"A Thunderous Return"

High above the blue marble called Earth, entrenched within the white sands of the moon, the gleaming spires of metal that is the Machine Imperial Palace bustled with energy. Metal men – Cogs – worked diligently in the various metal shops that comprised some of the palace. Small space planes – Quadrafighters – were being built and/or repaired by specially outfitted Cogs who multi-tasked with six arms loaded with tools.

From his open port, King Mondo, sovereign of the Machine Empire, gazed upon the azure colored planet. He surveyed various events around the globe – a volcano was erupting on a small island in the South Pacific, a scientist in Japan had made a revolutionary breakthrough in artificial intelligence, the Red and Pink Zeo Rangers were talking to a young man who said he was the Gold Ranger, a recreation of the Dutch myth of the boy and the dyke, a tribal mating ritual in Africa…

“WHAT?!” Mondo screamed aloud when he realized what had passed his sight. A quick re-adjustment of his optic sensors and he zoomed in on the trio standing outside of Angel Grove. For good measure, he adjusted his long-range auditory receptors.

“Like I told you, I’m the Gold Ranger,” the large dark human said.

“You can’t be,” Tommy said. “Jason is the Gold Ranger.”

“Jason? Red Ranger Jason? Last time I checked, I was the one and only Gold Ranger!”

“Prove it then,” Katherine piped up.

“I don’t even know who you are! How can I be sure you’re not a trap set by Zedd?!”

“Zedd?” Tommy said, puzzled. “Zedd’s gone to Galaxy M51.”

The man looked at them strangely. Mondo recorded his facial features and analyzed them. Cross-referencing them with emotional states, he determined that the man was confused – unsure about what he was hearing.

“Machina, get in here quickly, my darling,” he spoke into the communications system. “Bring Klank with you!”

Mondo focused his attention back onto those accursed Rangers and their conversations. He watched as the one called Sean pulled something from behind his back.

“A power morpher!” Tommy exclaimed, eyes wide as if he hadn’t seen this particular device in ages.

“Yes,” Sean said sadly, “A forgotten relic of a place I’ll probably never see again.”

He wasn’t sure if it would work here in this particular dimension. He really didn’t care. Nothing mattered anymore. Aisha was gone, locked in a dimension he’d never see again. He smiled inwardly. She was so beautiful, so full of life and laughter. That night before was forever burned into his mind. - the touch of her hand, the feel of her skin, the scent of her perfume.

The mean way that he had treated her. Stupid man.

All of that was gone.

The gold rhinoceros head gleamed brightly in the sunlight, reflecting some of the light into Sean’s face. A gleam came from his gold chain. It was the chain Aisha gave him for his twentieth birthday. It meant so much to him.

Clasping the morpher firmly in his hand, he shouted, “GOLD RHINO POWER!”

A bolt of energy shot down from the sky and enveloped him, momentarily blinding Tommy and Kat. When it subsided, there was Sean, clothed in the uniform of the Gold Rhino Power Ranger. The Hammer of Hykrania crackled with energy, sending it to various portions of his body. A large visage of a rhino marked his helmet. His long flowing cape, trimmed with gold, blew in the breeze of the valley.

“Wow!” Kat breathed.

Tommy moved forward, completely taken aback by the spectacle before him. Suddenly, he gasped and fell forward, clutching at his chest. Kat made a move towards him only to be caught in the same malady as Tommy.

Twenty miles away, the controls of the Power Chamber started blinking on and off. Alpha rushed around in his usual android manner, wailing at the chaos in the Chamber. Not even the reassuring tones of Zordon could help.

Suddenly, Alpha’s circuitry went haywire, smoke pouring from his units. Zordon’s image flickered in his blue mist filled tube as if he were losing power.

Thirty miles away, at Ernie’s Juice Bar, the rest of the Zeo Rangers – Adam Park, Rocky De Santos, and Tanya Sloane – fell forward, complaining of stomach spasms and chest pains.

“My…my stomach…feels like…” Rocky exclaimed before collapsing on the floor.

“Arghh!” Adam screamed and scrambled for Tanya, who had already passed out. Patrons of the bar were trying to attend to them when Billy arrived. Seeing his friends down and in obvious pain, Billy Cranston rushed to their sides.

“What happened to them?” he questioned the others.

“They just started going into convulsions!” Ernie exclaimed. “One moment they were fine and they next thing you know, they were on the floor!”

Eugene “Skull” Skullovich rushed back over to Farkus “Bulk” Bulkmeyer, who stayed to apply medical attention to them. “I contacted the ambulance. They should be here in a few minutes. How are they?”

Billy leaned over to listen to Rocky’s chest and his eyes widened. “There’s no heartbeat! He’s gone into cardiac arrest! I have to administer CPR!” He looked over at Adam and Tanya. “Bulk! Skull! You may have to do it to them!”

