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Chapter Text

Aboard the Terror, 2025

The interior of the Troobian Empire's flagship was dark, filled with a dim green light. Clouds of fog swirled below the elevated pathways that ran throughout the ship.

The massive warship's command bridge was surprisingly quiet. A single figure sat on a throne, gazing blankly at the deactivated holographic display above the control panel.

Emperor Gruumm, the ruler of the Troobian Empire, sat alone, meditating upon his recent efforts to conquer Planet Earth. His glowing red eyes were dim, indicating that he was lost in thought.

The sound of footsteps on the floor drew his attention, as the form of a woman clad in a purple-and-black dress flounced into the room.

Gruumm scowled, his eyes lighting up. "Morgana," he growled. "Why have you disturbed me?"

"Apologies, Emperor," Morgana replied, smirking. "I was bored." She glanced idly at the screen. "When are we going after the Rangers again?"

"As soon as I develop a new strategy," Gruumm intoned. "I assure you, it will not take long."

Morgana was about to reply, when they were interrupted by a beeping alert from the control panel.

"What is that sound?" Gruumm demanded, lurching to his feet.

"Looks like there's a transmission coming in," Morgana murmured, manipulating the controls. "Let's see here... got it!" She straightened up in satisfaction.

With a flash of green light, a small box, looking something like a silver-and-red clamshell, materialized on top of the control panel.

Morgana frowned curiously, picking it up and opening it. A green glow shone from the interior.

"Greetings, enemy of Earth," a harsh, grating voice greeted them from within the open box. "I know you seek to conquer the planet. I can help, if you will meet with me."

Gruumm's eyes flashed in anger. "I need no help," he snarled, snatching the box from Morgana's hand and tossing it to the floor. As soon as it hit the ground, however, a beam of green light shot out from the interior and enveloped Gruumm and Morgana. With a flash of light, they vanished.

As the light faded, Morgana looked around wide-eyed, taking in her surroundings. They were now standing in a dimly-lit room, similar to some kind of dungeon. A large circular table sat in the center of the room, with a small fire-pit set into the middle of it.

Gruumm strode forward, his red eyes glowing as he tightened his grip on his staff. "Who dares to bring me here?!" he snapped, his voice echoing in the room.

"Ah, excellent," the same rasping voice from the message said. "You're here already."

The speaker emerged from the shadows, revealing a face that was almost as terrifying as Gruumm's skull-like visage. He was clad in black-and-silver body armor over a red bodysuit. Two downwards-curving horns grew from the sides of his head, above his ears. Most of his head was covered by red armor, with what looked like half of a helmet and visor covering the left side of his face: the right side was bare, but the teeth on his lower jaw jutted out without a lip to cover them. His gleaming yellow eyes were focused intently on the two villains who stood before him. To Morgana's surprise, he didn't seem to be the slightest bit afraid of them.

"Who are you, and why did you bring me here?" Gruumm demanded. "Answer or die!"

"Calm yourself, Emperor Gruumm," the newcomer said, a cruel smile spreading across his hideous face. "I mean you no harm. Quite the opposite, in fact. But I'm getting ahead of things: first of all, allow me to introduce myself." His eyes glittered. "My name is Thrax."

Morgana's eyes widened. "Thrax? I've heard of you. Weren't you banished and locked away forever?"

"As you can see, that's not the case," Thrax replied casually. His eyes narrowed. "Many years ago, I was imprisoned by a powerful being known as the Sentinel Knight. He sought to bring me to justice for my crimes, and used his own power to imprison me in a specially-designed prison, known as a Space Dumpster. It's used to seal away powerful evil beings such as myself. The spell worked, and I was sealed away like a rat in a trap. But evil as potent as mine cannot be contained forever. Over time, his power faded... and, as the Knight grew weaker, I grew stronger. Eventually, my prison's power weakened to the point where I was able to escape." He chuckled darkly. "After all these years, I'm free!"

"And why have you brought me here?" Gruumm's eyes blazed with indignation.

"Simple enough," Thrax replied. "I have a proposal for you, my lord." He tilted his head. "I've been observing your attempts to conquer Earth for some time, and it seems to me that there's only only thing keeping you from achieving your goal... the Power Rangers."

"Well, that's true enough," Morgana muttered. "But you didn't just bring us here to critique us... so why did you do it?"

Thrax smiled. "She's a bright one." His mood turned more serious. "I brought you here to offer my advice: if there's only one thing stopping you, eliminate the problem at its source. Focus all your efforts on taking out the Rangers."

"Did you have anything useful to contribute?" Gruumm hissed.

"Actually, yes." Thrax nodded. "I also want to offer my help. The Rangers are strong, yes... but we're stronger, if we work together."

"Out of the question!" Gruumm spat. "I do not need help from anyone, much less the likes of you!"

"Oh, relax," Thrax replied. "I'm proposing a temporary alliance. I have no interest in conquering Earth: once the Rangers are gone, I'll be on my way, and you can vaporize the whole planet for all I care. All I want is to see the Rangers destroyed. And, fortunately for you, I know exactly how to do it." He extended one hand. "So? Do we have a deal? Earth, in exchange for the destruction of the Rangers?"

Gruumm considered for a long moment, his eyes still smoldering dangerously. But Morgana could see that he was seriously contemplating the offer. Even he had to have heard of Thrax's reputation, and the idea did have merit.

Finally, the Troobian Emperor nodded, shaking Thrax's hand. "We have a deal," he rumbled. His grip tightened, and his eyes flashed. "But do not mistake me, Thrax: if you fail, I will personally end your existence. Are we clear?"

Thrax smirked. "I would expect nothing less. Now, let us begin."

Space Patrol Delta Base

New Tech City

Commander Anubis Cruger sat in his command chair, contemplating recent events. The scale of the Troobian attacks had been slowly increasing in recent months, as if Gruumm was building up to something bigger. Cruger couldn't explain the sensation of unease that he had felt, but he rarely doubted his instincts, especially with regard to Gruumm.

"Commander?" A female voice called his name, drawing his attention to Dr. Kat Manx, who had been examining various readouts on one of the Command Center's computers.

Cruger straightened in his chair. "Yes?"

"I'm picking up a strange energy signature in the industrial sector. I'd recommend sending the Rangers to investigate."

After considering for a moment, Cruger nodded. "Very well. Sound the alert."

Kat nodded, pressing a button on her control panel to activate the base's alarm and intercom. "Power Rangers, report to Delta Command," she called out, her voice echoing from speaker all over the base, as the familiar alarms began to blare.

Within a few minutes, the Space Patrol Delta B-Squad team of Power Rangers hurried into the Command Center.

"What's new, Commander?" Jack Landors inquired as his companions lined up behind him.

"I'm picking up an unusual energy reading in the industrial sector of the city," Kat explained. "I'd like you to look into it."

Sky Tate frowned. "What kind of energy reading?"

"I'm not sure," Kat replied, checking the readouts on the computer again. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"We're on it," Jack replied promptly. "Let's go." At his direction, the five Rangers jogged out of the command center, heading towards the parking garage where their transportation was parked.

Cruger frowned as he watched them go, feeling an unexplainable chill running down his spine.

Kat noticed his disquiet. "Doggie, are you all right?" she asked.

Cruger nodded. "Yes, I'm fine," he reassured her. Inwardly, however, he could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

New Tech City, industrial sector

The black-and-white Jeep with the insignia of S.P.D. emblazoned on its side pulled up in an industrial yard near where Kat's sensors had pinpointed the unknown energy surge. The five Rangers exited the car and walked forward, glancing around nervously.

"Any idea what we're looking for?" Jack muttered.

"Not a clue," Elizabeth "Z" Delgado replied. She frowned. "But something doesn't feel right about this place."

"No kidding," Sydney Drew commented. Her brow furrowed. "This place just screams creepy."

"Well, whatever caused that energy surge is here someplace," Sky pointed out. "So let's find it, and then we can get out of here."

Walking forward, Bridge Carson looked around curiously, his eyes flicking back and forth as he surveyed everything within visual range. Other than construction vehicles and piles of sand, gravel and rubble, the construction lot appeared to be deserted.

At that moment, an idea occurred to him, and he grinned. "Hang on, guys," he said confidently, pulling off one of his fingerless gloves. "Let me take a quick scan of the area, see if I can pick up whatever's causing that energy surge."

Taking a step forward in front of the others, Bridge held out his bare hand, activating his genetic power of psychometry. His hand began to glow with a luminous green light, which expanded like a cloud when he waved his hand in an arc in front of him.

At first, he didn't see anything, even though his ability enabled him to see through the piles of sand and gravel as if they were transparent. The only people he was picking up were the other four Rangers.

And then, quite suddenly, he sensed someone else. A momentary flash of a dark, evil presence, so chilling that he almost recoiled involuntarily. His eyes widened, and he gasped.

The others immediately noticed. "Bridge?" Sky asked, a note of worry in his voice. "What's wrong?"

Bridge managed to regain his voice, but before he could say anything, there was a sudden rushing sound in the air around him, and a massive explosion erupted just behind them, sending all five Rangers flying.

Jack scrambled to his feet, looking around unsteadily. What the hell was that?

"Ah, if it isn't the world-famous Power Rangers," a harsh, rasping voice called out from within a cloud of smoke produced by the explosion. "Such a pleasure to meet you."

As all eyes turned to him, the speaker stepped out into the sunlight, revealing a hideous, twisted visage: part-humanoid, part-mechanical, and completely terrifying. He was carrying a long staff, made from some kind of silver metal, with a large Z-shape on one end.

"Who the hell are you?" Jack yelled challengingly. He couldn't recognize this creature, but something about him seemed familiar.

"I'm sure you'd love to know, so I'll oblige you," the creature replied. He chuckled. "I am Thrax, son of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, and the orchestrator of your doom!"

Chapter Text

New Tech City, 2025

Thrax laughed, raising his staff and spreading his arms. "So, you're the world-famous Space Patrol Delta. I must say, I'm not particularly impressed."

"What do you want?" Sky demanded.

A cruel smile spread across the alien's face. "It's quite simple, really. I want to be a part of the end of the Power Rangers!"

Before they could react, he swung the staff forwards, and a blast of black-and-white lightning erupted from the Z-shape at the end of the staff, striking the ground all around the five cadets. Explosions and sparks burst upwards all around them, blasting them off their feet.

Groaning in pain, Jack picked himself up, his teammates gathering to him. "All right, then," he muttered. "If that's how it's gonna be."

All five Cadets lined up, facing Thrax as a united front. In unison, they removed their Morphers from the holsters at their hips, bracing themselves.

"Ready!" Jack shouted.

"Ready!" the other four chorused.

"S.P.D. Emergency!" With a blaze of multicolored light, all five of them were encased by their familiar protective suits. Drawing their weapons, they entered fighting stances.

Thrax tilted his head. "Interesting." He considered for a moment, before flourishing his own staff and entering a poised stance of his own. "Come at me, then."

With yells, the Rangers charged.

Rushing forwards, Thrax blocked an attack from Sky, who was in the lead, and then pivoted, slamming a kick into the Blue Ranger's abdomen and flooring him. He whirled, spinning his staff and slashing it across Jack and Sydney's stomachs, producing showers of sparks and taking them both down. Bridge and Z rushed him simultaneously, but he parried their attacks, felling Bridge with another blow from the Z-shaped end of the staff and slamming the other end backwards into Z's stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

All five Rangers were back on him within seconds, but Thrax was more than capable of handling them. He fought back with surprising skill, blocking, dodging and deflecting their attacks. One by one, they went down again, staggering away or tumbling into nearby piles of rubble.

Another burst of lightning knocked Z and Sky sideways, but they hit the ground rolling, springing back up in time to return fire. Bolts of blue and yellow light hit the ground at Thrax's feet, staggering him, but he returned fire with a second, stronger blast of lightning, causing an explosion that catapulted them both into the air.

Sydney and Bridge charged towards him, firing as they ran, but Thrax whirled his staff, blocking the bolts of green and pink energy that they fired. Snarling, he unleashed his own blast of lightning, striking both of them and knocking them off their feet.

"Back off!" Jack yelled, racing towards Thrax and firing a continuous barrage of energy bolts from his twin Delta Blasters. The alien snarled, whirling his staff with the skill of a master to deflect the bolts, but they kept coming this time.

"Hyaaah!" Jack leaped into the air, backflipping over Thrax and firing down at him continuously as he moved. This time, some of the blasts got through, detonating all around Thrax and filling the air with sparks.

With a yell of rage, Thrax whirled, slashing upwards with his staff. Before Jack could reach the ground, the blow caught him in the side, causing another burst of sparks and a yell of pain as he crashed to the ground flat on his back.

"So, this is the best you have to offer?" Thrax sneered, flexing his arms. "Really, I expected more."

Cruger, Kat and Boom stared in shock at the images captured by security cameras in the area, projected on the Command Center's holographic display screens.

"Who… who is that guy?" Boom managed.

"He mentioned that his name was Thrax," Cruger remarked. He considered. "That name seems familiar."

"It should," Kat said grimly, tapping a few keys. A hologram of Thrax materialized over the central display. "Thrax: son of former galactic overlords Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd. He's charged with the destruction of three planets and the conquest of at least a dozen more."

"Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd…" Cruger murmured. His eyes narrowed in foreboding. "I've heard of them. They were among the most evil and powerful beings in recent galactic history."

"Yes, they certainly were," Kat replied. "By accounts, before they were finally defeated, their empire was just as powerful as the Troobians are now."

Cruger made a command decision. "I'm going to help the Rangers. Kat, monitor the situation. Have Omega Ranger meet me on the way–" He was cut off as an earth tremor caused the entire room to shudder.

"What was that?" Boom questioned, as alarms immediately began blaring.

"A giant robot just appeared in the downtown sector," Kat informed them tersely. "It's a design that the Troobians have used against us before, so I'm assuming whoever's driving it is working for Gruumm."

"Okay, so that either means spectacularly bad timing, or…" Boom paused, glancing nervously between Kat and Cruger.

"Or else Gruumm and Thrax are working together," Kat confirmed, sighing. "Personally, I'm hoping for the first one."

"As am I," Cruger replied. He stood. "New plan: dispatch Omega Ranger to intercept that robot. I'll go help the others."

"Yes, sir," Kat confirmed.

Withdrawing a black-and-gold Patrol Morpher from his belt, Cruger stepped forwards into the middle of the room, raising it in front of him and moving into the familiar stance. "S.P.D. Emergency!" he called out, initiating his own morphing sequence.

Another explosion took the Rangers off their feet again. Groaning, Jack picked himself up, to see Thrax leisurely approaching, idly twirling his staff.

"Okay," Jack muttered. "I've had about enough of this guy." He raised his Morpher again, readying himself. "Ready to take it up a notch?"

"You know it," Sky replied immediately.

Simultaneously, the five Rangers raised their Morphers above their heads, calling out "S.P.D. S.W.A.T. Mode!" With a flash of light, additional armor materialized over their torsos, and headsets appeared on the sides of their heads. A double-barreled energy rifle materialized above each of their heads and dropped lightly into their waiting hands.

Thrax nodded. "Interesting. Let's try this again." He smirked, entering a fighting stance once more.

Newly powered up, all five Rangers charged, unleashing a hail of rapid-fire energy bolts from their Delta Enforcers. This time, it was considerably more difficult for Thrax to deflect their attacks, forcing him to leap backwards to gain some distance. He unleashed a blast of lightning from his staff, forcing Sky and Bridge to jump to one side to avoid it, but Jack, Z and Sydney kept coming. They were on him before he could mount a counterattack, landing blows with their Enforcers.

Snarling, Thrax whirled his staff, landing a blow to Z's side that knocked her away, and then whirled, kicking Sydney's feet out from under had and sending her sprawling. He turned just in time to block a downward swing from Jack's Enforcer with his own staff, holding the Red Ranger in a momentary stalemate.

"Just give up!" Thrax snarled.

"Not a chance!" Jack shot back. He landed a kick to Thrax's stomach, knocking the alien back a step and giving him room to backflip away. "Guys, now!"

Too late, Thrax noticed Sky and Bridge, now standing just a few yards away with Delta Enforcers raised. Before he could react, they opened fire.

Half a dozen energy bolts struck Thrax, detonating and causing bursts of pain. Hissing in anger, he charged, whirling his staff and parrying their continued fire as he rushed forward.

"Bridge, look out!" Sky shouted in a warning as he realized that their fire wasn't slowing Thrax down. Before they could dodge, the alien reached them, swinging his staff in a vicious arc, bringing the Z-shape slicing across their chests.

With two explosions of sparks, both Sky and Bridge were flung backwards, crashing to the ground. They lay groaning, trying to pick themselves up.

Z and Syd came to a halt behind Thrax, firing a quick volley of bolts. Snarling as the blasts tore up the ground around him in showers of sparks, he whirled to face them, raising his staff as arcs of electricity crackled up and down it.

"You think you can defeat me with power like that?" he grated. "Take this!" With a roar, he shoved the staff forwards, generating a massive blast of black-and-white lightning. The blast struck the ground around the two female Rangers, triggering a colossal explosion that sent them both flying into the air.

"Hey!" Jack yelled from a few yards away. "This isn't over yet!"

Thrax turned, grinning as he saw the Red Ranger standing defiantly before him. "Try me, then," he called out.

Just as Jack started forwards, he and Thrax were both interrupted by the roar of a powerful engine. A moment later, a powerful blue-and-red energy beam struck the ground just behind Thrax, the resulting explosion and shockwave flooring the evil alien.

The engine's roar petered off as a familiar blue ATV with silver highlights pulled up a few yards away. Cruger, his features concealed by the helmet of his Shadow Ranger suit, hopped off the vehicle and advanced forward, until he was standing beside Jack.

"See to your friends, Jack," he said confidently, facing Thrax. "I've got this one."

"You sure, Commander?" Jack inquired. "He's a tough one."

Cruger nodded firmly, his voice warm. "Rest assured, Jack: if I need your help, I won't hesitate to ask for it. For now, make sure your teammates are all right."

Nodding, Jack hurried off towards where his teammates had fallen to check on them. Cruger, meanwhile, strode towards Thrax, drawing his sword.

"Ah, you must be the Commander," Thrax remarked, chuckling as he raised his staff into a battle stance. "I'm intrigued: you might be more of a challenge than your Cadets were. Very well, then: show me what you've got!"

"Gladly," Cruger replied, entering a fighting stance and raising his sword in front of him in a warrior's salute. "Shadow Saber, power up!" he called out, the sword's blade lighting up with a pale blue glow.

Thrax grinned, his staff sparking with electricity. "Shall we?"

Cruger remained motionless, poised. "Indeed."

"Very well, then." With that, Thrax charged, his staff raised and swinging for Cruger's head.

At the last second, the Sirian Commander twisted to the side, skillfully parrying Thrax's lunge with a sweep of his sword and lashing out with his own lightning-fast strike aimed at the alien's chest. Thrax countered, blocking the downward swing with a backhand and swinging a kick at Cruger's legs. The blow missed, but Cruger had been forced onto the defensive, and Thrax immediately rushed forward, swinging his staff in a series of whirling arcs as he drove his opponent backwards across the industrial lot.

Sam, the Omega Ranger, whooped in glee as he leaped into the cockpit of his Omegamax Cycle, roaring down the broad boulevard towards the source of the latest attack.

The entity responsible became clearly visible as he got closer: a giant robot, as advertised, with dull gray armor and carrying a sword and shield.

Sam quickly punched in the necessary commands on his control panel. "Megazord mode, activate!" he commanded.

With a series of clanks and whirs as the machinery went to work, the massive cycle transformed, rising up into the familiar form of Sam's personal Megazord.

"Right, then," the Omega Ranger said cheerfully, his gaze focusing on the robot. "Let's see what you're made of!"

With a wave of the Megazord's arms, twin massive swords materialized, projecting from its wrists. The Megazord brought its arms together, crossing the blades with a ringing clang, and entered a fighting stance.

"Punch it!" Sam called, slamming on the accelerator.

The Megazord charged, striding forwards and raising the blades on its arms, a moment before it collided with the robot with a thunderous impact, clashing in battle.

To the other five Rangers, watching from a short distance away, the fight between Cruger and Thrax looked like a high-speed dance. The two combatants clashed again and again, staff against sword, each warrior giving it his all. Arcs of electricity and showers of sparks crackled around them.

"Give up!" Thrax snarled, slashing at Cruger's head. "You're no match for my power!"

"I disagree!" Cruger shot back, ducking under the blow and kicking out at Thrax's legs, driving him back. The alien snarled, lashing out with a blast of black-and-white lightning, but Cruger backflipped away, dodging the attack and landing on the other side of the lot.

"I've had enough of you," Thrax spat, raising his staff into an on-guard position. "Let's finish this."

"Fine by me." Cruger settled into a practiced warrior's stance, his Shadow Saber raised to strike. "Shadow Saber, full power!" At his shout, a blazing fire burst to life around his feet, swirling around him and burning with power. His sword began to glow with a brilliant blue-white light.

Thrax's yellow eyes narrowed. He too focused his power to its maximum, arcs of electricity crackling up and down the length of his staff.

Simultaneously, they charged. "Hraaaaa–" came the cry from both of their throats, the two warriors running full-speed towards each other.

They collided in the middle of the construction lot with a thunderclap and an explosion of energy, their weapons slicing into each other and leaving cracking trails of energy in their wake. The warriors' momentum carried them past each other, and they skidded to a halt, facing in opposite directions, weapons still extended.

There was a moment of silence, and then showers of sparks burst from both combatants where they'd been struck. They both staggered, nearly falling, but neither did.

Cruger turned wearily to face his opponent, the other Rangers hurrying up to support him. "It's over, Thrax," he warned. "You can't even beat me: what chance do you have against all of us?"

Thrax, leaning on his staff with steam rising from his body, chuckled darkly. "You do have a point, Commander." His eyes glittered malevolently. "But you didn't think I'd be foolish enough to try taking on the Power Rangers alone, did you?"

Abruptly, a concentrated beam of red energy slammed into the ground directly behind the six Rangers, and detonated. The massive explosion sent all the Rangers flying, and they tumbled helplessly to the ground.

"Are you all right, Commander?" Jack called, clambering to his feet.

"I'm fine," Cruger assured him. His eyes widened inside his helmet as he saw the source of the energy blast.

With the roar of an engine, a motorcycle made from some kind of dark brown metal, designed to look as if it were made from bone, rolled up next to Thrax. Seated upon it was Emperor Gruumm, his eyes burning red. Morgana sat behind him, a cruel smirk on her face.

"Gruumm," Cruger growled under his breath.

"You know, Thrax," Morgana remarked offhandedly, "I'm a little disappointed. Seems to me like you said you could destroy the Rangers."

"I can handle these ones," Thrax hissed, indicating the five human Rangers. "However, their Commander is much more powerful than his soldiers."

"I am well aware of that," Gruumm rumbled. "Stay clear of him, Thrax." He stepped off the bike, his eyes burning like coals. "Cruger is mine."

Thrax bowed deferentially. "By all means, Emperor, lead the way."

As Thrax spoke, a mass of Troobian foot soldiers seemed to materialize out of thin air, hurrying into place behind the trio of villains. Dozens of Krybots, Blueheads and Orangeheads lined up, weapons ready.

"Oh, great," Jack muttered under his breath. "That's all we need."

"Cruger!" Gruumm boomed, his voice echoing across the construction lot, as Thrax and Morgana flanked him. "I have had enough of you, your precious S.P.D., and this whole worthless planet!" His eyes blazed. "This… ends…now!" His own staff glowed with red light, and he swung it forward, unleashing a blast of crackling purple lightning that struck the ground all around the Rangers, igniting a powerful explosion and blasting them off their feet once more.

Chapter Text

New Tech City, 2025

The Rangers picked themselves up, raising their guard for the impending charge of the Troobian soldiers. Cruger and Jack stood at the front, the commander's sword and Jack's Enforcer raised.

"Your time has come, Rangers!" Thrax hissed, his yellow eyes burning with a cold hatred. "Your kind ruined my parents, polluting them with goodness and robbing them of their power and heritage. Now, I shall avenge them, by destroying the legacy of the Power Rangers once and for all!"

"Enough talk!" Gruumm snarled, his own red eyes flashing as he raised his staff. "Attack!" he roared.

With a chorus of roars and snarls, the Troobian forces charged.

"Come on, Rangers!" Jack yelled, raising his Enforcer. "Let's do it!"

"Right!" the others chorused.

The six Rangers ran forward, racing headlong into the teeth of the Troobian army.

Gruumm roared towards Cruger on his cycle, snarling as he armed the bike's laser cannon. As soon as he was within range, he opened fire, sending a salvo of deadly beams screaming towards the Shadow Ranger.

Cruger ducked and dodged frantically, barely avoiding the blasts as they tore up the ground around him. Putting a surge of energy into his legs, he leaped high into the air as Gruumm neared him, raising his Shadow Saber for a downward strike.

Just as Cruger reached the apex of his jump, Gruumm yanked back on the bike's handlebars, rearing the front end of the cycle up until the cannon was aimed directly at Cruger. Another beam fired, this one hitting the S.P.D. Commander squarely in the chest and engulfing him in a powerful explosion. Cruger spun uncontrollably to the ground, trailing smoke, and landed hard. He scrambled to his feet, raising his sword again, as Gruumm circled and came around for another pass.

This time, however, the Troobian Emperor was prepared. He raised his staff, channeling his full power down it and charging up a crackling mass of purple electricity, before slashing the staff into Cruger's torso and unleashing the blast at point-blank range. Cruger was hurled backwards, tumbling across the ground, and this time he did not get back up.

Thrax barreled straight for Jack like a charging bull, whirling his staff. Jack met the alien's strike with a sweeping blow of his Enforcer, but he was quickly overwhelmed, sent staggering backwards as he desperately tried to keep up with his opponent. In addition to having the advantage in reach, Thrax was a masterful hand-to-hand fighter.

Trying to gain some distance, Jack backflipped high into the air, arming his double-barreled Enforcer and unleashing a rapid-fire volley of shots. Thrax's staff spun and twirled, batting aside the incoming bolts, as he leaped straight up after Jack with no hesitation, whirling his staff. Each fighter landed a blow to the other in midair, Jack kicking Thrax in the stomach while the alien landed a raking blow across the Red Ranger's chest with his staff. Sparks flew from the point of impact, and Jack let out a cry of pain as he lost control of his jump and plummeted to earth. He slammed into the ground and lay there for a moment, groaning, the wind knocked out of him.

Thrax landed lightly on his feet, turning to face the fallen Ranger and twirling his staff in a leisurely fashion as he advanced. "Come now, Ranger," he sneered. "Surely you must have more fight in you than that!"

Jack growled, hauling himself to his feet and readying himself. "All right," he snapped. "Let's see how you like this!" Raising his Morpher, he readied himself for the transformation into his powered-up Battlizer form.

Thrax sneered. "I don't think so!" Holding his staff out to one side, he began spinning it, flicking the grip from one hand to the other, twirling it to the left, then the right, all around his body, arcs of electricity crackling up and down the metal, before finally snapping it forward, sending the supercharged torrent of black-and-white lightning directly at Jack. The Red Ranger had no time to react or transform before the blast smashed into him, overwhelming his defenses and hurling him backwards across the abandoned lot, lifting him high into the air before the accumulated energy detonated, engulfing him in a massive fireball. Jack fell to the ground, slamming into the dust. He lay there, groaning for a few seconds, before his suit dematerialized in a flash of red light.

Sky and Bridge fought back-to-back, blasting away with their Enforcers as they raked the charging mass of Troobian robot soldiers with energy bolts. Win or lose, they were prepared to go down fighting.

At first, it wasn't too difficult; dozens of Troobians were gunned down, blasted apart before they could reach the Rangers. But they just kept on coming, charging over the bodies of their companions, an unstoppable tide. Before long, the two Rangers were dragged apart, lashing out wildly in every direction. Sparks flew from their bodies as the robotic soldiers' attacks began to do damage, cracks and burns being scored into their suits.

For a moment, the mass of Krybots in front of them parted, revealing a column of Orangeheads and Blueheads – the more advanced foot soldiers in the Troobian arsenal – forming up to face the two Rangers. Before Sky and Bridge could react, the column of robots unleashed a furious barrage of energy blasts that smashed into the Blue and Green Rangers, tearing into their suits and tossing them away through the air amid an explosion of flames.

Morgana went straight for Z and Syd, her armored helmet snapping shut over her face as she charged. The Yellow and Pink Rangers raised their Enforcers and opened fire, but Gruumm's deadly second-in-command leaped high into the air, vaulting over the Rangers' barrage, and flipped, landing behind them and slashing down their backs with the wickedly-curved blades that extended from her forearms. Both Rangers cried out in pain, staggering uncontrollably forwards before spinning to face their adversary.

"Gotta say, I've been looking forward to this," Morgana sneered as she stalked forward. "Thrax had it right, I guess. All we needed to do was split you up, and then it's easy to take you down."

"Back off!" Syd snarled, firing a volley from her Enforcer. The bolts struck the ground all around Morgana, but the villainess dodged through the blasts, raking one of her blades across the Pink Ranger's midsection with a shower of sparks and then side-kicking her in the chest, knocking her flat on her back and sending her skidding away.

"Hey!" Z shouted, charging forwards with her Enforcer raised. She and Morgana collided in what resembled a street fight more than standard Ranger combat, going at it hammer and tongs, neither woman planning ahead, each just trying to get in one more hit than their opponent. They were deadlocked for a few seconds, but Morgana eventually landed a slash to Z's side, and when the Yellow Ranger flinched to that side, the older woman was able to sweep Z's legs out from under her, landing another blow as she fell and knocking the wind out of her.

"You okay?" Syd asked anxiously as she grabbed her friend's arm, helping Z to her feet.

Z nodded shakily. "Yeah… yeah, I'm okay." She looked up over the Pink Ranger's shoulder, and her eyes snapped open wide. "Look out!"

"Fools!" Morgana cackled. The two female Rangers whirled to face her, realizing that they'd given their enemy an opening. Both of the curved blades on her forearms lit up with crackling pink energy, as she raised her arms, crossing them in front of her face. Before her opponents could react, she flung her arms out, launching a pair of energized shockwaves forwards. Both energy waves, launched in an X pattern, sliced across Z and Syd's torsos, blasting them off their feet as they involuntarily demorphed.

