MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS
PLAGUE
Written by DTM666
Chapter Two
Originally Published On : May 2004 to August 2004
Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.s
-o-
The empress studied her various scrolls and documents that occupied half the space on her table, with the rest of the space occupied by various vials of chemicals and several small boxes and bags of powders. Following some directions, she mixed several components into the small, slim vial in front of her until it turned a light purplish color. Just as she had completed, her titan bodyguard slammed the door open, his armor bearing the scars of battle.
"Empress," the titan called out, "Zordon's forces have broken through the outer defenses."
The empress turned towards her loyal soldier and smiled. "Don't fret. I can take care of them."
The empress took the small vial of purple chemical that she had just created and tossed it out the window. Slowly, she walked towards the window and stuck her head to look below. She couldn't see anything but a thick purple mist, but she did hear the groans and cries of agony from the soldiers below along with the inhuman growls of a savage beast. The empress smiled when the mist faded and revealed several hundred Eltarian troops on the ground, apparently having fallen unconscious.
"Works like a charm," she said, "now I can produce more."
-o-
Zedd's personal library, one of several rooms recently opened up since Zedd's arrival, was a massive collection of ancient texts and books, having been preserved for many eons. For the past hour thanks to his superior speed and his restored wings, Goldar had gone through all of them, but couldn't find anything remotely useful to his master. The thought was quickly removed from his mind when he noticed Lord Zedd looking up at him.
"I'm sorry, master." the Titan quivered. "I couldn't find anything."
"Of course not, fool!" Zedd growled, "You don't even know what you're looking for!"
Goldar winced as he slowly floated towards the dusted floor. He approached Zedd and bowed before him. Zedd stared unimpressively and marched towards the nearest bookshelf.
"Whatever had struck the Rangers and my monster must have had something to do with magic that I am not familiar with." he said, "I need to observe the turn of events. Continue 'searching.'"
Goldar buried himself in his thoughts as Zedd took off. His mind went back to the moment when the monster was destroyed, but as he visualized the fighting, something had suddenly occurred to him. Something that he could have missed the first time he saw it, but he wasn't quite sure. Puzzled, he returned to his personal chamber and positioned himself in a state of meditation. Upon closing his eyes, he found himself in the fight, where the Power Rangers were fighting the monster. The moment the monster exploded, Goldar winced as he noticed something peculiar about the monster's destruction; an odd-colored mist that was difficult to see. As Goldar stepped closer to examine...
...his eyes opened wide and Goldar stood up almost instinctively, drawing his broadsword. He looked around and found himself in his own chamber, apparently having kicked out of his meditated state. He let out a heavy sigh and walked out of the chamber and into the narrow halls of the palace.
-o-
Tommy's eyes were affixed on the wooden ceiling of his bedroom of his uncle's cabin, where he would usually go whenever he felt down or needed a change in environment. Originally before the whole incident, the Rangers were to have joined up here for the weekend. Tommy even suggested bringing new allies Rocky DeSantos, Adam Park, and Aisha Campbell with them, but they told him they needed to work out some paperwork concerning their transfer to Angel Grove High School. However, the recent situation changed all that. Only Tommy and Jason were occupying the cabin, while the other four Rangers were at the Command Center, infected with some unknown affliction that Zordon has trouble recognizing. So for the past hour, Tommy tried to sleep but found himself staring at the ceiling most of the time.
I can't take this, he thought, I have to do something.
So he promptly jumped out of bed and sneaked out the window, careful not to cause any noise that would wake Jason up. A leap to the ground later, Tommy started on a jog towards the park. After fifteen minutes of jogging, Tommy passed by the familiar lake and stopped for a moment, looking on as the midnight moon reflected on the ripples of the lake. Reflecting on better times...
"Couldn't sleep?"
Almost surprised, Tommy turned to see Jason leaning by a tree also looking on by the lake, a heavy look forming on his face as he shook his head.
"Distracted by what happened," he answered.
Jason sighed. "Yeah. Me too."
There was an unsettling silence between the two Rangers and long-time friends as both stared at the lake, the clouds clearing from the moon.
"Why weren't we affected?" Tommy asked, puzzled. "Why are we still healthy?"
Jason didn't have an answer. "I don't know."
-o-
A round room made of hard diamond... located in the moon. The place seemed spotless, with the exception of purplish gooed footprints on the crystal floor. The source, the creature from the lunar pit, stared into its reflection and screamed. After a long bellow, it shattered the crystal wall with one swipe of its clawed hands, revealing a metal room with two shadowed individuals. The shorter man, a scientist-turned-petty thug named Ethan Kain, was sitting down look at the various scanning monitors while the larger man, the one that brought the creature in, looked on.
"The creature's power signatures are incredible," Kain said, "Nothing like I have ever seen."
The larger man grunted, "Don't be surprised, Kain. This creature is the product of ancient alchemy and alien science, nothing on earth could have produced this."
"And yet he's found on Earth's moon, along with the rest of the aliens." Kain added. He looked on as the creature continued to shatter walls in the crystal room. "His mind is a void, you know. He'll be difficult to control, if at all possible."
His partner smiled. "I'll take care of it, Kain."
Almost immediately, the shadowed man vanished from beside Kain and reappeared in front of the creature. The creature calmed down, took a step back, and breathed heavily. The large man took a step forward and studied the creature for a moment. It was a pretty menacing sight to behold and by looking around the room with pieces of shattered diamond scattered about, it had the strength to prove it.
"You're a pretty powerful bastard, aren't you?"
The creature grunted, but did not motion for attack.
