Disclaimer: Gee, it gets kinda difficult to write different things for each Disclaimer. Here goes attempt 11. Haim Saban and Saban entertainment own the Power Rangers franchise, not me. I'm using it for non-business, non-profit, non-legal reasons! It's only a creative outlet, do I really deserve to be sued for that?

Author Note: Shinobi Rangers, Samurai Rangers, Dark Rangers, 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 bare 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. Thank you and 'May the Power Protect Us (from ourselves :o)'

Time Scale: The day after 'Part Ten – Rangers, Rangers Everywhere…' I'd advise reading the other parts, I know there's quite a few, but it's worth it. Don't worry. Not many more parts to go!

Hope For the Future, Thoughts of the Past
By Matt

The briefing wasn't for another couple of hours, so the early risers had gathered in the rec room. Kane and Tommy were practicing some moves on each other. They seemed to be drawn together, the two leaders. Cassie, Trini, Louise, Sara and Kat were all sitting together on a sofa, talking. Sean and Niko were playing pool with Chad waiting to play the winner. The Alien Rangers were still in the hydration Chamber, not that they really came to the rec room when they had the chance anyway. None of the others had appeared yet.

In a quick flurry of moves, Tommy downed the Black Samurai. He stopped and reached down to help him up.

"Nice moves!" Kane said, letting Tommy pull him back up to his feet. "Tommy, can I ask you something?" Kane had always been quite a strong-willed and private person, but he felt a strong bond with Tommy. Maybe just due to the Power, maybe due to the pressures of leadership, or maybe just on a personal level. They'd not had much chance to just casually talk since Kane was released, so this was quite a break for them.

"Yeah, sure." Tommy said. stepping back as Kane got right back up to his feet.

"How do you get so good?" Kane asked.

"Well practice a lot I suppose…" Tommy started, he was about to go into the principles of the martial arts when Kane interrupted to reiterate his question.

"No, I mean as a leader. I've been leader of these Rangers since Zordon returned to Earth and I still don't really understand it. I've led quite well until now, but only through luck and instinct more than skill or knowledge!" Kane said. For the first time Tommy had seen, he was not acting the tough, strong leader.

"Hey man, I'm not really the best guy to ask. If you ask anyone it should be Jason, even Delphine. Jason's always been a natural leader, if he hadn't had to leave, he'd probably still be leading!" Tommy said. "I'm not really much of a leader!"

"That's not what Zordon said!" Kane replied.

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked.

"Well, I should really hate you!" Kane said, Tommy responded with a quizzical look. "When Zordon first gave us our powers, we started training. All the time, whenever anything wasn't quite right, or someone didn't know what to do, Zordon would come up with some story about you. Something like, 'Tommy faced that problem and overcame it,' or 'Tommy found no trouble in that'! There was always something. I'll bet I could recite your fights in more detail than you could, I know them all!"

Tommy was shocked to realise his few years as a Ranger had had such an impact on the Morphing Master. "No way!" Tommy replied.

"Yeah, why do you think he chose you to lead all the Rangers when you all got here, and why do you think he made you leader of the Shinobi's1" Kane commented.

"Habit!" Tommy suggested.

"He is so annoying?" Sara commented.

"Why?" Kat asked.

"He's always babying me!" Sara said. "You'd think he was my Dad, not my brother!"

"Well you are the baby here!" Lousie replied.

"Hey, I'm not much younger than Chad! I'm not the baby, I'm just, the youngest!" Sara replied. It sounded to Cassie like they'd all been through that conversation before.

"Anyway, he can't be that bad!" Trini said, trying to avoid the start of an argument between the two Samurai's.

"Yes he can!" Sara said.

"When we first got our powers, it was three battles before he actually allowed me to go…" Sara said.

"And even then, it was only when the battle was virtually won!" Louise added.

"He wouldn't let me use the pulse lasers in my armor until I'd practiced in the Sim room for two weeks!" Sara snapped.

"He doesn't seem to be doing it any more!" Cassie said, thinking back to the times they'd seen them all go into battle and fight together.

"No, I showed him I can take care of myself!" Sara said.

"How?" Kat asked.

"She beat him up!" Louise said.

"No, I challenged him to a fight and I won!" Sara said, correcting her.

"He was only looking out for you I should think!" Kat said, always trying to think of the best in everyone.

"Yeah, I know that." Sara said. "But it's still really annoying!"

Sean looked up from the pool table after taking his shot and saw Billy and Lee passing the door in the direction of the quarters.

"Hey Lee, Billy!" Sean called out to them. The two came back to the door and walked in.

"Morning!" Lee said, sleepily. Billy just yawned.

"What have you two been doing this early in the morning?" Niko asked the two sleepy Rangers.

"We haven't been to bed yet. We've only just finished working!" Billy said, yawning again.

"What the hell have you been doing that took that long?" Tommy asked, hearing the conversation.

"Well yesterday afternoon, we started work on something with Alpha Five, Alpha Six, Mondo and Cestro. Cestro left to re-hydrate late last night, the Alpha's needed to recharge for a few hours by about three o'clock and Mondo had something else to take care of at four. Since then, we've carried on. We're nearly finished." Billy explained.

"We're just gonna get a few hours sleep while the Alpha's continue working, then we're gonna go back and help them finish off." Lee added.

"Yeah, but what have you been doing?" Louise asked.

"You'll see later!" Lee said, turning to walk out.

"Oh come on guys, tell us!" Sean pleaded.

"Not yet!" Billy said sharply.

The two left the room and went back to their quarters. They had promised each other that they would go in and go straight to bed. They both knew the other would go in and carry on working on one thing or another. Neither was in a hurry to leave their work, when they got into something, they wouldn't stop. They were only coming back to rest because Alpha Five had refused to let them continue working, otherwise they'd still be there.

———- X ———-

Tommy arrived in the Power Chamber ready for their instructions for the day, but it felt empty. There were almost as many people in there as there had been during their first few days there, but it wasn't the same. At the beginning he had been surrounded by two dozen of his friends. Now, in their place was a team of Rangers he hardly knew and half a dozen ex-enemies. It was still hard coming to terms with the betrayal by his friends.

They were about to start when Billy and Lee came through and carried on walking through to another room. They still looked exhausted, but even two hours slepp had to be better then none. Just like everyone else, Tommy wanted to know what they were working on. Moments later, Alpha Six, Alpha Five and King Mondo joined them. Nobody said anything about it, most of them had questionned one of the five working on whatever it was and they couldn't get an answer. Why would they answer now!

"So are we going looking for them, or are we gonna wait for them to expose themselves?" Kane asked Zordon.

