"Yield to me, Dragoon! You are alone, all your fellows are dead!"

Clad in emerald glowing armor, the man addressed as 'Dragoon' spun the lance staff in his hand while holding on to the reins of his armored horse with his spare hand. "Why do you hunt me?! You've chased me across time itself, why?! The Dragoons are no more, isn't that enough, demon?!"

With a laugh, the demonic knight drew his sword and brought to aim at the Dragoon. "So sorry," he spat sarcastically. "But only once all the Dragoons are dead can I claim your gifts." He spurred on his demon steed, racing at the knight in emerald.

"Damn you," the Dragoon growled, readying his lance for battle. "I'm sorry, Avalon, looks like we have one last battle to wage. Yaa!"

The demon knight laughed as he swung his sword forward, firing a blast of unholy flames at the Dragoon and knocking him off his horse. The Dragoon got to his feet in time to block a strike from his demonic foe, bringing the evil knight off his own horse and twirling his lance like a quarterstaff.

"You can't claim our powers," he stated, holding his lance at defensive. "No demon can claim the holy powers we of the Dragon Order wield! Only one of pure heart and soul can be gifted as we are, and your heart is tainted black as night by your evil masters!"

With a laugh, the demon readied his sword again. "In that at least," he taunted. "At least there will be no more of your Order! If I cannot hold your powers, then no one shall!"

With a swing, the Dragoon let out a yell of anger, only to be deflected away and impaled through the back by his foe's demonic sword. Blood poured out when the blade was withdrawn from his body, the Dragoon collapsing to the ground. "I have failed you all," he whispered before losing consciousness.

"You're not dying quite yet," the demon stated, picking up the fallen Dragoon with almost perfect ease. "No, you're going to hold out for a while longer, just enough for me to learn your secrets and finally claim your powers!"

"God, I never want to see another mop or broom so long as I live!"

"Tell me about it, Domon. Remind me to next time not accept something that sounds like a piece of cake."

"If it weren't for risk of discovery, I would have boosted and gotten half the place done in less than an hour."

Groaning and complaining, the seven occupants of Tomorrow Research stumbled into the clock tower with buckets and mops in hand. Lucas flipped on the lights while Domon carried the mass of cleaning equipment to the closet.

"Need food!" Syon complained, tossing his broom to Matt. "Do we still have any left-over Chinese? I'm really hooked on that Tao Chicken."

"Eric devoured the last of it last night for a midnight snack," Matt grumbled while glaring at the man. "Note to Okibi; don't devour someone else's sweet and sour pork. Hate to see what he would have done if I had picked up some sushi."

"Hey, I pitched in for that food. Besides, no one else was eating it."

"Yeah, that's cause I had marked it as mine!"

Yuuri sighed and smacked both Matt and Eric in the back of the head. "Knock it off you two! Wes-kun is ordering dinner, so lay off."

"'Wes-kun'?" Matt repeated with an evil look in his eyes. "Since when was Wes on a 'kun' relationship with you? Does he give you the 'Yuuri-chan' treatment as well, hm?"

"Want me to tell the others about what happened between you and that Miradon girl?"

Matt instantly went red at that. "Leave my koibito out of this, Yuuri. Just cause you used to obsess over me as a personal hero when you were a kid and decided to learn every detail you could in the time window studies-"

"Yuuri idolized you?" Domon gasped in mock shock. "Yuuri, you little devil! You never told us you had a crush on Matt when you were a kid!"

"It was not a crush!" the woman snapped back, but her blushing red face gave away that she wasn't being completely truthful. "Matt, stop scanning my head, that's not fair!"

The boy chuckled and tapped Yuuri on the nose. "It's alright, you probably weren't the only Matt Corbett groupie in your class. Even when I was little, the girls would oggle me, it was frightening. Mike would joke that I was a regular real life bishounen whenever he was around. Back then, I didn't know what the hell it meant, but I got the idea."

"Yo, Syon!" Wes called as he hung up the phone. "How's pizza sound?"

"Great!"

With a smile, Wes nodded and pulled out a small wad of bills. "Good. It'll be ready in ten minutes, and...thanks for picking it up."

