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The Darkness Visible laughed as it ceased the transmission. "Chaos from within. A suitable irony." He chuckled as if he had just played a rich joke. "It should occupy them and distract them whilst the phased fleet moves into position."
"Yes, Lord. When do you wish the main assault to begin?" Ilana asked humbly.
"Just before the phase gems burn out and our esteemed Allies sweep down on the Earth and show my words false," the Darkness Visible said lightheartedly in rare good humour.
"False, Lord?" Ilana raised her head, not quite believing this.
"Only if they have not delivered my Orb to me within that time. They have their opportunity for salvation. I named them guardian, but a guardian that will not relinquish the property of their master is renamed thief," the Darkness Visible replied glibly.
"Of course, Lord," Ilana murmured, her eyes clouded with a momentary doubt. "I will prepare the remaining Legions to end this war swiftly and they will not threaten you with this Ninjetti weapon of theirs."
"I have no fear of their weapon," the Darkness Visible responded. "He has no soul of warrior-fire. I touched his mind and he is but a scared youngling, tormented by the Spirits to their purpose. There is little danger there."
"This is good, my Lord," Ilana said mechanically. "Then our triumph comes soon."
"Indeed, my Chosen, indeed."
~*~
Tommy stormed out of White FalconZord on Moonbase in a foul mood. "Rocky, don't those blasted Ronani know the MEANING of the word skirmish? I specifically said no actual engagement! They've lost half their number needlessly!"
Rocky, still floating in orbit, sounded worried. "Well ... they seemed to understand when I told them, but ..."
"Either they understand orders or they don't!" Tommy muttered, angry at the wasted life, as he took a quick break whilst his Zord repaired and re-energised in the landing berths. He grabbed a quick bite of energy food and drink and ate on the run... stuffing his mouth full and forgetting to chew as he made it into one of the rec rooms that was showing the broadcast from The Darkness Visible again.
"Geeeeeezus." He swallowed what he had been munching and stared as the human reporter appeared.
"Everywhere on Earth received this information in the last half hour, translated into their own languages. The images displayed have been identified as inhabitants of Angel Grove in the main who have one thing in common. They were all present there when the phenomenon of the Power Rangers was at its peak." The reporter paused for emphasis. "Even more surprising is that representatives of the White House claim that the President is aware of the situation and is currently re-evaluating his information. This, coupled with the fact that stories are coming in all over the country of mysterious disappearances of nuclear missiles, lends credence to the fact this broadcast is not a hoax. If we accept it as genuine, then it becomes a decision as to whether we trust its content..."
The reporter continued as Tommy stared at the screen, momentarily stunned.
"Did you all get that?" He instinctively reached out to his most familiar teammates.
"Loud and clear," Jason said disconsolately.
"It's psychological warfare," Zack chipped in. "Don't start doubting, man."
"I'm not doubting, but..." Tommy paused. It was going to be hard enough doing this without thinking that they might have to go against their own side, too. It would be difficult to see how people on Earth might NOT have doubts after that!
"When this is done ..." Adam's calm voice interceded, "then we can sort it out. It all becomes irrelevant otherwise."
"Would be nice to have the support, though." Tanya sighed, hating the thought of this discordant note in their own side.
"We are Power Rangers." Billy's voice spoke up suddenly, reaching all of them. "We are USED to working alone, with only each other standing between life and death. It is just a bigger scale ..." His sigh was audible and the wistful note was not lost on the others. "We know what we are doing is right."
"Do we?" Kat asked softly, but Rocky's link made sure everyone heard it. "Would giving him the Orb stop the war?"
There was a silence over the Ninjetti link.
"Yes." Billy replied slowly, seemingly the only one who could answer that question. "But only in that then he would have the power to destroy us with a mere effort of will. There would be no war because there would be no Ninjetti, no Earth... no forces of good to oppose him." The most chilling thing was the statement that could so easily have been melodramatic was presented in cold, matter-of-fact terms.
"I think that answers our question." Trini's voice came in from out of the cold depths of space where TigerZord prowled, testing the boundaries of their secured territory. "If anything we know and love is going to survive, we have to fight for it."
Agreement sounded from all of them and Tommy sighed. "Thanks guys," he replied quietly. "We won't let that happen. We CAN'T let that happen."
"I don't understand why they are taking this breather," Jason said, airing a concern that was niggling at him. "A mysterious gap in proceedings usually meant they... well, Rita and Zedd at least, were up to something that would get us later. Billy, any ideas?"
