**flashbacks**

Previously on Power Rangers: Allied Evil- Rita and Zedd had a nasty argument on the moon while Uriel continued to keep her secret from Rashell. Zhane, Yaralla, and Andros adjusted to being on Earth, and Tommy and Kat were pushed apart by a horrible misunderstanding. Carlos gave some worthwhile advice to Adam while Emily received advice from Ashley. Tommy was introduced to Cassie by TJ, and Rocky learned that his karate student, Justin, was sent to Angel Grove by himself. Yaralla, after spending time with Rocky, got herself and Zhane addicted to Earth chocolate. Will this weakness spell doom for the Power Rangers? Find out in part twelve of Power Rangers: Allied Evil...next!

**end flashback**

All was calm in the moon palace as the four ruling beings of evil engaged themselves in different activities. King Rashell was rubbing his black beak as he watched the Megaship of Yaralla, Andros, and Zhane, the three from KO-35, float past the castle for what seemed like the millionth time. “Their orbiting the Earth is making me dizzy.”

“Just try not to throw up, Dear,” Queen Uriel told him from where she was standing against the far wall of the throne room. She slowly put a hand over her stomach before rubbing it softly. Despite the fact that she had only been with child for a short time, her stomach was already beginning to take the shape of a pregnant mortal, and her excitement of the birth was getting the best of her. Why wouldn’t it? She knew that as soon as the baby was born she could leave her husband for good, show the child to Tommy Oliver, leader of the Power Rangers and the only mortal that she had ever truly loved, and they would live in peace forever.

Lord Zedd sat upon his throne in the middle of the room with Rita Repulsa, his spouse, on his lap. The married couple was feeling each other and laughing ever so often as they engaged in conversation. “I’m so glad that we aren’t fighting anymore, My Wilting Willow,” Zedd told his wife lovingly.

Rita giggled before saying, “Now that we’re not arguing, I don’t have a headache anymore!” At this, Zedd chuckled and felt along her chest and stomach, enjoying the moment of intimacy with his wife.

Uriel, however, felt like she was going to be sick. Pushing back her shimmering blond hair, she narrowed her blue eyes at them before touching her black bra-like top in unison with Zedd’s hand, wishing that Tommy would come release her sexual strain.

All of a sudden, a rumble went through the moon palace making the four fall to the ground in surprise. As it ended, Zedd stood angrily and looked around. “Who dares to fire upon us!?”

“I dare,” An infuriated deep voice replied. Looking past the railing that led into space, the four found that they no longer had a clear view of the Earth. Instead, there was a hideous creature whose skin resembled lava that was beginning to crust. His jaw was accented by the sharp teeth poking out of his small mouth, and his eyes were so tiny that they were barely visible. The being was not their size, however, but larger than the Earth itself!

Immediately recognizing this being, Rita, along with the other three, fell to the ground and bowed their heads. “Dark Specter...we are honored by your presence.”

Dark Specter, the monarch of evil that Zhane and Andros had told the White, Pink, and Purple Gem Rangers about, shook his head before saying, “Utter nothing. I am not happy about making this journey from the Tianta Galaxy, but I knew that I had no choice. When you four took over for the Machine Empire in this palace, I assumed that you would be able to defeat the rangers at the blink of an eye. You four were the best of the best. Rashell and Uriel, coming from their ruling duties on Hirpog, were strong warriors, and Rita is the daughter of one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy. Zedd is a lord of evil! How could he not be a magnificent sorcerer!? Yet, I find you four sitting in this palace as if destroying the rangers was child’s play all the while accomplishing nothing!”

“We were merely thinking of the best way to attack, Dark Specter,” Zedd tried to explain. “Andros and Zhane of KO-35 have joined the Rangers against our forces.”

At this, the monarch of evil frowned. “I can’t believe my ears! Andros and Zhane are on Earth!? You know they are on Earth, and you still don’t attack them!? It is a good thing that I made this journey! I am going to send one of my best warriors to help you defeat them.”

Uriel shook her head in protest. “We’ll double our efforts, Dark Specter! Please, give us another chance!”

“No,” Dark Specter told her. “That won’t be good enough. Besides, the warrior is ready to travel.” Looking into her eyes, the monster tilted his head, sensing that something was wrong with his servant, but not knowing what it was. Shaking the feeling off, Dark Specter continued, “She is teleporting in now.”

Rita, Zedd, Rashell, and Uriel clumped together at the back of the room in fear of who Dark Specter might be sending, and they watched as a swirl of fire entered by the railing of the throne room. The fire dissipated slowly, and in its place stood a beautiful mortal woman. Red hair hung in wavy locks and spilled over her slender shoulders, and her face was as cherubic as that of a child’s doll. The woman smiled at them, her white teeth shimmering, before turning to Dark Specter and bowing before him. “I am honored to serve you, Dark Specter, and I promise you that the rangers will be destroyed. You will not be let down by me.”

“No, Karone...” Andros turned over in his sleep as he pictured his young sister being picked up by the bounty hunter Darkonda and taken away from his family. “Bring her back! No!”

Sitting up, he took a few deep breaths before rubbing the cold sweat from his brow. “Get over it, Andros,” the Red Astro Ranger told himself strongly. “That was a long time ago.” Andros got off of his cot and, surprised by the fact that Zhane, his best friend and the Silver Astro Ranger, was not still sleeping, he began looking around for something to wear. “That’s strange...I always wake up before Zhane. The nightmare must have had me in a stronger grip than I thought.”

After showering quickly and changing, Andros was being transported from Megadeck 2 to Megadeck 1 where the control room of the Megaship was located. After getting out, he sighed. “Ok, I have to check the fuel, and then I have to contact Zordon and see if Earth gas will be sufficient for our needs...” Yawning, he rubbed his eyes tiredly before stepping into the control room.

He had just entered when a strong force nearly drove him to the ground. Andros’ eyes widened, and he looked down at one of his best friends, Yaralla, who had wrapped her arms around him in a loving embrace. “Uh, Yaralla?” Andros gasped out. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, Andros!” Yaralla squealed happily as she tightened her grip on him. “You told me once that I should get my responsibilities over with early so that I could have more time to myself later, and so I decided to do that! Andros, you are sooo smart!”

Spotting Zhane working quietly on a console on the other side of the bridge, Andros pried Yaralla off of him before moving towards the Silver Astro Ranger. He put a hand on his shoulder before glancing back at Yaralla who was still smiling brightly at him. “What’s wrong with Yaralla? Has she been that way all morning?”

Turning towards Zhane, the Red Astro Ranger was shocked to see that his expression was the exact match of Yaralla’s, and he was barely able to brace himself for the bear hug Zhane wrapped him in. “You know, you’ve been working way too hard lately, Andros, and so we decided to give you freedom by doing some of your work for you today.”

“Uh, you didn’t have to do that,” Andros told him slowly, trying his hardest to break free of Zhane’s grip.

Pulling away, the Silver Astro Ranger continued to smile at him before shaking his shoulders. “Yes we did, Andros. You’re like a brother to us!” As Yaralla motioned to him, Zhane ran over to her and the two giggled hyperly. “So, Yaralla, what are we doing today?”

“We’ll have to go to Angel Grove for at least a little bit,” Yaralla reasoned. “I need to see Rocky.”

“Ooooh...so something really is going on between you and the little Blue Boy, huh?” Zhane grinned mischievously at her. “That’s cute!”

As they continued to talk nonstop to each other, Andros just watched them in awe. Shaking his head, he sighed. Something was obviously wrong with them, but he didn’t have a clue what it was. It seemed as if they had smiles plastered to their faces. Feeling both Kerolians put a hand on his shoulder, Andros frowned and promised himself that he’d figure out what it was that was making his two best friends act so weird.

The shelter in Angel Grove was loud with laughter and chatter as the workers who had just woken up to the bright morning sun prepared for another hard day of work. Glancing out the window at the people who were already starting the construction, Tommy Oliver yawned before rubbing his eyes wearily. Seeing his sister, Jackie Oliver, look at him with interest, he sighed. “Today is one of those days where I just want to crawl into bed and pull the sheets over my head.”

“Why?” Jackie asked curiously. “Are you sick? Is your ankle injury acting up again?” She gazed at his boyish face before turning around and finding two blond-haired girls watching him with goofy expressions. Maybe it’s just that he’s my brother, but I can’t see how anyone could go that ga-ga over Tommy. He’s not that good looking, is he?

Tommy shook his head, oblivious to the two girls who were now giggling. “No. My ankle has healed on its own, and as for being sick, I feel fine. It’s just that I’m still worn out from Horat and I wish that I was lying on my cot fast asleep.” Yawning again, he dropped his head onto his hands and closed his eyes slowly.

Jackie smiled. “Well, just try not to fall asleep here and drop your head into your cereal.”

“Ha, ha,” Tommy muttered. He glanced at her again before inquiring, “That reminds me...where were you two nights ago? You didn’t come back to the room.”

Great, and I had hoped that his faulty memory would come to my advantage. Searching for the right words, she slowly answered, “I was on the Megaship.” Oh boy...

As expected, Tommy shot her a surprised look. “What were you doing up there? Was there a disturbance that Zordon didn’t tell us about?”

“N-no,” Jackie said shakily. “Um, I was looking around the ship on my own, and I guess I just fell asleep up there. Andros, Zhane, and Yaralla were nice enough to let me stay the night.”

She’s not telling me something. I can sense it. The White Ranger decided to accept this before glancing down at his cereal in disgust. “This stuff is so nasty.” Pushing it into the middle of the table, he sighed. “Well, I’m not finishing that. Are you ready to get to work?”

Jackie shrugged. “Let’s get ready to rumble.” At this, her brother shook her head before standing, and the two left the shelter and walked towards a construction site at the very front of Angel Grove.

Already feeling the sun touch her bare shoulders, Jackie rubbed them before squinting as she saw most of the other rangers in front of them. Katherine Hilliard, Kimberly Hart, and Emily Johnson were busy talking to each other excitedly as Jason Scott, Trini Kwan, Jaime Talsik, and Zack Taylor were doing most of the work. “Hey, Guys.”

Spotting them, Zack nodded. “Hey, Tommy...Jackie. I see you decided to come.” “I was trying to force myself to eat that cereal again.” Tommy shook his head. “It didn’t work.”

“Yeah. We need help since Kim, Kat, and Emily aren’t doing anything,” Jason commented with a smile before clasping hands with his best friend.

Trini shrugged. “It’s a thing that we as girls are required to do.” For a moment, she glanced at the three female rangers before shaking her head and wishing that she could join in on the gossip, but she had known since she had started high school that gossiping about other people wasn’t her thing.

Jackie followed her gaze before sighing and picking up a spare paint brush. “Yeah, well, it’s still early. When we get a break, they can do our workload.”

“I’ll agree to that,” Jaime said, his hazel eyes shining. Looking around at the barren city, he took in a breath of the heated air before glancing up at the sky and wondering how Trey of Triphoria, his best friend and the king of the planet, was doing without him. He was about to touch the black and silver stripes over his right eye but, at the last minute, he decided against it. Jaime knew that he had done a good job of convincing the others that he wasn’t really that homesick. Now was not the time to back down.

As the Red Ranger sneezed suddenly, Tommy glanced at him before shaking his head. “I don’t understand why you don’t ask for another job in the city. You wouldn’t have to deal with all the sawdust around here.”

Jason sighed and rubbed his nose. “I don’t want to be separated from everyone and have to work by myself. Believe me, I’m willing to suffer the torture.” Closing his eyes, he sneezed again before wondering why he had to be the only one with allergies out of the whole group. Jason knew for a fact that the others were going to give him pity, and he didn’t want that.

The five smiled at him before muttering, “Bless you,” and, hearing that they were in sync, they laughed.

Halting in the middle of saying something, Kat spotted her boyfriend for the first time and, running over to him, she hugged him enthusiastically. “Hey!”

“Hey,” Tommy said, caught off guard by her good mood. “Is someone a little excited?”

“Well, look around! We’re going to have a great day today!” Kat motioned to their surroundings, pointing in particular towards Angel Grove Park. “The sun is shining--”

“When is it not?” Zack said, cutting her off while wiping the sweat from his brow.

Kat looked at him with a frown before continuing, “The birds are singing, and everyone is awake! It’s so beautiful out right now!”

“Well, I must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed,” Tommy mumbled before pushing a loose strand of blond hair out of her face. “I was thinking the exact opposite, honestly.”

“I’m with you,” Jason said in agreement. “Today isn’t going to be one of our best days. I can just sense it.” Sneezing again, he sighed as the others chuckled before going back to pounding a nail into a newly positioned wall with a rusty hammer.

The long scar went from the bottom of her ribs to her naval, and Adam Park gently touched it before sighing. “I’m so sorry, Tanya.”

Tanya Sloan, otherwise known as the Yellow Ranger, shrugged as she glanced down at the scar. “For what?” The two had been allowed to stay in Adam’s room that morning so Tanya’s medical needs could be attended to without going to Angel Grove Hospital.

“For losing you to Gasket and Archerina that one night,” Adam told her softly as he took out two gauze pads and prepared to put them over the cut. “I know you’ve said that I’m not responsible, but I still feel guilty.”

