CHAPTER 21 - LORD ZEDD'S PONDERINGS

Lord Zedd leaned back in his throne, analyzing the last battle. He'd planned the multiple attacks to discover the skill levels of his opponents and to observe his warriors separately. If he had a traitor in his midst, which he strongly suspected, they would be more likely to show themselves in such a hectic environment as he'd created here as opposed to doing so when fighting beside another, more loyal warrior.

The specific battles, he'd planned according to what he'd observed of the seven Rangers, both in battle archives and personally. Part of that went as he'd expected. Tommy, as the team's only Serpent Lord, had faced the snake. As was to be expected from a Serpent Lord of any age, Tommy had started that battle on the mental planes. Also as Zedd had expected, he had not had to order the creation to avoid causing Tommy any harm. The creation had felt the Power of the child and made that deduction on its own, planning Tommy's capture in a non-damaging way from the start. It hadn't succeeded, hadn't come anywhere close to succeeding, but that too Zedd had expected.

Beyond that, the battles ranged quite a bit different than expected. For one, he had assumed the Red Ranger and the Black Ranger would be the two to lead against Goldar and Scorpina, which they did, just in the opposite fields as expected. The White Ranger, the little brother Tommy was so protective of, Zedd had assumed would be present at Tommy's side or not present anywhere. Instead, he and the Pink Ranger were the ones to take on the putties where Zedd had expected Yellow and Blue. The Pink Ranger, he'd expected with Black Ranger against Scorpina and Red Ranger alone against Goldar. Obviously none of that had come about. As it was, the battlefields were more balanced but outside the Rangers' usual comfort zones.

Zedd hadn't been overly surprised to see those teenagers that had taken to Tommy appearing at the battles and helping the civilians out of the area. Not that he'd expected them, just that what he had seen of their interactions with Tommy suggested they might make an appearance sometimes. He hadn't expected them to fight so well when cornered, nor had he thought the Rangers would open up teleportation for so many others. That would explain the reasoning behind Tommy's new command building as the Command Centre didn't allow easy access to non-Rangers. Unlike the Command Centre, Zedd knew exactly where this building was located which should have made things more dangerous for the team. But also unlike the Command Centre, such knowledge did no good. He couldn't see through the defenses around the place. Sure, he could blow the place away. Probably. But he wanted Tommy alive, he wanted the information on Tommy that only those around him could provide. Zedd wondered how Tommy managed to shield his place so much better than any of the Ranger Command Centres throughout the 'verse, but he admitted that at this time he simply didn't have enough information to even begin to answer that.

The battles were something worth contemplating all by themselves.

First and of the most interest, Tommy's mental battle against the serpent began immediately, unlike Zedd had expected. The reason for this was Tommy's well controlled air elemental powers taking out every single one of the putties in one blast. Zedd had assumed from Tommy's shocked expression when he'd used the elemental power against him that Tommy had been unaware of his own power there. Seeing this, he had to rethink that. Perhaps it was that Tommy simply hadn't meant to use the power at that moment? Or was he really that quick a study that he went from absolutely no knowledge to that level of control almost overnight? Either way, there was a danger in this situation that Zedd was unused to facing. The wrong answer here could extend their conflict tremendously, though Zedd was sure the ending foreordained.

Then there was Goldar's battle. When he'd overpowered Yellow Ranger, Zedd had been sure he was about to have one less Ranger bothering him. Instead he saw something unlike anything he'd seen before. Black Ranger simply fired his blaster into the water and a whirlpool rose out of the bay, wrapped around Goldar, and threw the warrior into the bay. Then one of those boys teleported in and took Yellow away while Black continued to control that whirlpool somehow with his blaster fire, taking out the putties and putting an end to that battle. Zedd couldn't understand how he did that. He knew he'd spend the next few nights pondering it until he figured out exactly what modifications these earthlings made to their blasters. Billy's work, no doubt.

At that point, Zedd had been fairly sure of Goldar's loyalty. Then he sent the still wet warrior to join Scorpina in the shopping center. Goldar had appeared, he'd turned his angry gaze to the Black Ranger … then a human girl laid a hand on his wrist, said something, and Goldar followed her away like one of those puppies he'd seen some of the Rangers playing with before. He never returned to the battle. Then he came back here, claimed he 'didn't remember' anything like that. He 'didn't know' how he ended up walking off the battlefield and going to sleep in the middle of his duty! Either Goldar was up to something there and was being very foolish on how he tried to cover for himself or Tommy had many more secrets than Zedd suspected. Despite how much potential Tommy possessed, he was still but a teenager, Zedd could only assume it was Goldar hiding something. The old warrior never was that good at hiding his intentions.

Then there was the most interesting ending to the battles. Once the other battles were over, five Rangers joined Tommy against the serpent creation however the White Ranger was nowhere to be found. This would have been what Zedd expected if White hadn't been at the other fights. As it was, his absence at this battle was of interest. Why was Tommy keeping his little brother away from that specific battle? Or was Tommy simply unworried about the boy fighting putties and assuming that Zedd wouldn't send something else down the moment the Rangers arrived? Or, perhaps the most likely, the White Ranger simply joined that fight without Tommy's knowledge, something he could not do at the final battle.

Zedd had ignored those thoughts at the time, turning his full concentration to that battlefield, to controlling his creation. Tommy had immediately recognized what Zedd had done there and reacted by forfeiting the mental battle for control. Yes, it was a given that Zedd, as the most Powerful Serpent Lord in existence, would win that battle but he'd still expected Tommy to try. Instead, Tommy had realized Zedd's wish to get a feel on how strong the boy's control was and reacted by dropping all attempts.

What Zedd learned in these battles was that Tommy was a truly cunning opponent already and Tommy was leading the team now. The Red Ranger might still be claiming the position as figurehead with Earth's population but that would only be because Tommy so obviously hated dealing with the nosy humans. Tommy had also obviously used the time Zedd gave him to prepare to have his team's creator design new weaponry or upgrade their existing weaponry. As he'd seen and as his warriors' stated, Tommy was protective of both Jason and Harry, but not in a manner that made his actions easily predicted.

And most important thing Zedd learned from all this - Tommy was a better teacher, the other Rangers better students than Zedd had expected, so whatever conclusion he reached on them would have to be based on things seen since the month leeway he'd given them.

Perhaps, Zedd admitted in his thoughts what he wouldn't say aloud, I should not have given him that month to prepare. Though it will make things more interesting.

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