The black haired girl entered the bridge of the starship, and asked, "You called for me, Grandmother?" Both were dressed in white outfits, her grandmother's, her last relative and guardian wearing a black pin as the only difference between the two. Her grandmother was sitting at the pilotÐs chair, her long hair bleached white by the neural interface and many jumps.
"Child, I have one last mission." The older woman nodded to SARA, Self-Aware Robotic Assistant, and the android pushed a button. The main screen came on, and in it floated a green and blue planet. "This is Earth, Shaida. The Zeo crystal was hidden in its moon. I want you to go here, find the Zeo crystal, and reunite it with the shards so that the Element crystal can be again."
"Grandmother, no, that's your mission," Shaida said, crying. Her grand mother wiped away the tears, and smiled sadly. Shaida grabbed her guardian's hand, and held it to her cheek.
"Child, my days are limited, even with stasis sleep. All I can do is put you in stasis sleep and program the computer to autopiliot to the planet. With the Power you hold inside, you will be protected. My time is at an end. Your time has come." She nodded at SARA
"Grandmother, no!" But it was already to late. SARA came from behind the girl, and tranquilized her, and caught the girl as she slipped to the floor. The grandmother climbed out of the pilotÐs chair for the last time, and placed Shaida there. Standing up, she said, "Computer, plot a course for Earth, and prepare stasis sleep for pilot chair only. Maximum conservation of all resources. While in stasis, prepare control of all ship functions for new pilot."
"Acknowledged," the computer said, and the lights dimmed in the cabin. Grandmother went through the ship, and laid on her bunk. She closed her eyes, and prepared for sleep. "Good luck, child," was her last thought.
Several months later:
Tommy met up with his brother, David Trueheart, outside Detective Stone's office. "Hey, man. Do you know what's up?" David asked. Tommy shook his head.
"No. All I know is that Detective Stone called yesterday saying to be here at this time. What about you?"
"Same deal, man. I wonder what's up."
"Well," Tommy said, half joking. "The only way to find out is to knock." David nodded, and Tommy knocked on the door.
"Come in!" The brothers' entered, and saw that Detective Stone was talking to a girl in a purple business suit, who had her back to them. "Ah, that's them now," Detective Stone said, finishing his conversation to the girl. The boys sat as the detective offered them seats, and said, "Guys, not to long ago, I was contacted by a detective agency in Chicago who were hired by Miss Angela Warder here to track down her family. It seems that her parents had already put two boys up for adoption in this area. Those boys turned out to be you."
Tommy, who had been halfway to his seat, dropped into his seat in shock. David stared at Detective Stone, and Angela giggled. "That's about how I felt," she said. "Two brothers? In the Monster zone?" She giggled and shook her head. "Just two weird."
Detective Stone stood up and said, "I'll leave you three to be aquatinted. I need to check up on my two assistants." He left, and Angela said, "Well, he told me your names, but he didn't say which was which."
Tommy recovered first, and said, "I'm Tommy Oliver."
Angela smiled at him, and said, "Then you're my fraternal twin. I was shocked, because I go from being the only child, to having two older brothers, one of which is a twin. It was pure shock."
David laughed, and said, "Well, would you care to go to someplace more comfortable? Like the Youth Center?"
Angela smiled. "I'd love to, really," she said, "and I even have a ride for us."
Outside the building, the limo that had been parked down the street was waiting, and Angela smiled at he chauffeur. "Thank you, James. We're headed for the Youth Center. Do you know where that is?"
"Of course, ma'am." He closed the door behind Tommy and walked to the driver's door.
David checked out the interior, and whistled. "This is a nice set up, Angela. Just how rich are you?"
"Well, rich enough," Angela said modestly. "Grandfather just sent this because the motorcycle hasn't arrived yet."
"Warder, doesn't your father own Telecomp?" Tommy asked
"Actually, it's Grandfather, but yeah. He employs half of Angel Grove between Telecomp and the other smaller businesses that he's bought up." The cell phone rang, and she picked it up. "Grandfather? Yeah, uh-huh, I understand. Right now we're headed for the Youth Center." She pulled the phone away from her ear, and the boys could hear shouting. They supressed smiles as she winced and rubbed her ear, switching the phone to the other side.
"Grandfather, one is a teacher of karate, so that probably means he's a black belt. I think I'm safe between his black belt and mine." She listened for a while nodding silently, saying the occasional, "Uh-huh, I see, uh-huh," before saying, "I understand Grandfather. I'll be back before eight." She looked at her watch, which was a sports watch, and typed in the alarm, saying, "I'm settling my alarm now to go off when I have an hour. I'll be careful, I promise, and I'll see you later. Love you! Bye!" She hung up, and asked, "Do either of you have trouble remembering things?"
