Disclaimer: Hi Mr. Saban. Sorry I used your characters without permission. I promise I am not making any money from them (if only I could). I acknowledge the greatness of Saban entertainment in creating these characters whom I callously used without permission.
Author note: Ranger HQ, Ultima, Kraegor and Crush, the Samurai Rangers and their Zords are all my own design. I apologise for any likenesses that may occur to anyone else's stories, but I promise they are all purely accidental. If for some bizarre reason, anyone wishes to use any of my characters or ideas, please contact me first. I won't refuse permission(not that I can actually stop anyone anyway) but new ideas for my plots are always appreciated. Thank You and May the Power Protect Us (from Ourselves!)
Time Scale: The events in this storyline occur after Samurai Ranger Saga 'Call to Arms' and 'The Gathering'. It helps if you've read them, otherwise things may seem a little strange (strange? with me writing them? that's never happened!?!)
Day of the Zords
By Matt
Zordon had never felt prouder than he did at that moment. Seeing three generations of Rangers, and Rangers from two other planets, all gathered before him, filled him with hope for Earth's future. The very foundations of Ranger HQ had shaken as his small Ranger Army had morphed. No single place in the Universe had ever been filled with so much Morphing energy at one time.
"It is truly a wonder to observe all my Rangers gathered here together." Zordon started, probably intending to go on with a long-winded speech about what the Rangers could do, but he was interrupted.
"Not all your Rangers, Zordon. The Samurai Rangers are still out there and we promise that not one of us will give up until they are back here where they belong Together we can destroy the evil once and for all and take back our world!" Tommy called out loud enough for everyone to hear.
They all cheered in agreement.
"Come on guys. It looks like we're all morphed up with no place to go! Where's our first target then, Zordon?" TJ asked.
"As you know, the Alliance controls almost all of the planet. For your old enemies to agree to work for Ultima, he had to give each of them a part of the world to rule. Rita and Zedd have Australia, Mondo and Machina have Europe, Gasket and Archerina have Africa, Divatox has Asia and Ultima has taken control of North and South America." Zordon explained.
"So where are the Rangers being kept?" TJ asked.
"To make it harder to rescue them, Ultima split the Rangers up into pairs and imprisoned them in their main fortresses around the world. Two in Tokyo, two in Cairo, two in Canberra, two in New York and two in London." Zordon explained to them.
"Okay, what do you suggest? Take one place each and attack?" TJ asked.
"No." Tommy said, strongly disagreeing. "There's no real hurry. If they're still alive, Ultima must be keeping them to try and lure us in. He'd never kill off prime bait like that while we're still here. I say we pick one target and go for an all out attack. Hit 'em hard and hit 'em fast! Who's the most vulnerable, Zordon?"
"Gasket and Archerina probably have the weakest defenses, but that doesn't mean much. All of them have been increased in power by Ultima. They are all much stronger than when you faced them. And remember, they're technology is almost a hundred years more advanced than your own." Alpha explained to the Rangers.
"Zordon, what about the Zords, and our battleborgs?" Delphine asked,
"They are all here. The Ninja, Shogun, Zeo, Super Zeo, Turbo and Rescue Zords have all been brought here." Zordon said.
"We also brought Warrior Wheel, Red Battlezord, Pyramidas, Robo Racer, Lightning Cruiser, Storm Blaster and the Battleborgs." Alpha Five added.
"We've upgraded all Zord shielding and power cells with 21st century technology." Alpha Six said after his counterpart.
"I feel it is time to appoint a leader. You need someone to take command out on the battle field. If nobody has any objections, I would like to appoint Tommy as the leader." Zordon suggested.
Nobody immediately disagrees, so Tommy asked, "Why me, Zordon?"
"You have spent many years as a Ranger. Longer than any other ever has. You have extensive battle knowledge, as well as first hand experience of fighting Rita and Zedd, the Machine Empire and Divatox. On top of this is your strength of character. You have proven your worth many times, with, and without your powers. You will make a fine leader!" Zordon described his decision well to his new charge.
Everyone started to cheer and applaud in agreement with Zordon's choice. Tommy blushed slightly, he knew nobody could see it through his helmet, but it still made him uncomfortable. He decided it was time for action.
"Don't worry, Zordon, I won't let you down. Now, let's go kick some Machine Butt!" Tommy called out as the signal to leave.
As they all proceeded outside, Alpha Five continued to talk to the Rangers. "Rangers, the co-ordinates of Gasket's Cairo fortress have been programmed into your Zords. I'm afraid there was no way to stop Ultima detecting your presence, but the path that has been programmed should keep you out of the harm's way until you get there."
Tommy spoke back through the communicator, "Thanks Alpha. Come on guys, time to call the Zords."
"Ninja Zords, Shogun Zords, Power Up."
"Zeo Zords, Power Up, Super Zeo Zords, Full Power."
"Red Battlezord."
"Warrior Wheel, now."
"I call upon the power of Pyramidas."
"Turbo Zords, Rescue Zords, Full Power."
"Robo Racer, Battle Mode!"
"Lightning Cruiser."
"Storm Blaster."
"Power of Water, Power of Light, Powers Unite. Battleborgs Power Up."
One by one, the Zords were called for and appeared. The all flew, drove teleported in and came to a halt, ready for their pilots to take control of them.
"I tell you what!" White said.
"What's that?" Tommy asked, looking round at his clone.
"Thats a hell of a lot of Zords!" White exclaimed.