“Adam, Gasket appeared out of nowhere. There was nothing you could have done,” Tanya told him strongly. She winced as he put his fingers on a very sensitive area before watching as he taped the gauze pads on her stomach. Her curly hair flowed over her bare shoulders, touching the slim straps of her yellow bra. “I don’t blame you for what happened. If you choose to stay pitying yourself, then so be it, but I know that this wasn’t your fault.”

The Black Ranger looked at her slowly before putting a hand on her cheek. She nuzzled the hand lightly before smiling playfully at him, and Adam recognized it as the one he has seen so many times before Angel Grove had been destroyed. Lately, everyone had been so focused on fighting that there hadn’t been any time to be teenagers. They had been forced to become adults against their will. He shook his head at this thought and wondered what he would have been like if Aisha, Rocky, and he hadn’t discovered the identities of the rangers a few years ago. Would he be a carefree teen like Carlos Rodrigez or anyone else? Would he still be horribly mature for his age?

Seeing his serious expression, Tanya frowned and rubbed his shoulder. “Hey, are you all right?”

“Have you ever wondered what life would be like if we hadn’t become rangers?” Adam asked her. “Do you think things would be different?”

“Of course,” Tanya answered. “If Aisha hadn’t come to Africa, I would still be living there, and we wouldn’t be together. Why? Are you regretting being on the team?”

Adam shook his head. “I’ll never regret being a ranger, but I can’t help but think about being a normal teenager, you know? If Angel Grove hadn’t been destroyed I would be getting a summer job and preparing to go to college, all the while having the question burn in the back of my mind: who are the Power Rangers?”

The Yellow Ranger nodded slowly. “I can understand that. Take Bulk and Skull. They still had an interest in who the Power Rangers were, and we were under their noses the whole time.” She lowered her eyes. “In a way, I feel bad that Bulk killed himself before he could ever know who we were.”

“It’s a shame,” Adam said quietly. “Bulk and Skull had gotten their act together. I mean, they were still a little goofy, but they had a job and they were, in a way, doing good for the community.”

“He did lose everyone, though,” Tanya reminded him. “I just can’t imagine what Skull is going through without him. They were like brothers.”

“They did everything together,” Adam agreed. Turning away from her, he smiled as she kissed his cheek gently. The Black Ranger wrapped his arms around her and enjoyed the feel of her bare skin as he rubbed her back.

Tanya closed her eyes and breathed in his pleasant aroma before rubbing her head against his shoulder. She sighed and glanced up at the ceiling momentarily. Why is it that I have the best guy...the cutest guy, even, and all I can think about is Zack? That’s not all. Whenever I’m with Zack, all I can think about is Adam. Can’t anything make sense anymore!?

Karaya watched as Dark Specter disappeared from the front of the moon palace before turning back towards the four evil beings that were eyeing her in wonder. She nodded towards them. “I am Karaya, and I am here to destroy the Power Rangers.”

“You!?” Zedd smirked before cackling in amusement. “You are just as much a human as they are! How does Dark Specter expect you to top our powers combined!?”

Rita nodded skeptically. “Yeah, Karaya. What makes you so special?”

Glancing at them, Karaya smiled slyly before raising her hands in the air and shouting out something incoherently. The four watched as her red hair twisted up onto her head, and her eyes, which had been glimmering before, turned a dull shade of black. Karaya’s skin paled making her look like a member of the living dead. “What say you now?”

Uriel stepped back in amazement before nodding quickly. “I’m convinced.”

“Hold on a second,” Rashell stated angrily. “All you did was change your being. I can do that easily, as can Rita and Zedd. Dark Specter thinks that just because you can change your being you can destroy the rangers!?”

At this, Karaya chuckled darkly before saying, “You’ll have to trust me. I’ll get the job done.” Waving her hands in a circle, she returned to her original form.

“What are you planning to do that’s so magnificent?” Rita inquired with a scoff. She was about ready to take her magic wand and poke the newcomer’s little eyes out with it.

Karaya grinned. “I’m going to let the rangers take a little vacation, but that’s all I can tell you until my plan takes shape.” Turning around, she began to walk out of the throne room. “Be patient, Underlings. I will do what needs to be done.” With that, she left the room while Rita, Zedd, and Rashell cursed her name. Uriel just stared after her before shaking her head. She didn’t like this. Not one bit.

Kim, who was painting a building in her pink halter top and blue jean shorts, turned around in shock as someone poked her quickly in the ribs. Seeing who it was, she hit him flippantly. “Jaime! You scared me!” She wrapped her arms around the Triphorian and grinned happily.

The Silver Ranger returned the embrace before chuckling. “Any excuse to get you to hold me is a good one.” At this, she giggled and kissed his chin as he put a hand through her hair. “You look good today. Then again, you look good every day.”

“Really?” At his nod, she took his hand and put it on her bare stomach. “Do you like it even more now.”

“Oh yeah,” Jaime said, his cheeks reddening. Seeing this, Kim kissed him again before sighing as he moved his hand around to her bare lower back and caressing the smooth skin.

Watching this, Tommy shook his head and smiled before turning around to get some more nails. He spotted someone walking down the street after exiting the shelter and, knowing who it was, Tommy called to him. “Jeff!” The brown-haired teen turned around as he heard his name and, seeing who it was, shook his head and turned away.

Jason, who saw this, sighed. “I’ll be right back,” and before Tommy could ask what he was doing, the Red Ranger had left the construction site and was running after Jeff Fowler.

Catching up with him, Jason put a hand on his arm to stop him. “Hold up a second, Jeff.”

“What did I do now?” Jeff asked quietly. He gazed at the Red Ranger and sighed. “Look, I’m having a bad day, Jason, so--”

“Thanks for taking Tommy in a few nights ago,” Jason said, cutting him off. He bottled up his hatred for Jeff before continuing, “Kat wasn’t there for him, and I wasn’t there for him. It’s great to know that you were.”

Obviously surprised by this, Jeff licked his lips before nodding. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” Lowering his eyes, he sighed. “Um, can I--would you mind if I talked to Tommy for a little bit?”

Gazing at him, Jason noticed the redness of his eyes for the first time before shaking his head. Am I really so horrible to him that he thinks he has to ask my permission to see Tommy!? “Be my guest.” Turning back to the construction site, the Red Ranger saw that Tommy was watching them with interest. He motioned towards him before quietly saying, “I...hope you feel better. You know, whatever’s wrong.”

“Thanks,” Jeff said cautiously as Tommy ran towards them. Jason and Tommy eyed each other before trading places with Jason returning to the construction site and Tommy staying with Jeff.

“Hey,” Tommy said slowly as Jeff turned away from him. “So, what’s up?”

Jeff sighed before muttering, “When you ran away that both pissed me off and freaked the hell out of me! I thought you had gone off the deep end or something!”

The White Ranger frowned guiltily. “Look, Jeff, I just got really scared. At that point, I wasn’t ready to talk to Kat.”

“Well, I saw that she was up there with you,” Jeff noted, his back still turned towards Tommy. “Are you guys ok now?”

Tommy nodded. “Yeah, we are. I told Kat how I felt, and she told me that she had been blaming herself for that night.”

Jeff laughed weakly at this. “Yeah, well, you should listen to me more often.”

“Everyone gets lucky sometimes,” Tommy said, earning a smirk from Jeff. Seeing that he still wasn’t turning around, the White Ranger put a hand on his shoulder. “There’s something your not telling me. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Jeff told him. Hearing Tommy sigh, he turned around slowly, his eyes still lowered. “I’m just...glad that you and Kat are all right, and that Jason can actually talk to me without clenching his fists.”

Tommy shook his head skeptically. “Come on, Jeff. You can tell me anything, and I’ll keep it secret.”

Jeff raised his head and stared at him for a moment before shaking it head and fighting back tears. “I didn’t want to tell you...I don’t want to tell you...”

“Tell me what?” Tommy asked worriedly after seeing how red his eyes were. It was almost as if he hadn’t gotten any sleep at all and had been crying the whole night. Seeing him shiver, the White Ranger took a step towards him. “Jeff, what’s going on?”

“Before Angel Grove was destroyed I was in the Youth Center with my brother Brent.” Tommy nodded, having known Jeff’s brother well. The two had been close...only a year apart. “We kinda had a fight, and he stormed outside because he was so mad at me. I can’t even remember what it was that we fought about. Something stupid, probably. Anyway, h-he told me that he hated me, and I told him that he was a lousy excuse for a brother and that I just wished he would die...” As his voiced died away, Tommy licked his lips, already not liking where this was going.

Jeff rubbed his eyes before continuing, “That was when the blasts started. We ran for the caves, knowing that they weren’t being fired upon, but both of us were unlucky. Brent tripped at one point, and I went to help him up. All I can remember is that he pushed me away from him as hard as he could, and then everything went dark. I came to in Angel Grove Hospital.”

“Oh God...” Tommy breathed. “Your brother...”

“He wasn’t dead then,” Jeff whispered, nearly choking on every word. “Brent was in a coma. I told you that I looked for you after Angel Grove was destroyed. That was a lie. My family and I went to L.A. immediately to see if Brent could be revived.”

Tommy shook his head, still not believing what he was hearing. “Well, what are you doing here!? You should be in L.A.!”

Jeff nodded slowly before burying his face in his hands. “My parents sent me here to work. I don’t know if they blame me for what happened or not, but there was some bitterness. I had to leave Brent in a coma, and I...I just got word last night that he went into cardiac arrest. There w-was nothing they could do.” By this point, he was sobbing hysterically, and the White Ranger had no choice but to pull him into his embrace and do his best to comfort him.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this when you saw me the first time?” Tommy asked quietly. “You shouldn’t have kept this bottled in for so long.”

Jeff just smirked at this. “Right, Tommy. You had just been attacked by some gang in Angel Grove Park, and you think I was going to lay all my problems on you!? I mean, you were in the hospital, plus there was the obvious discomfort between you and Jason!”

Tommy rubbed his back softly before saying, “Any argument I’m having with Jason does not take precedent over things like this, Jeff! God...” At the moment, he didn’t know if he was feeling guilty about not being there when his best friend needed him or if he was upset because Jeff hadn’t trusted him with the information of his brother’s coma.

“I’ve never told you this, but ever since I...stopped being ‘such an asshole’ as Jason would say, I’ve felt the need to look out for all my friends. You know, I wanted to be there for them whenever they needed to me. Now, most of them are dead. Literally, you’re the only one I have left, Tommy, and so I want to be there whenever you need me. My problems just didn’t seem important. I wanted to be there for you.”

“Jeff, I can’t be a good friend to you if you won’t let me be,” Tommy told Jeff, letting him go as he pulled away from his embrace. “I know you feel guilty about sophomore year, but you can’t make that up by bottling up your own emotions and trying to keep them hidden.” He sighed. “I don’t even know what you’re doing out here. You should be seeing a counselor...resting...I don’t know, but not working! Did you tell the attendants what happened?”

Jeff shook his head. “No, and I’m not going to. Brent...would have wanted me to keep going. He would have wanted me to correct my mistakes. It’s all my fault...”

Tommy sighed “No, it isn’t.” Seeing that Jeff wasn’t going to argue, the White Ranger put an arm around his waist before leading him towards the shelter. “You’re exhausted.”

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” Jeff told him tiredly as his he did his best to keep up with Tommy’s pace. “Too many nightmares...I just kept picturing that day in Angel Grove over and over in my head.” As tears continued to fall from his eyes, he trembled helplessly before accepting the tightening of his best friend’s arm around him. “I don’t want to be there by myself.”

“I’ll stay with you for a little while,” Tommy told him. At Jeff’s nod, Tommy led him into the shelter and down to his room, thankful that the attendants guarding the hallway had taken one look at Jeff and let them pass with no hassle.

Entering the room, Tommy helped Jeff to lie down on his cot before watching as he turned away and wrapped his blanket around him like a defenseless child. “Are you going to leave?”

The White Ranger shook his head. “No. I’ll be right here.” Watching as he shivered, Tommy sighed, knowing that trying to assure Jeff that Brent’s death wasn’t his fault would do no good. He was too far past conventional guilt for that...

Zordon of Eltar looked around as the mist of his meditative state cleared and, emerging in the Power Chamber again, he watched as Alpha 5, his assistant, stepped in front of him. “Ay yi yi! Zordon, you’re back!”

Noticing how uptight the droid was, Zordon frowned. “HAS ANYTHING HAPPENED WHILE I WAS IN MY OTHER STATE OF MIND, ALPHA?”

“I’m afraid so,” Alpha told him. He motioned towards the Viewing Globe as a few graphs came up. “There was an energy source close to the moon that went off our charts, but it just disappeared, and I haven’t been able to track it!”

“KEEP TRYING, ALPHA,” Zordon instructed. He closed his eyes before sighing. This was not good. Only a few sources of evil energy went off the charts of the Power Chamber, and if any of them were coming near to Earth that would spell doom for the rangers.

On the moon, Zedd, Rita, Uriel, and Rashell stood behind Karaya who was talking to a holographic image of Dark Specter that had appeared by the railing in the throne room. “I am ready to begin the attack of Earth whenever the other troops are ready, Dark Specter,” Karaya told the evil monarch confidently.

He nodded. “Good. I will contact you shortly.” With that, his image disappeared.

As Karaya glanced down at the Earth, Rita, Zedd, and Rashell left the room in a huff. “I’d like to knock her down a peg or two,” Rita muttered with annoyance.

