Disclaimer: Saban doesn't own the Power Rangers, I do! Okay, that hopefully got your attention. Saban really does own Power Rangers, I only use them here without permission. Although the only Rangers used here are my creations, I have used Saban's characters and I am greatful, even if Saban hasn't agreed to it. Thanks anyway.

Author Note: Shinobi Rangers, Shinobi Zords, Samurai Rangers, Samurai Zords, Dark Rangers, Dark Zords, Armageddon, Ultima, Kraegor, Crush, Garrison, Jandra, Mecha-Zen, Striker, Photon, I think that's it (well not quite, but close enough!) were all created by me. I hope they don't bear any similarities to anybody else's characters. If they do, I promise it is accidental. If anyone ever wishes to use any of the things included in the saga, let me know. I like to hear new ideas from anyone. Thank you and 'May the Power Protect Us (from ourselves :o)'

Time Scale: The Day after 'Hope For the Future, Thoughts of the Past.' Hope things are still making sense for anyone who has read the other parts, anyone who hasn't may as well start reading here, you'd probably end up just as confused!

Dark Intentions
By Matt

Kat walked along the passegways by the quarters. She was silent. Although the rooms were sound-proofed quite well, she still didn't feel comfortable being noisy while others slept. She thought she was first up and headed for the rec room. She stopped as she reached the doorway. Sitting on one sofa, asleep, was Kane and Tommy. She smiled curiously, wondering why the two were there and crept over to them.

"MORNING!" she shouted, kneeling just behind the sofa. They jumped up with a start, both taking a fighting stance. As they rubbed their eyes, they saw it was only Kat and collapsed back down onto the sofa.

"What are you two doing here?" Kat asked them a bit more quietly now.

"We were talking last night and I guess we fell asleep." Tommy replied.

Kane stood up and headed for the door. "I need more sleep, I'm going back to my quarters for a few hours!" he groaned.

Tommy stood up and followed. He mumbled something to Kat, but she never caught it, he was already near enough asleep. They left the room and Kat sat down on the Sofa. She smiled as she thought of the two leaders. They seemed so alike, it was uncanny! Maybe they both had the sort of personality best suited for leadership, maybe it was just coincidence.

———- X ———-

Divatox's eyes flicked open. For a moment she couldn't see. Her mask had slipped over her eyes. She put it back into place and looked round. The quarters looked familiar, but then all the rooms were alike in design. She felt something move next to her. She blinked a few times, letting her eyes to adjust to the light, then looked to her side. Her eyes widened as she saw Ultima lying next to her in his bed.

'What happened last night?' she asked hereself. She was shocked, but she knew quite well what had happened, and to be honset, she had enjoyed every moment. She lay there, remembering. It was only a few hours previous, but it already seemed like ages ago. She hadn't enjoyed herself som much since… well she hadn't ever enjoyed herself so much! She had come in and Ultima started talking. She had been the one who asked him to reveal his past back in the Power Chamber, so he had decided to tell her all the details. He went through the pain he had gone through growing up, the confusion over joining the dark forces and ended with the present. On comment he had made had really stuck in her mind. 'I don't know where I'm going. I was always set in my goal, but this whole mess has ruined all that, and I don't know if I still have the same goal now.' Had it got to her because it was so unlike, or was it something else? Was she feeling the same thing. They had spent hours talking about their current situation, fighting an evil force, allying with the Rangers, everything. They were both out of their element here and it really confused them. After talking business, they got to talking pleasure. They had got very intimate, talking about deepest desires and fantasies. They could both open up to each other like none other they had either known for quite some time. Of course, they ended up indulging in more 'in-depth' actions. She had been with humans before, but he was like no other. It seemed his powers could be used in some most interesting ways, pleasurable ways!

She reached a hand across and brushed her fingers gently through his hair. His eyes opened and he looked up at the hand, then followed along the arm until he saw Divatox. As he watcehd her stooping herself from getting carried away with the physical action, he smiled, a real smile. Not the sort she had seen so many times after a victory, but a smile, of happiness, of pleasure… of love?!

"Morning!" he said gently.

"Hi!" she replied, smiling back. Ultima, at that moment, was somehow glad about what had happened with Armageddon. There had been something between himself and Divatox since he brought her to his time, but as the all powerful evil leader, he had to keep himself distanced from such things. It was only an image thing, but it was important. Now, thrown together in the base of the Power Rangers, who had been mortal enemies of both, that image was shattered and the shield was down.

"We should be getting to the briefing!" Ultima said, urging himself to continue with his work.

"They won't miss us for a few more minutes!" Divatox replied, putting her other hand onto Ultima's chest. She moved it round, slowly caressing his body.

"No, I suppose they won't!" Ultima grinned, sitting up and pushing Divatox back down onto her back.

———- X ———-

Rocky sat in his seat at the juice bar. People were busy all over the youth center, but the main floor was taken up by just one person. He was practicing a kata in a very unusual style. It was his own style of fighting, he had spent ages working on it. The green-clad youth continued, practicing continually.

Suddenly, a few feet away from where Rocky sat, a large metal door appeared. It slid open and Kat stood emerged from it. When she was away from it, it slid shut and disappeared. She walked over to Rocky and took a seat next to him, balancing herself carefully on the tall stool. Rocky hadn't even noticed her come in, he was engrossed with the martial arts practice going on in front of him.

"Hi Rocky!" Kat said, letting him know she was there.

He jumped and looked round at her. "Computer, end programme!" he called out as if he hadn't wanted the girl to see the programme he was running. The whole scenario disappeared leaving the once again empty Simulation Room.

"Computer, resume programme!" Kat ordered promptly. The Youth Center reappeared, the people carrying on as normal, the kata still going in the center of the room.

"Kat, what are you doing in here?" Rocky asked.

"I came to see if you were okay, but I looks like you're not!" Kat said bluntly.

"I'm fine!" he insisted.

"No you're not!" she replied just as insistantly. "You're having as hard a time as the rest of us. You feel betrayed!"

"No. I wish I did. That'd make it so much easier to talk to you about it. I don't feel betrayed, that doesn't even bother me!" Rocky replied.

"Then what is it?" Kat asked, knowing there was something wrong.

Rocky just sat there looking ahead. Kat looked round too and saw the figure practicing.

"Adam!" she exclaimed.

Rocky looked round at her, his usually cheerful looking eyes now held only sadness, and a few unshed tears too.

