[FangRX]

Yelling out as she flew through the air, April rolled to a stop just beside Demi, holding her shoulder. “Goddamn, these guys are stronger today,” she groaned, standing up. “We need to do something.”

“Die, perhaps?” Dimas asked, slashing out with his sword and causing a blast of black tinted energy to fly out, slamming into the Pink and Yellow Rangers. Turning his attention elsewhere, Dimas focused on helping Furyblaze deal with the Red Ranger while CyborSkelecron took on Richmond and Alec simultaneously. “Stay down if you know what’s good for you, girls, and maybe I’ll consider making your corpses trophies.”

Richmond blocked a cut from CyborSkelecron before getting a boot in the chest, hitting his back hard on the concrete. “Thomas, what do you want us to do?”

“Whatever you can to get these bastards!” Thomas yelled, leaping backwards and barely avoiding a slash from both Dimas and Furyblaze. “Why don’t you just die!?” Turning his Red Ranger Key in his Saber, Thomas sent a focused blast of energy at the two, getting a cut in the chest in return.

“Did you not know that you cannot defeat us?” Skelecron asked. “Not now, nor if you get stronger. We are stronger then you hope to be, Thomas.”

“I don’t think so,” Thomas snarled, growling before throwing Skelecron backwards, hitting his belt. “Guys! Change it up! Unleashed Engage!” S.P.D. EMERGENY the Red Rangers Caller rang out, transforming him into the Shadow Ranger. “Shadow Saber!” Unsheathing to Anubis-headed sword, Thomas opened the jowls on the sword, a small vortex circling the blade and strengthening it, giving it power.

“You can’t defeat me with that,” Skelecron laughed, throwing his Twin DioSabers like a boomerang, the Red Ranger flying backwards and ending up on his back, his suit falling from around him. “Lord Dimas. Shall we defeat these impudent children?”

Kneeling down over April who struggled to get away, Dimas took the Pink Ranger’s face in hand. “A shame to waste such technology,” he mused, slapping the young woman hard across the cheek, sending her rolling. As Richmond helped her up, Dimas unsheathed his sword, charging it with several rounds of energy. “Let’s do this, boys.”

“Triplex Wave!” the three Generals yelled in unison, red, black, and blue energy waves combining into a lethal skull that bit down on the Rangers, knocking them out of their morphs and into unconsciousness.

“Leave them,” Dimas said, turning on his heel. “Death will welcome them soon enough. Return to the ship and prepare for the first Key’s arrival. Lady Serpen says it shall be here tonight.”

“About time,” Furyblaze growled. As the three Generals vanished in a burst of black fire, Geeps flew down and chirped sadly.

“Oi, wake up!” Geeps cried out, slamming himself on Thomas’ head. “Come on, you dolt!” When they didn’t wake up, he teleported them all to the medical bay. “Damn it…those three tricked us…”

“Of course they did,” April groaned, sitting up and holding her side. “Oh, I feel like my servos got thrashed in a meat grinder.”

“Because they did,” Geeps retorted, sitting on April’s shoulder. “The others are resting, so we need to leave them to that.”

“I’ll make some food, then,” April said, patting Geeps’ head softly and walking out. “After I change, and a shower.” She walked off towards her room, stripping down and letting the water heat up before stepping under, sighing as she rested her back on the cold marble tiles. “What do we do to stop them? I can’t do that whole Wonder Woman shtick again. Doing that once almost got me killed….”

Slowly, the Rangers were woken up, each due to varying reasons: Geeps flapping wings, key strokes on a computer, the smell of French Toast and Coffee, music playing in the background. Showering and walking out in new clothes, the Rangers slowly piled around the table, each one not saying much until…

“We need help,” Demi whispered. “We need to find Drake and bring him back.” The look of silence around the table as the thought was considered before Alec spoke up.

“We do need his help, and he said when he left that he wasn’t needed right then. It’s been a month. I think we need to find him,” the Blue Ranger admitted, nodding to his counterparts around the table.

“No,” Thomas said, being ever stubborn. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We don’t know anything about him, don’t know where his loyalties lie, nor do we know we can trust him.”

“Says the man who never gives his past information out, refuses to talk about being part of the Empire, and basically is the same thing as Drake, just in red,” Richmond said, causing Demi and April to nod. “Dude, seriously, what’s the reason you don’t want him here?”