Syon blinked in surprised as everyone else ran up to the loft, then groaned in disappointment. "I didn't offer."

As Syon walked down the street with two boxes of pizza in hand, he silently complained about having to make the pizza run yet again. "Syon, this, Syon, get that. Why is it always me? Bet if they were one of the only survivors of a whole planet, they wouldn't be so quick to have me do everything. Matt could get a pizza faster than me on foot."

He stopped for a moment to rest his feet, then sat down and opened the top box to pull out a slice of pizza before starting to eat. "Need food..."

"Syon! Where are you?!"

With a sigh, the Xybrian tapped the com control of his Changer. "I'm just resting my feet, it's a long walk from the pizzeria to the clock tower."

"And I supposed such a rest includes already starting on dinner?" Yuuri's image stated with a smile. "One slice, that's it until you get back. Hurry up, because the rest of us are starving."

Syon nodded as the com ended, starting back on his slice, then paused when a loud crack of thunder echoed through the air. He put the slice back in the box and stood up as a horse could be heard growing near. "What?" he muttered, looking around for the source of the noise. A horse clad in evil looking armor came around the corner, someone in black riding it. "What the hell?!"

Legend of the Dragoon

"Holy fleg!"

Syon dropped down as the demonic knight raced by, barely avoiding having his head cut off by the large sword the knight wielded. He winced from the pain of having hit the ground so fast, then saw the knight turning to come again for a second attack, dropped the pizzas, and ran as fast as he could for a high rise wall.

"Stand and die like a man!"

Syon looked back to see the horse trample the pizza, then leapt up and over the wall just in time to escape the demon knight. "I prefer to live, thank you!" he muttered, listening to make sure it was safe. "They are never going to believe this."

Back at the clock tower, Yuuri paced back and forth with worry. It had been far too long since she had called Syon over the Changer coms. Something had happened. "He's been gone too long, we need to go out and look for him."

"Agreed," Wes added, looking to Lucas and Domon. "We need to find that pizza-ow! What hit me?!"

"That would be me," Matt snapped. The look in his eyes said everything that his telepathy went well beyond merely reading minds. "Seriously, Wes. Syon's been gone a long time, we need to go out and find him."

"Guys!" Syon yelled as he ran in, pizza boxes in hand. Wes and Domon instantly ran over and grabbed the boxes, just about fighting over who got to have the first slice. "Hey! Hello, I'm here too you know!"

"What the hell happened to the pizza?!"

With a groan, Syon shook his head. "That's what I'm trying to flegging tell you! I was attacked!"

"Attacked?!"

"By who?!"

"A black knight!" Syon replied. "It was...it was nuts! One minutes, I'm on my way back, and the next-"

"A knight?" Eric cut in. "As in, medieval knight, on a horse and everything?"

"Yes! He had on this black armor, and a huge sword that nearly took my head off!"

Lucas shook his head as he walked over to the Xybrian. "Let me guess...he was after the pizza."

"I'm not making this up!" Syon snapped harshly.

"Just admit you dropped the pizza," Wes stated as he ruffled Syon's hair.

"Problem with that," Matt cut in as he looked at the boxes. "Pizza doesn't get this messed up from being dropped. He's not lying about the horse, that's about the only thing that could do this other than running the damn pies over. Probably ran into the area of some medieval re-enactment group and they decided to play a prank on him. Sword clans did it a lot back home when they went all out for gatherings, probably nothing to worry about."

"That's enough," Yuuri quipped, patting Syon on the shoulder with an empathetic smile. "Come on, let's go out to a movie, we can pick up dinner on the way."

Elsewhere out in the mountains, the demonic knight rode through the forests toward a mist covered cave. His eyes flared as he pushed on his steed, soon slowing to enter the cave and dismount. "Interesting place in this time," he muttered, walking across the threshold of the cave and past a massive black scaled creature. The beast raised its head to reveal it was a huge black dragon, eyes like slits as they followed the knight's path.

"I see our guest still lives despite his best efforts to be otherwise."

