Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Kat, Karen, Trini, Zack and Billy took their usual seats at their usual table trying to figure out what was going on. Ernie had just informed them that Tommy and Jason had left the Center together. Jason, however, had seemed to be a bit worried and nervous about something.

"I don't get it!" Zack fumed once again. "Tommy told us that Jason was still here. What's going on! Why would Tommy lie to us?"

"Calm down, Zack" Trini spoke softly, still trying to get over the loss of her long time friend, Kimberly. She turned to Billy, who was deep in thought. "Billy?" Billy looked up, confused as to who had just spoken his name. "Do you think Tommy may still be under the potions hold?"

Billy looked at Trini. "It's possible. Tommy did look as though he was about to teleport somewhere when..."

Whatever else Billy was going to say was cut off by the telltale chime of their Communicators. The rangers looked at each other, then, as one got up and went to the alcove to answer the summons.

"We read you, Zordon. What is it?" Rocky spoke into his communicator.

"Teleport to the Command Center at once, Rangers." Came Zordon's predictable reply.

"We're on our way." Rocky replied as Trini and Zack took hold of Karen and Adam.

*Command Center*

The rangers teleported in to find Alpha bustling around getting the consoles in order.

"What's the problem, Zordon?" Adam asked quietly.

"Goldar, Rito and Neutralizer are terrorising people in the park," Zordon informed the Rangers. "You must go and intercept them."

The Rangers took their stance behind Rocky.

"It's Morphin time!" Rocky cried out the famous call.

"Purple Ranger Power!"
"Black ranger power!"
"Pink ranger power!"
"Blue ranger power!"
"Yellow ranger power!"
"Red ranger power!"

The rangers were then, instantly teleported to the battlefield.

"Zack, Trini, you two will remain here and help Alpha get a lock on Tommy and Jason." Zordon ordered the two ex-rangers.

"Zordon, we saw Tommy in the Park earlier without Jase. He told us that Jase was at the Youth Center, but Ernie told us that they left together. Do you know anything about that?" Zack questioned the ancient master.

"No Zack. I do not." Zordon replied grimly.

"Then where are they?" Trini asked.

"We have a lock on each ranger, including past weilders of the power. We lost the lock on Jason before we lost the lock on Tommy. This would suggest that they are no longer in this dimension. I fear they are in one of Lord Zedd's dimensions. It is imperative that we find them teleport them back here immediately." Zordon explained, concern etched in his voice.

"We're on it, Zordon." Trini confirmed quietly. Zack and Trini then turned to the consoles to help Alpha with the task.

*Angel Grove Park*

Red Ranger fell to the ground, stunned, as he took another powerful blast from the Neutralizer. Nuetralizer advanced on the fallen teen every intention of blasting the boy to peices. Black Ranger yelled at Rocky in alarm, then took to the air in a powerful flying sidekick. The kick hit it's target and Neutralizer flew through air backward and landed heavily on the ground.

"Rocky, are you alright?" Adam asked his friend in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rocky replied slowly getting to his feet. "Let's toast this guy!"

Both rangers then charged toward the monster.

Purple and Yellow Rangers had their hands full fighting Goldar.

"You Power Pests are finally going down, and you, Purple Ranger, how dare you betray the mighty Lord Zedd!" Goldar growled in fury.

"Forget it Goldar! I didn't betray anyone worthwhile. It's you that is going to fall and you will fall hard!" Karen shot back.

Goldar charged the girls and took a powerful swipe with his sword toward the girls. The girls easily ducked the clumsy swing and Goldar toppled over, over balanced. The fight continued.

Rito wasn't having such an easy time with the Pink and Blue rangers. Blue and Pink Rangers weren't giving him a chance. They continued to attack Rito from both sides. Rito was beginning to tire and both rangers could see it.

"Come on, Rito. You're not giving up now are you?!" Billy laughed at the bag of skeletons.

"You twerps won't know what hit you when I'm through with you!" Rito shot back.

"Give us your best shot!" Kat puffed.