“Because I destroyed his home.”
__________________

“What the hell were you thinking!?” Serpen yelled, slapping Dimas hard in the face. “I ordered you NOT TO GO DOWN THERE, but the first bloody thing you do was go down there!” She growled lightly in her throat, stepping away from Dimas before moving to Furyblaze with a hushed, “Yours is coming later, Furyblaze.” Stopping in front of Skelecron, she just shook her head. “Don’t make me regret bringing you back to life, Skelecron. I really don’t want to have to kill you again.”

As Serpen walked out, the three Generals all groaned in annoyance. “She is wearing thin on my nerves,” Dimas growled.

“Agreed. Something must be done,” Furyblaze sighed. “I do not care if she is the Leader of our Empire. Choices in the past have been made by her that have cost us dearly. Like allowing her--the Red Ranger to survive. Thomas is the root of these problems, yet the man does not realize it.”

“As soon as the first Key of Deletion gets here, alert only me,” Dimas said, turning to Skelecron. “You, however, Skelecron, have a task ahead of you.”

“And what is that, my Lord Dimas?”

"Take the Dark Shinobi Azio out for a bit of exercise. But…his Shadow Seal is going to be the key to your victory,” Dimas said, smirking as the Shinobi himself appeared in the room. “Azio. Any words that Skelecron speak will be followed completely. Do you understand?”

As his title implied, the Shinobi just simply nodded, standing back in the shadows, the light blue lines on his torso armor glowing lightly in the dim. “Interesting,” Skelecron said, looking back at Azio. “Your orders are to disable the Rangers accessing their Keys. Is that correct, sir?”

“Finally, someone is learning,” Dimas said, smirking as he nodded. “Correct, Skelecron. You will disable the Rangers. Two hours. Then you leave. Allow me to deal with Serpen.”
___________________________

Sitting around the main screen enjoying a few minutes of downtime thanks to their still recovering wounds, the Rangers were in the middle of a movie to kill some time.

”Give me your face!” the character on the screen roared out, ripping the monster’s head off of it’s shoulders.

“Cool,” Alec and Richmond spouted at the same time.

“Different, that’s for sure,” Thomas chuckled, the girls giggling as they gauged the boy’s reactions. “So…do you think we could end up getting a win this time if all three of them attack again?”

Sighing, Demi paused the movie and shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said, looking at the Red Ranger. “But I do know this. If you don’t let me finish the movie, I’ll break three of your legs.”

“But there’s only--oh,” April snickered, Richmond and Alec crossing their legs and remembering not to cross the Yellow Ranger. “Boys are so vulnerable.”

“Yep, but we love them anyway,” Demi giggled, kissing Alec’s cheek. “Now, can we get back to the movie?”

But, as usual, something had to happen to get in the way. The alarms rang out, alerting the Rangers to something happening in town. “Figures,” Thomas huffed, getting up and tapping some keys. “Looks like Skelecron and Furyblaze are back. And they brought a friend. His name’s Azio, the Dark Shinobi. We need to seriously be careful of Shadow Seal. It can honestly block our power.”

“Lovely,” Demi said. “Let’s go. Where is he?”

“Downtown,” Richmond said, pulling up several large holographic maps. “We need Drake, Thomas. What do we do?”

“Split up,” Thomas said. “April, you go find him. We’ll start trying to hold these guys off for now. Until you can get him here and get his suit hooked into the Chest.”

“Alright. You guys be careful out there,” April said, running out and grabbing her Caller and Key out of the chest, taking the Silver Key as well as the Silver Shifter before jumping out of the ship, running through town. “Drake! Drake!”

“Let’s rock,” Alec said, tossing the Yellow Key to Demi and taking his own before putting it in his pocket, Thomas and Richmond behind the Blue and Yellow Rangers as they headed towards downtown.
_______________________

Sitting in a café not far from where he was when he first made a show out of himself, Drake Holmes sighed as he turned another page in his book, Pride and Prejudice. Taking a small drink out of the hot coffee cup, the one time Silver Ranger sighed as he watched people walk by, not caring that a Power Ranger was in their midst.

“Happy go lucky bastards,” he sighed, setting the hot cup back down, looking at his page again before a shadow crossed his eyes. “Excuse me, you’re in my light.” When the shadow moved, Drake nodded. “Thank you.”

“Pride and Prejudice? Didn’t think you’d read something like that,” a voice said. “Thought you’d be more of a Bleach or One Piece kind of guy. Maybe Attack on Titan, I don’t know.”

