Troy was awakened by a call on his morpher. He looked around, seeing that Jordan was not in his bed, and it was already made. Growing up on military bases, it was just one of the habits Jordan had, that he always made his bed regardless of when he got up. He had remembered seeing Jordan when he went to bed, so it meant that he had gotten up at some point. He answered the call.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Rangers, come to the Command Centre immediately." Gosei commanded.
"What is it Gosei?" Troy asked, already starting to get dressed. It was insanely early, but he had a feeling that it had to be important if he was summoning all of them this early. He didn't make a habit of summoning them for nothing. "What's Metal Alice up to this time?"
"Come to the Command Centre." He reiterated. "Hurry."
Troy was troubled by the fact Jordan wasn't with him, and that he had no way of knowing if he had gotten the message. He could only hope that wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he had gotten the message. Writing out a note for his parents, he paused, trying to think what he could tell them about Jordan. He couldn't vouch for where he was...in the end, he wrote that he and Jordan had both gone. He was sure Jordan would catch up when he realised that his friends needed him. Pulling on his jacket, he teleported to the Command Centre.
When he got there, he found the others waiting for him. Well, most of them anyway. Jake was sitting, slumped in the corner, snoring away. The soccer game and the frantic scramble around the city to stop Metal Alice's bombs had completely wiped him out, and having only a couple of hours' sleep didn't seem to be helping matters. Gia was slumped over a console, her hair messy, and her eyes looking ridiculously heavy, very much in the now infamous "zombie Gia" mode that she had when she didn't have enough caffeine in her system. Emma handed her a coffee, but she was so tired her hand missed it the first couple of times she tried to grab it.
Noah meanwhile was at one of the remaining consoles with Tensou, tracking events on the screen. Emma came over to Troy, offering him some coffee which he politely declined. She looked to him.
"Where's Jordan?" She asked him. He sighed and shook his head.
"I don't know." He told her honestly.
"What would he be doing at five in the morning?" Emma asked him. Troy just shrugged.
"It's not like any of us have been too good at figuring out what's going on in his head recently." He answered. "We just have to trust he'll be there when we need him."
He moved past her to where Noah was working.
"So what is it? What's Metal Alice doing now?" He asked. Noah just stepped aside to let him see the screen.
"This one's nothing to do with Metal Alice." He stated. "This one is all down to the Warstar."
"The Warstar?" Jake said as she woke up with a start. He rubbed his eyes. "I thought those bugs gave up ages ago."
"I thought so too, but their ship never left our orbit." Noah informed them. "We've been tracking it since then, but it looks like they're finally making a big move."
"They're sending a monster?" Gia asked him. "Well, we've dealt with them before, we'll just..."
"I think it's a lot bigger than that." Noah interrupted her. "The ship's been closing in gradually for a couple of hours. It's getting closer."
"They're landing?" Jake asked. "But...but that would mean..."
"Invasion." Emma interrupted him. "It looks like they're fed up sending one of their number at a time. It looks like they're planning on swarming us."
"Man, they're coming on Turkey Day?" Jake complained. "My mom will kill me if I'm late for..."
As he looked around, the others were just staring at him.
"Right, not the point." He stated. "Got it."
"So what do we do?" Gia asked.
"What can we do?" Troy responded. "We get ready. If they want to end it, we just have to oblige."
Meanwhile, on the Warstar ship, Malkor was waiting impatiently for the descent to Earth. He had ordered Vrak to begin the invasion, bringing his ship to the surface to swarm the planet with his warriors. He growled as he saw the Earth coming closer, almost tasting his victory.
"This is taking too long!" He stated. "How much longer?"
"I have to keep within this entry path or the ship will break up in the atmosphere." Vrak told him. "Despite their pollution, the Earth's atmosphere is still thick compared to many of the worlds we've invaded."
"I don't have time for this." Malkor stated gruffly, heading for the airlock. "Maintain course to bring the ship down into the city. I'll go ahead and clear the way."
"But...but the atmosphere!" Vrak tried to protest. In truth, he didn't care if Malkor got burned up. In many ways, it would save him the trouble of finding a way to destroy him if his own impatience and lack of forethought caused him to incinerate himself. Malkor just shut the door to the airlock behind him.
"It won't be a problem." He responded, before activating the airlock, blowing himself out into space. He felt the massive temperature increase as he left, and started to tumble through the atmosphere, but his power manifested into a shield strong enough that he could tumble through it. Hurtling towards the Earth, he cast a blazing path through the sky, until he was finally low enough to lower his shield and unfurl his wings.
