From the Future to the Past
Sparks rained down in the dimly lit and damaged Command Center as explosions outside rocked its walls. These were the last days. Lord Drakkon's forces had decimated the planet and extinguished humanity altogether. His vengeance knew no bounds and the very Earth split apart because of it. Huddled inside this final stronghold were the last two living Power Rangers and as they and Zordon scrambled to carry out their desperate plan, Drakkon's forces carved through the Command Center defenses to get to them.
A tall grizzled man with receding hair and a full, greying beard stood next to a concerned, dark haired woman before Zordon's energy tube. "Is this going to work?" she asked quietly while soothing the tiny baby she had wrapped in an emerald colored blanket.
"It has to," replied the man. "He is our only hope now. Zordon, are we ready?"
Zordon, the Eltar, an ancient blue skinned species, alien to Earth, but one that had lived here for longer than the human race had been alive. His body was destroyed centuries ago in the war with the evil Rita Repulsa, and now his essence was confined to the Morphing Grid and his only contact to the outside world was through a specialized energy tube created by his friend and servant, Alpha 5, a sentient android.
Alpha 5, whilst normally a five foot tall, tottering robot with a jovial yet metallic voice and cheery disposition, had now deployed his rarely used combat mode and was currently holding Drakkon's forces from entering the Command Center as Zordon enacted his plan. Though he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.
"All is ready," Zordon replied. "Once you destroy the energy tube there will be a brief implosion before the energy wave explodes out. You will have to place the baby in the center of the aperture where I will be able to transport him through time during the collapse. We will only have mere seconds and one chance at this."
The woman kissed her baby. "Then let's not waste time. Alpha can't last much longer."
As if on cue, the far wall of the Command Center exploded inward and a large, spindly robot covered in spent and smoking canons was flung to the floor with the debris. It's saucer like head disconnected from its body when it landed and rolled to the man's feet. Its edge was rimmed in lights that flickered and a broken voice stuttered out, "I…I have failed…in…keeping him…out. I'm…sorry…aye..yi…y…". Its voice trailed off as it powered down.
"Thank you, old friend," the man said then he then turned to his wife, "I'll buy you as much time as I can. Hurry!" He kissed his child and embraced the woman one last time. Then after a farewell kiss he turned and leapt over the remains of the terminal and landed near the opening in the wall, fully morphed.
His Ranger form was unlike any ever seen as it was one of his own creation, a combination of several Ranger powers compiled from morphers rescued from Drakkon's grasp. His boots were black, instead of the typical white, and the heel and toe were plated in a golden metal. A gold stripe ran over the foot and up his shin to the top of the tall boots that ended in golden knee pads. The upper leg and body of the suit were navy blue and the Dino Buckler was held about his waist with a black belt. His gauntlets were also black with gilt knuckles and, similar to the boots, a stripe ran to the gold elbow pads. His shoulders, chest, and upper back were armored with the gilded shield of the Zeo Gold Ranger whose trappings also covered his ribs with its crisscrossed armaments. His helmet was navy blue with a light blue visor and an aureate mouth guard instead of the usual molded lips. The top of the helmet was fashioned after the Triceratops but with gold horns that swept forward and away from the helmet instead of being flush against it, adding one more weapon at his disposal.
Fashioned to his left arm he held a blue, triangular shield nearly as tall as he was that was also fashioned after the head of a Triceratops with auric horns. The crest tilted slightly away from him and allowed the two larger horns to protrude outward. The single horn pointed straight down adding an offensive weapon to the defensive armor. In his right hand he carried a long staff tipped on one end with three triangular tines sharpened to blades and on the other was the three-barred crest of Triforia topped with the red orb that swirled with energy.
He poised waiting for the inevitable attack and he did not have to wait long. A powerful green blast filled the hole in the wall and struck the Tricera-shield dead center. The man braced himself for the attack but was still hurled backwards a few meters though he did successfully block the beam and remain on his feet. The blast subsided and a moment later the dark, intimidating silhouette of Lord Drakkon loomed in the opening.
He was tall and broad with a terrifying presence as he hovered several feet off the ground, his long black cape flickering behind him. He was an evil Ranger with a power corrupted from the Morphing Grid by forcefully combining several Ranger powers. His armor was black, accented in tarnished gold about his boots, belt, and gloves. His shoulders were also shielded but with ridged armor that crossed his chest like and X with a diamond shape in the center marked with his sigil of a black flame. His helmet was black with a gold face shield that grew past the red visor into backward swept horns on this brow. He spoke with a voice that rumbled like an earthquake and commanded terror from all who could hear it.