"Skye and I have been working on locating this object, the Orb," the Blue Wolf Ninjetti supplied. "If we can locate it and get it AWAY from Earth, The Darkness Visible and the Nid-hi might follow."
Tommy found himself nodding, though he knew no one could actually see the gesture. "Good call. Any luck?"
"We're building a device that will detect reality fluctuations ... or more precisely we are trying to," Billy reported, pausing to suck at his fingers as he singed them on a soldering tool. "I am afraid this has left us little time for other speculation."
"we'll just have to do this on the fly." Kim sounded determined. "Most of us haven't used their Master Power either... that should help."
"Well, save it for when things are really bad," Tommy replied with a sigh. "I can't help thinking we used the others too soon."
They tried not to think about that. The space-slicing ability of Vy-Ru may have been able to get their Allies' fleet there in a moment. But... they were gone, sacrificed so early in their campaign.
"Well, anyone who has any idea let me know?" Tommy said again. "I have to get back out there."
"As do all of us." Aisha responded as she waited for her Zeebeedees to finish repairing the damage she took earlier. "Green light... and I'm out of here!" she broadcast.
"See you up there, Aish." Adam said and there were a few significant pauses that Rocky knew to be private exchanges between the various couples, just reaffirming their links with each other whilst they still could.
~*~
"Master Vile to Dark Spectre. The phase gems are within an hour of failing, tighten up formation." Rita's father ordered curtly from his phased battle cruiser.
"Tighten up formation? Why that jumped-up..." Dark Spectre rumbled, and his lava lines glowed brilliantly with annoyance. "I am in charge of the destruction of Earth!" he reminded the other space villain.
Master Vile sneered, relishing a moment of technical superiority. "And I am in charge of the deployment of the phased fleet. As you may have noticed, you are a part of that fleet at the moment."
"You are ESCORTING our attack force and providing cover for us!" Dark Spectre retorted.
"Which we find hard to do when you are straggling," Master Vile said with a hint of smugness.
"Very well. Dark Spectre out." The magma lord cut the connection. "The AUDACITY of the creature!"
"My Lord?" Divatox looked at him askance, wondering if maybe she should think about cosying up to Master Vile a little, and whether she could do it without Dark Spectre knowing.
"Remind me to pay him back for his insolence... slowly." Dark Spectre was NOT impressed by the impertinence. "He seeks favour with the Darkness Visible for his own ends. He must feel confident that he has the upper hand if he dares behave in such a way. I wonder... hmmm." The one-time OverLord of all Evil in the galaxy pondered. "I wonder if he believes he can find ... It."
"'It', Lord?" Divatox asked, confused. "I thought we were to lay waste to earth to demoralise our enemies and possibly even force them to stop their defence."
"it's a wonder you've survived this long." Dark Spectre's voice was scathing. "That is... at best a bonus. Did you not see the broadcast of the Darkness Visible?"
The purple-haired space pirate frowned. "But that was mere... foolery to con the naive inhabitants of Earth!" She looked at his glowing eyes and frowned. "Wasn't it?"
"As the humans say, 'Many a true word spoken in jest'." His presence seemed to swell with brooding power. "The Orb is there ... the Earth is nothing, meaningless. So it may affect our enemies... the war is academic, anyway. We have them outclassed. Sooner or later they will fall. Divatox, you must spread your toxic chemical warfare as soon as possible when we reach there and try and extort the answer from one of their leaders." It did not even occur to him that they might not know.
Power sought Power and he knew now why his brother Maligore had become so obsessed with this place. "I misjudged you, brother," Dark Spectre murmured to himself. "Thought you weak for turning your back on conquest and thinking you turned away from the joys of Power to shame me. Instead, your hunger was great enough to draw you after the ultimate prize."
Divatox listened closely, though the words were obviously private. Who would know what would be useful? "I will do as you command, Dark Spectre."
"Yes." The Dark Lord roused himself from his reverie. "I'm sure you will."
~*~
"This picture looks wrong." Rocky shook his head as he strove to work out what exactly was wrong from his mental perception of the killing grounds.
On the surface it appeared standard. The Enemy was there and moving towards them here. They clashed head-on in the middle. End of story.
"Which is ridiculous." Rocky frowned again. Jason was right, this pause was most definitely not normal. According to his reading, an opponent used a lull in a conflict to do one of a few things. Lick its wounds. Prepare a counter attack, or wait for a prearranged strategy to manifest.
