Return of an Old Evil
Disclaimer: Same as always.
A/N: This story is almost finished. Only two or at the most three chapters left! There is a BIG confrontation in this chapter! Read on to find out who it's between!
Chapter 20
Ivan was in his control center watching his machines battle the rangers' zords when his comlink chirped. He picked it up and listened for several seconds before tossing it aside. "Yes!" Ivan crowed in delight.
One of his agents had just informed him of the location of Zordon. At last, he could exact his revenge! He took another look at the battle on Earth and was just in time to see Dark Specter appear in the sky. No doubt his intentions were to punish Astronema for betraying him. His timing couldn't have better for Ivan as this was the perfect time to destroy Zordon while he was occupied.
Almost certainly he would still be under heavy guard but that didn't faze him in the least. He could ooze on through without then even know he was there.
'Time to face your destiny, Zordon', he thought as he took one last look at the battle and teleported away.
Are you serious?" Jason asked incredulously.
Kat gasped in horror. "That's Dark Specter?"
"Oh, my gosh, he's disgusting!" Kim exclaimed.
"Unfortunately, Astronema's right," Andros spoke up. "That is Dark Specter."
"But what---"Rocky started but was silenced as Dark Specter began to speak.
"Astronema!" He thundered. "You dared to betray me?" Little flames darted out of his mouth as he spoke.
She trembled and fidgeted nervously and started to stammer a reply then shook herself and stood up straight and looked him straight in the eye. "Yes, Dark Specter, I did," she said.
"I'm sorry you did. It's such a shame to have to destroy my best servant," he replied regretfully. "After I make you watch as I destroy your precious silver ranger right in front of your eyes!" He watched closely to see Astronema's reaction.
"No!" She screamed. "I won't let you touch Zhane!"
Ah, so his suspicions were right. "I'm sorry my dear, but it's the price you pay for betrayal," he said sadly.
"Go to hell, you bastard!" Andros yelled and the MV opened fire on him. Unfortunately, it had little effect on him except to make him even angrier than he already was.
He roared so loudly it seemed to shake the heavens and shot what seemed like a tidal wave of flame at Astronema and the MV. Astronema managed to teleport out of the way just in time but it hit the MV and overloaded its shields. It went down smoking.
"Hurry, full reset. We need the shields back up now!" Andros said urgently to Ashley whose hands darted frantically over the controls.
"I'm hurrying Andros," she replied. "I need your help." He complied and they both were working frantically to restore the shields.
"We've got to do something!" Jason said urgently. Another hit like that and the MV is finished!"
Before anyone could respond though, Dark Specter roared again, and prepared to send another wave of fire at the MV and Astronema.
Before he could though, he seemed to freeze up as his eyes lost focus. He stayed like that for several seconds than vanished abruptly.
"All right, can somebody tell me what in blazes just happened?" Carlos demanded.
"Carlos is right. This doesn't make any sense. Why would he bolt like that when he clearly could have destroyed all of us just now?" Adam asked.
"You go me," Rocky said. "I'm just glad he did. I though we were all finished."
"Something else must have happened that took precedence over his revenge on me," Astronema said thoughtfully.
Well, whatever happened, we don't have time to dwell on it now. We've still got to stop these machines!" Andros spoke up, getting everyone's attention back on the immediate concern.
"Well then, let's do it!" Tommy exclaimed. With that said they all attacked the machines with renewed vigor.
Even though the rangers were attacking more fiercely than before, the battle was virtually stalemated, with neither side able to gain the upper hand. That is until Lionator let loose its supersonic roar.
"Damn!" Zack exclaimed, putting his hands over his ears. "That's one hell of a roar!"
"I know. We've got to do something about it before it shakes the zords apart!" Tommy replied.
"I've got an idea!" Andros shouted. "Tommy, distract it with the SZM!. The rest of you keep the other machines busy!"
"Right!" Tommy shouted back. As the SZM stumbled its way to Lionator, the others, with the exception of the MV, shakily engaged the three machines.
