Kamekazi Run
By John Chubb

When she entered the hanger Ashley looked up at the yellow Zord that hung from the suspension cables. It was sleek, styled and looked ready to kick butt. Ashley looked up proud of the work she did completing it, and a part of her longed to fly with it alongside the Astro team, but she couldn't just forget her time with the Nightfighters either.

She then fingered her own BlackGold morpher. The BlackHawk Zord served her as well as her Turbo and Voyager Zords had. Ashley still hadn't made a decision about which power to use, besides, the yellow morpher was still being debugged. As she was looking up she noticed Cassie walk up to her. They gave each other a hug like friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time.

"Ohh It's good to see you Ashley!", the Asian teen said.

"You too Cassie. I've missed you guys.", Ashley said.

"Well T.J. and me are glad you said that.", said Carlos who appeared in the doorway, and they too rushed in to form a group hug.

"I heard you kicked Chad's butt.", T.J. said.

"I had help...from another one of his victims.", Ashley said.

"I remember Jo Reynolds. Kincaid told us what happened to her.", Cassie said. Her own experiences with Chad Morgan scared her like noting else. Cassie was glad he got what he deserved.

"Is there room in this get together for three more?", Andros said. Karone and Zhane standing in the doorway. Soon they too joined in the group hug.

"You know? Someone's missing.", Ashley said. Then he turned his head and Mackenzie appeared in the doorway. Mackenzie saw the group commaraderie of the Astro rangers as they came together after being separated for a long time, and even though she was one of the Astros she still felt like the outsider at times when she was one of the team. Until now, then she joined in the group hug.

"Make room for one more.", Mackenzie said and Justin showed up.

"As much as I love this," Cassie said. "I think we're running out of room." so everyone broke off and patted each other on the back. Then they turned and looked up at the Explorer Zords.

"They're incredible.", T.J. said admiring the sleekness and lethal style incorporated into the Zords design. Even the pink zord looked like it could chew nails when it wanted to.

"I know I fly one.", Mackenzie said making reference to her Astro Viper.

"Well the yellow one should be ready once the morpher is finished debugging, so Ashley, you should be ready to fly one soon.", Justin said.

Ashley managed a smile but she still had a look in her eyes that reflected indecision. A look Mackenzie had caught.

Hundreds of ships filled the space of the planet and more were still coming. Savrod deduced that it would be a week or two at best before he had the amount of ships that he needed for what he had intended.

He ordered his military governors to leave skeleton holding forces on occupied planets. If a governor protested by saying that the planet could be conquered Savrod said that they would just reconquer it. And if a governor still protested, well there was always someone who could replace him.

Savrod was going to massacre the resistance. He was going to destroy the Nightfighters, but first he would soften them up a bit. He turned and left the observation domes and went to the prison barges to check on some special prisoners.

"I wonder what's going on now?", Aisha asked.

"Well obviously Lord Savrod plans to use us in some diabolical scheme to destroy the Nightfighters, otherwise why would he have brought us together?", Billy said.

"After the loss of his ranger guard? I doubt Savrod would try something like that again.", Trini said.

"You're right Trini.", Jason said. "Savrod must have something in mind for us. Otherwise why would he bring us together? He could have easily kept us seperate."

"Looks like we're going to find out.", Rocky said as Savrod walked into the prison area. He then turned to face the seven remaining captured rangers.

"Well it seems that Phantom Ranger has dissapeared, even when Lord Crucible had gone to such lengths to capture him, but it doesn't matter I have a replacement in mind.", Savrod boasted.

"Replacement for what? What are you going to do to us?", Tanya shouted.

"You are going to serve the cause of the Luciferian empire by destroying the Nightfighters.", Savrod said.

"You man are a whack job.", Zack said. "There's no way we're going to serve a ding dong like you.", all the former rangers agreed.

Savrod took no notice. He ordered the guardsmen to subdue them. The rangers fought back, even Jason who had a bad leg was holding his own against the red clad robots. After Savrod decided he had enough he fired bolts from his wrists and sent the seven rangers unconscious.

Another guardsman approached Savrod. "The eighth member is ready. She has been taken down to the landing bay."

"Excellent, send down another guardsmen platoon. Escort these former rangers down to the landing bay.", Savrod ordered as he saw the damaged guardsman lying beside the unconscious rangers. He then turned and left the prison area.

"These rangers will serve the Luciferian empire.", Savrod thought. "Until death."

"Can't decide huh?", Mackenzie said.

"Decide what?", Ashley said.

