Operation: Phoenix
MahdiQuest, Conclusion
And you thought Op: WorldWalk was bad?!

        Arsenal rode his Azrael model Excalibur through the streets of 
Cleveland, heading for his rondezvous with Gremlin and Ghostling.  As he did 
so, he reflected on why he'd called him in.
        After three days of searching, all he'd come up with was an empty 
apartment and very strange readings on a trans-D scanning device he'd had 
built into the Cybercycle.
        Arsenal couldn't help but remember one prophecy passed down from the 
early days of the Jihad: "Julie the Mahdi will strike the final blow against 
the HellWyrm."  And yet, this contrasted sharply from the other prophecy: "At 
the end, Lord Owsen will stand alone."  He thought there was more to this 
second prophecy, but he couldn't recall it off hand.
        "Anything on your end?" he asked as he pulled up to them.  Ghostling's 
face was obscured from her stealthsuit's headgear; only her green eyes were 
visible.
        "Just some of those wierd temporal readings you mentioned," Gremlin 
stated.  "The readings are similar to the ones around you following your trip 
to Null Time Dimension 41."
        "B'Harne's Dimension?"  This news shocked Arsenal.  "Think the Mahdi's 
disappearance has anything to do with WorldWalk?"
        "I think it has *everything* to do with WorldWalk."
        This did not bode well.  If the Mahdi had disappeared into the 
timestream, there would be very little chance of finding her. At least while 
the invasion was on.
        "Then we'll have to move quickly," Arsenal stated, his brow furrowing 
with apprehention.  "I have a bad feeling that if we don't find her before the 
Lizards' main battle fleet arrives...."
        "Main fleet?" Ghostling asked. "Arsenal, it's already here!"
        "No. Think about it. This is just a preliminary strike force, sent to 
soften us up. Throw us into confusion. I'm certain of it!"
        "Listen to him, Ghosty," Gremlin said. "He's got more battle 
experience than we're likely to EVER have."
        "Grem," Arsenal stated. "Launch one of your time probes to the future. 
 I read something in your previous report that indicated the Mahdi may be in 
the 23rd Century.  We need to know if she's our timeline's Mahdi or not.  
Other than that, I think it's time we got back to the invasion force."

        Indeed, the timeline *had* been fractured.  The renegade Shadow Ranger 
was proof of this.  And wherever one Power Ranger appeared, more were certain 
to follow.

        "Tommy, I've got a lock on the Lone Warrior," Jason stated.  "Bring 
the DragonZord through Lake Erie.  I'll meet you at the corner of I-90 and 
I-77."
        "Roger, Jase.  See you there."

        To the west, the TigerZord and Red Dragon ThunderZord, both in their 
humanoid configurations, approached Cleveland at a steady rate.
        "Our informant was right." Rocky called over his comm unit. "We're not 
the only Rangers to have been displaced!"
        "Well, duh!" Tommy called back. "Like I can't see that for myself!"
        "Jerk." Rocky muttered.

        "This is bad," Arsenal muttered, glancing at the Excalibur's dash.  
"I've got four bogeys on my B'Harnescope, all reading as Power Rangers, and 
yet, they're not the same readings as they were before WorldWalk."
        "Are any of the readings concurrent with previous Ranger scans?" 
Gremlin asked.
        Arsenal took a second glance at the 'scope.
        "Now *this* is interesting.  I've got two readings for the Red Ranger, 
one for the White, and one that's Green."
        "Green?" Ghostling asked.  "What are you talking about?"
        "Trouble."
        Arsenal reached into his utility belt and pulled out three 
microcapsules.  Poping them open, he revealed a trio of semi-humanoid battle 
machines, over 25 feet tall each.  Each machine had two giant cannon on it's 
shoulders, and one on the right forearm.
        "What is this?" Gremlin asked.  "I thought the R&D records went up 
with Luna Base."
        "This is just something UpLink and I were working on before he 
disappeared.  I call it the Badlands."
        "Badlands, huh?" Gremlin commented as he climbed into one of the 
cockpits.  "How do we drive these things?"
        "All the controls should be self-explanetory," Arsenal explained, 
climbing into another.  "Everything's clearly marked, and it's a lot like 
using a power-loader."  Without comment, Ghostling climbed into the third.

        The four displaced Zords converged on Arsenal's position.
        "Cripes!" Tommy-Green exclaimed, riding the crest of the DragonZord.  
"What the hell are those things?"
        "They're Jihaddi battlesuits," Jason exclaimed.  "We may need MegaZord 
for this."
        "We did pretty good against those Jihaddi wimps before," Tommy 
remarked.  "These three should be no problem."

        Arsenal had already tapped into the Rangers' communicator frequency. 
He had to stop himself from laughing when he heard the Green Ranger's 
comments.
        "Grem, focus on the two MechaGodzilla rejects.  They're the least 
powerful. I'm going after the Shogun Warriors wannabes. Ghostling, cover us."
        "Hogging all the glory, commander?" Ghostling asked, firing the 
Badlands' small laser turret in the direction of several incoming missiles 
from the DragonZord.
        "Nah, just making sure the job gets done."
        Arsenal let loose with the Badlands' two main plasma cannon, totally 
demolishing the arms of the Red Dragon ThunderZord. Then he got in close, and 
swept the feetout from under the Zord.
        Gremlin, on the other hand, had opted to use the Badlands' forarm 
mounted Particle Cannon to blow systematically cut the Zords to pieces. First, 
the TyranosaurZord's left arm fell. Then he cut off the DragonZord's right 
hand.  It was the DragonZord's tail that took Gremlin out of the fight, 
slamming right into the Badlands' power unit.
        "Gremlin!  Tesser out of there!"
        One moment, Gremlin was in the damaged Badlands. The next, the mecha 
was empty.  Ghostling ducked out the back of her mecha, and into the ground 
behind her.  Arsenal knew he had to act quickly, before the fusion reaction 
blew.
        He picked up the TigerZord, and tossed it at the Red Zords, which just 
happened to be standing right next to each other.  The pile of three Zords 
slammed into the DragonZord, and all four landed on top of the damaged 
Badlands.
        "Base One," Arsenal spoke into his communicator, "Tesser the damaged 
Badlands and the Zords into the space battle."
        
        Up in space, Admiral Davis looked in astonishment as four beams of 
light raced away from a pile of mecha that had somehow managed to appear right 
in the path of a X'Hirjq light cruiser. Seconds later, the fusion explosion 
caused the cruiser's defenses to falter, and serious damage to the hull of the 
cruiser.
        "Arm the Phase-Transit Cannons," Davis orfered. "Target that explosion 
and fire."
        The X'Hirjq Light Cruiser erupted, finally destroyed.

        "So much for the field test," Ghostling muttered, sticking her head 
out of the ground.
        "It worked, didn't it?" Arsenal muttered.
        "So what do we do now?" Gremlin asked, tessering back into view.
        "It still bugs me that you can tesser at will, Grem," Arsenal 
commented.  "I still need my technology to do it."
        "So do I," Gremlin commented.  He pulled out a small device. "30th 
Century teleporter. I'm an apprentice Time Lord, remember?"
        "Right.  And you have yet to give me a straight answer as to how I got 
from Camelot to the late 23rd Century."
        "I'd hate to interrupt such stimulating conversation, Commander," 
Ghostling commented, "but the Lizards have been alerted to our presence."
        "How do you...." Arsenal looked around.  "Oh, shit."

To be continued.....