Breaking the Cycle
Written by J.C. Vascardi
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Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.
Established Pairings: Rocky DeSantos/OMC: Zaidan Prince, Adam Park/Tommy Oliver, Jason Scott/Billy Cranston
Future Pairings: Wes Collins/OMC
Warnings: Established Relationships, Original Characters, Alternate Universe, Slash, M/M Sex, Violence, Language, Season Crossover, Magic, Mpreg
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Previously in 'Breaking the Cycle'…
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Rocky and Zaidan had a bit of fun in Rocky's bedroom, but were interrupted by Rocky's communicator which unknown to Rocky led to Zaidan finding out the secret that Rocky and his other friends have been keeping: that they're the Power Rangers. Meanwhile, up on the moon, Finster has determined that Zaidan isn't from any planet in the Milky Way Galaxy and says they've moved on to searching Andromeda and Triangulum. Scorpina thinks she found something in Triangulum, but before she can reveal what she found, Lord Zedd shows up and takes over, banishing Rita to a space dumpster for her failure to take over Earth. Rocky overhears Zaidan talking about Lord Zedd with Wes, but is summoned to the Command Center before he can figure out just how his boyfriend is familiar with the lord and master of Rita and her minions.
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Chapter Eight
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Moments after Rita's space dumpster disappeared from sight, Zedd said, "Now that the trash is taken care of, it's time to finish off the Power Rangers. Send down my putties!"
"Yes, Lord Zedd," Goldar said, as he hurried off to do as his new master commanded.
A moment later, Scorpina entered the room and said, "Lord Zedd, sir?"
"Who are you?" Zedd asked.
"Scorpina, my lord."
"And what do you want?"
"Just before your arrival, Rita had us all working on tracking someone for her," Scorpina said.
"Yes, yes, I'm already aware of that, Scorpina," Zedd said in an impatient tone. "Why do you think I chose now to return? I detected your scans on what the earthlings call the Triangulum Galaxy and decided to check up on Rita. The one thing I'm not clear on is what exactly you were hoping to find."
"There's a boy on Earth, sir," Scorpina revealed. "Named Zaidan Prince. He has magic and Rita was hoping to learn his secrets in order to gain control over him and use him as a weapon against the rangers."
"Hmm," Zedd said after a minute, before he activated his vision and zoomed in to find Zaidan on Earth. After a moment, he said, "My, isn't this interesting. Prince Zaidan Willum. Earth is just about the last place I would have expected to find Queen Katrina Nerissa's younger son. I knew he'd escaped the destruction of the planet, but I never expected to find him here. And you say he has magic?"
Scorpina nodded. "Yes, sir."
"How very interesting," Zedd said. "His race is known for their telepathic and empathic abilities, but magic? That is not something he should have." After a moment, he added, "This bears further investigation. See to it, Scorpina."
Scorpina bowed. "Yes, my lord."
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Meanwhile, down at the Command Center, Rocky was just about to bring up to the other rangers what he'd overheard Zaidan say when the alarms went off and Alpha said, "Ay, yi, yi, rangers come quick."
"What is it, Alpha?" Tommy asked, as the rangers turned away from Zordon and moved closer to Alpha, who was watching something on the viewing globe.
"Look," Alpha said, as he pointed at the globe.
"It's Bulk and Skull," Billy said, as they all saw the two school bullies standing in the park surrounded by putties.
Turning back towards Zordon, Kimberly said, "Those don't look like your average putties."
"They're Lord Zedd's new army of putties," Zordon said. "They may be significantly harder to defeat."
"This attack was probably meant for us," Adam said.
"We've gotta get there before they hurt Bulk and Skull," Aisha said and the others nodded.
Tommy nodded. "It's morphing time!"
Moments later, all six rangers were suited up and teleporting to the park.
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Over at the Youth Center, Zaidan apparently thought better of telling Wes what he wanted to say in the hallway of the Youth Center and pulled his friend out to the parking lot. Since he'd teleported there, Zaidan didn't have his car or his bike with him, although Wes had his, which the two teens were soon mounting, with Zaidan driving since the bike technically belonged to him. Wes wasn't going to complain, however, as while they'd both chosen to be nothing more than good friends, that didn't meant that he didn't still enjoy holding Zaidan or having a certain part of his anatomy nestled against his friends' rear end.
