Chapter 29: Emissaries
7760 BC - Frontier Lab - Planet 0117 - Galaxy A4 - Land Without Magic
Dark Specter gloats after possessing the Morphinaut's body, turning his suit black, making him the Phantom Ranger
"I've done it" Dark Specter said "with this body I can access the Morphing Grid. And it is all thanks to this delusional fool. He thought he was saving you by taking me into himself. Instead he delivered the perfect vessel to me. Such a direct link has always been out of my reach. I thank you for your help, Ori. Truly" and he powers up the Proto Arch and starts to walk through
"He's getting away" Xev said
"We have to do something" Rhian said
"There's no other choice" Orisonth said and he hits a few buttons as Dark Specter enters the Proto Arch and it shuts down "I shut it down just as he entered the Proto Arch, he should be trapped in a void between our realm and the Morphing Grid. He won't be able to enter the Grid or our world… but the Morphinaut is trapped too" and then the Proto Arch starts back up on its own
"Wait, I thought you said this thing was turned off" Telosi said
"It is" Orisonth said "it's coming from the other side!"
"Suit up and be ready for anything" Rhian said as they put their helmets back on
"That was a clever trick" Dark Specter said as he emerges from the Proto Arch "you just don't get it, do you? No one can stop Dark Specter. You may have stopped me from entering the Grid, but only temporarily. Once I've killed all of you, I can just restart it"
"Alright, I think we've heard enough!" the Red Ranger said as she kicks Dark Specter
"Your efforts are futile" Dark Specter said "it's only a matter of time before I cross that threshold and all will be mine"
"Then we'll just have to destroy the Arch for good!" the Yellow Ranger said
"Don't you see?" Dark Specter asked "you can't. This body contains the memories of how the Arch was created in the first place and it has a direct link to the Grid"
"Then we'll just have to shut you down" the Green Ranger said as he tried to attack Dark Specter
"I'd like to see you try" Dark Specter said as he blocked the Green Ranger's attack and hits him in return
"Try this on for size" the Black Ranger said and shot a blast of Grid energy at Dark Specter, knocking him on his back
"Did it work?" the Yellow Ranger asked, as Dark Specter wasn't moving "is he…?"
"He better be" the Black Ranger said "that took a lot out of… wait… he's moving"
"Pure energy…" the Phantom Ranger said, his voice sounding more like the Morphinaut's than Dark Specter's "he can't touch… it can't touch… Grid energy… it hurts… him… too…"
"Is that… is that you?" the Blue Ranger asked "are you back?"
"Don't get too excited" the Phantom Ranger said, his voice back to sounding like Dark Specter's "he's never coming back. Your friend's guilt was so strong, it hollowed him out. He's now the perfect vessel to traverse the Grid. I will never give him up"
"Even with all of us I don't think we'll be able to push Dark Specter out of him" the Yellow Ranger said "he's too strong"
"We have to think bigger" the Black Ranger said
"Wait… that's it!" the Blue Ranger said
"What's it?" the Red Ranger asked
"Dark Specter needs the Morphinaut" the Blue Ranger said "because he's still incompatible with the Morphing Grid. If we flood the area with Grid energy… it could force Dark Specter to abandon the Morphinaut"
"But we don't have that kind of Power" the Pink Ranger said
"If I connect with the Grid as a conduit, maybe I can direct the energy…" the Blue Ranger began
"But you'd be destroyed" the Pink Ranger interrupted
"This is my fault, Aleia" the Blue Ranger said "I should be the one…"
"Look out!" the Red Ranger said as Dark Specter rushes towards them, knocking them over
"As fun as this has been" Dark Specter said "I have places to be" as he tries to reactivate the Arch
"I won't let you do this!" the Black Ranger said
"Oh, Xev" Dark Specter said "you weren't strong enough to stop me then. What makes you think you can stop me now?"
"You're right" the Pink Ranger said "one person wouldn't be enough. It needs to be all of us"
"I… I'm sorry" the Blue Ranger said "this is all because of me. If I had just…"
"Stop that" the Pink Ranger interrupted and she hits a button on her Morpher, causing her helmet to disappear and removes Orisonth's helmet and gives him a kiss "you might have been alone then, but you aren't now. We'll be with you, as we have been, come what may"
"Okay" Orisonth said as they put their helmets back on "as a team we break our Power Crystals and channel all the Grid energy directly into Dark Specter… everybody get ready" and they summon their Power Crystals and shatter them. They then each send a blast of Grid energy at Dark Specter, which manifests as various Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink, and Green Rangers from across time and space attacking him.
