Return of the Rangers Part Two

The Mystic Mother massaged her head, feeling the psychic brunt of the numerous attacks across the planet. There was no questioning who was behind it. Just when she thought her dark days were behind her and she had redeemed herself and forged a new identity for herself, her past came back to haunt her literally.
She needed to help her charges as well as the other rangers.
Despite Rita Repulsa being a separate entity from her, she still felt somewhat responsible for what her darker counterpart did.
She needed to put a stop to her before Rita or rather Robo Rita caused any more harm.
She rose from her throne, preparing to teleport just when she sensed a hostile energy signature intrude in her castle. She flicked her wand, erecting a forcefield around herself just in time.
Crimson lightning slammed against the barrier, the magics cancelling each other.
"Nice place, you have here!" Robo Rita sneered at her. "Too bad I am going to destroy it!"
"You don't have to do this, Rita." The Mystic Mother said. "I understand your pain but there is a better way to deal with it than revenge."
"Really?" Robo Rita gawked at her before cackling. "Can't believe I became such a pushover!"
"I know you, Rita. I was you!" Mystic Mother continued, only for the dark witch to look at her incredulously.
"Hard to believe when you speak like Zordon!" Robo Rita spat, raising her staff. "You are corrupted, impure… a mockery of my greatness!"
The mistress of good magic heaved a sigh. "I tried but if the only way to stop you from hurting others is to destroy you, I shall."
The robot doubled down in laughter.
"You… destroy me?" She chortled.
"We both know my good magic far exceeds your power! Let me show you, dark one… Holo Mirage!" The Mystic Mother chanted, shooting a hollow sphere of golden energy at the dark witch, only for black lightning bolts to pierce through the sphere as a dart would a balloon, causing it to explode.
Robo Rita smirked.
"I may not be strong enough to defeat you but I know someone who can!" She smirked as a large shadow solidified in front of her, taking the form of a blue skinned being with cold soulless eyes and hair resembling porcupine quills wearing black robes.
"You didn't!" Mystic Mother reeled back in horror. "Even in the dark days, I never opened the Gates to Talos! What have you done?"
"Something I could never do before because your goodness held me back!" Rita smirked, her red robotic eyes glowing ominously. She blew the white witch a kiss with her mechanical hand. "Have fun, you two!"
The witch vanished in a swirl of purple smoke, leaving the Mystic Mother to face the demon she once worshiped.
"What do you want. Lokar?" She asked grimly.
"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" The demon smirked.
"Friend?" She repeated, her eyes narrowing. "I was a woman in pain and mourning, and you manipulated me into being a monster… an instrument of your will and untold destruction!"
"You were nobody and now the entire universe knows your name." He flashed his jagged teeth at her.
"They loathe me, rightfully so, for what I did…" She spat.
"Loathe or love… Very similar emotions. You are in their hearts and minds and that gives you power over them!" The demon laughed. "Why else do you think you have the power you do? Able to become a patron goddess of the most powerful realm of magic is no small feat and you owe it all to me! I have come to add your realm to my own!"
"You give yourself too much credit!" She scoffed angrily, cosmic energies converging at the tip of her wand. "Everything I have now, I worked for it and even though they thought the worst of me, I proved them wrong time and time again. I owe you nothing, least of all my home!"
"This realm will be mine!" Lokar snarled, thrusting his hands forward and sending a barrage of dark energy at the sorceress, who blocked the attack with golden magic from her wand.
"As long as I live, this realm will never belong to you!" The Mystic Mother vowed as light and dark energies collided, each trying to push the other into submission.
----Nashville
The gold ninja steel ranger and yellow dino thunder ranger fought side by side against a horde of putties.
Levi Weston strummed the cords of his guitar themed ninja sword, firing a bolt of golden lightning at his attackers.
"I am jealous." Kira quipped, leaping backwards to avoid getting struck by a putty, "I need something like that!"
She turned towards the attackers, the face plate of her helmet disappearing to reveal her smirk.
"Stay back." She instructed the other ranger, who obliged, stepping behind her as she let loose her sonic scream on the putties, the sheer force of it slamming them to the ground hard enough for them to disintegrate.
"Epic!" Levi whistled, patting her shoulder. "Maybe we should do more joint tours?"
"I am game if you are." Kira grinned as her faceplate rematerialized. She touched her comms. "We secured Paris."
