Chapter 9 : Echoes of the Past (Part 1)
Morning Shadows
The S.P.D. food court buzzed with its usual morning activity as Rangers and cadets grabbed breakfast before their duties began. At a corner table, Naruto sat across from Kat, both enjoying a rare moment of peace. His Orange Ranger civilian uniform and the Dragon Blaster & Kyuubi Saber gleamed subtly by his side beneath the morning light filtering through the windows.
"You know, I never thought I'd say this," Kat said, cutting into her synthetic eggs, "but these mornings are becoming my favorite part of the day."
Naruto looked up from his ramen—a special order he'd convinced the kitchen staff to prepare—and gave her a small smile. "Mine too. It's strange how normal moments feel so..."
His words died mid-sentence. The Kyuubi Saber at his side began to vibrate almost imperceptibly, resonating with something that made his hybrid senses flare to life. His fox ears, usually hidden beneath his hair, twitched as an familiar yet impossible energy signature brushed against his consciousness.
"Naruto?" Kat noticed the sudden change in his demeanor. "What's wrong?"
The energy signature grew stronger, and Naruto's dragon-fox heritage allowed him to sense what others couldn't—a presence that shouldn't exist, a malevolent force tied to memories of darkness and pain. Rita Repulsa. But that was impossible. Rita was gone, reformed, serving as the Mystic Mother.
This felt different. Corrupted. Wrong.
Naruto stood abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor. "I have to go."
"Go where?" Kat reached out to touch his arm, concern evident in her voice. "Naruto, you look like you've seen a ghost."
He paused, looking down at her worried expression. Part of him wanted to tell her everything—about the dark presence he sensed, about the way his parents' legacy seemed to be calling out a warning. But another part of him, the part that had learned to bear burdens alone, held back.
"Something's wrong," he said finally. "I can feel it. I need to check something out."
"Then I'll come with you—"
"No." The firmness in his voice surprised them both. "This is something I need to handle alone. I'll be back."
Before Kat could protest further, Naruto was striding toward the exit, leaving behind his half-finished breakfast and a very worried feline scientist.
The Journey
Within minutes, Naruto was in the S.P.D. hangar bay, commandeering one of the base's fastest jets. The sleek aircraft roared to life under his expert control—his years as a space-faring mercenary had made him proficient with dozens of different vessels.
As Earth's atmosphere rushed past the cockpit, Naruto's mind raced. The energy signature was definitely Rita's, but twisted somehow. It felt like her essence had been filtered through technology, given artificial form. The very thought sent chills down his spine.
The flight to Angel Grove, California took less than an hour at maximum speed. As he descended toward the coordinates his senses were leading him to, Naruto spotted a familiar dimensional laboratory tucked into the mountains outside the city.
Landing the jet in a clearing, Naruto approached the facility with caution. His hand instinctively moved to the Kyuubi Saber's hilt as he sensed not just the corrupted Rita presence, but also a familiar energy signatures he recognized from his recent battles.
Billy Cranston.
Reunion and Revelation
"Billy!" Naruto called out as he entered the dimensional laboratory. The former Blue Ranger looked up from a bank of smoking computers, his face etched with exhaustion and guilt.
"Naruto?" Billy's eyes widened in surprise. "What are you doing here? How did you even find this place?"
"I can sense her," Naruto replied grimly, his enhanced senses picking up the residual energy traces throughout the lab. "Rita. But she's wrong somehow. Artificial." His gaze fell on a broken energy containment tube near the center of the lab, its crystalline surface shattered and dark. "What did you do, Billy? Where's Alpha 8?"
Billy's shoulders sagged under the weight of his mistake. "When I saw you create that Psycho Key—the way you channeled both Zordon's light and Dark Spectra's corruption while maintaining perfect balance—I thought..." He gestured helplessly at the destroyed equipment around them. "I thought if you could do that, then we could use the same principles to bring back Zordon."
"Bring back Zordon?" Naruto's voice carried a mixture of disbelief and anger. "Billy, you can't just resurrect people using the Morphing Grid!"
"I know that now," Billy said bitterly. "We developed containment protocols, mapped dispersal patterns across the universe, created reconstruction matrices. Everything seemed to be working. We detected fragments of consciousness embedded in the Grid—not just Zordon's, but others who had sacrificed themselves for the greater good."
Naruto's dragon heritage allowed him to sense the lingering traces of the experiment's failure throughout the laboratory. "But it went wrong."
"Catastrophically wrong," Billy confirmed. "When we activated the reconstruction matrix, we didn't just pull Zordon's essence. We accidentally collected Rita's corrupted fragments too—remnants from when she was evil, somehow preserved in the darker corners of the Grid. The evil essence took over Alpha 8's body and escaped through that containment tube." He gestured toward the shattered crystalline container. "She's calling herself Robo Rita."
"This was incredibly stupid, Billy." Naruto's words were harsh but not unkind. "I can sense presences, feel energy signatures—that's why I was able to channel Zordon's power to create the Psycho Key. But even I would never attempt something like resurrection through the Grid." His voice softened slightly. "I've never even thought about bringing back my own parents, and they mean everything to me."
Billy looked up sharply. "Your parents?"
"Minato and Kushina died protecting me when I was just a child," Naruto explained. "The temptation to try to bring them back has always been there, but death isn't something you reverse with science or magic. Some boundaries shouldn't be crossed."
Before Billy could respond, a chilling mechanical laugh echoed through the laboratory from the shattered remains of the energy containment tube.
