Danny was slightly sick from the teleportation effect. He found himself in a big room, held back by the Psycho Rangers. “So, you’re the legendary Prophet Ranger, huh?” Astronema sneered, as she came to stand before him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, lady,” Danny said, “I’m not a Ranger and I never have been.” ‘Though I have to say that’s an awesome Ranger identity,’ he admitted to himself.

“Maybe not now, but it’s destined,” Astronema said, “And you will be MY Prophet Ranger.”

“Keep on dreaming,” Danny sneered, “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt the other Rangers.”

“You won’t have much of a choice,” Astronema said, “Ecliptor, bring me the assimilator.” Her main stooge appeared out of nowhere, handing her a really strange machine.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Danny said, lashing out with a kick. He knocked the assimilator machine out of Astronema’s hands. All of a sudden, he went limp in the Psycho Rangers’ grasps, and slid right out of their hands. He knocked Psycho Pink and Psycho Yellow down and quickly grabbed his skates.

Then he broke out in a dead run, using his morphin’ powers to put his skates on along the way. He zoomed off, heading towards a door. It was starting to close, but he dove through right before it did. “And now for a hiding place,” he gasped, trying to catch his breath. He crawled into a nearby air vent. It was more than big enough for him to stand as far as he could tell.

He took off his skates. He knew that someone could hear him using them more than walking with bare feet. He started slowly creeping down the shaft.

“Andros, wake up.” Andros had been dreaming of a peaceful life with Ashley, one that he didn’t have to worry about being a Ranger, when someone started gently shaking him.

“I’m up,” he said groggily, opening his eyes. Ashley’s beautiful face filled his vision. She was obviously worried about something. “What’s wrong?”

“Danny’s gone,” she said, “The Psycho Rangers apparently paid a visit right after Zhane dropped him off at the house and took off with him.” She handed him a piece of paper. “And they left this behind.”

Andros read it. It was actually from Astronema. “The prophecy can never come to pass,” it read, “The Prophet Ranger can never gain power. Listen to me. Before he can become the Prophet Ranger, Daniel Kain is destined to become an entity more evil, and more powerful, than all of the evil currently in the universe combined.”

Andros handed the note to Ashley, who skimmed it over. “What do you think?” she asked him.

“I think we need to chance what she’s saying is true,” Andros said, “We have to find Danny, and try to purge the power from him.”

“How? We can’t even find him,” Ashley said.

“I know,” Andros said, “We just have to keep searching. Come on. Let’s head to the control room.” With that, the two of them left.

Danny was finally able to lay down and get some rest. In fact, he fell asleep. All of a sudden, he found himself in the middle of what looked to be a war zone. The ruins of Angel Grove were all around him. “Who did this?” he demanded, “Astronema?”

“No, I did,” came a flat, emotionless human voice. Danny spun around, to see somebody in an awesome new Ranger outfit.

“Who are you?” Danny asked.

“I am the Tyrant Ranger,” the man said, “As to who am I exactly, you’ll find out soon enough.”

Danny woke up, sweating. “Whoa, that was scary,” he said, “Who the hell was that, anyway?” Shaking the cobwebs from the dream out of his mind, Danny kept going down the corridors.

All of a sudden, he found the teleporter room. “All right,” he cheered, “Now to figure this thing out.” It didn’t take him long, for some reason. Just as he was about to teleport away, the Psycho Rangers and Astronema rushed in.

“You can’t leave,” Astronema said, almost desperately. “You don’t know what this will cause.”

“See ya,” Danny said, as he used his power to throw the switch to teleport him away. When he got over the nausea the teleportation effect caused, Danny took in an eyeful of his surroundings. He looked to be back on Earth, but he couldn’t figure out where he was exactly. All of a sudden, the world went black.

“Andros, I’ve found him,” Cassie said, “He’s in Terra grid 7-G.”

“We have to get down there, before the Psycho Rangers and Astronema do,” T.J. said. The Rangers headed for the galaxy glider bay and jumped down the tubes to their respective ones.

It didn’t take too long to get down to Earth. When they did, they didn’t find Danny. They found a strange, black cocoon of some sort. “What is this stuff?” Carlos asked, as he tapped it lightly. A small electric arc shot out, shocking him.

“It’s a cocoon,” Andros said, “It’s kind of like what a caterpillar would form around itself before transforming into a butterfly. The question is this: Is Danny in there? If so, what is he transforming into?”

All of a sudden, Astronema and the Psycho Rangers appeared. The Rangers went into defensive stances, but Astronema put her hand up. “We’re not here to fight you, Rangers,” she said. She looked at the cocoon and sighed. “I was hoping to get here before he started the transformation.”

“What transformation?” Cassie asked.

“There is a prophecy,” Astronema said, “The one destined to be the Prophet Ranger must overcome the darkness to claim his rightful place. But first, he must taste the dark side of his powers. He must become the Tyrant Ranger.”

“So what do we do?” Ashley asked, “Break the cocoon?”

Astronema shook her head. “There is no way to stop the transformation once it’s started I’m afraid,” she said, “The 13 of us are the universe’s only chance to stop the Tyrant Ranger, if your friend can’t overcome the darkness. Morph, Space Rangers. We must be ready.”

“Ready guys?” Andros asked. The other Space Rangers nodded. “Let’s rocket.” They raised their hands and punched in a certain combination of buttons on the wrist computer. They were morphed in seconds.

