Title: Tyramydas: Enforcer of the Power

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: Set in the 'Power Rangers' Universe, which is getting damn big now that we're in, what, the 12th, 13th American season? Cross ins, but not true "crossovers" with "Masters of the Universe vs. the Snakemen", "Stargate: SG-1", "Dragonball Z", and "Charmed", taking singular elements from these, but for the most part this is a Power Rangers Fanfic. Timeline falls in shortly after the end of "Power Rangers: Turbo", and any deviation from that basic point in time will be duly noted. The likeness of actor Austin St. John is used for the simple fact that he played Jason and Jason's the main character, and this IS fanfic, so if he has a problem with it, he should sue the show, not me. I don't have any money anyway.

Summary: There are many powers in the Universe. Most are Evil. Some are Good. The Good tends, more often than not to take the form of Power Rangers, despite having and being different 'powers'. But there are other forms that Power can take . . .

Story:

/10,000 years ago/

It was a quiet day on the planet Phaedos. Not so uncommon really, but there was something special about this day, something that made it being so quiet highly unusual. The Eden-like planet, with it's almost-perfect balance of nature, society, technology, and animals, was about to be destroyed.

Perhaps not in totality, but the surface of it, and therefore the delicate 'perfect' balance would certainly be destroyed. The society and technology aspects would most certainly never be seen on this planet again after this day. Leaving nature and animals to fill in the gaps and overrun the Eden with jungles and harsher environments.

Master Warrior and self-proclaimed monarch, King Kai stared down from the cliff temple at the city below, the center of which held the Great Power, the source of life and center of the Abithos Empire. The fact that the "empire" extended only to this planet and not even the entire globe, didn't matter too much to the Abithians. What did matter to them was that their society was about to be wiped out by a far more ambitious /Galactic/ Empire, despite their armies of Ninja warriors, empowered by the Great Power, and despite himself even, who had no kingdom but carried the title King anyway.

The odds were just too great, and there was no plan, no distraction, nothing to blackmail this very Evil Emperor with to send him away and leave them alone. It was just fight until they were all dead or enslaved. It would be an incredible battle, because despite the odds, the Empire's forces were joke-worthy. Children, not even close to maturity, let alone without any exposure to the Great Power and with the minimalist training could defeat 10 of the Empire's foot soldiers single-handedly. Even this Evil Empire's most powerful and deadliest warriors were no match for the likes of King Kai and the legion of Ninja Warriors of Abithos.

But there were just too many.

If the Emperor had only sent a fraction of his army at a time, smaller forces, even if he'd sent only Half of his entire Empire against Phaedos there would have been a chance of survival. Instead, he brought the entire armada, even those better spent protecting valuable assets, down on Phaedos with insane cruelty. It was simply too much. Which was why King Kai had come at all. He was a galactic warrior, honorable, but immensely proud and somewhat contemptuous of 'lesser' species. He was the most powerful warrior in the universe, and this Emperor knew that.

The rest of the universe would view Phaedos as a sacrifice, a worthy sacrifice even, as revolts against the rest of the Evil Empire rose up, and the losses from this one battle would cripple the Emperor's forces for centuries to come.

It was a quiet day.

Until the ships landed.

/1 day later/

King Kai was the last one alive. Amazingly enough, they'd beat them all. Phaedos was destroyed, or at least everywhere that there'd been cities and signs of intelligent life , but the enemy was equally destroyed.

An endless army of mutants, foot soldiers, robots and aliens, and they'd all been destroyed. Even the Evil Emperor himself, who quite frankly was the most worthy opponent King Kai had ever fought despite being evil, a cheat, and having no honor himself, the creature fought with a fury and strength Kai had only seen in himself when he was younger. Because of that, he'd made sure to killed the Emperor himself.

Unfortunately the battle had landed him a fatal blow. He'd be dead in a few minutes.

Figures they'd show up now.

A light pierced the smoke-filled sky, orbs of bluish-white light falling until they coalesced into three creatures, two men and a woman, both looking aged, but more with the presence of wisdom and power instead of the ravages of time.

"Elders," King Kai grunted, leaning on his battle staff, sword held limply in his other hand. He'd already lost feeling on one side of his body.

"Kakarrot," the center man, and oldest and most powerful looking of the white-robed group greeted.

"I told you, I don't go by that name any more," the dying man growled.

"You have done an impossible task today King Kai," the woman told him with a kind voice, "One that will do much good for millennia to come. You have destroyed the Evil One and allowed Good to flourish for a time. For that, all has been forgiven. If you wish it . . . we can and will save you."

