Aisha approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Sean?”
The man didn’t look up, setting his fingers on another set of keys on the Command Center’s control board.
“Sean?”
An exasperated sigh escaped his lips as he cast a nanosecond’s glance over his shoulder. “What, Aisha?” He snapped.
Aisha inhaled a bit, taken aback by his terse response. “You have to get some sleep. It’s been two weeks now.”
“No, no. I can’t. Not yet. Who knows when…”
“But Alpha’s got the scanners on maximum. Billy’s even been working on extending their range. You have to stop before you burn out.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said, going back to his watching of the small monitor next to his hand. A tiny squeak of servomotors broke him from his vigil, only momentarily.
“Ay-yi-yii! Sean! What are you still doing here?” Alpha-5, the android keeper of the Command Center, asked.
“Just watching the monitors, Alpha,” Sean said, still working. “Must make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
“Even too much…”
“I...WILL…BE…FINE!” The Gold Ranger emphasized, turning to look at the screens again.
Aisha crossed her arms over her chest, turning her head away to hide the tears that formed. Sean blinked and sighed, about to turn to her when the alarm of the Command Center rang out.
"Is it them, Alpha!" Sean asked, quickly working the buttons of the command board.
Alpha shook his head. "No. It is a monster. An unusual monster..."
"Contact the other Rangers," Zordon ordered.
"Ick!" Kimberly noted.
"You can say that again," Rocky agreed.
"Something about this monster is different," Alpha said, pressing buttons on the control pad. "Ay-yi-yi! It's hard to pinpoint!"
"Keep trying, Alpha," Zordon boomed. "Zedd isn't keen on sending down monsters without purpose."
"While you keep trying," Tommy began, "we'll try and slow him down!"
"Let's do it, guys!" Sean said, removing his morpher from its hidden pocket dimension. The others nodded in affirmative.
"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME! WHITE RANGER POWER!"
"BLACK RANGER POWER!"
"PINK RANGER POWER!"
"BLUE RANGER POWER!"
"YELLOW RANGER POWER!"
"RED RANGER POWER!"
"GOLD RHINO POWER!"
They morphed into their respective identities and teleported off.
Seven multicolored beams of energy deposited the MMPR onto the top of the First National Bank.
"Let's get to work!" Sean stepped up near the edge of the building. The Rangers were shocked at Sean's sudden command. Sean knew his role. Sure, he was supposed to be leader, but he relinquished it to the man whom he considered to be more aptly suited for the job: Tommy. Only if Tommy wasn't available did Sean step in.
Before they could say anything else, Sean leapt from the roof, slamming the Hammer of Hykrania into the back of the monster. The other Rangers followed suit, taking out their respective weapons against Dimension Demon.
The monster, however, had other plans.
Iridescent purple globules of power sprung forth from a small headband. They floated towards the Rangers, distorted the space-time continuum which caused the Rangers great pain. The Demon made good use of their agonizing confusion, rushing at them and striking their chests.
"This sucks!" Kim remarked as she stood up, weakly.
"Suck it up, Kimberly!" Sean said, picking up his dropped hammer. "It's just another monster!"
He said it so harshly that the tremor in Kim's voice was noticeable. "Well..."
"Hey, man!" Tommy jumped in, indignant. "Lay off!"
Dimension Demon kicked into high gear, generating another set of purple orbs. Encapsulated gravitic energies worked negatively against the positive energy fields of the Rangers, reacting so that the Rangers were flung off their feet. Sean roared, shaking off the effects. Rushing the monster, his hammer at the ready, Sean grabbed, firmly, with one hand and hefted Dimension Demon off the ground. He drew back his weapon-arm and slammed the hammer, repeatedly, in the monster's chest. The sparks flew rapidly as each blow struck true.
"Sean!" Aisha called out.
"Whoa! He's like a machine!" Rocky commented.
"Save some for us, man!" Adam said. Either Sean didn't hear him or didn't care to hear as he continued his relentless assault.
"I'm tired of holding back!" The Gold Ranger exclaimed. "I'm tired of being the backup! It's time for action!"
Sean lifted the monster up and over, slamming him into the ground. Again, he lifted the hammer and pounded the monster's chest.
"I'm tired! Tired! TIRED! TIRED!!! TIRED!!!!!" With each "tired", Sean brought his weapon down, the Belt of Strength firmly engaged. "Damn! DAMN! DAMN!"