"I'm being selfish. I don't care that they joined him, I just want my best friend back. We've been best friends since we were…. since we were born as far as I know!" Rocky said, sadly.

"Hey, we've all lost our friends too that monster. That 'monster' may still be our friend somewhere inside. But the fact is we've all been hurt by this, and it's not something we can just deal with." Kat said, understanding.

"Yeah, I know!" Rocky said half-heartedly. "But it's just so hard. Usually if I've got a problem like this, I talk to Adam. With him gone, what am I meant to do?"

"Talk to us, we're your friends too, you know, and we're all in this together." Kat replied.

Rocky just looked at her, he knew she was right but that didn't make it any easier. She reached out and put her arm around him. "Come on," she said, urging him out of his seat, "Let's get back to the rec room, everyone's been wondering where you were.

The doorway appeared and they headed for it. "Thanks Kat!" Rocky said humbly.

They got to the exit and Kat stopped him. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

He looked back at the Youth Center, then over at where the holographic Adam was still working out. A single tear rolled down Rocky's face and he said, "Computer, end programme!"

———- X ———-

Everyone gradually gathered in the Power Chamber. Although the situation was still serious, none of them seemed intent on rushing. Some of them because they seemed to be wanting to do other things, some because of the emotional stress, some just because they were so worn out.

Divatox and Ultima were last to arrive. As they came in, smiling and laughing, everyone stared in shock. Divatox always seemed quite happy. Even when she was angry, she soon returned to her smugly cheerful look. Ultima on the other hand, hardly showed his emotions, those he did we udually bad. None of them asked why, they didn't really want to know and they were probably too scared of him still to ask anyway.

Ultima took what had become his usual place at the side of Zordon's ion tube. Divatox joined the crowd of Rangers and all the others. They waited for Zordon to begin, they didn't really know what their next move could be, it was a difficult situation.

"We have been scanning for any sign of Armageddon, we have yet to detect his base of command. Until we find anything or they show themselves, there is nothing really we can do." Zordon said.

"You know what that means!" Niko said. "We get a day off!"

No sooner had he said it when the alarms sounded.

"Oh man, what have we told you about tempting fate, Nik!" Sara said over the din of the alarms. The Rangers weren't even worried when they heard the alarm was any more. Usually they would have rushed to Alpha's side to see what the problem was, but that didn't work now, there was just a few too many of them for that now. They all waited patiently as Alpha found out what the problem was.

"Ay-yi-yi Rangers, it's the Dark Rangers, well most of them anyway. They've just shown up on sensors." Alpha Five chirped.

"Where are they?" Kane asked quickly. He looked round and smiled at Tommy. He had got in with the question just before he had and he knew it. Tommy grinned back. Great minds really did think alike!

"Yo, hold it, Five. We're getting a transmission from them." Alpha Six butted in.

"I'm putting them on screen." Alpha Five said, instantaneously picking up the signal Alpha Six had detected.

Jason appeared on the screen. He wasn't morphed and he looked a little worse for wear. He looked different to before. When they had first joined Armageddon, they'd all had a strange glint in their eyes and a subtle, but distinct visual change in them. That was gone now, he looked like himself.

"Rangers, you have to help us!" Jason pleaded, sounding very weak and distressed. "Please meet us. We have to end transmission or he might detect it!" Jason spat out the word 'he ' as if it burned in his mouth. The signal cut off.

He had looked sincere, and sounded it, but should they trust him. Could it be a trap? The Samurai Rangers didn't know the others too well and found it very easy to be suspicious, but the Shinobi Rangerscouldn't even think like that. Of course they had their doubts, but they paled to the extent of their love for their friends. If they could help them, if they could save them, they would have their dearest friends back, and maybe some information about how to destroy Armageddon.

The argument didn't last long. Tommy eventually insisted they all go, unmorphed, just to show their trust. Not everyone agreed, but all twenty Rangers teleported away to meet with the Dark Ones.

———- X ———-

The Dark Rangers stood around in a small group. Now there was only seven of them. Tommy, Tideus and Corcus were not with them. They recognised the Rangers approaching from miles away, the colored streams of energy stretching across the sky. They swerved up into the air just in front of the Dark Rangers, then settled down on the ground. The Samurai and Shinobi Rangers materialised, and stood for a moment just watching the Dark Rangers.

They were all in as bad condition as Jason had been on the view screen. Kim was lying on the floor with Tanya by her side, she looked unconscious. The rest of them stood staring hopefully at the other Rangers.

"Okay, talk!" Tommy said bluntly.

"Please, you have to take us back." Jason pleaded.

"Why should we?" Cassie asked, her anger over the whole situation very obviously showing.

"Because if you don't Armageddon will kill us. He's already killed Tideus, Corcus and Tommy. We only just managed to escape, ourselves. We're all injured, Kim needs immediate help." Jason explained. That shocked the others. Dead, how could Armageddon just kill them all just for failing in one fight?

"What happened?" Tommy asked, his anger subsiding and giving way to pity.

"After you defeat us, Armageddon just lost it. He couldn't stand the thought of being beaten and he blamed us. He took away all the power he'd given us and attacked. We only got away because the other three stayed to keep him busy!" Jason said almost painfully.

"How can we trust you? How do we know you won't just stab us in the back again?" Cassie asked, obviously the most angry about the situation.

"Please, do whatever you have to, take any precautions you need to, but please, help us!" Jason begged.

"Whadda you think, Tommy?" Kane asked.

"I'll be back in a minute. Watch them carefully!" Tommy said. He walked off and started talking into his communicator.

The Samurai Rangers had never felt so awkward as they did at that moment. Some Shinobi Rangers glared at the Dark's in anger. Some looked, just finding it hard to believe their friends had come back. Rocky couldn't even bear to look at Adam, it tore him up inside to see him back again. The only reason he wasn't crying was because he didn't want the others to see him doing it. His emotions were getting the better of him.

Tommy came back. "Okay. We're going to take you back to HQ!" he said. "Stand by! Go ahead Alpha."

A strange looking energy beam struck the Dark Rangers. It disappeared and shortly afterwards, they teleported away. "What was that?" Chad asked, wondering about the energy beam.

"It was a psycho-suppression beam. If they still have some kind of psychic link to Armageddon, it will have blocked the link, he won't be able to trace them to HQ." Tommy explained. They all teleported after them.