King Kai, the proudest and most powerful warrior in the universe, stared in contemptuous disbelief at the creatures that had tormented him for nearly a full century now, constantly pestering him to fight for Good and nothing but Good all the time. Quite frankly it was the simple fact that they annoyed him so much that he didn't. And now they wanted to save him. Knowing them, there'd probably be a catch, and he really, really hated the thought of owing anything to these creatures.

He cursed them, not with an actual curse but more a slang of the times that was the equivalent of "Fuck You!" and then pointed at the dead legion of Ninja behind him and said, "You wanna save someone, save them. All of them, one of them, you be the gods. I just killed one warrior and crushed a bunch of fodder. They're the heroes worthy of eternal life. Have your pick. But I'm not going to be your whipping boy Elders."

The Elders seemed almost shocked by this statement, but the leader, the eldest Elder you might say, simply nodded in acceptance before saying, "You've demonstrated incredible power here today, Kai. It resides mostly within your body, but it also registers on the Morphin Grid. You should know that it will be possible for people, individuals, perhaps sorcerers or other such, to take what remains of your power and use it for their own purposes. We can take measures to ensure that only the . . . right people receive your Power."

"What are you saying?" Kai asked after a lengthy stretch of time.

"We can utilize your power, turn it more towards the Morphin Grid and some day there may be a team of Power Rangers who can and will use your power to fight for Good," the Elder answered.

Kai snorted, but couldn't argue the same old argument with them. He was dying after all.

Then he thought about it. One way or another, his power, both physical and spiritual would be grasped and taken hold of for use by someone not worthy of it. Might be an Evil Sorcerer, might be a weakling do-gooder that needs a boost to save his people for a single generation. Either way though . . . he didn't like the thought of someone so weak and pathetic using his Power like that.

"Tell you what," he finally said, his voice rasped as his breathing became more and more labored, "I'll . . . entrust my Power . . . to you," /cough/cough/ "BUT!" /cough/cough/cough/cough/cough/ "I get to decide who gets it. I know enough that I can still attach my mind and spirit together and if you'll set . . . aside a place . . . for my soul, I can stick around to help out . . . every now and then." /cough/ "And I don't want the ones to get my Power to be Power Rangers. I've seen Zordon's group. They're good, but they're not . . . /that/ good. A single warrior. You pick him, and I'll decide whether . . . or not to give him my Power. I'll even train him a little before sending him out to be your whipping boy . . . your . . . heh, Enforcer."

"You will swear to this agreement?" the Elder seemed eager.

"You . . . keep up . . . your end . . . I'll . . . keep up . . . my end . . ." and then King Kai, the most powerful warrior in the universe, died.

/5,000 years ago/

It was a nice planet the Elders had gotten for him. Hidden away behind a Space/Time anomaly, the planet /Vegeta/ was absolutely perfect for Kai's needs. No longer alive, he decided to drop the whole 'King' title. Especially since he was the only soul, (bit of irony there), on this hunk of rock.

Or at least he was, until the Elders' first choice showed up.

/'Huh, only took them 5,000 years to find somebody,'/ he thought to himself as he sat on his 'throne' which normally he just thought of as a chair he'd carved from the rockface 2,000 years ago to watch the sunset in. Watching as the youth trekked up the mountain, demonstrating more than he knew to the ancient warrior king.

The youth was brown-skinned, and seemed to have shaved the hair off of his head, though he was quite obviously a mammal-based lifeform, and he was strong, and not just in body. When the youth finally reached Kai at the summit, ironically at sunset, Kai gave him a few minutes to rest, not that he blamed him. Even Kai himself had trouble with the intense gravity of the planet at first, and he was dead! But after 5,000 years he'd gotten used to it, but he certainly couldn't expect a visitor to have so little trouble.

In fact he was duly impressed with the youth that he'd actually made it up the mountain in a single day. Of course he'd taken the more dangerous 'short' way, which told Kai just as much as watching him make his way up did.

Once the youth was rested enough, Kai sat a little straighter in what he privately called his 'King pose', and intoned in a voice of authority, "You have sought me out stranger. Why?"

"You are the Great Warrior of Power, King Kai?" the youth spoke in a heavy timbre.

Raising an eyebrow in wonder at the title, and idly wondering what types of legend had popped up about him in the rest of the universe, Kai simply nodded his head. Instantly the youth dropped to his face in prostration and begged, "I need you to give me your great Power my lord! My people have become enslaved and I need your power to free them! Please my lord!"

Sighing, Kai rolled his eyes and went ahead with what he'd practiced saying to the visitors that came for his Power, though no longer with the tone of authority in his voice, making him sound bored even as he asked the question, "And why, stranger, should I give you my Power? Be sure first, that I /can/ give you the power you seek, but I do not see why I should."

"My people . . ." the youth started to protest.

"Are not mine. I don't care about your cause. It's your cause. I want you to show why you should possess this power. Why should I entrust what is mine to a stranger that shows up demanding it?"

