Jason Lee Scott slowly but steadily strolled into his bedroom and plopped himself down onto his bed. Shirtless, he wore nothing more than a pair of black shorts to sleep after a long day at school and hanging out with the other rangers. Jason pulled himself into a comfortable position under his blanket, stretching his arms out and turning off the table lamp before deciding to take a snooze. He figured that at 11:00 PM it would be a good time to rest his body, since it was a Friday night and he wouldn't have to worry about school the following day. However, he still felt full of energy, probably because King Mondo hadn't attacked all day, which led to Jason staying up and letting his mind wander around quite a bit about his days as a ranger, past and present. He enjoyed being back on the team, but now the team had changed quite a bit since he had left for the peace conference well over a year ago. However, the rangers who were new to him were like a welcoming family. Rocky, despite being Jason's replacement, had a humor that much reminded him of how Zach was. Kat was probably the sweetest and kindest girl Jase had ever met, Adam was shy, yet a great friend and a skilled martial artist to spar with. Tanya had grown close enough to Jason as to trust him to be the keeper of Auric, the great warrior, and having Tommy and Billy around kept Jason hanging on to the good ol' days of the original six. This new team was just as close as the old one, and his days as the Red Ranger were now long gone, but it gave him a warm feeling to be welcomed back to continue the saga of the Gold Ranger.

"Beep beep beep-beep beep beep!" the sound of Jason's communicator rang from his nightstand. It was actually a sigh of relief to him, seeing as to he probably wouldn't get to sleep at least for another couple of hours. Turning on his lamp and pushing his bed sheets away, Jason was quick to answer his communicator. "This is Jason, go ahead Zordon."

"Jason, please hurry downtown," Zordon responded. "A band of Cogs has been spotted, please attend to this situation before it gets any worse. I have already contacted the other rangers and they will meet you there."

"Alright, Zordon, I'll get to it in just a moment," Jason assured. _Why would Mondo attack the city this late at night?_ he pondered in his mind, but there was little time to think. Slipping on a black t-shirt and a pair of slippers, Jason uttered out the famous command, "It's Morphin Time!"

"Gold Ranger Power!"

A streak of black and gold light shot down onto the streets of downtown Angel Grove, where citizens everywhere were running about, trying to avoid the Cogs who were rampaging through the area. The Gold Ranger met up with the Red, Blue, Green, Pink and Yellow Zeo Rangers who were doing what they could to defend from the attack.

"Glad you could join us, Jase," Tommy complimented as he spotted his friend join the battle.

"Hope I made it in time to crash the party!" Jason bellowed sarcastically. Soon enough, the Cogs found themselves to be no match for the far more powerful rangers, much less now with the addition of the Gold Ranger. The Blue and Green Zeo Rangers mauled a few Cogs with a few moves they learned in practice, while the Pink and Yellow Rangers took out a few more.

"Let's finish these guys," Rocky had found the battle rather easy.

"Right!" Jason answered. "It's time for a gold rush!" With that command, Jason summoned his Golden Power Staff. Raising it high above his head and then waving it in the direction of his adversaries, the Gold Ranger shot out three streaks of gold light from his staff, which was enough to send the Cogs into retreat.

"Why can't those blasted scraps of metal do anything right!?" hollered King Mondo from the Machine Sky Base. "Even this new strategy of attacking while the rangers are asleep isn't working!"

"It's sad how the Rangers can beat us in their sleep," Prince Sprocket came strutting into the room. "Klank, YOU'RE supposed to be the one with the bright ideas! But nothing ever works!"

"Your majesty," Klank showed respect, "May I make a suggestion?"

"No!" Sprocket demanded. "Every time you make a suggestion, daddy winds up getting mad all the time."

The Machine King was now infuriated, "Exactly, Klank! None of your monsters ever come CLOSE to beating those pesky teenagers. So maybe you should just keep your beak shut this time and _I_ will come up with something new!"

"Bwahahahahahhaha!!!" came the sound of Rita Replusa's hideous laugh from the M-51 solar system after viewing the latest battle. "We may be sitting here on this stupid planet while those darn machines try to take over our planet, but now maybe the Machine Empire will realize how impossible it is to defeat those power brats!"

"It is NOT impossible!" echoed the voice of Lord Zedd, his body glowing red, and with one arm behind his back as he came stepping out of the van that they had to inhabit within during their stay on a rocky planet.

Rita merely laughed, "Ha! And I suppose YOU have a plan?"

"As a matter of fact, I do!" Zedd had now gotten the attention of his minions.

"What do we do then, Ed?" questioned Rito.

"First of all, you skum sucking skeleton, it's ZEDD!" gesturing with one hand and keeping the other behind his back, Zedd left the others waiting in anticipation.

"Zeddie," Rita began, "what have you got behind your back?"

"Oh, nothing, Rita," the Lord said sarcastically, "just THIS!"

Goldar, Finster, Squatt and Babboo, along with Empress Rita and Rito all heaved a heavy breath as they viewed a Zedd pull out a mound of red wax... in the shape of a candle!

After a few moments of silence, Squatt was the first to ask, "Um... what is that, your evilness?"

"Fool!" bellowed the mighty Goldar. "What does it look like you? It's the RED CANDLE!"

"Zeddie, where did you get that?" a smile was coming across the face of Rita Repulsa.

"The same place I found the other candles," Zedd responded. "Now, for those of you with that of a poor, pitiful memory, let me refreshen things up. In the past, Rita used the Green candle to deprive Tommy of his powers. Then came the time for four other rangers to have their powers stolen, but the Red Ranger interfered and disallowed it from happening. Now Jason may have saved his friends, but now he has himself to worry about!"

"Excuse me, Lord Zedd," Finster came into the conversation, "but these candles are to take the rangers' powers away, and unfortunately, they are only linked to the 6 original power coins."

"Your point?"

"The power coins were destroyed long ago," Finster explained. "What good can the Red Candle do us now?"

Lord Zedd merely chuckled at the question, "well we aren't about to take any powers away, Finster. See, when the power coins were destroyed, the rangers thought that they were gone for good. And since the other candles have already been consumed, the ONLY source of power of which the original Red Rangers' power coin now rests is within this candle! This candle is linked to his powers, keeping his powers fully in tact and charged right here."

"But what do you intend to do with it, Ed?"

"That's the fun part," Zedd explained. "All will be revealed in time, and now all I can say is that the Gold Ranger won't know what hit him! Now if you don't mind, shall we pay ol' machine head a little visit?"

As King Mondo paced back and forth in frustration over months of failure against the Power Rangers, streaks of blinding light struck the Machine Sky Base and in teleported the infamous gang of Zedd, Rita, Goldar, Rito, Finster, Squatt and Babboo.

"Who DARES interrupt me at this time!?" Mondo had become furious, and this was the worst time to bust in on his troubles. Queen Machina, Prince Sprocket, Klank, Orbus and a group of Cogs stood behind King Mondo, facing towards Zedd and company who now stood across the room, as if there was a dividing line between the two evil forces.

"Relax, you old fool, and don't get your wires tangled up," Zedd hissed at the Machine King. "It's just me, an old friend," he finished, sarcastically.

Queen Machina was just as frustrated as her husband. Gesturing towards a pair of Cogs, she ordered, "seize them!"

"Stop!" Lord Zedd tried to counter Machina's orders. "You don't seriously want to start a fight in HERE now, would you?" Zedd concluded as he noticed the Cogs back away at his comment.

"What is it you want? Make it quick and we we'll take it easy on you!" threatened Mondo.

Drawing out the Red Candle, Lord Zedd responded, "we know that we could defeat you any day, but we'll save that for another time. I have devised a plan, but we need your help."

"Why would I listen to YOU?" echoed the Machine King's booming voice.

"Because, I know of your troubles," Lord Zedd explained, as he walked in a circle around King Mondo. "Who knows better about hating the Power Rangers than I do?" Zedd chuckled slightly as he saw no one bothered to answer. "I recall the day that the White Ranger joined the team. I was so close to bringing those 5 teenagers to their knees until that day. And now, years later, the Gold Ranger shows up to bring you your days of misery, thereby making your quest of taking over the earth that much more difficult."

"So what are you proposing here, Zedd?" Mondo asked as the rest of the room anticipated.

If Zedd could have smiled, we would see an ear to ear grin, "Well, you know what they say. 'Fight fire with fire!' This candle I hold within the palm of my hand holds all that is left of the original Red Ranger power coin. We nearly brought the Rangers down to their knees the last time we had one of them working for us. So what I'm saying is we clone our OWN Jason, and USE it against him."