———- X ———-

When they arrived back at the Power Chamber, Alpha had already taken Kim and the others into the med lab. they all had some pretty bad injuries, but they had been treated ina matter of minutes. Kim, however, was taking a little longer. Apparently, she had taken a direct shot from one of Armageddon's blasts and it was difficult erradicating the effects of them.

Once they were all reasonably healthy, they went to the rec room with the Shinobi Rangers. Tommy had requested that they got to talk to them first. He wanted to try and understand why they had done what they had done before they spoke to Zordon. They crowded into the seats in the room. It was crowded, but that wasn't what was making them all uncomfortable – the tension was so thick in the air youi could cut it with a knife. It was half and hour before anyone even spoke, they just sat exchanging glances. Rocky hadn't actually wanted to turn up, he didn't think he even wanted to see Adam or the others, but Kat had convinced him. Now he sat there opposite Adam. First he would looka t Adam, then Adam would notice it and Rocky would look away. Then Adam would look for a while until Rocky looked back and he would look away. It seemed they were both having trouble dealing with the whole thing.

Cassie spoke the question all the Shinobi's were thinking. "Why did you do it?"

The seven ex-Dark Rangers looked at each other. Jason spoke first. "I can't tell you why anyone else did it, but I know why I did. When I was sacrificed to Maligore, he took away all the good within me and replaced it with darkness. Lerigot freed me, but since then, there's been something different in me. I think there's always been a part of that left inside me. When Armageddon gave us the gift, the power reached out to that dark part inside me and it took control. I didn't want to do it, but I couldn't stop." he explained carefully.

"I was the same!" Kim said. "We had no will of our own to control it, it just took over and all we could do was watch from inside."

"I don't know why we did it!" Carlos said speaking for himself and Ashley.

"I think I know why, Carlos!" Ashley said. "Since we came to Angel Grove, we've all been friends, most of the time each other's only friends. The things happening here were tearing us apart. TJ was dead, Justin had become Armageddon. We could see our team, our friendship, falling apart. We thought by all joining with Armageddon, we could keep the Turbo Rangers together. It didn't take us long to realise the truth. Either Justin is completely gone, or he's trapped so far within Armageddon that we could never rescue him, and nothing can bring TJ back. But by then it was too late to turn back, we were under his power." Ashley said, Carlos listening to what he knew but couldn't say.

The Shinobi's continued to sit there listening to their friends explain their actions.

"I haven't got an excuse." Zack said humbly. "I saw all the others joining Armageddon, and I saw his powers and I just got scared. For the first time ever, I didn't feel safe as a Ranger!" His reason was simple, weak, but understandable. They had all felt it, but it seemed Zack was the only one who acted on it.

Now came Tanya and Adam. They really had no idea what they were going to say. As the last two to explain, everyone turned round to look at them, even the other Dark Rangers.

They both looked back for a minute.

Eventually Tanya broke the silence, but with something quite unexpected. "The five original Rangers were chosen for the courage, loyalty, integrity and strength of character. Tommy became a Ranger because he was a good fighter with a good heart. Aisha, Rocky and Adam proved themselves to you on many occasions. They showed you they had the same good qualities Zordon had picked you for, and that's why they became Rangers. When Kat was under Rita's control, she still managed to show her strength and bravery. She also proved herself worthy of the power. Now how about me?"

She stopped and looked round at them all. They didn't quite get where she was heading with this. Even Adam was somewhat confused. "I became a Ranger because I was in the right place at th right time. Aisha had the courage to stay in Africa to help the environment, so I was sent back with the Zeo sub-crystal. I wasn't chosen, I just happened to be there when someone was needed. I never had the strong sense of nobility, the courage, the purity that all you others were chosen for. I was never meant to be a Ranger and I knew it, but that didn't stop me doing my best. I did everything I could to be a good Ranger, but it was no good. I was never up to your standard and I just fell to temptation. I didn't have the power in my heart to resist it."

The all started to understand her now. True, she never had been 'chosen', but she was a Ranger, and a person, and she had a weakness that the others seemed to lack.

Now they all turned to Adam, just him now. Tanya could see he was having trouble coming up with his reason, so she stepped in.

"Don't think any less of Adam. he joined Armageddon for a good reason. Like all of you, he was tempted, but it was seeing me join that made him do it. It was his love for me that kept us together, whether as Rangers or Dark Rangers!" she explained. Adam couldn't bear to look at any of them now. He felt so ashamed that he had joined that monster.

Tommy looked at them all. They looked genuinely upset about it all, but he had learnt to look past surface appearances.

"How can we ever trust you again. If he tries to lure you back, surely those parts of you will just cave again." Tommy said.

"I don't know how we can ever regain your trust, I don't think we actually can, but can you at least forgive us. We're sorry for what we've done… I don't know what else I can say!" Jason pleaded.

The all looked at each other. For the first time, Adam and Rocky both looked straight at each other. It was only a couple of seconds that they saw into each other's eyes, but it was more than enough. Rocky got up and walked out without a word to anyone. Adam watched him go and his gaze dropped back to the ground.

———- X ———-

Rocky sat on the ground, his back to the wall, looking out down into the valley. Already they had built several housing units for the people. With the Power Chamber's technology, such simple structures were easy to construct. Rocky couldn't tell what the people were doing, they were too far away. He envied them in a way. They could look up and see Ranger HQ, a symbol to them, showing their protectors would always watch over them. They had that hope just by looking atop the cliffs that surrounded them. What did Rocky have? Where could he look for hope? Everything going on before was confusing enough. Adam leaving had really got to him, but for some reason, Adam returning had been even harder. Deep down inside, he knew he was glad his best friend had returned, but right now he couldn't reach that part. Anger, confusion and mis-trust surrounded the happiness like a coccoon, not letting it to the surface.

He heard footsteps approach from inside and looked to see who was coming. he was expecting Kat, she'd been there for him quite a lot over the last few days. He wondered how she could do it – deal with her own problems as well as being able to sort out someone else's too. But Kat didn't come out, it was Adam. As soon as he saw him, he went back to looking out to the valley.

"Can we talk?" Adam asked quietly. Rocky didn't answer. "Okay, you don't want to talk to me, but I'm gonna talk anyway!" He sat down beside Rocky.

"I'm sorry Rocky. I know I just left you. I followed Tanya without even thinking about you and I really regret that. I don't know how I can make it up to you, but I'm sorry." Adam pleaded.

