Spectrum ii
It was just after 8am Earth Time as Zack walked through the corridors of the Spectrum towards the girl's quarters. He nervously played with his hands as he approached the door to their room. Drawing his hand back to knock, he paused, trying to think of the best way to start the upcoming conversation. Kimberly had seemed distant from the others since they left Earth, not surprising since she only buried her mother a couple of weeks ago. She wasn't eating much at meal times and always volunteered to take the night watch on the bridge. It was only under orders from Xi that she had slept in her bed last night. On her previous watch, he had caught her asleep at a console, much to his annoyance.
Zack was about to knock when the door opened and he stumbled inside. Kimberly laughed and finished pulling down her blue uniform top, "Sorry, Xi told me you were waiting outside so I asked him to let you in".
"Thanks for the warning", he snorted before remembering why he was here. He gave his friend a quick glance and noticed that she was thinner than she was a few weeks ago. There were dark circles under her eyes and her skin was extremely pale.
"Are you alright", Kimberly asked, "you're acting weird".
Zack sighed, "Just trying to think of the right words to say", he replied and took her by the hand and sat her down on the edge of the bed, "Kim tell me the truth, how are you?" The blue ranger was about to give a vague answer but Zack stopped her, "And please don't say you're fine unless you truly mean it". Kimberly bit her lip and stared at the floor for a couple of moments, "Look Kim we've all noticed something's wrong with you, even Xi", Kimberly snorted with laughter. "If Mr Roboto is noticing something wrong then you must be giving out some bad vibes".
Kimberly didn't respond for a moment but gripped Zack's hand a couple of times. She took a deep breath before speaking, "I'm a big ball of emotions right now", she began, "my Mom's gone and she's not coming back. I don't think I realised it until we left Earth". She paused for a moment, "Did I do the right thing, leaving Earth so soon after her funeral, I mean we could've found another blue ranger".
"Only you can really know the answer to that question", Zack responded. "Knowing your Mom I don't think she would've wanted you to give up on doing the right thing because of her". Kimberly nodded and a stray tear rolled down her face, "Would it help if you talked about her with us? It would be like keeping her memory alive".
"Yeah I'd like that", Kimberly sniffed, "I just don't know what I'm going to do without her". A few more tears fell. Zack didn't say anything for a few minutes, allowing her to cry it out, "Thanks Zack", she wiped her face with her sleeve.
"We're all here for you Cass", Zack smiled, "if you'll allow us to be. We all care about you, even".
Kimberly laughed, " You know how to cheer me up" suddenly Xi's voice brought them back from their hormone induced high.
"I don't want to admit it but that's probably for the best", Kimberly said breathlessly, Zack nodded in agreement, "Yeah you're right", he then called out, "you've got our attention Xi".
"Jason would like your presence on the bridge", Xi called out.
"Oh does he", Zack replied, "tell him we'll be along in a second". He found Kimberly's uniform jacket in a pile of clothes on the floor and passed it over, "Remember if you ever want to talk about your Mom, we're all here for you".
"Thanks Zack" Kimberly smiled and they both left her quarters. After a couple of minutes walking, they found themselves on the bridge and under the scrutiny of their team mates.
"There you two are", Jason smirked, "we've been calling you for the last five minutes".
"Yeah we got side tracked", Kimberly replied.
"We can see", Trini said, "Kim you're hair's all.." she indicated that it was sticking out at weird angles, much to the blue ranger's embarrassment.
"Moving on", Xi said quickly, "Ive decoded Zordon's disk, the only thing on there were co-ordinates for somewhere on Eltar. It's not much to go on but it's worth checking out".
"That's Zordon's home planet isn't it?" Zack asked, "I thought it was abandoned".
"It is", Jason replied, "Eltar fell two years ago around the same time that the Machine Empire arrived near Earth".
"But Zordon didn't leave until after the Empire were beaten", Zack began, "I spoke with Adam not long after He gave the Turbo powers to Carlos and they didn't get the message about the invasion until last May".
