Disclaimer: The basic concept belongs to whoever Disney assigned it to but the characters belong to us. Like our previous fic series Viva La Resistance this series requires a lot of work due to differences in Time Zone and Hemispheres.

Power Rangers: To The Tenth Power
Mr Second In Command
by Robert and Mistri, Cho's Observer

It was Tuesday May 30th 4124, and things had been a little quiet since the attack on Adria's village. Isidore was currently punching the crap out of his hanging punching bag. He was big, intimidating, and packed a powerful punch. You wouldn't guess that this guy was the second in command of the Unakan Rangers. And you sure wouldn't guess that this guy was scared of women in general.

It's not my fault, thought Isidore as he trained. No decent woman role-model around... and I really wouldn't call those women of lesser repute that stay the night role-models... Even though my dad is on the Need-to-Know list, I really don't want to tell him. He hasn't exactly been a role-model for me either.

He stopped, bowed and exited the imaginary boundaries. Retiring to his room, he picked up a book, and flicked through it, trying to find his place. He soon found it, and began to read.

Andros, the Red Space Ranger, after the Countdown to Destruction, spent some years trailing the last surviving generals of the Machine Empire... Many wondered why the Lights of Orion had not been used. There has not arisen any reason as to why they were not used, because they were found to have become part of the Galaxy Ranger's arsenal. Leo Corbett, the Red Galaxy Ranger, had said as much to be able to assume that each individual Ranger might have been able to call on their individual Light of Orion.

"Wish we had some Lights of Orion," muttered Isidore. Wait a minute... I wanna research the Phaedos aspect. . . page... 697. Turning to the appropriate page, he gasped. They had a whole section devoted to them and their history. Plus a whole chapter of other references. As he read through quickly, trying to find his answer, he began to understand why. They had a damned lot of history. Too much to be properly contained herein.

Again, one may wonder certain things. Carter Grayson, Red LightSpeed Ranger was recruited to pick up Cole Evans, Red Wild Force Ranger. Max Cooper, the Blue Wild Force Ranger went to join them, only to be told that only Cole was needed. This would presume that this was a mission that only the Red Rangers could be used on. [For details on the absence of Rocky DeSantos, Red Ape Ninjetti, and details on the setup of powers, turn to pages 207 and 15 respectively.] Isidore turned to page 15 and read quickly.

When Ivan Ooze was released, he destroyed the Ranger Powers. They had their coins, but had no power; therefore they went to Phaedos and their Coins were charged wth the Power of the Ninjetti. Coming back to Earth, they destroyed Ivan. When Rito came along, he destroyed the ThunderZords, and somehow because of their Zords being destroyed, their Coins also were destroyed. Going to Ninjor in the Desert of Despair, he gave them new coins, and filtered the power back into the new coins. The NinjaZords from destroying Ivan now became their primary Zords. The reversal of Time made their Coins and Powers useless, and Rita and Zedd destroyed the Coins and Powers. Now that Isidore understood that little part, he turned back to his original page.

Now. If all Red Rangers were needed and that badly that Aurico, Red Ranger of Aquitar had to come help out, why didn't the Red Ranger of Phaedos come to the aid of the Rangers of Earth? It has not ever been revealed as to what happened. But we know that at some point after the return of the four Time Force officials, the Rangers of Phaedos took some time of leave. It has been over a thousand years since they were heard from last. A mere second for they. But arise they will once more, if they should feel the need.

Isidore groaned. That was another book down the drain. He had been researching the past teams of Rangers, trying to find some suggestion of strategy for figuring out a villain's reason for mode of operation. He figured he'd have to tailor it to their situation, but so far he had found nothing. And he figured there was only a few ways of doing so. Strategy, equipment, or abilities within powers.

Articula had found no reason with the Fortress' equipment as to why Adria's village was attacked all the time. There seemed to be no strategy he could adopt and adapt to figure out why. And information on Powers was very abundant. He had dismissed the information on the Morphin setup of Power instantly, knowing that Power was gone. That left him with the Great Power, Zeo, Turbo, Space, Galaxy, LightSpeed, Time Force, Wild Force, Demona, Zordonian and Destinal as far as he could see.

The Zeo Crystal was lost to the universe, as far as records went. The Quasar Sabres would only grant the Galaxy Power to those destined to wield it. The Turbo Powers were back in the safe keeping of the Phaedos Rangers. The Wild Force Powers were still on the Animarium, with Princess Shayla. Time Force had folded about a hundred years ago, because of the peace reigning; their morphers were incomplete in any case, and only rumor had it that Phaedos had agreed to keep them safe. The LightSpeed Powers had been found to be rather unsafe after a time, being the first Earth-developed Powers. This only left the Space, Demona, Zordonian, Destinal and the Great Power.

"Brilliant, Cantrell," said Isidore. "All that's been stunningly obvious for a time. The Space Powers last anyone knew were on KO-35, in the keeping of the rulers. Destinal is out of the equation, those powers were for destined people. I hardly think we could use them. The whole setup with the Demona and Zordonian Powers is a bit too much. Three available morphs, and only what they considered 1^st morph would be available to us."