The room stayed silent for several moments before Mondo spoke, "Well Zedd, I'm impressed, it's brilliant," he complimented unwillingly. "Why of course, a ranger can't possibly beat himself!"

"Uhh... Zedd," Rita tried to cut in. "We tried that before, remember? With Tommy, and he still managed to defeat us, what makes this any different? And how do we manage make an identical clone of him?"

"Well, Rita," Lord Zedd made himself comfortable in the Machine Kingdom's presence, "the Gold Ranger's skills, if you haven't noticed, have grown much weaker since his former days as the Red Ranger. He has grown rusty and in human terms, 'off his game' and is vulnerable for an attack. He now depends on the leadership of Zeo Ranger 5, and backup from the rest of the team. I doubt he could last in a battle alone, much less against himself. Now, as for cloning him, I'm sure Finster could think something up," Zedd concluded, as all eyes turned towards Finster.

"I knew you'd call on me some time or another, your lordship," Finster said. "I suppose we could round up a group of Tengas to capture the Gold Ranger during battle."

"Wait a minute, there," King Mondo cut in. "How do WE, the Machine Empire fit into this? You obviously came here for a reason."

"That's right," Lord Zedd continued the conversation. "Since you can't beat the rangers by yourselves, and we can't beat them by ourselves, I suggest we put our heads together against a common enemy. We'll battle amongst ourselves later, but now, it's time to eliminate the rangers one by one, starting with their crowning jewel, the Gold Ranger. Finster, get to work and make a scanning device to transfer the data from Jason's mind and body. We'll need it if we want to pierce into his thoughts and feelings in order to duplicate him. Rita, Machina, get a group of monsters to keep the other rangers busy. And Mondo, round up some of your best Cogs to search after him. Meanwhile, I'll sit here and keep the Red Candle in safe hands."

"Who made YOU the leader of all this?" Mondo demanded, almost feeling disgusted by Zedd's orders.

Zedd just shook his head, "It was my idea, wasn't it?"

Stretching his arms and pushing his bed sheets away, Jason slowly got out of bed as the clock struck 8 am. It would be about another hour before the other rangers were due to meet him in the Youth Center, but he figured now was as good a time as any to get changed and have a quick breakfast. It wasn't long before he left the house.

Later that day, Jase walked down the sidewalk on the way to meet his friends. He figured he could take a shortcut across the park, which had several families setting up picnics and spending time there, just as Jason's family used to do on Saturdays. It was a rather nice day out, which gave the Gold Ranger a soothing feeling, until he thought he saw something out of the corner of his right eye. Jason quickly spun around and took his fighting stance, but saw nothing behind him as he walked past some trees. Figuring it was nothing more than his imagination, he continued to strut his way over to the Youth Center, that is, until three Cogs shot down from a tree to block his path. Jason shuddered and backed away at the sudden ambush, but he backed himself right into a trio of Tengas who had emerged just behind him. He had heared of the feathered creatures before, although never got a chance to face off with them, until now.

"Back off!" Jason threatened as the civilians in the park were now fleeing away at the sight of Zedd and Mondo's troops. Jase backflipped away from a

Tenga that tried to strike him with its wing. He then charged forward, leapt into the air and nailed a Cog with a flying kick, knocking it to the ground. The other two Cogs clasped onto Jason from behind, but he managed to slip away and flip them both over. Suddenly, more Cogs and Tengas emerged around him. Jason clicked a few buttons on his communicator, "Zordon, I need help!" he cried out, but a Tenga slapped his communicator away, knocking it off his wrist and onto the ground.

"Capture him," the robotic voice of a Cog said.

"Never!" the former Power Ranger leader beamed, "It's Morphin Time!"

"GOLD RANGER POWER!"

The Gold Ranger took his fighting stance, but before he could move, the crowd of nearly a dozen Cogs and Tengas now swarmed him, smothering him with no room to move. Every which way he tried to throw a punch or a kick, he was cornered. It wasn't long before they grabbed him by the arms and teleported away from the park, leaving not a trace... except for his communicator.

"Ay yi yi yi yi!" shrieked Alpha 5 as he stared at the viewing globe, "the Gold Ranger is in trouble! I'd better alert the others!"

"Alpha, wait," Billy tried to calm down the robot. "You try and get a fix on his coordinates, they couldn't have taken him too far. I'm supposed to meet the other rangers in just a few minutes, I'll tell them what went down."

"Billy, try not to startle the others too greatly," Zordon ordered, "we don't know what evil forces want with Jason, but the worst I have feared has now happened, Zedd and Mondo have united against us."

"Man, it's not like him to be this late," Tommy said as he finished a drink, "do you think we should try contacting him?"

"I'm sure he'll turn up, Tommy," Kat tried to assure him, "something just probably came up.

"Do you think it's got anything to do with Mondo and Machina?" Rocky said, looking pale.

"Maybe," Tommy answered, "let's just wait and see what happens." Just then

Billy came bursting into the room, looking out of breath.

"Hey Billy, what's wrong?" questioned Adam at the sight of his friend, who's hair seemed in a bit of a mess and his white shirt looking wrinkled.

"It's Jason," Billy said regretfully, "Mondo and Zedd have teamed up and they have him." The other rangers stared at each other with looks of confusion and fear after hearing Billy's words. "Listen guys, let's get to the park, there may be a trace of where he was taken."

Tommy, Adam, Rocky, Kat, Tanya and Billy came dashing into the park, and quickly spotted Jason's communicator behind a tree.

"Look, there's his communicator," Adam got the rest of the team's attention, as he picked it up. It wasn't long before the famous 6 tone beep sounded. The rangers looked around to make sure no one was looking at them before Tommy answered.

"We read you, Zordon."

"Tommy," Zordon's was loud and clear. "A herd of monsters have been spotted on the streets of Angel Grove. You, Adam, Rocky, Kat and Tanya must attend

to this situation immediately. Billy, report to the Power Chamber and aid Alpha in continuing the search for Jason."

"Alright guys, it's Morphin Time!"

"Zeo Ranger 1, pink!"

"Zeo Ranger 2, yellow!"

"Zeo Ranger 3, blue!"

"Zeo Ranger 4, green!"

"Zeo Ranger 5, red!"

Jason slowly opened his eyes and realized that he had been knocked unconscious, for how long, he didn't know. He tried to sit up, for he was laying on his back, but found that his arms and legs were bound by chains, as was his waist wrapped against something. As he looked at his surroundings, he realized he was strapped to a table, and around him were solid rock walls. He knew he was in a cave of some sort, with a bit of light shining from the far corner, and he heard voices come down the hallway.

"No no no," Klank tried to assume command as he and Finster walked into the cave together, "we clone him first, then we ask Zedd for the Red candle."

Jason was shocked, _they're trying to clone me? What red candle?_ he thought to himself as Finster and Klanked showed themselves.

"Ahh, he's awake," Finster said. "Use the device now, and be careful," he ordered towards Klank.

"Get away from me!" Jason used all his might to break free, but the chains binding him were too strong, even for his well-built muscles.

"Be patient now," Finster said calmly to his enemy. Klank had some kind of rectangular shaped device in his hand, which had to be no longer than eight inches long, and had a shimmering blue light coming out of it. He ran the blue light down the body of the Gold Ranger from head to toe. Little did Jason know that the information from his body, his memories, his thoughts and feelings were now being disrupted, his privacy now no longer a secret as Klank processed the information in the device he held in his hand.

"What are you doing!?" Jason hollered.

"Nothing you need to be worried about...... yet," Finster answered.

Streaks of Red, Green, Blue, Pink and Yellow light shot down into the streets of Angel Grove.

"So glad you could make it," King Mondo stood at the top of a ten story building, carrying his staff, and down below were Rito, Goldar, and some of Mondo's best monsters, namely Drillmaster, Silo and Staroid terrorizing citizens.

"Let's take 'em, guys!" Tommy ordered to the rest of the team. The 5 rangers spread out, Tommy drawing his power sword and going after Goldar.

"So, we meet again, Tommy," Goldar taunted the Red Ranger. The two circled one another, swords drawn, neither of them making a move.

"Yeah, and this battle will go down just like the rest of them," Tommy tried to lower the morale of his opponent, "with me as the victor." The Red Zeo Ranger was first to charge forward, exchanging blows with Goldar. The mighty monster swung his sword at Tommy, who blocked it with ease, and gave Goldar a stab to the mid-section. Kat and Tanya leapt over a car and struck Rito Revolto at the same time with two flying kicks, knocking him over and causing him to drop his sword. Adam, meanwhile battled with Silo and Staroid at the same time, with Rocky taking Drillmaster one-on-one.

