The Green Amulet

Our story opens up on a bright & sunny day, in a basketball court behind the Angel Grove Youth Center. All alone in the court we see a young man, around 17 years of age, with long brown hair, and hazel eyes, wearing a green sleeveless shirt, and black jeans. He dribbles the ball a few times, shoots the ball, and makes it into the basket. But this accomplishment does not change his sad & worried demeanor. For this young man is Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger, and a member of the Power Rangers. He is worried & sad because, ever since Lord Zedd’s arrival, his morphing powers have been severely weakened. Ever since he had his powers restored to him a few months ago, Zordon & Alpha told the Green Ranger that they would try to find a way to restore his powers permanently. They also reminded him that at some point Tommy’s powers might fail, leaving him vulnerable to serious injury. Despite this, Tommy was glad to be back with his friends as a Power Ranger. It didn’t bother him that he might lose his powers in battle, if it meant that he was able to defeat another monster & help his friends. However, recent events have taken their toll on Tommy’s powers & his outlook on his status as a Power Ranger. Most of the recent monsters Zedd created, were created with the purpose of draining the last of Tommy’s powers, and weaken the strength of the Power Ranger team. Zordon & Alpha had made their promise to Tommy to find a way to restore his powers permanently a few months ago. Despite the reassurances made by the rest of his teammates, Tommy started to doubt that Zordon & Alpha would be able to pull off the impossible.

“Hey.” A familiar female voice said to him. The voice belonged to Tommy’s girlfriend, Kimberly Harte, the Pink Ranger. She wore a rose-colored dress, with a pink shirt underneath, white sneakers, and her hair up in a ponytail. “How are ya doing?” She asked, noticing the sad & concern look on Tommy’s face.

Tommy picked up the basketball, and as he attempted to make the shot, he wasn’t so successful in getting it in the basket. As the ball banged on the side of the rim, and bounced off the ground, Tommy just sighed & didn’t bother to pick it up. “I’m okay. The results of the bio-scan Alpha ran on me should be coming in today.”

“Well… maybe Zordon will figure out a way to increase your powers.” Kimberly said to him, attempting to make him feel better.

“I don’t wanna get my hopes up Kim. Lord Zedd has been after me ever since he took Rita’s place, and I don’t think he’s gonna quit until I’m stripped of all my powers.” Tommy replied.

Kimberly took one of Tommy’s hands into hers, and gave it a gentle squeeze. She loved Tommy so much; it had hurt her to see him suffering like this. He had done so much for the team in the past; he was always there to help them out, because he was a good fighter, and a loyal friend. Many times, when the Rangers were in trouble, Tommy was always there to come to their rescue. But recent events have reversed the situation, in which the Rangers had to come to Tommy’s rescue. It felt good that at least she, along with the other Rangers, could help Tommy when he was in danger. However, it still had hurt her to know that Tommy’s powers could permanently fade away, at any time in battle. “Why don’t we go to the Youth Center and hang out with the others? It might help to cheer ya’ up.” Kimberly offered.

Tommy looked down at his girlfriend, smiled as he looked upon her beautiful face, and shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, why not.” The two lovebirds walked hand-in-hand from the basketball court to the Youth Center

Meanwhile, at the highly technological fortress known as the Command Center, Alpha-5, the robotic assistant to Zordon, was running some last minute calculations. When he entered the last few button pushes, out came a computer print out with the results. He pulled out the sheet of computer paper, and looked it over.

“WELL ALPHA, WHAT HAVE YOU DISCOVERED?”

“I… I… I’m not exactly sure Zordon. I’ll have to go over the calculations again to make sure they’re right. If they are right, this could be the one we’ve been waiting for Zordon.” The little robot replied.

“I’LL HELP YOU LOOK OVER THE CALCULATIONS ALPHA! THE RESULTS OF THE BIO-SCAN YOU RAN ON TOMMY, COULD DETERMINE TOMMY’S STATUS AS A POWER RANGER!” Zordon reminded him as Alpha began looking over his calculations, while Zordon let his mind look within the computer’s database to review Alpha’s calculations.

Back in Angel Grove, the Rangers had all gathered together at their usual table in the Youth Center. Jason wore a red shirt with blue denim shorts. Billy wore a white & blue striped sleeveless shirt, with a blue long-sleeved shirt tied around his waist, and dark blue shorts. Zack wore a black muscle shirt with a red, green, black, and red striped shorts. He also wore a yellow baseball cap on his head, backwards. Trini wore a yellow shirt with black pants.

“Come on Tommy, cheer up. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never given up on something so easily. Why should you start now?” Jason said, attempting to break Tommy out of his somber mood.

“Because it’s been almost a year since I had my powers restored to me. And it’s almost been a year since Zordon said that he would find a way to permanently restore my powers. But my time is running out guys. The last couple of fights against Zedd’s monsters have really put a big strain on my powers. They’ve gotten so weak that I can’t even summon the Dragon-Zord anymore, let alone stand up to a monster in a fight. If the results come back negative, and Zordon can’t do anything to help me, then it’s only a matter of time before—“

“Hey! Don’t talk like there’s no hope. You’ve gotta have faith in Zordon & Alpha. I know they’ll find an answer.” Trini said to Tommy with a reassuring smile.

“Ever since Zedd started focusing his attacks on you, Zordon & Alpha have redoubled their efforts to find a way to permanently restore your powers. So don’t give up just yet.” Billy said to Tommy.

“Billy’s right. The main thing you’ve gotta do is think positive about this.” Zack said, in relation to Billy’s comment.

Tommy gave a small smile as he looked at his friends. Despite all that has transpired recently, his friends were still there for him. They not only cared about Tommy, the Green Ranger; they cared about Tommy, the man. “Thanks guys. You don’t know how much this means to me. I remember the first time I lost my powers, I said that I didn’t want my friendship with all of you to change. But for a while, it did.”

“Yeah, the last time we had seen you after you the Green Candle thing, was at Power Ranger Day. Then, it was like you vanished off the face of the Earth or something. Where were you all that time anyway?” Jason asked.

“We were very worried about you Tommy.” Kim said to him, holding his hand.

“I guess… I guess I just needed some time alone or something. I mean, I had just lost my powers, I wasn’t gonna be there for you guys when you needed help. That’s a lot that I had to put into consideration. Plus, I had to figure out some way to keep busy, so I wouldn’t think about… ya know.”

“That is understandable. The situation could’ve gone in any sort of direction Tommy. Rita could’ve used that wax against any one of us, not just you. If one of us had lost our powers, we probably would’ve acted the same way.” Billy said to his friend in his usual scientific manner.

“Billy’s right Tommy. Rita targeted you, because she wanted to punish you for joining our side. She also wanted to punish us for bringing you to our side. But that being the case, she could’ve easily used the wax on us, just as she did on you.” Trini said to Tommy.

This made Tommy feel at least a little better. They did have a point though, he couldn’t deny that they did have a valid point. Rita could have easily had tricked one of the others to touch the wax and make a candle for their respective color. Unfortunately, he was the one that Rita had chosen to use the wax on. He just hoped that Zordon would find a means to restore his powers, and soon. Because just sitting around & waiting was driving him nuts.

It was at that moment, that Jason’s wrist communicator went off. The Rangers all looked around, to check if anyone would be eavesdropping on them. Once they did that, the six of them headed out into the hallway. Once they were sure no one else was around, Jason answered his communicator.

“We read you Zordon.”

“RANGERS, TELEPORT TO THE COMMAND CENTER IMMEDIATELY!”

“Right, we’re on our way. Prepare to teleport guys.” Jason said to his comrades. The six of them touched the button on their wrist communicators, and in six flashes of multi-colored light the Rangers were teleported from the Youth Center to the Command Center.

Upon arriving in the Command Center, they looked up at the column of light and saw their mentor, Zordon. Although it was usually difficult to tell Zordon’s facial expressions, since his image was always slightly blurred, right now they could see plainly that the interdimensional being was actually smiling.

“What’s up Zordon? Did you get the results from Tommy’s bio-scan?” Jason asked.

“YES, THE RESULTS ARE IN, AND WE HAVE SOME VERY GOOD NEWS FOR YOU TOMMY!! ALPHA & I HAVE DISCOVERED A WAY TO RESTORE YOUR GREEN RANGER POWERS TO FULL STRENGTH, AND YOU WILL HAVE THEM AT FULL STRENGTH PERMANENTLY!!” Zordon said with pride.

Upon hearing this news, all of the Rangers erupted in a loud explosion of joy, as they all hugged Tommy. This was the news that they’ve all been waiting for, especially Tommy. He had been feeling depressed & had worried himself sick about the results of the bio-scan for most of the day. Now that he had heard from Zordon’s lips that there was a way to restore his powers, he just couldn’t believe that it was true.

“I can’t believe it, I must be dreaming!” Tommy said as he looked at Zordon and the other Rangers.

“It’s no dream Tommy, Zordon & I went over the test results twice to look for errors. We found none. We have found a way to restore your morphing powers to full strength permanently.” Alpha said to his human friend.

“Man, that is morphinomenal music to my ears.” Zack said with a smile.

“Well, what do we do? What’s the answer?” Kim asked eagerly. She was so relieved to hear the news, that she could hardly contain herself.

“YOU ALL REMEMBER ABOUT A YEAR AGO, WHEN RITA’S PALACE HAD COME TO EARTH?” Zordon asked them.

“Yeah, that’s when Rita had activated Goldar’s Zord, Cyclopsus.” Jason replied. That event was something none of them would ever soon forget. Nearly a year ago, shortly after Tommy had lost his powers the first time, Rita had brought her palace to Earth. Once there, her powers had increased tremendously. There she had captured all of the citizens of Angel Grove, placed them in another dimension, reactivated Cyclopsus, Goldar’s War-Zord, and summoned the intergalactic demon, Lokar. The Rangers were nearly defeated in battle, but thanks to some extra information on Cyclopsus’ weakness, the Rangers saved the day.

“WELL, YOU REMEMBER THAT WE HAD MANAGED TO GAIN ACCESS TO HER DATABASE OF SPELLS & SECRETS!! WELL, WHEN ALPHA RAN THE BIO-SCAN ON TOMMY’S REMAINING POWERS, THE COMPUTER HAD BEGUN RUNNING THE ANALYSIS AND SCANNED THROUGH THE EXTRA INFORMATION WE HAD GATHERED FROM RITA’S DATABASE!! THAT IS WHEN WE DISCOVERED THE MEANS TO RESTORE YOUR POWERS TOMMY!! IT IS CALLED… THE GREEN AMULET!!”

“The Green Amulet. What exactly is it?” Tommy wondered anxiously.

“MANY YEARS AGO, THE ANCIENT MORPHING MASTERS DISCOVERED THAT THE FORCES OF DARKNESS HAD UNCOVERED A MYSTERIOUS MAGIC WAX FROM THE GAMMA TRI SYSTEM!! THE SAME WAX THAT RITA USED TO CREATE THE GREEN CANDLE!! THEY KNEW OF THE DANGERS THE WAX COULD POSE TO THE FORCES OF GOODNESS!! THEY ESPECIALLY KNEW OF THE DANGERS IT COULD POSE TO THE POWER RANGERS, AND THE MANY SUCCESSORS TO THE POWER WHO WERE YET TO BE BORN!! SO TO ENSURE THAT IN THE EVENT THAT ANY MEMBER OF THE POWER RANGERS WERE TO LOSE THEIR MORPHING POWERS BECAUSE OF THE WAX, THEY USED THEIR COMBINED MAGIC TO CREATE THE POWER AMULETS!! THERE ARE SIX POWER AMULETS, EACH OF THEM IN YOUR RESPECTIVE RANGER COLORS, RED, BLACK, BLUE, YELLOW, PINK, AND GREEN!! THE MORPHING MASTERS PLACED WITHIN EACH AMULET THE SAME AMOUNT OF POWER THAT RESIDES WITHIN EACH OF YOUR POWER COINS!! THESE WERE CREATED ONLY TO RESTORE YOUR POWERS BACK TO THEIR FULL STRENGTH!! IF YOU WERE TO POSSESS AN AMULET AT YOUR CURRENT STATUS, YOUR POWERS WOULD BE INCREASED A THOUSAND FOLD, AND THAT COULD BE DANGEROUS FOR YOU, PHYSICALLY & MENTALLY!! SINCE TOMMY’S POWERS ARE ALREADY FAILING HIM, HIS AMULET WILL RESTORE HIS POWERS TO THEIR FULL STRENGTH!!” Zordon explained.

“Where can we find these amulets Zordon? Where are they located?” Billy asked.

“THE POWER AMULETS ARE LOCATED WITHIN A CAVERN ON THE THIRD PLANET IN THE GAMMA TRI SYSTEM!!”

“Ironically enough though, that is the same planet which produces the magic wax that created the Green Candle.” Alpha explained.

“You mean the same planet that had the wax that took away my powers originally, is the same place that has the means to restore them?” Tommy asked.

“THAT IS CORRECT TOMMY!!”

“I still can’t believe it, I’m gonna get my powers restored. This is so unreal guys.” Tommy was still reeling from the news he had just received. He had hoped that Zordon would pull through for him. On top of the battles had had against Zedd’s creations, Tommy had a series of nightmares about losing his powers. Now, with the good news that Zordon just passed along to him, he can finally breathe at least a sigh of relief. But he felt that it was too soon for any of them to relax. They still had to retrieve the amulet in order for Tommy’s powers to be restored. “So when do we leave Zordon?” The Green Ranger asked anxiously.

“UNFORTUNATELY TOMMY, THIS IS ONE JOURNEY THAT YOU MUST TAKE ON YOUR OWN!! THE REST OF YOU MUST REMAIN HERE, AND BE ON THE ALERT IN CASE ZEDD PLANS ANOTHER ATTACK!!”

The Rangers looked at each other, and then they all looked at Tommy. They didn’t like the fact that they couldn’t accompany him on his mission, but Zordon was right. They couldn’t leave the Earth unguarded in case Zedd hatched another scheme. “We understand Zordon.” Jason replied.

“Zordon I remember you & Alpha telling me that the only reason why I wasn’t given a Thunder-Zord, was because my powers were too weak to power a Zord. So even when I do manage to get the Green Amulet, and my powers are back to full strength, will I be able to control a Thunder-Zord like the others?” Tommy asked with a look of hope on his face. He had seen the Thunder-Zords in action many times, and was very impressed with their power. Tommy hoped that when Zordon found a way to re-energize his powers permanently, that his weakening Dragon-Zord would be converted into an even more powerful Thunder-Zord.

“YES TOMMY!! ONCE YOUR POWERS ARE BACK TO THEIR FULL POTENCY, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO COMMAND A THUNDER-ZORD LIKE THE OTHER RANGERS!! PLEASE OBSERVE THE VIEWING GLOBE!!”