Zedd nodded, just as upset by this whole situation. “Karaya just shows up out of nowhere and assumes that she can boss us around!?”

“It’s preposterous!” Rashell exclaimed in agreement. “Absolutely preposterous!”

Watching them go, Uriel bit her lip before walking up to Karaya and clearing her throat. “What are you planning to do to the Rangers, Karaya?”

She glanced at her, red locks flipping over her shoulder, before scoffing. “What’s it to you?”

“I’m interested in knowing,” Uriel told her honestly. “You seem to have a plan all worked out with Dark Specter.”

“I’ve been ordered by Dark Specter to teleport the Rangers to the planet Dactor where a whole fleet of fighters will be waiting to attack,” Karaya informed her with a sigh. “Child’s play, if you ask me, but whatever pleases him will be satisfying.”

Transport to Dactor? A fleet of fighters!? “Which monsters has Dark Specter deployed to fight the Rangers?”

Karaya looked at the ceiling in thought before replying, “He has summoned a good friend of mine. Astronema. In her Dark Fortress, she will join the battle along with her Quantrons, Velocifighters, and the legendary Ecliptor who is her second-in-command along with Darkonda, the famous bounty hunter.”

Uriel gasped besides herself. Dark Specter is using the best of the best for this job! “I haven’t heard anything of Astronema for a few years!”

“Yeah, well, there was nothing new to learn about her,” Karaya explained. “She’s simply been conquering galaxies along with the rest of the evil powers of the Universe.” Thinking for a moment, she questioned, “Do you have any suggestions for our fight, Uriel? Are there other fighters that you know of that could be used...your best, perhaps?”

Nodding, Uriel responded, “I have my personal fighters. Jagas. Plus, Rita and Zedd are the keepers of Scorpina, Goldar, and Rito who could also join the fight.”

Karaya smiled, almost surprised by how much she was enjoying the company of the evil queen. “That’s great. You know, we could use all the fighters we could get. If you want to come along...seeing the destruction of the Rangers will be a sight worth seeing.”

“I would love to, Karaya, but Rashell has gotten me with child, and I wouldn’t want to harm the baby in any way by putting my life in jeopardy,” Uriel told her.

“Congratulations,” Karaya said with a friendly grin. Seeing Uriel nod, she continued, “You’d be welcome to watch the battle without joining in.”

Uriel smiled faintly. “Yes, I’ll probably do that.”

Karaya nodded. “Great...um, I have to contact Astronema and let her know of our plans. I can’t wait to crush those Rangers!”

As she began to chant and move her hands in a strangely fluid motion, Uriel kept an eye on her before sighing, wondering if the White Ranger would be ok during this battle.

From within the large circular Dark Fortress that Karaya had told Uriel briefly about, Astronema, Princess of Evil, watched her viewing screen as a picture of her best friend came up. “I am here on the moon of Earth, Astronema,” Karaya told her. “Are you ready to begin?”

“That I am,” Astronema told her, pushing a strand of her long black hair away from her pale face. “I’ll be ready to intercept the Rangers on Dactor. At the moment I’m sending Quantrons onto the planet to greet them.”

Karaya nodded. “Good. I’ll begin soon.” With that, she ended the communication.

Astronema stared at the screen for an extra moment before turning around. “Darkonda! Ecliptor!” Twisting some of her hair around her gloved finger, she watched as the bounty hunter and the machine that had raised her since the age of 5 teleported into the room. “Prepare for a long battle on Dactor.”

“We will crush them easily!” Darkonda said, cackling hideously. “The Rangers are no match for us!”

“Never underestimate your competitors,” Ecliptor told him fiercely. “Be prepared for anything and everything.”

Astronema nodded. “Correct, Ecliptor. Now, I must prepare my Quantrons for the battle.” With that, she teleported out of the room. Watching her leave, Ecliptor turned to Darkonda, his red eyes flashing, before muttering, “Stay out of my way on Dactor.”

“Watch your mouth, Ecliptor,” Darkonda said sweetly, “or I might be forced to let Astronema in on the truth about her past.”

Hearing this, Ecliptor took a step back and growled. “The Red Astro Ranger will be mine.” Glaring at Darkonda, he left the room in a huff.

Darkonda laughed to himself. “I have him right where I want him. Ecliptor will never tell Astronema of my plans to eliminate her and Dark Specter. He’s too afraid of the past.” Chuckling, he teleported out of the room to retrieve his sword and prepare for battle.

Jason had just nailed another board in place on a building when he was pulled away from it and thrown to the ground. Landing painfully, he glanced up to see a Jaga and Tenga both eyeing him threateningly. He glanced at his palms which were now bleeding and stood, glancing around as he and the others were surrounded by evil troops.

“We can’t morph,” Kim whispered as she motioned towards the other workers who were staring at the monsters from the shelter and other construction sites. “What do we do?”

“I think we should get them into the park,” Emily suggested as she pushed a Jaga away from her. “At least we’ll have some privacy out there.”

Jason nodded in agreement. “Good idea. Guys, do the best you can. I’ll contact the rangers that aren’t here and tell them to meet us.” As Zack, Jackie, Trini, Kim, Kat, Emily, and Jaime began to ward off Tengas and Jagas, Jason ran behind a newly built building before looking around to make sure he wasn’t being watched. Seeing that he was clear to use his communicator, he raised it to his lips. “Rocky, come in.”

There was a loud banging sound followed by an even louder, “Damn it! Stupid little piece of...um, hey, Jason. Rocky here.”

“I don’t even want to know what just happened,” Jason told him with a small smile. “Wherever you are, hurry up and get to the construction site in morphed form. We kinda have a people problem and can’t get into our armor.”

“I’m on my way,” Rocky told him. He ended the communication.

Pushing in a few more buttons, Jason called into it, “Adam, come in.”

“I read you, Jason,” the Black Ranger said. “Tanya and I are together. What’s up?”

“We have a situation at the construction site. Get your butts down here in morphed form.”

Tanya nodded. “You’ve got it.” With that, they cut off the communication.

Pushing more buttons, Jason continued to contact everyone that wasn’t fighting at the moment. “Tommy, come in.” There was a pause but no answer. “Tommy?” Great, he must still be with Jeff.

Jason decided to try back later before pushing in a final code. Right as he was bringing the communicator back up to his lips, he watched as the Blue, Yellow, and Black Rangers teleported in and began fighting off the Tengas and the Jagas. “Megaship, this is Jason. Someone come in.”

From the control room, Alpha watched as Jason came up over the screen. “Ay yi yi! D.E.C.A., get Zhane, Andros, and Yaralla down here now!”

“Scanning for them on board,” D.E.C.A. said as the red light blinked. The computer found the three by the teleportational holes.

Andros was fiddling with a strange device as Zhane and Yaralla tugged on his arms. “Come on, Andros!” Zhane pleaded. “Just one game!”

“No, Zhane,” Andros said, frowning at the Silver Astro Ranger. “Once you start playing Gingazook, you can’t stop!” Giving up on the machine he was working on, Andros set it on the table.

“Rangers, there is a situation on Earth. Tengas and Jagas are attacking,” D.E.C.A. informed them.

Andros nodded before glancing at Zhane and Yaralla who were still smiling as they had been a few hours earlier. “Um, maybe you guys should stay behind. There are going to be plenty of Rangers out there.”

Laughing, Zhane slapped his shoulder, obviously thinking the Red Astro had meant it as a joke. “That’s nonsense, Andros! Let’s go!”

“Yeah, and give me the Battilizer!” Yaralla instructed. As Andros reluctantly took the device off of his wrist and handed it to her, she smiled and jumped in the air. “Cool!”

“This should be interesting,” Andros muttered. “Ok, Guys. It’s morphing time!” He pulled out his Astromorpher.

Zhane pulled out his Digimorpher, and the two punched in their number codes before morphing.

“RED ASTRO RANGER!”

“SILVER ASTRO RANGER!”

“Woohoo! I’m in the mood for whooping someone’s butt!” Zhane exclaimed as he ran up to his teleportational hole. He jumped down the silver one in excitement with Yaralla right on his heels. Andros watched them go before sighing and jumping out of the red hole.

He turned to the two who were riding on the Silver Galaxy Glider as they entered Earth’s atmosphere before motioning for Zhane to go straight towards Angel Grove. The Silver Ranger saluted making Andros shake his head.

The two plowed through a group of Jagas with their Galaxy Gliders before jumping off and beginning to fight. Yaralla, seeing all the people watching, turned and ran behind a building and, finding Jason, she giggled to herself before looking back at the fight.

“Super Silverizer!” Slashing a few Tengas, Zhane continued to smile brightly under his mask. “It really is a nice day. Hey, Andros, we should have come out earlier!”

The Red Astro groaned before calling, “Spiral Saber!” He cut through a few Jagas, trying to ignore the strange attitudes of his two best friends.

Looking around, Jason saw that the workers weren’t watching him before pulling out his Power Coin. “It’s morphing time!”

“TYRANNOSAURUS!”

Jason, along with Tanya, Rocky, and Adam ran up to the workers and motioned away from the shelter. “Get out of here, everyone!” Rocky instructed. “This could get ugly!”

“Thank you, Rangers!” a female voice said causing a cheer to go up from the crowd. The four rangers nodded before watching as they ran from the shelter and into the city.

Turning back to the other rangers who were waiting for the go ahead, Jason nodded. “Do it, Guys.”

“Right,” Jaime said. “It’s morphing time!”

“NINJA CRANE POWER!”

“GREEN EMERALD NINJA STALLION POWER!”

“COPPER PENDANT NINJA HAWK POWER!”

“PURPLE GEM NINJA CAT POWER!”

“PTERODACTYL!”

“GOLD RANGER F POWER!”

“SILVER RANGER POWER!”

Running up to them, Tanya motioned towards the park. “We’ll have more room over there.”

“I’ll try Tommy once we get near the lake,” Jason told them as they ran along. From behind the building where Jason had been hiding earlier, Yaralla smiled and skipped behind them towards the park.

After they had left the construction site, Karaya teleported in front of the shelter with an evil grin on her usually angelic features. “Your end is now, Rangers.” With that, she followed them into the park.

How could Jeff think that my fighting with Jason was more important than his brother being in a coma!? Tommy stared at the sleeping form of his best friend before shaking his head. I should have noticed that there was something wrong with him...it’s just that he did such a good job of hiding it!

He glanced down at his communicator as it beeped before shaking his head. Why now!? Rita, Zedd, Rashell, and Uriel have the worst timing. Tommy stood from the cot that he had been watching Jeff from before walking over to the far corner of the bleak gray room and bringing his communicator to his lips. “This is Tommy. Go ahead.”

“I’m glad I got a hold of you, Tommy,” he heard the Red Ranger say with relief. “There are a whole lot of Jagas and Tengas out here, and we could use a little help.”

Tommy sighed. “Ok. I’m on my way.”

He had just ended the communication when he heard Jeff’s groggy voice call out, “Who are you talking to?” Shit! Turning around, the White Ranger glanced nervously at Jeff who was watching him through puffy eyes. “You were talking to your watch.”

“Um...” Damn it, I want to tell him...I want to tell him so badly! No, Tommy. You can’t let this out. “I was just cursing to myself.”

“You said that you were on your way,” Jeff informed him, still confused. Standing, he put a hand through his flat brown hair before frowning. “On your way where?”

Licking his lips, Tommy frantically searched for a reasonable answer before saying, “I set my watch because Jason, Adam, and Rocky told me to meet up with them at a certain time to start lifting boards. They’re going to need me, Jeff. I need to go.”

Jeff nodded reluctantly. “I’ll be ok.”

“Look, if I can get back anytime soon, then I will...” You’re a great friend, Tommy. Wonderful. A few days Jeff took you in over some misunderstanding with Kat, and now you’re leaving him after his brother died! He sighed. “Jeff, there’s something you need to know. I’m not leaving just because of Jason, Adam, and Rocky. It’s because I’m--”

“Tommy, you don’t have to apologize!” Jeff told him incredulously. “Any of the other friends I had before Angel Grove was destroyed wouldn’t have stayed with me half as long as you did. I understand that you don’t want to let your other friends down.”

Tommy stared at him before smiling faintly. There you go, Jeff...I was about to tell you the biggest secret in my life, and you covered for me... “I’m glad you understand.”

“Yeah.” As he neared the door, Jeff grinned. “Thanks.”

Turning back, the White Ranger shrugged. “I’m your best friend. It’s in the job description.” At Jeff’s chuckle, he exited the room, and, sprinting down the hall to his room before the attendants could catch him, he closed the door and sighed. “Here we go. It’s morphing time!”

“TIGERZORD!”

Uriel, Rashell, Rita, and Zedd watched as Goldar, Scorpina, and Rito teleported into the room. “You summoned us?” Goldar asked humbly, bowing towards the four.

Rashell nodded. “Yes. There is a plan in motion...a plan schemed by Dark Specter himself.”

“Wow,” Scorpina muttered in amazement. “This must be pretty big. Then again, he must be short people if they’re calling us...well, calling Rito, anyway.”

Rita shrugged. “Dark Specter still considers you excellent fighters.”