"Ah, what a beautiful sight of destruction," Mondo said, viewing the battle. "But I think it's time to take this one step higher." Waving his staff in the air and conjuring up some energy, King Mondo grew himself, Rito, Goldar, and the other 3 monsters into full size.

"Whoa, a giant sized Mondo and 5 goods," said Tanya.

"We better not waste any time. We need Super ZeoZord power now!" Tommy commanded. The 5 Super ZeoZords came shooting out of a cannon in the zord holding bay, and quickly merged as the Super Zeo Megazord, drawing a pair of long swords for battle. The Super Zeo Megazord was surrounded however, with Drillmaster charging right into it, and Silo ramming into it from behind. King Mondo stayed back and blasted the powerful megazord with rays of energy from his staff.

"We need more power! This isn't gonna be enough," Adam said.

"Call the other zords," Kat suggested.

"You're right, Red Battlezord now!" Tommy teleported himself into the Red Battlezord, which landed on the ground and fought off the herd of monsters.

The Zeo Megazord then came out of the zord holding bay and formed the Zeo Megazord, making this as fair a fight as possible. Goldar waved his sword in the directino of the Zeo Megazord, knocking it to the ground, as Rito wrestled with the Red Battlezord.

"Tommy!" Rocky shouted, "try the Warrior Wheel!"

"Good idea, Warrior Wheel now!" the Warrior Wheel shot out and transformed into its battle mode and fended off a few of Mondo's goons. But still out-numbered, the rangers were going to have a hard time holding out for too long against 6 adversaries.

"Man, I hope Billy finds Jason and sends him here soon," Adam muttered under his breath. "Brace yourselves everyone!" he yelled as the Super Zeo Megazord took a tumble to the ground, right into a building. The Warrior Wheel was far too small and even its quickness couldn't match Silo's power, and Rito and Staroid double teamed the Red Battlezord, with Goldar getting to work on the already down Zeo Megazord.

As Klank finished processing all the necessary information from Jason's body, Jason continued to struggle to get free. The blue shimmering light from the device was now beginning to hurt his eyes. _Man, if they make an exact copy of me, who knows what they could do?_ Jason was still in thought, but there was little time to think as he knew he couldn't let it happen. Suddenly, the blue light disappeared.

"You'll never get away with this!" Jason beamed.

Finster just laughed at him, "it's a shame how many times you've said that line." "I'm done," Klank said.

"Good, now let's get this information over to Rita and Zedd and we'll see what we can do," Finster responded. "As for our little friend here," Finster reached into his pocket and threw a handful of dust in the air, "this hallucination dust will take care of him." With that, the duo turned around the corner and disappeared.

_Hallucination dust? Oh no_ Several minutes passed since Finster and Klank had left. Jason had given up fighting against his restraints, but then heard footsteps come walking down from around the corner of the cave, the only source of light he had at this time. The footsteps sounded familiar. It was only a matter of moments before he saw Tommy walk into the cave. "Tommy! Oh man am I glad to see you!" Jason complimented. "Now hurry up and get me out of here!"

"No," came the cold look on Tommy's face. It seemed peculiar that Tommy was clad in a green vest and black pants, not in his now present color of red.

"What?" Jason said in disbelief.

A smirk came across Tommy's face, "Look at you now, helpless, defenseless, I outta take you out right now."

"What are you DOING, bro!?" Jason stared at Tommy as if he didn't believe what his friend was saying, "is this some kind of joke?"

"You're the joke," Tommy crossed his arms. "Why would I help you, when you couldn't do the same for me?"

"What are you talking about?" Jason had suddenly realized what was going on. _It's the hallucination dust! Tommy's not really there! You're only seeing things!_ but nonetheless, the more Tommy put him down, the lower Jason's morale became.

Tommy shot a cold look in his direction, "you know exactly what I'm talking about. The Green Candle Jason, the Green Candle. You let me down. You wanted all the glory to yourself, that's why you wanted me off the team!"

Jason tried to fight what he was seeing and hearing, and thought back to the day when Tommy had wrote him a letter stating that he didn't blame him for the loss of the green powers, and that he would be his friend always. "It's not really you, Tommy! I know it!"

"Oh really?" the image of Tommy resisted. "If I weren't real, could I do THIS?" Tommy executed a karate chop square into Jason's chest, causing the ex-leader to bellow in pain, and yet he couldn't fight back, still bound by the chains. It wasn't long after until he heard more footsteps making its way into the cave. This time it was Zach who stood at the entranceway.

"Zach!" Jason shouted his friend's name.

"Tommy's telling the truth, Jason," Zach now joined in on taunting the helpless ranger. You should have saved his powers. You failed. You were never a friend to me nor him since the start. You tried to act big and bold as leader, tried your best but you were too stupid to fill the role!"

"That's not true!" Jason talked back. "If you were really Zach, you wouldn't be saying this!" Jase closed his eyes for a second, picturing a conversation he once had with Zach.

"If I had gotten the green candle, he'd still be one of us!" Jason said to Zach.

"Jason, you had no choice. I would know, I was there," Zach assured his friend that everything was okay.

"NO!" Jason's voice echoed all throughout the cave.

"That's why I became the leader," Tommy, or so what appeared to be him, continued to put Jason down. "Zordon knew you weren't good enough, and that's why I carried the team. You failed to get the green candle, and then under your pathetic leadership we lost the dinozords. You were the reason I went through all that trouble when my powers were recharged, and why I only had a limited supply left. Your ignorance and ego led you to leave the team. We were better off without you anyway!"

"I was supposed to be your second-in-command, Jase," Zach continued. "Yet you ignored every suggestion I made!"

"It's not true!!! Stop it! You're not Tommy! And you're not Zach!" Jason continued to resist what he was being accused of. "The REAL Power Rangers stick together as a team, through times of thick and thin! Don't try and fool me, so get the heck out of my sight!" Jason's courage was far too strong for mere images to stand against, and this, the illusions of Tommy and Zach soon faded away...

...Jason lay tired for several moments, trying to block out from his mind what he had just heard. Now he had to find away to get free. Suddenly, something appeared to be behind him, behind the table he lay on.

"Surprised to see me?" came Rocky's sarcastic voice. The Blue Zeo Ranger circled around where Jason lay.

"Rocky? Is that really you?" Jason questioned.

"Are you really that stupid you can't figure it out?" Rocky said. By now Jason had the feeling that this was yet another hallucination. "What does it LOOK like to you?"

"Damn it!" Jason muttered to himself.

"What's the matter? Can't talk to your replacement?" Rocky started. "You know Jase, there were reasons why Zordon picked me over you. It had nothing to do with the peace conference. When Tommy got the White Ranger powers, you were obselete, and here I was, a better, mighter warrior than you will ever be. And now here you come crawling back, trying to take back what was yours when you became the Gold Ranger. Do you think I LIKED being outcasted by you? Everything was just FINE before you came back! Besides, the other guys are just feeling sorry for a loser such as yourself," Rocky patted Jason on the head, treating him as if he was a dog, putting him down.

Jason thought back once again, saying to himself _remember the good times!_

"Rocky, you should know that I'm your friend, and I'm just glad I'm on your team," Jason smiled.

"Yeah, you can't save the world without working together, right?" Rocky said.

"What's the matter? Got nothing to say?" the image of Rocky was still full of anger. "I guess our little 'choice' as the Gold Ranger wasn't so hot after all." "You're wrong," Jason flickered back. "Rocky and I talked this out! And whoever you are, WHATever you are, I've gotten tired of listening to your crap. Nothing you can say could hurt me now, so why don't you just stop wasting your time!?!?" Just as he finished, the illusion of Rocky faded away just as Tommy and Zach's did earlier. _Man, how much more can I TAKE of this?_ Jason thought. He was now sweating, and out of breath, his mind pondering about several different things at once. He knew he had to last for a while, for if his self-esteem was to be broken, it would be hard for him to summon up the courage and strength to overcome it, but he had to try, no matter what, at least until help arrived...

"Perfect! Everything is going according to plan," Lord Zedd exclaimed as Klank and Finster got to work on the Jason clone. "The Gold Ranger's self-esteem is now wearing thin, and soon, very soon, he will be reduced into a crying little boy, just ripe for the beating that our clone will give him!"

Rita was overjoyed at what was occuring, "and there will be no one to save his little gold carcass. King Mondo and the others have the other Rangers down and almost out!"

