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Chapter Text

The sky burned red and the oceans boiled. The invasion was fast and brutal, devastating the planet and leaving the civilians panicked and hopeless as their world collapsed around them.

Billy Cranston looked past the panicked mob around him and towards the massive warship. His hands pulled tightly into fists.

Aquatar, a place that had become his home, was burning to ash.

Billy looked towards his assistant, a young Aquitian female with a bald head and purple eyes.

"The morphers are ready," he breathed softly.

"That's great!" She exclaimed. "We need to get them to Earth immediately. Tommy Oliver already has the candidates ready."

"I'm sorry Thetis," Billy said. "But you're going alone."

He looked down at his Power Morpher and felt a shiver creep down his spine.

Her frontal cartilage turned a dark violent. "What are you saying? You have to come with me! The Galactic Alliance needs you." She grabbed hold of his hand desperately. "Nobody knows the morphing grid like you do."

Billy shook her hand away. "I've taught you everything I could. It'll be up to you to see the rest of the project through."

The Aquitian looked up at her mentor with a shocked and quickly saddening expression. Billy just smiled as he reached into his coat pocket and turned to Thetis. "These are Hagonni flower seeds," he explained. "When you get to Earth I have a special place I want you to plant them." He placed the cloth bag into her hand. "Any of my old friends will know where."

Thetis nodded numbly, then just stared at Billy for several seconds.

"Go to the ship," Billy said coldly. "You've gotta get off-world while there's still time." His grip on the morpher tightened. "But for me... It's Morphin Time…"

In a flash, the Blue Ranger appeared and charged towards the army.
***

Reese hit the ground running. His rubber soles smacked the rooftop as he continued the chase.

The other man in the red hoodie looked back for a brief moment before pumping his legs even harder and jumping off the rooftop onto the next.

"It's always hard to get," Reese said with a smirk and followed suit. He lunged forward, clearing the six-foot gap between the buildings easily before meeting his target where he stood trapped on the last building.

Reese took a second to savor the moment before pulling his fist back and throwing it at the man.

The man dodged the punch and kicked Reese in the ribs, causing him to buckle to the ground.

"Gotta try harder than that," the man in the hoodie said with a smile.

Then in a puff of smoke, a girl with long brown hair appeared behind the man in the hoodie and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Got you," she said with a triumphant expression.

"That's no fair Camryn," Reese muttered from the ground. "You used your ninja skills."

The man in the hoodie laughed. "Never said that wasn't allowed."

"You're just mad you couldn't catch him," Camryn said and wrapped her arm around the man.

"I would've had him if he hadn't bruised my ribs," Reese groaned.

"Hey don't stress it," The man said. "You'll be good as new in a few days."

"You say that now," a voice echoed around the three.

Reese quickly stood up and regrouped with the others, ignoring the pain in his side as the figure materialized in a bolt of red lightning.

"But you won't be very good when I'm done with you!" Lord Zedd howled as a posse of putty patrollers appeared alongside him.

"You guys take those dancing freaks," the man in the red hoodie said as he turned away from the strange stony automations. "I'll get Zedd."

"Right," Camryn said and sprang into action. Performing a combo of kicks and punches that seemed relatively effective against the warbling masses

Reese joined her, ducking under a swinging hand before landing his fist under its chin, uppercutting it backward.

Meanwhile, the man in red dodged Zedd's lightning and spin kicked the warlord back.

Zed growled in frustration and swung his Z-Staff like a battle-ax. But the man jumped back as his body began to glow in a halo of crimson energy.

He lunged forward and punched Lord Zedd in the face. The warlord stumbled backward and as his foot met empty air and he began to tumble backward.

Lord Zedd merely laughed and used the opportunity to grab the man by the arm, attempting to use the leverage to toss them both off the building.

"Ace!" Reese exclaimed and rushed to the man's aid.

But a stray Putty used the opportunity to knock him upside the head and send Reese back to the ground.

"You idiot!" Camryn exclaimed before all the remaining putties surged towards her.

Reese watched helplessly as Ace and Zedd fell from the roof, and Camryn was swallowed by the mass of twitching bodies.

"Alright, that's enough." The voice boomed and everything was enveloped in light.

The world melted away, leaving the three sprawled out on the ground.

Tommy Oliver sighed. "Everybody rest up, we'll try it again tomorrow."

Ace dusted himself off. "I'm sorry sir, I should've been stronger."

"Strength had nothing to do with it," Tommy said. "That Simudeck projection of Zedd was barely even a tenth of his real strength. The test was to see how well the three of you could work together."

"Then why did you tell the others to chase me?"

"Because you're the best," Tommy said plainly. "But the objective wasn't to become their opponent, it was to become their teacher."

Tommy then turned around and walked away.

"That was a little harsh," Reese said as he stepped up to Ace.

"Doesn't mean he's wrong," Ace muttered with a frown.

"Oh relax," Camryn said. "He's probably just grumpy about something else. You remember how he got when I asked him about Commander Hillard."

"Dude he made us run like six miles," Ace said with a slight grin.

"See?" Camryn asked. "Don't sweat it. Just come chill at Ernie's with us for a bit."

"Okay," Ace said. Then he looked at Reese and smiled. "Sure."

The Ernie's Brain Freeze and Juice Bar of Angel Grove was the largest in the nation. It had started as a simple juice bar and youth center and before evolving into a staple of nearly every suburban town.

Ace had loved it there ever since his first time as seeing it as a kid. Back then his brother and him practically lived there. Even when their foster parents changed the Juice Bar had remained a sort of home for them, a place where they could belong.

Because of that, it remained a pivotal part of his daily routine and after he'd been acquainted with Camryn and Reese it had become their go-to spot as well.

"I don't know," Reese said as he took a sip of his veggie blend juice. "I just feel like Tommy was being rough on you."

"I don't know," Ace lied, "I just don't see it."

He took a sip of his pomegranate drink and swallowed the rising guilt. In truth, he knew that Tommy had been singling him out since the very beginning. Since before the training, since even before the recruitment. Tommy had been there, watching Ace from a distance.

And it took him years to figure out why…

"One day the world will be in danger again," Tommy had explained to Ace the night that he showed up to Ace's apartment. "We need to be ready."

That was the day he asked Ace to join Hexagon.

To save the world…

"How did I know I'd find you here?" Gia Moran asked as she sat down at their table.

"I don't know," Camryn said with a smirk. "Maybe you're psychic."

"I am and you should be ashamed," Gia said with a wink.

Camryn chuckled as her face flushed red. It was an unstated fact that Camryn had a crush on the former Ranger. When Gia had been chosen to be their unofficial ambassador/mentor Reese and Ace had joked endlessly about Camryn's sudden luck.

Even Gia decided to playfully lean into the teasing. Partially, Ace figured, because she was trying to get in with their group, and partially because she enjoyed the attention.

"I heard Tommy was kinda rough this morning," Gia said.

"Who told you that?" Ace asked.

"Camryn's Twitter."

"Dude, what we're doing is beyond top secret," Ace said.

"Dude joining Hexagon has revolutionized my social media presence," Camryn plied. "Plus I know nobody cares because Wes likes all my tweets."

Gia's phone buzzed and she frowned as she checked the notification. "I'd get your next round of drinks to go," Gia said darkly. "Tommy said we're having an emergency meeting in an hour."

The rather large conference room felt weirdly claustrophobic as everyone crowded around Tommy Oliver and his assistant Hayley Ziktor.

"So here's everything we know," Tommy said after a heavy sigh. "Aquatar was invaded by a still unknown force. The entire planet was lost and the few that managed to survive went to KO-35 for the time being."

Disbelief and fear covered the faces of everyone in the meeting. There hadn't been anything more than a few pirate rings to disband since the Armada fell a decade ago.

Everyone had secretly fallen into the belief that the war was finally over, and true peace was on the horizon.

And in mere moments that illusion was shattered, leaving the crew silent.

Justin Stwart, Hayley Ziktor's apprentice, was the first to speak up after Tommy dropped the news.

"Did the morphers make it off the planet though?" He asked.

Tommy nodded, "Billy made sure that they did. Though I'm told he's currently MIA. His assistant is on route to Earth as we speak."

More silence followed Tommy's words.

"Who could've done this though?" Gia asked.

"We don't know," Tommy admitted. Then the center of the table began to project shaky footage of the ship as it appeared over the sky of Aquatar.

"Hey, I know that ship!" A voice that virtually none of them expected to hear, say those words spoke up excitedly. All eyes fell on Camryn as she continued.

"It's a Lairship," she concluded.

"Uhhh excuse me?" Eric Myers asked with a raised eyebrow from the other end of the table.

She sighed, "Like Lothor used?"

Everyone just nodded numbly.

"Let me guess," Camryn said with a frown. "He's not in your system."

"He's in the backlog somewhere," Justin said. "I saw him when I reorganized it."

"Okay whatever," Camryn snapped, "Point is we know that isn't his ship because it got destroyed. But we know that Lairships are mass-produced for bounty hunters and wannabe conquerors."

"So that might mean that we aren't dealing with a larger threat," Justin suggested.

"What kinda bounty hunter has the resources to destroy a planet?" Eric retorted.

"So what you're saying," Gia said before the silence could settle. "Is that we're just as much in the dark as we were before the meeting."

"What I'm saying is that something is coming," Tommy replied. "Ace, Reese, and Camryn. As soon as the ship arrives here from Aquatar you're officially promoted to active status."

"Woah…" Reese muttered with a smile. "I mean… don't get me wrong I know that's not a good thing. But I never really thought it would happen. Or if it did not so soon."

"So what time are they supposed to arrive?" Gia asked.

"A few hours," Tommy replied. "Which is fortunate because it gives us time to prepare for a potential attack on Ear-" Tommy Oliver was then ironically interrupted by a barrage of sirens.

Everyone looked amongst themselves in panic. The alarm had only ever sounded during drills previously.

While everyone else was in a fluster Hayley took charge of the holo-table. Rerouting it to funnel all available information.

"The attack is here," she breathed. "We have clusters of assailants in nearly every wing."

If there was ever a time for people to be thankful that Hexagon employed so many past Rangers it would be that exact moment. Eric Myers, T.J Johnson, Dana Mitchell, Gia Moran, and Justin Stewart all sprang up immediately.

"Those are Krybots," Gia said. "They're Troobian."

"But we're galaxies apart from the nearest Troobian settlement," Justin said.

"Do we really have time to question that?" Tommy asked. "Everyone morph and split up. We don't know what they're after but we need to make sure they don't get it."

The Rangers all filed out, leaving Tommy, Hayley, and a handful of assistants and other employees.

"What about us?" Ace asked with Reese and Camryn beside him.

Tommy sighed, "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this," he said. "But there are one-time use prototype morphers in the south lab. We just have to get there."

"How hard is that gonna be?" Camryn asked.

"There doesn't appear to be any Krybots in between here and there," Hayley observed.

"So we gotta move fast," Ace said. "Got it!"

Tommy led the three out of the Command Chamber and into down the brightly lit hall. The alarms continued as all of the unarmed employees fled to safety.

Meanwhile, the four headed right into the thick of it.

Ace could feel the excitement pumping adrenaline through his blood. He was terrified but he never felt more alive.

The group turned down several more halls that were thankfully empty. Each one bringing them closer to the lab.

But then Hayley's voice came through the coms with a panicked tone.

"I'm detecting a strange energy reading down the hall… but the cameras aren't working."

"We'll be careful," Tommy said darkly as they turned down the next hall.

And met the person standing in their way.

"She doesn't look that tough," Camryn muttered as she sized up the blonde-haired girl who stood alone. She was dressed in a black skin-tight suit with metal armor on top of it.

"I love when people say that about me," the girl said with a smirk. "It makes destroying them that much more satisfying."

"Who are you?" Ace asked. "And how did you get in here?"

"I'm not dumb enough to answer the second question, but I suppose you have a right to know who's going to crush your skulls."

"I'm Galaxia," the girl said as her body began to glow with purple energy. "Servant of Dark Infinus."

Her body then exploded with color, transforming her into something that Ace had seen in enough Ranger textbooks to feel a shiver of panic.

Her armor was nearly identical to a Psycho Ranger, only purple. Her voice took on a synthetic tone as she laughed and drew her weapon, a staff made of twisted black metal.

She pointed the staff and it barfed a violet light that would've vaporized the group had they not jumped away from it.

Tommy rolled into a defensive stance and drew his Master Morpher. "Dino Thunder, Power Up!" In a flash, Tommy became the Black Dino Ranger and raised his Brancho Staff. He charged the villain and she parried his attacks with her staff.

"Go!" He howled.

Camryn and Reese gave him a confused look, but Ace took the cue and charged forward. Thankfully his team followed suit, sneaking past the two armored warriors as they dueled.

"Today can't get any weirder," Reese muttered.

"When you say it like that it sounds like a challenge," Camryn replied as they finally reached the lab.

The trio stepped inside and found it relatively unaffected by the chaos around it. With not even any delicate equipment being harmed.

"Well, whatever they wanted wasn't here," Reese muttered.

"Or they haven't gotten this far yet," Ace replied.

"So what do we do now?" Camryn asked.

It was a fair question, but thankfully Ace had the answer. His eyes scanned the room, looking for the small safe that had been described to him in the past. Ace swallowed the panic that was making it impossible for his eyes to focus. He knew time was quickly dissolving and it was only a matter of moments before something happened.

"We find the morphers and we save Tommy," Ace muttered as he continued searching.

"I wouldn't worry about Tommy," the digitized voice said mockingly as she entered the room.

The three took defensive stances as the purple warrior stalked closer. But thankfully Ace's eyes fell on the inconspicuous metal safe next to one of the work tables. It even had a half-drunken soda resting on top of it as if it were just a small table.

"So uh Dark Infinus," Reese said. "Seems like a pretty interesting guy."

"Dark Infinus single-handedly reunited the Alliance of Evil. He will conquer the entire universe."

Ace realized what Reese was doing and hoped it would work for as long as he needed it to.

"I'm not entirely convinced," Reese said. "I've seen like a dozen warlords from space come to Earth thinking that they're the next Monarch of Evil. Then they get shot down by another team of Rangers."

"Dark Infinus is no petty warlord," the purple psycho wannabe said as her staff began to glow with raw energy.

You're supposed to distract her, Ace's thoughts screamed as he punched the numbers into the safe's pin pad. Not coax her into murdering us faster.

She pointed her glowing weapon at Reese as purple arced from its tip. "All those who refuse to bow to my master will be reduced to ash."

The realization of his actions hit Reese several moments too late. His eyes widened as he stared at the powerful weapon. A preverbal loaded shotgun.

Pointed between his eyes.

But before the enemy could obliterate him in a bright explosion of magical energy, sparks flew from the psycho's back and she fell forward.

Revealing the Yellow Megaforce Ranger with her claw weapon in hand.

"Sorry I'm late," Gia Moran said from under her tiger inspired helmet.

"Better late than never," Reese said.

The victory was short-lived as the warrior quickly recovered from Gia's attack and swung her staff into the Yellow Ranger's chest. Sparks rained from Gia and she fell against the wall as the purple warrior moved in for another attack.

Meanwhile, Ace stuck his hand in the safe and felt his fingers curl around the cold metal. He drew the first morpher and marveled at it. The design was crude and resembled a wirst version of the original Power Morphers. The coins that rested inside were blanks, simple mockups that were designed to disintegrate after a single-use.

Gia was still distracting the purple villain, the two morphed warriors danced around each other, swinging and parrying. So far Gia was holding her at bay, but if Psycho could get past Tommy Ace suspected it the situation wouldn't last.

Ace tossed the morphers to Reese and Camryn who followed suit alongside Ace as they strapped them on.

The enemy jabbed the staff into Gia's chest and unleashed enough raw purple energy to send it arcing across Gia's armor alongside a massive wave of sparks.

Thankfully the three stood together and clasped their left hands over their morphers. "It's Morphin Time!"

The Psycho turned away from the fallen Mega Ranger and uttered a synthetic growl as the world around Ace erupted into a galaxy of crimson light.

It had started with a vortex of energy that erupted from the pseudo coins, turning them to colorful dust as the power wrapped itself around the three Rangers.

For a moment the world ceased to exist around Ace, revealing an endless expanse of darkness.

In the darkness, for only a fractal of a second, Ace saw red eyes pierce the darkness.

And a voice, practically a whisper, said, "Your fate has been sealed."

Then the world returned to Ace and he looked down at his hands. His gloved hands.

During the training process, they had been shown a mock-up of the suits they would potentially use. They were fairly basic, almost entirely their primary color, a shimmering metallic tone that evolved from the metallic armor of the original Power Rangers. Along their right side was a shimmering galaxy design that formed a lighting bolt that extended to the center of their chests. Their helmets had a curved visor and a flat metal mouthpiece. On their belts was a buckle reminiscent of a power morpher, though the morpher sat with an empty hexagon-shaped slot.

The Black Ranger, Reese, raised his twin hatchets, and Camryn as the Blue Ranger armed her staff. Meanwhile Ace drew his two-handed broadsword, holding it close to his chest as he put one foot in front of the other.

"Go!" He commanded his squad and sprang into action.

The power of the grid propelled him forward as he drew his sword back and rapidly approached the enemy. Unfortunately, the Psycho Ranger saw it coming and when Ace swung downward she parried easily with her staff.

"Cute suits," She muttered, "Maybe I'll feel bad about tearing them to pieces." She used the leverage of her staff to throw Ace back then pulled it back in an attempt to stab it through his chest. Thankfully the suit provided him with reflexes sharp enough to turn mid-air and the staff missed him by mere inches.

