Dark Gift or Curse?
(Lost Planet)
"W-what do want with me?"
"Rita, I just want someone to talk to."
She could not help but gasp slightly. "Talk?"
"What were they like? The one's who took you down. I remember the ones who defeated me, but not these new lights that you faced."
Rita knew this voice. Or at least had heard something of the owner. This being was responsible for the actual death of a Ranger. The Green Ranger had died to imprison this evil, and then Zordon had appeared on her home world. He had presented the coin to her people stating that it had led him there for someone. It chose her. Her real name was something humans would not be able to speak. The tongue was too different.
When she had touched the coin, she had felt a pleasant warmth. But underneath that warmth…subtly lurking inside…
"Why am I here? I have no power. I have nothing to give you except my worthlessness. Just have someone kill me rather than waste your time."
"Waste? My time?" The imprisoned one sounded actually confused at this. "Oh, dear, dear infantile one. I am here to educate you and give you back something that you have lost."
"I have lost something? Of course I have. I have lost my power!" snapped Rita in anger. "Without power I am nothing in this expanded universe! Without power, I cannot possibly even survive!"
"Yes, that is true; you have made a number of enemies through the simple fact that you nearly claimed the crystal of another world. Sadly Rita, you thought that between that and the coin, you could actually stand against other powers that sought it."
"You. LACK! VISION!" thundered the prisoner. Rita was thrown from her feet on to the unforgiving stone beneath her. The planet felt like it was actually trembling. "You actually believe that just having the crystal alone would grant you the stars?! You actually believe for that reason I whispered the enlightening truths I did to you through the coin?! Tch. Such a waste."
"Me!?" gasped Rita. "A waste!?" She staggered to her feet clutching her bruised ribs. "You never did anything! It was me! And me alone!"
"Really? Then how come your power demanded that a coin be in your possession? Why did you need a staff to channel the power? Why Goldar?" Rita gasped at the last statement. "I can sense the truth on you Rita. I understand the soulless construct that you so loved. The problem with you is that you trust no one and rely upon a creature with strength, loyalty, and no heart. But without it…why without it, you're just that scared little creature on that world Zordon found." Rita flinched. "On a world where a young little one dreamed of escaping a world that was xenophobic and rejected all change."
How did this one know these things? In fact, who was the prisoner? She was starting to become very curious about the identity of the speaker. A dark thought of something shared in common began to swirl in Rita's head. Maybe she had been brought her to potentially gain some measure of revenge.
A dangerous smile nearly broke out upon her face, but she kept it inward. If she were to…help this prisoner, maybe, just maybe…
"You came to give me a lesson? Fine," she returned sweetly. "But I am willing to believe that, ultimately, it is not me alone who is in need of help. You need me for something, or else you would not have me here." She paused in contemplation. "You are a prisoner, and I am the only one who knows of this other crystal, the world it is upon, and the Ranger team that guards it. You want information."
"More than that, I want freedom."
"That isn't surprising. But I know nothing about this seal."
"Allow me to tell you that it was a most marvelous and horrifying construction. The seal that binds me is a life."
"A life?" That was a rather vague, obscure and enigmatic statement. "A living thing is that which holds you captive?"
"A life sacrificed is the source, while the power of the Rangers, interwoven together, forms the framework. Their power was focused through the one Green Ranger, ascended to a greater level of power, and then solidified according to her will. She held me immobile, while they struck me down. They could not kill me, but they could imprison me and render me helpless."
"Fascinating. So, when they combine powers…"
"They are quite capable of many incredible things. This prison is the worst. My strength, grown by leaps and bounds thanks to the crystal, has bled off into nothing. What remains is still formidable, but useless in my current state."
"So why then should I help you? I could just take the gift you give, and then leave."
"Because you cannot receive it without my being free. That is unfortunately the sad truth." The voice lowered a little. "The true gift is this…" the voice lowered further so Rita had to strain to hear, "…I know the mortal weakness of their power."
"Then that is worth any price," Rita concluded. With that she slapped her hand upon the structure and held it flat. A flare of green, leftover traces of the power that had been within her spiraled out in sick, twisted threads like thorny limbs and began to curl and weave all around the "egg". Rita screamed in pain but held on without letting up her hand.
Cracks began to form on the surface. Sludge began squelch and slither out from the openings and gathered on to the ground. Rita's eyes rolled up and she collapsed back on to the ground. The filth and ooze began to gather together as more and more escaped. "At last," breathed the foul-smelling liquid, "Too long have I been tormented by that horrible scene of that wretched White Ranger who gladly made herself a living prison for me."
The rocks near Rita's arm began to condense and form together into a long and twisted form like the staff she possessed upon Earth. "My gift unto you my dear. And my curse. You'll not betray me as easily as you might think." The rotting blob was now taking on a shape like that of a man. "Ah Zordon, I have waited to long to be entertained by the suffering of creation yet again. My army scattered, my power wasted, the world's I held freed, and the creatures I could watch dance like puppets attached to strings I could cut whenever I wished are no longer under my influence."
Ivan Ooze opened his eyes at last and surveyed himself; then took a shuddering, aching step. "Ngh. Pain, movement. I have missed also the splendor of simple movement and the pain of walking upon any surface, the ache of combat, the pride of standing in glory over a foe's remains. That ugly trap confined me to a non-existence of being nothing more than the primordial essence I so love." He looked at Rita with a smile. "When you wake and take that staff, you will be bound eternally to it. Let it go…and you may not survive the pain."