Alpha, all the original bad guys and the whole Ranger concept belongs to Saban. He owns it, so I don't!! That makes sense I suppose!!

Author Note: If you ever want to use anything from my fics, just write to me and let me know. All feedback is greatly appreciated, and will be rewarded with a hearty handshake and a friendly smile. (Well what did you expect as a reward? Cash? I'm only a poor penniless writer after all!)

Time Scale: This starts off the day after 'Retribution'.

Prisoners of War
By Matt

Michelle sat in the rec. room looking around. She smiled to herself. Although Sean still wasn't there, it was the first time that the whole team had been together for quite a while. Kane and Louise were recovered from Armageddon's attack and whatever it was that had happened to Matt, it had cured the Power poisoning and he seemed completely recovered too. This was the happiest she had been for quite a while, but there was something still nagging at her, and she knew exactly what it was. Her problem was currently lying unconscious in the med lab.

Silently, she got up and left the room. She headed towards the power Chamber, then continued unseen into the med lab. She checked there was nobody else in the room, then walked over to Ultima's bedside. He looked so harmless as he lay there. He didn't even seem to be the same person that they had originally been recruited to protect the Earth from. Although everyone had been willing to accept him into their team while they all fought Armageddon, Michelle had not forgotten the terrible things he had done to their world. He had almost destroyed the human race and he had enslaved their planet. These things were unforgivable and in Michelle's opinion, he should have to pay for his crimes against their world.

But, it wasn't really her opinion that mattered at the moment. Right now all that mattered was Armageddon. He had to be stopped, and alone, the Rangers were not powerful enough. Ultima, as they say, was a necessary evil. But that made it no easier to accept, no easier to forgive. She had to fight with him, but she didn't have to like it. Every time she looked at him, it just reminded her of everything that she had lost, her family, her life, her world. Michelle closed her eyes as tears started to come to them.


"COME ON MICHELLE! WAKE UP, IT'S TIME FOR SCHOOL!" Sandra Redding shouted upstairs to her daughter. She went back to preparing the breakfast as Michelle slowly sauntered down the stairs and sat waiting for her breakfast.

"Morning!" she yawned as her mother brought her breakfast to her.

"Good to see you awake this early. We can't have you turning up late three mornings in a row!" her mother said lightly.

"Hey, what can I say? I'm not a morning person!" Michelle grinned.

"I know, you're just like your father." Sandra said back, returning to what she had been doing.

As Michelle started eating her breakfast, Joe Redding, her father, walked in and sat down beside her. "Morning." He grunted, still looking half asleep.

"Morning." She mumbled back. That was usually the extent of the conversation between the two of them in the morning. They both hated mornings and knew it was best that they just keep away from each other at that time of day.

"Good morning honey." Sandra beamed at her husband as she walked in with his breakfast. She was the total opposite, bright and cheerful from the beginning of the day, right up to the very end.

"Morning." He said, as cheerfully as he had said it to his daughter. "Put the radio on!" Sandra walked over to the hi-fi and switched the radio section on. Joe always liked to listen to the news while he ate his breakfast.

The radio came on and they all listened. "We repeat, New York City has been taken by an unknown alien force. The National Guard are currently attempting to take it back, but their attempts thus far have been futile."

"Has one of you been changing the station? You know I listen to the news at breakfast!" Joe accused.

Michelle looked at the radio and said, "But Dad, this is the same station we always listen to!"

"Hmph!" Joe grunted. "They must have changed their line up. Sandra, try and find a station that's telling the news!"

Michelle's mother went back to the radio and pressed a button to select another of the pre-set stations. It came on instantly. "We have no idea where they came from, but they were more powerful than anything our world has seen before. New York City was taken first and they have already started moving on to other areas around the world."

"Whatever this new program is, it's sure popular." Sandra commented.

"Mom, try some more stations!" Michelle suggested. Again she changed the station. Every one they tuned to was saying a similar thing. "This is weird! Same thing on every station! I'm gonna try the TV."

She got up and went into the Lounge, immediately turning on the TV. Her parents followed her. The first channel came on. There was an image of some tanks firing on a large monster in the streets of NYC and the reporter was saying, "As you can see from this footage, our weapons have little to no effect on these creatures. They were detected heading for Earth in the early hours of the morning, and in just a few hours, they have managed to take over the entire City and construct some kind of massive fortress in the center. At this time it is unknown what our next course of action will be, but if further attempts to hold back these aliens prove as futile as those so far, God help us all!"

"Mom, Dad, I think this is really happening!" Michelle said, a terrified look coming over her face.

"Don't worry honey!" her mother said, coming over and putting an arm around her. "We're gonna be okay."


"Michelle, hello! Anyone home?" Sara called out, shaking her friend gently of her trance.

Michelle looked around at Sara and said, "Sorry, I was just thinking about something. What's up?"

"Nothing. We were just wondering where you went. One minute you were there, then you were gone! We're gonna go down and muck about in the Park, you wanna come?" Sara answered.