The larger man sighed. "I don't know if you're understanding me, but either way,I'm going to give you a choice. You're either going to fight with us or we kill you. Believe me, your powerful armor shell is no match for the powers I have."
The creature looked into the large man's red eye for seconds before giving a nod and an affirmative grunt. The large man smiled and fired a beam of energy towards the last remaining diamond wall, shattering it to pieces. The blast revealed another door, which the large man walked towards with the creature slowly following him.
In the small observation room, Ethan Kain smiled. "That went better than I anticipated."
-o-
Saturday morning at the cabin was dreadful. Tommy and Jason both managed to return to the cabin and fall asleep at around 2:35 a.m. and promptly both woke up around 7:15 a.m. Knowing that it was worthless to call Zordon for an update, both went for a morning jog that lasted about an hour, followed by a half-hour of sparring. By 8:45 a.m., Tommy was cooking scrambled eggs while Jason squeezed some fresh oranges into two individual glasses. By 8:50 a.m., both had a plate of yellow scrambled eggs with a full glass of fresh orange juice.
"How's the juice?" Jason asked.
Tommy sampled the juice and proceeding to drink the glass. "Best juice I've had. How's the eggs?"
Likewise, Jason sampled the eggs and nodded in approval. "Very good. I didn't know you could cook eggs."
Tommy winced. "Just about the only thing there is in this place."
For the rest of the morning, things were relatively calm. Both sparred, both went for mornings jogs, both stopped by the ballpark to do some batting, anything that would pre-occupy them. At about 9:30 a.m., roughly a half-hour of activities ended when their communicators beeped.
"Yes, Zordon?"
"Rangers. Return to the Command Center immediately."
Both Jason and Tommy nodded to each other and activated the communicator's teleport button, subsequently vanishing in red and white light. When the two materialized in the Command Center, they both looked up at the sage, who was almost hesitant in saying anything.
"Did you find anything, Alpha?"
Alpha 5 took a moment before answering the White Ranger, "The sickness that the Rangers have been afflicted seems to originate from compounds of a rare biochemical substance. From Gamma Tri."
Tommy's eyes widened upon hearing those words. "Gamma Tri? As in that wax Rita had?"
"Yes," Zordon answered, "somehow the Rangers had gotten in contact with Gamma Tri substances either through battle or some other means unknown to me. Apparently these traces of Gamma Tri had been discovered in the Rangers' blood."
"How come we weren't affected?" the Red Ranger asked, his voice calm but a hint of anger evident.
"Since Jason has never made contact with any Gamma-Tri substance, he isn't susceptible to the plague," Alpha explained, "As far as you're concerned, Tommy, it could be possible when the Green Candle completely burned out and your Rangers powers were lost the first time that the Gamma Tri particles may have been eliminated."
"So you do know where this came from?" Jason asked, earning a look of bewilderment from the White Ranger.
Alpha nodded lightly, "I have some idea, but it require further study before I can be certain."
At that moment, the alarms blared loudly. Alpha went into panic mode as Jason and Tommy look to their mentor who was in deep thought.
"Rangers," the sage announced, "There is a disturbance in Angel Grove Park. Observe the viewing globe."
The Rangers turned to the viewing globe, where a grotesque creature was in battle with several clay creatures and a winged Titan; familiar characters to the Red and White Rangers.
"Goldar," Tommy mouthed, "And putties."
Jason nodded in agreement and took a closer look. "Looks like they're fighting someone creature."
"According to my scans, this creature is not a creation of Lord Zedd." Zordon added, "In fact, the origins of this creature are a complete mystery."
Tommy took a look at Jason before turning his attention to the globe. "Then what is it?"
-o-
The creature lashed out at the nearest Putty Patroller, its clawed hand ripping through the clay creature's "Z" plate that had been the source of its power. Two other putties attempt to sneak up on the creature, but the creature turned quickly and blow out a purplish mist. Before they could react, the two putties were enveloped in the mist and subsequently melted to a purplish substance. From afar, Goldar watched in awe as this strange creature was easily defeating the best of Lord Zedd's minions.
"This isn't one of Lord Zedd's creations!" the titan growled, "What is this?
"You don't recognize the creature, master Goldar?"
The Titan almost froze when he heard the voice, almost as if he recognized the elderly voice. Slowly, Goldar turned around to see the person who spoke. Upon realization, Goldar's jaw almost dropped at the sight of a large man with spiked shoulders and a shorter man whom he instantly recognized.
"Kain?"
Kain nodded affirmatively. "Yes, Master Goldar. It is I."
"What are you doing here, Kain?" the Titan demanded, " And who is that behind you?"
"This is an... acquaintance of mine." Kain replied, his voice trailing off.
"Back off, Kain. I'll handle this," the larger man stepped forward as he spoke, "my name is Argo and this is the collection of lost souls known as Plaghe."
Goldar stared at the creature. "Plaghe? You mean...?"
"That's right." Argo answered, smiling. "This creature, associated with a former boss of yours, was indirectly responsible for the crippling of the so-called 'Power Rangers' you're trying so hard to destroy."
Almost on cue, the Red and White Power Rangers immediately materialized before the small group, who immediately noticed their arrivals. Red Ranger immediately went into a defensive stance, while White Ranger stepped forward with his right fist raised at Argo and his crew.
"Whoever or whatever you are," White Ranger called, a hint of rage evident in his voice, "you're going DOWN!"
Argo smirked. "Doubtful. Plaghe... kill them."
Both the Red and White Rangers braced themselves as the creature called Plaghe lunged at them.
TO BE CONTINUED...