In the early hours of Thanksgiving morning, around 5 AM, Jordan was awakened by some sound from the kitchen. He knew it was just Mr and Mrs Burrows beginning preparations on Thanksgiving dinner. Troy had warned him that they started early to make sure everything was ready on time. Looking over, he saw that despite the noise, Troy was still sound asleep, and would be for another hour. Such was Troy's level of discipline; even his sleeping pattern was predictable. He was always up early for a run. It did, however, present Jordan with an opportunity. Getting out of bed, he started quietly getting dressed.

He had known for a long time that there was more to recent events in the war than they knew. Gosei had never exactly been the most forthcoming about the war, or what was expected of them. It wasn't as though they couldn't understand why; more than a few of the secrets that they had discovered along the way had tested their resolve to breaking point. A lot of times, they even had to admit that if they had known what they were in for right from the start, they would probably have had second or even third thoughts about the whole thing. The war could have gone very differently if they had known some of the horrors they would have to face.

Since Metal Alice had turned up though, the whole landscape had seemed to change radically. Since the moment she had turned up, she had begun what he now understood to be a personal campaign against him. She had found out from his blood that General Edwards was not his biological father, and had killed him for no other reason than to allow Jordan to find that out. She constantly came after him, and every time just talked cryptically about being lied to and not knowing the truth. It had been a shock for him initially when he found out that she was a cyborg, not a robot, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

Her focus, or what he thought was focus was actually an obsession. Her actions were deeply personal, the result of some perceived grudge between them. As of the last battle though, he now had even more questions. After the battle at the haulage yard, she had revealed himself to be Wallacia, an Eltarian. She was the same species as Gosei, and he had a feeling that Gosei had known all along. She had been a follower of Lord Scimitar, the warlord that would eventually become the scourge of the galaxy Lord Zedd. She had fought against Gosei's father Zordon during the downfall of Eltar millennia ago. The way Gosei had been acting, he strongly suspected that he knew, quite possibly from as early on as the first time she showed up.

Now, he was done with it. While he had gone along with the lies and the deceit, all in the name of the "greater plan" Gosei seemed to have he was now sick of it all. He was involved in some kind of grudge match, and he didn't even know what she had against him. He was expected to battle a psychotic cyborg that had dedicated herself to making his life hell without even knowing why. He had told Gosei upfront that he expected answers, and he didn't care how he had to get them.

He already had a plan in mind. As he made his way downstairs quietly, he took care to slip through the door while Mr Burrows manhandled the turkey, which looked large enough to feed an entire infantry regiment, into the oven. Once he was outside, he teleported to Gosei's island.

He landed a fair distance from the Command Centre, and turned off his communicator. He had a bit of a trek ahead of him, but thanks to the tunnel Mike had made when he helped them out, he knew he would be able to access the Command Centre, and the last thing he needed was to be interrupted. He heard a rustling in the bushes a little way off, and snapped around. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the former Bluefur foraging through some shrubs.

"I guess even Emma's pet deserves a good Thanksgiving." Jordan remarked, before heading for the Command Centre.

As he arrived, he found that his gamble had paid off. Because he had a morpher, he didn't set off the alarm system, but the cave was in complete darkness. He guessed that even Gosei needed time to rest up at some point. He made his way through, almost tripping over Tensou, who was connected to a console to recharge.

Getting to one of the walls, he looked around to make sure that no one was aware of his presence, before checking out the glyphs there. Since the first time he had been in the Library, since the first time he had accessed one of the memories, he had found himself able to read Eltarian. It was an instruction on how to open the door, something that until now only Gosei had done. He repeated the password inscribed there, at which the wall slid open.

He knew that Gosei would never give him the answers he wanted. Asking him would be as fruitless as asking the wall he resided within. This was always his intention, to go and find the answers himself, and he already had a plan how he would manage it.

He closed the door behind him, leaving him in darkness, but only for a moment. Soon, the room lit up, and the memories started to glow brightly. He looked around as he felt something hit him in the back of the head. He picked up a memory, and looked around to see Pythia, still taking on the guise of his mother, this time in a night dress, and carrying a teddy bear.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" She demanded grumpily in a yawn. "Some of us are trying to sleep you know."