"Which morpher to use. Should you go with the Blackhawk morpher or go back to the Astro."

Ashley sighed. "It's no secret that I'm close to the Astro team. We've been friends for so long. You've seen how close we are." Mackenzie nodded.

"But I also feel like I've developed a closeness with this team. You, Kincaid, Bruce, Cassandra, Adam and Justin again. I don't want to feel like I'm betraying you guys."

Then Hardrive added his two cents. "So which morpher are you going to use?"

Mackenzie and Ashley turned to look at the Defiance carrier Zord. The computer on board hardly ever asked a question unless it was from the T.V. set. "Hardrive did you ask a question?", Ashley asked surprised.

Hardrive asked again. "What morpher are you going to use?"

Ashley tried to respond with an answer and before she could get two words out Hardrive said, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT MORPHER YOU WILL USE!!!", doing an impression of the Rock from the WWF. Ashley and Mackenzie smiled and shook their heads in gestures that said 'we should have known.' But Mackenzie knew hardrive had a point.

"He's right you know.", said Kincaid who appeared in the hall. "It doesn't matter. Whether you use the Yellow Astro or the Gold Blackhawk you will always be part of the team. One of the Nightfighters. Mackenzie uses the White Astro morpher why should you be any different if you use the yellow Astro?"

Ashley smiled and hugged Kincaid. A burden on her had been lifted.

Just then a shimmering effect had appeared. A figure in black materialized out of nowhere and collapsed on the floor close to them.

"Phantom.", Ashley said.

"Let's get him to the medical bay.", Kincaid ordered.

"Wait, there's someone aboard my ship. Tend to her.", Phantom said.

"Hey little brother, how're you doing?", Jessica asked.

"How'd you and Phantom get away?", Justin asked.

"Well I don't know about Phantom. But he came and blasted me out of the cell. Then he smuggled me to his ship using invisability. It was straining him to say the least. I think something bad was done to him."

"Were the other captured rangers on that ship?", Tommy asked.

"I couldn't tell.", Jessica said. There were ships everywhere. They could have been on any one of them."

"What do you mean by 'a lot of ships? What's going on?", asked T.J.

Jessica paused before speaking. "Savrod is assembling his fleet. He's calling in all the ships he can together. He's going to use this fleet to stamp out rebel bases."

All the rangers were shocked. "How many ships does Savrod have so far?", Andros asked.

"Hundreds.", Jessica said. "He's leaving planetary holding with skeleton crews so he can assemble his fleet."

"With the resistance fleet scattered at different bases they'll be sitting ducks.", Tommy said.

"There's more.", Jessica said. "Phantom also told me that Savrod is going to try one final strike against you, and he's going to use the captured rangers to do it."

"What's he going to do Jess?", Justin asked.

"Phantom mentioned something about a kamekazi run. Savrod is going to pack ships with explosives and send them crashing into your base."

"What does that have to do with the captured rangers?", Andros asked.

Jessica sighed before she answered. "Savrod is going to have them in the ship cockpits so you don't fight them."

The other rangers were shocked by what they heard. Then Bruce laid out the facts. "We attack them they're dead. If we don't we and they are dead."

"Any ideas anyone?", Mackenzie asked.

"Positive.", he said. "As much as I'd like to be there for Jason and the others the resistance needs to be ready for Savrod's fleet. Kat has already sent the message down the pipeline. We're going to assemble as many ships as we can muster at the ten nebulas belt. We're going there now to oversee the assembly."

"Well don't forget to take your zords.", Cassandra said as she pointed up to three figures in the sky. A black falcon with white trim. A crow with purple trim and a cougar with green trim. The zords set down to where Kincaid had stood, and the three new Night Rangers approached their zords.

"Tommy, your zord is the Raptor. The stalking predator of the night.", Kincaid said. He then went over to Kimberly.

"Kimberly, your zord is the Night Crow. The zord that carries souls from the dead.", Kimberly thought she would have chills after hearing that description. Then Kincaid went over to Kat.

"And Kat, your Zord is the coyote. One of the prowlers, and hunters, of the night." The three rangers looked up at their new zords and saw the grace they possessed but they also held a fearful design towards them. Which was the intent.

"Thanks Kincaid. We better get going.", Kim said.

"Be careful guys.", Cassandra shouted. Tommy, Kat and Kim gave a thumbs up and got into their zords.

"This Zord gives me the creeps", Kimberly said.

"Think of how the villians might feel.", Kat said. "They'd be scared to death of these zords."