"Sure, why not." Michelle said half-heartedly. She followed Sara out of the med lab, quickly looking back at the unconscious Ultima. The others were all standing in the Power Chamber waiting for her. Together they teleported down to the City. There was a lot of activity going on. Today, the City would officially be named and the census would be released. There were a lot of people waiting to see if there were any of their friends or family in the City. It was hard to find anyone in the City without the census, as the population was well over 100,000. That may not have been a lot, but without knowing who was there, looking for someone was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

The Rangers walked through the City towards the Park. They still weren't used to the recognition they were getting. Just about everyone who saw them either thanked them, cheered them or did something along those lines.

"You know, I could really get used to being famous!" Niko grinned.

"I'm not too sure about it. I mean, we're only doing our duty, just like anyone else who has a job to do. Do we really deserve the recognition?" Kane asked, never too happy about being the center of attention.

"Kane, normally I'd agree, but we're Power Rangers. Sure everyone else has some kind of duty to perform, but I hardly think a bank clerk's duty is quite as life threatening as fighting Armageddon. What we do is very difficult and very dangerous, surely we deserve some kind of thanks for it." Lucy commented.

"Yeah, I suppose so!" Kane agreed.

As they passed through the City Center, they saw some people preparing the stage that they would appear on for the afternoon's ceremony. As soon as the celebration was planned, the Rangers had been asked to appear, not only to officially announce the City's name, but also so the City could thank them for their work.

"When we come for the celebration this afternoon, do you think we should come like this, or should we morph?" Chad asked.

"I'm not sure, I was thinking that myself. I want them all to see that we're just normal people too, but I'm sure they're expecting to see the actual Rangers!" Kane said.

"I think we should go in unmorphed, just so they can see the real us!" Louise said.

"Oh come on guys. How often are we invited to be the star guests at something? We owe it to our fans to make a fancy entrance." Niko smiled.

"I hate to say it, but I think Niko's right!" Lucy said.

"Okay then!" Kane said. "We'll go morphed."

They all continued walking towards the park but Lee suddenly stopped. "What about Sean?" he asked.

"What about him?" Kane asked.

"I'm not sure he'll turn up. He's still pretty mad at us all." Lee answered.

"So!" Kane said, not seeing his point.

"Well if the Gold Ranger isn't there, don't you think the people are likely to ask why?" Lee asked.

"Hey, I never thought of that!" Kane said, stopping.

"I mean, I don't want to lie to anyone, but it's best if they don't know there's trouble between us!" Kane said.

"Do you want me to go and talk to him? I'll try and convince him to come along." Matt offered.

"Okay, you'd better go now. It's only a few hours until the ceremony, so if he's not coming, it's better to know sooner rather than later!" Kane said.

"Right, I'm on my way." Matt said. He activated his teleporter and disappeared, headed for Sean's base. Matt was still the only one who knew where Sean's base was, and he intended to keep it that way. Sean didn't really want to see any of the other Rangers. He could only just tolerate seeing Matt, so he didn't want to push the Gold Ranger by letting everyone go to see him. He was still upset that his friends hadn't trusted him, and Matt knew the best thing they could do was let him get over it in his own time!

"Well we've still got a few hours. Let's get to the Park!" Louise suggested.

They all agreed and ran off towards the Park.


Crush really wasn't looking forward to giving her report this morning. She hadn't seen Armageddon since Jaxir was defeated and she knew his mood would be frightful. The large doors swung open as she approached and she walked over to her usual spot. Again, he was facing away from her. She was almost ready to ask why he wouldn't let her see him, but thought it would be better to wait until he was in a better mood. It had been weeks since she had seen him, in fact, it was just before the Dark Rangers were destroyed that anyone last saw him.

"Report!" he ordered. His tone was normal, which surprised her greatly.

"Well the Rangers have destroyed Jaxir and all his forces, and the White Ranger was not destroyed. In fact, my sources tell me the events have only made him stronger. The Black and Red Rangers are back in action, so the Rangers are back up to full strength." Crush reported.

"Never mind, there will be plenty more chances to destroy them! I am in no hurry, and Jaxir set several other plans into action before his untimely demise!" Armageddon said lightly.

Crush didn't voice her surprise at his good mood. It wasn't often it happened, so she wasn't going to risk ruining it. She started to walk away, but she was called back.

"Oh, and Crush, I believe it is time to put our remaining prisoners through the Drone process." He stated.

"But I thought you didn't want any more Drones!" Crush commented, remembering his constant opinion of the mindless foot soldiers.

"I don't!" Armageddon replied.

"But if you don't want any more, why are we. . ." she started to ask, but she was cut off.

"Just do as I order!" Armageddon snapped.

"Right away Sir!" Crush said, stopping her questioning and leaving immediately to carry out the orders.

"Rangers, I will be victorious!" Armageddon swore quietly.


Matt appeared outside the small, innocent looking building. He walked over to the door and pushed it open. He was suddenly blasted to the ground by an energy blast from within the building. The White Samurai jumped for cover as whatever it was continued to fire.

"Sean, it's me, Matt!" he called out, hoping that Sean was able to hear.

A few shots later, the weapon stopped firing and the Sean emerged from the doorway. "What are you doing here? You know I don't want to speak to any of you." He snapped.

"I know, and I'm sorry to intrude, but we wanted to know if you could join us at the City's naming ceremony this afternoon. We thought it would save a lot of questions from the people if we were all there!" Matt explained.