"Firstly, you're a memory, you don't need to sleep." Jordan reminded her, setting loose the memory for it to return to where it belonged. "Secondly, how many times do I have to ask you to treat these with a little respect? They are people's memories. Thirdly...is...is that...my teddy?"

"In a way." She replied, holding it closely. Jordan still found this a little unsettling, but he had a feeling that a few thousand years alone in the Library had taken its toll on her mindset. She had formed a sort of attachment to him, something he was sure was at least in part because he doubted she had many visitors. He banked on that connection to get her to listen to him, and convince her to defy Gosei. "It's not like you visit that often...shame on you! I wanted a little piece of..."

"I haven't had that bear since the fire at that barracks house when I was five." Jordan remarked, thinking about it. "My mom...she got that for me."

"You took it everywhere." Pythia reminded him with a smile, before looking to him in a disapproving manner, her hands on her hips. "So, why are you suddenly visiting at this time young man?"

"I was hoping for some information." Jordan told her, pulling the memory Metal Alice had left for him out of his pocket. "I've tried, but I can't access this outside. I figured I'd need to bring it here."

"Another memory?" She asked him, inspecting it. "Where did you get this?"

"Metal Alice left it." He informed her. "I need to see what's in here, and I'll need to see some other memories too."

"Gosei didn't approve this." She told him.

"No, he didn't, but that doesn't mean to say I'm going to let it go." Jordan told her. "I'm involved in something and he won't let me know what! If I can't get the answers from him, I figured I could get them from you."

"Oh, and why would I do that?" She asked him. "Why would I defy the current owner of the Library?"

"Because I can give you something he won't." Jordan told her. She got a little smirk on her face hearing this. He just rolled his eyes. "No, nothing like that...not that I'm certain we could...you know...anyway."

"Then what pre tell can you give me that I would want?" She asked him. Jordan looked to her and smiled.

"I can give you one important piece of information." He stated with authority. "Metal Alice is a cyborg, and under all that metal...she's someone you know. Under all the armour and circuitry, she's Wallacia."

"Wallacia?" Pythia replied, looking even paler than before. Jordan took a step closer.

"If you let me have the information I need, I'll end her for good." He assured her.

Pythia looked to the crystal, her grip tightening on it.

"This will take me a little while." She told him. "If I do this, I want you to bring me her head."

"Consider it done." Jordan answered.

Back on the Warstar ship, Vrak looked to the newly hatched Malkor, and couldn't help feeling a shudder going straight through him. He was infinitely more powerful than anything else the Insectiods had to offer, that much was evident just from the air of menace surrounding him. He was now much larger than he had been before, and had a shiny, thick carapace covering most of his body. Large wings were folded around him. He stood over the remains of the cocoon, admiring his new form. Even his closest guards trembled in fear of him. He looked to his clawed hand as energy crackled around it like lightning.

"I feel it, such power!" He growled. "I am REBORN!"

"Your metamorphosis has been completed, your power is unimaginable." Vrak complimented him.

"Yes, and yet while my power has increased, and now it is time for the Rangers to see the true power of the Insectoids." Malkor told him. "The time for my final victory is at hand!"

"You wish to invade?" Vrak asked him. "Now?"

"With my new, invincible power, I will deal with them personally." Malkor announced. "Have my army ready for the invasion. I will clear the way myself."

In the Library, Jordan found himself drawn into Metal Alice's memory, finding himself in strangely familiar surroundings. It was a ship, almost identical to the one that Zordon and his followers had used to escape during the evacuation. This one, however, seemed to be crewed almost entirely by robots. He heard a scream coming from down a hallway, and started to head down, following the tortured screams.

He found himself in what could loosely be described as an infirmary, but what he saw there was something he couldn't have imagined in his worst nightmares. He could smell the burnt flesh in the room, and the machinery all around looked more like something he would imagine in a torture chamber. Given the screams from the patient, he was sure that it was not far off it.

Lying on the bench was what was left of Lord Scimitar, the former head of the Council of Eltar. In the battle in the Council Chamber, he remembered Wallacia had attacked Zordon with a powerful blast, only for it to be deflected into Scimitar. He remembered seeing him fall lifelessly to the floor, almost completely incinerated. From what he understood of what came afterwards, he had taken on a new identity, but he also had a fearsome new look.