The injured Dragoon looked up weakly at his demonic enemy. "Why do you keep me alive? You can't take the holy powers of a Dragoon, so why continue this?"

The knight chuckled as he knelt down to face level with the Dragoon. "I'll find a way," he whispered while tapping the hilt of his own evil sword. "You said yourself that only one pure of heart and soul could claim your powers. Well, should I find such a person, they will be my key to your gifts."

He stood and walked away, pausing before his dragon. "Keep an eye on him and make sure he can't escape," the demon knight ordered before continuing on and mounting his horse. "I will return soon!"

"Booyah!" Matt exclaimed as the group walked out of the theater. "Never mess with a elf-eared guy who's got a badass sword!"

"We just had to go see that Zelda movie," Yuuri groaned, shaking her head. "I swear, nothing could have been more unrealistic."

With a laugh, Matt shook his head. "Hey, that's the point. More likely than say, Syon's demon knight story."

"I didn't make it up!" Syon insisted. "I'm telling you, there's some crazy knight out there!"

As if to prove his words, an unnatural sound tore through the air just before people started screaming and running. Matt and Eric both turned in an instant, the others following them only to find that Syon was telling the truth; it was the demon knight!

"What the smeg?!" Matt exclaimed. "Syon, I take back what I said!"

"Who the hell are you?!" Wes added in demand to the knight.

With a laugh, the demon cast off a blast that erupted on the ground in front of the group. "That is none of your concern, humans! Now, out of my way!" he ordered, spurring his horse on. The Time Rangers scattered while Matt stood and glared at the demon, not even flinching in response.

"Matt, move!"

He ignored Yuuri's call, then suddenly vanished in a blur just as the demon knight swung, reappearing several feet back from where he had been while the demon rode away. Matt only stared at the departing knight, then glanced at the others.

"Syon, he's not in any of the databases."

Late after the group had returned to the clock tower, Syon was still trying to find any information on the demon knight. So far, he had found nothing at all, save one thing that was rather obvious.

"He's not a mutant or an alien," Syon muttered as Wes walked over with a mug in hand. "Circuit's right, he's nowhere in any of our data."

"That armor didn't look like anything remotely modern," Matt replied, tapping on the keyboard. "Check ancient myths, I got a feeling that he ain't even mortal."

"What makes you say that?"

As the screen finished its search, Matt pointed at the displayed image, having found a match for the knight. "Dramore demons. According to the myths of old Europe, they fell from the skies and hunted the dragons of the land, either enslaving or slaughtering them. These guys are the reason the mystic Dragoon orders were founded, they were wiping out the dragon species."

Syon, eyes widened from the description of the demon, shuddered in thought of what the knight could do. "We're going against a demon now? Matt, we're not trained for that kind of thing."

"I know," the boy replied, tapping the keypad again. "And really, neither am I. Dragoons were empowered specifically to fight these guys. Eric might be able to give the guy a good fight, but no single one of us probably could take him down without some kind of miracle."

"So what do we do?" Eric asked softly. "Dragoons don't exist anymore, so we can't get one of them to nuke this guy."

With a sigh while he picked up a can of soda, Matt shook his head, not knowing what to do. "All I can think of is to hold this guy off until we figure out why he's here."

Later still, as the night wore on, the knight rode down the street, eyes glowing in the dark to reveal his presence. He still hadn't found what he needed to take his Dragoon prisoner's powers, and at the rate things were going, he probably wouldn't anytime soon.

"This world is so corrupt compared to the one I entered," he muttered to himself as he rode through the hills near the city. "True, one of my design, but it makes it impossible to find a pure hearted human to use!"

"Depends on where you look."

The knight halted his steed at the distorted voice, turning to see the Silver Ranger standing against a light post. He growled, dismounted, and drew his sword, then noticed the Time Rangers come out from their own cover. "Very clever, child."

Matt chuckled before energizing his Silverizer into form. "Well, I was always told I had a thing for being a smartass. Now, why are you here in our era? You Dramores were wiped out centuries ago along against the Dragoons."

"I survived, as did one Dragoon," the demon snapped as he readied his weapon. "If you think you're bold enough, then face me! Surely one of you can unlock the Dragoon Seal, let us see which of you has the strength!"