All six Rangers, battered and staggering, formed a ragged circle at the center of the lot. Gruumm, Morgana and Thrax stood facing them, the dozens of robot soldiers moving in to surround their defeated enemies.

"Excellent!" Thrax exulted, cackling cruelly. "At long last, the once-mighty Power Rangers are left groveling at my feet!" He turned to Gruumm and Morgana. "Now, Emperor, there is one final thing for us to do. Lend me your evil energy, so I may eliminate the Rangers once and for all!"

After a moment, Gruumm nodded. "Very well!" he snarled. "Morgana!"

"Of course, Emperor," Morgana replied with a cruel smirk. She raised a hand into the air, focusing her energy as her hands began to glow with pink light. Gruumm did the same, hoisting up his staff and sending a surge of deep purple electricity into the air around them, his eyes blazing red.

Thrax stepped forward, becoming the focal point for the three villains' combined power, his own staff lighting up with crackling black-and-white energy. Growling, he drew all the combined power into himself, using his staff as the focal point. Crisscrossing energy bolts arced through the air around the three villains, almost obscuring them from view.

"What're they doing?" Z gasped.

Bridge clutched at his head, groaning in pain; his psychometric power was normally dampened by the gloves he habitually wore, but the magnitude of the evil power building up in front of him was so great that he could sense it even through the dampeners' effects.

With a roar, Thrax hurled the barrage of evil energy outwards. Surprisingly, it wasn't aimed at the Rangers, but rather upwards, into the sky overhead. The bolts seemed to strike the heavens themselves, tearing open glowing purple rents in the very fabric of reality, which pulsed with the same sickly hue as the energy around the villains. The distortion quickly spread, racing outwards at the speed of light, enveloping the entire planet in less than a second.

For a second, Bridge swore his enhanced senses could detect… something… filtering through the tears in reality, a kind of energy that he'd never sensed before. Well… almost never. The only time he'd felt anything like it before was what he experienced during the moments when he went through his Morphing sequence, when the ethereal energy of his Ranger transformation flooded his body.

What… is that?! he wondered.

Sam whooped in delight, as the Omega Megazord's arm-swords sliced across the giant robot with a flash of light, carving through critical components and almost severing it in two. The robot staggered drunkenly for a moment, sparks and flame erupting from its wounds, and then toppled forward, erupting into a massive fireball.

"All right!" the Omega Ranger called out. "That's what I'm talking about!" He activated his communication link with the Delta Base. "Omega Ranger to base, target destroyed!"

Suddenly, the Megazord staggered, as what felt like an earthquake rumbled through the city. Sam looked up in astonishment as an odd, purple glow cut through the blue of the sky. High above, a tracery of jagged, glowing lines, like cracks in the sky itself, appeared, tracing their way off into the horizon in all directions.

Sam's eyes widened under his helmet. "What the hell is that?!" he exclaimed, forgetting that the communication link with the base was still open.

"I don't know," Kat's voice echoed over the communication link, "but that's not the priority right now. Commander Cruger and the other Rangers are in trouble. I need you to get there now and help them. Hurry!"

Sam nodded. "I'm on my way!"

The light and noise died down, and the glowing tears in the sky faded away. The warping, distorting effect on reality ended, and the world seemingly returned to normal.

Z was the first one to speak up. "What the hell was that?" she demanded, picking herself up.

"At this point, I don't care," Jack replied flatly. "All I'm concerned with is kicking their asses." He pointed at Thrax, Gruumm and Morgana. "This isn't over yet!"

"Right you are, Jack!" Cruger agreed.

Jack grasped his Morpher, raising it into his practiced stance. "Ready!" he yelled.

"Ready!" the other five Rangers chorused, doing the same. As one, they called out the familiar cry.

"S.P.D. Emergency!"

Only, this time… nothing happened.

Well, not quite nothing. Instead of activating the Ranger's transformations, all six Morphers let out bursts of sparks, shocking the fighters' hands and causing them to flinch back. All of the Rangers stared at their cracked, sparking Morphers with shocked expressions on their faces.

"Surprised?" Thrax chuckled, leaning on his staff and breathing heavily; the strain of casting such a powerful spell had left him severely drained. "Don't be. You see, with that spell, I've severed your connection to the Universal Morphing Grid." His eyes narrowed in sadistic glee. "Which means, you are no longer Power Rangers!"

Jack glanced over at the other members of B-Squad, seeing the horrified expressions on their faces. He wracked his brain, trying to come up with a solution, but try as he might, nothing came to him. He glared at his useless Morpher, now seeing the damage that had been inflicted upon it.

Damn it! he cursed inwardly. We couldn't beat them even with our powers; how the hell do we stop them now?!

"Excellent work, Thrax," Gruumm rumbled. "Now, let us finish this, once and for all!"

"Of course, Emperor," Thrax hissed. Gruumm raised his arm, and the Troobian army readied themselves for the final charge.

"Okay, guys," Jack muttered slowly as he glanced left, then right. "I don't see how we're gonna do this. Any ideas?" No answer came. Sky's eyes narrowed as he kept his guard up, clearly ready to go down fighting. Bridge and Syd were both trembling a little, Bridge still rubbing his temples from the aftereffects of Thrax's spell, but they stood firm. Z glanced over at Jack, shrugged, and managed a shaky grin. Cruger's gaze was focused on Gruumm, hard and unyielding, as he raised his Shadow Saber.

Gruumm raised his arm, preparing to give the command, his eyes burning red pits of wrath…

And then a brilliant flash of golden light lit up the air in front of them, causing the Troobians and the now-depowered Rangers to flinch back in shock. The light faded slightly, revealing a glowing figure hovering in the air, facing the villains.

As the light ebbed enough for the team to get a good view of the mysterious new arrival, Jack was surprised to note that this figure was unlike anyone or anything he'd ever seen before. The mysterious figure was clad in glowing golden robes over gold-and-black armor, like some kind of medieval knight. A pair of luminous green eyes, giving an impression of immense age and wisdom, flicked from side to side, taking in the scene.

"Get away from them!" the mysterious being thundered to the assembled villains in a deep, echoing baritone, his voice seeming to rumble through their bones.

"You!" Thrax snarled, his expression instantly dissolving into one of pure hatred. Then he sneered, a twisted smirk crossing his face. "This just keeps getting better, doesn't it?"

"Whoever you are, do not interfere!" Gruumm roared, raising his staff. "Stand aside, or be destroyed!"

"No!" To the Rangers' surprise, Thrax raised an arm in front of the Troobian Emperor, stopping his advance. "You can't destroy him, unfortunately." His eyes gleamed as he turned back to the glowing figure. "But I know what can."

The glowing figure glanced over his shoulder to the Rangers. "Come, Power Rangers," he intoned in an urgent tone. "We've got to get out of here!" He waved his hand in an arc, there was another brilliant flash of light, and the glowing figure – along with all six Rangers – vanished into thin air.

Gruumm froze for a moment, not sure what to make of this. Then, realizing that his prey had escaped him, just at his moment of victory, he let out a roar of fury, his eyes blazing red.

"Calm yourself, Emperor!" Thrax snapped, cutting Gruumm off. The Troobian Emperor rounded on him, but the horned alien didn't seem worried. He smirked. "Let them go. They're powerless now; they shouldn't cause you any more trouble."

"So now what?" Morgana inquired.

Thrax chuckled. "Well, now that the Rangers have been dealt with, Earth is yours to plunder as you see fit. And as for me, I plan to get my revenge on the Sentinel Knight!"

After a moment, Gruumm nodded. "So be it," he growled. He thrust his staff into the air, and, with a flash of light, the three villains and their assembled army vanished, leaving the industrial lot empty and silent once more.

The brilliant flash of light faded away, and the six S.P.D. Rangers found themselves suddenly standing in the middle of the Delta Base's Command Center.

"Guys!" Boom exclaimed. He and Kat had been standing at the computer console in the center of the room, monitoring the battle, and he rushed over as soon as they appeared. Kat sent a quick message over the communications network, recalling the Omega Ranger from his mission to go assist the others, and then joined them.

"What… what happened out there?" she asked, her eyes wide in shock. "I was monitoring the battle, and all six of your Ranger energy signatures just… vanished. I thought you might have been…" She fell silent, unable to finish the sentence.

"We're all right, Kat," Cruger reassured her. He held up his black-and-gold Morpher, examining the extensive damage that was now visible, just like all of the others' Morphers. "Somehow, Thrax was able to sever our connection to the Morphing Grid, thereby disabling our powers."

"Hang on, quick question," Z spoke up. "So… what the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"And while we're at it," Bridge put in, "who was that guy who saved us?"

"Not that I'm complaining," Syd remarked.

"I believe I can give you the information you need," the voice from before echoed, as the glowing, golden-armored figure from before materialized in the center of the room. Kat and Boom flinched back, but the Rangers had all seen this before, and weren't as shocked as they would otherwise have been. At close range, they could now see that their mysterious benefactor wasn't as solid as they were; he was semi-transparent, like a hologram, and the observers could see the wall behind him through his body.

The figure inclined his head, looking down at them. "Greetings, Power Rangers of Space Patrol Delta. I am the Sentinel Knight. Like you, I am a defender of life and peace throughout the galaxy."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Cruger greeted the strange being.

The Sentinel Knight nodded in greeting. "You as well, Commander Cruger. I wish we could have met under better circumstances. Unfortunately, however, this entire planet is now in grave danger."

"Because of this Thrax guy, right?" Jack spoke up. "Who exactly is he, by the way?"

"To put it mildly, he's very bad news," Kat explained. "Thrax's parents, Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa, were some of the worst, most infamous villains in all of history. They were the first supervillains to attack the modern-day Earth; in fact, it was their invasion that prompted the creation of Earth's first team of Power Rangers. They were defeated many years ago, but clearly, Thrax is still out for revenge."

"He is," the Sentinel Knight confirmed. "He tried to wreak vengeance upon the Earth once before, but I was able to stop him then. Thrax possesses great power and evil despite his youth, and I did not have the strength to destroy him, but I was able to use my magic to seal him away in an enchanted prison. But eventually he escaped, and I no longer have enough power to seal him away again." He grew silent for a moment, his voice and attitude grave. "This time, I fear that I cannot stop him."

"Especially now that he's teamed up with Gruumm," Sky muttered.

"Precisely," the Knight confirmed. "Alone, Thrax would be a significant threat, but nothing that your team could not have handled. However, by joining forces with the Troobians, he has created an evil far more potent than anything else you have faced before."

"Especially considering what he's done to our powers," Cruger murmured.

"Yeah, I don't understand that," Boom admitted. "I mean, what did he do to them, exactly?" He indicated the Rangers.

The Sentinel Knight considered that question for a moment. "To put it simply, Thrax's spell was able to affect the Morphing Grid: the dimension from which all Power Rangers draw their morphing energy. Thrax used his spell to disrupt the inner workings of the Morphing Grid here on Earth, and severed your connections to it. By doing that, he cut these Rangers off from their morphing powers."

Boom gulped audibly. "Well, that sounds… terrifying," he managed.

"So what do we do?" Sky demanded. "How do we stop him?"

"I am not sure if you can, particularly without your powers," the Sentinel Knight said sadly. He paused, perhaps thinking things over. "But without you, the world is helpless against Thrax and the Troobian invaders." His voice firmed, and he seemed to reach some sort of decision. "This cannot be allowed to happen. I must do something." With that, his outline rippled oddly, there was another flash of golden light, and he was gone.

For a long moment, there was silence in the Command Center.

"So," Bridge murmured quietly. "Where does that leave us, then?"

Jack pulled out his Morpher and opened it, flinching as sparks sputtered from the damaged device. Its screen was shattered, and sparks crackled from several damaged inner components. He hastily deactivated it, then sighed and looked up at the others. "Powerless," he sighed.

Gruumm stalked back onto the bridge of the Terror, followed by Morgana and Thrax. "So," he rumbled. "Your strategy has succeeded… but the Rangers are still alive, and they may still be a threat to my plans for Earth."

"And what about this Sentinel Knight?" Morgana pointed out. "He's not going to be an easy target, is he?"

Thrax smiled, inclining his head. "Well, Emperor, the Rangers do still live, but apart from their comrade, the Omega Ranger, they have all been rendered powerless. Rest assured, there is nothing they can do to regain access to their Ranger powers, and as such, they are no longer a threat to your plans. As for the Sentinel Knight, I have a plan in place that will enable me to deal with him." He chuckled. "But, to make sure that our conquest will go unchallenged, even if the Rangers do still have some tricks up their sleeves, I took the liberty of calling in some backup."

"Backup?" Morgana frowned. "Who?"

Thrax grinned, holding up a small signaling device and pushing a button on it. With a flash of light and a crackle of electricity, two figures materialized next to him, both dressed in golden armor. One was more animalistic in appearance, looking something like a gargoyle from a medieval cathedral, with dark blue skin, black fur and glowing red eyes, and a cruel, bestial snarl on his sharp-toothed visage. The other was a beautiful young woman with long dark hair and a confident smirk on her ruby lips.

"My dear Emperor," Thrax said with a grin, "allow me to introduce two of my parents' old friends, Goldar and Scorpina."

"Are we going to war, Lord Thrax?" Goldar growled eagerly.

"Indeed we are, my friend," Thrax replied with a smirk. "It's about time."

Chapter Text

Beyond time and space…

The Sentinel Knight peered through the depths of time, his mystical powers allowing him to gaze into the past as he searched for an answer to the challenge that now faced him. He knew full-well that Thrax would not merely be satisfied with the destruction of the Power Rangers: once they were gone and Gruumm had taken whatever he wanted from Earth, Thrax would burn the entire planet if he could, as a final insult to the world that had taken his parents from him.

Unfortunately, with their connection to the Morphing Grid severed, the Power Rangers of Space Patrol Delta were no longer a match for Thrax and Gruumm. On their own, they would fail to save their planet: they would try, but they would fall, and the human race would be left to the mercy of the two merciless warlords.

There was a chance, of course, that the Rangers could find a way to regain access to their powers. But if they could not, then something else had to be done. The Earth would require new defenders if the current ones were no longer able to do so.

And, as the Knight looked back through the river of time to days gone by, he found himself lucky in one regard:

Past or present, Earth has no shortage of defenders.

Steeling himself and summoning up his remaining powers for the task at hand, the Sentinel Knight reached out through time, selecting those individuals who seemed best-suited to the task at hand.

Come, he projected, the plea serving as a beacon as it rippled through time and space. Your world needs you once more.

And as his call echoed back into the past, to his satisfaction, it was answered.

The Sentinel Knight had been a being of pure energy for decades, with no physical face except for the emotionless visage of his helmet. But as he floated in the vortex of time, he remembered what it had once felt like to smile.

Space Patrol Delta Base

New Tech City, 2025

Jack couldn't stop his hands from shaking. He was constantly clenching and unclenching them, trying to keep his mind off of everything… especially the empty holster by his side, where his Morpher typically rested. But he couldn't stop thinking about it. One thought kept drilling its way into his mind, implacable and gut-wrenching.

We lost.

It wasn't like he'd never lost a fight before. Growing up on the streets, he'd gotten the crap kicked out of him plenty of times. Hell, the reason he'd joined S.P.D. in the first place had been because he and Z had lost a fight to Sky, Bridge and Syd, and becoming Power Rangers had been their only way to get out of prison. And even after becoming a Ranger, he and the others had come up on the losing end of a fight plenty of times during their battles against Gruumm and his forces.

But even through all of that, he'd never felt as hopeless as he did right now. He and his fellow Rangers might have lost battles before, but they'd always been able to come back stronger and do better next time. This time, though, that just wasn't possible. Thrax had done more than simply beating them: he'd broken them, cutting them off from the Grid and destroying their Ranger powers. Without that… how were they supposed to protect the Earth? His team were all strong and skilled fighters even without their transformations, but not enough to really challenge Gruumm's more powerful troops. So whenever the Troobians decided to launch their next attack…

And at that exact moment, the base's warning alarms began to blare.

Jack groaned audibly, pinching the bridge of his nose. You had to think about it, didn't you?

"Jack!" Z called over to him as she headed for the door of the lounge. "C'mon, let's go!"

"Right, right…" Jack nodded, sighing as he picked himself up and jogged out of the room after her.

The rest of the team were already there by the time they reached the Command Center, where Cruger and Kat were examining the surveillance monitors with matching grim expressions. The Commander nodded in satisfaction as he saw them entering the room, switching off the alarms.

"What's going on, Commander?" Sky spoke up as the Rangers formed a semicircle around the room's central console.

"Bad news," Kat replied grimly. She brought up the surveillance feed that she and Cruger had been watching on the main holographic display, illustrating an image of two figures striding through a large, open park in the city center. Both figures were clad in gleaming golden armor, but other than that they looked nothing alike: one was a hulking, gargoyle-esque alien with dark blue skin and glowing red eyes, while the other was a dark-haired humanoid woman with a cruel smirk. As they watched, the woman fired a beam of golden energy from her sword, blasting a crater into the ground nearby and filling the air with the panicked screams of fleeing bystanders.

"Well, seems like Gruumm and Thrax didn't waste any time," Jack muttered.

"Who are they?" Sydney questioned, frowning as she looked more closely at the two alien attackers.

"Goldar and Scorpina," Cruger replied, his tone dark and heavy as he glowered at the screen. "Two former lieutenants of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, and a pair of the most infamous villains in the galaxy. They were both presumed dead after Rita and Zedd were defeated and their army was wiped out many years ago, but these two must have survived."

"I'm guessing Thrax must've sent them," Jack surmised. "That's why they're not doing anything important: they're just calling us out. Seeing if we'll take the bait."

Cruger nodded. "I agree."

"So… what do we do?" Bridge spoke up questioningly, frowning as he looked at the screen. "I mean… we don't have our Ranger powers anymore. Can we take those guys without them?"

"I'll go," Sam declared, stepping forward. "I might not be able to take them down alone, but I'm the only morph-capable Ranger we've got right now, so I have to try." He turned to Cruger, his expression unreadable as always thanks to his helmet but his attitude brisk and serious. "On your orders, sir."

Cruger was clearly hesitant, but after a long moment he nodded. "Very well," he agreed. "Go, Omega Ranger. We'll see what we can do to provide you with reinforcements."

"Understood, sir." Sam saluted, then turned and jogged out of the command center, racing down to the base's parking garage where his vehicle was waiting for him.

"Commander?" Jack put in, the other members of B-Squad looking to him. "What about us?"

"Unless Omega Ranger cannot handle the situation himself, you won't be deployed," Cruger replied with some reluctance. "If this were simply a squad of Krybots, I would have no problem with sending you out even without your Ranger powers, but against foes like this a non-morphing-capable Ranger would have no chance of victory. Therefore, you are only to join the fight if there is no other option." His eyes swept over the Rangers. "Is that clear?"

All five cadets were clearly hesitant, but all five ultimately conceded reluctantly.

"Good." Cruger nodded, returning his focus to the surveillance hologram.

Z and Jack exchanged a glance, the Yellow Ranger looking particularly worried. "C'mon, Sam," she murmured, looking back to the hologram. "You've got this."

Goldar laughed, hurling another fireball after a group of fleeing humans. The blast knocked a few of them off their feet, but his aim had been off and he'd missed the actual group.

"Pathetic!" the alien warrior cackled, tilting back his head and howling in laughter. "I thought humans might have gotten a little tougher after all these years, but they're just as weak as they always were!"

"You can say that again," Scorpina replied with a chuckle, swinging her sword in an arc: a line of golden light followed in its wake, slicing through several nearby trees and sending them toppling to the ground. "It's sad, really. You'd think they would have improved over time." She shrugged. "It's probably for the best that Lord Thrax and his new allies will be putting this planet to the torch once the Rangers are gone, then. Not like many people in the larger galaxy will miss it."

"I'm just annoyed that Lord Thrax got to take out six of this planet's last Ranger team without us." Golder grinned predatorily, unleashing another fireball that shattered a decorative fountain. "Luckily there's still one left, apparently, so we should hopefully get a decent fight out of him." He smacked one fist into the opposite palm, his eyes burning eagerly. "I could definitely use one."

"Oh, trust me, I know," Scorpina deadpanned. "You never shut up about it." She watched as he strode past her and tossed out several more fireballs at random, her mind wandering back to the events that had led them here.

Goldar and Scorpina had been working together ever since the day the Alliance of Evil was destroyed more than twenty-five years earlier, with their former masters Rita and Zedd being among the many infamous villains whose dark power had been obliterated that day. Fortunately, the two of them had been far away from the battlegrounds where the rest of their allies had fallen, having been assigned by Rita and Zedd to watch over their young son Thrax. Thrax had been just a baby at the time, born shortly after Rita and Zedd had left Earth, and Scorpina had served as his caretaker while his parents had gone off to join the Alliance. Goldar, meanwhile, had been at Zedd's side during most of the battle, but had been sent back to join Scorpina when word came that the Power Rangers were heading for Earth, as Zedd and Rita had wanted to have some extra protection on hand to make sure Thrax would be safe.

Luckily, the shielded bunker that Rita and Zedd had created as a hiding place for their son, located beneath their old palace on Earth's Moon, had been sufficient to keep Thrax and his two protectors safe. As a result, the trio had been the only members of the Alliance to survive the energy wave created by Zordon's sacrifice, which had obliterated both Rita and Zedd's armies and their formerly-evil personalities. Unfortunately, however, Goldar and Scorpina had then found themselves alone in the universe, lost and abandoned without anyone else to help them. Forced to flee their sanctuary, they had traveled the stars for the next fifteen years, but they had raised Thrax into a fearsome warlord, worthy of his parents' legacy… until that had all come crashing down when Thrax had the misfortune of crossing paths with the Sentinel Knight, and was sealed away in a Space Dumpster just as his mother had been so long ago. He'd been trapped there for almost a decade, with Goldar and Scorpina powerless to free him, until his growing powers had finally been able to overcome the sealing magic of the container and had allowed him to break free.

Now, the two villains had finally returned to the world they'd failed to conquer so many times, determined to help Thrax succeed where his parents had failed.

And once that's done, maybe we can – what? Scorpina was snapped out of her thoughts by the sudden whine of a siren, accompanied by the rumble of a powerful engine. She turned and immediately grinned, her eyes narrowing as she realized that the moment they'd been waiting for had arrived. "Goldar!" she called to her companion, nodding over towards the source of the noise as he turned around. "Here he comes."

Sam, the Omega Ranger, leapt off his Uniforce Cycle and strode towards the villainous pair, his helmeted gaze sweeping over each of them in turn. "S.P.D.!" he called out challengingly, his voice echoing through the park. "You're under arrest!"

"Oh, are we?" Scorpina called back, smirking as she folded her arms over her chest. "Well, that's a nice change of pace: all the Rangers in the old days wanted was to destroy us. But as far as I'm concerned, that just means you don't have the stomach for fighting that they did." She glanced over to Goldar. "Shall we take him together, or would you like to go first?"

"Allow me," Goldar rumbled, cracking his knuckles and grinning predatorily as his eyes locked on Sam. "I haven't gotten to pulverize a Ranger for twenty-five years: I could use a good workout before we finish this." Snarling, he charged, barreling down the hill towards Sam with a savage war cry. The Omega Ranger responded in kind, racing forwards to intercept him: he ducked under Goldar's first punch and tried to sweep the alien's legs, but Goldar blocked the kick with his own, catching Sam's wrist as he followed up with a punch. He spun around and flung the white-clad Ranger away across the grass, before charging after him with a wild laugh.

"Boys will be boys," Scorpina murmured, rolling her eyes as she strolled down the hill after the battling pair.

"This is bad," Jack muttered as he watched the surveillance feed of Sam brawling with Goldar: the alien and the Ranger were going at it hammer and tongs, each giving as good as they got, sparks flying each time one of them landed a blow. "He's keeping up with that guy for now, but if one of them's giving him this much trouble, he won't be able to handle them both." He pointed to the image of Scorpina, who was standing back at a distance with a relaxed attitude and letting Goldar do the fighting for her. "So as soon as she gets involved, he'll be screwed."

"Unless we help," Sydney agreed. She looked up urgently at Cruger and Kat. "C'mon, Commander, we've gotta get out there and help him! He needs us!"

"He's right, sir," Kat admitted soberly. "Omega Ranger can't handle those two on his own."

Cruger frowned deeply, his eyes narrowed contemplatively. "But without their Ranger powers –"

"With all due respect, sir," Sky put in, "we do have powers even without our Morphers." He indicated himself and the rest of B-Squad with a wave of his hand. "The five of us were fighters with abilities beyond those of normal humans long before we became Rangers. We didn't back down from a fight before we could morph." He shook his head. "We're not going to start now." The other four Rangers nodded in agreement.

Seeing the determination on their faces, Cruger finally nodded. "Very well," he conceded. "Go, Rangers!"

"Yes, sir!" the Rangers chorused, saluting in unison before rushing out of the Command Center.

"I hope they're right about this," Kat muttered.

"So do I," Cruger replied.

Sam twisted out of the way of a downward swing of Goldar's sword, spinning around the alien's strike and landing a solid hit to his chest. However, this let him get in close, and Goldar countered with a vicious kick to the gut, knocking the wind out of the Omega Ranger.

"Ah!" Sam grunted and staggered, falling to one knee, and Goldar grinned as he raised his sword high and brought it down in a full-force strike aimed at the Ranger's head. It never connected, however, as Sam's left hand shot up, catching the blade and holding it back. Goldar's eyes widened in surprise as the metal of his sword groaned in protest.

Sam flung Goldar's arm aside and slammed an open-palmed strike into the alien's chest, knocking him flat on his back. A green glow radiated from his hand, the visible sign of his Omega Morpher's special Muscle Mode. He'd activated it just in time to block Goldar's strike, amplifying his physical strength many times over, but that power-up was only temporary.

"What the hell?" Goldar growled as he picked himself up. His eyes narrowed, his fangs grinding together. "I don't know how you did that, little man… but you're going to pay!" Snarling, he lunged at Sam again, but this time the Omega Ranger was expecting it. Taking a step back, he smoothly adjusted his morpher's energy output, the green glow fading and shifting into a blue one.

"Omega Morpher: Hyper Mode!" Calling out the words, he drew back his left fist and struck in an instant, his arm dissolving into a blur of motion as he created a pulse of energy that slowed down time for a second, making him seem much faster than he normally was.

Goldar's charge was abruptly interrupted: his sword was tugged aside with a casual twist of Sam's arm, and the Omega Ranger followed up with a furious barrage of punches, hammering up and down Goldar's chest and stomach, his fist flashing in and out like a jackhammer.

As the instant of hyperfast motion passed and the normal flow of time resumed, sparks erupted from Goldar's torso as dozens of impacts slammed into him simultaneously. He was hurled backwards again, sent sprawling to the grass and tumbling head-over-heels, a string of garbled curses trailing in his wake.

"Gotcha," Sam panted, grinning beneath his helmet as he straightened up, the burst of energy dissipating. "Nice try. Now –" A moment later, his quip was abruptly cut off by a scream of pain as a blast of burning golden energy hit him square in the back, knocking him flat on his face.

Scorpina smirked, lowering her sword. "Nice try yourself, Ranger," she drawled.

"The hell did you do that for?" Goldar spat, coughing as he picked himself up. "I had him!"

"Sure you did," she returned with a knowing smirk. "Lord Thrax's orders were very clear: personal glory is irrelevant. All that matters is destroying the Rangers."

"Fine," Goldar muttered, dusting himself off. "Let's finish this."

Just as they both turned towards Sam's body, another chorus of sirens echoed through the park. Goldar and Scorpina both turned, eyes widening in surprise, to see a cluster of vehicles barreling towards them: a black-and-white Jeep and three motorcycles, all emblazoned with the S.P.D. insignia.

"Oh, great," Scorpina drawled. "The cavalry's here."

"Fine by me," Goldar intoned as he started towards the incoming vehicles. Scorpina fell into step beside him, idly twirling her sword in one hand.

"C'mon, guys!" Jack hollered over the roar of his red-marked motorcycle's engine as he accelerated across the park towards the scene. "Let's do this!" Bridge and Sky were on his left and right, riding their own cycles, while Z and Syd brought up the rear in the Jeep, Z driving while Syd leaned out the passenger's side with her blaster drawn and ready.

As soon as the cadets got close enough, they opened fire. Sky and Syd both drew their handheld blasters, while Jack and Bridge used the higher-powered lasers built into their cycles. Bolts of red, green and blue light screamed through the air towards Goldar and Scorpina, tearing up the ground around them. Scorpina dodged and weaved through the fire, deflecting a few bolts with her sword, while Goldar just charged straight towards the Rangers, taking a couple of hits but barely breaking stride.

"Go to hell!" Goldar roared. Golden flames erupted in his free hand and he flung his arm out, launching a volley of fireballs that detonated all around the three cycles. Jack and Bridge were able to weave through the explosions, but Sky wasn't so fortunate, and one of the explosions blew him clear off his bike, sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Ow," he muttered, rolling over onto his back… before his eyes widened in alarm as he saw Goldar standing over him, sword swinging down at him. Crap! Thinking fast, he raised his arm and swung it in a circle: crackling blue electricity followed in its wake, manifesting a circular force field between them. Goldar's sword rebounded off of it, sending a jolt of energy up the alien's arm and drawing an irritated snarl. Sky used the opportunity to hastily roll out of reach, scrambling back to his feet and lunging back in. He threw a kick, but Goldar easily deflected it with one of his own, spinning Sky off his feet.

"You're finished, Ranger!" Goldar snarled, forming another blast of fire and launching it at Sky. The Blue Ranger reacted quickly, forming another force field between them: Goldar's blast slammed into it, pulsing and crackling violently as the energy rapidly built up, until it reached a crescendo. Finally, the power burst outwards in a violent, blue-and-gold explosion, blasting both of them apart. Goldar skidded twenty feet backwards, his feet tearing up the grass; Sky, on the other hand, was sent flying head-over-heels, his world spinning uncontrollably, until he crashed to the ground in a half-conscious heap.

Jack and Bridge went straight for Scorpina, firing simultaneously, but she leapt over the volley of red-and-green lasers and unleashed twin streams of golden lightning from her sword. The lightning struck both of their bikes simultaneously, flipping them into the air: Jack and Bridge barely had enough time to jump clear, backflipping to safety.