At that moment, the six Rangers turned around to watch the images within the Viewing Globe. The first images they saw were of the Dragon-Zord in action against various monsters. “THIS IS THE DRAGON-ZORD AS YOU KNOW IT, TOMMY!! BEFORE LORD ZEDD’S ARRIVAL, HE WAS ONE OF MORE POWERFUL ZORDS IN OUR ARSENAL!! BUT DUE TO THE HEAVY DAMAGE IT SUSTAINED DURING ITS FIRST BATTLE AGAINST ONE OF ZEDD’S MONSTERS, IT HAD SUFFERED FROM A TREMENDOUS ENERGY LOSS!! SO IT BECAME NECESSARY TO ONLY SUMMON THE DRAGON-ZORD AS A BACK-UP MEASURE!! PLEASE CONTINUE TO WATCH THE GLOBE!!”

Just then, a bolt of green lightning struck the image of the Dragon-Zord they saw in the Viewing Globe. Afterwards, the Dragon-Zord began to go undergo an amazing transformation. In a matter of moments, the mechanical humanoid dragon creature began to take on a more suitable dragon-like appearance. The arms began to stretch out more, for a farther reach than before. Where the fingertips might have shot out missiles, now have long more powerful claws. The neck began to stretch out a little as the head shifted & morphed into something more resembling a dragon, with a facial expression of fierceness & courage, and two magnificent black horns protruding from just above the dragon’s temples. The torso itself changed to fit the other changes going on, and became a little bit more slim than before. Even the legs became more dragon-like, as the Zord stood upon its new hind legs. The tail, oddly enough, changed only slightly to fit the new body frame this Zord now possesses, also it no longer possesses a drill bit at the tip of the tail. Finally, emerging from this new Zord’s back, were two large, metallic dragon wings. The Rangers just watched in awe & surprise as they watched Tommy’s Dragon-Zord transform into a newer dragon form.

“RANGERS, BEHOLD THE NEW THUNDER-ZORD… DRACO, THE THUNDER DRAGON!!”

“Amazing, absolutely amazing.” Were the only words to come out of Billy’s mouth.

“That is going to be my new Zord?” Tommy asked with a sense of amazement in his voice.

“THAT IS CORRECT!! WHEN YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL IN RETRIEVING THE GREEN AMULET, AND YOUR POWERS ARE FULLY RESTORED, ALPHA & I SHALL USE THE POWER OF THUNDER TO TRANSFORM YOUR DRAGON-ZORD INTO A NEWER, MORE POWERFUL VERSION!! UNLIKE JASON’S RED DRAGON-ZORD, WHOSE POWER COMES FROM THE ANCIENT RED DRAGON OF CHINESE MYTHOLOGY, DRACO’S POWER IS DERIVED FROM THE ANCIENT DRAGONS OF MEDIEVAL TIMES!!”

“Zedd’s definitely gonna get a run for his money once Tommy gets his powers back. Cuz bro, I gotta tell ya, that Zord is awesome!” Zack said to Tommy.

Tommy turned around to look up at Zordon, and he had a huge smile on his face. “Awesome! Will I still be able to summon it with the Dragon Dagger?”

“Yes, the Dragon Dagger will work the same way for Draco as it did for the original Dragon-Zord. Not only that, but you’ll also be able to control the Zord from the cockpit. All you have to do is insert the dagger into the onboard computer console, thus creating a direct interface with the Dragon Dagger & the Zord itself. It can also be converted into warrior mode, much like the Red Dragon Thunder-Zord. And if joined with the Firebird, Lion, Griffin, and Unicorn Thunder-Zords, it will form the Thunder Dragon Mega-Zord. Please watch the globe.” Alpha explained as he tapped a few controls.

The Rangers turned back around to observe as the Thunder Dragon began its transformation process. It shifted its robotic body parts and transformed into an emerald green humanoid robotic warrior. The neck contracted for the head to be closer to the body, and the dragon’s head opened up to reveal a metallic humanoid face. The tail was gone from the robotic warrior’s body; instead it had transformed itself into a Bo staff. The wings contracted, and folded themselves into the warrior’s back. The hind legs straightened themselves out into normal legs. After the transformation into Warrior Mode was complete, he leaped into the air as the other Thunder-Zords, with the exception of the Red Dragon-Zord, arrived onto the scene. The Griffin & Unicorn Thunder-Zords formed a set feet, and attached themselves to the feet of the Thunder Dragon. The Lion separated into various parts, forms arm gauntlets, and attached themselves to the arms of Draco, while the remaining body of the of the Lion Zord simply attached itself to the warrior Zord’s chest. The Firebird Thunder-Zord then became completely rigid as it attached itself to the tip of the staff, thus forming an ax.

“NOW THAT YOU HAVE SEEN YOUR NEW ZORD TOMMY, AND JUST A SAMPLE OF WHAT IT CAN DO, ARE YOU READY TO TRAVEL TO THE THIRD PLANET OF THE GAMMA TRI SYSTEM? ARE YOU PREPARED TO RETRIEVE THE GREEN AMULET & HAVE YOUR POWERS RESTORED PERMANENTLY?”

Tommy looked at each of his friends, then at Alpha & Zordon, and then back to his friends again. “Guys, you know I wouldn’t want anything more than for you to come with me on this mission. But even though you won’t be with me physically, I know you’ll be with me in spirit. Besides, this is something that I know that I have to do by myself.”

“Be careful Tommy, there’s no telling what kind of danger you could facing.” Jason said to his friend, shaking his hand.

“Watch yourself bro, try not to use your powers unless it’s absolutely necessary okay?” Zack said to the Green Ranger, shaking his hand also.

Trini came up to Tommy, and embraced him warmly. “Good luck Tommy.”

“Have a safe journey my friend.” Billy said to his friend, shaking his hand.

Tommy & Kimberly looked at each other for a few moments, and wrapped their arms around each other in a warm, loving embrace. Kimberly then looked up at Tommy with a worried look in her eyes. “Be careful Tommy, and come back safely okay?” The two of them moved their faces closer to each other as they shared a brief, soft kiss. “I love you Tommy.”

“I love you too Kimmie.” Tommy & Kimberly slowly & reluctantly, let go of each other. Tommy then turned to look up at Zordon, and took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

“GOOD LUCK TOMMY, AND MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU!!” With that said, Alpha-5 turned a few dials, punched a few buttons, and Tommy Oliver vanished in a flash of electrical green energy.

Meanwhile, in the Lunar Palace, Lord Zedd had been sitting on his throne in the Chamber of Commands. He had been contemplating many great schemes to destroy the Power Rangers & conquer the Earth. Many of these plans included the final destruction of the Green Ranger, the last reminder of the failures of Rita Repulsa. Ever since his arrival in this galaxy, Lord Zedd had been determined to destroy the Power Ranger team by eliminating its weakest link, which just happened to be the Green Ranger. Now he felt deep with his dark soul, that the time had come to finish off the Green Ranger once & for all. “The moment has finally come, the end of the Green Ranger is at hand! And this time, there is NOTHING that can save him from destruction!”

“What do you plan to do to him, master?” Goldar, the winged simian warrior asked the Lord of Evil.

“Isn’t it obvious Goldar? I plan on stripping that pathetic Green Ranger of the last of his strength! My last few monsters have done well in weakening his morphing powers, but now the times has come to finish him & the other Power Rangers once & for all! And to do this, I must call in the aid of an old friend.” Just then he flipped open a small control panel on one of the armrests of his throne, and tapped a few of the buttons. In a matter of seconds, the Chamber of Commands had transformed into a highly sophisticated technological chamber. There were computer panels on the walls, a large circle with a ‘Z’ on it appeared on the floor, just in front of his throne, and one large computer screen, with a large computer console, appeared off to the right of Zedd’s throne. Goldar, along with Squatt & Baboo, had been watching this transformation with awe & surprise. Zedd stepped up from his throne, and walked over to the computer console. He placed one of his hands on the console, and looked straight into the computer screen. “Computer, reactivate Mistress MonsterMaker.”

With those words said, the computer screen light up, and an image began to form on the computer screen. After a few seconds, the image was clear that it was a female computer program. The computerized woman was beautiful, she had long blue hair, and icy, electric blue eyes, and a beautiful, yet evil smile on her face. “Hello Lord Zedd, it has been a long time since you’ve needed my services.”

“Yes it has, old friend. In fact, it’s been too long.” Zedd replied.

“Master, what is all of this?” Goldar asked, with Squatt & Baboo close behind him. He had served Zedd once before, but never had he seen his master use such vast technological equipment.

“This, my dear underlings, is Mistress MonsterMaker. She is a highly advanced artificial intelligence program, designed for me thousands of years ago! She possesses infinite memory storage for all sorts of information! Her primary function is to create monsters, but not your ordinary run of the mill monsters! These monsters are more powerful than anything anyone has ever seen before! For she possesses a special algorithm, which creates a specific monster for whatever the situation calls for.” Lord Zedd explained to the three of them.

“You have not needed my services for many years, my lord. You wouldn’t have reactivated my program if you didn’t feel it was necessary. How may I serve you my lord?” Mistress MonsterMaker asked Zedd.

Just as he was about to inform her of his plan, he was summoned to the balcony by the frantic & hysterical shouts of his two lackeys, Baboo & Squatt. Zedd rolled his eyes beneath his visor, and stomped over to the balcony. “What is it you dipshits? Can’t you see I’m trying to formulate a plan?!”

“But Lord Zedd, the Green Ranger has left Earth!” Baboo exclaimed, attempting to let Zedd know the importance of his statement.

“WHAT!?!?” Zedd shouted as he shoved Baboo & Squatt out of his way, and stood at the balcony, looking out into space. A beam of blood red energy emanated from Zedd’s visor as he focused his vision on following the flowing stream of green energy that was the Green Ranger. It looked as if Zordon had was teleporting Tommy to another location in another star system. ‘What are you up to Zordon? Why would you send one of your own Rangers to another star system?’ He continued to follow the Green Ranger’s teleportation course, and discovered that his destination was the third planet of the Gamma Tri System. “Now why would Zordon send the Green Weakling to the Gamma Tri System, unless… NO!!!” Zedd shouted as he slammed his fist on the balcony ledge, leaving residual sparks of electricity on the balcony.

Baboo & Squatt grabbed onto each other, shaking & quivering with fear. Baboo knew that he had done something to upset his lord & master, despite his best efforts to please him. But then again, Zedd often yelled at him & Squatt even when they didn’t do anything wrong. Lately, that had become their primary use in the palace, they were scapegoats. They were both people to place blame on when something didn’t go according to plan. They didn’t mind though, they were used to it. Besides, it was useless for them to even think about standing up to someone as powerful as Lord Zedd was.

Goldar, ever-showing loyalty & devotion to his master, immediately went to Lord Zedd. “What is wrong master? What has disturbed you? What is the significance of the Green Ranger traveling to the Gamma Tri System?”

“FOOL!! Is your memory just as impaired as your fighting skills? The Gamma Tri System is the same star system which produces the magical wax that Rita used to create the Green Candle!! It is also the same star system which houses the cavern of the Power Amulets!! Zordon discovered this, and has sent his pathetic Green Ranger to retrieve the Green Amulet!! If he gets his hands on it, his powers will be restored to him permanently!! And he’ll forever be protected from any spells to turn him to the dark side or to drain his powers.” Zedd shouted at Goldar.

“Which means that—” Goldar began to say, now realizing what his master was trying to say.

“Which means that if I don’t act fast, my one & only chance to finish off the Green Ranger will slip through my fingers forever!! AND I WON’T LET THAT HAPPEN!!” Zedd shouted as he stalked over to Mistress MonsterMaker.

“Is there something that I can help you with, my lord?” The female computer program asked calmly.

“I need a monster… NO, I need TWO monsters!! One to battle the Rangers on Earth, and one to destroy the Green Ranger before he can get to the Power Amulets in the Gamma Tri System!!” Zedd exclaimed.

Mistress MonsterMaker smiled a cruel, electronically generated smile. She simply loved serving Lord Zedd, creating all sorts of powerful monsters to fight against the forces of good. She didn’t know if it was part of her being or a part of her programming, but she always felt a sense of pride & pleasure at witnessing her creations in action. “I believe I have the perfect monsters for you, my lord. First, you shall need a monster to do battle against the Rangers on Earth. What you need is a creature that is a combination of mythical vampirism & cybernetic technology. A creature who can absorb any energy thrown at him, and turn it back against his opponent by a factor of ten. A monster who, like a vampire, can drain a person’s life energy, like a vampire draining a person’s blood. My lord, I present to you… SURGE!!!”

As soon as Mistress MonsterMaker declared the creature’s name, the computer systems began to run their course in the creation of this monster. The large circle with the equally large ‘Z’ on it began to glow & crackle with electrical energy. A few seconds passed by, and the circle on the floor opened up to release a cloud of fog & mist. Slowly rising from the opening in the floor was an amazing creature. He kept his face down, but he had a beautiful long black hair, and a long black cape concealed the rest of his body. Upon finally emerging completely from the chamber beneath the palace, Lord Zedd along with Goldar, Squatt & Baboo surrounded the new creature.

Squatt & Baboo checked him out, then looked at each other & shrugged. “I don’t see what all the hype is about. This guy doesn’t look all that tough to me, what do you think Baboo?”

“Oh I do agree Squatt. The way the guy just stands there, it’s almost like he’s a statue or something.” Baboo & Squatt moved closer, and started to poke at him with their fingers.

No sooner had they done that, then Surge’s cape flew open to reveal that it wasn’t a cape at all, but large bat wings. He wore a pair of black pants, but no shirt to cover his muscular upper body, the sides of abdomen covered with metallic plates. His powerful cybernetic forearms quickly reached out, grabbed both Squatt & Baboo by the throats, and squeezed. He pulled them close to his face, so they could get a good look at his right eye, which was replaced by a cybernetic eye that glowed blood red. “You listen to me you little worms. If you ever, EVER, touch me again… I’ll rip your fucking arms off & beat you over the head with them. Understand?” He said in a voice that simply burned with fiery passion. After they both nodded, Surge let them go, and looked around at his surroundings. His eyes then fell upon Lord Zedd, and he smiled a cruel smile that revealed his vampiric fangs. “You must be the great Lord Zedd. I am Surge, the energy vampire, and I am at your service my lord.” The cybernetic creature bowed respectfully to the Lord of Evil.

Although it could not be shown on his face, Lord Zedd was very pleased with this new creature. He knew that his monsters were very powerful, and they had come very close to destroying the Rangers many times. However, when it came to destroying the Rangers, close wasn’t good enough. He needed something that would absolutely guarantee him victory over his enemies. Mistress MonsterMaker had supplied victory for him many times before in the past, with many powerful monsters. Now that she was reactivated and supplying monsters for him again, Zedd knew that victory would be his once more. He shook Surge’s hand firmly, and nodded his head in approval. “Excellent! You shall be the perfect instrument that shall destroy those putrid Power Rangers. Now, what about my second monster?” Zedd said, turning back to Mistress MonsterMaker.

“Of course Lord Zedd. For the monster that shall fight the Green Ranger in the Gamma Tri System, you need a creature with the spirit of a dragon & the heart of a lion. You need a monster whose roar is so ferocious; it can strike fear in the hearts of his enemies. I present to you my lord… DRAGONNE!!!”

