Disclaimer: We're all familiar with the Power Rangers and everything that Saban has created, right? I thought so. Well, I own none of that in any way, shape or form! Soon, you're going to be familiar with some different situations and people that Saban didn't create. I own them in every way, shape and form. If you want to borrow anything, just e-mail me with your request. Now, on with the show!

The Ultimate Armageddon
By Brooke

A cool breeze blew up from the lake and sent ripples across the normally placid surface, reminding all the people on and around the beach and autumn was mere days away. Therefore, the citizens of Angel Grove were out in droves, soaking up the last of the sun's rays and having what fun they could, clad in bikinis, bathing suits, shorts, tank tops and other summer apparel before it became time for long pants, T-shirts, sweatshirts and jackets. Many were simply lounging on the hot sand of the beach on towels, perhaps listening to music, reading, or just laying there. Additional denizens were at the many fast food stands and cafés, looking for a decent meal or refreshment on one of the last hot days of the summer season. Others yet were involved in some type of sport, be it frisbee, ping pong, tennis, baseball or volleyball. It was this latter-mentioned sport that had brought a group of teens down to the beach, bringing with them picnic baskets, towels, and other beach paraphernalia.

"11 serving 4!" Zack Taylor called, grinning, his perfectly white teeth showing as he tossed the volleyball up into the air. He waited until it was at a perfect height, then smacked it with the palm of his hand, sending it sailing gracefully over the net onto his opponent's court. Tommy and Jason both made a dive for it, but hit each other in midair and missed the ball completely. Trini leapt sideways and hit the ball over the net just before it hit the sand, falling to her knees in the process. Her long black hair, tied back in a simple ponytail, cascaded over her shoulders in onyx waves. Provided with a diversion, Jason and Tommy got back to their feet in preparation for the return that would most surely come. And indeed, it did. Billy bumped it to Kim, who set it for Zack, who spiked it down on the opposite side of the net. The ball streaked through the air and landed with a plunk in the sand at the feet of Tommy, Jason and Trini.

"Good defense, guys!" Zack hooted, high-fiving Kim and Billy gleefully.

"Keep cheering, but you'll get yours eventually," Jason threatened good-naturedly.

"We'll see about that," Zack retorted, smiling. Trini picked the ball up and heaved it to Zack, who moved back into serving position.

"12 serving 4!" he called, going through the same routine as he had for the last serve. This time, when his hand connected with the ball, there was nothing graceful about the trajectory the ball took as a result. It was a serve that was hard, fast and could only be hit purely on instinct by the other team

Trini got to it first, and bumped it straight up into the air, providing Jason with enough height to set it for Tommy. Tommy ran forward and went to spike the ball, but Kim leapt up in front of the net and blocked the spike. The ball fairly rolled down the net and into the sand.

"That's showing the men how a woman plays volleyball," Trini commented, grinning and high-fiving Kim underneath the net. Kim grinned back in response, and the two young women retook their positions.

"13 serving 4!" Zack called. "Are you guys ready for this?"

"Just serve, big shot!" Jason called back to him wryly, smiling. Zack shrugged.

"You asked for it!" he muttered. Sweat caused by exertion and heat beaded his forehead as he tossed the ball up into the air and waited until it started to come down before smacking it, open-palmed.

"Mine!" three voices cried as the ball came sailing towards Tommy, Jason and Trini. Jason was there first, but he was too far forward and the ball ricocheted backwards off his arms, sending him to his knees on the sand. Tommy managed to set it, but his long brown hair got into his face and impeded his vision and he ended up tripping over Jason's leg, sending he too to the ground. Trini ran from the side and was able to hit the ball, but it went under the net instead of over it because she, too, tripped over Jason's leg. The three of them landed in a heap on the sand with Jason on the bottom.

On the other side of the net, Zack, Billy and Kim were in hysterics.

"Nice shot, guys!" Kim shouted, laughing and brushing locks of honey-brown hair away from her face that had escaped her ponytail.

"It's supposed to go over the net, folks, not under it!" Zack cried, holding his sides. Billy just stood there, laughing hard while Tommy, Jason and Trini picked themselves up.

"Get offa me," Jason grumbled from beneath the other two. Trini got to her feet immediately, laughing as well. Tommy was next up, and he extended his hand to Jason, who took it gratefully.

"Man, you guys are covered in sand!" Trini exclaimed, eyeing them. "Especially you, Jason."

"Well if Mr. Coordinated over there hadn't tripped over his own two feet, I'd be clean now," Jason commented, grinning slyly at Tommy.

"I'm not the one who had their legs sticking out everywhere!" Tommy protested, chuckling.

"Aw, go jump in the lake, you two…literally!" Zack shouted over at them, still laughing. Tommy and Jason exchanged looks.

"Not a bad idea, Zack," Tommy told him. He walked under the other side of the net, accompanied by Jason, and together the two of them hoisted Zack up and began carrying him down to the water.

"Hey, wait, I didn't mean it literally!" "All's fair in volleyball and water wars," he told them, grinning wickedly.

"It's a good thing it's a hot day," Kim muttered, looking down at her now-soaked pink two-piece bathing suit. Jason pushed Zack back into the waves in reply while Kim and Trini headed back up the beach.

They found where they had placed their beach bags and pulled out a couple of dry towels, then stretched out on them to dry off. Soon, the others joined them.

"Man, I'm starving! I hope you guys brought enough for everybody," Zack commented, opening the picnic basket eagerly.

"Zack, the girls brought enough to feed a small army, which means that there may even be food left over for the rest of us once you're through," Tommy kidded, earning a mock-glare from his friend.

The six friends ate in relative silence, gazing out at the slightly-choppy waters of the lake.

"Wow, it sure is nice out today," Kim commented thoughtfully, sipping a bottle of iced tea.

"Probably one of the last nice days we'll have before fall time comes," Trini agreed. "I'm glad we decided to come out to the beach and spend it here."

Suddenly, a six-tone noise erupted from out of nowhere, disturbing the almost unnatural silence that had enveloped the group. Kim sighed.

"It was nice while it lasted."

