well...white's not really my color but...I'll be there. Any time you need me. For Zordon."

"Zordon?" Zack asked. The other Space Rangers and Justin joined them.

Karone took a deep breath. "I saw him. He was on the Dark Fortress. He--"

"You were on the Fortress?!" Zhane exclaimed. "Oh my--"

"Don't beat yourself up," Karone took his hand.  "It's a long story...I faced Darkonda and the Morpher called to me--"

"It called to you?" Zack asked incredulously. 

"Darkonda had Zordon," Karone continued. "I felt him ...he was caught in the destruction of the Dark Fortress. He told me to go. Save myself."

A hush fell as the Rangers absorbed her words.

"Zordon is dead?" Trini cried, disbelieving. "But then that means--"

"Zordon was connected through the Morphin Grid to Dark Spectre," Karone explained. "His death means the end of Dark Spectre. His last act was to entrust us with the protection of the Morphin Grid."

She looked everyone in the eye, last looking into Zhane's. She then took both of his hands in her's. "Now...I have a second chance to make up for the terrible things I did in the past. I intend to stay true to Zordon."

Zhane smiled. Andros put a hand on her armored shoulder.

"They'll always be some bad guy out there. There always is," Zack agreed.

"Another would-be conqueror," TJ added.

"And we'll always be there to stop them. As Power Rangers," Jason agreed. He put his fist out.

The other Rangers, Space and Mighty Morphin joined him in a circle, pointing their fists towards him.

"RANGERS TOGETHER! RANGERS FOREVER!

Chapter Text

Senturia

They had spread over Senturia like a plague. King Mondo. Queen Machina. The Machine Empire. Hundreds of millions of their mindless, soulless Cogs.

He, the Senturian military force, and the champion of Senturia himself, the Blue Senturian, had fought valiantly, but could not win against the full, unbridled might of the Empire.

He, the Phantom Ranger, had only survived due to his invisibility, his ability to fool even the most advanced biometric scanners.

But he was alone, and clinging to life. And asking himself the same questions. Where were the other Power Rangers? Did they win? Were they alive? Did they care if he was alive?

As day turned to night during what must have been an eternity when the Empire moved on, The Phantom Ranger stared into oblivion.

Suddenly, as if a hole in the fabric of reality had torn asunder, a light appeared and expanded.

Was he hallucinating? Was it the embodiment of Death coming to claim him?

No. Instead a menagerie of Power Rangers stepped from the portal.

Two were Red Rangers, one male, one female.

The male Red Ranger wore a black and silver helmet with a large downward-facing red arrow on it, and a matching shape on the chest, bordered by white. He had silver gauntlets with complex controls on them. 

The female wore a uniform like a martial arts warrior, with a red tunic over black leggings and red boots, white gloves, and a white-lined black Japanese kanji on the face of her red helmet.

"Look at you, Phantom Ranger," the mysterious male Red Ranger said. "Alone and forgotten."

Behind them, a female Pink Ranger, with the helmet of a wildcat, with a black zigzag symbol across a white chest. She had a sword at her belt, and carried the Wrath Staff of Astronema in her hands.

They were joined, strangely, by a pair of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, again one male, one female, the Green Dragon Ranger and the Yellow Ranger.

The female Yellow Ranger knelt down next to him and took his hand. She wore the uniform of the Yellow Mighty Morphin Ranger, but it was armored, with a golden emblem on the chest, a bear instead of the saber-toothed tiger.

"You are forgotten no longer, brother Ranger," she said to him.

"Who are you?" sputtered the Phantom Ranger.

The male Red Ranger offered his hand. "My name is Alex Drake. Meet Aisha Campbell, Tom Oliver, Lauren Shiba, and Karone. We are The Rangers Eternal. Join us, and you'll never be forgotten again."