"You got that right. Okay guys, this is how we're gonna do it. Jason, you Trini and Zack make up the Ninja Megazord and take that. BIlly, Kim, I want you in the Shogun Megazord. Tommy, erm… White, sorry, attach the Falcon Zord to the Ninja Megazord to fly it there, and disengage on arrival." Tommy instructed.
The six original Rangers (well one almost original) went off to prepare the Zords.
"Rocky, you take the Zeo Megazord, Kat, Tanya, you two in the Super Zeo Megazord. I'll be taking the Red Battlezord, and Trey, of course, in Pyramidas. Adam, with Gold Ranger pilotting Pyramidas, we need someone to take Warrior Wheel, think you can handle it?" Tommy asked Zeo Ranger Four.
"Not a problem!" Adam replied. With that, they all went to prepare their Zords.
"Okay, Delphine, you all take your Battleborgs." Tommy added once Adam and the others had gone.
"Right away!" Delphine replied.
"Okay. Carlos, put together the Turbo Megazord and pilot that. Cassie, you and Ashley take the Rescue Megazord. Senturion, you're with Robo Racer. TJ, Justin, you two take Lightning Cruiser and Storm Blaster." Tommy instructed the Turbo's.
All of them but Justin went to get ready to leave. He walked over to Tommy. "Don't worry Tommy, you're doing great!" he said to his best friend.
"Thanks. Now let's go. We've got some serious firepower here, so let's go use it!" Tommy replied, relieved by the vote of confidence his young friends statement had given him.
"Right!" Justin replied before running over to Storm Blaster.
"Ninjor and Auric, I'm sure Trey won't mind if you hitch a ride on Pyramidas." Tommy suggested.
They both agreed and went to get on board Pyramidas. Within a few minutes, all the Megazords had been assembled and they were all ready to go. They lined up, ready for Tommy's command to move out.
"Power Rangers, time to go!" Tommy instructed all the others via their on-board communicators.
There was a loud hum as the anti-gravity drives aboard the Zords all kicked into action at once. One by one, with Tommy at the lead, the Zords all took to the air. Within moments, they were passing over what used to be a city. None of them could tell which it was, there was nothing left to distinguish it from any others. There normally would have been some talk going on between the Rangers, but the sight of their world in such a state shocked them all into silence. Every city or town they passed over was just as bad. Either evreything was wiped out, or it had been converted into units for Ultima's use. As they passed over one city near the coast of the Atlantic, they spotted a large crowd of people being herded into a few transport vehicles.
"We've got to help them!" Kat called through to all the others.
"No Kat!" Tommy said, only just finding the courage to turn down her plea. "We can't stop and help every person in need like we could before. This is a different world, and as much as I want to help those people, we've got something more important to do!"
Nobody said anything, they all knew Tommy was right but that made it no easier. They all knew some terrible fate awaited those people, and they could do nothing. Their target lay in Cairo. Shortly after Tommy's comments, they reached the Atlantic Ocean.
"Thank God for that!" Cassie said to herself inside the Rescue Megazord's near empty cockpit. She knew Ashley must have been thinking the same sort of thing, but neither of them mentioned it. They were all glad to leave the land behind, to leave behind the terrible sights of destruction and terror.
Tommy was finding it increasingly hard to stay strong. He had flown from one end of the Galaxy to the other as well as all over the planet in the Zords. Normally he would find it comforting and relaxing to be over land – the rock formations, the magnificent city sky-scrapers, the vast grassy fields – but that was no more. Now he found more pleasure in seeing the large expanse of deep blue water spread ahead of him. There were no destroyed buildings, no enslaved people no pain. He could almost imagine he was back in his own time, and when he got back to the land, Ultima would be gone. "No." Tommy thought, "I can't forget what's going on. Ultima has destroyed our world and we'll make him pay, we can't forget it!"
They all remained in silence as they finished crossing the vast ocean. Tommy checked the flight path Alpha Five had programmed against a world map. Their path would take them between Morocco and Spain and keep them over Sea as they passed Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and most of Egypt. This had been decided as the safest path as they were likely to come across less defenses than over land. When they were due North of Cairo, they would change course and head straight for it.
Tommy waited a little longer, until they had passed through the gap between Morocco and Spain, to break the silence. "Okay guys, everything going alright?" He asked to confirm they could all hear him. They all checked in confirming all systems were okay and they could hear him.
"Here's how we're gonna do this. We can't risk all their forces attacking us as one unit. As strong as we are, they've got the home ground advantage and they'll know how to use. We need to play the old divide and conquer. Well split up when we get closer." Tommy explained. "Aquitian Rangers, you'll be attacking from the South, you too, TJ and Justin. Ninja Megazord, Shogun Megazord and Falcon Zord, circle round and come at them from the East. Turbo and Rescue Megazords and Robo Racer, you're from the North. The rest of us are gonna go at them from the West. Everyone got that?"
"Right!" They all chorused in reply.
"Once we've got control of the situation, we'll go in and look for the Samurai's." Tommy instructed.
"Tommy, who's going in?" TJ asked.
"I'll be leading the party. Jason, Zack, leave Trini in control of the Ninja Megazord and you two come in, the same for Kim, Ashley and Kat. Auric and Ninjor will be joining us." Tommy said, pausing for acknowledgement from the others before he continued. "Lightning Cruiser and Storm Blaster can take care of themselves, so TJ and Justin are coming in. That's it."
"Ten of us isn't a lot!" Kim replied.