Both boys grinned, and Tommy said, "Yeah. You, too?" Angela smiled at him. "Always, and at the most inconvenient times, too."
SARA jerked to awareness from her power station, and realized why she was awakened. She hurried over to the controls for stasis sleep, and turned it off. Shaida woke up, shaking her head, stretching and yawning. "SARA, where are we?" she asked out of habit. But then she realized that she already knew. "Grandmother, no," she whispered, but knew she was already too late.
She remembered what her grandmother had told her, and sent out tendrils of commands, checking everything. Seeing that everything was in order, she started on the sensors, feeling as if she were stretching out sore muscles. She smiled, slipping into it like a hand into a glove. Thought and quick movements on the control spheres had the ship in hidden by the dark side of the moon.
Finding something unusual, she said, "SARA, could you check the sensor readings? I'm sensing something unusual in station over the planet. Am I getting it right?"
SARA looked at the sensor monitor, and said, "Yeah. You aren't going to like this, but..."
"The Machine Empire?" Shaida asked. SARA nodded, but Shaida didn't notice it. "That means that the Zeo crystal has been retrieved from its hiding spot, SARA. We must find out what happened to it before the barrier falls."
Kat watched as Tommy and David listen to their sister tell some tale, and smiled softly. They were enraptured by her tale, and all that Tommy could talk about was Angela. She walked up, and asked, "May I join you?"
The boys looked up at her, slightly off guard, and the girl smiled. "Please. I was just telling them some of my escapades in Chicago. Kat?" she asked.
The pink ranger smiled, and said, "Yeah."
"Nice to meetcha. So, I heard Tommy's tales about the Power Rangers. Is it true that they fend off monsters every week?"
"Yeah. They're the only thing standing between the Earth and the Machine Empire."
"Really? What do you do if there's a monster attack while shopping?" The boys rolled their eyes, and the girls had matching gleams in their eyes.
"Oh, you still go to the nearest monster shelter."
Tommy saw which was their talk was going, and looked away, quickly losing interest. He saw a pale Rocky enter the Youth Center, and Tommy stood up, saying, "I'll be right back." He hurried over, and asked, "What's wrong, man?"
Rocky looked at Tommy, and said, "Mom and Dad got a call about fifteen minutes ago. You know my cousin, Alex, in LA? Well, she and her parents were involved in an accident, and only Alex survived."
"What?! I'm sorry, man. Is she all right?"
"Yeah, but I have to go up to LA to pick her up." Rocky swallowed, and said, "Then I have to attend her parents' funeral."
"Did you talk to Zordon?"
"Yeah. I came in to see if David wouldn't mind taking over while I'm in LA, then showing her around. It'll be a week, and Zordon said it's up to David."
"Let me get him, and we can talk." Tommy walked over to David, and said, "Rocky wants to talk to you, bro. Something's... come up." David stood up, and walked over to Rocky with Tommy.
LA, the next day:
Alex looked away from the TV as someone new walked in. "Rocky?" she asked, surprised. The doctor said that she had been knocked over the head, creating partial amnesia, but she felt as if she was missing something more than just the memories that everyone kept trying to remind her off. Like where her constant fear came from.
"Hey, Gray-eyes," Rocky said, and she remembered the nickname. She closed her eyes, and tried to place what she was trying to remember. She mentally shrugged, and said, "Hey. What did the doctor say?" If she didn't try to remember, more came back, and she knew that she was going to live with him from now on.
"He said that you check out okay, and he's letting you go a day early. How do you feel?" he asked.
"Like a truck slammed into me?" she asked, partially joking. She had been told that she had been in an accident, but she didn't remember. She smiled at her cousin, and said, "What took you so long getting here? They wouldn't let me out until you got here, and now I'm ready to go."
"Well, it's a long trip from Angel Grove. Plus I had to pack some of your things, so you don't have to wear your hospital gown home," he said with a smile. Alex giggled, and felt better than she had since waking up in the hospital. Then she realized why. She felt safe.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," the priest droned on, and Alex stared down at the two caskets holding her mother and father. She felt as if she was being watched, and looked up, and scanned the crowd gathered at the grave site, but didn't see anyone that raised an alarm. She pushed her sunglasses back up, and turned her attention to the funeral as the priest finished sending her parents on their way.