"We should wait for them to show themselves. At least that way we can check on them before we engage them in battle!" Ultima replied before Zordon could. "We go looking for them and we could be walking into a trap."

"Indeed!" Zordon agreed, slightly disappointed he hadn't been able to get in first.

"Hey, what are the others working on?" Rocky called out, hoping that at least someone could tell him.

"They will reveal their work in due time Rangers!" Zordon said.

"Until then, training!" Ultima commented.

Usually they would have replied with an array of complaints or excuses, but this situation was quite different. For the most part, the motives for getting Armageddon and the Dark Rangers were personal. They had turned their backs on Zordon and the Power and for that, they had to pay. It was completely unacceptable.

"We've got the Simulation Room!" Chad called out before Jandra and her team went in there. They almost seemed to live in it considering how much time they spent in there.

"Okay, we'll have to find somewhere else today!" Jandra replied. They followed the Shinobi Rangers and headed for what they had been using as a training ground.

The Samurai Rangers, minus Lee, walked through the passageway and came to the Simulation Room. Normally Kane would select the programme and the others would just go straight in and start fighting, but not today.

"Hey, mind if I pick the programme today, Kane. I was working on one lat night that I think could be quite good." Chad said to the Samurai Leader.

"Yeah, go ahead!" Kane said. They came to the entrance and the door slid open. They started to walk inside while Chad worked at the controls outside.

The others waited a moment and then Chad came in, the door sliding closed behind him. "Begin Programme!" he shouted out. The holographic landscape appeared, replacing the smooth metal walls and floor. It was an expansive desert, much like the one they had faced Armageddon in before the Dark Rangers were formed. The nine Samurai's stood there, unmorphed, looking straight ahead.

"Okay, what are we meant to fight? The wind!" Niko said sharply.

"Won't we do?" A voice called from behind. The turned round to see a small army near enough. Power Rangers, Zeo Rangers, Turbo Rangers, Aquitian Rangers, Gold Ranger, all of them stood ready and waiting.

"Fight other Rangers! We can't do that!" Michelle said. "Well Good ones anyway!" she corrected herself realising it had already happened.

"They're not the real ones!" Chad replied. "Well they're some of the best warriors our world has ever seen, who better to practice with."

"Stop talking and fight!" the Red Zeo Ranger called out, firing his weapon at their feet. It threw up a cloud of dust.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to say. I programmed them to think we're their worst enemies!" Chad added.

"Then Let's Samurize!" Matt called out.

"Samurai Black!"

"Samurai White!"

"Samurai Pink!"

"Samurai Yellow!"

"Samurai Blue!"

"Samurai Purple!"

"Samurai Red!"

"Samurai Silver!"

"Samurai Gold!"

They knew the drill. As soon as they were morphed, they spread out and tried to surround them. It seemed they also had a strategy of their own. They spread out too and took on the Samurai's. The Rangers had the Samurai's outnumbered more than two to one.

"Remember, our training was based on their fights, we know a lot about them, so use it!" Kane called out.

Louise was being attacked by the White Ranger, Pink Ranger and Zeo Blue. They brought out their weapons and charged her. Pink Ranger fired arrows from her bow as she ran. Louise brought out her Scorcher Axe and swiped them out of the air as they were fired at her. She swung it round behind her and knocked Saba out of the hands of the White Ranger who was approaching from behind. Once Pink Ranger was close enough, she spun back around, kicking the bow. It was released from one of her hands, but the other managed to hold on. Pink Ranger swiped the bow across the Red Samurai's chest. She rolled backwards and out of the way of the next swipe.

"FIRE WAVE!" Louise called out. The double blades of the axe burst into flame. As she waved it in a strong arc, a wave of fire released from it and hit the Pink Ranger. The bow flew to one side and she went down hard. Now it was down to Zeo Blue.

He attempted to strike at her with his triangular wrist daggers, but she ducked down and avoided them. She got rid of the axe and decided to go for a more hands-on approach. As she stood back up, he attacked again. She ducked and as they passed over her head, she grabbed them. Standing up, she forced his two weapons together, her enhanced strength shattering them easily. A quick knee to the stomach, then elbow to the back and he was down too. Satisfied she had taken care of them, she turned round, only to be hit by the White Ranger.

Chad was enjoying his programme, he only had Zeo Red and Aquitian Black to contend with. He stood there in his Samurai Armor, letting Zeo Red slice away at him with his Power Sword. He wasn't doing any damage though, the armor was too strong. He had forgotten all about the Black Aquitian Ranger. Corcus Ran at the back of Chad and jumped toward him. He heard the Black Ranger coming, but not in enough time to do anything about it. He took a strong kick to the back of the head and went down.

"Stupid!" Chad said quietly, cursing himself for getting so careless. As he rolled over to get up, the two Rangers fired at him. It didn't damage the armor, but he sure felt it inside!

"Zeo Cannon!" the Red Zeo Ranger called out.

"Oh-oh!" Chad said, seeing the large weapon appear. He had to think quick. "Artillery Mode!" he called out. As the additional weapons appeared on his larger armor, the red Ranger prepared to fire. Within less than a second, Chad's armor was fully armed and he gave the command to fire.

The Red Zeo wasn't quite quick enough. Before he could activate the Cannon, the Samurai Ranger's array of weapons had fired. The shots struck the Cannon, several going right up the large barrel. For a moment, nothing happened, but then, it exploded. The blast was enormous. It knocked the Zeo Ranger out cold and even knocked Chad off his feet.

Kane had just finished off the Red Ranger and Red Turbo Ranger. He thought they were finished and got ready to move on and help the others.

"We're not done with you yet!" the holographic Jason said. "Rangers. Call on your Zords!"

The Rangers all stopped fighting and gathered together. One by one the Zords were all called forth. Within moments the massive fleet was assembled and ready to attack.

"Chad, can we use our Zords in here?" Kane asked.

"We can use holographic versions. They've been programmed into the computer's memory banks, we just need to call them." Chad answered.

"So let's do it!" Kane ordered. He was first to call his. "Samurai Shadow!" The large black humanoid Zord appeared, ready to fight. It held a large black laser saber.

"Samurai Surfer!" Matt called out. His Zord appeared. It was humanoid in shape and it stood on some kind of large glider, a lot like a surf board in shape. It flew up into the sky and circled a couple of times.

"Samurai Storm!" Michelle called out. The large winged Dragon appeared and soared into the sky alongside the Samurai Surfer.

"Samurai Scorpion!" Lucy shouted. The Scorpion Zord appeared, it's claws snapping repeatedly and it's tail swiping through the air.