"What is it, Zordon?" Tommy asked into his communicator while the others huddled around him, shielding him from prying eyes.

"Tommy, you and the others must come here immediately," Zordon replied. "There is a matter of grave urgency that you must attend to right away."

"Uh, we'll be right there," Tommy told him, shutting the communications channel. Then he looked at the others, and saw his own stunned expression mirrored in their faces.

"He sounded way too serious for this to be another one of Rita's attacks," Kim commented finally, sounding a little nervous.

"We should go find out what's going on," Jason advised, looking at Tommy, who nodded back.

"You're right. Let's go," Tommy agreed. The six of them gathered their things, then found a secluded part of the beach where nobody else had ventured and teleported to the Command Centre.

There, they found Alpha running around from computer console to computer console, checking printouts against printouts, printouts against readings and readings against readings.

"Ay yi yi yi yi," he kept crying over and over again. Papers were laying all around the Command Centre's main chamber, and Zordon was giving quiet instructions to the little android.

"Zordon, what's going on?" Tommy asked as soon as he and the others had arrived safely amidst a sea of confusion and paper products.

"Rangers, you have arrived just in time," Zordon told them. "There is a great danger that all of the universes that are currently existing could face certain annihilation."

"Universes? Plural?" Kim asked skeptically, raising a well-shaped eyebrow.

"That is correct, Kimberly. There are an infinite number of universes that exist parallel to our own," Zordon informed her calmly.

"So what's going on, Zordon?" Tommy asked while he and the others tried to wrap their minds around this concept.

"It seems that Rita has discovered a merging point where all of the universes meet and has met others of his kind," Zordon explained.

"You mean there's more than one Rita?" Kim asked. Had Zordon had a neck, he would have nodded. As it was, he could simply affirm that fact verbally.

"Yes, Kimberly. Worse yet, she and the other Rita's have joined forces and gotten their hands on the Universe Bomb, which could potentially collapse all of the forces of good in every universe it touches," Zordon continued.

"So what are we going to do about this?" Zack demanded, wide-eyed.

"You need to go up to the moon and cross into the other universes to recruit the other rangers of good from the other universes so you can all get the Universe Bomb back and deactivate it," Zordon answered.

"But Zedd has the moon under constant surveillance. How are we supposed to get up there without him noticing us?" Billy inquired.

"I will give you the cloaking devices that Alpha and I have been working on for the past few months. It will allow you to slip past Rita's guards and into the inter-dimensional portal," Zordon responded.

"Let's go, guys. We've got universes of people to save," Tommy said. His brown eyes were burning with a determination few had ever seen there, and his voice was hard yet full of emotion at the same time. He and the others knew that this was one mission they couldn't botch up. Trillions of lives, of universes!, depended on them succeeding. I sure hope we can do this, Tommy thought apprehensively, keeping his calm appearance despite his raging internal thoughts and emotions that he was sure were going through the minds of the others.

Scant hours later, after telling their parents that they were all going on an impromptu trip up to Tommy's uncle's cabin, six teens stood in the Command Centre, furnished with equipment that everyday engineers would think impossible to exist, much less function. But function it did, for it had been put through rigorous testing to ensure that it wouldn't fail at a critical moment.

"Are you sure you are ready for this mission?" Zordon asked them one last time as the teens morphed.

"We don't have a choice, Zordon," Tommy informed him stonily. "Does everybody have their cloaking belts fastened and at stand-by mode?" The others nodded their ascent.

"I wish you good luck, Rangers, and may the power protect you all," Zordon said, looking down at the teens.

"Thank you, Zordon," Trini replied solemnly.

Tommy looked around at his collected friends.

"Are we ready for this?" he asked them as they huddled together in a circle. He put his hand out in front of him, palm-down, expectantly. "Because if you're not, now's the time to back out."

"I'm with you," Kim said immediately, placing her hand on top of his.

"You aren't leaving me behind," Jason told him, resting his hand on Kim's.

"I'm not willing to stand around helplessly while the rest of you go on without me. Count me in," Zack said, his hand atop Jason's.

"Someone's got to keep an eye on these guys," Trini said lightly, her hand falling on top of Zack's.

"Affirmative," was all Billy said, placing his hand on the top of the pile. In that moment, the Rangers were united as rarely they had been before. Looking into each other's eyes, seeing the fear, excitement and bravery that was within one another gave them all an extra boost of courage that would help them get that little bit farther in their quest.

"Look out, evil. Here comes the Power Rangers from Dimension One," Kim said, gazing at her friends.

"OK, then. Let's give the evil forces a run for their money," Tommy said. They each took their hands back, and reached for their communicators. "Alpha, Zordon, we'll see you in a little while."

"Good luck, Rangers," Alpha said, waving to his human friends as they vanished in coloured streaks of light.

~*~

After arriving at the moon in full ranger suits with oxygen tanks strapped to their backs, it took a moment for everybody to become acclimated to the lessened gravity and strange environment.

"All right everybody, you all know the plan," came Tommy's voice over their helmet communicators, one of the new perks that had been added. "We get to the base, get inside and find the portal. Once we find it, we go through it and start searching for other rangers like ourselves."

"Should we split up into teams of two to make the search go faster?" Kim asked as they began their two-mile trek.

"Zordon said that Alpha adjusted our communicators so that we can contact any other rangers that use the same frequencies as us on their communicators. Once we're at the portal, all each of us has to do is activate their communicator and send out a message telling whoever's listening what's going on and what has to be done," Tommy told her, walking alongside her at the front of the group.

"But what if someone else hears it, like Rita?" Trini queried, walking behind the two between Jason and Zack.

"They won't, because they don't use the same frequencies as our communicators," Billy tossed in from the back of the congregation. "Besides, we have a secured channel." That seemed to satisfy the ladies, and everyone else, for there was no more conversation until they reached their primary destination.

"OK, guys, activate your cloaking belts," Tommy said, his voice almost a whisper even though he consciously knew that nobody else could hear them while they spoke across their comm channel. The others nodded, and six pairs of hands went to their belts.

