It was awkward in the throne room, not because Avanth himself was uncomfortable, but because the people around him were. It had been just hours after the attempt at the green Mythos Morpher failed. Avanth had already compartmentalized that event and moved on, but he clearly was the only one. Shelby climbed the stairs up to the dais his throne lay upon. The way she hunched her shoulders and looked everywhere except at him betrayed her discomfort. That was what made the air stiff.

As she reached him, Avanth did his best to look unmoved. The last thing he wanted was to project a displeased air. He was, of course, agitated, but his subjects didn't need to know that. Emotions were faults, and fallibility was weakness. While Avanth was wise enough to realize a completely unfeeling air could produce the opposite effect as what he wanted, a delicate balance made him seem strong and in charge. So, he tried to appear neutral on the matter at hand. Given the stutter in Shelby's step, he assumed his efforts were unsuccessful.

"Master Avanth," Shelby said, and then got down on one knee.

"Stand up, Shelby. What did I tell you about about bowing?" Avanth made a dismissive hand gesture. Shelby hesitated, but slowly rose to her feet.

"I... I'm sorry, Master. I failed to get the Green Mythos Morpher. I will accept the consequences." Shelby refused to meet his gaze.

"That won't be necessary," Avanth said. Shelby's eyes snapped to his. "I should've known better than to send you alone against the Rangers. I'm used to overpowering them, but that won't work anymore, and that's on me. I made a tactical error, and that's not your fault."

"Master, I... thank you," Shelby said.

"I'll never punish honest mistakes, Shelby. That just creates fear, and people misbehave when they're afraid," Avanth said.

"You're very wise, Master," Shelby said.

"I know." Avanth smirked. This was a joke, but Shelby did not laugh. He cleared his throat. "It's obvious we need a new strategy."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well," Avanth said, "over the years, I've learned the Rangers's greatest weakness is that they can't be everywhere at once. We use that to our advantage. I expect they'll go for the closest one, which is in Italy. Adam's already on his way there, so he can keep them busy, and while he's doing that I want you to go get the one in Russia. Once that's done, you'll both go to Greece and get the final Morpher." Avanth laid out his plan, his new flawless strategy.

Shelby's expression brightened. "That's a great plan, sir! They'll never see it coming."

"That's the hope," Avanth agreed. "What of the Rangers themselves? Who ended up coming through the portal?"

"Well, okay, one of them is Tommy Oliver," Shelby began.

"Of course." Avanth rolled his eyes. "Somehow, I saw that coming. What about the others."

"Alright, I don't recognize the other two. One of them is a tall Scottish guy with broad shoulders. He's the one that got the Morpher." Shelby continued her descriptions.

"Flynn McAllister." Avanth rubbed his chin, considering this for a moment. "That's unexpected. He wouldn't have been my first choice. Good to know there's only three of them, though. What about the third one?"

Shelby sneered. "She's the reason I didn't get the Morpher. She's a Latina woman, who appeared to be wearing some sort of military uniform. She has an annoying ability to clone herself."

"Ah, that one makes more sense. Elizabeth Delgado. Her power can help alleviate their numbers disadvantage."

"I'm sorry, Master. She overwhelmed me. I didn't expect to fight three people at once, and I couldn't get away from her in time. I'm—"

Avanth held up a hand. "I already said it's okay, Shelby. We can't go back, so we have to keep moving forward. Did Tracker already give you the coordinates for the Russia Morpher?"

"Yeah." Shelby nodded. "He gave us all of the locations."

"Then I want you to get moving immediately. Don't waste time. The sooner we get the Morphers, the better."

"Yes, Master." Shelby bowed, and then jogged down the stairs.

Avanth admired her spirit. If all of his minions showed her same gusto, he might not have been in this mess at all in the first place. He let out a deep sigh. That encounter was actually a lot simpler than he expected. It went very well, all things considered. Shelby took her failure in stride, provided excellent information, and then jumped on the new assignment. With people like this underneath him, he felt good about his chances.

Now, it was all down to Adam. The success of his plan depended on whether or not Adam was able to secure the Italy Morpher. But, he had a head start and—Avanth hated to admit it—he was a better fighter than Shelby. He had a greater chance of success. If he pulled it off, then the Rangers wouldn't stand a chance. Avanth could simply overwhelm them, just like he used to.

