End of an Era (Power Rangers)

In the Storage Room of the Command Center, the Implosion Generator detonator clock has reached the 50 seconds remaining mark! Either the henchmonsters' meddling with it caused it to speed up a bit, or it's been upwards to about 16 hours since they activated it. Rito Revolto & Goldar stare as much impatiently as nervously at the central bomb sphere, both moaning and biting their fingertips worriedly. Rito groans, "I don't like this thing! Ohhh, the suspense is KILLING me!", and Goldar's fearful teeth chattering grows a bit louder. From out of nowhere, Rita Repulsa's voice echoes into the room, screaming, "ALRIGHT, you numbskulls! Go get the crystal! NOW!" That's the call they've been waiting for, so the two henchmonsters grab their respective swords and arise. Rito exclaims, "Whoa! Finally! We're outta here!" Goldar urges, "We gotta hurry! The Implosion Device is gonna blow!" Rito remarks, "Talk about cuttin' it close!", just before he activates his personal teleportation method (his skull glowing orange, his body glowing blue, his body shrinking and hitching a ride in his head as it bounces off into the air), with Goldar doing the same (the orange flame body engulf method). They both vanish from the Storage Room, and a tall black box behind them reads in red letters "Alpha 4"! In the Command Center console room, Alpha 5 speaks to Tanya, filling her in on some details. He begins to say, "Morphing is when you...", only to be cut off when both Rito & Goldar teleport into the other side of the room! Alpha squeals "Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi!" and Tanya screams loudly, as they're taken by surprise by the evil space alien invaders. Rito even seems a bit shocked, groaning in surprise as his head does one of those cartoon astonishment facial extensions (in other words, his face shoots outward towards Alpha & Tanya)! Alpha announces in his typical robotic voice, "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" It doesn't stop Goldar from approaching the Zeo Crystal Transformer on the table in the middle of the room. He reaches in and grabs the completed Zeo Crystal from within it (guess they shouldn't have left it lying around!). Zordon, helpless to stop them, commands, "Goldar! Rito! I ORDER you to leave at once!" The crystal appears to glow with a dark orange color when Goldar picks it up, and informs the Eltarian, "Duhhh, we were just on our way out!" Rito agrees, "Yeah! And so's the Zeo Crystal!" He puts his hand to his mouth and blows a kiss, which causes his head to flip off his body and land perfectly back in place, before shouting the immortal line, "CIAO, BAY-BAY!" Goldar & Rito instantly teleport out with the Zeo Crystal in their possession. Where they teleport to is unknown, but the subject of much debate. Alpha waves his hands around, at a loss for words. Tanya breathes heavily, having just had her first encounter with a monster, make that two!