Sean thought about it for a moment, then he walked back inside the building. Matt followed him into the first room. It was still completely empty, as it had been the last time Matt was there, but as they walked into the next room, Matt noticed a severe difference. Before, it had been much like a smaller version of the Power Chamber, but now, it seemed even more advanced than that. There were several control panels and even more workbenches, each of which housed some kind of incomplete construct. Matt knew Sean had salvaged most of the stuff from the fortresses, but he had no idea where all this new stuff had come from.

"Wow, what's all this stuff? Where did it come from? What can it do?" Matt asked. They were just a few of the questions Matt wanted to ask, but Sean stopped him before he could ask any more.

"I got all this stuff from Jaxir's castle. He had loads of gadgets in his storage area where the morphers were being kept. I'm not sure what most of it can do, but I'm working on it." Sean explained. "I haven't even got everything yet, I couldn't fit much more in here and I've not really got anywhere else to keep it all. I'm thinking of extending the base."

"Sounds like you're planning on staying here long term. Is there still no chance of you coming home?" Matt asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I'm starting to come round to the idea, but even when I do forgive you all, I don't even know if I want to come back. I mean, I've done more stuff here than I ever did back at HQ. I've built my own base, I've even created a few of my own gadgets. Sure I'm not as smart as Alpha or Lee, I mean, building a Zord is still a little bit advanced for me, but I'm doing a lot here." Sean explained.

"You know, you could do all this and still stay with us all at HQ. I'm sure Zordon could accommodate you." Matt commented.

"What can I say? I've grown, moved on! It's like a child moving out of its parents home and into its own, you've gotta spread your wings at some time. I guess I just wanted my independence back. I'd wanted to leave before. I thought about it a lot during that time we had nothing to do, but the thing with Mike was just an excuse to do it really." Sean continued to explain.

Matt went silent for a moment. "Well I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you ever want to come home. . ."

"Yeah I know, and I appreciate that." Sean thanked him.

"And if you ever want any help with any of this, I'm more than willing to lend a hand." Matt added, looking around at the array of technological wonders.

"Thanks." Sean replied.

"Anyway, you never answered before. Will you come and join us for the ceremony?" Matt asked.

"Sure, why not!" Sean said.

"Great. You know what time it starts, so I guess I'll see you then!" Matt commented as he turned to leave.

"Matt." Sean said. Samurai White turned to face his Gold companion. "Thanks!"

Matt just smiled and left.


"Over here!" Lee called out waving his hands in the air. Chad threw him the Frisbee. It was strange. None of them had really played the game much before, but being together in the Park, they got a sudden urge to play the game. 'Must be a Ranger thing!' Lee mused as he caught the disc.

Kane, Louise and Niko were practising some moves, Lucy and Sara were both playing Frisbee with Chad and Lee and Michelle was sitting alone under a tree. She rested her head against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes. She remembered the last time she had been in the park with her family. Most of the City had been panic stricken by the news of the invasion, and most of them knew it was just a matter of time before they were attacked too.

Some order had remained and the citizens had all gathered in the Park for evacuation instructions. The Mayor was making the announcement when Ultima's forces arrived.

Several hundred silver-armored figures appeared, accompanied by a woman dressed in green. Although Michelle didn't know it at the time, that woman was Crush, second in command of Ultima's forces. Everyone panicked and tried to escape, and Michelle only just managed to stay with her parents. Suddenly, the silver figures pulled out small weapons and started firing. As the shots hit the people, they were teleported away.

That was when Crush spoke up. "EVERYONE STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" she shouted. "YOU ARE ALL NOW PRISONERS OF ULTIMA! ANYONE RESISTING CAPTURE WILL BE KILLED!"

Naturally, that just scared the people even more. Michelle and her parents started running even faster. They had just reached the outskirts of the Park when some of the drones caught up with them.

"Quick!" Michelle said pointing at a manhole. "We can get out of the City through the sewers!"

She pulled it open and started to climb down. That's when her mother has shot by one of the Drones and teleported away. "NO!" she shouted. The Drone was just about to fire again, but this time at Michelle. She was only half way down the hole into the sewer, but just as it fired at her, her father jumped into the path of the shot. She stared at him, knowing he had mere seconds left before he was also teleported.

"Escape! Survive!" was the only words he could get out before he vanished. Not taking any time to mourn the loss of her parents, she slipped down into the sewer and ran. She wasn't the only person who had escaped down there, so she joined the other refugees and followed the tunnel.

She was jolted from her memories when the Frisbee landed on her hand. "Do you wanna play?" Chad shouted to her.

She picked up the disc, threw it back and just said, "No thanks." She stood up from where she'd been sitting and started to walk away. She hadn't walked far when a flash of white landed next to her and Matt appeared.

"Hey Chelle!" Matt said as he saw her. She didn't say anything, just carried on walking.

Matt looked round at her, then went back over to where the others were all mucking about. "Hi guys. What's up with Michelle?" he asked, hoping one of them might be able to explain her actions and upset expression.

"No idea." Lee replied.

"I think she's just a little bit upset about her parents. She really started to get her hopes up that they may be alive, and now she's realizing the chances against it!" Lucy said.