“Anyway,” Uriel continued, “you must travel to the planet Dactor. The rangers will be transported there, and you will be among other fighters all waiting to kill them upon arrival.”

At this, Rito took a small step back. “Does that mean I’ll have to face the Gold Ranger F again?” At Uriel’s, nod, he lowered his head. “Aw, darn.”

“Stop being a baby!” Rita ordered. “Teleport now!”

After Goldar and Rito had teleported away, Scorpina stepped up to Uriel and bowed before inquiring, “Do you have any personal instructions, Queen Uriel?”

For a moment, Uriel wondered what she meant by the question but, getting the idea, she nodded slowly. “Try to spare Tommy for as long as possible,” she told the woman in the golden armor quietly so that the other three wouldn’t hear her, “but I can’t save him from himself. Do whatever necessary to survive.” Scorpina bowed again before teleporting away and heading for Dactor.

Watching her leave, Zedd rubbed the chin area of his metal mask before saying, “We could travel to Dactor using Serpenterra. That way we won’t be left out of all the action.”

“Wonderful idea,” Rashell stated. “That is, if it won’t run out of energy.” At this, Zedd ‘humphed’ before leaving the room and going to rev up his mighty zord. As Rita and Rashell watched him go, Uriel smiled. I’ll be able to keep an eye on Tommy there. Turning towards the Earth, she let out a thoughtful sigh and rubbed her stomach. Patience, Uriel. Your time will come. Soon, Katherine will be out of his life for good, and he will be yours.

“Summon Laser Power!” Pointing her gloved finger at a group of oncoming Tengas, Kimberly watched with a smirk as they disintegrated right in front of her. “Watch out, Bird Brains. If you don’t start improving, I might have to include toasting you as one of my hobbies!”

Zack put a hand on the stallion symbol located on the chest of his costume before smiling to himself. “I didn’t really get to try my powers out last time. Guess I should give them a whirl now and see what they can really do.” Looking up and seeing a group of Jagas nearing him, he curled up on the ground, waiting for them to attack.

The Jagas pounced on top of him before lifting up the Green Ninja Uniform triumphantly. “We’ve done it!” One of them cried, jumping happily in the air.

“The troops get stupider all the time,” Zack mutterd to himself before frying them with his Ninja Laser Power. “Jammin’ way to fool Jagas! I wish I could do this when I wasn’t morphed.”

Trini flipped over a group of Tengas and did a back handspring before kicking about five to the ground. “Wow...these powers are unbelievable!”

“I’ll say!” Jackie called, looking down at the Jagas she had just burnt. Touching her fingers in awe, she grinned. “Whoever said I was weak in my karate class...they’d eat their words if they could see me now.”

Tommy pointed Saba at a few Jagas and, after the saber had killed them with his laser eyes, he went on to slash a few more. “Having fun, Saba?”

“There’s no place I’d rather be,” The sword deadpanned, earning a smirk from his partner. “How’s your leg?”

“Healed, thankfully,” Tommy informed him before cutting through another Jaga. “I was sick of sitting on the sidelines waiting for my ankle to stop throbbing.”

Saba scoffed. “Like you sat out from battle. On Horat you still tried to fight even though most of the team agreed that you should have been lying down and waiting for your ankle to heal.”

Tommy shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’m just an active person.” As Saba shook his head, Tommy turned around to see Jason raising his Power Sword before facing a Tenga as it kicked at his legs. “Oh, you’re dead.”

“Power Sword!” Jason called, jumping up in the air and placing it on top of the configuration of the other weapons. “Ready, Guys?” He turned to the Black, Pink, Yellow, and Blue Dino Rangers.

“Let’s do it!” They said enthusiastically. “Fire!” Beams shot from the wide weapon killing at least ten Tengas if not more.

Rocky grinned. “I love doing that.”

“Me too,” Kat agreed. “It’s a total rush.”

Meanwhile, Andros kicked at a Jaga before raising his Spiral Saber threateningly. “Spiral Saber Blaster Mode!” Pointing the newly configured weapon at oncoming Tengas, he smiled slyly before yelling, “Fire!” Red lasers hit them dead on, sending them falling to the ground.

Yaralla smiled hyperly at a Jaga who was circling her menacingly. “You weren’t loved as a child, were you?” Raising her right arm, she grinned. “Battilizer Power Punch!” She ran up to the Jaga and, jumping, she pushed the ‘01’ on the Battilizer and punched the Jaga twice, making it explode. “Ooooh...that was fun! Hey, Andros, did you see that!? I killed a Jaga!”

“Yes, Yaralla,” Andros said with annoyance as he turned to her. “I saw you kill the other twenty Jagas, too.”

Zhane nodded. “Beautiful form, Yaralla. It was superb.”

“Thank you, Zhane,” Yaralla said, sticking her tongue out at Andros. “See, Zhane appreciates good fighting.” Seeing a Tenga come up behind her, she kicked it down before turning back to Andros and folding her arms over her chest.

Zhane raised his Super Silverizer and, putting it into Blaster Mode, he shot yellow beams of energy at some Jagas before switching it into Sword Mode and slashing at two Tengas who had been attacking him from behind. “Andros, my Super Silverizer is better than your Spiral Saber.”

Groaning, Andros frowned at him. “I really don’t care, Zhane.”

“He admitted it!” Zhane laughed to himself. “So, that means that I’m the more powerful ranger, right? I mean, you said yourself that--oof!” Andros sighed as he looked over to see that the Silver Astro Ranger had been jumped on by about five Jagas while giving his pointless speech.

“Golden Lightning!” Emily yelled, raising her arms in the air. Golden beams of light fell from the sky and hit Tengas who had been rushing her from all sides.

Jaime glanced at the Jagas nearing him before eyeing them with interest. At his gaze, they stopped and stared, not knowing what he was planning to do. “Silver Thunder!” He called, watching as the majority fell. Four stepped towards him, knowing that they had been chosen to survive so that they could destroy him. “Ok, Boys, lets have some real fun.”

He took a step towards them before stopping abruptly and doing a flying kick towards one of the Jagas, making it fall to the ground in shock. Two more rushed at him, and he did a split kick, knocking both against trees, before facing the last one who was shaking in fear. “Should I be lenient?” The Jaga nodded quickly. “Should I spare your pathetic little existence?” Again, more nodding.

Jaime moved towards it before shaking his head. “I don’t think so. See, you tried to hurt me and my friends. You can see the trouble I’m having deciding what to do.” It nodded. The Triphorian grinned at this before beginning a swift set of punches and kicks, ending with his fist right in front of the Jagas’ head. Pulling it away, he shrugged before pointing his index finger at it and pushing it down easily. “Consider yourself lucky.” The Jaga, knowing that it had just been made a fool of, quickly got up and scurried away.

The Silver Ranger had just turned to another group of Jagas when a strong female voice called out, “Be gone!” Looking at the rangers one more time, the Jagas and Tengas did as asked. Jason gazed at a red-haired woman who had just pushed between Adam and Rocky in order to step in front of them. “I am Karaya, your newest foe...the one who will be responsible for your demise.” As Rocky smirked, she pointed a finger at him and the Rangers could only watch as he fell to the ground gasping for breath.

While Kat and Tanya helped him up, Karaya smiled. “There are many of you. I need to know who the leader is.” At this, Kim, Jackie, Zack, and Trini looked at each other before glancing at Tommy.

Jason turned to the White Ranger, seeing that the other Dino Rangers had already done so. Jaime and Emily both nodded towards each other before glancing at Tommy. Zhane raised his hand in the air slowly, “Well, I’m the most powerful--” Before he could continue, Andros put his hand over the mouthpiece of his armor to block out the sound.

Tommy slowly took a step forward. “I’m the leader of the rangers.” Isn’t that funny? After all that you’ve done to them, Tommy...losing the Thunderzords, being turned into kids, losing our Power Coins, letting the Command Center be blown up, almost getting Jason killed by giving him the Gold Powers, letting Angel Grove be destroyed, allowing Cassandra to be killed by Rocky’s double, almost killing Alex Krycek in an alleyway, letting all of us nearly be killed by the Selvinians after hours of torture, making love to Uriel after being turned evil, hurting Kim like I did, almost killing all of us by not telling Billy more forcefully about the detonator in the Aquitians’ arsenal room, letting Delphine be killed, not being there for the rangers on Horat because of my ankle and my situation with losing my powers, not being there for any of them when they needed me...they still respect you...why does that not seem right?

With a sly smile, Karaya nodded. “Ah, White Ranger. I will offer you a deal. Spar against me. If you win, I’ll spare the lives of the Rangers, but if you lose they will all be killed along with you.”

“No,” Tommy told her strongly. “I can’t base the fate of the Rangers on my own ability.”

“You’re a wise warrior,” Karaya observed, still grinning as if she had something up her sleeve, “and, I’m sure, an honorable Power Ranger. Unfortunately, I don’t like that in a person.” Raising her fists, she ran at him, her face molding into one of fury.

Tommy barely had enough time to raise Saba against her, and before he knew what had happened, the saber was gone and she had pinned him on the ground. Smiling again, Karaya put her hands on his chest before licking his helmet, her eyes gleaming. “Look at what you’ve caused, White Ranger.” He could only watch in horror as she pointed her finger at Zack and Trini and they disappeared.

“No!” Tommy cried as he tried to push Karaya off of him, but her grip was too strong. She raised her hands, and he stared with fright as her nails grew and sharpened. Waiting for the blow that he knew would come, he cried out as she dug them into his armor causing sparks to erupt from it.

Karaya pulled him off of the ground before propping him up and grinning. “You’re like my own little molding doll, White Ranger. See, now you’re standing, and now you’re lying down.” She backhanded him before slashing him across the chest with her nails again. He hissed in pain before falling to the ground and struggling to remain conscious.

Watching this, Karaya shrugged before glancing at Andros, Zhane, and Yaralla and raising her finger against them, but before they could be teleported away, Tommy forced himself up and pushed her, sending her tumbling to the ground. Jumping on her, the White Ranger snarled. “Where are Zack and Trini!?”

“Finders keepers,” Karaya whispered before kicking him off and pointing her finger at Adam, Tanya, and Rocky. They stared at her in shock before teleporting away in a flash of red.

“I don’t think so!” Yaralla yelled angrily. Jumping into the air, she pushed the ‘01’ on the Battilizer and went to punch her, but Karaya grabbed her fist and threw her over the shoulder. Crying out, Yaralla stood painfully and got into fighting stance again.

Karaya was about to teleport her as she had done to the other rangers, but Kim pushed her out of the way, being teleported in her place. Looking back, Yaralla shook her head angrily. “No! Kim!”

Circling Tommy, Karaya smirked. “You know, it could have been so much better for you. I was offering a fair chance to save your friends. Now they have no chance, and neither do you.”

“Tell me where my friends are!” Tommy demanded angrily.

Before she could response, Zhane raised his Super Silverizer at her and fired, but she waved the lasers away. “Pitiful...and I thought you were the strongest, Silver Ranger.” Pointing her finger at Jackie, she teleported her away. Andros saw this happen and silently bit his lip, telling himself fiercely that he wasn’t going to give into guilt just yet.

“You’ve gone too far!” Kat yelled fiercely, raising her Power Bow. Like the Super Silverizer’s rays, the Power Bow’s were waved away, as well, and the remaining rangers could only watch as she was teleported away.

Tommy bit his lip and forced himself to stay focused before looking around. Only Emily, Jaime, Andros, Zhane, Yaralla, and himself remained. This is not good...

Zhane was about to raise his Super Silverizer again when a burning sensation went through his chest. Putting a hand on it, he groaned before looking around in fright. He put the Super Silverizer away and sprinted as fast as he could away from the fight. “Zhane!” Andros called after him. Worried, the Red Astro Ranger followed his best friend out of the park.

Karaya laughed at this before turning back to the White Ranger who was watching them go in awe. As he turned back to her, she grinned. “Gee, All Powerful Leader. If this is how you always run the rangers, I’m amazed that Rita, Zedd, Uriel, and Rashell have never defeated you before!” Tommy just took in a few deep breaths before shaking his head and looking at the remaining three Rangers who had their fists raised. Talk about needing a miracle...

“WHAT ARE OUR CURRENT STANDINGS, ALPHA?”

“Ay yi yi!” Alpha ran to the other side of the room and looked at a printout. “The only ones left are Tommy, Jaime, Emily, Zhane, Yaralla, and Andros. Zhane and Andros just ran away from the fight!”

Zordon closed his eyes for a moment before strongly asking, “HAVE YOU TRIED CONTACTING THE RANGERS?”

Alpha nodded. “Yes, Zordon, many times, but they aren’t responding. There’s something about this Karaya that is causing horrible feedback in their communicators!”

“DO WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO, ALPHA.”

“I’ve tried, Zordon...I’m afraid that I don’t know what else to do--” The little droid cut off quickly as the Eltarian glared at him.

“I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET THIS COMMUNICATION THROUGH...MAKE SOME UPLINKS, GET ON A NEW FREQUENCY, KICK A CONSOLE...JUST MAKE IT HAPPEN, ALPHA! THAT’S AN ORDER!” Zordon watched as his assistant, terrified by the outburst, quickly went back to looking for a way to contact the rangers before shaking his head. He wasn’t mad at Alpha in the least, but this was exactly what he had seen in his meditative state...they were dropping like flies...