Eric quickly converted his weapon to blade mode and raced forward ahead of the others, crossing swords with the demon only to go flying back and down within moments. Lucas and Yuuri went down soon after, Domon lasting longer but soon following the others. That left only Wes, Syon, and Matt still standing.

"Well, shall we test your might?"

"He's mine!" Wes shouted, racing forward, but going down after only a few strikes. Syon glanced to Matt, then nodded, letting the Silver Ranger take the next run.

In a flash, the boy had shot by his demon foe, but his blow was blocked by the knight's own sword. Matt turned just in time to parry a strike, then thrust forward with his Silverizer and caught the demon's cloak. Just as the others though, he was struck down by an invisible slash. "Damn, how's he doing that?!"

The demon turned to face Syon, sword flashing with black light as he stepped toward the Green Time Ranger. "Last of seven. Let's see how well you fare!" He raced forward and struck, shocked as Syon moved fluidly to defend and push away attacks. "Make your attack, mortal!"

"Best offense is a great defense," Syon whispered, focusing only on deflecting instead of making his own attacks. Blow after blow was stopped by the twin Chrono Vectors. Syon had by now surprised the demon by lasting even longer than Matt had.

The demon growled as he was now getting quite annoyed with Syon's defensives only strategy. He feinted a high blow, then struck Syon across the chest and kicked him hard in the same spot, knocking the alien down. "I tire of this!" he bellowed, calling his horse and mounting. "None of you will do!"

As he galloped off, the Rangers got back to their feet and watched the demon's ride. Syon growled, then turned to Matt. "He's getting away!"

"Not while I have something to say about it!" Astro Silver snapped. "Galaxy Glider, Hang Ten!" The command summoned his silver Glider, Matt quickly mounting and racing off to chase the knight. "Snootch to the hootch!" he exclaimed, then suddenly lost track of the demon in a cloud of scarlet fog. By the time he had gotten in the clear, the knight was gone.

"Damnit!"

Early the next morning, the group of seven searched everywhere for any trace of the demon, but there was no luck; he had vanished without leaving so much as a trail.

"How'd he just disappear like that?" Domon asked as they regrouped. "Nothing could hide the trail that good."

Matt nodded while scanning one last time and coming up without anything. "He'll be back though. He said that he needs someone with a pure heart to unlock the..'Dragoon Seal'. Most of us would qualify, if not all seven of us."

"I'll stay behind and keep a watch," Syon volunteered. "You guys keep an eye on the city, he'll probably show up around sundown."

"You sure?" Wes asked with concern. "Any one of us can-"

"Let me do this," the alien re-stated. "I'll be alright, you guys keep watch back at the tower."

With a nod, Yuuri pulled the others along to leave. "Come on, let's get back to the tower."

It was late when Syon began to regret his volunteering to stay. It was getting very cold, and he had neglected to bring a heavier jacket. His only consolation was the fact that sooner or later, the demon knight would appear again.

Back at the tower, Yuuri kept watch from the main balcony of the clock, a mug of coffee in hand. Matt walked over with his own glass filled with a softly glowing red liquid. "He's a big boy," the teenager cracked with a smile. "Syon can take care of himself, Yuuri, he's a Time Ranger."

"I know," Yuuri replied, sipping her coffee silently while looking outside. "Can't help but worry about him though, he's one of the last of his kind. Xybria destroyed itself in a massive war, and Syon was among the handful of survivors, he lost his parents when it happened."

"I know what it's like." Matt pulled up a spot next to Yuuri and took a long sip of his drink. "Having to go through the rest of your life without your mom or dad. My mom died when I was only a year old, and then dad during the Millennial War. Never could forgive myself for making that mistake."

With a soft look in her eyes, Yuuri patted Matt on the shoulder in understanding. "You had a very hard life, Matt. It wasn't your fault your father died, you can't keep beating yourself over the head about it." With a smile, she continued. "Just think of all the others Darkonda would have killed if you hadn't disobeyed orders."

