The Ambush

It was really unnerving how one year passed so quickly. Minh practiced her kata – the mantis style of kung fu just like her mom had taught her.
The mailbox outside Trini's house had changed, now showing "Kwan & Taylor" instead of simply "Kwan".
Zack was inside, tracing his fingers over the sabre-toothed tiger coin, grimacing as he remembered the fated battle a year ago… a battle that started out like any other but changed everything for them.
As he heard the door opening and fast paced footsteps, he sighed placing the morpher back inside the box on the mantle piece, which was filled with pictures of Trini.
"Hey, you all good?" He called out to Minh who had just entered the house.
"Sorry, Uncle Zack, Time flies when I am getting my sweat on." The teenager grinned at him apologetically before heading towards the kitchen sink and grabbing a glass of water.
"Okay. We are meant to leave for the cemetery in ten minutes." Zack said, walking up to her. "You should clean up, get ready. We don't want to keep the others waiting."
Minh nodded as she drank the water. "I know."
She paused, hesitating before meeting his eyes. "Hey, you think they have made any headway finding Robo Rita?"
Zack did not let his annoyance show as he looked at her calmly, giving her a variation of the same answer, he had given the last fifty times she had asked her over the previous year, "We can ask them when we see them."
"Okay." Minh sighed, starting to move when she remembered something. "Wait, one more thing. Did you get the flowers?"
"Flowers?" Zack asked quizzically.
Minh frowned at him and he broke a smile, before pointing at a table in the living room where a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses lay waiting.
She smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks. I'll go take a quick shower."
"Yes."
"And order you a "World's Best Guardian" trophy…" Minh continued.
"Yes." Zack laughed.
"And then we can leave…" The teenager concluded before running up the stairs.
Zack grinned, watching her go. While the last year had been painful, the only highlight of it was watching Minh grow and become more like her mother every day.
----As the two of them walked down to the cemetery, Zack winced looking at his watch.
"You know, Billy always gives me a hard time whenever we are late… especially when Tommy gets there before us." He told her accusatorily.
"Guess you can't use "but I am a busy congressman" as an excuse anymore." Minh joked, carrying the bouquet.
Zack shrugged.
"Sorry to mess you around." Minh told him, grimacing. "Today's not a day I have been counting down to, you know? It feels so weird. She was my whole world and she is gone but I am still here, still standing after everything."
"Yeah…" Zack nodded.
"Can't believe it's been a whole year." She said disbelievingly, her voice cracking.
"I know…" Zack said, putting his arm over her shoulder, burying the sharp pang of sadness in his own chest. "Seems like yesterday."
Suddenly, they heard a loud yell by a familiar voice.
"Tigerzord!"
They looked at each other.
"Pterodactyl!"
"Triceratops!"
"Tyrannosaurus!"
"Garudazord!"
Zack felt his instincts kick in. Something was wrong.
"Come on!" Zack hurried as they ran over to the sound, spotting Billy's blue car upfront. Minh dropped the bouquet as they scurried behind the car and she gasped, seeing the other morphin rangers facing a robot in a brown robe and a white wig arranged into twin hair cones. Her eyes narrowed, recognizing who it was. With her were two monsters, one based on a serpent and the other a minotaur, both augmented with robotic parts. Behind them was a strange device, which looked like a big hollow disc connecting two columns of furniture, which was horizontally divided into something akin to book shelves.
"Before we begin, I just want to say, UNHAPPY ANNIVERSARY, RANGERS!" Rita cackled.
"That's Robo Rita, isn't it?" Minh growled.
"An ambush!" Zack realised, pulling Minh behind the car.
"How predictable of you all to get together on this special day!" Rita crooned before cackling. "And I have been so busy preparing!"
She pointed towards her new generals. "I even reforged some of my old minions! Do you remember them, Kimmy? Nancy?"
"Snizzard!" Kim remembered.