Xi nodded, "It would appear that the Machine Empire used their presence in your sector to prevent any messages from the elders of Eltar reaching Zordon. By the time the Empire were destroyed, the planet had been deserted for months". Jason leaned over to another console and tapped in the co-ordinates, "I know I said we wouldn't go to Eltar but that was before we got this lead. We don't know if the Alliance has laid any traps on the planet so be prepared for anything". The other rangers nodded and settled in for the ride to Eltar.
Eltar
A few hours later, the Spectrum was in orbit around the planet of Eltar. From above it looked very similar to Earth but there wasn't a huge amount of green spaces or deserts. It looked like the planet was one giant city spreading across the equator of the planet and surrounded by a clear blue ocean. The rangers didn't detect any Alliance presence in orbit, the atmosphere or on the planet but just to be safe, they left the ship in orbit.
On the planet's surface, the rangers walked down what they assumed had once been the main street through this particular part of the city. It was hard to tell as the surface was filled with craters that had been made by laser fire. The buildings that overlooked the street were all damaged beyond repair. Some were burned out shells, others were littered with laser burns. The rangers could see that it had once been a thriving and technologically advanced planet but there was almost nothing left. The stench of death and decay lingered over the city.
"This is dreadful", Kim gasped, "how could anyone do this to a planet".
"That's the Alliance for you", Jason replied in a matter of fact tone. "If the attack here was anything like the one they did on KO-35, then it would have been over extremely quickly".
"It looks like Astronema went to town here", Zack added, "like she had a special hatred of this planet".
"It was the home of Zordon and by extension the Power Rangers", Trini replied, "if, like Xi said, is targeting Rangers then it makes sense to obliterate this planet".
"I thought you said the Eltarian's had advanced technology", Kim asked the red ranger, "could they not have done something to prevent this?"
"It's true that Eltarian's were an advanced civilisation", Jason began, "but they were also extremely arrogant. They probably didn't believe that anyone could destroy their planet so quickly". He sighed, "I don't think anyone could believe it". He was interrupted by his morpher beeping, "We're nearly here".
Jason led them over a large pile of rubble and into what looked like an apartment building. The ceiling inside the building was extremely high and in the center of the room was a giant tube. "Is this Zordon's home?" Zack asked.
"Looks like it", Jason replied, "I heard that people from across the galaxy would come here to seek his advice". He stepped forward and began to search around the tube. After a few moments he found a hidden compartment. Sliding it open he found another datacard sitting inside.
"I'm getting sick of seeing these things", Zack groaned.
"You might be but we're not", a voice called out, the rangers turned around and came face to face with Ecliptor and Darkonda. "So we meet again red ranger", Darkonda smirked.
"I thought I recognised your stench Darkonda", Jason fired back before turned to Ecliptor, "I thought you had more taste in companions Ecliptor".
"Believe me I'm not working with him by choice", Ecliptor growled.
"Enough talking, I want that disk", Darkonda spat.
"Come off it Dakonda, you couldn't beat Jason when you were by yourself", Zack taunted, "now all of us are here, the odds really aren't in your favour".
"You know what black ranger, you're absolutely right", Darkonda grabbed Ecliptor by the shoulders and electricity began to crackle between their bodies. Ecliptor roared in pain as Darkonda slowly merged their bodies together. After a few moments Darkonda's smirking face looked over the rangers with a body that was half his own and half Ecliptor.
"Zack you've got to learn not to taunt the bad guys", Trini grumbled.
"It doesn't matter what you look like Darkonda, you're still going down", Jason lined up the other rangers and called, "Its Morphin Time Omega Earth, Fire, Water , Air".
Darkliptor pulled out his own sword and Ecliptor's and charged into battle with the now morphed rangers. Immediately the rangers felt the increased strength of Darkliptor in comparison to their separate bodies. Darkliptor brought his swords down across the rangers in a wide arc, sending sparks flying off their suits.