"Good. Osaka is being overrun with putties. They need all the help they can get." Hayley's voice filtered through. "I am teleporting you guys there."
"Right." The two rangers nodded before they disappeared in streaks of yellow and gold.
----Stone Canyon
As putties swarmed the streets, chasing after defenseless civilians, bolts of crimson and navy lightning crashed in the middle of the army of minions, throwing them backwards.
The crimson and navy ninja storm rangers did not waste any time tearing through the ranks with their thunder staffs.
They were not the only ones. Multiple individuals completely clad in black hood and robes with the crest of the Thunder Academy pinned to their chests shot through the shadows wielding katanas and staffs, quickly decimating the enemy ranks.
----Blue Bay Harbor
Wind ninjas ninja streaked through the city, swiftly taking out putties and herding the civilians to safety while the Ninja Storm rangers fought in the centre of the city.
----Silver Hills
The silver guardians leapt from their trucks, pulling out their sidearms and opening fire on the putties, drawing their attention away from the civilians they were after.
Two of them broke out of the ranks and charged at the minions, slamming their hands on their wrist morphers, morphing into the Red and Quantum Chrono Rangers.
"Quantum Defender!" Eric Myers yelled, firing with his blaster.
"Time Strike!" Wes Collins struck the putties down with his sword, before swinging with a wide arc and reducing the putties to lumps of clay.
----Kolkata, India
Putties jumped in the middle of the road, some of them getting run over by speeding buses and cars before they managed to stall the vehicles and slam against the car windows or bus doors.
"Hey!" A sharp cry drew the putties' attention. They turned around to see five rangers with animal motifs. They were the Power Rangers Astral Force.
"Tiger Claws!" The orange ranger growled, as gauntlets with retractable claws appeared over his hand just as he leapt at the putties, slashing them with a feral fury.
"Feather Fan!" A fan of vibrant plumage appeared in the blue ranger's hand.
The putties made a warbling sound from their mouths, that sounded like laughter.
The blue ranger smirked underneath his helmet. It wasn't the first time his opponents had underestimated him due to his weapon of choice.
He flapped the fan at the direction of the leering putties, watching with smug satisfaction as the feathers shot out like darts and cut through them.
"Monkey Whip!" The green ranger took out her whip, lashing it at the putties.
"Elephant Mace!" The yellow ranger charged at the putties, smashing them to smithereens indiscriminately with his mace.
"Serpent Staff!" The red ranger swung her staff, taking out the foot soldiers effortlessly.
----Magic Realm
Mystic Academy
Preston winced, rummaging through his sling bag. While the Nexus Prism was no longer on Earth, most of the technology Mick had created for them using Ninja Steel was still intact and with help of others like Hayley Ziktor, Nate Silva and Cameron Watanabe, Mick had been able to recreate their morphers, but this time, their ninja stars were made of crystallized Morph X augmented with what little scraps they had left of Ninja Steel.
He pulled out his ninja star and gave a sigh of relief.
Preston heard the battle around him. The sound of objects smashing against something else, cries of pain and incantations for magical attacks.
A ninja would be out of place in a school of warlocks and knights but he did not have much options left.
In addition to the initial wave of putties, monsters and demons have joined the attack on the magical realm.
He inserted the star into his ninja battle morpher and stood up from his hiding spot.
"It's Morphin Time! Ninja Spin!" He shouted, transforming to his ranger form in a burst of blue light.
The blue ranger unsheathed his sword and pounced on the putties. His sword cut through the clay golems easily, and he turned his sight at one of the demons who had cornered a group of novice wizards.
The demon had red skin, black horns jutting out of his forehead and obsidian armour. He raised his trident, which glowed with dark energies.
Before he could step in, a burst of golden and yellow light slammed against the demon, pulverising it.
Preston turned around to see a figure in majestic yellow armour with golden highlights. His armour resembled that of the Solaris Knight with a flowing yellow cape and his red visor had golden thunderbolts on either side and the head of a thunderbird above and a metallic faceplate beneath. He lowered his crossbow before becoming a yellow blur, that quickly cleared the grounds of nearly all the putties and monsters.
The ranger reappeared beside Preston, his form still cackling with yellow electricity.