Bridge landed hard, scrambling to his feet as Scorpina stalked towards him. He yanked off one of his gloves, his hand glowing green as he activated his own powers. As he raised his hand, he saw Scorpina suddenly haloed in green, a translucent duplicate of her lunging at him and lashing out with two quick swings of her sword. A moment later, the real Scorpina did the same, but thanks to his powers he already knew what she was going to do and easily sidestepped both of her attacks, grabbing her extended arm and using her momentum to flip her forwards off her feet.

Unfortunately, Scorpina was still stronger and faster than he was, so even his precognition wasn't quite fast enough. Even as she hit the ground, she lashed out with a sweep of her arm that took his feet out from under him. He immediately tried to scramble back to his feet, but Scorpina's hand closed around his ankle before he could get up, swinging him around and flinging him away across the grass. As he tumbled to a halt and rolled to his feet, she unleashed another bolt of lightning that sent him flying, and this time he didn't get back up.

"Bridge!" Jack's eyes widened in dismay as he charged Scorpina, his sidearm already drawn and firing several bolts of blue electricity. Again, though, Scorpina's reflexes were faster, and her sword promptly blurred into motion, parrying and deflecting each bolt as it came at her.

"Nice try, little boy," she taunted as Jack lunged at her, easily deflecting his punches and kicks without much effort. "But you'll have to do better than that!" She struck back, a lightning-fast backhand that should have knocked him sprawling – but her eyes widened in shock as her arm actually phased straight through Jack's body, the attack missing completely. She was so surprised that Jack's next attack connected, a solid kick to her stomach that sent her staggering backwards.

"Surprised?" Jack grinned breathlessly and sprang after her, hoping to keep up the offensive. His body phased right through hers as she swung back at him, and he spun around as he emerged behind her, one arm sliding around her neck and the other twisting one of her arms back as he locked her in a chokehold.

Scorpina, however, wasn't deterred: she just flicked her sword up so the flat of the blade connected with Jack's arm, then sent a surge of electricity up the blade. The sudden shock forced Jack to let go with a cry of pain, and she promptly grabbed his arm with her now-free hand and flipped him over her shoulder, slamming him down flat on his back. One casual stomp onto his stomach knocked the wind out of him, and he collapsed, gasping for air.

"So pointless," Scorpina remarked, shrugging as she turned and walked off towards the area where Goldar was battling with the last two members of B-Squad.

Sydney and Z had been forced to jump out of their Jeep when one of Goldar's fireballs had blown out a tire. Undeterred, they'd charged straight into combat, ducking and weaving around the hulking alien in a superb display of teamwork. Unfortunately, due to Goldar's armor and his natural durability, their attacks weren't having much of an effect on him.

When Z spotted Scorpina strolling towards them, idly twirling her sword in one hand, she knew they had to pull out all the stops. "Syd, you take care of her!" she called out. "I've got this one!" Syd nodded and broke away from Golder, racing off to intercept Scorpina.

"Oh, really?" Goldar sneered, barking out a grating laugh. "You think you can take me on alone, little Ranger?"

"Well, that's where you're wrong," Z retorted, grinning. "I'm never alone." Her eyes flashed briefly, and two identical duplicates of herself promptly materialized out of thin air, one on either side of her. All three entered fighting stances and charged with a chorus of yells, whirling around Goldar like a swarm of bees and attacking him from all sides.

Scorpina chuckled as Syd charged at her, her sword rising to guard position. "Oh, please," she snickered, her blade flashing out in a lightning-fast strike… one that was cut off with a ringing clang of metal on metal as Syd caught the blade in her left hand, which had shifted from flesh into steel.

"Fist of Iron," Sydney bit out, her eyes narrowed as her metal hand clenched around the blade. She yanked hard on the sword, pulling Scorpina in closer, and let go of the blade just in time to land a solid hit to her opponent's face, snapping Scorpina's head back with a crack. Without pausing, she swept the alien's legs out from under her and kicked her in the chest in two quick movements, knocking Scorpina flat on her back.

"Well?" Syd taunted, poised and ready in front of her downed enemy. "How do you like me now?"

Scorpina hissed in pain as she picked herself up, blood trickling from her nose. "You little bitch," she snarled, golden lightning crackling up and down the blade of her sword.

Syd's eyes widened. Oh crap –

Before the Pink Ranger could get out of the way, Scorpina screamed in rage and flung out her arm, an arc of lightning blasting from the tip of her sword and hitting Sydney square in the chest. She was blown off her feet, hair standing on end, and was hurled at least ten yards back before her half-conscious body hit the ground and rolled to a stop.

"Syd!" Z's real body shouted, her eyes wide in horror as she saw her teammate go down. She managed to take one step in Syd's direction before Goldar was on her. His hand clamped around her arm and dragged her into a solid knee strike to her gut, before he contemptuously flung her away.

Undeterred, Z's duplicates leapt in to attack from behind, but Goldar was ready this time and landed a solid elbow strike to each of their stomachs, before spinning around and grabbing each of them by their throats. "So weak," he snarled, tossing both duplicates after the real Z: they dissolved and faded out of existence as they hit the ground beside her.

From start to finish, the last stand of the S.P.D. B-Squad had lasted less than five minutes. All six Rangers were down, battered and half-conscious.

Scorpina and Goldar had sustained some minor damage from the fight, but both aliens were still on their feet. "Well, that was fun," Scorpina declared as they reconvened, wiping the blood away from her injured nose and sending a scowl at Syd's fallen body. "But I think it's time we put an end to this."

"I agree," Goldar growled. "Rangers or not, they're still a nuisance. Let's end this now!" He raised a hand, crackling golden energy forming above it: Scorpina did the same, letting their combined power merge into a roaring ball of golden fire and lightning.

"No!" Kat cried out, her eyes wide in horror as she watched the scene on the Command Center's monitors. "They can't!"

Cruger felt the same numbing horror creeping through his mind. Images of Sirius, of his comrades falling and dying around him, flashed through his memories.

"Come on, guys!" Boom muttered under his breath, the same terrified expression on his face. "You've gotta get up! Please!"

"Now!" Goldar roared, his bloodred eyes blazing with malice. "Let the legacy of the Power Rangers be destroyed!"

At that exact moment, a bolt of yellow light struck the growing fireball above their upraised hands, and it detonated prematurely. Both Goldar and Scorpina staggered as the blast they'd been charging dissipated harmlessly into the air.

"What?!" Goldar's eyes widened. "Who dares to interfere?!"

"That would be me!" a female voice called from behind him, echoing through the now-deserted park.

Goldar and Scorpina both whirled around, their eyes widening as they saw the person who had spoken. The fallen S.P.D. Rangers also turned to face the voice as best they could.

"Who the hell…?" Scorpina took a step back, raising her sword defensively.

Standing a few yards away from the pair of villains was a figure clad in the unmistakable suit of a Yellow Power Ranger. But this Ranger's suit was different from Z's: the yellow was mixed with diamond-shaped white patches along the limbs and torso, as well as the insignia of a three-toed reptilian foot in the center of the chest. Her helmet was different too, vaguely birdlike in design instead of the standard S.P.D. look.

"Whoa," Z breathed, her eyes wide in amazement.

"Another one?!" Goldar snarled.

"Oh, yeah," the Yellow Ranger declared, chuckling softly. "Although, spoiler warning: there isn't just one of us."

"Hiiii–yah!" a second female voice rang out, as a streak of blue light shot towards Goldar. A razor-sharp blade sliced across his side, drawing a roar of pain, before the figure dissolved into a blur of motion, running circles around him, laying into him from all sides and leaving chips and cuts in his armor at every turn. After a couple of seconds, the blue streak leapt away from him and landed a few yards away on the other side of the villainous pair, before coalescing into the form of a second Ranger, this one garbed in a light blue suit with the symbol of a stylized dolphin's tail emblazoned on her chest and holding a gleaming sword in one hand. "Let the games begin!" she laughed.

"I don't believe it…" Sky whispered.

Scorpina's eyes narrowed as she swung around in the direction of the new arrival. She raised her sword to launch a blast of lightning, but a flash of red light to her right drew her attention a moment before a chain of small but powerful explosions raced across the ground towards her, tearing up the earth around her feet and knocking her sprawling to the ground next to Goldar. Cursing, she rolled over and pushed herself up, only to stop short when her eyes fell on her attacker: another Ranger, this one wearing a red suit with his helmet styled to resemble the head of a large cat and the symbol of a roaring golden lion on his chest. He was holding a short, dagger-like saber with a glowing red crystal embedded in the hilt. "You won't be hurting anyone else today!" he declared, pointing the sword at her.

"What the hell?" Jack murmured as he sat up.

"Scorpina!" Goldar took a few quick steps towards his ally, until a blast of pink light slammed into the ground behind him with a thunderous explosion and knocked him flat on his face. Growling as he rolled over, he lifted his head to see the person who'd launched that attack: a fourth Ranger, this one dressed in pink with a golden V-shaped insignia on her belt, holding an oversized, long-barreled energy blaster.

"Looks like you're out of time!" the newcomer remarked dryly, racking her blaster with a whine as she started charging up another shot. "I'd give up if I were you."

"Wow," Syd managed, still gasping for air as she tried to catch her breath.

Goldar and Scorpina clambered back to their feet, glaring around at the four Rangers who'd seemingly appeared out of nowhere to surround them. "Oh, come on!" Scorpina snapped angrily. "Any more of you little bastards want to come crawling out of the woodwork?!"

At that exact moment, a high-pitched whistling sound reached everyone's ears, and a crackling bolt of emerald lightning hit the ground right between Goldar and Scorpina, igniting a tremendous explosion. Both villains were blasted off their feet, hurled into the air by the shockwave and tumbling to the ground. They rolled over again, coughing as they tried to catch their breath… only to freeze as they saw the individual who'd fired that shot.

This Ranger was dressed in green, with gleaming golden highlights: his suit had an old-fashioned design to it that made him resemble some kind of ancient knight. He held a weapon lightly in one hand, a gleaming dark broadsword that hung lightly in one hand. A faint wisp of smoke was still rising from the blade, suggesting that it was where the blast had originated.

"Just one," the Green Ranger stated as he strode towards the pair of downed aliens, his tone calm and conversational. "Goldar. Scorpina. It's been a long time."

Bridge's jaw dropped. "No way," he breathed incredulously, recognizing that Ranger suit instantly from his history lessons.

Both villains' expressions had shifted from shock to a combination of fear and hatred. "You?!" Goldar snarled, his voice filled with a boiling rage.

"Me," the Green Ranger confirmed, a note of amusement in his voice. "It's been a long time since I wore this color, but it seemed appropriate for this."

By this point, Sam was back on his feet, and the Omega Ranger quickly set to work helping his companions back up as well. The battered S.P.D. cadets gathered together, forming a second defensive line behind the Green Ranger.

"You don't scare us," Scorpina snapped as she clambered to her feet, glaring defiantly at the Green Ranger. "We've dealt with you before."

"Yeah, you have. Many times." The Green Ranger nodded and chuckled softly as his teammates moved to flank him, the five new Rangers standing protectively in front of the S.P.D. team. "And I think you both know how this dance always ended back in the day."

Goldar and Scorpina traded wary glances, eyeing the newly-reinforced group of Rangers. They were both still angry, but they clearly knew that they were outmatched.

"This isn't over," Scorpina warned. She raised her sword over her head, and both she and Goldar teleported away in a flash of golden light.

The Green Ranger nodded in satisfaction. "That's what I thought." He sighed and glanced over to his companions, who returned his nod. "All right, guys."

"Power Down!" Five voices called out in unison, and the five Rangers' suits dematerialized in a flare of multicolored light, revealing the people underneath as they turned to face the S.P.D. team.

The Yellow Ranger, a beautiful brunette girl dressed casually in a yellow top, a dark jacket and ripped black jeans, exchanged a smile with the Blue Ranger, a blonde girl in a form-fitting black bodysuit with blue highlights. The Red Ranger, a roughly-dressed and unshaven young man with shoulder-length black hair, grinned cheerfully over at the Pink Ranger, a dark-haired girl dressed in a black leather jacket, a pink tank top and black pants, who rolled her eyes and returned his offered high-five.

But the S.P.D. cadets' eyes were all drawn to the man in the center, the Green Ranger, as his suit melted away to reveal the man beneath the helmet. He appeared to be in his forties, with short, spiky brown hair and an attitude of calm, absolute confidence, as if nothing could possibly worry him.

"It can't be," Sky managed to get out, his mouth hanging open at the sight of the man who was quite possibly Earth's most famous Power Ranger.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," the leader of the new Rangers said with a friendly smile as he stepped forward in front of his team. "My name's Tommy Oliver. Don't worry; we're here to help."

Chapter Text

For a long moment, the two teams of Rangers just stared at each other. The faces of the S.P.D. B-Squad were filled with shock and amazement, while the faces of the veterans who had come to save them showed nothing but calm, confident smiles.

After a long moment, Sky finally took a slow step forwards, his eyes locked on the spiky-haired leader of the new team. "It… it's an honor to meet you, sir," he managed to get out, inclining his head respectfully.

Tommy chuckled softly and clapped a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "It's all right," he reassured Sky. "Like I said, we're here to help; you don't have to thank us."

"He's right," the red-clad man beside him stated with a cheerful grin. "It's what Rangers do; we help each other out."

While Sky, Bridge, Syd and Sam were all still gawking incredulously at the new arrivals, Jack and Z, who hadn't received nearly as many Ranger History classes as the other B-Squad members, were more than a little confused. "Uh… hi?" Jack spoke up, frowning curiously as he stepped up next to Sky. "Sorry if this sounds a little personal, but… who are you guys?"

"We're Rangers, just like you guys," the yellow-clad girl spoke up with a smile. "Or, I guess… we were Rangers, a long time ago." She held up her right arm, showing them the metal bracelet looped around it with a gleaming yellow gemstone embedded in it. "I'm Kira Ford. Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger."

"Tori Hanson," the girl in the blue-and-black bodysuit added with a friendly nod. "Blue Wind Ranger."

"Cole Evans, Red Wild Force Ranger," the dark-haired man put in, still with that warm, irrepressible grin on his face. "It's great to meet you guys."

"Jen Collins, Pink Time Force Ranger," the third girl finished, her arms folded over her chest as her eyes flicked over each of the cadets in turn, not in an antagonistic manner but with the attitude of someone who was accustomed to analyzing everyone and everything around her for potential threats.

"We've been told about what you're facing, and we're here to help you guys deal with it," Tommy continued. "We can explain everything else later, but…"

"But maybe this isn't the best place," Tori finished, nodding in agreement as she glanced around at the devastated park. "Yeah, probably a good call."

Since most of the cadets' vehicles had been heavily damaged thanks to Goldar and Scorpina, Cruger had needed to send out a couple of S.P.D. vans to pick up the battered Rangers and their new allies. B-Squad's bikes and Jeep would need a considerable amount of repair work before they'd be ready for use again, but luckily none of the cadets had taken any serious injuries; their enhanced physiologies and the tough training they'd gone through definitely came in handy for occasions like this. As for Sam, while he'd taken some hard hits at the hands of Goldar and Scorpina, the fact that the body beneath his suit was currently comprised of energy rather than matter – a side effect of his journey through the timestream from his home year of 2040 – kept the lasting damage to a minimum.

As a result, despite the beating that they had sustained, all six Rangers were able to attend the post-mission briefing in the Command Center, along with Cruger, Kat, and their five new guests.

The five Legacy Rangers were all glancing around curiously, intrigued by the advanced technology around them. "Cam would love this place," Tori murmured under her breath.

"Ethan too," Kira replied with a grin. "They'd be like two kids in a candy store around all this stuff."

Tori had to cover a snicker with her hand, before Jen cleared her throat and brought both of the younger women's attention over to her. "Uh, guys?" she deadpanned, indicating the S.P.D. team with a jerk of her head. "I think we've got some more important stuff to talk about right now."

"I agree," Cruger concurred, although there was a bit of amusement in his voice. "Welcome to our base, Rangers. Although I must say, I find myself puzzled as to how you are here."

"As am I," Kat added, frowning as she looked over each of the new arrivals in turn. "I ran your personnel records and DNA scans through our computer archives, and they confirmed that all five of you are who you say you are. But that doesn't seem possible, because – while I mean no offense…"

"We all look like we're about twenty years younger than we should be?" Jen interjected with a faint smirk. "Not to worry, there's actually a pretty simple explanation for that: we're not from this time period." She shrugged. "Honestly, I feel like I've gotten way more used to saying that than I should be."

All of the S.P.D. Rangers' eyes widened in shock. "Hang on," Z spoke up. "You… you're talking about time travel? Like, you guys came here from the past?"

Cole grinned brightly. "Yup! It's awesome, right?"

"Well, it's not like we don't appreciate the help," Jack commented, a grin of his own curving his lips as he nodded to the other Red Ranger. "What I'm confused about is, how did you guys get here? Like, do you have a time machine or something? Or..."

Abruptly, a flash of golden light illuminated the interior of the Command Center, and everyone in the room had to shield their eyes for a moment as a glowing, ethereal figure materialized between the two groups. "I believe I may be able to answer all of your questions," the Sentinel Knight declared.

Bridge smiled. "Oh, right! You said you were gonna try and help us somehow!" He blinked and glanced over to the five older Rangers. "Gotta say, I wasn't expecting that much help."

"I could not allow Gruumm and Thrax to destroy this world," the Knight confirmed. "It was I who failed to keep Thrax contained after I defeated him, and I cannot allow you or this planet to suffer for my failure." He extended one translucent arm towards the older team. "Therefore, I used my powers to reach back through time and make contact with individuals who would be able to help you."

"Unfortunately, he couldn't reach far back enough to reach us while we still had our powers," Tori continued, her expression sympathetic as she looked up at the Knight. "So he had to use some of his power to give them back."

"Indeed," the Knight agreed with a sigh. "In my current state, the furthest I could reach back in time was approximately twenty years, to the year 2005. In that time, I contacted all five of these former Rangers to ask for their help. When they agreed to do so, I was able to use some of my remaining energy to restore their Morphing powers and to transport them here, to this time."

"Guess you could call us 'the Legacy Rangers' or something like that," Cole finished with a soft chuckle. "But like I said, we're happy to help. Once a Ranger, always a Ranger." All four of the other Legacies nodded in agreement.

"We all thank you for your assistance, Rangers," Cruger replied, inclining his head to the Legacies and the Knight. "And thank you for helping us as well, Sentinel Knight. We all owe you a tremendous debt."

The Knight laughed softly and shook his head. "You owe me nothing, Commander," he replied softly. "It is my duty to help you and the people of Earth against Thrax and Gruumm, and I will do whatever I can to aid you in your battle." He sighed sadly as his glowing green eyes shifted over to the rest of the S.P.D. team. "Unfortunately, Rangers of Space Patrol Delta, restoring your Morphing powers is beyond my abilities. Normally I would be able to do so fairly easily, but the damage that Thrax has done to the Morphing Grid was strong enough to render that impossible. That is why I had to reach back through time, so I could recruit aid for you from a time period when the Grid was still intact."

Cruger nodded solemnly. "I understand." He spread his arms to indicate their surroundings. "Well, then: for the time being, Rangers, our base is at your disposal. My team and I will do everything we can to help, and we do have one morph-capable Ranger who can aid you in your efforts."

"That's right," Sam agreed, the Omega Ranger stepping forward and nodding politely to the new arrivals. "Thank you all again for coming; I'll be more than happy to fight alongside you."

"Sounds great!" Kira replied cheerfully, giving the others a comforting smile. "And don't worry, guys; I'm sure we're gonna be able to get your powers back. I'm pretty sure we've all lost our powers before, at one point or another, and there's always a way to fix that." She glanced over to Tommy. "Right, Dr. O?"

Tommy nodded in agreement. "Definitely. I've lost my powers a few times over the years, but I've always managed to get them back." He chuckled, before smiling warmly at the S.P.D. team. "We'll do whatever we can to help with that, too; it might seem unlikely now, but I'm sure we'll be able to come up with something."

"For the time being, however," the Sentinel Knight declared, "the six of you will have to shoulder the responsibility of defending the Earth against the threat of Thrax, Gruumm, and the other members of their new Evil Alliance." His glowing eyes flicked over each of the new team in turn. "Tommy. Kira. Tori. Cole. Jennifer. Sam. You are now this world's new team of Power Rangers."

Jack felt an uncomfortable wrench in his stomach as he glanced over to the rest of his teammates. Now that the reality of their situation was sinking in, they all shared the same attitude that he seemed to feel: a combination of relief and disappointment. Relief that they'd been saved and that there was a new team of morph-capable Rangers present to carry on the fight while they couldn't… but also the disappointment that came with having been taken out of the fight.

Although he knew having these new Legacy Rangers around was a good thing, Jack couldn't help the feeling deep down that he and his teammates had just been replaced.

And he didn't like that feeling.

Aboard the Terror…

"Five new Rangers?!" The immense Troobian warship practically shuddered from the force of Gruumm's furious roar, his eyes blazing like twin crimson furnaces as he stormed onto the bridge.

"That is what they said, yes," Thrax confirmed flatly, nodding to where Goldar and Scorpina stood beside him. Both of the young warlord's lieutenants looked rather nervous at the sight of the Troobian Emperor's glowering wrath, but Thrax, despite the similar surge of fury burning in his own heart, kept it tightly in check and stood slightly in front of them as a gesture of reassurance, signifying that they were under his protection. He'd had a lot of time to learn how to control his temper when he'd been contained in that wretched Space Dumpster, and he had made the most of it. And he had no intention of allowing Gruumm to try and take out his anger on Thrax's most faithful servants.

"You told me that this little plan of yours would enable us to wipe out the Power Rangers!" Gruumm snapped, his red-eyed glare locking onto Thrax. "You assured me that it would work, but so far all it seems to have done is multiply our problems!"

"It did work," Thrax replied evenly. "The Power Rangers of Space Patrol Delta have been rendered powerless and incapable of posing any real threat to your conquest of Earth; their little showdown with Goldar and Scorpina proved that. Only one of those seven Rangers is still capable of putting up a genuine fight against us, and he is no match for us on his own. As for these five new Rangers, I already know who they are and where they came from." His eyes narrowed. "This is the work of that damnable Sentinel Knight."

"Really?" Morgana drawled from where she was leaning against a support beam on the other side of the bridge. "And how do you know all of that? Because it kinda sounds to me like you might just be covering for your own screwup."

"I assure you, I am not," Thrax shot back, his voice flat and cold. "I know who they are because Goldar and Scorpina have crossed paths with their leader, the Green Ranger, before." He smirked, although the expression was utterly devoid of either happiness or humor. "In fact, my mother is the one who first created him. He is Tommy Oliver, the most infamous Power Ranger in the history of their order."

Morgana's eyes widened slightly; even she had heard that name before. Gruumm's searing red gaze darkened a little, but his anger still burned in those crimson eyes. "And you say this is the doing of that creature who saved Cruger and his S.P.D. cadets from us?" he rasped.

"Undoubtedly." Thrax scowled. "The Sentinel Knight has been dead for many years, but even as a spirit he possesses great magical power. I didn't know he was active on this planet until he rescued those defeated Rangers from us, but restoring the powers of five former Rangers so they could serve as replacements for the ones we defeated would be well within his capabilities."

"Fantastic." Morgana groaned theatrically, rolling her eyes. "We get rid of one lot of Rangers, and that sparkly bastard brings in another batch." She shrugged. "Well, this shouldn't be too hard, then, should it? We can just go down there, bring your friends with us, and do the same thing we did last time; beat 'em up, take their powers, and make sure we kill them properly this time."

"Normally I would agree, but in this case there's no point," Thrax sighed. He immediately held up a hand as Gruumm rounded on him with a furious glare. "Allow me to explain, Emperor. Now that the Sentinel Knight is involved, if we did go after this new Ranger team and were able to strip them of their powers as well, he could just restore the powers of another set. Unfortunately, Earth has no shortage of former Rangers, so he could assemble another team of them easily enough, and there's no way to damage the Morphing Grid badly enough to make it impossible for him to re-power them." He shook his head. "No: the answer to this problem is simple. We must destroy the Sentinel Knight first, so he cannot intervene again. Then we can go after these new Rangers with sufficient force to guarantee a victory, and this time no one will come to save them."

Gruumm nodded slowly, his eyes dimmed slightly as he thought that over, but Thrax's proposition caught Goldar and Scorpina off-guard. "But, my lord… are you sure we can do that?" Goldar questioned. "I thought there was no way to kill the Sentinel Knight."

"Right," Scorpina agreed. "When he had a body, sure, he could be killed, but now? It's not like there's a way to kill a ghost or something like that."

Thrax's scowl faded and was slowly replaced by a cruel smirk. "Ah, but that's where you're wrong, my friends," he answered. "As it turns out, there is a way to destroy my old enemy… and it took years of research, but I know where to find it. I had hoped that he wouldn't cause me any more trouble so I wouldn't have to put in the time and effort of tracking it down, but clearly this war between us will not end until either he is destroyed for good, or I am."

"And what 'way' is this?" Gruumm demanded, his eyes flashing. "How can this Knight be destroyed?"

"Patience, Emperor," Thrax assured him. "The weapon that can destroy the Sentinel Knight is on a distant world known as Phaedos, quite a long way from here. I intend to go there, find it, and use its power to eliminate him once and for all. Once that's done, our forces will be able to take care of these new Rangers just like we did with the team from S.P.D., and Earth will be yours for the taking." He smiled coldly as he turned to Goldar and Scorpina. "In the meantime… Goldar, stay here and assist the Emperor and Morgana in my absence. Scorpina, return to my mother's palace and prepare our monster for deployment."

"Of course, Lord Thrax," Scorpina agreed with a smirk. Goldar also nodded in agreement.

Morgana quirked an eyebrow. "Monster?"

"Oh, yes." Thrax's smile became a twisted, malevolent smirk, due in part to his own misshapen face. "A monster whose power far exceeds that of any creature created by either of my parents. That creature will be able to keep the new Rangers out of the way, while I acquire the weapon to kill the Knight and we prepare for our final strike." He turned back to Gruumm, meeting the Emperor's gaze without flinching. "I assure you, Emperor, my plan will not fail. The Knight will be destroyed, the Rangers will fall, and Earth will be yours."

After a long moment, Gruumm nodded. "Very well," he growled. "But I warn you now, Thrax: you will not get another chance. If this plan of yours fails, I promise you… you will regret it." His eyes flashed again, and he turned and swept off the bridge. Morgana shrugged and followed after him.

Thrax relaxed slightly, unclenching his fists and resisting the urge to reach for the staff that was slung over his back. "Oh, I assure you, Emperor," he murmured, "I do not intend to fail." His eyes narrowed. "I will crush that worthless planet, and all those who live upon it will die screaming for their crimes against my family.

"And anyone else who stands in my way… no matter who they are… will face the same fate."

Chapter Text

New Tech City…

A series of explosions rang out across a large downtown plaza, blasting several parked cars apart and sending dozens of civilians running frantically for cover. Fireballs blasted up into the air, adding to the mayhem.

Morgana laughed, flinging out another arc of purple energy that sheared through a parked motorcycle, tearing it in half. "So pathetic," she giggled. "The screaming never gets old, though."

"No kidding," Goldar growled in agreement, snorting and baring his fangs as he tossed another fireball into a nearby storefront. "But this is getting boring. They should be here by now!"

"Relax, big guy," Morgana drawled, ignoring the alien warrior's irritated snarl as she glanced up and down the street. "All we have to do is keep causing random destruction like this, and they'll come running right to –"

"Hold it right there!" a voice yelled out from behind her, accompanied by the blaring of a siren.

"And speak of the devil!" Morgana quipped, smirking as she turned towards the speaker: Sam, lights flashing on either side of his helmet, with the five Legacy Rangers approaching down the street behind him, already transformed. "Well, well, what do we have here?"

"Stand down, Morgana!" Sam snapped, slowing down a little so his new teammates could catch up to him as he advanced towards the pair of villains. "You're under arrest!"

"I mean, unless you want us to beat you up first," Kira quipped as she stepped up next to him. "Because if you'd rather go that route, that works fine for me."

"Same here," Tori chuckled as she stopped alongside the Yellow Dino Ranger.

"Plus, six of us versus two of you?" Jen shrugged. "Doesn't really seem like a fair fight."

"You know what?" Morgana grinned, exchanging a glance with Goldar. "You're right. That doesn't seem like a fair fight. Let's fix that, shall we?" On cue, she and Goldar each produced a pair of tennis-ball-sized metal spheres, black with silver highlights, and tossed them high into the air. All four spheres burst apart and expanded outwards into the rapidly-growing forms of several dozen black-clad Krybots, which landed in a rough circle around the six Rangers, completely surrounding them. A chorus of loud, monotonous dings echoed from the Troobian foot-soldiers' silver-masked heads as they prepared to charge.

Jen snorted under her helmet. "Oh, wow, a bunch of mindless robots. How scary."

Tori echoed the snort. "Tell me about it. You'd think they'd have some different tricks."

"Well, whatever year it is, seems like the bad guys never change," Tommy remarked dryly as he took a step out in front of the others. "You guys ready?"

"You know it," Kira agreed, her tone making it easy to tell that she was grinning under her mask.

Goldar scowled. "Enough of this!" he roared. "Attack!"

The Krybots surged forwards as one, and the Rangers leapt to meet them.

Tommy and Kira, the two Legacy Rangers who'd actually been on the same Ranger team before, instinctively stuck together as a result. They tore through the Krybots side-by-side, Tommy's broadsword and Kira's daggerlike Ptera-Grips slashing in every direction as they whirled through the robots, slicing through cloth and metal without much effort. Tommy in particular made it look as easy as breathing, hacking his way through the robots with an effortless grace that spoke to his many years of combat experience. Kira didn't have as much experience, but she'd still spent the better part of a year taking down foot-soldiers who hadn't been too different from the Krybots, so it was easy enough for her to handle these ones.

Cole and Jen had also teamed up, although their fighting styles were entirely different: Cole fought with a fluid, almost animalistic style, thanks to the animal spirit which gave him his powers and the many years that he'd spent growing up in the jungle as a child, while Jen moved with a precise, focused intensity that spoke of her past military training as a member of Time Force. As different as their styles were, they were equally unstoppable, with Krybots tumbling around them like falling leaves in a gale.

Sam tore through the robots with the casual ease of someone who'd been training against them for decades (which, of course, he had), using the various different settings of his Morpher to their full capacity and hurling his opponents back in ever-greater numbers. "Omega Morpher: Hyper Mode!" he yelled, his arm dissolving into a rapid-fire blur as a volley of punches sent half a dozen Krybots flying.