"Let's sort out our feelings about our zords enroute. We've got a job to do.", Tommy said. Then the three Night Rangers went off to assemble the fleet to stand against Savrod.

"May the spirits guide you.", Kincaid had said. Then he and Cassandra went back into the safehouse.

The people in the pilot seat could not change the course on the ships since they were locked out of the computer. Besides they weren't there to fly the mission, they were there to make sure that no Nightfighter or ranger had fired on the ships until they reached their target.

On board the lead ship, Jason looked out to those who were on the ships that flew it's wing. Each one flown by a former ranger, except for the eighth one that took the rear. Jason saw the look of fear on her face.

'I'm sorry Emily. This shouldn't have happened to you.', Jason thought as the ships proceeded on their course to death.

"I still can't believe it. My little brother a Power Ranger.", Jessica said.

"I would have stayed retired if it wasn't for Crucible.", Justin said. Jessica was saddened to hear that he was still out there. Justin then asked, "Did you find out anything about Dad?"

Jessica sighed before she answered. "We were at the same prison camp for a few days. Then one time he was transferred to a different one. I don't know which."

Justin sighed and said with resolve. "We have to find him. Even if we have to turn the whole galaxy upside down we have to find him." Justin then was interrupted by Cassandra who appeared in the doorway. "Come on buddy we're going to need you topside."

Cassandra headed towards the launching bay and Justin got up to leave. "I'll be back. Rest."

As he ran down the hallway towards the hangar bay Justin morphed into the blue turbo ranger.

"Jason and the rest of the rangers.", Adam confirmed. "Can we teleport them out?"

Cassandra looked at the scanners and said "No, there are some sort of scramblers on the ships that scatter teleportation signals."

"How far away are they?", Kincaid asked.

"Five hundred Kilometers out.", Cassandra said. Then Andros and the rest of the Astros showed up.

"What's going on?", Andros asked.

Kincaid turned to Andros and said, "Andros I have to ask you to take your team down to the shuttle deck and fly out of here. If one of those ships hits the safehouse there's no sense in all of us getting toasted."

Andros stood ready to protest when Kincaid ordered "Emergency teleport command deck to shuttle bay. Six." And with that the Astro rangers were teleported. Kincaid then turned to Ashley and said, "Go with them. Make sure they're safe."

"Andros is going to be upset about this.", Ashley said. "Emergency teleport command deck to shuttle bay. Key on signal.", and with that Ashley teleported. Kincaid also ordered Jessica and Phantom to be teleported to the bay as well.

The Astro Megaship flew out of the shuttle bay, and Kincaid focused on business. "Enemy ships will be in range in thirteen minutes. Activating defence grid."

"Countermanded.", Kincaid said. "Deactivate Defence grid. Do not reactivate without my or another Nightfighter's authorization." The computer obeyed.

"Okay, now how do we do this?", Kincaid said thinking about how to destroy the ships without blowing up the rangers.

"How did Hardrive crack the mode lock at the museum?", Mackenzie asked.

"He had DECA crack the code on it. Could those scramblers have a code?", Kincaid asked.

The Nightfighters shared a look that said 'Let's find out' as they rushed to their zords.

Kincaid then noticed the Astro Megaship fall in behind Defiance. "Ashley what are you doing here?", Kincaid asked.

"We couldn't just sit on the sidelines.", Ashley said.

"We all go or none of us go.", T.J. said.

"I guess I can't argue with that.", Kincaid said then he ordered Hardrive to begin the code breaking program. "Andros can you get DECA to help out with the codes?", Kincaid asked.

"She's already working on it.", Andros said. But after a few minutes Cassandra spoke over the intercom. "Those ships are getting too close.", she said.

"This is taking too long.", Bruce said.

"Agreed.", said Kincaid. "I've got another idea. Andros, do you have any magnetic key gauntlets on board?"

"Yeah why?", Andros said.

"I'll need five of them and three of your rangers. Along with whatever cutting tools you've got." Andros couldn't believe what Kincaid was planning. "Are you nuts?", Andros asked.

"Maybe, but it's the only chance Jason and his friends have."

"Okay ready?, Kincaid asked. A signal fron all the rangers said they were. Then Kincaid, Mackenzie, Bruce, Justin, Adam, Andros, Ashley and Carlos jumped out of their zords like skydivers and keyed into the magnetic hull of the Luciferian ships. All eight rangers landed close to the canopies.