Despite the MV shaking like an overused wooden roller coaster, Andros watched Lionator closely. "Ashley, is it armed and ready?" He asked, not taking his eyes off Lionator.
Ashley nodded firmly. "It's armed and ready, Andros," she told him, her voice shaking with the zord.
Andros acknowledged her with a nod, continuing to watch Lionator. Just then, the SZM kicked it in the side, knocking it off balance and it stumbled and fell. Andros then knew the time was right. "Ashley, now!" He yelled.
"Mega V-3 Missile, fire!" She shouted, pressing a button. With a shudder, the missile launched and headed straight for Lionator. The machine was busy getting back up and didn't see the missile in time to evade. The missile slammed into its side, scoring a direct hit, instantly penetrating its armor and Lionator exploded, sending debris everywhere.
"Whoo hoo!" Rocky yelled gleefully.
"We got one!" Carlos exclaimed.
"Good work. Now we don't have to worry about that roar anymore!" Kim shouted.
"All right, that's one down, three to go," Tommy stated.
"What are we waiting for? Let's get them!" Zack yelled.
"Right!" Jason replied. With that, they viciously attacked the other three machines.
With only three machines left, it wasn't long before the rangers had the upper hand. The RB was using Tyrannotron as a punching bag, the five original rangers were ganging up on Dragonitor, the other zords were taking on Hawkitron with the exception of the ZM, which went to help out the RB. Astronema, who was taking turns blasting each of the machines, nailed Dragonitor with a particularly powerful blast at the same time that Zack nailed it with his Power Axe and it was knocked backwards onto the ground. The five rangers moved in, getting ready to pound it while it was down, when all three machines vanished suddenly in a flash of purple light.
"Chickens!" Jason yelled. "Always running away when the going gets tough!"
"Jase, Ivan probably teleported them away, which means it's Him whose the chicken," Tommy told him.
"Don't worry, Jase, we'll get them next time," Zack said.
"I know, but this is---"
"I got it!" Billy yelled suddenly, cutting Jason off midsentence.
"What is it? What do you have?" Adam asked him.
"The location of Ivan's base!" Billy replied excitedly. "The homing device worked like a charm!"
"Where is it, Billy?" Jason asked eagerly.
"Not here," Andros broke in. "Let's get back to the ship first in case someone's spying or listening in on us."
Realizing Andros was right, Tommy spoke up. "All right, let's go."
Moments later, the zords were once again hidden and the five rangers and Astronema were back to normal size, courtesy of Astronema's staff. The next instant, DECA teleported them back to the ship.
Meanwhile, at a secret location located on an otherwise nondescript deserted planet in the middle of nowhere, in a hidden chamber there was a cylinder of what appeared to be green light nearly twenty feet tall and about eight feet in diameter. Inside the green light there was a floating grayish-white head. It was Zordon. There were a couple of hoses hooked up to the bottom of the tube near the floor. The bottom third of the cylinder had turned red with evil energy and it was ever so slowly rising higher.
There was nothing else in the chamber except four quantrons guarding the single door with four more on the other side of the door.
This day was like all the others, quiet and boring with nothing at all out of the ordinary happening. But all that changed when one of the guards noticed what looked like purple slime oozing under the door and up the side. Confused, He pointed it out to the other three and they didn't know what to make of it either.
Without warning, a purple blob rose up out of the puddle that had formed on the floor. It transformed into Ivan Ooze and in one instant he had felled all four quantrons with a single blast. He then turned his attention to the cylinder and more specifically, the head floating in it.
"Hey, old man, guess what? The boogeyman is back!" He exclaimed.
"Ivan Ooze? How is this possible?" Zordon asked incredulously.
"That's for me to know and you to find out!" Ivan replied smugly. "You only need to know that I'm going to get my revenge on you at last. And that it will be sugar sweet!" He then laughed manically.
"You won't get away with this, Ooze!" Zordon stated firmly. "Evil will never win!"
Ivan shook his head in exasperation. "You know, I am getting really sick and tired of hearing that," he said. "But it really doesn't matter anyway because in a few minutes you will be no more." He raised his hands and prepared to blast Zordon's cylinder. But before he could, a huge jet of orangish-red flame shot through the room, hitting Ivan and knocking him off his feet.