A nod. The look on Matt's face said he knew very well. "Yeah, still doesn't make the pain stop." He looked over at the Time Force officer. "Look, get some rest now while you can, I'll handle watch for a while."

"Arigatou."

"And tell Wes that he's got next watch," the boy continued with a grin.

Back in the forest, Syon was about to drift off to sleep when the un-natural cry of the demon's horse ripped through the air. He was snapped awake and hid behind a tree while the demon raced by. "Guys," he called into his Changer while checking for tracks. "The demon's on his way."

"I hear you, Syon. What's the plan?"

Glancing at the ground, Syon bent down and found tracks leading into where the red mists had been. "I'm gonn'a backtrack and see what I can find. You guys try to hold him off or stop him. Something about this tells me he needs one of us for something."

"On it!"

Syon sighed and pulled out a small device that lit up with a touch. Light shined into the darkness as he traced the hoof prints toward the large cave entrance and a bank of red mist. His keen senses alerted him to a presence in the cave, one that seemed to call for help. Syon quickly ran in and saw the Dragoon laying chained to the cave wall. "You're the Dragoon that demon said survived!"

"Get out," the Dragoon weakly stated, but his warning came too late. The black dragon reared its head to stare right at Syon with slitted eyes. In an instant, it snapped viciously at him, smoke coming from its nostrils while it roared. Syon was quick to move out of range, but he had no way out now; the dragon had blocked the entrance!

"Okay, so he has a really good security system!" the alien quipped before diving out of the way of a massive fireball. He got to his feet, turned around, then tapped his Changer to call out a blaster and fire at the dragon. To his horror, the shots merely bounced off the dragon's scales! "Not good!"

As the demon rode through the city, Matt flew overhead on his Galaxy Glider while relaying his movements to the Time Rangers. "Trailing him down Redwood and thirty-fifth!" he reported, his visor having a hard time locking onto the demon knight. "Any word from Syon yet?!"

"None, I'm starting to get worried now, Matt."

With a nod, Matt banked hard in attempt to keep up with the demon. "Give him time, he'll call if he needs help. In the meantime, this dipwad is giving me one hell of a-"

Just then, the demon vanished, causing Matt to brake hard and look around. "Ah shit!" he swore. "Yuuri, get your butts down here, he just split without a trace!"

Meanwhile, Syon was continuing to battle and dodge the black dragon, his firepower having no effect at all on the creature save to annoy it even more. "How do I stop this thing?!"

"Get out of here now!" the Dragoon begged. "You can't fight it!"

With a twist, Syon saw smoke billow from the dragon's nostrils again. "Maybe I can," he whispered, tapping the morph key on his Changer. "Chrono Morph!"

Just as the dragon let loose with fire, Syon transformed, his armor energizing and blocking the breath of flames. With a leap, he tapped a sequence on his Changer, summoned his Vectors, and gripped them tightly while descending back down.

"Vector Cross-Strike!" he called, Vectors energizing and cutting hard into the dragon's neck. The pulse shot through the dragon painfully, causing it to scream just before its neck exploded and severed the head from the rest of its body. Syon turned to see the dragon's head crash to the ground while the body collapsed with a loud thud. "Never mess with a Time Ranger."

He turned his attention to the ailing Dragoon and broke his chains to free him and help the man to his feet. "Thank you," the Dragoon stated weakly while struggling to stand. "But I'm afraid I cannot fight the Dramore, he's drained me too much and never allowed me to heal my wounds. With the dragon dead, I will soon die as well."

"But we need your power to stop the demon and keep him from killing the people of this city!"

With a smile, the Dragoon picked up his lance and held it to Syon. "You don't need me, sir. You are one of pure heart, you helped me even with your own life in danger. I'm sure your fellows would do the same, but they are bettered by this. I pass my powers to you, young sir." He offered the lance to Syon and nodded. "It is you the power of the Dragoons passes to."

Syon looked at the man, then nodded and took hold of the lance. Energy poured over his body as the Dragoon gave a last smile before collapsing and fading to dust. TimeGreen gave the ashes a salute, then looked at the lance with readied eyes. "I thank you," he whispered. "I only hope I can live up to your order."