"Hey, how'd you get on with Sean?" Kane asked.

"Oh yeah." Matt said. "He'll be here." He gave Kane a look that he immediately understood.

"You two carry on. I'll be back in a minute." Kane said to his workout partners. He went off with Matt and the two Rangers started walking along as they talked.

"What's up?" Kane asked. "Is it about Sean?"

"Yeah. I know we've all been thinking that when he's got over this, he'll come back, but I don't think he will." Matt reported.

"What makes you think that?" Kane asked.

"Well, he told me so himself." Matt stated. "I asked him if he'd changed his mind about coming back, and he said he preferred it there. It's nothing to do with us, it's just that he spent most of his life alone. I think that's how he's used to it and how he likes it. Besides, he's doing some fantastic stuff there!"

"Oh that's not good. We need to work together as a team!" Kane said. "I'm just wondering about one thing!"

"What's that?" Matt enquired.

"Is it being with all of us that he wants to get away from, or is it being a Ranger all together? If he carries on like this, we're not going to have a Gold Ranger!" Kane commented.

They both thought about it as they walked back to the others.


Crush stood on a raised platform, looking down at the people gathered below her. This had been one of the few prison camps that the Rangers hadn't liberated. Of course, she had kept the existence of this one secret from even Ultima. It had always been her plan to overthrow him and take control of his forces, and this prison camp would have been instrumental in her defeat of the Rangers had she ever been in charge. However, those plans were about to be thrown away. The prisoners in that camp were never supposed to be changed into drones, but if it was what Armageddon ordered, she would obey.

She never imagined herself following someone's orders so closely, but this time, it was more out of fear than obedience. "Okay, start getting them through!" she called down to the drones.

"What are you going to do to us?" a man shouted up to her.

"I'm just going to make you a little more obedient!" Crush grinned, looking down at the Drones that were herding the people through.

"Oh my God! They're gonna turn us into those things!" a woman screamed.

Crush just smiled as she walked away.


"Rangers! This is Alpha. Please return to the Power Chamber immediately." Alpha called urgently through the communicators.

"We're on our way!" Kane replied instantly. "Come on guys, let's go!" The others all gathered around him. "Where's Michelle?"

"I don't know. She hasn't come back yet!" Lucy replied.

"Don't worry, she will have heard Alpha's call. She's probably on her way already." Lee said. Without another word, the eight of them activated their teleporters and vanished in a multicoloured flash of energy. The people all stared in awe. They had seen people teleport before, they had even been teleported themselves, but the Rangers were always fantastic to watch. The Power they possessed effected their appearance as they teleported, colouring the energy. Seeing so many together was like watching a rainbow form as they soared into the sky.

Seconds later, they appeared in the Power Chamber and went straight over to Alpha. "Okay, what's up?" Louise asked the little mechanoid as he rushed around.

"Ay-yi-yi!" Something has just shown up on our scanners!" Alpha called out.

"Rangers." Zordon boomed. "We have detected a prison camp, and they have just started transforming the people into Drones."

"I thought we destroyed all of them, and rescued all the people!" Niko commented.

"Apparently, this one was kept hidden and has been shut down up until now." Zordon said.

"Then why would they suddenly start it up again?" Kane asked.

"And why would they allow us to detect it?" Louise added.

"I can think of only one reason. They must want you to go there!" Zordon stated.

"Armageddon may be powerful, but he's not too subtle!" Chad said.

"Well let's go then!" Kane suggested.

"What, we're just going to walk into a trap?" Sara questioned her brother.

"What choice do we have? There are innocent people there. It's our duty to protect them." Kane replied.

"Rangers, I do not wish you all to go." Zordon said. "Kane, you will go alone."

"But he stands even less chance alone!" Louise said, surprised by Zordon's order.

"Not necessarily. Mondo, please come in!" Zordon ordered.

King Mondo walked in, holding a small device. He walked over to Kane and said, "Here, take this!" He placed the device into Kane's hand. "It's called the Shadow module. I designed it to work directly with your Powers. It will allow you to transform into a living Shadow. Using it, you can hide in Shadows and go undetected by any scanning technology Armageddon may have."

"Thank you." Kane said, looking at the small contraption.

"Using that, I wish you to infiltrate the prison and find out what is going on there." Zordon said.

"I'll teleport you there using a shielded signal, but you will only have a few seconds to activate the module or you will be detected." Alpha said to the Samurai leader.

"Okay," Kane said. He pulled out his morpher and shouted, "SAMURAI BLACK!"

In a flash of energy, he had transformed into the Black Samurai Ranger. The Shadow Module had attached itself onto his belt, ready to be activated. Alpha immediately teleported him away.


Kane appeared just outside the large prison camp. As soon as he materialised, he activated the module and felt a strange sensation run through his body. He shuddered for a second. It felt slightly unnerving, but he instantly lost all physical form, and as Mondo had said, he turned into a living shadow. He jumped for the nearest cover and blended in with the shadows there.

Working his way along the shadows, Kane passed the drones guarding the gate and slipped inside. He looked around for a moment, unsure of which way to go, but then he heard a scream. He turned and ran as fast as he could in the direction he thought he had heard it from.