Rito covered his eyes. Instantly the two rangers knew what was coming and split up before Rito uncovered his eyes and let loose a fatal blast of energy, missing the two rangers completely.

Rito looked around confused as to the whereabouts of the two rangers.

"Rito, behind you." Kat teased.

Rito turned around and before he even had the chance to put up a fight, the two Rangers double power kicked him in the stomach sending Rito flying backward.

"You two are going to pay for that!" Rito grumbled as he got up.

Eventually Goldar, Scorpina and Rito bowed out in their usual cowardly manner, leaving Neutralizer to fend the Rangers off for himself.

"Alright Rangers, let's re-group!" Adam commanded once the cowardly henchmen bailed out. The Rangers gathered up behind Adam as he spoke.

"Let's take this guy down, once and for all!" Red Ranger growled, eager to end the fight.

"I agree. Take him from all sides." Adam ordered in his usual soft, but commanding voice. The Rangers formed a circle around Neutralizer.

"You are all fools, Rangers!" The ugly beast taunted.

"You're the fool." Blue Ranger shot back.

The fight began in earnest as Neutralizer threw himself at the Red Ranger, who stood his ground waiting only until the last possible second to react. Falling back on his hind leg, Red Ranger spun his other leg around in a devestating hook kick aimed at Neutralizers head. The kick struck home sending Neutralizer reeling backward.

Black and Yellow Rangers flew through the air in a double power sidekick which neatly found the target on the back of Neutralizer. Neutralizer, unable to keep his balance, fell forward, face first, into the dirt with a heavy thud.

The rangers waited, never taking their eyes off Neutralizer, as he slowly, painfully got back to his feet. They were just about to charge at the beast, when a raw bolt of energy shot out from Neutralizer, hitting the Rangers front on and sending them sprawling to the ground, stunned.

As the Rangers slowly re-gained their wits, a beam of Rita and Lord Zedd's magic hit Neutralizer, causing him to grow. The rangers instantly sprung to action, calling upon their megazord.

"We need Mega zord Power! Now!" the Rangers commanded as one. As the zords came froth, the rangers each leaped into their respective Zords. The Ninja Zords then joined together forming the Ninja Megazord.

Neutralizer advanced on the Megazord and kicked out at the zord with deadly force, which sent the Megazord flying backward, landing on an abandoned skyscraper, destroying the building in a voilent explosion as it went down.

Inside the cockpit, the Rangers were working frantically to stabalize and get the Megazord back onto it's feet.

"Get the weapons online, Now! We need to finish this fight before we take another hit like that!" Adam barked out. Billy hurried to obey the order.

The other rangers managed to get the megazord back onto it's feet and called on the Power Saber. The Sword appeared out of no where and the Rangers instantly powered it up to full power and threw the energy beam at Neutralizer, who was destroyed on impact.

The Rangers briefly celebrated their victory before teleporting back to the Command Centre, the Megazord disappearing to it's own hiding place in the mountains.

*Lord Zedd's Palace*

Lord Zedd pounded his fist onto the barricade as his body glowed an angry red.

"Blast!!! There goes a perfectly good monster!"

In the background, Lord Zedd's cowardly henchmen shied away from their ancient master in fear.

"Now would be the perfect time to send Tommy and Jason to the Command Center. Tommy will get into so much strife, when the others find out what he did. It will cause the team to fall apart and Zordon will have to strip Tommy of his powers!!!"

The evil lord let out a crazed laugh that sent chills down ones spine, as he aimed his staff at the sobbing Tommy and the unconscious Jason, sending them to the Command Center.

After the battle had finished, the rangers had teleported in, de-morphed, to find Trini, Zack and Alpha working hard to find the location of Tommy and Jason. Billy instantly threw himself into the work.

Five minutes passed and Billy was beginning to get close to finding his friends when a teleportation beam behind the huddled rangers made them turn around. There, in the middle of the Command Center, lay Jason, with Tommy sitting over him, sobbing helplessly. The Rangers gasped at the bloodied, broken sight of their friend.

