Chapter Seven
"A Great Evil"
Rita stood powerfully and erect in the center of Zedd's balcony. Raising her wand as the glow of distant lightning flashed upon her, she chanted in a strange language—forgotten by all on earth—at the main conduit of her powers. Mounted directly before her on the railing was a black, abstractedly coiled altar, holding a pristine white human skull. Winging it was a line of several tall blood crimson lit candles spread atop the railing. Two candelabras, holding three lit, crimson candles each, stood forty-five degree angles in front of the altar.
Taking another deep breath, she gathered again her magical energy, depths which she had not used since summoning Lokar (a powerful spirit of Evil) from the moon years ago during her solo campaign to conquer Earth. The spells she had invoked then could have ended her life if she had done them incorrectly. Despite the danger, she had succeeded with a tremendous effort.
Later that same year, Rita had moved her palace to downtown Angel Grove to increase her power by ten times. While there, she had summoned Lokar a second time with greater ease. With the spell she and Zedd would be casting within minutes, she wished they had moved the castle. Unfortunately none of them could risk moving the castle to Earth now. Even if they did, since Zedd had altered it when he had supplanted here after a year of failing, she wasn't sure if her powers would increase as much as before. Still, every bit of aid would be help. Even though Zedd was far more powerful than Rita, he had his own duties and rituals to complete for the spell to be complete. However it fell on Rita to channel the powers. What worried her most was that if she failed in casting this spell for Jason, she would die.
Standing in front of his throne, Lord Zedd nodded in deep meditation, psychically hunting through the morphing grid for his and Rita's target—the one person in the universe that had proven to be Rita and Zedd's greatest champion and then their bane. "White Ranger," he beckoned, wrapping his thought around the sleeping human. White energy slithered down his left arm's tubes into his staff. A spout of lightning traveled up his staff, coiling in the center of the Z insignia on top before spraying into the air like water spewing from a miniature fountain. "Come forth, and do our bidding."
Because Zordon had created the original White Ranger's powers from the Light of Goodness and those powers were bound to Tommy (thanks to Ninjor and Sean), it was impossible for Tommy to be placed under a spell. However, Lord Zedd could nullify Tommy's ability to teleport away and prevent inbound teleportation—both considerably difficult tasks since all of the Rangers were Ninjetti. "To those who are Ninjetti, anything is possible," Dulcea had instructed. Unfortunately, that strength was the Ninjetti's weakness. Jason knew this all too well.
"Ooooooo, zen-lu shorli shada!" Rita chanted, flicking her free hand at the skull. Miniscule red lighting jumped from her hand onto the skull, crisscrossing over it for several seconds before sinking into it. Its eyes flashed ruby twice. "Yooo, jhabsha shabo! Oooom jhednaaa zeeeeez baaaaaaaaaz shala! You are mined once more!" she cried, raising her staff. Several blue lightning bolts struck the jewel within her staff and then skull. Minor discharges struck the balcony, surrounding her with a brilliant shower of sparks.
Unaware of Rita and Zedd's doings, Tommy kept slumbering. Suddenly a blanket of neon multicolored lights fell upon Tommy, enveloping him from his cranium down to his feet. Suddenly, a strobe of brilliant white light swirled and revolved from Tommy's core, expelling Rita and Zedd's energy from him. He jerked awake. Drops of sweat immediately broke through his brow. "What was that?" he gasped, suddenly afraid.
Ignoring the impulse to grit her teeth, Rita waved her staff and empty hand in an arc before her and then shot ruby stream into it. "Remember your weakness then!" she yelled, referring to when Tommy had been her evil Green Ranger. The skull's eyes continued flashing.
Behind her, Zedd fired two lightning bursts from his staff at the skull. "Submit!" he commanded.
Back on Earth, Tommy grabbed his head, breathing through the sudden lightheadedness. Worry and surprise wiggled within his spine. Suddenly white and ruby red lightning crisscrossed around his cranium. Seized with agony, he crouched over grasping his forehead as if struck by a migraine.
"By the Power of Evil, submit!" Rita and Zedd chorused within his head. Midnight blue cumulonimbus clouds gathered around Tommy's house, blocking out the sun and crackling with bright cerulean lightning. "You are ours!"