"NO!" screams Dark Specter
"You… you did it… he's gone" the Morphinaut said
"You survived… good" the Red Ranger said, currently morphing between two different Red Ranger forms
"What have you done?" the Morphinaut asked as he looks at the Rangers, who were constantly shifting forms
"We destroyed out Morphers to purge Dark Specter from your body" the Blue Ranger said "Dark Specter should not be able to possess anyone for quite some time, if ever again. He is back trapped in his timewarp"
"What of our families?" the Black Ranger asked
"They're safe, that's all that matters" the Blue Ranger said "We must move on, as they will, eventually"
"I can feel them… hear them…" the Green Ranger said "it's everyone tapping into the Grid"
"Across space… and time" the Black Ranger said
"I think… we're all part of the Grid now" the Blue Ranger said
"But what's our purpose?" the Red Ranger asked "we're not alive… but we're not dead… are we?"
"Not dead, no" the Pink Ranger said "thank the stars. But it seems we all have higher duties now. Including you. The remaining shards of our Power Crystals… hopefully it will be enough… just a piece my friends… to give your suit the Power to be the hero you've alway wanted to be" and she takes a single shard from each Power Crystal and unites it into a ruby
"No… wait" the Morphinaut said
"A mere phantom of the Power you once had though" the Pink Ranger said
"I'm sorry" the Morphinaut said
"There's nothing to be sorry for" the Pink Ranger said as she inserts the Power Ruby into his chest "you have been given us a great gift. Thank you. The realm needs you Phantom Ranger, to guide, to protect, to teach. As thanks for what you've given us, we'll grant you your wish" and she gathers the remaining shards of the Power Crystals into a box and hands it to the Phantom Ranger and she opens a portal and sends the Phantom Ranger through
"Someone needs to get the new generations whipped into shape" the Red Ranger said "like I did with all of you"
"And someone will need to monitor the Morphing Grid" the Blue Ranger said "to make sure it's thriving"
"Grid technology is only to get more and more advanced" the Yellow Ranger said "someone will need to keep an eye on its progress"
"We'll need to stay vigilant for any signs of Dark Specter as well" the Green Ranger said
"He's not going to stay quiet after this"
"Sounds like a job for the two of us" the Black Ranger said to the Green Ranger
"What about you?" the Blue Ranger asked the Pink Ranger
"Dark Specter will try again" the Pink Ranger said "but I know the Power Rangers will always be there to stop him. It's time to ensure those guardians, across the Omniverse, have a fighting chance. We all know our individual missions" and the Red, Green, Yellow, and Black Rangers leave through portals
"I feel like… I should thank you… or apologize" the Blue Ranger said to the Pink Ranger
"Don't you dare" the Pink Ranger said
"Both then" the Blue Ranger said "Thank you… and I'm sorry"
"It was a good life wasn't it" the Pink Ranger said "but we all have a greater calling now" and she looks at a picture of them as children "our journeys will be long and arduous… some more so than others. But the future depends on us, dear friends"
Command Center - North America - Earth
Alarms go off in the Command Center as a portal opens and someone stumbles out
"Ay yi yi yi yi!" Alpha 2 shouted "intruder alert!"
"Identify yourself" Zordon said to the intruder
"My name is…" the intruder began
"Wait…" Zordon interrupted "I remember you, we've met before. You were but a man back then… I still sense your spirit but your body has been replaced by Morphing Grid energy… your suit must be all that's still holding you together"
"Do I know you?" the intruder asked "you seem familiar… but I don't remember any floating heads in tubes"
"I am Zordon of Eltar" Zordon said
"Zordon… it's really you?" the intruder asked "that's what Aleia meant…"
"How did you get in here?" Zordon asked "and how did you end up like this?"