Rocky showed no signs of moving, let alone talking.

"Rocky, can you just talk to me." Adam requested.

Again he showed no sign of moving.

"Rocky, talk to me!" Adam shouted this time.

"What do you want me to say?" Rocky shouted back, looking round at Adam. "I forgive you Adam. You stabbed me in the back, betrayed me, left me to join our enemy but I forgive you. Or do you just want me to tell you everything's okay? Do you want me to say everything will be back to the way it was? You don't seem to understand, you may have come back, but only because Armageddon wouldn't keep you. If you were still with him, could you honestly tell me you would have even thoughtof me?"

Adam looked even more upset as he listened to Rocky shout at him.

"I did think of you!" Adam said quietly. "We've always been best friends, and even being your enemy couldn't change that in my opinion. I thought of you all the time. Do you think I actually felt good about leaving you behind? I didn't. I felt like the lowest piece of shit on this planet, becasue I was."

Rocky looked at him as he replied to the comment. "So you felt a bit guilty about it, so what! I… I haven't got anything else to say to you!"

Adam would have continued speaking to him, but he could see his apparently 'ex' best friend was serious. As he stood up to walk away, he turned and said, "I've never said this to you before Rocky, but I wish I had while we were still friends. I love you and you're one of the most important people in my life." He turned and walked inside.

Rocky thought about what he had just said and realised maybe he could forgive Adam, because he felt exactly the same.

———- X ———-

The rest of the day passed awkwardly. The ex Dark Rangers were no longer being watched by the others, but Alpha Five was keeping a constant transporter lock on them all, just in case! Most of the Dark's stayed in their quarters, too embarrassed or uncomfortable to leave. Whenever any of them did, they always seemed to come across one of the Shinobi Rangers. The outcome was always the same, the Dark Ranger would apologise profusely while the Shinobi just glared at them, then the Dark Ranger would leave.

The Samurai Rangers spent the whole day outside, but this time, not practicing. They just couldn't stand to be inside with the others. They had got to know most of the Rangers quite well and didn't want to get caught up in any imminent arguments. Louise had gone inside at one point and came across Cassie and Ashley. She had never felt so awkward. Ashley was begging her to tell Cassie she should forgive her and Cassie was asking that she tell Ashley she wanted nothing to do with her. Louise ended up making some excuse and leaving the pair behind.

The disarray between the Shinobi and Dark Rangers was having a somewhat adverse effect on the Samurai's, too. Niko had asked Sean if he thought the Shinobi's should forgive the Dark Rangers. Niko had said yes, Sean had said no and they had ended up arguing. As the other Samurai's overheard them, they got caught up. The group was split in two. Those who thought they should be forgiven and those who believed they should not.

Eventually, Kane ignored his own views in the matter and took an objective position as a good leader should. He ended the argument with a speech about it being up to the Shinobi Rangers and that it wasn't really any of their business anyway. The argument had been ended, but there was still a lot of friction between some of them, they knew there would be until the whole situation was resolved.

———- X ———-

That night, the rec room was empty. They all had their resons. Some wanted to avoid any potential confrontation, some wanted to be alone, others just didn't like the idea of socialising with those who had been their enemies only a day before. Some of the Shinobi Rangers still wanted to talk though.

Tommy had just arrived in Cassie's room. He had come along with something important on his mind to talk about, something he had been thinking about since the first time they had spoken together in her room. He sat down on her bed as he had the other day. They both had things to say, but Tommy let cassie go first.

"Why did they have to come back?" she asked the Shinobi leader.

"I thought you wanted them back!" Tommy replied.

"I did… but I didn't!" Cassie said cryptically. "I wanted them back, but back the way things were. These aren't the same people we knew. They've changed from this, and so have we! No matter how long we try for, or how much we want it, we know we'll never trust them again, we'll never let ourselves get close to them. Without them, I've got nobody. When I moved to Angel Grove, I made friends with them, and I became a Ranger. I didn't have time to make other friends, so without them back home, I'll be alone."

"You're not alone!" Tommy said. "Not here and not back home. We're all friends you know! And besides, most of us still live in Angel Grove, things can carry on there."

"Yeah, but it's not the same. Things will never be the same. It'll never be the five Turbo Rangers facing Divatox, will it?" Cassie asked.

"No, but things have to change, whether it's for better or worse, or we couldn't move on." Tommy replied.

Cassie just nodded in agreement.

Tommy knew it was his turn, should he really say what was bothering him? He knew he had just told Cassie everything would be okay, but now he was going to go on about his own problems, it wasn't what she needed and he decided not to do it.

"So come on. What's up with you? I know you didn't come here just to listen to me complain."

That was all the coaxing he needed. He knew talking sometimes helped, and right now he needed help, but what should he say? "I'm just getting really mixed up with Kim back. I was going out with her 'til she left, and then I started going out with Kat. That never lasted though. After we passed on our powers, we kinda drifted apart. Now though…." Tommy started, but realised he should stop.

"What?" Cassie asked. She was quite good at this and asked, "Someone else?"

"Wha… how did you know?" Tommy asked, flabbergasted that she had read him so easily, but maybe that was a good thing.

"Lucky guess!" Cassie said, trying to make it less obvious how easily she had got it.

"Erm, yeah, it is!" Tommy said quietly.

"Who is it? I'm guessing it's someone here!" Cassie said. "Are you falling for Kim again?"

Tommy was relieved she hadn't figured it out already. "No. I don't think I could now!" he replied.

"Then who?" she asked.

He looked round at her, hoping to get sympathy rather than recognition, but he never got it. As she looked into his eyes, she knew. "ME?" she called out.

Tommy just looked down to the floor, embarrassed, confirming her suggestion.

"No, Tommy!" she said. "I'm flattered, and if this were all back home in normal circumstances, I might even say yes, but it'd never happen." he stared at her as she continued. "You started going out with Kat because Kim gone. That never worked out, not because of you or Kat, but because of the situation. If anything happened between us, it'd just end up the same, and something like that, neither of us needs right now!"

"Yeah, I suppose so!" Tommy said, glad she was so understanding. "Sorry, this is stupid."

"Hey, it's not stupid. Come on. Let's go see if anyone's using the Simulation room!" she suggested. he complied immediately. The pair of them stood up and left the room.