"Oh, this is too weird," Kim said in awe as she looked down at her hands and saw only a faint outline that was invisible to everyone else, but simply a guideline so she knew what her own hands were doing.

"Why can I see you guys?" Kim asked, gazing at her friends.

"Because we're all on the same wavelength," Billy explained. "Nobody else can see us because the eye can't see things that are fluctuating at as high a frequency as we are."

"Um, thanks for that explanation…I guess," Kim muttered.

"Sorry," Billy replied.

"Remember, we're hot miked," Zack told her with a small grin. Kim swatted him on his heavily-suited arm in response.

They began their final approach, drawing closer and closer to Rita's base.

"I've never seen this place up close. It's awesome," Billy whispered, gazing up at the massive structure.

"We'll have time for sight-seeing later. Right now, we have a mission to complete," Tommy said, taking the lead.

"Uh, right," Billy replied, though he continued to gaze up at the building, trying to absorb as much of it as he could in his nearly photographic memory.

As the teens walked across the barren landscape that was the moon's surface, they began to feel more alone than they ever had been before. Unable to communicate with anybody on Earth, where their families, friends and mentors resided, the feeling of utter isolation and impending doom began to set in.

"OK, guys, this is it. Is everybody ready?" Tommy asked them as they stood outside the moon base in all its gray glory. There was no verbal reply, just the nodding of heads. "All right, then. We go in and find the portal. Once we've found it, we have to contact as many Power Rangers or their equivalents as we can so we can tell them to rally on the moon in our universe. Once we've contacted them, we get out of the base as fast as we can and we wait. Got it?"

"We're with you," Jason told him, deadly serious.

With that, the talking ceased. Six pairs of feet began to move once more across the moon's terrain as they grew nearer and nearer to imminent danger with each passing second.

Up in the throne room, completely unaware of what was going on around her, Rita Repulsa sat in her throne, smiling evilly to herself and talking to her minions.

"They'll never know what hit them!" she cackled, eying the silver globe that hung suspended in midair in front of her.

"But what if the Rangers get wind of the Bomb?" Squat asked anxiously..

"What if they do?" Rita retorted. "There's nothing they can do about it, not now that I have the Universe Bomb in my possession. If they even threaten to come up here, I'll set it off and destroy all the forces of good everywhere…permanently!"

"My queen, I seem to be getting some strange energy readings on the surface of the moon near our perimeter," Finster said suddenly, rushing into the room.

"It's probably from something that you did," Rita said dismissively. "Nothing you build ever works." Goldar, Baboo and Squat snickered.

"If you say so, my queen," Finster replied uncertainly.

While Finster was being ribbed up in the throne room of Rita's palace, 6 teens from the planet Earth were carefully creeping along the perimeter of that very palace with Jason in the lead. The going had been easy, but they were still being cautious, just in case.

Just as they were about to round a corner, Jason stopped dead in his tracks and flattened himself against the wall, nearly causing a domino effect for his friends behind him. They too pressed their backs against the wall, awaiting an explanation.

"There's a huge army of putties around the corner," Jason whispered, as though he were afraid someone was listening into their closed-circuit conversation.

"Define 'huge'," Kim told him.

"Around fifty of 'em," Jason replied grimly. Kim and the others fell silent for a moment.

"6 against 50 don't seem like really great odds," Zack finally said. "We should find another way inside the fortress."

"But this entrance is closest to the portal," Billy protested.

"If we don't find another way in, we might not live long enough to make it to the portal," Kim countered. Jason remained quiet to asses the situation.

"All right, I say we split up and find another entrance as close to the portal as we can get," he said finally, holding up a hand to silence his companions. "Zack, you and Billy go patrol the North side. Trini, Kim, you guys can go South. Tommy and I will teleport to the opposite side and stand guard until you guys meet up with us. We'll keep the mikes open at all times so everybody can hear everything, all right?"

"Sounds like a plan," Billy said in approval, nodding.

"Let's do it," Zack agreed.

"Be careful, Tommy," Kim said quietly to him, laying a gloved hand on Tommy's heavily padded arm. He gently patted her hand before she disengaged and started walking away with Trini by her side. Zack and Billy went in the opposite direction of them, while Tommy and Jason teleported across the surface of the moon.

~*~

"I know there's somebody, or something, out there," Finster muttered to himself as he fiddled with some equipment in his laboratory. "If only Rita would believe me, but she's too intent on that Universe Bomb." He paused while he did some calculations in his head, then crossed two wires.. "Still, when she sets that bomb off, all things that are good will be destroyed. Maybe then I'll be able to get out on my own instead of having to listen to her incessant whining about her stupid headaches all the time." He played around with the equipment that surrounded him some more, all the while thinking about what it would be like to be free. Many times he had dreamed of such things, but never before had the possibility been within his grasp. All he had to do was make sure that the Universe Bomb was detonated. No matter what, he vowed silently to himself.

~*~

"This is so creepy," Kim whispered as she and Trini walked across the moon's surface, their feet moving soundlessly over the slightly rugged terrain. "It's too quiet."

"I could sing for you!" Zack offered, his voice coming through loud and clear through the comm channel. Kim made a face, even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"That's quite all right," she told him. Trini giggled.

"You doubt the Zack-man's vocal abilities?" Zack asked, sounding incredulous. Kim glanced at Trini, and they exchanged mischievous looks.

"Yup!" they both said in unison. Laughter rang across the comm channel from 5 different sources.

"Fine then. See if I ever offer you anything ever again," Zack said with a verbal mope, though everybody knew he was smiling.

"Seriously, though, has anybody seen or found anything yet?" Jason asked them all. Immediately, the Rangers grew serious.

"We haven't," Trini reported.

"Negative," Billy answered.

"Well, keep looking. There has to be an unguarded entrance into the fortress somewhere," Jason told them. At least, I hope there's an unguarded entrance. Otherwise, we're going to alert a lot of people if we have to go through the front door.

"But what if there isn't another way in?" Kim asked, voicing Jason's unspoken worries.