"No!" Tommy retorted. "I won't let you!" But he felt his will slipping away. His light had vanished and he did not know how to summon it. Squeezing his eyes shut he dragged back his will and pushed back the possessing force. His inner light amplified Still, Lord Zedd and Rita pressed their will.
"I'm the White Ranger now! You can't do this!" he added, wincing in pain. Zordon said this was couldn't happen again! "Help!" he grunted.
"He mustn't reach help!" Rita screamed, fuelled with adrenaline and maintaining her focus.
"He won't," Zedd declared, gripping his staff with both hands. Casting the head of his staff back, he flung it forward unleashing a surge of white lightning at Tommy's house.
White discharges surged through Tommy's communicator. Wincing, he reached to tear it off his wrist but the lightning ripped it apart.
"Tommy, no!" Zordon's voice called from a distance. "Fight them!"
"I can't!" Tommy groaned, falling to his side. He gritted his teeth, shaking his head. "Leave me alone!" he yelled, the white light blazing from within him once more as his desire grew, shoving back the neon energy. But the neon energy hovered like a cloud beyond the light's rays and the dark clouds outside continued crackling with volleys of lightning.
"I need my morpher! Where is it?" Tommy winced, now writhing. "Guys, where are you?" he pleaded. And the memorial sight of his friends blazed courage within him once more, fueling his light into brilliance and dispelling Zedd and Rita's neon energy. However, the dark clouds remained above his house, crackling with miniscule lightning.
Back on the moon Rita cried out in pain as if stabbed in face. Swaying, she slammed the bottom of her staff down, leaning upon it for support. Tears of blood fell down her cheeks. Her will was faltering. Even summoning Lokar had not been this difficult.
"Rita!" Lord Zedd called.
She heard him but moaned, too tired to wail. With the Light of Goodness protecting Tommy, their focus had to be unanimous but Rita's strength was waning. She was near her breaking point. Still, she had to press on. Jason was counting on her. They needed to do this.
She stretched forth her arms, raising them while gritting her teeth. Mist rose from behind the altar. "Forces of Evil, hear my plea! Help us conquer this destined purity—Ahh!" she screamed, grasping her eyes. Staggering backward the same pain stabbed at her again, she fell backward onto her backside, her wand limp in her hand.
"Rita!" Zedd called out, ounces of concern leaking through his voice but overshadowed by his
She did not respond—only whimpered as real tears mixed with the flesh blood.
"Rita, get up. You're spell is losing power." Charging up his staff, he swung it forth at the Skull, shooting it with white evil lightning. "I need your energy to sustain it!" he called out. "Get up!"
But she could not. She was beaten. Her energy (life and magical were intertwined with a spell this powerful) was almost spent. If she spent anymore she would die. Amidst her silent wails (she had never felt pain of like this before) she scolded herself. That last stunt could have ripped her life force from her body. But if she did not continue her spell and finish it than she would die.
"Rita, we cannot let Zordon defeat us from the grave!" Lord Zedd insisted. Still psychically intoned with the Morphing Grid, he had heard Zordon's voice. Concentrating his energies into sustaining the ritual, he shook off the shivers down his spine.
In Rita, Lord Zedd's words triggered scathing hate and resentment for the late leader of Good. But it was not enough to give her the strength to finish this spell. She could not channel anymore external power. Her magical link between her and the Skull began to ebb.
"I'll die either way," she mumbled, half caring.
"I refuse to die before we succeed!" he declared. Despite his immense power, the energies that Rita and Zedd her channeling were bigger than both of them. The power would crush them both if Rita did not take up her part. "We're too close."
"I can't give anymore!" she grumbled, which was true. Her newfound energy fogged her brain. All of her longed to pass out but if she did so than she would die.
Neither of them could walk away from this. Their life forces were tied to it and sustaining Rita's life along with his and the massive magical energies were beginning to take its toll on Zedd. He supplied the extra energy for Rita to channel. That was the arrangement—that was the ritual. Straying from that would be devastating. Swaying he stepped out, catching himself. Squeezing his staff, he pushed himself to his full height.