Unfortunately, the maneuver put him in the perfect position to get swatted out of the air. The staff slapped his chest and knocked the air out of his lungs as he hit the wall and slid next to the Yellow Megaforce Ranger.

But before the purple warrior could take advantage of the Red Ranger's situation a hatchet flew through the air and struck her in the shoulder. She turned towards where the weapon had lodged itself in her armor as the Black and Blue Rangers dashed towards her.

The Psycho Ranger parried the staff with a vertical swing as well, which put her at the perfect angle to shoot a bolt of purple lightning that struck the Black Ranger in the chest. Then while Camryn turned towards the Black Ranger the Psycho Ranger kicked the Blue Ranger back as well.

Meanwhile Ace turned to Gia, who was crawling to her feet.

"We move together," the Yellow Ranger breathed. "I go low you go high."

Ace nodded.

The two Rangers rushed the Psycho. Gia swung her clawed weapon but Galaxia raised her staff in retaliation.

Fortunately, that was what Gia wanted. With the weapon between Gia's metal claws, she twisted the staff out of the villain's hand.

Giving Ace the perfect opportunity to jump clear over the enemy's head and land behind her, swinging his sword diagonally across her back.

The Psycho recovered from the attack but quickly realized she was surrounded by the four Rangers.

She scuffed and threw hands forward, ejecting a wave of energy that threw the Rangers away before teleporting away in a bright purple light.

Her desperate attack was strong enough to finally knock the three Rangers from their armor, though Gia's form proved strong enough to withstand the damage.

The three unmorphed Rangers struggled to stand, but the strain on their bodies proved to be too much, and they all fell back to the ground.

"Just stay here," Gia said before leaving to aid the other Rangers elsewhere. "Not that you have much of a choice."

Reese then looked at Ace, sweat pouring down his face. "How did you decide what morphers to hand us?"

Ace just laughed, "I didn't think about it."

Camryn laughed back, "At least I look good in blue."

It didn't take much longer for the other Rangers to defeat the Krybots, and they even managed it with little damage being done to the base.

Still, everyone was tired and shaken. Especially Tommy who had underestimated Galaxia and paid the price.

"We're still trying to figure out how they got here," Hayley explained. "But those Krybots had to have been previously planted here."

"How?" Gia asked. "Security is airtight."

"Smells like a rat," Eric replied dryly.

"Nevertheless," Tommy continued. "Thankfully we were able to stop them."

"While I agree," T.J said. "We still don't know who attacked or even why."

"Isn't it obvious?" Tommy asked. "They were trying to destabilize us before their ship arrived."

"That… doesn't sound right to me," Gia said with a frown. "I mean don't get me wrong, we have every reason to assume whoever attacked us was working with whoever attacked Aquatar. But something about the attack just seemed off. Why would a force with enough power to devastate Aquatar plan such a guerilla attack?"

"And stranger still, the reports from the ship on route from Aquatar said that they don't believe the Lairship has even left Aquatar," Hayley said.

"Uh, hey guys," Justin said. "Not to interrupt the banter but our satellites are picking up an energy signature and it's… uh…. Big."

Hayley instantly sprang into action and tapped a few keys to project the satellite feed onto the holo-table.

The room became seemingly electrified as the projection materialized in front of their eyes. A massive circular structure that everyone in the room instantly recognized.

"How'd we miss that thing coming?" Gia asked.

"It must've teleported in while we were fighting the Krybots," Justin said darkly.

For several tense moments nobody spoke, instead, they all gawked with horrified eyes as they watched the Dark Fortress loom over the planet.