Tori, meanwhile, was a blur, flashing back and forth across the plaza, her sword carving effortlessly through every Krybot that came her way. "Sonic Fin!" she called out as she dove under a robot's swinging arm, plucking her secondary weapon from her belt. Holding up the fin-shaped sonic blaster, she pulled the trigger and unleashed a blast of high-frequency soundwaves that hurled that group of Krybots to the ground, overloading their circuits in an instant.

Morgana and Goldar were observing the battle with increasing annoyance as it became more and more one-sided, but the two villains' attention was drawn to a more immediate problem when Tommy and Kira broke through the line of Krybots and raced towards them. Morgana scowled, her own battle helmet snapping into place around her head and her wrist-blades deploying as she intercepted Kira, while Goldar roared and charged straight for Tommy, blocking the Green Ranger's first strike with his own sword.

"You'll regret not destroying me when you were younger, Tommy," he spat, his red eyes blazing with hatred. "I promise you that!"

"Like I already don't?" Tommy shot back with a grin, before throwing a side-kick into Goldar's chest and knocking him backwards. Goldar growled and struck back as Tommy leapt after him, their blades clashing repeatedly, but Tommy was gaining the upper hand and slowly drove the monster back across the plaza.

Kira, however, was having more trouble with Morgana. The villainess was a highly-skilled combatant, and her energized wrist-blades enabled her to counter everything that Kira's Ptera-Grips could dish out. Kira tried swapping one blade out for her blaster, snapping off a few rapid-fire shots, but Morgana's blades blurred into motion as she deflected each bolt. "Nice try, Ranger," she quipped, chuckling as both blades suddenly lit up with purple electricity. "My turn!" Before Kira could dodge, she flung her arms out, the blades launching an X-shaped blast of purple energy that slammed into Kira and detonated on impact, knocking the Yellow Ranger flat on her back with smoke trailing from her suit.

Ow… Kira groaned and rolled over, pushing herself up onto one knee. "Okay, not bad," she muttered.

"Wish I could say the same," Morgana mocked as she stalked towards Kira. "C'mon, you've got more than that, don't you?"

Kira grinned breathlessly under her helmet. "Actually, yeah, I do." She rose back to her full height, crossing both arms over her chest with her fingers curved like claws and then pulling them down and out. "Super Dino Mode!" At the command, her suit lit up with a brilliant glow for a moment as the white patches on her yellow suit suddenly expanded outwards into solid armor plating, the ones on her arms and legs edged with sharp, pointed blades and spikes.

Morgana slowed down, sensing danger from this additional transformation, but she didn't react fast enough.

"Hyaaah!" Kira kicked off the ground and rocketed towards Morgana, moving much faster than she'd been before and aided by a glowing golden membrane that shimmered to life from the backs of her arms, trailing like a pair of artificial wings and carrying her swiftly through the air. Her Ptera-Grips flicked back out, and one of them slashed across Morgana's side as Kira shot past her, drawing a burst of sparks and a pained snarl. Morgana whirled around as Kira touched down behind her, but this time her own swings were easily blocked, and then Kira raked one blade-lined arm across her torso, slicing into Morgana's armor and producing another pained yell.

Tommy glanced over towards the other fight, nodding in approval when he noted Kira's powerup. Turning back to his own fight, he charged, hammering into Goldar with even greater intensity.

With Kira's transformation, the odds shifted: now Morgana and Goldar were firmly on the defensive, being steadily driven back by their respective opponents. The two villains were also being hemmed in and driven closer together, until both fights were happening side-by-side, just a couple of yards apart.

"Now!" Tommy yelled. He and Kira each dodged a swing from their opponents and struck out simultaneously, slamming a pair of kicks into Goldar and Morgana to knock them off-balance. In the next moment, Tommy and Kira leapt clear, as Cole and Sam – who had also broken free of the larger melee – came charging in to help, each readying an attack of their own. Almost as one, they each dropped to one knee and struck the ground in front of them with Cole's Crystal Saber and Sam's fist respectively, unleashing their attacks simultaneously.

"Spirit of the Earth!"

"Omega Morpher: Electro-Mode!"

Twin blasts erupted from the points where they'd struck the ground, Cole's chain of explosions and Sam's electric shockwave merging together as they raced towards the villainous pair, before detonating with a massive explosion that sent Morgana and Goldar tumbling through the air with twin screams of pain and anger.

As the two battered villains picked themselves up, they found themselves confronted by all four Rangers. Nearby, Tori and Jen were disposing of the last few Krybots, leaving Goldar and Morgana without any backup.

"So?" Tommy raised his sword, pointing it at them as the others stepped up to flank him. "How do you two want to do this?"

Goldar and Morgana exchanged a glance. Both villains were furious, but it was clear enough that they were at a serious disadvantage.

"This isn't over," Morgana warned. She flung one arm up into the air, and both villains vanished in a flash of purple light.

Space Patrol Delta base…

"So, you guys got your mystical dinosaur-powers from a bunch of rocks?" Jen questioned with a raised eyebrow and a faint smirk as the Legacy Rangers strolled down the hallway.

"Ancient magical gemstones, but… yeah, I guess," Kira quipped, exchanging an amused grin with Tommy. "I guess Ranger tech definitely gets more 'professional' in the future."

Jen snorted. "Eh, I wouldn't go that far. Time Force might pride itself on being a professional military organization, but they've got their ups and downs just like anybody else." She shrugged. "Different era, same problems, I guess." This got some quiet snickers out of the other Legacies, as they made their way into one of the off-duty lounges in the base and settled down on a pair of large couches.

Sam, meanwhile, was regarding Jen with a great deal of curiosity, enough that it was apparent even through his helmet. "Ah… Miss Jen?" he inquired. "Actually, about that, I was just wondering: you're from the future, but the Sentinel Knight said he recruited all of you guys from the past. So…" He trailed off, trying to figure out how best to phrase his question.

"So how can I be here, and why do you guys have records of me?" Jen chuckled in response to Sam's confirming nod. "It's kind of a long story, but I'll give you guys the short version. The organization that I used to work for, Time Force, is based in the year 3000: it's actually a distant descendant of S.P.D., if I remember my history lessons right, but we're mostly focused on threats involving time travel, not space travel." She considered for a moment, then grinned as she glanced back over to Sam. "Funny thing is… that change was actually inspired, at least in part, by you."

If Sam's eyes had been visible, they would undoubtedly have widened. "Wait… really?"

"Really!" Jen nodded in confirmation. "The S.P.D. Omega Ranger: the man who saved the Earth by going back in time to stop a Troobian conquest before it could happen. Your journey through time led to the foundation of Time Force, for two reasons." She held up one finger. "First: your success in stopping the Troobian invasion from succeeding showed the world that time travel could be a powerful force for good, if it were used for good reasons." She held up a second finger, her expression becoming more sober. "But second: because the discovery of time travel eventually led to some people trying to use it for, let's say… less noble reasons."

Most of the others winced as they quickly deduced what she meant. "People like the Mut-Orgs, or Ransik back when he was evil," Cole surmised. "Criminals and monsters, who wanted to rewrite the flow of time to benefit themselves rather than the people of Earth as a whole."

Jen nodded. "Exactly. That's the main reason why Time Force was established: to make sure that no evildoer would ever try to misuse the power of time travel for their own selfish gain." She glanced around to the others as she continued. "Which is where I come in. In the year 3000, a criminal mastermind named Ransik stole one of our time-ships and used it to transport a prison full of dangerous mutants to the beginning of the 21st century, planning to take over the world and create his own new future. My teammates and I chased Ransik back through time to try and stop him, but our Red Ranger, Alex Collins, was left behind in the future." She sighed. "Since our Morphers wouldn't work without the fifth member of our team, we sought out Wes Collins, one of Alex's ancestors, and I convinced him to join the team in Alex's place. We worked together with other heroes of that time period, including other Power Rangers at a couple of points, and we ultimately defeated Ransik and his followers before they could succeed in altering history too drastically. But, in the process…" A soft smile flickered across her face. "Wes and I fell in love."

Cole and Tommy didn't seem surprised – clearly they'd both heard this story before, or at least some of it – but the others were caught off-guard by this revelation. "Wait… isn't that a bad thing, though?" Tori questioned. "What with you guys being from different centuries and everything?"

"I thought so at first," Jen confirmed. "So when the crisis was over, I went home, back to my time, and tried to readjust to a life without Wes in it. I tried telling myself it was better that way, that he'd be better off continuing his life back in that time without any further interference from us… but a year later, I had to go back in time again, chasing a trio of mutant monsters that had traveled back to team up with Cole's enemies, the Orgs." She glanced over to the Red Wild Force Ranger, who returned her solemn nod as he remembered those battles. "When that happened, Wes and I reconnected, and I realized that I couldn't stay away from him any longer. So I checked with the Time Force databanks in the future, looking for any sign that my presence in Wes's life would cause problems… but I actually found the exact opposite."

Jen grinned again, a rush of warmth filling her mind as she recalled the memory. "I found out that Wes was supposed to get married eventually… but his wife's name was Jennifer. And when I looked into it further, I realized that Alex, my Time Force teammate, wasn't just Wes's descendant… he was my descendant, too. I was always supposed to go back in time and be with Wes." She shrugged. "So I did. Once I knew that going back in time for good wasn't going to break history or anything like that, I traveled back to the past for good. Wes and I set up a cover identity for me, and we've been together ever since. That's when the Sentinel Knight contacted me and asked for my help… and of course I wasn't gonna say no."

"So that's why these S.P.D. guys have your records and DNA and everything?" Kira finished. "Because you live in our time period now?"

"Yup." Jen made a popping sound with her lips on the "P" in that word, before shrugging and glancing around at the others. "So, anybody else got a story to tell?"

"Well, I was curious about one thing," Tori spoke up, turning to Cole with a curious expression. "Cole, while we were all getting ready to head to this time period, I think you mentioned something about needing to get permission to get your powers back? I didn't bother asking about it at the time, but…" She frowned. "I was a little confused." She indicated herself, Kira, and Tommy. "The Sentinel Knight had to 'recharge' the three of us with enough power to reactivate our Morphing abilities, and Jen still had hers so he didn't need to do anything for her, but… I didn't really understand what the deal was with yours."

"Oh, that?" Cole laughed, leaning back casually on the couch. "Well, it was pretty simple, actually. I didn't really lose my powers when I stopped being a Ranger: my teammates and I received our powers from our teacher, Princess Shayla, and once the Orgs were defeated, we gave those powers back to her. We didn't need them anymore, and that way she could keep them safe." He shrugged. "When the Sentinel Knight contacted me, I went back to her home, the Animarium island, to ask her if I could have my power crystal back temporarily for this mission. She agreed, and I got it back." He smiled and produced the crystal in question from his pocket, showing the image of a red lion inside it. "I'll give it back to her again once this crisis is over and we can go home."

"Which hopefully shouldn't take too long," Kira spoke up with a smile, nodding to Sam. "Hopefully we can help your friends get their powers back, and then we'll be able to take care of Thrax and his buddies in no time."

"We'll still have to be careful, though," Tommy interjected, drawing the immediate attention of all the others. "I dealt with Rita and Zedd a lot of times back in the day, and they were easily two of the worst villains that the Earth has ever had to face." He frowned. "From what the Sentinel Knight and Commander Cruger have told us, it seems like Thrax has inherited all of their worst parts. So he's not going to go down easily, that's for sure."

The group were silent and thoughtful for a few seconds, before Tori smiled. "Well, I for one feel good about our chances," she chimed in. "I haven't known most of you guys for very long, but…" She looked around their group, and her smile grew a little warmer. "I think we make a pretty good team." A chorus of acknowledgments echoed from the others, with all six Rangers exchanging smiles (or the impression of one, in Sam's case).

A series of footsteps at the entrance of the lounge drew the Rangers' attention, and they looked up to see Z, Syd and Bridge rounding the corner. The S.P.D. cadets were noticeably subdued, their expressions and attitudes more downcast than usual.

"Hey, guys!" Sam greeted them with a wave, beckoning the trio over to the couch next to him. "Where are Jack and Sky?"

"Probably still training," Z replied with a soft chuckle. "They might be different in a lot of ways, but they both absolutely hate getting stuck on the sidelines."

"No kidding," Sydney added with a quiet snicker. "Honestly, I feel like they're a lot more similar than either of them would ever wanna admit."

After a few more chuckles echoed through the room, the trio of cadets fell silent again, drawing sympathetic glances from the Legacy Rangers. "Are you guys… doing okay?" Tori spoke up, her voice soft and a little hesitant.

Bridge, Z and Syd all glanced at each other. "I… don't know," Bridge ultimately admitted, uncharacteristically somber considering his usually-relaxed attitude. "We've never really had anything like this happen to us before." He considered. "I mean, we have had our powers taken away once, back when we had to do some special training to earn our S.W.A.T. Mode, but back then it was temporary: we just had to give up our Morphers until the training was complete."

"Right," Syd agreed. "Back then, we got our powers back as soon as we finished the training and learned what we were supposed to. It didn't feel like…" She sighed, holding her empty hands out with a shrug. "…this."

"Hey." Cole's voice was quiet and reassuring, with the same mixture of kindness and confidence which had once made it obvious that he was destined to be the leader of the Wild Force team. "It's gonna be okay, guys. This isn't gonna be permanent. We aren't replacing you forever."

"Right!" Kira nodded in agreement, smiling at them. "We're just… filling in, y'know? Until you guys get your powers back."

"You mean if we get our powers back," Z replied, her soft chuckle sounding noticeably forced.

"No," Tommy replied, his voice calm but firm. "When. We're gonna figure out a way to fix this." He smiled warmly at the three cadets. "Trust me, okay? I've been through situations like this a couple of times before, and there's always a way to fix it. We'll find a way to repair the damage Thrax has done, and we'll get your powers back." The confidence in his voice was concrete and absolute: it sounded like he was stating a fact, not making an argument or attempting a reassurance.

"It's a shame that we don't actually have a way to interface with the Morphing Grid and fix the damage directly," Jen remarked thoughtfully. "That would make it a lot easier, but as far as I know, there's no human technology in this century that could do something like that."

"Plus, I dunno about you guys, but I'm not exactly a computer expert," Tori quipped, producing amused chuckles and nods from Kira and Cole.

Tommy, however, seemed to be thinking quite intently about something. "No human technology…" he murmured under his breath, so quietly that no one else heard him.

Kira frowned and glanced over to him, raising an eyebrow. "Uh… Dr. O?" she questioned. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm?" Tommy blinked and looked up. "Oh, yeah. Actually…" He smiled slowly. "I think I have an idea."

The Delta Base's gymnasium echoed with the sounds of high-speed combat, as Jack and Sky hammered away at each other's defenses in one of the sparring rings. They were using every trick in their arsenals, including their genetic powers: some of Jack's strikes rebounded off of Sky's crackling blue forcefields, while some of Sky's blows phased harmlessly through Jack's body as he flickered in and out of tangibility. They were seemingly dead-even, neither one able to gain a decisive advantage over the other.

Finally, their stalemate came to an abrupt end as they each landed a solid hit to the other's torso, knocking each other a few steps back. Breathing heavily, they both started to raise their guards again, before Jack held up one hand and chuckled. "Let's… take a minute," he panted.

Sky nodded wearily, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Sounds good," he agreed.

As they sat back against the wall of the gym, taking long drinks from the water bottles that they'd brought with them, Jack glanced over to Sky with a questioning expression. "You okay, man?" he inquired.

"I…" Sky stared straight ahead and sighed heavily. "I don't know." He shrugged. "We've almost never had to deal with something like this before, in all the time we've been Rangers. Powerless, helpless…" His eyes hardened and his lips curved in a scowl. "It feels like there's nothing I can do to help now; I just have to sit on the sidelines and let other people do the fighting for us. And I hate that."

Jack nodded slowly. "Yeah, I get that. Same here." He shook his head. "But trust me, man: we're not done. We're gonna get our powers back, and as soon as we do we'll be right back in the fight."

At that moment, a flash of golden light illuminated the room, and the glowing form of the Sentinel Knight materialized before the two cadets, causing them to flinch back in surprise. "Well said, Jack Landors," he intoned. "I am glad to see that you have not given up hope. That determination is exactly the kind of thing that this world's defenders need."

Jack chuckled as his surprise faded. "Yeah, well, thanks." He leaned back against the wall, letting out a sigh.

"Thank you again for your help," Sky spoke up, looking up at the Knight. "We would've been finished if it wasn't for you rescuing us and restoring those other Rangers' powers."

"I am glad that I could be of assistance," the Knight replied solemnly. "I do apologize, however, for my inability to restore your powers as well. It may indeed be possible to restore them, but unfortunately such a thing is beyond my abilities with the Morphing Grid in its present condition. The damage that Thrax has done to its local integrity is quite severe, and I do not have the skill to repair it. That is why it was necessary for me to recruit your reinforcements from the past, as the Grid was still fully intact in their time." He shook his head, his tone becoming more somber. "If only my former comrades were still present on this world: some of them might be able to repair the damage."

Sky and Jack exchanged a curious glance. "'Comrades'?" Jack repeated. "You mean, you were part of a team like us?"

"Indeed." The Sentinel Knight's voice softened. "Many years ago, I was part of a secret order comprised of the galaxy's greatest martial arts masters, which served as a predecessor to the Power Rangers. Some other members of that order are key figures in Ranger history: Ninjor, Dimitria, Zordon… and my own mentor, Dulcea."

"Dulcea?" Sky frowned. "I've heard of Ninjor, Dimitria, and Zordon: we learned about all three of them in Ranger History classes at the S.P.D. academy. But I don't remember anyone named Dulcea."

"Yes, that makes sense." The Knight nodded, and his voice gave the impression of a smile as he folded his translucent arms behind him. "Dulcea dwelled on a distant planet known as Phaedos. She was also known as the Warrior Goddess, due to her great skill and power; she was one of the greatest warriors in our order, and I was honored to train as her student. But unlike those other three that I mentioned, Dulcea never interacted with Earth's Power Rangers directly, so you would not know of her. However, her actions were directly responsible for one Ranger team's creation."

Jack’s eyes widened. “Wait… she made a Ranger team?”

"Not exactly, but essentially," the Knight replied. "Three thousand years ago, Dulcea and I defended a planet known as Mirinoi from evil forces, and succeeded in defeating those enemies. But Dulcea foresaw that evil would threaten that world again someday, so she forged five great swords, known as the Quasar Sabers, and embedded them in a stone altar using powerful magic, to keep them there until five chosen warriors would one day find them." He chuckled softly. "As it turned out, those chosen warriors would turn out to be five young humans, who became the Power Rangers of the Lost Galaxy."

"Oh!" Sky's eyes widened in realization and amazement. "The Galaxy Rangers of the Terra Venture space colony… yes, that's right! We learned about them in school." His cheeks flushed a faint pink as he saw Jack's amused grin.

"That is correct, Sky Tate," the Sentinel Knight agreed. He tilted his head back slightly, gazing up at the ceiling as if his vision was piercing out through the building to the stars above. "Dulcea was the greatest warrior I have ever seen. Her skills, both in combat and in magic, far surpassed my own. She was not described as 'the Warrior Goddess' for no reason." His eyes dimmed slightly. "Sadly, she passed on many centuries ago, and now lies entombed on her home planet of Phaedos, along with her greatest weapon: the sword Excelsior, a weapon so deadly that it could destroy the very spirits of its victims. No other weapon I have ever seen could do that."

Sky was still amazed, but Jack's own eyes narrowed slowly as a thought began turning over in his mind. "Uh… Mr. Knight?" he spoke up, drawing the Knight's attention back to him. "Sorry, random question, but I was just thinking about something. Back when you rescued us, and Gruumm wanted to destroy you, Thrax said that they couldn't… but that he knew about something that could destroy you." His frown deepened. "And if that sword you mentioned could destroy a spirit…"

Sky got it first. His eyes widened a bit, and he frowned as he turned to Jack. "You think… Thrax might be planning to find that sword, and use it to destroy him?" he questioned, nodding to the Sentinel Knight.

The Knight's glowing green eyes widened as well. "I… had not considered that," he admitted. "But… it would make sense. Thrax's parents, Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, were well aware of our order's existence, so they would have known about Dulcea, and Thrax may have learned about it from them. After I sealed him away ten years ago, he and his allies would certainly have a vested interest in learning of ways to stop me from interfering in his plans again." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "And… it is true that if Thrax does seek to destroy me, Excelsior is the only weapon that I know of which could destroy a spirit."

"So… he could be going after it?" Jack pushed himself up to his feet, Sky doing the same. "If he is, we've gotta stop him, right? That guy's bad enough as it is: we don't need him getting his hands on a weapon that can kill anything."

"I agree," Sky followed up immediately, nodding firmly. "If Thrax is going after that sword, we have to do whatever we can to stop him. The only reason we're still alive is because you were able to help us. If Thrax plans to prevent that from happening again, we need to stop him."

"Calm yourselves," the Sentinel Knight urged, holding out his hands towards them. "If Thrax does intend to acquire Excelsior, I am quite certain that he will not succeed. He may be strong, but the defensive magics that Dulcea imbued into her tomb are extremely powerful. Even if Thrax were to reach her tomb, he would most likely not be able to remove Excelsior from it."

Jack and Sky met each other's gaze, their expressions firm… but after a moment, they both relaxed a bit as they turned back to the Knight. "Okay, yeah, you're probably right," Jack conceded.

"We should still tell the others and the Commander about this, though," Sky added. "Just to be safe." He shrugged. "Even if Thrax can't get to the sword, we should be ready in case he does try something like that."

The Sentinel Knight nodded slowly, not entirely trusting their sudden turnaround. "Very well," he replied. "In the meantime, I am still recovering my strength after having expended so much energy on recharging the Legacy Rangers' powers and transporting them across time. So for now, I must rest." With that, he faded away with a final flicker of golden light.

In the following silence, Jack and Sky remained quiet for a moment, before turning to each other again. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Jack inquired.

"We're going to Phaedos?" Sky assumed.

"Damn right." Jack grinned. "If Thrax is going after that sword, somebody's gotta make sure he doesn't get it. So let's tell the others and get going, before anybody else tries to stop us."

Without a backward glance, the two cadets hurried out of the gym, heading off to find the rest of their squad.

"You really think that this idea will work?" Kat questioned. She, Cruger, Sam, and the Legacy Rangers were in the Command Center, looking at a diagram on one of the computer screens.

"I'm sure of it," Tommy confirmed. "To restore your Rangers' powers, we'll have to repair the damage that Thrax has done to the Morphing Grid. The problem is, no human technology can interface directly with the Grid, even in this time period, so there's nothing we can do to fix it with the tech that you have here." He smiled. "But fortunately, I happen to have a particular piece of technology that can interface with the Grid… because it wasn't created by humans. It was left behind by my first mentor, Zordon, and he was able to use it to manipulate the Grid, so we should be able to do the same."

"And once we do that, we can fix the damage Thrax inflicted, and hopefully even strengthen the Grid's defenses so he can't pull off the same trick again," Jen finished.

"Right." Tommy nodded. "We just need to go find that piece of technology. Back in 2005, it was sealed in a secure storage facility, and since I don't think I would've removed it from that facility at any point since then, it should still be there. Once we retrieve it, we can get to work."

Cruger and Kat contemplated the idea for a moment, before the S.P.D. Commander nodded in agreement. "Very well," he replied. "You have my permission to carry out this plan. However, I think that Omega Ranger should stay here as a precaution, in case there are any further attacks while you are away."

Sam nodded. "Of course, sir! If Gruumm or Thrax try anything, I'll be ready."

Tommy echoed the nod. "Okay, then." He turned to his teammates. "C'mon, guys. We don't have much time, so let's get to it."

"Right!" the other Legacies chorused in agreement, before the five of them jogged out of the Command Center.

As they did so, Cruger frowned and turned to Kat and Sam. "Have either of you seen the B-Squad Rangers today?" he questioned.

"I saw them a couple of hours ago, but not since then," Sam replied with a shrug. "Jack said something about them going out and taking a bit of time off, since 'there isn't much they can do around here at the moment'."

"Hmmm…" Cruger's frown deepened, as an uneasy feeling rooted itself in his stomach. "If they check in with either of you, let me know," he instructed. "We can't afford to be lax at a time like this: there's no telling when Gruumm and Thrax may launch another assault."

Sam and Kat both nodded in agreement, before turning and heading out of the command center, leaving Cruger alone. The S.P.D. Commander's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, and he adjusted the hilt of his Shadow Saber as he glanced around the room. Losing his Morphing powers had affected him too, making him feel less confident about their situation. For the moment, things appeared to be under control, thanks to the new Rangers and the Sentinel Knight's assistance.

But he couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong.

As their "borrowed" long-range S.P.D. spaceship left the Earth's atmosphere, the five members of B-Squad sat back in their chairs and readied themselves for the trip to Phaedos. Sure enough, it hadn't taken much effort for Jack and Sky to convince Bridge, Z and Syd that they should go to find Excelsior and prevent Thrax from getting his hands on it. Each of the five cadets had some misgivings about this journey, but their resolve overpowered their concerns. With or without their powers, they had to do something to help.

"All right, guys," Jack murmured as he and Sky adjusted the controls. "If anyone wants to turn back, now's your last chance." He glanced over his shoulder, his lips twitching into a smile when he saw that none of the others showed any signs of hesitating.

"Okay, then," Sky spoke up, his eyes fixed on the stars ahead. "Let's do this." He and Jack activated the controls, and their ship burst into motion, hurtling off towards their destination.

As the B-Squad cadets' ship blasted off into the cosmos, they had no idea that just a few light-years away, a second object was heading on a parallel trajectory: a crackling comet of black-and-white energy, lighting up the darkness of deep space as it hurtled across the galaxy.

Within that crackling aura, shielded from the vacuum by a protective capsule of magic, a pair of gleaming yellow eyes glared ahead towards their owner's destination, already dreaming of the vengeance that he would wreak upon his nemesis.

Just you wait, Sentinel Knight, Thrax thought to himself, his scowl deepening as he gripped his staff tightly with both hands and focused on maintaining both his protective shield and the transportation spell. Soon, I will have your mentor's greatest weapon in my possession, and I will be able to destroy you once and for all.

And then… there will be nothing that you, or  anyone , can do to stop me.

The Moon…

In an age where space travel and contact with alien races had become the norm for the human race, it was hardly a surprise that humanity had also colonized the Moon. Numerous bases, both military and civilian in nature, were scattered across its surface, contained within protective domes that kept their inhabitants safe from the airless vacuum outside.

But there were also some areas of the Moon's surface that those lunar colonists deliberately avoided. Some of those were historical sites, such as the landing points of the various NASA lunar landings back in the 20th century… but one was not. Instead, it had been declared strictly off-limits by S.P.D., with the full support of the United States government, to hopefully prevent anyone from making use of any dangerous technology that might have been left behind there.

At the bottom of a vast, deep crater, a huge, dark castle crafted from black stone rose skyward, its structure covered in jutting spikes and jagged towers. Despite its foreboding appearance, the fortress was as empty and silent as a tomb, with no sign of its former owners. But the presence of an atmospheric dome around the castle, shimmering with a faint glow of magic, signified that the area was still habitable.

The palace of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd had fallen into disrepair in the years since their defeat. Its interior was coated with dust, and many of its towers and walls were cracked and crumbling. Due to its infamous reputation and the possibility of some nasty traps or dangerous tech left behind by the villainous pair, it had been left abandoned, although it was monitored by a nearby military base. But since it had been more than twenty-five years since this palace had last been occupied, and no one had attempted to approach it since then, the monitoring in question was not particularly rigorous.

Therefore, when Scorpina materialized at the entrance of the palace in a flash of golden light, her arrival went entirely unnoticed. She gazed up at the black lunar sky for a long moment and chuckled softly, before walking in through the broken front doors of the fortress. The palace's interior was dark and shadowy, but she had retraced this route plenty of times over the last two decades, and by this point she hardly even needed to see to know where she was going.

After navigating the complex maze of twisting corridors and halls that filled the palace, Scorpina finally arrived at her destination: the secure vault beneath the palace, where she, Goldar, and an infant Thrax had been able to survive the energy wave that had wiped out the Alliance of Evil. Imbued with the most powerful defensive spells that both Rita and Zedd's combined powers could generate, the vault was virtually impregnable… unless, of course, you were one of the few people who had been granted access by Rita and Zedd prior to their defeat.

Placing her hand on the stone door of the vault, Scorpina waited for a moment as the magical wards detected her presence, then lowered her arm and stepped back as the door glowed with a brief pulse of dark red energy and split vertically, both halves retracting into the walls. A brief surge of electricity crackled around her, sending a tingling sensation down her spine, but she shook it off and stepped inside.

Resting in the center of the vault was what looked, at first glance, like a giant egg, easily as tall as a grown man. It was a gleaming silver in color, with veins of dark blue laced through it; it was glowing faintly from within, and a sound almost like a heartbeat pulsed through the vault as something shifted beneath the egg's protective shell.

Scorpina smiled. "Excellent," she murmured. "It's ready."

Thrax had inherited both of his parents' talents for creating monstrous creatures, but he'd gone about it in a slightly different way. While Rita and Zedd had focused on building an army, creating as many monsters as they could and taking every opportunity to make new ones, Thrax had focused years of time and effort into crafting a single monster with power far exceeding anything that his parents had ever created. This creature possessed power that could tear these new Power Rangers apart, and bring all of Earth's defenses crashing down. And after years of preparation, it was finally fully-grown and ready to be unleashed.

Stepping up to a computer console next to the egg, Scorpina entered in a simple series of commands, initiating its final sequence. As a soft rumbling sound echoed from within the egg, she stepped back a few feet, drew her sword, and pointed it squarely at the egg. "Activate!" she called out as a stream of golden lightning poured from her sword and struck the egg, crackling over its surface and being absorbed into it. This energy transfer provided the final spark to trigger the egg's hatching.

Clouds of steam began to rise from the egg, its shell rapidly growing hotter and reacting with the cold air of the chamber. Scorpina kept up the energy transfer until a sharp crack echoed through the vault, at which point she cut off the lightning but kept her sword out as a precaution. Thrax had assured her that this creature would be controllable, but she didn't want to take any chances.