The crowd started to break up, everyone stopping to give their condolences, and Alex nodded at them. Soon only she and Rocky were at the graves, and she tossed into her mother's grave a white rose with pink tips. She turned away, and Rocky helped her to the limo. Before she climbed in, she scanned the graveyard again as she felt the watcher again, but then climbed in, not seeing anything amiss.
As the limo pulled away, a shadow detached from others cast by a tree, red eyes watching the limo pull away. It had a job, and it intended to see it through. The girl would have the Shadow Zeo.
Shaida swore fluently, as the alarms went off. "SARA, there's Shades on the planet. Find me Morphers, now!"
"The scan of the entire planet will take a while, Shaida."
"S'peth!" Shaida swore. She disconnected from the interface, and stood up. "Prepare the coins. I'm taking mine and going down there, now!" SARA watched anxiously as her charge stormed out of the cabin for the coins' room.
As Shaida entered the room, she noticed that the other coins were being charged, and nodded. Copies of the original Power Coins, they weren't nearly as strong, but they were strong enough, and with modifications that allowed them to take on even the Machine Empire's iron. Shaida snatched up her coin, the only fully-powered coin, the Purple Guardian coin, and left.
She settled into the Basset Zord, and looked around. She used to pilot this with three others. Now she was the only one. She sighed softly, and said, "SARA, opened the bay door. I'm needed down there." The bay door opened slowly, and Shaida said, "As soon as you find them, you lock their co-ordinates into the computer so it can watch them, and rig the alarm to my controls so I know if they're in trouble."
"Gotcha!" SARA said. Shaira smiled at the droid's tone, and said, "Be careful SARA. Keep hidden until I return." She launched.
Shaida climbed out of her cockpit, and looked around. With the nodes in the... 'park', her ship, with the invisibility cloak around it, would be undetectable. She smiled, and tossed her helmet back in. She felt her uniform change to that of local teenagers, and smiled at the rough blue cloth of her pants, and the purple... 'tee-shirt.'
She looked around as she climbed down, and then the invisibly cloak kicked in. To normal sight, the Zord disappeared, but with her permanent interface with the Zord, she knew where it was. Seeing no one was around, she decided to make her job easier, and teleported to where she sensed a lot of teenagers. She landed in an empty copse of trees, and looked around. She sighed with relief, and walked for the... 'Youth Center.'
'Thank you, sublim lessons,' she thought. While watching the planet, the translator had picked up several different languages being broadcast through primitive radio waves, and had been translated, then dumped into Shaida's subconscious. Now she could understand and speak French, Spanish, and English as a native, and several other languages, she knew partially.
She looked around the Youth Center a bit uncertainly, and then took a seat at the Juice Bar. An overweight man walked up, and asked, "What can I get you?"
Shaira shook her head, saying, "I forgot my money."
The man smiled and said, "That's all right. You can have a juice for free. What's your favorite?"
"Uhmmm..., orange, please." He smiled and turned away.
Shaira felt two Zeo presenses enter, and turned her head to the door to see two teens, one a boy with black, curly hair, and the other a girl with brown skin, walk in, the boy dressed in green, the girl in yellow. Shaira narrowed her eyes, and was tempted to see if they could hear her, but shook her head. Her mission was too important for her curiosity.
The man walked up with a glass of juice, and said, "Here you go." He was the two teens Shaira was watching, and said, "That's Tanya and Adam. Why are you so interested in them?"
"Oh... nothing," Shaira said in an off-handed tone. "Care to tell me more about them? They're an interesting couple."
The man smiled and said, "Sure. You see..."
That night, Shaira reported to the ship before sleeping in the sleeping cabin of the zord. "Hey, SARA. Did you find them?"
"The majority of them are in Angel Grove, but they're Zeo rangers. Of the others that aren't Zeo, Pink Morpher is in Florida and Black and Yellow Morphers are across the ocean in the city of Geneva, and Red is in Angel Grove, but he used to be Gold Zeo. There's a second Yellow Morpher in Africa, but the only Blue Morpher isn't on the planet."
"How many are Zeo?" Shaira asked.
"There's one that's both green and white, he's Red Zeo, the second Red Morpher is Blue Zeo, the second Black Morpher is Green Zeo, and the second Pink Morpher is Pink Zeo."
"Then who's Yellow Zeo?"
"She has unusual reading that suggest that she swapped with the second Yellow Morpher. By the way, I've found Zordon. Shall we give him a ring?"
"No. Prepare a message that warns of the Barrier's impending fall."
"Should we warn him that we're about to kidnap his chosen?"
"We can't SARA, and you know it."
Youth Center, a few days later.