"Samurai Sentinel!" Chad summoned. Another humanoid shaped Zord appeared. Its right arm from the elbow down was a sword a some kind, the other hand held a large laser weapon.

"Samurai Searcher!" Sara ordered. A ship appeared in the sky, triangular in shape, it's hull mounted with plenty of mean-looking weapons.

"Samurai Scorcher!" Louise called out. Another Dragon appeared, this one had no wings and stood up on it's hind legs. It had a mane that stretched from the top of its head, right down to the end of its long tail, a mane of deep red fire.

"Samurai Star!" Niko shouted. His ship appeared, it was similar to Sara's Samurai Searcher, but this one was covered in Silver. The bright holographic sunlight reflecting from it made it seem to glow like a star.

"Samurai Senturion!" Sean commanded finally. The large Golden Warrior appeared, ready to fight.

All of the Rangers teleported into their Zords. The first thing the Samurai's noticed was the size of the other Zords. They were all about the same size as the Samurai Zords.

"Hey Chad, are these things getting smaller?" Lucy asked.

"No. I programmed the computer to make their Zords bigger, it wouldn't be fair to pick on a Zord smaller than yourself now, would it!" Chad replied, joking.

"Divide and conquer!" Kane called out. They knew what he meant, it was a similar strategy to the one the other Rangers had used when they were fighting before.

Kane assessed the situation. 'There may have been forty-one of their Zords, but there were only twenty-two of them, nowhere near enough to pilot them all. They would have to join some of them up,' he thought to himself. 'That would make things at least slightly easier.'

He was right, the Zords all started to join together. Within seconds, they were faced with some much larger Zords – Ninja Falcon Megazord, Shogun Megazord, Zeo Mega Battlezord, Super Zeo Megazord, Warrior Wheel, Pyramidas, Turbo Megazord, Rescue Megazord and the five Battleborgs.

'Thirteen to nine, I like those odds a lot better!' Kane thought, looking at their oppostion.

The Ninja Falcon Megazord, Super Zeo Megazord and Pyramidas all took to the air. Michelle could see her support was needed more on the ground and landed Samurai Storm alongside the other Zords. The other three aerial Zords could handle those three.

The battle began. Super Zeo Megazord headed straight for the Samurai Surfer. It flew past the Samurai Zord, attacking it with it's two swords. Matt swooped his Zord back out of the way and soared around to see the Megazord. He flew toward it at high speed and circled it a few times to try and disorient it. It didn't work, they struck again with the swords, this time making contact. ther was an explosion of sparks as the razor-sharp weapons slid across the Zord's tough armor plating.

Samurai Surfer spiralled downwards for a moment before Matt regained control. He flew straight back up and flipped backwards in front of it, making its board spin upwards, hitting the Megazord in the chest. It was their turn to fall out of control, but they were just as quick to regain it.

"Surfer Blade!" Matt called out. His weapon appeared in front of him for a second, then vanished. It reappeared in the hand of the Zord, enlarged in size. As the Megazord flew back up to its previous position, the Zord soared down on its board, passing the Megazord at an incredible speed, the blade slicing easily into its inferior armor. He turned and came back, this time striking the Megazord's propulsion unit. It exploded in a rain of sparks, fire and scrap metal. It dropped to the ground instantly, crashing down hard and putting it temporarily out of action.

Samurai Scorcher had been picked out by the Rescue Megazord. They were already held together, both with a strong grip on the others' shoulders. Samurai Red had one trick that they did not, however. The Zord's large razor-toothed mouth opened and a jet of red fire billowed into the face of the Megazord. It fell away, it's cooling mechanisms desperately trying to deal with the sudden increase in temperature.

They weren't in the mood to mess about. They must have given the command for artillery power as the two enormous weapons appeared on its shoulders. They fired them both at the Samurai Zord. Louise tried to stop them with another blast of her fire. It managed to cancel out the flame from the Megazords flame thrower, but the missiles passed straight through the inferno, doubtlessly thermally shielded, even from thet intense heat. The projectiles struck the Dragon in its chest and it went down. The damage was only superficial, but it had shaken up Louise well.

She got it back to its feet as soon as she could, the Megazord was already on its way to attack her again, the guns gone. She had to stop it before it reached her, she still wasn't recovered from the missiles. "Tail Swipe!" she called out. The Dragon Zord complied instantly. It swung around, flinging its tail into the feet of the oncoming Zord. It swept the feet right out from underneath it and it crashed to the ground heavily under its own weight.

The others were managing too. Samurai Shadow was fighting off the Battleborgs, Samurai Storm with the Shogun Megazord, Scorpion had a firm grip on the Wrrior Wheel. The Samurai Sentinel had the Turbo Megazord as good as defeated, Samurai Searcher had sent Pyramidas crashing into the ground within moments. Samurai Star had taken a few bad shots from the Ninja Falcon Megazord, but had soon reclaimed control of the battle and Samurai Senturion was just about to finish off the Zeo Mega Battlezord.

"Let's finish this!" Kane called out. "Chad, can we use Lee's Zord without him here?"

"Yeah, it should respond to remote signals from your Zord." Chad replied.

"Great. Samurai Spider!" Kane called out The final Samurai Zord appeared, a large spider Zord. "Let's show these guys what real Megazords are all about!"

The ten Zords split into two groups. "MEGAZORD SEQUENCE INITIATE!" they all shouted.

Searcher floated down near four of the other Zords, it's rear pointing down to the ground. Surfer and Shadow started to transform. They formed into legs and attached onto the bottom of Searcher. Spider's legs joined together, four each side and hands issued from the ends of them. It attached onto the top of Searcher, its body across the top forming the chest and an arm to either side. Finally, Storm came in. It attached onto the back of Searcher, its wings protruding either side. Its head changed and slid up on top of Spider. It now looked like a giant winged humanoid figure.

"SAMURAI MEGAZORD ALPHA, ON-LINE!" they called out.

Meanwhile, the Scorcher was changing. Its arms and legs folding inside its body. The Scorpion Zord split in two and folded into two legs. they joined onto the base of Scorcher. Senturion and Sentinel converted into arm shapes, hands emerging as sections slid aside inthe ends of them. They attached themselves onto Scorcher. The Megazord was nearly complete, just a head missing. Star came in next, docking with the Megazord. Its base attached to the back of the Megazord, its end sticking above the Megazord's shoulder level. A head emerged from the end of the ships hull and joined onto the shoulders formed by the Scorcher, the area it emerged from folding back down.

"SAMURAI MEGAZORD BETA, ON-LINE!" the rest of them called out.