Tommy, caught unawares of the sudden teleportation, gazed around his new surroundings in a daze. When he caught sight of his friends and Zordon, he let out a choked sob mixed with fear and relief.

Billy was the first to recover from the shock and reacted on instinct. He nudged his way through his friends and went down by Jason's still form.

"Tommy?" Tommy looked toward Billy with a haunted look in his eyes. It was all Billy could do to keep himself from cringing at the pain that was reflected in Tommy's eyes.

"Tommy, what happened?" Billy asked in concern, speaking slowly so his friend could understand what he was saying.

Tommy shuddered. He couldn't hide the truth. He had to tell them. He was just gathering up the courage to speak when Zordon interrupted him.

"Alpha, teleport yourself and Jason to the medical chamber and begin treatment at once," Zordon commanded grimly. "There is no time to spare as infection has already began to spread through Jason's body."

The little robot hurried to do as he was asked and within an instant, both Alpha and Jason disappeared from the Main chamber.

"Billy, run a scan over Tommy immediately. If my suspitions are correct, Tommy may be free of the potion's effects, indefinately."

"Right Zordon." Billy did as he was asked, while the rest of the Rangers looked on. Once he had finished, Billy turned around to face the rangers, with a relieved smile on his face.

"There is not a trace of the potion left in him," Billy announced. "Although he is in deep shock."

"I don't understand, Zordon. I thought you said the potion would remain in Tommy forever. What happened?" Trini queried.

"With your earlier efforts, you were able to break a small part of the potions hold on Tommy. The when Tommy came back to us, of his own free will, he weakend the potions effect. The last two factors were when Lord Zedd released Tommy from his hold after Jason was... injured, and when the Neutralizer was destroyed. Unbeknown to us, Neutralizer was the key to the potion, with him destroyed, the potion dissipated. Tommy is now free from the evil clutches of Lord Zedd," Zordon finished.

Once Zordon had finished explaining things to the rangers, Tommy scanned each of his friends concerned faces.

"I know what you're all thinking, what happened." Tommy said in a small and trembling voice.

"Tommy, don't." Aisha interrupted her friend and leader.

"You need to rest. You're in shock." Billy added.

"You can tell us what happend later. After you've rested." Adam finished.

Tommy was about to open his mouth, but Zordon beat him to it. "Tommy, you will teleport to the medical chamber and rest. You are in shock and still weak from the potions effects." Zordon said in his, 'do-not-dis-obey-me' tone.

Tommy bowed his head, defeated. "Yes Zordon." Activating the button on his communicator, he teleported to where Alpha and Jason were.

The moment Tommy left the main chamber, the remaining rangers all turned toward their mentor wanting answers as to what had happened to Jason, and why Tommy didn't have a scratch on him. Although they had their suspicions, neither wanted to face that possibility.

Zordon waited patiently until the ruckus had subsided before speaking. "Rangers, I must ask that you go and do whatever it is you need to do today. Ask no further questions as to what had transpired in the Dimension of Darkness. You will not ask this of Jason not Tommy. When they are ready, only then will they tell you. Until then, I ask you not to badger them."

"Yes, Zordon." The rangers chorused none too happy.

"Before you go, may I congratulate you, Trini, Zack and Billy in your efforts on locating and teleporting Jason and Tommy back to the Command Center," Zordon rumbled on.

Billy, Trini and Zack looked at each other in surprise. Then Billy spoke.

"But Zordon, it wasn't us. We were still trying to get the lock on them."

"Very well. You may go now rangers." The ancient being continued, seemingly ignoring Billy's words.

The rangers glanced at each other and shrugged before leaving the Command center in a flash of colourful light. Zordon, satisfied that the rangers had left, teleported himself to the Medical Chamber to oversee Alpha's progress.

Medical Chamber

Alpha, how is your progress?" Zordon asked once he was in the chamber.

"Yikes! Zordon, you startled me!" Alpha yelped in fright.

"I am sorry, Alpha. How are you progressing?"