Chapter Text

The air in the Command Room was so thick even Ace's new sword would have trouble cutting through it. All eyes were anxiously glued to the Dark Fortress. They knew that it wasn't the same Dark Fortress that had been used by the last United Alliance of Evil, that one had been commandeered by Andros and then dismantled for resources.
But that remained the only information they had about the craft. They had no idea who owned it, how it got to Earth, or what its purpose was.
"Has anyone heard from Andros?" Dana Mitchell spoke up suddenly.
Ace sighed with a distant sense of relief, not because the situation was improved but because her voice broke the silence.
"Negative," Tommy replied with a frown. "Andros hasn't replied to any of our attempts to reach him in weeks."
"Well, there goes our only first-hand source of info about the Dark Fortress…" T.J said.
"How many Zords do we have?" Gia asked, "I know the new ones are still under construction but couldn't we send what we do have to destroy the fortress before it does something."
"We'd need an army of Zords," Hayley replied, "Nothing we have even comes close to that."
"Well, why not?" Gia asked with a paling face. "Why haven't we been spending the last decade building a massive Megazord or something?"
Silence fell over the Command Room. Nobody had the strength to admit what they all were thinking.
They all had thought the war was over…
Unlike the silence that followed the appearance of the Dark Fortress, this silence wasn't allowed to settle. Instead, everyone's attention was drawn back to the Dark Fortress as probes began to launch from its underbelly.
"Are you tracking those?" Eric asked Hayley and Justin.
"Trying," The two said simultaneously as they began to furiously type.
"Those things are landing all over the city," Justin said. "I've counted 15 pods so far."
"I've counted 20…" Hayley breathed.
"Send a message to every Ranger in our system, active or retired," Tommy said darkly. "We're going to need all the help we can get if we're going to stand a chance against whatever's coming."
"I'll personally contact the rest of Lightspeed," Dana said.
"Good," Tommy replied, "This might be Angel Grove but it's been a LONG time since we've had something like this. People will need help getting to the shelters."
"My Silver Guardians will hold off what we can," Eric said. "Even if only just to stall until more Rangers arrive."
"As for everyone else," Tommy said. "Hayley will send your helmet feed coordinates along with any updates." For the second time, that day the Rangers all filed out of the Command Room.
With Ace, Resse, and Camryn still in their seats.
"What about us?" Ace asked.
"While the three of you did amazing against the intruder, but having you intercept the invasion would be a useless risk," Tommy said.
"What about the Silver Guardians?" Reese asked, "They're still risking their lives without morphers."
"They've been training for that combat," Tommy said flatly.
But to Ace, all he heard was, "They're more expendable."
"There is one thing they can do," Hayley spoke up. "Because of the invasion, I told the ship from Aquatar to land outside of the city."
"Why didn't you inform me of that until now?" Tommy asked with a raised eyebrow and an annoyed tone.
"We've been a little busy," she snapped back. Then turned back to the trio. "Anyway, the three of them will take one of the jeeps over to sight and meet up with Billy's assistant."
"Why not teleport?" Camryn asked. "Just in and out."
"Same reason we didn't teleport the other Rangers," Hayley said. "We don't know if the Dark Fortress can track our teleportation."
"How long until she arrives?"
"20 minutes," Hayley said.
"Then we don't have time to debate," Ace said and shot up as his inner drive felt a powerful resurgence.
"I'll go with them," Tommy said.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Hayley asked. "Especially after your fight with Galaxia."
"I'll be okay," Tommy replied. "I'll just be insurance in case something happens before they can secure their morphers."
Hayley nodded. "Alright, just please stay safe. I know you're the Legendary Tommy Oliver but even legends have limits."
Tommy just smiled. "Come on Hayley, after all this, I figured you'd trust me."
"Of course I trust you. But I also know you, and sometimes those two things complement each other."
Tommy laughed, "that's one of my favorite things about you."
But as Tommy turned away from the tech supervisor Ace detected a hint of annoyance in the legendary Rangers face.
***
The smell of burning plastic and melted steel filled the air around Gia Moran. The sensation drug forward memories of the Legendary Battle, memories she did her best to shake away.
The mechanical creatures that flooded from the studio apartment-sized pod were a far cry away from the Krybots that had swarmed Hexagon. These robots wore large angular silver chest plates resting over their black bodies. Their wide mechanical eyes scanned the area with an admittedly primitive, but nevertheless eerie intelligence.
"Quantrons," T.J breathed from next to Gia. The veteran Ranger had chosen his Turbo Red armor, with his Master Morpher resting on his belt. While Gia had opted to use her Super Mega Mode.
"Oh like from the original UAE," Gia replied, remembering the stories she'd heard.
T.J nodded, "Andros and Zhane had seen to it that of the plants producing them were destroyed, but unfortunately plenty of them seemed to survive
"How about we worry about that after we dismantle them?" Gia asked.
"Good idea," T.J said as he drew his Auto Blaster.
Without further interruption they jumped into action, Gia raised her flintlock blaster and shot the nearest Quantron in the chest. Meanwhile, T.J jumped atop a bench and shot several of the mechanical enemies as he descended into the thick of their mob. His Turbo Lightning Sword was a blur of motion as it cut into the Quantrons.
"This is extremely cathartic," the Red Ranger. "I could do it all day."
"Unfortunately this is where the fun ends," a voice growled. Gia and T.J both turned towards the voice and were relatively surprised.
"Oh, man…" T.J muttered. While he couldn't say he'd ever personally seen the massive creature before them, he had seen it on his CRT television in 1992.
The creature snarled, it's pale maw pulled back to reveal razor-sharp teeth. The same visual had given the young T.J nightmares over 3 decades before.
King Sphinx, a creature that went toe to toe with the original Power Rangers raised its cane weapon and charged at the two Rangers.
"This is uhh…" Gia said as she dodged the attack, "retro."
"You're telling me," T.J said with his sword pulled close as he took a defensive stance. The cane flew towards him and his raised blade caught it's horizontal arc; though the force of the attack pushed him back several inches.
"I almost feel honored," Gia said. "I'm fighting one of the O.G monsters!"
"Well, the honor's all yours," T.J muttered. "I'll just be happy when we put this kitty down."
***
Eric Myers decapitated the last Quantron in his area and immediately received a transmission from one of his Silver Guardians.
"We have a situation in the shopping district."
"We have situations all over the city, officer," Eric barked. "I need you to specify."
"There's a monster!" The voice exclaimed. "A big… uh… eye monster!"
"What are you going on about?" The Quantum Ranger asked.
Then he felt his stomach sink as instead of a reply there was only an explosion and static.
Eric then headed towards the source of the transmission, running past the overturned cars and ruined buildings. And he tried to ignore the grim realization that this battle could very well tear the city apart.
As Eric approached the appropriate coordinates he found several of his Guardians. They all wore advanced swat armor that channeled a tiny amount of energy from the morphing grid.
"I'm sorry Chief," one of them said with his gray Ranger-like helmet cracked in several places. "It snuck up on us, we'd be dead if hadn't saved us and engaged with the hostile."
"Well I can't let him have all the action," Eric muttered, "You did good, officers, fall back." The Quantum Ranger then raised his Vector Blaster and kept moving.
Moments later he found the Blue Turbo Ranger dodging the swinging fist of the absurd monstrosity. It was a bulbous humanoid creature consisting entirely of eyeballs.
"Wow he wasn't kidding, talk about a face only a mother could love," Eric said and flanked the creature's side with several potshots.
"Thanks for the help," Justin said as he regrouped with Eric.
"No problem, Brianianck," the Quantum Rangers said and converted his blaster to its sword mode. "Figured you could use the help."
"Hey, don't cut me short," Justin replied. "I've been doing this since I was twelve."
The creature then vomited a beam of yellow energy from its central eye. The two Rangers barely had time to evade the attack before it eviscerated the motorcycle parked behind them.
"Did you just say twelve?" Eric asked. Unfortunately, he turned towards Justin right as the creature aimed its middle eye. The beam of yellow light punched Eric in the side and sent him backward as sparks poured from his armor.
Then in a moment of extreme improvisation, Justin grabbed a pepper shaker off a nearby hotdog stand and tossed it at the creature. In an attempt to swat the container away it broke open and knocked pepper flakes into the creature's eyes.
"That was cartoonishly convenient," Eric muttered as he picked himself up and stabbed his sword into the chest of the strange creature. "Good work."
"I always wondered if it would work," Justin said with a shrug. "Skull owes me 10 bucks."
"Like Eguine Skullovitch, the actor?"
"Yes!" Justin exclaimed. "I grew up in Angel Grove, my life was weird! Can we focus on the monster?"
"Yeah," Eric muttered. "Sorry about that…"
"It's all good," Justin said and shot a blast of blue energy at the monster. "When this is over we can have a few beers and share stories. I wanna hear about Wes' 31-century girlfriend."
"Sounds great," Eric said and pointed his gun at the charging beast. "I'll even buy the drinks if you can get me a picture of Tommy back when he had longer hair than my old lady."
"Oh bet," Justin said as his massive Turbo Blasters appeared in his hands in a flash of navy energy. "I'm excited now." The Blue Ranger muttered smugly and joined in flanking the eye monster with a barrage of energy and sparks.
***
The jeep parked at an empty field on the outskirts of Angel Grove. Next to them was the highway that connected Angel Grove to Stone Canyon.
"Two minutes early," Reese muttered as he got out of the passenger seat.
"So are they," Camryn muttered and pointed at the ship as it appeared overhead.
The round ship looked almost more like a species of aquatic animal than an artificial creation. Perhaps it had been designed after something native to Aquatar, that was what Ace assumed as he watched it extend its three-pronged legs and land.
The hatch in the center of the ship opened up and a ramp descended. From there the four watched as the bald figure ran out and towards the Rangers.
"Tommy Oliver!" The frantic Aquation exclaimed, " is-"
"I know…" Tommy said softly as the alien broke into a desperate sod and collapsed into Tommy. The legendary Ranger caught the Aquitian and pulled them into a hug.
Ace watched with helpless guilt. The war had barely even begun and they were already facing devastating casualties.
This was the type of thing Ace had wanted to avoid. Through most of his childhood, he'd seen first hand what the war looked like. Many of his families had lived in towns the Rangers had battled with evil across the state.
The Rangers were different, as were the monsters, but the devastation was always the same.
That was what drove Ace, even when things felt impossible. He was going to become a hero, he was going to keep everyone safe.
"Where are the morphers?" Ace asked.
Camryn flashed a dirty look his way but Ace ignored it. The Aquitian also recognized that this wasn't the moment to let one's emotions call the shots. So she took a step back and turned to Ace. "They're on the ship. I'll show you."
Ace nodded and followed beside her, Camryn and Reese at their heels.
The four entered the small ship and the Aquitian led them to a work table. "I finished calibrating them on the journey here," she said in a neutral tone. "Mostly… but it'll work itself out when you first morph."
"That's comforting," Camryn said.
The Aquitian then opened the small safe and retrieved the three morphers. Ace examined them under the dull green light. They looked very little like the prototypes, they retained the boxy shape but had an elongated hexagon design with a four-inch digital screen and several buttons underneath.
The three Rangers strapped their morphers on and Camryn began fiddling with the alien interface displayed on the digital screen.
"Can this thing take selfies?" Camryn asked. "Can it run Twitter?"
"Negative, Blue Ranger," a synthetic female voice said through the device.
"Woah…" Camryn said as she looked down at her morpher. "Was that you?"
"Correct," the voice said. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Ranger Artificial interactive Database. Or RAD as my creator dubbed me. I'm here to assist you."
"That's cool," Reese said. "If not a little creepy."
Ace looked down at the morpher. This felt different from the prototype, this felt more exciting. More real.
"Incoming transmission from Hayley…" R.A.D spoke.
"I just saw that your morphers are online," Hayley spoke, "It couldn't be a better time. Lightspeed needs help getting civilians out of a burning building."
"We're on it," Ace said.
"Wait… There's more" Hayley said. "There's activity on the moon."
"Oh no…" Ace muttered as the sinking feeling spread. "Was the invasion just a diversion?" Ace then shook the lingering thoughts away. "Hayley, teleport Reese, Camryn, and Tommy to the new activity. Send me to help Lightspeed."
"Teleport?" Camryn asked. "Aren't we avoiding that."
"And what was that about the moon?" Reese added.
"I was thinking the same thing, Ace," Hayley said. "Everyone get ready for teleportation."
***
Camryn was the only person who landed gracefully out of the trio. The teleportation was violent and disorientating. Thankfully their morphers had instantly triggered their morphs the moment they appeared on the lunar surface.
"That was kinda rough," Reese muttered after being teleported with his upper half in the gray soil with a bottom half bent over.
Tommy fumbled forward and landed on one knee, somehow looking badass even after the mishap. His Master Morpher had chosen his Green Ranger form, which almost seemed to glow with emerald energy on the barren world around them. "Yeah," He muttered, "Usually Hayley doesn't rush it like that."
The three found themselves in front of a dilapidated palace. A ruined structure that seemed ominous and haunting with the gray desert around in.
The sight of the ruined palace didn't mean much to Camryn or Reese, but Tommy instantly frowned under his helmet.
"This used to be Rita and Zedd's palace," The legendary Ranger breathed.
"Why would this be a spot they'd single out?" The Blue Ranger asked.
Suddenly a massive earthquake tore under the Rangers feet.
"Wouldn't you love to know," the cold synthetic voice of Galaxia said.
"I'm getting really tired of seeing you," Camryn muttered.
"Trust me, the feeling's mutual," The Psycho Ranger muttered.
The three Rangers all took defensive stances as the purple warrior rushed towards them in a blur of motion.
Tommy threw a blast of green energy from his dagger that hit the purple warrior and left her off balance and ill-prepared for his spin kick that sent her skidding across the lunar sand.
"You surprised me last time," Tommy muttered. "But I'm ready now."
"Don't worry, Tommy, we have plenty of surprises," Another voice said from the left of the Rangers.
The three Rangers turned towards the source and were met with more iconography pulled straight from an early Power Ranger documentary.
The infamous golden warrior Scorpina grinned smugly as she crossed her arms with Snizzard and Mighty Minotaur beside her.
"Well this is a blast from the past," Tommy said.
"Do you like them?" Scorpina asked as she lightly caressed the Mighty Minotaur's massive hairy arm. "Finster had a bunch of spares made for Rita's army. Fortunately, a lot of them didn't get cooked before the Z-Wave. After all, lifeless clay doesn't have an allegiance to good or evil. "
"That doesn't explain how you're here. Unless you're trying to imply you're more empty-headed then I assumed," Tommy said and raised his Dragon Dagger to the villainess.
Scorpina growled and summoned her curved blade.
The clay monsters charged first, but that was where Reese and Camryn stepped in. The Blue Ranger dodged the massive metal flail of the Minotaur as she swung her staff into its midsection. Meanwhile, Reese swung one of his onyx colored hatchets into Snizzard's thick hide.
That left Tommy and Scorpina, who danced around each other in an elaborate and delicate way that could only be attained by lifelong enemies.
Camryn was thankful that Tommy had chosen to come with them. As things stood they had a far greater chance of getting out of this alive.
But still, a part of her wished that Ace had come with them instead of Reese. It wasn't anything against the Black Ranger, he was a competent fighter. Instead, it had more to do with his background. Reese was an officer of the Silver Guardians, one of the youngest to crawl up the ranks.
Camryn's background as a ninja of the Wind Ninja Academy gave her the gut instincts that warned that there might be more to his inclusion in the team than her superiors led on.
Whether paranoia or not Camryn wasn't going to risk it, so she always kept a discreet distance between her and Reese. Which made trusting him in life-threatening situations a bit more complicated...
Camryn was so lost in thought she almost missed the massive creature charging towards her. Thankfully her instincts carried her away from its attack with a graceful twirl that she used the energy from to swing her staff into it's snarling maw. Clay crumbled and cracked under the force of her attack, leaving the left half of its face obliterated.
"Oh wow," she muttered, "that's creepy."
The beast growled with what was left of its mouth and attacked.
Again Camryn wished silently that Ace was with them. She could trust him in moments like this. He had the air of a true warrior, something noble and unduplicatable.
Something more than just a soldier.
The Minotaur swung his mace diagonally, which Camryn leaped on top of as it flew through the air. She then used the opportunity to deliver the killing blow with her staff. She stabbed it into the remainder of the monster's face, finishing it off and sending its body falling backward with a soft thud as it landed on lunar soil.
Right around the same time, Reese swung his hatchet into Snizzard's head and it finally succumbed to its injuries and fell with a similarly satisfying thud.
"Just in time too… "' Reese muttered breathlessness as he caught up to Camryn, then pointed towards Tommy.
The Green Ranger was on the ropes. Scorpina swung her massive blade in a diagonal arc across his midsection. Sparks flew back as Tommy fell to the ground.
The two Rangers looked at each other before rushing to Tommy's aid.
***
The air smelled of burning wood and plastic around Ace as he teleported inside the massive building caught aflame.
He raised his morpher and transformed, rushing through the wall of flames.
He found a young boy who had retreated into the furthest corner of the office. Soot covered his face as he stared desperately at Ace.
The sight brought forth childhood memories in a sudden flash. As a kid, he'd been in an apartment fire. If it hadn't been for the intervention of Carter Grayson he wouldn't have escaped before the building collapsed.
Reality returned as the Pink Lightspeed Ranger appeared through the flames. Her suit was covered in ash and black scorch marks, with a tiny crack in the left corner of her helmet.
"I'll get him to safety," Dana Mitchell said. "But Carter could use your help. He's a level above us, engaged with a hostile."
"On it," Ace said with a nod.
The Red Ranger dashed up the stairs and found the Lightspeed Ranger dueling with a warrior in black medieval armor.
Behind the Ranger were several civilians, the only thing between the panicked men and women in suits was the Power Ranger, and Carter was starting to lose…
Nasty Knight slashed into Carter's chest, throwing him across the floor as smoke poured from his armor.
In a flash of crimson light, Ace summoned his broadsword and parried the Knight's next swing.
"The suits look better than I thought it would," Carter said as he stood up.
"Thanks," Ace said as he kicked Nasty Knight into a wall of flames.
"We've gotta get these people out," Ace said to Carter.
As if to magnify his point the entire structure of the building trembled around their feet.
"You're right, his building can't handle much more stress," Carter muttered. "But that Knight isn't ready to give up."
Nasty Knight then leaped from the flames, his body seemed to slightly melt under the intense heat.
Carter parried the monster's blade, then turned to Ace as sparks flew between their weapons.
"Get them and everyone else out," Carter barked.
"But what about you?" Ace asked.
"Don't worry about me!" Carter exclaimed. "Not till everyone else is safe!"
Ace felt his stomach turn as he watched one of his childhood heroes fight. Leaving him felt wrong, he was betraying someone who literally saved his life.
But then with somber clarity, he realized what he needed to do, and turned towards the almost unimaginably terrified civilians. "Come on," he said and gestured towards them. "Let's get out of here."
He then escorted the people down the stairs as the battle between Carter and Nasty Knight grew quieter.
A scream broke the tense silence and Ace turned towards a woman being cornered by a Quantron. He raised his sword and quickly decapitated it.
Which led him to Dana as she fought against a mod of Quantrons blocking the fire exit she was trying to evacuate the civilians out of.
Ace tightened his grip on his broadsword and jumped in. He took out several of the automations as the ground trembled. "I'll hold them off," Ace muttered.
Dana nodded as Ace used his sword to force all the Quantrons back to give Dana clearance to guide the people to safety.
The building trembled again, this time with enough force to crack the floor under the Ranger's feet. Ace steadied himself but not before a Quantron stabbed its curved blade into his side.
Sparks flew as the ground trembled again, this time Ace barely had time to evade before the floor below him collapsed.
Ace leaped forward and slashed into the nearest Quantron, cutting it down and giving him the freedom to dispatch the next one with a powerful swing of his sword.
Then the sound of cracking wood and crumbling concrete told him exactly what he needed to know and kicked the nearest Quantron out of his way to rush towards the window. By then the fire truck they'd been using to bring people to the street had moved, but that wasn't a problem for Ace who just jumped to the street and let his suit absorb the impact.
He looked up just in time to watch the building implode and collapse into rubble.
"That was a good first outing," Dana said. "Have you considered working for Lightspeed?"
"I-I dunno…" Ace said. Feeling the empty pit in his stomach growing as he watched the dust settle.
"You did great," she said, "We got everyone out."
"Not everyone," Ace breathed.
Dana looked around for a moment, then paused as the realization settled. "Oh no… no, no, no," her hand went to her helmet. "He's gotta be safe somewhere… he's gotta… Carter wouldn't…" her helmet exploded in magenta light. Dana Mitchell sobbed as tears rolled down her face.
If anyone would do it it would be Carter.
In a moment of raw strength, Dana wiped her face and took a deep breath before returning to the task of aiding the rescued civilians.
Ace didn't have the strength or a task to return to. So instead he looked towards the rumble and let the tears run down his counseled face.
***
Scorpina lived up to the hype, Reese and Camryn were learning that the hard way.
Reese ducked under Scorpina's blade and prepared to swing one of his axes.
But a bolt of purple lighting punched him in the gut and sent him falling backward.
"Hate to make things short," Galaxia said from several feet away. "But I've retrieved the artifact."
"That's the green chaos crystal…" Tommy breathed as he looked at the object in the Psycho Rangers arm.
"Ah, wonderful," Scorpina sang. "Sorry guys, we're gonna have to put this on pause." The villain said as she was teleported away along with Galaxia.
The three Rangers nearly collapsed in exhaustion. They had already been sore from their earlier battle with Galaxia but Scorpina and her posse of classic monsters just compounded it tenfold.
"They were after the chaos crystal…" Tommy said to Hayley in a desperate breath. "But they got away."
"Well that's not good," Hayley replied, "But there isn't time to worry about that right now. "
"What's up?" Tommy asked.
"There's a massive army of Quantrons marching through downtown. With about a dozen monsters as well."
"Teleport us in," Tommy said.
"I was already working on it," Hayley replied as the three Rangers were enveloped in light.
***
Ace ached. His head ached, his body ached, and his heart ached.
But he didn't let the pain extinguish his fighting spirit, instead, he allowed it to fuel him.
After saving the people from the building he'd headed towards the front lines of the battle, where an army of Quantrons stood unchallenged.
He was going to change that.
Three teleportation beams struck the ground and materialized into his two comrades and Tommy Oliver.
"Hey Ace," The Black Ranger said. "you missed the fun."
"I'm sure he had enough on his own," Camryn said. "I mean look at him."
Camryn's joke just made Ace shudder.
"Hey, fancy seeing you guys here," Gia Moran said as she and T.J appeared. Behind her were Eric Myers and Justin Stewart who approached the growing group.
All of them were beaten, with cracked helmets and torn suits.
The battle had been tough thus far, but it wasn't over yet…
Tommy Oliver took the lead, stepping past the group and raising his Master Morpher towards the marching army.
"We are the Power Rangers, and we will defend this planet until our last breath!" The morpher exploded with energy, turning him into the original White Ranger.
Tommy pointed Saba forward and began the charge.
Several transport vans parked behind the Rangers and Silver Guardians filed out, with their guns immediately blasting, tearing through the Quantrons as the Rangers advanced towards the mob of monsters.
Ace and Eric Myers slammed into a massive turtle monster. The two Red Rangers ducked past its fist as it slammed into the concrete. A wave of concrete dust sailed past the Rangers as Eric drew his sidearm and opened fire.
"You don't always have to rely on the bulky sword," Eric said.
"Huh?"
"Your suit has its own sidearm. Hayley even used mine as bases so you know it's good." Eric explained with a presumed wink from under his helmet. Ace then noticed a small icon that displayed a tiny blaster on the morpher's screen. He pressed the button and a sleek black and red blaster appeared in a flash of crimson light.
Ace tested his blaster by offering suppressive fire on the turtle while Eric converted his sidearm to its sword mode and leaped forward.
Eric delivered a powerful swing of his sword that sent sparks flying from its reptilian scales, but it wasn't nearly enough to stun the creature which didn't bode well for Eric considering his lack of distance from the raging turtle.
It swung it's massive arm and sent the Quantum Ranger flying backward. Eric slammed his blade into the asphalt, tethering him to the ground and allowing the Ranger to recapture his footing.
But the turtle shot a beam of red energy from the traffic light sticking out of its head. The energy channeled around Eric and froze him in place. "Are you kidding me?" The Quantum Ranger exclaimed, "I thought that thing was just a silly design choice!"
"I figured you'd know better by now," A female voice spoke.
Eric scoffed, "I shoulda guessed you'd come at the most embarrassing moment."
"Well duh," His wife Taylor Myer, Yellow Wild Force Ranger, said in a light tone, "That's what makes it fun." Behind her were the Blue, Black, and Silver Wild Force Rangers.
"Don't forget about me," Another voice replied, "I enjoy seeing it just as much as she does."
The voice belonged to Wesly Collins, who arrived along with the Titanium Ranger.
The Lightspeed Ranger approached Ace. "Tommy wants your team together in the center of this mess."
Ace nodded and left the veteran Rangers to continue the fight.
As he moved through the war-torn city street he casually passed fallen Quantrons, smoking cars, and a constant reminder that it would take weeks or even months for things to recover from this invasion.
Assuming they could stop it while the city still stood.
Ace then spotted Camryn struggling against a massive bipedal arachnid. She dodged a blast of webbing that escaped the monster's mouth and she slammed her staff into its body. "Normally I love spiders… but this a little much." She muttered.
Ace raised his sidearm and opened fire as he rushed the creature. It turned towards him and offered an inhuman hiss before it barfed a bolt of blue lightning from its maw. But Ace leaped forward, rolling across the ground and lunging forward. He materialized his sword and jabbed it into the creature's exoskeleton.
"We don't have time to play exterminator," Ace said, "Tommy needs us."
"What am I supposed to do?" Camryn asked, "Tell the giant spider to leave me alone?"
"You could try," a voice said from behind the Blue Ranger. She turned around and instantly grinned at five Rangers she spotted. "Or you totally could let us take care of it," Dustin Brooks said with the two wind and thunder ninja alongside him.
Camryn nodded, as her face burned with embarrassment. She wasn't used to any of the Ninja Masters regarding her as a peer, especially since she had been a student at the academy just a few months prior.
The two Rangers then continued forward and met with Tommy and Reese. The four Rangers stood in the clearing, away from any of the struggles that surrounded them.
"Alright now that you're all here I want to explain how to use the full capability of your l morphers," Tommy explained.
"What do you mean?" Camryn asked. "We're already morphed."
"But there's a power beyond just morphing," Tommy said and opened his gloved hand to reveal three octagon-shaped coins.
"These are Power Coins, right?" Ace asked.
"That's right," Tommy said. "These will allow you to ascend further through the Morphing Grid. "
The three Rangers took the coins and carefully examined them. A tremendous trembling diverted the Ranger's attention back to the battlefield, where the Samurai and Ninja Steel Rangers were struggling against Pudgy Pig.
"Let's see what these things can do," Ace said and pulled the empty Master Morpher from his belt and placed the coin inside.
His two comrades followed suit and they held the morphers out as they exclaimed. "It's Morphin' Time, Zenith Ascension!"
Their morphers surged so intensely with raw energy that they began to hum. Meanwhile, their bodies became completely engrossed in a glowing light.
Under the intense halo of morphing energy, their suits themselves began to change. The lightning bolt changed from a galaxy print to a scaley texture, along with gold diamonds that ran down the side of their legs. Then in a second flash, they gained additional armor, spiked shoulder guards, and similar spiked gauntlets. Then in a final rush of energy, their helmets gained golden embroiling along their visors, each representing the head of a different Jurassic titan.
Ace gained the open maw of a Tyrannosaurus.
Reese's visor represented a raptor with its razor-sharp teeth represented with spikes.
While Camryn got a Triceratop, with a set of three small golden horns on top of her helmet.
The three Rangers instinctively took a feral stance. "Zenith Dino Mode!"
The Rangers summoned their new weapons, a Stego-Shield that was designed as a stegosaurus head surrounded by large triangular spikes and a Brochio-Saber, a short sword with a slightly curved handle modeled after a brachiosaurus neck with the head at the very bottom.
The power Ace suddenly had still his control was astounding to him. It was like every cell in his body had a nuclear reactor at its core.
He then turned towards the Samurai and Ninja Steel Rangers who were getting overwhelmed by the gluttonous foe that devoured all of their weapons and everything else they threw at him.
The three Rangers nodded and charged the hog wild beast. It opened it's massive maw to swallow their gear but Ace shield bashed it backward. It snorted painfully as it tried to regain its balance, it's freshly broken nose wheezed uncomfortably as Reese and Camryn appeared from above.
They both swung down, their swords slashing through its flesh and expelling a spray of sparks from both sides of the beast.
It fell to the ground and exploded, leaving it's previously swallowed weapons for the other Rangers to retrieve.
"That was epic," the Red Ninja Steel Ranger said. "I take it you're the new guys?"
"Uh… yeah, we are," Ace said and shook the Red Ranger's hand.
"Good work," the Red Samurai Ranger said. "I'm sure they could use that over there," The Ranger said and pointed towards Tommy, Gia, and Justin who were battling against a barrel-chested creature with a hairy wolf-like maw in golden armor.
The three Ranger didn't waste a second rushed to the veteran Ranger's aid.
"When Scorpina said Finster made an army of duplicates I didn't think they had copies of generals," Tommy muttered, he'd since changed to his Zeo form and parried Goldar's blade. The titan warrior growled and knocked Tommy's sword from his grip before slashing him across the chest.
The Super Mega Ranger and her Turbo comrade moved between Tommy and the raging titan.
The morphing grid led Ace forward, teaching him how to unleash his new power in a desperate moment.
"Already guys," he said to his team. "It's time to show everyone what we can do."
The Rangers nodded and raised their swords. The Branchio-Sabers began to glow with their respective Ranger's colors as they were waved in a clockwise circle. The circles that formed remained floating in the air around the Rangers as each of them exclaimed.
"Dino Impact!" And swung their blades diagonally through the rings.
Three waves of energy sailed towards Goldar before taking the form of a Tyrannosaurus, a Raptor, and a Triceratops. The three dinosaurs smashed into Goldar, raining sparks from his massive body.
The three Rangers collapsed as their dino forms slipped away in a flash of light.
"Gia!" Tommy exclaimed as he morphed into the Green Dragon Ranger.
"Right!" She said with a nod and slipped a red ranger key into her Morpher. "Tyrannosaurus!" She exclaimed and grabbed Tommy's Dragon Shield as it came her way. The Red Ranger summoned her Power Sword as her body pulsed with morphing energy. Her sword cut clean through Goldar, leaving the clay duplicate cleaved in half.
Silence fell over the battlefield, the city street was barely recognizable. Massive craters and gashes littered the asphalt, along with a carpet of dismantled Quantrons.
Everyone looked up towards the Dark Fortress, a blight across the otherwise empty sky.
Before suddenly disappearing.
"Hey," Camryn said. "They're retreating!"
"No," Ace breathed. "Just pulling out. They got whatever they came for."
***
The next few hours were a blur of motion. Ace felt like a temporal zombie, limping through time with a numb detachment.
The battle was over, and everyone was chalking that up to a victory.
But large chunks of Angel Grove would need major reconstruction before they could safely reopen and the entire city had settled into a silent fear.
Old wounds were reopened, monsters had returned to Angel Grove, and the illusion of safety was shattered.
What kind of victory was that?
There was a soft knock on Ace's door. He groaned, he'd already been summoned from his apartment to undergo a check-up and a debriefing.
He was done with everybody, especially since he'd just gotten his brother to go to sleep.
Still, he knew he couldn't ignore the knock, especially when the second wave of it hit his ears.
He frowned and opened his door as he found Dana Mitchell.
Her eyes were cold and distant, and that was what scared him the most.
"Hey…" she breathed. "I'm sorry, I know it's late and you're probably beyond tired…" she trailed off and Ace's eyes fell on the device in her left hand.
He felt his guts liquify as reality shifted for a brief moment and he was once again surrounded by flames.
"I know you and Carter weren't as close as you would've liked, but he knew that you looked up to him. And I can't shake the feeling he would've wanted you to have this," she said and handed him the object, Carter's heavily damaged morpher.
Ace just stared at.
"It was damaged too much for Lightspeed to have any use for it, and standard protocol dictates that we destroy it, but I know it'll be safe with you."
Ace nodded wordlessly.
Dana suddenly pulled him into a tight hug, squeezing him harder as the tears began to fall down his face.
"Thank you…" was all he managed to croak through the heavy sobs.
"You'll make him proud," was all she said before softly pulling away and quickly leaving.
But not before Ace caught the glossy look in her eyes.
***
Two weeks later and nobody felt like the battle was over.
The rubble had been cleared, and the less devastated areas of the city had reverted to something resembling normalcy. But the echoes of the conflict still danced in the back of everyone's mind
The invisible wound personified itself that Sunday morning, at the Heroes of Humanity Park, where nearly every current and former Ranger stood in silence.
The park was established after the Legendary Battle, with the intention that it would host a monument for every Ranger that fell protecting the planet.
At the center of the park was a massive courtyard, with a sign at every entrance that said MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU.
Around the courtyard were life-size bronze statues, various Power Rangers performing their most iconic poses. And next to each of them was a plaque that said their Ranger title and, if they had expressed consent previously, their legal name.
This was the Monument of the Fallen, or as some called it, the Ranger Graveyard.
The Rangers had gathered there to see the installment of the two newest statues. Lightspeed Red, and Mighty Morphin Blue.
The service had ended an hour previously, ending with a speech by Kimberely Hart that left even Eric Myers fidgeting and wiping his eyes.
But it wasn't just the statues that were unveiled, but the blue tri-petaled flowers that surrounded Billy Cranston's statue. The Hagonni had been planted by his former assistant Thetis as previously requested.
"They're really pretty," Camryn said to Thetis who had just finished performing a traditional Aquitian prayer.
"I think so too," she replied softly. Thetis was Hexagon's newest resident, and in the past two weeks, she'd hardly said ten words to anyone.
The sight of her quietly sulking through the halls tugged at the Blue Ranger's heart. So Camryn decided she was going to help the Aquitian integrate.
"What are you doing after this?" Camryn asked.
"I... don't have anything planned," Thetis admitted.
"Great," Camryn said with a smile. "So you'll come to get a drink at Ernie's?"
"I-I dunno…"
"Come on," Camryn said. "Ace and Reese will be there too, maybe even Gia."
The Aquitian looked away from Camryn and back to Billy's statue.
"Rangers get free drinks," Camryn added lightly.
"Okay…" Thetis said. "I'll go." And two-headed away from the field of fallen heroes.
***
Gia Moran took a drag of her first cigarette in over four years. The warm air filled her lungs as she stared at flowers she'd set next to one of the statues.
Jake Holling, Black Mega Force/ Green Super Mega Force.
She exhaled, the gray smoke floating around in the dead air.
The statue depicted him in his Super Mega form, looking powerful and dignified with his cutlass raised and flintlock pointed toward her.
"I never got to meet Jake," Hayley admitted, "But from everything I've heard I know I would've liked him."
Gia smiled sadly, "Everyone did. He was one of the most annoying people I've ever met but I'd be lying if I said I don't miss him." Gia took another drag of her cigarette and turned to Hayley, "But that's not why you're talking to me."
Hayley sighed, "It's Tommy… somethings wrong with him."
"What do you mean?" Gia asked.
"He-" she paused for a second and considered her next words carefully. "He didn't visit Kira's memorial."
Gia's cigarette nearly fell from her lip, "Oh shit."