Soon each ranger began to cut open the canopies to allow the other rangers to escape. When Kincaid freed Jason he then ordered Defiance to teleport them off the hull since the scramblers only worked while the rangers were inside the ships.

Defiance teleported Kincaid out. All the other rangers followed suit. Justin cut Billy out of the canopy and ordered Defiance to teleport him to safety while Justin went back to Roadbuster.

Adam got Zack out and said "Ready to hip hop out of here Zackman?".

"You know it.", zack said as he was teleported to Defiance and Adam was teleported to the Dragonzord.

Ashley got Trini out and Trini said "Thanks before she was teleported to Defiance and Ashley to the Megaship. Mackenzie got Rocky out and he asked who she was. "What don't you know an angel of mercy when you see one?" then Mackenzie went back to the Astro Viper and Rocky to Defiance. Carlos got Aisha out, and Andros got Emily out, and Bruce teleported out with Tanya.

"Well hello.", Bruce said to Tanya as he freed her from the canopy. "We'll talk later.", he said as Bruce teleported Tanya to the safety of Defiance.

"Cassandra, the ships have been evacuated, and we're pulling out. Knock them out of the sky.", Kincaid said. Jason and the others captured rangers joined him on the command deck.

Cassandra was ready said "With the element of FIRE!!", and a spew of flame shot out of the Emerald TigerZord. The fire consumed the ships and Cassandra saw seven detonations light up the sky which signified destroyed ships.

"Kincaid one made it through and is heading towards the safehouse on fire.", Cassandra reported.

"Get ready to fire again.", Kincaid said. "Computer reactivate Defence grid." She made ready to fire again and the Defence Grid tried to power up, but it was too late. The ship made impact with the luninescence shield around it and detonated. The explosion danced around the lights and when the smoke cleared the shield was down.

The Nightfighters and rangers, except for Emily who stayed inside Defiance, immediately set down to check out the damage that was done to their base. The shield was down of course and on the surface was a big black scorch mark that signified where the ship had crashed.

"Let's check inside.", Kincaid said with a ring of sadness in his voice. And the rangers entered the safehouse.

"The last ship took out a lot of our systems. We also have structural damage. We're barely operating as it is.", Ashley said.

"Self-repair program is running but it can't cover all the damage alone.", Justin said. "We will need to finish the job after it does all it can do."

"It seems like only the upper levels were affected the most. The farther down we go the less damage there is.", Cassandra said.

"It's a good thing we moved the special projects to the lower levels. Are they ready?", Kincaid asked Justin.

"They're ready.", Justin said.

Kincaid then went over to where Jason, Rocky, Billy, Tanya, Aisha, Zack, Trini, Andros, Karone, Zhane, Cassie, T.J. and Carlos stood. "It's time to show you something new."

Kincaid led the Astro team to the area where the seven spaceships called the Explorer Zords were kept. When the Astro team saw them they hung suspended in the air. Now they were on the ground and ready to go.

"Andros. You will fly the zord designated Lightstar Explorer one.", making reference to a red spaceship. It was a zord that was built to be tough and strong. Much like the Astro leader was.

Kincaid then went to T.J. "T.J. You are the pilot of the zord designated Ligtstar Explorer two. This zord is fast and agile and can blaze a trail as good as any ship can." T.J. looked up to see the zord and it was love at first sight.

Kincaid then went to Cassie. "Cassie, your zord is Lightstar Explorer three. Beautiful, graceful and a spitfire when it has to be.", Cassie looked up to see a ship that was reminiscent of an old jet fighter.

Kincaid then went to Ashley. He gave Ashley a look that said "I understand." and he gave her the newly degugged Yello Astro morpher. Ashley gave a smile that said "Thank You." Then Kincaid spoke again. "Ashley, you will fly Lightstar Explorer four. May she take you to many new worlds along your teamates side." With that Ashley then turned to face Tanya.

"Tanya.", Ashley said. "About two years ago you trusted me with the powers of the yellow ranger. This is my chance to repay you. I entrust to you the powers of the Gold Blackhawk and the powers of the BlackGold ranger. May they serve you well."

Ashley gave Tanya the morpher and thanked Ashley. Ashley then crossed over to Bruce and winked at him. Bruce lit up with a smile and mouthed a silent "Thank You." Then Ashley went back to the other Astro Rangers.

Kincaid spoke again. "Carlos, you will be the pilot of Lightstar Explorer five. A zord that you can depend on as it soars amoung the starry skies of space." Carlos looked up breathless. It was clear the five Astro Rangers breath was taken away.