"Not going to be the first," he said to himself, having already assessed that the Legion of Nid-hi they had destroyed had not been a large portion of their fighting force from the sheer amount of 'motherships' they had. "One of the last two." What if it was a prearranged strategy? That was the most dangerous. Is the Darkness Visible arrogant enough to believe it could destroy them head on? Maybe, possibly. As yet there have been no flanking attempts. Why? The thoughts whirled around, chasing elusive answers that slid like shadows from his grasp.
His apespirit rumbled. "Danger in the forest comes from all around, above and below," it commented and Rocky paused, experiencing a cold dawning fear. He was being encouraged to look at this battle as if it was linear, as if it was taking place on Earth. This was space! It was only habit that had them fighting on a horizontal plane! For crying out loud, why hadn't they noticed this before?
Alarmed, Rocky started combing the area of space around Earth in a spherical fashion, searching for anomalies in the sensors. It was such an alien concept, but then Rocky considered how little experience they had with fighting in space and realised that it wasn't natural to alert to... predators from ALL spatial points. Though in reality it came through into his brain as 'weird and unnatural'.
"Dammit!" Rocky swore. He felt an uneasy flicker and had nothing to justify his feeling, however hard he looked. Still... would it harm to bring Adam, Aisha and Kat over towards this sector from their HomeGuard? He instinctively chose those he knew and trusted for longer than others. His oldest friends and his love... just in case.
There. A flicker in space, from his position diagonally beneath the Earth. But just as he was trying to focus his attention, the frontline sensors went ballistic and Nid-hi Legions streamed out of the Armada motherships in uncountable numbers, demanding his immediate attention.
"Second WAVE. it's the big one, everyone!" Rocky alerted them, scrambling the Ninjetti squadrons. "Move, people, move!" he encouraged urgently as he watched them pour once more into space.
"You heard him... Tanya, you think you can keep sending out megazord patterns like you worked out with Billy?" Tommy said through the Ninjetti link, referring to a hasty discussion they had had on boosting their basic firepower over an energy pack meal. Jason had mentioned that it was a shame there were no megazords, and Billy had replied that there was no reason the Zords could not link, it was merely the combinations and compatibility that would take more time to calculate through the computer than would be effective in battle. Or as Zack put it, "A Ninjetti Megazord would be coming together as a MegaSitting DuckZord."
That was, until Tanya had mentioned she had no difficulty in telling exactly which Zords could go where, an ability that seemed linked to her Master Power of Unity. That had resulted in a flurry of excitement and activity and a possibly new weapons resource for them all.
"No problem," she responded calmly. Being the unseen connection was somewhat satisfying and it would protect them. Tanya focused sternly, finding that the shapes danced in her mind naturally, like elaborate jigsaw pieces, turning shapes around visually so they would knit together. If this was one of the lesser functions of her Master Power, she began to wonder what her full power might be able to accomplish.
"Great. Concentrate on that rather than frontline action," Tommy said in his 'tense leader commanding' tone. He had also made another decision on the advice of Zordon.
"Dulcea, I can't risk the Darkness Visible getting hold of you. Drop back to HomeGuard and ask Jason to release someone to take your place."
"White Falcon ... I could make stealth strikes. OwlZord is completely cloaked by my Master Power of Silence," the Master Warrior of the Ninjetti protested automatically. She was the most experienced! Being relegated...
"If the opportunity arises." Tommy was firm in his response. "Now I need to bolster Earth defence. There are too many coming at us that we will actually be able to STOP them in space. Not like we have a barrier or anything, and you are one of the Council of the Wise after all."
"Agreed." Dulcea sighed and OwlZord sped back to join Jason on the Home Guard Line, hating even the appearance of fleeing from her racial enemy despite her previous doubts.
Rocky, his mind whirling with battle information, tried to surface long enough to check out that flicker. Practically having to wrench his mind from the Frontline action, he tuned his attention to those other sensors and was therefore the only one watching that area of space when ...
"Phase Gem failure ... in... three... two... one... Burnout!" Divatox announced triumphantly.
"Good," Dark Spectre rumbled. "Let us take our fleet to Earth. Master Vile... carry out your mission of securing the planetary zone."
"Yes, Dark Spectre." Master Vile acknowledged grudgingly, cutting communication as they began to split off, a devastating fleet that appeared out of nowhere.