Nancy shook her head. It had the same monster that Rita had unleashed on the rest of the rangers while they were on a plane with Kim's uncle- a pilot, Bulk and Skull. Rita had slipped in a potion inside Kim's uncle's drink, making him fall asleep in the middle of the flight and forcing Nancy to fly the plane with help from Alpha's instructions and land it safely. It was the first time she had flown anything other than her zord and that thrill of flying the plane set her on the road to become a pilot and later join the Air Force.
"And Minotaur!" The other monster yelled, scandalized at being forgotten. He stepped forward, his voice deep and menacing. "Rows and rows of human graves! This place is beautiful!"
"Soon, all of Earth will be like this!" Snizzard hissed, his voice having a distinct nasal tone.
"Good! We will start with the Rangers!" Rita cackled.
"Not if we end you first, Rita!" Jason yelled as the rangers ran to meet the villains in battle.
"I got to help my team." Zack turned towards Minh. "But I need you to stay safe, okay?"
"But she is the one who…" Minh glared at the distant figure of Robo Rita. "We got to take her down. I have been training for this-"
"Hard no!" Zack cut her off sharply, not tearing his eyes away from the fight before sighing. "World's best guardian says "Do not move." You are not ready for this yet. Trust me."
Minh gave a relented nod.
Satisfied, Zack leapt over the car, morphing into his armor mid-air, and slamming his foot against Minotaur's shield, sending the creature staggering back. The beast roared, lunging at him with his spiked club, which the black ranger avoided and grabbed the monster by his arm.
Minotaur roared, throwing him off only for the blue ranger to jump in to his rescue, with a powerful kick against the beast's chest.
"What? No "Sorry, I'm late"?" Billy asked pointedly.
Before Zack could reply, the Minotaur huffed angrily, smashing his club against a gravestone. They shielded their helmets as the shattered slabs hit their armour, forcing them back.
"You will both be sorry!" He growled menacingly, walking towards them.
"You, okay?" Zack asked the blue ranger, as they got back to their feet.
Billy nodded, eying the monster who charged at them.
"Let's end this." Billy grunted. "Metallic Armour, Power Up!"
Grid energy enveloped their suits, giving them a metallic sheen and incredible power pulsed through their veins.
Zack let out a battle cry, leaping at the monster who covered himself with his shield, only to let out a yell of surprise as the black ranger's fist shattered it with just a single punch.
"Man, this feels great!" He grinned. Billy was next, sending Minotaur skidding backwards as he headbutted the monster.
----"None of them even complimented my fancy new machine!" Rita whined to herself, watching the rangers battle her monsters. Minotaur and Snizzard were not the first choices for her new generals, but with Scrozzle's cyborg technologies, they seemed to be holding their own.
Zedd had tried to revive Goldar but failed. Scrozzle later informed them that the Titan had been resurrected a year ago by his previous master and had been defeated by the rangers in a different dimension, meaning his spirit could not be summoned from their home dimension, which was a shame… Goldar always got on her nerves, but she couldn't deny he would have been a great help in her mission.
She instinctively raised a protective force field around herself and her device.
"Nice try, Kimmy!" She sneered as the energy arrow fizzled out on hitting the force field.
"Enough games, Rita!" Tommy snarled, tearing through her barrier with Saba. He swung at him with the tiger sabre, which she dodged.
"You forget Tommy, my robot body gives me agility and strength beyond anything you can imagine!" She gloated, grabbing hold of his arm and slamming him hard against the ground. Saba dropped from his hands.
Rita cackled, slamming her staff to his back, making him writhe in pain.
"Let go of him, witch!" Saba growled, his eyes glowing red as the sentient sabre hovered in the air, firing laser beams at the witch, who hissed, scrambling back.
"Oh, I had forgotten you had a mind of your own!" She snarled, firing a crimson bolt at the sabre, which he flew out of the way of.
"You have to do better than that, witch." The enchanted sabre taunted just as Tommy scrambled to his feet, knocking Rita off balance with a sweep kick.
