Chapter 15: Loss
8000 BC - Hall of Legends
The Original Powers couldn't believe it. The Land of Magic was gone. It was destroyed not by Nimue, not by Dark Specter, or Master Vile, or Rita Repulsa. No one could believe who destroyed it
Zordon of Eltar
Several days earlier - Breel
"You've done well, my apprentice" Nimue said to Rita "your Knasty Knight beat Zordon's warrior in combat
"Thank you" Rita said
"You're ready for your final test" Nimue said
"And what would that be?" Rita asked
"To kill Zordon of Eltar" Nimue said
Prillon 12
"It's strange, Zordon" Alpha 1 said "the distress call said Rita's armies were here, but I see no signs of Rita or her armies"
"Oh, my armies may not be here" a voice said and they turn to see Rita Repulsa, Finster, Squatt, and Baboo "but I am"
"Rita, what do you want?" Zordon asked
"A duel" Rita said "you've been a pain in Nimue's side for far too long, so she sent me to kill you. I want you to face me one on one, while Alpha 1 faces my henchmen"
"Three on one?" Zordon said
"I like those odds" Alpha 1 said
"You don't want to do this, girl" Zordon said "you have no idea who you are dealing with"
"No, Zordon, you have no idea who you are dealing with" Rita said as she charges her wand and Zordon summons the Sword of Power. Zordon begins circling Rita, dragging his sword along the ground. Rita fires a blast of magic, which he easily dodges.
Alpha 1 engages in combat with Finster, Squatt, and Baboo. Squatt takes on Alpha 1 using his brute strength while Baboo tosses bottles of potions at Alpha 1, who manages to dodge.
Zordon locks his sword with Rita's wand. Zordon knocks Rita back with a blast of magic and swipes his sword a few times at the ground
"You three clowns can't beat me" Alpha 1 said, catching a punch from Squatt with one hand, catching a potion that Baboo tossed him with the other. He threw the potion back at Baboo, narrowly missing him "I'm the superior lifeform here"… and then he collapses as Finster shoots him the back with a blaster
"Actually" Finster said "you're the only one here who isn't a lifeform"
"But… Finster…" Alpha 1 said as his circuits failed "you don't fight"
"That's right" Finster said "which is why I knew you wouldn't be expecting it. You are very good at calculating the expected, but not so good at handling the unexpected. I knew as soon as the battle started you'd forget about me and a simple blaster shot would do you in"
"Alpha!" Zordon screamed
"Now that your friend has fallen, it's time to finish you off" Rita said. Rita notices Zordon has been every so often swiping his sword at the ground, in fact it's been in a fairly predictable pattern… "you know Zordon, you should focus you're sword on me and not the ground!" And as he swipes at the ground, she manages to launch a spell at him that goes straight through his defenses and he disappears
"Where'd he go?" Squatt asked
"I trapped him a time warp!" Rita said "he should've never underestimated Rita Repulsa!"
"Oh, Rita" Zordon said as he reappeared "did you honestly think it would be that easy?"
"What?!" Rita screeched as Zordon waves his hand and various symbols ignite on the ground beneath her minions and her. Only then does Rita understand what Zordon did. When he was dragging his sword on the ground, he was actually drawing a spell seal. It seemed like a pattern, because it was one. She was arrogant and thought she knew better than a powerful wizard
"I'm sorry Rita" Zordon said "for having to do this, for failing you and your mother all those years ago" and as the spell took effect, it sealed her inside a space dumpster. Zordon took the dumpster and hurled it into space where it would be left adrift hopefully to never be discovered by anyone
Zordon then goes over to Alpha 1's remains. He's not an expert in technology, but he knows enough to know the memory and personality chips are damaged. If he repairs him, he won't be the same Alpha 1. He buries him. He will probably commission King Lexian for another Alpha unit one day, but at the moment he doesn't want to replace him, he just wants to remember his friend
Inside Rita's Space Dumpster
Rita wakes up in a void
"Hello, Rita Repulsa" a voice said
"Who… who are you?" Rita asked "What is this? And where are my minions?"
"I am Moment" the voice said "and the individuals you arrived with, designated as Finster, Squatt and Baboo… they have already begun their sessions. Due to your lengthy list of crimes, Eltarian Law called for your termination. But instead, Zordon negotiated this… mercy"
"And how exactly do I get out of this mercy?" Rita asked
"Once you've completed the designated recalibration scenarios" Moment said "I will determine if you have been appropriately… rehabilitated. Do you give your consent to begin?"
"Oh, Zordon" Rita said "even when I fail to defeat you, you do it yourself. Yes, Moment, I give my consent…"
"Beginning, Scenario 1 at Cycle 7" Moment said and Rita finds herself in a strange room, with the body of a seven year old
"What is this exactly?" Rita asked "Moment, where am I? Moment, can you hear me?"