"Rita…!" he begged. This is too important, he thought, unable to communicate to her.
"There's no more!" she wailed, falling onto the ground.
"Then you need more, my Queen!" Finster called out from the main hallway. Squatt and Baboo huddled around him while Goldar and Scorpina stood nearby in awe of the ritual before them. Out of fear and obedience they remained silent and did not approach the Chamber.
"I can't chann—"
And an idea flashed within Rita. She paused in thought. None of her previous strategies could see her through this. In order to complete this ritual she would need courage—something that the forces of Evil had consistently underestimated and misunderstood because of naiveté and ignorance. Jason had personally corrected this weakness of Evil for Rita, Zedd, and their minions. Therefore cowardice was no longer an excuse to flee or halt under Jason's reign.
Ignoring the blood congealing on her cheeks, she pushed herself to her feat. Snarling away her annoyance, she channeled her hatred of Zordon into her magic. A tremendous surge of energy grew within her but she knew she would not be able to sustain it for long. Waiving her staff in a circle in front of her, she honed her focus. Zordon and the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers had foiled hers and Lord Zedd's plans. "Zordon won't win this time!" she spat.
At his throne, Lord Zedd smiled under his mask. Though he usually detested her, brief admiration for her floated within him. Instead of snuffing it out, he allowed this emotion.
"Ooooooo, zen-lu shorli shadaaa! Yooo, jhabshaa shabo! Oooom jhednaaa zeeeeez baaaaaaaaaz shala!"
Rita's skull shot neon energy eyebeams into Rita's staff at the same time Lord Zedd did the same.
"White Ranger, be ours once more!" Zedd chimed in.
Filled with this enormous quantity of energy, Rita fired a burst of ruby lightning from her staff at Tommy whilst screaming, "COMPLY!"
Blue, white, red, neon, and black fused together in the storm over Tommy's house. Phasing through his roof, the lightning knocked Tommy unconscious, snuffing his inner light out. Sprawled across his bed he groaned no more. Shallow breathes pumped in and out of his lungs.
In Kimberly's guest bedroom, Sean awoke with a start, sensing the stench of malevolent magic at play within the morphing grid. Immediately recognizing the sources of it, Sean automatically honed in on its target. Realizing it was Tommy and that they were too late, he leapt from the bed, and dashed through the open doorway, simultaneously pressing the general address button on his communicator. In the back of his mind, he wondered why Haley had not alerted them of anything from Tommy's lab.
A shiver twitched at the base of his spine. Rising above his anxiety and fear, he called out in a clear voice, "Kimberly, wake up!" sensing she was still groggy.
"Awaken, White Ranger," Rita instructed into Tommy's mind.
His eyelids flew open. Tommy's eyeballs flashed red and then his irises flashed emerald and then crimson before returning to normal.
"Now, come to us!"
Transforming into a column of white energy, he traveled to foot of Zedd's balcony within seconds, standing upright and still as a statue. All personality was wiped from his face.
"Ah!" Rita hissed, catching her breath. Though beyond exhausted glee bloomed within her. "Lord Zedd, we did it! We actually did it. We captured the White Ranger!" she ended in a cackle even though her escalating joy threatened to overpower her fatigued body.
"Yes, we have," Zedd hissed. "It's a shame we're not allowed to destroy you now, Tommy. You have Jason to thank for that. But you don't care about that, do you, Tommy?"
No thought entered Tommy's mind.
Finster, Squatt, and Baboo, Goldar, and Scorpina gasped from just outside of the chamber in the main hallway.
Using his staff as a walking stick, Lord Zedd crossed behind Tommy. "Who are your Masters?" he asked.
"You are," Tommy answered in monotone.
Rita lowered her head, gathering her strength.
"Focus, Rita!" Zedd barked at her.
"I am! Stop badgering me!" Despite her snapping, she wondered how she was going to recover. The day had only begun and there was no telling what else was in store. Still, she wanted the rangers dead and that desire plus her perseverance steadied her. She would endure with courage for as long as she could.
So this is how those blasted teenagers beat us for all those years! she snarled. Finally understanding, she broke into a smile. Well, sit tight, Power Rangers. You're gonna hate this!