Even at the larger size Chad had programmed them to be, the other Megazords were dwarfed by the two Gargantuan Zords. Samurai Megazord Alpha flapped its wings slightly and took off into the air. While it got into position for its attack, Megazord Beta brought out its primary weapon. A standard set-up for a Megazord, it had a sword. The large wide-bladed weapon glowed as they held it up. Fully charged, it was ready to strike, but they waited.

The other Megazords had regrouped whilst they had combined their Zords, it made them an ideal target for the attack Megazord Alpha had in mind. "SOLAR FLARE!" Kane, Matt, Sara and Michelle called out. The Megazord thrust its hand upwards and an energy bolt flew into the sky above them.

For a second, it seemed like nothing was going to happen, it was in that second that Megazord Beta struck. It swung its sword at the crowd of Zords. It struck the front few directly, the energy release from it striking the rest. Louise moved Megazord Beta back as quick as she could, she knew what was coming.

Just when the holographic Rangers thought the Samurai's had finished with them, Megazord Alpha's attack showed up. It came from the sky, a blast of solar energy, it engulfed the fleet of Zords and the whole area around them. The light was blinding, the Rangers had to look away or they probably would have been blinded. The beam itself must have been a few hundred feet across. The Zords never stood a chance against the Megazord's devestating attack, they were obliterated the moment it struck.

The Samurai's cheered. A total victory. Victory in hand-to-hand combat, Zord combat, and Megazord battling. They had achieved their goal.

"Let's get out of here." Kane said. "I should think some of the others'll be wanting to come in here."

They all agreed. They sent the holographic Zords back and they de-morphed.

"Computer, end programme!" Chad called out. The desert disappeared, replaced once again by the plain metal walls.

"We really should decorate in here!" Sara said looking round at the dull metal sheen.

"Oh yeah, and while we're at it, we can put up some curtains on Zordon's ion tube." Niko said sarcastically.

Sara didn't reply, she just glared at him.

"Good programme, Chad." Kane said, trying to keep his mind on business. They left the Simulation Room and headed back down the passageway to the Power Chamber. They were about to round the final corner to it when their communicators bleeped. They ran round to see what was wrong.

"We're here, Zordon!" Kane said quickly, looking round as they got in there. "What's the problem?"

"Dark Rangers!" Tommy said, with venom obvious in his voice. The other Shinobi Rangers gathered already. Lee joined the group of Samurai's as they entered.

"What are we waiying for?" Kane had as much abhorrence in his voice as Tommy. He hadn't been betrayed by the other Rangers, personally, he hadn't even met them, but it angered him. How any Ranger could join an evil power so willingly was beyond him.

"Samurai Black!"

"Samurai White!"

"Samurai Pink!"

"Samurai Yellow!"

"Samurai Blue!"

"Samurai Purple!"

"Samurai Green!"

"Samurai Silver!"

"Samurai Gold!"

"Shinobi Thunder!"

"Shinobi Ice!"

"Shinobi Wind!"

"Shinobi Sun!"

"Shinobi Water!"

"Shinobi Lightning!"

"Shinobi Earth!"

"Shinobi Star!"

"Shinobi Fire!"

"Shinobi Destruction!"

Twenty flares of brightly colored energy transformed the teens into Rangers and teleported them away in one motion. They hadn't bothered to ask where the Dark Rangers were, what they were doing, who they were with. They didn't really care, they could teleport into the middle of a million Drones and they still wouldn't stop the Rangers finding the Dark Ones.

They arrived and stood facing the black-clad Rangers. They hardly even seemed to care that their enemies had arrived.

"You know, we really should get some sort of paging system. One of us turning up and the other following, just isn't working!" Tommy said sarcastically to his evil counterpart.

Tommy didn't get quite the response he wanted from his comment. "When I destroy you, I will rip your face off, you are not fit to bare it!" Dark Tommy said to the original he had been cloned from.

"Hey now, don't get like that. Can't we all just get along?" Tommy asked. The others didn't know what he was doing. He had been angry, furious whenever he thought of his evil clone, now he was joking with him.

"Get along? Is that some kind of request for mercy?" Dark Tommy replied.

"Well I would ask you for mercy, but I heard Armageddon's slaves couldn't understand words of more than two syllables!" Tommy replied. What the hell was he doing? Nobody knew, but Tommy did.

"We are not his slaves. He leads us, and we follow!" Dark Tommy snapped, defensive of his master.

"Er… Yeah… that sounds like slaves to me!" Tommy said quickly in retort.

"You are infuriating Ranger. Enough talk, now we fight!" Dark Tommy shouted.

"Hold on, are you allowed to do that without Armageddon telling you to do it?" Tommy asked. The Black Dark Ranger replied with an angry battle cry as he charged at the Red Ranger. For now, it was just them, the others watched.

"Hi-yah!" Dark Tommy shouted as he flung himself in a flting kick toward Tommy. The Red Shinobi ducked the kick and the Dark Ranger landed behind him. Tommy turned, his leg sweeping round across the floor as he went round. He collapsed to the ground, then returned to his feet instantly. He swung his right arm round at Tommy's head, he ducked. A fraction of a second later, Dark Tommy copied tommy's sweep, but as soon as Tommy stood from the duck, he jumped, avoiding the foot. He fell back to his feet as the Dark Ranger was still turning. A quick chop to the nape of his neck and the Dark Ranger fell, hit in the least protected part of his armor.

Slightly groggy, the Black Ranger rolled over to look at his parallel. He didn't know how the Ranger had managed to outmatch him so easily. last time they had fought, they had been easily matched.

"Remember, I am you!" Tommy said. "And I know I fight worse when I'm angry!" Suddenly the insults and sarcastic comments made sense. Who better to outsmart Tommy, than Tommy himself!

"ENOUGH!" Black Ranger snapped. He disappeared in a flash of black flame and materialised back in the space he had left in the line of Dark Rangers. "DARK RANGERS, ATTACK!"

The Samurai's and Shinobi's needed no such order. With the Dark Rangers charging at them, they acted on instict, spreading out to face them. Even outmatched two on one, the Dark Rangers seemed undeterred. Whether their willingness came through storng self-confidence, or just from obeying their master's orders, they didn't know. Either way, they were gonna fight with all they had.

The Dark Rangers all adopted the same strategy to begin with, keeping the Rangers at a safe distance with their plasma cannons. It worked for a while, but soon each pair of Samurai or Shinobi Rangers figured out a way around it. Simple enough. One draws their fire, their other attacks from behind. Within a few minutes, all the separate frays had become hand-to hand fights.