Without even looking, Drake just shook his head. “And what would you know about my reading habits?”

“Only that what you read reflects the person you are,” the other person said.

“And let me guess. You read Chicken Soup for the Soul, self help columns in the newspaper, and think that Star Wars sucked?”

“Yes, yes, and no. I‘ve cosplayed as Leia a few times, including the sexy metal bikini,” the other voice said, clearly enjoying the game as Drake‘s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “Would you put the damn book down and look at me? I’ve got something you might be interested in, Drake.”

Marking his page carefully, Drake looked up, seeing April. “Oh.”

“Aw, is that all I get? “Oh.” Make me sound like the plague. Though, I guess I am in a way, huh? Being the only one to give a shit about you being one of us,” April said, smiling. “Drake, we need you now.”

“No, you don’t, April. We’ve been over this before. You don’t need me. You’re just perfectly find on your own,” Drake said, looking over at the Pink Ranger.

“Drake, yes, we do need you,” April said. “We got our cans kicked today. And I don’t care if I have to drag you out of here by your boys, I’ll do it. We’re in dire need right now, Drake. Please.”

“Why should I?” Drake asked. “What do I care if you get killed? Why the fuck should I care about this stupid war? Why does it concern me!?”

As he yelled at April, all heads turned to Drake and the Pink Ranger, April sighing softly. “It matters because you’ve lost things to the Empire, just like everyone else has. Well…almost everyone else.." She sighed softly again, looking down before she looked at the man in front of her, her eyes pleading. "But, Drake, the point is we need you. Please. This time, I’m serious. We need you to fight with us. We can’t do this alone. We got triple teamed by Dimas, Skelecron, and Furyblaze. I got my servos handed to me.”

Drake sighed, looking at his hands as thoughts made their way around his mind. He knew that if he didn’t help, the others would die, and he’d hoped to hang out with April a bit more, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to help and be put in the crossfire. “Gnartz,” he sighed. “I hate when women give good arguments for things and turn on the damn puppy dog eyes.”

“Then you’ll do it?”
_______________________

As the other four Rangers ran through town, Thomas couldn’t help but wonder if they were being set up. “Something about this isn’t right,” he said, Alec looking at him.

“You mean like we’re running into a trap?”

“Exactly,” Thomas nodded, taking his Key and Caller in hand at the same time as the other Rangers did.

“Unleashed Engage!” the four yelled, turning their Keys and morphing, running down the road before skidding to a halt in front of Azio and Skelecron.

“You again,” Demi growled. “I still so owe you a kick in the face for that sword to the back the other day, asshole!”

“Azio,” CyborSkelecron said, snapping his fingers as the Shinobi dropped into the ground.

“Shadow Seal,” his voice whispered, ethereal as his form. Black tendrils leapt up from the ground, slamming into the Rangers belts, sealing their access to various other Ranger Keys. Reappearing beside CyborSkelecron, he bowed his head in success. Skelecron pointed forward, two Eternaks--similar to the Golbaks but in red with staff-type weapons--rushed forward and attempted to engage the Rangers.

“Damn it! He blocked my belt!” Alec growled, trying to slash at the gunk covering his belt. “I can’t get any new Keys!” He growled as he got hit in the chest by one of the Eternaks’ staffs, flying backwards.

“Neither can I!” Demi yelled, ducking a swing from the other Eternak before she kicked it in the leg, knocking it backwards.

The two Eternaks regrouped, crossing their Staves together before the image of the Blizkon appeared out of the tops of the weapons, hurtling forward at the Rangers at a high rate of speed. As the ship collided with the four Rangers, they got flung backwards into the side of a brick wall, each one landing hard on the ground.

“We need to do something,” Richmond huffed, standing up slowly. “At least until April can get here.” He aimed and fired his Blaster, the shot knocking one of the Eternaks backwards.

“You’re right,” Thomas growled, standing up. “We need to give April time to get Drake and have him get connected into the Chest.”
____________________________

“You ready to try this?” April asked, looking at Drake who was holding his Cell and Ranger Key in hand. “Drake?”

“Hm?” Drake asked, looking up. “Yeah, sorry. I was thinking. If we win this fight against the Empire…does that mean things can start being normal again?”

April sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I honestly don’t have an answer for you, Drake. I…hope things can start to settle down after we stop Serpen and the Empire, but…I don’t know if it’ll happen. There’s a lot of factors that can lead into it being a success or a failure, and if we fail, we’re all dead.”