Andros, meanwhile, rounded a corner and found his best friend with his mask off eating a brown solid that he had never seen before. Staring for a moment, he frowned angrily. “What the HELL are you doing!?”

Seeing him for the first time, Zhane gasped, his eyes wide with fright. “Andros...I, um...”

“The rangers are being kidnapped and you’re EATING!? What the hell is wrong with you!?” Andros moved towards him and, in a flash, he had taken the food from Zhane’s hands and thrown it on the ground, stepping on it. “Now, we have to get back out there, Zhane!” Seeing that he had turned away and was trembling, Andros put a hand on his arm. “Zhane?”

The Silver Astro Ranger looked up at him, and Andros was surprised to see that he was near tears. “How could you? I NEEDED that!” His armor flashed once before disintegrating, leaving him to fall onto his knees. Zhane put a hand on his burning chest before gazing at Andros again. “I needed it!” That was when the tears started to fall.

Caught completely off guard, Andros stared at him for a few moments before shaking his head and trying to be reassuring. “I-it’s ok, Zhane. Um, let me teleport you back to the Megaship so that Alpha can take a look at you. Everything will be ok. All right?” At his nod, Andros took the Digimorpher out of Zhane’s pocket and used it to teleport him away.

After doing this, the Red Astro Ranger raised his communicator up. “D.E.C.A., teleport Yaralla to the Megaship. I just sent Zhane up. Something is wrong with both of them, and I think I know what’s causing it.” Picking up a smashed piece of the brown food Zhane had been eating, he held it up and examined it. “Teleport this up to the Megaship, too.”

“Teleporting now,” D.E.C.A. told him, and Andros watched as it disappeared after a few seconds. Nodding to himself, Andros took off towards the park hoping that the others were still there. They were.

Karaya stood in front of the four remaining rangers before smirking. “I had expected more of the holder of Zordon’s White Ranger Power, the Triphorian Powers, and the Powers of KO-35 as well as the Battilizer Power, but instead I’ve seen a person using the Gold F Powers that barely knows how to, a Silver Astro Ranger who just had a physical breakdown, another Kerolian I nearly killed before she was teleported away, the Red Astro Ranger who was unable to save his friends, the Royal Guard of the King of Triphoria who can’t even throw a straight punch, and a leader who will now have to deal with the guilt of knowing that he caused all of this.”

As Tommy lowered his head, Jaime growled. “Silver Thunder!” Before it could hit Karaya, however, both he and Emily were teleported away with a point of her finger.

“You’re going to pay for that,” Tommy snarled, running towards her with Saba drawn. Karaya moved her finger and he, too, disappeared.

“I hate the tiger...such a soft-hearted animal compared to most outside of this planet.” She was about to make Andros disappear as well, but he was teleported away by another source before she could.

Watching him go, Karaya sighed before shrugging. “At least I got most of the rangers, and the Red Astro Ranger will come to find them. I’ll just have to wait.”

Tommy fell painfully to the ground as his teleport ended before looking around, terrified to find himself surrounded by only darkness. He put a hand in front of his eyes, but even this could not be seen. “Um, hello?”

“Tommy, is that you?” A female voice called from next to him.

Feeling a hand touch his leg, the White Ranger grabbed it thankfully. “Kat...thank God. Is everyone else here?”

“Activating Power Beam!” Tanya called, smiling as two rays of light hit the ground from her helmet. She looked around and saw flashes of the other rangers...Ninja, Dino, and Triphorian. “Um, I see everyone except for Zhane, Andros, and Yaralla.”

“Shit,” Jason breathed from where he was getting off of the ground. “Well, do we know where ‘here’ is?”

Adam shook his head. “I have no clue. There’s just a whole lot of darkness. We could be anywhere! Activating Power Nightvision!” The second visor came over his original visor, and he looked around. “Yeah, I see what Tanya sees. Kim, Zack, Trini, Jackie, are you ok?”

“I’m ok,” Kim called, hearing the Black Ranger’s voice.

Zack nodded. “Me, too. Trini and Jackie are over here. We’re all ok.”

“I hear you, Adam,” Emily called out. “Jaime, are you ok?”

The Silver Ranger nodded slowly. “I’ll live.”

All of a sudden, Rocky, who was using his Power Audio Monitor gasped. “What the hell!?”

“What!?” Tommy demanded with concern. “Rocky, what’s wrong!?”

“We’re not alone,” the Black Ranger whispered, answering for Rocky. “I see troops of...something...a lot of them...some kind of black and silver fighters.”

He had just said this when a fierce female voice came out from the distance. “Rangers, how nice of you to drop in. We wouldn’t want to alarm you with the darkness. There is no need for those gizmos. You will know soon enough where we are, but you won’t be prepared for what’s in store for you.”

“Who are you!?” Tommy called. Does she really expect to scare us? I don’t fear what I don’t know...

“Dark Specter has commanded me to destroy you, and I intend on doing what he asks,” the voice responded earning a shudder from Kat. She knew that Dark Specter had not been an easy villain for Zhane and Andros to battle in the past. Jackie and Tommy looked around in the darkness uneasily. Zhane and Andros had informed them that Dark Specter was the monarch of evil, and that no one had ever defeated him before. How do you fight someone like that? Jackie wondered to herself.

Still looking around blindly, Tommy was unprepared for the blow that hit him from behind, sending him tumbling to the ground. He gazed above him and gasped as he saw two red lights shining above him. What the hell? A cruel voice mumbled, “White Ranger, prepare for your final battle.” With that, Tommy groaned as a strong foot kicked him in the ribs.

Emily, who had been walking around next to Jaime, was pulled away from him and thrown to the ground. “I am no longer afraid of you, Gold Ranger F.” Quickly getting up, Emily took a few deep breaths before growling. Rito...

Shivering lightly, Jason looked around as he heard Emily and Tommy’s battle cries echo throughout the barren landscape before crying out as a fiery sensation went through his body. He fell to the ground and gasped as he heard a voice say, “Just like old times, Red Ranger.”

“Goldar...” Jason muttered spitefully before getting back up. “Activating Power Scope!” Seeing the space monkey clearly now, he attacked, doing his best to dodge the blows from Rita and Zedd’s henchman.

“Guys, what’s going on!?” Rocky called in concern as he easily made out Emily, Tommy, and Jason’s battle cries. He had no sooner said this than a force knocked him to the ground.

The Blue Ranger heard the chuckle of the woman that had been threatening them earlier before hearing her say, “I might just take a ranger out myself.”

“Emily!” Jaime called worriedly. “Where are you!?” He knew that something wasn’t right. First of all, she had been pulled away from him, and now it sounded like a lot of the rangers were fighting. Feeling a hand grab his arm, he hissed in pain as he was struck by a sword and pushed to the ground.

A dark voice chuckled, yellow eyes shining in the darkness, before saying, “Let’s just see how tough you are, Royal Guard.”

“Darkonda,” Jaime breathed in wonder. He had only fought the legendary bounty hunter briefly while fighting in a war by Trey’s side, but that one fight had been enough to imprint his voice in his mind.

“Correct, Jaime Talsik,” Darkonda told him. “There isn’t a bounty on you. However, the thought of killing you is so fun that I think I’ll just do it for free!” As the two began to fight, the other rangers who hadn’t been attacked by a fighter were attacked by Quantrons who had been itching for a chance to join the action.

Taking off his helmet, Andros stepped into the sick bay on Megadeck 3 of the Megaship and gazed at Zhane and Yaralla who had been put on examination tables by Alpha. Both Kerolians were shivering uncontrollably as Alpha scanned them with a small electronic device. “Alpha, do you know what’s wrong with them?” Andros asked, trying to push the fact that all of the other rangers were missing out of his head.

“I’ve taken a blood sample,” the droid informed him. There’s something in their bodies...caffeine...a lot of it.”

“Caffeine?” Andros frowned in surprise. “Caffeine is addictive for Kerolians. It’s like a drug. We can die from an overdose! Zhane and Yaralla know that! I don’t understand why they would do something like this!”

D.E.C.A.’s light in the room began flashing as it said, “Zordon is contacting the Megaship. Viewing screen on Megadeck 1 activated.”

The Red Astro Ranger sighed. “I’ll be right back, Alpha.” At its nod, Andros ran out of the room and into the transporter. Reaching Megadeck 1, he entered the control room and looked at the face of Zordon as it appeared on the viewing screen. “I’m here, Zordon.”

“I’M GLAD OUR COMMUNICATIONS ARE FINALLY WORKING.”

“Um, have you located the other rangers?” Andros asked cautiously. He had never seen the wise mentor of the Earth Rangers angry before, and he wasn’t in the mood to start at that moment.

Zordon nodded with a frown. “THE RANGERS ARE ON THE PLANET DACTOR, AND THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED BY MANY MONSTERS INCLUDING SCORPINA, GOLDAR, RITO, DARKONDA, ECLIPTOR, AND ASTRONEMA. THEY WERE DEPLOYED BY DARK SPECTER, AND IT SEEMS THAT VELOCIFIGHTERS ARE ALSO NEARING THE AREA AS WELL AS MORE OF ASTRONEMA’S QUANTRONS.”

Andros cursed before muttering, “This is not good. I’ll set the Megaship on a course for Dactor so that we can pick them up.”

“HOW ARE YARALLA AND ZHANE?”

“They aren’t good,” The Red Astro Ranger responded. “Both of them are addicted to caffeine which is a powerful drug on KO-35.”

Zordon nodded. “YOU MUST GO ALONE THEN, ANDROS. AS YOU KNOW, DACTOR GETS LIMITED LIGHT FROM ITS CLOSEST STAR. QUSOP. QUSOP IS NOT A BRIGHT STAR, AND IT IS ALREADY BEGINNING TO RISE OVER THE DARKNESS THERE. AFTER ABOUT TWO HOURS QUSOP WILL SET AND THEY WILL BE PLUNGED INTO DARKNESS AGAIN. NOT ALL OF THE RANGERS HAVE EQUIPMENT IN THEIR ARMOR TO HELP THEM WHEN THEY CANNOT SEE.”

Andros nodded. “Have your Alpha send me the coordinates. I’ll take off alone and have Alpha follow in the Megaship.” Seeing the concerned look on Zordon’s face, he smiled faintly. “Don’t worry. I’ll be ok, and so will the other rangers.”

“GOOD LUCK, ANDROS, AND MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU.” With that, the communication ended. The Red Astro Ranger nodded and, hoping that he would be able to accomplish the tremendous task Zordon had asked of him, he ran back towards the transporter so that he could let his Alpha know what they had to do.

From inside the Dark Fortress, Karaya bowed for Dark Specter as he appeared on the viewing screen. “I have succeeded in bringing all but Andros, Zhane, and Yaralla to Dactor, Dark Specter. There is something wrong with Zhane and Yaralla, and they won’t be able to come help their friends anyway.”

“Excellent,” Dark Specter said. “I am pleased with you, Karaya. Now, you must keep your eyes peeled for Andros so that when he comes to help his friends you can destroy him.”

Karaya bowed again. “As you command. Andros will be destroyed, Dark Specter. I guarantee it.”

Meanwhile, Rita and Zedd were piloting Serpenterra as it flew through space towards the planet Dactor. “You’re going too fast!” Rita exclaimed. “At this rate, we’ll pass by Dactor and end up in an asteroid field!”

“Stop being a backseat driver and let me fly this ship!” Zedd yelled in annoyance. Rita just folded her arms and leaned back in her plush burgundy chair by Zedd’s.

Right behind them, Rashell had kneeled in front of Uriel and was examining her as she sat staring out at space from the screen in front of Zedd. “I don’t know if it was safe to allow you to travel, Dear,” Rashell admitted. “You are pregnant.”

“I’ll be ok, Rashell,” Uriel assured him with a flip of her long golden hair. “Flying in space is not harmful when with child. Not even teleporting is.”

“I just want you to be rested and prepared for this baby,” Rashell told her sincerely. Putting a hand on her bare stomach, he cawed softly before putting his head on her lap. Uriel touched it with her gentle hand before sighing. She couldn’t wait until she could leave him and go back to Tommy...and she knew that she would do anything to make him love her again.

After being knocked to the ground again, Kim groaned before looking up and seeing that the sun was beginning to shine over the planet. She looked around and gasped, spotting at least one hundred strange fighters surrounding them from all sides. To one side of them was woods, and to the other was steep mountains. There was nowhere to run.

Kim dodged a blow from one of the creatures before watching as Tommy battled a weird green and black monster that was almost a foot taller than him. Jason was fighting Goldar and Emily was fighting Rito as Adam fought Scorpina. Jaime was fighting a...strange monster who’s body seemed to be in the shape of a Venus Fly Trap.

Jason kicked at Goldar furiously. “You’re going down, Monkey Boy, once and for all. Mark my words.”

“Save your breath,” Goldar muttered with a sigh. “You’re going to need all the oxygen you can get when you’re on your final ones.” With that, he raised his sword above Jason’s head and brought it down upon him, knocking the Red Ranger to the ground.

“I’m going to kill you!” Emily screamed at Rito after knocking him to the ground with her Golden Lighting. “It’s because of you that he didn’t turn back to me...it’s because of you that Jason went back to that slut!”