"It's Greg and Mike's day off, so they'll be out of the house," Zaidan said as he started the bike. "So I'll tell you what I have to say back at the house."
"Okay," Wes agreed.
However, the bike hadn't moved more than a few inches when Zaidan placed a hand on his head and whispered, "Rocky." Moments later, he disappeared in a flash of purple, leaving Wes alone on the bike.
"I hate it when he does that," Wes said. And then since he was already sitting astride a running motorcycle with his helmet on, he decided he may as well head back home to Zaidan's house and wait for him there. So scooting forward on the bike, he grabbed the controls and did just that.
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Unfortunately for the rangers, just as Zordon had predicted these putties were stronger than Rita's. Tactics that had worked well on her's simply didn't work with these. Usually when her putties went down they stayed down, but these just kept getting back up and continuing to fight.
"I don't know how much more of this we can take," Adam said as the battle began to go on for a far longer period than any battle they'd ever fought with putties had ever lasted previously. "These guys are a lot tougher than Rita's."
Hiding in the bushes nearby, making sure that not only the rangers but Bulk and Skull didn't see him, Zaidan watched his morphed friends fighting Lord Zedd's putties. 'They're getting their asses handed to them.'
"Damn it," Tommy whispered as he could feel his powers beginning to react to the strain of a prolonged battle. Collapsing to the ground he didn't see the putty that was practically right next to him until it hit him, knocking him over.
Reaching out with his senses, Zaidan could tell that Tommy's powers were getting dangerously weak. He wasn't sure why, but at the moment, that didn't matter. 'I have to help them, but as much as I want to jump up and join the fight, I know I can't do that in front of Bulk and Skull—they can't see me doing something that the Rangers can't do.'
Concentrating hard, Zaidan pointed his hand at Tommy and thought, 'Please let this work,' as he sent a bolt of his own energy at Tommy as he thought about recharging Tommy's ranger powers. From his immediate reaction, Tommy had obviously felt the upturn in his power levels, but before he could think on it too much, Zaidan decided to give him something else to think about by magically grabbing ahold of Tommy's hand, making it ball into a fist, and then punching the Z on the chest of the nearest putty, which promptly broke apart.
Standing up, Tommy yelled to his teammates, "Guys, I figured out their weakness! Aim for the Z on their chest!"
A round of affirmatives from the other rangers was followed by several more putties breaking apart as the rangers began fighting with a sense of renewed hope, hitting the Z whenever they had a clear shot. Once all the new putties were down for the count and the rangers had checked to make sure that Bulk and Skull were okay, they teleported away. Zaidan stayed hidden in the bushes long enough to overhear Bulk telling Skull about how they'd just heard the rangers' voices and that they were going to figure out who they really were and how they'd make a fortune and be famous when they did that.
'I don't think so, guys,' Zaidan said, as he sent a telepathic mind wipe their way which would erase their recollections of the last few minutes. While it was true that he'd never received the advanced training in the mind arts back home, he was still capable of doing this on Bulk and Skull because he could tell that neither of them had any training in the mind arts. He never would have gotten away with it if he tried it on another member of his race, but considering he was the last one, that wasn't really an issue.
With Bulk and Skull handled, Zaidan concentrated on Rocky and sensed where he was. 'At the ranger's command center,' he thought. 'I guess it's time I dropped in and finally had a heart to heart with my friends the rangers.' Moments later, Zaidan was gone in a flash of purple.
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"Those new putties were tough," Kimberly said.
"I'm sure Lord Zedd didn't expect you to discover their weakness so quickly," Zordon said, approval in his tone.
"Yeah, good job finding it, Tommy," Adam said, as he clapped his boyfriend on the back and smiled.
"It wasn't me," Tommy said.
"What?" Aisha asked.
"My powers started failing," Tommy said. "Then suddenly I felt a jolt of energy that recharged my powers and it felt like some invisible force grabbed my hand, made me make a fist and hit the Z. I never would have found it that quickly otherwise. If it wasn't for that jolt of energy I probably would have demorphed."
"Alpha, run a scan on the white ranger," Zordon ordered.
"Right away, Zordon," as he pressed several keys on one of the consoles, and Billy walked over to look at the scan results.
Shaking his head in confusion, Billy said, "That extra jolt of energy you got - if I didn't know better I'd almost think it was from Lord Zedd."
"Zedd?" Aisha asked. "He wouldn't recharge Tommy's powers or show him how to defeat his own putties."