Alex stretched out on the mats in the Youth Center, for what felt like the first in a long time. She felt muscles loosen up, and smiled. She stood up, and began to practice her kata.
Rocky walked out on to the mat, and paused to study his cousin's style. It was unusual to say the least, but it stressed her strengths, her legs, and supported her weaknesses, her arms. He smiled as he watched her, and flinched as she landed in what looked to him like a painful position.
"Hey, Rocky!" He turned to see Adam walk up in his practice outfit, and asked, "Who's that?" jerking his chin to Alex.
"That's Alex. She's my cousin, and she's moving in, since her parents died. Have you met Angela yet?"
"Tommy introduced us today when I dropped Tanya off over at Tommy's house before she and Kat went shopping with Tanya."
"And how much you want to bet they buy the mall out?" Rocky teased, then grunted as something landed on his chest, knocking him onto his back.
"Are you going to gossip, or are we going to spar?" Alex asked, smiling down at Rocky. She laughed and rolled off him, allowing him to flip to his feet. She watched him as he circled her, staying in a crouch on the balls of her feet and her finger tips. Rocky was caught off guard as her leg snaked out, and hooked around his, pulling him off balance.
Rocky climbed to his feet again, and saw that Alex was on her feet. He started a round of punches, and she blocked all of them easily. He backed off, and eyed her warily, and then saw movement from behind her.
Alex felt someone move behind her, and ducked and rolled as Adam attacked her from behind. "Two against one? I like those odds," she said with a grin, and dropped into a fighting stance where she could keep her eyes on both boys.
Shaira watched the fight critically, trying to find something to criticize, when she heard her com go off. She stood up, finished her 'smoothie' and took off after tossing her cash on the counter beside her empty glass.
She reached the copse she had landed in, and said, "Yeah?"
"Shades are attacking the local Red Morpher. He's in the park."
"All right. Purple Basset Guardian Power!" she shouted, and morphed in a flash of purple light.
Jason was forced back by the shadow things. Nothing seemed to phase these things, his hands and feet going through them as if they weren't there, but their hands were scoring pretty effectively. He heard a shout of "Kei-yah!" and a purple blur started pulling the things away from Jason.
She finished throwing them back, and turned to Jason, keeping her eyes on the shadows. "Are you all right?" she asked. Jason, winded, nodded, and climbed to his feet slowly.
"What are these things?" he asked.
"Shades," she said. "You won't connect with them, but I can, so just stay back." She charged the Shades, and when a foot or hand connected, there was a flash, and the Shade would shriek, then fall apart. His rescuer seemed to be a Power Ranger, but instead of the helmet covering her face, it stopped and turned into a tinted visor, looked more like a motorcycle helmet than the helmets he used to wear as a ranger.
Jason watched, and the girl finally finished her fight. He opened his mouth to thank her, and his body collapsed. The girl swore in a strange language, and ran over to him. She saw the tear in his shirt, and swore. "They poisoned you. I have to get you to the ship. Do you trust me?"
Jason tried to say yes, but he couldn't so he nodded. Picking up Jason by slinging one arm behind her neck, and pulling on his belt, she managed to get him to his feet, and they stumbled through the park
She led Jason to a Zord that appeared as she spoke in the strange language, and she helped him up into the cockpit of the zord. She sat Jason in the first chair before taking center chair, and taking off. Jason wanted to watch, but he soon passed out.
Shaira watched her guest rest in sickbay, and asked, "How is he doing?" SARA sighed, and said, "The same answer I gave you five minutes ago. He's fine."
"Then why hasn't he woken up?" Shaira asked.
"Because his physiology is different from yours, Shaira. You are from Photeus, he's from Earth. You may look alike, but his body chemistry is different."
Jason heard the two voices speaking the strange language as he started coming around. He opened his eyes to see a strange room, and saw a robot that looked like a female Alpha talking to a girl with long black hair and dressed in a purple and white uniform in the language. The girl said something, and the robot turned back to him, and he almost expected it to say, "Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi!" Instead, the girl entered the room, and ask in English, "How do you feel?"
He recognized his rescuer's voice, and said, "I feel great. What did you do? Where are we?"
The girl looked at the robot, and asked something in the language. The robot answered with an affirmative tone, and she turned back to Jason. "SARA says that you're okay for a short walk, but she doesn't want you doing anything too strenuous for at least an hour. Care to take a tour?"
"Sure!" Jason hopped to his feet, and realized that he wasn't wearing what he had been before. He was wearing a masculine version of the girl's uniform, but his had a red top. "What happened to my clothes?" he asked.