"We've always managed with less than ten before, we should be fine!" Jason said to her.
"And anyway, if we run into real trouble, some of the rest of you can come in and help us." Tommy finished.
"Tommy, we're just approaching the coast of Egypt." Billy said to the leader.
"Okay guys, this is where we split up. Don't attack until we're all in position." Tommy ordered. With that, the entourage of assault vehicles split into four smaller groups and headed off in their relevant directions.
Within a few minutes, they were all in position to attack. The group attacking from the South were last to arrive at their destination.
"Tommy, we have reached our target location." Delphine said, uncomfortable actually being aboard her Battleborg. She was used to her freedom outside to give the telepathic commands to the large vehicle, but for the purposes of this mission, she had to stay inside.
"Okay Delphine. We're all in place. Let's go… NOW!" Tommy called out as the final command. They all knew the basic plan. They would all attack at once, draw out as many of Gasket's forces as possible, and simply destroy them.
The Turbo Megazord's group were first to reach the target. It was hard to miss. Gasket's fortress was enormous. It was made up of four round units, each getting thinner as it went up. The bottom two were similar, both a hundred or so foot wide and thirty, maybe forty foot tall, the third was about sixty foot both ways, the fourth part was like a long tube stuck on top, only about twenty foot wide, but near eighty tall.
"Hey, it looks like a giant wedding cake!" Carlos joked.
"Very funny Carlos, now let's crash this party!" Cassie replied. They charged at the gate and smashed it away with half the wall. Sirens sounded as soon as they'd done it.
"I think we got their attention!" Ashley stated.
The three large doors in the bottom section opened and an army of Cogs came out of each.
"This is gonna be easy!" Carlos smirked, looking at the poor defence the fortress had produced.
"Don't talk too soon!" Blue Senturion replied.
In the second section, two more hatchways opened up. Squadron after squadron of Quadra-fighters poured out and hovered in front of the building, presumably also waiting for an order to attack. Then the third section opened up. Nine panels moved aside. From the four corners came large missile launchers and the other five produced large laser turrets. They soon relised what the Quadra-fighters were waiting for. The missile turrets released a salvo of ammunition at the Zords. In a massive explosion, all three of the enormous humanoid-shaped Zords flew backwards and hit the ground just outside the boundaries of the outer wall.
"Man, they pack a punch!" Carlos commented.
"Guys, we need a plan. Senturion, convert Robo Racer back to vehicle mode and take out the Cogs, Carlos, you take care of the Quadra-fighters. We'll take care of the weapons on the building." Cassie said, taking charge of the situation.
Blue Senturion transformed Robo Racer and drove back through the hole in the wall and started to attack the Cogs. There was a distinct advantage to a large open area and an enormous vehicle. Senturion drove back and forth crushing Cogs under the large wheels, and firing the weapons at the ones it missed.
Meanwhile, Carlos was using the Turbo Megazord's power sword to swipe at the battalions of Quadra-Fighters that flew down towards him. He was receiving several blasts from the mechanical fighters, but with very little effect thanks to Alpha's shield upgrades. Carlos had never met the Alpha unit all the others had known, but he was sure glad he had been there to help.
The Rescue Megazord stood a little way back from the outer defense wall of the fortress. If it had stood any closer, it wouldn't have been able to fire at the mounted weapons nearly a hundred and fifty feet up the building.
"Artillery Power!" Cassie and Ashley called out in unison. At their command the large gun and flamethrower appeared on the Rescue Megazord's arms. "Fire!"
Powerful shots fired from the Megazord's gun and headed for one of the missile turrets. Just before it hit, the turret released a missile of its own. They struck each other and exploded in mid air. The rest of the turrets also fired a few missiles of their own.
"We've gotta fire back!" Ashley called out. They fired at the approaching charges. Several of their own shots hit the incoming missiles and blew them up as their's had. The couple they missed hit their Zord flat in the chest and knocked them down once again.
Meanwhile, on the South side of the fortress, Lightning Cruiser and Storm Blaster were busy fighting off a batallion of Cogs. There were no Quadra-fighters round here as their was no bunker in the second section. In the third section there were the same missile turrets as on the other side. The Battleborgs were scaling the building in order to take out the weapons.
"Guys, this is TJ. How are things going with you all. We're having no problems round here!" TJ said to all the other groups around the fortress.
"This is Cassie. We're having a few problems." Cassie replied.
"We'll see what we can do!" TJ replied.
"We're approaching the target now," Tommy said, "We'll let you know what's happening soon."
"Kim here, we've just reached the fortress. Things are just getting started so we'll call back." Kim said from her side of the building.
The Shogun Megazord landed just iside the boundaries of the wall. The Falcon Zord disengaged and the Ninja Megazord fell to its feet next to the Shogun. Falcon Zord flew around fifty or so feet above them. They noticed there were no exits on the base unit of the building which meant no ground troops, and there seemed to be no monuted weapons either. Quadra-fighters came out of the middle section and immediately opened fire on the two Megazords.
"Guys, things look simple enough round here," White started, "I'm gonna go help Cassie and the others."
"Got it, White. Once we've cleared out the Quadra-fighters we'll be round to help." Jason replied.
The Falcon Zord flew off to the North to help the Turbo Rangers while the others began the tedious task of taking out the small ariel assault vehicles. Both Megazords had brought out their swords and started swiping at squadron after squadron of fighters.
Inside the fortress, Gasket could see what was happening on the seemingly weak-defended East side of the building. He knew it was time for action. He stood up and spoke into a communicator.