He came up to a corner and stopped. Blending in with the shadow on the wall, he went round the corner, still hidden in the darkness. He saw a large courtyard, a small group of people stood in the middle. Three women, two men, two little boys, and a boy a little older than Kane. He recognised the boy that was about his age.

"Mike?" Kane whispered, remembering Chad's older brother from the alternate reality.

But Mike wasn't the one who really caught his attention, there were two people, a man and a woman, who he stared at, thoroughly shocked. "Mom, Dad!" He watched as Crush approached them all.

"Now, if you are ready, we will begin the process. The rest of them have all been changed already, but we thought we'd save you until last." Crush said.

Kane was tempted to blow his cover and just attack them, hoping to free his parents. Instead, he let his professionalism take over. He pulled out a scanner booster, a device the Rangers sometimes used when they infiltrated enemy bases to allow the Power chamber's scanners to scan the area, regardless of defences. He placed it on the wall, facing the people and immediately teleported away.


Meanwhile, in the Power Chamber, Michelle still hadn't arrived when Kane left, so the others were starting to get worried. "When I saw her in the Park she didn't look too good!" Matt commented.

"I know what you mean She's been a bit out of it all day." Lucy commented. "Alpha, can you locate her please. I'm gonna go talk to her."

"Right away!" Alpha chirped. He went over to the scanner controls and pressed a few buttons. "Lucy, she's still in the Park. I'll teleport you there now." He pressed a few more buttons and the Yellow Samurai disappeared.

She appeared by the lake in the park. Michelle was sitting by the side of it, looking down into the water. Her foot splashed down into the little channel of water, filth splashing everywhere as she ran along with all the others. She was glad all the other people were there. She had so many tears streaming down her face she couldn't even see where she was going. She only kept up by following the vague shape of the person in front of her.

The sewer stank, but it didn't bother them. It was a choice of either run through a rancid sewer, or stay and get captured. . . or worse! They seemed to be running for hours, but it was, in fact, only about twenty-five minutes. Thankfully, the Park had been quite close to the outskirts of the City, otherwise they would have had to run several miles.

She came up to a ladder. Everyone else seemed to be climbing up so she just followed blindly. When they came out, they all had to cover their eyes. Going from the dark sewer out into the bright mid-day sun was quite a change. They were outside the City, so one by one, the large group of people headed off in their own directions, going off individually to places they believed could offer them salvation. Michelle had no idea what to do or where to go, but eventually, a woman came up to her.

"You look a little lost. Would you like to come with us?" she asked. She had a really kind face that made Michelle suddenly feel a lot safer.

"Thank you!" Michelle said. "I'm Michelle."

"I'm Georgina. This is my husband Greg and my daughter Caroline." The woman said, introducing her family, or as Michelle would find out later, what was left of her family.

"Where are you going?" Michelle asked.

"We don't know yet, but wherever we end up, it's got to be better than staying here!" Georgina replied. She put a comforting arm around Michelle and the small group started walking.

When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she was shaken from her memories. "Hey Chelle, wakey wakey, it's me, Lucy." The Yellow Samurai said, bringing the Pink Ranger round.

"Lucy? What's going on?" Michelle asked, a slight tear in her eye.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing!" Lucy said back to her.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Michelle insisted.

"Don't give me that bull. Come on girlfriend. Remember, I know you, I know when something's wrong, and right now, there is definitely something wrong!" Lucy insisted.

"Sorry, I've just been thinking about my family a lot. I just keep hoping that somehow they've survived and they're somewhere in the City." Michelle said.

"Well if that's all, I suppose it's okay, but you would tell me if there was something really wrong, wouldn't you?" Lucy asked.

"You're my big sister! Of course I would!" Michelle grinned.


Kane appeared in the Power Chamber, back earlier than expected. Lucy and Michelle appeared at the same time. "Kane, what did you discover?" Zordon asked, noticing the half-angry, half-worried expression on Kane's face.

"I put a scanner booster there Bring it up on the View Screen." Kane ordered.

Alpha obeyed and a picture of the courtyard appeared. Most of them stared in silent shock.

"Mom, Dad!" Sara commented.

"Mike!" Chad said, staring.

Kane already knew about those, but the rest came as even more of a shock.

"Dad, Mom!" Michelle whispered as she saw another two of the people.

"Reno!" Niko said as he saw his little brother standing with the other people.

"Mom!" Lee stuttered, a tear rolling down his cheek.

"M. . . Mark!" Matt said, shocked almost speechless by the appearance of his little brother.

"It would appear Crush has been keeping your family in that prison the whole time!" Zordon commented.

"No dur!" Niko said sarcastically.

"Lucy, go and get Divatox, tell her what's going on and bring her back here. Chad, Lee, go and prepare the Zords, we may need them. Matt, contact Sean and get him here. The rest of you gather up Power Force and make sure they're ready for battle." Kane ordered.

"Kane, what are you doing?" Alpha asked.

"We're going to get our families back!" Kane said determinedly.


Minutes later, the Ten Samurai Rangers, Power Force and Divatox all stood ready to fight. Kane cursed whatever had happened to Ultima. They really could have used his help. The place looked well guarded when he saw it, so there was doubtlessly even more defence even he hadn't seen.