———- X ———-

At the same time, only a few rooms away, Rocky was lying on his bed. He had nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. It had been getting worse all day, ever since he had the argument with Adam. They hadn't seen each other since then. It didn't take Rocky long to figure out that the feeling was his own guilt, eating away at him. He couldn't get Adam out of his mind. He knew Adam wasn't a bad person, but he had one fatal flaw – he was a slave to his emotions. He had joined Armageddon because he had wanted to be with Tanya, because he loved her. Rocky believed that Adam really did think of him all the time, because that's the sort of person he was.

Now he was back, and he had tried to apologise, to make up for the hurt he had caused. So what had Rocky done – thrown it all back in his face. He had told Rocky he loved him. They always had loved each other, as much as two friends ever could, but neither of them had ever actually said it. Neither of them had ever needed to say it. He just hoped he hadn't ruined any chance he had of making things up with him. No matter what heppened, they were best friends. When they first accepted the power, they knew there would be a lot of strains on their lives, so they should have expected something like this, but thet had never wanted to think about it.

He got up and walked to the door. just as he was about hit the open button, the buzzer sounded, indicating someone was out there to see him. He hit the button and the door slid aside. He was stood face to face with Adam.

"Adam!" Rocky said, his happiness obviously not apparent to Adam.

"Look, Rocky, before you say anything, let me speak." Adam pushed Rocky back into the room and the door closed. "I know I probably can't do anything to make this up to you, but I just want to say I'm sorry again. I'm gonna leave. I'll go down and join all the people in the valley. They'll never know who I am, and I won't be stuck in the way up here any more. That should make things a lot easier for you to handle." Adam moved toward the door.

"WAIT!" Rocky called out. He walked over to his friend. "Don't go. I should be the one saying I'm sorry. You've tried to make up for things, and I haven't even cared, that's not fair. We are friends, always have been, and I hope we always will be. The only reason I've been so tough on you is because I'm scared. Having you back just made me scared that I might have to lose my best friend all over again, and I don't think I could handle that! I forgive you, so will you forgive me?"

A couple of tears rolled down Adam's cheeks. He nodded gentlty and said, "Yeah, of course I do!" Rocky stepped forward and gave him a quick friendly hug. Not for long though, it felt weird to even be talking like that, but hugging just seemed completely out of it!

Rocky stepped back and smiled, but Adam didn't. He still looked miserable and he was still crying softly.

"Adam, what is it? This is about more than just you and me, isn't it?" Rocky asked, reading his friend like a book, he knew there was somethinga lot more serious happening.

———- X ———-

There was no briefing, they all knew the score already. Wait in readiness for when Armageddon attacked as they knew he would. Things weren't getting much better between the ex-Dark Rangers and the Shinobi Rangers, there was just as much tension and the Samurai's were still trying to avoid the area.

About mid-day, The alarms went off as Armageddon showed up back where they had found the Dark Rangers. Tommy asked the Samurai's to go and try to handle him, he didn't feel safe leaving the Dark Rangers in HQ, unguarded.

———- X ———-

The Samurai Rangers arrived, Armageddon still waiting for them. He stepped forward and spoke to them, but the Samurai's never heard what he had to say. They went straight in for the attack, no time to talk. They charged at him, their weapons primed and ready. Even with his incredible speed and agility, Armageddon could not avoid the attacks. They went constantly in succession. Each striking at him with their weapons. Kane with his Shadow Sabers, Lucy's Scorpion Stinger, two slices from each quartet of Lee's Spider Claws, an enormous lunge with Matt's equally large Surfer Blade, Louise and Chad together with the Scorcher Axe and Sentinel Scythe then Sean's Senturion sword struck at Armageddon's armor. All the time, Sara, Niko and Michelle raining energy shots over him from a distance with their weapons.

The continuous powerful attack almost seemed so phase Armageddon, but within seconds he had shrugged off the effects of the attacks.

"Guys, we haven't got time to mess with him, SAMURAI WARRIOR!" Kane called out.

Together they called out their various commands to activate this mode.

"SAMURAI ARMOR!" Each of the transformed into their armored modes.

"DEFENSE MODE!" Their armor grew until it was nearly double its original size, the armor getting stronger and bulkier.

Finally they gave the command, "SAMURAI WARRIOR TRANSFORM!" Their individual armors compacted together as if forming small units for something. Slowly they floated together and began to join. They formed into a large humanoid robot, about thirty feet tall. The different colored armors all making up its varied color scheme. It towered over Armageddon, but it didn't seem to bother him.

The Samurai Warrior walked toward him, a sword appearing in one hand, a shield in the other. Armageddon fired a few shots at it, but the shield moved in to block them at the speed of thought That's how the the Warrior was controlled, by thought. The ten Samurai's inside thought as one unit now, ten minds working as one, almost like some kind of hive mind. It swung its sword down at the little man, the sharp edge of the blade hitting straight into his side. Normally, that would have sliced right through, but not this time. Instead, it just flung Armageddon to the floor.

He stoo back up and fired a shot at the head of the Warrior, immediately followed by one to the lower body. The shield moved up to block the head shot, but could not mnove back down in time to block the body shot. It struck them hard So hard, it broke up the warrior. The separtate rangers now fell away from each other, their individual thoughts returning as the link was broken. Each of them returned their regular armor modes.

Unbothered by the break up of one of their best weapons, Kane ordered, "CHARGE ATTACK!" They all held out their arms as the blades emerged from their forearms. Once they were ready, they floated off the ground and started charging at Armageddon, each one slicing at him with the blades on their arms. Over and over, each one returned to hit him again, missing each other by only a fraction of an inch each time. They were managing to confuse him. He never knew which way the next was coming from and trying to keep up with them would be confusing for anyone.

Armageddon had had enough of that. "NOVA BLAST!" An white energy beam struck him from above and he crouched down into a ball. He started to glow white, then suddenly stood and released the energy. there was a massive explosion where he stood, spreading out a hundred feet each way, more than enough to get all the Samurai's.

As the white energy blast cleared, Armageddon saw all the Rangers just lying on the ground.

As expected, the Shinobi Rangers turned up moments later, and as planned, they had the Dark Rangers with them. He knew they wouldn't leave them alone back there.

"Oh good!" Armageddon said, allowing the Samurai's to get back to their feet and regroup with the others. "We're all here. I've got someone here who wants to see you, Rangers." he held out a hand and three bolts of lightning flew from his fingers, making Tommy, Corcus and Tideus appear, grinning evily.