Chapter Text

Chapter Three: Chaos Horizon

The Lairship landed on the dusty Aquitian soil. It had taken weeks to fully evaporate the massive ocean that surrounded the planet. Meaning that Cetos and Ratchet could easily access what had been concealed under the trillions of gallons of water.

Cetos was of the same race as Vexicus, the ninja employed by Lothor. A race that was at one point enslaved by the Aquitians. Because of that he took a shamelessly cathartic joy in eviscerating the planet.

Ratchet on the other hand was an orange Borg level automation of the Machine Empire, the same rank as General Venjix and his crew. Because of that he merely saw the destruction of this world as a means to a greater end. For he knew it was only a matter of time before the Machine Empire extinguished all organic life.

"So where is it?" Cetos asked the robot. "Or did the tracker they installed in your robo-brain already malfunction?"

"We're getting closer," Ratchet replied, ignoring the distasteful way the creature spoke.

In truth while Ratchet understood King Gasket's logic in joining the Alliance the mere thought of prolonged exposure to such inferior creatures caused a slight overclock in the rage processing diode of his emotional circuit.

Still, he was merely a cog in the grand Machine Empire, and to act on his own beliefs would only jeopardize the cause. So he stayed quiet and reserved, knowing that one day he'd get his chance.

The air around the duo suddenly shifted. It became thick and energized as if they were nearing a warship power generator.

"I believe I have located the target," Ratchet said.

"As if it isn't hard to spot from here," Cetos muttered.

The ground around it was covered in cracks and ridges that while were small seemed infinitely deep. It almost seemed as if the object had been wedged into the ground like a cork, a plug to keep some underworldly evil contained below the surface.

Cetos approached excitedly, his hands curling around the lid to the golden gem-encrusted canister.

"Kinda looks like a dumpster," Cetos said to Ratchet as the Machine moved to help as well.

"I couldn't disagree more," Ratchet said as their combined might lifted the massive lid.

A mist began to leak out of the canister and pool around their feet. The air became twice as charged, thick enough that Cetos could taste it

Then the lit shot upward.

The two generals instantly jumped back in surprise as the air directly around the canister began to spark with black colored electricity.

A bolt struck the ground and a figure materialized through the charged particles.

"Well… that's a surprise…" the figure muttered. It stood at roughly six and a half feet, it's entire body covered in armor with a large black cloak shrouding its form.

It turned its head towards Cetos, a black Ranger-like helmet with a massive red visor that resembled some hellish creature's outstretched spiked wings.

"I'm not detecting any bio-signatures from you," Ratchet marveled.

"That's because I ditched my mortal form millenniums ago," the figure spoke. "I attempted to transcend into the morphing grid as the morphing masters did before me." The figure uttered a deep, masculine laugh. "But the dark arts I used to attempt this backfired and I became something else."

The figure then lunged for Cetos, and before the creature could attempt to defend himself the armored figure wrapped his gloved fingers around his neck.

The general didn't even have time to scream before his body exploded into raw energy that swirled around the cloaked figure as they absorbed every iota of it.

Ratchet was frozen with terror as he watched the horrific display.

"You'll have to excuse me for that," the figure muttered. "I just needed a snack before I could continue the introductions."

"You're Rexian," Ratchet said. "Former Eltarian magi-scholar."

"That was the name I used in my previous state of existence," the armored figure said. "I have transcended past that state, becoming an extra-dimensional entity, a wound in the morphing grid itself. I am Chaos.

"Now tell me," Chaos breathed as it leaned closer to the machine. "Why have you gone to such great lengths to summon me?"

Ratchet had never felt so intimidated in his life. This being was something else, something more than organic or machine.

It was something that certainly made him question if machines were really the ultimate beings.

"Dark Infinus has sent me," Ratchet said. "In hopes that you will help us access the information locked away on the Zoltar's Lexicon."

Despite apparently possessing no face under his visor Ratchet could sense that Chaos was smiling somehow.

"I suppose I can do that," The armored figure replied, "Assuming that you can provide me with plenty of nourishment along the way."

***

Life at Hexagon was weird, which wasn't really weird at all. It was an international organization that was run by the most prolific Ranger in Earth's history, that employed a multitude of past Rangers and even helped in the creation of a brand new team.

Lightspeed, Bio-Labs, Promethea, even Space Patrol Delta had a hand in the pot. It was the ultimate coalition of Earth's endeavors to protect the planet over the last three decades. Not that it didn't incite any scrutiny, being that it was an SPD sanctioned organization it was subject to all of their laws and guidelines.

Which is the only reason she was awake at 7 a.m. jogging in the hot California sun.

She paused and gulped the rest of the liquid in her water bottle. Even after splashing some on her face cartilage she couldn't escape the uncomfortable and slightly terrifying drying sensation that enveloped her entire being.

"Hey," Ace said as he approached the Aquitian, "You good?"

"Yeah," she replied nervously. "I'm still getting used to the sun…"

"Oh yeah…" the Red Ranger replied. "I didn't think about that." He then took his Hexagon branded baseball cap off and handed it to her. "Try that."

She looked at Ace, then back at the hat. She then adjusted it to fit on her head before sliding it on.

"Thanks," she replied, already feeling a bit better from the protection it offered.

"No problem," Ace said with a smile.

All of the Rangers had been doing their best to make Thetis feel welcomed, but Ace had made it his personal mission.

Maybe it was because he was also an orphan, or maybe it was because they'd both lost someone during the horrific invasion.

The two continued their jog, though Thetis couldn't help but notice that Ace was purposefully keeping pace with her.

"What do you think of Hexagon?" Ace asked her.

"I think it's certainly impressive, for Earth at least."

Ace chuckled, "They encouraged me to live on base as well, but that would be too much on Sammy."

"Sammy's your brother?" Thetis asked, referring back to past conversions.

"Not biologically," Ace admitted, "But we got roped together through the foster system. So when I got old enough I adopted him."

Thetis nodded, not entirely sure what to say.

And that was only half because she found herself incredibly nervous all of a sudden.

Thankfully her saving grace came in the form of Reese, who jogged up the duo with a noticeable frown.

"Zhane is here," was all the Black Ranger said. But it was really all he needed to say.

Because the Silver Kerovian Ranger was the Ambassador for the SPD branch of KO-35, and he wasn't one for personal visits.

So Ace and Thetis followed Reese back into the massive concrete building that was Hexagon's base of operation. From there they regrouped with Camryn and Gia, along with Tommy and the other guests.

Accompanying Zhane were five officers of his own. The Kerovian SPD Rangers led by the legendary Charlie. During the Legendary Battle she single-handedly hijacked an Armada vessel and used it to annihilate the rest of the fleet.

So naturally when looking for the next generation of soldiers she was on the top of their list.

Ace was visibly affected by her presence. He stood slightly straighter, a little more stoic. And strangely Thetis found herself not only aware of this but bothered by it.

"Okay good," Zhane said. "Everyone is here."

Any idle chat that been transgressing in the room was instantly silenced as all eyes fell on the Silver Ranger.

"SPD has been tracking the Lairship since it left Aquatar," Zhane explained.

Thetis felt her insides freeze at the mention of her homeworld.

But nevertheless, Zhane continued. "We've tracked it to an abandoned Eltarian superstructure. A planet-sized research facility."

"So they went from destroying a planet to visiting an old lab?" Gia asked. "What do you think their end goal is?"

"Doesn't matter," Hayley responded. "Whatever they're after we have to make sure they don't find it."

"Exactly," Zhane said. "That's why I came to you for help."

"Perfect," Tommy chimed in. "This is a mission for our new Zenith Rangers."

Zhane frowned, "No offense but I'm looking for a more experienced team."

"My Rangers have already been through more than most Rangers in their short tenure," Tommy said sternly.

"I'll go with," Gia said. "That way you still get some of that veteran Ranger action."

"I suppose that'll work," Zhane said after a moment of thought," Gia has enough experience to balance out any inexperience the Zenith Rangers posses. Our ship will depart as soon as everyone boards. With the enemy already on the megastructure time isn't something we can spare."

***

Camryn was admittedly a little nervous. She'd never left the planet before. In fact before joining Hexagon she'd rarely even left the Wind Ninja Academy.

The take-off had been terrifying, but thankfully it hadn't lasted very long. But still, the artificial gravity bugged her, and the sterile air left her feeling extremely claustrophobic.

She tried to distract herself with a Kerovian drama that was saved in the ship's computer. It was seemingly the middle of the season and she had no idea what was going on. But the noise was enough to keep her nerves in check.

Even still, she sat stilted in the rather uncomfortable chair in the ship's rec room as she kept her eyes glued on the monitor built into the wall.

"Blech," Charlie muttered as she stepped into the room. "Are you actually watching that garbage?"

"Hardly," Camryn muttered. "But it's not like there's a lot of options."

"You could spare with us on the Simudeck," Charlie suggested. "Ace was telling me that you have some pretty impressive moves."

"That sounds… a lot better actually," Camryn said and stood up slowly.

Artificial gravity be damned she'd never miss an opportunity to show off.

She followed Charlie to a sliding door that opened up to reveal a seemingly endless metropolis. Camryn was genuinely impressed, Hexagon had adopted similar technology but what they had wasn't nearly as competent. Sure back home they could recreate a city but this could construct an entire continent.

But she was quickly distracted by the fight that was already taking place.

A dark-skinned kerovian threw his fist towards Reese who leaned to the side and caught the man's advance.

Ace stood across the scuffle with the rest of the Kerovian Rangers.

"Okay but how about we try this morphed up," The Kerovian suggested as Reese let go of the man's arm.

"Great idea," Charlie said, "But I get to go first, and I get to spare against the Blue Zenith Ranger."

"Me first?" Camryn asked with a smirk.

"Zhane told me you were named after a powerful warrior, and according to Kerovian legend someone who carries the name of a warrior inherits a bit of their might." Charlie explained, "So how about you show me that might."

"Alright, sure," Camryn replied. Her parents had named her in honor of Cameron Wanatabe, one of the Rangers that saved her parents from the clutches of Lothor. It had started as a sign of respect and appreciation but became something more when Cameron perished in the Legendary Battle.

While at his service she had decided that she was going to do the name justice, and carry his legacy. So naturally she was extremely pumped to hear Charlie explain that particular cultural trivia.

She was so amped she managed to forget she was flying through space faster than the speed of light.

The two Rangers stood face to face, the air growing tense as their hands fell to their morphers.

Charlie's suit was reminiscent of the Kerovian Rangers, with an identical helmet slapped on a mostly grey armored body.

Despite the bulk of her suit Charlie dodged Camryn's staff and delivered a powerful spin kick that left the Blue Zenith Ranger winded.

But Camryn shook off the damage fast enough to dodge the Red Rangers oncoming fist and retaliate with a burst of cobalt light that formed her staff that smashed into the opposing Ranger.

Charlie laughed as she picked herself up from the ground. "Not bad."

The Red Ranger summoned a weapon of her own, a drill saber set atop a black militaristic handle.

The blade arced with crimson energy as it sailed towards Camryn. The Zenith Ranger parried with her staff, ejecting violet-colored sparks that shot from their weapons.

Camryn had to admit that the raw power behind the Kerovian weapon was definitely something to be impressed by. Even Charlie's one-handed swing nearly overpowered the Blue Ranger.

Charlie uttered a cold laugh, "Gotcha…"

Camryn barely had enough time to look down and notice the pistol leveled towards her chest before the Red Ranger opened fire. She fell against the side of a building as sparks and smoke rose from her body.

"Hey, set that to stun!" Ace hollered at the Kerovian Ranger.

Charlie ignored Ace's plea and rushed towards Camryn. Concrete exploded into dust as Charlie's drill saber scrapped past where Camryn's neck had been several seconds ago.

Charlie growled in frustration and raised her blaster, but Camryn slipped past before she could be assaulted by the spray of blaster fire.

Camryn slid behind the Ranger and leaped forward, pinning the Kerovian to the wall with her staff.

"I recall something about wanting to see my skills," Camryn said to the enemy she was pinning from behind.

"I'm not that impressed," Charlie said and swung her head back. Their helmets clanked violently, sending a spiderweb of cracks as Camryn dropped her staff and stumbled backward.

Charlie then unleashed a volley of punches and kicks. Each nearly invisible blur sent a shockwave of pain through Camryn's body. She fell to the ground, her morph fading a flash of navy energy.

Charlie laughed as she turned away from the fallen Ranger, "I keep hearing that the Zenith Rangers are our best hope of defeating the new United Alliance of Evil," She said and demorphed in a flash of light, "So I guess that means we're screwed."

Ace and Reese rushed to her aid as the Red Ranger ended the Simudeck simulation and left the square room.

"I'm sorry about that," The Kerovian who'd originally been sparring with Reese said as he approached the Zenith Rangers. "Charlie is a little… cold-blooded."

"That's putting it lightly…" Camryn said as she ran her hand across a bruise that was already forming on her stomach.

"For what it's worth she's done that to all of us, and we're the closest things to friends she has," The man said.

"I'd really hate to be her enemy then," Reese muttered as he stared at the door she'd exited through.

The two Rangers helped Camryn to her feet as Zhane's voice came over the intercom.

"We're now entering the orbit of the megastructure. Everyone report to the bridge for instructions."