Once again the computers began to run their course, and after a minute or so, another creature emerged from the chamber beneath the palace, out through the same opening in the floor Surge came from. Only this creature was a cross between a humanoid & a feline creature. The feline personified in this creature was, of course, a powerful male lion. He also stood proudly, with his head held high. His head was the perfect visage of a lion/human hybrid. His eyes were golden & feline in nature, and had a beautiful black mane of hair on his head. The rest of his muscular & powerful body was covered in beautiful golden fur. He wore a brown leather vest, a pair of brown leather pants, and a black headband on his forehead. On his back was a pair of large, powerful wings that looked dragonlike in nature.

Zedd, Goldar, and Surge approached the new creature, while Squatt & Baboo kept their distance. The two sniveling cowards had learned their lesson from their encounter with Surge, and didn’t exactly feel like having a repeat performance. Once they saw Dragonne emerge from the chamber, they instantly knew that they didn’t want to mess with him.

Goldar walked around Dragonne, looking him up & down. He had known very little about Mistress MonsterMaker & her abilities in creating monsters. Mostly he was used to the monsters created by either Finster or by Lord Zedd himself. Finster’s monsters had always failed in the past. When Zedd took over, his monsters had failed a few times, but they did succeed in making the Green Ranger’s power weak. Goldar had his doubt, and wondered if this artificial intelligence could succeed where Finster and Zedd had failed.

Just then, Dragonne’s head snapped to look directly at Goldar. “What are you looking at, Monkey Boy?” Dragonne said in a deep, powerful voice, very suitable to one who is part lion. Goldar just stood there, looking strangely at him, he had never been addressed so rudely by a monster before. “I asked you a question, what are you are you looking at?!”

“I beg your pardon, I was merely admiring your physique.” Goldar replied.

“Admiring my physique? What are you… some sort of queer or something?” Dragonne said to him with a look of disgust on his face as he looked at Goldar.

“HOW DARE YOU!!” Goldar shouted as he grabbed his sword and attempted to take a swing at the new monster. The creature quickly grabbed a hold of Goldar’s sword, and broke it in half with his bare hand. Goldar looked down at his broken sword in shock. His eyes began to glow red with rage, as he charged towards the monster, with the intent on ripping Dragonne to shreds. Anticipating Goldar’s attack, Dragonne let out a mighty roar that was neither lion nor dragon in nature, but a combination of both. Upon hearing this ferocious roar, Goldar became frozen in place, unable to move a muscle.

“That’s how I dare!” Dragonne said to the unmoving Goldar, as he used one finger to push Goldar down. He then turned around, and faced Lord Zedd. He smiled at him, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth & fangs. “You must be Lord Zedd. I understand you have a special job for me?”

“I do Dragonne, believe me, I do. But first, what did you do to Goldar?” Zedd replied.

“I paralyzed him with my roar. You could say, he’s scared stiff. He’ll be okay in a few days. So, you want me to go after the Green Ranger, and stop him from getting the Green Amulet, is that right?”

“That’s what I had hoped for, yes.”

“Well, my lord, first let me make one thing perfectly clear. I will go after the Green Ranger in the Gamma Tri System. But once I find him, I do not intend on destroying him. I plan to hunt him down, to stalk him, to play with him, to weaken him! And when I feel the time is right, I shall CRUSH him!! Are we clear on that, my lord?”

Lord Zedd was not used to having negotiations with his monsters on how exactly they would deal with the Power Rangers. But since Mistress MonsterMaker created these monsters, it meant that they would be loyal to the dark side, but also have minds of their own. They’d have freedom to make their own decisions, to formulate their own plans on how to fight the forces of good. “As clear as crystal Dragonne. Now hurry, the Green Ranger may have already arrived on the third planet. He must be stopped before he gets to the amulet!”

“As you command, my lord.” Dragonne bowed deeply to Lord Zedd, and vanished in a flash of golden light.

“As for you Surge, I want you to go to Earth, and destroy the remaining Rangers!”

“It shall be done, my lord.” With that, Surge vanished in an array of energy bats.

Lord Zedd walked over to Goldar’s frozen form, and poked him with his staff. He picked up Goldar, and stood him upright right beside his throne. Afterwards, he slowly walked to the edge of the balcony, and looked out into space. “Soon, very soon, all six of the Power Rangers shall be destroyed. And then Earth, and all of its inhabitants, shall bow before the dark forces. As for you Zordon, my great enemy, I shall enjoy watching you die!!” Once Zedd said these final words, a dead silence fell upon the entire palace, as the Lord of Evil watched his plan unfold before him.

Meanwhile, in Angel Grove, the Rangers all decided to go & hang out at the Angel Grove Mall. The each split up & went in their own general direction to shop or just look around. Kimberly & Trini headed straight for the clothing stores. Although Trini wasn’t that big of a shopping fanatic, Kimberly needed someone to help her decide what looked good on her, etc. Billy headed for the bookstores, Zack headed for the music stores, and Jason headed for the athletic department. They each needed this little diversion so they wouldn’t worry about Tommy’s quest. About an hour or so later, the five friends gathered together at the food court. Jason had a burger with everything on it, and a chocolate milkshake. Zack had three slices of pizza with peppers, onions, and extra cheese, with a large soda to wash it down. Kimberly had just a salad with strips of broiled chicken, and a cup of Orange Julius. Trini had a chili dog & cheese fries, with a soda. Billy had a veggie pita, with a glass of carrot juice.

“Guys, how do you think Tommy’s doing on his quest?” Kimberly asked to break the silence.

“I don’t know. There’s no telling what exactly is on that planet, or in those caves. But, we can’t just sit around & worry about Tommy.” Jason said.

“Jason’s right. We gotta remember that Tommy can take care of himself. Yeah there’s no telling what danger he could be in, but Tommy’s very resourceful, more so than we give him credit for.” Billy said to them all.

“Guys, I’ve been meaning to have a talk with you all about something. Something really important. “Jason said with a serious look on his face.

“What is it?” Zack asked.

“Well, it’s no secret that Zedd is a lot more powerful & aggressive than Rita. His monsters are also more powerful than anything Rita ever created. It’s been putting a huge strain on me recently. I’ve already talked with Zordon about maybe having me appoint someone to be co-leader of the team.” Upon hearing that news, the other four Rangers looked at each other in shock, and then each of them smiled a huge on their faces.

“You mean, one of us is gonna be co-leader alongside you? That is totally Morphinomenal.” Zack said with a smile on his face.

“But Jason, who is it gonna be?” Trini asked, anxious to know the answer herself.

“I haven’t decided yet. This is something that I really need to think about. This is a decision that I can’t afford to take lightly. You’re all my good friends, and any one of you guys has potential to share leadership responsibilities with me. But this isn’t about choosing friends, it’s about choosing the person that I think is right for the job.”

“Look, Jase, no matter what decision you make, we’ll support you 100%, right guys?” Zack said. The other Rangers nodded in agreement, and Jason smiled at his friends.

Just then, there was a loud explosion nearby, and many innocent civilians began screaming & running for their lives. The Rangers leapt to their feet as they looked in the general direction where all the chaos was occurring. Through all of the dust & smoke, they could make out what appeared to be some sort of creature with large wings, destroying everything in its path.

“Guys, it looks like trouble. We better morph.” Jason said to them, as they headed for the restroom area. The Rangers checked inside both of the bathrooms so that they could be sure that no one was inside of them, and then closed the entrance doors so no one could see them. “Ready guys?”

“We’re ready.” Kim replied.

“IT’S MORPHIN TIME!!” Jason shouted. The five teenagers reached behind them to grab their Power Morphers, thrusted them in front of them, and activated them.

“MASTODON!!”

“PTERODACTYL!!”

“TRICERATOPS!!”

“SABRE-TOOTHED TIGER!!”

“TYRANNOSAURUS!!”

After Jason shouted the final dinosaur name, the five teenagers became charged with an enormous amount of energy. Soon, their bodies were clad in spandex bodysuits, each tailoring to their respective Ranger colors: black, pink, blue, yellow, and red. After their metamorphosis, the five Rangers bursted out of the restrooms and headed straight for the monster. The Rangers worked their way through the crowd of people that were running for their lives, trying to get out of the mall. Among the crowd of people running for their lives was a brother & sister, one clad in grey, the other clad in purple.

“I told Mom that we shouldn’t have moved to Angel Grove, Wendy!” The boy shouted to his sister as they continued running.

“Matt, will you just shut-up & RUN!” Wendy shouted back to her brother, Matt.

The Rangers managed to get through the crowd & could see clearly what the monster looked like. It was some sort of crazed cyborg with large bat wings. It was Surge, the vampiric cyborg. They each brought out their Power Weapons to use against the monster. Jason had his Power Sword, Kimberly had her Power Bow, Trini had her Power Daggers, Zack had his Power Ax, and Billy had his Power Lance.

“Hey, bat brains! Try picking on someone your size!” Jason insulted him.

Surge immediately turned around to face the Rangers. “Well, the Power Pukes have arrived, how fortunate for me, and how unfortunate for YOU!! The name is Surge, remember it, on your way to OBLIVION!!” He said as streams of electrical energy shot out from his fingertips at the Rangers. The Rangers quickly leaped out of the way before the energy blast could hit them.

“Rangers, prepare into attack formation on my mark. Three… two… one, NOW!!” Upon the Red Ranger’s command, all of the Rangers charged against the monster, with their weapons in hand.

Surge didn’t look at all worried as the five spandex clad warriors ran towards him. He simply stood there with a huge smile on his face. Just as the Rangers came within mere inches of striking Surge with their weapons, he vanished, leaving the Rangers confused as to his whereabouts. He reappeared behind them, and ran right through them, knocking each of the Rangers down. “Had enough… Powder Rangers?” Surge said tauntingly.

Slowly, each of the Rangers got to their feet, and staggered a bit in an attempt to keep their balance. Each of them stood firmly, with their Power Weapons in hand. “Rangers, let’s bring ‘em together!” Jason ordered as they prepared to bring their weapons together to form, the Power Blaster.

“POWER AX!!” Shouted Zack, as he slid a lever down the handle of the ax, and threw it into the air.

“POWER BOW!!” Kimberly cried as she threw her weapon to connect with the ax.

“POWER DAGGERS!!” Trini shouted as she threw her daggers to connect with the bow, forming one set of blaster ports.

“POWER LANCE!!” Billy cried as he disconnected his lance, threw them into the air, to connect to the bow, forming the second set of blaster ports.

“POWER SWORD!!” Jason cried as he leaped into the air, placed his weapon on top, to form the targeting mechanism. He brought the Power Blaster down with him, as the other Rangers came up behind him to help aim the weapon at Surge.

“FIRE!!” All five of the Rangers shouted in unison as the Power Blaster unleashed a powerful burst of multi-colored energy directly at the cyborg vampire, knocking him down, glowing & crackling with energy. The Rangers dismantled the Power Blaster, and stood ready with their Power Weapons in hand. They watched on and slowly moved closer, as they looked at what appeared to be the lifeless & motionless body of Surge.

“Guys, I think we got him, cuz he ain’t moving.” Zack said to them as they surrounded Surge’s body.

“But it doesn’t make any sense guys. I mean, shouldn’t he have exploded by now? That is what most of the monsters do when they’re defeated in battle, right? They explode in a brilliant display of pyrotechnics, they don’t just become lifeless corpses.” Billy said to them all.

“That’s because I’m not dead brainiac!” The Rangers were shocked as they looked down and saw Surge looking up at them with a fanged smile on his cyborg face. The Rangers began to slowly back away from him as Surge leapt to his feet. They each wielded their weapons in their hands, ready for anything that might happen next. “Very impressive Power Rangers. Now, have a taste of MY power blast!” Surge said to them as he thrusted his arms forward, in a movement similar to the Hadoken Dragon Fireball in the Street Fighter video games, unleashing a beam of multi-colored energy right at the Power Rangers. The impact of the energy beam contained so much force, that it knocked all five of the Rangers 10 feet backwards, and over a ledge, making them fall straight to the main level of the mall.

The Rangers lied there on the floor, their uniforms smoking from the blast impact, not able to move a single muscle. Oddly enough, they were still alive and breathing. Their powers were able to protect them from the full impact of the blast, and from the fall. Had they not possessed their morphing powers, they would’ve surely had died from the blast alone.

Just then, Surge hovered down to the main level with the aid of his powerful wings. He had his arms crossed over his chest and a cruel smile on his face. He let out a small chuckle as he looked down at the motionless Rangers. “Well, well, well. Isn’t this just marvelous? The mighty Power Rangers, defenders of the human race, champions of the planet Earth, lying on the ground, helpless! You’re fucking pathetic, all five of you!! You thought that you would have it easy with Lord Zedd around, didn’t you? You thought you could just lay back, and let the monsters beat themselves into oblivion, right? You thought that I would be as incompetent as Rita’s old monsters, right? Well guess again Power Pukes!! Zedd’s got a brand-new toy, an artificial intelligence program, the very same program that gave me life, gave life to ANOTHER monster. That’s right, I was created to take care of the five of you. While the other monster that was created, is at this moment going after your friend, the Green Ranger. So even if by some strange miracle, you manage to destroy me, your friend the Green Weakling, will already be dead! Now enough of this small talk, it’s time for me… TO FEAST!!” Surge then walked over to the Red Ranger, placed his hands over his body, and began to drain Jason of his strength. As he did this, he also absorbed into his thoughts Jason’s fighting skills. After a few seconds, Surge moved on to the other Rangers and repeated the same process four more times. A couple of minutes passed and Surge was done ‘feasting’ on the Rangers’ life energy. “Well, it’s been fun playing with you, but I think it’s about time to end this little game.” The cybernetic vampire cracked his robotic knuckles, as his hands began to glow & charge with energy. He looked down at Rangers once again, and thought to himself ‘What a bunch of fucking losers. I hardly even broke a sweat fighting these punks. Their life energy did taste good though. But, at least I’ll be the first monster to actually destroy these pests.’

Just as he was about to unleash a powerful blast, that would more than likely destroy our heroes, all five of the motionless Rangers were transported back to their Command Center. Surge looked around his surroundings with a look of shock on his face. “What? Where did they go? Of course, that fat head Zordon must’ve teleported them out. No matter, let those fools re-energize & gather up their strength again. I’ll just weaken them again, and then I’ll destroy them! Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!” Surge shouted as he vanished in an array of multi-colored energy bats.

Back at the Command Center, the Rangers had just arrived a few seconds ago, and were each lying on cots set up by Alpha-5. Since they were unconscious, Alpha had personally touched each of their morphers to morph them back to their human state. Afterwards, he took out a scanner and began to scan each of the Rangers.

“Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!! This is just terrible! According to my scan, not only are their physical energies weak, but their powers have been weakened as well! Now they’re in the same position that Tommy is in!! What are we going do Zordon?!” The little robot said frantically.

“ALPHA, CALM DOWN!! THE RANGERS’ PHYSICAL STRENGTH SHALL RETURN TO THEM IN TIME!! HOWEVER, WE MUST CONTACT TOMMY IMMEDIATELY AND INFORM HIM OF THE SITUATION!! HE MUST RETRIEVE HIS GREEN AMULET ALONG WITH THE OTHER POWER AMULETS!!”

“Right away Zordon, I’ll recalibrate the communication systems to hone in on Tommy’s communicator. Then I’ll boost the signal so it can reach him in the Gamma Tri System.”