"Well, look who's up with the suns?" A woman says as she walks in "did you rest well, Neyosha? If you hurry, your father could use some help making round cakes"
"Woman" Rita said "I am Empress Rita Repulsa, the most feared being in the galaxy. Who are you? What planet is this?
"Someone's in a mood this morning" the woman said "well, Empress… whenever you're ready, you can come join the common folk downstairs for breakfast"
"Moment, what have you done to me?" Rita whispered to herself
"Hmm, no spaceport or visible means of escape" Rita said "perhaps I could conjure a spell…"
"So you're an evil princess today, huh?" A man asked her "what does her highness want on her round cakes? Gornies berries, ninac slices or… the remains of your fallen enemies"
"Mock me at your own peril" Rita said "for I will remember every slight when I crush your cities into dust. I am Empress Rita. Empress…"
"Neyosha, are you feeling alright?" The man asked
"I… I don't know" Rita said "I knew my name a moment ago… but… now… Daddy, I'm sorry. But I think… I think something's really wrong with me…"
M51 Galaxy
"About time you get here" Master Vile said as Nimue teleports in
"Watch your tongue" Nimue said "I've turned people into snails for less"
"You got my daughter captured" Vile said "I'll talk to you however I please"
"What are you talking about?" Nimue asked
"Oh, so you don't know" Vile said "Zordon beat Rita and imprisoned her"
"Where?" Nimue said "I'll break her out"
"I don't know" Vile said "she met with Zordon on Prillon 12 to duel him and vanished. The only reason I know she's been captured is Zordon sent a message 'so I wouldn't worry.' I tried a locater spell, but it doesn't seem to work"
"I poured over a millennium of my life into that girl" Nimue said "I will not have her taken from me. Gather all of your forces, I will tell my other generals to do the same. We will launch an all out assault on Eltar. If Zordon does not return Rita to us we will make sure that Eltar is nothing but a bunch of rocks drifting through space"
Eltar
"Zordon" Zel said "you must turn Rita Repulsa over to Nimue or Eltar will be destroyed"
"I can't" Zordon said "I specifically sent the Space Dumpster that contained Rita somewhere even I didn't know, exactly so I couldn't be blackmailed later. Even if I did know where she is and handed her over, the Dark One would destroy Eltar anyways"
"Then what do you propose we do?" Zophram asked "even all of our ally's armies wouldn't be enough to defeat Nimue's forces"
"I know a spell" Zordon said "a powerful, powerful spell that would stop their armies"
"Then use it" Zartus said
"I must remind you" Zordon said "magic always comes with a price"
"You got us into this mess" Zartus said "you pay it"
"I would if I could" Zordon said "but this spell is so powerful, the price isn't something just one person can pay"
"I will gladly pay as well" Zophram said
"I'm glad to hear, friend" Zordon said "but this isn't something just two people could pay, or all of Eltar, or even our entire realm. This spell is powerful, that the price is so heavy, that the entire Omniverse will pay" and the Eltarian High Council sits in silence for a moment
"Then do it" Zartus said
"Are you sure?" Zordon said "once this spell has been enacted, it cannot be reversed"
"What exactly is this spell?" Zorphram asked
"You don't want to know" Zordon said
"Zordon" Zel said "the Eltarian High Council gives you full permission to whatever it takes to protect Eltar"
"I understand" Zordon said "I will go prepare the spell at once"
Outside of Eltar, Nimue sits in the flagship
"Dark One" one of her lieutenants said "we're receiving a message from Zordon of Eltar. He wants to meet you at these coordinates"
"Maybe he's finally come to his senses" Nimue said as she teleports away
Enchanted Forest - Fairy Tale Realm
A portal opens up and Zordon and Nimue tumble out
"What did you do?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Nimue shrieks at Zordon
"I saved Eltar" Zordon said "using the only method I knew how. You're separated from your armies and they are now without their magic and spread throughout the realm"
"I'll kill you" Nimue said "I'll kill you and then find a portal and return to my armies and destroy Eltar"
"No, you won't" Zordon said, pulling out the Dark One's Dagger
"What… how?" Nimue asked
"When I dropped the magic bean and shoved you through the portal, I grabbed it in the tumble" Zordon "now, I command you, Dark One, to remain in this realm for the remainder of your days"
"Oh, be careful, Zordon" Nimue said "you can't hold onto that Dagger forever"
"I'm not planning on it" Zordon said and it teleports away from his hand "I've just returned it to Merlin, hopefully the butterfingers doesn't lose it this time"
"No, no" Nimue said "you forgot to command me not to kill you. I will spend the rest of my days hunting you down"
"No, you won't" Zordon said and he tosses some squid ink on her, freezing her in place
"This won't hold me long" Nimue said
"It doesn't need to" Zordon said "just long enough for me to use this…" and he pulls out a magic bean and tosses it on the ground
"A magic bean" Nimue said
"The last one" Zordon said "it will be a long while for more to grow. And even if you do get your hands on one, I will be in a completely different realm, and you can't leave this one, so good luck killing me" and he jumps through
Hall of Legends
The Original Powers couldn't believe it. The Land of Magic was gone.