"They were bloody and torn, so Sara had them put into the repair unit. When you return to the surface, they'll be ready for you, but you can't run around the ship in nothing."
Shaida lead her guest to the lounge, where there was a panoramic view of the Earth. "I had SARA pull us into a geo-syncrinous orbit on the other side of the planet from the Machine Base. The Earth will keep us hidden from the Machine Empire."
Jason studied the vista with dazzled eyes, and said, "It's so beautiful." He turned to Shaira. "What are you doing here? And what is your name?"
"I am called Shaira. It means 'one who is half light and half dark,' in my native tongue. I am from the planet Photeus, and my grandmother found that the Barrier keeping the Shades and their masters from our galaxy was weakening, and she sent me to reunite the Element crystal, to renew the Barrier. That's where you come in, Red Morpher."
Jason turned to her, startled, and she smiled at him from the corner of her eye. "I need the others' and your help. Do you think they would mind being Guardians?"
Jason studied the five coins before him, and said, "They look just like Power Coins."
"They're duplicates, made to tap into the Morphin Grid, but something went wrong, and they were weaker than the original six Power Coins. So, they became Guardian Coins. I have the sixth," she said, showing off for some reason.
Jason looked at her, and asked, "Is there any way I can talk to the others?"
"Follow me to the bridge."
At the bridge, she showed Jason the communication's console, and said, "I can program the computer to tap into the phone lines, and we can reach them through that." She started typing away, and soon a ringing was heard through the intercom. She motioned Jason to take a seat and moved over to the pilot's chair.
"Smchitt's Training School. How many I help you?" a pleasant woman's voice asked through the connection.
"I'm trying to reach Kimberly Hart, please," Jason said.
"Who may I say is calling?"
"Jason Scott."
"Just a minute please."
Shaira felt something, and let the interface take over. She tracked the phone line to it's source, and scanned the compound. She found the Pink Morpher, and kept one 'eye' on her as the woman answered. "I'm sorry, she's not on campus. May I take a message?"
Before Jason could reply, Shaira jumped for the communication console and turned it off. "She's lying, Jason. Kimberly is down there, I know it. I think the Shadows know that I'm going for the Morphers, and are trying to block my efforts."
"Then we have to go down in person?" Jason asked, unexpectedly thrilled at the idea of going out in the zord again. Shaira nodded, and said, "C'mon, Jason. We can take my zord."
They took the same seats as on the trip up, and Shaira said, "The console you're sitting at is the weapons and engineering, so be careful if you don't want to shoot down the Hubble telescope."
Jason asked, "If you're from a distant planet, how can you speak English so well?" He listened to her answer as he settled the broadsword that she had insisted that he bring along.
"Well, the computer has a subliminal teaching device that works as part of the neural interface necessary for the piloting of this ship. I had it scan the radio waves, and translate any languages using the UT, and every time I interface, it drops another chunk of language into my mind." She answered in a distracted tone as she launched the zord.
"UT?"
"Universal translator. Sometimes I use abbreviations for terms because I'm used to being with SARA and my grandmother, and they understood me, so if you have a question, just ask. Now, how are your systems reading?"
"Well, if the fact that the writing is in green is good, I'd say we're good to go."
"Great." They took off for planet Earth.
Kim was walking through the compound, when she heard a familiar "Kia-yah!" She stopped, thinking she had heard things, and then started running as she heard it again. She reached a clearing in the woods surrounding the compound, and watched as Jason and a girl, dressed in white uniforms, fought off shadows that would shriek and fall apart when the girl kicked or punched them, or Jason sliced them with a red handled broadsword.
"Jason!" Kim shouted. Jason smiled at her over his shoulder, and turned back to the Shades, finishing off several more as Shaida finished hers off. Jason sheathed his sword, and walked over to Kim, picking her up in a bear hug. Kim returned the hug with no less intensity, and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"We need your help, Kim. Care to morph again?" Jason asked, serious, meeting her eye.
"Are you kidding?" Kim asked, excited. "I'd love to!"
The girl spoke up. "Jason, Kim, we really must go. The Shades are sure to grab the others as soon as they know that I rescued Kim."
"Where to next?"
"Geneva."
Trini and Zach were discussing the latest argument where they heard a familiar voice call out, "Trini, Zach!" They turned to see Jason run up, dressed in his black tee-shirt and jeans. "Jase?" Zack asked, surprised. "When did you get back?"
