Chapter 23: Fall of Zordon
7800 BC - Camelot - Fairy Tale Realm
Merlin returns home to his tower from another land and discovers the whole town has been burned to the ground, everyone has been killed
"Apprentice, apprentice!" Merlin yelled "Nicholas! Where are you?" and the Apprentice stumbles out of the tower
"I'm sorry, master" the Apprentice said "I tried to stop the Dark One, but she overpowered me"
"You would be no match for her" Merlin said "you do not have the power of the Grail, she does. Did she say why she did this?"
"Yes" the Apprentice said "she said she was going to burn every village, every kingdom in the realm to the ground until you hand over the Dagger"
"As much as it pains me" Merlin said "it's time to put an end to this. I could command her to not burn villages to the ground, but she would find a loophole, she always does. The Dark One's Dagger was forged from Excalibur, it should be enough to kill her and rid the world of the Dark One forever"
"But… what about the prophecies of the Guardian, of redeeming the Dark One?" the Apprentice asked
"I don't know" Merlin said "but I know that the future is difficult to read, never what it seems. I was hoping to reunite Excalibur and use it to destroy the Darkness and return Nimue to her former self… but that seems impossible now. As much as I love Nimue, I cannot continue to let the Dark One to massacre villages. If the only way to stop the Dark One is to kill Nimue… then so be it"
Later that night, once Merlin had finished healing the Apprentice and burying the bodies of the villagers. He walks into a field and pulls out the Dark One's Dagger
"Dark One, I summon thee" Merlin said and Nimue appears, wearing Vortigan's mask "you destroyed her, the only woman I ever loved, and now I will destroy you…" and he goes to stab her with the Dagger… "… I can't" and he collapses to the ground and drops the Dagger. Nimue immediately zooms over and grabs the Dagger "… I miss her" and a tear rolls down his face and she catches it on the Dagger and casts a spell, trapping Merlin inside a tree
North America - New Land Without Magic
The Power Rangers have defeated another monster with the Megazord and Dragonzord. The Rangers regroup in the Command Ship
"Well done Rangers" Alpha 5 said, the latest upgrade to Alpha 1
"We still couldn't form the MegaDragonzord" Rita said
"It's okay Rita, we didn't need it" Zordon said
"But it shows I'm not in harmony with the rest of the team, what's wrong with me?" Rita asked
"Nothing" Zordon said "it just takes time"
"How much time?" Rita asked "it's been 65 years since you first formed the Megazord. I'm going out…"
"Wait, Rita" Zordon said "you should stay"
"I need to be alone" Rita said
"And you wonder why we can't form the MegaDragonzord" Zordon muttered
"What was that?" Rita asked
"You're wondering why there's disharmony between yourself and the rest of the team" Zordon said "but you keep going off on you own and separating yourself from the rest of the team"
"I thought you said there's nothing wrong with me" Rita said
"I… there's nothing wrong with you, personally" Zordon said "and we all do need time to ourselves, but you barely spend any time with us outside of missions, that may be the issue. I'm sorry, I should've expressed my concern earlier, but I was trying to avoid… well this very situation"
"That worked out well" Rita said and then teleported away
"So you destroyed another monster" Goldar said as Rita appeared
"Yes" Rita said "and we still couldn't form the MegaDragonzord… and I think it's my fault, Zordon's right, I spend all my free time with you and I'm using experimental technology in order to morph alone. I think it's time I tell them everything"
"You'll most likely be arrested" Goldar said "at minimum, you would lose your Power Coin"
"Maybe that's for the best" Rita said "maybe they could get a sixth Ranger that would mesh better with the rest of the team"
"What if you could create your own Ranger team?" Goldar asked
"What?" Rita asked
"Every planet in our realm has a Zeo Crystal" Goldar said "when the Morphing Grid was forged, each one gained enough Power to form a team. You could take the Zeo Crystal from this planet and use it forge your own team of Rangers. The location is actually not too far from here"
"Let's go" Rita said and the teleported away. When they arrive at the Zeo Crystal's location, Goldar uses a blast from his sword to dig up the Zeo Crystal
"All you have to do is take it" Goldar said
"What happens when I take it?" Rita asked
"The planet dies" a voice from behind them said and they turn to see Zordon and the rest of Rita's team
"Zordon" Rita said
"He's lying" Goldar said