He teleported to Fortress Articia to see what was up. Running into Articula, he sat down with him and discussed what he now saw as their only option for figuring out what was up with Adria's village.

"Your points are valid, Isidore," said Articula. "I'm afraid I would agree with your assessments. Our equipment cannot detect anything unusual, and strategy can not be devised. It would seem that seeing if any abilities that might be useful come with any of the Powers used previously."

"Yes, Articula. But running through what I know of those Powers, all of them are beyond our reach. Because I really don't want Adria's village flattened. Neither does she, I'm sure. Nor any of us. The Great Power, I think is our only option. So I was hoping if you might have any information on it."

"You have to journey through the Neola Jungle to obtain the Great Power, although you could just leave with the Ninjetti Suits. However, more abilities are available if you make the journey," recited Articula from memory.

"But, if the Monolith has been activated, and still is, shouldn't the journey be negated?" asked Isidore.

"True," replied Articula. "But I am unsure of the actual status. But what you want are the abilities that come with the Power. You'll have to see if there's anything on the databanks. Mind you, the six Earth Rangers would not have recorded abilities, if they didn't know of them. And Phaedos knows that the Great Power is about the only trump card they have in the fight against evil, so they wouldn't want to publish the abilities."

"That seems to suggest that the abilities differ from color to color, or person to person, or both," guessed Isidore. "So... I guess it's no good researching then. If it's not published . . ."

"I still think it might be a good idea," said Articula. "After all, the more you know about it, the more effectively you will be able to plan out strategies if you ever do go to obtain the Power."

"Okay... I guess I'll get onto that." Isidore rose to leave and was hit in the chest by a running Sita, who began explaining several things very hurriedly.

"The sensors are so out of date, I can't even get a lock on Kylara's vitals anymore, and she's perfectly fine. I just spoke to her, she's at that archery camp, you know. Just for the fun of it, I tried to grab a lock on her, just to see if I could, and the sensors can't even find Kylara. I theorised she could be dead, but she's fine, so the sensors are out of date, and no wonder, according to the information I pulled up, this base was built when Unaka was settled and hasn't been upkept since!"

Isidore sighed, Sita would now bend Articula's ear until he agreed to fix the numerous problems Sita would find. Although he privately agreed with Sita. He went to a console, and started to access the information on the Great Power. He scanned through it, until he found what he was looking for.

... The journey to the Monolith of the Great Power takes one day. There are two tests, one in the middle and one at the end. Each is different for each team that goes to quest. Very few have survived the first attack. And only one team has successfully obtained the Great Power, the Rangers of Phaedos excluded, as the tests were instituted with their appointment of Dulcea of Phaedos as the Guardian of the Power.

The ground is littered with the bones of those who have tried for it... and failed. So spoketh Dulcea. And it is true. The last attempt made for it was in 2605, when two thousand warriors, over that course of the year quested for it. They failed, all of them. Their bones still lie where the bodies fell, as do the bones of the first people who tried for it. The bones never disappear, always remaining as a testament for those who died for the Light.

For those who are Ninjetti, anything is possible.

The strength is inside you, Rangers. Trust it. The Sacred Animals will be your guide.

Isidore closed the window, and sat back. "Computer, bring up galatic map." With a beep, it was done. "Phaedos in green, Unaka in blue." He looked on the map, calculating the distance. "Estimate several thousand lightyears apart. Computer, confirm distance." The distance between Phaedos and Unaka, at furthest point in orbits apart, is eight hundred forty five thousand, ninety light years.

"And what transport ships for ten do we have available to us, at very high speeds?"

Currently, we only have an AstroMegaShip, mark DVI. Using that, you would be at Phaedos in three weeks, six days. Your journey back would take six days.

"That does not make sense," muttered Isidore. "Why the difference?"

Surely you are aware of the spell placed on Phaedos, to deter people from going there to their deaths? Out of infinite people, six have succeeded in the Power. It would take less, if you went under the blessing of one of the members of ErindÒril, or one of the seven original Rangers. But of those, only Dulcea, Triana and Lexian still live. And last was known, each one was on Phaedos.

"Teleporting?" Isidore tried.

A long range teleport, White Ranger, is very dangerous. You would have to do a series of hop-teleports. First to Earth, then Aquitar, then Phaedos. At current knowledge, you would be absent for one week. Three days to get there, a day to quest, three days to get back to Unaka.

"What about the spell?"

Everyone who came to quest, arrived by transport. The spell was made before teleportation really came into usage, and there is also the fact that delaying a teleportive sequence in that manner would have a ninety-five percent probability of destroying the teleporter, even morphed.

Isidore paled. "Okay, looks like we're going by teleportation, with stop offs at Earth and Aquitar. Now we've just gotta figure out if we want or even need to do it." And off he went to Articula, to present his findings and conclusions.

End