He was Chip Thorn, the Storm Sentinel, one of the realm's most valiant knights and powerful mystics, as well as the headmaster of the Mystic Academy.
The two rangers exchanged a brief nod before charging at the demons who had been strong enough to withstand Chip's Lightning Barrage Attack.
----Despite his body being reduced to a size of an action figure, Tommy was still somehow conscious albeit unable to move a muscle.
The last decade, he had taken an initiative in ranger affairs, becoming the de facto leader of the Rangers of Earth as a whole. Even when Draven captured them, he had feigned unconsciousness and freed himself and the others.
This was different.
He was completely helpless and he felt the machine slowly draining his powers and his lifeforce along with it.
As much as he hated the feeling of being the one needing to be rescued, he had faith in the other rangers.
While Rita had given them their fair share of misery, she had never been this dangerous before. He hoped the others would be able to stop her in time.
----Paris
The city's defenders were busy rescuing citizens from the seemingly infinite armies of clay foot soldiers.
Ladybug swung her yo-yo, slicing through the putties.
Chat Noir was by her side as always, smashing through his fair share with his staff.
While this was still tedious, it was not as hectic compared to what they usually face.
----Charterville
It had been decades since they transformed but the Beetleborgs easily slipped back to their roles as the city's defenders. The gold and platinum beetleborgs tore through the golems while the silver beetleborg led the civilians to safety.
----Crossworld City
Ryan Steele sighed, kicking two putties back. His wife Melissa smirked at him as she took out five more within seconds.
Their friends fought nearby. JB and Kaitlin took out their fair share of minions before they regrouped, after confirming they were the only ones left in the area.
"You guys ready?" Ryan asked.
"Ready!" They nodded.
"Trooper Transform! We are V.R!" Ryan, Kaitlin and J.B. yelled.
"Magical Source, Mystic Force!" Melissa cried, black magic enveloping her as she morphed into her knight form. "Power of Metal, Polaris Knight!"
The four warriors didn't waste any time, leaping into battle and quickly decimated the putties.
----Beijing
The Shaolin Rangers worked in unison, with their kung fu skills and elemental powers, gracefully defeating the putties.
----Tokyo
The Dragon rangers charged at the army of putties, their dragon staffs held high.
----Leawood
Morgan Stewart did not hesitate before jumping in front of the putties and sending them staggering backwards with a powerful kick.
She placed a device on her belt buckle and sighed. Uncle Dex had given her this, after telling her it should be only used in emergencies and she guessed the current scenario did qualify as one.
"ECTOPHASE ACTIVATE!" She yelled, allowing strange energies to wash over her. "POWER RIDER!"
She was clad in black armor and her helmet had a insect themed design. Golden lines ran through her suit like lava lines and a pair of wings sprouted out from her back as she remembered what her uncle always called her.
"Firefly…" She murmured, looking up at the unsuspecting putties and smirking.
She flew at them, swiftly taking out with fireballs.
----Reefside
"Krista!" Conner yelled as he saw the green ranger stiffen as Snizzard sank his fangs into her hand. Black cobras sprang out from Snizzard's arms, coiling around her and she was instantly miniaturized to the size of an action figure.
He charged at them, unleashing his super dino mode, the spikes in his arms cutting through the putties unfortunate enough to be in his path.
Before he could reach the serpent cyborg, a burst of fire blocked his path and Minotaur teleported before him.
"Get out of my way!" He grunted, slashing the monster with his spiked arms.
"Make me!" The monster growled, hitting the ranger with his club, forcing him backwards.
"Derrick!" Conner turned around to see the orange ranger befall the same fate as his wife.
Ethan jumped at Snizzard only for several putties to ambush him from behind.
"Ethan, NO!" Conner screamed, running towards his friend only for Minotaur to grab him from behind and forcefully hurl him to the ground. He let out a cry of pain as he skidded across the streets.
Snizzard bit down on Ethan, only to let a roar of dismay as his fang broke.
"Jokes on you snakeface, I got really strong skin!"
Taking advantage of the distraction, Ethan kicked the monster backwards and tried to grab the orange and green figures in the monster's hands, only to be hit by a blast of crimson energy.
"So, you lot are Tommy's students?" Rita leered at them, her staff glowing with crimson energy.
"Rangers, get out of there NOW!" Hayley screamed through the comms.