"Rita, don't you know who he is?" Zordon asked "this is Goldar of Titan, wanted across the universe for various crimes, including mass destruction and murder"
"Zordon… I…" Rita began "I realize I'm not a good fit for your team, that's okay. Help me get the Zeo Crystal from this planet, I'll form my own team and return my Power Coin to you"
"You'll destroy all life on this planet if you do that" Zordon said
"There's not much life left on the planet since this realm lost magic" Rita said "and most of it is conquerors trying to kill each other"
"Rita, listen to yourself" Zordon said "you can't do that. Help us destroy Goldar and we can report this to the Eltarian High Council. If you truly didn't know, they won't hold that against you"
"Think you can destroy the mighty Goldar, eh?" Goldar said
"I'm not going to let you hurt my friend" Rita said as she pulls out her staff and inserts her Power Coin into it
"Rita… what is that?" Zordon asked
"Something to aid me since I'm not in harmony with the rest of the team" Rita said
"Rita… that is why you're not in harmony with the rest of the team" Zordon said "get rid of it, spend more time with the rest of the team and less time with violent psychopaths and we should be able to form the MegaDragonzord"
"Maybe I'm not in harmony with the rest of the team because you don't want me on it" Rita said "you don't want me to have Powers, that's why you won't let me take the Zeo Crystal. And now you want to harm my friend. Well you're going to have to go through me" and Zordon realizes that talking sense into Rita is now fruitless… that there's only one thing left to say
"It's Morphin time!" Zordon and Rita said as the Rangers morph
"Zoltar" Zordon said "get Rita's Power Coin from her, the rest of us will deal with Goldar"
"Rita" Zoltar said as he engages her "don't make me do this"
"Like you can do anything to me" Rita said as she blasts him with her staff. Rita and Zoltar continue their duel when Rita sees Zordon summons his Power Sword and use an energized slash that destroys Goldar "NO!" and she sends a blast of Morphing Grid energy from her staff that kills Zoltar. She blasts the other Rangers away from Goldar's body. She grabs a piece of Goldar's armor, hoping she may be able to use it to revive him one day. She then engages the other Rangers and manages to kill Zelda, followed by Zenith, and then severely injures Zeyla and Zordon. Zordon crawls over to Zeyla as she demorphs
"I'm sorry" Zordon said "I'm so sorry" and she hands Zordon her Power Coin and dies "Alpha, I'm the last one left"
"What?!" Alpha 5 asked "what happened?"
"Rita betrayed us all and killed the rest of the team" Zordon said "we must stop her. Send a meteor to my coordinates" he then removes his Power Coin and places it with the other four. He then instructs the Power Coins "Seek only those who are worthy. Find only those who are strong" and Rita walks over to try and grab the Coins
"With the Zeo Crystal" Rita said "we could have protected the universe together, ruled even"
"That was never going to happen" Zordon said
"Then you will die, Zordon" Rita said
"We will die together, Rita" Zordon said as the meteor hits, killing Zordon, destroying Rita's staff, demorphing her, and tossing her into the sea. Rita uses the last of the Power in the staff to preserve herself.
Eltar
"Let me get this straight Alpha 5" Zel said "Rita was working with Goldar, who had manipulated her into trying to take Earth's Zeo Crystal. When Zordon killed Goldar, she responded by killing the rest of her team, except for Zordon, who had you drop a meteor on him, killing both him and Rita as well… and the Power Coins were lost"
"Yeah, that about sums it up" Alpha 5 said
"Well, it looks like the attacks have ceased on Earth" Zel said "Goldar was probably behind them and with him gone, and the planet's environment severely damaged by a meteor… Earth is probably safe for now. Settlers from other planets may come, but it should be mostly peaceful. However as a precaution, Alpha 5, return to Earth with the Command Ship and hide it. Keep us informed of any suspicious activity
"Understood" Alpha said
North America
Alpha 5 had just finished hiding the Command Ship underground. He knew the Eltarians had sent him here partially to keep an eye on things, partially as punishment for letting this happen, not that there was anything he could do about it. But he's glad he was sent here. The ship's technology, combined with him still having Zordon's body, which still contained some residue of the Morphing Grid…
The Underworld
Zordon wakes up and sees Zoltar, Zenith, Zeyla, and Zelda.
"We failed" Zoltar said
"Yes, we did" Zordon said "is Rita here?"