Tanya seemed to be enjoying herself. She was one of the most wondered about traitors. What had been her reasons? Tommy had been the evil Green Ranger twice and controlled on numerous other occasions by evil. The darkness it created in his soul was what had been drawn to Armageddon's power. Kim and Jason had been controlled by Maligore, that was where their weakness came from. Corcus and Tideus had both been manipulated by Hydro-Hog before he had been destroyed, and Carlos and Ashley's darkness had grown in them. The seed planted by TJ's death, Justin's transformation making it bloom. Tanya, Adam and Zack had seemed to have no real reason. They had never been used by the forces of evil, none had been infected with the darkness. They remained a mystery, probably one the Rangers would never know the answer to.

Tanya faced the Green and Purple Samurai's. They had not activated their armor yet, and Tanya was making the most of it. She used her Dark Blade to slice at their uniforms. Both the Samurai's bore large tears across their backs and arms, Lee had one that spread diagonally from his left shoulder to his right hip. The others had only been deep enough to damage the Uniforms, but that enormous gash had cut right through his flesh. Blood poured from it, but he continued fighting. Sara was using her Staff to defend herself, Lee using his Spider Claws to try and hold back the frenzied Dark Rangers psychotic attacks. They had seen Tommy attack the Black Dark Ranger in the neck, it seemed to be their weak spot. It was where their armor met the helmet and it was vulnerable, they knew to go for that. Lee formulated the plan within seconds and conveyed it covertly to Sara through their helmet communicators. She acted straight away. She swung the staff downwards, knocking the Yellow Ranger's feet out and making her collpase foward. As she fell, Lee flung one handful of his claws at the neck area. With the thrust of his hand, and the added weight of Tanya falling into it, the claws sliced in. She hit the ground before she even felt it, it had been so swift and sharp. She clutched at her neck in agony. The Dark Power would heal her within a few minutes, but that didn't help her now.

Carlos, Silver Dark Ranger stood facing his two silver counterparts – Aurico the Shinobi and Niko the Samurai. He had looked round and seen some of his comrades already falling to the combined force of the two Ranger teams. He was determined he would not end the same way. He had his Dark Blade in one hand and a plasma pistol in the other. The Plasma Cannon would have been stronger, but too large to wield in one hand, besides, it would only slow him down. He fired the weapon at Niko, hitting him in the stomach and causing him to double over. A quick slice into the Silver Shinobi from his blade and Carlos jumped away, landing by Niko. As he fell down to his feet, he used the momentum to ram the butt of the sword into the centre of the Samurai's spine. He collpased to the ground, momentarily paralysed. He turned to face the Shinobi, but was met with a faceful of plasma energy. Aurico stood with his Plasma rifle in position. He fired the first few shots at the head of the Dark Ranger. He followed through with a mad shower of fire. Within a matter of seconds, he had released thirty or so shots into the Dark Ranger. He finished off by holding the trigger back for a moment. The tip of the weapons barrel began to glow as a ball of energy appeared and began growing. As soon as Carlos was recovered from the barrage, Aurico released the trigger. The energy ball released and shot into the stomach of the Dark Ranger. As it struck him, he flew back through the air, landing perfectly on top of Jason, who was just about to fire a finishing shot at Delphine and Billy, who were down on the ground a short way in front. As Carlos struck the Red Dark Ranger, the energy ball exploded, incapacitating the two for a while.

The Black Dark Ranger had regained control and was now fighting to his full capability. Tommy and Kane were both fighting him hand-to-hand, none had drawn weapons yet. Dark Tommy was just about to unsheath his Dark Blade when he was teleported away. The other Dark Rangers disappeared too. In a familiar crackling sound, a black flme erupted and Armageddon appeared, his Dark Rangers by his side.

"We were wondering when you were gonna turn up!" Tommy called out to the Dark being.

"Sorry, I would have been here sooner, but I've been taking care of something. Now, it seems you are at an extreme advantage." Armageddon started.

"We could take you on on one, we don't need anyone else!" Tommy said.

"I wasn't referring to your numbers, they are of little consequence to me. It is those fantastic Samurai Zords to which I am referring!" Armageddon said nonchalantly.

"We don't need them to kick your sorry hide!" Kane called out.

"No, but you will need them for something else!" Armageddon said cryptically.

"What's he up to?" Tommy whispered to Kane, more as a comment than a question. He knew the Black Samurai had as little idea s he did.

"Dark Rangers, I have a gift for you!" Armageddon said. He held up his hands. From each finger came a bolt of lightning that arched up into the air, spreading out, and striking the ground behind them. Where they struck, massive contarptions started to phase into vision. They started out as non-corporeal images, slowly fading into tangibility.

"Rangers, I present your DARK ZORDS!" Armageddon said. Armageddon held his hands out again. The lightning appeared once more, but this time struck the Dark Rangers. They were endowed with the knowledge they needed to pilot the large machines and teleported into the control decks in one move.

The Dark Zords didn't seem to have individual names as the other Zords always had done, it had always been somewhat of a ritual naming the Zords. Part of their creation, and Armageddon had not bothered with that. Each of the ten looked similar, all humanoid in apperance, all black, and all very powerful. As with the Dark Rangers, each also bore segments of color to distinguish its identity.

"Looks like the odds just turned back in our favor!" Armageddon sneered, disappearing.

"SAMURAI ZORDS!" the Samurai Rangers called out.

The ten Samuari Zords all rushed to the scene. The Shinobi Rangers took cover, knowing they could have no part in the battle about to commence. Kane teleported into his Zords control deck and the others followed his lead.

It may have been even now, ten on ten, but the Samurai's still had a slight advantage. The Dark Rangers had never used their Zords before, whereas the Samurai's had been practicing in theirs, perfecting their moves, for months. Matt was the first to speed into action. The Samurai Surfer flew back into the air, bringing out the Surfer Blade. In one lightning quick motion, it rocketed down, passing along the line of Dark Zords, the blade held out to its side. Sparks flew wildly and some of the Dark Zords were knocked down, but it was only a minor blow, they were back up soon enough. Scorpion stepped forward, its six thin metal legs scuttering quickly. Its tail raised and fired a laser along the line, aiming it down towards their legs and feet. Being humanoid in design, the Samurai's knew that if they could keep the Dark Zords off their feet, they would be at a severe disadvantage.