The egg began to lurch back and forth, trembling as jagged cracks spread quickly across its surface, light shining through from inside. Finally, a muffled roar rang out from within the eggshell, and it burst apart with a violent explosion, scattering pieces of broken eggshell across the room. Scorpina shielded her eyes with one hand against the flash of light, before lowering her hand as the light faded and her lips slowly curved in a satisfied grin.

"Hello, Volturus," she greeted the newborn monstrosity before her. "Welcome to the world."

Another savage and bestial roar answered her as arcs of blue lightning crackled through the air, scorching the walls and floor of the vault. The sound filled the room and rang out through the empty halls of the fortress above them, almost seeming to echo out across the entire Moon.

Scorpina nodded approvingly, her cruel smile growing wider. "Now, that's more like it."

Chapter Text

Aboard the Terror…

"This is ridiculous!" Gruumm roared as he stormed onto the bridge, with Morgana and Goldar trailing behind him. "Thrax assured me that he could solve my problems, but he's done nothing of the sort! Cruger and his cadets may no longer pose a serious threat, but now Earth has a new team of Rangers and we are no closer to achieving my conquest!"

"And while we're fighting them, Thrax is off running around the galaxy, chasing some legendary weapon that's supposedly gonna help him kill a ghost," Morgana finished with a snort. "Pathetic."

"Hold your tongue!" Goldar snarled, glaring at her. "I won't tolerate you disrespecting Lord Thrax like that!" His anger died in his throat, however, when Gruumm rounded on him with his eyes blazing like twin furnaces.

"You," the Troobian Emperor spat, "are not in a position to dictate terms to us. Thrax may allow you to speak your mind when he pleases, but I am not him. And I assure you, speaking disrespectfully to me will not end well for you." He held Goldar's gaze a moment longer, his staff giving off a brief crackle of purple electricity, before contemptuously turning his back. "Now, leave us. I have business to discuss with Morgana in private."

Goldar's eyes flashed and a low growl escaped his clenched teeth, but he knew better than to start anything here. Turning, he stalked off the bridge and disappeared into one of the shadowy corridors.

"Might not be the best idea to antagonize him, Emperor," Morgana pointed out. "After all, the last thing we need is for us to have to fight Thrax's gang and the Rangers at the same time."

"Indeed," Gruumm rumbled, his eyes darkening as he considered that. "I will deal with Thrax eventually, as soon as the need for this alliance has run its course. But until Earth has fallen and the Rangers are mine – or, at least, until Thrax and his companions have outlived their usefulness to me – we must maintain our pact with them." He nodded decisively, turning back to face Morgana. "How is our observation of the new Rangers going?"

"Quite well," Morgana replied with a smile. "They've left New Tech City on some sort of errand, but I've got a team of Krybots shadowing them: we'll soon know what they're up to."

"Excellent." Gruumm chuckled darkly. "Once Thrax returns from his errand, we will prepare for our next strike, and we will deal with these 'Legacy Rangers' once and for all. And then…" His eyes gleamed, embers in the darkness. "Then, Thrax and his servants will learn, once and for all, who the true ruler of this galaxy is." His chuckling grew louder as Morgana joined in, the sound of their laughter echoing through the shadowy expanse of the Terror's bridge.

A few yards away, concealed in the shadows of the corridor where he'd disappeared, Goldar scowled, his eyes narrowing as he listened to the other villains' laughter. "Planning to double-cross us once the Rangers are gone, are you?" he rumbled under his breath. "Well, we'll see about that."

Angel Grove…

"All right," Tommy called over his shoulder to the other Legacy Rangers as they finished parking the S.P.D. B-Squad's transport vehicles. "Welcome to Angel Grove." He nodded to the building that lay before them, an expansive warehouse filled with stacks of large wooden crates. "It should be in here somewhere."

"Ah, Dr. O?" Kira spoke up as the five of them made their way up into the warehouse via the open loading docks. "Mind filling us in on exactly what we're looking for?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure you guys would believe me if I told you," Tommy quipped, grinning a little as he looked around the cavernous interior of the warehouse. "But it was stored here back in 2005, and I can't think of any reason why any of my friends would've moved it since then, so it should still be here." He shrugged, leading the way through the rows of crates. "I just need to remember which part of this place we stored it in…"

"Uh, guys?" Cole's voice drew the others' attention: he was tense and on guard, sinking into a half-crouch as his keen senses alerted him to danger. "I'm hearing something strange from over there." He pointed towards the other side of the warehouse, just as the other Legacies also began to hear what had caught his attention: a chorus of soft, metallic dinging noises, echoing in the shadows. Sure enough, a group of several dozen figures, clad in black and sporting pockmarked silver helmets, came into view, abandoning their attempt at concealment and moving towards the Rangers once it was clear that they'd been spotted.

"Krybots," Jen muttered, her eyes narrowing as she raised her guard. Kira and Tori quickly did the same.

"Of course." Tommy sighed. "All right, let's make this quick." He dropped into a fighting stance and charged, letting out a battle cry as the other Legacy Rangers rushed in behind him. The Krybots did the same, and the warehouse erupted into a chaotic melee of high-speed combat.

Kira fought defensively for the most part, twisting and spinning, deflecting the oncoming Krybots' attacks and hurling them back as she danced nimbly through their ranks. She favored precision over brute force, targeting vulnerable points with targeted jabs and chops.

Ducking under one Krybot's swinging arm, she caught it by the wrist and used its outstretched arm as leverage to kick another one in the chest, knocking it sprawling to the floor. Yanking on the arm she held to flip that Krybot to the ground as well, she dropped into a crouch to avoid another's lunge. Two more grabbed her arms and hauled her to her feet, but she went with the motion rather than resisting it, launching herself into a backflip and kicking them both in the head.

Landing upright, Kira sucked in a deep breath, leaned back on her heels, and then swung her head and shoulders forward as she let out a deafening scream. A blast of visible yellow energy erupted from her mouth along with the scream, slamming into the Krybots and sending that entire group flying into crates or walls, taking them all down at once.

Tori used her years of ninja training to their full potential, constantly moving as she dodged and weaved through the Krybots with ease. Leaping, diving and rolling, she bounded off the crates to give herself additional space, landing a punch or a kick on her way from one foothold to another.

Flipping into the air to avoid a slash from one Krybot, she came down right on top of two others: they caught her legs instinctively as she came down, but she used that elevated position to take out a third robot with a punch to the face, before heaving her mass into a forward spin and flipping the Krybots that had been holding her legs off of their feet.

Even as they hit the ground, she was moving again, doubling another Krybot over with a snap-kick to the gut and shoulder-rolling over its back. Swinging around to face the others that had been attacking her, she raised her arms and swung them in a swirling motion in front of her, reaching out with her elemental power: her hands lit up with a pale blue glow as a mass of swirling water materialized between them.

"Wave bye-bye," Tori quipped, grinning as she saw the Krybots' surprised reactions. Drawing her arms back and flinging them out with the heels of her palms touching, she unleashed the gathered water in a concentrated blast like the jet sent out by a fire-hose, blowing the Krybots off their feet and shorting out their electronics with a series of crackling explosions.

Cole had a rougher fighting style than the other Legacies, but his was no less effective. Ducking and rolling, using every striking surface on his body to its best advantage, he sent Krybots tumbling helplessly across the floor as they tried to keep track of him. Slamming a palm strike into one's chest, he dove over its falling body and hit the ground rolling, coming up with one leg swinging to take out the ankles of two more robots. Scrambling to his feet, he deflected an incoming stab of a dagger from one Krybot, then flipped both himself and the robot into the air, landing lightly on his feet as the Krybot crashed down on its head.

Whirling around as several others came at him, Cole launched a series of rapid-fire punches and kicks, tearing through them in a blur of fluid motion. Dropping into a cartwheel that carried him free of his attackers, he popped back up and landed several jackhammer-style punches to another Krybot, battering through its guard and knocking it flat on its back, before lunging back at the others.

Jen fought with characteristic efficiency, parrying each of the Krybots' incoming blows while constantly keeping track of her environment. As soon as they started to surround her, she ducked under another strike, landed two quick jabs that took the nearest robot down for the count, and launched herself into a seamless series of backflips that carried her out into a larger open space.

As the rest of the Krybots rushed after her, she grinned and snatched a small, compact energy blaster off of her belt: unlike the rest of the Legacy Rangers, Jen was accustomed to carrying a sidearm even in her civilian form, as part of her job (first with Time Force in the future, and then with the Silver Guardians in the present). Drawing the blaster, she fired a volley of energy bolts that ripped into the Krybots, dropping several of them on the spot. The survivors charged, but a combination of punches, kicks, elbow and knee strikes, and close-range energy blasts cut them down as well.

Panting but grinning, Jen calmly blasted the last two Krybots as they ran at her, and holstered the blaster again as they folded up and crumpled to the floor with sparks fountaining from their chests. "And that," she murmured, "is why you should always be prepared."

Tommy fought like a demon, taking down one Krybot after another as he called on all of his experience in hand-to-hand combat. His ability to blend all of his various different Ranger fighting styles, obtained from his experiences as part of the Dino Thunder, Turbo, Zeo, and Mighty Morphin teams, made him easily one of the most skilled physical combatants among any of Earth's Power Rangers, and he used those skills to their full extent now.

Combining the newer tricks that his time as the Black Dino Ranger had taught him with the older moves from his teenage years, he became a windmill of destruction, carving through the robots with ease. Punching one and kicking another simultaneously, he grabbed the arm of a forklift and swung off of it like it was a gym's balance beam, slamming feetfirst into two Krybots in quick succession and sending them flying. On the third swing, he let go, flying into a third Krybot and knocking it flat. Rising back to his feet as the remaining robots charged at him from all sides, he whirled into a roundhouse kick that smashed them all off their feet, sending them spinning to the ground.

Rubbing the back of his head and grinning wearily, Tommy straightened up and gazed around at the defeated, broken robots. "Might be a bit old-school," he remarked, "but it gets the job done just fine."

Once all of the Krybots had been taken out, the five Rangers reconvened at the center of the warehouse. "Well, that was fun," Jen commented with an amused snort. "So, any luck on finding what we're looking for?"

"Actually…" Tommy frowned, catching a glint of something reflective in a stack of nearby crates. "Here, help me with this one." With the others' help, he was able to lift one of the top crates in the stack out of place and set it down on the floor, revealing another one behind it.

This crate had clearly been the source of the reflection that he'd seen. Unlike the others around it, which were plain brown wood, this one had some decoration: one side had been painted black, with a yellow lightning bolt – the classic symbol of all Earth's Power Rangers, regardless of their team – emblazoned in its center.

Tommy smiled and nodded, looking younger for a moment as years of memories flashed behind his eyes. "This is it," he confirmed. "C'mon, let's get it loaded up in the Jeep and get out of here."

"And you're sure this'll help us fix the Grid so we can bring back the other Rangers' powers?" Tori inquired.

"Honestly, no, I'm not sure," Tommy admitted. "But if this can't fix it, I don't know of anything that can." He shrugged and chuckled. "And it's never let me down before."

"Sounds good to me." Cole grinned, as the rest of the Legacy Rangers nodded in agreement. "Let's get moving."

On the planet Phaedos…

Far across the galaxy, the cadets of S.P.D.'s B-Squad climbed out of their spaceship and took stock of their surroundings. Their ship had touched down on a sandy plain, not far from the shore of an ocean and near the edge of a rainforest. The scenery was reminiscent of some places on Earth, except that the ocean was a dark purple in color, and the trees up ahead were blue instead of green. The air was warm and humid, but a cooling breeze was blowing in from the ocean, ruffling the cadets' hair as they disembarked.

"So this is Phaedos, huh?" Z questioned as she stepped down the ramp. She looked around curiously, then shrugged. "I've seen worse."

"Well, luckily we won't be staying long," Jack replied with a grin. Glancing around, he turned towards the forest, where a pair of large stone obelisks were visible on either side of what looked like an overgrown path leading into the trees. "So I guess that's where we're going?"

"The ship's scanners told us there's some sort of ancient ruins in there," Sky answered, shrugging as he stepped up next to them. "Since we're talking about an entire planet, this seems like as good a place as any to start."

"All right, then." Jack nodded, glancing over to the rest of the team. "Let's get started."

As the cadets approached the two obelisks and the opening between them, a sudden flash of golden light caused them to flinch back. "Halt," a voice called out, echoing through the air around them, as the by-now-familiar spectral figure of the Sentinel Knight materialized in front of the cadets to block their path.

"Yeah, I figured you might show up eventually," Jack addressed the glowing spirit, an amused grin on his face. "Finally realized what we were doing?"

"You should not be here, warriors of Earth," the Knight declared, his glowing eyes narrowing beneath his helmet. "As I told you, there is no danger of Thrax acquiring Excelsior. Only those who are truly pure of heart and intent may draw the blade from where Dulcea left it… and while Thrax may be powerful, he does not meet those qualifications. There is no reason for you to potentially endanger yourselves by coming here."

"Actually, there is," Sky interjected. "There's nothing we can do right now to help back on Earth: unless the others really can figure out a way to help us get our powers back, then we'll just have to stay on the sidelines and rely on the Legacy Rangers to do the fighting for us. But if we can do anything here to help make sure that Thrax can't get his hands on that sword and use it against you, or against us… then we will." His expression was firm and unyielding as he met the Knight's gaze. "I'm sorry, sir. But we're going to see this through, and you can't convince us otherwise."

The Knight's glowing eyes swept over all five of the cadets, taking in Z, Bridge, and Syd's expressions as well, but he saw the same determined resolve in all of their eyes. Finally, he sighed and his shoulders sagged. "Indeed, it seems that I cannot. Very well." He nodded soberly. "Then before you go any further, I must warn you. Dulcea may have passed on, but she left some potent magical countermeasures behind to deter any potential thieves or grave robbers. Her tomb is guarded by powerful mystic guardians, which are designed to battle any warriors who may try to claim Excelsior for themselves. You will have to face those guardians, and defeat them, if you wish to enter the tomb. They are formidable opponents: they were, after all, created by the most skilled warrior that this galaxy has ever seen. So I advise you to stand together and face them as one: only then can you hope to prevail."

The cadets exchanged glances, all five of them feeling a little unnerved by that revelation. But all five ultimately stood firm, and Jack nodded. "Fair enough," he replied. "Thank you for telling us."

"You are welcome, Jack Landors," the Knight returned, a small trace of amusement in his echoing voice. "Now, I must go. I urge you to take my warning seriously: the guardians can take a variety of forms, so be prepared for anything. Good luck, and may the Power protect you." With that, and another flash of light, he was gone.

"Well, that wasn't ominous at all," Syd muttered.

"No kidding," Z agreed with a laugh. "But there's no time to waste, right?"

"Nope," Jack concurred, nodding slowly. "Let's go." With that, he led the way between the two obelisks and along the path that led into the forest, with the others following close behind.

As the other cadets headed into the forest, Bridge felt a chill run down his spine as a flicker of dark energy brushed against his enhanced senses. Frowning, he turned and looked around at the surrounding landscape, trying to determine the source of the energy, but after a moment it faded away.

Eh… probably nothing. Shrugging, he turned and hurried after the others, jogging to catch up with them.

Bridge's misgivings would have been instantly confirmed, however, if he had been able to see the pair of cold yellow eyes that were observing him from a distance, watching intently as the five young humans vanished into the jungle.

That's it, little Rangers, Thrax thought to himself as his mouth twisted into a hideous grin. Lead me to my prize. When this day is over, Excelsior's power will be mine… and you will be destroyed, as will your comrades back on Earth.

And the Sentinel Knight, your valiant protector, will soon follow.

Aboard the Terror…

"Well, it's about time you showed up," Morgana snarked as Scorpina strolled onto the Troobian warship's bridge with Goldar in tow. "Where did Thrax send you, out for groceries?"

Scorpina rolled her eyes and smirked, exchanging an amused glance with Goldar. "Oh, don't worry. Lord Thrax knows how to get the job done. Which is why he sent me…" She glanced over her shoulder, towards the darkened corridor behind them, and beckoned with one hand. "…to fetch this."

Several heavy, dragging steps echoed from the corridor, followed by a deep, rasping growl. And then, finally, the creature came into view.

Morgana inhaled sharply, her eyes widening a little in surprise. "Okay… not bad," she remarked.

"Emperor," Scorpina continued, addressing Gruumm with a smile on her face. "I give you Lord Thrax's greatest creation… Volturus."

The creature that stood before them was at least seven feet tall, a hulking reptilian humanoid with rippling muscles clearly visible beneath its natural armor. Its body was covered in plates of bony scales, a gleaming silver with deep blue highlights, and a pair of batlike wings were folded across its back. Its eyes glowed a piercing yellow, and a deep hiss echoed from between its rows of dagger-like teeth.

"Quite impressive," Gruumm intoned, gazing at the monster with an unreadable expression. "And what is the purpose of this creature?"

Scorpina chuckled. "Why, to eliminate those new Rangers, of course. Volturus is the most powerful monster Lord Thrax has ever created, and it's not just its power that makes it so impressive." She nodded to Morgana. "Would you mind hitting him with one of those energy blasts of yours?"

Morgana arched an eyebrow at that, but shrugged. "Sure, why not?" She flicked out an arm, purple energy crackling to life along her wrist-blade, and flung an arc of crackling purple light across the bridge. It struck Volturus right in the chest, detonating on impact and knocking the creature back a step… but no further. Volturus quickly regained its footing, snarling as it glared at her, and the armor on its chest was barely even singed.

"This monster's armor is virtually impenetrable," Scorpina explained with a grin. "No weapon in those Rangers' arsenal should be able to pierce its defenses, and it's got more than enough offensive power to take them down. They won't stand a chance."

For the first time, Gruumm laughed softly. "Excellent," he murmured. "Then, by all means, take this creature of yours down to Earth, and let us see how well these new Rangers fare against it."

"Of course." Scorpina's smile widened, and she nodded to Goldar and Volturus. "Come along, then. Let's go show those pathetic Earthlings what our new monster can do."

Goldar flashed a predatory grin. "I can hardly wait."

Chapter Text

New Tech City…

"All right… here we go," Tommy grunted as, with help from Cole and Sam, he carried the large wooden crate into the S.P.D. Command Center, setting it down next to the central control station. Kira, Tori and Jen followed them inside, along with Cruger, Kat and Boom.

"So… this is the device that might help us to restore our Rangers' powers?" Kat questioned.

"That's right," Tommy confirmed with a smile as he crouched down on one knee and popped open the top panel of the crate. "At least, I hope so. I can't think of anything else that could potentially do the job of repairing the damage that Thrax has done to the Morphing Grid." Reaching inside and making some quick adjustments to the device inside the crate, he nodded in satisfaction and straightened up, stepping back as a series of beeps and clicks echoed from it. "All right… here goes nothing. Let's hope he's still working properly after all these years."

Kira raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Uh… sorry, Dr. O," she spoke up, "but… who exactly is 'he'?"

Tommy grinned and indicated the crate. "See for yourself, Kira."

On cue, a metallic hand reached up out of the crate, grasping the edge. A second hand followed suit, and a diminutive figure rose to its feet and clambered out of the crate. It appeared to be a robot, less than five feet in height, with a humanoid shape and a flattened, disc-shaped head; its body was covered in red armor with gold and blue highlights, and a golden lightning-bolt symbol was emblazoned on its chest.

"Ay-yai-yai! Where am I?" The robot tilted its head back and forth, regarding its surroundings with a great deal of confusion, until its gaze came to rest on Tommy and the flickering lights on the front of its helmet lit up more brightly. "Tommy!"

Tommy's smile widened. "Hey, Alpha." He returned the robot's hug as it embraced him, patting it on the back. "It's been a long time! Longer for you than for me, I imagine… but it's really good to see you."

The other Legacy Rangers all looked thoroughly perplexed, while Cruger, Kat and Boom were also regarding the little robot with varying degrees of confusion. "Uh… I'm sorry, Dr. Oliver, but who is this?" Tori questioned.

"An old friend," Tommy replied, chuckling softly as he smiled down at the robot. "Alpha, these are the members of my newest Ranger team."

"Alpha Six," the robot introduced itself cheerfully, nodding to the other occupants of the room. "At your service!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Cruger spoke up, a faint smile on his own face as he nodded to the robot. "I believe I've heard of you before, actually."

"Me too," Jen concurred. "A couple of different Alpha units worked with Earth's first few teams of Rangers, if I remember right."

"Yup." Tommy grinned, resting a hand briefly on Alpha's shoulder. "My old teammates and I wouldn't have made it through everything if it weren't for Alpha, and the other models like him."

Alpha's metallic voice laughed softly. "It's the least I could do! My fellow models and I were created to work alongside the Power Rangers, so when the Rangers need help, I'm your bot."

"Excellent!" Kat smiled warmly as she stepped forward. "Well, you couldn't be here at a better time, Alpha. Our Ranger team have been cut off from the Morphing Grid by a powerful enemy, and we need your help to try and restore their powers so they can help Dr. Oliver's team in the coming battle." She entered in a quick series of commands on the control console as Alpha watched attentively, bringing up all of the information that she had managed to find so far concerning the damage that Thrax had done to the Grid.

"Of course!" Alpha agreed. "I should be able to help with that! I've never actually been inside the Grid before, but I'll do my best."

"All right!" The Legacy Rangers exchanged eager smiles, but their celebrations were short-lived. Moments later, the red emergency lights in the Command Center began to flash, and its alarms began to blare.

"Kat, what's going on?" Cruger called out over the din.

"Some kind of powerful energy surge outside of the city," Kat explained as she set to work on tracing the source of the alarm. "I upped the sensitivity on our early-warning systems after the last attack, to make sure we'd be prepared whenever Thrax and Gruumm launched their next attack." She frowned, her eyes narrowing as the scans confirmed the source of the energy pulse. "Looks like it's near the quarries."

Tommy exchanged a quick glance with the rest of his team, and nodded. "We're on it," he declared. "Alpha, you should probably get started: we need to get the S.P.D. Rangers' powers back as soon as we can." He jogged out of the command center, with Sam and the other Legacy Rangers hot on his heels.

"In the meantime, let's get our Rangers back to base," Cruger decided. "We'll need them on standby, so they can get back into the action as soon as we can restore their powers."

"Of course, sir," Kat agreed. "I'll see if I can get ahold of them." She glanced to Alpha. "In the meantime, shall we get to work?"

"Absolutely!" Alpha nodded, its voice full of enthusiasm. "Let's begin."

Phaedos…

After several hours of hiking through the dense forest, the S.P.D. cadets finally reached their destination. The narrow, winding trail that they had been following opened out into an expansive clearing, lined with stone slabs instead of soft soil, which had clearly helped to slow the spread of the jungle's vegetation. On the far side of the clearing was a large, ornately-designed stone building, resembling a temple of some sort, with a pair of doors set into the nearest wall. Etched into the wall above those doors was an instantly-familiar lightning-bolt symbol, the classic insignia that was now famous as the symbol of the Power Rangers.

"The tomb of Dulcea, I'm guessing?" Syd murmured under her breath.

"Looks like it," Z replied quietly.

Jack nodded in agreement. "All right, guys," he muttered. "Remember, the Sentinel Knight told us there'd be some kind of magic defenses here, so… be careful."

At first, all five cadets were hesitant to move forward any further. They could all sense, on some level, that this was sacred ground, and that it must be treated with respect. After a long moment of silence, however, they started forward again, making their way slowly across the stone-lined courtyard towards the doors of the tomb.

They made it about halfway across the courtyard, before a sudden pulse of energy rippled through the air and washed over them, making their hair stand on end and sending chills down their spines. Taking a couple of steps back, they all entered fighting stances as swirling tendrils of shadow erupted from the ground in front of the doors leading into the tomb. The vortex of dark energy hummed with power as it churned violently for a few seconds, before it coalesced into a shadowy, loosely-humanoid figure, with no discernible features except for a pair of glowing white eyes.

"Greetings, Power Rangers of Space Patrol Delta," a voice whispered, echoing through the entire courtyard despite its soft tones. "Jack Landors… Sky Tate… Bridge Carson… Elizabeth Delgado… and Sydney Drew. Welcome to the tomb of Dulcea, the Warrior Goddess of Phaedos." It was impossible to tell if the voice was human or alien, male or female, old or young; it almost seemed as if it was all of those at once, and more besides, as if a multitude of voices were all speaking in perfect unison.

"Uh… thanks, I guess." Bridge arched an eyebrow and tilted his head to one side. "Although… no offense, but who are you, exactly? And how do you know who we are?"

"We are the Shadow of Dulcea, the undying instrument of her will," the humming voice replied, as the entity's glowing eyes swept slowly back and forth over the five cadets, regarding each of them in turn. "And we know all of those who come here. Our creator's magic allows us to see into your hearts and minds, to help us judge whether you are worthy to proceed into the tomb. We have seen all that you are, Power Rangers. And before you can be worthy to enter this tomb, you must prove your strength… in body, mind, and spirit." It came to a halt, its eyes focused on Jack, who stood at the center of the line that the team had formed. "So. Are you willing to accept our challenge, or do you choose to give up now? If you choose the latter, you may leave unharmed and return home. But if you choose the former, we cannot guarantee your safety… or your survival."

Jack exchanged glances with all four of the others, gauging their reactions to the entity's warning. Fortunately, while Bridge & Syd both seemed a little nervous, none of the five cadets seemed to have any intentions of backing down.

"Well, I guess that answers your question," Jack replied with a soft chuckle. He shrugged, spreading his arms to indicate himself and the others. "Thanks for the offer, but we've come way too far to back down and go home now. So let's see what you've got."

The Shadow considered that for a moment, and then nodded. "As you wish. Then prepare yourselves." Its glowing white eyes flashed more brightly, and another pulse of energy swept through the courtyard.

As the five cadets watched, the glowing white eyes of the Shadow suddenly began to change color. From their initial pure white, they melted into a brilliant red, before shifting slowly through four more colors – blue, green, yellow, and pink – before finally reverting to their original white. Once that process was complete, the Shadow's outline rippled and it briefly dissolved into a swirling cloud of darkness, before the cloud suddenly split into five separate portions, which promptly coalesced into physical form again.

Just like that, the cadets found themselves facing five Shadows rather than one. They all looked the same as the first one, but they each had a different eye color: red, blue, green, yellow, and pink, respectively.

"Oh… crap," Z muttered.

"This is your challenge, Power Rangers," the Shadows intoned, all five speaking in unison. "Defeat us, and you will be allowed to enter the Tomb. If you flee, we will not pursue you, although you will not gain what you seek. But if we defeat you, and you do not flee… then you will die." Their eyes all flashed simultaneously, and then all five shifted smoothly into identical fighting stances, each Shadow's gaze focused on the cadet with the color scheme that matched its eye color.

The cadets had tensed up, readying themselves for the inevitable fight to come. Trading nervous looks and steeling themselves, they kept their guards up, preparing to activate their genetic powers if they became necessary, each of their eyes locking onto the glowing eyes of their corresponding Shadow.

For a seemingly endless moment, the ancient courtyard was completely silent, the warm jungle air thick with the building tension.

And then, without any warning, the Shadows charged, all five bursting into motion at the same moment. The five cadets raced forward to meet them with challenging yells, and the battle began.

New Tech City…

The Legacy Rangers, already transformed in anticipation of a fight, rolled into the quarry and hopped off of their vehicles, glancing around cautiously for any sign of enemy activity. Nothing presented itself, but they could all sense an aura of danger hanging in the air, like the tension that would typically gather before a storm.

"Anybody seeing anything?" Kira asked as she looked around warily.

"Not yet," Cole replied, frowning beneath his helmet. "But… something feels off." His eyes narrowed behind his visor, and he drew his Crystal Saber from its sheath. "We're not alone here."

"Well noticed, Ranger!" a voice called out.

The six Rangers whirled around as an explosion rang out behind them, a fireball billowing up into the air at the far end of the quarry. As it died down, a trio of figures strode through the flames: Goldar and Scorpina, standing on either side of a hulking reptilian monster with silver-and-blue armor.

"Oh, great," Tori muttered, drawing her own sword. "These guys again."

"I guess they didn't learn their lesson the past couple of times," Sam commented with a shrug, shifting into a ready stance as the villainous trio approached.

As the unofficial leader of the new team, Tommy took a couple of steps forward, ahead of the others. "Already back for another try?" he called, his stance seemingly relaxed, although he was ready to spring into motion on a moment's notice if necessary. "Who's your friend?"

"This," Goldar rumbled with a cruel, fanged grin, "is Volturus, Lord Thrax's greatest creation. And he is the one who will put an end to you worthless Rangers, once and for all!" Raising one of his arms, he pointed at the six Rangers with a clawed finger. "Volturus: destroy them!"

The draconic monster let out a low, scratchy hiss, and stepped forward, clenching its fists as arcs of blue electricity crackled up and down its body. Suddenly, it drew back one arm and then flung it out with a roar, as a torrent of blue lightning erupted from its outstretched hand.

Tommy's eyes widened behind his helmet, and he had just enough time to yell "Watch out!" before the blast slammed into the ground all around the Legacy Rangers, jolting painfully through their bodies and tossing them all off their feet with a massive explosion.

Phaedos…

The ancient stone courtyard was filled with a multicolored whirlwind of violence, as the S.P.D. cadets and the Shadows of Dulcea clashed again and again. All five cadets were giving it their all, but despite all of their tricks and skills, none of them were having much success in gaining the upper hand.

Jack and the red-eyed Shadow were twin blurs as they fought their way across the courtyard, ducking and weaving, vaulting over several large fallen blocks of stone. Jack phased through a particularly-large stone wall, expecting the Shadow to have to go over or around it, but he was caught off-guard when it passed right through the wall after him, one leg lashing out and sweeping his feet out from under him.

"Whoa!" Jack crashed down on his back and immediately threw himself to one side as the Shadow kicked down at him. He rolled back into the wall, phasing into the stone and staying inside it this time, in an effort to get out of range and buy himself a moment. How'd it do that? A moment later, his eyes widened in disbelief when he felt a hand clamp down around his immaterial arm, and he was yanked forcefully back out of the wall and into the open, the Shadow's glowing red eyes burning into his own. It hauled him up to his feet and immediately slammed a punch into his chest with its other hand, sending him sprawling back to the ground.

What the hell?! Jack was stunned, his mind whirling in shock. In all his life, ever since he'd first figured out how to use his genetic power, no one had ever been able to touch him while he was phasing. He hadn't believed that to be possible.

"Come, young warrior," the Shadow hissed as it stalked towards him. "Your powers will not avail you here. Now show me what you've got."