Rocky now knew what it felt like to have a heart attack ... or as close to it as made no difference. "Jeeezus!" His chest and lungs had literally frozen in shock as an entire fleet shimmered into existence before his eyes. His ApeZord computer was not helping either.
"Scanning... craft identified ... Divatox Space-sub... scanning, craft identified Quantron fleet. Scanning, craft identified Dark Spectre flagship. Scanning, craft identified, Zedd warships... scanning, craft identified Vile destroyers ..."
"Shut up, shut up!" Rocky desperately did NOT want to hear this.
"Mute activated." The computer monologue ceased, but the warnings flashed up as the computer matched the fighter configurations one after another. Scorpion fighters, even Machine Empire cogs and battle drones—all made up that fleet. The United Alliance of Evil in all its dark glory, uneasily combined and co-operating at least temporarily for this one time, targeting them and Earth specifically.
This is no time to go to pieces. Strategy... strategy ... Rocky sounded the warning.
"HomeGuard! Alert! We have a fleet appearing out of phased space. All our old friends are joining the party!"
"Shit!" Jason was nothing if not eloquent. "What the hell are we going to do? We have our hands full backing up the frontline!"
The HomeGuard had moved into action, thin on numbers but heavy on firepower as the squadrons evaded the frontline defence.
"Their fleet is splitting into two—one section moving to Earth and the other coming round to catch Frontline on the flank," Rocky warned.
Billy's voice spoke up over the link. "We NEED the Allies' fleet... otherwise we've had it."
"it's still a few star systems away... not due to arrive even at top speed for another couple of hours," Rocky explained, monitoring their transmissions as well as the battle.
"We need them here faster!" Jason said forcefully
"If running needs to be done, and in speed is life, a cheetah understands that most of all," Kat's Cheetahspirit reminded her.
"Faster... that's my department," Kat blurted out across the link.
"Your Master Power?" Billy said, suddenly remembering. "You think you can accelerate the Allies' FLEET?"
"I'll have to," Kat said firmly. "it's what HAS to be done."
"Kat, it's too much!" Rocky said, suddenly terrified she would overextend herself. They had been warned that pushing beyond the limits of their Power might result in collapse, or worse.
"Rocky... look at the readouts ... it has to be worth a try!" Kat said, determined now. Did they really have a choice?
He couldn't deny that. With each passing moment the situation deteriorated, and if there was any hope, however small, they must try it.
Jason made the decision immediately, having reached that conclusion already and came up with some sort of plan to try and buy the time necessary.
"Right... Adam, Aisha, you are closest. Intercept and try and delay the flanking part of their fleet as best you can—keep them off of Tommy and our main forces, or they will be crushed against the Nid-hi battle cruisers. Kat, you try and get the allies here as fast as possible." Jason snapped out crisp orders one after another. "Zack, Dulcea, Delphine, we'll try and intercept the warships entering Earth atmosphere. Billy, Skye, Kim and Rocky, keep Moonbase and Rocky's position clear; and Rocky ... tell the Power Chamber to alert the governments that an attack is in progress—now they can see how the Darkness Visible lies. Let's move it, people!"
Obediently they scattered, clearing an area for Kat to make her dash for help.
"You're clear, Kat," Rocky said across the link and then added privately, "Take care, love."
"I will, Rocky." The Pink Cheetah Ninjetti smiled to herself at the concern in his voice. "I'll be back soon." And she had no qualms at all about blowing him a mental kiss before turning to her task.
Kat pressed her hand to the Master glyph and felt it pulse beneath her hand, a throbbing synchronised with her heartbeat. In her mind her Cheetah spirit circled, the fluidity of its movement hypnotising her. The Master Ninjetti Power lay coiled within her... like the tensed muscles of a cheetah about to sprint. She had to get there and had to get them back, all of them back here to face the fleet just come out of phase. Adam and Aisha would not be able to hold them long. She COULD do it ... she COULD!
"Master Ninjetti Power Maraz! Hopespeed!" A burst of light enveloped her Zord, time itself seeming to slow as she sped up. Responding to her desire and will, the Pink CheetahZord blurred and streaked out of their solar system, towards the distant Allies' fleet.
~*~
Two against a fleet of practically everyone they had ever fought in the past. They'd managed them one at a time, but all together?
"This is not going to be easy, Aish," Adam murmured through the link, looking at the terrifying odds in front of them, trying to find a point of balance within himself.