"Then we should all be glad that Zordon and Alpha recharged our weapons before we came because we're going to need them," Jason told them tersely.

"We could always dig our way in," Zack joked.

"That's it!" Billy exclaimed.

"What's it?" Tommy asked.

"If we can't find a way in-" Billy began.

"…We make one for ourselves," Trini finished.

"Precisely," Billy affirmed.

"It could work. We could use our weapons to get through the moon's crust," Jason said, thinking quickly.

"Then it'd be a simple matter of locating a good place to break into the fortress," Kim continued.

"Well, simple isn't exactly the word I'd use, considering how many layers of rock we have to go through," Billy countered.

"It's easier than going through that army of putties at the front door," Kim pointed out.

With that, the communications channel went silent as the Rangers resumed their search.

Tommy and Jason paced around, leaving boot prints in the dust on the moon's surface while they waited for their friends to reach their position.

Suddenly, Tommy let out a small shout and reached for his hand blaster.

"Patrol!" he yelled. Immediately, Jason fell into stance beside him, his own blaster at ready. The two-putty patrol barely knew what hit them; Jason and Tommy were such good marksmen that they were down probably before they even know that the two Rangers were there.

"I didn't realize there were patrols," Tommy said as he reholstered his blaster.

"Yea, well, here comes another one," Jason told him, turning in the other direction. Tommy was at ready again, and simultaneously they fired at the two grey figures.

"Hey, wait, they don't look like your average putties," Tommy commented just as a pair of high-pitched shouts came through on the comm channel.. Before Jason could respond, two beams of energy were shot at him and Tommy. The beams only narrowly missed their mark as Jason and Tommy dove in opposite directions.

"We're being attacked!" Jason shouted.

"So are we!" Kim cried. "We're just South of the fourth spire in the fortress!"

"We'll be there as soon as we can," Zack promised, speaking for Billy and himself.

"Wait a minute, we're just North of the same spire," Jason muttered. "Hey Tommy, wave your arms in the air."

"What, so I can be a better target for those putties?" Tommy retorted.. "No thank you."

"Just do it!" Jason ordered. Tommy sighed and began waving his arms in the air, or rather vacuum of space. "Kim, can you see someone waving their arms?"

"Yeah. Geez, these putties sure are funny-looking," she replied. Jason smiled in relief.

"Kim, those 'putties' that just fired on you were us," he told her.

"Oh! Sorry, guys!" Kim cried.

"We didn't hit either of you, did we?" Trini asked in concern.

"No, we're fine. Are you two all right?" Jason inquired.

"Yeah, we're fine," Trini assured him.

Just then, Tommy caught movement out of the corner of his eye and whirled, blaster ready.

"Relax, it's us!" Zack shouted, eager to avoid another firefight. Tommy relaxed and holstered his blaster.

"Now that we're all assembled, did anybody find anything?" Jason asked once everybody was close enough to see the faces of one another behind their helmets.

"Not a thing," Trini told him, shrugging her shoulders as best she could, considering the bulky spacesuit she was wearing. Jason turned to look at Zack and Billy.

"Negative," Billy replied.

"Man, this place is bordered up better than Fort Knox!" Zack exclaimed, punching a gloved fist into a gloved palm.

"Looks like we're going to become groundhogs," Tommy commented, kicking the ground with his booted toe. "Billy, any idea how far down we need to drill until we're under the fortress?"

"I'd say several meters, maybe a little more than that just to be on the safe side," Billy replied after a moment's hesitation of calculating.

"Then let's get started. I'm not sure how much energy this is going to take from our blasters, and we don't have any way of recharging them," Jason said, looking around at his friends.

"Actually, I'd say that we're only going to drain the energy equal to the capacity of one blaster," Billy broke in.

"So instead of draining from six different blasters, why don't we only use one?" Tommy suggested.

"I think two might be a better idea since the work would go faster," Billy noted.

"Let's get to it, then. Billy, you and Trini set to work on that. The rest of us will keep a lookout in case we get ambushed by any putty patrollers," Jason said.

"Make sure they're real putties this time," Zack kidded, grinning.

"You keep talking, bigshot, but you would have fired, too," Jason replied, returning the grin.

"Not the Zack-man. I could spot a putty a mile away and see which way it's facing," Zack retorted, spreading his arms wide.

"You could not!" Kim broke in with a laugh.

"You don't think I could do it?" Zack asked her.

"In a word, no," Kim replied bluntly, smile still firmly in place. Zack stumbled backwards with a hand over his heart.

"I'm crushed!" he announced. "Guys, she's lost faith in me."

"You can't lose something you never had," Jason said innocently. Zack bounded over and nearly knocked Jason off his feet. Kim giggled as she watched them. Meanwhile, Trini and Billy remained completely oblivious to the entire scenario. Tommy was pacing back and forth, keeping an eye on the landscape to make sure they weren't ambushed.

"Hey Billy, how much longer are you guys going to be?" Jason asked through a laugh as Zack continued to "attack" him, using the moon's weaker gravity to his advantage.

"Oh, about 10 minutes at most," Billy replied, sounding distracted as he concentrated on getting the beam from his blaster exactly where he wanted it while Trini did the same.

"Good. We need to get inside and destroy that Universe Bomb as soon as possible," Tommy threw in, sounding deadly serious despite the attempts by the others to add levity to the situation.

"Um, has anybody thought of a way that we can destroy the bomb without setting it off and destroying the good energies in all of the universes it touches?" Kim asked suddenly.

The comm channel went deadly quiet.

"Oh," Kim said.

"I'll figure out a way to dismantle it when I get my hands on it," Billy stated. By now, he and Trini were only visible from the head up as they had begun to make their way below the surface of the moon. Tommy moved to stand behind his girlfriend as she turned away from her friends, lost in thought.

"Let's hope we make it in time," Kim whispered, gazing upon the Earth as it hung there in space amongst the glittering stars.

~*~

In a room somewhere deep within the bowels of the moon fortress, Rita was standing in a dark room. The only light came from the portal and the stasis unit. Within the stasis unit, the Universe Bomb hovered. Silent. Deadly.