Less than a moment later, the five Ranger teens teleport into the room, at the exact spot where Rito & Goldar just where. They don't realize anything's amiss, until Alpha exclaims, "Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi!!" Tommy asks, "Alpha, what's wrong?" The automaton points out, "Goldar & Rito have stolen the Zeo Crystal!" Kat heads over to the empty Transformer and gasps with her hand at her mouth, "Oh no!" Things only get worse, a level or two below them. The Implosion Generator detonator begins to tick louder and louder, the blinking device towers placed throughout the room also grow more intense. The central sphere's clock reaches 5 seconds and counting down! The digital display strikes zero, the bomb is activated, and fires off the first implosive burst. In the console room, the whole place comes alive with destructive sparks all over the place, as the entire foundation rumbles beneath their feet. Our heroes brace themselves as best they can, but get knocked nearly off their feet by only the first wave of detonation. Tanya screams, "What's happening?!", but Alpha can only reply in a dazed moan. Zordon orders, "Rangers, you must evacuate the Command Center!" Adam yells back loyally, "We can't leave you!", just before the second set of explosions fire up around him and his teammates. Smoke starts to fill the room, and once the fiery flashing ceases quaking them about, Alpha shouts, "Get out of here NOW, Rangers! Hurry! GO!" Rocky urges as loud as he can, "Come with us, Alpha!" The third set of implosive bursts then begin ripping through the Command Center, totally flooring our heroes, as debris flies through the air. Zordon tells his longtime companion, "Alpha, teleport them out, NOW!" Alpha obliges as best he can, walking cautiously across the room and replying, "Ay-yi-yi! Right, Zordon!" When he gets over near the teleportation console, he staggers. Billy screams, "Alpha! Noooooo!" and darts over to aid his pal. Alpha cries, "Ay-yi-yiiii!", while covering his head. Billy dives onto the console next to Alpha, and shields him from the impending blast. Rocky shouts, "No! Billy! What're you doing?!" It's too late, another set of implosive bursts fill the room, causing the console Billy is clutching to explode with a shower of sparks into his frail human body. He groans in agony, attempting to shield his eyes as he takes on the full force of the blinding computer destruction. The moment the flashing grinds to a slight halt, Alpha reaches the teleport section, presses some buttons, and yells, "Teleportation sequence activated!" All six of the weary teenagers are teleported out in a flash, Tanya's teleport color turns out to be Yellow! Once the Rangers are out of the room, Alpha cries, "Ay-yi-yi-yi! Zordonnnnn! I don't know what to do! Ay-yi-yi-yiiiii!!!" Debris rains down on his little robotic head, the consoles start sparking around him, and the whole place becomes a white-flashing inferno of implosive destruction. Alpha seemingly falls against the teleport console, and his screaming trails off.

On the ground level of the desert around the mountain the Command Center is rested atop, the six Ranger teens teleport safely onto the dirt. They're in pretty much the same position as they were when teleported out of the console room, with Billy apart from the rest, his arms held up near his face. The second they touchdown, they slump reluctantly down to the ground. Billy falls limply onto his stomach, apparently unconscious. Adam & Tommy quickly hop back to their feet, and stare up at the Command Center building high above them. Before their very eyes, the whole structure erupts in a massive fireball, debris flying everywhere as the entire building is engulfed in flames! The shockwave from the blast is so great, they're knocked off their feet from the force of the destruction. The Command Center explodes from several points of view, until the fiery sparking blasts swallow the screen, which fades to white. When the smoke clears, the teens are dusting themselves off. Tommy groans and looks around, asking, "Everybody okay?" Tanya, Adam, and Rocky all fail to reply, simply grunting as they struggle to pull themselves up from the ground. Kat sighs a reply to her wannabe boyfriend, "Yeah, I think so." She glances up to the mountain top, before looking down and spotting the missing member of their merry band of Morphin' misfits. Kat screams bloodcurdlingly at what she sees, "BILLY!" Billy lies in the dirt, seemingly devoid of life. Luckily, her voice is so loud that it wakes him up, as he stirs and opens his eyes. The five teens rush over to their injured teammate's side, as he lifts himself up and looks towards the top of the mountain. Billy ignores his own pains to cry, "NO! (cough, cough) PLEASE!" His teammates look at what he's witnessing in agony, a charred, singed husk of what used to be the Command Center. Only the very bottom part of the building remains, with mangled debris sticking out of its smoking carcass. Adam notes somberly, "Ah, man. It's GONE!" Kat gasps, "Zordon and Alpha!" Tanya asks, "Do you think they could have survived?" Tommy frowns angrily and shakes his head, stating, "I don't know." Kat turns to the team leader and wonders, "Tommy, what are we going to do?" He can only look down and slightly shake his head, before replying simply, "But this could be the end of the Power Rangers." Kat sadly mourns the apparent loss of their mentors and friends, and the loss of her birthday due to the time reversion. Tommy, Tanya, Katherine, Adam, Rocky, and Billy all stand up and stare depressingly up at what remains of the Command Center. The ominously dark version of the "Go Go Power Rangers" chime plays in the background.