Tommy turned to Jason. "I thought you said they were dead!" he asked, but Jason just replied with a similar evil grin. Jason, Carlos, Ashley, Tanya, Kim and Zack all struck out at the Rangers, knocking them down to the ground – hard. They seemed abnormally strong.

"Come to me my Dark Rangers!" Armageddon called out. The six of them stepped forward to him. When Tanya reached his side, she turned back and saw Adam was still standing with the others.

"Come on, honey!" Tanya called out to him.

Adam left the group of Samurai's and Shinobi's and slowly headed for Tanya. Rocky jumped to his feet and shouted, "No Adam, don't do it. This is what you were trying to tell me last night, isn't it? You knew about this plan and you wanted to tell me. You don't really want to do this."

"Don't listen to him, honey. You know it's me you ove not him. Come back to us!" Tanya urged.

"No Adam, you're my best friend. Remember what you said to me yesterday after I shouted at you, well I love you too. Please, don't leave me again." Rocky begged.

"Adam, I need you!" Tanya called out.

He stood there in the middle looking at the two groups. A choice, not good or evil, that didn't seem important right then. The choice was between his best friend, and the girl he loved. He closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"I love you!" he called out. He looked over to Tanya and smiled, but she smiled back. That's what made up his mind. Her smile was cold, evil. he loved her, but he couldn't leave his best friend again. He had realised something last night – romances come and go, but friendship should be forever. He walked over to Rocky and turned to face Armageddon.

"You know you'll never be a Ranger again!" Armageddon called out to the traitor.

"Maybe not a Dark Ranger, but I've still got this!" Adam called out, bringing out his Zeonizer. "ZEO RANGER FOUR – GREEN!" Nothing happened.

"Don't look so suprised. I meant what I said. You can never be a Ranger. You have a darkness in you now that will stop you being a Ranger on the side of light, but you also have a goodness in you that will stop you ever being a Dark Ranger, too!" Armageddon gloated.

Adam stood there, staring at the useless Zeonizer. The rest of the Rangers stepped forward to guard him against any attacks Armageddon might throw his way.

Shinobi Green stepped foreward. "You made the right decision, man!" Rocky said to his friend. "Zordon, teleport Adam back!" Adam disappeared in a white column of energy.

"Let's do this!" Tommy snarled. "You dared to ever call yourselves our friends. We took you back even after what you did to us, then you do it again. I don't care what the rules are of these powers, I swear, you will all die at our hands, even if we have to lose the power to do it!"

"Bring it on you pathetic piece of crap!" Dark Tommy snapped back with just as much venom.

"DARK RANGER CHANGE!" the nine Dark Rangers called out. As black energy enveloped them, they changed once more into the Dark Rangers.

"Gimme your best shot!" Dark Tommy urged.

Armageddon smacked the Black Dark Ranger in the back and said, "You idiot. You've already tried this. You can't take on both groups man to man. Use your Dark Zords, at least you'll stand some chance!"

Dark Tommy was annoyed at being spoken to like that, but they all did as he said.

"DARK ZORDS!" they all called out. The newly-repaired Zords appeared and they each took control of theirs, Armageddon taking control of Adam's.

"SAMURAI ZORDS, POWER UP!" the Samurai's commanded in unison.

"SHINOBI ZORDS, POWER UP!" the Shinobi's said after the Samurai's had called theirs.

The ground literally shook as the twenty colossal Zords approached. Each Ranger went to their own. They all knew how serious this all was, but they loved fighting with their Zords, they were like the ultimate toy.

"Activate Megazords!" Tommy commanded, going straight for full power once again. They knew how evenly matched the Zords were, and the Megazords seemed to be the only advantage they could get over them.

They split into the four groups and their Zords changed and linked. Within mere moments, Samurai Megazord Alpha, Samurai Megazord Beta, Shinobi Megazord Gamma and Shinobi Megazord Delta all stood ready to take on the Dark Zords.

"Gee, was that slightly predictable. They bring out the Zords and the fearless leader Tommy heads straight for the security of his nice little Megazords!" Armageddon said sarcastically. "Well we can do that, too. But this time, we're ready for them!"

The Dark Rangers followed suit and the two Dark Megazords stood ready to fight. They started off. Both brought out their swords and attacked the Samurai's and Shinobi's. Sparks flew everywhere as the Megazords collided. The Megazords stumbled back for a moment as the Dark Megazords struck them, but then Samurai Beta and Shinobi Delta brought out their swords, too. They struck at the swords held by the Dark Megazords. More sparks flew as the weapons collided, but none of them gave any way. They stood toe to toe with each other, leaving Samurai Alpha and Shinobi Gamma free to attack at will. The only problem was the close proximity of the other two Megazords to the Dark Megazords. For now they just had to hold back and let the others take care of it. Armageddon sat at the main controls of one Megazord, facing Shinobi Delta and Tommy still at the controls of the other, facing Samurai Alpha.

Armageddon's Zord clashed its black metal sword with Shinobi Delta's Silver sword. They struck again and scored a hard hit across the chest of the Shinobi. Trey didn't let that slow their Megazord down. Before the black sword had even swung back round to its neutal position, he had commanded their Megazord to swipe with their own weapon. More sparks flew as the Shinobi's sword sliced into the Dark Megazord's internal workings. It stopped moving for a minute while the Dark Rangers struggled to bypass the damaged components.

Tommy's Dark Megazord was doing much better was doing much better Samurai Beta. The Samurai Megazord stood rooted to the spot. The Dark Megazord had scored a good hit on the Samurai's servo-mechanisms, leaving it frozen from the waist down until they got them back on line. Tommy took advantage of this, he controlled his Dark Megazord round to the back of the Samurai and swiped at its back – another direct hit on a servo-mechanism, this time for the right arm.

Tommy, in the cockpit of Shinobi Gamma saw his clone was about to strike a final devestating blow to Samurai Beta and charged in to help. They rushed at it and headbutted the Dark Megazord in the side, sending it flying into the other Dark Megazord.

"Aah, enough!" Armageddon getting back in control of his Megazord. He had been hit quite hard by the other one after Shinobi Gamma struck it. "SUPER CHARGE!" Armageddon called out and black fire poured from his body. It engulfed the two Dark Megazords.

As the fire cleared, the Dark Megazords had been fully repaired, their armor and weapons improved, and they were about a hundred foot taller.

"Man, why is there always someone with a bigger toy than your own!" Niko said, joking.