"You kidding?" Aisha replied in a tight voice. "Piece of cake... well, a cake made of titanium, with a filling of diamond-encrusted gelignite and plastic explosive topping."
Adam gave a slight smile to himself. "You'll make me hungry."
"Kinda the idea," Aisha sent back, her hands abnormally tight on the controls. "I suppose a plan is out of the question?"
"Well, since you ask so nicely." The Black frog Ninjetti had been thinking furiously. "They unphased a fleet out of nowhere... how about we try the same?"
"Say what?"Aisha replied, wondering if Adam had lost it.
"My Master Power... illusion. I believe I can create the illusion of a fleet out here. I may make them cautious enough to hold off sweeping in on Tommy and the others from behind." Adam tried to sound confident. "Especially if you and I provide real fire amongst the fake."
"won't their sensors indicate there's nothing there?" Aisha asked, hating to pick holes, but it would be a pretty pointless effort if the enemy sensors could see through an illusion.
"It will be a complete illusion," Adam responded. He would have to provide both the appearance of weaponry, and the appearance to the enemy fleet that their sensor readouts were indeed measuring heavy weaponry.
"Considering we are nearly on them and this is the only plan we have... I say ... go for it, Adam." The Yellow Bear Ninjetti nodded, committing herself to support his idea.
Adam stared at the advancing fleet and closed his mind, dropping back into the void where he had contacted his Frog Spirit once more. Not emptiness... but potential. Potential to create from thought itself.
"Master Power Shas," he said quietly, touching the gleaming jet glyph on the front of his spirit warrior armour. A shift... a blurring of the edges of perception, and painstakingly he created their own fictional phased fleet. Bright and clear in his mind. Sharp and real. David Copperfield, eat your heart out! He was going to make an entire space fleet... appear..
With an exhalation of immense effort from Adam, the Master-Powered illusion shimmered into view as if uncloaking from phase space.
"Dark Spirits of the Void!" Dark Spectre stood suddenly as a fleet materialised between them and their objective. "Sensor reports?"
The consoles shimmered imperceptibly. "Sensors read them, my lord," a hapless console worker reported, receiving a cuff for his part in bringing bad news to the dark lord.
"How by all that's Evil did they manage to bring a fleet here?" Divatox said, her mouth agape as she took in the details of the opposing fleet.
"We managed it," the Magma Lord said darkly.
Well, that was true. It took a while for the shock to sink in as Dark Spectre slowed their progress to a third, his attacking fleet creeping in more cautiously towards the Frontline Ninjetti. He frowned disbelievingly, not willing to accept the evidence of his own eyes and the fact they may have been outsmarted.
"Fire a salvo of your torpedoes, Divatox, at the central formation," he ordered.
The purple-haired pirate transported herself to her space sub, a smirk on her lips. "Fire torpedoes... let's sting 'em a little!" she gloated, glad to be in action at last.
"Incoming!" Rocky warned his two longtime friends, but getting no response. "Adam... Adam?"
"Don't distract him," Aisha replied urgently. "I have no idea how he is maintaining so many variables at once... and I don't want to throw him."
Adam was trembling with strain, needing the illusion to hold, needing it to protect his friends, to save his family, MAKING it work by sheer strength of will.
"I'm... okay," he said through the link. "Aisha, take out the torpedoes; I'll make it look convincing."
The Black Frog Ninjetti felt like he was wilting under such a vast influx of information, constantly trying to escape him, like an elusive dream image wavering on the edge of consciousness. Still, he rallied as Aisha obeyed, making it appear as if defenders in the fleet had intercepted the torpedoes and exploded them, and for authenticity that one of them damaged a ship.
"Predators look more closely at wounded prey," his frogspirit commented silently.
That is the idea. They will not notice when I lose the periphery... I can't hold on much longer, Adam replied, feeling things starting to unravel and desperately trying to distract their opponent with what appeared to be an aggressive move by a phalanx of illusionary ships. In reality it was Aisha, cloaked by a weaving of his imagination.
"Dark Spectre... they are attacking!" Divatox informed him. "And..." the Space sub rolled under a very substantial impact, sending alarms blaring. "Their firepower is real enough! I've taken a hit."
"Peel off and go and keep an eye on Vile, Zedd and Rita," Dark Spectre instructed. "I doubt Earth will have anything that will trouble your shields even at half strength."