"It's a long story" the Phantom Ranger said "but it all started with me trying to locate you"
Morphing Grid
Rhian, Orisonth, and Phiro appear in the Morphing Grid
"So this is what the Grid is like" the Blue Ranger said
"Who goes there?!" a voice asked and they turn to see six Rangers
"You guys are Rangers too?" the Blue Ranger asked
"We are the Morphing Masters" the Red Morphing Master said and Rhian, Orisonth's, and Phiro's suits shift to different forms
"Whoa" the Blue Morphing Master said "I don't remember making those Powers"
"They are more similar to Zordon's" the Black Morphing Master said
"Wait…" the Green Morphing Master said "I detect traces of the Power Crystals we made"
"What did you guys do?" the Gold Morphing Master asked "you were supposed to find the Power Crystals that we hid there for you, young Orisonth was supposed to find them and build you all Morphers to defend your planet from Dark Specter's forces"
"Well…" the Blue Ranger said "that's not quite what happened. I found the Power Crystals, used them to power my computer…"
"You did what" the Red Morphing Master interrupted
"Used the Power Crystals with some experimental technology to absorb exist energy from the Morphinaut…" the Blue Ranger continued
"You did what with the who now?" the Pink Morphing Master asked
"The guy who stumbled in here a couple decades back that Green insisted on saving" the Black Morphing Master said
"And then I built proper Morphers which worked fine up until we destroyed the Power Crystals to save the Morphinaut and defeat Dark Specter" the Blue Ranger finished
"You did what?!" the Blue Morphing Master exclaimed
"Okay, okay, okay" the Red Morphing Master said "we're going to need to go over this again, slowly, but how are you here? We thought only we could access the Grid like this"
"Apparently they found another way" the Blue Morphing Master said "who knew doing everything wrong could allow you to open a portal to the Morphing Grid"
"We can visually see that you are here, and can detect your Grid energy, but can't detect you" the Green Morphing Master said "how is that?"
"Uh… we're not sure we exist anymore" the Blue Ranger asked "we think the excess Grid energy going through our bodies destroyed them, now just out suits are holding us together"
"How about you answer some of our questions?" the Red Ranger asked "who exactly are you and how did you get here?"
"We are the Morphing Masters" the Red Morphing Master said "long ago, Zordon chose us to create Ranger Powers and distribute them as we see fit. We created many teams Powers, including the Power Crystals you used… until you destroyed them. When Zordon was sealed away, we used our Morphing Hearts to enter the Grid. If even Zordon could be captured, we don't stand a chance. We rarely leave now, as if any of Zordon's enemies detected us and got ahold of our Morphing Hearts… the Omniverse would be doomed. However, you are virtually undetectable… you will serve as our Emissaries, distributing Powers when needed and doing what we cannot…"
Hall of Legends
"So explain to me what happened" Zeus said
"We're not entirely sure" Ninjor said, referring to Lord Simultaneous and himself "the new Ranger team appeared to craft proper Morphers and get their own forms. Dark Specter then possessed the Morphinaut and to drive him out, they did something that was essentially a supernova of Morphing Grid energy. We can no longer directly detect them, similar to the issue we had with Zordon"
"Great, six more Zordons" Reul said
"Now, we can track blinding lights of Grid energy when they appear" Simultaneous said "but we have to know what realm they're in to do that. I can tell Green and Black are still in the Land Without Magic, it was dumb luck I found Pink in the New Land Without Magic, I just happened to be looking at the time. Red, Blue, and Yellow are completely gone though. To add to all this, I could detect a bit of time magic in Green, Black, and Pink, and I imagine I could detect it Red, Blue, and Yellow if I could ever find them"
"How is that possible?" Sora asked
"The Morphing Grid connects to all of space and time" Simultaneous said "whatever they did to cause that supernova of Grid energy must have infused them with a bit of Time Magic. They're not nearly as powerful as me, but may have limited time traveling abilities, and definitely can see at least parts of the future"
"So to review, we have six teenagers that have access to massive amounts of Grid energy, are difficult to track, have access to time magic, and possibly even more abilities that we don't know about?" Daimyo asked
"That about sums it up" Simultaneous said
"Advice on how to deal with them?" Zeus asked
"Observe for now" Simultaneous said "until we know more about their Powers, even us Original Powers should be careful to engage, especially with their Time Magic, I don't want to have to fish anyone out of a time warp. They seem to be focused on Dark Specter for now, they're not Original Powers, they don't have Grail magic, isn't letting people defend themselves what the Original Powers always wanted anyways. We try to avoid interfering, if they want to take care of Dark Specter themselves, more power to them. If they start messing with time or destroying realms, we can try and track them down"
Command Center - North America - Land Without Magic
"That is an interesting tale" Zordon said "and a good lesson of why messing with the Morphing Grid is bad. I hate to disappoint you, but your efforts we're in vain, I was never in the Morphing Grid, I'm trapped in a time warp"
"Like Dark Specter?" the Phantom Ranger asked "you should be able to navigate from your time warp to the Grid and then the Grid back to this realm"
"Perhaps" Zordon said "but I'm not willing to risk Dark Specter escaping"
"But we need you, Zordon" the Phantom Ranger said
"And one day I may find a way to return" Zordon said "but for now you will protect this realm. You did well against Dark Specter's forces"
"I had help" the Phantom Ranger said
"But they are no longer here" Zordon said "Go to the M51 Galaxy, other Rangers may join you in time. Leave the box Aleia gave you with Alpha 2, I will save the shards of the Power Crystals until they are needed"