"Finster, how is the progress on the clone?" Lord Zedd asked.

"All is going well, my Lord," Finster said respectfully. He and Klank were working around a table of some sort, where there appeared to be a human body laying on it, inside a bodybag.

"Good, the candle is fully charged right now. We'll attack the Gold Ranger when he leasts expects it."

"You guys, I've got a visual of Jason on the viewing globe," came Billy's voice over Tommy's communicator. "But I still can't locate where he's at, can you guys get to him?"

"Sorry Billy," Tommy answered, "no can do. We've got our hands tied up here." Goldar had now tackled the Red Battlezord to the ground, and standing over top of it, he jammed his sword repeatedly into the Battlezord's chest, causing a massive amount of damage. The Warrior Wheel was now down and nearly out of commission, while the other monsters swarmed the two Megazords, allowing only a limited space to maneuver. They could hear King Mondo's hissing from the back.

"Power cells are down!" Tanya exclaimed from the Super Zeo Megazord, where she, Adam, Kat and Rocky were inside. Adam sat in the center, up front most seat, where Tommy was normally positioned, although the long haired leader was piloting the Red Battlezord at this moment.

"Try the backup generator," Adam commanded.

Katherine shook her head, "no can do, it's power's down as well."

"If we don't turn the tide now, then we're cooked," Rocky half-joked, half talked in seriousness.

"We can't give up guys. We'll just have to hope Jason shows up with Pyramidas soon enough," Adam tried to keep the team from worrying.

Jason didn't know how much more he could take of these hallucinations. The more they occurred, the more they affected him. He had given up fighting against being bound to the table on which he lay, hopefully help would arrive soon. Around the corner where the light shone, he heard more footsteps from another pair of feet, and this time it was Billy who came around the corner.

"No way, I'm not falling for this again!" Jason was quick to his guard.

"What are you talking about?" Billy questioned, confusingly. "Jason, me and Alpha managed to trace your location. The other rangers are in battle right now, so they sent me here to find you."

Jason believed that this time might actually be the real thing, "alright then, man. Get me outta here, will you?"

"What am I? Your servant?" Billy stepped closer and merely paced around where Jason lay.

"Billy are you gonna help me or not?"

"Not a chance."

"Just as thought," Jason said in a deep voice, "you're just another hallucination."

"Why would I help you?" Billy caught Jason in his vulnerable state. "After how you always tried to push me as the nerd, the brainiac of the group, and now you expect me to come to our aid when I've got you down?"

"What's this all about?"

"The Gold Ranger powers," Billy said. "Did you actually buy that story about negative protons and why I couldn't wield the staff? I just stepped aside and made room for you, so I could watch you make a fool out of yourself."

"It's not true, the real Billy would NEVER do that!"

"Then you don't know me as well as I thought you did," the boy clad in blue leaned against the wall. "And now it's time to put you out of our misery once and for all..." Although he was not morphed, Billy raised his right hand up in the air, and in a flash of blue light, the Power Lance which he once wielded now appeared in the palm of his hand. "Adios, old amigo." Billy raised the Power Lance high up in the air, and came charging down with impact...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Jason screamed at the top of his lungs, but just as he did, the image of Billy faded into thin air, leaving Jason by his lonesome once again. _Man, that was CLOSE!_

The alarm sounded in the Power Chamber as Billy had just viewed Jason's screaming and he appeared to be talking to someone, but Billy hadn't seen anyone near Jason ever since Finster and Klank took off, of course, little did he know that hallucinations are only visible to those who believe them.

"Zordon, Alpha, I've got a fix on Jason's coordinates. He's in a cave of some sort," Billy reported.

"Good work Billy," Zordon was aroused. "However, the other rangers are still in trouble. I need for you to teleport to Jason and free him. Send him to meet the others."

"Right away," Billy teleported out in a flash of white light.

Seconds later, Billy teleported into the hidden cave where Jason lay.

"Billy!" Jason called. "Is it really you this time?"

"Yes," Billy assured him, and then unbound the chains that held Jason down. He brushed any dirt of Jason's shirt before informing him, "but the others are in major trouble, and they need your help."

"I'll get right to it. Let's get out of this cave first before anything else happens," the two friends dashed around the corner and out of the cave. They were obviously in the forest, trees surrounding them, as expected.

Billy reached down to speak into his communicator, "Tommy, guys, I've got Jason now. I'm sending him over to help you out."

"It's Morphin Time!" Jason uttered the famous cry... but before he could morph, a flash of bright red light came streaking down from in front of him, and struck him like a bullet, knocking the Gold Ranger down onto his back. To the surprise of Jason and Billy, the mass of red light now showed itself to be the orignal Red Ranger! "What the...?" Jason's voice trailed off as he lay in shock, watching before him as someone, although he didn't know who, was dressed in his old costume -- it looked exactly like it.

"Remember me?" the voice from under that red helmet ironically asked. The voice was the exact same as Jason's, and was identical to him in the way how the muscles on his well built arms were resemblant of those of Jason himself.

"Who... who are you?" Jason scurried backwards slightly, still sitting on his behind.

"Your worst nightmare," the Red Ranger taunted. Drawing the blaster from his holster, the Red Ranger threatened, "and now it's time to say goodbye!"

"NO!!!" Billy leapt forward from behind the original Red Ranger and grabbed it from behind with his arms, pulling them back and causing him to drop the blaster. He did his best to restrain him, but he was far took weak compared to the powers of a ranger. The Red Ranger freed himself with little struggle, and elbowed Billy in the gut. The Red Ranger then smacked the former Blue Ranger with a backhand chop to the side of his head, knocking Billy to the ground. It then proceeded to stomp on the side of Billy's head, knocking him unconscious.

Jason leapt to his feet and charged forward, "whoever you are, you're goin' down!" he yelled, and swung a powerful right fist towards the Red Ranger, who stepped out of the way with ease, causing the uncontrollable Jason to miss his target completely and fall to his knees. He knew he had better self control than this, but being the victim of several hallucinations and feeling stiff from having not been able to move his arms or legs for a short while, he felt a little stiff. As he hit the ground again, he suddenly remembered the words from Klank from earlier on, something about a clone... something about a Red Candle!

"You insult me, Gold Ranger," the Red Ranger said. "At least show some respect for yourself!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Jason beamed back, although he actually did. He didn't want to believe it, but he felt that he may be talking to a mirror image of himself... that under that helmet could lie his very own evil clone.

"Don't play stupid with me," the Red Ranger talked back. He lifted his helmet off of his head, and as Jason expected, he thought he was staring straight into a mirror. It was certainly an exact clone of himself, the hair, the earring, the look of a tiger on his face. It gave him quite an eerie feeling. "What's the matter, speechless?"

Billy's communicator sounded once again, "Hey this is Tommy, send Jason over already! Billy? Billy, come in, we need help!"

Jason motioned over to answer Billy's communicator, but the clone stepped into his way. "Not so fast," he said.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Jason stood up to his full height, staring eye to eye with his identical clone.

"I'm you, isn't it obvious?" the clone bickered. "I work for the united forces of the mighty Lord Zedd and King Mondo. You are to be my first victim, simply because this world isn't big enough for the both of us!" the

Red Ranger slapped his helmet back on and charged forward towards Jase.

Jason somersaulted out of the way, "It's Morphin Time!"

"Gold Ranger Power!"

King Mondo fired a blast of energy from his staff, with Drillmaster and Staroid hitting the Super Zeo Megazord with powerful lefts and rights. As the zord's power faded, the powerful Megazord hit the ground with a tremendous impact, one that nearly shook the city.

"That's it! We're out of power!" Adam slammed his fists against the controls.

Rocky added, "the Super Zeo Megazord's down and out, we're sitting ducks."

"Hang on guys," Tommy moved in with the Red Battlezord. "I'll take care of these guys," but Goldar, who flying up in the air behind the Battlezord came swooping down from behind Tommy's zord, raising his sword and driving it right down into the Red Battlezord's back, Goldar jammed his sword right through the Battlezord's back armor, piercing it out the front side. The Battlezord hit the ground next to the Super Zeo Megazord. "I'm hit! Red Battlezord's power cells are down to 0%, everybody abandon ship now and transfer over to the Zeo Megazord!"

"Where's Jason? He should have been here by now!?" Tanya was just as frustrated as the rest.

"Zordon," Kat called into her communicator, "can you send Jason over?"

"Rangers, right now he and Billy are in grave danger," Zordon told them, "I'll send him over if and when possible. For now, try calling Auric the Conquerer."