Back in the Command Centre, the Rangers got another alert. Noah rushed to the screen.
"What is it?" Troy asked him. He saw something separate from the ship. "What's that? Is the ship breaking up?"
"I wish we were that lucky." Noah told him. "It looks like something was dropped or ejected."
"They're trying to bomb us?" Jake asked him. Noah shook his head.
"Uh...I don't think so." He replied. "It's...it's slowing down...and changing direction."
"So...it's a landing craft of some kind?" Troy asked. Noah just shook his head.
"It's too small." He told him. "Wait...its close enough...I think I can get a visual."
As he punched it up on the screen, all the Rangers crowded around. Jake gulped.
"OK, does anyone know where we can get a 5 million volt bug zapper?" He asked.
"He just flew through the atmosphere without flinching!" Noah gasped. "He has to be insanely tough to do that!"
"Anyone want to take bets this is Malkor?" Troy asked. "He's heading for the business district."
"At least it's five thirty on a holiday." Emma remarked. "That should mean there aren't many people around."
"Good, I have a feeling we're going to need all the good luck we can get." Troy replied as he took out his morpher. "Let's go welcome him to Earth."
As he flew through the air, Malkor studied the city before him, seeing the main routes in and out. He wanted to make an impression, and also give himself a tactical advantage at the same time. He powered up his axe, firing out a blast which branched out into a dozen or more smaller blasts. They fell to the ground, causing massive explosions, and tearing up all the freeways and rail routes running into the city. The Rangers teleported in and immediately recoiled as they heard the blasts.
"Check that out!" Jake called out, pointing to a railway bridge that was now just a bunch of twisted metal and ruined concrete. "He just did in one move what Metal Alice failed to do in a whole night!"
"Where the Hell is Jordan?" Gia asked.
"Heads up, here he comes!" Noah announced. Malkor wrapped his wings around himself, coming in fast, and using his armoured body like a missile, ploughed straight through an office building, bringing it to the ground and smashing into the pavement. As he started to rise, coming out of the crater, the Rangers could finally see him in all his glory.
He was now close to ten feet in height, with a thick, shiny carapace that covered seemingly all his body. He was carrying an axe that was a blazing orange in colour, and looked like it weighed enough to cut a car in half with a single blow. His wing span was almost 18 feet, but he folded them around himself as he came out of the crater. His body was still smoking from the feat. He looked to the Rangers standing before him.
"You've got to admit, he makes a hell of an entrance." Jake stated. The others just turned and looked at him.
"Are you really giving the big bad props?" Gia asked him.
"Earth will fall to me!" He snarled as he looked to the Rangers, sizing them up. "Glad you could make it Rangers, now we finally meet in person! I am Admiral Malkor, ruler of the Warstar Empire, and soon, ruler of your Earth!"
"OK, we kind of guessed who you are." Gia shot back. "You don't know who you're messing with!"
"Then why don't you show me?" He asked, beckoning them forward. Summoning their weapons, the Rangers all rushed immediately to the attack.
Meanwhile, in the Library, Jordan explored further into Wallacia's memory. He found himself in a laboratory. Approaching the workbench in the centre, he found himself looking over what remained of Wallacia. Both her legs, and one of her arms had been completely removed, her remaining arm was withered and useless, most of the muscle having been torn and ripped almost completely off. What was left of her head and chest was badly burned. He looked around as he heard a door opening, finding Vrak walking in.
"I see you've survived coming out of stasis." He commented as he came closer. Wallacia just lay on the bench, unable to do anything. He looked down into her eyes. "Who would have thought that Gosei was not the only Eltarian left on Earth?"
He saw all the monitors spiking, and heard alerts as her vitals went haywire. He just got an evil smile on his face as he turned up her medication to calm her before anything endangered her already frail health.
"You need not worry, we're not so different. I too seek the end of the Son of Zordon." He told her. As Wallacia mumbled something under her breathing mask, trying to speak, he removed the mask to hear her speak.
"Who are you?" She asked him. "Where is this place?"
"I am afraid you have been in stasis for quite some time." He told her. "Somewhere over ten thousand years I believe. I am afraid I cannot be more accurate than that."
"Ten thou..." Her words tailed off as she tried to process this information. "Who are you? Do you serve Lord Zedd?"
"My name is Vrak, though I do not serve Lord Zedd. A lot has changed in the time since your injury." He told her. "I am afraid Lord Zedd no longer exists. He was destroyed by his enemy Zordon almost fifteen years ago."
"My love...my love is gone?" She whimpered. Vrak nodded.
"If it is any consolation, Zordon was destroyed too." He informed her. "He sacrificed himself...I believe it was one of his own followers who destroyed him."