“Yeah, I was afraid of that,” Drake sighed. “Guess I need to morph so the parakeet can do his job, right?”

“Oi! I ain’t a parakeet, mate. I’m a parrot,” Geeps chirped, smacking Drake with his wing and flying up to the rafters again. “Bleeding jackrabbit.”

April giggled, shaking her head at the two. “Yeah, you’re gonna fit right in,” she snickered, looking at Drake. “But yeah, go ahead and morph.”

“Alright,” Drake said, flipping open the window on the Cell. He put the Key--still in a solid Ranger form--into the center, closing it down. “Silver Shift!” Pushing the button the keypad that corresponded with his Silver Ranger form, a small scanner slid down the Ranger key, the suit forming around Drake.

“Very cool,” April said, grinning. “A lot different then ours. Why “Silver Shift” instead of “Unleashed Engage” if I can ask?”

“It was the only thing that seemed to work,” Drake said. “I tried “It’s Morphin’ Time” and a lot of other phrases, including “Unleashed Engage“, but it didn’t respond. So I tried “Silver Shift“, and it worked.”

“Well, it makes sense to me,” April said. “Geeps, we need to get him hooked up and then we need to go.”

“Right!” the bird chirped, flying down and touching his beak to the Chest that housed the Rangers Keys before flapping over to Drake, touching his beak down to the belt, attaching a glowing silver line to him. As he flapped off, the line disappeared, the belt sparkling lightly.

“Now what?” Drake asked.

“Think about what Key you want and then tap the button on the top of the belt,” April said.

Thinking of one Key, Drake tapped the button and the center of the belt spun around, the White Mighty Morphin’ Key coming from the belt into his hand. “Awesome!” he said, tossing the Key up and catching it again. “Now, what do we do?”

“We go help the others,” April said, taking her own Key in hand. “Unleashed Engage!” She twisted her Key in the Caller, her morph taking place and forming her suit around her, the helmet clapping down over her head. “Geeps, set a course for the others. We need to get there fast, and the UQRs aren’t fueled.”

“Got it,” Geeps said, flying down to the computer and tapping a few keys as the ship started moving.
________________________

Yelling as they landed in a pile, Furyblaze swung his sword down and caused a wall of fire to rain down on the Rangers, their suits falling away as the put out small fires on their clothes, standing up weakly.

“Get up,” Thomas groaned, helping Demi up and making sure the guys were good. “You good?”

“Other then knowing what a steak feels like, I’m fine,” Richmond coughed, holding his ribs.

“Azio,” Furyblaze directed, moving backwards and standing beside CyborSkelecron. “You know what to do, Skelecron.”

“Yes, master,” CyborSkelecron nodded, Azio making complex movements with his hands in the style of ninja symbols.

“Dark Technique: Dimensional Drift,” Azio deadpanned, thrusting his hands forward as a tear appeared in the sky above the Rangers, lightning and high winds whipping around them.

“What’s going on?!” Demi yelled, trying to stay rooted in her spot.

“It’s a tear in the Dimensional Gates!” Richmond yelled, feeling his feet leaving the ground. “We’re getting sucked in!”

CyborSkelecron ran forward, jumping up and allowing himself to be sucked in as well, going through first with Azio hot on his heels. The Rangers reached out for each other, linking their arms before Thomas left the ground, all four being sucked up into the air.

Near where the rift was, the Uchuu Galleon came to a stop, April looking out of the porthole. “No!” she yelled, the Rangers’ bodies vanishing into the sky as the rift closed behind them, cutting them off from April and the Galleon.

“What the hell was that?” Drake asked.

“It was…a Dimensional tear,” April said, her eyes wide with fear as her suit fell away. “They’re gone...”
_______________________________

For the second time that day, the Rangers landed in a pile in the middle of the street, honking horns and people muttering about the new arrivals pointing at them at the same time.

“Where are we?” Thomas asked, standing up again slowly and helping his friends up.

“Looks like…Angel Grove,” Demi said, looking around before holding her arm, seeing the skyline that was so familiar to her. “We’re in Angel Grove…”

“Better question: What Dimension are we in?” Alec asked, the Rangers sharing a look that said they were screwed.

Elsewhere, a being trapped in an interdimensional tube appeared, his eyes full of knowledge. “Alpha. We have trouble,” he said, looking down…