"It won't be long now," Rita said quietly to herself. "Shortly, all the good energy in all the universes shall be extinguished, and evil shall reign supreme!" She paused and walked around the Bomb in a small, cautious circle. "As soon I hear back from the other Rita's, telling me that they're ready to detonate the Bomb, the universe shall be ours!"

With that, Rita hurried out of the room, making sure to lock the door behind her so none of her minions could possibly interfere with her plans. After that was done, she went back up to her throne room to await several communications from other universes.

~*~

"Billy, how much further do we have to go?" Jason asked. The six Rangers were now in a tunnel deep beneath the moon fortress. Everything was dark, save for the light that was coming from the blasters, and even those were dimming as the seconds passed and their energy was consumed.

Before Billy could even answer, the blasters shot through the rock. As quickly as they could, Billy and Trini moved to turn them off, but before they could, the beams faded into nothingness, leaving afterimages in the retinas of the Rangers. Pieces of rock fell near and onto the Rangers as they entered the lowest level of the moon fortress.

The Rangers stepped out of the tunnel and into a pitch black room. They spread out along the wall where they had come in, keeping close enough to one another that all they had to do was extend an arm a little bit and they'd touch one of their companions.

Jason started forward, and felt someone place a hand lightly on his shoulder.

"It's only me," Trini whispered to him. Jason nodded.

"Stay close everybody," he ordered softly, almost as though he was afraid someone might hear him.

"No problem," Kim whispered. She was clutching Tommy's gloved hand with one of her own, and together they followed the others out into a hallway.

"Which way should we go?" Trini asked as the six of them stepped out into a labyrinth of hallways.

"That's a really good question," Zack murmured, eying the seven or eight different hallways that branched off of the one they were in.

"According to this," Billy said, referring to what looked like a Palm Pilot, "we should go that way, and turn right when we reach the fifth side exit."

"This place is huge!" Zack commented with a low whistle, glancing over Billy's shoulder at the schematic of the fortress.

"And that's only the level we're on," Billy continued. "Apparently, there are 3 levels below us and at least 15 above us."

"I don't mean to complain, but is there any way we can get rid of these space suits?" Kim asked suddenly.

"Billy?" Jason asked.

"Well, the air is perfectly breathable, but it probably won't smell too great," Billy replied uncertainly.

"I'll take it," Kim muttered, quickly removing her helmet. "Whew!"

"Is it that bad?" Trini asked, examining Kim's wrinkled nose and unpleasant expression.

"Oh yea! Smells like someone or something died out here!" she exclaimed.

"Kim, keep your voice down! We're not communicating through the helmet mikes anymore. Anybody can hear us if we take off our suits," Jason said quickly. Kim clapped a gloved hand over her mouth and the six of them looked around apprehensively. Fortunately, they didn't hear or see anything.

"Sorry," she whispered a moment later.

"It's all right," Jason assured her. "I think we should all get out of these suits and hide them somewhere so we can walk around without all this bulk on our backs."

"Good idea," Tommy agreed. "We can stash it all in the tunnel we made." Jason nodded in reply. Quickly, the remaining Rangers shed their suits and stowed them back in the room where they'd entered the fortress.

"OK, Billy, which way will get us in and out of here as quickly as possible?" Zack asked. "I don't want to be here any longer than necessary."

"Third passage on the right and turn right at the fifth turnoff," Billy repeated.

"Let's move," Jason said grimly as he and Billy took the lead. The others quickly fell into step behind them, all their senses working on overtime.

As the group crept through the dark, dank hallway, several times they heard footsteps around them. Thankfully, they never encountered the owners of the sound.

Suddenly, Zack let out a small yelp and jumped backwards, causing the rest of the group, save Jason, to nearly fall backwards in a domino effect. When they regained their footing, they saw Zack standing there, a sheepish expression on his face.

"Sorry," he apologized, noting that all of his friends were staring at him. "I got a spider web in the face." He shuddered. "I hate bugs!" The others chuckled. "Especially spiders."

They continued their trek, and soon came upon the turnoff. Jason flattened himself against the wall, and the others took his cue as he peered cautiously around the corner. When he saw that the coast was clear, he waved them along, and brought up the rear.

"Jason, no offense, but could you back up a little bit? You're my friend and everything, but I'd really prefer it if you weren't breathing down my neck," Kim said a few moments later, feeling hot air at the base of her skull.

"Kim, I'm up here," Jason said, waving a hand up above the heads of the others from the front of the group.

"Then who…" Kim began, turning around. When she did, she screamed. The others froze and whirled, immediately dropping down into defensive positions as what they saw registered in their minds.

Standing directly behind Kim was a huge monster that stood about 7 feet tall. It looked like a cross between a black bear and an alligator, for it had a monstrous body and a long snout. When it grinned, it showed several rows of deadly sharp white teeth. Quickly, it grabbed Kim around the middle of her torso, effectively pinning her against its body.

"Let me go!" she shouted.

Before the others could even move, it turned and ran away at a speed that should have been impossible for its size. The Rangers went after it, chasing it down several hallways before the monster outdistanced them and lost them. However, Kim's screams echoed off the walls for a few seconds after she had disappeared from sight.

"Billy, can you track her?" Tommy asked anxiously, looking to the resident genius.

"I can, but whatever has her is moving so fast that it'd be easier if we waited until she was stationary to go look for her," Billy replied. "Otherwise, we might get hopelessly lost in the labyrinth of corridors that exist in this fortress."

"But we can't just stand around and wait!" Tommy protested.

"We're not going to. We have to keep going for the Universe Bomb," Jason told him, his voice rising to silence the murmuring among the ranks of the Rangers.

"But we can't abandon Kimberly," Tommy argued impatiently.

"I don't plan on abandoning her," Jason retorted. "But right now, we have to get to that bomb before Rita can set it off. Once we've deactivated the bomb, we'll have plenty to time to search this place to find Kimberly." Tommy scowled, but said nothing more.

Jason and the others looked around one more time, then continued on their way through the hallways. Trini hung back and fell into step behind Tommy, who had taken up position in the rear.