"Hey Billy, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Lee asked through the communicators.

"Count on it." Billy replied.

"SHINOBI SAMURAI ULTRAZORD!" they called out together. The others had no idea what they were talking about, but as the four Megazords started moving themselves, they all just went with the flow.

The Samurai Megazords compacted and formed into legs, Shinobi Delta formed into a body and the two Samurai's joined on. Finally, Shinobi Gamma split up into three – two arms and a head. They joined onto the rest and completed the joining sequence. All the Rangers teleported up to the head. Inside was a massive control area. They appeared at the controls and looked round.

"Billy, Lee, I think I speak for us all when I say… WOW!" Rocky said complimentarily.

"Yeah, it looks good, but we don't even know if it works yet!" Lee replied, unsure of his work.

"Only one way to find out!" Tommy said.

Before they could even attempt a first strike, the two supercharged Dark Megazords struck them. As they both hit the Ultrazord, one hitting the chest, the other going for the legs, it fell back to the ground.

"Hey, you damaged our new toy!" Niko called out, knowing Armageddon couldn't hear him. It soon got back to its feet.

"Okay, you guys made this thing, what can it do?" Kane asked Samurai Green and Shinobi Blue.

"Each of the Shinobi Zords is based on an element of nature, the Ultrazord utilizes their link to it, providing a direct interface and allowing us to strike with it." Lee said.

"Huh?" Tommy asked.

"Each section allows a different attack!" Billy simplified. Tommy had to laugh. Billy translating techno-babble into English, that was anew one!

"Cassie, Sara, Lightning Strike!" Lee called over to the two Rangers in the purple section.

"Right!" They replied. They hit a combination of buttons. The Ultrazord held its hand into the air, a beam of energy hitting the clouds which weren't actually very far above the enormous machine. There was a low rumbling almost instantly followed by a dozen bolts of lightning. They flashed down and struck the Dark Megazord standing in front of them, the other one had moved away as soon as they saw the Ultrazord's arm move.

They say Lightning never strikes twice in the same place – well they're wrong. The barrage of fork lightning jolted through the Dark Megazord, causing explosions to emerge all over its body. Before the lightning had even finished, the other Dark Megazord had struck its sword into the back of the Ultrazord. The stumbled forward and knocked into the immobilized Dark Megazord.

They fell away and black flame engulfed the damaged Dark Megazord. As it cleared again, the damage was gone.

"Okay, Tornado!" Billy called out to the Pink section. Kat and Michelle initiated an attacke from their section. A tornado started to form in front of the Ultrazord, as it became fully formed, an energy bolt fired into it from the chest of the Zord. The tornado flew at the Dark Megazords. Again, it only hit one and damaged their armor, but it was soon repaired in the black flame. At the same time, the other Megazord that had been unharmed struck the Ultrazord again, this time the legs. They fell to the floor.

"This is annoying me now!" Lee called out, struggling to get the Ultrazords damaged legs functioning again. Fortunately, it had an auto-repair facility. Not quite as fast as Armageddon's power, but it was doing its job. "Niko, Aurico, Shooting Star!" As they activated their element's attack, the Ultrzord held its hands together at the waist, energy growing between them. As it reached full power, they flung the shot into the air. It pulled in a nearby asteroid from space. As it streaked into Earth's atmosphere, the asteroid glowed brightly, the same as any shooting star, but this one wasn't going to burn away like most of the others you would see in the night sky. The energy from the Ultrazord had surrounded it and protected it fromn the immense heat of entry into the air. It shot down at an incredible speed and struck, again, just one Megazord. It was crushed into a massive crater as the shooting star exploded on top of it.

The Rangers thought that might have been enough to finish off the Megazord, but as soon as they saw a ball of black flame emerge from the crater, they knew they were wrong. It settled down to the ground in front of them.

"We can't win this way!" Trey said.

"We must attack them both at once, and with something powerful enough to completely destroy. You can not repair that which is no longer there!" Delphine said.

"How can we attack them both at once? They just move to far apart and we can only do one attack at a time!" Kat said, hopelessly.

"What we need is another Zord!" Kane said.

Billy and Lee looked round at each other, as if they had been hoping someone would say that.

"We have one idea, but its not something we're too sure about!" Billy said, speaking for them both.

"Well its got to be worth a try, what is it?" Tommy asked.

"Before Armageddon showed up, Justin mentioned a new configuration for your old Zords. It was similar in principle to the UniRanger idea. But he never completed the research before he… changed!" Lee explained.

"We tried to finish it off, but we're not too sure about some parts of the whole thing." Billy added.

"I don't like to take un-necessary risks, but this time I think we have to!" Kane said.

"Yeah. Go for it, guys!" Tommy agreed.

Billy spoke into his communicator. "Zordon, we need the Zords, all of them!"

"Billy, are you going to attempt to join them all?" Zordon asked.

"Yeah!" Billy replied.

Alpha Five butted in. "You must be careful. All the Zords are run from different power sources, using them as one unit could overload any one of them. It's very dangerous!"

"We know Alpha, but we need it!" Lee said to the worried little mechanoid.

"Yo Rangers, the Zords will be with you momentarily!" Alpha Six commented.

"Right!" Billy replied.

"Do you mind hurrying up a bit. We're having trouble avoiding them!" Chad said. While Billy and Lee had discussed the link-up, Chad and some of the others had been keeping the Ultrazord out of the way of the Dark Megazords.

"Here they come!" Kat called out, looking over to the horizon. It was quite a fantastic sight, the horizon was lined with Zords, six Ninja Zords, five Shogun Zords, five Zeo Zords, Red Battlezord, five Super Zeo Zords, Warrior Wheel, Pyramidas, five Turbo Zords, five Rescue Zords, Robo Raver and the five Battleborgs. As they got nearer, they started to join up. Each of the five groups of Zords that could form Megazords did so, and the group moved in closer together. There was a lot less now, but there was still sixteen of them. Even the Dark Rangers stopped and watched as the collection of every Zord used by the Rangers in the past approached the battle.

"Sequence Upsilon-Nu-Iota-Zeta-Omicron-Rho-Delta!" Billy commanded.

"What the heck does that mean?" Rocky asked the Green Samurai seated next to him.

"Letters from the Greek Alphabet!" Lee explained. "It spells out UniZord!"

"Oh, okay then!" Rocky commented, still confused.