"That gives me no solace." She replied coldly. "Only when his bloodline is completely erased from history, when their every creation and accomplishment is completely destroyed will his destruction finally be avenged."
"Don't worry, soon it will not matter." He told her.
"Will not matter?" She roared.
"You misunderstand your circumstances. You see...Lord Zedd put you into storage. He just...stuck you in the freezer for later until he could repair you." He told her. "Of course, he became...distracted. I'm afraid he forgot all about you. Not that I blame him of course, marriage can do that to a man. That's why I never bothered with it myself."
"HE MARRIED SOMEONE ELSE?" She screamed. Her vitals spiked again, but he just turned up her medication. She watched as he opened a panel, showing her the armoured bionics he planned to fit her with.
"Studying his grimoires, I have realised how useful and Eltarian mind could be to my cause." He told her. "Of course, why would I risk that mind being clouded by such petty things as revenge? I will restore you; even improve upon you with my bionics. I will keep your Eltarian inventiveness...but I think that all this anger, all these pointless emotions...they have to go."
He came to her side and leaned over, smirking at her.
"I'm going to wipe your mind, and give you a new identity." He told her. "One that is utterly loyal and controllable."
The memory ended as Vrak replaced the mask, and started to work. Jordan found himself back in the Library, with Pythia waiting for him as usual.
"Vrak...he tried to control her." Jordan stated. "But...he failed."
"I think he underestimated how strong an Eltarian mind can be." Pythia replied. "So, what do you know now?"
"Well, now I know she already knows Zordon destroyed Lord Zedd." Jordan told her. "Well, I heard he was turned human, but no doubt she'd think it was the same thing if she knew. She knows Zordon's gone, so she's sworn vengeance on his bloodline. That means that ultimately it's Gosei she's after."
"That woman seriously needs to let go." Pythia told him. "So, are you going to destroy her now?"
"No, I'm missing something, I just know it." Jordan told her. "Where are Gosei's memories?"
"What?" Pythia asked.
"He's the one that's kept all of this from us. Somehow, all of this traces back to him." Jordan answered. "Where are his memories?"
Back at the site of the battle, the Rangers were feeling the sharp end of Malkor's power. They could tell he was strong, but actually taking him on left them in absolutely no doubt whatsoever. As he had all of them on the ground in agony, he started laughing.
"Face it Rangers, the fact is I possess much greater power than you could even imagine!" He taunted them as he approached Troy. "You are pathetic!"
"We'll show you who's pathetic!" Emma screamed at him as they got up, rushing him one more time. This time though, he didn't bother with the axe. He just unfurled his wings, using them to bowl all the Rangers away harshly.
"These are the Rangers that defeated all my soldiers?" He asked as he drew his wings back around himself. "If I'd known it would be this easy, I'd have saved myself a lot of aggravation."
He swung his axe one more time, sending out an energy wave that knocked all of them to the ground. Troy struggled to remain conscious, his vision blurry as he signalled to the others that they needed to carry on.
"Beating you has been surprisingly easy." He announced. "Now, I will offer you a chance to spare some of your fellow humans. Surrender to me now, kneel before me and offer no more resistance, and perhaps I will only enslave your race."
"That's not going to happen." Troy told him as they assembled the Megaforce Blaster. They levelled it at Malkor, who just held up two fingers, beckoning them to fire.
"Go ahead." He told them. "I'll be generous and give you this one for free."
As they pulled the trigger, the blast fired off, and struck Malkor firmly in the chest. They saw the blast, and the fireball, but as the smoke cleared, all of them felt ill. With his carapace still smoking from the impact, Malkor just stared at them as if they had tried to take him down with a custard pie. He replied by launching a breath weapon that burned straight through their suits, de-morphing them and forcing all of them to the ground. Malkor approached them, finding them all unconscious. He poked Troy lightly with his axe to make sure, but he was unresponsive. He just looked completely unimpressed.
"Beating you has been surprisingly easy." He told them. "But you are all just a small part of the plan. I will only feel satisfaction when your entire world trembles before me. Next time we meet, you will be on your knees, or you will be destroyed."
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving the Rangers, broken, and defeated. If they knew what was good for them, they would give up any foolish notions of opposing him, but the victory felt hollow. He knew they had greater powers at their disposal. He had just finished them too quickly for them to bring forward the limits of their power. He knew that destroying them now was the smarter option, but where was the fun in that? No, if they wouldn't become his slaves, he would destroy them on his terms, when it suited him. Then, his people would have the Earth as their own personal buffet uncontested.