"I know, that wouldn't make any sense," Billy said. "However, according to these readings Lord Zedd's power signature is almost identical to the signature that was the source of the power surge that recharged Tommy. There are some small differences though."
Before anyone could comment, the alarms went off and the rangers turned towards the viewing globe only to see nothing.
"Alpha, what's going on?" Kimberly asked. "Why are the alarms going off?"
"We have an intruder in the command center," Alpha said after a moment's pause.
"Huh, guess I must have missed one of your security systems," a voice everyone recognized said, as Zaidan Prince walked out of the shadows. "Sorry to just drop in like this, but I figured it was time we all had a heart to heart."
"Zaidan?" Tommy asked, clearly surprised. "What are you doing here? How'd you get in here?"
"How'd you even know how to get here?" Adam added.
Before Zaidan could say anything, Rocky said, "I hope I'm wrong, but I think he's working for Lord Zedd."
"What?" Zaidan asked, a hurt look on his face.
"I heard you talking to Wes in the hallway of the Youth Center," Rocky explained. "You said Lord Zedd and called him sire."
"And because of one overheard comment you think I'm working for that psychotic bastard?" Zaidan asked, as he walked over to Rocky and pushed him against one of the consoles. "I thought you knew me better than that, but apparently I was wrong." Looking at the others, he added, "I do not now nor will I ever serve Lord Zedd. I'd kill myself first."
"So you do know him, though?" Adam asked.
"Yes, you could say that," Zaidan said. "However, I'm guessing when Rocky heard me say sire he assumed I meant it as an honorific for my liege. That is one definition of sire, but it isn't the only one."
Billy gasped and everyone turned to him as he said, "Sire can also be used to refer to one's father."
"Wait, father?" Aisha asked, before she looked at Zaidan, "Zedd is your father?"
"Unfortunately yes," Zaidan answered. "You see, I've been keeping a secret from all of you, because I didn't feel like it was the appropriate time to tell you. It's not something I go around telling people the moment I meet them because most people would think I'm certifiably insane. Others, however, would think that I need to be locked up in a government lab somewhere to be dissected."
"I don't understand," Tommy said, and one could see the conflict on his face as he clearly wasn't sure if he should be attacking Zaidan or not. He had, after all, just admitted to being the son of Rita's boss and he'd been able to enter the Command Center without a power coin, something which wasn't supposed to be possible. On the other hand, Tommy considered Zaidan to be a friend and it was those feelings that were staying him from any violent action.
The other rangers all had similar looks on their faces, as Billy said, "Perhaps you'd better explain."
"I'm not human," Zaidan revealed. "In fact, I'm not even from this galaxy. I was born on the planet Kalrad in the Vyincourd Galaxy, although here on Earth it's called M33 or Triangulum."
"Triangulum was the galaxy that Zedd was in before he came here," Zordon revealed.
"Indeed, he ruled the entire galaxy with an iron fist," Zaidan said. "Wouldn't hesitate to destroy anyone who stood in his way. Of course, that doesn't mean that he wouldn't make sure that they had outlived their usefulness first. My people don't use surnames. We only use two names, what would commonly be called a first and middle name here on Earth. Thus, Prince is not my surname, but actually my title."
"Are you saying you're a prince?" Kimberly asked.
Zaidan sighed. "Yes, Kim. My official title is His Most Serene and Honorable Highness Prince Zaidan Willum of Kalrad. I'm the second-born son of Her Majesty Queen Katrina Nerissa, who was the ruler of the entire planet, in addition to the colonies on five of Kalrad's seven moons and two other planets in our solar system. Of course, thanks to Lord Zedd, I'm the only Kalradian still living."
"What happened to the others?" Aisha asked.
"They were all killed," Zaidan answered. "Kalrad was at one time a paradise world. Everyone in the galaxy dreamed of vacationing there or for some, even moving there. That is, until Lord Zedd showed up and began taking over. He enslaved my people and forced us to gather the resources of our planet for his use. It took over a decade but between Zedd's magic, the strip-mining and deforestation what was once a paradise was reduced to a poisonous wasteland no longer capable of supporting life."