"Not that we know of" Zoltar said "but we just got here ourselves"
"Wait… something feels strange" Zordon said
Command Ship - North America
"It's working!" Alpha 5 exclaimed as the ships walls came to life and showed a familiar face
"Alpha?" the face asked
"Yes, Zordon, it's me" Alpha said
"How am I able to communicate with you?" Zordon asked
"I was able to use our ship's technology in combination with the Morphing Grid energy still in your body and soul to establish communications to the Underworld" Alpha said "I apologize to the others, but I could only do it for one person, and you were the leader"
"This is incredible, Alpha" Zordon said "but we will not be able to do this often. Zoltar said that if Hades finds out this is possible he will put a stop to it"
"Understood" Alpha said "I will alert you when there is trouble"
M51 Galaxy
Lord Zedd watches the reports from Earth. The Power Rangers are gone… good. Goldar is gone… less good. The Eltarians believe the attacks were all from Goldar… excellent. It is tempting to take Earth's Zeo Crystal now, but he knows the Eltarians will be watching the planet closely for now and he would like to keep his involvement on Earth secret for now
Hall of Legends
"Well this was not a good day" Ninjor said to the rest of the Original Powers, minus Merlin and Simultaneous, who were not present
"Indeed" Reul said "we lost both Merlin and Zordon of the New Land Without Magic, a whole Ranger team really, all gone"
"The Sorcerer is not quite gone" the Apprentice said walking in
"You dare address the Original Powers uninvited?" Poseidon asked and magic swirls next to the Apprentice, forming Merlin
"I thought you were stuck in a tree" Ninjor said
"I am" Merlin said "this is merely an astral projection. As doing this across realms takes a great deal of effort, I will not being doing it often. My Apprentice will represent me in most matters now. He should be given complete permission to come to the Hall of Legends whenever he needs to and should be privy to whatever secrets I am privy to"
"Understood, Merlin" Zeus said "I am glad to see you are not fully gone"
"May I ask what we should do about the Dark One having her Dagger again?" Reul asked
"My Apprentice and I have a plan to deal with that" Merlin said "it will take some time for an opportunity to present itself to enact it, but she will be dealt with. I do not believe we should worry about her wandering the realms too much either. Magic beans are scarce and portals are even rarer. Most of her generals are in the Land Without Magic, which she would have no desire to go to"
"I'm glad to hear the Dark One should not be too much trouble and will be taken care of shortly" Daimyo said "but this was still not a good day"
"Perhaps I can make it better" Simultaneous said "sorry I'm late"
"You'd think a time traveler would be on time more often" Ninjor said
"I had a once in a time opportunity that I couldn't waste" Simultaneous said
"Your good news better not be you got a good deal on a car" Merlin said
"What's a car?" Ruel asked
"You'll get that later" Merlin said
"No" Simultaneous said "my good news… is I finally managed to capture the Prime Zordon of Eltar in a timewarp"
"What, how, when?" Ruel asked
"Well then when is tricky with the whole you know, time travel and time warp thing" Simultaneous said "as for the how, I literally just happened to run into him, recognized him, and with a wave of my Time Scepter, boom, trapped in a time warp"
"So, how do we interrogate him?" Zeus asked
"That's… where I made a mistake" Simultaneous said "he's definitely in the time warp, but because of whatever spell he has that stops us from tracking him, I can't actually find him in the time warp to talk to him…"
"But he is definitely trapped, right?" Ursula asked
"Right" Simultaneous said "he may still be able to do an astral projection like Merlin here, and he may be able to hold them for a bit longer than Merlin can, as the time warp is technically connected to all realms, so he doesn't have to astral project across the realms like Merlin does, so he does have limited interaction with the rest of the Omniverse, but he's greatly restricted"
"Good" Zeus said "that's at least one less problem to deal with"
Land Without Magic
"With Zordon captured it is no longer safe for us to be out and about like we've been" the Red Morphing Master said "it is time for us to enter the Grid"
"But how will we complete our mission?" the Green Morphing Master asked
"We will emerge only long enough to distribute Powers" the Red Morphing Master said "the Original Powers don't know of our existence yet, if they find out, it won't be long until they stop us. The only way to continue our mission is how we've always done it, in secret. Now everyone take our your Morphing Hearts, we should be able to use them to enter the Morphing Grid…"
North America - Land Without Magic
The Eltarians and Edenoites finish constructing a new outpost for Eltar, to keep an eye on the Zeo Crystal on the moon.
"Alpha 2" Zoltar said "please turn on the energy tube" and Alpha 2 hits a few buttons as the energy tube comes to life and a giant floating blue head appears
"Where am I?" the head asked
"Your in the Command Center on Earth" Zoltar said
"Welcome back, Zordon of Eltar"