"A Thunderous Return"

Five beams of energy landed right behind Sean as he managed to force open two inches of the doors. They saw as the door mechanisms were starting to smoke from the strain of trying to keep shut.

“Hey!” Tommy shouted. “Stop that right now!”

Either Sean didn’t hear them or didn’t care because he still tried to force open the doors.

“Hey, you heard the man!” Rocky exclaimed, stepping a bit closer to Sean. When Sean didn’t turn around, Rocky put his hand on the man’s left shoulder. When he did, Sean stopped. He stopped and looked at Rocky with a look of concentration, recognition and.…

…Anger.

Reaching over with his right hand, Sean grabbed Rocky by his wrist, placed his other hand under Rocky’s armpit, and slammed the Blue Zeo Ranger over into the ground.

“My back!” Rocky exclaimed, clutching his back in pain.

The other Rangers rushed over to him, pushing Sean away from him, the two female Rangers trying to help Rocky up. Tommy and Adam struck a defensive pose in front of Sean who just looked like he was angry and sad at the same time.

“Let me speak with Zordon,” Sean said through gritted teeth.

“It ain’t gonna happen, man!” Tommy replied.

“If you will just let me talk to Zordon and Billy, I can explain this!”

“Like we’re supposed to believe you!”

“Tommy, I know this is going to be hard to believe,” Sean said, visibly calming down. “But I am not from this dimension. I am from another dimension.”

“Riiight!” Adam said.

Sean clasped his hands in front of his face, trying to keep calm and fight off his growing frustration. “Adam. Tommy, listen to me. I’m telling you the truth! Why won’t you believe me?!”

“Maybe because of what happened just now! Maybe because we almost died when you morphed! Maybe because you know things that no one else could know unless they are on the side of evil!”

“Or from another dimension, damn you!” the man cursed. “I must get inside and talk to Zordon!”

“It isn’t gonna happen, man,” Tommy said in a quiet voice and dropped slightly lower into a fighting stance. “It ain’t gonna happen.”

“Tommy,” Sean said, seeing the situation about to explode into violence. “Don’t do this, man. ‘Never escalate a battle.’ Isn’t that one of the rules, Tommy? Never escalate a battle.”

Tommy looked at him slightly before dropping into another stance. “This time, we have to. You pose a threat to us and we can’t let that happen.”

“Of course you can't,” a metallic voice rang out from behind them. They turned to see the sunlight gleaming off the blue hull of King Mondo. “Then again, you can't really stop it either.”

“Mondo!” they all exclaimed except for Sean who stated, “Who the hell are you?”

“I think I taught you too well how to lie, Sean Morissette,” Mondo said. “You're beginning to actually believe you don't know me!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Now that I have found a way to tap into the Morphin' Grid, I can finally be rid of these accursed Rangers!” the machine king lied waving his staff around. “Morph into your faux Gold Ranger disguise and drain the Power Chamber dry of energy!”

“I don’t know who you are or what you’re talking about, but I think you have me confused with someone else,” Sean said calmly.

“I knew it!” Tommy hissed. “You’ve been lying to us all the time!”

“Tommy…” Sean warned.

“Get him!” the leader of the Zeo Rangers ordered the others. Sean flipped backwards, over and over and over, until he got some breathing room to jump into the open sand. He turned back around and was greeted with a front kick from Katherine. He rolled with the blow, crouching and leg sweeping her. She thudded to the ground.

He stood up and faced off against Adam and Tanya who were working in tandem to keep him off-balance and attack at the same time. Sean blocked a knife-edged chop from Tanya, twisted her wrist and thrust his own chop at her throat, forcing her to back off. Adam managed to kick him in his side and followed up with a savate kick to the side of his head. Before he had a chance to regroup, Rocky kicked him between the shoulder blades. He spun on his heel and hook-kicked him behind the head.

Sean fell to the ground. He felt two pairs of hands pick him up. Utilizing the lifting momentum, Sean flipped over and kicked out Adam’s knee. Adam yelped in pain and released Sean who brought a stiff Steel Knee to Rocky’s abdomen. A forearm shot to the face followed with Rocky letting go and stumbling back. Sean kicked Rocky in the stomach again before going to his side, bringing his right leg straight up, grabbing it and forcefully bringing it down across the back of Rocky’s neck. The Blue Zeo Ranger moaned, his eyes closing as the comforting presence of unconsciousness took him.

From his peripheral vision, Sean saw a glimmer of yellow. Momentarily distracted by thoughts of his beloved, Tanya landed a side kick to his head. The man reached up, grabbed her leg, and tripped her. He punched her squarely in the solar plexus, forcing the air from the Yellow Zeo Ranger and knocking her unconscious.

Adam saw this and screamed. He lunged for Sean who was trying to fend off an attack from Katherine. Katherine tornado kicked, but Sean anticipated it and ducked. Adam brought an elbow down into his spine. Flipping over Sean’s back, Adam punched Sean in the face and followed it with another punch. He continued to punch towards the man who blocked nearly all of them. As Adam was about to throw another punch, Sean grabbed his hand, twisted sharply to the right and forcing it backwards. He picked Adam up in a gorilla press, but a stiff kick from Katherine to his kidneys forced him to drop the Green Zeo Ranger.

