Author's Note: Seriously sorry about how disappointing that last chapter was. I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing for 2-3 times as long as I had been doing if work overwhelmed me.

Chapter 7: Low Octane Nightmare Fuel

It was Saturday and the Rangers and Naruto were taking a break from training to have lunch. The Rangers had all packed their own lunches, though Naruto was simply stealing pieces from everyone's boxes. By now they had become used to this habit, Naruto either unsealed a cup of steaming cup ramen or he mooched.

As he was munching on a half of a brownie stolen from Billy, Adam turned to ask Naruto a question.

"Hey, Naruto-sensei, Ninjor and Zordon both mentioned you being from another dimension right? Does yours have anything like Power Rangers? Or Zords?"

Naruto paused in his snacking as he considered the question.

"Well not really Adam," the topic quickly drew the interested gazes of the other Rangers, "I suppose you could say that a moral ninja group could function the way the Power Rangers do but my world is not quite as peaceful as your world is politically. Oh sure your world always has a few wars waging and its own brutalities, but the daily lives of most people aren't violent. In my world you get trained from age eight in a school to be a warrior if you have even a bit of talent. And at twelve you get to go on missions that can lead to you having to kill or be killed."

Zordon's Rangers looked grim or shocked at this description.

"That's horrible!" Kimberly gasped.

Naruto tilted his head to the side and thought a moment, "Doing it was not what was horrible I think. I think it was necessary. The horrible thing was that that kind of thing was a necessity."

"Naruto-sensei..." Tommy's voice was grim, "Have you ever killed somebody?"

The Konoha shinobi looked down at the ground, "Not directly no...but I hold myself very accountable and involved with the deaths of a few. The one that sticks out the most is Haku. She...he? They. They could have been a close friend but something I did caused them to throw themselves in the way of a killing blow intended for another."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Naruto carried on.

"And...about zords...no. But there are creatures called Bijuu. Massive demonic constructs of chakra and evil that take great pleasure in destruction. So the opposite of a zord I guess. I fought the One-Tailed Beast, Shukaku or the Ichibi myself once. Fought it off by summoning a giant toad," Naruto paused at that.

"Yeah I guess the larger summoned beasts are similar to zords in a way. But they can think and feel and talk."

"But anyways Shukaku was a giant raccoon beast made of chakra infused sand. It had driven its host completely insane."

"Uh...Naruto-sensei?" Aisha interrupted, almost fearing the answer she then asked, "What do you mean by "host"?"

With a deep sigh Naruto explained, "A person. They seal the beast into a person. I had the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed inside of me, the Nine-Tailed Beast. It got ripped out when I came to this universe."

Tommy let loose a low whistle, "That's...what happens to someone with that inside?"

"They heal fast. The demon can give them extra chakra. But if the seal is weak the demon can and will influence the host. Drive them insane in some cases."

Naruto massaged his temples for a second, "The Shukaku...it was sealed inside a friend of mine, Gaara. It convinced Gaara that it was the spirit of his mother and drove him into an insane blood rage. Gaara killed so many people to sate that beast until I was able to help him break through and discover that Shukaku wasn't his mother."

He looked the rangers dead into their eyes, "You think Rita and Zedd are true evil? Let me show you a being of pure malice and how it feels."

He formed the handsign for the Transformation Jutsu and suddenly an eight foot sandy raccoon beast stood in front of them, and it began to radiate only what the rangers could describe as pure evil and malice and murderous intent.

Aisha fell to the ground. Adam stumbled backwards. Billy felt the first asthma attack since he gained his ranger powers building. Rocky was frozen in place. Kimberly was shaking like a leaf. And Tommy had to hold himself back from attacking in response.

Tommy had felt that kind of evil before. Inside himself as the Green Ranger.

Naruto ended the transformation and faced them, arms crossed.

"I almost envy you guys Rita and Zedd as opponents. They are so focused on their little pissing contest with Zordon that they do not realize how easily they could cause havoc to this world. If they saved up their energy for a month or two and then unleashed even seven monsters on seven different cities what would you do? How would you save the world?"

Billy opened his mouth to speak and then paused and sat down to think.

Kim and Tommy gave each other uneasy looks, having been at the game a long time and never considering the possibility.

"We'll finish today on that note. That's your homework. Talk to Zordon, figure out what you would do if your opponents ever got their heads out of their asses."

That night Kimberly's possible move to Paris with her mother was the furthest thing from her nightmares.

Though considering her nightmare was of a zord-sized Shukaku destroying the Eiffel Tower and most of Paris her nightmares may have simply combined.

On the Moon Rita was having a field day with Finster's dream viewer.

"Oh look at that horrifying monster! I just want to hug it to death! The violence! The malice! The style! Yes, yes Finster this nightmare monster making idea was genius! Tomorrow the Pink Ranger shall face her own waking nightmare! Pure genius!"

"Oh thank you, your Highness! Though I must ask how does Lord Zedd feel about this idea?"

"Bah! He's sulking after our failed attempt to get that pesky Ninjor. This will be a fabulous way to cheer him up when it works!"

"Oh such a grand present for him, my Queen! You are even more a genius than I!"