…

Italy was nice this time of year. Z had never been there, but she had to imagine that all Italian summers were just as gorgeous as the one they currently experienced. Rolling hills, lush vineyards, green trees, back roads, it truly was a beautiful country. Had she not more important things to do, she might have liked to spend a bit of time there just soaking it in.

Rome itself had received much the same treatment as London. Historical architecture butted up against modern towers, clean lines mixed with old edges. Flying cars zoomed over those restricted to the roads below. People walked both on sidewalks and on platforms and pathways between the tall futuristic buildings. This, in a way, had a beauty all its own. That technology could find a way to live in peace with history was really inspiring to see. Her own time struggled somewhat with that sort of thing. It was good, then, that the future somehow figured it out.

Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to sightsee. Traveling straight from Scotland to Italy meant a nine hour flight at the Land Rover's top speed. That was a long way for someone to pilot all on their own, and then get out and probably fight monsters in pursuit of a Mopher. So, the three Power Rangers had agreed Flynn should fly the first four hours, and then Z would take over the remaining five. From behind the wheel of a flying car, she didn't have much capacity to focus on much else.

Thankfully, the act of controlling the machine proved much simpler than she expected. Assistant controls for things like pitch, yaw, altitude, speed, and even turning made the vehicle intuitive—if not easy—to drive. She actually found it kind of fun, despite her previous apprehension.

A peek down at the map projected from the center console revealed they were pretty close to their destination. Given their current location, Z hardly needed the map to tell her where they were going. The Colosseum, the most iconic landmark in Italy, and perhaps all of Europe. It was literally the most logical place to put something like a Mythos Morpher.

Z flew them over the Colosseum, intending to avoid another Tower of London situation and land right in the middle of it. However, doing so revealed that there were already people moving through the monument. It didn't take eagle eyes to see that these figures were goblins being escorted by a fiend, along with a human male.

"Looks like we've got trouble," Z said.

"Fly low in front of them," Tommy said. "Flynn, you and I will jump out and morph. Z, land behind them and use your clones to pincer them."

Both she and Flynn voiced their agreement, and Z went about executing this plan. She circled the Colosseum once to line herself up and then swooped down low as she could manage over the walls, nearly scraping the car's underside against these old rocks. She didn't have space to lower into the bowl itself, however, so this would have to do. Right before she passed in front of the bad guys, both Tommy and Flynn hopped out.

"Mythos Rangers, all for one!" they shouted in near perfect unison. They morphed in flashes of red and green and hit the ground in somersaults.

Z's field of vision surpassed them before she saw what happened next. She slammed on the brakes and swung around to a spot several feet behind where the action was happening. There was a blue awning set up behind some caution tape, and a series of boxes stacked across from it. Z set the car down between these two features, hoping they would prevent anyone from flanking around to damage it. A few goblins saw her do this, and broke off to engage her. Z jumped out of the car and ran to join the fray.

She tossed out her arms to backfist a pair of goblins. One directly in front of her began to turn and face her. Z placed a quintet of short punches into its chest. She ducked underneath two goblins who tried to punch her. They ended up hitting each other instead. While she was low, another goblin made to slash her with a sword. Z stood to avoid the attack, placed a backfist into the goblin's face, and then punched it in the stomach.

Three came at her. Z split out two clones so there were now three of her on the battlefield. The clones spread out on either side of her. Together they battled against the goblins, moving in tandem to take them down, the most perfect team the world had ever seen. Z could feel the toll this took on her body. Already, the effort of her clones fighting began to sap her energy. But she was strong. She could keep this up for a while, more than long enough to win the fight.

Up ahead, Tommy and Flynn did battle with the resident fiend. This one was female in nature, with bird-like talons instead of feet and small wings on her back. She used a narrow sword to block an attack from Tommy, and at the same time flared out a wing to knock back Flynn. Tommy disengaged to try another pair of slashes, but the harpy's defenses held true. She kicked at him and Tommy blocked with his shield. Her talons dug into the metal. Trying to rip his shield away did nothing. With a flick of her knee, the fiend tossed Tommy away.