"It'll be all right, Tommy," she told him softly. "We'll get Kimberly back."

"I just have a really bad feeling about leaving her," Tommy admitted. "I can't explain it, but I'm almost sure that something bad is going to happen to her."

"Just concentrate on the mission for now," Trini advised. "None of us can afford to be distracted until after that bomb has been disarmed."

"Thanks, Trini," Tommy said. A small smile appeared on his face, but it never quite reached his eyes.

"Anytime," she told him sincerely. She knew he was still worried about Kim, but nothing any of them could say would make those feelings of anxiety go away. Instead, Trini walked along beside him in silent support, and for now, that would have to be enough.

Pain. Searing. Must escape. Trapped. Bound. Caged. Distressed. Suffering. Helpless. What now?

Slowly, with excruciating pain coursing throughout her body, Kimberly regained consciousness. She was vaguely aware that she was shackled at both wrists and both ankles to a brick wall in a cold, damp cell. However, not much else could make itself known through the pain that she was going through. Her mind couldn't even form a simple though. It was functioning solely on rudimentary impulses. Kimberly tried to lift her head, but it was too much effort, and she let it hang down once more. Sluggishly, agonizingly slowly, a single word formed in her mind. Tommy. The thought made no sense to her disoriented mind, yet it was strangely familiar and comforting. Slowly, other names entered her brain, as if on their own power. Jason. Trini. Zack. Billy. Kimberly was confused, but the more she ran these names over in her head, the more her memory came back. Where am I? What happened to me?

Kimberly heard a noise and jerked her head up, groaning in regret as pain flashed through her. She opened her eyes as the door to her cell creaked open.

"Hello, my pretty."

It's that monster that brought me here in the first place! Kim's mind screamed before the thought could actually form consciously.

"Did you have a nice sleep?" It approached her with measured steps. Kim tried to press herself again the wall as it came closer. "Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me better if I took on a human form?" A flash of white light that momentarily blinded Kim came. "There, is this better?"

Now, standing before her was a human male, around 6 feet tall, with long light brown hair and striking green eyes.

"You're still a monster," Kim managed to croak out, her voice unstable. The man smiled.

"True enough," he conceded. Kim shuddered at the admission. "But in this form, you won't fear me as much."

"What's the point in that?" Kim asked, confused.

"Because when I change back, I'll instill such terror in you that you'll want to die," he explained. His voice had gone low, menacing, dark. "And then I'll grant you that wish." He admired Kim, and she suddenly felt dirty beneath his gaze. The smile on the man's face grew, and was accompanied by a low chuckle that turned into a horrifyingly evil laugh which echoed throughout the chamber. "Bye for now."

With that, the human/monster turned and left the cell, closing the door hard behind him. And as the clang resounded, it was overshadowed by Kim's screams.

"I hate to ask you this, Billy, but how much farther do we have to go?" Zack asked during a particularly quiet stretch of their trek.

"Well, we're on this level right here," Billy told him, dropping to the back of the group to point something out on the screen of the small electronic pad he held. "And we have to climb about 5 floors before we're even on the same level as the Universe Bomb."

"In other words, we've got a long way to go," Zack concluded, disappointed.

"Billy, are we going to get to the Bomb in enough time to disarm it before Rita can set it off?" Jason asked, sounding somewhat tense, from the front of the group where he was walking alongside Tommy.

"We should probably move a little faster, just in case," Billy called up to him as loudly as he dared.

Suddenly, the entire group jumped as they heard a quiet growl.

"Sorry," Zack called. "That was my stomach."

"Zack, you scared us half to death," Trini scolded him lightly, though there was a smile on her face.

"Hey, I can't help it. I'm a growing boy," Zack protested, returning the smile.

"If you keep this up, the only thing about you that'll be growing is your stomach," Tommy kidded.

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking, tough guy," Zack retorted, laughing.

Another grumble, similar to the first one except louder, reverberated off the walls.

"Zack, you sound like you haven't eaten in days!" Jason laughed.

"Jason, that wasn't me," Zack said quietly.

"What? Then who-" Jason began, but he was cut off as Zack let out a yell of surprise.

"Let him go!" Trini ordered, having turned around to face Zack as soon as she'd heard the second growl.

"Who's going to make me?" the monster asked. "You?"

"Her and her friends!" Jason shouted. "Rangers, charge!"

"That'll do you no good!" the monster retorted, turning and running away with Zack flung over its shoulder.

"Put me down, fur bag!" Zack shouted, kicking, punching and struggling with all his might. However, it was to no avail as the monster was at least twice Zack's weight, strength and size.

"Come on, we can keep up with him!" Jason called to the others, taking the lead in the chase after the monster.

"If we find out where it's taking Zack, we'll probably find Kimberly!" Tommy agreed, running alongside Jason through the corridors.

"Guys, this is counterproductive!" Billy called after them. "It's leading us further away form the Universe Bomb."

"But we need to rescue Zack and Kimberly," Jason argued as the four of them ran.

"The good of the many versus the good of the few," Trini threw in.

"Trini, that was harsh," Tommy told her.

"But think about it: what good will having Kimberly and Zack back do if the entire universe, infinite universes, are taken over by evil?" Billy threw back.

"Don't you think Kim and Zack would have wanted us to save the universes and all the innocent people in them before we went after them?" Trini agreed. That made Tommy and Jason slow down, and eventually stop.

"Let's do this," Tommy said, his voice with a hard edge to it. "The sooner we find that bomb, the sooner we can destroy it and find Zack and Kim."

"Come on, this way," Billy said, taking the lead with Jason right beside him.

"What is taking those other ninnies so long?" Rita muttered as she paced the marble floor in her throne room, high above the Rangers' heads.

"You mean your counterparts?" Finster asked, withholding a snicker.

"Yes, my counterparts!" Rita snapped. "Who else would I be talking about?" Finster gave no reply. "What is taking them so long?"

"Perhaps they all have headaches?" Finster threw in, allowing himself a small smile as he turned his back on his empress and busied himself with other things. The next thing he knew, he was seeing stars as Rita had clubbed him in the back of the head with her staff.