Rito smirked before standing again and raising his sword. It illuminated with fire as he pointed it at her. Feeling a throbbing go through her body, Emily cried out before falling to the ground. “Such tough talk, Gold Ranger F,” Rito murmured. “Never underestimate your competitors.”

Tommy struck the monster he was fighting before watching with horror as the green and black monster attacked him again, jumping on top of him and slashing him with his sword. “I am Ecliptor,” the monster told Tommy with a dark chuckle, “and I’m going to make sure that you never live to talk about this fight...”

“Afraid that I’ll comment on your fighting technique?” The White Ranger quipped breathlessly as he pushed Ecliptor off of him.

He scoffed. “I wouldn’t make you suffer the physical pain of walking away from a fight with me.” Raising his hands in the air, Tommy stared at him in disbelief as his head detached from his body.

“No way...” He had just said this when green laser beams shot from Ecliptor’s eyes and hit him dead on. After that, Ecliptor’s body kicked and punched at him, still knowing what it was doing even without a head to control it. Being kicked to the ground, Tommy glared at him as his head rejoined with his body. This is going to be harder than I thought it would be...

Walking back into the sick bay, Andros put a hand on Alpha’s shoulder. “I’ve told D.E.C.A. to follow behind me on my Galaxy Glider so that the Rangers can just teleport onto the Megaship and we can return to Earth as soon as they arrived.” The droid nodded

Andros gazed at Yaralla and, seeing that she wasn’t moving, he sighed, knowing that she must have passed out from her caffeine overdose. Turning to Zhane, he found the Silver Astro Ranger staring at the ceiling with tears streaming down his cheeks. Cautiously, Andros put a hand on his arm. “Are you going to be all right while I’m gone, Zhane?”

“I won’t need to be...I’m coming with you,” Zhane told him weakly as he began to sit up from his lying position on the examination table.

Shaking his head, Andros pushed him back down. “No. You need to get over the caffeine, Zhane. It wouldn’t be safe for you to come along.”

“I can do it,” the Silver Astro Ranger told him strongly. His confidence faltered for a minute as he glanced pleadingly at Andros. “I just need one piece of Earth chocolate, and I’ll be ok the whole time.”

“No,” Andros told him strongly. Despite his efforts to push the Silver Astro Ranger back down, Zhane sat up and stared at him for a moment before slipping off of the examining table and allowing his legs the opportunity to adjust. Licking his lips, Andros shrugged. “Well, maybe I could use a little help on Dactor.” As Zhane trembled before leaning against the table for support, he shook his head. “I could use the help, but not from you, Zhane. You need to rest.”

“But Andros--” Zhane cut off as the Red Astro Ranger slipped his helmet back on and left the room. “I’ll show him that I’m ready...”

Getting on the transporter, Andros returned to Megadeck 1 before sprinting towards the teleportational holes. Stepping up to the red one, he looked behind him to make sure that Zhane wasn’t following before slipping down and landing on his Galaxy Glider. He exited the Megaship and, enjoying the speed he was getting, moved in front of the Megaship and towards Dactor using the coordinates Zordon had given him.

Andros frowned as he heard something behind him a few minutes later and, turning around, he snarled. “Stubborn Bastard.” Leaning back on his Galaxy Glider, he waited for the Silver Astro Ranger to catch up to him before frowning. “I thought I told you to stay on the Megaship!”

“Like I’m going to suddenly start doing what you say,” Zhane muttered flippantly. The two nodded towards each other before accelerating towards Dactor so they could help the other rangers.

Slashing Ecliptor across the chest, Tommy was surprised when the monster grabbed Saba and used his own sword to knock him over. “Give it up, White Ranger,” Ecliptor said with a laugh. “You’ll never defeat me.”

Tommy looked up at the sky, frowning as he saw that the sun was close to midday already. “That much time can’t have gone by, can it?” Standing, he got into fighting position again. “I’ll never give in to you, Ecliptor.”

“Very well,” Ecliptor muttered. Putting his arms out to the side, Tommy watched as multiple forms of himself were created and they circled him threateningly. “What do you say now?”

“Shit...” Watching the six Ecliptors all laughing in sync as they continued to move around him, Tommy shook his head in disbelief before raising Saba. “Ok, Tommy. Concentrate. You can do this.” Narrowing his eyes, he struck out at one of the Ecliptors, jumping back as it disappeared. “What!?”

“Wrong guess,” A voice said from behind him, and the White Ranger was unable to turn around before being kicked down.

Jaime and Darkonda, meanwhile, were staring at each other with fist raised. Snickering, Darkonda opened his palms and raised them towards the Triphorian, watching in satisfaction as beams came from them and struck the Silver Ranger, sending him plummeting to the ground in pain. “Prepare to meet your fate, Jaime.”

Kat kicked at a Quantron before raising her Power Bow and killing some of them with the pink energy arrows that shot from it. Looking up, she gasped as two missiles spiraled down towards her, and was barely able to jump out of their path before they struck the area where she had been standing. “What are those things!?”

“I don’t know!” Tanya called to her from where she had just been pushed down by Quantrons. “We’re really outnumbered, though!”

Kim kicked a Quantron away from her before punching another one. Looking up, she groaned. “As if we didn’t have enough to worry about!”

Spotting her, Zedd, who had just materialized on a cliff overlooking the battle with Rita, Rashell, and Uriel, he cackled. “That’s right, Kimberly!” Raising his staff, he fired at her, watching with content as she fell with a hand on her chest. The other three monsters laughed. This was turning out better than expected.

Millions of stars became blurs as Andros raced past them on his Galaxy Glider. Turning to Zhane, he frowned as he saw that the Silver Astro Ranger had a hand on his head and was shaking it constantly. “Hey, are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” Zhane told him weakly. Pointing at the brownish planet in front of them, he sighed. “That must be Dactor.”

Andros shook his head skeptically. He’s not ok. For once, I wish Zhane would be honest with me. Looking straight ahead, his eyes narrowed. “Check it out.” He pointed ahead of them. “It’s Serpenterra and the Dark Fortress. That must mean that Zedd, Rita, Rashell, Uriel, and Astronema are here.”

The Silver Astro Ranger nodded. “This is like an intergalactic parking lot.”

“I’m going in,” Andros informed him as he began to accelerate towards Dactor. “Stay behind me; don’t fall behind.”

“Do I ever?” Zhane asked with a small smile. “Go ahead.”

No, Zhane never falls behind, but in this condition... Nodding, Andros leaned forward and sped through the atmosphere of Dactor. For a moment, he felt a tingling sensation go through his body, and when it disappeared he knew that he had made it through the atmosphere safely.

Decelerating as he reached the ground, the Red Astro Ranger turned around and grinned faintly as he saw that Zhane was still right on his tail on his Silver Galaxy Glider.

Catching up completely with Andros again, Zhane looked around before suggesting, “We should start looking for the battle. If the sun goes down we’ll be in trouble.”

“Ok...keep your eyes and ears open,” Andros instructed. The two looked at each other briefly before continuing to glide above the ground in their pursuit of the other rangers.

They had only traveled for a few minutes when a force from behind knocked both Rangers off of their Galaxy Gliders. Turing around in shock, they found themselves staring up at Karaya who was eyeing them with amusement. “You rangers are so predictable. I knew you would come here looking for the others.”

The Red Astro Ranger stood and raised his fists threateningly. “We’re more than enough to take you on, Karaya, and we’ll find the other rangers, too.”

“Not if I have something to say about it,” Karaya growled. She watched as Andros helped Zhane to his feet, and grinned slyly as he slumped over slightly before straightening. Hmmm...this is going to be a piece of cake...or, in this case...a piece of chocolate... After observing Zhane’s condition on Earth, Karaya knew that there were only two things found on Earth that would addict a Kerolian so strongly...chocolate and cigarettes, and since none of the Earth Rangers smoked...

A soft beeping sounded in Yaralla’s ears, and she opened her eyes slowly before glancing up at Alpha who was taking something off of her arm. “Alpha? What’s going on?”

“I’m glad you’re awake, Yaralla,” Alpha told her, relieved that she had finally gotten up. “Andros had you teleport up here during your battle with Karaya.”

Yaralla frowned at this and forced her aching arms to allow her to sit up. “Where are Zhane and Andros? Are they ok?”

“Zhane seems to be recovering as you are,” Alpha explained gingerly. “He and Andros have gone to Dactor to help the other rangers.”

As the memories of battle came back to her, Yaralla frowned. “So that’s where they were teleported to.” Alpha nodded. Rubbing her arm slowly, the Kerolian woman looked at the droid with shimmering eyes. “Um, you wouldn’t happen to have any Earth chocolate here, would you?”

Shaking its head, Alpha sighed. “No, and you couldn’t have it even if I did. I don’t know if you were aware of this or not, Yaralla, but Earth chocolate contains caffeine. It was responsible for your weakness.”

“Caffeine!?” Yaralla took a deep breath and stared at the robot, obviously startled by this information. “I didn’t know that was in there. It makes perfect sense...the chocolate made me be extra hyper and dropped me when I didn’t get enough!” She shook her head before lowering her eyes and pushing a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear. “I do want it, Alpha. I want it even now, but I need to get over it.” Yaralla swung her legs over the examination table and hesitantly stood. Wavering slightly, she calmed herself before saying, “We need to get into position so that the other rangers can easily teleport up here when Zhane and Andros reach them.”

“D.E.C.A. is doing this,” Alpha informed her. “You should stay with me in the control room anyway, Yaralla, so that I can be there for you if you have a caffeine craving.” Yaralla nodded, a grim expression on her face, before following the droid out of the sick bay and towards the transporter. There was work to do.

The Astro Rangers stared at Karaya in shock as she neared them slowly. She put a lethargic hand through her glimmering red hair before smiling seductively at Zhane. “Look at me, Silver Ranger.”

“What do you have up your sleeve, Karaya?” Andros demanded before glancing at Zhane who was staring at Karaya in puzzlement. “No matter what you’re planning, it won’t work.”

“I know what you’re feeling, Zhane,” Karaya said softly, ignoring the Red Astro Ranger. “You want Earth chocolate. In fact, you can practically taste it.” As Zhane nodded slowly, she grinned. “I can ease the pain inside of you. Do you want to know how?”

“How?” Zhane questioned silently. Andros stared at him, startled by the fact that his best friend was actually listening to her.

Karaya took another step towards him, her hips swaying with the movement. “I can supply it for you...all you could ever want...and all you have to do is join with me. After that, you’ll have more Earth chocolate than you’ll know what to do with.”

Zhane licked his lips at the thought before stiffening and glaring at her. “Super Silverizer!” He pointed the blade of his sword at her. “You aren’t going to trick me, Karaya.”

“I’m not trying to trick you, Silver Ranger,” Karaya responded sweetly. “It’s the truth. I can supply Earth chocolate for you...as much of it as you want.” As his hand holding the Silverizer shook, she nodded. “I know you can feel it going down your throat, Zhane. It feels so good. Imagine...you’d never be without it.”

“Yeah right, Karaya,” Andros said with a smirk. “Zhane will never fall for that.” Glancing at the Silver Astro Ranger, his eyes widened. His best friend was actually considering the offer!

Stepping in front of him, Andros put a hand on his shoulder. “Snap out of it, Zhane. Karaya can’t provide for you. She’ll put you under whatever spell she’s weaving now, and you’ll be nothing but her slave!”

Zhane frowned angrily at him before raising the Silverizer and bringing it down on the Red Astro Ranger who could only gasp in horror before being struck. The hit was a good one, and he fell to the ground gulping for air. “I’m trying to think!”

“You can beat her, Zhane,” Andros told him weakly, touching the shoulder of his armor which now had a giant burn mark on it. “There’s caffeine in Earth chocolate. You’re addicted to it. I can help you through this. The other rangers aren’t here right now, but they’ll be there for you, too. Come on!”

Hearing this, the Silver Astro Ranger looked down at the torn uniform of his best friend before glancing at Karaya who was still smiling brightly at him. He shook his head fiercely before gazing down at Andros again, tears stinging his eyes. “I can’t believe I...oh God...” Glaring at Karaya, he raised the Silverizer in a rage. Zhane ran towards her before bringing the sword down in a blue blur.

Karaya cried out and clutching her chest which was throbbing intensely. “I’ll get you, Silver Ranger! Mark my words...I’ll be back!” Falling to the ground, she disappeared in a black flash leaving Andros and Zhane alone.

The Silver Astro Ranger felt tears fall from his eyes before kneeling on the ground and crying out in anguish. Andros watched him as he painfully stood again, not sure of how his best friend would react to him. Stepping towards him, Andros put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you ok?”

“I could have killed you!” Zhane yelled guiltily, slamming his fists on the ground. “You’re my best friend and I-I hurt you because of some obsession!”

Andros bent down next to him before slowly saying, “You weren’t thinking straight. If I was addicted to caffeine, I would have acted the same way. Any Kerolian would have. Zhane, you proved to be incredibly controlled in that you didn’t take Karaya’s offer. You even killed her!” Helping him to his feet, the Red Astro Ranger put his arm around him as he trembled. “Are you going to be ok?”

“Yeah,” Zhane responded. “I want to be with you till the end of the mission...I owe it to you and the others...” Deciding not the bother arguing with him, Andros called for his Galaxy Glider and, seeing that the Silver Astro Ranger was about to do the same, he shook his head and told him that he was going to ride his. Zhane didn’t argue, and soon the two Kerolians were cruising over Dactor looking for the rangers again.