"When the five zords come together they will form a unit called the Mega Explorer. A machine that is used for defence against the deadliest monster.", then Kincaid went over to Zhane, Karone and Mackenzie.

"Zhane.", Kincaid said. "Your Explorer Zord is called the Silver Starhunter. Beautiful and graceful among the starry expances.", Zhane couldn't resist grinning at the sight of his new zord. "Oh by the way it has a new feature you will like" Kincaid then spoke to the Zord and said. "Mainframe say hello to Zhane."

"Ehhh, What's up doc?", said the voice of the silver starhunter computer Mainframe. Zhane jumped for joy at the new adaptaion. The other Lightstars had a look that said. "Oh great now we'll never hear the end of it."

Kincaid then went over to Karone and said. "Karone, your zord is called the Nova winger. Agile, fast, and deadly when it has to be." Karone looked at the lethal looking plane that had beauty, grace, and a design that said 'don't mess with me.', much like the pilot had.

"Your two zords will join together with Mackenzie's Astro Viper to form Explorer Megazord Two which will fightalongside the Mega Explorer. The Astro Megazord will serve as a supplement to you in battle." after that Kincaid went over to Jason and his group. "Now it's time to unveil your Zords and powers."

Adam and Cassandra appeared on the other side of the bay as they unveiled six new zords. All of them shaped like a dragon. Cassandra had a case with her that she opened to unveil five silver morphers with colored trim and one gold morpher that were newly built. And more styled in their design." Each ranger grabbed the morpher they felt drawn towards. Jason took the red trimmed morpher. Trini found hersdelf drawn to the white morpher. Zack had the green morpher and Billy went for the blue morpher. Rocky went for the gold morpher and Aisha had the solid silver morpher in her hand.

Adam then introduced Jason's team to their DragonZords. "Jason.", Adam said. "Your zord is the Red Dragon mark II. The fire Dragon. It's powers are at your command." Jason looked up to see the red dragon that was a vast improvement to the red dragon thunderzord that was its namesake. It was much bigger in the Torso and had wings on its back. As well as the long neck that could see its enemies coming.

Adam then went to Trini. "Trini, you will fly the White DragonZord. The Zord of air and wind." Trini looked up at the white dragon designed like a chinese dragon and it was love at first sight.

"Zack.", Adam said. "Your zord is the green dragon. The dragon of earth."

"Cool!", said the Zackman. "Bet it can hip hop to hiphopkido too."

Adam then went to Billy. "Billy, your dragon is the blue dragon. The Dragon of the sea." Billy looked up at the dragonzord that was reminiscent of a sea monster. "Morphenominal.", he said.

"When your four Dragons join together they will form the Mega DragonZord mark II. The name was best I could come up with on short notice." The other rangers smiled. Then he went over to Rocky and Aisha.

Adam then went to Rocky. "Rocky my frined. You will fly the Gold Dragon. A dragon of size and power." Rocky looked up to see the massive gold dragon and was awestruck.

"Aisha, you will fly it's companion. The silver Dragon.", Adam said as he looked up at the massive silver dragon that was just as big as the gold one. "When they join together they will form DragonZord Mark III which will supplement the mega DragonZord mark II."

Kincaid, Cassandra, Adam, Bruce, Mackenzie and Justin stood before the newly empowerd rangers and Kincaid said. "You have new powers and new zords. The final battle is coming and we will all need to be ready for it. And now to quote a well worn and time honored phrase..."

"IT'S MORPHIN TIME!!!", the Dragon Rangers said in unison.

"LET'S ROCKET!!!", the Astros said as they punched in the 3-3-5 codes and morphed into the Astro team.

"RED DRAGON POWER!", said Jason as he transformed into the red dragon ranger.

"WHITE DRAGON POWER!", yelled Trini as she morphed.

"GREEN DRAGON POWER!", said Zack.

"BLUE DRAGON POWER!", yelled Billy.

"GOLD DRAGON POWER!", yelled Rocky as he morphed into a gold dragon ranger.

"SILVER DRAGON POWER!", yelled Aisha as she morphed.

Each of the Dragon ranger uniforms were reminiscent of the original green ranger uniform, down to the dragon shield. Only the sleeves and legs were left white. Rocky's shield was a solid gold and only his gloves helmet and boots had a gold trim to them. The rest of the uniform was white. Aisha's uniform had the same patter except hers had silver trim.

"Now let's go get Savrod.", Cassandra said. And all the rangers went to their new zords. Before long a fleet of zords took to the sky on a rendezvous with destiny.