Sky and the blue-eyed Shadow traded a series of fast-paced, furious blows, both giving it everything they had and neither giving any ground. To Sky's alarm, however, the Shadow always seemed to be exactly where it needed to be in order to counter each of his attacks, as if it knew his fighting style as intimately as he did.

Gotta try something different… Sky kicked out at his opponent; his kick was blocked, but he used the momentum to backflip away from the Shadow, drawing his sidearm from its holster and firing a bolt of blue energy as he landed. However, as he fired, a surge of crackling blue light suddenly formed around the Shadow's left arm, and it swung its hand up, smacking the energy bolt aside with casual ease.

"What?!" Sky's eyes widened when he saw the humming energy around the Shadow's hand coalesce into a solid energy construct, just like his force fields. Instead of a circular shield, however, the Shadow's creation was a long, slightly-curved blade, crackling and sparking with deadly energy.

"All of your skills are mine as well," the Shadow mocked, its eyes glowing brighter as it raised the energy sword and pointed it at Sky. "And I will use them all to defeat you." With no further hesitation, it sprang at him, the glowing blade slashing for his neck. Sky formed a force field just in time to block its strike, the two energy constructs colliding with a sizzling crack of electricity and a tang of ozone.

Z hit the ground hard, but rolled with the impact and jumped back to her feet, raising one arm just in time to deflect the yellow-eyed Shadow's next blow. She kicked out, catching it in the stomach and knocking it back, but it landed an identical kick in the same moment and they both staggered away from each other.

"This isn't going anywhere fast," Z muttered, shaking her head and rubbing her abdomen where she'd been kicked. "Time to get serious." Her eyes flashed as she dropped back into a fighting stance, and two duplicates appeared on either side of her, entering the same pose.

The Shadow didn't mimic her stance this time: instead, it regarded the three of them for a moment, before a soft laugh echoed from it. "A good idea," it remarked dryly, "but two can play at that game." Its eyes flashed as well, and its image shimmered briefly before two duplicate Shadows also appeared beside it. Then, however, their eyes flashed again, and each of them suddenly split in two again, so that the trio of Zs were now facing six yellow-eyed Shadows.

Z's main body took an involuntary step back, her eyes widening in alarm. Oh… crap.

"Well?" the Shadows chorused, all six clones speaking in unison. "How do you like your chances now?"

Syd and the pink-eyed Shadow were a whirlwind of violence, furiously hammering away at each other's defenses. The Pink Ranger had shifted one of her hands into iron using her necklace, while she'd grabbed a pebble from the ground with her other hand and turned that one to stone, multiplying the force of each punch she threw.

Unfortunately, the Shadow had already figured that trick out. Both of its hands were glowing pink now, amplifying its own durability and allowing it to parry each of her strikes in turn. "Not bad," it commented as it caught one of her punches, throwing one of its own that she caught with her other hand, each of them pushing against the other. "But raw strength alone is nothing." Dropping backwards without warning, it yanked her off balance and planted a foot in her stomach as it dropped to the ground, launching her into the air and flipping her over its head. She crashed down on the stone floor with a cry of pain, her hands reverting to normal as the necklace and the pebble slipped out of her grasp.

Groaning and rubbing her head where it had hit the ground, Syd rolled over and scrambled to her feet. The Shadow was already up and facing her again, its hands still glowing pink. "Is that all you can do?" it chuckled, smacking its fists together and beckoning for her to attack again. "Let's try that again."

Of all five cadets, Bridge was having the easiest time of it. His fight was basically a stalemate so far: while the green-eyed Shadow was clearly able to predict all of his moves, his energy-sensing abilities allowed him to do the same, meaning that neither of them had managed to inflict any real damage yet.

As it turned out, this stalemate was what gave Bridge an idea. Since neither he nor his opponent had managed to gain the upper hand, he had enough time to focus on the others, and he could see that his teammates weren't doing as well as he was. They were all losing ground, being steadily pushed back by the relentless attacks of their shadowy enemies.

How are we supposed to win this? Bridge wondered, deflecting another punch from his Shadow but missing when he tried to counterattack. If they can each copy and counter our powers, how can any of us beat them? Then, however, a thought occurred to him, and his eyes widened in realization. Unless… of course!

"Guys!" he yelled as he parried a kick from his Shadow. "We're doing this wrong. None of us can beat these guys on our own… but that's why we're a team! If we change things up, we'll have a better chance!" Before he could continue, the green-eyed Shadow pressed its attack, and he was forced to focus all of his attention on the fight in front of him.

Jack, however, had heard his teammate's advice, and it suddenly clicked in his mind too. "He's right," he breathed. None of the cadets could defeat their own opponents, since each of the Shadows was mimicking their powers and rendering their usual abilities ineffective. But if they targeted each other's Shadows instead… then things might be different.

As the red-eyed Shadow lunged at him again, Jack quickly came up with a plan. Letting it drive him back this time, he willingly gave ground, circling around the perimeter of the courtyard until he was just a few feet away from where Sky was fighting with the blue-eyed Shadow. Then, ducking under a swing of his Shadow's arm, he hurled himself into a jump-kick and slammed into Sky's opponent, knocking it sideways and away from the blue-clad cadet.

Sky's eyes widened, caught off guard as Jack landed in front of him. "Jack? What're you–"

"Switch with me!" Jack ordered, nodding towards the red-eyed Shadow as it charged across the courtyard towards them. "We can't beat our own Shadows, but I can beat yours and you can beat mine!" With that, he raced off after the blue-eyed Shadow, dodging a swing of its energy sword and hammering into it with a flurry of punches and kicks.

To his credit, Sky immediately realized what Jack had in mind. He spun around and formed another force field as the red-eyed Shadow sprang at him, blocking its punch. The Shadow's fist rebounded painfully off of his shield, jolting it backwards as it let out a hiss of pain.

"Got you!" Sky lunged after it, ducking under a wild swing from the Shadow and pressing his attack. Unlike his own Shadow, this one didn't seem to be able to learn his moves; meanwhile, since he knew how Jack's phasing worked, and had learned how to deal with the other cadet's fighting style during their own sparring matches, now the tables were turned, and he quickly gained the upper hand.

After taking a particularly hard hit, the Shadow fell back, shaking its head and trying to recover its equilibrium. It sprang into the air, kicked off a stone pillar, and leapt back at him with a flying kick, but this gave him a perfect opening, and he formed another barrier. It slammed down onto the force field, and was promptly hurled back violently by an explosion of blue sparks. Its tumbling body slammed into the pillar again and then crumpled to the ground, before it dissolved into the air with a flash of red light and disappeared.

"Got you!" Sky was panting heavily, but he couldn't help feeling some satisfaction. One down, four to go.

Jack, meanwhile, was also having more success with the blue-eyed Shadow than he had with his original opponent. Ducking and weaving around each strike of its energy sword, he landed a series of close-range strikes that sent it stumbling backwards, before slamming a kick into the middle of its chest that knocked it back into another pillar. It recovered, lashing out with another swing of its arm, but this time he caught its wrist with both hands, shoving it into a full spin, and the energy blade sliced through the stone pillar instead.

"Gotcha!" Jack dove out of the way right before the severed upper half of the pillar toppled onto the Shadow, crushing it into the ground. With a flare of blue light, it dissolved and faded away.

Across the courtyard, Syd was being steadily driven back by the pink-eyed Shadow, and found herself backed up against a wall. As the Shadow closed in to deliver another blow, however, Sky leapt in between them, forming a barrier to deflect its punch. A moment later, Jack was there as well, leaping in from behind the Shadow and kicking it solidly in the head. Sky and Syd dodged to opposite sides as the Shadow was hurled headfirst into the wall, cracking the stone. It swung around to face the trio, swaying unsteadily, but a double punch from both Sky and Syd slammed its head back against the wall, and it finally collapsed and dissolved.

Syd leaned against the wall for a moment, gasping for air as she tried to catch her breath. "Thanks, guys," she managed, smiling weakly.

"No problem." Jack returned her smile, before another battle cry echoing from across the courtyard drew his attention to where the last two cadets were still under attack. While Bridge was holding his own against his opponent, the pack of yellow-eyed Shadows had Z and her duplicates surrounded.

"C'mon!" Sky called out, leading the charge across the clearing. All three of them yelled out as they charged towards the yellow-eyed Shadows: Sky manifested a force field and used it like a battering ram, while Jack and Syd locked arms and added their momentum to his as they smashed into the Shadows, sweeping all six of them away from Z and ramming them all into the nearest wall. All six Shadows spasmed and thrashed about, caught between the electric barrier and the solid stone; when Sky finally let the barrier drop, they all crumpled to the ground in a heap and melted away into a swirl of darkness.

Z's duplicates also vanished as she dismissed them, and she slumped against a nearby pillar. "Thanks," she panted, rubbing at the bruises that were rapidly forming on her arms. "Man, that was tough."

"Uh, guys?" Bridge called out, still trading blows with his Shadow. "Could use – gah! – a little help here!"

"I got this!" Z's eyes flashed, and two new duplicates appeared next to her, devoid of any damage that had been inflicted on the previous ones. They immediately sprang at the green-eyed Shadow, driving it away from Bridge and hammering it with a relentless barrage of attacks, until they each caught one of its punches and they both kicked it square in the torso, launching it backwards into a large block of stone. That impact was too much for the Shadow, and it finally dissolved. Z's duplicates faded away once they'd dealt the finishing blow, leaving the five cadets alone in the clearing.

For a long moment, the jungle around them was still and silent, with the panting breaths of the cadets as the only audible sound. Then a rumble passed through the ground beneath their feet, and the voice of the Shadow echoed through the clearing one more time. "Well done, warriors of Earth. You have triumphed, and you may now enter the tomb of Dulcea. May the Power protect you, always." On cue, the large stone doors of the central building slowly began to open with a deep grinding sound, revealing a dark and shadowy interior.

After taking a minute to catch their breath, the five members of B-Squad made their way across the courtyard to the entrance of the tomb. Jack stepped forward in front of the others, glancing over his shoulder and arching an eyebrow. "Well… here goes nothing," he quipped with a wry grin, before leading the way inside.

One by one, the cadets filed through the open doors, and into the dimly-lit interior of the ancient stone building. As they entered, a faint pulse of energy rippled along the walls, and a series of torches that were mounted in various places around the room suddenly ignited, giving them a better view of the building's interior.

The walls of the tomb were decorated with thousands of carvings, many of which showed armored warriors, similar to Power Rangers, battling against a wide variety of different enemies. At the center of the hall was a large stone sarcophagus; its lid had been carved with painstaking care to depict a woman with long curly hair, dressed in some sort of formal robes with a stylized suit of armor beneath them. And at the base of the sarcophagus, embedded in a large stone slab, was the hilt of a sword, protruding out of the stone and firmly fixed in place.

"That must be it, right?" Jack murmured softly, a note of reverence in his voice as he and the others formed a semicircle around the slab. "Excelsior?"

"Yup." Bridge nodded, looking uncharacteristically serious. "It's gotta be."

"Indeed it does," a harsh, rasping voice cut in from behind them. "Thank you for your help."

All five cadets' eyes widened and they whipped around, just as a crackling salvo of black-and-white electric bolts struck the floor all around them, burning fulgurites into the ancient stones and sending showers of sparks bursting up around them, blasting all five of them off their feet and knocking them to the ground.

Thrax stood in the entrance of the tomb, his staff held lightly in one hand as he let out a harsh, triumphant laugh. "I congratulate you for making it so far," he chuckled, his eyes glittering in amusement. "But unfortunately, by tracking down Excelsior, you've led me right to it!"

New Tech City…

Arcs of blue lightning and flashes of multicolored energy lit up the quarry, as the battle grew more intense with each passing minute. Goldar and Scorpina had leapt up to the top of one of the quarry's walls, and were observing the ongoing fight below with some amusement.

For all of Volturus's power, the Legacy Rangers were putting up a good fight. They ducked and weaved around the monster, attacking it from every angle, blades slashing and blasters firing.

Unfortunately, while the six Rangers weren't having much trouble landing hits, none of their attacks were doing any serious damage. The monster's hide was too tough, its defenses too resilient, and every blow they landed was absorbed by its natural armor plating.

"Thunder-Max Saber!"

"Ninja Sword!"

Tori and Kira dove under Volturus's swinging arms, swords blurring as they each landed a clean strike across its flanks, but their blades didn't even leave a mark, glancing harmlessly off of its scales. Their eyes widened in shock, they hesitated for a moment too long, and Volturus was quick to take advantage, smashing a pair of heavy blows into its attackers and knocking them both off their feet.

A yell of "Hey! Over here!" drew the monster's attention, and it spun around just in time to see Cole and Tommy in mid-charge. It flung out an arm, firing a blast of lightning, but they both leapt into the air in time to dodge the resulting explosion.

A high-pitched whine was followed by a thunderous blast from Jen's long-barreled blaster, which hit Volturus square in the torso. The explosion knocked it back a few steps, but it quickly recovered; however, that gave Cole and Tommy enough time to close in. Cole's Crystal Saber and Tommy's Dragon Dagger slashed across its torso, but also failed to penetrate its armor. It snarled, landing a pair of solid gut-punches to the two Rangers, but unlike Tori and Kira, they leaned into the blows, each grappling one of its arms and yanking them apart.

"Sam!" Tommy yelled over his shoulder, fighting to keep Volturus restrained. "Do it now!"

The Omega Ranger was already racing towards Volturus across the floor of the quarry, charging up his Morpher. The monster saw him coming and unleashed a blast of blue electricity from its mouth, but Jen dove in front of him just in time to take the hit in his place, crossing her arms protectively over her face. She hissed in pain, sparks flying from her armor as the energy jolted painfully through her muscles, and fell forwards onto one knee, but she managed to brace herself just in time for Sam to spring up behind her, planting a foot on her shoulder and launching himself high into the air.

"Omega Morpher: Light-Beam Mode!" Sam's left fist lit up with a brilliant golden glow as he reached the apex of his jump and rocketed down towards the monster, drawing his arm back to strike. Tommy and Cole let go of Volturus's arms and dove to either side just in time as Sam slammed fist-first into the monster, concentrating all of his power into a single point and detonating it on impact, engulfing Volturus in a brilliant golden fireball.

Sam backflipped away from the explosion and landed neatly on his feet, facing the expanding cloud of smoke. "All right," he panted. "Hopefully that at least did something."

As the others picked themselves up, however, a low growl echoed from within the smoke, and Volturus strode through the dying flames with only a few scorch marks on its chest and stomach. Its eyes locked onto the Omega Ranger, glaring balefully at him as blue lightning arced up and down its arms.

"No way," Kira breathed, feeling a chill run through her. "What is this thing?!"

Phaedos…

Thrax smirked, turning his staff over in his hands as the cadets struggled to their feet. "I must thank you for defeating Dulcea's guardians," he commented, his cruel smirk widening. "I'm not sure if I could have gotten past them by myself, so your assistance in that regard is much appreciated. Now I can claim her sword for myself, without any interference."

"I… don't… think so!" Jack groaned as he straightened up, entering a ready stance again and ignoring all the aches that were running through his body. "You're gonna have to get past us first."

"He's right!" Sky seconded firmly, stepping up next to Jack. "We're not going to let you take that sword!" The other three cadets lined up with them, ready to attack.

Thrax snorted. "Oh, please." He slashed his staff through the air in front of him, unleashing another blast of lightning that knocked them all to the floor again. "Without your powers, you're no match for me, and I don't have time to play around with you. So do me a favor and stay down."

"Damn it…" Jack tried to get up again, but another shock of pain lanced through his muscles and he slumped back to the floor.

Thrax strode casually past the fallen cadets, ignoring their attempts to grab at his legs, and stalked up to the slab where Excelsior rested. "And now," he rasped, "the Sentinel Knight will be put to rest once and for all, by the blade of the mighty Excelsior." He glanced over his shoulder and smirked at the cadets, before he reached out, grasped the hilt of the sword, and began to pull.

Or, at least, he tried to. As soon as his fingers wrapped around the gilded hilt of Excelsior, a brilliant flash of light lit up the interior of the tomb, and Thrax was hurled backwards. His feet left the floor and he was launched across the room with a startled yell, before crashing down back at the entrance.

What the hell?! Thrax scrambled back to his feet, glaring at the slab. "What just happened?!" he demanded. "Anyone who can penetrate Dulcea's tomb should be able to remove the sword!"

"I guess… you didn't hear the whole story," Sky taunted as he managed to get back up, before helping Bridge to do the same. "According to the Sentinel Knight, just getting into the tomb isn't good enough; to remove the sword from where Dulcea left it, you also need to be worthy." He grinned. "And I guess you aren't."

"Why, you…" Thrax scowled, his face twisting in rage, and energy crackled up and down his staff as he whipped back around towards the sarcophagus and the stone slab. "Give me that sword!" he snarled, flinging out his staff and unleashing another blast of lightning. This time, however, a shining barrier of pure, colorless light appeared, stopping the lightning dead in its tracks. The two waves of energy pushed back and forth for a few seconds, before the white light shone even brighter and Thrax's blast rebounded, hurling him all the way back out into the courtyard with a scream of rage and pain. The wave of light pulsed outwards, washing over the cadets but not harming them, forming a protective shield around the entire tomb.

As Thrax hauled himself to his feet, the five cadets formed a line at the entrance of the tomb, within the energy bubble. "You lose, Thrax," Syd called out, flashing a mocking smile at the furious alien. "Looks like Dulcea's magic is tougher than yours, which means you're not getting that sword after all."

Thrax's eyes blazed with pure hatred as he glared at the cadets. "You insolent little insects!" He was visibly seething, anger boiling up within him, but after a long, tense moment, he finally lowered his staff. "Fine," he snapped. "I suppose I'll have to find another way to dispose of the Sentinel Knight, then. But I assure you, Rangers: you will pay dearly for this. If I can't have that sword, then I'll make certain that your entire planet burns. And you won't be around to stop it!" With a final growl, he slammed the butt of his staff against the stone pavement of the courtyard, and vanished with an explosion of dark energy.

With Thrax gone, the five cadets all gathered around the stone slab again, regarding the hilt of Excelsior. "So, what do we do now?" Syd spoke up, frowning as she looked at the sword.

"Well… I mean, I guess we should try to take it back with us?" Z offered, cautiously reaching out and brushing her fingertips against the hilt. There was no sign of the violent defensive reaction that Thrax had triggered, but she did feel a strange, humming sensation emanating from the hilt, pulsing through her fingers. "We're gonna need every asset we can get to deal with Thrax and Gruumm, after all."

"I mean, that's assuming we can take it back with us," Sky pointed out. When the others looked at him, he shrugged. "What? I mean, sure, let's try, but we don't know if any of us are 'worthy' to wield this thing."

"Then let's find out," Jack declared, nodding to Z. "Give it a shot, Z."

"Right." Z carefully took hold of the hilt properly, holding it in a firm grip, and then started pulling on it. To her surprise, however, it didn't budge an inch. She dug her heels in and kept trying, pulling as hard as she could, but the sword still refused to move, and finally she was forced to concede defeat and let go, shaking her hands as she stepped back.

One by one, each of the others made their own attempts to pull the sword out, but none of them were successful. Try as they might, Excelsior wouldn't budge, not shifting the slightest bit from its current position.

Finally, after each of them had tried it at least twice, all five cadets found themselves slumped against the walls of the tomb, taking some time to rest after their earlier fights.

"I hate this," Jack muttered under his breath. "We came all this way… how could it all have been for nothing?"

"Well, unless we can come up with a way to get that sword out of there, I think we should probably head back soon," Sky admitted, sighing and shaking his head. "We've got a long trip back to Earth, and the others will need our help if Kat can figure out how to get our powers back."

Abruptly, Bridge sat up straight, having been lost in thought for a while. "Hang on," he spoke up, drawing the others' attention. "I think I have an idea." Standing up, he shifted down into a headstand, resting his weight on his hands and bracing himself against the wall with both feet, his mind racing as he closed his eyes tightly for a few seconds, until they snapped open again. "Got it!" Dropping back onto his feet, he hurried back over to the stone slab and beckoned for the others to join him. "Guys, come here!"

"What's up, Bridge?" Syd questioned as she got up and followed him over.

"Well, I was thinking about how we were able to beat those Shadows," Bridge explained hurriedly. "And it occurred to me: we couldn't beat them by ourselves. The only way we managed to win was with all of us working together, as a team. So…" He indicated the sword hilt with one hand. "What if the only way for us to get the sword is if we do the same thing here? That could be how we prove ourselves 'worthy': by putting our faith in each other and proving that we trust each other completely."

The others considered that idea for a moment, before Jack shrugged and nodded. "Worth a try," he decided, stepping up next to Bridge as they each took hold of the sword's hilt with one hand. Sky, Z and Syd all did the same, until all five of them were holding onto it.

"Okay! All together," Sky urged the others. "One… two…"

"Three!" All five voices cried out in unison as they all pulled with everything they had. And, sure enough, the sword finally shifted and began to move, sliding up out of the rock until it came free entirely and the five cadets all stumbled back.

"Whoa!" Jack hefted the sword, which had ended up in his hand since he'd had the tightest hold on it. It gleamed silver in the flickering torchlight, while a series of glyphs were etched along its length, lit up from within with a soft golden glow. This was clearly the weapon of a master swordsman, just as beautiful and deadly as Commander Cruger's Shadow Saber.

As the cadets gazed at the sword in amazement, another brilliant flare of light filled the tomb's interior. This time, however, it coalesced into physical form: the visible, softly-glowing outline of a humanoid woman with long blonde hair, wearing a dark gray cloak over gleaming silver armor. She smiled warmly upon seeing them, folding her hands in front of her. "Greetings, Power Rangers," she murmured. "I am Dulcea, the Warrior Goddess of Phaedos. The courage in your hearts, and the purity of your spirits, have shown me that you are worthy to bear my sword. Excelsior is yours now, as long as you use it in the pursuit of justice and the defense of the innocent. Farewell."

Dulcea's smile widened as she closed her eyes, and her spirit faded away again. The torches along the walls went out as well, and then the ancient tomb was dark and silent once more.

New Tech City…

The Legacy Rangers fell back again, panting as they tried to regroup. Volturus, as indomitable as ever, threw back its head and let out a triumphant snarl, its body still virtually undamaged even after all of their attacks.

"Anybody got any ideas?" Jen muttered. "Because I'm running out."

Sam tilted his head as a thought occurred to him. "Yeah, I think I've got one," he spoke up. Turning, he raised one arm into the air and yelled "RIC!" at the top of his lungs.

Sure enough, the robotic dog quickly came into view, bounding down into the quarry and racing towards the Rangers. Since he usually shadowed the B-Squad on their missions in case they needed his extra firepower, Kat had sent him to do the same for the Legacy team.

"I don't know if this'll do the trick, but it's our best chance right now." Sam swung back around to face the approaching monster. "Let's hit this guy with everything we've got!"

"Sounds good to me," Kira seconded.

Cole nodded, grinning behind his visor. "Let's do it!"

On cue, RIC leapt into the air, his head and limbs folding and locking into place as he shifted into his weapon form. The six Rangers caught him as he dropped back to the ground, shifting into firing formation with the resulting cannon pointed squarely at Volturus. "Canine Cannon!" they yelled in unison. "Fire!"

Both barrels of B-Squad's most powerful weapon fired simultaneously, the backblast rocking the Legacy Rangers back on their heels. The resulting fiery beam smashed into Volturus, scoring a direct hit and engulfing the creature in a massive explosion, drowning out its frustrated roar.

Goldar's eyes widened as he saw the size of the blast. "Those damn Rangers!" he snarled, reaching for his sword.

Scorpina, however, didn't seem to be nearly as concerned, and held out a hand to stop him. "Don't worry," she assured him, smiling confidently. "That won't be enough."

Sure enough, just as the Legacy Rangers started to think that they'd won, a deep growl echoed from the center of the flames, and a silhouette appeared at the center of the blaze. All six Rangers took a step back, their hearts sinking.

"Unreal…" Sam breathed.

"That's crazy!" Cole agreed, his eyes wide in disbelief beneath his helmet.

Volturus, once again, was still standing. Electricity crackled up and down its body, more and more with each passing second. Finally, it reared back and swung its head and arms forward, roaring as it unleashed a torrent of blue lightning, creating a massive fireball that catapulted all six Rangers into the air as they all yelled out in shock and pain.

Phaedos…

Running as fast as they could, it took much less time for the cadets to get out of the jungle around Dulcea's tomb than it had on their way into it. Retracing their steps along the winding forest trail, they finally burst back out onto the open ground outside the forest, heading back towards the beach where they had landed on Phaedos. But as soon as they passed between the two stone obelisks and left the trees, they were all alarmed to see a column of dark smoke rising into the air, billowing up from the beach ahead of them.

"What's that?" Syd wondered as she wiped some sweat off her forehead.

"I don't know," Z replied, frowning. "Unless…" Her eyes widened and she exchanged a fearful glance with the others. "The ship!"

The others' eyes widened in horror, and they all took off running at the same moment, racing through the sand dunes towards the beach. Once they got a little closer, they were all stunned when they realized what the smoke was coming from: the charred, burning wreck of the ship that they had used to come to Phaedos.

"Oh… crap," Bridge managed to get out as the five of them skidded to a halt a few yards from their ruined ship.

"I… I don't understand." Z was completely stunned, staring numbly at the ship. "How could this have happened?!"

Syd got it first. "Thrax," she ground out, her eyes narrowed as her hands clenched into fists. "He said we wouldn't be able to help the others. Before he left this planet, he must've blown up the ship so we wouldn't be able to get home!"

"Damn it!" Jack glared at the burning wreckage, one hand tightly gripping the hilt of Excelsior.

Bridge looked around at the others, his eyes wide in disbelief. "What're we supposed to do now?"

"I don't know." Sky, for once, seemed to be at a loss. "Earth's on the other side of the galaxy, and we didn't tell anyone we were coming to Phaedos, so nobody's going to come here looking for us." He shook his head, leaning over and resting his hands on his knees. "We're stuck."

Just as the cadets were about to give up hope, however, a flash of light filled the area in front of them, and another spectral figure appeared, hovering over the burning hulk of their ship. "Do not despair, young warriors," the Sentinel Knight declared. "You are not alone. I have regained some of my energy, enough that I should be able to transport you all back to your home planet."

All five cadets' faces lit up with delighted smiles, as they all felt an overwhelming surge of relief. "Thank you," Jack spoke up for the others, smiling up at the Knight's translucent form. "And… for the record, I'm sorry that we didn't listen to you. You were right: Thrax wouldn't have been able to get Excelsior, even if we hadn't been there."

"That much is true," the Knight agreed. He tilted his head, his eyes brightening visibly and giving the impression of a smile. "But I must say, I am very pleased by what you have accomplished today. You overcame the challenges that my master put in place to safeguard her weapon, and you proved yourselves worthy to bear Excelsior." His tone became more solemn. "However, we do not have time to discuss this further. Your Ranger allies are in trouble: Thrax has unleashed a powerful monster, and they cannot defeat it alone. Luckily, I believe that Excelsior's power should be enough to turn the tide."

The cadets quickly exchanged glances and nods, before Jack looked back up at the Knight. "We're ready," he confirmed. "Send us there, and we'll help them."

"Excellent." The Knight's golden glow began to brighten, and he held one hand out towards them. "Then go now… and good luck."

There was another pulse of golden energy, and all six figures vanished into thin air. The empty beach fell silent again, save for the crackling of the dying fire.

New Tech City…

Another explosion brought Volturus's six opponents down again, sending them tumbling across the gravel. This time, however, the Legacy Rangers had finally taken too much damage, and most of their suits involuntarily dematerialized with flashes of light as they hit the ground, groaning in pain. Only Sam was still morphed, thanks to the unique properties of his form, but he was clearly hurting too.

"Nicely done, Volturus!" Scorpina called out as she and Goldar leapt down from their previous position atop the cliff to land on either side of their monstrous servant. "Now finish them off!"

"This… is not looking good," Tori muttered as she rolled over onto her back, trying to get up without much success.

"No kidding," Kira seconded, rubbing one shoulder and holding in a gasp of pain.

Volturus began stomping towards them, a snarl echoing between its teeth as it charged up another blast of lightning…

And then, suddenly, a brilliant flash of light illuminated the quarry, midway between the monster and the six fallen Rangers. Everyone flinched back, shielding their eyes against the glow, until it faded a few seconds later. In its wake, five new figures stood in front of the Legacy Rangers, blocking Volturus's path.

"What?" Goldar's eyes widened and he scowled. "Not you weaklings again!"

The five cadets of S.P.D.'s B-Squad stood side-by-side, shielding their comrades. Jack was in the middle of the line, with the sword Excelsior held in one outstretched hand. "Back off!" he warned, raising his arm and pointing the ancient blade directly at Volturus. "Or you're not gonna like what happens."

Scorpina exchanged a glance with Goldar, and then chuckled darkly. "Oh, please," she mocked, rolling her eyes. "Nice try, kid, but you five wouldn't be a match for the three of us even if you had your powers. Without them, well… you're not even entertaining." She smirked. "Volturus? Destroy these five first; then you can finish off the actual Rangers." The reptilian monster hissed in response, energy crackling around its hands.

"You guys ready?" Jack spoke up, his voice quieter than before as he addressed his teammates.

"Oh, yeah," Z returned with a grin, the others quickly echoing her sentiment.

Jack mirrored her smile, and raised Excelsior in a two-handed grip as he shifted into a fighting stance. "Then let's do this!"

As one, the five cadets charged, sprinting towards Volturus. It snarled and unleashed another blaze of lightning, tearing up the rocky ground around their feet, but they kept coming. A second, stronger blast followed, but this time Sky leapt out in front of the others, swinging his arm in an arc and forming a force field just in time to block the lightning. He grunted in pain at the impact, energy crackling around him as he was sent skidding backwards, but Bridge, Z and Syd were there a moment later, adding their strength and digging in their heels to stop his backwards slide. Letting out a combined yell of effort, they forced their way back towards Volturus, pushing back the torrent of lightning, until the clashing energies finally detonated with a shockwave that sent all four cadets sprawling to the ground.