"Not too long ago. Look, there's a double of me, that's trying to gather up the original rangers, and I'm not sure why. If you see him-"
"Zach, Trini, get way from him!" They turned to see Jason, dressed in a white and red uniform, and a sword strapped to his side, followed by Kim and a girl in a uniform similar to Jason's except hers had a purple top.
The girl glared at the first Jason, and said, "Get away from them, Shade. By the Powers of Light that I command, get away." The two former rangers looked at the first Jason, startled, when he began to hiss and back away. The two backed away when they saw that his eyes were glowing red.
The second Jason pulled out his sword, and said, "You may look like me, but you're still just a Shade. Let's see what this can do to you." Before he could swing, the thing that looked like Jason disappeared, and the original smiled at his friends. "Hey, guys would you like to morph again?"
The other original rangers, now in uniforms matching Jason and Shaira's, stood on the bridge of the ship, and stare around, amazed. They had introduce Shaira on the trip up, and they had exchanged tales. Shaira was now in the pilot's chair, and was making minute adjustments in the orbit, and said, "All done."
Kim was staring at the view screen, and said, "Billy would love this." At Shaira's puzzled glance, she said, "The Blue.. Morpher, as you would call him."
"Ah! He was into technology?"
"I'd say. I think that's why he stayed to Aquatar," Jason said. "Well, that and the fact that he fell in love." He had told the others about Billy's decision to stay on Aquatar on the ride up.
"Well, shall I show you the coins?" Shaira asked. She lead the teens out of the cabin. At the coin room, she opened the door, and said, "The Guardian coins are basically weaker versions of Power Coins, that's why they only have two Zords. When you had the Power Coins, your reflexes were enhanced enough that each of you could take on a single Zord by yourself. Now it takes three to pilot the two Zords, Basset, and Garou."
"One for the girls, on for the guys" Zack joked.
"Exactly. And I'm asking you as Zordon asked you when he chose you to be his Power Rangers, will you take this honor?"
They all looked at each other, then nodded, and Jason asked, "What do we have to do?"
Shaira smiled at their bravery. "Hold your hand out and accept your coin. Jason, yours is the Red Eagle guardian. Strong and brave, you are the leader of the Guardians. Trini, graceful and wise, yours is the Yellow Dolphin. Zack, yours is the Black Leopard, quick and daring. Kim, kind and graceful, yours is the Pink Naga.
"So now the others are missing?" Tommy asked in the Power Chamber. Zordon had contacted the others when Jason had been attacked, and they had been a little to late, for when they arrived, Jason was gone, and whatever had attacked him gone without a trace. Then a few minutes ago, after reprogramming the sensors to track the other former rangers on a hunch from Zordon, it was discovered that they, too, were gone.
"Yes," Zordon said. The alarms went off again, and Zordon said, "More of the things that attacked Jason have appeared in the park. You must get there and stop them, rangers. I will continue trying to contact Aquatar"
Tommy nodded, and said those 'oh-so-famous' words, "It's morphing time!"
"Zeo I- Pink!"
"Zeo II- Yellow!
"Zeo III- Green!"
"Zeo IV- Blue!"
"Zeo V- Red!"
The rangers landed in the park, and saw what looked like solid shadows with fangs, claws, and glowing red eyes. "Whoa!"
"We can handle these guys, right?" Tommy asked confidently, and the others replied, "Right!"
The rangers attacked the Shades, and were surprised when they went right through their opponents. "What?" Tommy asked, rolling to his feet. The Shade that he had attacked laughed, and slashed at Tommy, tearing four parallel slashes in his uniform.
"We can't hit them, but they can hit us! Fall back," Tommy ordered. The rangers fell back and regrouped, Tanya holding her arm where she was slashed, and David, who was still covering for Rocky, was holding his right arm with another slash. The others seemed to only have slight scratches, or tears in their suits, and Tommy said, "We have to get to the Power Chamber." As a group they teleported out.
In the Power Chamber, Alpha ran a scanner over each of the rangers and exclaimed, "Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi! Each of you have poison in you." He pushed a hypospray to each of the rangers' neck, and the pain around the slashes immediately stopped.
"Zordon," Tommy said as Alpha ran a scanner over Tommy's chest, "when we attacked them, it was as if they weren't there, but when they attacked, they went right through the suits. Why?"
"I can answer that," a new voice said, and five figures, reminiscent of the old rangers, but minus a blue ranger, but plus a purple ranger, and with different helmets. The purple nodded at the others, and as one, they removed their helmets, revealing four very familiar faces underneath.
"Jason! Kim! Zack! Trini!" Tommy said, happily.