Ivan picked himself up only to be knocked off his feet once again by a second jet of flame. "Okay, who's the flame-head?" He asked in annoyance as he got to his feet once again.
"I'm the flame-head!" A deep voice thundered so loudly that the walls shook. Ivan turned his head toward the voice and saw Dark Specter appear through the giant hole the flames had burned in the wall. He had gotten there as quickly as possible after his agent had informed him that Ivan had discovered Zordon's location and was already on his way there; to destroy him, no doubt.
"Ah, Dark Specter; I was expecting you, but I must admit that it wasn't this soon," Ivan told him. "No matter, I'll just destroy you now rather than later. Then I'll destroy Zordon and take my place as the new Monarch of Evil!"
"I don't think so! You will never be the Monarch of Evil and you won't destroy Zordon either! I need him alive. My plans depend on it!" Dark Specter informed him.
"Well, I really must apologize. Your plans are moot because you won't be around much longer!" Ivan snapped and blasted him with purple energy. It hit Dark specter in the chest, causing him to yelp. He quickly shook it off and opened his mouth and sent a torrent of flame at Ivan who instantly teleported out of the way and countered with another blast of purple energy. Dark Specter evaded it and breathed another round of fire at Ivan who teleported out of the way again, this time appearing outside.
This continued for a while with neither getting the upper hand or even much hurting the other. Finally, Ivan had enough. "Yo, flame-head---" he broke off as teleported out of the way of a jet of flame. An instant later he reappeared and continued. "It's time to up the ante!" With that, he raised his hands, fingers outstretched, to the sky. Purple energy leapt from his fingers and shot up into the sky. Almost instantly, a clap of thunder sounded and purple lightning shot down from the sky and struck Dark Specter.
Dark Specter writhed in pain as Ivan continued his assault, flinging globs of ooze all over Dark Specter. Each glob stuck instantly where it hit, solidifying immediately and causing pain and paralysis in the spot that it covered.
As he became paralyzed in spots all over his body, Dark Specter knew he had to act now before it was too late. He quickly raised his body temperature higher and higher until all the ooze just melted away. He shook himself and glared at Ivan. "You're powerful, but not nearly powerful enough, you purple freak!" He exclaimed as Ivan sent another lightning blast at him. But this one missed completely as he vanished and reappeared a moment later several hundred kilometers away.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!" Ivan taunted and then went on. "Dark Specter, we both know you're only delaying the inevitable so why don't you just give up now!"With that, he sent an even more powerful lightning blast at the evil monarch.
But Dark Specter was ready. Ignoring Ivan's words, he surrounded himself with fire and met the lightning head on. The fire was so thick, the lightning just bounced harmless off it. As Ivan gaped in astonishment, he knew it was time to end this. He sent all the fire that was surrounding him directly at Ivan.
Coming too fast for Ivan to teleport out of the way, it completely engulfed him. He screamed in agony as his body caught fire and began to burn. This went on for several minutes until in a last desperate attempt to save himself, he turned himself to ooze. But the flames were so hot that the ooze immediately began to boil and finally exploded, sending purple energy and bits of ooze in all directions, which were quickly absorbed and evaporated by the flames.
The flames dissipated several moments later and Ivan was no more.
He checked quickly to make sure the good in Zordon was still being drained and ordered the work crews to repair the wall and anything else that had bee damaged. He knew that Zordon would have to be moved very soon, but it would have to wait until he had his revenge on Astronema and Ecliptor.
Not wanting to take any chances, he quickly contacted Divatox and ordered her and her minions to come and guard Zordon along with the guards already there.
With that done, he headed back to take care of his unfinished business.
A/N: I didn't really like the way I left off with the rangers but the confrontation went longer than I orginally planned! So what did you think of the confrontation between Ivan and Dark Specter? I'm not totally sure sure if each of them is actually capible of doing what they did but it's my story and it made the confrontation awesome in my opinion! I'd love for you to review an tell me yours.