Katherine followed up her onslaught with a back kick to his chest. He absorbed it and returned the favor, knocking the Pink Zeo Ranger back into the sand. Some sand got into her eyes as she struggled to get up, but as she cleared the particles of silica from her eyes, she made out the shadow of someone coming down on her. Sean had leapt into the air and kicked her squarely in the jaw. Katherine fell to the ground in an unconscious heap.

Mondo clapped wildly, screaming encouragement to Sean.

Adam managed to get back up, but Sean thrust out two fingers to the side of his head. His eyes rolled as he fell to the ground.

Four down, one to go. That only leaves Tommy.

The Red Zeo Ranger and Sean faced each other. They both started out with kicks, chops, and blows that really did nothing but feel each other out. Tommy was the first to start with a wicked tornado kick followed by a foot sweep. Sean managed to duck both. He flipped onto his hands, latching his ankles around Tommy’s neck. He twisted his body, flipping Tommy over and down to the ground. Taking his right foot, Sean brought the heel down into the chest of the Red Zeo Ranger. Tommy managed to slip under the kick and kip up to his feet. Sean rolled through quickly and jumped to his feet as well. They circled again with Sean taking the offensive and thrusting two fingers out to the forearm of Tommy.

What the…! Tommy thought as he felt his forearm and left hand go completely numb.

Tommy tried to land a blow, but Sean performed a reverse handsword and thrust out two fingers again, this time in his upper right thigh. His whole right leg went numb. He couldn’t even stand on it as he tried to catch himself from falling but was helped by a leg sweep from Sean. As he fell to the ground, the large man was on him in an instant, thrusting his fingers at various points on his body. Tommy felt as his whole body went numb and he couldn’t move it. Not even his mouth would work as the man hit near his larynx.

Sean stood up and over the body of the prone Red Ranger. “I didn’t want to do this Tommy. You forced me.”

Tommy tried to respond, but no sound came from his mouth. Sean shook his head and turned to the laughing form of Mondo who was thoroughly enjoying this.

“Finish them, my servant,” Mondo ordered. “I will reward you greatly.”

Sean smiled at Mondo, a smile that made even the metal king nervous slightly. “The old make-them-think-you’re-on-my-side-but-really-not trick.”

Mondo laughed again. “But it worked, didn't it? The Rangers have been defeated and shortly, you will be, too.”

“I don’t think so, Mondo, is it? I’m taking you down.” And Sean struck a fighting stance. He ran towards Mondo, leaping into the air, intent on landing a kick.

“Foolish human!” Mondo shouted, lancing out with a bolt of blue energy from his staff. It struck Sean directly in the chest, flinging him through the air and crashing to the ground with such force that it formed a crater. Sean forced the darkness of catalepsy from his body and stood up.

“You’ve got to do better than that, ‘Mondomania’,” Sean replied.

“It's King Mondo to you, human!” A voice came from out of the ether. Materializing next to Mondo was a monster. It was at least six feet tall with black body armor. A menacing looking helmet that reminded Sean of Darth Vader stood atop its head. Various wires emerged from various ports all over its body while status lights blinked with colors of red, green, and yellow. A long flowing black cape, trimmed on its bottom with silver metal blades adorned its back. The voice was raspy and metallic, like someone screaming into an empty trashcan.

Immediately, Sean went for his morpher, but then stopped. He realized that if he used it, it would seriously drain the Power Rangers, even to the point of killing them. Mondo would gain control, destroying the Command Center and obliterating Zordon. He pulled his hand from behind his back and struck a defensive pose.

“Why don't you use your powers, Ranger?” Mondo asked. “You cannot possibly hope to win against Terrorizer! He is a third generation battle droid with over two hundred years of experience. It is hopeless!”

“Blah! Blah! Blah!” Sean mocked. “Come on, ya big goof!”

“Destroy him!” Mondo ordered Terrorizer, who had already removed an axe from somewhere. The creature lunged for him bringing the axe down in a wicked arc. Sean flipped out of the way, landing softly on the sand some ways away from him. He sprinted towards the monster, ducking beneath the swinging axe and slamming into him with his full body weight. Sean winced slightly as his body came into contact with the metal armor. Flipping off of him, he tried to pin down the monster’s weapon arm, but it punched him in the back. Grabbing him by the shoulder, Terrorizer threw the man off of him.

Sean rolled on the ground, getting to his feet, but only in time to see Terrorizer throwing a bolt of purple energy at him. It hit him in the chest, flinging him into the air again. He landed uncomfortably on his hip.

“You will die, human!” Terrorizer rasped.

“Not today, Tenderizer!” Sean managed to get out while getting up to his feet.

The monster roared, lunging for and intent on destroying Sean.

Part I / Part II / Part III / Part IV / Part V / Part VI / Part VII
RETURN TO ERA OF EXTREME