A multitude of energy arrows made their way at the dark witch, which she easily swatted aside. Trent helped Ethan to his feet while a purple energy blast sent Minotaur flying back.
"Conner, you alright?" Ahana asked, helping him up.
He nodded at the purple ranger before looking at the green and orange figurines in Snizzard's hands.
"We can't win this." Ahana told. "We have to retreat."
"But-"
"We will get them back, I promise." She said firmly. He gave a reluctant nod as they regrouped with the other rangers.
"Don't worry, you will join your precious mentor soon!" Rita smirked.
She swung her staff and a storm cloud of crimson energies headed their way.
"Hayley, any moment now…" Trent said, seconds before they teleported away.
----San Angeles
Mack yelled, cutting through the putties with his lance, as he saw the serpent monster ambush Rose.
"No!" He yelled as black cobras sprang upon the pink ranger, turning her into a figurine.
Snizzard cackled at him and the other Overdrive rangers, before teleporting away with Rose.
----Panorama City
Lauren and Jayden fought back-to-back, cutting through the masses of putties with their spin swords while Antonio was a golden blur as he sliced apart the grey minions with his Barracuda blade.
----Turtle Cove
"Dad!" Emma cried as she saw her father push her out of the way of Minotaur's attack. Sparks flew across his armour as he rolled across the street.
"No!" Gia held her back as Snizzard hoisted the lunar wolf ranger up and sank his fangs into his shoulder.
Emma took out her phoenix blaster, firing on the putties that blocked her path but it was too late. She watched helplessly as cobras coiled around Merrick's body and shrunk him to the size of an action figure.
Snizzard cackled, picking him up and vanishing in a burst of flames.
----Harwood County
Troy punched a putty in the torso, sending it staggering backwards. Rohan kicked another away from civilians while Jake and Noah shoved two to the ground forcefully, causing them to shatter into rocks.
----Mexico
The Phantom Ranger flickered into view as Minotaur attacked him with his club, hitting him despite the fact his invisibility cloak was on.
"Your invisibility won't work, Phantom Ranger!" He growled. "With my upgrade, I can pinpoint the exact location of all rangers!"
----Coral Harbor
"No!" Roxy cried in terror as she watched Ravi be captured by Snizzard in the computer screens. Betty placed a hand on her shoulder while Ben chewed his lips.
"Retreat!" Blaze yelled, taking the mic that had a direct link to the ranger's comms. "All of you, retreat!"
----Summer Cove
"Cal!" Haley yelled as she saw her friend get thrown aside like a ragdoll by Minotaur.
"Oh, you are gonna pay for that!" She fumed, turning towards the monster and summoning the Lion Fire Armour.
She jumped upon the robot monster, pummelling it with powerful punches, that cracked his metallic armour.
"This isn't over!" Minotaur coughed, crawling away from the white ranger and disappearing in a swirl of flames.
----Angel Grove
While the other rangers tore through the masses of putties, the blue Zeo ranger drew his hatchets as Snizzard closed in on him and the pink Zeo ranger took on Minotaur.
Two putties ambushed the blue ranger from behind, forcing him to let go of his hatchets.
"Well, look what we have here… Something to sink my fangs into!" Snizzard hissed, the eyes on snake heads of his arms glowing an ominous green as he slowly approached Rocky.
"That's not good." Billy grimaced as he grabbed a putty in a chokehold before pushing it to the ground and drawing his blade blaster.
"Sweet dreams!" Snizzard taunted Rocky, as the snake heads on his arms opened to reveal their forked tongues and metallic fangs.
Billy leaped, firing on the putties, causing them to explode and freeing Rocky in the nick of time. Just as Snizzard was about to attack him, he jumped over the monster and kicked the back of his neck as he landed.
"Curses!" Snizzard grumbled as he hit the hard pavement.
"Nice rotation on that kick, Rocko!" Billy complimented the other blue ranger as they regrouped. "You still got it!"
"I never lost it!" Rocky shot back good naturedly.
Minotaur slumped against a wall as the power disc returned to Kat's hands.
"The civilians here are safe!" Kat noted, seeing the other rangers defeat the remaining putties and Kim return after leading the civilians to safety.
"On to the next fight." Billy decided as they teleported away.
"No!" Snizzard grunted, running up to the place where they stood moments ago. "They slithered away!"