The nine Rangers stood in a small group that faced Zhane as he flashed a serious expression.

"We've got bad news…" he said to the surprise of no one. "The drones we sent to scout the structure have all been destroyed."

"So what does that mean?" Ace asked.

"It means that whoever is in there has activated the structure's defenses," Gia explained.

"And if there's one thing I know it's that Eltarians don't skimp on the defenses," Zhane added.

"So what do we do?" Reese asked.

"Well… here's our plan," Zhane said in a tone that didn't lend itself to the confidence of anyone else in the ship. "We split into two groups. One group goes through a maintenance entrance and uploads a virus to the structure that'll wipe the whole database."

"What about the second group?" Camryn asked.

"They'll board the Lairship and commandeer it," Zhane said with a wicked smile. "For Aquatar."

With the board set the five Rangers landed the Megaship on the artificial planetoid. Ace looked towards his four comrades and felt a slight pang of uncertainty. He knew that he could trust Reese and Gia, but the two Kerovians that accompanied them were a different story.

Ivan, a dirty blonde with a serious face, and Yellow Ranger.

And Rachel, a short dark-haired Kerovian that served as the Pink Ranger.

Ace knew that he should trust them, after all, obtaining Ranger status through SPD wasn't a particularly easy endeavor. But they were still strangers to him and to Ace knowing your comrades was just as critical as them being competent fighters.

"So what's KO-35 like?" Ace asked Rachel as the five of them walked across the artificial planetoid. Without an atmosphere on the moon-sized structure the Rangers were forced to morph before turning their visors toward a black featureless sky.

"The same as almost any other human colony," Rachel responded as they approached the maintenance hatch. "Big boring cities."

The five Rangers descended down the metal ladder, with Gia leading the way.

"So uh… nice shirt," Reese said to Cliff as they continued downward.

"Thanks…" Cliff replied as he glanced down at his Ranger armor.

Ace and Reese both internally cringed at the Yellow Ranger's deadpan response. Clearly they overestimated their own sociability.

"So I bet that Commander Zhane is a real joy to work with," Gia said to the Rangers above them.

"Oh you have no idea," Cliff replied.

"Usually he's pretty alright," Rachel continued. "But sometimes he makes Charlie look like a pushover."

"Y'know he mentioned Charlie," Gia continued. "He said she was kinda like Andros if you boiled out the little bit of fun hidden in him."

"No joke," Rachel said with a laugh.

"Yeah for real," Cliff replied as well. "None of the fun and five times a pain in the ass."

Ace and Reese both looked at each other and shared a frown under their helmets. They'd both failed to do what Gia had executed flawlessly.

Soon after the Rangers had descended to a platform that they all piled on top of.

Even though Zhane's drones had been destroyed by the megastructure's defensives they'd still managed to collect enough data to construct a rough map that was displayed in the helmets of the five Rangers.

Gia led the way as the five Rangers made their way through the narrow corridors. The metal walls were short and tight, with barely enough room for the Rangers to walk in groups of two.

"That's one of the problems with civilizations as advanced as the Eltarians," Gia muttered. "Their maintenance drones were tiny."

"I mean don't get me wrong I'm glad we fit and all," Reese replied. "But I'm worried about any kind of firefight we might get in."

"We're in a maintenance duct," Rachel said. "What do we have to worry about?"

"Uh… maybe whatever destroyed the drones," Reese suggested.

That was when the first of them appeared as if summoned by Reese's words it lumbered forward.

"W-what the hell is that?" Gia exclaimed.

Rachel and Ivan summoned massive rifles and opened fire, making quick work of the humanoid figure and reducing them to various piles of gelatinous goop.

"I repeat…" Gia breathed as she stared at the clear slime. "What the hell was that?"

There wasn't time for a response, not when an entire mob of the same creature appeared, a humanoid body made of clear gelatinous goop.

"These must be what got Zhane's drones," Ace muttered and drew his own blaster and opened fire on the creatures.

Before long they all joined in, blasting the oozemen apart only for another two to take their place.

***

The other five Rangers stood in a small auxiliary pod that cloaked itself as it floated through space.

Camryn felt totally out of her element, and it didn't help in the slightest that she was surrounded by complete strangers.

Charlie had naturally been for this mission, with the Blue SPD Ranger, Warrus, staying behind on the Megaship in case either group needed a quick teleportation out.

Surprisingly when Zhane had said that he wanted the Kerovian Red to accompany him she threw her arm around Camryn and said, "Only if my new friend comes along."

Which is how Camryn ended up alongside Charlie, Zhane, and the Kerovian who had apologized on Charlie's behalf named Cliff whom was also the Green Ranger.

"When everyone's ready we're gonna teleport into the ship's bridge," Zhane said as he holstered his massive Digimorpher.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Camryn asked with a frown.

"Well aren't getting any bio-signatures from the Lairship," Zhane said. "So presumably everyone aboard went to the planetoid."

"Okay but that's… weird right?" Camryn said. "Like I'm not the only one thinking that am I?"

"Clearly you've never worked with any Kerovians before," Charlie said as she moved in from behind Camryn and wrapped her arm around the blue ranger. "We're all about danger."

Charlie's voice and the firm but light touch sent shivers through Camryn's body.

"I'm ready," Charlie spoke.

"I'm ready," Cliff said.

"Uh… me too?" Camryn said finally.

"Alright then, prepaid for teleportation," Zhane said as the four Rangers were all enveloped in light.

The next thing Camryn knew they were on the poorly lit bridge. She had to admit that with her crippling fear aside she definitely felt a distant sense of honor and history.

Sure this wasn't the same Lairship that Lothor had used, but she still felt like she was picking up the mantle of both her namesake and the ninja before her.

Of course that honor was replaced with fear again as Charlie swore under her breath and spoke some of the most intimidating words Camryn could imagine. "Everyone morph up, we're surrounded."

The four Rangers summoned their armor as the advancing force closed in.

"Guess we know why there weren't any bio-signatures," Zhane muttered.

As the mob of bronze faced Cog soldiers advanced.

***

Warrus was the only nonhuman on the squad. He was Qurvant, a warrior race that lived on a planet that had been colonized by the Kerovians hundreds of years ago.

He touched his tusks nervously and silently prayed that all went well for both parties.

A part of him wished the Zenith Rangers hadn't come along. It wasn't that he doubted their skills, but instead, the animosity SPD held towards Hexagon that was projected onto the Rangers. Earth had the strongest Ranger population in the entire Galactic Space Alliance, but Hexagon serving as a pseudo outpost basically cut off all influence SPD had over that population.

Inadvertently that meant that not only was one planet in the Alliance disproportionately stronger than every other planet in the union but also that it was one of most fledgling to the intergalactic scene.

Because of that SPD ran countless smear campaigns to expose the planet, which did great towards making every staff member of SPD at the very least annoyed by Hexagon's existence, but did nothing to change the opinion of most of the union that still saw Earth as the home of Alliances greatest heroes.

Warrus then heard something echo through the ship. It was a rustle-or maybe a clank.

Or it just as easily could've been his imagination.

No, there it was again, only louder.

He nervously looked around the gloomy room, the ship had been powered down to avoid detection while the Rangers were away. Hence why they needed a person there to initiate the teleport.

There it was again!

Warrus turned around just in time to see the Cog's face break in half and open up. He ducked and morphed as a beam of red energy flew over the Blue Ranger's head and hit the consol.

Sparks flew from the keyboard and Warrus cringed. That wasn't good...

He summoned his rifle and opened fire on the grunt.

***

Slime ran in heavy drops that slid down the walls as the five Rangers charged through the tight hallway.

Rachel and Ivan kept the path forward clear while Ace, Reese, and Gia kept the oozmen that chased the Rangers at bay.

Which wasn't an easy task given how tight the corridors were. Without any space to swing their weapons the Zenith Rangers were forced to rely on their sidearms.

This wasn't a real problem for Reese who'd received plenty of firearm training as a Silver Guardian, but Ace wasn't exactly the best marksman and missed every other shot.

"Aim for their bodies," Reese suggested.

"I've been trying," Ace said as his bullet grazed the side of his gelatinous target.

"I can see the entrance to the Core," Ivan said.

"Then maybe we should bring out the big guns," Gia said and slid a Ranger Key into her Morpher. In a flash she transformed into Time Force Red and summoned her Battle Warrior Armor. Even in the cramped setting her flaming sword made quick work of the remaining ooze men.

She then fell to the ground and reverted all the way to her Megaforce mode.

"Gia!" Ace exclaimed and rushed to her side.

"I'm fine…" she breathed, "it just takes a lot out of me to do that."

"I'm going to upload the virus," Ivan said. "Everyone else stay and watch guar-" his voice died the moment the door opened to reveal the orange headed Machine Empire general.

"I was told you'd probably show up around here," The general said with his synthetic voice filled with joy as he raised a large blaster and opened fire on the Rangers in the small hall.

The Rangers fled from the oncoming attack, as best they could given the cramped setting.

"We need immediate evac," Rachel exclaimed, "We fell into a trap!"

"Uh… slight problem," Warrus muttered through the comm.

"What's that?" Ivan asked with a frown.

"The teleporter's command console got damaged," Warrus explained.

"Great…" Ace muttered as he offered suppressive fire against the machine general. "Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way."

The machine then raised a massive bronze-colored blade which it slashed the Yellow Ranger, throwing Ivan to the ground as it aimed its blaster towards his head.

Ace dashed forward, the side of his sword cut against the metal wall as he swung it towards the Machine Empire general who parried the attack and muttered. "You organics are far too predictable. One of you falls and everyone rushes to their aid." He then pointed his blaster at Ace and opened fire, sending him rolling back as sparks flew from his armor.

Gia morphed into her Super Mega Mode and tossed her cutlass which flanked the machine's side before flying back into her grip.

Rachel summoned a handheld Satellite Stunner that projected a wave of energy from its disc-shaped barrel and struck the machine's side.

The machine stumbled back against the opposition's fire. The general then caught himself by the door frame and said, "Ratchet of the Machine Empire will not fall to a handful of pathetic organics!" His chest opened up to reveal a salvo of missiles that shot towards the Rangers and knocked them off their feet.

The machine then zeroed back in on Ivan, lifting the Ranger in the air. "All organics will fall to the Machine Empire," Ratchet exclaimed as he pulled his bronze sword backward.

But before the machine could stab the blade forward and end Ivan, Ratchet was distracted by a black hatchet that stuck itself into his shoulder.

The Black Zenith Ranger bolted towards the enemy, his other hatchet in his right hand while his left held his firearm which flanked the enemy with several shots of black energy.

Ratchet then dropped Ivan and used both hands to grip his sword which flew towards Reese, but the Black Ranger parried with his hatchet. This left the perfect opportunity for Ace to stab his sword into the enemy's chest.

Sparks and oil flew from the fresh wound but Ratchet refused to react to his injury and kicked the Red Ranger back. He hit the wall with a hard smack as the general knocked the hatchet away with a powerful swing of his sword.

Thankfully Gia had already recovered from the attack, and she transformed into the Red Samurai Ranger. Her spin sword exploded into its Fire Smasher mode and she swung the massive Zabantu into the machine as it glowed with flames.

The machine was torn in half under the force of her attack, its top half falling to the ground with a heavy thud,

"Thanks, Lauren…" Gia said before the fresh silence settled.

A silence that was broken by a clap.

The clapping continued as the figure appeared from where the Rangers had arrived from.

"Good job. Truly an impressive display of your strength."

The figure resembled a Ranger, but not one any of the other Rangers had seen. His armor was black with a cloak thrown over it.

Ace scanned the Rangers bio-signature and nearly gasped at the results…

There were none. It was as if the being before them didn't exist. A Ranger suit possessed by a mysterious force.

The figure became a blur of motion and placed his gloved hand on top of Rachel's helmet. She screamed in pain as her armor gave away in a burst of pink light.

The light absorbed into the armored figure as Gia charged towards the new arrival. He dodged the Zabantu that dispatched Ratchet and placed his hand atop Gia's helmet. She screamed and reverted back to her Super Mega mode.

"Well that's creative," the figure mused in his smooth voice. "A layered morph."

Ivan summoned his rifle and opened fire on the armored figure, but each yellow blast reflected harmlessly off it.

Gia screamed as she was revered to her Megaforce form. "How many more layers until I get to the core?" The figure inquired playfully. "The subsistence aboard the Lairship wasn't nearly satisfying enough."

Ace had enough of this. His grip on his sword tightened as he rushed towards the figure, his body alight with crimson energy. His sword cut into the armored Ranger, creating a centimeter thick gorge in its bulky form.

Gia demorphed as it dropped her to the ground. "Well that's another surprise," it said and looked at the fresh wound. Ace was then tossed back as swirls of dark energy surrounded the figure in a maelstrom of power. "Why don't you show me what you're made of."

***

The Cogs weren't much a threat for the four Rangers, even with their impressive numbers. The barrel of Cliff's blaster was glowing red as he took out countless automations. Meanwhile Charlie's Drill Saber dismantled the Cogs with deadly efficiency.

"Come on," Charlie said to Camryn who stood next to Zhane as the Silver Ranger used his Super Silverizer to blow the grunts into scrap metal, "Join the fray, show me what you've got."

Camryn felt her blood boil as the memories of getting trashed by the Red Ranger echoed in her brain. She summoned her staff and charged towards the Cogs. Each swing carried destruction in its wake as she dodged the foot-soldiers attacks and delivered more powerful ones herself.

Camryn then slid next to a Cog that nearly flanked Charlie from her blind spot. The Red Ranger turned just in time to see the Cog prepare its eye laser before Camryn decapitated it.

"Not bad, rookie," Charlie said.

It wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say that the Rangers were massacring the Cogs, that changed when the cavalry arrived. The eight-legged automation crawled across the ceiling and aimed its gatling laser towards the intruders.

"Zenith Dino Mode!" Camryn exclaimed as she jumped in front of the other Rangers and raised her Stego-Shield. Sparks flew from her shield as she was forced back by its intense power. While the spider-cog paused to recharge Camryn speared it with her Brancho-Saber and exclaimed, "Come on!" Camryn charged forward and the other Rangers followed suit.

Three more spider-cogs appeared but were temporarily held off by Cliff's suppressive fire. Meanwhile Charlie turned around just in time to see another mob of Cogs approaching. The Red Ranger summoned a small pulse grenade that tossed at the Cogs. There was a boom and slight trembling as the machines were torn to pieces.

"That was pretty impressive," Camryn admitted as the Rangers ran past the charred remains of the cogs.

"I could say the same thing about you," Charlie replied, "If you'd pulled that out during our match I would've been done for."

"You don't waste your ace," Camryn said as she resummoned her sword and cut through an approaching cog. "Even if it'll help you kick someone's ass."

The door to the control room was right at the end of the hall. Unfortunately so were four of the spider cogs and a dozen normal ones.

But Camryn was prepared, she raised her sword and exclaimed, "Dino Impact!"

The barricade of machines was instantly shattered by the Triceratops energy attack, their dismantled appendages, and torn wires flying in every direction as the Rangers flooded the small room. The power from the attack sent Camryn back into her standard Zenith mode and nearly drained all of her power.

"The systems locked!" Zhane exclaimed as he began to tap on the control panel.

"Here," Charlie said and sat down next to Zhane. "Let's see if my hacking skills are rusty."

Despite them effectively commandeering the ship the cogs aboard refused to surrender, they flooded the control room where they met Cliff who would mow them down as fast as he could.

But even with the skills of an expert marksman the Cogs were quickly becoming too much.

Camryn summoned her firearm as she joined beside Cliff. Her pistol wasn't as effective as his rifle but she helped where she could, dispatching normal cogs while Cliff focused on the spiders.

That was until the standard flow of adversaries was abruptly disrupted by the massive automation that arrived on caterpillar tracks. The towering machine was humanoid from the waist above, looking like a more armored Cog with its legs replaced with tracks. Two massive chain guns began to hum as they prepared to open fire.

Camryn sprang into action, converting her gun into its sword mode by straightening the barrel into a thin guard and unleashing a navy colored energy blade.

While badass to Camryn there was no time to geek out over her totally-not-a-freaking-lightsaber so instead she rushed towards the machine and stabbed her blade into it's chest.

Sparks flew from the torn metal that singed her suit upon impact. She then twisted the blade as the machine aimed its gun towards Charlie.

But was deactivated before it could turn the Red Ranger into swiss cheese.

Camryn sighed in relief as Charlie turned towards Zhane. "We're in, the ship's all ours."

"You hear that?" Charlie said through the coms.

"Great!" Ivan exclaimed. "Any chance you can teleport us to you before we get massacred?"

Zhane frowned, "On it guys." He said and tapped a few keys.

In a flash of light the five Rangers that infiltrated the planet appeared in the control room. Gia and Rachel were both demorphed with the other Rangers looking exhausted.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" Camryn asked.

"I'd love to know myself," Reese said.

"We encountered something," Ace muttered. "It was like a Ranger but it wasn't…" he trailed off for a moment as if he was unsure he even believed the words he'd spoken. "It wasn't alive…"

"We're getting another visitor," Zhane breathed. "They're hijacking the ship's teleporter."

The seven remaining Rangers each prepared for the figure that appeared in the middle of the command room.

"I hate when my prey runs from me," The armored Ranger spat. "But I love the chase."

All seven Rangers opened fire on the figure. Its armor was practically glowing under the intense firepower, but it didn't seem bothered. Instead it began to advance towards them slowly.

Camryn realized with a chill it was playing with them.