"Right, here's the plan. We go in, get to our families and any other people that are being held. We get them out of there, no matter what! If anything gets in your way. . . well, get it out of your way any way you can!" Kane said. "Now let's go."

Together, they all teleported away, reappearing mere seconds later inside the prison camp. The scanner booster also allowed them to teleport through the shielding, too. Shields usually stopped the teleporters from locking onto a site to teleport to. The scanner booster transmitted its co-ordinates and acted as a kind of beacon for the transport signal.

"Okay. This way." Kane said, leading the others towards where he had seen his parents before.

Armed and ready, they all followed him. They came to the courtyard where they had been seen on the View screen, but there was nobody there.

"Where are they?" Michelle snapped.

"I don't know! Let's split up and look round. Power Force and Divatox, you go that way, Louise, you take Sara, Niko, Sean and Chad and go that way, the rest of you are with me!" Kane ordered, pointing a direction for each group to search. The others were impressed. He'd always acted like a good leader, but right now he was really taking charge, and not only showing his authority, but also showing he was more than capable of making decisions.

They split into the groups as Kane had ordered and went off to start looking. "Remember, if you find anything, contact the rest of us and we'll be with you as fast as we can." Kane shouted as each of the other groups disappeared into their parts of the prison.

The Red, Purple, Silver, Gold and Blue Rangers walked along, looking round cautiously. Chad turned to Sean and said, "I don't know why you're here. You don't have any family here, and it's not like you're even part of the team any more, anyway."

Louise almost jumped in to stop the argument before it started, but she didn't need to. Sean just looked at Chad for a moment as the two of them stopped, then continued walking along. Louise turned Chad around and said, "You have no right to say things like that. Be careful what you say!"

"Hey, whadda you care? They're not holding any of your family here, either!" Chad snapped.

"No, Chad. You're right. I don't have any family here. Do you know why that is?" Louise asked. Chad just stared at her. "It's because they already killed my family. So unless you want the same thing to happen to yours, you'll stop making stupid comments and keep going!"

Niko and Sara, who had listened to the whole thing, so they immediately ran off after Sean. "You're getting a bit bossy!" Chad commented.

"That's because when Kane isn't here, I am in charge. So as leader of this group, I'm ordering you to keep going and shut up!" Louise snapped. "Now get going!" She gave him a shove and he kept going. She followed shortly behind and they eventually caught up with the others.

Sean went over to the Red Ranger and asked, "What is his problem? I hope you sorted him out."

"Don't worry about it, I sorted him out, but I went easy. Remember that he's here looking for his brother. He's already found him and lost him once!"

"Yeah! I do kind of remember all that!" Sean said sharply before walking away.

"Why is nothing ever easy?" Louise asked, as she cursed her own stupid comment.


Jandra walked along next to Divatox, the rest of Power Force following shortly behind. So far, they had only come across a small platoon of drones. Between them, it had taken mere seconds to dispose of them. Now they just continued along, searching for any sign of the Rangers' families.

"Hey Kraegor, why didn't you say anything about this place before? I'm sure the Rangers would have appreciated it!" Rito commented.

"I didn't know anything about it. This must have been Crush's doing, because even Ultima thought all of the prisons had been destroyed!" Kraegor replied.

"Pretty smart move really!" Jandra called out from the front of the group.

"What was?" Kraegor asked.

"Capturing the Rangers' families. I mean, if I was in crush's situation, I would have held them to ransom straight away. The Rangers would never have dared put them at risk!" Jandra said.

"Nah! It's been done before and it never works." Divatox said.

"Oh don't be so sure of that!" a familiar voice called out ahead of them.

"Crush!" they all called out as they saw her standing there.

"Where are the prisoners?" Jandra shouted.

"They're having, now how can I put it. . . a makeover!" Crush commented with an evil grin on her face.

Jandra immediately activated her communicator. "Rangers, the prisoners are being changed into Drones! You have to get to the processing plant straight away. We've got Crush contained here."

"Contained?" Crush said, talking to the six warriors like they were inferior beings. "I'd like to see you try!"

"ATTACK!" Jandra called out. Divatox raised her hand into the air and Lightning struck it, forming into a sword. At the same time, Jandra drew her own sword. Together, Jandra and Divatox charged at Crush. She just stood there until they were nearly upon her, then suddenly, a sword appeared in each hand.

Had Divatox and Jandra been more careful, they would have stopped to look at the two swords. One was the Sword of Darkness, the other was the Sword of Light. Neither of them were actually the originals, but when Porto had recreated them, Armageddon had given them as much power as the originals. Crush swung the weapons forward to attack the oncoming blades. The Sword of Darkness glowed black, (although it was more of an anti-glow), and cut straight through Jandra's weapon, while the sword of Light, glowing a brilliant white, smashed through Divatox's.

The two women warriors didn't even have time to react to the destruction of their weapons. Crush immediately followed through with a jumping double kick, hitting each of them in the stomach with one of her feet. They fell back and the rest of power Force took that as their cue to attack. Rygog drew his Plasma Saber while Rito and Kraegor brought out their swords. Kraegor, having no weapons, went for the straightforward approach. He ran over to Crush and picked her up in a bear hug. He crushed her, his already fantastic strength increased by his body armor.