Falling silent for a moment, Zaidan then added, "Between Kalrad and our colonies, there were once nineteen billion Kalradians but thanks to Lord Zedd, there's only one left and I'm only half Kalradian. You see, Lord Zedd is my father due to him brutally raping my mother, who wouldn't have laid with him willingly if he was the last man in the universe. The fact that she preferred women had nothing to do with it, however, as Zedd was far too much of an evil megalomaniac for her tastes."
"So, no offense, but if Zedd is your father, why aren't you evil?" Adam asked.
"None taken," Zaidan said with a sigh. He'd honestly expected that question and would have thought something was seriously wrong if someone didn't ask it. Especially since he was talking to the Power Rangers. "The reason is because my mother hid my true parentage from Zedd, so he doesn't know that I'm his son. In fact, I didn't even know it until my mother finally told me a year before Kalrad's final destruction. I was raised to believe and Zedd was fooled into thinking that my mother's wife, Princess-Consort Isabella Giselle was my other parent."
"I take it Kalrad figured out a way for two people of the same gender to have biological children together?" Billy asked.
"If you're thinking we had some kind of advanced medical or scientific breakthrough, you'd be wrong, Billy," Zaidan answered. "Kalradians have the ability to reproduce sexually, just as humans do, but we also have the ability to reproduce asexually. We can literally join our mind with another person and create a mental link which brings pleasure but also impregnates the initiator of the link. The gender of the initiator has no bearing on their ability to get pregnant and thus there was no stigma attached to two men or two women being together. Because of this and a very open-minded culture, about half the populace of Kalrad identified themselves as being bisexual, with the rest roughly split between being straight and gay."
"So, you're saying that you can get pregnant?" Rocky asked, his eyes as wide as dinner plates, showing that he was clearly shocked by this information.
Zaidan nodded. "Yes, although I should add that Kalradian males can't be impregnated through sexual intercourse, as we don't have ovaries and thus no eggs. However, with the right telepathic link, we can create a child through the power of our minds alone, by combining our own genetic structure with that of another person's, gender being irrelevant. Twelve months later, a baby is born, and yes I said twelve, not nine, as Kalradians have a longer gestation cycle than humans."
Everyone was quiet for a moment, before Tommy asked, "Okay, but how did you get in here? How did you even know that we were the rangers?"
"That's a very recent development, I assure you," Zaidan answered. "I only just figured that out earlier today, although I had my suspicions."
"Suspicions?" Adam asked.
Zaidan nodded. "Perhaps nobody else has noticed it but all six of you are obsessed with wearing the colors that I now know are your ranger colors. Because Adam, I don't think I've ever seen year wearing an outfit that wasn't predominantly black. The same can be said for all of you. At first I thought 'well, maybe they just really like those colors.' But in the back of my mind I just couldn't help but think that there was more to it than that. I mean I'll be the first to admit that my favorite color is purple, but my entire wardrobe is not made up entirely of purple clothes.
"Other than that, of course, there was also those strange watches you all wear. At first I didn't think anything of them, but after a few months of hearing them go off and then getting mostly lame excuses for why you suddenly had to leave got very annoying. Not to mention the fact that invariably the rangers always seem to show up not long after your watches start beeping. Of course, even with all of that, I never seriously thought that you were the Power Rangers. That realization didn't come until earlier when I was at Rocky's house."
"What do you mean?" Rocky asked, squirming a bit as he could feel the other rangers shifting their gazes to him.
"Kalradians are gifted in the mind arts," Zaidan explained. "From my mother, I'm naturally telepathic and empathic. So I can read minds, sense emotions, and even converse with other telepaths entirely in thoughts. Of course, I was only thirteen when I left Kalrad following its destruction and I wasn't due to start the more advanced training until I was sixteen, so I only know the basics. As a result, I can shield my mind to prevent the emotional overload that would result in being able to feel the emotions of everyone around me and I can also read minds, but mostly just the surface thoughts. I never really learned how to probe people's minds and learn their deepest, darkest secrets, so I can't learn anything that you're actively trying to hide."
"So how did you find out we were the rangers?" Aisha asked.
"Rocky and I were doing boyfriend things this morning," Zaidan said, as both he and Rocky blushed at that revelation. "Suffice it to say that neither one of us was very pleased when Rocky's watch beeped and he had to leave. Not realizing that I'd be able to hear what he was thinking he cursed Rita for the interruption and then gave me a lame excuse about a previous appointment that he'd forgotten about. I left and I was halfway down the stairs when I thought that I'd been a little too harsh in my response to the excuse, so I doubled back and was going to apologize."