The form lying on the bench looked sickening to behold. All his flesh was gone, completely burned away, while the rest of it, all the dead flesh was being surgically removed by the robots working on him. He saw tubes plugged into him, feeding him vital fluids, presumably what was keeping him alive. He thought at first they were only pumping fluids into him, but seeing some of them moving, getting shorter, he realised the tubes themselves were being fed directly into him, presumably to replace vital parts of his anatomy that were failing. Looking to some of them working on metal plates of armour, he almost felt ill as he noticed them welding them directly onto Scimitar's body to reinforce the structure.

Wallacia stood in the corner, tears running down her face as she held something in her hands, watching the robots work.

"Have strength my love, it will be over soon." She begged him tearfully. "This armour, it is infused with the pinnacle of our technomantic power. It will sustain your life."

Lord Scimitar screamed out in agony again. Jordan realised that not only was he still alive, and still conscious, he was obviously not sedated in any way. It was like sheer willpower alone was keeping him alive. All that could be seen through the armour was muscle and sinew. As the robots moved away, Wallacia approached him slowly, looking down to him mournfully.

"It is almost done my love." She told him. "There is one thing left."

She took the item in her hands, a face mask with a grill over the mouth, and a red visor, and lowered it to his face, before picking up a torch and beginning to work; sealing him into the new face he would show the galaxy from this point on. She heard some ragged breathing from him as she finished, putting the torch down, before taking his hand.

"It is done." She told him.

"Let me see." He instructed her. Wallacia looked more than a little concerned.

"But...but my love, you've only just received your treatment." She reminded him. "You must..."

"SHOW ME!" He roared, shaking the whole room with his voice. Wallacia reluctantly hit a button, turning the bench to help him stand. Lord Scimitar, now the new Lord Zedd, took his first, shaky steps onto the floor, and almost immediately collapsed. She was quickly by his side, helping to hold him up.

"My Lord..."

He rebuffed her harshly, before making his way across the room, shuffling at first as it took his body time to come to terms with the trauma. Jordan knew that there was no natural way he should have even survived, never mind returned to his feet so quickly after the injury. It was a combination of Eltarian technology, forbidden magic, and his own evil will that would not allow him to just die as he should have. He got to a mirror, and looked into it, seeing for the first time the nightmare he had become, the scourge that would terrorise the galaxy for millennia. His body blazed bright red as his magical power came forth in an embodiment of his rage, and he slammed his armoured fist through the mirror with an almighty roar.

"My love..."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?" He screamed, rounding on her, drawing himself up to full height. She fell to her knees before him in tears.

"My love, please forgive me!" She pleaded with him. "It was the only way! I...I could not let you die! Your enemy Zordon..."

"YOU did this to me!" He roared, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her off the floor with one hand. "It was YOUR power that did this!"

"Please...forgive me!" She begged him. This only seemed to anger him further. His glowing red body seemed to give off unnatural heat that warped the metal around him. He fired a blast at her that sent her tumbling away, before coming to rest some way off. His body started to dim as he calmed down, only to realise what he had done. Very little was left of her after the attack, most of it being almost completely destroyed by his as yet untested new powers. He came to her side, and held what was left of her broken body in his hands.

"What...what have I done?" He asked.

"Do not blame yourself." She gasped in snatched, laboured breaths. "I...I am sorry."

He let out a huge scream of anguish as some of the medical droids finally returned.

"Put her in stasis!" He instructed it. "If there is a way...I will bring you back."

As Jordan returned to the Library, he could see Pythia waiting for him. She just looked to him.

"It was Lord Zedd who caused those injuries." Jordan informed her. "He put her in stasis."

"He kept her in the freezer for a couple of millennia." Pythia responded. "How nice for her."

"Vrak collected a lot of Lord Zedd's old property." Jordan recalled. "She must have been among it. That's how Vrak ended up with her."

"So, are you going to finish her off now?" Pythia asked him. "Are you going to avenge me like you promised?"

"Not yet, I need to know more." Jordan told her. "There's more to this, I just know it."