"We need more firepower," Zhane breathed with the casualness of a veteran soldier. "At this rate we're done for."

"Any suggestions?" Charlie asked Camryn.

"Me?" The Blue Ranger asked with a smirk under her helmet. "I thought I was useless."

"You might be a rookie, but you've shown me your grit," Charlie replied.

The figure was almost upon them, through the constant boom of blaster fire they could hear its laughter slowly growing closer.

But that was when the three Zenith Rangers began to glow.

They each looked at their hands and found a new hexagon-shaped Power Coin.

No time to question a good thing. The Rangers loaded the coins into their Master Morphers and exclaimed, "Zenith Ascend: Brigade Mode!"

Their suits were enveloped in a familiar glow and the galaxy texture shifted to mate black. A dark-gray armored vest appeared over their chests along with knee and shoulder guards. Their helmets gained tactical gear in the form of a microphone that hung over their mouth guards and goggles with rims that matched their respective colors fit over their visors.

In each of the Ranger's hands they gained a massive grey colored riot shield and a pistol. With their new weapons they opened fire on the adversary. Still, while the attacks didn't slow its march Camryn noticed they were causing it to recoil against them.

Ace must've noticed as well because he converted the pistol to an energy-based combat knife in the same way that their standard sidearms did. He then rushed towards the enemy and stabbed the knife into the armored Ranger's chest where there was already a noticeable scratch.

Sparks flew from the Ranger as it grabbed hold of Ace's helmet with both hands. Swirls of crimson energy leaked from Ace's armor as he let out a powerful scream and forced the knife further into the enemy.

"How are you still morphed?" The figure exclaimed. "How much morphing energy does that suit contain?"

Camryn looked to Reese and the Black Ranger nodded.

"Ace!" Camryn yelled. "Watch out!"

Ace understood immediately and kicked the armored Ranger away from him. Ace then fell back as his morphed form dissipated.

But all that mattered as that Camryn and Reese had an opening. Their pistols hummed with energy as they both exclaimed, "Brigade Barrage!" The pistols then erupted with an intense energy blast that struck the enemy with enough force to destroy lesser foes.

But this only caused it to recoil as the Zenith Rangers reverted back to their normal forms.

"Ship! Initiate self destruct protocol!" Zhane said darkly.

"Self-destruct activated." The ship's computer spoke back somberly.

"Teleport all remaining lifeforms to the designated coordinates."

Wordlessly the ship responded, it's last action carrying the Rangers away in a flash of light.

Camryn looked at her new location, unsurprised to find it was Zhane's ship. She demorphed and touched the back of her head. "Well that was anticlimactic."

"I suppose you could call it that," Zhane muttered as the Lairship exploded into debris that shot across the black sky in fiery streaks. "Or you could call it extremely lucky."

"He's right," Gia said, "That thing could've killed us all easily."

"So why didn't it?" Camryn asked aloud.

Silence.

"Uh hey, guys…" Warrus said. "Seems like I missed quite a bit."

"Just a little bit," Ivan muttered, "Maybe someone a little less terrified could fill you in."

"Let's just focus on getting the hell away from whatever that was," Zhane muttered as the ship powered on and sailed away from the artificial planetoid.

***

The streak of light landed on the Dark Fortress that currently floated through the M51 galaxy. An entire fleet of Quantorns marched to meet the armored figure that appeared from the teleportation beam.

"I'm flattered you went through all of this trouble for me," Chaos said.

"We didn't expect anyone to return-"

"After everyone died," Chaos said to the girl in battle armor. "Sorry, a part of that was my bad. But the rest was a meddling group of Rangers. An interesting bunch to be sure."

The woman just stared at him, her green steele eyes watching carefully…

"But you're wondering why I came back," Chaos said with a hint of satisfaction. "It's simple, I wish to know what you need this information for." He said and revealed a memory disc. He leaned theatrically towards the woman, "And I want to offer my assistance as well."

"Why's that exactly?" She asked with a stony expression.

"Because I have a hunch it has something to do with those Power Rangers I mentioned earlier," Chaos said, "And I'm dying to see how it plays out."

***

The Rangers returned back to Hexagon for debriefing. The Kerovian Rangers stayed for a bit as well, mostly so Zhane could catch up with T.J.

The Zenith Rangers were decompressing in the rec room. Reese and Ace were watching football while Camryn scrolled on her phone.

"Hey Rookie," Charlie said as she sat down next to Camryn.

"Uh I think you're forgetting who saved who," Camryn replied.

"Just because you saved my ass doesn't mean you aren't a rookie," Charlie said, "It just means I'll expect that much more out of you when you're as seasoned as I am."

"So would it be wishful thinking to assume you're here to apologize?" Camryn asked.

"I just came here to say good job," Charlie said with a smirk. "I'm not gonna say you're our best shot against whatever's coming, but I think you're on the way there."

"I've been thinking about that," Camryn said as a shiver shot down her spine. "What are we really going up against?"

Charlie shrugged, "Originally I thought that what they did to Aquatar was supposed to demonstrate their might… but I'm starting to get worried that it was just a pot shot," her face fell as she looked Camryn in the eyes and said. "And that maybe they haven't even played their hand yet."

***

Gia, Tommy, Hayley, and Justin all stood in tense silence after the Yellow Ranger personally recounted her experience on the last mission.

Her face was paper white, her eyes wide, "I still don't know what to make of it. That thing was trying to eat me. I could feel it peeling away my powers." She shivered. "I've never felt more vulnerable in my life…"

Hayley nodded grimly and placed a gentle hand on Gia's shoulder. "I've reviewed the helmet feed about a million times and I still don't have any idea what that thing was."

"It was a wound," Tommy breathed. "A being of corrupted morphing energy." He replayed the footage of Ace's contact with the entity. He frowned.

"That's our leading theory," Hayley said to Gia, "But we still aren't fully sure."

"As much I hate to be the one to say it," Justin abruptly said in the large, empty, but still claustrophobic Command Chamber. "But we need to finish the other morphers."

Chapter Text

The Ornate Morning Star was a small pub on the very outskirts of Briarwood. It was an unpopular attraction, mostly because of the magic spell that made it invisible to all but those in the know. It was where normal humans went when they sought a little help from the magic realm.

Destiny kept a low profile as she took a sip of her drink and watched the man in the suit jacket leave the business. She waited until the door closed behind him before stepping outside herself.

She found him smoking a cigarette outside of the pub, the gray smoke danced softly under the neon glow of the open sign.

"Care if I bum one?" She asked the man.

He shrugged and handed her an unlit cigarette.

"Thanks…" she said as her normally ice blue eyes flashed yellow.

"He's the one." A voice spoke in the back of her mind. She smiled as her eyes returned to normal with a blink. Then she shoved the man against the wall.

"Why the hell are you following us?" She barked in annoyance.

The man opened his mouth, his cigarette falling as it cast orange light across his faint stubble. Which was when Destiny noticed how unreal the man truly looked. He was far too normal, almost as he was molded from plastic.

This gave her a second to prepare before the rune engraved into his chest exploded with light and he transformed into a battling

The goggle-eyed lower demon swung its sword wildly towards the woman in the tanned leather pilot jacket but she evaded the attack and tossed a throwing knife made of silver. It stuck into the demon's chest and caused a sizzling noise that made the otherworldly creature shriek.

It swung its sword again, but Destiny blocked it with the silver bracelet she wore over her right wrist. Sparks flew from the metal upon contact and she smirked.

Before the demon kicked her in the stomach. The wind was knocked from her lungs as she fell back.

Oh shit. She barely had time to think before the sword flew past her.

The eons-old, gravelly voice in her head simply sighed. "Let me take care of this." Her left arm raised on its own as it began to glow with crimson energy. A beam of light shot from her hand and instantly disintegrated the battling.

"Can't you let me have any fun?" She asked Bael.

"Is that how you mortals offer thanks in this century?"

"Something like that…" she muttered as she found the card that the lesser demon left behind.

She lifted it to her eyes and laughed, "Great… I've always wanted to see Panorama."

***

Nearly every day of Reese's life began with a morning jog. It was a tradition he started in elementary school when he joined the track team. Then it continued throughout his school career and was carried over when he joined the Silver Guardians. So when he'd been drafted to be a Power Rangers it naturally followed alongside him.

But today was different, and he was fighting a pounding headache just to turn off his alarm.

He tapped the bottom on his phone as his eyes fought to adjust enough to read the time.

1:46!

He shot up, ignoring the splitting pain as he threw his clothes on.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

He rushed out of his house and down the stone path that led to his black mustang. The sunlight assaulted his eyes but he pushed through the pain and got into his car.

He figured this was exactly what he deserved for staying drunk the whole night before his day off until six hours before he had to be back at Hexagon.

Not that he could help himself, not with yesterday being the birthday of his best friend Bryce...

Reese swallowed the growing nausea as he got out of his car and rushed towards the massive six-sided building.

"Took ya long enough," Eric Myers said as he stood waiting at the entrance.

"Sorry, sir…" Reese muttered with his head down.

"It's alright," Eric said with a firm hand on Reese's shoulder. "I understand… that's why I told Tommy to push back the meeting."

Reese nodded weakly at the Quantum Ranger. "Thank you." He said and followed Eric inside.

The two Rangers ventured to the Command Chamber where everyone sat around the massive holo table. Tommy had abandoned his chair and instead stood, leaning over the holo table as its white light cast his face at an angle that exposed every single mark of age and stress on the legendary Ranger's face. Reese sat down next to Ace and Camryn while Eric just leaned against the wall by the entrance.

"There's been about a dozen disappearances in Panorama City," Tommy began.

"Have the Samurai Rangers been altered?" Gia Moran interrupted to ask with a serious expression.

"The Samurai Rangers were the ones that altered us," Tommy said. "They suspect it's connected to a spike in demonic activity around the area. So they've reached out to us to help them investigate."

Reese nodded, he instantly understood the importance of this mission. The Samurai Rangers weren't the closest allies of Hexagon, so having them ask for help was a big step.

But that also meant that Hexagon couldn't afford to botch it.

"Demons and Samurai," Camryn said, "I'm definitely down."

"What about the UAE?" Ace asked.

"Still no sign of them," Tommy said and managed not to sigh. Ace had asked the same question every meeting. Not that anyone blamed him, everyone was just as anxious about the return of the force that decimated their city. They were just getting tired of being reminded of it every day. "In the meantime, we still have to defend the planet against any potential threats."

Ace nodded reluctantly. "Alright, so who's going?"

"The three of you will meet up with Lauren Shiba in Panorama to discuss things further," Tommy explained.

"I take it I'm the babysitter?" Gia asked.

"No, you're staying here with Justin for the time being," Tommy said flatly.

Gia scowled. "Why's that? You never tell me to stay. I'm practically the fourth member.”

Reese watched Gia with bazaar fascination, he'd never seen anybody in Hexagon talk back to Tommy like that.

And from the look on the Legendary Ranger's face neither had he.

Tommy erased the shocked expression from his face and spoke calmly. "Don't question my authority." He turned back to the other Rangers. "You all have your assignments. Go carry them out.”

Tommy left the Command Chamber, leaving half the hexagon Rangers without assignments and those that did were still just as confused.

"Wow… someone's cranky," Camryn muttered, "But we shouldn't let that ruin our day."

"Alright…" Ace said as he stood up, "Let's get this over with."

"Are you serious?" Camryn asked, "Are you really gonna let Tommy's weirdness ruin your day?'

It was around that exact time Reese noticed his headache was returning. He stood up beside Ace, "Yeah for real, the quickier we get done the quickier I can get back to sleep." He muttered.

"Ugh I swear everyone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Camryn groaned as she got up to follow the others.

***

Panorama City was a marvel of modern architecture, with massive claustrophobic buildings that towered over the population like sleeping giants.

Destiny was dwarfed by the massive black shadow of a nearby building as she bit into her chili dog with a euphoric smile.

"You know that's horrible for you," Bael muttered.

Destiny shrugged, "Sue me."

She had taken the bus immediately after finding the card from the fallen demon. She figured that if she could get to the bottom of whatever was happening as soon as possible she might be able to drastically reduce the casualties.

The blonde-haired girl in a pilot jacket finished her food and tossed the trash away. Her eyes darted up and she caught the black mustang that drove past.

The man in the driver's seat stuck out even more. Her eyes lingered on him as they passed.

"What smells so… delicious?" Bael asked.

"Must be lingering from my chili dog," Destiny muttered. She then looked down at the map on her phone and smiled. She was only a few blocks from her goal.

Destiny then looked around to make sure nobody had seen her talking to herself. She sighed in relief when she couldn't catch any lingering eyes. She didn't even know why she cared, after all her and Bael's partnership wasn't something that the typical person could even comprehend.

Bael was a Nighlok, a demonic creature that dwelled within the Sanzu River. He'd lived his entire existence as a loner, refusing the company of his barbaric brethren. In fact, upon being summoned to this world by Destiny he had contemplated murdering her on the spot.

But then he noticed something interesting about Destiny, a supernova of raw emotion resonating in her spirit.

And all of it was fueled by grief, the tastiest emotion to all Nighlok.

A few turns down the sidewalk and she was facing a stout brick building tucked into an inconspicuous corner of the city. A heavily weather-worn sign that sat in front of the building introduced it as Solomon's Club.

She opened up the glass door and was met with a massive dark room that practically vibrated with techno music as scantily clad women danced atop single person stages littered across the area.

Outside of the women, the room was mostly populated with a strange collection of men. Those identical to the one she encountered previously acted as butlers, carrying drinks, food, and cigars to the other men. Those other men seemed far too imperfect to be batlings in disguise.

One of the men approached her, his breath smelling of alcohol and rot as his middle-aged face leaned closer to Destiny.

"Are you the girl I talked to this morning?" He asked, "Bridgette?"

Her mouth moved before she could even think. "Uh… Yeah."

"Great!" The man exclaimed, "You're only an hour late."

Destiny smiled as the man wrapped his arm around her. She couldn't help but feel overjoyed by the sudden luck that came her way. This was the perfect opportunity for her to get to the bottom of what was going on here and it was handed to her on a silver platter.

The man brought her to a table in the corner, she noticed he carefully chose his seat to allow him the best view of the woman dancing behind her.

"This man is practically sweating despair," Bael said excitedly.

Not to mention literally sweating just as bad, Destiny thought loud enough for the Nighlok to hear it.

"So what do you think of the place?" The man asked with a perfectly rendered smile that probably won more women then Destiny would've liked to imagine.

"It's… interesting," she replied. The man then reached across the table and grabbed her hand.

She swallowed the panic and the instant reflex to unsheath her knife and stab it through his palm.

"What is this?" he asked as he pushed her jacket back to reveal the shaky ink that decorated her left arm.

"Just a tattoo," she replied as civilly as she could.

The man seemed completely obvious to her distaste in their general closeness. "Your profile didn't mention any tattoos."

"I just got my first one a few months ago," she replied. "I know it's silly but I totally forget I have it most of the time. It doesn't help that I was really drunk."

"Nice save," Bael muttered as the man offered a chuckle.

It helps that it's true.

"Ah yes…" the man sang softly, "Sometimes we do regrettable things while under the influence…"

Destiny just blinked at the man for a second, then embarrassingly realized she'd forgotten that her new friend couldn't follow the private conversation between her and Bael.

"Yeah no kidding," Destiny said with a genuine laugh. "I'm pretty sure if I wrote an autobiography every chapter would start with 'so I set down my drink'."

The man laughed and one of the totally-not-a-demon waiters brought her a drink.

She took a sip and slightly cringed at the bitter taste.

"That's definitely a potion," Bael said, thankfully he also neutralized it. "act… drowsy."

Destiny yawned and leaned on the man's shoulder. She ignored the reek of his sweat and cologne.

"This is a pretty nice place," she said into his ear. "How'd you find it?"

"Well me and the lther patrons all have a shared interest."

"Like a hobby?"

"Uh, yeah," the man replied as his smooth facade was temporarily broken, more likely from the fact he wasn't used to being asked too many questions.

"Is it something occultic?"

The man laughed, "if you don't mind following me somewhere more… private I can show you."

The two stood up and the man led Destiny across the room. She couldn't help but notice how firmly he held her. Which only strengthened her sinking feeling that this wasn't the man's first rodeo…

The two then went down a narrow hall built into the left-wing of the building that led to a series of small rooms packed closely together.

The man brought her into one of the rooms and tossed her onto a cheap full-size bed. He then threw himself on top of her, his hot breath rolling off her face as a wicked smile formed on his.

That was about when she had enough. She flipped over, effortlessly pinning the man to the bed.

"So what the hell is going on here?" She asked as her blade lightly touched the man's neck.

He swallowed hard, fear clouding his eyes.

Destiny had to admit she liked seeing it just as much as Bael did.

"H-hey, this wasn't my idea…" The man breathed. "I was just following orders."

"From who?" she barked as she applied some more pressure to the knife.

"His name is Mephisto-" The man's voice broke into a choke as Destiny pressed harder. "I'm serious!" He croaked, "That's the name he used to recruit us. He found us on the internet. Claimed he was some super-powerful being. None of us believed him until we came here."

"What is he after?"

"He wants to perform a ritual today during the solar eclipse," The man was speaking faster, probably in hopes that Destiny would move the knife. "That's what we've been collecting girls for."

But it didn't budge, instead, she looked at him coldly and asked, "Where?"

"In one of the abandoned warehouses. I think it used to store shoes."

"You don't sound too sure."

"We don't have the address yet!" The man exclaimed as a tiny section of his neck was beginning to welt with blood. "He's supposed to text it to us."