"Send out another batallion of Quadra-fighters in the East sector," Gasket commanded, "And release the Battle Ships!"
At Gasket's command, hundreds more Quadra-fighters flew out of the hangar near the Shogun and Ninja Megazords.
"Now that's more like it!" Zack exclaimed, finally exhilarated at getting some sort of a challenge. He hadn't been a Ranger for years, but he was soon getting back into the spirit of it.
"Hey, what's that?" Kim called out, looking at a massive doorway opening up in the third section of the building.
As the doorway moved aside, eight massive ships came out and swooped down to the Zords. Without hesitation, Billy made the Shogun Megazord swing its flaming sword at one of the ships. It exploded in the air and fell to the ground in a shower of burning debris.
"This is too easy!" Jason said.
As usual, the ex-red ranger was right. The seven remaining ships flew higher into the air, out of the reach of the massive robots. A dozen Quadra-fighters descended on the Ninja Megazord and fired at it. The twelve shots all hit the Zord at the same moment and knocked it flying to the ground. They fired at it again.
"We've gotta move!" Jason called out. Instinctively knowing what their ex-leader would command, Trini and Zack controlled the Megazord to roll out of the way of the shots. A couple caught the side of the Megazord but reflected off the shielding, the others hit the ground in a cloud of broken rocks and dust. Another squadron joined the attack on the Ninja.
"Billy, we need to help them." Kim said to Billy.
"We've got problems of our own!" Billy said, moving the Megazord out of the way of a small group of fighters on a collision course.
While the Quadra-fighters kept the Megazords busy, the seven battle ships began their programmed tactic. Six of the ships formed a circle round the seventh. The centre ship began to change. Around the edge, six panels moved aside revealing things that looked much like large solar panels. In the underneath, a giant red crystal revealed itself. The six outer ships changed slightly, too. Each of them revealed two panels like the ones on the centre ship, all of them were pointing to the ships to either side of it.
Once all the ships were prepared, they began their attack. One ship fired an energy beam from one of its side panels, into the panel on the next ship. Within moments, the second ship had fired the energy beam into the next ship. Each one passed on the energy beam to the next ship until there was one large beam connecting all six of the ships. They seemed to be increasing the intensity of the beam as it passed through each ship.
The Ninja Megazord flew to the ground in an explosion of sparks and flames. This time, it seemed to be staying down. It continued to swing at its enemies with its sword, but showed no sign of actually getting back to its feet. The Shogun Megazord was still on its feet and managing to hold back the seemingly endless supply of Quadra-fighters. None of them had noticed the ships above the Shogun Megazord.
The energy beam seemed to stop growing in power. At that moment, all six of the ships shot an energy beam into the centre ship, each into one of the panels on the side. The middle ship began to glow with pure energy, especially the crystal which was almost pulsating with power.
An alarm sounded in the cockpit of the Shogun Megazord. Reading the computer display, Billy was warned of the imminent danger. He looked up at the ships, but too late. The crystal released its energy. A massive beam of red energy enveloped the Megazord. It lasted only a few seconds, but it was more than enough. The Megazord fell to the floor, explosions coming from the damaged areas, of which there were a lot.
"What the hell was that?!" Kim explained, getting back up onto her seat.
Billy ignored the question and immediately started checking all the systems. "The shields are completely obliterated and most systems are down. We need to get the Megazord back on-line before they fire again. One more hit and we're done!"
The rescue Megazord had managed to take out the missile turrets, but the laser weapons were still firing. The Turbo Megazord had a firm hold on the Quadra-fighter situation and Blue Senturion was just finishing off the last few Cogs with Robo Racre's weapons. The laser weapons on the building fired and the Resue Megazord took another bad hit.
"We can't take many more hits like that!" Cassie called out.
"We can't destroy those things on our own, every time we go to fire, they hit is faster!" Ashley replied, frustrated at so many failed attempts.
"Don't worry guys, Falcon Zord is on the job!" White called out to the Turbo Rangers. The large white bird flew round the corner into sight. Before the laser turrets could re-establish a weapons lock on the new target, White had fired all of Falcon Zord's weapons at them. All five exploded at once as the barrage of missiles struck them.
"Thanks White!" Cassie called out, but the Falcon Zord was already gone.
"My pleasure guys, but someone else needs help!" White replied on his way round the building.
"Billy, we've gotta abandon the Megazord, they're gonna fire again!" Kim called out to the Blue Ranger who was still fiddling with the controls.
"No, we can't leave it. I've almost got it back on line." Billy called back.
The ships prepared to fire again. The Ninja Megazord was still pinned down by Quadra-fighters. At the exact moment the ship fired the energy beam, Falcon Zord swooped down and grabbed the Shogun Megazord, flying it to sfaety.
"You both alright in there?" White asked.
"We're fine thanks to you!" Kim said.
"The Megazord's back on line." Billy added.
"Okay, whadda you say we show these guys some Shogun Mega Falcon Zord Power!" White suggested.
"You're on!" Kim replied.
"Right. Shogun Mega Falcon Zord, Power Up!" Tommy instructed to the Zords.
The Shogun Megazords arms dislocated from the body. Falcon Zord attached onto the back of the Megazord with its wings pointing straight ahead. The arms attached back onto the sides of Falcon Zord's wings.
"Full Power. Fire!" Billy, Kim and White called out together. Falcon Zord's wing cannons, now increased in power by its bond to the Megazord, fired at full power. The barrage of shots hit the centre ship, but nothing happened.