Rocky's eyes widened. "You mean?"
"Yeah, Rocky," Zaidan confirmed. "I overheard you talking to Zordon and then I saw you morph and teleport out. With your back turned to your bedroom door, you never saw me." After a moment, he added, "Ever since I first heard the name I've been thinking that the name Zordon sounded familiar somehow and I just realized that I'd overheard my sensei and one of my tutors talking a few times and the name Zordon of Eltar had come up more than once." Zaidan's face fell slightly, as he said, "I realize now that they were talking about Zedd's attacks on our galaxy and wishing that we'd had someone like you, Zordon. Someone who could have organized a defense. Unfortunately, we didn't and the entire galaxy fell under Zedd's dominion, which let me tell you is not fun."
Everyone was quiet at this as they all felt the need to take some time to digest what Zaidan had just said. Even Zordon looked contemplative, possibly thinking about an entire galaxy in which Zedd had won. It was definitely a very scary thought.
Breaking the silence, Zaidan said, "By the way, after you all left, I used my mind powers to wipe the memories of your battle with the putties from Bulk's and Skull's minds. Bulk was going on about how they'd heard your voices and they were going to use that to figure out who you really were, because he figured it would bring them fame and fortune to unmask you."
"Thanks," Tommy said. "Wait, you were there?"
Zaidan nodded. "Yeah, Tommy, I was there, hiding in the bushes. I saw everything and it was me who gave you that jolt of energy and directed your hand."
"You can do that with just your mind?" Adam asked.
Shaking his head from side to side, Zaidan said, "No, I did that with magic," as he held his right palm upward and a small ball of purple lightning appeared in it. "Kalradians don't have magic, but I guess I had to get something from Zedd. I just thank heaven it wasn't his looks, because he'll never win a beauty contest."
"So that's why your power signature is almost identical to Zedd's," Billy said. "We detected some small differences but we were confused because when we scanned Tommy after he told us it initially looked like Lord Zedd was the one who recharged his powers."
"No, that was me," Zaidan confirmed. "As for my powers being nearly the same as Zedd's, my mother speculated on her death bed that that was why I was able to survive when everyone else on the planet didn't, because I was largely immune to Zedd's magic, since mine is so similar to his. Fear that he'd find out about my true parentage led my family to encourage me not to use my magic, so I'm not very good with it, although I did master teleportation magic and that's how I got myself off Kalrad and here to Earth."
"You teleported here from another galaxy?" Aisha asked.
"Not directly," Zaidan said. "It took several jumps to populated worlds. Kalrad is situated on the outer rim of the galaxy, closest to this one, so I managed the initial jump between galaxies but it was nearly two weeks before I could go any further. I've gotten better at it in the ensuing years and it probably wouldn't take quite as many jumps now as it did then, but I'm not sure I'd want to try another intergalactic jump because in addition to the power drain it gave me one hell of a headache."
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Later that day, having completely forgotten about Wes waiting for him back at the house, Zaidan arrived at the Youth Center and ordered a smoothie before sitting down at one of the tables and pulling out his English essay. He sat there quietly for a few minutes, proofreading the assignment that was due the following Monday, when he sensed Rocky entering the room. Zaidan didn't need to look up to know that upon entering the room, Rocky had scanned it and started heading in his direction as soon as he'd spotted him. Normally, the thought of being with Rocky would have brought a big smile to his face, however, after what happened earlier in the Ranger's Command Center, Zaidan really wasn't sure he wanted anything to do with the other teen.
A moment later, the sound of a chair moving alerted Zaidan that Rocky had arrived at his table. Sitting down and smiling, Rocky said, "Hey Handsome."
'Oh is that how he's going to play it? Like nothing is wrong?'Zaidan thought to himself. Well, if the other teen wasn't even going to have the decency to apologize, then Zaidan saw no reason why he should even acknowledge his presence.
After a few moments of Zaidan ignoring him, Rocky's smile fell, replaced with a concerned look, as he asked, "Zaidan, are you okay?"
'Oh yeah, I'm just peachy,' Zaidan thought bitterly. 'My boyfriend accused me of being the pawn of an evil monster and now instead of apologizing, he's acting like it never happened.' In the back of his mind, he knew that Rocky had said that he hoped he was wrong, but that didn't really lessen the sting of the accusation that he worked for the man who'd killed his family and destroyed his home.