"Someone's in trouble!" Baboo crowed.

"Just remember where your loyalties lie," Rita hissed in Finster's face. As soon as she turned around and continued pacing, Finster made a face at the back of her head. "Don't give me that look again, or I'll rip your face off!"

Suddenly, an image appeared in the middle of the throne room. In it was the faces of several women, identical to Rita.

"Well?" Rita demanded.

"We're almost ready," another Rita reported.

"In my universe, the Rangers have attacked my fortress. I need more time before I can be ready," a third Rita threw in.

"What, you haven't destroyed those puny Power Punks yet?" the second Rita demanded.

"Not yet, but in my dimension, there are 12 of them," Rita #3 reported.

"12 Rangers?" the first Rita asked, raising an eyebrow. "How can that be?"

A fourth Rita's laughter sounded over the conversation.

"You mean all of you still have Power Rangers in your dimensions?" she asked haughtily. "Here, they were destroyed, along with Alpha, Zordon and the Command Centre."

"How did you manage that?" the third Rita inquired.

"Easily," Rita numero quatre purred. "I personally went down with Goldar, Squat, Baboo and Finster the day the Rangers were given their powers, and each of us slit one of their throats." Rita 4 paused for a moment, and a small smile crept across her face. "Trini put up quite a struggle, but it was very satisfying to see her blood on the outside of her body. And Goldar had a lot of fun with Jason before killing him. They all died slowly and painfully."

The other three Rita's laughed.

"I'll do that someday," the first Rita said enviously. "At any rate, you all have half an hour. At that time, I'm going to detonate the bomb even if you're not ready."

With that, the image vanished into the thin air from whence it had come.

"Soon, very soon, the Power Rangers, and all of the energies of good, will be a distant memory, never to be resurrected," Rita murmured to herself as she settled into her throne, awaiting the deadline to come..

"I don't believe this!" Jason fumed, slamming a fist into the cement wall beside him. "How could we have let that…thing! get both Billy and Tommy at the same time?!"

"Jason, take it easy," Trini said soothingly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "There wasn't anything either of us could do about it."

"But now we've lost our guide! We'll never find the Universe Bomb now!" Jason exclaimed, shaking off Trini's hand and beginning to pace.

"We'll find it, it'll just take a little more time," Trini assured him, standing still and watching him pace. "But staying here won't do us any good. For one thing, that monster will be able to find us easier. Secondly, we aren't getting any closer to the Bomb."

Jason stopped pacing and pivoted on his back foot. Meeting Trini's eyes, he let out a huge breath and gave her a small smile.

"You always did manage to calm me down when I began ranting like this," he told her softly. Trini smiled back.

"Come on, we have a bomb to find," she told him. When he caught up with her, she placed her hand on his forearm. He looked down at her questioningly. "Are you going to be all right?"

"I'll be fine as long as I don't have to think about it," he told her.. Trini chuckled, and the two of them started walking once more.

"Tommy? Tommy, wake up," Kimberly whispered, staring intently at the limp figure that hung from shackles as its wrists on the wall on the opposite wall of the cell four out of six Rangers now occupied. "Come on, Tommy, wake up." Kim was desperate. She wasn't quite sure how long she had been standing there after the monster/man left, but she figured it was about half an hour. In that time, Zack had remained unconscious, hanging from his wrists on the opposite side of the cell that Kimberly was shackled to. When Billy and Tommy had been brought in, Billy had been chained next to Kimberly while Tommy had been chained up to Zack's right. Unfortunately, none of them had regained consciousness. Why am I the only one who's awake? Kim wondered idly. The thought got lost amidst a sea of emotions as she redoubled her efforts to awaken the others. Kim shook her chains in an effort to make enough noise to awaken the others.

Suddenly, Zack let out a low groan.

"Zack?" Kim asked, not caring anymore about how far her voice carried..

"OK, which of you guys ran over me in your Zord?" he asked, his voice muddled and shaky with pain and disorientation.

"Zack, do you remember where we are?" Kim asked him. Zack slowly opened his eyes, looked around for half a minute, then shut his eyes and groaned again.

"The last thing I remember is that big monster-thing carrying me and dropping me in the hallway outside a cell, then clubbing me over the head with something when I tried to get to my feet to run away," Zack told her, opening his eyes again. "When did these two get here?"

"Um, about half an hour ago," Kim told him.

"That means that Jason and Trini are alone out there," Zack said in hushed tones.

"I know," Kim replied, worry evident in her voice. "I hope they can stay away from the monster that brought us all here."

"I hope they know where they're going and don't get lost," Zack returned. "This fortress is huge. If they get lost, and something happens to us, they might never get out of here."

Kim let out a small whimper of worry and glanced fervently at the door to their cell as she heard footsteps pass by.

"Kim, I'm sorry," Zack told her, kicking himself as he took in her worried and panicked expression.

"It's not your fault," Kim assured him. "I just want to get out of here as soon as possible, preferably before that monster-thing comes back!"

"I'm all for that," Zack agreed readily.

Just then, twin moans emitted from Tommy and Billy.

"Hey, are you guys all right?" Zack asked once they had opened their eyes for the first time.

"I'll be fine once my head isn't being used as a timpani anymore," Tommy grumbled.

"Er, affirmative, I think," was Billy's uncertain response. He tried to lift an arm to rub his apparently sore head, and for the first time noticed the shackles. "Interesting."

"That's one way of putting it," Zack muttered.

"Tommy, are you all right?" Kim asked anxiously. Tommy raised his eyes and looked at her.

"I'll be OK. What about you? Nobody hurt you, did they?" he inquired quickly.

"No, I'm fine, just a little sore," Kim told him.

"Where are Jason and Trini?" Billy implored, looking around and noticing that their team mates were absent.

"They're the only ones lucky enough to still be free," Zack told him.

"Let's hope they stay that way," Kim murmured.

"Hey, our communicators are gone," Tommy said suddenly after a moment of silence. The other three Rangers checked their wrists, and came to the same conclusion.