"Should we fire again?" Kim asked.
"No, look!" White said.
The ship began to glow, then without warning, exploded. The energy beams feeding power into it backfired. The immense energy of the feedback caused the six outer ships to start exploding as they fell to the ground.
"Yes, we did it!" Kim cheered.
A few dozen Quadra-fighters crashed to the ground at the feet of the Shogun Megazord. They all looked round at where they had come from. The Ninja Megazord was back on its feet.
"That's the last of them!" Jason commented.
"Great!" White said, "Time to check up on the others. TJ, how are things going?"
"All resistance has been thwarted." Tj replied through the communicator.
"Cassie, everything sorted yet?" White asked.
"Yeah, there's still one or two Quadra-fighters about, but nothing new!" Cassie said back.
"Okay. Tommy, this is White. North, East and South are cleared." White said to the leader of their group.
"I think they're concentrating all their power on the West side. All of you come round here now." Tommy replied.
"Okay guys, you heard the leader man, let's get our butts round there!" Kim called out.
They all started in the quickest direction for them to get round there. All of them got the same view when they got round there. The others were hardly visible, the air was swarming with Quadra-fighters – thousands, maybe millions of them. The ground was covered in Cogs and various other monsters gasket had used at other times.
The Red Battlezord and Zeo Megazord had joined with Pyramidas to make the Zeo Ultrazord. It was firing continuously into the air, taking out swarm after swarm of fighters, only for them to be replaced by more from the docking bays in the building. Adam had converted Warrior Wheel back into its wheel mode and the Super Zeo Megazord was using it to bowl through the thousands of Cogs covering the ground. The rest of the Zords soon joined in the fray. With so many on the job, thousands of Cogs and Quadra-fighters were being destroyed at a time.
"It's time to go in. Remember who I said was to go!" Tommy instructed. "Adam, you're not needed with Warrior Wheel now and neither are you Rocky so you two join us."
"Tommy," White interrupted, "Falcon Zord's joined with the Shogun Megazord, so I'm free to come in with you."
"Right, everyone teleport down as near to the entrance as you can get and we'll have to fight our way in." Tommy ordered.
All of them who had been instructed to go inside teleported down to the ground and started fighting Cogs as soon as they re-materialised. Soon, all thirteen of them were standing inside the main entrance.
"Okay leader man, which way?" Kim asked.
"According to Alpha's scans, the holding cells are in the top section of the fortress so we need to find a way up there." Tommy instructed. "The stairways are probably well guarded, so get ready for a fight!"
"Or we could take that elevator over there!" Kim said, pointing to an elevator a few feet behind Tommy.
"Erm, okay then!" Tommy said, walking over and pressing the button to call it down. "Get ready!"
They all stood clear of the opening doorway and prepared their weapons. As it opened, Tommy jumped in front of it and released a few shots, just in case. Fortunately, it was empty. It was quite a large elevator, so they all managed to fit in. Tommy pressed the butoon for the bottom floor of the top section.
"We'll have to split up. I'm not sure which part the cells are in so we'll split into two groups. One start at the top and work their way down, the rest at the bottom working their way up." Tommy instructed.
Once they reached their floor, thankfully without being stopped, they split. Tommy, Auric, Kat, Zack, Adam and Justin all got out while the others carried on up.
"This seems a little bit too easy, we haven't seen a single guard!" Justin said.
No sooner had he said it when the alarms sounded and a small group of warriors came round the corner.
"Oh you just had to say it, didn't you!" Adam said sarcastically to Justin.
The Rangers had never seen these warriors before, they all wore silver armour and had similar colored masks covering their faces. They charged at the Rangers.
"Okay guys, Power Up!" Tommy called out. They prepared themselves.
There was only enough of the things for them to take on one each, but that was more than enough. Within a few seconds, most of the Rangers had realised the things were no push over. More skilled fighters than any Cog or Tenga had ever been. Tommy was taking two of them on. He punched one in the stomach quickly followed through by an uppercut, sending it backwards and down onto the floor. The other one struck him from behind, not hard enough to hurt him, but it certainly caught his attention.
Zack may have given up being a Ranger, but he never gave up fighting, he still practiced avery day, but he was having trouble with his. Every punch, every kick, the thing just blocked or ducked. As far as hits went right then, it was Zack zero, bad guy eight.
Even the Almighty Auric the Conquerer was having some trouble to a certain extent. He'd managed to take it downa few times, but it just kept on getting back up.
Justin got knocked down for a third time, that was it!
"No more Mister Nice Guy!" Justin called out, "Turbo Hand Blasters!" As he called for them, tha large guns appeared in his hands. He turned to the whatever it was and fired. It was running at him when both the shots hit it square in the stomach. The armour was no defnse from the Turbo Power Weapon. The energy bolts cut straight through the armour. Justin got quite a shock then. Instead of disintegrating or exploding in a shower of sparks, as Cogs or Tengas may have done, Justin was showered with blood.
"What the…." Justin started, before realising what had covered him. The body fell to the floor and a couple of seconds later, Jutin knelt down to it. He pulled off the mask. It was a human, a male and he looked about tha same age as Tommy. Justin stared at him, shocked. Eventually he managed to shout to the others. "Guys, these things are…. human!"
They were all confused and at first didn't believe him. Tommy grabbed the mask of the one he was fighting and tore it away. He saw another young male.
"Justin's right!" Tommy called out, "Try not to hurt them."