“HURRY ALPHA, WE CAN’T AFFORD TO WASTE ANY TIME!!”

The little robot began working frantically on the computer consoles, recalibrating the communications, hoping to get a signal through to the Green Ranger. As he did this, he wondered just how well Tommy was doing on his quest.

Meanwhile, deep within a jungled forest area on the third planet in the Gamma Tri System, Tommy Oliver wanders through the unfamiliar terrain. Yet, as he walked among the trees, he felt a strange feeling deep in his soul that he knew exactly where to go. It was like something was pulling him in a certain direction, like a piece of metal to a magnet. ‘This is weird, totally weird. I don’t know where I’m going, but at the same time, I know exactly where to go. Maybe it’s the amulet, like it’s calling out to me or something like that. It’s the only thing that I can think of that would explain this feeling. I just hope that I’m going the right way.’ The Green Ranger continued on for a couple of more minutes, looking around at all the beautiful jungle surroundings. Despite the fact that this was an alien planet, this area looked just like any jungle you would find on Earth. But at the same time, his surroundings had an almost… magical, mystical, and mysterious feeling surrounding the area. The beauty of his surroundings almost had Tommy hypnotized, but the sound of his wrist communicator going off is what brought him back to reality. “I read you Zordon.”

“TOMMY, YOU MUST LISTEN TO ME VERY CAREFULLY!! YOU MUST FIND & RETRIEVE ALL OF THE POWER AMULETS!! THE RANGERS WERE JUST ATTACKED BY ONE OF ZEDD’S NEWEST MONSTERS AND HAVE BEEN SEVERELY INJURED!! IN ADDITION, THEIR MORPHING POWERS WERE DRAINED AND ARE VERY WEAK!! THEIR PHYSICAL STRENGTH WILL RETURN TO THEM IN TIME, BUT THEY MUST HAVE ALL OF THEIR MORPHING POWERS, IF THERE IS ANY CHANCE TO DEFEAT ZEDD’S LATEST CREATION!!” Zordon explained to the young man.

“I got it Zordon, don’t worry, I’ll find those amulets. I promise.” Tommy replied.

“GOOD LUCK GREEN RANGER, AND HURRY!!”

With that, Tommy took in a deep breath as he sat down on a large rock. He just couldn’t believe that it this was happening. Zedd had created monsters that tried to drain Tommy of his powers, and they nearly succeeded. Now, the Lord of Evil had created a monster that, single-handedly, was able to weaken the energies of the five remaining Power Rangers. As a Ranger, Tommy was always there for his friends when they needed his help. Now, his friends needed his help once more. Tommy now felt a stronger sense of determination deep inside of him. He knew that he had to find his amulet, along with the other amulets. So Tommy set off once again through the massive jungled forest, not knowing that he was being watched.

High above, hidden among the trees, was the lion/dragon creature known as Dragonne. He watched the young human make his way through the jungle, and swiftly followed him, gliding from tree to tree, always keeping young Tommy in his sights. As he moved through the jungle, he noticed the Green Ranger occasionally looking around, almost like he knew that something was following him. He smiled to himself, for he felt almost at home in this jungle. Perhaps it was the lion heart he possessed, but whatever the reason was; Dragonne would enjoy this hunt. Just then, the lion/dragon hybrid launched himself from the trees, and flew down at incredible speeds at Tommy Oliver.

The Green Ranger quickly turned around only to be knocked onto his back by a devastating punch to the face. Tommy quickly scrambled to his feet and looked around to see what had hit him, only to receive another punch, this time to the back of the head. He fell to the ground on his stomach, and felt the pain he received from both punches. He slowly got to his knees, and winced in pain as he touched the back of his head to feel the bruise. He finally got to his feet, looked around, and then started to run as fast as his feet could take him. He wasn’t running away because he was scared, he ran because he couldn’t afford to sit around and lick his wounds. He had a mission to complete, plus his friends needed his help. So he ran through the jungle, pushing leaves & branches out of his way, jumping & leaping over logs and small water streams, going in the direction that he felt would lead him to the Green Amulet. Tommy ran for a few minutes, occasionally looking behind him briefly to see if he was being followed. Just at that moment, something slammed into Tommy from behind with tremendous force, lifted him off of the ground, and threw him into a large tree. The young teenager’s body smacked right into the tree, then fell backwards onto the ground. As he lay there, he heard echoing through the trees, the sound of cruel laughter. Tommy was never one to give up on anything before in his life, and he sure as hell wasn’t about to give up now. Despite the pain he was feeling, he forced himself back onto his feet. He leaned back against the tree he smacked into, and closed his eyes as he tried to catch his breath. “All right, enough is enough! IT’S MORPHIN TIME!!” Tommy shouted as he reached behind him, pulled out his Power Morpher, thrust it forward, and activated it. “DRAGON-ZORD!!” In a matter of seconds, Tommy Oliver was clad in his Green Ranger uniform. “All right, show yourself you fucking coward!” The Green Ranger leaped into the air, and landed on a strong branch on one of the tall trees in the area. “Come on whatever you are! Are you so brave that you have to attack a guy while he’s not looking!?! Only a coward would attack someone from behind, NOW COME ON OUT AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!!”

“But you seem to forget something, Green One.” Said the voice of Dragonne. The Green Ranger looked around, for the voice seemed to come from nowhere. “I am not a man!” Just then, Dragonne shot up from beneath the Green Ranger at incredible speed, and gave Tommy a powerful uppercut that sent him flipping backwards through the air & crashing into another tree.

Tommy landed on another sturdy branch, and looked around again. He couldn’t afford to have a long battle; it could drain the last of his powers. But at the same time, he wasn’t going to let this thing stop him from achieving his goal. Tommy began thinking about what he can figure out about this thing. He looked around at his surroundings as he was thinking, and remembered that he was in a large jungle area. Whatever it was that was after him seemed to be… hunting him, like a lion or something. Not only that, but it has the ability to fly. Just then, an idea popped into his head on how to catch his predatory pursuer.

Dragonne sat high atop a branch on one of the trees, and smiled as his eyes searched for the Green Ranger. He enjoyed hunting the Green Ranger very much, he would continue to do so until all of Tommy’s powers were gone. Once that was done, Dragonne planned to finish off his prey the only way he knew how. He planned to rip the meat & flesh off of the Green Ranger’s body. He heard some leaves rustling, and knew that it was the Green Ranger on the move again. His wings opened up, and he flew off to search for Tommy. After a few seconds, his eyes caught a glimpse of something shining in the distance. He recognized the shining as belonging to the golden shield worn on the Green Ranger’s chest. Dragonne knew that it was the Green Ranger, so he increased the speed of his flight so to catch the Ranger by surprise. As he flew, he became closer & closer to his prey, and couldn’t wait until he ripped Tommy’s heart out of his chest. His mouth was opened, his fangs were showing, his arms were outstretched, ready for the kill. He finally approached his target when… Dragonne crashed headfirst right into a large tree, with the Dragon Shield hanging on a branch just above where he crashed.

The Green Ranger emerged from behind a nearby tree, and saw the creature that was hunting him for the first time. He moved closer, and saw the amazing, unconscious, lion/dragon hybrid on the floor. He then snapped his fingers as the Dragon Shield vanished from the branch & reappeared on his chest. ‘So this was the thing that was hunting me down. No wonder it hunted like a lion, it’s part lion. Man, and I just thought Zedd wanted to drain me of my powers. I don’t have time to worry whether or not this thing is dead, I better keep…’ Just then, Tommy clutched his chest and fell to one knee. “No… this… can’t be… happening… now. My powers… are getting weak.” Tommy gasped as his uniform’s color began to change from green to grey & back again. The Green Ranger forced himself to stand up, and moved away from Dragonne as fast as he possibly could. Unfortunately, he stumbled most of the way, and wasn’t really paying attention to where he was going.

After wandering around for a couple of minutes, the Green Ranger collapsed to the ground. Tommy slowly lifted his head and saw something just a few feet ahead of him that caught his eye. Just a few feet away from him was a large stone, and sticking out of the stone was the handle of a sword. He slowly crawled closer to get a better look, and saw that the handle was very well crafted. The tip of the handle was made to resemble the head of a very powerful dragon. The Green Ranger finally made it to the stone, and gathered up enough strength to grab a hold of the sword handle. Upon grabbing the handle, Tommy suddenly felt a tremendous surge of energy flow through his body. It was almost as if the sword was giving his powers a boost in energy, in fact that was exactly what it was doing. But somehow, Tommy knew that although the sword was increasing his powers, only the Green Amulet could restore them completely & permanently. The Green Ranger slowly got to his feet, grasped the handle with both hands, and slowly pulled the sword free from the large stone. Upon freeing the sword from it rocky prison, Tommy got a closer look at it and found it to be an extraordinary weapon. The sword he now had in his possession, was actually a scimitar, a curved sword that was used by ancient Arabian warriors. Tommy then looked more closely at the handle, and the dragonhead tip. He immediately noticed how it strongly resembled the head of Draco, the new Thunder-Zord he would receive if his mission is successful. ‘Weird, it’s feels almost like this weapon was… meant for me or something.’ Just then, the Green Ranger used a twig snap; he whirled around and saw that it was Dragonne, the lion/dragon hybrid he had knocked unconscious earlier. From the look in the creature’s eyes, and the sound of his hard breathing, it was rather obvious that he was very, VERY angry. “Well, look who’s back? Did you enjoy your little catnap, tabby?” Tommy teased Dragonne, while brandishing his new weapon.

Dragonne just looked at the Green Ranger, with hatred & rage burning in his eyes. He did not appreciate being fooled by a lowly mortal. It infuriated him so much to know that he was tricked by a pathetic human being. Dragonne also did not take kindly to the Green Ranger’s mocking. His mouth slowly opened as he let out a ferocious roar, which was followed by a powerful stream of fire & flame, directed at the Green Ranger.

Tommy saw what was coming, and acted fast. He leaped & flipped through the air, quickly avoiding being burned by the fire, and landed right behind Dragonne just as the creature set fire to a large tree. Before the creature could have a chance to react, Tommy pulled out his Dragon Dagger, intending to use it along with his new weapon. Immediately, both weapons began to glow an emerald green, as they became charged with energy. With the dagger in one hand, and the Dragon Saber in the other, Tommy chopped off both of the creature’s powerful wings.

Dragonne screamed in pain & agony as he felt the warm blood run down his back, which gave him the instant indication that his wings had been clipped. He slowly turned around to face the one he knew had done this to him, the Green Ranger. Dragonne then looked down and saw his once powerful wings, now lying limp & bloody upon the ground. “You shall BURN for your insolence, foolish human!” He shouted at Tommy as unleashed another blast of fire from his mouth.

The Green Ranger quickly leapt to the side, to once again avoid getting burned. Normally, using his shield would’ve protected him, but using his shield meant using up more of his powers. Tommy wanted to conserve as much power as he could so he could stand up to anything else that got between him & the Power Amulets. He turned his head, and saw another tree catch fire, then looked around and saw that the fire was spreading. In a mere matter of seconds, the area surrounding Tommy & Dragonne became engulfed in flames. Tommy knew that he had to finish off Dragonne, and figure out some way to extinguish the flames. The Green Ranger leapt to his feet and readied both his Dragon Dagger & the Dragon Saber, as he saw the wingless warrior turn to face Tommy. The stood just a short distance from each other, as they just looked at each other in what might appear to be an old-fashion western showdown. Burning branches began to fall down around them, but neither of them seemed to notice or care. Neither of them cared about the fire or the heat or the danger, what they cared about was ending this fight, once and for all. Just then, the two of them ran towards each other, each intending to destroy the other. Tommy once again charged up both the Dragon Dagger & the Dragon Saber, and slashed Dragonne across the torso with the dagger, while he used the scimitar to chop off the creature’s head. Afterwards, the creature’s dead body fell backwards, and a large fiery branch fell right on top of it. Tommy just watched as the creature’s body caught on fire, and placed the Dragon Dagger back into its holster. He then looked around at the blazing inferno that was threatening to destroy the beauty of the entire jungle. The Green Ranger then looked at the Dragon Saber, and instantly he knew what to do. He grasped the handle with both hands, and then plunged the scimitar into the ground.

Just then, a green glow began to spread to everything that was burning. In a matter of seconds, the fires had all been extinguished. Tommy then touched his Power Morpher & morphed back into his civilian clothing. He looked around at the devastation the fire had caused. The area he was in that was once beautiful & green, now was all burnt black as coal. He had no time to worry about the jungle; it was rather large, which mean that there was still a lot that is still beautiful. Not only that, but he had to find the cave, and the Power Amulets. So, Tommy pulled the Dragon Saber out of the ground, and continued to go in the direction where the Green Amulet was calling out to him.

Back at the Command Center, the Rangers had each regained consciousness just a few minutes after Zordon informed Tommy of the current situation. All five of them were given the proverbial ‘clean bill of health’ by Alpha-5; they were also filled on the recent events. Suffice it to say, the Rangers were not pleased with the situation.

“I can’t believe this is happening!” Trini was the first to say something.

“Our current dilemma is most displeasing.” Billy said.

“You said it Billy. I can’t believe that we’re suffering from the same situation that Tommy is. Man, I can’t believe this shit is happening!” Zack said frustrated.

“Yo, Zack, calm down man. I know this looks bad, but we’ll get through this.” Jason said, reassuring his friend.

“Jason, haven’t you been paying attention? That bloodsucking robot kicked our asses, and then stole our powers! What are we gonna do if that thing reappears? What are we gonna do when he comes back, and Zedd makes him into a giant? What are we gonna do then, huh!?!” Zack shouted at his leader & friend.

“Zack, calm down bro. We can’t lose our cool now, because that’s exactly what Lord Zedd wants. Believe me, cuz right now I feel like taking that staff Zedd has, and shoving it straight up his ass. But now isn’t the time for us to lose our tempers. We’ve gotta keep our heads clear, and stick together. We’ll deal with that cyborg if & when he comes back, okay? Until then, the best thing for us to do is just wait for Tommy to come back. We’re gonna need all of our strength if we’re gonna beat this thing.” Jason explained.

“Jason’s right, Zack. This whole situation is affecting all of us; we can’t lose our cool now. Remember that Tommy has always pulled through for us, no matter what. He’ll find those amulets, I know he will.” Kimberly said, as she made a silent prayer for Tommy to return safely with the amulets.

“But Zack does have a point you guys. What are we gonna do when Surge makes another appearance?” Billy asked.

The Rangers just looked at each other, and each of them had the same look of seriousness on their faces. They had faced this situation once before, nearly a year ago when Rita Repulsa was still in charge. The Rangers had faced off against Goldar’s War-Zord, Cyclopsus, for the very first time. They used every Zord configuration they had available, from Mega-Zord, to Dragon-Zord in Battle Mode, until finally summoning Titanus and forming the Ultra-Zord. But even after they destroyed Cyclopsus, Rita summoned Lokar, who then rebuilt Cyclopsus, more powerful than ever. And after the battle, the Rangers discovered that their Zords had taken heavy damage & needed twelve hours to re-energize. They couldn’t afford to wait that long, and decided to take their Zords at half power. This was a very dangerous step that they each felt they had to take. Because they knew they couldn’t just sit around and wait for their Zords to re-energize while Cyclopsus destroyed their city. But now the situation was slightly different. For it wasn’t their Zords that had to be re-energized, it was their powers that needed to be recharged.