"Alright then," Tommy responded. "I call upon the power of Auric!" And with that command, Auric emerged from his tiki and appeared in the center of the street. The other rangers teleported into the Zeo Megazord. The Warrior Wheel then went down at the hands of Silo, who mangled the smaller zord. Auric tried to lunge forward at King Mondo, but the Machine King caught the Conquerer with his staff, raising him up high and driving him down, crushing a large building. Rito Revolto began stomping on Auric now, leaving the other monsters to surround the Zeo Megazord and blast it from all sides. Within a few moments, Auric was far too damaged and was forced to retreat into his tiki, and the Zeo Megazord took far too much damage to sustain the battle, thus hitting the ground, landing between the Super Zeo Zords and the Red Battlezord.

"All the zords are down, Tommy what do we do?" Kat asked the leader of the team. "There's not much we can do but sit here and wait for Jason to arrive," Tommy said while shaking his head.

"So you rangers aren't so tough after all!" King Mondo was overjoyed at the sight of destruction on the zords. "With the Power Rangers down, the earth is ours! Monkey boy, and you, Rita's brother, whatever your name is, return with me to the Machine Sky Base. There is a victory to celebrate," King Mondo pointed to Goldar and Rito. "Meanwhile, Drillmaster, Silo and Staroid will stay down here and continue their rampage on the city. Let's go," Mondo, Rito and Goldar teleported away.

"Alpha, transport the zords back to their holding bay," Tommy ordered. "If they take any more damage, we may never be able to use them again." The zords then disappeared from the street, transported back to the zord holding bay. "Guys," Tommy turned to face the rest of the team, they were all now standing outside, amidst the running citizens on the street, "let's get back to the Power Chamber."

The original Red and Gold Rangers circled one another while in their fighting stances.

"If you were really me, you'd be fighting on the side of Zordon, and not the evil forces!" the real Jason stammered at his foe.

"Nonsense," the evil clone said in defense. "Evil will soon be the way of the world. Darkness will fall upon your blue skies, and you Power Rangers will be chopped into mince meat!" The clone came charging forward now.

_Man, this guy is almost nothing like me!_ Jase thought as he defended himself from the Red Ranger's punches. The Gold Ranger executed a spin kick, grazing the left shoulder of the Red Ranger.

The Red Ranger held out both hands as if holding a baseball bat, "Power Sword!" he cried out, and the Power Sword appeared in his hands in a flash of red light. "Now you're finished."

"I don't think so," the Gold Ranger retaliated, "Golden Power Staff now!" the staff appeared in the Gold Ranger's right hand, the Red Ranger swinging his sword and the Gold one blocking it with his staff. The two exchanged swings of weapons for a few moments, before the clone kicked Jason in the gut and knocked him over.

"You're not so tough after all, Mr. Mighty gold ranger!" The clone motioned over towards the prone Billy, who was still unconscious, "now give it up, and pledge your allegiance to my emperors, or say goodbye to your friend!" the Red Ranger raised his sword up high, about to drive it down onto Billy.

"Do it, or Billy dies..."

"NEVER!" Jason cried at the top of his lungs, "it's time for a gold rust!" he raised his staff up in the air, summoning a swarm of power and fired three shots at the clone, causing the clone to drop his weapon and fall backwards. Jase then ran over and knelt down beside Billy. "Don't worry bro, I'll get you outta here. Alpha, teleport Billy back to the Power Chamber now." Billy left in a streak of white light. As Jason looked up, he realized the Red Ranger had disappeared. "Alright you fake! Where are you!?" he heard his voice echo throughout the area. He assumed that his clone had gone off into the forest. Jase walked in to search around, although he knew that it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The other 5 rangers teleported into the Power Chamber, where they found Alpha tending to a fallen Billy, who was just regaining consciousness and getting to his feet.

"Look, I'm fine," Billy brushed himself and stood up. It wasn't long before the other rangers began throwing questions at him left and right.

"Billy what happened to you?" Katherine started.

Tommy continued, "where's Jason? We need him."

"Can you repair the zords?"

"Mondo's goons are trashing the city."

"Stop! One at a time, guys," Billy hushed the others. "I was knocked unconscious. Jason was captured by some of Zedd and Mondo's troops and I had to rescue him. We were about to come back and I was going to send him to help you, but then we were ambushed..." Billy let his voice trail off and left a moment of silence.

"By who?" Tommy asked when he didn't hear Billy give the full facts.

"If my memory serves correct, the Red Ranger, or at least someone wearing Jason's old costume and using his old powers," Billy sighed.

"Are you sure?" Rocky looked concerned.

"Yes."

"This is why the evil forces captured Jason," Zordon added. "Zedd used the fully charged Red Candle, the only access to the old Red Ranger powers, and then they cloned him. As we speak, the Gold Ranger is fighting an adversary that is identical to him, which could spell doom. But fortunately, the Red Ranger's power coin doesn't have access to the Power Chamber like it did with the Command Center, so we won't have to worry about him entering here. It's up to Jason to overcome this mirror match he is facing."

Tommy turned to face Zordon, "then we've gotta help him. Where is he?" Suddenly the alarm sounded, interrupting the rangers from conversing.

"Rangers, Mondo's forces are continuing to attack the city," Zordon announced. "Me, Alpha and Billy will try to get to Jason as soon as possible, but for now, you 5 will need to do what you can to stop the monster attack."

"Our zords were damaged in the last battle," Tommy reported. "Billy, can you check and see how long it will take to repair them?"

"I've just done that," Billy said, staring down into one of the computers. "Unfortunately, the zords took quite a massive sum of damage. Both Megazords are probably going to need three days before being operational, and even then I'll have to work on some repairs. The Warrior Wheel's gonna need about 12 hours rest, while the Red Battlezord could use about 48 hours before being used again. As for Auric, he should be back if and when ready, hopefully soon, and Pyramidas is still fully charged and ready."

"Well, zords or no zords, we've got to do our best," Tommy said to the team. "Back to action!"

"Yes! Soon, very soon the rangers will fall," Lord Zedd boasted. "And the earth will be mine to claim!"

"Says who?" King Mondo objected. "The earth belongs to the Machine Empire."

"Ha!" Rita Repulsa cut in. "You've had your turn, Mondo, so stand aside!"

"Silence!" Goldar surprisingly calmed the situation down, waving his sword in the air. "The rangers have returned to the city to confront the monsters, and the Gold Ranger is still on the loose. With all due respect my emperors, we need to move slowly or we might fail once again."

"Who do you think you are!?" King Mondo beamed at Goldar.

"Shut up!" Lord Zedd held the Machine King back. "Goldar has a point. If we fight amongst ourselves now, we lose anyway. If I save your beating until later, we might actually defeat the rangers this time! Now Goldar, good observation. Take Rito and a squad of Tengas, and then lure the rangers into the dark dimension. But leave the Gold Ranger on earth to battle with our clone."

"Right away, master," Goldar saluted and then teleported away with Rito and some Tengas.

"Zeo Cannon, now!" the 5 Zeo Rangers stood together and summoned the gigantic weapon. They stood at the top of a building, where Silo, Drillmaster, and Staroid had been toppling buildings over and stepping over cars, causing mass amounts of damage throughout the city. The rangers aimed the cannon towards Silo, who spotted them and was swooping down to grab them, but the blast was enough to keep him away, causing the monster to staggar back and nearly fall over.

"Let's draw the Zeo Laser Pistols," Tommy commanded. However, out from behind them teleported Goldar and his crew. The rangers turned around immediately to meet the group, and the melee began.

"So we meet again, Tommy," Goldar said while drawing his sword. It wasn't long before the Tengas surrounded the rangers, grabbing them. The rangers struggled, but still couldn't get free as Goldar and company teleported them away from the city, off the face of the earth and back to the moon...

Meanwhile, Jason continued to lurk around for his foe. Passing by tree after tree, he found that his Red Ranger clone was probably nowhere nearby. Without his communicator, there was no way of contacting him. It wasn't long afterwards that Alpha teleported Jason to the Power Chamber, much to the former leader's surprise.

"What the heck?" the Gold Ranger muttered as he reached the Power Chamber, his helmet tucked under his left arm. "Zordon, what's goin' on? I've gotta go after the clone."

"Don't not worry, Gold Ranger," Zordon assured him. "We were unable to pick him up on our scanners, he obviously left earth. But there is another matter we must attend to. While you were captured, the other rangers were confronted by a squad of Zedd and Mondo's greatest warriors. Their zords were damaged, and just recently, your friends were captured by Goldar."