They managed to hold the things back and incapacitate them.
"Quickly, let's go before more of them turn up." Tommy called out, urging them all to move along and start searching for the Samurai's.
The second group stepped out of the elevator into a similar large hallway. The slowly spread out and started looking. They were all on guard in case of an attack, but nothing happened. They were all stopped by Ashley when they came across a computer access terminal.
"Guys, wait. I think I can access this!" Ashley called out. She started pushing buttons and soon had accessed the computers. "Okay, now where are the holding cells?" she said to herself. After what seemed an eternity of waiting to the others, Ashley found it.
"The Rangers are being held three floors down from here. Someone contact the others and tell them to meet us there!" Ashley ordered.
"Tommy," White said. "Where are you?"
"We've searched the first few floors, but there's no sign of them. Have you had any resistance?" Tommy said back.
"No, but we've discovered where they are. Their cells are on the fourth floor from the top." White informed Zeo Red.
"Okay, you guys get straight there, we'll be up as soon as we can." Tommy replied.
"We're on our way!" White said. "Let's go!"
They went back to the stairway and started down. They went carefully, they had been in enough of these situations to know where ther could be booby traps. There were a few laser trip wire triggers, but they were easy enough to spot. They came to the doorway on the right floor. On the wya down, Ninjor had transformed into battle mode and they all had their weapons armed and ready. Rocky was standing at the back of the group as they all waited to go through.
He felt a hand grab his shoulder. He swivelled round and almost shot Tommy's head off with his laser pistol. They had come up the stairway behind them.
"Cool it man, it's only us!" Tommy said, greeting the other group.
"Shall we go in then?" White asked.
"Not yet, you know I like to make a big entrance. Kat, Adam, Rocky, lets call the Zeo Power Cannon!" Tommy said to his fellow Zeo Rangers.
"ZEO POWER CANNON!" the four of them called in unison. The rest of them cleared out of the way while they got ready to fire.
"FIRE!" they called. The large cannon shot a bolt of anergy at the wall ahead of them. The whole wall blew out and the Rangers charged in. The explosion had taken out a few of Gasket's guards, but there were still plenty more of them. There was a large room ahead of them, about fifty foot by fourty. On the opposite wall and two side walls, there were barred rooms.
They were definitely in the right place. The room was filled with Cogs and the silver-dressed human warriors. Right in the centre of it all was Gasket and Archerina.
"Guys, those silver things are human, try not to hurt them!" Tommy said to the others. Nobody had attacked yet, it was a face off.
"So you know about them!" Gasket said to Zeo Five. "An ingenious idea by our Leader. We take the humans, wipe their minds and load them up with the fighting knowledge of every monster and cog who's ever fought you. He knew you'd never destroy them, so it seems you're stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place!" Gasket laughed maniacally at the Rangers.
Tommy was annoyed, even more so when he remembered the time Gasket had kidnapped him and made him fight against his friends. "I won't destroy them, but I'll gladly destroy you!"
"Well you can try!" Gasket replied, "Cogs, Drones, ATTACK!"
"Let's do it!" Tommy said to the other Rangers.
The whole lot of them crowded into the room and spread out. They were all fighting half a dozen drones and cogs within seconds. They were all determined to win, and even being outnumbered seven to one wasn't going to stop them. Ninjor was having a great time, he hadn't had a good fight for years. He used his sword to hack up a few Cogs, and at Tommy's request, went easy on the Drones.
Kat did a full three-sixty degree spinning heel kick, sending her assailants flyind to the ground. With the space around her cleared, Archerina soon jumped in.
"I still owe you, Pinky!" Archerina shouted, swiping at Kat with her bow. Kat dodged the attack and bent down to sweep her. Archerina fell to the floor, but rolled backwards onto her feet. Before Kat even knew she was up, Archerina had released a barrage of shots from her bow. Kat fell backwards knocking down a group of Cogs that were attacking Kim.
Kim saw what had happened to Kat and jumped in front of her. "Hey, have you got a problem with Pink?" she called to Archerina, bringing out her own bow at the same time.
"You'll fall as easily as the other one!" Archerina laughed. She fired at Kim, expecting her to fall alongside her comrade.
Kim ducked and rolled to the side, then stood and fired some shots of her own. They hit Archerina's bow and knocked it out of her hands.
"Thanks for the save, Kim!" Kat said, getting back to her feet. "Zeo Power Weapon!" A shield appeared in Kat's hand. She held it out ahead of herself and flew at Archerina. The evil female mechanoid fell to the ground, defeated.
"Great teamwork, Kat!" Kim said, thanking her colleague.
"You too, thanks!" Kat replied.
"Gasket, you're mine!" Tommy called out. He had never been one to let his anger get the better of him, but it was all too much. The things Gasket had done to him, and to his world, he had to pay. Tommy jumped toward him firing his laser pistol.
"You're no match for me little red ranger!" Gasket called back, dodging the attack. Tommy knew he was right, he had never been able to defeat Gasket alone, but that wouldn't stop him trying!
There was no time for words now. Tommy went into martial arts mode and reeled off a few dozen punches and kicks. Gasket blocked them all and countered with some of his own. This wasn't working.
"Zeo Power Weapon!" Tommy called out. His Zeo Power Sword appeared and he swung it at Gasket. Again, he blocked with his own sword. They continued to spar, both evenly matched.
"How long has it been since we fought alongside each other, old friend?" Auric asked, smashing two Cogs' heads together in a shower of sparks and twisted metal. He was back-to-back with Ninjor.