All of a sudden, cracks appeared on the surface of the cocoon. “The Tyrant Ranger is about to be born,” Astronema said, as she and the Psycho Rangers went into defensive positions. “Be prepared for anything.”

All of a sudden, the cocoon simply exploded. Out of the rubble stepped a tall, muscular Ranger garbed in armor made of futuristic looking technology. His armor was black, with dark blue and blood red rivulets running all over.

“Ah, it’s good to be free,” the Tyrant Ranger said, his voice cold and completely without emotion. “I’ve been biding my time in that boy’s bloodstream too long.” He looked at the Rangers, who had all brought their weapons out and were ready to attack. “You’re all that oppose me?” The Tyrant Ranger laughed coldly. “If we must. Let’s dance.”

With a big battle cry, the Space Rangers, the Psycho Rangers, and Astronema all charged the Tyrant Ranger. Suddenly, the Tyrant Ranger got serious, as he waded through their numbers, effortlessly pounding away at them.

Nothing seemed to hurt the Tyrant Ranger, as the Psycho Rangers and Space Rangers used their various respective weapons against him. He shrugged the blasts off with a laugh, and knocked them all for a loop.

Astronema used her staff to channel her energy and blasted the Tyrant Ranger, who was not fazed a bit. He grabbed her by the throat. “Karone!!!” Zhane screamed, as he launched himself at the Tyrant Ranger, in a desperate attempt to make him let go of the strangle hold he had on Astronema. The Tyrant just batted him away, and threw Astronema away like a sack of potatoes.

Psycho Red was stupid enough to try to take on the Tyrant Ranger all by himself. “I could beat you when you were just a boy,” Psycho Red said, “There’s no way you can beat me now.”

“Oh no?” Tyrant Ranger taunted, as he tornado kicked Psycho Red. “You have to remember. You never beat me when I was a kid. Gunblade.” A futuristic weapon appeared in his hand. It looked like the Tyrant Ranger was going to run Psycho Red through with it.”

“Get away from him.” The Tyrant Ranger was surprised for a moment at who the speaker was. Andros jumped at the Tyrant Ranger, shooting him with the astro blaster and then hitting him with the spiral saber when he was in close quarter fighting.

“You’re defending the Red Psycho Ranger?” Tyrant Ranger mocked, “That’s a surprise.”

“This day’s just full of surprises,” Andros said, “Just a few short hours ago, you were Danny Kain, and now, you’re the Tyrant Ranger.”

“Danny Kain was a weakling,” Tyrant Ranger said, “While I am the most powerful evil being in the universe.” With that, Tyrant Ranger used his gunblade to knock Andros for a loop. When he went to finish it, Psycho Red stopped him with his own sword.

“Nobody kills the Red Space Ranger, except me,” Psycho Red said, and then kicked the Tyrant Ranger back. It didn’t hurt the Tyrant Ranger, but it did surprise him enough.

“As much as I hate to admit this Psycho Red,” Andros said, “We have to work together to fight him.”

“You’re right, Red Ranger,” Psycho Red said, “Let’s do it.” With that, Andros and Psycho Red jumped at the Tyrant Ranger. The two of them working together caught Tyrant Ranger off guard. He quickly recovered, knocking them both away.

Cassie and Psycho Pink were next. Again, the Tyrant Ranger was caught off guard, but was quickly able to knock them away.

Carlos and Psycho Black were next, coming at the Tyrant Ranger with both of their staves. Unfortunately, they could do nothing to hurt him, and were batted away quickly.

Ashley and Psycho Yellow were next. They tried working together to fight the Tyrant Ranger, but were batted away like the others.

T.J. and Psycho Blue were next, surprisingly working in unison, more so than the Space Ranger/Psycho Ranger teams so far. Unfortunately, they didn’t even make a tiny scratch on the Tyrant Ranger’s armor. They were eventually batted away.

Finally, Zhane and Psycho Silver were up. Zhane’s weapon was like Tyrant Ranger’s, but much shorter. Psycho Silver’s weapon were energy nets he could shoot out, to try to short circuit machinery as well as short circuit a human beings neural pathways.

Psycho Silver was first, shooting an energy net over Tyrant Ranger. It seemed to work, and Zhane moved in. He used his super silverizer to try to cut into the Tyrant Ranger’s armor, with no effect worth mentioning. The energy net’s effects wore off after only a few minutes, and Tyrant Ranger batted away both the Silver Space and Psycho Rangers.

Andros was just now regaining consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he saw something glittering next to his hand. He picked it up. It was the locket that Danny had let him borrow, the one Danny’s grandmother had given him. He had been able to turn it into a make shift morpher.

“That’s it,” he whispered, “I know how to get Danny back.” He went running up to the Tyrant Ranger. “Hey Tyrant Ranger. CATCH!!!” He tossed the necklace through the air. It landed perfectly around the Tyrant Rangers neck.

“NOOO!!!” the Tyrant Ranger screamed, “GET IT OFF!!!” He tried to unclasp the necklace from around his neck, but it wouldn’t budge. The Tyrant Ranger screamed over and over, trying to lift it above his head. The chain shortened, and he couldn’t get it over the huge helmet he had on.

A big, blinding light filled the area. Andros covered the visor on his helmet, hoping that he had done the right thing. When he opened his eyes, Andros’ jaw dropped at the sight he saw.

To be continued...

Authors note: What a great place to end off for now, eh? I told you that it was going to be a shocking transformation. Be here next time, as one, final transformation takes place, and the final (?) battle is fought.