“Guys, our powers may have been weakened, but we’re still the Power Rangers.” Trini said to them all.

“That’s right, for right now, we’ll wait here in the Command Center & hope that Tommy gets back soon. But if Surge does make another appearance in Angel Grove, whether Tommy is back or not, and if our powers have been re-energize or not, we’ll go after him. Agreed?” Jason said to them all.

They looked at each other again, and nodded in response. It was rather apparent that there was no longer any doubt in their minds, that they would be willing to risk their lives, despite the fact that their powers were weakened, to protect their planet. Hell if Tommy can do it, why can’t they?

Meanwhile, at the Lunar Palace, Zedd was just congratulating Surge on his first battle against the Power Rangers. “Surge, my boy, you have done something that many monsters in the past have not even come close to doing. You single-handedly have been able to defeat all five Power Rangers in one battle. Not only that, but you were able to drain THEM of their powers as well. Now that all six of those pathetic teenagers have weakening powers, it’s only a matter of time before we crush utterly!”

“What can I say my lord, I love my work.” Surge replied with a grin that displayed his protruding fangs. “Besides, when I made my grand entrance earlier today, those Rangers were just… DYING to meet me! Hahahahahahaha!!!”

Just then, both Zedd & Surge heard a loud crash & groan coming from behind them. They turned around, and saw an unfrozen Goldar slowly picking himself up off the floor. He looked disoriented, like he wasn’t sure what was going on. Then finally, it all came back to him. “WHERE IS HE!?!?!” Goldar shouted. “WHERE IS THAT LOUSY GOOD FOR NOTHING HYBRID BASTARD?!?!?!”

“My, my, Goldar, such anger, such hatred, such language. What’s the matter? Scorpina not giving you enough loving?” Surge said with a smirk.

The gold plated simian warrior became so enraged by Surge’s comments, that he ran towards the cybernetic creature, with the strict intent on ending Surge’s life. Goldar had taken great pride in his accomplishments. Over the centuries, he has fought & killed many people, so he didn’t take too kindly to being humiliated or mocked by creatures who were just given life recently.

Surge was more than ready for Goldar’s little outburst. Just as golden warrior ran towards the cyborg vampire, two streams of electrical energy shot out from Surge’s palms, and wrapped around Goldar. Surge then began draining Goldar of his powers, bringing the once mighty warrior to his knees. “Now now Goldar, you should know by now never to let your anger get the best of you.” Surge taunted as he felt Goldar’s strength begin to flow through his body. “You, my friend, are so undeserving of your powers. You were once a great warrior, now you’re just a pathetic loser. Let’s just face it Goldar, you’re getting too old for this shit. You may have had more experience, you may have been around longer, but that’s your problem. You see Goldar, you’re old school, you’re ancient, and you’re yesterday’s news Goldielocks! However, I intend to make good use of your strength & power the next time I do battle against those putrid Power Punks! Too bad you won’t be around to see it!” Just as he said this, Surge released Goldar from his energy grip, as the gold-plated warrior collapsed to the ground.

Zedd, who just stood by & watched the events transpire, walked over to Goldar’s body. He touched the sides of Goldar’s neck, felt for a pulse, and unfortunately, he found one. “Isn’t this just great, the son of a bitch is still alive. He’s weak, but he’s still alive.” Zedd then began thinking about something; maybe he could use this to his advantage. Perhaps this was the perfect opportunity to give Goldar one last chance to be the powerful warrior he once was. He pointed his staff at Goldar’s corpse, and a stream of magical energy lashed out and Goldar’s body vanished. “You did well Surge, you managed to drain Goldar of his energy & thereby give me the opportunity to try an experiment on Goldar, something I’ve been wanting to do since I came to this galaxy. But one thing still puzzles me. Dragonne told me that the effects of his paralyzing roar would wear off in a few days, not even a day has passed and Goldar was suddenly free of the monster’s power. Mistress MonsterMaker, explain this!” Zedd shouted as he stormed over to the computer terminal, where Mistress MonsterMaker’s image was still on the monitor.

“It is possible my lord, that Dragonne may have met his untimely demise in the Gamma Tri System.” The artificial intelligence replied.

“WHAT!??! You mean to tell me that that monster was destroyed by that weakling, the Green Ranger!?!? That’s impossible!! Unless… unless they destroyed each other. I have to be sure.” Zedd stormed over to the balcony, and aimed his super vision in the direction of the Gamma Tri System. He locked onto the third planet, and what he saw only made him angrier. He saw an area of the jungle that was burnt black as coal, he then saw the unmorphed Green Ranger, making his way out of the jungle. “Damn it all to hell!! Not only did the Green Ranger destroy Dragonne, but he’s also on his way out of the jungle & is almost to the cave of the Power Amulets! Even if he does manage to reach the cave, he’ll never get passed the Guardian. No one has been able to get passed the Guardian, and I doubt that the Green Ranger will be the first. Soon, very soon dear Tommy, you & the rest of your friends shall become nothing more than memories in the distant past! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!”

Meanwhile, back on the third planet in the Gamma Tri System, Tommy Oliver continued to make his way through the vast jungle area, hoping to find something that would lead him to the Power Amulets. It had been a while since he left that blackened area of the jungle where he acquired the Dragon Saber, and destroyed the lion/dragon hybrid creature. He knew that he was close to finding the amulets, because the feelings he got about the location kept on getting stronger & stronger. After a few minutes, Tommy managed to emerge from the jungle & onto a large clearing with a cave just a few feet away from him. ‘This must be the place. This is where the feelings are the strongest. Now, all I have to do is just walk in, find the amulets, and get the hell outta here.’ Tommy took a deep breath as he slowly approached the entrance to the cave.

“HALT!!!” Said a loud & powerful voice emerging from deep within the cave.

Tommy was startled & confused upon hearing this mysterious voice. He then started to back up slowly as he saw someone or something emerging from the cave. A few moments passed, and the someone or something stepped out of the cave & into the light. What Tommy saw standing before him was unbelievable. For what he saw before him was literally, a knight in shining armor. He stood about Tommy’s height, and the armor he wore was a beautiful metallic emerald, it was fearsome, yet courageous, with the helmet & faceplate resembling a human/dragon hybrid. The mysterious knight unsheathed a long powerful sword, a sword that would rival Jason’s Power Sword.

“Identify yourself!” Said the mysterious knight.

“My name is Thomas Oliver, from the planet Earth.”

“Why have you come to this place?”

“I came here to find the Power Amulets.”

“Many have come here seeking the Power Amulets, mostly for their own selfish needs & personal desires. Many have failed to get passed me to enter the cavern, for their own greedy desires were the cause of their eventual downfall. And so shall it be with you stranger.”

“But you don’t understand, I came here to—“

“SILENCE!! Leave this place at once, or you shall succumb to the same fate that has befallen many others before you.”

“Listen, I came here to get those amulets, and I’m not leaving without them!”

“Then prepare to meet your destiny!” The mysterious knight, as he readied his sword for battle.

Tommy moved slowly, his keen eyes taking in every inch of his silent opponent. He didn't want to fight the Guardian, but the man... if a man he truly was... was hell-bent on battle. ‘Well if it was a fight he wanted, it was a fight he would get.’ Tommy was the Green Ranger, and he sure as hell wasn't going to back down from anything or anyone while his friends were counting on him. Which meant that he had to take this guy down… hard. He felt the reassuring weight of the Dragon Saber in his hands; it was a good weapon, easily the equal of Jason's Power Sword or his own Dragon Dagger.

“Let’s do it,” he says to the Guardian. “I don't want to fight you, but my friends come first. So if it's a fight you want,” Tommy spun his sword with his fingers, the swoosh of the wind being cut, and the light reflecting off of the blade, accentuating his point, “here I am.”

And then the battle came.

The Guardian rushed forward, intending to use his own sword to impale the Green Ranger. Instead, Tommy stood his ground, and perried the thrust with a simple flick of his wrist. Then, with the Guardian off balance, Tommy moved behind him and delivered a powerful kick that sent his opponent flying into a tree. The Guardian was on his feet in an instant, and Tommy barely managed to duck down under the lightning fast slash that would have taken off his head. Tommy turned his duck to his advantage, delivering a low, sweeping kick that knocked the Guardian from his feet. Even as he landed, the Guardian swung at Tommy again, and the valiant human barely managed to roll backwards in time to avoid being cut. The Guardian was strangely silent, allowing Tommy to hear the sounds of the planet around him. The quiet was almost as effective a weapon as the sword. Distracted by it, Tommy fell victim to a sudden, unexpected sucker punch, and doubled over, holding his stomach with one hand, his sword with the other. He'd let the Guardian get too close. That was not a smart move. The Guardian slashed down, and Tommy leapt to the right. His short-lived flight became a roll, and he stood as it ended. He turned, and he was pissed. Tommy ran forward, as though to thrust. Expecting the move, the Guardian, disconcertingly silent as always, moved to perry the blow. Instead, Tommy leapt up and over the head of the Guardian, delivering a crushing punch to the back of his opponent's head. Tommy's feet hit the ground and he turned in a second. The Guardian caught his (her?) balance and turned as well. Their swords met with the familiar metallic KLANG of blade striking blade. Both opponents moved closer, until their swords formed an X and they were nose to nose. Then, both pushed with all their strength, separating them by only a few paltry feet. Both slashed, and their blades met again. Tommy's mind began to create possible maneuvers; microseconds before his body implemented them. He would feint, stab, spin, or distract; however, for every strike he made, the Guardian was able to block. By the same token, none of the Guardian's attacks were even remotely successful.

‘Time to finish this!’ Thought Tommy.

Tommy could tell that while the Guardian had the apparently edge in terms of strength, he was not quite as fast or agile. That was the key. They both swung again, and this time, Tommy knew how to defeat his foe. As the blades struck, Tommy began to maneuver his arm to force the Guardian to move his blade in the same direction. It worked, and the two swords spun together, neither swordsman able to gain the upperhand. Finally, when he believed that the Guardian was as off balance as possible, Tommy, moving fast as lightning, pulled his sword back and delivered a crushing kick into the Guardian's torso. The Guardian, completely unprepared for the attack, offered no resistance and was thrown to the ground, his sword flying upwards, thrown in surprise. Tommy leapt up, grabbed the Guardian's sword, and landed, on his knees, atop his opponent. In less time than it took to think about it, both swords stabbed down into the ground, forming an X that trapped the Guardian's throat and threatened to remove the man's (woman's?) head.

"This fight is over," said Tommy.

“Go ahead stranger, kill me. I have been defeated, so go ahead and end my life. But end it quickly, for I do not wish to suffer.” The knight said to the Green Ranger.

Tommy just looked down at the knight, who was now at his mercy. This was the first time that he ever held someone’s life in his hands. Tommy has fought against many creatures before in the past, and had no trouble destroying them, but this was totally different. Whoever this person was under the armor, he (she?) was only doing his (her?) duty in guarding the cavern. Besides, it wasn’t in Tommy’s nature to take a person’s life. He pulled the swords out of the ground, and get off of the Guardian’s body. He plunged the Guardian’s sword into the ground while he focused mentally as the Dragon Saber vanished, only to reappear when Tommy morphed. Afterwards, Tommy offered his hand to the knight to help him up. The emerald armored knight grasped Tommy’s hand as he was helped to his feet. “Killing is not in my nature. I don't know why you wanted to fight me, but I'd much rather have you as a friend.” Tommy told the mysterious knight.

“I knew that you would not kill me, Thomas Oliver, wielder of what once belonged to me. You see, you & I have a lot in common Thomas Oliver. I know for a fact that you are the current wielder of the Green Ranger powers, and that you now hold in your possession the Dragon Saber. Both your powers & the saber once belonged to me, long ago. For you see, I was not only a Power Ranger, but I was the FIRST Green Ranger.” The mysterious knight explained to Tommy.

Tommy was shocked & surprised to hear this revelation. When he first became a Power Ranger, he had heard from Zordon that the sixth Power Coin fell into Rita’s possession thousands of years ago. He had heard that the Green Ranger at the time was killed in battle, and Rita’s forces took his Power Coin from him. Now, standing before him, was someone who claimed to be the FIRST Green Ranger. “How can you be the first Green Ranger? Zordon told me that the first owner of the Dragon Coin was killed in battle.”

“That is what he wants some people to believe, although there are times when I wish I had died that fateful day.” It was then that the knight crossed his arms in front of his face, and his armor vanished. A sleeveless dark green shirt, a pair of black leather pants, black boots, and silver & emerald bracelets replaced his armor. He slowly lowered his arms to reveal his face. The mysterious knight had long black hair with streaks of grey, brown eyes, a black mustache, and a black goatee. His was a face of bravery & wisdom, a face of someone that could be trusted.

Tommy was shocked beyond belief as he realized that the mysterious knight looked exactly like his old karate instructor, Sensei Michaels. When Tommy first began studying the martial arts, he was taken under the instruction of one of the best karate masters in the country, Eric Michaels. He was a 5th degree blackbelt in karate, and had mastered several other forms of martial arts. Sensei Michaels always taught Tommy to never give up on anything, whether it was his karate, or anything else he pursued in life. He was always taught that if he believed in himself, if he was determined enough to want something in life, that he shouldn’t give up until he had it. Not only was Eric Michaels Tommy’s sensei, but he was also a good friend. He was someone that Tommy trusted, someone that he trusted more than his girlfriend Kimberly, and someone he trusted even more than his best friend Jason. Now, he saw his old sensei standing right before him once again, just the way he was all those years ago. The only problem with this picture was that Eric Michaels died a year after Tommy earned his blackbelt.

“I know what you’re about to say, you’re about to say how can it be that I resemble Sensei Michaels. Well first allow me to introduce myself, my name is Tonaj, and I am a changeling.”

Tommy moved closer to Tonaj, and paid particular attention to his face. “Amazing, you look just like him. But why did you take on his appearance?”

“Because I am also a psychic, I read your thoughts. You see Thomas, when you chose to spare my life rather than kill me, I knew that you were honorable & trustworthy. I knew that your intentions for finding the Power Amulets were honorable.” Tonaj said as he picked up his sword, and placed it in its holster. “I felt that if I could trust you, that you would have to trust me as well. So I scanned your mind to find an image of someone you trusted, and the image that I discovered was of your karate instructor. Now come, we must hurry if you are to be successful in your quest.” The two of them entered the cave just as he said this. The cave was illuminated by torches, which were set up in various places, so they didn’t worry about wandering around in the dark.

“But why should I trust you, I hardly know anything about you. I mean, you claim to be the first Green Ranger, you read my thoughts without my permission, and take on the appearance of my dead sensei, and I’m supposed to trust you? Yes I did offer friendship to you, but friendship is supposed to be based on trust.” Tommy said to him with a look of disgust on his face.