After another minute in which the blond-haired teen said nothing, Rocky asked, "Come on, Z, talk to me," as he reached over and laid a hand on the other boy's arm.
Flinching away, Zaidan finally looked up at Rocky, anger clearly burning in his eyes, as he ground out, "Don't touch me."
"Man, what's wrong?" Rocky asked, a truly confused look gracing his face, which only served to further infuriate Zaidan.
"If you have to ask, Rocky," Zaidan said, "I really don't think I should dignify it with a response."
"You're clearly mad," Rocky said, at which point Zaidan snorted and asked in a derisive tone, "Oh you think?" Pressing on, however, Rocky said, "I just don't understand why."
Shaking his head, Zaidan said, "Rocky, I've seen your grades, so I know you're a good student. Maybe not as good as Billy, but then few are. Anyway, you're a smart person, so stop acting like an airhead. You damn well know why I'm mad at you or at least you should."
"I really don't know," Rocky insisted. "I haven't done anything to warrant this reaction. All I said was hello and you're biting my head off."
For the first time since they'd met, Zaidan honestly wanted to strangle Rocky. "Either you're just stupid or your memory is worse than Tommy's." Before Rocky could retort, however, Zaidan shook his head and said, "Allow me to refresh your memory, 'I think he's working for Lord Zedd.'"
"That's what this is about?" Rocky asked.
"Yes, Rocky," Zaidan said. "We've known each other for over three months now and we've been dating for most of that time. I really wanted to think that in that time, you'd gotten to know me well enough to know that I'm a good person. I guess I was wrong, though, because you overhear me saying a few words to Wes and instead of coming to me and asking me about it privately, you jump to the conclusion that I'm an evil bastard's pawn. I didn't even need to read your thoughts or sense your emotions to know that you and the others were suddenly scared of me and wondering if you needed to attack me, because I could see it in your expressions. So, yes, Rocky, I'm mad at you and I damn well think I have every right to be."
Before Rocky could say anything, his communicator went off. Not wanting to leave Zaidan angry at him, however, he did his best to ignore it, while he said, "Z, please, you have to believe me. I'm sorry. If I could take it back, I would. I love you."
That was the first time the 'l' word had been uttered by either of them. Zaidan had been feeling it for a couple weeks already, but he hadn't said anything to Rocky for fear of it scaring him away, as he couldn't help but think that it was too early in their relationship for such declarations. Of course, his experience with such things on Earth or even back home was somewhat limited since Rocky was his first serious relationship. Back home on Kalrad, it was common for couples to say 'I love you' after only dating for a fraction of the time that Zaidan and Rocky had been together, but then again, Kalradians created telepathic and empathic links with their partners that allowed them to get to know each other quite a bit faster than humans.
Any response that Zaidan might have had to Rocky's declaration was cut off by Rocky's communicator going off again. Looking around for a moment, Zaidan snapped his fingers and enclosed the table they were sitting at in a soundproof bubble, which was one of the first things he'd started practicing following his capture by Rita since he wanted to be able to practice his magic in the basement without Greg or Mike hearing it. With a sigh, he said, "You should answer that, Rocky. Don't worry nobody will be able to hear it, as I've taken care of that."
Rocky had seen the slight spark of what he assumed to be magic between Zaidan's fingers as he'd snapped them, so nodding, Rocky pressed the button and said, "Yes Alpha?"
"Rocky, you're needed at the command center," Alpha said. "Lord Zedd has sent down a monster."
Rocky sighed. He didn't want to leave things unfinished like this with Zaidan, as he really wanted to apologize, but he knew that his ranger duties were important. "I'm on my way, Alpha."
Before Rocky could close the communication link, Alpha added, "Zaidan, I know you're there. Zordon would like you to come to the command center as well."
"Fine, I'll be there with Rocky in a minute," Zaidan said, as he quickly packed up his homework and releasing the bubble, stood up with Rocky and walked over to a secluded corner. Before Rocky could hit the teleport button, however, Zaidan grabbed him and kissed him hard on the lips, before he said, "I love you, too, you big jerk. I'm still mad at you for not coming to me, but, I guess I can understand why you didn't, getting called to the command center and all. Just, in the future, I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from accusing me of being a pawn of the dark side without talking to me first."