"Do you know where they are?" Jason asked.

"Billy is working on that," Zordon answered, "although they're probably no longer on earth."

"I've gotta go after them."

"No, Jason wait," Zordon stopped Jason from returning to battle. "A band of monsters is still on the loose in the city. We will need you and Pyramidas to stop them."

"I'll keep working on tracing them," Billy said while looking up from a computer screen. "I'll just need a few more minutes to confirm their location."

"With the other rangers out of commision, Jason, you are the earth's only defense at this present time. Go no, Gold Ranger, and may the power protect you."

"Back to action!"

Jason summoned Pyramidas at the scene of destruction. He teleported into its cockpit and was quick to confront Silo, Drillmaster and Staroid.

"Pyramidas, power up!" Jason cried as Pyramidas fired a blast of golden light at the 3 attackers. "You wanna fight? You got it!"

"So you're back," Silo said. "Just ask your friends how it felt to suffer our wrath!"

"Well this fight ends right here," Jason pressed a few buttons on his control pad. "Pyramidas, fire!" A flash of whitish-blue light shot up from the top of Pyramidas, and then streaks of blue lightning came crashing down, electricuting the 3 monsters. Soon, the power overheated their circuits, and Drillmaster, Silo and Staroid came crashing down to the ground in 3 mass explosions.

Just moments later, with the monsters defeated, the Red Ranger teleported down into the city in a ray of red light. The Gold Ranger thought he spotted a red flash, yet there was nothing on his tracking system. What he didn't notice was a large red structure come swooping down from the sky -- the Red Dragon Thunderzord. The Red Dragon dived down and struck Pyramidas from behind. The sudden sneak attack left Jason in a state of shock for a moment. The Thunderzord then showed itself by flying out front and converting into its warrior mode. Drawing its staff, the Red Dragon took a few swings at the large zeo carrier zord. But Pyramidas was still full of fight, it moved forward and nearly crushed the much smaller Red Dragon, but it managed to get back up and crawl away. The Red Dragon then raised its staff high up and was about to come crashing down, but Pyramidas fired at it, hitting it square in the abdomen area, and the Red Dragon collapsed onto a group of tall buildings. The smaller zord was no match, and the Red Ranger abandoned his cockpit to safety down below. The Gold Ranger left his cockpit and shot down onto the street to meet him.

"Back for more?" the Gold Ranger took his ready position.

"I'm just here to finish what I started, and that's destroying you!" the Red Ranger said as he turned a perfectly executed roundhouse kick to strike the Gold Ranger down. He then summoned his Power Sword, and tried to slice the Gold Ranger with it, but Jason was too swift for his blood-thristy clone, and rolled out of harm's way. Jase stood to his feet behind the clone, and as the Red Ranger tried to strike a knee to Jason's mid-section, Jase blocked it and tripped him to the ground, but the Red Ranger managed to cling onto Jason, and flip him backwards over his head, causing Gold Ranger to hit the ground again.

"You'll never win!" Gold Ranger taunted.

The Red Ranger laughed at the comment, "Look at you now, pathetic fool! You're not the same man you once were. Face it, you've gone well past your prime for your days as a ranger. You don't have what it takes anymore."

"That's where you're wrong!" Jason lunged forward, summoning the Golden Power Staff as he did, and smacked the Red Ranger with it, causing his foe to staggar backwards. "Guess again!"

"Impressive, but not good enough," Red Ranger picked his sword up, and charging towards Jason, the clone summoned the sword's maximum power, causing the sword to glow like a red laser, and he sliced his weapon right down the Gold Ranger's chest. The Red Ranger then placed the blade of his sword right up to the Gold Ranger's neck, although not touching him. "Surrender, or be destroyed."

"Listen to me!" Jason struggled. "You're a Power Ranger just like me. We should be fighting together, not against each other!"

"What's the matter? Can't handle a little action?" the Red Ranger said sarcastically. "Just a minute ago you were all big and bad on me, and now you're trying to reason? Make up your mind."

"Well I guess this is the way it's gonna have to be," Jason swept his left leg against the ground, tripping the Red Ranger, but the Red Ranger managed to execute a backflip, and landed square on his heels. However, this gave the Gold Ranger enough time to stand, and as the two came charging into each other like two bullet trains, the Gold Ranger snatched the Red Ranger by the left arm and flung him over his head, driving him down. Jason clung on to his clone's arm, and yelled into his ear, "your evil ways will never win! Turn to the side of good, the side of Zordon and the rest of the Power Rangers, where you belong. You have the power inside you, it's yours now to control. Free your mind from Lord Zedd, and join us as a team!"

"Never!" the Red Ranger bickered back, although in his mind he thought differently, _what if he's telling the truth? Who am I to try and slave mankind? How can I be evil when my powers were created for the side of good?_

"If you were really me, then you wouldn't take pride in hurting others," Jason struggled to keep control of his clone from popping up and hitting him. "Your powers and your role as a ranger is to protect the earth, not to conquer it. C'mon man, you know it, in your mind, deep down you know it!"

"What is that blasted Gold Ranger doing!?" Zedd's body began to glow with his anger.

"It looks like our plan's going to fail once again, Zedd! I told you a long time ago we should have given up," Rita boomed.

"Never!" Lord Zedd insisted, "we are so close to the destruction of the Gold Ranger, now isn't the time to back away. Goldar, get down there and instruct the Red Ranger to finish the job!"

While the two Jasons continued to battle, Goldar teleported in to join the melee. The Gold Ranger still had the Red Ranger downed and trying to talk sense into him, that is until Goldar interrupted.

"Don't listen to him!" the winged warrior bellowed. But the Gold Ranger's powers were far advanced to that of the original Red Ranger, and realizing this, Goldar shot too beams out from his eyes, striking the Gold Ranger and knocking him over. The Red Ranger got back up and drew his blaster from his holster. As the Gold Ranger lay in the prone position, with his arms spread to his sides and face down, the Red Ranger placed a foot onto his foe's wrist, disabling him from moving away. The Red Ranger then aimed his blaster at the Gold Ranger, just about to pull the trigger.

"Stop! You don't know what you're doing!" Jason cried.

"No! Finish the job! Destroy the Gold Ranger!" Goldar ordered. Just then, a police officer jumped up from behind a toppled-over car, drawing a handgun out from his holster, aiming it in the direction of Goldar.

"Freeze!" the officer demanded. "Or I'll shoot."

Goldar took the officer's threat very lightly, "oh really? Well not if I can help it!" Goldar turned towards the officer and fired two beams of golden light out from his eyes again, striking the officer down. The sight of this angered the Red Ranger. Civilians continued to flee away from the scene of danger, and Goldar continuously fired away at them, "get out of here, fools!"

"Do you see what evil can do to you?" Jason muttered to his clone in a weak voice. But the clone remained in the same position, the blaster still aimed right at the Gold Ranger's head.

"Now hurry up and finish him!" Goldar continued to demand.

"No," the Red Ranger had made his choice. He now turned away from the Gold Ranger, aiming the blaster straight at Goldar, "I'm tired of taking orders from you." Pulling the trigger, he fired a red laser beam right at Goldar, stunning the winged monkey. The Red Ranger proceeded to leap high up in the air and came crashing down with a perfectly turned spin kick at Goldar, knocking him against the side of a building.

"This can't be!" Goldar couldn't believe what was happening. "Tengas, get them!" A swarm of Tengas appeared at Goldar's command. The Jason clone helped the real Jason to his feet.

"I knew you'd make the right decision," the real Jason complimented.

"You were right all along," his clone agreed. Together, they took on the Tengas, who were attacking from left and right. But a few tricky moves and perfectly executed martial arts maneuvers by the two Jasons was enough to send the black birds packing.

"You may have won the battle, but you will never win the war!" Goldar said in defeat.

"That's what you always say," the Jason clone said as Goldar teleported away. A moment of silence fell between the two Jasons now, before the Gold Ranger spoke. "Do you know where my friends are?"

"Yes," the clone answered. "They're in one of Zedd's dimensions, on the moon. Come on, I can get us there." The two rangers teleported away from the city streets.

Two streaks of Red and Gold shot down into King Mondo's sky base. The two Jasons arrived at a dark dimension. Jason recognized the place to be the same place where he fought Goldar when going after the green candle.

Jase was surprised that the place was still standing although Mondo had now taken the palace over. Along the far wall was a cell, where Tommy, Adam, Rocky, Kat and Tanya were imprisoned, same place that Zach, Billy, Trini and Kimberly were trapped several years ago when Jason had to rescue them.