The fifth member of the group, tucking her helmet under her arm, said, "Hello Zordon. I'm Shaira, from Photeus. Sorry if I caused some excitement by stealing your old rangers, but I needed Morphers for the Guardian coins."
Zordon bowed his head to her, then asked, "Shaira, why are you here?"
"The barrier is about to fall, and Grandmother wanted me to reunite the Element crystal. I noticed that the Earth had a visitor that seems to have put up permanent residence above, and wanted to stay out of the action. Unfortunately, the Shadows forced my hand by attacking Jason, and then trying to trick Trini and Zack into coming with them."
"Shadows?" Tommy asked, and Shaira turned to him.
"Yes. Those you fought in the park are Shades, to the Shadows what putties are to Lord Zedd, or Cogs to Mondo. The reason you can't attack them but they can attack you is because they're a cross of science and magic. WE," she said, indicating the other guardians, "can fight them, as similar crossed of magic and technology, and I can teach the secret to you." She smiled lopsidedly, and said, "After all, we are all in this together, right?" She held her hand out and Tommy took it, smiling.
"Right," he said.
All ten teens appeared in the park, and the Shadows began moving in for the kill again. They broke up into pairs, one Zeo ranger for each Guardian. Kim and Tommy were paired up, much to the consternation of Kat, but she was paired with Shaira. Zack and David were paired up, Jason and Adam, and Trini and Tanya.
"Remember what Shaira said," Tommy said and attacked. His foot connected with a satisfying THUMP, and the shade flew back before falling to pieces. Tommy smiled and started for the next one.
Jason, who still had his sword, was having fun, hacking and slashing through the Shades. He had a huge grin on his face, and he said, "Just like old times!"
Adam laughed, making very effective use of his hands and feet. He grabbed one that tried to slash his chest, and threw it in Jason's direction, and the Red Guardian sliced through the Shade easily. They looked around, and noticed that there weren't anymore Shades around.
Shaira and Kat were using very effective teamwork to clear out their shades, and Kat turned to Shaira, very calmly having a conversation. "So you're from another planet huh?" Shaira shot the Pink Ranger a worried look, but answered.
"Yeah. Right now, I'm happy to have some down time though. I've spent way too much time in that spaceship, and although it's big, there isn't enough room to really stretch." She looked around, amazed, and said, "That's all of them, Kat-girl." Just then, she felt something, and ordered "Everyone, back, now! They're joining up into a giant Shade." The group scattered back as a huge foot stomped down where they had been moments before. The rangers and guardians climbed to their feet, and Tommy said, "Let's do it, guys!"
"We need Zeo Megazord power, now!"
"We need Guardian Zord power, now!" As the rangers brought their zords together, the Guardians were aquainting themselves with their zords. "All right, guys, the controls should look familiar," Shaira said, from the center chair of the Basset Zord. "They were modeled after the original Megazord."
"This is awesome, "Zack said from his chair in the Garou Zord. Shaira felt a thrill at his happy tone, knowing that she had a hand in it.
"The others are finished joining up, guys. Shall we take these on a test drive?" Jason asked. Shaira shook her head, grinning broadly.
In the Zeo Megazord, Tommy admired the two new zords. "Zeo Megazord to Guardian Zords. You're looking good. What's it like to be back in action, guys?"
"It's great!" Kim said.
"You can say that again," Zack said.
"Basset Zord to Zeo Megazord, we're green to go. Let's kick this Shade's butt back to where he came from!"
"I agree with Shaira, bro," Jason said from the Garou Zord.
"All right!"
The Garou Zord, looking like a much larger Wolf Zord, crouched and sprang for the Shade. It backhanded the zord away, but it was attacked from behind when Basset Zord jumped it from behind. The giant cat jumped off the Shade as the Shadow rolled to its feet.
"Watch this," Shaira said, as the Basset turned to face the Shade. "Basset Zord, warrior mode, now!" the three girls shouted, and the zord reared onto its hind legs and started to change. When it finished, an agile female warrior zord with a lance in her hands stood in the cat-zord's place.
The Garou climbed to its feet, and followed it's counterpart's lead, changing into a male version, with a sword in his hands. "Let's finish this," Jason said.
The rangers called up their Power Sword, and all three weapons were swung at the same time. From where the three Power weapons met in the middle of the shade, there was a burst of light, and the Shade shrieked, then disappeared.
Back in the Power Chamber, everyone was talking excitedly. The Zeo zords were back in their holding bay, and the Guardian zords were back on Shaira's ship, the Garou zord's damage from the backhand being repaired by automatic systems. Shaira watched the chaos as eight Earth teens tried to outtalk the other seven. Occasionally, she could catch snippets of conversations.
