Ever since his villain's banquet on the Cimmerian Planet, Dark Specter had been developing his plan to destroy the Power Rangers. He had been more ruthless than all of the others who had tried and failed, and yet he still had the same result. Time and again, the monsters and Quantrons that he sent down were never enough to get rid of them. Somehow, and often very cleverly, they always managed to escape his grasp. However, unlike his predesessors, he had a back up plan... and their mentor held captive.
"Well, Zordon..." Dark Specter tapped the glass of the object that contained the wizard of good. "Still hoping that your little spandex wearing warriors will come and save you? It's been a long time, you know. It seems that they have forgotten about you."
Zordon boomed back, though his voice was much weaker. "They have not forgotten, Dark Specter! They will come for me in time! It is yours and Astronema's attacks that keeps them away from me..."
"That is as it should be..." he grumbled in reply. "And with this new plan, they will be kept away from you perminantly!"
And so far, the process of elimination plan was working perfectly. His new queen Astronema had shot down and imprisoned the black ranger on a deserted planet, while... without his knowing, stripping him of his powers. She still had yet to deliver them, but he was quite certain that he would soon have them. With Carlos out of the way, the other rangers assumed him dead. An enraged leader of the power rangers ran into battle with the two villains, knocking himself into a coma. Two were down, and there were three of them left to go. Three weak power rangers... what an easy chore to get rid of. Oh, but he had almost forgotten the Phantom ranger.
That nussence of a ranger, showing up when they so desperately needed him. It was hard to believe such a weak man could be such a pain to the side of evil.
Dark Specter knew there was something extremely familiar about him. There was an aura about him... and the space powers... that reminded him of someone that he had once known in another dimension. That is why he had ordered Astronema to bring him the black ranger's power morpher... and why he had sent her servant Ecliptor to capture the Phantom Ranger and hold him captive in his palace.
"What is it about this planet that causes all of these good beings to come here?" Ecliptor muttered. "Earth is such a dump... I don't see why we try and conquer it!"
Sneaking around, Ecliptor had been searching for the Phantom Ranger in Angel Grove for hours. It was his first assignment from Astronema and Dark Specter in the longest time, and there was no way he was going to turn it down. Unfortunately, he had been out for half of the night... and still hadn't found a trace. The sensors kept beeping in that the Power Ruby's source was nearby, but he could never pinpoint it. _Damn that Phantom Ranger for being able to make himself invisible!_ he cursed.
As he continued to walk through the secluded wooded area, the beeping signal suddenly became stronger. Ecliptor looked up... then turned around to see from which direction the signal was coming. As he turned to his right... the signal's alarm started to beep faster. Taking slow steps forward, he inched closer, and closer... and the signal pulsated faster, and faster... until he bumped into something unseen, and the signal became nothing but a steady tone.
"Bingo..." he whispered, then shut off the device and tossed it aside. "He is probably asleep..."
"Asleep? I think not, Ecliptor..." the low voice of a man spoke directly in front of him. "Why did you go off and bump into me like that? Haven't you heard that it's not polite to spy on other people?"
Ecliptor jutted his hand out to grab hold of something. As he tightened his grip... he realized that he had grabbed onto the Phantom's shoulder. When the ranger shrugged it off, a slight outline could be seen in the moonlight. "You're coming with me, Phantom Ranger!" he growled.
Moving away slightly, he shook his head. "I don't believe that I'm going anywhere." He turned his gaze up to the sky. "Beautiful night, isn't it? The stars look lovely, do they not?"
The large green spiked sword that Ecliptor carried appeared in his hand. He began to corner the Phantom Ranger into a tree. "I didn't come here to look at the stars with you, Phantom!" he made his voice threatening. "Astronema and Dark Specter have sent me to capture you... you are important to his majesty's plan!"
Being threatened or not, the mysterious ranger just continued to look up at the sky. Now he was letting himself be seen, his black armor almost glowing in the light of the stars. "You know... it's funny. The stars are very powerful, Ecliptor... and yet you take them for granted." He moved his head to catch Ecliptor's gaze. "Everything is ruled by the stars..." he growled.
Ecliptor almost instantly backed away. Though the man was wearing a helmet, it felt as if his eyes were peircing through his skin. There was something horrifying, yet familiar about what he had said. Clearing his throat as if to rid himself of the fear he was feeling, he held his sword out. "You're wrong! Everying cannot be ruled by the stars, because everything is ruled by his Majesty, Dark Specter!"
"So be it..." the Phantom Ranger said quietly. Slowly, he crossed his arms in front of him... then rose them up to the sky. "I call upon the power of the stars... send forth Draco the Dragon!!!"
Around him... all of the world faded but the image of the stars. They zoomed up, then pinpointed a pattern of stars. The stars in that set began to glow feircly, making the slight shape of a dragon. Seconds later, instead of the connect-the-dot like pattern, the image transformed into that of a genuine dragon. The Earth faded back into place... and there was the Phantom ranger, his summoned constellation now very real, and very viscious looking.
Ecliptor couldn't help but stare... but it wasn't like he had much time in the first place! The dragon's mouth opened wide and let loose a stream of fire from out of it's mouth. The flame collided into his chest and sent him toppling over to the ground. He rolled over to stand back up, then screamed. "How did you do that, you... you freak of nature! Get rid of this Dragon at once! I thought that you wanted a fair fight... isn't that right, Phantom Ranger? Aren't you supposed to be the good one who insists on a fair fight? Get rid of this creature that you summoned from the stars at once!"
The Phantom Ranger crossed his arms and nodded. The dragon dissapeared in a glittering light. "Alright, Ecliptor. You have your fair fight. Now..." a gigantic black sword appeared in his hands.
Ecliptor chuckled. "You've got it..." his eyes began to glow. "Phantom ranger!"
Suddenly, behind the Phantom Ranger, two dozen Quantrons appeared and grabbed him from behind. The black sword fell from his hands, and he struggled against them. Unfortunately for him, he was unable to break away.
The green and black mutant walked over to the captive ranger and placed his spiked sword underneath his chin. "You are the one who is credited for making this fight fair... but bad guys never play fair. You should know that by now, but you fell for it once more. Oh well, it's your loss. Time to go and deliver Dark Specter his newest prize!"
With that... Ecliptor, the Quantrons, and the Phantom Ranger dissapeared into the night.
For the past month and a half, he had been plotting his ultimate plan for universal conquest. Yes, it was as he had hoped. The aura surrounding the Phantom Ranger and the Space Powers was definitely trademarked to Queen Beryl's Negaverse. His old ally from long ago, trapped in an alternate universe of space and time... now had a link to him. But how? How could something so good and pure as a power ranger, and space powers be attatched to the Negaverse so strongly? It just didn't make any sense.
But what did it matter? Now he had a link...
When the time was right, and he had everything that he needed... Dark Specter would pull Queen Beryl and her remaining soldiers from her Negaverse into his universe once more. Again, the two of them would conquer and destroy the forces of Good. The Power Rangers... and the Sailor Scouts could never defend themselves against this powerful alliance. Finally, after all this time... all of the pieces of his long awaited plan were falling into place. There was no way that he could fail.
He turned his attentions back to Zordon. "You see, my friend... your precious little Power Rangers aren't going to be around much longer. Once Queen Beryl arrives, all of your pitiful pure goodness will cease to exist. Enjoy your peace while it lasts, Zordon of Eltar... it won't last much longer!"