"Hang on guys, I'll get you out of there," the Gold Ranger unlocked the cell to meet his friends

"I knew you'd come for us," Tommy said, patting Jason on the back.

"Thanks Jase, but now we gotta get out of here," Adam added.

"Don't worry, I know a way out," Jason's clone said. Suddenly a portal opened up from behind the two Jasons, and out stepped the frightening figure, Lord Zedd, carrying his staff in his right hand.

"I knew it was too good to be true," Lord Zedd admitted. "You may think that you've won, Gold Ranger, now that your clone is on your side. However, victory is still far from your grasp."

"Give it up Zedd," the Red Ranger said. "We know that you're all bluff... and no stuff."

"Oh really?" Lord Zedd wasn't about to take the insult. "Well do you remember... THIS?" Zedd said while holding out the Red Candle.

The Red and Gold Rangers merely shuddered, not saying a word.

"I bet you forgot all about it, didn't you?" Lord Zedd asked in sarcasm. "As long as I have this, I control your powers."

"Guess again," the clone began to step forward. "The power is with me. Face it, you've lost control. You can't make me do your dirty work."

"Too bad, then I guess you've outlived our usefulness," Lord Zedd laughed. He then clasped the Red Candle firmly in his left hand, and then crushed the red wax, smearing it into smaller molds, and dropping it onto the ground.

"AAAAUUUUUUGH!" The Red Ranger fell to his knees, feeling the power leaving from his body.

"Hang in there man," The Gold Ranger came to his aid.

"We'd better get him to Zordon," Rocky suggested.

Lord Zedd continued to laugh, and then stepped on the already smeared red wax against the floor. Soon, he lit the wax on fire, and a flame smothered the Red Candle, burning it into complete nothingness. Jason (the clone, that is) screamed and bellowed in pain for the next several moments, as the power painfully departed from him. Soon his costume flashed away, leaving him laying there, flesh and blood, powers gone.

"This can't be happening... AAAAAUUUGH!" he grasped his chest.

"Make it stop! You're killing him!" Katherine innocently insisted.

"You'll... never... win..." Jason's twin crawled on his hands and knees over to Lord Zedd, trying to grab him, but he fell down unconscious, right at the feet of the evil emperor.

"Ah ha ha!" Lord Zedd cheered. "How does it feel... Jason? Or should I say, in teenager terms, you wannabe? My work here is done!" Zedd teleported away in a flash of bright light.

Jason dashed over to where his twin lay, "oh man, are you alright? Speak to me bro!"

"We'd better take him back to the Power Chamber for Billy to look at him," Tommy said. "Maybe he'll know what to do. At least this guy's on our side now."

"You're right," Jason hoisted his clone with his strong arms up onto his muscular right shoulder, and the rangers teleported out of the dark dimension.

"Well Lord Zedd," King Mondo began as Zedd returned, "you said you could finish the rangers off, but now it looks like you've lost your own trump card!"

"I may have lost the Red Ranger!" Lord Zedd talked back, "but at least I took his powers away so that the rangers couldn't use them! That duplicate is doomed anyway. he can't survive without his powers."

Seconds later Prince Sprocket came into the room, "uhh.. Daddy, there's this giant robot snake thing outside the castle!"

"What?" King Mondo was surprised.

"You squeaking, whining idiot," Lord Zedd's body glowed red with anger, "that's Serpentera! My most powerful creation, how else do you think I got here?"

"Oh yeah, well if it's so powerful, and it's a thousand times the size of a zord, why don't you use it for battle?" Prince Sprocket protested.

"Yeah Zedd," Mondo continued. "I heard you once destroyed a whole planet with that thing. It's ten times larger than the largest mountain down on earth, if you were any smarter you might have thought it would help against the rangers!"

"Fools!" Lord Zedd pounded his fist against the wall. "Don't you see? I can only travel on Serpentera now, since it only requires a small amount of feul. But to use in battle, to destroy cities, to conquer worlds, it needs an immense amount of power! It takes too much power, power of which we don't even have! And that is why it isn't used in the field of combat, because of the quantity of raw materials it consumes! Most of our energy has already been used up to battle those pesky power brats, I barely have enough feul to keep it running for one trip."

"Well you could have told me," the Machine King said. "Serpentera is just what we need to battle those rangers. Look at the size of this sky base, we have MORE than enough energy to power up Serpentera! And with Serpentera, we can easily conquer the earth!"

"My thoughts exactly!" Zedd added. "Those rangers are sitting ducks when this thing when at full power. Even Pyramidas would look like fly compared to it. Mondo, we have some work to do."

"We'll attack the earth in a few hours, once Serpentera is fully charged. We'll start by destroying Angel Grove and showing the world our power. Klank, get to work!" Mondo ordered.

Back at the Power Chamber, the rangers set out a place for the Jason clone to lay. He had just regained consciousness, with Billy running a scan on him using the computers.

"Well Billy, how is it?" Jason asked, but then was disheartened to see the frown on Billy's face when he turned around to face him. For a moment Billy didn't say a word.

"Billy?" Kat sounded as if she were trying to wake him up. "Billy what's wrong?"

"Guys, I'm afraid I have some bad news," Billy reported. "It appears that when Finster and Klank cloned Jason, they had some imperfections."

"What imperfections?" questioned the clone himself, sitting up.

Billy sighed, "your existence, as regretfully as it is for me to say, is highly dependant on the power of the Red Candle. Lord Zedd made it that way for you to never leave his side, but it's too late now. With the destruction of the red candle, and the destroying of its powers, I'm afraid to say... that..." Billy didn't want to finish.

"Afraid to say what, Billy?" Adam asked when he saw Billy hesitate to speak.

The Jason clone got to his feet and started towards Billy, "I... I'm gonna die, aren't I... Billy?"

Billy looked away before turning back. He nodded his head slowly and regretfully, signifying the answer of yes, "I'm sorry." The Jason twin buried his face in his hands at the answer. _I've known Jason for so long_

Billy thought to himself. _I can't believe this is happening, even though he's just a clone, he breaths, he has feelings. He's just like Jason, the way he acts, looks, talks, everything_

"Billy, isn't there another way?" the real Jason asked.

"Are you sure?" Tommy then asked.

"Could you be wrong?" Adam was next.

"Look! Why do you always have to ask ME all the questions!?" Billy barked at at his friends. He was just as devastated as everyone else to know that a life was going to be taken. "It's always *me* that has to know everything! It has to be *me* that runs the experiments! It has to be *me* to report that someone is going to die!!! Stop pressuring me!" All eyes in the room were ready to weep. Billy turned around and slammed his fists against some controls. Tears rolled down his face for a few moments, before he turned back around to notice that the clone had been crying as well. The real Jason just looked shocked, looking down at the ground, as if not knowing what to do. "I -- I'm sorry, guys," Billy apologized. It was too much for him to handle.

"It's alright Billy," Jason patted his friend on the back.

"Billy, we're all just as hurt as you are," Katherine came over and gave him a hug.

"Billy," Adam said. "If you don't mind, if you're sure that we're gonna lose him, then how can he still be alive? The candle's already destroyed. There has to be a mistake."

Billy answered, "the Red Ranger candle is gonna take some time to be fully destroyed, meaning that some of its powers are still left."

Jason walked over to his clone, putting an arm around him, "it's going to be okay, bro."

"No it's not!" the clone wailed. "You KNOW it's not! We have the same thoughts, the same memories, the same feelings! You'd feel the exact same way as I do now! I may have been created as a twin to you, but I'm a human being, just like you! I breathe! I sleep! I think! I'm not stupid! Stop telling me that I'm going to be okay!"

"Hey take it easy," Tanya tried to calm him down. "You might not be the real Jason, but you fought back against the magic of evil. You were strong inside, strong enough to break the spell. You should be proud of yourself."

"You may have tried to destroy me, but you turned around and did the right thing when it counted," Jason assured him.

The clone's eyes had turned red from sobbing, and he clutched his ribs in pain once again, as he fell to his knees to the ground. "It... it's not going to matter. What good is it all when I know I'm gonna die anyway, knowing I'm a fake, knowing I'm not really you, knowing I'm nothing more than a worthless duplicate of another human being."

Jason crouched down to see his clone eye to eye. "You're more than that to me," he said, "much more. You're like a brother to me." Jason had grown closer to his clone, feeling as though he were a part of him, something important, like an unbreakable bond. Just then, the alarm sounded. The rangers turned to face Zordon.