Obviously programming the zords to respond to that command had been one of the things Billy and Lee had spent so long working on, as the Zords started to come together. The Turbo and Rescue Megazords joined together to form one leg, the Zeo and Super Zeo Megazords forming the other. Pyramidas stayed in Pyramid mode and floated in the air on its side, the two legs joining onto the bottom part. Next, the five Battleborgs lined up. They folded into solid blocks and joined side-by-side onto the top of Pyramidas. The arms were formed by the Ninja and Shogun Megazords as the right, Warrior Wheel and Red Battlezord as the left. Red Battlezord formed into a head, its arms detaching and joining onto the shoulders of the creation, nuch as they appeared on the Zeo Ultrazord. Finally, the Falcon Zord flew down and joined on at the base of Pyramidas, forming a belt.

"UNIZORD COMPLETE!" the computer's voice announced to the Rangers gathered in the Shinobi Samurai Ultrazord's control deck.

"Well the Zord's complete, it just needs pilots now. Shinobi's, will you do the honors?" Lee suggested.

"With pleasure!" Tommy answered. The Shinobi rangers teleported over to the UniZord's cockpit and took control. "This is looking good!" Tommy said, looking around at the new configuration.

"If everythings okay, then lets take down those traitors!" Kane called out. "We'll take care of this one," he said referring to the one whose blows they were avoiding at the time, then pointed to the other, "and you take that one!"

The UniZord walked toward the Dark Megazord Kand had pointed out for them.

"We've got any weapons the Zords would have had." Billy said. "Try Super Zeo Megazord's weapons!"

They activated them as suggested and the twin swords appeared. The Dark Megazord lunged at them, its sword held high, ready to strike. They blocked with one sword, slashed at its other arm with the second sword and shoved its foot into the stomach. It stumbled back from the kick and they followed it, attacking at it with the double blades.

After taking four hits from the UniZord's weapons, the Dark Megazord ducked the fifth and sixth as they came in together and rolled away. It stood back up and struck at the closest of the UniZord's arms. As it hit, the sword fell out of its hand. UniZord retaliated with a blow to the head from the base of the handle still remaining in its other hand. It stumbled around for a moment as the disoriented Dark Rangers tried to steady the Megazord.

They took the chance to pick the sword back up. They held the two sword together and as they did so, they burst into flame and the column of fire flew into the sky. The lowered it toward the Megazord, the blade of fire slicing vertically down through it.

Shinobi Samurai Ultrazord tried another elemental attack, this time, Earth. The Ultrazord built up the energy in its hand again, but this time only in one. Once it could hold no more energy, it slammed the hand into the ground. The whole area shook and the energy shot along the ground to the second Dark Megazord and stopped under its feet. The glow disappeared and the Dark Rangers would have thought that the attack had failed, but they knew better than that, especially Armageddon. They started to move away from the spot, but too late. The ground blew open, spurting out red hot molten rock. The Dark Megazord started to sink into it, the intense heat of the lava frying the internal workings of the Zords.

Just after it disappeared from sight into the ground, a hand reached up and took hold of the ground on the edge of the hole. It pulled itself out, glowing white from the incredible heat, but it wasn't damaged.

"You're gonna have to do better than that, Rangers!" Armageddon called out.

"Don't worry, we will!" Lee said confidently. "Your turn, Louise!" She was sat in the red section, the section belonging to Tommy's Shinobi Zord – Destruction!

Unizord pulled the two swords apart and the flame disappeared. They were expecting the Megazord to fall into two parts, as most things had after being exposed to the Super Zeo Megazord's weapons. Instead, the a dark glow started at the base of the damage and worked its way up, fixing the damage is it went.

Next they tried the Shogun Megazord's weapon. The handle appeared in their hands, and in an eruption of flames, the blade emerged. Still flaming, they swung it at the Dark Megazord.

Again, the damage repaired itself. The Dark Megazord ran at the UniZord and drop-kicked it to the ground. They got back to their feet and punched the Megazord away. They gave the command and the swords belonging to Zeo Megazord and Turbo Megazord appeared, one in each hand. They powered them both up and attacked with both at once. They both sliced through the Megazord, one from right shoulder to left hip, the other left shoulder to right hip, making an 'X' shape across the body.

"Look, I think it's weakening!" Trini called out, pointing at the damage they had caused. It took a lot longer to start repairing, and the repair itself took about twice as long.

"I think I know what we need!" Billy said.

"ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION!" the Samurai Rangers called out as the Ultrazord began one of its most incredible attacks. It held one hand to the air and power flowed into it from somewhere, the Sun, the Stars, space itself, they didn't know, all they knew was that they were taking on more power than they could realistically handle. It held out its other hand forward and the energy moved on. It struck the ground at the feet of the Dark Megazord and a tiny ball of blood red energy appeared. they continued to feed the energy into it until the flow of power from above stopped. The ball got no bigger until the beam to it stopped. Suddenly, it erupted outwards, forming a massive sphere of deep red energy, Dark Megazord right in the center.

"So what now?" Chad asked, "It's not even effecting them!" He was right, the Dark Megazord stood there in the middle, bathed in red light, but not being damaged even in the slightest way.

"Here it goes!" Lee called out, knowing the exact timings.

The ball started shaking and rushed inward toward the center, toward the Dark Rangers. It hit them hard and exploded as the incoming sides hit each other. Yet another enormous crater was added to the area as the explosion happened. The blast was so powerful, the Ultrazord flew back a few hundred feet.

When they got back to their feet, they looked at where the epi-center had been. There was no Dark Megazord, no black flame showing a repair was imminent, no thing. Just tiny pieces of metal, no more than half an inch across. They had literally blown it into a billion pieces. But what about the Dark Rangers and Armageddon?

UniZord stood there, Rescue Megazord's two massive weapons pointed at the Dark Megazord. It was only just managing to remain standing, they had hit its legs a few times with the Turbo and Zeo weapons before bringing out the ones it now carried.

"Those little pop-guns! Are they meant to scare us?" Dark Tommy said sarcastically.

They didn't reply, they just fired. For a moment, the Zords glowed as they fed all their power into the two weapons.

Eventually Billy said, "That's all we can do, most the power cells are ready to go critical!"

"Then there's only one thing left to do!" Tommy said.

"FIRE!" they all commanded together.

The two weapons releasec the energy toward the Dark Megazord. At the same time, the Red Battlezords weapons fired, so too did the red tip of Pyramida