“You are right, I haven’t given you any reason to trust me. It has been many, many years since I’ve had a decent conversation with anyone. Usually if a person comes to this planet, they’re usually just here to find the Power Amulets for their own selfish purposes. I guess in all the years I’ve been here, I forgot how to be civil. To fully understand who I am, Green Ranger, you must hear the story of my past.”

The look of suspicion that was on Tommy’s face, changed to a look of fascination & intrigue. There were a lot of things that Tommy wanted to know about Tonaj. When he first received the Green Ranger power, when did he lose the power, and how did he end up being the guardian of the Power Amulets?

“First, thousands upon thousands of years ago, I was part of the first team of Power Rangers. Now bear in mind that this was when the battle between good & evil first took place. I was selected along with five others, each of us representing a different alien species, to become Power Rangers. I had just turned twenty-one, and was already an accomplished warrior. Zordon was aware of this, so he selected me to become the Green Ranger, the most powerful out of the other five Rangers. I accepted his offer, and pledged my life to helping Zordon & the Morphing Masters in their fight to restore peace to the universe.

Over the following years, I along with the other Rangers, fought the good fight against the forces of evil. It felt good that I was using my abilities as a Ranger, and my abilities as a psychic changeling, to make a difference in the universe. The inhabitants of countless worlds cheered for the Power Rangers, little children of various alien species looked up to us, and called us heroes. It was the greatest feeling any of us ever had. But then came that dark day that would forever be burned in my memory, the day that would change my life forever.” Tonaj paused for a moment to let Tommy absorb the information.

Tommy no longer felt any negative feelings towards Tonaj, because here was someone that was basically pouring his heart out. Tommy truly believed that only a person who trusted him with all of his/her heart would open up like this. “Go on, what else happened?”

“Eventually, the battle had taken us to your planet, Earth. A band of warriors, under the command of Rita Repulsa, planned to establish some sort of base, and slowly take over the entire planet. We went to Earth to intercept Rita’s forces, and we got there just in time, or so we thought. We arrived on the planet, and we started setting up camp, to get ready for Rita’s attack. No sooner had we set up camp, we were surrounded on all sides by an army of Rita’s monsters. It was a set up all along, and we walked right into it. We pretty much held our own against Rita’s army for a while, and it seemed that we were going to turn the tables on Rita Repulsa. Then I was ambushed by seven of her monsters. I tried to fight them off, but I was severely outnumbered, and my friends & Zordon were too busy to lend me a hand.

The next thing I remembered, was waking up in a black room, with a single light hanging above me, and being in a lot of pain. I looked down at myself, saw that I was no longer morphed, and that my body had taken a severe beating. I looked up again and saw the face of my attacker, an extremely ugly looking creature by the name of Goldar. He taunted me by waving my Power Morpher in my face, saying that it now belonged to his empress, Rita Repulsa. But for some strange reason, he let me keep the Dragon Saber, and that still boggles my mind to this day. He tried to break my spirit by telling me that my friends were all dead, that the battle had been lost, that evil had won. I was separated from the others, so I wouldn’t be able to know whether he spoke the truth or not. But despite everything, I still held on for as long as I possibly could.

I must have lost consciousness from the constant beatings that I received, because the next thing that I remembered was waking up with Zordon & the Morphing Masters were standing over me. Zordon and his army had rescued me; however, the other Rangers were not around. Zordon informed me that the other Rangers had died in battle, but he did manage to save their powers. He also confirmed that my powers had been taken away by Rita’s forces. I was so ashamed & hurt because of what happened. I had been defeated in battle, my powers were taken away, and my friends were dead! I had lost my honor. It was at that moment, that I wished that Goldar had killed me! I couldn’t serve the forces of goodness without my powers, my friends, or my honor! I had nothing else left! But just when I thought I had reached my lowest, the Morphing Masters pulled me aside and told me something that would forever be stuck with me. They told me that they had foreseen this, they KNEW that I would lose my powers! Those bastards knew about it, and they never even bothered to tell me! But then, they told me that it was necessary for this to take place. They told me that the power of the dragon would reemerge eventually. First in the hands of evil, then in the hands of goodness, and that those hands would belong to the same person. Meaning that the person would first be evil but later on would turn good. That didn’t do very much to restore my honor, I still felt like nothing. Then, they told me that they wanted me to protect the Power Amulets, a set of amulets they created to restore power to the Power Rangers. They said that a time would come, when all six warriors of power become low on strength, and one shall step forward to journey across the stars to retrieve six amulets of power. Finally, they told me that someone, a warrior of true honor & courage, would be the one that would help me find a way to restore honor to my soul. So I took the amulets, and came here to this planet, in the Gamma Tri System. As for the Dragon Saber, I felt that I no longer had the right to use that weapon, so I plunged it deep into a stone out there in the jungle. When I did this I said, only one whose heart is pure & honorable shall free this saber from its prison. And so I have been here ever since, protecting the Power Amulets, and waiting.” Tonaj stopped in his tracks, and turned to face Tommy. “Waiting for you Thomas Oliver. You are the one the Morphing Masters predicted would come, you are in search of the Power Amulets, to restore your powers, and the powers of your friends, are you not?”

“Well… yeah, that is, pretty much, the whole point of my mission. I still can’t believe that the Morphing Masters knew that I would be coming for those amulets, thousands of years ago.”

“The Morphing Masters knew a lot of things, most of the things they knew they didn’t share with most people. You know, the whole, ‘no one should know too much about their own future’ kind of deal?” Just then, they arrived at a vast area in the cave, with trunks & chests filled with gold, jewels, and various other items. Straight ahead of them, in the dead center of the room, was an open treasure chest, and in that chest were six colored amulets. The two warriors slowly walked to the center of the room, and approached the treasure chest. “We have arrived at our destination Thomas Oliver. These are the Power Amulets, take your amulet & restore your powers. Then take the rest of the amulets, and give them to the other Rangers.”

Tommy couldn’t believe that the moment he had been waiting for months was finally here. All he had to do was place the amulet around his neck, and his powers would be restored permanently & forever. He slowly reached out to touch his amulet, and felt the power that coursed through the fist-sized emerald. Tommy took in a deep breath, lifted the amulet up by its chain with both hands, and slowly placed it over his head, and around his neck. At that moment, Tommy’s body began to glow a bright green color as the Green Ranger felt his powers become recharged back to full strength. Then in his mind’s eye, he saw Draco, the Thunder Dragon, and he was smiling. ‘You have successfully gained possession of the Green Power Amulet, your powers have now been restored to their full potency. Congratulations Green Ranger, I look forward to fighting under your command very soon.’ In a matter of moments, the aura of green energy that surrounded Tommy’s body slowly faded away. Tommy looked down at himself, and saw that the amulet was gone. However, Tommy wasn’t concerned about this at all. He knew deep inside that when he morphed, the amulet would reappear attached to his shield.

“How do you feel Thomas?” Tonaj asked him.

“Like a million dollars! I can’t believe it; my powers have been completely restored!”

“I am glad for you Thomas, now take the rest of the amulets, and hurry back to your world. Your friends will need them as well.” Tonaj said as he closed the treasure chest, and handed it to Tommy.

Tommy was about to accept the chest, when something came across his mind. “Wait a minute, you mean you’re just gonna stay here?”

“I have no choice, my honor is gone, this place is my eternal prison.” Tonaj replied.

“But you said that the Morphing Masters predicted that a person would come for the amulets, and that a person would come to help you restore your honor, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Don’t you see, I am that person! I’m the one that came for the amulets, with only the best intentions in mind. I’m also the one that will help restore your honor! Just think about it for a moment. Before I came to the cave, I fought against an extremely vicious lion/dragon creature, which was sent here by Zedd to kill me. And before that, Zordon told me that one of Zedd’s monsters drained the others of their powers. Now more than likely Lord Zedd already knows that I found the amulets, and he’s not going to be too happy about that. Even with my powers restored, and with these amulets, it may not be enough for what Zedd may have in store! If you fight by our side, we can overcome whatever Zedd has lying in store for me & the other Rangers back on Earth. You also said that Goldar was the one that beat you up & tried to break your spirit right? Well, more than likely Zedd will send Goldar down to help the monster! This could be the chance you’ve been waiting for. The chance to restore your honor & to avenge the death of your comrades! I am asking you, Tonaj, former Green Ranger & protector of the Power Amulets, will help me?”

Tonaj absorbed what Tommy just said to him, and it made a lot of sense. Plus, he was right about Goldar. Tonaj had been carrying an everlasting hatred for Goldar, and now he was going to get the chance to avenge the deaths of his comrades, and restore honor to his soul. He looked Tommy straight in the eye, and smiled. “Let’s do it.” Tonaj said as the two warriors proudly walked out of the cave. As soon as they reached the outside, Tonaj stood close to Tommy as they teleported from the Gamma Tri System, back to Earth.

Back at the Lunar Palace, Zedd had been watching everything that had transpired on that planet, and he was not pleased at all with the situation. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DON’T FUCKING BELIEVE THIS!!!! THAT PATHETIC PIECE OF GREEN MUCUS GOT TO THE AMULETS, AND WITH THE HELP OF THAT BLASTED CHANGELING!!!! SURGE!!!!!!”

“Yes my lord?”

“Go to Earth, lure those Rangers out into the open, and then kill them!! KILL THEM ALL!!! KILL EVERYTHING & ANYTHING THAT GETS IN YOUR WAY!!!!! NOW GO!!!!!” Zedd shouted. Surge bowed to his master and vanished in an array of energy bats. He then turned around, and approached Mistress MonsterMaker. “How long until Goldar is ready for combat?”

“The transformation is only 45% complete, I will still need at least 29.7 minutes to complete Goldar’s metamorphosis.” The artificial intelligence replied.

“Let me know the very second that he’s ready! I will not let some minor setback ruin my plans on destroying that pathetic Green Ranger, and the other Power Rangers! I said that the end of the Green Ranger was at hand, and by all that is evil, HE SHALL MEET HIS END EVEN IF I HAVE TO KILL WITH MY BARE HANDS!!!!”

Back at the Command Center, the Rangers had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity for Tommy to return with the Power Amulets. Each one of them felt extremely edgy, not knowing what would happen first, Tommy returning with the Power Amulets, or Surge reappearing in Angel Grove. Even though they were willing to face Surge with their powers weakened, the Rangers still hoped that Tommy would return before Surge reappeared in Angel Grove.

Just then, entering the Command Center in two flashes of electrical green energy, were Tommy & Tonaj. “Honey, we’re home.” Tommy announced to everyone within the Command Center.

The Rangers all turned around, and saw Tommy standing there with a mysterious new companion. They each had smiles on their faces as they saw their friend had returned. They could see the smile on Tommy’s face, which automatically made it clear to all of them that Tommy had succeeded in retrieving the Power Amulets. Knowing this, they turned their attention to the mysterious stranger that stood behind Tommy.

“Tommy, who’s your new friend?” Kim asked.

“Guys, I would like to introduce you to the guy that helped me find the Power Amulets, the one that made it possible for my powers to be restored. This is Tonaj, and he was the first Green Ranger.”

Tonaj stepped forward, and bowed to the other five Rangers. “I am honored to be in your presence.”

“No, we’re the ones who should be honored. You were the first Green Ranger, and you helped Tommy get the amulets. By the way, where are the amulets?” Jason asked.

Tonaj held out his arms, and a large treasure chest appeared. He then placed the chest on the computer console, opened it up, and revealed the five remaining Power Amulets. The Rangers each gathered to see their respective amulet, and marveled at their beauty. “I believe these belong to you.”

“IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN TONAJ, IT HAS BEEN A VERY LONG TIME!”

“That it has Zordon, that it has. But I’m here to fulfill the prophecy of the Morphing Masters, and achieve my destiny but helping you all, and hopefully help myself in restoring my honor.” Tonaj replied.

“Well guys, what are we waiting for? Let’s put these babies on, and get our powers back.” Zack said enthusiastically.

“You said it. Come on guys, let’s do it.” Jason said to them all.

Each of the five Rangers reached for the Power Amulet representing their respective color. They looked at each other, then at Tommy, Tonaj, Alpha, and then Zordon. They each took a deep breath, placed the amulets over their heads, and around their necks.

Tommy smiled as he saw the five Rangers smile, as they glowed with the energy of their respective Ranger color. Now his friends were experiencing the same joy he felt when he placed the Green Amulet around his own neck. The Green Ranger breathed a sigh of relief to see that his friends wouldn’t have to go through what he had gone through for many months.

“This is a most exhilarating experience, I feel like my entire body has been charged with electrons.” Billy said with a huge smile on his face.

“It’s definitely a morphinomenal feeling Billy, I’ll give ya that.” Zack said.

Jason, Trini, and Kimberly each had similar reactions. The feeling they each had was something that couldn’t be described in mere words. What they felt when they put on the amulets, was something ten times more exhilarating then when they morphed. All in all, they each felt glad that all now had their powers back.

But they joy they felt was to be short-lived, for just then, the alarms went off in the Command Center. “ALL OF YOU, OBSERVE THE VIEWING GLOBE!!”

The Rangers, including Tonaj, turned around to see what had caused the alarm to go off. They saw various explosions, along with people running & screaming in Angel Grove Park. The one orchestrating such violence & chaos was Surge, the cybernetic vampire. He let loose a volley of energy blasts on the citizens, and also drained the energy from them as well. “Come on out & face me you Power Weaklings!! Come on out, all six of you!!” Surge challenged.

“Whoa, that guy means business.” Tommy said.

“Now that we all got our powers back, the six of us can take this guy.” Zack said.

“But will he still be able to drain our powers, even with the Power Amulets?” Billy asked.

“NO!! THE POWER AMULETS WERE SPECIFICALLY CREATED TO PROTECT YOUR POWERS FROM EVER BEING DRAINED AGAIN!!”

“Zordon’s right, any attempt made to drain the energies of the Power Amulets will ultimately fail.” Tonaj said to them all.

“In what way?” Kim asked.

“Well, for one thing, the person attempting to drain the amulets’ energies would not be able to contain them. The result would be in that person’s destruction, and the energy would go right back to the amulets.” Tonaj explained to them all.

Just then, a thought flashed into Tommy’s mind. “Wait a minute, wait just a minute here. Tonaj, I think you might be on to something.”

“What, what are you talking about?”

“The amulets, you said that anyone that tried to drain their energies would be destroyed, right?”

“That is correct.”

“Okay, and this Surge guy is some sort of… energy vampire right?” Tommy asked his fellow Rangers.

“Tommy, what you getting at?” Trini asked.

“Don’t ya see? We go out there, and we let Surge drain the energies of the amulets.” Tommy declared with a smile on his face.

“Of course, he thrives on energy, the more energy he gets, the more powerful he becomes. But, if his body were overwhelmed with energy that he couldn’t handle or control, he would self-destruct!” Billy said enthusiastically.

“Tommy, that’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant. We’ll fight the monster, but let him think that he’s winning. When the time is right, we’ll play dead, let him try to drain our powers, and then watch the guy blow himself up.” Jason said to the others, giving out the plan of action.

“Guys, I think it’s about time we send Count Dracula back to his coffin.” Zack said to the others, rubbing his hands together.

“GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL, MY RANGERS!!”