Z realized the human that had been with the goblins was nowhere to be seen a fraction of a second before he broke free from the crowd right in front of her. The man launched a body roundhouse kick at her, which she blocked. Z countered with a pair of straight punches, but couldn't get through. The man threw an uppercut, followed by an overhand punch. Z blocked and faded back, a step just big enough to avoid his incoming front kick. They faced off.

"Adam Park?" She said, looking him top to bottom. "Don't tell me Avanth got to you, too."

"So, you know who I am. That's a good thing, I think," he said.

"Adam, don't do this. You're a great hero. Don't let Avanth turn you into a villain," Z begged.

"Master Avanth didn't turn me into anything. He told me you rebels were trying to tear down the peace he created. I'm here to stop you," Adam countered.

"You can't believe that. Look at Tommy over there, the Red Ranger. He's your friend. Do you wanna fight him?" Z made what she thought was a good point.

"Tommy?" Adam looked back at the Red Ranger. His gaze lingered for a moment before her turned to Z. "Tommy has been corrupted before."

"You're corrupted. Adam, you're a Power Ranger. Fight Avanth. Join us."

"Keep talking, if that's what you want. Makes it easier to beat you."

Adam charged forward with a blitz of punches. Z blocked the first couple, but had to step and turn away from the rest. He was nearly as fast as her, which was a problem. Adam surpassed her as she turned, and she tried to catch him with a crescent kick. Adam ducked, and then rose back up with another uppercut. Z blocked.

One of her clones joined in the action. It entered the fray with a flying kick. Adam took the hit to his chest and stumbled back. He had a second to look at them both with surprise before they came upon him. Adam blocked a high punch from the clone on his right, and then a low one from the real Z on his left. The clone went for a high kick, while Z tried a pair of fists, low then high. Adam dedicated an arm to each, blocking every attack. He hit the clone in the stomach, and then launched a side kick into Z.

He wanted to push the attack, but the third clone intervened. It successfully punched him twice in the face and then went for an upkick, but Adam blocked that last attack. When the clone kicked at his knee, he raised his leg to check it on his shin. The other clone made a vain punch at his face. As Adam blocked two more attacks from the clones, Z came up between them and kicked him in the chest.

Z and a clone charged straight at him with punches and kicks he barely managed to block. One tried to come around behind him. Adam spun around to hit the clone with a hammerfist. He continued on this rotation to sweep out the legs of the other clone. With these two temporarily on the ground, Adam stayed in his crouch to throw a pair of body straights at the real Z. She blocked and made to axe kick down at him. Adam caught her ankle, grabbed behind her knee with his other hand, and ripped her to the ground.

One of the clones, he couldn't remember which, was in the process of getting up. Adam kicked in in the ribs to roll it over onto its back. He then stomped on its chest. It made a gasp at the pain, and then shunted itself back into Z. And for a moment, Z despaired. It had been a long time since one of her clones took so much damage that it was forced to dissipate. She'd read stories about the strength of Adam Park. Facing it in real life was terrifying.

"Enough!" Yelled the harpy fiend that had been fighting against Tommy and Flynn. "I don't have time for you Power Rangers."

The fiend produced a vial filled with a thick green liquid. Both Tommy and Flynn moved to stop her from drinking it, but neither was fast enough. The harpy downed it in one gulp and tossed away the vial. Whatever the stuff was had an immediate effect. In an all too familiar display of power, the fiend rapidly grew in size. She gave a growl that descended in pitch as she became bigger and bigger. In a matter of seconds, a regular sized opponent turned into a three-hundred-foot behemoth.

"Oh, of course they can do that," Flynn said.

"What are we supposed to do? We don't have zords!" Tommy said.

"Okay, I actually have an idea about this. If we can climb up her body and reach her head, we might be able to—"

The monster cut Flynn off by raising a foot. Both of the morphed Rangers sprinted in opposite directions, a scramble to get out of the way. The fiend stomped on the ground, kicking up a great cloud of dust and debris. Tommy wobbled but remained upright. Flynn, however, lost his balance and had to roll in order to remain upright.

"This is bad!" Tommy declared.