"Man it was -" Zack talking to David and Adam, she recognized.
"-otally awesome that-" Kim to Trini and Tanya.
"- it's great to have you back Jase-" Tommy and Jason.
"-ow?" Adam, she thought.
"- was it like?" Tanya.
Shaira shook her head, happier than she had been in a long while. She looked up as someone walked up beside her, and saw it was Kat. "Is it always like this?" she asked.
Kat shook her head. "No, but we usually don't have this many people here." Both girls jumped as the console they were leaning against beeped. Shaira moved aside so Kat could look it over, and the pink ranger began to smile broadly. Taking a hint from Kat's smile, Shaira put her fingers to her lips and whistled. Everyone stopped talking immediately and looked at her expectantly.
"We're getting a transmission from Aquatar," Kat said. "I'm patching it through to the viewing globe." In the viewing globe, Billy yawned and asked, "What's up guys?"
"Hey, Billy, we have a power that's just screaming your name," Tommy said, grinning. "Are you up for it?" Billy's eyes lit up.
Aquatar, a few hours later:
Billy and were walking along an empty beach, hand in hand. "I don't want to leave you," Billy said, "but..."
"But you're going to accept their offer?" she asked. "It's an honor to be asked to be a Guardian, Billy. I can't allow you to turn it down because of me."
Billy turned to her. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I'm telling you to take it up," she said. "I'm letting you go." Unable to go on, closed her eyes, turned, and ran away.
Billy closed his eyes as conflicting emotions rose up in him. He lifted his face to the sky, and opened them to see he was facing the direction of Earth's sun. "I'm coming home, guys," he whispered.
Shaira finished the docking procedures, and headed the bay doors close behind the Basset Zord. She unbuckled herself and began powering down the zord, and when the monitor for the outer atmosphere became green, she opened the cockpit and climbed out. Although she could have teleported, Shaira still preferred to fly the Basset Zord whenever she could.
As she entered the bridge, the lights came on, and Shaira smiled at seeing the familiar surroundings. For all that she loved being on Earth, she loved being on the ship that had been her home for so long more. She slipped into the pilot's chair, and felt the interface kick in. She scanned the interior of the ship, checking for any problems, and noted any possible problems to be checked out later. For now, she had a job to do.
"SARA, what is the status of the Barrier?" Shaira asked.
"It's holding fine for now, the window hasn't changed," SARA said from the console made solely for the status of the Barrier. "So, you're free to blast off as soon as the rest of the crew arrives."
"Speaking of which," Shaira muttered, and using her console to activate the communication systems, contacted the Power Chamber. "Are you ready?" she asked, seeing the other Power Guardians waiting through her main viewer.
"Ready and set to go," Jason said. "We're just waiting for your signal so we can get a teleportation lock. We're on our way."
Shaira cut off the main viewer, and it switched back to the planet Earth. Moments later, the four Guardians appeared in color-coordinated teleport streams. "Welcome back," SARA greeted them. Each had a bag of things that they wanted to bring, but were dressed in the white uniforms of the ship.
Shaira said, "You can go ahead and stow your stuff. You'll be able to tell which room is which," she added with a smile. The Guardians left the bridge, and Shaira sighed. It felt good to hear their voices through the ship. For too long, it had been just her and her grandmother, then just her.
After the others returned from stowing their things, Shaira said, "Trini, you're in charge of Engineering and sensors. Zack, you're life support. Kim, you have communications. Jason, you have weapons. Any questions?"
"Yeah, got a CD player?" Zach joked, and the others swung playfully at him. But he stared at Shaira as she said, "Actually, I expected this, and had Trini help me put one in over by life support." She smiled broadly, and said, "After all, music is a vital part of life support. Now, let's get your friend, shall we?"
The former rangers headed for their stations, and Shaira said, "Miss Kimberly, a line to the Power Chamber, if you will."
"Right," Kim said, and then, "Which button is that?"
"Just let the information in, and you'll know," Shaira said. Kim closed her eyes, relaxed, and then opened her eyes, smiled, and started operating the console with ease.
"Power Chamber here," Tommy said. His image appeared on the screen, and said, "You're looking good to go, Guardian Ship. See you in a week."
Shaira smiled, and said, "And we'll have your friend with us. Have fun while we're gone! Guardian ship, out!" Kim cut the connection, and Shaira moved the ship away from the planet.
"Mr. Zachary, some music, if you please?" Shaira asked, and Zack complied with a smile, putting on some hip-hop.