"Why, you miserable brat!" Rita snarled at him, slamming her staff to the ground, letting loose a wave of power that threw Tommy back, his armor flickering out. Saba let out a animalistic roar as the dark energy tore through the enchanted sabre, forcing him to retreat to the grid.
"Pathetic…" The witch scoffed, raising her staff at the defenseless ranger, wisps of blue magic binding his arms and hoisting him in the air.
"Tommy!" Kim yelled, running at them, only to be flung back by an invisible force as Rita thrust her other hand at the pink ranger. She crashed against Billy's car hard, as a cry of pain escaped her.
"Aunt Kim!" Minh yelled, running over to her.
"Minh… No. You shouldn't be here." Kim muttered as the teen helped her back to her feet.
"Do my eyes deceive me?" Robo Rita sneered. "Trini Kwan, is that you?"
Minh glowered at the witch. "My name is Minh, you monster! And you will pay for killing my mom!"
The witch let out a cackle of laughter.
"Oh, for a moment I was sure Trini was back from the grave!" She said, "You look much like your mother but your youthful vengeance reminds me of myself…"
Minh rolled her fists, letting out a battle cry but Kim held her back.
"Minh, no." She told her firmly. "Get behind the car till we handle this."
"But…"
"We will get her. I promise." Kim told her. "Trust us."
The girl gave a defeated sigh, doing as she's told.
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Kimmy!" Rita sneered as the pink ranger drew her bow and fired a string of arrows at her.
Rita shielded herself with her hands, creating a forcefield but in doing so, she was forced to let go of the magic restraining Tommy. The veteran ranger fell to the ground with a thump and smirked, taking out his master morpher.
"It's Morphin Time! Dragonzord!"
The green ranger leapt at the sorceress with his dragon dagger, cutting through her enchantments.
"Ahh, this is more like it!" She snorted. "You always do clean up better in green!"
She moved fluidly, avoiding Tommy's jabs, and countering them with spells from her staff. The witch cackled with arcane electricity, shooting it at the ranger, forcing him back.
"Tommy!" Kim yelled, running over to him, and helping him up.
"You two stand no chance!" Rita smirked as the machine behind her gave a deep hum.
"Snizzard, it's ready!" She called out to where her minion was fighting the red and saffron rangers.
----"Nice moves!" Snizzard complimented as he and the red ranger was locked in a stalemate. If one looked from far, it almost looked like a dance. Nancy looked up from where she had crashed against a gravestone.
Snizzard finally sneaked up on the ranger, grabbing his wrist with his own, which instead of having fingers had a snake head.
"But mine are better!" He smirked as the snake head sank it's fangs into the unsuspecting red ranger, it's green eyes ebbing as green veins ran through the red suit and Jason let out a startled gasp, finding himself completely paralyzed by the attack.
"Jason, no!" Nancy yelled, but it was too late. Snizzard stepped back and thrust his other arm at the ranger and a tangle of snakes shot out from his serpentine arm, coiling around Jason, it's dark magic enveloping his armor, cutting through the protection of the Power and miniaturizing him into the size of an action figure. The monster cackled picking Jason up and throwing him towards her mistress.
"A wonderful start to my collection!" Rita caught him, placing him in a shelf and looked at the others.
"One down, six to go!" She screeched.
"No!" Tommy growled, turning to Kim and giving her his dragon dagger. "Time for an old classic?"
"You know it!" She drew her bow, using the dagger in place of her arrows and fired it at the sorceress. The dragon turned into a green laser as the screech of a pterodactyl and the roar of a dragon was heard in the distance.
Rita countered it with her own magic, but was pushed back, the energy colliding with her and sending her skidding through the dirt.
"My Queen!" Snizzard leapt to her defense, lunging at the green and pink ranger with feral rage.
Tommy countered one blow with his dagger only for the monster to grab his other arm and the serpent head bit down.
"Got ya!" Snizzard hissed, paralyzing him.