"Phone. Now." Destiny gave the man room and he instantly shot up and handed her his cell phone. "Now go. And don't tell anyone about this."

He nodded and ran off.

"You're good," Bael said.

Destiny smiled and pocketed the man's phone. "I've been around the block."

She left and headed towards the exit, but as she stepped into the main room she was met with a sight that turned her blood cold.

"I should've suspected something like this would happen," she breathed. "It was too easy."

A mob of batling had dropped their human guise and were crowding around the figure at the entrance.

A red Power Ranger with a golden sword and a helmet with some sort of Japanese Kanji as its visor.

With a flaming swing of their sword, several of the batlings were reduced to dust.

"That's a Shiba!" Bael exclaimed nervously.

"Ohhh…" She replied. She'd studied them but hadn't ever seen one in person. "Yeah, that's not the best for us."

She then looked for a fire escape but came out empty-handed. Surely that couldn't be up to code.

No time to worry about that though, not while she was trapped in a grimy demon den while a Red Power Ranger mowed down its occupants.

The Samurai Ranger had moved further into the building. They jumped atop one of the small stages and chopped down every Batling that leaped towards them.

Destiny figured that this would be her only shot. So she took a deep breath and charged towards the exit. She passed a group of men who were attempting to escape the carnage and retreat to the rooms she'd just exited.

They didn't cause her any trouble, which was certainly a good sign. But then one of the men seemed to come to his senses and exclaimed, "Somebody get that girl!"

Two of the batlings turned away from the Red Ranger and rushed towards her.

Bael sighed and shot a blast of crimson demonic energy at the lesser demon. The batling stumbled back but remained intact.

"Last time you wounded it with a silver dagger before I did that," Bael realized

"Great…" Destiny muttered.

By then two more batlings joined in, even better…

But then one of them exploded into black dust and Destiny realized that the Red Ranger stood in front of her.

"Stay behind me," the Red Ranger said.

Absolutely fantastic…
***

The Zenith Rangers pulled into the Japanese inspired Shiba house. Imported cherry blossom trees lined the gravel drive that the Rangers had ascended on foot.

They were met by Jayden Shiba, Red Samurai Ranger. He bowed and said, "it's a pleasure to be reacquainted with all of you. I hear that Angel Grove is recovering well."

"It's moving along," Ace said. "They might've had to dust off some old monster protocols but they're getting things done."

Jayden nodded and led the three Rangers inside.

"I want to thank you all for coming, and also thank Hexagon for authorizing the aid. Normally we'd be equipped to handle this but only Antonio, my sister Lauren, and I are available right now." Jayden explained.

"So what are we dealing with?" Ace asked.

"We aren't entirely sure," Jayden admitted. "People have been going missing, and we've noticed a tiny spike in demonic energies but we haven't found anything."

"That reminds me," Antonio said. "Lauren hasn't come back yet…"

"She'll be fine," Jayden replied.

"I'm not worried about whether she'll come home safe," The Gold Samurai Ranger said and leaned back in his chair. "I'm worried about what she'll come back with."

Moments later she arrived, with a sweaty and grim face that seemed to carry everything that Antonio feared. "I infiltrated what I think was their base and ran into a bit of trouble."

"What about her?" Jayden asked as he looked at the brown-haired girl in the pilot jacket

"I picked her up at the base," Lauren explained.

Jayden's eyes widened while staring at the girl his sister had brought. He grabbed her left wrist and pulled her jacket up.

What had been carved into her arm might appear to be a mere tattoo to the uneducated eye, but Jayden knew better.

"That's symbol power…" he said and he marveled at the kanji.

"Not just that," Lauren said, recognizing the symbol with sickening clarity. "That's the sealing symbol."

"But I thought only members of the Shiba Clan could use that," Antonio said.

"That isn't our biggest concern," Lauren said darkly and raised her spin sword.

The girl jumped back and with a quick blink her eyes turned yellow and every Nighlok detection seal sang in distress.

"What are you?" Lauren demanded.

"I am Bael," the girl said in a smooth, masculine voice. "The wandering Nighlok" the girl blinked and her eyes turned to their normal blue "But we come in peace."

The three Samurai Rangers all eyed her carefully.

"You sealed a Nighlok into your body," Jayden said. "Why?"

"I'm after a demon who killed my parents," she explained. "Bael was just another step towards my revenge."

"And that brings you here because?" Antonio asked.

"Well I'm here because Little Red didn't give me much of a choice," the girl said. "But I'm in Panorama because I followed a trail of demonic activity all the way here." She explained.

"So are you here because you think that whatever is causing trouble in Panorama killed your parents?" Camryn asked. She stepped away from her own circle of Rangers and approached the girl who stood next to the samurai crew. "Or is Bael looking for a new roommate?"

"Bael is enough," The girl said with a tiny smirk. "I'm hoping that it's the same demon, but if not it'll be one less demon regardless."

"Well good news," Camryn said. "You stumbled upon a crew of demon slayers to take care of it for you."

"If that's an off-handed way of trying to get rid of me you can forget it," The girl said.

"Fine," Lauren said with a shrug.

Reese clenched his hands but held his tongue.

Camryn on the other hand had no reservations, "that's definitely against Hexagon protocol.

"Besides," Jayden interjected, "she has a Nighlok inside of her, how do we even know we can trust her?"

"Ji might have retired to Japan but I haven't forgotten his teachings," Lauren replied flatly. "We have to trust the direction the morphing grid leads us."

She then turned to Camryn, "This isn't a Hexagon run mission.

Reese watched as the round face of the female Shiba melted into a stoic mask of determination.

"That sealing symbol," Lauren said to the girl. "You made that right?"

She nodded, "Bael showed it to me but I had to do it."

Lauren chewed her bottom lip for a second as she thought in tense silence.

"Antonio," she said as she turned towards the gold Ranger. "Get that morpher out of storage."

His face instantly fell, "The Oscuridad Samuraizer?"

"Yeah, that one."

Antonio nodded and moved towards a safe in the corner of the room. He didn't look particularly enthusiastic, instead, he seemed stressed and almost scared. He opened the safe and pulled out a digital Samuraizer similar to his own.

Lauren took it and held it out to the girl. "What's your name?" She finally asked.

"Destiny Winhart" she said as she eyed the device carefully.

"Destiny Winhart," Lauren Shiba said emotionlessly. "Are you willing to submit yourself to the Shiba clan and become one of its champions?"

"Sounds kinda fun," Destiny. "So yeah, I'm in."

Lauren nodded and handed her the morpher.

Jayden looked like every ounce of strength in his body was devoted to holding his tongue. Which just reinforced what Reese already suspected, Lauren Shiba was not someone to question.

"So what's the plan then?" Ace asked. "How much do you even know about this potential enemy?"

"They're trying to perform some kind of ritual," Destiny explained. "That's what they're kidnapping people for." She then grinned and pulled a cell phone out of her pocket, "and as soon as I get the text we'll know exactly where it's gonna happen."

Soon after that, the Rangers dispersed, each of them wandering off to kill time in the best way they knew how.

Reese went outside for some air. His head had thankfully stopped pounding but he was still plagued with a faint air of unwellness.

He leaned back against the outside of the Shiba House and took a deep breath.

"How are you feeling?" The stranger asked as she approached.

Reese frowned, "Just peachy."

"Well you look like garbage and you smell like booze," She replied, "So excuse me if I don't believe you."

"It happens sometimes…" Reese muttered. "Just gotta keep moving."

"That doesn't mean you should shove it all down," Destiny said. "So what is it? A breakup? Daddy not love you? What are you running from?"

Reese looked at the strange girl. He couldn't exactly figure out why she approached him but he figured explaining might get her to leave.

"My best friend died almost a year ago," Reese spat bitterly.

"Oh," Destiny breathed with a paling face. "Oh shit…"

"Yeah," Reese said as the familiar pang spread through his system. "We served together in the Silver Guardians." His hands balled into white fists. "That's when it happened."

"Was it a monster?" She asked softly.

Reese chuckled darkly, "No. It was a gunman working for the Scorpion Cartel."

Destiny turned to Reese, her eyes locked into his. "If there's one thing I know it's that you can't just run away from your problems. You have to face them or else they'll keep their power over you."

Reese turned away but Destiny's words still echoed in his head.

Destiny walked away from the sulking Ranger, she emphasized with him but there wasn't much else she could say.

"At least his despair was delicious…" Bael said.

"You're always thinking with your stomach," Destiny replied.

"So when you do that are you talking to your pet Nighlok? Or do you just vocalize your own internal monologue?"

Destiny turned to see Camryn looking both smug and interested.

"What's it to you?" Destiny asked.

Camryn shrugged, "Just curious. That's gotta be wild, having another voice in there." She said with a quick tap of her forehead.

"You get used to it," she replied. "Though he does get kinda annoying."

Destiny couldn't help but smirk when Bael scoffed in response.

Destiny looked at the brown-haired girl beside her. She could sense Bael from within her trying to siphon despair from the Ranger.

But surprisingly there was none, somehow this girl seemed totally at peace with herself and the universe.

A beeping from Destiny's jeans tore her from her thoughts as she pulled the phone from her pocket and checked the message.

"Is that the location of the ritual?" Camryn asked.

"Yeah and thank god," she replied. "If it was another spam email I would've flipped."

***

Ace dodged the wooden bokken and swung diagonally with his own. Unfortunately, Lauren had anticipated that and flipped her own practice blade into a reverse grip and parried his attack.

Ace just watched and tried not to think about how much power it took to dodge his two-handed swing with only one of her hands holding her sword.

"For a Ranger, your swordsmanship is pretty lackluster," the female Samurai said.

"It's not actually something they teach us at Hexagon," he replied.

"That's a pity."

The samurai then broke into a berserk of powerful and impossibly fast swings. Her bokken became a blur of motion, one that took every last ounce of focus to intercept.

And even then he was still starting to slip…

Lauren then swung up, knocking Ace's sword from his grip and sent it clanking to the ground.

Lauren then swung the chunk of wood towards Ace as the Ranger stood stunned and undefended.

The bokken stopped inches away from his neck as Lauren spoke. "There are better swordsmen than me. And you're prepared for none of them."

Moments later Destiny and Camryn appeared with the news they'd all be waiting for.

All seven Rangers were gathered into the Shiba House as plans began to formulate.

It was relatively simple. They needed to go in, fight some demons, and save the hostages.

From the information they gathered from the internet the warehouse the ritual was going to be held at had two entrances. One was through a garage, which was where they could assume the hostages were going to be brought in through, and a front entrance.

The plan was relatively simple: the Samurai Rangers and Ace would storm the front entrance and start laying waste to the hellspawn while Camryn and Reese would sneak around to the back entrance and free the hostages. They would commence the operation twenty minutes before the ritual that way they'd theoretically have enough time to stop it but also ensure that the hostages were already delivered.

It was simple, it was easy, and it was perfect.

But Ace knew better than to assume that nothing could go wrong…

***

Reese followed Camryn through the back alleys of Panorama. He'd received plenty of training and experience with modern combat scenarios but all of it paled in comparison to Camryn.

Being a pupil of Wind Ninja Academy gave Camryn an advantage most soldiers would die for. The way that she danced through the streets, ever vigilant and confident. She slid into every crevice, jumping from shadow to shadow, using the dumpsters and parked cars to camouflage herself from any potential eyes.

It was all superhuman to Reese, who struggled to lag behind as they approached the back entrance of the warehouse.

Two men stood guard as the unmarked semi pulled into the building. If anything screamed cargo transport for occult hostages it was definitely that.

Reese tried to evaluate the men. They were both scrappy, with uniforms that hid bulky Kevlar underneath.

Then Reese recognized the patch on their shoulders. He zoomed in with his binoculars.

And instantly felt his blood boil.

"For Christ's sake," he seethed through his teeth.

Camryn turned towards Reese and then flinched as she caught the murderous look blossoming on his face.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Whoever is orchestrating this shit show hired the Scorpion Cartel as their security guards."

Reese held back the anger that shot red hot adrenaline through his veins as he scanned over the two men and waited for Ace's word that the forces were properly distracted. But then Reese spotted him.

And suddenly the black ranger lost all sense of himself.

"What the hell are you doing?" Camryn asked as Reese suddenly took off full speed toward the building.

She followed behind him as he morphed into the Black Zenith Ranger mid-sprint. "Of all times to be reckless, why make it now?"

But Reese couldn't hear her. His world had melted away, leaving only him and the target in front of him.

The man who killed his former partner.

Reese exhaled a primeval scream leaving Camryn to mutter, "what the hell…" as she morphed alongside him.

The two guards caught sight of the charging Rangers and offered their best oh shit expressions as the two morphed warriors approached.

But the man Reese aimed for remained calm and smug.

The gunfire from the guards reflected harmlessly off their Ranger suits as Reese raised his hatchet and swung towards the man beside them.

The man grinned as the necklace around his neck exploded with dark-colored energy.

In a flash, he was enveloped in black colored body armor. The armor seemed both similar to a Ranger suit and distinctly different. It was constructed of a sturdier material making it appear sleeker and militarized. Its visor was black and Y shaped, it turned towards Reese and leveled a pistol towards his chest.

Blasts of energy barraged his body and threw sparks around wildly. But the Black Ranger's vision stayed red, and the pain only fueled his blood lust.

"Do you like it?" The man asked. "I know a guy at Ziktor Industries who hooked me up." In a flash of pixelated digital energy, he summoned a sword that he slashed into Reese's chest.

"You idiot," Camryn muttered and summoned her staff. The staff folded into an x shaped before the Blue Ranger tossed it at the enemy.

The weapon became a blur of navy energy that flanked the enemy's side, throwing sparks and distracting him enough for Reese to swing his hatchet diagonally across the enemy's chest.

Sparks and binary strings of glowing code flew from the enemy's armor, but it didn't seem to hinder him.

"I've been curious to see how this thing stacks up against a Power Ranger," the man muttered as he parried Reese ax.

The Black Ranger ignored the banter and continued his powerful swings and throat tearing screams.

There wasn't even a mission to him anymore, he just wanted his enemy destroyed.

***

Things were going wrong before they even got started. Destiny Winhart couldn't pin-point exactly how she knew but after everything she learned in her life, she'd gotten really good at sensing it.

She looked down at the digital Samuraizer and felt a strange mixture of emotions as the other four Rangers morphed and Lauren kicked in the door.

Somehow the enemy had already been expecting them, and mayhem immediately followed.

Destiny raised her knife and rushed in after the Red Zenith Ranger, where she found the group instantly surrounded by twenty or more Batlings.

"Well, this isn't good!" Antonio exclaimed as his Baracuda Blade was a blur of motion.

"How did they know we were coming?" Jayden asked as his Spin Sword reduced a batling to dust.

"Don't look at me," Destiny exclaimed as she sliced the nearest creature.

"It was probably Camryn," Ace muttered. "I just hope they're doing all right."

Unfortunately, the time for speculation was fairly short, the legion of lesser demons saw to that.

The group made short work of the demons and scanned the warehouse carefully.

The batlings had been far too easy…

The creature came lumbering towards them, it's black ragged cloak flowing past its massive form.

"That's definitely something I'd throw back," The Gold Samurai Ranger muttered.

"Yeah, that's about what I'd expect from someone named Mephisto," Destiny said to the kelp colored octopus face of the demon.

It's horrific mouth uttered a sinister laugh, causing each of its green tentacles to flap erratically. "I'm not Mephisto!" The demon shrieked and raised its scythe, "though he did send me clean things up."

"You…" Destiny breathed.

The world froze as the memories came flooding back.

"Um… excuse me?" The demon asked. "Do you know me? I feel like I'd remember someone as delicious as you."

"Mariner Bay," she breathed as her grip on her morpher tightened. "You killed my parents…"

"On did I?" The creature inquired. "You'll have to forgive my memory. The work I did for Queen Bansheira was rather… passionless. All the humans blur together after a while."

Destiny uttered a soul tearing screams as she raised her Samuraizer and scribed the kanji for darkness.

The symbol power exploded with raw morphing magic. Her armor appeared in a spinning vortex of purple hellfire. It was identical to Antonio's gold Ranger suit only hers was onyx black where his was gold and purple where his was blue. She raised a sleek black katana and charged at the demon.

The blade slammed against the scythe with a burst of sparks. The power she felt coursing through her body was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before.

"So this is how it feels to be a Ranger," Bael muttered in the back of her head. "I can see why they grow so attached to this form."

Destiny didn't respond, all of her existence was being thrown into the battle in front of her.

But silently she knew that Bael was right.

Ace joined in from behind, flanking the creature with red blaster fire.

"No," she growled. "You guys keep going! This one is my battle."

Ace continued firing pot shots until Lauren set her hand on his shoulder. "Come on," she spoke to Zenith Red. "We still have a ritual to stop."

Ace nodded and followed behind the samurai crew, leaving Destiny alone with her demon.

The Black Samurai Ranger dodged the curved blade that swung like a pendulum towards her face.

"Your anger," Bael breathed. "Let it come to a boil. Let it absorb you."

"Right…" Destiny nodded and dodged another attack. Her armor glowed with crimson light as Bael weaved his demonic energies through it.

"That's it…" Bael cooed gently. "This is the slimeball that murdered your parents. This is the moment you've been waiting for…"

Destiny jabbed her sword forward, slicing into the creature's slimy side.

"You know what, maybe I do remember," the demon mused playfully. "Your scream jogged my memory. Your mother had one just like it."

That was it, Destiny felt herself cross through a mental threshold. Her scream turned into something feral and throat tearing.