"Too many millenia to remember!" Ninjor replied, knocking some Drones to the ground.
"Let's finish this!" Auric said.
"Agreed!" Ninjor replied. They turned to stand side by side and used their swords to fire energy bolts at some of the Cogs. They all disintegrated on impact. They fired at some more that were attacking Rocky. They disappeared, leaving Zeo Blue with only a few to fight.
"Thanks guys!" Rocky said to the two ancient warriors.
Tommy was down with Gasket about to strike the final blow with his sword. Suddenly, White Ranger jumped in and blocked the sword mere inches from Tommy with Saba. "Need a hand?" White asked.
"Sure!" Tommy replied, kicking Gasket away and letting the White Ranger help him to his feet. "Let's take this guy!"
White Ranger and Zeo Red charged at Gasket, and as good a fighter as he was, he couldn't hold them both off. "We'll finish this later!" Gasket said to them, teleporting away.
"Damn!" Tommy snapped. "We'll get him eventually, but now let's finish off these Cogs!"
White Ranger was already taking down Drones before Tommy even finished. Tommy laughed, joining in. It was quite funny, and strange, to see himself in action. That White Ranger costume was a very fond memory. As much as he'd loved being Green Ranger, Zeo Red and Turbo Red, they were nothing compared to that. He was so excited when he came back as White Ranger. The White Power had been created from him and for him. He was the only White Ranger, they were his powers and he still thought of them at times. He was on automatic then. he wasn't even thinking about the fight, but he was still managing to fight off three Cogs at once.
Within minutes, the Cogs were all disassembled and the Drones were out of action. Now they just had to free the Rangers. Tommy looked round the barred rooms and spotted the ones with people in, there were two. In one cell was an oriental girl with long black hair. She looked about nineteen. In the other was a male. He was similar to Tommy in his build and age, even his hair was a similar length, but Tommy's was darker.
"Power Rangers, I assume!" the Girl said.
"Yeah, I'm Tommy Oliver, Zeo Ranger Five." Tommy replied.
"Tommy! Zordon's told us a lot about you. You had quite a history as a Ranger!" the Boy said. "I'm Sean Kingston, the Gold Samurai Ranger, this is Lucy Suthering, Yellow Samurai Ranger."
"Stand back, I'll get you out." Tommy said. They both stood back and with one well placed shot to each door from his laser pistol, Tommy destroyed the lock. The doors opened and they came out.
"Let's go." Tommy said.
"Wait, Gasket's still got out Morphers!" Sean said, halting Tommy.
"Where are they?" Tommy asked.
"He's got them in a display case in his throne room. He was showing them off to us when he brought us here!" Lucy replied.
"Okay guys, you all get out of here, we'll go up and get them!" Tommy said.
"Just call if you need us!" Kat said.
The others all went off down the stairs while Tommy, Sean and Lucy went up. Gasket's throne room was on the second floor from the top. They came across a stray Cog or Drone here and there, but they made short work of them. Tommy was quite suprised at Sean and Lucy, they seemed to be as good as any other Ranger, and they weren't even morphed yet!
They came to a large double door. "This is it!" Sean said. He pushed on the door and it swung open. They were expecting a few Cogs to come charging at them, but there was nothing. All they saw was Gasket sitting in the large metallic throne at the end of the room.
"I've been expecting you!" Gasket said.
"There they are!" Sean said, pointing to a cabinet next to Gasket.
"Okay, let's go, but take it slow. I don't trust him." Tommy said. They slowly walked into the middle of the room, Gasket came and joined them.
"Let's finish this!" Gasket said.
"Gladly!" Tommy snarled back.
Lucy ran to try and get the morphers, but Gasket grabbed her and threw her to the ground.
"Hey, this is between you and me!" Tommy snapped.
"Don't flatter yourself Tommy!" Gasket laughed back. "You didn't think I'd actually let your friends get out of here did you? It's more than my life's worth!"
Tommy grabbed him and shouted, "Go guys, I'll keep him busy!"
Gasket threw him off and went to chase the others, but Tommy grabbed his foot and tripped him. "Not this time Gasket!"
Sean and Lucy got to the case, smashed it open and took out their morphers. They were a similar design to the Zeonizers used by the Zeo Rangers. It consisted of two wrist bands that had to be put together to activate their powers.
"Let's Samurize!" Sean shouted.
"Samurai Yellow!" Lucy called out.
"Samurai Gold!" Sean added.
Their bodies seemed to glow with energy. There was a flash that made Tommy look away. When he looked back, they were in their Uniform ready for action. Their suits were their individual colours, they looked much like any other Ranger he had seen.
"NO. I can't let you escape." Gasket said. "None of you will leave this place alive!" He teleported away again.
"Well that was easy!" Lucy said.
"Yeah, let's get outside to the others!" Tommy ordered.
When the three of them got outside, all the other Rangers were gathered, talking. The Zords were all lined up behind them, the setting Sun just showing between them.
"Hey everyone, listen up." Tommy called out, getting everyone's attention. "This is Lucy, Samurai Yellow and Sean, Samurai Gold."
"Hi everyone!" they called out. They were greeted.
"Come on, let's go back to HQ!" Tommy shouted. Everyone readily agreed.
"NOT SO FAST!" Gasket called out from above them. Tommy, Lucy and Sean who were still in the doorway ran out, turned round and looked uo at the top of the bottom section. Gasket was standing there with something else, some other monster.