"NO!" Kim yelled, lashing out at the monster with a flurry of kicks, sending him staggering back. She drew her bow but a powerful blast of energy slammed against her, knocking her out of her morph.
"KIM!" Nancy screamed, eyes drifting between Snizzard approaching Tommy and Rita raise her staff at Kim.
With a relented sigh, Nancy took to the air, her golden wings unfurling and she fired at the sorceress with her blade blaster.
"You brat!" She scoffed, as Nancy picked up the unconscious pink ranger.
Rita turned her head towards where Snizzard had a miniaturized green ranger in his grip.
"Like fish in a barrel! Bring them to me!" She commanded. Snizzard obeyed,
Zack and Billy ran over to the Saffron ranger as they glared at Rita.
"What kind of sick game is this?" Zack asked angrily.
"Oh, it's quite fun. My machine is draining their energy. Soon, they will be lifeless husks. You can join them!" She thrust her arm at them and tendrils of black energy wrapped around the two before pulling them to the ground before her.
"Billy! Zack!" Nancy shouted, drawing her blade blaster at Rita, who chuckled, deflecting the attacks with her staff.
Snizzard approached them, grabbing their arms with each of his hands and Nancy watched in horror as the snake heads sank their fangs into them.
Green veins spread through their armor and Snizzard shot out his tangle of snakes at them but suddenly, cracks started to appear in their metallic armor before they exploded in a massive burst of grid energy, frying the snakes and throwing Snizzard back.
"What happened?" Nancy asked Billy and Zack, helping them up. Both were back in their regular suits.
"Our metallic armor protected us from his attack!" He groaned, the three dropping into fighting stances.
Minotuar joined Snizzard as the two monsters advanced towards them.
Billy's eyes drifted to Kim, the captured rangers and then to Minh crouched behind Billy's car.
"Nancy, Zack, we need to go NOW!" Billy yelled, picking up Kim and running towards his car.
"He is right. We can't win here." Nancy sighed, firing at the monsters with her blade blaster as the two followed Billy, who placed Kim in the passenger seat in the front and sat beside her, taking the wheel.
Seeing the rangers retreat, Minh jumped into the backseat of Billy's car and opened the doors for Nancy and Zack to climb in beside her.
Billy started the car instantly, speeding away from the cemetery.
"You think you can just drive away!" Rita drawled, appearing in front of them in a burst of crimson light.
Minotaur and Snizzard blocked them from behind.
"End of the line, rangers!" Snizzard hissed.
"Road's closed, rangers. Your move!" Rita cackled.
"What do we do!" Nancy asked as Billy jammed the accelerator pedal and Rita shielded her face as the car slammed against her full force, sending her skittering off the road before taking off the ground.
"What?" Minh gawked, amazed as she looked down to see the robot monsters glower at them from the ground, becoming increasingly distant as they flew higher up in the skies.
"You have a flying car!" She asked Billy.
"Well, that is what the Radbug Model is designed to do." The blue ranger shrugged as the rangers demorphed.
Kim moaned beside her.
"Aunt Kim?" She asked hesitantly.
"She will be okay, Minh." Nancy assured her before sighing. "We need to find a way to free the others."
"We will." Billy said firmly. "It's time to activate the Bandora Protocol."
----Back in the ground, Robo Rita snarled.
"Well played Cranston. Fly while you still can!" She looked at the shelf where the red and green rangers lay frozen like dolls and smirked as the machine beeped, one of its tubes filling up with purple energies. "Soon, every power ranger will be where I want them. Much like your Trini!"
She raised her staff as she and the device vanished in a swirl of blue and purple smoke and her monsters followed, teleporting away in a burst of flames, leaving the cemetery deserted.
----A bunch of flowers laid over a grave nearby, most of them yellow. A lightning bolt was inscribed into the gravestone and for a second, yellow light sparked around it,
Trini Kwan
Mother to Minh
Friend to All
A Great Hero whose legacy will never be forgotten
1977 – 2022