Chapter 8

The Gathering of the Fallen

Somewhere in Space

Gorluce's ship was on its way to Earth. Gorluce himself was in his ready room making his plans. He sat with his back turned to the door, his moonlight silver cape hung over his chair. Gorluce sat writing, contemplating, planning his revenge on all associated with those who had destroyed his comrades. His muscles pulsated under his black and red body suit. A glare came into his blood-red eyes. Zordon of Eltar. That name would burn in his memory for all eternity. That wizard had unknowingly destroyed Gorluce's dearest friends. If only he had been more careful. If only that witch, Rita, had been more concerned with something besides herself. If only…If only Gorluce himself had been stronger. Then he would have been able to stop what would have happened. Then maybe Asurac and the others would still be alive.

But there would be none of that now. Zordon and Rita were both gone, and Gorluce had spent eons getting stronger, becoming the force he knew he could be. Had to be. Now his focus was on destroying Zordon's legacy, what he had left behind. The thing that gave ordinary beings the strength of armies: The Universal Morphing Grid. Destroy that, and the Power Rangers of past, present and future would be destroyed with it. Destroy the Rangers, and Earth was ripe for the picking, and soon the universe would fall to its knees.

But, the Grid was maintained by the balance of power; so long as that balance was still at rest the Grid would endure. He needed to defeat the Rangers on the battlefield in order to do shift the balance. And so, he would need to recruit some of the most powerful warriors of all time to his cause. He would need to find the most feared warriors that had ever existed, and with the power of Chaos, he could have them all. Plus if any ever got any ideas about trying to overthrow him, he could easily destroy them once again. That was the power of Chaos, destruction and creation. Whatever Gorluce wanted, he could create, and if it already existed, he would take it. That was what Chaos could do, and only he could wield it. That was why he would be true master of the universe; a title that Zordon had been too weak to fight for, and that Rita had not been ambitious enough to attempt to claim.

The door to the ready room opened and in stepped Gorluce's second in command, Mortis. Mortis was a good friend of Gorluce's old friend Asurac, and the mutual connection led Gorluce to believe that Mortis would make a fine lieutenant. Indeed, Mortis had proved to be quite loyal and skilled; so much so that he had become Gorluce's head recruiter and trainer of underlings.

"The troops are ready and the guests have arrived, my lord," said Mortis, bowing.

"Very good. I will address them in a moment," Gorluce responded. Mortis turned and left. The troops need to understand that my undertaking is not just for myself, it is for them as well, Gorluce thought to himself. We will all bask in the glory of victory. The Power Rangers are all that stand in our way. Total victory must be attained. Those know-nothing, blind followers of the way of Zordon must pay for their crimes. They believe that they do well for their home worlds, but do they truly do good for others? I will show them that the way of Chaos is truly superior.

Gorluce headed out to the bridge of his ship. Mortis stood at his right. The troops were spread out across the barracks, with a group of individuals in black cloaks in an inner semi-circle in front of where Gorluce was standing. Gorluce looked upon the scene with a smirk on his face. He saw the troops standing at attention, and the guests in their cloaks sitting in wait for what Gorluce had to say.

"My dear, dear friends, you have been held in a state of static inability for far too long. Your ambitions, your energy, your passion, they have all been suppressed for far too long. You have been made into pariahs; your names cursed, your lives tortured, everything that you hold dear taken from you, everything that you want you can never have. Why are you not allowed to let your true selves shine through? As if you are not worthy of the gift of life! There is but one reason that you are told you are not worthy of your true desires.

"The Power Rangers! They shatter your hopes and dreams. They destroy you over and over again in infinite ways! They think they do what is right, but do they really know? NO! They simply follow the way of Zordon! That fool still wouldn't understand today that many of the peoples he fought against are more like him than he would admit. The Power Rangers must pay for following the ways of a fool whose ways have long passed, yet still live on. We must extinguish the flames of his lies and reveal the truth. We will prove that we are the greatest faction that existed, that we are in fact truly deserving of being masters of the universe. Good and evil can continue to duel, but in the end, in that war of attrition, it will be Chaos that reigns over all!"

The crowd cheered. The lower troops chanted Gorluce's name. The cloaked beings remained silent.