Crush just laughed as he attempted to squeeze the life out of her. "Is this pitiful display of strength meant to impress me?" she asked, insulting her former colleague.

"Actually, it's not, it's just to give them time to do this!" Kraegor commented, throwing her over towards Rito, Rygog and Garrison. Each of them had powered up their swords to full. Rito and Garrison struck at her, thinking their weapons may be able to stop her.

"Oh yeah, that really hurt!" Crush said sarcastically, shrugging off the attack. "Now this is how to use a sword." She raised the swords of Darkness and Light and sliced one into each of the two armored warriors. They got knocked away, collapsing to the ground.

"You wanna try that again?" Rygog challenged her. She didn't say anything in response. Instead she just attempted to strike Rygog with her two blades. As soon as they were close enough, he swiped the Plasma Saber out in front of him. It cut right through her two weapons, slicing the blades off near the base.

Crush just stared in amazement as the two weapons were destroyed. "You'll pay for that!" she screeched.

"Don't count on it honey!" Jandra said coming up behind her. Divatox and Jandra delivered a double flying kick, one of them striking her back while the other hit the back of her head.

They now stood back with the other members of Power Force. "Okay everyone, CHARGE IT UP!" Jandra shouted. Normally she would have held up her sword for their special attack, but as that had been destroyed, she decided to try something new. She held her energy bow in the air and the others all started to channel their own energy into it. It started to glow a spectrum of color as Jandra lowered it into a firing position. Reaching to it with her spare hand, an energy string appeared, attached to it was a massive energy arrow. She pulled it back hard and let all the Power flow into the arrow, and then she released it.

The Power was released as an immense arrow of pure energy. It darted towards Crush and struck her square in the chest. There was a large explosion and she was thrown to the ground. She slowly picked herself up, then shouted, "I'm not beaten yet, we'll finish this another time!" and then she disappeared.

"Right. That's her taken care of. Let's go find the Rangers." Jandra ordered.


As soon as Kane got the message about where the prisoners were being kept, they had found their way to the processing plant. He ran through the entrance, closely followed by the White, Green, Yellow and Pink Rangers. As they looked round, they saw a long production line, a small army of inactive Drones gathered at on end.

"Okay, where are they?" Matt asked.

"THERE!" Kane shouted, spotting the small group of people. They were just waiting to go through the Drone transformation process, they were all tied together. Thankfully, the Rangers had appeared on time. They all started to run over to them, most of them too excited to even notice a dark figure lurking in the shadows. They were half of the way over to the people when the figure fired.

The five Rangers were thrown to the ground in a massive explosion as whatever it was emerged from the shadows. He was about seven feet tall and had mean looking black armor. In one hand he held a long lance, in the other a large energy weapon. He raised the weapon and fired again at the fallen Rangers.

"Okay guys, let's do this!" Kane said. "Shadow Sabers!"

"Surfer Blade!" Matt called out.

"Storm Bow!" Michelle commanded.

"Scorpion Stinger!" Lucy ordered.

"Spider Claws!" Lee summoned.

With their weapons drawn, they charged at the monster. Lee was first, slashing at him with his Spider Claws and Michelle followed through with a blast from her Storm Bow. The monster stumbled backwards briefly, but soon recovered. He lunged forward and struck Lee with his Lance. Lucy and Matt went in next, attempting to strike him with their weapons, but he raised the Lance and blocked the two blades in mid air. He pushed the weapons back, then swung the Lance near the ground and knocked the two Rangers off their feet.

That was ideal for Matt. He had an automatic reaction to it. Before he had even hit the floor he had swung his leg round and knocked the monster to the ground too. Being caught off guard, the monster took longer to get up, so by the time he had realised what was going on, the White and Yellow Rangers were stood over him with their swords held to his neck.

He wasn't going to let them beat him. He still held his two weapons, and he knew his reflexes were much faster than the Rangers' were. He quickly pulled up his energy Blaster, shoved it into Matt's stomach and pulled the trigger. Before anyone could do anything, he had been blown across the room, landing in a heap on the floor.

He then smacked the lance into the Yellow Ranger's legs and knocked her down before getting up and attacking the Green and Pink Rangers. Suddenly, he got attacked from behind. He turned to face his assailant, but there was nobody there, just the shadows he had emerged from. He turned back to face the four fallen Rangers.

'Hold on?' He thought. 'Why's there only four?' He didn't have time to think about it any more. He got struck hard from behind and he fell to the ground, injured. As he rolled over and looked up, he saw his attacker. A human shaped shadow emerged from the darkness and the Black Samurai Ranger appeared from it.

"Come on guys, let's rescue those people!" Kane said, walking away from the monster. Matt, Lucy, Michelle and Niko all got back to their feet and started to follow him.

"Not so fast!" You've got a bigger problem to deal with!" the monster called.

"And what would that be?" Kane asked indignantly.

"Well there's them!" he said, pointing at the army of drones had had just activated. "And then there's me!" With that, he started to grow. He got larger and larger until he burst through the roof of the plant. He was Zord sized in no time at all.

