Chapter 14

"Dividing and Conquering"

Despite the circumstances we were in, Kat and I once again made our love for each other before falling asleep. However, as they always say, nothing lasts forever as the sounds of our door knocking ended the deep sleep we were both in.

"Who is It?" I asked groggily as I got out of bed wearing only my t-shirt and briefs and walked to the door.

"It's Adam, Tommy. Zordon wants us in the Command Center immediately."

"We'll be right out."

After heeding Zordon's request, I turned back to Katherine, who was slowly starting to wake up and knowing that she had nothing but a white bra and white panties on, I turned my face away from looking at her while she dressed.

"What's going on?" Kat yawned as she climbed out of bed and gathered her discarded clothes from the floor.

"Zordon wants us at the command center. Sorry to have to wake you up."

"It's all right, I needed to get up anyway. Dark Specter must be on the move or something."

"Or at least Rita and Zedd are. Anyways, we still need to conduct some more testing with the Robots. That's probably why Zordon wants us at the command center right now."

"You can turn around now."

So, I turned and Katherine, now dressed in her white blouse and black knee length skirt, was now worthying of looking at. Once I had dressed in my already used up best clothes, we made our way to the command center to meet up with everyone who had already gathered. But, we were also joined by Auric the Conqueror, Ninjor's Zeo counterpart who had arrived during the night.

"What's going on?" I asked Adam.

"Zordon's about to tell us now. Apparently, we intercepted some more transmissions from the Cimmerian Planet."

"I thank you all for coming on such short notice," Zordon said as he walked into the command center. "We have been intercepting transmissions from the Cimmerian Planet for the past hour. Apparently, Dark Specter is wasting no time on planning on testing out his strengths by attacking several nearby planets."

"What planets?" I asked.

Zordon then directed our attention towards the viewing globe and we saw a place that looked all too familiar to us being attacked by several platoons of the Machine Empire's Cogs.

"It's Edinoi," gasped Rocky, his face filled with surprise. "Zordon, we've got to do something!"

"What's Edinoi?" asked Katherine, turning over towards me.

"Before we got our Ninja powers, Zordon sent us to help out Prince Dex, the Masked Rider, who rules over the planet. Guess he's going to need our help again."

"Apparently, Edinoi is the first of several planned targets that Dark Specter has planned for the United Alliance of Evil to practice on," said Alpha. "There is no question that Dark Specter is trying to impress soldiers into the UAE."

"Then we have to stop them," remarked Delphine.

"Agreed, Zordon," added Ninjor.

"Then, its settled," said Zordon. "Tommy, you and the Zeo Rangers will head to Edinoi to help Prince Dex. The Ninja robot rangers will accompany you to the planet along with Ninjor and Auric. The rest of you will stay here and help continue to monitor any more attacks on nearby planets. Good luck, and may the power protect us all."

With those words, we and our robot counterparts assumed our respectful powers. We were up first to assume our Zeo Powers.

"It's Morphin' Time!"

"Zeo Ranger One, Pink!"

"Zeo Ranger Two, Yellow!"

"Zeo Ranger Three, Blue!"

"Zeo Ranger Four, Green!"

"Zeo Ranger Five, Red!"

Then, our Robotic Counterparts followed suit.

"It's Morphin' Time!'

"White Ranger Power!"

"Black Ranger Power!"

"Pink Ranger Power!"

"Blue Ranger Power!"

"Yellow Ranger Power!"

"Red Ranger Power!"

…

Soon, we teleported to Edinoi and saw the platoons of Cogs heading straight for Prince Dex's palace.

"They're going to be crawling over the palace in a few minutes!" cried Adam.

"Yeah, we'd better think fast," I called. "Auric, we'll take the cogs already up towards the palace. The rest of you stay here and keep them from going into the forest. Let's go!"

Once we split up, we took our positions in front of Dex's palace and joined his guards in trying to hoard off the legions of Cogs already on the move.

"Welcome to my nightmare," I muttered as we began to do battle with the Cogs, defending Dex's palace with every ounce of strength we had. However, the Cogs were somewhat overwhelming in numbers and there were moments where we struggled to keep up with them. No matter how hard we tried, they were just too many of them to deal with.

Still, we weren't fighting alone as a green armored fighter with bug eyes on its helmet was also fighting alongside us.

"Thanks for helping us, Tommy!" Dex cried.

"No problem, Dex!" I cried, punching and kicking at any cogs that came our way.

…

At the far east and west sides of the palace, the rest of us continued to hold our ground, but Rocky was struggling big time and it wasn't until he was pushed down to the hard surface of the planet and his back felt the full force of it.

"ROCKY!" screamed Adam, only to be knocked down by several Cogs that saw an opportunity to do so. Rocky screamed loudly in pain as he struggled to get back onto his feet despite the pain in his back and fight, only to be repeatedly be put back down on the ground.

Eventually, as the hour passed, we started to gain the upper hand thanks to the palace's defenses and we managed to successfully push the Cogs back from the palace. Down at the forest entrance, Ninjor and the Robot Ninja Rangers had also started to gain the upper hand.

"We got them on the run!" cried the Red Robot Ninja Ranger, as he and the other Robots fought in their Metallic Armor. "Keep it up, guys!"

Soon, the Cogs ran off and we were victorious in defending the palace. However, Rocky's reaggravated back made this a hollow victory for us. Returning to Eltar, Rocky was once again placed in medical protocol for his back as Zordon briefed us on what was going to happen next.

"So, it appears that the Cogs were planning to make Edinoi a base for the United Alliance of Evil," said Zordon. "But, it seems that they were also testing your weaknesses and they certainly succeeded in doing so when Rocky was injured once again."

"I know how you feel, Zordon," sighed Adam, burying his face into the palm of his left hand. "We really do need to send him back to Earth with his injury. I mean, he could have been killed out there."

"You know Rocky isn't going to give in that easily, Adam," I remarked to Adam before turning back to Zordon. "Isn't there anything that we can do to help him? Maybe the Alien Rangers have something to help him."

"We can ask, but it may not be possible," promised Alpha 5, handing us what appeared to be a report. "In the meantime, we just got these reports from our spies on the Cimmerian Planet. It appears that several more planets are being targeted."

"I've decided to send five platoons of our soldiers to help defend those planets," said Zordon. "Right now, we need you here. Apparently, Dark Specter has extended the deadline for the attack on Eltar to three more days."

"Why would he do that?" Katherine asked.

"He's probably trying to psyche us out, Kat," I sighed. "And if he is, then he is succeeding in doing so."

…

It remained to be seen whether Dark Specter was doing just that. But, either way, we weren't going to be taking any chances at all. Eltar could be attacked at any time and we needed to be ready for anything…