"Of course, Z, I really am sorry," Rocky said, as he placed a quick kiss on Zaidan's lips, before he said, "We really should get going."
Zaidan nodded, as Rocky teleported out in a stream of red, with Zaidan disappearing seconds later in a faint glow of purple light. Moments later, they were in the command center with the other rangers, and Zordon said, "Rangers, Lord Zedd has created a monster out of a fish from the Rampoon River. My sensors indicate that it was a piranha now called Pirantishead."
"You mean as in man-eating?" Adam asked.
"I'm afraid so," Zordon said. "This monster has been sent to find you in Angel Grove. Zaidan, I asked you here because I'm hoping you can make sure Tommy's powers don't fail him."
Nodding, Zaidan walked over to Tommy and said, "It would be best if I stayed here as it was dangerous enough for me to do what I did earlier out in the open without alerting Zedd of my presence, although I somehow doubt that he doesn't already know I'm here. Still it'd probably be best to keep me as the ace up your sleeves as long as possible. Anyway, I can create a telepathic link with you Tommy, that'll allow your powers to feed off of my magic if they need to. It should keep you at full strength."
"Thanks man," Tommy said, before he remembered what Zaidan had told them earlier and asked, "Um, Zaidan, this link isn't going to make a baby is it?"
"That is so not the type of link I was talking about, Tommy," Zaidan said. "I like you and all, but trust me I have absolutely no desire to carry your child. No, this is just a link that'll let you tap into my magic to keep your powers at full."
"Okay, just checking," Tommy said, before Zaidan raised his hands and placed them on either side of Tommy's head. Closing his eyes, Zaidan concentrated for a moment, before his hands began glowing purple. A moment later, Tommy swayed slightly on his feet, as Zaidan removed his hands and said, "I'd suggest you morph now, because morphed you'll be better able to handle the power I'm giving you. Your body isn't used to having this kind of power, but I think your ranger powers should be able to act as a regulator of sorts so that your body can deal with it better."
Nodding, Tommy said, "It's morphing time," as he and the other rangers took their normal positions and morphed, before teleporting out.
As the viewing globe activated to show the battle, Zaidan said, "It's different watching them fight like this. Normally, I'm watching it on TV, but even the live news feeds aren't this close up. I imagine the news teams don't have cameras close enough and don't want to risk sending in a helicopter with a camera crew for fear the monster might attack it."
"Do you think they'll be able to defeat Pirantishead?" Alpha asked. He'd seen the readings on Zedd's power level and while he knew that Zordon had originally created the Thunderzords to battle Zedd, but due to the fact that they'd been pressed into service early to battle Rita after she stepped up her game plan, he knew it was possible that her minions might have been able to give Zedd enough data on them that he could overpower them.
Shaking his head, Zaidan said, "Honestly? I don't know. I don't have much experience with rangers or zords. Kalrad didn't have either. I do wish we'd had them though, as maybe the planet wouldn't have been destroyed. Or at least, if my people had to die, they could maybe have gone out with some shred of dignity, instead of being turned into slaves forced to destroy their own home and ultimately themselves. As a member of the royal family, I was never really a slave as Zedd preferred that we be forced to watch our subjects suffer instead, although my family did their best to shield me from that."
"Their deaths are not your fault, Zaidan," Zordon commented, having picked up on the guilt that was evident in the young man's voice.
Turning and looking up at Zordon, Zaidan said, "I know that in my head, but in my heart, well, it's another matter entirely. I'm a Prince of Kalrad and all members of the royal family swear oaths to protect our people and I didn't do a very good job of that. I can't help but feel that I could have done more. I have power from Zedd and I'm mostly immune to his magic as a result. I should have done something."
"Zaidan, you were a baby or a child through most of Zedd's rule," Zordon said. "Even inheriting powers from him as you did, I assume you weren't born knowing how to use them, correct?"
"Correct," Zaidan said.
"So, for most of Zedd's rule you were a child who possessed power that he didn't know how to use," Zordon said. "I'm sure if your mother was alive right now she'd be telling you not to blame yourself for what happened to your planet and its people. It wasn't your fault, as it wasn't you who did any of it. It was all Zedd and beating yourself up about something that's already happened and can't be changed doesn't do you or anyone else any good."