"As you command, Lord." Divatox smiled behind her half mask. Well well, looked like she had managed to worm her way into Dark Spectre's confidence after all. Good. She obeyed as Dark Spectre's forces cautiously started to inch forward through space, looking to close in and crush Tommy's Ninjetti offensive from a flanking position.
Dark Spectre studied the screen, not entirely convinced for all of the reported actual damage. After all, there was very little of it, less than you would expect. Either they were really bad shots... or something was definitely awry. His eyes gleamed lava-red bright and hot as fresh blood as he ordered, "Check for phase gem residual emission."
That was what was missing. His command of earth and fire should have had the presence of phase gems fizzing and bubbling in his awareness, much like those in his own fleet had done.
"None detected, my Lord," an ensign reported.
A flare of magma light as DarkSpectre paused for thought, and then gave his nearest equivalent to a smile as he noticed a barely perceptible flicker to the ships on the edges of their opposition. "Isn't that interesting. All forces! Attack speed. This fleet is illusion!"
"Sire?" chimed in a voice incredulously.
"Do not argue." The simple phrase alluded indirectly to the fate of those who had argued, albeit very briefly. "Carry out my orders."
Slowly Dark Spectre's forces began to accelerate implacably towards the illusionary defenders.
~*~
"Madre de Dios..." Rocky muttered under his breath. "Adam, Aisha, you've been rumbled. They are coming right at you. Bug out!"
Adam's head was swimming and dizzily he tried to cope with the splitting headache that was pounding on his optic nerves. It crept into peculiar sparkling lights that ate away at his vision and drained all strength from his body, filling his sight with bright sharp pain.
"I... can't... hold ..." His head dropped forward to rest on the console as the last vestiges of the Master Power flickered and dispersed with his consciousness.
The gleaming illusory fleet shimmered like the elusive thread of a dream slipping through the fingers of memory and vanished, exposing the battling Ninjetti to potential devastation.
"Tommy! Watch your six! " Rocky yelled as the apparent defence vanished, leaving the Frontline wide open to attack and the pair of Ninjetti spirit warriors terribly exposed between the opposing forces. "Aisha... get out of there!"
"I'm trying to raise Adam," the Yellow Bear Ninjetti snapped back. "Adam? Adam... get your lazy butt out of the way of the fleet... Adam?! Dammit!" Aisha hit her console in frustration.
"Aisha, move!" Rocky pleaded.
There was a silence. A silence filled with a lifetime of memories, of a childhood where the three of them lived from each other's houses, of sharing a first kiss with Adam as the petals fell on the spring breeze. He wasn't just a friend. He was a best friend. It had been a pain that she had never thought she would get over to realise she would have faded from their memories whereas she held those treasured moments clear and bright inside for all of them. Then there had been joy as they remembered ... bit by bit. She was not going to lose that again. There were many ways to love, and one of the truest paths of a warrior of the heart was to never give up on a friend.
Her hand reached towards her glyph, realising she had to stop the fleet. It was her nature to fight; it was her nature to battle, to attack to defend so she would be true to her nature as Nin-jor had described.
"Master Power Thornaz!" she practically shouted as a battle cry, and around the Yellow Bear Zord an immense flickering raging form roared and charged the entire fleet, oblivious to opposition, damage or vulnerability.
Rocky watched in horror. "Tommy, Aisha's gone after Dark Spectre. Adam's disabled, by the looks of it."
"Rocky, we can't break off... the Nid-hi are all over us!" Tommy yelled back, their forces under immense pressure. Whoever was commanding this assault was a Master themselves. Even that moment's distraction was nearly too much. "Whoa!" He barrel-rolled out of a circle of deadly explosive blooms.
"I'll go after them!" Rocky said desperately, trying not to SEE them in his mind so clearly as tiny specks about to be crushed.
"No ... hold position! Hold position! We lose you, the whole thing collapses!" Tommy raised his voice, truly worried now.
I hate this... I hate this... Rocky repeated over and over to himself, locked into position while his friends were in trouble.
If anyone had seen Aisha then, they would have been terrified. It was somehow profoundly disturbing to see the full primal ferocity of a predator unleashed in a human who smiled, talked, shopped, went to school and studied. Eyes that usually held nothing but compassion and caring were devoured by rage—an incandescent rage that ate away her humanity. Reduced to the essentials, she was blindingly quick and ferocious and came right at the fleet, unpredictable and deadly.
"Laughable." Dark Spectre shook his head. "Fire long-range missiles. I don't want a ship to slow us down."