"That's it…" Bael breathed euphorically, "I can feel myself blending with the morphing energy!"

Crimson wings of demonic energy spread from her back. They stretched and flicked as if tasting the air.

Destiny delivered a powerful slash into her enemy.

Then another.

And another.

They began to blend into one another, becoming a consistent blur of speed that sent countless waves of sparks flying from its body.

"Your anger is delicious!" The demon exclaimed. Their blades clashed as their demonic energies ground against each other. "It feeds you just as much as if feeds me." The creature lent its tenticalural face close to hers. "We're practically indistinguishable."

Destiny froze, giving the demon the opportunity to swing its scythe into her armor.

Sparks flew but she hardly felt them, the words of the demon flashed in her head.

"What the hell are you doing?" Bael demanded. "We're getting demolished!"

Sparks continued to fly as the demon laughed.

Destiny paused and took a deep breath. The demon was right…

She'd originally started this journey to make sure the tragedy of her childhood didn't happen to anyone else. But it became twisted by her anger and evolved into something far more sinister and self-destructive.

"You idiot! You're starting to slip!" Bael hollered as the crimson wings began to fade.

No, she screamed back to the Nighlok. I'm doing this my way.

She took another deep breath and raised her sword just in time to parry the scythe.

"Are you trying to end up just like your parents?" Bael exclaimed. "The bastard hellspawn who murdered them is right there!"

I know that.

She parried another swing.

"You've been waiting your whole life for this moment."

She ducked under the scythe as it sailed over her helmet.

"That's why I'm gonna do it right!" She exclaimed and stabbed her sword forward. The katana began to glow with black colored lighting as it struck the enemy's chest and sunk into it.

The demon screamed in pain as Destiny shoved the blade up to its hilt into the demon. Black viscous blood dripped down the demon's chest like sap from a tree.

Somewhere inside her Bael licked his lips.

The demon finally fell back and exploded, shooting dust that smelled of sulfur in the air.

She looked towards the exit and realized that nothing was stopping her from leaving. She could just let the Rangers handle the problem like they'd intended to.

But where was the fun in that?

***

"Earth to Reese!" Camryn exclaimed, "We still have a mission to accomplish."

But the Black Zenith Ranger didn't even register her words as he continued his duel with the other warrior.

"Wow, you're pretty serious," the opposing warrior muttered. "I must've really hurt you."

"Bryce Morgan," Reese spat and swung his laser sword towards the man.

Their blades clashed and the armored assassin laughed. "Oh yeah him. Nothing personal there he just caught a whiff of my employer's business. You know how it is."

"He was my best friend!" Reese exclaimed and raised the Master Morpher from his belt. "Zenith Ascend, Brigade Mode!"

In a flash, his tactical form appeared and he parried the enemy's sword with his riot shield. Reese then raised his firearm with his other hand. "Brigade Strike!" An explosion of energy shot from the barrel and sent the armored warrior stumbling backward as sparks and code danced around his body.

Reese reverted back to his normal form and raised one of his twin hatchets.

"It was just business," The man said with a desperate tone in his voice. "Instead of going after me, you should go for who hired me. I can tell you exactly where they are."

"I don't care who hired you," Reese breathed. "You pulled the trigger."

And without a moment of hesitation, Reese swung his hatchet down. It struck the enemy's helmet, shattering his visor as it cut through and into his skull.

"Reese, what the hell?" Camryn asked.

The Black Ranger could hardly breathe, his body felt dizzy and incoherent as he nearly fell over.

Camryn caught him and muttered, "Alright Rambo just breathe. We still have some hostages to save."

The two then looked up and saw the darkness that was quickly spreading across the city.

They were almost out of time.

Reese nodded and put the shaking mess of himself back together.

The two then ventured into the garage and approached the unmarked semi. Camryn grabbed the handle and threw the back of the semi open.

Only to find it totally empty.

***

Ace followed behind the Samurai Rangers as they plunged deeper into the warehouse. Things already seemed to be going wrong but he tried to keep his spirits high.

Certainly, a positive attitude was half the battle.

"I'm surprised Gia didn't tag along," Antonio said to Ace.

"She tried to but Tommy shot her down," Ace replied.

Lauren paused to look back at the Red and Gold Rangers. "What?"

"I'm not sure what it was about," Ace admitted, "Tommy doesn't usually act like that."

The three Samurai Rangers looked amongst each other but before any of them could update Ace on the nonverbal communication they arrived at the area of the warehouse that had been renovated for the ritual. The area had been cleared of all debris, with candles set around a pentagram. A hole had been ripped into the ceiling that allowed the sunlight to flow inside. The light washed over the men fully counseled in cloaks.

"Despite every precaution, I knew it was only a matter of time before I was finally interrupted." A smooth but emotionless voice echoed around the Rangers.

The four Rangers raised their swords, prepared for whatever might approach.

And somehow none of them expected to see the oversized skull that floated before them.

"Uh… who are you?" The gold ranger asked.

"I am the Ghost of Darkness," the entity breathed as its eyes glowed and simmered. "A malevolent spirit that's plagued countless civilizations."

"Uh… alright," Ace muttered.

"You're ridicule doesn't affect me," The Ghost of Darkness replied. "Not when I'm so close to finally achieving my goal."

The Rangers turned away from the floating skull when their ears caught the terrified screams of the girls from across the warehouse. Their hands were bound as they were dragged forward by a posse of batlings.

"Looks like your friends failed to save the hostages," Jayden said.

Ace formed a frown under his helmet and silently hoped his teammates were okay.

But regardless, there were more important things to worry about.

"The time is almost upon us," the Ghost of Darkness proclaimed. "The eclipse draws near, and the scar left from the Nighlok plague will be the perfect spot to open a portal between the diverging realities."

"Any idea what that means?" Ace asked.

"Nothing good," Lauren muttered.

The Rangers turned back to the Ghost of Darkness, intending to put an end to his scheme.

"My followers," the skull called to the men in cloaks. "I have led you under the guise of Mephisto. I have imbued you with demonic energy. Now is the time to serve your function, after all, soon this world will be ours!"

The men then turned towards the Rangers. The skin sheltered by the hood of their cloaks began to warp and twist, transforming them into crimson eyed ghouls.

The ghouls charged towards the Rangers, archaic bolts of purple lighting flew from their hands and shot towards the Rangers.

But Jayden raised his Fire Smasher and deflected the attacks.

Lauren and Antonio leaped over the massive sword and penetrated the mob. Ace then followed Jayden into the struggle.

"Stance is important," Jayden told Ace. "Where you hold your sword, how far your feet are apart, all of it is important to ensure you get the best of your opponent.

Ace nodded as the ghouls approached, along with several batlings.

Ace watched Jayden carefully, the way that he almost seemed to dance with his blade. It became an extension of himself instead of a tool.

Ace did the same, and whether it was his own instincts or even the suit guiding him it didn't matter. What mattered was that Jayden had unlocked something in the Zenith Ranger that revolutionized his swordsmanship.

He ducked under one of the batlings and delivered a strike that instantly turned it to dust. Then he jabbed his sword forward and stabbed into the next batling which instantly dissolved.

But even the temporary boost in his confidence wasn't enough to catch the ghouls which aimed its hands towards him and prepared to barf a magic blast towards him.

Thankfully the attack was halted when the creature was dispatched by a katana bursting through its chest.

"And I thought these slimeballs were disgusting before," the black samurai Ranger muttered.

Meanwhile, the sun overhead was quickly being snuffed away. Ace turned towards the Ghost of Darkness who laughed to himself.

Ace kicked away the nearest ghoul and ran forward.

He had to stop the Ghost of Darkness before it was too late.

"You fool!" The Ghost exclaimed and summoned a wall of fire that blocked Ace's path. He tried to charge through it but the fire scorched his suit and forced him back. "The eclipse is already upon us."

The hostage women who'd all been corralled into the pentagram began to scream as the marks under their feet began to glow.

They screamed louder as their spirits were torn from their bodies, leaving them lifeless as they fell to the ground.

Their screams echoed through Ace's head, forcing him to his knees as he gripped his helmet tightly.

Camryn and Reese arrived from the other end of the warehouse just in time to see it happening. The ground below the pentagram melted away, creating a pool of crimson liquid that stood as still as ice.

Until the single hand broke through it, creating ripples that vibrated from its point and danced around.

Then the hand revealed itself to be an arm.

"Arise, my new master," the Ghost of Darkness exclaimed. "From your prison on Talos back to this dimension!"

Another arm broke through the red water, it grabbed on to the concrete and pulled itself up. It's blue and white scowling face appeared from the void and locked onto Ace.

"What the hell is that?" Destiny asked.

"I am Lokar!" The demon exclaimed. It's white muscular body had large crystals jutting from its shoulders and head. It then completely pulled itself from the portal, it's black robe instantly dried in the fresh air, even around the human skull that rested on the robe above its left shoulder.

"Master Lokar I have used the power of the eclipse to summon you so that I might serve you in your conquest of this world," the Ghost of Darkness explained.

Lokar offered a primal sneer and pulled the Ghost of Darkness into his palm.

In a flash of demon fire, the ghost was instantly disintegrated.

"Now…" Lokar breathed. "What do we have here? A handful of Rangers to grind my blade against."

In a flash, his broadsword appeared that he raised to use against the Rangers.

In response, each of the Zenith Rangers armed their Master Morphers.

"Zenith Ascend, Dino Mode!"

The Rangers then raised their Brancho-Sabers that ignited with raw morphing energy. "Dino Impact!"

Their attack washed over the demon, causing sparks to pour from his massive form.

Yet even as black smoke rolled from the demon's body he remained completely unaffected.

"You foolish mortals think that'll be enough to stop me?"

"No, but that's why they have back up."

The Rangers turned, not towards Lauren or the other samurai Rangers but to Gia and the dark-haired girl at her side.

"Turns out Tommy held me back to fetch our newest friend," Gia said with a smirk.

Lokar roared at the Zenith Rangers and summoned a wave of energy that threatened to tear them to pieces.

Thankfully the dark-haired girl rushed to Camryn and Reese before summoning a wall of yellow magical energy that deflected Lokar's attack.

"I've been waiting for this moment," the girl replied. "And it looks like you finally need me." She then raised her arm and exclaimed "it's morphin' time!"

In a flash the Zenith Rangers found themselves in the presence of one of their own, only her armor was shimmering saffron. A pair of curved daggers appeared in her hands as she took a defensive backhanded stance.

Ace marveled at the newcomer, nobody had mentioned there'd be more Zenith Rangers.

Gia morphed alongside the new Yellow Ranger and they regrouped with Camryn and Reese.

"Alright so here's the plan," Gia said. "There are nine of us and one of him."

"That's not a plan," Camryn replied. "That's just a factual statement."

"Not for long!" Lokar roared.

Two fire smashers flew towards Lokar but the demon caught the flying blades with a hand each.

Gia took this advantage and transformed into the Yellow Ninja Storm Ranger before flanking the enemy's side with a ninja streak.

Lokar tossed the swords aside and slapped Gia out of the air, but Lauren leaped up and caught the Megaforce Ranger.

"Why am I always saving your ass?" Lauren asked.

"Because you're terrified of losing me," Gia replied smugly. As they then directed their energy towards the ghouls and batlings Jayden and Antonio were keeping away from the main struggle.

The Blue, Black, and Yellow Zenith Rangers distracted the demon with potshots while Ace and Destiny looked at each other.

"You ready for this?" Ace asked her.

"I could ask you the same thing," Destiny replied.

The two Rangers charged forward. Red jumped off the Samurai Ranger's back who delivered a powerful blow to Lokar's neck and back while Ace focused on the demon's lower back.

Lokar offered a roar that some unfortunate civilizations surely heard before they were wiped from the universe as he teleported away in a flash of powerful demonic energy.

The Rangers froze as the last of the eclipse faded, bringing light back to the city.

***

With the battle over, the Rangers returned to the Shiba House to lick their wounds.

Gia explained everything she knew about Lokar, about how he was an enemy of the original Power Rangers that went mia.

That wasn't something that brought them joy, but they were all at least thankful they'd gotten Lokar to retreat.

Reese sat away from the rest of them and looked out at the setting sun that painted crimson across the city.

"You don't look pretty stoked for a dude who just curb-stomped a demon," Destiny replied. She'd since returned the morpher to Lauren and was preparing to set out herself. But she still wanted to check on the Black Ranger before she did.

"I did what you said," Reese muttered. "The Scorpion Cartel was in on it. And they sent one of their most prolific men to oversee things. The same man who killed Bryce…" Reese clenched his fist as he fetched the memories. "I faced him, and I finally got my revenge… but it feels so hollow…"

Destiny sighed and pulled up her jacket sleeve and examined her sealing symbol. "I can't speak for you, but today made me realize something. Sometimes it's important to make sure we're doing something for the right reason. Anger changes a person and twists their perception, makes them shift their goals to something darker and more malicious."

Reese nodded numbly as her words resonated harder than she realized.

"Gotta figured out what you're really after," she replied and patted him lightly on the shoulder. "And how you can achieve it without losing yourself in the process."

Destiny then walked off, leaving Reese alone to contemplate her words.

***

"So this would probably be a good time to introduce your newest teammate," Gia said. "Everyone say hi to Bandora, fresh from the magic realm."

"The magic realm?" Carmyn asked. "What's that like?"

"It's kind of hard to explain unless you've been there," Bandora said. "It's...well… magical."

"Did you grow up there?" Ace asked.

Bandora nodded, "I was born there and very rarely had any reason to leave. But when Tommy asked for my help I knew I couldn't pass it up."

Gia figured the Zenith Rangers could use the bonding time so she walked off to go look for someone else.

She found Lauren alone in the courtyard painting a cherry blossom tree with a real one as a reference.

"So I take it you were busy getting the new Ranger earlier," Lauren said.

"That's right," Gia replied. "Though Tommy was a little weird about it."

"I heard," Lauren said. "And quite frankly I was really nervous."

Gia shook her head. "Look, I don't think Tommy would care even if he knew."

"Okay…" Lauren said with a stilted node that meant that no matter how much she wanted to trust Gia she couldn't.

Gia sighed and wrapped her arms around Lauren. "It's okay regardless, we don't have to make anything public until you're ready."

And the two Rangers kissed.

Lauren and Gia had been seeing each other in secret for two years. Jayden knew, Antonio knew, and Gia was fairly certain that Orion and Emma knew as well. But everyone else was completely in the dark. Despite that Gia's influence had been the sole reason the Samurai Rangers formed an alliance with Hexagon.

"Thank you," Lauren said and kissed Gia back.

The world was unstable, and getting more so every day, but at that moment Gia felt totally at peace.

And she held onto that for as long as she could.

**”

Fresno Bob surveyed the damage. And the results weren't very good…

He'd lost Clint, one of his best men.

Izzy wasn't going to be happy when she found that out.

But still, that wasn't what Fresno Bob was really concerned with. Instead, he examined the pentagram with the several corpses sprawled out around it. The poor hostages had become sacrifices for the ritual.

It was an acceptable loss all things considered.

But what really irked him was that the demon had slipped through his grasp. Pooling the resources for that Mephisto character had been an elaborate headache and having nothing to show for it was frustrating.

"It may not seem like progress to you but today was a big step."

Fresno Bob frowned at the woman beside him. "Care to elaborate? Because all I see are wasted dollar signs."

The woman in before him just laughed, she seemed a little strange to be a part of the Scorpion Cartel with her purple garb and a katana across her back but she'd quickly proven herself to be a valuable asset to his empire.

"Creating a door to Talos basically rang the extradimensional doorbell. More demons and other interdimensional beings will soon follow."

Fresno Bob just smiled. "So it's a waiting game now, and soon enough something is bound to fall into our laps."

***

Reese returned to Silver Hills for the first time in ages.

He stood at one of the most prestigious and well-kept cemeteries in the city. It was there that Silver Guardians who fell in combat were eternally memorialized.

Reese wiped the tears from his eyes and knelt at the tombstone before opening the bottle of whiskey he'd brought with him.

"I finally got the bastard," Reese muttered and dumped the brown liquid into the dirt.

Tears burned his eyes but he didn't cast them away.

***

Destiny arrived at the concrete building the next day. Hexagon, the nexus of Power Ranger activity on Earth. And the last place she expected to find herself.

But she was determined, and even Bael was in agreement for once.

They met Tommy Oliver outside of the massive building. He seemed stoic and infallible.

But there was something else that Bael silently detected.

Something that piqued the Nighlok's interest.

"I assume you have a pretty good reason for coming all the way here," Tommy said then smiled. "I'm all ears."

"I want to be a Power Ranger," she replied with a calm determination.

***

Lokar growled when he smelled her.

"Oh relax Loky, I thought we were friends."

"I don't befriend cowards," The demon said.

"It was a tactical retreat," Scorpina replied, "And that only served our cause in the long run."

"How can I be sure we're even devoted to the same cause?" He replied, "This conflict is much greater than a mere mortal can even comprehend."

"The Dark Ascension," Scorpina breathed, "I'm well-read."

Lokar turned towards the golden warrior.

"Dark Infinus has a plan. And while you weren't originally a part of it we could certainly use your skillset," She explained.

"And I'm expected to believe that some gaggle of fools could achieve what we've sought for since the Reign of Zoltar?" Lokar asked as his hand began to glow with demonic energy.

"We have Rexian," Scorpina said with a smirk of satisfaction.

Lokar paused and lowered his hand. "Bring me to him."

"Gladly," Scorpina replied and the duo teleported away.