Before Zaidan could say anything, Zedd threw down a grenade to Pirantishead, making him grow so that he was towering over the rangers, who had been fighting him on foot until now. The rangers immediately called for their zords and formed the Thunder Megazord and Tommy put the tigerzord into warrior mode, figuring that two against one would give them the advantage, but that soon proved wrong, when Pirantishead raised his fish-shaped flute and sent a wave of energy at the zords, causing an explosion that knocked both of them off their feet. Over the communication channel, Rocky's voice said, "Alpha, we're taking a beating here, we need more power."
"Oh hang in there rangers, I'm doing everything I can," Alpha said as he began turning knobs and pushing buttons on the control panels as fast as he possibly could.
"Alpha, proceed with caution," Zordon warned. "The power accelerator is almost at its peak level."
"Yes, Zordon," Alpha said, "but the zords' power banks are leaking power like a sieve. I need to try and siphon some power back into it." As he began pushing more buttons on the control panel, Alpha asked, "Zaidan, is there anything you can do?"
Shaking his head, Zaidan said, "No, Alpha. I can try to keep Tommy's powers stable by letting him feed off of my magic, but that's about it. The only reason I can even do that is because he's a living thing. The zords aren't alive, so I can't form a mental link to let them feed off my power. Besides, I'm sure they use a hell of a lot more energy then I know how to produce. If I had Zedd's thousands of years of experience and practice maybe, but as it is, I'm afraid I've done all I can."
"Oh my, ay yi yi yi," Alpha said, as he continued pressing buttons as fast as he could. For a few minutes, Alpha's modifications seemed to be working, but then, he shouted, "Ay yi yi yi, the controls are going crazy. I'm afraid to push the power accelerator any harder."
"Rangers," Zordon said, "the power accelerator is becoming increasingly unstable."
"Ay yi yi, ah!" Alpha exclaimed, as currents of electricity began appearing on the control panels and he got shocked.
"The flux of power could ultimately strip you of your ranger powers," Zordon warned over the communications link.
"That's a risk we're going to have to take," Tommy said, as Kimberly asked, "Zaidan, is there anything you can do?"
"As I already told Alpha and Zordon, no," Zaidan said. "The zords use a lot more juice than I know how to produce and even if I did, I can't form the necessary mental link with a machine."
"Let's see here," Alpha said as he again started pressing buttons, but only briefly before he jumped back as several consoles exploded in a shower of sparks and smoke began to fill the room. "Oh no! It's out of control. Zordon..."
"Alpha, you must find a way to stabilize the accelerator," Zordon said in a soothing, yet urgent tone, trying to calm his assistant down from his panicked state.
Pushing buttons and turning dials, Alpha said, "I'm trying but nothings working! The zords are going to blow up!" At this, several more control panels exploded and sparks and smoke shot out of every panel. Jumping away from one of the exploding consoles, Zaidan lost his footing and fell backwards into the viewing globe, hitting his head and dazing himself for a few moments as he struggled to get back to his feet.
At the same moment, the rangers were forced to abandon their zords, jumping out of the cockpits and falling to the ground, demorphing as they fell. They didn't have much time to wonder about what that meant, however, as they were soon watching in horror as several large explosions rocked the zords and they began breaking apart. Minutes later, all the rangers could do was walk among the wreckage of their zords, expressing disbelief at what they were seeing.
"We've got to get back to the command center," Kimberly said. "Maybe Alpha can find a way to fix them."
"If only it were that simple," Billy said. "It took years to build the zords. They can't be rebuilt overnight."
"We've fixed the zords in the past," Rocky argued.
Shaking his head, Billy said, "Those were minor repairs. This," as he motioned around at the wreckage, "is more than minor damage. They're going to have to be rebuilt from scratch."
"What's worse," Tommy said, "is it looks like we've lost more than our zords. We've lost our powers... completely."
-o-0-o-
To be continued.
And there you have Chapter Eight of 'Breaking the Cycle'. I'm sure many of you probably hate me for ending it there, but everything has to end somewhere and that seemed like a good place to me. It does, however, mean that you'll be left with a cliffhanger for a while, as per my update schedule, I'll now be switching over to my Harry Potter story 'Knights of the Founders' for three chapters. This story is #2 on my schedule out of five, so it'll be awhile before I circle back around to it, but I figure the rotating update schedule is better than concentrating solely on one story and leaving the others completely un-updated for months or even years.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to contact me in a review, by email, my Yahoo group, or on Twitter JVascardi.