"Rangers, I am sorry to interrupt this moment," Zordon said. "But there are some serious matters at hand."

"More serious than this?" Tommy asked.

"Unfortunately yes," responded the mentor. "Serpentera is on its way to earth. King Mondo has equipped it with a full amount of energy, energy that Lord Zedd never had at his disposal. Knowing that they cannot take over the earth under their current circumstances, they are out to destroy Angel Grove, as a threat to the rest of the world and an example of their power. The governments would surely have to give in under those conditions."

"Then we have to stop them," Tommy said.

The clone wiped his tears away and turned towards Billy, "with my remaining power, can I still morph?"

"Yes, for a short amount of time."

"Then you can count on me to help," the clone offered.

"Guys," Billy got the team's attention while looking up from a computer screen view of Serpentera flying down to earth. "I've just discovered something. I know that there's no way we can defeat Serpentera just by butting heads with it. I've just discovered a weak spot. It's a large 40 x 40 silver plate at the back of its neck," Billy explained. "It's the fuel tank. Its main supply of energy is stored there. If we can pierce through it, and cause an explosion, it would cause a chain reaction inside, causing the oil inside it to ignite with fire and burst, smothering Serpentera with fire from the inside-out, which would destroy it for sure."

"Great!" Tommy exclaimed. "I'll fly up in Super ZeoZord 5 and blast it."

"I'm afraid it's not that easy," Billy said. "The 40 x 40 silver plate is made of an extremely powerful metal, unlike anything we have here. You would need to be flying in at the speed of about 2000 miles per hour to pierce through it and to cause that chain reaction. I'm afraid that none of our weapons or missiles can move fast enough to break through."

"Guys, I've got an idea," the Jason clone said. "I'll fly up with the Red Dragon Thunderzord, and use it to dive head-first right into the weak spot. It can move fast enough, and that'll work for sure, should I do it correctly."

"No way," Tommy argued. The rest of the team agreed it was unsafe.

"No, don't do this," the real Jason pleaded. "Save the energy you have, the more you use in battle, the sooner you'll die. It doesn't have to end this way. We'll figure something else out."

"I'm dying anyway, Jason," the clone uttered out weakly, then fell back down to his knees, as he grew weaker, but managed to stare up at the real Jason still. "If I go down, then I'll go down fighting. There's nothing more for me to live for. Please understand... brother..." the other rangers and Zordon knew that they couldn't argue. On the viewing globe was a swarm of Tengas and Cogs attacking the citizens of Angel Grove.

"Well, if you're sure," Tommy said slowly. "It's Morphin Time!"

"Zeo Ranger 1, Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger 2, Yellow!"

"Zeo Ranger 3, Blue!"

"Zeo Ranger 4, Green!"

"Zeo Ranger 5, Red!"

"Gold Ranger Power!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

The team of 7 rangers went into battle, attacking the Cogs and Tengas in the city streets. There were many of them, nearly twenty just smothering the rangers, highly out-numbering the smaller team. It wasn't long before the skies grew darker, the sun fading away, the coulds in the skies turning grey, as the extremely massive figure of Serpentera was spotted, swooping down into the city. It touched down gently, towering thousands of feet above the highest buildings.

"Give it your best shot!" the rangers heard Lord Zedd's voice booming from inside Serpentera.

"Tommy," the original Red Ranger put a hand on the leader's shoulder. "Call your Super ZeoZords, and create a diversion. Lure him out into space, we can't allow an explosion here. I'll call forth the Red Dragon and fly up from behind him."

"I'll stay here and battle the Cogs and Tengas," Jason (Gold Ranger) said.

"Super ZeoZord power now!" Tommy summoned the 5 zords, as he, Adam, Rocky, Kat and Tanya teleported in to pilot them. They were like the size of flies compared to Serpentera, but nonetheless, they knew that when fighting hard, the size wouldn't matter.

The Gold and original Red Rangers remained standing on the street next to one another. "Well, I guess this is it," the Red Ranger said.

"I'm gonna miss ya, man. I just wish you wouldn't do this," the Gold Ranger responded.

"I have to, for the sake of Angel Grove, and for the world," Red Ranger wasn't about to give in. "Just promise you'll always remember me... brother."

"I will."

"Tyrannosaurus, Red Dragon Thunderzord Power!" the clone called upon the powerful zord. Teleporting inside, the Red Ranger steered the Red Dragon high up into the sky, in the direction of Serpentera. The Gold Ranger turned around to face the Tengas and Cogs heading his way.

The 5 Super ZeoZords surrounded Serpentera, but it still managed to

blast from all sides to force them away. Super ZeoZord 5 flew in circles around the massive creation of Zedd's. It then shot upwards, heading into deep space, the other Super ZeoZords following its lead. Lord Zedd steered Serpentera to chase after the Super ZeoZords, luring it away from the city. What Zedd wasn't aware of was the Red Dragon Thunderzord, just a spec of dust from his rear view mirror, following from a few hundred feet behind.

Serpentera continued to chase after the 5 zords, firing away at them, all the way until they were thousands upon thousands of feet high above the earth. So far, so good. The 5 zords stopped in their tracks, now allowing the Red Dragon to move in closely to ambush. The Red Ranger monitored for Serpentera's weak spot carefully, spotting it, and then heading towards it. This was it, his finest hour, the time of his doom, his death, although he knew deep down that he would die a hero.

"Guys, I've got a lock on his weak spot," the clone called through the communicator. "Pull away!" The 5 Super ZeoZords went charging away back down to earth at full speed, far enough so that they wouldnt' be affected by the explosion. Serpentera, being so massive took much more time to maneuver around to chase after them, and thus, was outran. It wasn't long afterwards before the Red Dragon Thunderzord came crashing in from behind Serpentera's neck, piercing right through the 40 x 40 plate... beginning an explosion of which sparks flew and severed Serpentera's neck. The flames inside rolled through its massive body like wildfire, spreading all throughout its anatomy, and soon afterwards, it was covered in flames.

Down on earth, a tear rolled down the Gold Ranger's face, as he knew it would be the last time that he ever saw his "brother." The 5 Super Zeo Zords came shooting down, and the other 5 rangers joined the Gold Ranger to defeat the Tengas and Cogs. Seconds later, they heard an explosion from a distance, an explosion almost loud enough to break the windows of buildings. The rangers covered their ears and looked up into the sky to see Serpentera being destroyed. Cheers erupted from the citizens around them, as the skies grew brighter once again and the sun peaked up over the mountains in the background. Serpentera was defeated... but at the cost of a ranger's life.

Jason stared downwards, "it's not fair! It's just not fair!" he had finally lost control of his temper. "Curse you Lord Zedd! Curse you!!!"

The people around the rangers merely stared at them. Tommy patted his friend on the back, "Jason, take it easy bro. He did a very brave thing... you should be proud of him."

2 days later...

48 hours had gone by since the tragic day. Jason Lee Scott sat at the shoreline of a beach in Angel Grove with his knees tucked up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. He wore a black tank top and blue jeans, with a pair of runners and a gold necklace. It was just a few minutes before sunset. The golden sun was now lowering down behind the hills in the distance. Its golden rays were shining off of the calm waves of the ocean as Jason continued to stare out speechless into sea. The events of a couple of days ago still haunted him, giving him nightmares, something to mourn about, something to be saddened about. It hadn't been easy getting through the long hot days now. Tommy Oliver emerged from behind Jason, seeing his friend still emotionally scarred from the horrible experience. He joined Jason, sitting down on the warm sand.

"Hey man, how ya holdin' up?" Tommy asked.

"Fine I guess," Jason muttered.

"We've missed you over the past 2 days, are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I guess I just needed some time to myself," Jason said.

"Well, hope we see you back with us soon," Tommy said. "But, there's someone here to see you." Tommy got up and brushed the sand away. He greeted Emily as she walked by to sit down beside Jason.

"Hey," Emily smiled. "The other guys said you could use some cheering up, so I thought I'd see how you were."

"Thanks Emily," Jason smiled for the first time in 2 days. "Y'know, I guess I do need to take my mind off of things. So um... I don't know how to ask, but maybe me and you can go catch a movie some time?" he had finally asked her after several months anticipation.

"It's already booked," Emily said. "I was about to ask you but since you asked me first, I guess I don't have a choice, right?" she laughed. "I talked to Katherine, how about me and you double date with her and Tommy?"

"That'd be great," Jason laughed. "C'mon, let's go, Emily." the couple stood to their feet, and walked away, arm in arm...