“Good luck Thomas, and good luck to you all.” Tonaj said to the Rangers.

“Be careful my human friends.” Alpha added.

“All right guys, IT’S MORPHIN TIME!!” Jason shouted as all six of our heroes pulled out their Power Morphers, and activated them.

“DRAGON-ZORD!!”

“MASTODON!!”

“PTERODACTYL!!”

“TRICERATOPS!!”

“SABRE-TOOTHED TIGER!!”

“TYRANNOSAURUS!!”

In six flashes of multi-colored light, our heroes morphed into action & were teleported from the Command Center to Angel Grove Park. Upon arriving on the scene, the six warriors stood proudly & took their respective fighting stances. Now that each of them had their powers restored, they were pumped up & ready for a fight.

Surge quickly turned around and saw the six warriors. “So, you’re back for some more, eh? Back to have the rest of your pathetic energies drained?”

“You want our energies, you’re gonna have to come & get ‘em freakazoid!” Zack shouted.

“WITH PLEASURE!!” Surge shouted as he launched a large destructive energy ball right at our heroes. The ball of energy exploded, causing all six of heroes to be thrown in various different directions. The Rangers quickly recovered, and were back on their feet again. Surge exchanged blows with each of the Rangers, knocking each of them down until he came to the Green Ranger. The two warriors exchanged punches & kicks for quite a while, before Surge finally grabbed the Green Ranger by the throat, and tossed him aside to join the other Rangers. “Looks like it is time for me to feast, ONCE AGAIN!!” Surge shouted as he slowly approached the Rangers as they lied on the ground.

The Rangers lied motionless on the ground, basically playing opossum for the monster. Once they heard Surge said that he was going to feast, they each knew that it was the signal to allow Surge to try to drain their powers. Tommy felt deep within his heart that this plan would work, that the information Tonaj supplied was accurate. However, the other Rangers weren’t so sure. Although they do admire & respect Tonaj for being the original Green Ranger, and for helping Tommy retrieve the amulets, they still had their doubts about whether or not this plan would work. They had just gotten their powers fully restored; they really didn’t feel like losing them again.

Surge finally stood over the seemingly motionless bodies of the Power Rangers, slowly stretched his arms out over the bodies, and began draining their powers once again. The energy flow that Surge felt was incredible. The power that began to flow through his body was unbelievable. What he was experiencing during the energy transfer was something beyond pleasure for him. At that moment, he felt more powerful than anyone in existence. He felt that he could take on anyone or anything that got in his way. At that moment in time, Surge felt absolutely, positively, INVINCIBLE. But then at that moment, as he was attempting to complete the energy drain, Surge felt a strange burning sensation deep within himself. This was a strange feeling that disturbed him greatly. He tried to ignore it, and focused more on trying to achieve ultimate power. But the burning just kept on getting stronger & stronger, and it wouldn’t go away. Surge could no longer focus on the task at hand, and stopped draining energy from the Rangers. He then started to feel sharp stabbing pains in his legs, his arms, his stomach, his chest, and in the dead center of his forehead. He slowly began to stumble away from the Rangers, clutching his head, then his stomach. “NO!! WHAT IS THIS!?!?! THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!! I CANNOT HANDLE ALL THIS ENERGY… BUT I MUST… I AM DESTINED… TO BE… INVINCIBLE!!!!!!!!!” At that moment, the vampiric cyborg, Surge, exploded in a brilliant display of fire & flame. All that was left of him, was a badly burnt slowly dying carcass.

In that instant, the energy that Surge attempted to drain from our heroes returned back to them. The six of them stood up, and saw Surge lying on the ground… defeated. The Rangers then all jumped for joy, hugging each other, and celebrating as they saw the results of a well-orchestrated plan working out for the best.

Back in the Lunar Palace, Lord Zedd watched on as the Rangers began to celebrate their victory over Surge. “NO!! I will not let them defeat my most powerful monster! Besides, Goldar isn’t ready for battle yet! I think it’s time to give Surge a little boost in energy!” Just then, one of Zedd’s Growth Grenades appeared in his hand. “Now, the time has come for YOU Surge, TO GROW!!” Zedd then threw the metallic sphere down to Earth.

Surge tried hanging on to life for as long as he could, he then looked up to the sky, and saw tennis ball sized grey sphere heading straight towards him. He instantly knew that it was one of Lord Zedd’s Growth Grenades; that the contents within would restore him, and make him grow to gigantic proportions. So he slowly reached out to catch the grenade in his hand. In a matter of seconds, the grenade landed in his palm, Surge slowly pulled out the pin, and then smashed it to the ground, causing yet another great explosion.

The Rangers quickly stopped their celebrating & looked to see the second explosion. Then, they slowly looked up as they saw Surge growing to Godzilla-sized proportions.

“Aww man, this is not looking good at all guys.” Zack said, matter-of-factly.

“I think it’s time to show Fang Face here, a little thunder power, what do you say guys?” Jason said to his comrades.

The Rangers all nodded in unison.

“Guys, I’m gonna be right here if ya need my help, because I’m not sure whether or not Draco is online yet. Besides, the monster has already been weakened from the loss of energy he suffered. I’m not saying this is gonna be an easy win, but I’d like to be on stand by just in case.” Tommy explained to the others.

“You got it Tommy.” Billy said.

“WE NEED THUNDER-ZORD POWER… NOW!!” The original five Rangers shouted in unison.

“MASTODON/LION THUNDER-ZORD POWER!!” Zack shouted as the Mastodon emerged from its secret hiding place, was hit by a bolt of black lightning, and transformed into the Lion Thunder-Zord.

“PTERODACTYL/FIREBIRD THUNDER-ZORD POWER!!” Kimberly shouted as her old Dino-Zord flew through the sky, got hit by a bolt of pink lightning, and transformed into the beautiful Firebird Zord.

“TRICERATOPS/UNICORN THUNDER-ZORD POWER!!” The Blue Ranger shouted as the Triceratops Dino-Zord emerged, was hit by a bolt of blue lightning, and became the Unicorn Thunder-Zord.

“SABRE-TOOTHED TIGER/GRIFFIN THUNDER-ZORD POWER!!” The Yellow Ranger shouted as her old Dino-Zord leaped through the air, got hit by a bolt of yellow lightning, and landed on the ground as the Griffin Thunder-Zord.

“TYRANNOSAURUS/RED DRAGON THUNDER-ZORD POWER!!” The Power Ranger leader shouted as the Tyrannosaurus Zord emerged onto the scene, got struck by a bolt of red lightning, and became the flying Red Dragon Thunder-Zord.

The five Rangers then leaped into the air, and entered the cockpits of their Thunder-Zords. Immediately following their arrival, the Red Dragon Thunder-Zord began its transformation into Warrior Mode. Once that was complete, the other Zords linked up with the Red Dragon, and formed the Mega Thunder-Zord.

“MEGA THUNDER-ZORD, POWER UP!!” The Rangers shouted in unison from the Zord’s cockpit.

“You think that scares me? Think again Power Pussies!!” Surge shouted as he ran towards the Mega Thunder-Zord. Both he & the Zord exchanged blows for a few minutes, then Surge began to slash & claw at the Mega Thunder-Zord, causing sparks of electricity to fly everywhere. Surge then grasped a hold of the mighty Zord, and began another energy drain. He was more determined than ever to destroy these Rangers. Even if he couldn’t drain their powers, he could at least drain their Zords of every last drop of power, and use that power to destroy them.

The Rangers struggled to maintain control of their Zord, and fight off this energy-sucking creature.

“Jason, this thing is draining the Zord’s energy cells, power is down by 50%!” Billy exclaimed.

“We’ve gotta do something!” Kimberly cried.

“Contact Tommy, tell to find out if his new Zord is online, and to give us a hand here!” Jason ordered.

The Green Ranger had been watching the battle take place, and saw Surge now attempting to drain the Mega Thunder-Zord of its power. He didn’t like the fact that he had to sit on the sidelines, but he wasn’t even sure if his new Zord was ready for combat yet. He then heard a strange static like noise coming from the communications device that was installed in his helmet.

“Tommy, can hear us? We need your help!” Trini shouted.

“Awww man, my friends need me.” He then touched his wrist communicator to contact the Command Center. “Zordon, Alpha, is my new Thunder-Zord ready for action yet?”

“Affirmative Tommy, we just finished the conversion between the old Dragon-Zord & Draco.” Alpha responded.

“HE IS AWAITING YOUR COMMANDS GREEN RANGER, GOOD LUCK!!”

“Thanks.” With that he cut communications with the Command Center, and then pulled out his Dragon Dagger. “I call upon the power of Draco, the Thunder Dragon!” Tommy then held the dagger like a flute, placed the mouthpiece to the lower part of his helmet, where his lips would be, and began to play a wonderful musical tune. A tune that sounded like a royal trumpet announcing the arrival of royalty.

A dark cloud formed in the sky, and emerald lightning began flashing through that dark cloud. Emerging from the cloud, glowing with electrical green energy, Draco the Thunder Dragon. It soared through the air, letting out a mighty dragon roar.

“Alright! Let’s do this!” Just then, Tommy leaped through the air as the Thunder Dragon was flying, and landed on top of the Zord’s head. Afterwards, the Green Ranger quickly opened up the hatch, and jumped into the Zord’s cockpit. As he sat down in the chair, he quickly looked around at the interior and was very impressed. He saw a computer console in front of him with various buttons done in a few shades of green, along with a couple of other buttons done in silver & gold. There was also an insert slot in the dead center of the console, shaped in the outline of Tommy’s Dragon Dagger. Tommy placed the dagger into the slot, then placed his hands on the console. “Computer, initiate dagger/Zord interface.” ‘Hang on guys, help is on the way.’ Once Tommy had settled into his brand new Zord, he focused on diverting Surge’s attention. He brought Draco into a lower altitude, and circled over both Surge & the Mega Thunder-Zord. In a matter of seconds, Surge looked up, shoved the Mega Thunder-Zord aside, spread his batlike wings, and launched himself into the air to go after the Thunder Dragon. “That’s right Count Chocula, come & get me!” Tommy taunted the monster, as he was chased through the skies by Surge. The two of them went around the general vicinity of Angel Grove Park at incredible speeds. This went on for a couple of minutes, until Draco, the Thunder Dragon, came to a halt, and turned around to face the oncoming Surge. “Absorb THIS!!” Tommy shouted as he quickly tapped a few controls, thus creating a sound resembling a chorus of royal trumpets. At that moment, a powerful stream of fire emerged from Draco’s mouth, directed right at Surge. By the time Surge could stop himself, it was too late, he was already engulfed in the flames.

Surge screamed & howled in pain as the searing fire burned his skin, and damaged his cybernetic components. He was so consumed with the pain, that he could no longer maintain his concentration for flight, and crashed straight to the ground. Tommy then brought Draco, the Thunder Dragon, down slowly on its hind legs for a smooth landing.

Once Tommy landed, he immediately heard over his intercom communications system cheering voices, which belonged to his friends in the Mega Thunder-Zord. “Guys, there’ll be plenty of time to celebrate afterwards, right now we’ve gotta finish this guy off! Billy, Zack, Kim, Trini, I think it’s about to introduce the Count over there to the Thunder Dragon Mega-Zord. You guys with me?”

“I’m in.” Billy replied.

“You got it.” Trini replied.

“I’m with ya.” Kim replied.

“Count me in too.” Zack replied.

“Go for it guys, I’ll be here if ya need backup.” Jason told the others.

“Then let’s get to it. Initiate Thunder Dragon Mega-Zord sequence, NOW!!”

At that moment, Draco began its transformation into Warrior Mode, while the other Zords separated from each other, leaving the Red Dragon Thunder-Zord in Warrior Mode alone & ready for action. The Lion, Unicorn, and Griffin Zords linked up with Draco, and became the Thunder Dragon Mega-Zord, while the Firebird Thunder-Zord attached itself to the Dragon Staff, instantly becoming the Thunder Ax.

Surge managed to gather up what energy & strength he had left in his badly burned body to get to his feet. He couldn’t focus on anything else, accept the unbelievable pain he was feeling at that moment. He probably wouldn’t even have been able to focus on absorbing any type of energy in his condition. Surge slowly turned around, and saw the Thunder Dragon Mega-Zord, wielding a very large ax. He then saw the ax blade beginning to charge up with fiery energy. He knew what was coming, and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. There was only one thing left for Surge to do as the large robot raised the energized ax, getting ready to strike him down & end his life. “Ohhhhhhhhh shit!” With those final words said, the Thunder Dragon Mega-Zord used the charged up Thunder Ax to completely & utterly destroy Surge, the vampire cyborg.

After Surge’s destruction, the Rangers leaped out of their Zords, and landed in Angel Grove Park. Once there, the Zords automatically disengaged & each returned to their secret hiding places. After that, the still morphed Rangers began congratulating each other on a job well done. But most of the congratulations went to Tommy.

“That was absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt, completely morphinomenal work Tommy.” Trini said clapping the Green Ranger on the shoulder.

“Impressive battle tactics on your part.” Billy said to him, shaking his hand.

“What can I say, that was awesome bro.” Zack said to Tommy, giving him a high-five.

Kimberly came up to him, and gave him a big hug. “I am so proud of you Tommy.”

Finally, Jason came up to the Green Ranger; the two friends smiled at each other beneath their helmets, and then shook hands. “You did an excellent job bro, I mean that.”

“Thanks Jase.” Tommy replied, and he felt deep within his heart that things were starting to look a whole lot better for his life, and for the lives of his friends.

Back at the Lunar Palace, all you could hear was screams of rage & frustration, both these things were coming from Lord Zedd. He had just witnessed Surge’s destruction, and from the way he was acting now, he was pissed off. He was jumping up & down violently, like a little child throwing a temper tantrum. “NO, NO, NO, NO!!!! IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS!!!!!! MISTRESS MONSTERMAKER, THAT IS THE SECOND MONSTER THAT HAS FAILED TO DESTROY THE RANGERS!! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF!!?!??”

“Goldar’s transformation is complete, he is ready for action, my lord.” The female computer program said calmly.

“Well, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!?!? SEND HIM TO EARTH IMMEDIATELY!!!!!”

“As you wish, my lord.”

Zedd quickly turned from the computer console back to the balcony. ‘You will all curse the day that you ever defied me Power Rangers! I swear, I will make you all suffer!!’ Zedd vowed as he waited to see the new & improved Goldar tear the Rangers apart.

Back on Earth, our heroes were still congratulating each on other on their victory over Surge. It was at that moment that they heard a loud crash of thunder, and felt the ground beneath them tremble slightly. They each knew that Zedd was sending something else to try & finish them off in their moment of happiness. They just weren’t sure what it was, and that was what worried them the most.

Just then, a tremendous burst of devilish fire erupted just a few feet in front of the Rangers. They saw a figure begin to take shape deep within the flames, a monstrous & demonic figure that somehow looked familiar. A few moments passed, and the strange figure emerged from the hellish fires, so that the Rangers could see who it was. The creature stood around seven & a half feet tall, and was extremely muscular. The creature wore powerful golden gauntlets over his clawed hands, golden armor for his upper torso, deadly spikes on his shoulder armor, a pair of black leather pants, and golden boots. He also possessed large black horns coming out the sides of his head, and his face took on a more demonic, yet simian, appearance. And on his back was a pair of large, gold-plated bat wings. He smiled at the Rangers as he slowly approached the Rangers. “What’s the matter Rangers? Don’t you recognize you’re old friend?” The creature said to our heroes in a low, scratchy, monstrous voice.