"Come on Gasket! Two of you against all of us! That hardly seems fair!" Tommy called back.
"I'm willing to try. Mecha-Zen, attack!" Gasket ordered. The monster jumped down and landed in between Tommy and where the others all stood.
"We tried to warn him! Power Rangers, Attack!" Tommy ordered.
They weren't even going for a physical confrontation this time. They all used their laser pistols and other long-range weapons to blast the living hell out of it. You would have thought two dozen energy weapons firing at one target, no matter how powerful, would be enough to destroy it, but not Mecha-Zen. It just stood there and let them keep firing. They eventually stopped.
"Well that worked!" Kim said sarcastically.
Mecha-Zen charged at the large group of Rangers and sent several flying to the ground. The rest were pushed aside as it charged through. That was it, they all wanted a piece of him. Every Ranger charged at him and took turns trying to hit him. Those that actually managed to make contact didn't even make him flinch. They all moved away to try and plan what to do next.
"This is a blast!" Mecha-Zen called out as he fired his weapons at the crowd of Rangers. They were all caught in the massive explosion. "Get it? Blast!"
Tommy was still standing a little way back from it all with the two Samurai's. This really isn't working." Tommy commented.
"Let us handle this!" Sean said. "Whadda you say Lucy, charge and blast?"
"Great idea!" Lucy said. They ran forward, jumped clear over the fallen Rangers and landed near the monster.
"Samurai armour!" they called out together. There was flash of light and two incredible suits of armour appeared in front of them. They looked like metal versions of the Rangers. The backs opened up and the Rangers stepped in. The armour closed up behind them.
"Armour, Charge now, full Power!" they both called again, these two really knew how to work together. The suits of armour floated slightly off the ground. As they held out their arms, blades came out of their armour on their forearms. Within seconds, the two armoured rangers were shooting along the ground at incredible speed at the Monster. First Sean passed and swiped at it with the blade, the Lucy, then Sean again. They each attacked about half a dozen times at incredible speed.
They stopped and stood back down on the ground, the blades retracted.
"There's the charge, now here's the blast!" Sean said.
"Artillery mode!" they said together once again. Their armour started to transform, it started by getting a little bigger, and large guns appeared all over their armour.
"Targetting now!" Lucy said. "Locked on!"
"FIRE!" Sean ordered.
Both of them fired all their weapons at the monster who was already weakened. He looked like he was finished, but then came the save. From the very top of the fortress, an energy beam came and hit Mecha-Zen.
"I think we know what this means!" Tommy said. They all rushed back to their Zords without looking at the monster. It was only when they went to attack that they realised the problem. The Zeo Ultrazord, which usually made even the biggest monster look small, was only as high as his waist.
"Tommy, I think we've got a problem!" Adam said.
"I think you're right!" Tommy replied, not quite knowing what to do.
"Tommy, get your guys out of here, we can handle this." Sean said via his wrist communicator.
"What are you gonna do without Zords?" Tommy asked.
"Come on Tommy. When have you ever known a Ranger without a Zord?" Sean said back.
"Okay, good luck, we're out of here." Tommy said. They all started to fly back to Ranger HQ.
"Let's do it!" Sean said.
"Samurai Scorpion Zord!" Lucy called out.
"Samurai Senturion Zord!" Sean shouted.
Following their command, two massive Zords appeared on the horizon. A large Gold coloured humanoid Zord – Samurai Senturion, and a equally large yellow Scorpion shaped Zord – Samurai Scorpion. They both teleported aboard.
"Lucy, Stinger attack!" Sean suggested.
"I'm on it!" Lucy replied. The Scorpion scuttered towards Mecha-Zen and hit it with the tip of its tail. As it made contact, Lucy released several thousand volts of electricity into the monster.
"Fireball attack!" Sean called out. Responding to his verbal command, the Senturion Zord put its hands forward, palms together. It pulled them back, held it for a second, then thrust them forward, opening the palms apart slightly but keeping them together at the wrists. As the palms opened up, a large ball of fire appeared in its hands. It shot into Mecha-Zen and knocked him down.
"Lucy, finish him!" Sean instructed.
The Scorpion Zord approached Mecha-Zen and picked it up in its pincers, one round its chest, one round its legs. The Zord lifted the monster high into the air, then pulled it clean in half! It threw down the pieces of the monster which exploded as they hit the ground.
"Gasket, you're no match for us!" Sean shouted over to Gasket who had watched the entire thing. "Give it up!"
Gasket just disappeared inside. "Come on Sean, let's catch up with the others!"
The two Zords took off to follow the rest of the Rangers.
Back inside Ultima's fortress, Gasket is talking to Ultima on the screen.
"What do you mean they got away?" Ultima shouted.
"There were too many of them, they over-powered us and then the Samurai's used their Zords, Mecha-Zen was no match!" Gasket explained.
"You are useless. Be glad I haven't destroyed you. I would if you were not going to be some use to me later on." Ultima shouted, "Now GO!"
Gasket's face disappeared from the screen.
"I knew they couldn't win!" Crush said, she had been watching from behind.
"A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, and it seems the Rangers found ours. However, they will find no more weakness, and they will never see the other Samurai's again. I will be victorious!" Ultima said.
"Yes, but with two Samurai's and all those Rangers, the others stand even less chance of beating them!" Crush replied.
"They could free all the Rangers for all I care, because once our plan reaches fruition, a thousand Rangers could not defeat me!" Ultima said, beginning to laugh.