"Look at you," Drakkon said in amusement. "Finally you see that the true power of the Grid comes from combining its parts, not that this new revelation or form will save you."
"I don't need it to save me; I just need it to kill you." The Tricera-Ranger responded.
"HA!" Drakkon laughed in amusement. "Good luck."
As the titans clashed, the woman moved behind Zordon's energy tube so as not to be spotted by Drakkon. She gently placed the baby on the floor beside her and held out her left hand in front of her. Instantly a silver bladed, yellow handled dagger materialized in her hand pointing downward. She grasped it firm with both hands and held it away from her body and parallel to the ground. "Are you ready Zordon?" she asked and the old sage nodded. With a load "hi-yah" she swung the blade with all her might and pierced the translucent material of the energy tube. The blade began to glow as she cut through the barrier like a knife through butter. Once she had made a large enough hole the blade flashed out of existence and she quickly picked up the baby and kissed him one last time before pushing him through the opening in the tube. She could feel the force as the vacuum had started pulling inward for the imminent implosion.
Her task complete she stepped from behind the tube making herself fully visible to Drakkon whom now held the beaten Blue Ranger suspended off the ground by the throat. "It's over Drakkon!" she shouted and flung the tattered poncho she was wearing from her shoulders revealing her own Power Armor. Her suit was yellow, accented in black on her boots, belt, and battle claw gauntlets, that had been fused with claw boosters so that three short, bladed claws extended out over the knuckles while a silver bladed, yellow dagger appeared in each hand in a flash of light. Her neck and chest were encircled by the gold collar of the Zeo Rangers and her upper arms were each adorned with a small shield branded with the face of the saber-toothed tiger. Her helmet materialized over her head as she strode forward and was also yellow and fashioned after the prehistoric tiger with a black visor and mouth guard.
"Yes," Drakkon answered her. "It is indeed over. Once I kill you and your dear husband here I can exterminate the child and the human race will finally be extinct. Then it is only a matter of time before the planet itself collapses under its own weight. Can you feel it? I destroyed the core and marred the mantle. The earthquakes are the tectonic plates giving way and collapsing. Soon I will have obliterated this planet and everything on it."
"You'll never see it happen," she remarked coolly. "Our son will stop you before you even amass this power you now possess."
Drakkon dropped his victim to the floor and angrily yelled at the Yellow Ranger, "What have you done?! WHERE IS THE CHILD?!"
"Where you can't get him," she chided.
Drakkon yelled in a fit of rage and shot an energy blast from his hand at the woman. She nimbly dodged out of the way allowing the blast to strike full on Zordon's energy tube shattering it. There was a millisecond of silence as the world froze in time followed by Zordon's voice calmly stating, "It is done." Then the remains of the tube exploded in a brilliant blue light that filled the Command Center before bursting out across the entire planet and into the cosmos.
Some time earlier, 17 years before invasion day
The Command Center was peaceful and serene. Alpha Five busied himself at the terminal monitoring the many activities around the world and keeping an ever vigilante watch on the whereabouts of the Nemesis planet. Zordon, in his energy tube, had gone quiet. He felt a distant pulling from the Grid and was meditating on the source when suddenly a realization hit him. "Alpha!" he cried out.
"Aye-yi-yi!" exclaimed the little robot, startled. "What is it Zordon?"
"I am being contacted from someone inside the Morphing Grid. It is an urgent message."
"Who could be contacting you from inside the Grid?"
"It is from…me?" Zordon said confused then realized what the message was. "Indeed. It is a message from my future self."
"What kind of message, Zordon?" squeaked the little robot.
"A warning," Zordon replied grimly. "Alpha, I am sending something back to myself. Something that can save us from the calamity that will befall our future should we not act to prevent it. Prepare a transfer from the time stream inside the Grid."
"Ready Zordon," Alpha acknowledged from a different control panel on the terminal he had rushed over to. "Materializing now."
In a flash of green light, the infant materialized on a flat surface of the computer terminal. Alpha had successfully plucked him out of the time stream. The baby began to cry, and Alpha gently picked him up and rocked him gingerly. "Zordon," he exclaimed. "It's a baby?"
"Not just a baby, my dear Alpha, but a child to change the future."