The youth, a look of absolute rage on his face, stood to his feet and shouted, "Then I shall take it!"

"It's not that simple," Kai shook his head, a look of interest on his face as he watched the youth.

Immediately the brown-skinned mammal charged. Kai didn't even bother defending, simply letting the wash of his power knock the youth back. Just as quickly, the youth got back up and charged again. Kai let him do this four more times before holding up his hand to halt the youth. When he didn't stop on his own, Kai increased the pressure of his power just enough to forcefully stop him.

"You've got guts. And you don't give up easily," he said as he stood up and walked towards the paralyzed youth. "That's a good start. Let's see just how good you are though." With that, he released the youth from his power and allowed the weakened creature to fall to the ground. "What's your name stranger, I'm assuming of course that names still exist in the universe?"

Getting to his feet, the brown-skinned youth stood proudly and announced, "I am Teal'c of Chulak, home world of the Jaffa."

Kai nodded and gestured, "Come Teal'c of Chulak, you must rest for a while. We begin your training tomorrow. If you pass the training to an acceptable degree, I will grant you my power to use as your own for as long as you live. And know this, even if you do not successfully pass my training, the training in and of itself may give you the power that you need to save your people. Either way, you will leave here a stronger warrior."

"I . . . am not a warrior. My father was a scientist, and my people are enslaved. I need to save them," Teal'c admitted.

Kai laughed out loud. "So not the greatest warrior of your people, but a simple youth, a child that wants only to save your people from enslavement is the first to reach me. Oh the Elders chose well in you boy! Come. By the time you leave, no matter what you came here as, you will be one of the greatest warriors in the entire universe!"

/1 year later/

"Well, stranger," Kai jokingly said as he looked down at the once-youth named Teal'c, now a worthy and honorable warrior, "there were times when I doubted you'd get this far. But you did it. If I left you as you are now, if you kept up with your training, you'd become a great warrior on your own, capable of bringing your people together and freeing them from those that enslave them. I didn't know until this moment whether or not I would truly fulfill my vow to pass on my Power. But as I said, you did it."

Teal'c overjoyed, but careful to maintain his composure and keep his emotions from showing, stood before the great Kai. "This is the first time I've done this, so I suppose there needs to be at least some kind of ceremony for this type of thing. Oh, I know, perfect!" Kai suddenly exclaimed.

"Take a knee," he gestured to the ground before him. He and Teal'c were at the Sunset Throne, again at sunset. Teal'c went to one knee before his teacher, his friend, and the throne, anticipation filling him.

Holding his hands before him, Kai gathered a portion of his power, instinctually knowing that Teal'c would instantly be overwhelmed if he were to grant ALL of his Power to him, the Power manifesting as a globe of shining golden light.

"Teal'c of Chulak, stranger from afar who has passed trials and training, receive my Power and arise," Kai then began the transfer, the environment reacting with a lightning storm and earthquakes, "/Zodak/ Cosmic Enforcer of the Power!"

As the transfer finished, something unexpected took place, Teal'c, now Zodak's training armor transformed into something similar, but with variations, of Kai's own red battle armor. A helmet closed around Zodak's head covering everything but his mouth, the black eye-pieces gleaming from inside with the power the Enforcer now possessed. Also, Kai's old Battle Staff, yet bigger, appeared in Zodak's hand, a final flash from the golden globe and fading lightning storm signaled the end of the transformation.

"Impressive," Kai nodded in approval at the now armored warrior.

Zodak got to his feet and with a thought the helmet fully retracted, revealing Teal'c, but his eyes had been whited-out, no trace of his pupils, the power still shining through. Kai briefly wondered, despite his precautions if he didn't end up giving his pupil too much power.

"Thank you . . . King Kai," Zodak said as he bowed even with his waist. Kai returned the bow, a gesture of great and intense respect and honor, the newly christened Enforcer knew.

"Now, you better go save your people, I don't want to be hearing that my student got beat by a bunch of snakes!" Kai joked.

Ever the serious one, at least by appearances, Zodak gave a short bow and then turned to walk away. Then, looking over his shoulder, he briefly grinned before the helmet reformed over his head and he raised the Battle Staff over his head and the Cosmic Enforcer launched out of the atmosphere, disappearing from the Space/Time anomaly with a thought.

"Well," Kai said to himself, now alone once again, "that was fun. Now I've just got a few hundred more years before the next one shows up. Provided he doesn't get himself killed in the meantime."

/5,000 years later/

Jason Lee Scott stepped out of the destroyed shuttle craft, struggling with all his strength not to end up crawling as the gravity of the planet pressed down on him. He hoped Billy was right about this ancient legend thing.

Zordon was counting on him.

TBC... ?