"Alpha, a pair of astronauts have discovered Rita's containment capsule. They do not know what it contains, and are currently attempting to open it."
Alpha-Five looked up. "Oh no! We should stop them!"
"Calm down, Alpha," commanded Zordon in a solemn tone. "Remember, we have been preparing for this moment for a long time." Zordon abruptly grinned. "Get the video camera. This moment needs to be preserved."
0o0o0
As the two astronauts fumbled around attempting to open the capsule, one of them spotted a rather large ruby embedded in the container. Reaching out, he grabbed the jewel and attempted to pull it out. Abruptly, the lid came loose, as if some ancient lock had abruptly come undone, and toppled off. Immediately, a flash of light burst forth, solidifying into a quartet of monstrous, vaguely humanoid creatures. The astronauts immediately turned tail, bolting away from the container and the monsters that had escaped from inside it.
As they fled back toward their shuttle, they missed the container's final occupant making her way out. With a stretch, Rita opened her eyes and a malicious sneer found its way to her face. "Ah, after ten thousand years-" Which was as far as she got before the absence of atmosphere made itself known to her. As her eyes bulged, her ears popped, and her blood began to boil in her veins, she cast a quick spell to protect herself from the environment. Gasping, she looked over to her minions, who weren't fairing much better than she had been a few seconds earlier. A second spell granted them similar protection from the environment.
Several minutes of hacking coughs later, Rita felt she had recovered enough to try again. "Ah, after ten thousand years I'm free! It's time to conquer Earth!" Rita looked to her left, seeing wasteland stretching as far as she could see. A similar view could be seen to her right. "…Earth sure has changed over the past 10,000 years. I wonder how that happened." She paused, and a horrible thought occurred to her. "Drat! What if someone else conquered it while we were sealed away?" Silence was her only response.
A look at her minions revealed why they had apparently ignored her. Squatt was picking at his ear in confusion, Baboo seemed to be celebrating in silence, Goldar seemed to be silently yelling about something, and Finster was gesturing wildly. Seeing that he had caught her attention, he placed one hand behind an ear, then tapped it with the other. A third spell later, Rita repeated her theory.
As Goldar, Squatt, and Baboo paused to consider the ramifications of an already conquered Earth, Finster spoke up. "Why not ask our rescuers? Surely they are more up to date on modern events than ourselves."
"Not a bad idea, Finster." Rita paused. "Where did they go, anyway?"
"I believe they fled into that structure over there," Finster replied, motioning toward the space shuttle. As if on cue, the shuttle rose from the ground, launching itself into the sky at a fantastic speed. As the shuttle left, silence once again permeated the group.
"…It seems earth's technology has improved while we were sealed…"
Rita nodded silently. After a few moments of standing around staring at the barren wasteland surrounding them, Rita and her minions decided to set out. And by that I mean that Rita decided to set out and demanded that her minions follow her.
0o0o0
Meanwhile, Zordon and Alpha were laughing the hardest that they'd laughed in a long time. "They think they're still on Earth!" gasped Zordon between laughs. "They think they're still on Earth!"
"How long," laugh, "do you think it'll take them to notice!"
"I don't know," snickered Zordon.
"I doubt they get it within the next two days."
"I doubt they get it within the next two weeks!"
0o0o0
Rita was not happy. Whatever had happened to Earth while she'd been sealed had left large portions, or maybe all of it, barren and desolate. She knew it wasn't completely uninhabited, since there had still been fools left around to release her, but aside from them, she hadn't seen a living creature since she'd been released. And what good was ruling a dead planet? At this rate, she might even be forced to use her magic for …ugh… good… and restore the planet to its former glory before conquering it.
"Perhaps the earthlings are watching us and simply moving their structures away every time we get close?" Finster suggested.
Could that be it? Rita cast a quick spell. "If they are, they're also hiding themselves from my magic. I don't detect anything on this rock at all."
"Maybe we're just lost and going in circles," Goldar suggested dourly.
Rita decided not to dignify that with a response, and instead focused on the landscape ahead of her. …Wait. "What's that?" she asked, gesturing toward an object in the distance. Initially, it had looked like part of the landscape, but upon closer inspection, it didn't quite match the scenery around it. "Maybe it's a dwelling! Alright! Soon we'll know for certain why everywhere is so barren!"
The group began walking faster.
0o0o0
Rita felt like screaming in frustration. So she did.
"Circles…" muttered Goldar as he tapped the containment device they'd located. The very one that they'd been trapped within not too long ago.
"QUIET, YOU! THIS IS GIVING ME SUCH A HEADACHE!"
"Huh. Ever notice how much different the moon looks now from how it did before we were sealed?" asked Squatt.
"…What?" asked Finster, looking up to see what Squatt was talking about. "…Oh dear. My queen, perhaps you should see this."
"Hmm?" Looking up, Rita froze. "…Zordon, you ********! You left me on the moon!"
0o0o0
Zordon and Alpha once again began howling in laughter. "See Alpha?" laughed Zordon. "I told you we didn't need any teenagers!"