An eagle's cry boomed from the clouds. All eyes turned upwards to see a fiery burst up in the sky, out from which soared a great mechanical beast. Red, and gold, and silver in color, it flew on great wings that cast a shadow on the ground, sleek and beautiful in the power it emanated.

"What!?" Cried the harpy a second before this massive bird passed by, hitting her with its talons. She shouted and took a step back.

A horse's whinny then filled the air. Just outside the Colosseum there rose a cyclone of leaves on white gusts of wind. A moment later, a green unicorn leapt into the arena. It charged at the harpy, striking with its horn. The fiend spun to deflect the blow, but not before taking the impact. The unicorn spun and skidded to a stop just before the opposite wall, where it stood egging on the enemy. All the while, the bird circled overhead.

"The Phoenix and Unicorn Zords," Tommy said, a sense of wonder on his voice

"Think they'll let us drive them?" Flynn asked.

"Only one way to find out," Tommy said.

They shared a nod before jumping. Z watched as they both took off into the air to then disappeared into the heads of their respective color-coded Zords. The machines both course-corrected and began to fight their giant enemy. Z observed them with a smile on her face. However, a punch to her stomach brought her back to the action on the ground, and to reality.

"You don't have time to gawk, little girl," Adam said. "It's just you and me, now."

As Adam came at her, Z realized what he said was true. In boarding their Zords, her friends had left her out to dry. Z only had one clone left, and could feel the toll keeping it out had on her stamina. Z made the decision to let her clone go. Now it truly was just her and Adam, no goblins, fiends, or Power Rangers to aid her. She was alone with a superior opponent.

…

Tommy tilted the stick in his cockpit. The Phoenix Zord swooped down and to the right to strafe the harpy, hitting it in the shoulder. It was always a bit jarring, to drive a new Zord, but not because of unfamiliarity. Exactly the opposite, really. The Morphin Grid granted them the knowledge to pilot their steeds. The way his hands moved in expert motions along controls he'd never seen before was disconcerting. But, he had to trust the Grid. It had never led him astray before.

The harpy squared her stance to absorb a charge from the Unicorn Zord. She grabbed it by the ears so that its horn was a hair's breadth from impact. However, doing this meant she couldn't move immediately. Tommy used this moment to swoop in and grab her by the shoulders. He lifted both monster and Unicorn off the ground. The harpy struggled and protested as Tommy dragged his payload out over the city. Doing so, however, strained his Zord. The Phoenix screeched in protest. This was probably the upper limit of what it could carry. So, Tommy dropped them. The harpy let go of Flynn's Zord as she fell, and the Unicorn managed to roll over onto its feet. The fiend, however, landed on her back.

Flynn charged. He ducked his Zord's head low to scoop up the harpy while she still lay on the ground. With a great heave, he flung her back upward. She tumbled once before flaring out her wings to arrest her momentum as she came back down. The moment her feet touched the pavement, Tommy swooped in. The fiend swept up with her sword, clipping the Phoenix Zord in the stomach to send it rolling away.

The Unicorn came in to replace Tommy on the offensive. It jabbed at the fiend with its horn, but was blocked. It tried again to the same result. The fiend went for a downward slice. Flynn reared up his Zord to avoid the attack, and then lashed out with his front hooves. The harpy extended her wings again, but this time took to the skies.

In this, the Red Ranger saw his opportunity. He zoomed in and slammed the harpy in the back. She rolled with the impact, steadying out while allowing herself to be thrown back. The two of them soared in tandem low above the city. The harpy scrabbled with her blade and a free hand against the Phoenix's beak, while their talons clashed together. This opponent was tough. Tommy could tell she wouldn't go down easily. But, he had one more trick up his sleeve.

The Phoenix's beak opened, and out from it spewed forth a gout of flame. The force of this fire sent the harpy careening toward the ground. She tried to open her wings, but the heat ate up her feathers so that they could not support her. As she fell, Flynn rushed to meet her. The moment before she landed, the Unicorn Zord rammed its horn into her. The harpy deflected at an angle before finally touching down to roll across the pavement. She stopped on her front, battered and burned.

The fiend managed to haul herself up onto one knee. There, she observed the Phoenix and the Unicorn facing off with her up the street. The Zords each gave cries, a bird call that pierced the heavens and a horse whine shook the wind. Together, they charged at the fiend, helpless to avoid their onslaught. They hit simultaneously, bowling her over with horn and talon. She gave a shout and then fell on her back.