The familiar seven-chime beep from their communicators rang out. Tommy picked up. "Go ahead, Alpha!"
"Rangers..." Alpha began, "...I've finished scanning the creature! Ay-yi-yi! His body is composed of unstable dimensional particles! From what I've been detecting, he has some sort of dimensional powers! Be careful, Rangers!"
Sean lifted his arm again but stopped. The monster no longer moved. Rather, it laid there, an odd grin on its face. Of all things...this was too weird, even for a wired up Sean.
"Wha...?"
In an instant, the monster's body detonated, gravitic energies within coalescing into a massive quantum burst that caught the Gold Ranger full-bore.
The Rangers reacted a second too slow. Even Sean, whose reflexed were substantially greater than even Tommy's, was not quick enough. As the smoke started to clear, a startling sight greeted the Rangers.
Within the area, a glowing black "tear" in the space pulsated with purple energy. From Aisha's vantage, she could see the Gold Ranger sprawled on the ground, his uniform shimmering with the telltale signs of power failure. She made to go towards him, but the appearance of Zedd, Rita, and the other Evil Space Aliens stopped her.
"Zedd!" Rocky stated the obvious.
"Oh, no!" Kimberly exclaimed.
"Oh, yes!" Zedd said, the humour obvious, even from behind the silver grille that covered his mouth.
Tommy stepped to the front. "What do you want!"
The villain looked over his shoulder at the downed form of Sean, watching as his morph finally dropped. "I came to say goodbye, Rangers. Goodbye to the Gold Ranger!"
"What!"
"You're out of your mind, Zedd!" Aisha exclaimed. "And I mean that literally and figuratively!"
Zedd laughed. "Oh, I'm quite serious, Yellow Ranger. Your little boyfriend is going 'bye-bye', courtesy of Dimension Demon." He thrust out his hand. "ATTACK!"
At his command, the aliens rushed the Rangers, pairing off. Goldar renewed his rivalry with the White Ranger whilst Scorpina sought to settle the old score with Adam. Rita brandished her wand, menacingly, at Aisha. The Red Ranger found himself face-to-skull with Rito and Billy had to contend with Squatt. Kimberly didn't think Baboo would have been much of a warrior and she found out how wrong she was when he tossed an energy globule at her.
The perception was deceiving, of course. It was all a distraction, drawing attention away from the dramatic scene which had begun to unfold.
Zedd turned his Z-Staff upside-down, igniting it with electricity as he slammed it into the small of Sean's back. The Gold Ranger cried out as voltage poured through his body. Zedd lifted his staff again, plunging more electricity into him.
"Now, you know how it feels, Sean!" Zedd gleefully, observed. "How all those monsters felt when they fought you and that blasted hammer! All that electricity! All that power! Are your organs ready to burst! Is your blood boiling! Scream, Sean! SCREAM!!!!!"
And Sean did just that: scream. He sought to fight his way out of it but to no avail. It overcame his training, his discipline. He wanted to will his morpher into existence. Zedd's staff blocked the location on his back.
"Is...that...all...you got...Ed?" Sean taunted, weakly. "Fight me...like...a man." He tried to get up. A swift blow from the staff to his ribs silenced that notion quickly. Sean landed on his back, looking up at Zedd, visor glowing crimson.
"No more, Gold Ranger!" He said. "No more fun and games. No more cat and mouse. No more negative and positive. This...THIS is the end of you!"
The staff pulsated with red energy. Sean watched, wide-eyed, as the power enveloped him. It lifted the man up, floating him over to the portal.
"STOP!" Aisha screamed, tossing her Power Daggers at Zedd. Rita's magic, however, knocked them down before it turned on Aisha. Searing pain ripped through her.
"NO!" Sean protested, struggling to break free of the magical grip. The portal opened wider, like some monstrous maw waiting to be fed. The maddening grip of Zedd's power frustrated the Gold Ranger.
Then...it happened.
"NO!" Tommy exclaimed, trying to push past the winged gold monkey.
"NO!" Kimberly cried, her efforts in vain against Baboo.
"NO!" Rocky shouted, his Power Sword's energy used against him by Rito.
"NO!" Billy's mind was filled with a sense of dread, defeat and pain, Squatt's Barappa Gun slamming into him.
"NO!" Adam shouted as Scorpina kicked him in the mouth.
Aisha's panicked voice was the most heart-wrenching of all. "SEAN! SEAN, NO!"