Kicking Jason again, Goldar watched with satisfaction as he fell to the ground before cackling. “You aren’t much competition anymore, Jason. I’m surprised. We used to be able to go for hours without the fight favoring anyone. Now, Qusop is about to go down after its two hour lighting of this area, and I’ve already won.”

The Red Ranger put a hand on his chest and tried to stand, but his body stung as if a million knives were cutting it. He looked down at his armor and gasped as it flashed once before giving out all together.

“Jason!” Trini yelled in horror. The Copper Ninja Ranger ran towards him but was held back by Quantrons who jumped on her and punched her mercilessly causing sparks to erupt from her armor. From above, a Quantron piloting a Velocifighter became interested in this fight and fired down on her before looking around for any other evil powers he could help.

Tommy turned around and, seeing his best friend’s predicament, he tried to get away from Ecliptor, but the monster held him back and fired his green eye beams again. “You can’t get away from me that easily, White Ranger.”

Goldar raised his sword above Jason and stopped momentarily as he saw genuine fear in the Red Ranger’s eyes. This was the moment he had waited for since he had first seen Jason after Zordon had recruited him to be the leader of the Power Rangers. Killing him would be a treat, and he chuckled to himself before beginning to lower the sword on him...

...but a different sound assaulted his ears...one far more pleasing than Jason’s pain-filled cries. Wondering what this was, he turned around and snarled at what he saw. Ecliptor had just brought his sword down on the White Ranger, and he had fallen in agony while holding his chest.

Goldar wondered why exactly this sight bothered him, but this question was easily answered. Tommy was HIS target. He always had been and until he was killed he always would be. The idea that another being would destroy him made his stomach turn. Goldar cherished the idea of seeing Tommy Oliver finally fall after all he had done...coming into the moon palace and becoming Rita’s favorite as the Green Ranger, and then betraying them by using his powers for good...and now he was the leader of the rangers. Rita and Zedd have not said anything about sparing his life lately, and if anyone kills him, it will be me.

Leaving his position in front of Jason, Goldar ran in front of Ecliptor and brought his sword down on the White Ranger, cackling in pleasure as he saw his armor flash once before forming around him once again. Goldar was about to go for another hit...one that would surely diminish Tommy’s powers and leave him vulnerable when Ecliptor put a hand on his shoulder and spun him around in fury. “I could have finished the White Ranger in that blow I was about to deliver!” Kicking at him, he snarled. “What do you think you’re doing, Goldar!?”

“The White Ranger is my target,” Goldar growled. “He always has been, and I’m not about to let some henchman of Astronema’s destroy him!”

Ecliptor scowled. “Watch your tongue, Underling. Astronema is more powerful than Rita or Zedd will ever be.” Raising his sword, he swung at Goldar, and the two began fighting.

Watching this in disbelief, Tommy shook his head before standing quickly and running over to Jason. He supported the fallen Red Ranger in his arms before cautiously asking, “Are you ok?”

“I can barely see...my eyes are all blurry,” Jason told him faintly. “There’s a burning in my chest.”

“Goldar was beating you pretty badly,” Tommy noted. “I’ve got you back, Bro. Catch your breath. Hopefully help will be coming soon.” The Red Ranger nodded before closing his eyes and doing all he could to calm his breathing.

Jaime, meanwhile, had just been kicked to the ground by Darkonda after trying to get a punch in. The bounty hunter laughed maliciously at his fallen form. “Ah, Jaime Talsik, it looks like I am the winner of our brawl. Now it is time to end this.” Raising his sword, he was unprepared for the blow that knocked him to the ground.

Looking around, Jaime spotted Zhane flying on the Red Galaxy Glider with his Super Silverizer in hand. “Thanks, Zhane!”

The Silver Astro Ranger saluted towards him. “You owe me!” At this, Jaime shook his head and frowned. Some things would never change.

Kat kicked at a few Quantrons, sending them falling to the ground, before raising her Power Bow. Firing at them, she smiled as they hit the ground. “You guys aren’t so tough after all...”

“Velocifighters?” Andros looked up at the jets that were shooting at random fighters on land. “I guess Astronema is going all out. Spiral Saber Blaster Mode!” Raising the weapon towards a cluster of Velocifighters, he fired at them and watched as they blew up in midair.

Gazing at the Red Astro Ranger as he did this, Kim smiled. “You know...that’s not a bad idea.” She looked at the other Ninja Rangers who had circled around her. “Let’s bring out powers together.”

“We’ve never done that!” Jackie protested. “Do you think we’ll have enough power?”

Zack shrugged. “Well, we won’t know until we try.” Trini nodded.

Kim put her fingers against the symbol on her uniform. “Ninja Crane...summon laser power!”

“Ninja Cat...summon laser power!” Jackie called, following suit.

“Ninja Hawk...summon laser power!”

“Ninja Stallion...summon laser power!”

Jackie stepped in front of Trini and Zack who each put a hand on her shoulder. Kim stepped onto their shoulders and lowered her hand to Jackie’s outreached one. “Combine laser power now!” A beam of mixed copper, pink, purple, and green light flashed up at the Velocifighters, and five of them exploded.

“Jam-o-ramma!” Zack yelled enthusiastically as Kim jumped off of him. “That was awesome!”

“We kicked some major ass,” Jackie noted excitedly. “Good job, everyone.” The four Ninja Rangers nodded towards each other, extremely glad that they had discovered how powerful their combined power was.

Emily, meanwhile, kicked Rito to the ground with hatred and, raising her hands, she pointed them at him. “Golden Lightning!”

“Um...that’s my cue to go,” Rito muttered, and before the energy could hit him, he had teleported away.

Watching the large skeleton go, Emily grunted before putting her hands on her hips. “Someday, Rito Revolto...I will kill you...”

Scorpina turned around and listened to Adam’s pain-filled cries as her stinger connected with his armor and electrocuted him. Spinning back around, she had just raised her sword when she heard a voice inside of her head. Leave now...you have the upper hand, but most of our forces don’t. You will destroy Adam another time.

Recognizing the voice as Uriel’s, she sighed before glaring at the Black Ranger who was still on the ground. “Consider yourself lucky.” With that, she teleported away leaving Adam to stare after her in shock. Seeing her leave, Goldar pushed Ecliptor away from him before growling and teleporting, as well.

“You’ll regret messing with me,” Ecliptor mumbled darkly as he left the battlefield.

Hearing him, Darkonda smirked. “If you can’t make friends with a giant monkey then who can you make friends with, Ecliptor? I guess you’re not a very likable machine.”

Ecliptor scowled at him. “Silence...what I don’t need right now is your infernal yapping.” Firing a few eyebolts at him, he teleported away in a flash of green leaving Darkonda to laugh at him maniacally.

From above the planet, Dark Specter watched the battle and, seeing that he was losing, raised his palms and fired missiles at the rangers who were beginning to huddle together. “I will not admit defeat so easily, Weaklings. Your fight is not over.”

Andros ducked before motioning over to a clearing beyond the mountains circling the area where the rangers had been fighting. “Come on. Once we get over to that area D.E.C.A. will be able to teleport us. We have to get away from Dark Specter!”

“All right,” Tommy said. Seeing that Jason was nodding, he put his arm around the unmorphed ranger before helping him to run to the clearing that Andros had specified.

Rocky looked back at the Quantrons that were following them and, raising his Laser Pistol, he fired, motioning for the other rangers to follow suit. Tanya, Kat, and Adam did as told, and Andros raised his Astro Blaster and shot at the approaching troops as Zhane did the same with his Silverizer.

Seeing that Darkonda was also approaching, Tommy cursed under his breath before spotting Trini just a little ways behind them. The White Ranger stopped and handed Jason over to the Copper Ninja. “What are you doing?” Trini asked frantically. “We need to go!”

“Keep going,” Tommy ordered and, knowing that he was definitely in leader mode, Trini did as asked, trying to ignore Jason’s persistent questions about what his best friend was doing and where he was going.

Tommy kicked at Darkonda only to be knocked down by the bounty hunter. Raising his sword, Darkonda slashed him before raising his palms and firing. Crying out, Tommy fell to the ground and watched helplessly as his already weakened armor disintegrated before his eyes.

Turning around as she reached the clearing, Kat shook her head in disbelief. “Tommy, no!” Jason also faced the White Ranger and shook his head, not wanting to accept what he was seeing. Before any of the rangers could go back for him, they were teleported up by D.E.C.A.

Dark Specter watched this from above Dactor and smiled. Even if the other rangers had escaped, Darkonda would kill the leader, and after him they would all fall...one by one... Darkonda raised his sword and laughed. “Well, you don’t seem like such a hotshot now, White Ranger.” Lowering it on him, he was surprised as his blow was warded off by the unmorphed ranger who now had Saba in his hands.

“Don’t underestimate any ranger,” Tommy growled at him. “You’ll be surprised what we’re capable of.”

The two fought with each other for a short time with favor passing between both competitors until, with a lucky shot, Saba was knocked away by Darkonda. After that, everything happened quickly, and Tommy found himself in incredible anguish with the bounty hunter towering over him. “If I think too much of a fighter, I’m usually let down,” Darkonda told him with a laugh. “Goodbye, White Ranger.”

Watching this from the cliff where she had been surveying the battle for with Rita, Zedd, and Rashell, Uriel tensed and shook her head. I don’t believe this...in one more minute I’m going to be carrying the child of a dead ranger...

Dark Specter sensed her stiffness and frowned, wondering what it was about the destruction of the White Ranger that was making her so upset. Gazing down at the mortal, he felt that eerie sensation run over him again...it was the same thing he had felt when he had first seen Uriel, and there was something inside of him saying that whatever it was would mean a lot in the long run, and that this ranger shouldn’t be killed. “Let him go, Darkonda.”

Rita, Zedd, Rashell, and Uriel looked up at him in shock. As far as they knew, Dark Specter had never been merciful to anyone. Darkonda was clearly appalled. Dark Specter would never spare a ranger...he must be joking... Chuckling, he raised his sword above Tommy, but before he could end the life of the White Ranger, a sharp pain went through his back, and he fell to the ground, disappearing in a fiery explosion.

Dark Specter shook his head at Darkonda’s incompetence before gazing down at the White Ranger who was obviously startled by what he had just seen. Noticing that he was shaking, Dark Specter briefly wondered if this was because he was afraid of what he, the monarch of evil, was planning for him, or if he was feeling the impact of the emotions associated with knowing that he had almost lost his life. Perhaps it was a little of both.

Tommy shivered after seeing Darkonda destroyed by Dark Specter before looking up at the monarch of evil. The two beings stared at each other wordlessly letting their curiosity show in the gesture. Rita, Zedd, Uriel, and Rashell, as well as Astronema who was standing next to them, watched this in awe, and the whole planet became deadly silent...

Landing in the Control Room of the Megaship, Kat leaned against a console and buried her face in her hands. “What if Darkonda killed him...Tommy could be dead right now, and I wasn’t with him...” Tommy, please forgive me for leaving you there.

Adam closed his eyes for a moment before putting a hand on Jason’s shoulder. “Come on...lets get you bandaged up, Jason. There’s some blood on the upper part of your shirt.”

Pushing against him, the Red Ranger shook his head in opposition. “No...I have to go back...I have to help him!”

“Jason, you’re hurt,” Trini told him strongly, trying to force the mental images of the White Ranger falling to Darkonda out of her mind. “Once you’re cleaned up then we can start looking for Tommy.”

“It’ll be too late!” Jason screamed at her, making the Copper Ninja draw back slightly. He turned to Andros who had lowered his eyes. “You have to contact him...try and teleport him up. Maybe he’s still ok...maybe we can get him up here before Darkonda...God, if I hadn’t been hurt by Goldar Tommy wouldn’t have felt the need to stay behind.” At his words, Kat took in a shaky breath and felt a few tears trickle from her eyes.

As Emily rubbed her back comfortingly, Adam and Trini continued to pull Jason out of the room. “Tommy will be ok, Jason,” Adam said forcefully. “Darkonda can’t beat him that easily.”

Trini nodded. “Yeah...you need to get some rest.” Jason opened his mouth to protest again but, suddenly feeling weak, he allowed the two rangers to lead him out of the room.

After the Red Ranger had left the room along with Adam and Trini, Kat wiped her tears before gazing at Emily. “He’s not going to make it, is he?”

“Dark Specter is the monarch of evil, Kat,” Andros said with a frown. “He doesn’t give up until he wins.” At this, Kim bit her lip before hugging Kat and allowing her to cry onto her shoulder. Jaime and Emily shook their heads in disbelief.

All of a sudden, a bright white flash blinded the rangers and, when it was gone, they heard coughing followed by a familiar voice saying, “Remind me to tell Zordon that he needs to give us Danger Pay.”

Kat, knowing exactly who it was, broke away from Kim and threw her arms around Tommy who was just getting off of the floor. “Stop doing this to me!” She cried. “Now I know why Kim doesn’t have feelings for you anymore. Thomas Oliver, you’re going to make me grow gray hairs, and I’m not even in my 20’s yet!”

Facing his girlfriend, Tommy stared at her in shock before wiping the tears from her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Kat...I don’t know what happened, but, well, I’m alive.”