"Who cares?" Minotaur snorted. "As long as they are morphed, I can track them!"
He tapped a device strapped to his arm and smirked. "Seems like they went to the park."
"A nice place to grab a bite." Snizzard hissed as they teleported away.
----Unbeknownst to the monsters, they were seen and heard by someone else.
"Oh no!" Alpha 5 wailed, seeing the scenes unfold in the Viewing Globe. "The team is about to find themselves in a monster sandwich! Aye, aye, aye!"
----Angel Grove Park
The putties threw a civilian against a big advertisement board featuring Bulk and Skull's newest food venture, which broke into half as the civilian hit the ground hard before crawling to his feet and running away from the clay minions.
Zack leapt into action, kicking the putty back and slicing it apart with his axe.
"This is a worldwide alert to all Power Rangers. Minotaur is tracking you." Alpha 5's voice filtered through their comms.
A putty threw a young woman off a rooftop.
"NO!" Nancy yelled, her wings unfolding as she sprang to the air, catching the woman in her arms and safely returning her to the ground.
"As long as you are morphed, he will find you. You must power down." Alpha warned.
"Got it." Rocky responded, cutting through a couple of putties with his hatchets.
"Good work, Alpha!" Billy said quickly as the rangers regrouped.
"If we can't morph, how will we fight these creatures?" Tanya asked.
"We will think about that later." Kim cut her off. "If they are tracking us, it means-"
Before she could complete her sentence, twin flames appeared before them, depositing the two monsters.
"Yep!" Kim shrugged.
"They followed us here." Billy sighed.
"Ruin them Snizzard." Minotaur growled.
"My pleasure!" The other monster cackled.
"Power Down!" Billy said, their morphs fading away to reveal their civilian attire.
Before the monsters could step any closer, the rangers teleported away.
Minotaur let out a grunt in dismay, swinging his mace wildly and thrashing a dustbin and littering the surrounding grass.
----"Rangers, look, look!" Alpha yelled excitedly as the rangers rematerialized inside the Command Centre. "SPD satellite scans picked up activity in a concentrated spot on the lunar surface."
"Let me guess, the Bandora Castle?" Kim rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Kimberly." Alpha 5 confirmed.
"If she is making herself at home, then our friends and Rita's machine must be there too." Zack surmised. Billy grimaced.
A beep came from the Viewing Globe and the rangers turned.
"What's that?" Rocky asked.
"An incoming call… from outer space!" Alpha 5 said, looking over the data in the monitors before pressing a button.
The flickering image of Adam, Aisha and Alpha 5 appeared on the Viewing Globe with their background showing various futuristic technology and monitors. Like Kat, Rocky and Tanya, they were wearing SPA uniforms.
"We got the protocol alert." Aisha told them sincerely. "Our ship is zooming to you from the Sirius System."
"I am afraid it will be six hours before we reach your side of the galaxy." Adam sighed. "Then we will be in teleport range."
"Aye, aye, aye…" Alpha 6 wringed their arms. "Robo Rita's timing is the worst! She gives a bad name to all of us robots!"
"Amen, Six!" Alpha 5 agreed, and despite herself, Kim chuckled. Despite everything the robots had been through, it pleased her that they remained youthful at heart.
"So, Rita got Jason and Tommy." Adam sighed, rubbing his palms together. "It's rough, especially for you, Kat."
"I am not even going to tell JJ what happened to his father because he will be home soon." Kat said calmly. "We are going to get Tommy and Jason back, today."
"Right." Aisha smiled at them. "You have got this."
"Oh, and Billy, that stealth tech you designed for us, it was a game changer." Adam said to the inventor. "Thank you."
"You are very welcome." Billy smiled at him.
"Being invisible has definitely helped our team's run-ins with the Troobian Empire." Aisha nodded.
"Safe travels, okay?" Rocky told his best friends.
"Thanks, and good luck." Aisha beamed at them before the transmission ended.
"So, what now?" Alpha 5 asked.
"Well, there are still putties in town… in every town." Zack said, eying the monitors. "We can't morph. People aren't safe."
"Wait. Maybe we don't need to morph." Billy said. "I have seen how our powers work and our ninjetti forms are not as strongly connected to the Grid. I doubt it would register in whatever scanner Minotaur is using to track rangers."
"That is great!" Rocky whooped.