Gorluce continued. "I am not the only one who believes in Chaos. My guests have been in the war against the Power Rangers, and they can see my way of thinking is right. Now all we need do is gain victory and the Universal Morphing Grid will be ours! And with it, Earth and the universe itself will be OURS!"

Again the troops cheered. Gorluce walked away with a smile on his face. "Soon," he said to himself "Soon it will all come to pass. Chaos will reign, and I will lead the glorious revival of freedom throughout the universe."

Mortis came up behind Gorluce. "An excellent rallying of the troops, my lord. Shall I bring our guests into the conference room? I am assuming you have much to speak with them about."

"See to that, Mortis. Our guests must not be kept in the dark as to their parts in this endeavor. Their cooperation is key for the plan to go as smoothly as possible, we need each and every one of them to fulfill their part in this plan. Each one is vital. We cannot have one oversight. Those Power Rangers believe they are righteous and just. I will make them fall to their knees and realize the error of the ways of Zordon of Eltar."

After a small amount of time, Gorluce was seated at the head of a long oval table in his conference room. Mortis was seated at his right. The other seats were each filled by a figure in a long black, hooded robe. There were numerous figures, each one unique; though all had a sinister quality underneath the robes they wore.

"Welcome, my honored guests. It's great to have you here. Each of you has been selected for the …shall we say… connections to the enemy we are facing..."

"We know that," said one of the guests. "Otherwise, we'd all still kept in our various prisons. Being stuck like that is no fun, let me tell you."

"Hmmm…indeed," said another with a very deep voice. "Our connections must be very deep to have been summoned from the very abyss to gain another chance at redemption."

"But why have we been summoned?" asked a third, this one a female. "Some of us have fallen more than once to this enemy."

A gruff voice followed with: "Is there not honor in knowing when you are beaten? Knowing your limits?"

"Honor in admitting defeat?" Gorluce asked. "Some of you I would not expect this from. Perhaps you are not who I expected you to be. I must have gotten you confused with other warriors, ones who believe that defeat is honorable."

"I don't know about these fools, but I know I am worthy of your call, Lord Gorluce. If it were up to me, four factions would be united and they would have divided Earth in four by now; as such they battled each other to their own destructions, and the Rangers divided and conquered." The figure who was speaking stood up, holding what appeared to be a staff high, revealing a scarlet arm with silver armor lines.

Another female spoke from her seat. "I'm right here, not that anyone cares. And I for one, am thankful that Lord Gorluce released me from my prison. But the rest of you are fools who don't deserve Lord Gorluce's gracious generosity." This lady crossed her arms and a blue garment flashed under her robe.

"Enough," said Gorluce. "Your petty squabbles mean nothing to me. You all have parts to play in my grand endeavor. And it is vital to me that you all play your parts. My strength may not be enough alone, but together we can take the Universal Morphing Grid and Earth with it!"

"I nearly took the Universal Morphing Grid myself!" yelled the one with the scarlet skin. "I put the Overdrive Rangers out of commission, but then that meddling Sentinel Knight brought in a team of past and future Rangers, and when those fools couldn't work together…"

"I don't need the history lesson, you," snarled Gorluce. "I am well aware of what happened. What you needed then, what all of you need now, is the power of Chaos. I told my army that you believed in Chaos, now I need you to make good on my words. Remember, I could easily send you back to whatever situation you were in before you were here. And besides, even in defeat, you are never finished when you have Chaos with you. Now what do you say, friends? Will you join me? Will you embrace the true power that is Chaos? I don't want anyone to find out what happens when you make a liar out of me. You all know how I operate. Will you rise alongside me or fall in my wake?"

"If it will give me another shot at the Power Rangers, I'm in," said the first speaker.

"Very well," said the first female.

"On my honor, I shall bind myself to this cause," said the one with the gruff voice.

Eventually, all agreed.

"Thank you, all of you. We are strong together. Those of the way of Zordon shall never know what hit them. The way of Chaos is truly limitless. It will be a truly glorious day when we arise and take back what is rightfully ours.

"Let us raise our glasses to Chaos and to the final fall of the Power Rangers!"