"Need a hand?" a voice called over from the door. The Rangers looked over and saw power Force along with the rest of the Rangers.

"Great timing guys. Divatox, you and Power Force sort out the Drones, the rest of us are gonna need the Zords!" Kane said.

"Right!" they all replied. While the six non-rangers ran off to face the Drones, the Rangers called on their Zords.

"SAMURAI SHADOW!"

"SAMURAI SURFER!"

"SAMURAI STORM!"

"SAMURAI SCORPION!"

"SAMURAI SPIDER!"

"SAMURAI SEARCHER!"

"SAMURAI SENTINEL!"

"SAMURAI SCORCHER!"

"SAMURAI STAR!"

"SAMURAI SENTURION!"

"It's been a while since they've seen any real action! I hope they haven't gone rusty!" Niko joked as the Zords appeared before them. They teleported into the control decks and activated the Zords.

"Okay, I don't know about you guys, but I just wanna get this over with! Activate the Megazords!" Kane said.

"MEGAZORD SEQUENCE INITIATE!" they all called out. The Zords split into two groups. Searcher, Surfer, Shadow, Spider and Storm in one group, Sentinel, Senturion, Scorcher, Star and Scorpion in the other.

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.

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 MEGAZORDS ALPHA AND BETA, ON-LINE!" they all called out. Louise sat at command of Megazord Beta, Kane at the front of Megazord Alpha. They all looked down and watched their allies slicing through the masses of drones.

Mageazord Beta stepped forward and squashed a few dozen Drones under foot. "Oops!" Louise said.

"Lou, you know you're not meant to do that!" Kane scorned her.

"Sorry, it's just so tempting!" Louise said back.

"Okay, what we doing? Slice and flare?" Kane asked.

"Go for it!" his second in command replied.

"SOLAR FLARE!" the Rangers aboard Megazord Alpha called out. The first Samurai Megazord flapped its wings and took to the air. Thrusting its hand into the air, a bolt of energy came from it and shot into the sky. As the monster watched the flying Megazord, the second one came in with its sword powered up and attacked him.

He was injured, but not finished yet. That's when the first Megazord's attack really began. 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 monster never stood a chance against the Megazord's devastating attack, he was obliterated the moment it struck.

"How are you guys doing?" Kane said through his communicator to the warriors down on the ground.

"We've just got a few more to take care of, you guys just get to your families!" Jandra replied.

The Rangers didn't need any more prompting. They teleported down to the ground and walked over to the captive people. Kane immediately released them.

"Thank you! Who are you?" Kane's father asked.

"We're the Samurai Rangers, but that's not all, I'm also. . ." Kane said, removing his helmet, "you're son!"

"Kane!" his Mother and father shouted at once. Then Sara removed her helmet too.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad!" she said, only just holding back the tears. The four of them embraced.

The other captives stared in amazement. Next, Michelle and Lee both removed their helmets. Michelle burst into tears as her parents silently embraced her. Lee just stared silently at him Mother for a moment, he could hardly believe they were finally back together, and she could hardly believe that he was one of the Rangers! Suddenly, they just pulled together and hugged.

Chad looked at Mike for a moment. He had to remind himself that Mike knew nothing of the events of the few days before. Mike hadn't been the Gold Ranger who appeared and caused total disarray. He took off his helmet and said, "Hi bro."

Mike looked at him and smiled. "Hey bro. I had a feeling you were okay!"

Niko was next. His little brother was standing there, completely alone. He could see him looking around at the remaining Rangers, praying that one of them was his last surviving family. Niko immediately pulled off his helmet, ran over to his brother and picked him up.

"Nikki!" the little boy cried out as he wrapped his arms around his older brother's shoulders.

"I missed ya, big guy!" Niko said, a tear rolling down his cheek.

Now came the last one, a little boy, the youngest of the lot. He stood there, watching all the other reunions and almost starting to lose hope that his only relative would be there.

"You looking for me?" the White Ranger asked.

The boy must have known on some other level that it was his brother inside the suit. The built-in voice distorter disguised his voice, but the boy still knew. "Matt! Matt!" he squealed as he ran and jumped into the White Ranger's arms.

"Hey, hold on a minute!" Matt said, putting him back down. He pulled his helmet off, then knelt down to the boy. "Now where was I?" he asked.

"Right here!" Mark said. He threw his arms round Matt again and kissed him on the cheek.

"I never gave up on you!" Matt said. It was almost like a dream. This was all he had wanted since the day Ultima attacked. Now they were reunited, they all were.

"Come on." Louise said to Sean and Lucy. "Let's leave them to it!" Louise put an arm around each of the other Rangers as they all walked away. "We may not have any family any more, but as long as we're all Rangers, we'll have each other!"


"I name this City, New Angel Grove!" Kane called out to the crowd, cutting a ribbon.

"Thank you, Power Rangers. This is a great day. Our city will now stand as a symbol to our freedom, the site of humanity's rebirth, and the starting place for the recovery of our species. The Rangers will defeat our enemies, and then we can take back this world, that is what New Angel Grove shall always stand for!" the Mayor called out.

A massive cheer came up from the people and the Rangers stood waving to the population, their families standing proudly at the front of the crowd.