As Yuuri and the others pulled to a stop, Matt jumped down off his Glider and ran over. "Any luck?" he asked.

"None," Domon replied with a sigh. "No trace of him. How the hell is he doing this?"

The sound of a sword being drawn told them that the knight had returned, and all six Rangers turned to see him step from the crimson mists. He chuckled while the six took position, then thrust forward his sword to fire a blast of demonic energy that erupted into flames on impact with the ground. "So," he spat. "You've come to challenge me again! Very foolish of you all. Did you already forget how easily I defeated you the last time?!"

"Get him!" Matt cried, racing forward with his Silverizer in sword mode. A slash barely missed its target, but the demon returned with a successive strike of his own that sent the Silver Ranger flying into the hovercycles. Domon yelled out while firing his V-Cannon, the blasts bouncing off his target's sword and one slamming back into him.

It wasn't long before Lucas and Wes fell to the demon again, leaving Yuuri and Eric to try their luck once more. TimePink raced forward with double Vectors, using the smaller of the two blades to block while attempting to hit with the larger. Her demonic enemy was too quick for the tactic, slashing her hard and sending her crashing to the ground while Eric tried his luck only to join her.

"Fools, you don't have the heart or power to fight me!" The knight walked over to where Matt lay, then slammed his foot down on the boy's chest, and lifted his sword. "There's something about you, boy. It's much like the Dragoons, but different. You'll be the first to die!"

"Leave him alone!"

The knight turned at the voice to see Syon walking from what looked like a pale green mist that was shining with its own light. He started to laugh, then saw the lance in Syon's left hand. "Where did you get that?! That is the lance of the Dragoons, there's no way-"

"One pure of heart can claim their powers," Syon stated, almost echoing what the Dragoon had said so many centuries ago. "All seven of us have such hearts, but the Dragoon chose me to carry on his legacy. Your time is over, demon!"

With a growl, the knight lifted his foot from Matt's chest, then kicked the boy away, raising his sword and walking slowly toward Syon. "Lance or no...only a fool would face me again! Defeat for all of you is inevitable!"

Syon glanced over to the others. "You guys okay?"

"We'll survive," Domon replied. "Syon...kick his ass!"

The green Ranger smiled behind his helmet while nodding, then turned to face the demon. "I have no intention of being beaten again, demon...and this is why! Dragoon Defender!"

With a twirl and a thrust up, Syon raised his new weapon to the sky just as a bolt of green lightning lashed down and struck the ornate lance. Energy crackled along his body, reshaping his armor into a more bulked up form. Shoulder pieces adorned his arms, thick boots and gauntlets replacing those he already wore. A massive torso piece shined with golden radiance while his base armor turned a darker shade of green, and his helmet now resembled the dragon style of that worn by a Dragoon.

"The power of the Dragoons is mine!" came the demon's cry as he raced forward. Syon quickly swung his lance and deflected a strike, then returned with one of his own that came up and struck the knight hard to send him flying back.

With a twirl, Syon aimed his weapon at the demon, then narrowed his eyes behind the diamond shaped visor of his helmet. "This ends now...Dragoon Diver!" he yelled, shooting up into the air, then descending back down with his lance held out and a shell of green energy cascading around him. In one fell stroke, he slammed the spear head of the lance into the demon, then pulled it out and turned while positioning the lance along his arm and down.

With one final scream, the demon knight fell down and exploded the instant he fully collapsed. Black fire raged out and into the sky from where he had detonated, almost giving a scream of its own before vanishing. Syon finally turned to the others, his new armor still shining even in the dull light.

"Well, looks like the Dragoons can finally rest."

"Syon, that was incredible!" Matt exclaimed as he ran over, his own visor splitting open down the middle to reveal his eyes. "How...how did you get this thing?!"

Syon, as he depowered his new armor back into its normal Time Ranger form, noticed that the lance was powering down and into his armor as well. "I freed the Dragoon," he answered. With a sigh, he looked up at the stars, then noticed that a new one seemed to have appeared in the sky. "I freed him from his torture, and now they all can rest."

To Be Continued...