Unfortunately, the Dark Rangers also knew that. While most of them were too slow to respond to the Scorpion's tail laser, Jason was not. His Zord jumped forward, landing slightly to the side of the Scorpion Zord. He took hold of the tail and pointed it round at the other Samurai's. The laser shot into them, causing as much damage to them as it had the Dark Zords. Next, the Red Dark Zord lifted Lucy's Zord by its tail. Dragging it away slightly to get more room, he swung it around. After gaining some speed, he released it. The was a loud crash as the tonnes of heavy machinery crashed into the ground a couple of hundred feet away.

No holding back now. Some of the Dark Zords charged the Samurai's still on the ground, the rest firing at the airborne Zords. Kim was trying to shoot down Samurai Star with her on-board lasers, but she was having some trouble. The bright glow emitted by the flying Zord's silvery hull made aiming at it slightly difficult. Every time she actually managed to get a weapon lock, the Zord zipped out of the way, the lasers passing by harmlessly a safe distance away. Niko thought it was time to return the favor. He charged his weapons, she made an easy target. Pink Dark Ranger was concentrating so much on actually hitting the Samurai Zord, that she was making no attempts to defend herself, not even moving about to give a moving target. Niko released a volley of weapon energy. By the time Kim could even see the weapon fire approaching from the bright glow, it was too late.The Zord took several hard hits and fell down to the ground. Kim started using all her inherited knowledge to get the Zord back on line.

Samurai Senturion was fighting desperately with the Green Dark Zord. Both delivering hit after hit to their opponent's armored Zord, neither making any progress. Senturion lifted its enormous foot and struck it into the stomach of Adam's Dark Zord. He knew it wouldn't damage him, but that wasn't the idea, he just needed a couple of seconds. As the Dark Zord stumbled momentarily backwards, Sean got the time he needed. He pulled out the Senturion Sword, which promptly disappeared and made its way into the hand of his Zord. He was striking at the Green Zord within a fraction of a second. Swiping in an 'X' shape across the Zord's chest, he managed to stun it. He knew exactly how to make the best of that time. He brought back the Zord's arm, then thrust it forward, jamming the point of the blade straight through the stomach of the Zord. As he pulled it back, small pieces of the Zord came back out with it a sparks spewed from the damaged area. That one was taken care of for now.

Samurai Spider was the worst Zord Tanya could have been faced with, she hated spiders, especially two hundred foot metal ones! She had decided fear was not an option. She had seen a few of her friends losing their battles, she didn't want hers to go the same way, she was more scared of feeling Armageddon's wrath than she was of any spider. She jumped the Dark Zord into the air, landing it right on top of Lee's Zord.

"That's how you finish a spider!" Tanya said confidently, moving off of the Zord she had just squished under foot.

"Yeah, but this spider can fight back!" Lee said, the Spider Zord's eight spindly but strong legs pushing dwon. The body raised back up and Lee was ready to fight back. The Spider pounced forwards, grabbing hold of the Yellow Dark Zord. Its legs all held round the sides and nearly meeting at the back. It held the dark Zords arms down at its sides and there was little she could do to fight back. Slowly, Lee increased the strength of the grip, the legs starting to crush the Zord.

"ENOUGH!" Armageddon called out. "Do I have to do everything myself?" Once again, his voice was heard but he was nowhere in sight, which made him all the more ominous. Lightning struck the Dark Zords and they vanished. Lee's Zord cluttered to the ground, still trying to hold onto something that just wasn't there.

The Dark Zords appeared back in the line up they had first shown up in.

"You're Rangers, you know what to do!" Armageddon said to his Dark Rangers.

"MEGAZORD POWER!" the Dark Rangers called in an eerie sounding unison.

The Dark Zords started to change. The Samurai's hadn't heard the command, but they'd seen enough Zords to see what they were doing.

"MEGAZORD SEQUENCE INITIATE!" Kane commanded.

As the Dark Zords transformed and combined, they formed into two massive humanoid Zords. Both looked identical, as the Dark Zords were all identical. One bore Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink and Green, the other had Black, White, Purple, Silver and Gold.

Almost within seconds the two Samurai Megazords were complete. There followed the two verbal confirmations.

"SAMURAI MEGAZORD ALPHA ON-LINE!"

"SAMURAI MEGAZORD BETA ON-LINE!"

For now, each pair of Megazords stayed together, they circled round each other, both scanning their oppositions Zords for weaknesses. Neither found anything obvious, both groups of Zords had been constructed too well. Armageddon was actually suprised at finding what he had renamed the Dark Zords at Ultima's base. Ultima had outdone himself, and they actually seemed like they may be successful.

"Let's just finish these poor excuses for Zords!" Matt said, keen to obliterate the enemy.

"I'm with Matt. Let's do it!" Sara agreed.

"Okay!" Kane said. Megazord Alpha took to the air. The Dark Rangers just watched. They had seen the Samurai Zords in action before they joined Armageddon, but they had yet to see the Samurai Megazords in battle.

Tommy in the main seat of one Dark Megazord and Jason in the other both watched the Megazord fly into the air. They never heard the command the five Samurai's shouted. All they saw was the Zord raising its hand into the air and a bolt of energy flying from it. Nothing seemed to happen, it just floated there.

"Man, that was a bit… lame!" Jason commented.

Tommy looked round and saw Samurai Beta slowly edging away from them. "Where are they going?" Tommy asked.

They never had time to find out. The blast of solar energy appeared as if out of nowhere and engulfed the area. It burned away at everything near it, the rocks on the ground near the blast glowing bright white and melting within seconds. The Samurai Rangers actually felt a little pity for the Dark Rangers, but not much.

Samurai Megazord Alpha slowly floated back down to the ground as the blast started to die down. as it disappeared, the Samurai's looked toward where the wreckage of the Dark Zords were, or at least where they were meant to be! Instead, there were two Megazords, forced down to their knees, but intact. Both had enormous shields held up over them. They had protected them from the Solar Blast. As the Dark Megazords stood up and face the Samurai Megazords, they saw the faces of the shields had melted quite severely, but they had done their job none-the-less!

"Impossible!" Michelle gasped.

"Apparently not!" Kane replied. "Come on, we've gotta stop those things before they stop us!"

"Too late for that!" Dark Tommy called out. His Megazord charged at the winged Samurai Megazord, delivering a quick barrage of punches and kicks before blasting it to the ground with an energy discharge.

Jason followed his leaders example and piloted his Megazord toward the other Samurai Megazord. It pulled out its sword. Kim responded by activating their own sword. The two clashed in a massive boom. The swords striking each other repeatedly as the both attacked and blocked the other. They dueled for a few minutes and neither seemed to be showing any sign of weakening.

The battle wasn't going too well, and Tommy could see that from his vantage point back on the ground. He was about to contact Kane and see if there was anything he could do to help when the Shinobi's were all teleported away.