"Oh, but dear nephew," came Rita's voice, distorted and amplified from the broken crystalline fragments, "some boundaries are meant to be shattered!"
Both men spun toward the damaged containment system as Robo Rita's disembodied voice filled the laboratory, her evil essence having escaped its prison and now roaming free.
"Rita," Naruto growled, his hand moving to his morpher.
"Indeed! Though I prefer Robo Rita now," the disembodied voice cackled from the broken containment tube. "This mechanical form is far superior to my old flesh. And thanks to Billy's little experiment, I have plans that will make my previous schemes look like children's games!"
"What do you want?" Billy demanded, stepping protectively in front of his equipment.
"Want?" Robo Rita's voice echoed with malevolent glee. "I want to finish what I started eons ago! I'm already collecting Rangers from across the universe—their power will fuel my greatest spell yet. But first, I need to deal with some old business."
The energy within the broken tube pulsed as Rita's essence focused on Naruto. "That shield belongs to my family, nephew. Your father stole it when he abandoned his heritage, but it will return to its rightful place soon enough."
"Over my dead body," Naruto snarled.
"That can be arranged!" Robo Rita laughed as malevolent energy crackled around the shattered containment system. "But first, I have Rangers to collect and a timeline to alter!"
In a surge of rage, Naruto drew his Dragon Blaster and fired directly at the broken energy tube, completely destroying what remained of Rita's physical anchor in the laboratory. The crystalline fragments exploded in a shower of sparks and dark energy.
Meanwhile at S.P.D. Base
Back at Delta Base, Z, Syd, and Bridge huddled together in the rec room, their voices kept low as they discussed their friend's predicament.
"You know what, guys, I mean it wasn't a big lie," Z said, leaning forward conspiratorially. "It was a little white lie. Boom didn't hurt anybody."
"I'd actually like to help him," Syd agreed, nodding firmly. "You're right. Boom does everything for us—the least we could do is do something for him."
Bridge looked uncertain, his empathic abilities picking up on the complex emotions surrounding their plan. "Guys, I'm thinking what you're thinking, but I'm also thinking—what if Kruger finds out?"
"He doesn't have to," Z replied with a mischievous grin. "Look, Boom told his parents he's the S.P.D. Orange Ranger because he was embarrassed about being 'just' tech support. With Naruto off on whatever mysterious mission he's on, we can totally pull this off."
"I don't know..." Bridge hesitated. "Impersonating a Ranger seems like a pretty serious offense."
"We're not impersonating anyone," Syd corrected. "We're just... helping a friend maintain his dignity with his family. Boom works harder than any of us to keep this base running. If pretending to be Naruto for one afternoon makes his parents proud of him, then I'm in."
Bridge's expression softened as he considered his friends' words. Boom had indeed sacrificed a lot for S.P.D., often going unrecognized for his contributions while they got all the glory as Rangers.
"Okay," he said finally. "But we keep this simple and short. And if Kruger asks where Naruto is, we tell him the truth—that he had some urgent business to attend to."
The three Rangers exchanged determined looks, unaware that their friend's "urgent business" was about to escalate into a crisis that would threaten Rangers across the universe.
The Call to Arms
Back in Billy's laboratory, the situation was deteriorating rapidly. Robo Rita had disappeared in a flash of corrupted teleportation energy, leaving behind only her mechanical laughter and a warning that she was "collecting old friends."
"We need help," Billy said, his scientific mind already working through their options. "If Rita is collecting Rangers from across the universe, we need to warn them."
Naruto nodded grimly. "We need to contact the Mighty Morphin team—Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, and Tommy. If anyone can help us stop a corrupted version of their old enemy, it's them."
Billy activated his communication array, sending out emergency signals to the original Power Rangers team. "I just hope we're not too late."
As they waited for responses, Naruto's enhanced senses picked up something that made his blood run cold—energy signatures disappearing from across the galaxy. Rangers were being captured, just as Robo Rita had threatened.
"Billy," he said quietly, "I think it's already starting."
The two former enemies turned reluctant allies stood in the damaged laboratory, knowing that they were possibly the only ones who could stop the monster they had accidentally unleashed. In the distance, Naruto could sense more Rangers vanishing from the cosmic tapestry, pulled into whatever dark plan Robo Rita was weaving.
The battle for the very existence of the Power Rangers was about to begin, and it had started with the best of intentions and the worst of mistakes.
Epilogue: Gathering Storm
As emergency signals went out across the universe, on the moon in a familiar palace that should have remained empty, Robo Rita stood before a massive time portal device. Her mechanical form—now inhabiting Alpha 8's body—crackled with stolen Ranger energy as miniature figures of captured heroes hung suspended in energy cages around her, their forms reduced to toy-sized versions of their former selves.
"Soon, my dear Rangers," she cackled, her optical sensors gleaming with malevolent joy. "Soon you'll witness the end of your precious legacy. And this time, not even Zordon will be able to save you!"
The time portal hummed with building energy as Robo Rita prepared to implement a plan that would erase the Power Rangers from history itself. The only question remaining was whether Naruto and Billy could gather enough help in time to stop her.
Back on Earth, Naruto felt a chill run down his spine as his dragon-fox senses detected the temporal energies building on the moon. Whatever Rita was planning, they were running out of time.
The fate of every Ranger who had ever existed now hung in the balance, and the key to stopping it all might lie in the very heritage that Naruto had spent years trying to understand—his connection to both light and darkness, family and redemption.
The storm was gathering, and soon it would break across the entire universe.
Will Trini survive or not? Or may be someone else might loose his life who knows.
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