“What did happen?” Rocky asked eagerly. “Did you kill Darkonda?”

“It was so strange,” the White Ranger said. “Darkonda decimated my powers and he was definitely going to kill me, but Dark Specter destroyed him before he could do so.”

At this, Jaime gasped. “He what!?” Dark Specter killed his own servant!?

Tommy sighed. “Dark Specter kinda stared at me for a few moments after that...it was almost like he was trying to learn something about me by staring at my face...and then he just told me to teleport up here, and that we should all leave immediately before he changed his mind about sparing my life.”

He licked his lips before softly adding, “I’ll admit it to you guys, and you know I never say anything like this, but I’m still shaking...yes, we’ve faced death before. There was the destruction of Angel Grove, that one day after we lost our Zeo Powers where Uriel was going to kill me, facing our doubles, being tortured by the Selvinians, almost being blown up on Aquitar, almost not making it back to Earth when leaving Aquitar, fighting on Horat...but this seemed the most real. He had this aura around him that just said ‘you’re going to die’, and I really believed it.”

Zack and Jackie looked at each other before glancing worriedly at Tommy again. He never admitted to being scared...well, the rangers were sure that he would tell Jason and Kat things like that, but all of them? He must have been frightened out of his wits.

At that moment, Yaralla ran into the room and, spotting the Red Astro Ranger, she hugged him. “You’re the best friend anyone could hope for, Andros.”

He smiled at her before inquiring, “How are you feeling?”

“Something inside of me still wants the caffeine, but I know I’ll be able to get over it,” Yaralla explained, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Jaime’s eyes widened in realization. “So, you and Zhane were acting so weird because of caffeine?” At her nod, he grinned. “Suddenly, this all makes sense! Of course Kerolians have that reaction to Earth chocolate! It’s loaded with it!”

Andros glanced at Zhane who had abruptly began breathed heavier. “Hey, Zhane, are you ok?” The Silver Astro Ranger gazed at him with fright before clutching his chest and feeling his knees give way. Seeing this, Emily ran over to him and helped the Red Astro Ranger support him.

“I want it so much, Andros,” Zhane whispered softly. “It isn’t just a want...I crave it...”

Rocky shook his head guiltily. “This is all my fault. Yaralla, Zhane, I’m so sorry that I gave you the chocolate. If I would have known--”

Yaralla raised a hand, cutting him off. “That’s just it, Rocky. None of us knew what we were doing. I didn’t know that there was caffeine in chocolate, and you didn’t know that we would react to it like this. How could you have?”

“We’ll help you through this, Zhane...Yaralla,” Jackie whispered, putting a hand on the Silver Astro Ranger’s arm.

Tommy smiled at them. “Absolutely. If you guys need support, we’ll always be here for you.”

Zhane glanced at him before nodding slowly, and Emily rubbed his arm softly as his eyes became misty. “Thanks. That...means a lot.”

“Um, you two should definitely get some rest,” Andros said, sensing that this was a good cue that both of them were worn out. “Tomorrow is a brand new day, and we should be prepared for it.”

As the Rangers slowly stretched out their aching bodies, grinning widely at the thought of a good night’s sleep, Kat touched Tommy’s shoulder. “You should probably go talk to Jason. He’ll be worried if you don’t. Oh, I think Trini and Adam took him to the sick bay.” The White Ranger nodded before leaving the room.

After walking down a hallway, he sighed, knowing that he had absolutely no idea where he was going. He put his hands on his hips. “Ok...if I were a space station designer where would I put the sick bay?”

“The sick bay is located on Megadeck 3,” a female voice rang out.

Tommy gazed in wonder at the red flashing light on the wall before biting his lip. “Um, D.E.C.A.?”

The light flashed again. “Yes?”

“What Megadeck am I on now?” The White Ranger asked slowly, still not believing the fact that he was talking to a little red light on the wall of a space station. Why not, Tommy? You’ve talking to stranger beings...a floting head, a giant monkey, a guy with the skin of a lizard on his head, a race of fish-like people, Fox Mulder...

“You are on Megadeck 1,” D.E.C.A. informed him. “Would you like to be transported to Megadeck 3? Do you have any serious medical condition that needs immediate attention?”

Tommy licked his lips before responding, “Yes, I would like to go to Megadeck 3, but it’s not for myself. I need to talk to Jason Scott.”

D.E.C.A. flashed once and doors to Tommy’s side snapped open. He jumped back in surprise before peering into the small area and, nodding towards D.E.C.A., he stepped inside and watched as the doors closed and lights flashed on the walls. “Talk about high technology...and I thought the Power Chamber was cool...”

The doors opened again, and Tommy almost bumped into Adam and Trini who were stepping in the other direction. “Sorry,” Adam said apologetically.

Trini embraced him before toughly telling him, “If you dare to do anything like that to me again, you’ll pay with your life, Tommy. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Tommy replied, saluting her. “I need to see Jason.”

“He’s in the other room,” Adam informed him. Tommy smiled at them before watching as they entered the transporter together and left him alone on Megadeck 3.

Looking around, Tommy slowly stepped into a room where a faint beeping could be heard from the hallway. As an Alpha unit glanced at him, he sighed before spotting Jason lying on an examination table with his eyes closed. “Um, Alpha, is he asleep yet?”

As if answering his question, Jason’s eyes flashed open, and he gazed at the White Ranger before smiling brightly. “I thought you hadn’t made it out, Bro.”

Tommy easily noticed how weak his voice was but, saying nothing about it, he grinned. “You didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Jason told him with a snicker.

Clasping hands with the Red Ranger, Tommy sighed. “Well, I just stopped in to tell you that I’m ok, but I know how much you need your rest. Take care of yourself in here, all right?” At his nod, Tommy smiled before glancing at the droid who was trying his best to move around him. “Sorry, Alpha. I didn’t mean to get in the way.” With that, he left the room and walked back towards the transporter.

Stepping inside, the White Ranger glanced around as D.E.C.A. said, “The sleeping area is located on Megadeck 2.”

“Um, I guess I should try to help out a little bit more in the control room,” Tommy told the voice, stifling a yawn as he leaned against the wall of the transporter. “Take me back down to Megadeck 1.”

“The sleeping area is located on Megadeck 2,” D.E.C.A. repeated earning a confused stare from Tommy.

“Are you broken or something?” The White Ranger asked quietly as he rubbed his eyes. “I said, take me back to Megadeck 1.”

“The sleeping area is located on Megadeck 2,” D.E.C.A. said for the third time, this time more forcefully. Sighing, it added, “My job, besides being controller of the Megaship, is to look out for all passengers on board.”

D.E.C.A. must be like a built-in Zordon for this ship. Tommy was unable to stop from smiling at this. “Fine, D.E.C.A. Take me to Megadeck 2.”

“As you command.” At this, the White Ranger couldn’t stop from chuckling. Who was the commanding one in this scenario?

Reaching Megadeck 2, Tommy stepped out to find that the other rangers were all there, as well. Andros, Yaralla, and Zhane, who were in the middle of everyone, raised their hands to get the attention of the others. “Listen up!” Andros called. “Zhane and I are already in one room and Yaralla is in another. That leaves six rooms...two beds in each room. Without Jason, there are eleven of you. Divide yourselves accordingly. Same sex if possible.”

Rocky leaned towards him at this. “Same sex?”

“It was an excuse for Yaralla to be forced into a room by herself,” Zhane explained, his eyes sparkling. “Unless completely necessary, of course...” With that, Zhane and Andros stepped into their room as Yaralla entered hers.

The remaining rangers stared at each other for a few moments. Finally, Zack grinned. “Hey, there is one extra room, after all. That one is mine...I need my personal space...” and before the others could stop him, he had locked himself in his own room.

Kim rolled her eyes. “That is so Zack Taylor.” She glanced at Trini. “Feel like bunking with me?”

“Sure,” The Copper Ninja responded. The two wished the others goodnight before entering their own room and closing the door.

Emily gazed at Kat who had been looking at her. “Well, I’m not sleeping with Rocky, so do you feel like bunking?”

“What’s so bad about sleeping with me?” Rocky asked with a pout.

Ignoring him, Kat nodded. “Sure.” She kissed Tommy’s cheek before leaving with the Gold Ranger F.

The White Ranger glanced at Jaime who was looking at him self-consciously. Finally having enough, he laughed. “Come on, Jaime. I won’t bite you, ok?” The Silver Ranger blushed before following him into a room and closing the door.

Seeing that the Blue Ranger still had his arms over his chest, upset, Adam shook his head and chuckled before grabbing his arm and leading him wordlessly into a room, pushing him inside and closing the door behind them.

Tanya and Jackie stared at each other for a few minutes. Finally, Jackie sighed. “Well, there’s no one else...besides, it won’t be that bad, right? Only a few hours...and I don’t snore.”

“That’s a good thing,” The Yellow Ranger said. Laughing lightly, both female rangers walked into the last available room and closed the door.

The moon powers had entered Serpenterra and were heading back towards their true home. While Goldar, Rito, and Scorpina all helped to pilot the great vessel, Zedd and Rita slept together in the main room. Rashell had put his head on Uriel’s lap and was snoring lightly. The evil empress sighed and looked up at the ceiling, trying to put her thoughts on different things...

...such as, why had Dark Specter not kill Tommy? The question burned in her mind, and she had a horrible suspicion that the monarch of evil knew something about her sex with the White Ranger. How could he, though? I guess I’ll just have to find out in due time. He wouldn’t dare tell anyone...would he?

On the Dark Fortress, Astronema stared at Karaya who was leaning against the wall of the main room before shaking her head. “The Silver Ranger destroyed you.”

“He just used up some of my energy with that blow,” Karaya mumbled, twirling a strand of red hair around her finger. “The Super Silverizer is a powerful weapon.”

Astronema nodded. “That it is. Do you realize, Karaya, how close we were to defeating the rangers? They were within our grasp...and the White Ranger could have been killed by Darkonda, but Dark Specter let him go.”

Karaya sighed. “That was strange, but I assume that Dark Specter had a reason for his action. He always does...no matter how weird things he says might sound, Dark Specter always knows what he’s doing.”

“You’re right,” Astronema said. “Besides, we will destroy the rangers one day. This was just the first of many battles.”

At that moment, both Ecliptor and Darkonda entered the room before bowing in front of the two. Turning to Ecliptor, Darkonda cackled. “I still can’t believe that you couldn’t get along with Goldar! He’s one of the stupidest beings in the Universe...besides Rito Revolto, of course.” So he was down a life because of Dark Specter’s actions. Darkonda wasn’t worried. He still had plenty to spare.

“Oh, just shut up, you vermin!” Ecliptor scowled.

Astronema sighed. “Yes, be quiet for once, Darkonda.” The bounty hunter just growled but said nothing else. “Don’t be sore, you two. We will destroy the rangers...Dark Specter has involved us in this war now, and he will, no doubt, call on us again. When he does, we will be ready to crush the Power Rangers.”

Dark Specter traveled through the vast reaches of space, wondering why he hadn’t been able to destroy the White Ranger on Dactor. It was what he had wanted...to at least make the team one ranger short, but he hadn’t done what his own mind had been telling him to do. There was something about the way Uriel looked at him...some reading coming off of him...I will discover why I couldn’t let Darkonda kill him; hopefully sooner than later.

Slowing his teleport, Dark Specter smiled to himself as he saw that he was now in the M51 Galaxy. Looking around, he found what he had been looking for before becoming his normal height again and looking at the ship which most evil villains in the Universe knew as the Space Skull. He gazed into it before calling to the evil mage that he knew was inside. “Master Vile! Come forth!”

“Dark Specter!” Rita Repulsa’s father cried from within his vessel. “To what do I owe this honor?”

“Your daughter, Rita, needs help defeating the Rangers of Earth,” Dark Specter informed him.

At this, Master Vile shuddered, remembering how he had lost terribly to the rangers when he had gone to help Rita and his dreadful son-in-law, Zedd, a while ago. He regained his composure quickly. “What is your command, Dark Specter?”

Dark Specter frowned. “I order you to kill Zordon of Eltar so that the Rangers will be without a mentor and without hope. Rita captured him in that time warp. You are to draw him out of it and destroy him once and for all.”

“That will be a piece of cake!” Master Vile exclaimed, laughing hideously. “Zordon and I have an old score to settle...”

“Good,” Dark Specter said, and with that he was gone.

Master Vile cackled, delighted by how much he had grown in Dark Specter’s favor. Before, the evil monarch would have never considered asking him to perform such an important task, but that he would be given this duty...this honor of killing the just wizard that so many had attempted to before? He smiled darkly. “Prepare, Zordon of Eltar. Master Vile is back, and I have my eyes on you...”

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART THIRTEEN OF ALLIED EVIL...

The End. Ok, it wasn’t good. I know it wasn’t...not as good as Clear Terrain, and definitely not as good as the Triple Ninja/Split Battle saga, but it had to be done. Anyway, I would love to know what you thought, so e-mail me at Rkacat@aol.com Just one brief e-mail will mean so much, and, though I do try to respond to all messages, if for some reason I don’t, know that I read all comments and appreciate them very much. They keep me writing. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed part twelve of Allied Evil. Happy fanfic hunting, and have a nice morning/afternoon/night...