———- X ———-

They landed in the Power Chamber and looked round, they'd had no warning they were going to be teleported and it had caught most of them slightly off guard. They all turned to watch the battle continue on the view screen. Things weren't going too well. Tommy's Megazord had Samurai Alpha pinned down, while the other Dark Megazord was scoring quite a few good hits against Megazord Beta.

"We have to help them, can we use our old Zords?" Tommy asked urgently.

Zordon never got to answer, Billy stepped in first, interrupting them. "No need. That thing Lee and I have been working on, well, look at this!" He pressed a few buttons and another view appeared on the view screen.

The Shinobi Rangers all smiled at each other, they liked this part.

A massive grin still on his face, Tommy called out, "BACK TO ACTION!"

———- X ———-

The Shinobi Rangers appeared back on the battleground. The Samurai's were still in a bad situation.

Tommy called out to his clone. "Hey, Dark Rangers, we've got a little suprise for you!"

The Dark Rangers just looked down at the Rangers. From the height of their Zords, they looked like ten little white ants.

"SHINOBI ZORDS, POWER UP!" the Shinobi's chorused.

"Shinobi Zords? What the…" Tommy's clone started.

Ten colossal mechanical creatures appeared – a Rhino, a Lion, a Panther, a Phoenix, a Bear, a Harpy, a Cyclops, a Minotaur, a Serpent and a Dragon. The Shinbobi Rangers teleported up to their Zords. Each one had a different cock-pit. For the three ex-Aquitian Rangers, there was telepathic interface, Cassie's was the same similar to her Turbo Zord, Trey's like that of Pyramidas, the other five just a standard lay out.

"So what are they called?" Tommy asked Billy.

"We haven't named them yet, so it's up to you!" Billy replied. "I already know mine – Thunder Crusher!" Quite suitable, Billy was in the Rhino, a massive beast capable of Crushing anything!

Delphine controlled the bear. It was a large white bear with mean looking claws and teeth, quite terrifying actually, unlike the gentle looking bear Ninja Z ord. "Ice Scourge!" Delphine simply said.

Kat sat in the control deck of the Harpy, spirit of the wind, examining it. Its appearance although slightly gentle, also had a vicious side to it. "Mine's the Wind Shredder!"

The Phoenix was an impressive Zord. The Phoenix Zeo Zord had onl embodied the spirit of the creature. This one had captured the grace, the beauty and the wonder of the mythical Sun Bird of the Gods. "Wow, its got to be Sun Striker!"

Cestro was quite impressed, the young humans had outdone themselves. The Serpent Zord was fantastic, and the psychic connection system was flawless, possibly even better than his own! "This is the Water Weaver!"

Cassie instantly fell in love with her Panther Zord. Its speed was lightning quick, she liked it straight away. On the outside it was purple, Cassie's Shinobi color, but instead of the soft reddy-purple of her uniforms trim, it was a deep bluey-purple, almost black. "Lightning Chaser!"

The Minotaur stood tall and proud, a large club held in it's hand. "I dunno why, but I'm thinking, Earth Breaker!" Rocky said, liking his Zord. The control deck almost identical to that of his Ape Ninja Zord. 'Wow', he said to himself.

Trey was not used to such an articulate Zord. He had only ever used the powerful, yet clumsy, Pyramidas. This Lion was more powerful, but more agile, quicker, stronger. Much as Louise's Scorcher zord burnt with constant flame, so too did the mane of this Lion. Gold flame surrounding the head and stretching part of the way down his back. "Fire Knight!" Trey said confidently. He had never got to name Pyramidas, it just was Pyramidas. This was quite a different experience.

The thought of naming his Zord was unusual to Aurico. Their Battleborgs had never been given names, but he didn't mind naming this one, it was a fantastic Zord. A Cyclops, but not the sort you usually see. Not a massive fat slob with one bulging eye and the agility of a two tonne rhino. This one stood tall, and muscular, wearing silver armor, a star emblem emblazoned across the chest. Its single eye was large and wide open, inside there was the cockpit Aurico found himself in. "Star Fighter, that's what I'll call it!"

Tommy's Dragon Zord as the Green Ranger had been a good Zord, then Jason's Red Dragon was also as impressive. The two Dragon Samurai Zords were truly a wonder to observe, but this Dragon he was in no, well, incredible! It's color was as deep red as you could get. At first glance it looked black. It had a powerful jaw lined with glistening razor sharp teeth and four feet of equallyt sharp claws. The legs powerful, especially the rear. It could stand back on them to fight against someone hand to hand (or claw to hand). It had enormous wings, each one longer than the whole of the Dragon's body. When they were folded away, the stretched back nearly as far as the tip of its tail. Tommy assessed the controls, taking in just what the Zord could do. Billy had outdone himself this time. It had so much destructive potential. Tommy knew its name at that moment.

"Destruction!" Tommy said confidently.

"Is that it?" Billy asked, exclaiming his suprise over the simple name he had given it.

"I think it suits it!" Tommy said. "Now how about Megazords, Billy? We need maximum power and we need it now. We have to stop the Dark Zords before they do any serious damage to the Samurai's!"

"Oh come on Tommy. You know the saying, where there's Zords, there's Megazords!" Billy grinned to himself.

"Then lets go for it! You know what to do!" Tommy said.

Without saying anything, Billy remotely activated the joining sequences. They were all desperate to try out these new Zords on their own, but Tommy was right. Right now they needed Megazords, and that's what they were going to get.

Within seconds, two more Megazords stood ready to join in the fray.

"SHINOBI MEGAZORD GAMMA!" Rocky, Aurico, Kat, Trini and Tommy called out. The large warrior stood there, Destruction's wings folded up down its back.

"SHINOBI MEGAZORD DELTA!" the remaining Shinobi Rangers called out from their colossal Zord.

The Dark Rangers had been unable to do anything about the new arrivals, had they let up on the Samurai's for even a moment, they would have been back on the losing side. Now the two Shinobi Megazords stood facing the four others. Tommy and jason both made their Megazords give the Samurai's a particularly hard hit, just to keep them down for the moment. They walked over and stood mere feet away from the Shinobi Megazords, and for Zords hundreds of feet tall, a couple of feet was very close.

"Give up now!" Tommy called out.

"Well, we would, but…. you see, we've kinda got this plan, we're gonna, now how can I put this a way you'll understand… smash you into itty-bitty pieces!" Kim replied from her seat in Jason's Megazord.

"Well let's see you try then!" Tommy replied, the Shinobi Megazords moving away.