"Oh, this is just great," Zack muttered. "Not only are we chained up, but we're powerless, too."

"Ssh, someone's coming," Kim whispered to the others. The four of them turned and watched as the cell door opened and the monster-man stepped into their cell.

"Well, well, it's good to see that the rest of you are awake," he said, standing by the door and looking at all of them. "And how are you doing, gorgeous?" Kim turned her head away and ignored him. The monster-man, which was now in human form, approached Kimberly and gripped her jaw in one hand, forcing her to look at him. "When you're asked a question, it's impolite to not answer."

"Drop dead," Kim hissed, her eyes narrowing. Her entire body was tense, ready to spring. If only I wasn't chained up, I'd give this creep a piece of my mind!

"Well, now, you're certainly a rude one," he observed, dropping his hand from her jaw to let it rest at his side. A grin appeared on his face.. "I wonder if your teammate will be any more agreeable?"

"What have you done with Trini?" Kim asked before she could keep herself in check.

"Oh, nothing…yet," he told her, his grin widening. "But it's only a matter of time before she joins your ranks. And then I'll wait a while before capturing that leader of yours."

"You'll never succeed," Billy said, speaking for the first time. "Jason and Trini won't let themselves be abducted by you."

The man turned and looked at Billy.

"You mean, the four of you let yourselves become my prisoners?" he asked seriously. Billy faltered, and the man chuckled. "Exactly. You didn't have a choice, and neither do they."

"You're never going to win," Zack called angrily.

"Oh, could you be anymore cliché?" the man asked, chuckling at Zack furious expression. Then he waved it away. "No matter. Soon, you'll all be brainless servants of Empress Rita."

"Sorry, pal, but that's just not going to happen," Kim told him. The man turned and walked back to stand in front of her. Uh-oh, Kim thought. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and slowly let them slide down the front of her body. "Tommy," Kim whimpered, helpless.

"Keep your hands off of her," Tommy growled.

"Oh, so you care about this girl?" the man asked over his shoulder, keeping his eyes, and hands, on Kimberly. "That's so cute, it's revolting.. You have no power here, I do. And soon, you'll have no power at all!"

"We'll see about that," Zack threw in.

The man put his hand behind Kim's head and drew her forward, kissing her roughly. She struggled, but to no avail. Finally, however, she was released, and nearly gagged.

"I'll be back shortly with one more of your friends, Rangers," the man said, exiting the cell and locking the door tightly behind him.

"Kim, are you all right?" Zack asked immediately. Kim shuddered, and tears ran down her cheeks.

"Kimberly, please, look at me," Tommy said softly. Slowly, Kim raised her head, and her shame was plain in her eyes. "It's all right. We're going to get out of this."

"I'm sorry, Tommy," Kim whispered.

"It's not your fault, Kim," Tommy told her. "When we escape, I'll hold him down and I'll let you beat the hell out of that creep."

Kim sniffled and let out a small chuckle.

"I'm going to hold you to that," she told him. Then the four of them settled in and got as comfortable as they could to wait to be rescued. "Jason, did you hear something?" Trini asked nervously as she and Jason walked side-by-side through one of the many corridors in the fortress.

"No, what did you hear?" Jason asked, halting and looking around.

"I thought I heard footsteps or something," Trini told him. "I guess I must have been hearing things."

"Maybe, maybe not. Let's be careful," Jason replied, and they continued walking. "Do you have any idea how far away we are from the Bomb?"

"I'm not quite sure, but we need to find a way to ascend this tower and get to the room where Rita's keeping it," Trini answered.

"I suppose elevators are out of the question?" Jason asked wryly. Trini smiled at him.

"I'd say you're right," she replied. "But that looks like a staircase."

The two of them walked over and stood in front of the doorway that led into a shaft. Inside the shaft, stairs went both up and down for as far as the dim lighting of the fortress would allow Jason and Trini to see.

"Well, let's go. The sooner we get up there, the sooner we can rescue the others," Trini said, and she led the way up the stairs. "It's funny how we thought we were so prepared for this mission, and we managed to forget something as simple as a flashlight."

"Trini, you're rambling," Jason told her gently, smiling. Trini sighed.

"I know. I'm nervous," she confessed

"So am I," Jason admitted. "But we have to keep thinking about deactivating the Bomb."

"That's all I can think about," Trini countered. "That, and the others." She hesitated before speaking again. "I hope they're all right." She looked back over her shoulder at Jason. "You don't think that thing would have-"

"Trini, don't even think about that," Jason interrupted.

"I can't exactly help it," Trini told him wryly. "I mean, Rita's been trying to destroy us ever since we first became Rangers and defeated her that first time. Now we're in her fortress, and one of her monsters has captured four out of the six of us, and done who-knows-what to them…"

Jason nearly ran into Trini when she stopped abruptly. Raising a hand to her face, she wiped her eyes dry.

"Sorry," she murmured, not turning around.

"Trini, you've got to be strong. We'll get the others back, safe and sound," Jason told her, putting special emphasis on the last three words out of his mouth.

"I hope you're ri– Jason, look out!" Trini shouted, in the middle of turning around. In her peripheral vision, she had caught movement that didn't belong to Jason, and saw that it was the monster that had captured the rest of her friends, and was now coming for her and Jason. So she did the only thing she could. She grabbed Jason by his muscular shoulders and shoved him up the staircase, putting herself between him and the monster.

"What the-" Jason asked, stumbling to his hands and knees on the stone stairs. He was unsure as to why Trini had done what she had, since he'd not heard the monster creep up behind him.

Trini angled her body sideways on a step and delivered a powerful kick that should have knocked the monster down the stairs. Instead, the monster grabbed her leg with lightening-fast reflexes and twisted it sharply to the left, causing Trini to lose her balance and stumble onto the stairs in much the same manner Jason had. Before Jason had any time to turn around and defend his fellow Ranger, the monster grabbed Trini, lifted her over his shoulder and ran down the stairs the way he and the two remaining Rangers had come.

"Trini!" Jason shouted, starting to run down after her.

"Go for the Bomb!" she called back, waving him away.