The portal consumed the form of Sean Morissette. His eyes were frantic, knowing that his fate was sealed.
"I LOVE Y--...!" And the portal closed in on him.
The Yellow Ranger screamed like she had never screamed before. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
The Evil Space Aliens laughed, maniacally, Zedd's cackling the heartiest of them all. A last minute blast to all the Rangers and they stepped back.
"It's all over for you, Rangers!" Rita screeched.
"See ya! Wouldn't want to be ya!" Goldar hissed.
Rito laughed so hard that he was bent over.
"Your days are numbered, Rangers!" Zedd interjected. "With the power of Mistress MonsterMaker...and the Gold Ranger gone...YOU are doomed! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAAHHA!"
The power of teleportation took them, the laughter still lingering in the air.
The Rangers rushed over to the location of the portal. Aisha turned to Billy, her breath coming out in panicked gasps. "Billy!" Her hands grabbed at his uniform top. "Please...Please tell me there's a way to find him! Oh, God, please...Billy!"
"We have to get back to the Command Center!" The Blue Ranger said. "Now!"
They all tapped their belt buckles, teleporting away.
As soon as they lighted down, Billy was already out of his helmet, moving to the computer. Alpha's plexisteel fingers worked almost as frantically as Billy's. Aisha paced the floor.
"Billy?" Tommy asked.
"Sh!" Billy shushed, his face a mask of concentration.
"I am detecting the tear in the dimensional interface, Billy," Alpha reported. "Isolating the frequency." A pause. "It's difficult. Too much interference."
Billy continued his work. "I'll narrow the field band. That should give us something to work with. Adam!" He pointed to one of the other control panels. "Modulate the dimensional interspectral reverberator. Keep it at 300 megadivs or lower."
The Black Ranger did as he was told, watching the monitors carefully. His dark eyes scanned the information. He made sure that he paid attention to certain nuances within the dimensional spectrum, but even he knew, before Billy sighed, that it was too late. He cast an uncertain glance over his shoulder at Billy who met his eyes, turning away slowly to look at Aisha.
Aisha let a small shudder out before breaking down into tears again.
"I'm sorry, Aisha," Billy said, trembling from a combination of anger and sadness. "He...His signature wasn't strong enough to lock on to. We couldn't hold him."
She cradled against Rocky, crying into his chest, staining the front of his uniform with her tears. Rocky himself looked on the verge of releasing, red-rimmed eyes staring at Billy. Kimberly was there to comfort her as well, rubbing her back and crying with her.
Tommy slammed his hand into the control panel, sending up a shower of sparks. He looked at Billy. "Can you do it now?"
Billy could see the hidden command within the question. Gloved fingers glided across the panels, bringing up particular folders and files. Codes encrypted with hexageometric algorithms were brought to the surface, uncovered by Billy's probing. When the proper sequence was found, Billy wasted little time in pressing the * ENTER * key.
"What is it, MonsterMaker?" Zedd demanded. "Can't you see? We're having a party!"
"My master..." She began, her electric blue eyes moving in a most erratic manner. "I...I am receiving...an...unauthorized...packet of infor-..." MonsterMaker never got to finish her sentence. From the computer's station, smoke belched and clouded the air. The electronic wail of the computer pierced even Zedd's ears. In a matter of seconds, the main monitor exploded, sending shards of glass and metal through the air.
Zedd picked himself off the floor, moving over to MonsterMaker, an utter mess of sputtering wires and flaming circuits. "Wha...What...? MonsterMaker..."
"It would appear, my lord, that MonsterMaker was uploaded with a virus which forced an overload of her power matrix," Finster offered. "And only one Earthling has the knowledge to do that."
"The Blue Ranger!"
The palace shook in its very foundations with Zedd's scream.
"How?" Kimberly asked.
"We've been working on it for weeks now. A virus that would destroy MonsterMaker by turning her own energies against her."
"The balance within the Morphin' Grid has been restored," Zordon announced.
Aisha continued to cry.
Suddenly, a bright flash of iridescent blue light filled the confines of the Command Center.
"Ay-yi-yii!" Alpha cried out. "What's going on?!"
"I don't know, Alpha," Zordon sought to assure the tiny automaton.
"Look!" Tommy pointed towards the far wall.
A ball of energy coalesced from the blue light and exploded before their very eyes, overloading their senses and the power of their headquarters.
The Command Center went completely dark.