"I'm gonna kill Zordon" Poseidon said
"We can't do that yet" Merlin said "the Land of Magic was the center of the Omniverse, the whole thing could unravel without it. We need to create a new center"
"Which realm?" Simultaneous said
"The Battle Nexus" Daimyo said
"You're just saying that because it's your realm" Reul said
"And you're just objecting because you wanted it to be your realm" Daimyo said "but this isn't just because it my realm. It's so closely connected to the other realms, it's best suited for the job"
"He's right" Merlin said "and we don't have time to argue. It's gonna take all of our magic together to make the Battle Nexus the center"
"I'll be right back" Simultaneous said and then disappeared
"Lord Simultaneous!" Zeus screamed and he reappeared with a young woman "who is this?"
"My apprentice, from the future" Simultaneous said "her name's Renet"
"You choose now of all time to introduce her?" Ninjor asked
"Even we don't have quite enough magic to pull off this spell" Simultaneous said "we needed one more"
"Welcome, Renet" Merlin said "now follow my lead" and all the Original Powers, including Renet work on casting a powerful spell. Once it is complete, the Battle Nexus is now the center of the Omniverse and the Omniverse begins to stabilize
"Now I believe introductions are in order" Zeus said to Renet
"Oh, I've already met all of you, in the future" Renet said "and, no offense, but I do not want to be a part of this conversation, so see ya!" and she leaves through a time portal
"I think with the crisis over, we should review what happened" Reul said
"Zordon cast a spell that destroyed the Land of Magic" Simultaneous said "after it was cast he pushed Nimue through a portal to the Enchanted Forest and retook her Dagger, returning it to Merlin" who pulls it out to show everyone "Meanwhile, a side effect of it being cast, or maybe it was intentional, I'm not sure, Nimue's armies and the Eltarians are now in the Land Without Magic. Stripped of most of their powers and scattered throughout the Land Without Magic, Nimue's forces are leaving Eltar alone. And as a side effect of either Zordon's spell or our spell to put the Battle Nexus at the center of the Omniverse, portals are no longer going to randomly open, or if they do, it will be much rarer and even harder to predict"
"We must stop Zordon" Reul said "who knows what he could do next"
"How?" Merlin asked "I do not see him in any of my visions nor do locator spells work on him"
"I can't see him in the time stream either" Simultaneous said "it's like he's outside of time and space, but yet he can't be, as he's shown the ability to interact with the physical world in physical ways, so it's not like he's an astral projection"
"How is that possible?" Ursula asked
"It's not" the Nyx replied "I should be able to see his fate, and I can't"
"I think there's a bigger problem we haven't even thought of yet" Merlin said "he was powerful enough to teleport the Dark One's Dagger to me while we were here, in the Hall of Legends… the only ones powerful enough to this our us and my apprentice"
"Where is young Nicholas?" Ninjor asked
"Keeping watch over my tower" Merlin said "and Zordon couldn't be my apprentice as even he's not powerful enough to cast a spell to destroy a realm"
"Only one of us could do that" Nyx said
"But we're all here" Reul said "so how could any of us have done it"
"There is one more possibility" Merlin said "what if… he drank from the Holy Grail… after me, but before Nimue. It was sitting in my tower unprotected, thanks to you forgetting to tell me that the protection spell was down"
"Let it go Merlin" Zeus said "but you must be right, there must be a third person who drank from the Grail"
"Another Dark One?" Poseidon asked
"Worse" Merlin said "Nimue's access to the Grail magic is restricted because of the Darkness, she can't teleport across realms for example and its power overall is weaker. But somehow, don't ask how, but it appears that Zordon's magic is still light and would have the potential to be equal to mine"
"He destroyed a realm" Daimyo said "how's that possible? Nimue's magic turned dark after only one murder"
"I do not know" Merlin said "but the only way Zordon could get me the Dark One's Dagger is for his magic to remain light"
"But if he could teleport across realms, why would he waste the magic beans to get Nimue to the Enchanted Forest and for him to leave?" Ursula asked
"He wanted to fool her into not knowing how powerful he truly is?" Merlin guessed "another question is why return the Dark One's Dagger to me?"
"Or why save Nimue at all?" Flora asked "if he would have left her in the Land of Magic, she would've shared the fate of all its inhabitants"
"I don't know" Merlin said
"We have to find a way to stop him" Zeus said
"Without Excalibur, I'm not sure we can" Merlin said
"I can trap him in a timewarp" Simultaneous said "I'll actually have to locate him at a point in time, which seems almost impossible to do… but if we manage to do that I can stop him"
"And then we can question him" Zeus said "and find out exactly who this Zordon of Eltar really is"