Suddenly, it hit the Rangers like a bolt of lightning. “GOLDAR!!” They said in unison realizing that this creature standing before them was in fact Goldar.

“That’s right! As you can tell by now, I’ve changed somewhat since the last time we met, which wasn’t too long ago. However, the reason being is that my master, Lord Zedd, has been so gracious as to give me the power to finally put an end to you Power Rangers! So say goodbye to your world Rangers, and say hello… to OBLIVION!!!” Goldar shouted as he lifted his arms, getting ready to unleash a powerful blast of energy.

“STOP!!” A commanding voice said, from behind Goldar.

The new & improved Goldar slowly turned around, and saw an unfamiliar gentleman with long black & grey hair, wearing dark clothing. He had no idea who this stranger was that ordered him to stop. What he did know was whoever the stranger was, was going to get killed.

However, the Rangers immediately knew that it was Tonaj, and he had come to their rescue just in time. The Rangers had just finished doing battle a tough opponent in Surge, the cyborg vampire. Now this new & improved Goldar had emerged, they were willing to fight him, but Tommy held them back. “Now, we shouldn’t interfere with this fight. This Tonaj’s fight, this is what he needs to redeem himself & restore his honor. He needs to defeat the person that stole his honor in the first place, and that was Goldar. Now after all these years, these two arch-enemies are going to do battle one last time.” Tommy explained to them. The Rangers each nodded in acknowledgment to Tommy’s explanation, and stood on the sidelines, hoping that Tonaj is victorious in his fight.

Goldar unsheathed his brand new sword, which was longer, and more deadly than his previous sword, and was now made of a metal that was black, but laced with gold. “Identify yourself!” Goldar demanded of the mysterious stranger.

“Surely you remember me Goldar? I too have changed somewhat since the last time we met.” Tonaj replied as he stepped forward.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’ve never seen you before in my life!”

“Oh really? Then allow me to refresh your memory. Over 15,000 years ago you captured a young man who had in his possession, the power of the dragon. You tortured him physically & mentally. You killed his friends; one of those people was his fiancée. Then you tried to break his spirit, but he wouldn’t submit to you. And when he didn’t submit to you, you stripped him of his powers & left him for dead. But he didn’t die; he may have lost his honor, but he lived on to become the Guardian of the Power Amulets. And in all those years, he has waited for the chance to get his hands on you.” Tonaj explained with obvious fury & rage in his voice.

Goldar then let out a cruel & evil laugh. “Ahhh yes, now I remember. You’re Tonaj, and you were the original Green Ranger. Yes I remember torturing you, and I remember enjoying every second of it. I also remember killing your friends, one by one. First there was the Red Ranger, Jakra. Then there was Lisetta, the Black Ranger. Then came Saqado, the Blue Ranger. Afterwards, there was Yonedo, the Yellow Ranger. And then of course, there was Zenisa, the Pink Ranger, and your beloved fiancée. She was my greatest conquest. I enjoyed fucking her almost as much as I enjoyed killing her.” At that point Goldar smiled as he saw the absolute rage building in Tonaj’s face. “You should’ve heard her, she screamed so loud the entire galaxy could hear her. She screamed, and begged, and cried out for me to stop. She cried out over & over for her beloved Tonaj to save her. Then I snapped the bitch’s neck just to shut her up.”

“You bastard!” Tonaj shouted as his armor appeared on his body. He then quickly unsheathed his sword, and charged towards Goldar with all the anger & rage that filled his soul.

Their swords clashed with each other violently for many minutes. Goldar just laughed and blocked all of Tonaj’s moves, while Tonaj screamed with anger and swung his sword furiously, trying to chop Goldar into little pieces. Goldar dodged & blocked each violent swing, until he finally caught Tonaj off guard by delivering a powerful punch that knocked the former Green Ranger down to the ground.

“Look at you Tonaj, you’re just as pathetic as your comrades. You are weak, and helpless, you don’t even have the power to avenge the death of your friends. You’ve let your anger & rage blind you; you’ve let it consume your entire being. That is something now very becoming of a Ranger, or a warrior, now is it?” Goldar taunted him.

Tonaj slowly got to his feet; his back still turned to Goldar. “But you forgot one very important detail Goldar. My Power Ranger status was stolen from me by the forces of darkness, I did not willingly pass on my powers to another. Since my powers were taken from me, I no longer HAVE to follow the rules of a Power Ranger.” Just then his armor vanished, and he turned around to face Goldar with a devilish smile on his face. “You are also wrong about another thing Goldar. I am not weak & pathetic; I am not without power. I have looked into your soul, and I see fear in your black heart.”

The expression on Goldar’s face at that moment was of shock, and a look as if he had just seen a ghost. “You are a liar! I have no fears, GOLDAR FEARS NOTHING!! I am the strongest, most powerful warrior in the galaxy, people fear ME!!” The golden warrior strongly protested.

“Oh really, methinks the man doth protest TOO much.” Tonaj said as he slowly approached Goldar. “I know what fears lie within you Goldar. I know that you fear being upstaged by warriors who may prove to be better than you are. You fear that you may lose the respect you have gained over the years. But the main thing that you fear Goldar, is disappointing your master Lord Zedd. You fear that he might ultimately kill you when he’s sick & tired of putting up with your failures. You fear for your life everytime you have to report how you have failed to destroy the Power Rangers, isn’t that right, Goldar?” At this point, Goldar slowly started to back away from Tonaj, and started to tremble slightly. Tonaj just kept on coming towards him. “What’s the matter Goldar? Why are you backing away from me? You say that you don’t fear anyone, then why are you backing away from me? Is it because you know that what I say is true?” As he talked, his facial features began to change, as did his voice. “Or is it because when you look at me, you see the one thing that you are truly afraid of. The one person in the entire universe that you could possibly be terrified of. And that just happens to be…” At that moment his face & voice completed the change, at one point he looked exactly like Eric Michaels, now he looked exactly like, “LORD ZEDD!!”

Goldar screamed out the word ‘no’, and then fell to his knees. This was something that he would never have admitted to anyone, and he had kept it a secret for many months. However, Tonaj had somehow managed to discover & take on the appearance of his deepest darkest fear in a matter of minutes. The mighty & powerful warrior was on his knees, trembling with absolute fear. He looked up, and didn’t see Tonaj, he saw his master Lord Zedd looking down at him. “Master?”

“You have failed me for the very last time Goldar! I gave you one final chance to destroy the Power Rangers, and you have BLOWN it!! I will no longer tolerate your incompetence!! For your continuous failures, I hereby sentence you… TO DEATH!!” Tonaj, as Lord Zedd, said as he unsheathed his sword. He slowly raised it, ready to deliver to killing blow. ‘This one is for, my fallen comrades, but especially for you Zenisa. I’ll always love you.’ And at that moment, with one slice of his katana blade, Goldar’s head was removed from his body. A few seconds passed, and both Goldar’s severed head & body turned to ashes by a strange demonic flame. Afterwards, Tonaj once again took on the appearance of Tommy’s old sensei as he saw the Rangers coming towards him. He watched as they each reverted back to their human forms, and just looked up to the skies. Tonaj closed his eyes, and thought about what he had just done. He finally managed to avenge the deaths of his friends, by killing the person who killed them so many years ago. In his mind’s eye he saw the spirits of his old comrades, one by one and they each smiled at him, letting him know that they had found peace. He then saw the spirit of his fiancée, Zenisa, and she was just as beautiful dead as she was alive. ‘You need not worry about me any longer, my beloved Tonaj. Someday soon, you & I will be together again, I promise. Remember, my spirit, and the spirits of the others, will always be with you. And never forget that I love you Tonaj.’ Tonaj opened his eyes, and saw that his vision was a bit blurry. It was at that moment that he realized that he had been crying. He wiped his tears away, and then looked at the Rangers, whom were all smiling at him. “Well, it is done. I have avenged the death of my friends, and my honor has been restored. And you six Rangers have proven to be worthy successors to the Power Ranger legend. I only wish that the others could be alive to see this.” He said with a touch of sadness in his voice.

Tommy stepped forward to Tonaj. “They may not be here physically, but they’ll always be here in spirit, that is one thing that I’m sure of.”

“I know Thomas, I have spent too long mourning their deaths, and hoping that I would find a way to avenge them. Now that I have avenged their deaths, and I now that I know that they will find peace, I know that I too will be able to find peace, somehow.” The two warriors smiled at each, and this made for an interesting site, a Green Ranger of the past together with a Green Ranger of the present.

“Come on guys, let’s get back to the Command Center. Zordon’s waiting for us.” Jason said to them all. At that moment, the seven of them teleported from the park, back to the Command Center.

Back at the Palace on the Moon, Zedd had just witnessed the Goldar’s destruction at the hands of Tonaj. After seeing this, he silently walked back to his throne, and sat down upon it. “I don’t believe that this is happening. I gave Goldar powers beyond imagination, and that fool still got himself killed. What a fucking loser.” He then rose from his throne, and walked over to Mistress MonsterMaker. “And as for you, my old friend, you promised that your monsters would destroy the Rangers once & for all, and instead THEY got destroyed. What have you got to say for yourself?”

The image of Mistress MonsterMaker, looked down in shame. “I am sorry my lord, please forgive me.”

“Perhaps I should’ve reactivated you sooner, you seem to be getting rusty old friend. No matter, another opportunity shall present itself, and I shall seize that opportunity & use it to rid myself of those pesky Rangers. And when that opportunity comes, the Earth itself shall worship me.” Zedd then let out a small evil chuckle as he looked out his balcony, to view the planet Earth.

Back at the Command Center, the Rangers & Tonaj stood together, and looked up at Zordon. “FIRST OFF SOME CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER. CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU TOMMY FOR SUCCEEDING IN YOUR MISSION TO RETRIEVE THE POWER AMULETS!! NEXT, CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL RANGERS FOR DEFEATING THE MONSTER SURGE!! AND FINALLY, CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU TONAJ, FOR FULFILLING YOUR DESTINY AS THE MORPHING MASTERS PROPHECIZED YEARS AGO!!”

“Thanks Zordon, for a while there, I thought I was going to spend the rest of my days on that blasted planet. But despite the hell I went through to get here today, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, actually, I would somehow manage to protect Zenisa from getting killed of course.” Tonaj said half-jokingly.

“We’re just glad that you helped us out when you did. Cuz I’m telling you, Goldar looked like he went on a steroid binge or something.” Zack said.

“Totally, but what was up with you turning into Zedd? Cuz when you did your little morphing thing, Goldar totally freaked out.” Kim said to Tonaj.

“All I did was look into Goldar’s mind & soul to find his fear, and I just used what he feared the most against him.”

“And that fear just happened to be Lord Zedd. Amazing, yet somehow not surprising.” Billy said.

“How so?” Tonaj asked the brainy Blue Ranger.

“Well, logic dictates that any person that is in the service of another will have a deep hidden fear of upsetting his or her master. That servant will also fear the consequences of upsetting his or her master.” Billy explained.

“Well, at any rate, you did a great job out there Tonaj.” Trini said to him.

“Thank you all very much. I must also commend you Thomas Oliver; you showed some definite leadership potential out there. You should be acknowledged for your skills.” Tonaj said to the young Ranger.

“He will be.” Jason replied, and then looked up at Zordon. “Zordon, I’ve reached my decision.” He then turned his attention to everyone in the Command Center. “It’s no secret that Lord Zedd is a much more powerful adversary than Rita ever was. What happened today proved how aggressive he is. Ever since he arrived in this galaxy & took Rita’s place, his attacks have been relentless, and his monsters have gotten stronger & stronger. As leader, I felt that it was my sole responsibility to keep up with Zedd’s tactics, but the pressure became overwhelming. I finally realized that what I needed, was someone to share the responsibilities of leadership. I’ve been thinking about it long & hard, and recent events of helped me to make my decision.” Jason said as he walked back & forth in front of the Rangers. He then stopped in front of Tommy, looked him right in the eye, smiled, and extended his hand. “Congratulations Tommy.”

Tommy was shocked, but happy as he shook Jason’s hand. “Me? You want me to be co-leader? You really want me to lead the Rangers at your side?” Tommy asked, a little unsure.

“That’s right Tommy. You see, I could’ve chosen any of the others, because they all have the potential for leadership. But YOU Tommy have gone above & beyond the call of duty numerous times, and you should be acknowledged for your accomplishments. You deserve this bro’, so what do ya say, do ya accept?”

“Absolutely.”

The other Rangers congratulated Tommy on his recent promotion. They all hugged the Green Ranger, saying encouraging & positive things to Tommy, like ‘Good job’, ‘I’m proud of you’, etc. It made Tommy feel good to know that all of the hard work & sacrifice he has done as a Power Ranger was worth it. The shadows of doubt that had once hung over Tommy now seemed to fade away into the darkness where they belonged.

Just then, Tonaj stepped forward, and shook Tommy’s hand. “You have done well Thomas Oliver, it is a comfort to know that the power of the dragon is in good hands. Now it is time for me to say goodbye.”

“You’re leaving, why, where will you go?” Kimberly asked.

“I’ve wasted the last couple of thousand years trapped in the Gamma Tri System, feeling sorry for myself. I still have a few thousand years left to my life, and I plan on enjoying every last one of them to the fullest. Now that my honor has been restored, I can go back to doing what I do best… helping people & fighting evil. It’s a big universe out there, there are many dark forces & many innocent people who will need help.” Tonaj explained.

Tommy then stepped forward with a look of sadness on his face. “Will I ever see you again?”

Tonaj could only smile at his friend. “Only the fates know what lies ahead for us. But do not despair, perhaps our paths will cross again in the future. Until we meet again, take care of yourself Thomas Oliver. Take care of yourselves, all of you.” He then turned to Zordon. “Goodbye Zordon, it was good seeing you again.” He then turned back to the Rangers. “May The Power Protect, now & forever.” Once he said this, his entire body glowed with green energy, and he vanished.

The Rangers watched him leave, and then turned to each other, and smiled. Then they turned to Tommy, who looked like he just lost his best friend.

“Hey, you okay?” Trini asked.

“I’ll be fine, I’m just gonna miss him.” Tommy replied.

“You heard what he said, maybe we’ll him again in the future.” Jason said to him, trying to cheer him up. Then, an idea popped into his head of something they had done when Tommy had first joined the Power Rangers. He stuck out his fist into the center of their circle. He looked at the other Rangers with a smile, and they each knew what Jason intended.

The Rangers one by one placed a hand onto of the other, and finally Tommy placed his hand at the top of the pile. He remembered this from when was first inducted into the Power Ranger team. How appropriate now that they were doing it once more now that Tommy became their co-leader. The six of them united slowly brought their hands down, then rose their hands to the sky as they leaped into the air, and shouted out two words to let everyone know exactly who they are.

“POWER RANGERS!!”