They were preparing to attack the Dark Zords when a voice came over the communicator. "Guys, this is Lee. Megazord Gamma, do a Wing Blast, Megazord Delta, Fire and Ice attack. That should be enough to sort them out." Lee said from his damaged Megazord.

"Thanks Lee!" Billy said. "You know your weapons!"

"I designed them, I at least want to see them in action!" Lee replied, audibly happy that his joint creations had proved successful so far.

"Okay then. WING BLAST!" Tommy commanded. The audio receptors in the cabin heard and accepted his command. The wings on Gamma's back started to unfold, spreading out to the sides. For a moment they thought they would be used to fly like in Samurai Alpha, but that wasn't the case. Once extanded fully, they wrapped around the front of the Megazord. As they covered it over, Power started to build between the body of the Zord and the wings.

Meanwhile, Shinobi Delta had initiated the Fire and Ice attack as suggested. The arms of this Zord were made by the Ice Scourge. Its hands glowed as the ice power within grew. The head of the Megazord was the Fire Knight Zord, the Golden flame continuing to burn around the face of the Megazord. In one rapid move, the ice energy fired from the hands and hit Jason's Megazord, thr fire round the head of Delta fired towards them too. The ice freezing the Zord where it stood and the flame super-heating it, both at once. It was enough to stop it as Lee had predicted. They stopped firing and the Dark Megazord fell to the ground, steam rising from it, both from the hot and cold.

Shinobi Megazord Gamma flung its wings open. Energy fired from the body of the Megazord as well as from the wings. the wide powerful beam striking the Dark Zords. The massive surface area of the wings releasing a monumental amount of energy. The second Dark Megazord fell as the firing stopped.

Both lay there now, defeated and ready to blow at any moment, but before they could, they disappeared in Armageddon's trademark flash of black fire, Rangers and all.

"Yes, Rangers One, Armageddon Zero!" Tommy exclaimed. The Rangers all teleported back down to the ground.

"Congratulations Lee, your work was a success!" Billy exclaimed.

"You too!" Lee replied. "You did most of it!"

"Hey come on, I have to give credit where credit's due! Everybody, Lee designed the Shinobi Zords, they were all his creations." Billy said loud enough for them all to hear.

"Well, I suppose so. But without the Alpha's…. and Mondo's technology, they never would have been a reality." Lee said modestly.

"Good work, both of you!" Tommy said to them.

"Yeah, they're fantastic, but I'll stick with Samurai Shadow if you don't mind, I've kinda got used to the old thing!" Kane said, his hard demeanour waiving slightly as it always did following a victory.

"Let's get back to the Power Chamber!" Tommy said, as was standard practice after a battle.

"Actually, I had something else in mind. Maybe we could take the Zords back rather than teleporting. If Zordon asks, it's just a way to practice!" Kane said, his slightly mischievous side showing.

Everyone agreed. The Samurai Rangers loved piloting their Zords and the Shinobi's hadn't actually had a chance to see what their individual Zords could do. They went back into their Zords and disengaged the Megazords. In a simultaneous charge, the twenty Zords took off toward HQ. Some of them playfully knocking others on the way, as difficult as that sounds with such massive vehicles. They ran, galloped or scuttered across the ground as the flying Zords flew circles round each other in the air. It was one of the few moments of emotional release they'd had for quite a while.

———- X ———-

Ultima sat in his quarters. 'Somewhat of a backward step from your throne room!' he thought to himself, comparing the small plain room to his magnificent centre of command. 'And fighting on the side of Zordon, a lot like your younger days!'

Ultima remembered back to his past (which was actually his future in a way), just after he had left CT-851. What an impersonal name, mind you it had been an impersonal world. Everyone just assigned to their job, carrying it out mindlessly. Families on CT-851 had been very vague, more there to keep some form of structure in the living, rather than as a unit. Society raised the children, not the parents. That didn't make the love any less, but the physical interaction just seemed less… relevant. He had found it difficult to leave, because of his friends more than his family, he had some very good friends. But when the Zordling came, he went with him, more out of awe and wonder for the powerful being than anything else. He judged its wisdom more than his own instincts. They had taken him to one of their bases, he had never actually been shown where their central command was based, maybe because they knew of his destiny to betray them, maybe just tradition, he never knew. He had only been a child, he could remember the fear more than anything else and the pain he felt, missing his friend. His quarters at the base were incredible, everything he could ever want, everything he could ever think of, but it was never home. Home was the small room he had grown up in, the one he had played in with his friends. There were countless knights the young boy would sit on his bed and just cry all night. He didn't want to be there, but he knew he had to, the reason why escaped him then. There were other times he would wake up in the morning, his pillow soaked where he had sobbed into his pillow as he slept.

It wasn't all bad though. The Zordlings had started to show him how to harness the power he had always felt inside. It was painful at the best of times, he knew it wouldn't be easy, but he used the pain and the heart ache he always felt to drive himself forward, to continue traing and to become the best. Some knights when he returned to his room, he was too exhausted and in too much pain to move, let alone cry. It was at times like that he wished with all his heart that he would hear the rhythmic knock his best friend, Magron, always signalled with before he entered. His best friend had always been there for him, since they were born as far as he could remember. Mag, as he called him, ahd been the only one he could speak to after his pet dog had died. It had been a Golden Retriever, actually born back on Earth and given to him when it was only a few days old. He thought so many times of the night that had happened, Mag had stayed with him. He had actually fallen asleep crying into his friends arms. He had loved his pet with all his heart, and had loved his friend even more.

There was sudden bleep that brought Ultima out of his memories and the door slid aside. Divatox stood there in the doorway, her beauty radiating into the room. The space pirate walked in and looked over at the dark man sat comfortably into one of the seats. She could swear she saw a tear in his eye, but it couldn't be.

"You wanted to see me!" Divatox exclaimed. She had received a call from him in her own quarters a few minutes ago to come and see him, she honestly had no idea why.

"Yes, sit down!" the dark man invited her. She obliged and took a seat opposite him. She looked at him expectantly waiting for his 'command' as it always seemed to be. Instead she was quite shocked.

"I'm glad you could come here. I was hoping we could… talk!" he sounded so calm and quiet. He spoke with a gentleness she had never seen in him before, for once, he actually sounded… human!

———- X ———-

It was quite late, almost everybody had gone to bed (or the hydration chamber as the case may be). That was all except for Tommy and Kane. They were still in the rec room. They had been sparring since everyone had gone to bed about an hour and a quarter ago. Finally they had enough. They went over and collpased onto a sofa, both of them hot, sweaty and exhausted.

"That was a… good workout!" Tommy said, pan