The girls rolled on their stomachs and summoned their special weapons. A blur of yellow and blue energy flew at Darkliptor but the creature was able to deflect the energy away with his swords. He responded by firing a burst of electricity from his eyes, propelling the girls into the opposite wall.
Zack quickly jumped in with a strong swing of his Krunei and cut the creature across the abdomen. Darkliptor weathered another couple of strong blows from the black ranger before kicking him in the chest. Twirling Darkonda's sword in his hand, he jabbed Zack in the legs almost playfully. Darkliptor was like a cat playing with a mouse but he soon grew tired of this game. With Ecliptor's sword he slashed Zack horizontally across the chest, knocking him into the base of Zordon's energy tube.
Darkliptor loomed menacingly over the black ranger but he was saved by Jason The creature cried out as Jason rammed his Saber into the ribs of the creature. Darkliptor responded by grabbed the red and black rangers by the helmet and slamming their heads together. He then kicked the pair away, which sent them crashing into the fallen bodies of their team mates, "Man this guy packs a punch", Zack groaned.
"We're not beaten yet", Jason called out to the others and assembled Omega cannon and prepared to fire. They were standing directly in front of the disused energy tube with Darkliptor near the entrance to the building. The rangers fired their weapons but to their shock, Darkliptor managed to block the attack. The creature then crossed his swords together and sent out a beam of yellow energy that lifted the rangers into the air. Pulses of electricity shocked the rangers, draining their energy. When Darkliptor was satisfied that he had punished them enough, he propelled them through the abandoned energy tube. Glass rained down on the marble floor and the four rangers went crashing into the far wall. The force of the blow caused them to demorph.
"Give up rangers I'm too powerful for you to handle", Darkliptor taunted.
Jason felt in his pocket and made sure that the datacard was still there. Slowly he brought his morpher up to his mouth, " Xi lock onto our signal and fire all weapons", he croaked. Darkliptor was about to attack again when the rangers disappeared in a flash of light. Seconds later the building was rocked by a series of powerful explosions.
Darkliptor barely had time to reach the door before the entire building collapsed under a hail of laser fire. He dusted himself off and roared in frustration, the rangers had gotten away with Zordon's datacard again.
Spectrum
Xi had immediately teleported the rangers into sick bay and assessed them for any serious damage. Fortunately there was nothing that a good rest wouldn't cure. All the rangers had sustained superficial cuts on their bodies but Xi had done a great job patching them up. An hour after the fateful meeting with Darkliptor, the group gathered on the bridge to see the contents of the datacard. "The encryption code on this datacard was the same as the other one", Xi began, "there's a video message stored on this card, I'm playing it now".
On the main viewing screen an image of Zordon suddenly appeared, "Greetings omega rangers, if you are seeing this message then unfortunately I have been captured by Dark Specter", Zordon's voice boomed. "Do not worry about me too much, I am much tougher than I appear", he added. "The datacard you have in your hands will enable you to access the original zords called the Mega Voyagers. The zords are under the protection of team of rangers not from Earth, however, for their safety, they are unaware of what they are guarding". There was a brief pause before Zordon added, "Good luck my friends, I'm sorry for everything, we will see each other again soon and remember, may the power protect you".
The message stopped and everyone looked at each other, "Another Megazord", Kim began, "we're running out of space to keep them".
"Another ranger team", Trini began, "that must mean the Aquitian's right".
Jason nodded, "Must be, Andros is the only ranger from KO-35 so Zordon wouldn't have hidden the Mega Voyager there. The only other planet with rangers is Aquitar", he paused and called out, "Xi set course for Aquitar, maximum hyper rush".
"Course set", Xi replied, "we will arrive in orbit in two Earth Days".
"That means we have two days to rest and train", Zack began, "I don't want to get beaten by Darkliptor again". The others nodded and left the bridge, they could only hope that Darkliptor didn't have the same idea and beat them to Aquitar.