Sky's efforts had paid off, however. The cadets had escaped serious injury, and more importantly, the blast had knocked Volturus off-balance, sending it staggering back a few steps. And just as the monster recovered its footing, Jack leapt over the other four members of B-Squad, whirling into a midair front-flip and bringing Excelsior down in a vicious strike. It slashed across Volturus's torso as he landed right in front of it, and the enchanted blade of Dulcea's ancient sword succeeded where all of the Legacy Rangers' weapons had failed, carving straight through Volturus's armored scales and cleaving the monster from its left shoulder to the opposite hip.

Volturus howled in surprise and agony as showers of sparks poured from the wound, before it was tossed off its feet as the built-up energy detonated in a massive fireball. Goldar and Scorpina stumbled back in shock as their monster was hurled backwards by the explosion, crashing to the ground at their feet and letting out a choked snarl of pain as it struggled to get back up, clutching at the smoldering gash on its torso.

"No!" Goldar roared, his eyes wide in disbelief. "That's impossible!"

Scorpina's hands clenched into white-knuckled fists as she stared down at Volturus in disbelief, unable to comprehend what had just happened. "How the hell did you do that?!" she demanded, whirling and glaring at Jack as she drew her own sword.

"Doesn't matter," Jack retorted, keeping Excelsior ready to strike again as his teammates formed up beside him, while the Legacy Rangers continued picking themselves up behind the five cadets. "You wanna take a shot at us yourselves, or are we done here?"

Scorpina and Goldar exchanged a frustrated glance, before they both nodded reluctantly, clearly coming to an understanding. "This isn't over," Scorpina snapped as she raised her free hand and snapped her fingers. There was a flash of light, and the villainous trio teleported away with a crackle of electricity.

As soon as it was clear that the fight was over, all five cadets visibly relaxed, their shoulders sagging in relief. Sky, Bridge, Z and Syd all slumped against each other, while Jack planted the tip of Excelsior in the gravel and leaned on it to keep himself upright. Their earlier battles with the Shadows and Thrax, plus all the hiking that they'd had to go through to make their round trip through the jungle on Phaedos, had left them exhausted, and their clash with Volturus had drained most of their remaining strength.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, Jack headed over to where the six Legacy Rangers were clambering back to their feet. "You guys okay?" he asked, holding out a hand to help Tommy up.

"We're fine, thanks to you," Tommy replied with a weary smile as he took the younger man's offered hand and rose to his feet, dusting himself off before turning to help Jen up as well.

"Yeah, thanks for the save, guys," Cole added, grinning ruefully as he rubbed the back of his head. "Although… how'd you do that?"

"And what's with the sword?" Kira put in, indicating Excelsior.

"We'll explain later," Z replied. "Right now, we should probably get back to the base, just in case they decide to come back."

"Good call." Sky nodded, glancing around warily. "I think we've all had more than enough action for today."

Aboard the Terror…

"You assured me that this creature of yours was invincible!" Gruumm snarled, his eyes blazing with anger as he glared at the fallen form of Volturus, which had collapsed on the floor of the bridge.

"He was supposed to be!" Scorpina protested, staring down at the fallen monster in bafflement. "I don't understand how this could've happened. We tested every weapon we could get our hands on against Volturus to make sure he could withstand anything the Rangers threw at him, but that damn sword cut right through his defenses!"

"That," a familiar grating voice cut in, as Thrax emerged from one of the darkened corridors and stalked onto the bridge, "is because that sword is no ordinary weapon." Hatred and disgust burned in his gleaming yellow eyes as he scowled down at Volturus, noting the visible gash that slanted across the monster's chest and stomach. "It is the blade Excelsior, the weapon that I was trying to acquire from the planet Phaedos. The Sentinel Knight sent the S.P.D. brats there to try and retrieve it for themselves, and he must have taught them how to get past the binding magicks that prevented me from claiming it." He gritted his teeth, visibly seething with anger. Damn him…!

"Hang on." Morgana arched an eyebrow, and her lips twitched into a momentary smirk. "You're telling us that the magic sword you were making such a big deal about is now in the hands of the Rangers?"

Gruumm's gaze also locked onto Thrax, a low growl echoing in the back of his throat as his eyes smoldered with dark red fire.

Thrax shot a venomous glare in Morgana's direction, one hand clenching tightly on the handle of his staff. "Yes," he ground out reluctantly. "However, I do have a backup plan. The Rangers may now possess Excelsior, but the S.P.D. cadets are still powerless. All we need to do is to defeat these new 'Legacy Rangers,' and everything else will fall into place."

"And how is that?" Gruumm rumbled, his eyes darkening as he took a step forward. "As I recall, Thrax, you also assured me that we would be victorious after we took care of the first set of Rangers, but that was not enough. How do I know this plan won't fail too?"

"Because now we know how to prevent that from happening again," Thrax replied coolly, having regained some of his composure. "We need to deal with these new Rangers the same way we dealt with the previous set: an all-out attack, with everything we've got. With Goldar and Scorpina here, our combined forces are even stronger than they were when we defeated the S.P.D. team. Once these new Rangers are beaten, I can strip them of their powers the same way we did with the S.P.D. Rangers, and then we can seize Excelsior before the Sentinel Knight can summon any more former Rangers to replace them. Then I can destroy the Knight, and you will be free to raze the Earth to the ground, with no remaining Rangers to get in your way."

Gruumm considered that for a long moment, before he finally nodded. "Very well," he intoned, before his eyes flashed brighter and his staff crackled with purple electricity. "But I warn you now, Thrax: this will be your last chance. If you fail me again… you will suffer for it."

Thrax's eyes narrowed, and he returned the Troobian Emperor's nod. "As you say, Emperor," he returned. "I assure you, we will prevail, just as we did before. I will not let the Rangers get the best of me again."

"Good." Gruumm looked down at the fallen form of Volturus, contemplating something, before he nodded decisively. "Your creature did put up a good fight against the new Rangers," he admitted, "and he would most likely have defeated them if the S.P.D. cadets had not intervened. Therefore, I will give him one more chance as well." He held out his free hand, which lit up with a vivid purple glow as a concentrated sphere of energy formed in his palm. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the energy sphere downwards: it struck Volturus squarely in the chest and sank beneath the creature's armor plating, disappearing into its body.

Slowly, Volturus began to stir. Its eyes opened, now glowing a sickly shade of violet, and a surge of purple electricity crackled over its body as the gash on its torso closed up and healed. It rose to its feet, teeth gleaming and eyes flashing, and threw its head back with a savage roar as arcs of purple lightning blazed around it.

Thrax's eyes had widened slightly when he saw Gruumm performing the energy transfer, but his expression shifted back into a confident smile as he saw his newly-empowered monster rising back to its feet. "Excellent," he murmured. "I appreciate the assistance, Emperor. Now, my friends…" His eyes flicked around the room, taking in each of his villainous allies in turn. "Let us prepare… for the endgame."

Chapter Text

New Tech City…

After both teams of Rangers made it back to S.P.D. headquarters, the Legacy Rangers and the S.P.D. cadets were all given a little time to recover from the beatings that they had taken during their respective fights over the course of the day. After a couple of hours, once they were all feeling better and the medical staff had confirmed that none of them had sustained any serious injuries, they all reconvened on the command bridge, where the five cadets explained what they had done over the past day.

Needless to say, Cruger wasn't happy.

"You disobeyed orders and left the Earth during a time of crisis!" he snapped, pacing up and down in front of the five cadets. "And if you hadn't managed to succeed in your 'mission,' we could easily have lost all five of you for good. This is not acceptable!" He rounded on the five cadets, folding his hands in front of him as a faint growl rumbled in the back of his throat. "Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Bridge, Z and Syd all traded nervous glances, but Jack and Sky both stepped forward almost immediately. "It was our idea, sir," Jack spoke up, tilting his head to Sky and receiving a nod in return. "We couldn't just sit back and watch; we had to try and do something to help."

"And, with all due respect, sir," Sky continued, "we didn't disobey any orders. You placed all five of us on temporary leave from our Ranger duties when the Legacy Rangers took our places, and you didn't give us any orders to carry out in the meantime. We went to Phaedos entirely on our own time."

"And," Jack finished, "we succeeded." He unslung Excelsior from where it had been strapped across his back, holding the ancient weapon in front of him. "If Thrax had figured out how to get this, he would've used it to help Gruumm destroy all of us. So the fact that we went there and kept it away from him is a good thing, right?"

Cruger's eyes narrowed, his annoyed growl growing a bit louder, but he couldn't deny the logic of the two cadets' argument. "You do have a point," he reluctantly admitted, before holding up a warning hand and glaring sternly at them. "But if any of you ever pull another stunt like that without getting my express permission first, there will be serious consequences. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," the five cadets chorused in unison, their shoulders sagging in relief. The five Legacy Rangers, who had been leaning back against a nearby wall, weren't entirely able to suppress amused grins.

A moment later, a flare of golden light filled the Command Center, as the spectral image of the Sentinel Knight appeared before them. "I congratulate you again for your success, young Rangers," he intoned, nodding to the five cadets. "It would seem that Excelsior has been quite useful to you already."

"It has, yeah," Jack agreed, admiring the ancient blade. Despite its beauty, however, the deadly power that was contained within this weapon – a sword designed to be capable of killing anything – sent a chill down his spine, as he thought of the horror that it could unleash in the hands of someone like Thrax. "But… I don't think we're the right people to use this thing." An idea came to him, one that had been simmering in the back of his mind for a while, and he took a step forward, carefully holding the sword sideways in both hands and holding it up towards the Knight's hovering form. "Here. This was your mentor's weapon, right? Seems like it should be yours, then. And if you have it, there's no way Thrax can use it against you."

The Sentinel Knight fell silent for a long moment, clearly caught off-guard by that offer. "I… do not know if I would be able to use Excelsior's power in my current state," he admitted. "But… it cannot hurt to try. Thank you, Jack Landors." One of his translucent hands cautiously reached out, brushing the sword's hilt, before his gauntleted fingers wrapped around it. To the onlookers' surprise, he was actually able to grab it, and he lifted it in one hand as Jack let go of it.

As soon as the Knight lifted Excelsior out of Jack's hands, another blinding flash of golden light lit up the room. The two teams of Rangers flinched back, shielding their eyes, as a deep-voiced yell echoed from the Knight. A pulse of energy washed over them all, leaving their hair standing on end for a second, before a pair of booted feet slammed down onto the floor of the command bridge.

When they looked again, the Sentinel Knight was still there… but he was no longer a ghostly, ethereal spirit. Instead, he was flesh and blood, a physical being clad in gleaming golden armor and a long gold cloak. A pair of glowing green eyes still shone from the visor of his helmet, but he was clearly alive and whole once more. Excelsior gleamed in one of his hands, and the golden glyphs that were etched onto the shining silver blade were now glowing even brighter than before.

"Incredible!" the Knight marveled, looking down at himself. "I knew that Excelsior possessed immense magical power, but I never would have dreamed that it possessed enough power to restore my physical form." He looked up at the S.P.D. team, and his voice was thick with emotion when he spoke again, bowing deeply to them. "Thank you, Power Rangers of Space Patrol Delta. Thanks to your courage and determination, I have been reborn, and my master Dulcea's legacy lives again." As he rose to his feet, he waved his free hand, and a scabbard materialized at his left hip with a flash of light. He slid Excelsior into the sheath, and the ancient sword fit like a glove. "I will need a little time to fully recover my strength, but once that is done, I will be able to fight alongside you in the battle against Thrax and his allies. I must go now, but I will return soon." His eyes flashed, and he teleported away with another pulse of golden light.

"Excellent!" Cruger nodded, turning back to face the two teams of Rangers. "Now, there's something else that you should know: Kat is working on repairing the damage that Thrax has inflicted on the Morphing Grid, with the help of an ally of Dr. Oliver's."

Tommy nodded in agreement. "With any luck, they should be able to get it fixed soon."

"Soon has arrived, Dr. Oliver," Kat called from the hallway with a note of triumph in her voice as she strode into the command center, followed by Alpha. "It took a while, but Alpha was able to help me figure out how to carry out the restoration process and repair all of the damage that Thrax has done to the Grid." She tapped a few buttons on the bridge's central computer console, bringing up a holographic image of the Earth and a visual representation of the Morphing Grid, like a glowing green web of energy wrapped around the entire planet.

Ever since Thrax's destructive spell had stripped the S.P.D. Rangers of their powers, the damage that he had done to the Grid had been clearly visible: the energy web's normal green hue had been marred by ragged patches of a deep, sickly purple, which represented the damage done by his dark magic. Now, however, that had changed: the purple corruption of Thrax's magic had been completely washed away, and the Grid's network around Earth was a pure, unblemished green once again.

"Whoa… you guys did it!" Bridge exclaimed, his eyes wide in amazement.

"Which means…" Z murmured.

"We can get our powers back now!" Syd realized, her face lighting up with a delighted smile. The other cadets and the Legacy Rangers mirrored her excitement, grinning, high-fiving, and hugging each other.

"Nice job, Alpha," Tommy congratulated the robot, smiling warmly as he gave it a gentle hug. "I knew you could do it."

"Not a problem!" Alpha replied cheerfully. "Ai-yai-yai! It feels so good to be useful again!"

"Tell me about it," Jack quipped with a wry grin.

The teams' celebration was interrupted a few seconds later, however, when the Command Center's alarms began to blare and flashing red lights lit up the room.

"Kat, what's going on?" Cruger yelled over the din.

Kat immediately swung back to the main control console, typing a rapid series of commands as she set to work. "We're getting another energy surge from outside the city," she called over her shoulder. "And it's much bigger than the last one." Punching in a final sequence, she brought up another holographic display from one of S.P.D.'s security cameras on a beach just outside of New Tech City.

Everyone in the command room took a step forward, eyes widening as they saw the video feed that was playing out on the screen. Arcs of crackling, multicolored energy lanced down from the sky, striking the ground repeatedly and igniting a blaze of multiple explosions. As the flames died down, a mass of figures strode forth, marching onto the open beach.

"Oh… crap," Kira murmured under her breath.

"No kidding," Jen replied with a grimace.

Clearly, the Evil Alliance were holding nothing back this time. Gruumm and Thrax stood together at the front of the army, followed by Morgana, Goldar, Scorpina, and Volturus, which appeared to have healed from the damage that Jack had inflicted on it using Excelsior. And arrayed behind them was a sizable attack force of Gruumm's robotic Troobian soldiers: a dozen Orangehead robots, twice as many Blueheads, and hundreds of Krybots, all armed and ready for battle.

"Well, that's not great," Bridge remarked, wincing at the sight of so many enemies gathered in one place.

"Luckily, we've got enough Rangers to deal with them now," Tommy assured the younger man, exchanging nods with Cruger. "It's not going to be easy, but if we all work together, I think we can do this."

"Especially… whoa!" Boom rushed into the command bridge, skidding to a halt and almost falling, carrying a silver case. "With these," he finished, having heard Tommy talking as he entered the room. "Sorry to interrupt, guys, but, uh… now that the Morphing Grid's working again, the lab techs finally finished fixing these." He popped open the case and held it up, revealing that the six depowered S.P.D. Rangers' Morphers were stacked inside, now fully repaired of the damage that Thrax had done to them.

"All right!" Cole grinned, nodding to Jack. "You guys ready to get back into action?"

Jack returned the other Red Ranger's grin. "You got that right." He, Cruger, and the other four members of B-Squad quickly retrieved each of their Morphers from the case, slipping them into the holders on their belts.

"Gruumm and Thrax are expecting us," Cruger declared, a faint smile appearing on his features as he looked around at the others. "Let's not keep them waiting."

"Sir, yes, sir!" the six other S.P.D. Rangers chorused in unison, snapping to attention with confident smiles. The five Legacy Rangers didn't do the same, but they all nodded in agreement as well.

Cruger nodded. "Power Rangers – move out!"

Thrax felt a surge of malevolent joy in his heart as he stalked along the beach, leading the Evil Alliance's combined forces towards the edge of New Tech City. Earth's last defenders shall fall today, he vowed, his grip tightening on his staff. And once I have taken Excelsior from them, I will be the most powerful warrior in the universe. That damnable Sentinel Knight will finally be destroyed, once and for all, by my hand. His cold yellow eyes gleamed as he shot a sidelong glance at Gruumm, who was walking alongside him. And this so-called "Emperor" will be next.

Goldar and Scorpina had told Thrax about everything that had transpired in his absence, and he wasn't surprised that Gruumm and Morgana were planning to turn on him once their alliance had run its course, so he intended to take action first. He wasn't entirely sure if he was powerful enough to defeat the Troobian Emperor as he was now, but once he'd taken Excelsior from those damn S.P.D. cadets and claimed it for his own, the legendary blade's power would be more than enough to guarantee his victory.

Gruumm seems to want to take the Earth intact, for some reason, he mused. Curious. But it doesn't matter. Once he's been dealt with, I'll be putting this world to the torch, and it will be destroyed once and for all. I won't make the same mistake that my parents did by not finishing the job. Earth and its defenders had been a thorn in the side of every would-be conqueror in this galaxy for more than thirty years, and he had no intention of leaving it intact.

Thrax's thoughts were interrupted, however, when Gruumm suddenly came to a stop and held out an arm, halting the entire army's progression. The Troobian leader was looking ahead, to where a bank of fog that had obscured the other end of the beach was slowly dissipating.

As Thrax followed Gruumm's gaze, his eyes narrowed as he saw what had surprised the Emperor. A group of humanoid figures, twelve of them in total, were spread out across the open beach, blocking the Alliance's path. The mist continued to fade away, making it easier for him to see the line of figures, and he scowled when he recognized them.

Both teams of Power Rangers were lined up across the beach, the seven S.P.D. Rangers and the five Legacy Rangers standing together as a single unified front. Tommy and Cruger stood together at the center of the line, directly across from Thrax and Gruumm.

"Well, well, well," Thrax called out, sneering and trying to ignore a gnawing sense of unease in his gut as his gaze focused on Tommy. "Dr. Thomas Oliver. So good to finally meet you."

"Likewise," Tommy replied evenly, smiling faintly. "I didn't know Zedd and Rita had a kid before all of this, but it looks like you've inherited all their worst parts."

"You're right about that." Thrax smirked cruelly. "I have the combined power of both my parents, without the weaknesses that led to their destruction at the hands of your precious Zordon." He leveled his Z-tipped staff at Tommy. "You were my mother's greatest mistake, Green Ranger. It will be a pleasure to finally correct that."

Tommy's smile faded and his expression hardened. "We'll see about that."

"Indeed." Thrax nodded, chuckling as his gaze swept over the S.P.D. team. "I do appreciate your coming along as well, little cadets. I suppose the Sentinel Knight must have helped you to escape from Phaedos after I left you stranded there, but I'm afraid there won't be much that he can do to help you now."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Jack retorted, grinning despite himself. "But either way, I don't think he's the one you should be worried about right now."

"Tough talk from a bunch of powerless Rangers," Thrax shot back, his eyes flashing with anger.

"Enough," Gruumm growled, raising his own staff as his eyes blazed with crimson light. "Let us begin!"

"Sounds good," Tommy agreed. He glanced right, to his own teammates, and then left, to the S.P.D. team. "You guys ready?"

"Ready!" eleven voices chorused in response.

"Then let's do it." Tommy slipped one hand behind his back for a moment, his Morpher materializing on cue, and then flung his arms out in front of him. "It's Morphin' Time! Dragon Zord: Green Ranger Power!"

"Time for… Time Force!" Jen snapped.

"Wild Access!" Cole yelled.

"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form! HA!" Tori called out.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! HA!" Kira added.

"S.P.D.! Emergency!" Cruger, Jack, Sky, Bridge, Z and Syd chorused in unison, Sam stepping up next to them.

A brilliant flash of multicolored light lit up the entire beach, and then faded to reveal all twelve Rangers now transformed, suits gleaming in the sunlight. The leaders of the Evil Alliance all flinched back slightly at the sight, their eyes widening in shock.

"S.W.A.T. Mode! Activate!" The five B-Squad Rangers wasted no time in triggering their upgraded forms, armored vests forming over their torsos as their Delta Enforcers materialized in their hands. With their transformation process complete, all twelve Rangers immediately shifted into fighting stances, as the leftover energy of their simultaneous transformations surged out behind them and detonated, backlighting them with a massive explosion as plumes of colored smoke burst up into the air.

Gruumm was visibly furious, but Thrax was simply dumbfounded. "But… how?!" he demanded, glaring incredulously at the S.P.D. team. "I took your powers away!"

"For a while, sure," Jack retorted, "but not for good! Because once a Ranger…"

"Always a Ranger!" the others chorused, weapons at the ready.

Gruumm snarled, his eyes blazing as he raised his staff. "Attack!" he roared.

As one, the Evil Alliance charged into battle, and all twelve Rangers raced forward to meet them as the beach exploded into a massive, chaotic melee.

Thrax went straight for Tommy, whirling his staff as he lunged at the Green Ranger. Tommy dodged and weaved through the incoming flurry of attacks, using his Dragon Dagger to parry any of Thrax's blows that came too close.

"You're no match for me!" Thrax spat, glaring wildly at Tommy. "You owe everything you are to my mother, Ranger. If it wasn't for her gifting these powers to you, you would still be just another pathetic, powerless human. And yet you continued to defy her again and again, ruining my parents' plans for the universe and dooming them to eventual destruction! For everything you did to them, I will make you pay!"

"Sorry," Tommy shot back as he ducked under another swing of the staff, "but that's not gonna happen! The happiest moment of my life was when I finally broke free of Rita's brainwashing and started using the powers she gave me to actually help people. I don't owe her anything. And there's no way I'm going to let you keep on terrorizing this planet the way she did!" He caught a scything arc of Thrax's staff with the blade of his dagger, but the angle allowed Thrax to wedge the dagger into the Z-shaped end of his staff. A single powerful twist of the alien's hands wrenched the dagger out of Tommy's hand, sending it spinning away until it landed point-down in the sand.

Tommy was far from done, however. As soon as Thrax lunged at him again, he was already leaping into the air, kicking out with both feet and rebounding off of Thrax's hastily-raised guard. While he was in the air, he spun and hooked both of his feet around Thrax's staff, performing the same trick that Thrax had used on him and twisting it right out of the warlord's hands to send it tumbling away. He backflipped away and landed lightly on his feet, already raising his guard again.

To his credit, the temporary loss of his staff didn't bother Thrax in the slightest. He just snarled and lunged at Tommy, swinging a full-force punch that Tommy barely managed to block by flinging up his arms in a cross-block. The impact still sent him skidding backwards, his feet digging into the soft sand as he fought to keep his balance.

Okay, he thought to himself, wincing as he shook his arms, which were aching even through the tough fabric of his suit. This is gonna be harder than I thought.

Jack and Cole carved through the ranks of Troobian robots without much trouble, Jack unleashing a barrage of energy bolts from his Enforcer and Cole slashing and hacking with his Crystal Saber. After breaking through the first wave of enemy troops, they charged towards Volturus, having reasoned that if any of them were going to stand a chance against the restored monster, the two Red Rangers would be the most likely to have a shot at taking it down again.

"Hey, Lizard Boy!" Jack taunted as he ran towards Volturus. "Remember me?"

As soon as Volturus heard his voice, it became very clear that the monster did indeed remember Jack from their last fight. Its clawed hands clenched into white-knuckled fists, and a deep growl rumbled in the back of its throat as arcs of purple energy crackled up and down its arms.

"Yup," Cole agreed, wincing as he saw the power building up around the monster. "I'm pretty sure he… Look out!" He and Jack dove in opposite directions right as Volturus's arms snapped forward and a burst of purple lightning erupted from its fingertips, blasting into the ground where they had been and igniting a powerful explosion.

Cruger and Gruumm were furiously hammering away at each other's defenses, sword and staff sending showers of sparks and random arcs of power discharging in all directions every time they clashed. The Troobian Emperor fell back a step and flung out one arm, unleashing a blast of purple lightning from his staff, but Cruger spun to one side, deflecting the staff upwards with a swing of his sword. The blast discharged harmlessly past his shoulder as he side-kicked Gruumm in the chest, knocking the Emperor back a few steps and giving himself a little breathing room.

"You won't escape me this time, Cruger!" Gruumm spat, twirling his staff again as it crackled with energy. "You and your precious Rangers will fall today… and this world will finally be mine!"

"Not while I'm still standing, it won't!" Cruger shot back. He lunged back at Gruumm, a battle cry ringing out as their weapons clashed again and their furious combat resumed.

Across the beach, a high-speed melee fight was raging, as Kira, Z, Tori and Syd took on Morgana and Scorpina in a whirling mass of clashing blades and energy blasts. Even with the numbers advantage, the four Rangers were having trouble gaining the upper hand over the pair of female villains.

After a couple of minutes, however, an idea occurred to Kira. "Guys, cover me!" she called to the others, throwing a jump-kick at Morgana and pushing off of the older woman's blocking arm to launch herself away in a backflip.

"Right!" Tori sprang forward, her sword clashing with Scorpina's, while Z and Syd both charged at Morgana.

Kira landed neatly on her feet a few yards away, before raising her arms and crossing them in front of her face as she summoned up her hidden power. "Super Dino Mode!" she yelled, pulling her arms down and uncrossing them as she flung them out to either side. Her suit lit up with a bright yellow glow as the white patches along her arms and legs morphed into tough armor plates, edged with sharp, prominent blades, and a golden energy membrane flared to life, flowing down from her arms like a pair of wings.

As soon as her transformation was complete, Kira sank into a crouch and kicked off the ground, launching herself into the air and rocketing back towards Morgana and Scorpina, her Ptera-Grips held ready in both hands. She shot between the two of them as her comrades ducked out of the way, her blades flashing out and landing a pair of slashes to each of them as she soared past.

"Agh! Why, you little…!" Scorpina whirled, firing a crackling bolt of golden lightning from her sword that struck Kira as she came around for another pass. The impact threw the Yellow Dino Ranger off-balance and she tumbled out of the air with a cry of pain, crashing onto the damp sand.

Scorpina rushed after her fallen opponent, but Tori leapt in to shield Kira before she could get close enough to strike again. "Back off!" the Blue Wind Ranger snapped, parrying Scorpina's sword with her own and side-kicking the villainess in the gut, knocking her back.

Z and Syd, meanwhile, charged at Morgana, firing a volley of shots from their Enforcers. Morgana's blades flashed in a series of whirling arcs as she blocked the incoming bolts, before they both lit up with crackling purple light and she hurled out an X-shaped blast of energy that slammed into the two S.P.D. Rangers, blasting them off their feet and landing them flat on their backs.

Kira had scrambled to her feet by this time, and she and Tori raced back in, pressing their attack and hammering at Morgana and Scorpina's defenses. The two villains both broke away and leapt into the air, planning to gain some distance so they could regroup, but Kira and Tori jumped after them, still relentlessly attacking. At the apex of their jumps, the two Rangers each managed to land a solid hit, both their blades slashing across the stomachs of their respective opponents, before Tori's arm shot out and grabbed Kira's ankle as the Yellow Ranger let her energy-wings catch the air again, turning their jump into a glide and allowing them to swoop back down in a controlled dive.

As soon as Kira and Tori were out of the way, before Morgana and Scorpina had enough time to fall back to the ground, Z and Syd opened fire again, unleashing another full-power volley from their Enforcers. This time, the shots hit home, detonating all over the villains' bodies and searing into their armor with explosions of sparks, before they both plummeted back to earth with a pair of resounding impacts and a decent-sized explosion.

Tommy and Thrax had now shifted into a hand-to-hand fight, and the Green Ranger was still having more trouble than he'd expected. While he did appear to have the upper hand in terms of fighting skill, Thrax's strength and durability were more impressive than he would have guessed, and the alien warlord was standing up to everything that Tommy could throw at him. Both fighters were giving it their all as they clashed again and again, trading a whirlwind of punches, kicks, knees and elbow strikes. Tommy was giving as good as he got, but he was slowly giving ground, being driven back down the beach towards where their weapons had fallen.

"Gotta admit… you're better than I expected!" Tommy panted, sidestepping a wild swing from Thrax and throwing a punch of his own, which the alien caught. They were in a stalemate for a moment, pushing against each other, until Tommy dropped back and yanked Thrax off-balance, before ducking under his guard and ramming home a knee strike to his stomach.

"You… are nothing!" Thrax hissed as he struck back, sweeping Tommy's legs out from under him with a spinning kick and then punting him away as he fell, sending the Green Ranger rolling across the ground.

Moving with the blow to reduce the impact, Tommy quickly sprang back up, dusting himself off. "All right," he muttered, already breathing heavily. "Warm-up's over, I guess." Clenching a fist, he sprang back at Thrax. They both lunged in towards each other, each swinging a full-force punch and not bothering to block or dodge. Both of their attacks struck home, each hitting the other squarely in the chest at the same moment. A visible shockwave rippled outwards from the force of the double impact, shaking the ground beneath them and blasting a cloud of sand into the air.

For a moment, it looked like neither combatant had budged an inch, but then Tommy gasped and fell back, clutching at his chest and swaying on his feet. His armored golden chestplate now had a visible crack running through it, energy crackling and fizzling over it, and he was coughing and gasping for air as he tried to get his breath back: the impact had knocked the wind out of him.

"Is that really all you've got?" Thrax mocked with a cruel grin as he straightened up, rubbing his chest where Tommy's punch had connected. "I thought the mighty Green Ranger would hit harder than that." Turning, he snatched up his staff from where it had landed and twirled it in his hands, black-and-white electricity crackling up and down its length. "But I suppose it doesn't matter… because this fight is over!" Snarling the last few words, he lunged at Tommy, the staff lashing out in a full-force swing aimed at his chest.

Luckily, Tommy was already moving. Lunging forward, he dove over Thrax's swinging staff as it whistled through the air beneath him, before going into a shoulder-roll on the damp sand. As he leapt back to his feet, he plucked his Dragon Dagger from where it had been embedded point-first in the sand, and emerald lightning crackled around the blade as he whirled back towards Thrax. Even as the warlord whipped around to face him, he struck, landing a clean hit across Thrax's chest with an explosion of sparks, before kicking the alien's legs out from under him and sending him crashing down on his back.

"C'mon!" Tommy took a step back and beckoned, ignoring the seething anger in his enemy's eyes as Thrax scrambled back to his feet. "I'm just getting warmed up."

Sky, Bridge and Jen had formed up in a loose triangle and were standing back-to-back, the S.P.D. Rangers' Enforcers and the Time Force Ranger's long-barreled blaster firing in all directions as they blasted away at the crowd of Troobian soldiers around them. The storm of energy beams scythed through the oncoming tide: armor shattered, circuitry shorted out and internal components were blasted apart, as the three Rangers raked the enemy ranks with wave after wave of fire. Any robots that got near them were swiftly taken down and blown apart with surgical precision.