As Billy started the cardiopulmonary resuscitation, his mind raced at what was wrong. What this some plan by Mondo and Machina? Did they somehow manage to infect the Rangers with some disease in an effort to incapacitate them?

He didn’t have the answers and right now, he only wanted to save the lives of his friends.

Sean knelt near the prone form of Tommy and turned him over on his back. “Tommy! What’s the matter?!”

Through the pain, Tommy shook his head and convulsed again, vomiting blood onto the ground. Sean glanced over at Katherine who was unconscious from the pain. He pressed a hidden button on his helmet, activating his mediscanner. The device ran up and down Tommy’s body but couldn’t find any physical problems.

His mind clicked. Wasn’t he from another universe? What if his morphing caused this? The Morphin’ Grid was calibrated for only this universe’s Rangers. Surely, it couldn’t handle the massive power drain required to power him. That had to be it!

“Gold Ranger, power down!” Sean exclaimed and his uniform melted off of him.

Almost immediately, Tommy stopped convulsing. He looked around in confusion as the pain was wiped from his sweat-covered face. He glanced at Sean before searching for Katherine who was beginning to stir. Sean got up from Tommy’s side and helped her to her feet. He reached down and helped Tommy up as well.

“Wh-what happened?” Katherine asked, still trying to catch her breath and shake off the strange effects.

“I think I know what may have happened, but I need to speak with Billy,” Sean said.

Tommy pulled his arm violently away from Sean’s grasp, also pulling Katherine over and away from the large man. “I don’t think so.”

Sean raised an eyebrow. “Tommy, we don’t have time for this. I need to speak with Zordon and Billy.”

“I don’t know who you are,” Tommy said, shaking his head, “or what your plan is, but you’re not getting away with it.” He wiped his blood stained mouth with the back of his hand before staring icily at Sean. “You can go tell Mondo that his plan didn’t work.”

“Who the hell is Mondo?” Sean asked, puzzled. “Look, Tommy, I kinda know what happened, but if you just let me…” But he didn’t get a chance to finish as Tommy and Katherine activated their teleport beams. Crimson and rose colored beams of energy enveloped them, rocketing them away from Sean.

He looked into the air, following their energy beams with his eyes. If the Command Center was still in the same spot, that is where they would be heading.

Grabbing a pitcher that was lying on the blanket from their interrupted picnic, he drained it of its contents, placing it back down after he was finished. He closed his eyes, focusing on his inner power – his chi. He felt it build up within his legs, prepping his lungs and heart. Suddenly, Sean bolted forward, propelled faster than any normal human could run, heading towards the Power Chamber.

Mondo swung his staff around, scratching his metallic chin. He had watched the whole situation happen between them, silently wondering what this stranger was up to. The uniform that he wore bore a striking resemblance to the old uniforms of the Power Rangers. The only thing that actually was different was the raised coin on his chestplate and the cape.

And when he morphed, the Morphin’ Grid was hit with such a positive energy drainage that it had actually taken him aback. He had never felt this powerful before. As the man de-morphed, the effect was negated.

That hammer looked familiar, too. He was trying to recall where he had seen it from when his wife, Machina, and his son, Sprocket, came into the room followed by Klank and Orbus.

“What's going on, my darling?” Machina asked in her melodious voice.

“We may have a way to finally rid ourselves of the Power Rangers for good!” Mondo said.

“How's that, Pop?” Sprocket, heir to the throne of the Machine Empire, asked, waddling over near his father.

“I just observed an event which spells doom for the Rangers. Tell me. Did you all feel a surge of power in the Morphin' Grid?”

“As a matta a fact, Ah did, Ye Majesty,” Klank responded in his usual Engineering droid accent. High-pitched Orbus confirmed his feelings as did his wife and son.

“So what does this mean?” Machina queried, fanning herself with her metal fan of green and gold.

“As you know, the Morphin' Grid is maintained by the positive and negative aspects of good and evil. So long as Zordon and his accursed Power Rangers exist and we struggle against them, the Morphin' Grid will exist. Today, a new element arrived into the equation. There is another Gold Ranger.”

“Oh my!” Machina exclaimed, fanning herself even more.

“It's already bad enough we have one,” Sprocket said, “Now we have to contend with two!”

“Yes, I thought so, too, my son,” Mondo smiled, if he could. “However, after observing him 'morph', it places a serious drain on the positive aspect of the Morphin' Grid. It actually weakens the Power Rangers. I saw it with my own two optical sensors. The other Rangers collapsed and started to die. Because their life forces are tied into the Morphin' Grid, this drain actually started to kill them!”

“So, ye're sayin' tha' we need tae force this new Gold Ranger into a battle so tha' he can drain the power o' the other Rangers?” Klank asked, rubbing his hands together.

“Yes!” Mondo exclaimed. “And when he does morph, we can attack the Power Chamber...” The monarch turned back towards the view of Earth. “...and destroy the Rangers once and for all!”

Part I / Part II / Part III / Part IV / Part V / Part VI / Part VII
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