An explosion took her. The Zords both turned to look at the fireball which rose into the air. When it vanished, so too had the fiend, erased from existence by the power of their attack. Their first fight with these brand new Zords had been a success. They had victory on the strengths of metal and teamwork.

"Yeah!" Flynn celebrated. "I've never been a fan of horses, but this thing is awesome!"

"Come on," Tommy said. "Now that the fiend is gone, we need to go help Z."

"Right behind you."

The Red and Green Rangers exited their Zords through hatches in the tops of their heads and leapt to the ground. Both of them touched down inside the Colosseum, a little ways away from the wall closest to them. The moment they entered, something about the atmosphere felt wrong to Tommy. It was quiet and still, hardly the environment for battle. A quick examination revealed the cause of such discomfort.

Z lay on her back, moving slow and clearly in pain. There were no other goblins present, and Adam was nowhere to be found. However, that she were still laying there indicated she hadn't been like that for long.

"Z!" Tommy shouted and ran over to her.

"Hey!" Flynn echoed, a step behind.

The two reached her in a matter of seconds. She had dirt on her face, and her hair was quite a mess. The boys knelt down on either side of her. She tried to prop herself up on an arm, but a wince forced her back down. She rose to a sitting position slowly.

"Take it easy," Flynn said, a hand on her left shoulder to help lift her up.

"What happened?" Asked Tommy.

Z glanced at him before tearing her gaze away. "I'm sorry, I couldn't beat him. Adam..." she hesitated, "he got the Morpher.

A silence fell over the three of them. Tommy looked down as he felt the air grow thicker. His heart sank, while his mind buzzed with the possibilities. The implications of this could not be overstated. They'd lost the Mythos Morpher. Not only that, but the person who got away with it was good enough to take on multiple copies of Z and come out victorious. He was clearly a dangerous opponent, made even more powerful now by the strength of the Grid. This was the single worst thing that could've happened.

"Alright," Flynn said after a moment. "We'll just have to get it back, then. Do you know where he went?"

Z pointed to her right. "That way, but I didn't see where he went after he got out of the Colosseum."

"Let's go, then. He can't have gotten far, come on!" Flynn stood up and began to run in the direction indicated by Z.

"Wait!" Tommy caught his arm as he passed. "That's a bad idea."

"Tommy, come on, he's gonna get away." Flynn struggled, but Tommy held firm.

"And we can deal with that later. I'd bet anything Shelby is going for the other Morphers. If we go after him, she'll get one of them. And what if we lose him? He'd have a head start, and that could be three down. We need to secure the other Morphers before Shelby can get them." Tommy laid out his logic.

"He's right," agreed Z. "We're better off definitely getting one Morpher, than maybe taking Adam's."

"But we don't know which one she's going for," Flynn argued. "There's two to choose from."

"We'll have to guess and hope we stop her," reasoned Tommy.

"And what if we're wrong?"

"Then we outnumber them three to two."

"I don't like it." Flynn shook his head. "We should go find Adam, or whatever his name is, kick his butt, take his Morpher, and then scoot over to wherever the next one is. That way we only might be handing them one Morpher, instead of two."

"If we can't find Adam, or we don't stop him, then they might get three. We should go with the choice that gives us the best chance to get the most Morphers," said Z.

Flynn paused. He flexed and relaxed a fist on his right hand several times while the gears almost visibly worked behind his helmet. Tommy prayed he saw reason. He had witnessed firsthand how infighting could ruin a team. The couldn't afford this sort of thing on their third day together. There wasn't time for it. After a few seconds, Flynn let his shoulders sag and took a deep breath.

"Where's the closest one?" He asked.

"Greece, I think," responded Z.

"Then lets get going." With that, Flynn stormed off toward the Land Rover.

Tommy just watched him go for a moment. Flynn powered down while on his way to the vehicle. The Green Ranger wasn't happy with the plan, but at least he accepted it. That was better than outright defiance. As Tommy helped Z up, he hoped his plan turned out to be the correct one. The last thing they needed was to fight against evil Rangers. He knew very well how quickly that could end in disaster.