"Aye aye aye! Slowly, Zordon. Whoever beat Jason did a good job. He has a broken nose, countless broken ribs, a shattered jaw, a shattered patella, both legs and arms have been broken, numerous stab and slash wounds, internal bleeding, internal damage to vital organs, he has lost a considerable amount of blood, fever burns through him and he has a sever concussion!!" Alpha wailed, marking off each injury. "I'm doing my best. I have set his arms and legs and bandaged some of the cuts across his mid section. But I'm having difficulty with the internal damage. There is so much bleeding, that our scanners pin-point the exact location or locations from which they are originating!"

"This is not good, Alpha. Perhaps it would be wise to send him, with the Rangers, to the hospital for surgery. We can simply tell them that he was caught in a monster attack."

"You're right, Zordon. There really is nothing more I can do to help him. And without his powers, he simply cannot mend himself quickly enough."

"Contact Billy." Zordon ordered the android grimly.

"Right away, Zordon."

With that, Alpha and Zordon teleported back into the main chamber. Unbeknownst to the pair, Tommy lay awake on his bed, sobbing as he heard the whole exchange between the pair. Slowly, Tommy got out of the comfort of his bed and, on unstable feet, made his way to his friend's side.

_he looks so pale._ He thought in sorrow.

"I'm so sorry, Jase. Please, you gotta pull through this. You can't die. I could never live with myself if we lost you." He bowed his head. " I don't think I can live knowing I did this to you. Come back to us, buddy. Please." As sobs racked Tommy's body, he slumped down to the ground in a dead faint, the events and shock finally taking its toll on him.

Command Center

Zordon had just finished explaining what he wanted the rangers to do.

"Don't worry, we'll take extreme care with him. And the best medical treatment."

Rocky assured the ancient being. The others agreed whole-heartedly. That said, the rangers morphed then teleported to the Medical Chamber.

Medical Chamber

Upon arrival, the rangers were met with the sight of an unconscious Tommy lying on the floor with Alpha's medical instruments on and scattered around Tommy.

"Oh man!" Billy and Rocky sprung forward and quickly cleared the mess. Then Blue Ranger gently lifted Tommy and placed him onto the bed, checking for cuts, once he had settled the White Ranger into the bed. Satisfied that Tommy was all right, Blue Ranger then turned to Jason and carefully picked him up.

Once re-assured Jason was all right in the Blue Rangers arms, the rangers promptly teleported to Angel Grove Community Hospital. Blue Ranger giving thanks for his added strength as they went.

Angel Grove Community Hospital

The rangers teleported into the hospital, startling the staff immensely. Taking one look at the unconscious teen in the Blue rangers arms, four nurses rushed to them with a gurney being wheeled between them. Blue Ranger gently placed Jason onto the gurney, thankful to unload the injured boy.

"What happened to him?" Nurse Jones asked the rangers.

"He was caught in a monster attack. We managed to treat most of his injuries, but I'm afraid that even with our Command Center's superior technology, we were unable to treat the internal injuries. He has massive internal bleeding...." Blue Ranger went on to list all the injuries Jason's body sustained. When he had finished, the nurses looked from Blue Ranger to Jason in horror.

"He's very lucky to still be alive. We may not have much time. Quickly, rush the boy up to the operating theatre," Nurse Jones demanded. "I will call ahead to warn them."

The nurses rushed Jason off without a second thought. Nurse Jones then turned to the Rangers.

"We're going to have to ask you a few questions about the boys identity. We'll also have to locate his family and get them here, pronto."

"Not a problem." Blue Ranger replied. "Red Ranger, take Purple Ranger with you and teleport to the Scott's home. Explain what has happened and teleport them straight here."

The two rangers teleported out wordlessly.

"If you'll follow me to the front desk, we'll get the boys details."

The rangers followed the nurse and gave her all the details on Jason.

When they had finished, Red and Purple Rangers teleported in, the Scott's clinging onto the Rangers arms. Both Scott's were pale and in shock.

tbc.....