"Yes, but not all of us were ninjetti." Tanya pointed out and Zack nodded.
"And what about other ranger teams?" Kim asked. "How would they fight?"
"I don't know about all rangers, but the Dino Thunder team have superpowers and the rangers from the Guardian Academies have their own elemental powers." Kat told them.
"And the others have genetically altered powers like the Overdrive team and my son's team." Nancy told them, just when her phone rang.
"Speaking of my son…" She gave them a small smile as she picked up the call but instead of hearing Ravi, she heard Roxy's frantic sobs.
"Nancy, they got him!" Roxy said panicking.
"What?" Nancy cried in alarm. The other rangers looked at her concerned.
"The monsters attacked our team and captured Ravi, Devon and Nate!" She told her mother-in-law.
"Oh no…" Nancy stepped back, feeling dizzy as a thousand different thoughts ran through her head. She grasped the panels for support, the others rushing to her side.
"We will get him back, Roxy. You and the others stay safe. Retreat to the headquarters and tell the other rangers to not morph." She instructed.
"Okay. Stay safe, Nancy." Came the reply.
Nancy cut the call and turned to the others, her face ashen. "My son and half of his team… Snizzard got to them."
"We will get him back." Billy promised while Kim hugged her.
"We have to." Nancy said stiffly.
"Aye, aye, aye… It's not just them." Alpha said as a hologram showing other rangers popped up in front of them. "Rangers all around the world have been captured!"
"Oh no!" Kat covered her face as she saw the visuals of the green and orange dino thunder rangers.
"Ashley…" Tanya murmured softly, seeing her successor among those captured.
"We will get them back, all of them." Rocky tightened his fists. He turned to Billy. "We know Rita is on the moon, right? Why don't we just go there? Crash her party?"
"Snizzard and Minotaur would get in the way." Kat shook her head before she tilted her head, her eyes glinting. "Unless we can draw them out?"
"That's a good thought." Billy agreed. "I bet you I can develop something that will keep them away from the Moon and keep them away from us."
"Whatever we do, we need to come up with a plan fast." Nancy urged, not turning her eyes away from the holograms of her son and the other Beast Morpher rangers.
"Maybe we can ask the other ranger teams for help? What about Mystic Mom?" Zack asked.
"Mystic Mother." Alpha 5 corrected. "Unfortunately, our systems have not been able to contact the magic realm ever since this mess started."
"We will contact the other ranger teams once we got a plan in motion." Billy decided. "I bet you I can use that stealth technology I developed for Adam and Aisha's Prism Patrol team."
"I bet you can too, Billy." Kim grinned at him. "Gotta love that big brain of yours!"
"They are made of metal, right?" Kat wondered. "Maybe we can exploit that?"
Billy nodded speculatively, when they heard a yell. One of the screens showed a lone teen fighting putties in the Youth Centre.
"Oh no!" Billy broke off, turning around. "Is that…"
"Minh?" Kim shrieked worriedly.
"Minh!" Zack yelled, the three of them looking at each other worriedly.
"Ay, ay, ay!" Alpha cried.
Just then, the alarms blared and the Viewing Globe showed a giant robotic version of another foe they never thought they would see again towering over Angel Grove.
"Is that…" Billy squinted. "King Sphinx?"
"We would need the megazord." Zack said. "But Minh?"
"I will go after Minh. You guys handle the Lion King reject." Kim said quickly. She turned towards Kat, who gave her a reassuring nod.
"I will go with her." Nancy said. "You guys won't need me for the Megazord."
"Okay, just get her back safely." Zack told them.
Nancy nodded. "We will. Don't worry."
She turned towards Kim and nodded.
"Ninja Ranger Power Now!"
"Ninjetti – The Crane!"
"Ninjetti – The Dolphin!"
Clad in ninjetti robes, they looked at the others one last time before teleporting away.
"Alright, our turn now. You guys ready?" Zack asked.
"Ready!"
"It's Morphin Time!"
"Mastodon!" Zack cried.
"Pterodactyl!" Kat called out.
"Triceratops!" Billy yelled.
"Sabretooth tiger!" Tanya said.
"Tyrannosaurus!" Rocky finished.
"Power Rangers!"
"Ay, ay, ay… Brings back so many memories! Go, go, Power Rangers!" Alpha cheered as the rangers teleported out.