"Whoa!" A pained yell caught the trio's attention as Sam was hurled through the air towards them, tumbling across the sand until he rolled to a stop at their feet. "Ow," he groaned, shaking his head as he picked himself back up. "Man, that guy hits hard!" He winced and nodded in the direction that he'd been thrown from; the three of them turned to see Goldar stalking towards them, flexing his arms and clenching his clawed hands into fists.

"Oh, great," Jen muttered, racking the slide of her blaster. "This guy again." She leveled her blaster at the oncoming alien, while Sky and Bridge quickly raised their Enforcers on either side of her. Before any of them could open fire, however, Goldar beat them to it, flicking out a hand and launching a trio of concentrated fireballs. All three struck home, detonating on impact with a trio of small but powerful explosions and knocking all three Rangers off their feet.

"Pathetic!" Goldar sneered as he stalked towards the fallen Rangers. "It's time to end this game. I'm tired of playing around with you weaklings!"

"I've got an idea," Sam murmured to his comrades as he scrambled to his feet, recovering more quickly then they did. "Charge up, and then hit him with everything you've got on my signal." Raising his guard, he stepped protectively in front of the other three Rangers. "I don't think so," he retorted. "If you want them… you're gonna have to go through me."

Goldar flashed a predatory grin. "If you say so!" He also dropped into a fighting stance, before charging again with a bestial roar. Sam didn't hesitate, springing forward to meet him. Immediately, the pair were at it again, lightning-fast blows flashing back and forth, neither gaining the upper hand.

Sky, Bridge and Jen immediately took advantage of the situation, readying their weapons and training them on the struggling pair as they charged the energy output of Jen's blaster and the B-Squad Rangers' Enforcers up to maximum, a low humming sound echoing from all three weapons as the energy built up and their barrels began to glow.

"C'mon, Sam…" Sky whispered under his breath, tracking Goldar's movements. "Get out of the way!"

Luckily, Sam didn't disappoint. Letting Goldar drive him back, parrying the incoming attacks, he waited patiently until Goldar's growing confidence gave him an opening. Blocking a downward swing of the alien's arm, he rolled with the impact, letting it send him spinning off his feet and tumbling to the ground. As he fell, however, he made a quick adjustment to his wrist-mounted Morpher, and his hand lit up with a pulsing green light. "Muscle Mode!" he yelled as he spun back towards Goldar, rising up on one knee and slamming a full-force punch into his enemy's stomach. The impact cracked Goldar's armor with a burst of sparks, doubling him over and leaving him coughing and hacking in pain.

"Now!" Sky called out. As Sam leapt out of the way, he, Bridge and Jen all fired simultaneously. Their blasts all slammed into Goldar at the same time, tearing up the ground around him and catapulting him into the air with a roar of anger and pain.

Jack hit the ground hard, rolling uncontrollably across the damp sand until he finally came to a stop, his armored vest and Enforcer dematerializing as he was knocked out of S.W.A.T Mode. Cole was still trading blows with Volturus a few yards away, but none of his attacks were doing any damage to the monster, and after a couple of seconds it raked its claws across his torso, gouging into his suit, before blasting him with a point-blank explosion of purple lightning. The blast hurled him across the beach with a pained yell, arcs of electricity still crackling across his suit as he went down in a sprawled heap and lay there groaning, the fight temporarily beaten out of him.

"All right," Jack muttered as he pushed himself back to his feet. "Enough of this crap." He drew his Morpher and activated his other upgrade transformation. "S.P.D. Battlizer! Activate!"

On cue, RIC appeared, racing towards Jack as a compartment on the robotic canine's back slid open, releasing a device similar to Sam's Morpher that flew towards Jack and latched onto one of his wrists. Armor plates formed on his torso, shoulders, arms and legs, and a sword materialized in his hands, its blade crackling with electricity. "Battlizer: Cyber Mode! Complete!"

Volturus hissed and drew back a little, its glowing purple eyes fixed on the transformed Red Ranger, as if it could sense that he was stronger now. Its caution quickly melted away, however, and it snarled as it strode towards him again.

"C'mon!" Jack challenged, readying himself for another round. He charged back to meet Volturus head-on, dodging its first few swings and landing a series of electrically-charged slashes to its unguarded torso. His attacks did seem to be hurting it this time, judging by the pained snarls and hisses that it let out every time one of his blows made contact. Unfortunately, it seemed that even the first stage of his Battlizer didn't have enough power to break through the beast's defenses, and despite his best efforts, he still wasn't doing any real damage.

Even with Jack's newly enhanced speed, one of Volturus's attacks eventually clipped him, knocking him off-balance. It immediately took advantage and kicked him in the stomach, sending him stumbling back a few feet, before unleashing a searing blast of purple lightning from both hands. Jack's eyes widened behind his helmet, and he braced himself for the pain.

But, to his shock, the impact never came. Instead, there was a brilliant flash of light, and the torrent of purple lightning was blocked by a shimmering energy barrier that appeared between Jack and Volturus, shielding him from harm. The light faded, and a gleaming golden figure became visible in front of him: the Sentinel Knight, standing between the monster and its prey, holding one hand out to maintain the barrier. A deep-voiced yell rang out, and the blast of purple lightning rebounded off of the wall of light, tearing up the ground around Volturus and knocking the monster to the ground.

Whoa! Jack's eyes widened and he stepped up next to the Knight. "Thanks!" he commented with a wry chuckle. "Thought he had me there."

"I did promise that I would be back to help once I'd gotten used to having a body again," the Knight replied with a note of amusement in his voice, before he turned his attention back to Volturus, which was picking itself up with a furious snarl. "Right now, we must deal with this beast before it can wear us down any further."

"Well, you should be able to handle it, right?" Jack nodded to where Excelsior hung sheathed at the Knight's hip. "I took him down with one hit from that before, and you're definitely stronger than I am."

"True," the Knight agreed, "but unfortunately, it would seem that Gruumm has given this creature a power boost since you fought him before. I'm not sure if it can be defeated quite as easily this time." His eyes brightened as an idea occurred to him. "But I should be able to breach its defenses again, which will leave it vulnerable. If you and your friend can strike it with a powerful enough attack, after I've broken its guard… then that could be enough to put it down for good."

"Right!" Jack nodded. "I think I've got just the thing."

"Excellent. Then get ready!" The Knight turned and raised his guard, a note of amusement in his voice as he strode towards Volturus. "Come at me, creature. I've been dead for a long time, and I could use a good warmup."

Volturus roared, purple lightning crackling around it, and charged forward to meet him.

As soon as the pair started fighting, Jack turned and jogged over to where Cole was still getting his bearings after the powerful hit that he'd taken. "Cole!" he called as he skidded to a halt in front of the older man. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Cole nodded, panting as he took Jack's offered hand and let the younger Red Ranger pull him to his feet. "I heard some of what you guys were saying: so we have a plan?"

"Yep!" Jack grinned fiercely behind his helmet. "Do you have a Battlizer mode too?"

"Of course!" Cole nodded again, more eagerly this time as he realized what Jack had in mind.

"Then let's bust 'em out!" Jack shifted into a ready stance again, making an adjustment to the gauntlet on his wrist. "S.P.D. Battlizer: Sonic Mode! Activate!" RIC leapt towards him, the robotic dog's body shifting form and reshaping itself into an additional layer of black-and-white armor that wrapped around Jack's body, filling him with an additional surge of power. The electric sword of his Battlizer's first form was replaced by a giant, two-handed red broadsword, with RIC's head set into the hilt.

Cole, meanwhile, grabbed the large golden buckle of his belt and popped it off, flipping it over to reveal a glowing red jewel on the inside. He flung his arms out in front of him, and the jewel lit up with a brilliant red glow. "Animarium Armor! Red Savage Warrior: power up!" Golden armor plating materialized over his arms and torso, and a pair of gleaming metallic wings unfolded from his back.

Sensing the twin explosions of energy as both Red Rangers completed their ultimate transformations, the Sentinel Knight smiled beneath his own visor. "Time to finish this," he murmured, before his eyes flashed as he blocked a downward two-fisted swing from Volturus. They continued to struggle back and forth for a moment, until the Knight's eyes flared brighter and twin bolts of emerald energy shot from them, striking Volturus in the face with an explosion of sparks.

The blast wasn't strong enough to do any serious damage, but it did knock the monster back a couple of steps and dazzle it for a moment, and that was all the opening that a master swordsman like the Knight needed. The sword Excelsior flashed out of its scabbard in a pair of blindingly-fast strikes, slicing through its armored scales again and opening a pair of gashes in an X-shape across Volturus's chest. Thanks to the energy boost that Gruumm had given it, those wounds weren't enough to disable it completely, but they were able to cut through its armor and inflict a lot of pain. Sparks fountained from the wound, and Volturus howled in rage and pain as it staggered back.

"Now!" the Knight called out as he leapt back out of range. Having been waiting for that moment, Jack and Cole both leapt straight up into the air, activating their Battlizer modes' respective flight methods.

"The Knight's breached his armor!" Cole exclaimed, raising both hands in front of him as he focused all of his power into a single point. "Let's finish this!"

"I hear that!" Jack confirmed, his visor igniting with a brilliant crimson glow. "Battlizer: full power!"

"Red Savage Warrior: Falcon Blast!" Cole yelled.

Finally, both Red Rangers' voices rang out in unison. "Fire!" Jack's massive sword blurred into motion, slashing back and forth as he unleashed four crackling shockwaves of fiery energy, while Cole unleashed a concentrated beam of red light from the large red jewel in the center of his armored chestplate.

Volturus, still reeling and off-balance from the Knight's attack, had no chance to block or dodge. Cole's beam hit it squarely in the chest, right over the X-shaped wound that Excelsior's blade had inflicted, while each of Jack's energized shockwaves slammed down on top of it, one after the next, their combined attack driving it into the ground and completely overwhelming its defenses.

Jack and Cole dropped back to Earth, landing on either side of the Sentinel Knight. They kept their guards up, ready to attack again… but there was no need. Volturus was swaying drunkenly, arcs of energy crackling randomly up and down its body as sparks and smoke poured from its wounds. It raised one shaking, clawed hand in their direction, trying to unleash one last attack, before the purple glow in its eyes faded away and it finally collapsed. As soon as it hit the ground, an enormous fireball erupted from the dragon's corpse, shaking the entire beach and completely incinerating Volturus's body.

Panting heavily, Jack and Cole high-fived, letting their armored Battlizer suits fade away as they powered back down to their normal Ranger forms. "Nice one, man!" Jack complimented the older Ranger.

"You too!" Cole replied, grinning wearily beneath his helmet.

"Take a moment to recover your strength, young warriors," the Sentinel Knight advised them. His glowing green eyes narrowed as he scanned the beach, quickly locking onto the other fight where his help would be useful. "I have one more foe to deal with."

"Full power!" Tommy and Thrax's voices both yelled out at the same moment as they each unleashed a blast of lightning from their respective weapons, Tommy's emerald green and Thrax's a mix of black and white. The two blasts of energy collided midway between them, pushing back and forth without either side gaining the upper hand, growing stronger with each passing second. Finally, the combined mass of lightning detonated, blasting both combatants away from each other.

Thrax was sent skidding twenty feet backwards by the explosion, digging in his heels and driving the base of his staff deep into the sand to keep his footing, until he finally managed to stop his backwards slide. Tommy, however, was blown clear off his feet, and tumbled head-over-heels until he slammed back down onto the ground. The impact knocked the wind out of him a second time, and for a few seconds he was too stunned to get back up, just groaning and trying to get his breath back.

"Heh… heh…" Thrax was panting as well now, clearly feeling worn down by the strain of the prolonged battle, but he was still in better shape than his opponent. "What happened to all that tough talk, Ranger?" He raised his staff, focusing his power again as he stalked forward to stand over Tommy, preparing to deliver a finishing blow while the Green Ranger was still incapacitated. "Well… I suppose this is where it ends. Farewell, Thomas Oliver."

As Tommy struggled to get up, Thrax sneered, raised his staff over his head, and brought it crashing down. But halfway to its target, the staff was suddenly blocked by a shining blade that cut in under it, stopping it in mid-swing with a clang of metal on metal.

"Not this time!" the Sentinel Knight declared, slamming an open-palmed strike into Thrax's chest with his free hand and releasing a pulse of magic that flung the alien backwards. "You will never take another innocent life, Thrax. It ends here!"

Thrax was utterly dumbfounded for the second time that day, seeing his hated nemesis standing before him – no longer a disembodied spirit, but alive and in the flesh – and wielding the sword Excelsior on top of that. "You?!" he managed to splutter out incredulously. "What… you… how?!"

"Thanks for the help," Tommy spoke up with a weary chuckle, ignoring Thrax for a moment as he took the Knight's offered hand and clambered to his feet. "That was a little too close."

"Indeed. My apologies for intervening in your battle, but you seemed to need some help." The Knight's eyes burned like twin bolts of emerald fire behind his helmet as he turned to face Thrax again. "Now… let us put an end to this."

"Sounds good to me!" Tommy nodded, raising his dagger and entering a fighting stance as the Knight did the same.

"Damn it all…" Thrax hissed, taking a moment to catch his breath before raising his guard again. "If I'd only been able to get that damn sword, this would all be over already!"

"That can never happen," the Knight declared firmly, raising Excelsior and gazing upon his master's former weapon with reverence. "Only a warrior with a pure spirit and a noble heart can wield Excelsior; it would never accept someone as vile and wicked as you." He leveled the ancient blade at Thrax. "This is your final warning, Thrax! Surrender now, or we will take you down once and for all."

"You seriously think that I'd surrender to you, and your pathetic little Rangers?" Thrax let out a harsh, rasping laugh. "Don't make me laugh! I'll never stop, as long as I'm breathing. I will destroy everyone and everything on this foul planet. And I'll start with the two of you!" Roaring out a battle-cry, he raised his staff and focused his full power into it, lightning coiling and twisting around the arcane metal as he charged.

Tommy and the Sentinel Knight raced forward as well, weapons at the ready. As Thrax raised his staff to unleash his final attack, they each ducked to one side, spinning in under his guard and scoring a pair of direct hits across his unguarded torso, one after the other, with twin flashes of green and gold light. Thrax's yell turned into a strangled cry of pain, and all of the energy that he'd been building up detonated prematurely as they skidded past him, tossing him off his feet and sending him sprawling to the ground.

With the enemy army broken and routed, the Sentinel Knight and the twelve Power Rangers reconvened, forming a united line. They'd all taken some damage during the battle, but all of them had made it through without sustaining any serious injuries.

The remaining members of the Evil Alliance also picked themselves up, stumbling towards each other and forming a ragged line, but they were significantly worse off. All five of them were battered and bruised, wisps of smoke rising from scorch marks on their armor, each still trying to catch their breath after the beatings that they had just sustained.

This isn't possible! Thrax's mind was racing as he leaned on his staff, panting heavily and swaying on his feet, fighting the throbbing pain radiating from the wounds that Tommy and the Knight had inflicted on him. I had everything planned out… I accounted for every detail… how can this be happening?!

Gruumm, meanwhile, looked less angry and more resigned. "It would seem that I no longer have any need for you, Thrax," he intoned coldly. "My day to conquer this planet will come, but for now, I am done here. You are no longer useful to me, so our alliance is at an end." He grasped Morgana's shoulder with his free hand. "Farewell." With that, he slammed his staff down on the ground, and he and Morgana both vanished with an explosion of purple energy and a cloud of displaced sand.

Thrax's eyes widened in horror. "No!" he exclaimed. Damn you, Gruumm…!

Seeing their remaining enemies off-balance and weakened, Cruger's battle experience sparked him into action. "Rangers!" he called out to his comrades. "Let's finish this!"

"You got it, Commander!" Jack agreed. "RIC! Here, boy!"

Hearing Jack's call, the robotic dog burst into motion again, racing towards the Rangers. He leapt up and over them, his body transforming into his weapon form again, before dropping down to the waiting S.P.D. team. "Canine Cannon!" they chorused, aiming the powerful weapon directly at the three remaining villains. The Sentinel Knight and the Legacy Rangers stepped up around them, readying their own long-range weapons to add their firepower to the cannon's might.

"Ready!" Tommy shouted.

"Aim!" Cruger continued.

"Fire!" Jack finished, all the others echoing his yell as he pulled the trigger of the cannon. The Knight and the Legacies all fired their own weapons at the same moment; their blasts merged with the cannon's twin beams, forming a thundering wave of power that smashed into Thrax, Goldar and Scorpina, instantly overwhelming the three villains' defenses and hurling them away like leaves in a storm.

In the wake of the blast, thirteen voices rose in a series of triumphant shouts, each calling out their own title in the Power Rangers' classic declaration of victory.

"Sentinel Knight!"

"Mighty Morphin Green!"

"Time Force Pink!"

"Blazing Lion!"

"Power of Water!"

"Ptera-Power!"

"S.P.D. Red!"

"S.P.D. Blue!"

"S.P.D. Green!"

"S.P.D. Yellow!"

"S.P.D. Pink!"

"S.P.D. Omega!"

"S.P.D. Shadow!"

Finally, all thirteen voices called out simultaneously, as a final massive explosion billowed up behind them.

"Power Rangers forever! Once a Ranger… always a Ranger!"

Chapter Text

New Tech City…

Once the smoke and flames began to die down in the aftermath of the mighty combined explosion, the Rangers could make out the forms of their enemies again. For a moment, they all tensed up, remaining on guard in case the villains had somehow managed to withstand the blast.

Luckily, it quickly became apparent that they no longer had anything to worry about. Thrax, Goldar and Scorpina were still sprawled on the ground where the explosion had tossed them, coughing and groaning weakly as they tried to catch their breath, wisps of smoke still rising from their charred, blackened armor. Clearly, none of them were in any shape to continue fighting.

Thrax, however, wasn't willing to quit yet. "You… bastards…" he rasped, panting heavily as he started trying to force himself back to his feet. "I'm not… done yet!"

"Let's see about that," Jack retorted as he stepped forward, the other Rangers forming up on either side of him as he withdrew his Morpher from its holster at his waist and pointed it at the villainous trio. "Thrax… Goldar… Scorpina. All three of you are charged with the attempted conquest and destruction of Earth." He activated one of the Morpher's specialized features, pressing the button at the top of the device. "Judgment Mode!"

The Morpher flipped open in his hand, and its screen lit up as a pair of glowing symbols – a red X and a blue circle – began flashing in an alternating rhythm, each flash accompanied by an echoing beep. After about ten seconds, a final chorus of beeps rang out as the red X blazed on the screen like a brand.

"Guilty!" the S.P.D. team all chorused.

"Damn you…" Thrax glared at the two teams of Rangers with pure hatred burning in his eyes. He finally managed to stand up again, but he was swaying unsteadily back and forth, barely able to stay on his feet. "This… isn't… over…!"

"It is now," Jack declared as Sky and Z stepped forward on either side of him, drawing their own Morphers from their belts. On Jack's signal, they each flung out an arm as they activated the other bonus feature of their Morphers, all three of them calling out at once. "Containment Mode!"

On cue, multicolored beams of energy shot out from all three Morphers and wrapped around the trio of exhausted villains, completely engulfing them. There was a brief flash of light, and all three of them suddenly vanished, replaced by a trio of Confinement Cards that fell harmlessly onto the damp sand. Visible on their screens, trapped securely within each card, were the forms of Thrax, Goldar and Scorpina, all glaring furiously out of their miniature cells.

Both teams of Rangers visibly relaxed, breathing heavily as their shoulders sagged in relief. Adrenaline usually ran high during their fights, and even after a battle came to an end, it sometimes took a minute for their bodies to fully understand that the fighting was over, especially after a battle that was as tough as this one had been.

"Power Down!" Jack's suit dematerialized with a flash of red light as he reverted to his human form. Stepping forward, he crouched down and picked up all three Confinement Cards, turning them over in his hands as he straightened back up and turned to the others with a weary grin. "Now it's over."

And then a chorus of cheering and laughter echoed across the beach as the rest of the Rangers demorphed and regrouped, overcome by joy and by a tremendous feeling of relief. Against the odds, they had emerged victorious, and the Evil Alliance had finally been defeated.

Aboard the Terror…

Gruumm leaned back in the command chair of his flagship's bridge, a low growl rumbling in his chest as he glowered at an image of Earth that was being projected on the command console's holographic screen. He'd believed that his alliance with Thrax would finally bring him the victory that he'd sought for so long, but in the end it had all been for nothing. Thrax and his servants were gone, the Rangers were victorious once again, and he was left with nothing to do but brood over the complete failure of their so-called "Evil Alliance."

Morgana was in her chambers elsewhere on the ship, resting and recovering from the battle, as she'd taken more damage than he had in the fighting. Gruumm, however, had chosen not to retire to his chambers yet, choosing instead to spend some time in contemplation. He'd had Cruger and his S.P.D. Rangers beaten and powerless, but thanks to the Sentinel Knight's intervention, his enemies had managed to survive and had come back with their powers restored and a team of new allies backing them up. Once again, a miraculous stroke of luck had saved the Rangers, despite all of his best efforts.

But… it wasn't over, he reminded himself. This was far from an insurmountable setback: he had survived, and his long-term plans remained unchanged. And he would have needed to deal with Thrax eventually, as they'd clearly had different fates in mind for Earth, so the Rangers might have actually done him a favor by taking out the other warlord while allowing Gruumm and Morgana to escape. Now he could resume his own plans for the conquest of Earth, without having to worry about any further competition from Thrax and his servants. Broodwing's scheming was still an annoyance that he would have to deal with at some point, but compared to Thrax, the batlike criminal wasn't as much of a threat.

Gruumm's glowing red eyes burned a little brighter, and he sat up straighter in his chair as his glare intensified, his eyes locked on the projected image of the planet Earth. "This is not the end," he vowed, every syllable laced with barely-contained fury. "Cruger and his little cadets will not be able to thwart me forever. Soon, the time of the Magnificence will come… and all resistance to our conquest will be swept away, as we take possession of that wretched planet." His eyes blazed in the green-tinged gloom, like twin pits of boiling lava. "Once… and for all."

New Tech City…

The next morning, all twelve Rangers reconvened in the Command Center's bridge, accompanied by Kat, Boom, and the Sentinel Knight. Now that all of the Rangers had been given at least a night's worth of rest and relaxation to help them recover from the battle, plus some medical attention for anyone who needed it, the Sentinel Knight had declared that it was time for the Legacy Rangers to return to their own time period. Tommy had returned Alpha 6 to the robot's resting place in Angel Grove, and all five of the Legacies were now ready to head home.

"With Thrax defeated and your powers restored," the Knight explained as he stood in the center of the command bridge, "you should not need any further assistance from myself or from the Legacy Rangers to deal with Gruumm and the Troobians." He nodded to the S.P.D. Rangers. "I will be happy to help if you ever have need of my assistance, but I have full confidence in your ability to succeed." He smiled beneath the visor of his helmet. "The Legacy Rangers, however, do not belong here. This is not their native time period, and now that they are no longer needed in this time, I must send them home."

"He's right," Kira concurred. "Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed being here and I'm glad I could help you guys, but I do need to get home." Tori nodded in agreement, as did Cole and Tommy.

"Time travel's not something that you want to mess around with," Jen agreed. "It wasn't too bad this time since we came to our future, not our past, and we did it for a good reason, but it's still not a good idea to stay outside of your own time period for too long. Me moving back in time permanently was an exception, because apparently I was always supposed to do that, but we shouldn't stay in this portion of the timeline for too long; it might start to cause some nasty temporal abnormalities."

"Indeed." The Knight nodded, his hands weaving back and forth in a complex pattern in front of him as his eyes glowed a brilliant green and his armor crackled with golden power. "All of you… please stand back." His eyes narrowed as he adopted an attitude of intense concentration, and faint flickers of blue energy began to coalesce around his hands, growing more intense with each passing second. Finally, with a deep-voiced yell of effort, he flung out his arms and released a brilliant pulse of blue light, which coalesced into a swirling, circular portal that hung in the air before him. Once it had stabilized, he lowered his arms and let his shoulders sag, breathing heavily.

"Whoa…" Bridge murmured, his eyes wide in amazement. As the S.P.D. Rangers had all seen a time portal in action before, none of them were overly surprised, but the idea that it was possible to create one with just a spell… it showed just how much magical power the Sentinel Knight possessed now that he had been restored to full strength. Man, I'm glad he's on our side.

"Legacy Rangers," the Knight addressed the five veterans, inclining his head respectfully to them. "I thank you for your assistance and your courage. Each of you is a credit to the order of the Power Rangers, and the citizens of Earth owe you a great debt for the part that you have played in saving this world." He nodded to the glowing, ethereal portal. "This portal will take you back to the year 2005, moments after you left. As a side effect of the spell that I used to create it, once you return home, you will remember the general nature of this mission – that you were brought into the future to aid another team of Rangers – but you will not retain any specific memories from your time here that could alter your future destinies."

"Makes sense," Jen agreed, nodding.

"All right, then," Tommy spoke up, smiling warmly as he looked around the room, taking in all of the assembled Rangers. "Hopefully we'll all meet again someday. Until then… may the Power protect you all."

Kira was the first of the Legacy Rangers to enter the time portal, smiling and waving to the S.P.D. team before she vanished with a flare of blue light. Tori did the same a moment later, following right on her heels. Cole was next, but before he could enter the portal, he glanced over to where Z was watching. "Oh, hey, Z?" he inquired. "Just out of curiosity… what's your last name?"

"Huh?" Z blinked, feeling briefly thrown off by that question, but after a moment of confusion she shrugged. "Uh… it's Delgado." She arched an eyebrow questioningly. "Why do you ask?"

Cole's eyes widened a bit, and his smile widened. "Oh, no reason, really. I was just curious. You, ah… you kinda remind me of a friend of mine from back home: Danny Delgado, one of my Ranger teammates. I haven't seen him in a couple of years, but…" He shrugged. "I dunno, something about you just reminds me of him, so I figured I'd check and see if you might be related. And you've got the same last name, so you might be."

Huh… Z frowned thoughtfully as she considered that. She'd never really known her parents, of course, so she had no idea whether Cole was right or not, but the idea that somebody else in her family tree might have also been a Power Ranger was oddly comforting.

"Anyway… see you around, guys." With a final friendly grin, Cole stepped into the portal and disappeared. Jen followed suit a moment later, giving the S.P.D. team a final nod and smile as she also vanished back into the past.

Finally, Tommy was the only one left. He took a deep breath, as if he was bracing himself, and then started towards the portal. Before he could get there, however, Kat spoke up, almost without meaning to. "Dr. Oliver?" she called, drawing his attention just before he could step into the portal.

Tommy half-turned to face her, backlit by the shimmering blue light of the portal. "Yeah?" he asked, a questioning look on his face.

"I just…" A soft sigh escaped from Kat's lips. As the scientist who'd spearheaded S.P.D.'s efforts to develop their own teams of Power Rangers, she'd spent a lot of time studying all of Earth's previous Ranger teams. And there was no denying that among all of those Rangers, across all those years, Tommy Oliver cast a shadow that was greater than any other. "I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done… and everything that you're going to do."

Tommy was silent for a moment, clearly a little surprised by the intensity of her words, before his smile brightened. "Thanks," he replied cheerfully. "Believe me… I've enjoyed every minute of it." With no further hesitation, he turned back to face the portal, stepped into it, and was gone. A moment later, the portal itself wavered, flickered, and dissolved with a soft pulse of energy, as the last of the Legacy Rangers was returned to their own time.

After a long moment of quiet contemplation, the Sentinel Knight eventually broke the silence. "I must be on my way as well," he declared, looking up at the ceiling of the command bridge and resting one hand lightly on the hilt of Excelsior where it hung at his side, before nodding to Jack. "Now that my body has been restored thanks to your noble efforts, I shall continue the work that my master Dulcea and the rest of our old allies once carried out: fighting injustice and protecting the innocent, all across the universe." He smiled beneath his visor, his eyes shining with a warm green glow as he looked at each member of the S.P.D. team in turn. "But I owe you all a great debt, warriors of Earth. So if there's ever anything else that I can do to aid you all in the future, don't hesitate to ask."

"We thank you as well," Cruger replied. "If you hadn't come to help us against Thrax, he and Gruumm would almost certainly have conquered this world by now. But we survived, thanks to the help that you gave us. What you've done for us will never be forgotten."

"Thank you, Commander." The Sentinel Knight bowed to the Shadow Ranger, before his eyes lit up with a brighter green glow. "I'm sure we will meet again one day, Power Rangers of Earth. Until then… farewell." His eyes flared, and he vanished in a flash of golden light, leaving the S.P.D. team alone in the Command Center.

The room was quiet for a few moments after that, until Bridge finally broke the silence in his usual style.

"So… who wants to go grab some lunch?"

Far across the galaxy…

Aboard an S.P.D. transport, on its way to one of the organization's highest-security prisons, three Confinement Cards rested in storage. Trapped within the miniaturized, digitized cells that existed within the cards, three of history's most infamous villains sat alone in the darkness, fuming but powerless to escape.

While Goldar and Scorpina were still struggling, pounding uselessly at the interior screens that kept them captive, Thrax didn't bother wasting energy by trying to break out in that manner. He stood motionless in the middle of the miniature cell, glaring silently at the screen of the card and conserving whatever power he could.

Thanks to the skilled design of S.P.D.'s Confinement Cards, it was virtually impossible for any individual who had been trapped inside one of these cards to escape without being released by someone on the outside. Thrax was aware of that, and he was smart enough to know that there was no way for him to break out of this tiny digital prison on his own. But that didn't mean that he had any intention of giving up.

I've been imprisoned in a supposedly-unbreakable prison before, he thought grimly to himself. But that one couldn't hold me forever either. The Sentinel Knight had put all of his power into the spell that had imprisoned Thrax within a Space Dumpster at the end of their first battle, and he'd spent a full decade sealed within that containment vessel… but he had eventually managed to escape from that trap, regardless of how strong it had been.

And no matter how long it takes, I will find a way to do the same here, he vowed silently. However difficult it may be, I will eventually learn how to escape from here, and I will succeed. No matter the cost. And when I do escape, someday… I will have my revenge. On the planet Earth, and all those who live there.

Especially the Power Rangers.

The End...?