"Aiya ki-ya!" Tommy cried as he let loose a flurry of roundhouse kicks into the two final Putties sending them bursting apart.

"Hey, isn't there usually a monster with these guys?" Rocky questioned.

"Originally that was not always completely stereotypical of an encounter. However, after the first couple of months of Rita's invasion I do believe that quickly became the case yes."

"Just say 'yes', Billy."

"Oh don't worry children! Mummy's here to enjoy your BLOOD! AHAHAHA!"

Swirling sand in the park coalesced into an eight foot tall familiar form from the day before.

"Time to face the evil of the Nightmoon! The Nightmare Raccoon!"

"Guys I know that that name is really stupid but did Rita just make a knock-off version of the monster Naruto showed us yesterday?"

"Yeah I think he did, Tommy. Does she read minds? Is that a thing we need to worry about now?" Adam pondered.

Kimberly chewed on her lip underneath her mask, "Maybe it was just reading our dreams? I had a nightmare about it last night."

"That is partially alleviating some fears, however it brings to the fore its own concerns," Billy said.

"Bah! Shut up! Naughty children need a big deadly hug from Mummy! Sand Coffin!" The monster pushed its arms out and a rush of sand came at the rangers who leapt to the side to dodge.

The creature leapt forward and punched Rocky right in the gut, sending him flying with a weirdly timed explosion following behind him.

"This thing hits really hard guys!" Rocky yelled as he rolled to a stop and stood up shakily.

"You're right, Ninja Ranger Battle Mode, it's morphing time! Falcon!" Tommy led the chant to shift into their better armored forms with their new animal spirit helmets.

"Ape!" "Wolf!" "Bear!" "Frog!" "Crane!"

With a burst of light the rangers were now better armed and armored.

While Tommy was relying on his blaster while the other rangers pulled out their Power Weapons and had at the evil Tanuki knock-off.

Yet nothing they did seemed to permanently damage it, the body seemed to be made of sand and reform quickly.

"This isn't working!" Aisha yelled, "We need another strategy!"

Tommy substituted himself for a tree branch as the creature flooded the area he had been with sand.

"Rangers form up! I have an idea!"

Quickly the rangers formed up behind Tommy in a spread out V, as if they were going to channel their power into the Power Blaster.

"Channel all your chakra to your hands and focus your energy and will!"

Their hands all began to glow their respective Power colors.

"Fire away! Combined Chakra Cannon Jutsu!"

A swirling burst of multi-colored energy roared forth into the creature and it was turned into a pile of molten glass.

"Nooo! These stupid rangers and their new powers! Zedd! Zeddy! Come here so we can make this monster grow!"

"We have to hit this thing hard from the get-go!" Tommy yelled.

"Affirmative!" "Right on!" "We've got this!"

"We need Ninja Falcon Megazord power now!"

Soon the Ninja Falcon Megazord was duking it out with the Nightmoon.

And yet, just like with the smaller version, every strike seemed to do nothing that did not reform or heal.

"It's like punching the beach guys!" Rocky yelled in frustration.

"Have...have you done that before?" Billy asked, genuinely concerned.

"Not the time boys! This thing is so much worse at this size. I don't think a sword would help. We need some way to hold it together to hurt it!" Kim screamed.

"Fire or water would do the trick, we could lead the monster towards the bay!" Billy suggested.

"Let's do it!"

Unfortunately the bay was also by its very nature by the beach, just as they got the beast within a hundred yard of the water it seized control of the sand nearby and trapped the megazord.

"Ahaha! Oil may not be as sweet as blood but Mummy is going to feast now!"

Warning alarms blared as the sand put pressure onto the Megazord's systems.

"How did Naruto beat this thing?" Aisha yelled over the alarms.

"Well...you could just ask?" Naruto's voice came calmly over the communication array connected to the Command Center.

"Uh...well then Naruto-sensei what would you suggest?" Tommy replied, a bit frustrated at Naruto's flippant attitude at a time like this.

"I think it's Fox Zord time."

After a few seconds of nothing over the communication line the rangers noticed the evil raccoon beast shift its attention to something in the distance.

A zord three times the size of but a similar shape to the blue Wolf Zord came bounding into view. With nine mechanical tails streaming behind it.

It was orange and red on its armor plating and suddenly its run turned into a forward flip and spin.

"Foxy Megajutsu: Foxfire Wheel!" Naruto's voice called out over the coms.

The rangers all groaned.

"He comes up with the WORST names," Kimberly could not help commenting, despite the impending doom he was saving them from.

The zord had turned into a flaming wheel and slammed right into the Ichibi rip-off, sending it flying and slagging its sandy form partially.

"Alright! That's what I'm talking about! Time for the finisher! Foxy Megajutsu: Plasma Tails!"

The nine-tails of the bestial zord lit up like orange lightsabers and as the Fox Zord dodged and turned and spun a tail would lash through the Nightmoon's form leaving a superheated wound that did not heal.

"Now for the final move! Plasma Tail Ending: Plasma Parade!"

Once more the zord spun like a wheel, with each of its nine tails rapidly flinging out and slashing the monster to pieces, with the head being cut off with the ninth strike.

"Yeah! That's how we do it Naruto-style!"