The missiles were fired, locked on target, exploding in plasma burst of actinic light, and yet the Zord still kept coming.
Dark Spectre frowned. Strange. "Lock main plasma guns and fire!" he ordered, raising his rough voice.
It should have been enough to destroy a moon, and yet, from out of the roiling furious energy, the Zord kept coming.
~*~
Kat had braked, the Power of Hopespeed still thrumming through her body, slipping into the Cheetah Zord to be unleashed at her command. It had been a phenomenal experience, a rush of speed so intense that it seemed she had danced through stars and space, and nothing could stop her. It seemed no time at all before she had seen her target, and willed the headlong rush to cease. There before her was the Allies' fleet, headed up by that so familiar black triangular warship, Pyramidas.
"Unidentified craft! This is the Allies' fleet commander, the Phantom Ranger. State your identity." Kerrin's crisp voice hailed her, his image appearing on her screen from the bridge of the Space Rangers' craft. Even now she noted Cassie's proximity to him and wondered in the jumble of thought whether they had got together before this all happened. She hoped so. She shook her head to try and calm her accelerated thoughts.
"Katherine of Earth, Pink Cheetah Master Ninjetti," Kat stated firmly and clearly, not wanting to be misunderstood at this critical juncture. "I'm going to try and get you to the battle now. A second fleet is attempting to flank our forces and we need reinforcement. Fortunately they are non-Nid-hi so your weaponry should be effective against them."
"We are travelling at maximum speed already," Phantom said, shaking his head. "We understand the need for haste, but some things are not possible."
"You forget your heritage—With the Great Power, all things are possible," Kat replied, sincerely hoping her words were not meaningless. "I will use the power of the Master Ninjetti to get you there in time. We must hurry, every moment could mean disaster. Take your fleet to battle readiness, Phantom," Kat stated, trying to believe in her own words, unaware of how confident she sounded. "How am I going to transport ALL of them? There are thousands of them!"
She closed her eyes a moment. There was no room for doubt. Speed was their salvation, the difference between life and death. In one moment life and death could clash, and who knew which would emerge victorious? Time to tip the odds in their favour.
"Brace yourselves... gonna be a fast and rough ride," Kat warned, her blue eyes fierce with the knowledge of what HAD to be done to save her friends, her family and the Earth.
"Fleet prepared." Kerrin sounded only the slightest bit unsure. He knew the legends of the Great Power, but one person moving an entire space fleet strained his credulity. "We are at your disposal and battle ready!"
"Acknowledged." The Pink Cheetah Zord glowed as Kat concentrated, the aura of Power stretching out, jumping from ship to ship, knitting them together in a giant web of light. Her muscles tensed under the strain, feeling the additional burden in a strange fashion, increased in presence as she connected each of the allies into her speed. But still the power grew as her mind turned to thoughts of home and her fear that they would be too late. They HAD to get back! Rocky was there; if she didn't, Rocky would be one of the first to be overwhelmed and she could not allow that! Her lungs and muscles feeling like they would burst with effort, she let the Master Power of Hopespeed uncoil and sweep the fleet away on their desperate mercy mission at incomprehensible speed through space.
In actual time, the trip took little time, very little time, but to Kat it was an eternity. Time subjectively stretched out, running as in a dream, running and feeling things pass around her, but some terrible, dreadful thing dragging her down and fear in every heartbeat.
Just a little further... just a little further... end of the race, finish line ahead... then ... then you can stop running and ... Kat's heart was pounding as if she had run every parsec physically carrying all those ships on her back, dragging them like chains weighing her down, muscles trembling with strain.
Somehow she could see through the blurred space to know the end was in sight. She had to be soon enough! She had to be in time, whatever the cost.
And... HERE! The brakes were on and inertia halted, throwing her against the straps in her seat. She hoped it was enough, god, she couldn't breathe, was going to be sick and pass out.
The Allies' fleet swept forward around her tumbling craft to prevent them pouncing on the Ninjetti Frontline, ready to engage from the moment they dropped out of the hyperspeed Kat had managed to effect, and not unnaturally their presence caused some consternation.
"Dark Spectre, a fleet has appeared out of nowhere!" a subordinate reported, sounding shocked.
"Can't they come up with a more original ruse?" the Magma Lord snarled. How tedious. "Any phase gem residuals?"
"No, sire," the ensign reported.
"Then it is another fake. Pathetic. I expected more from those who thwart the Alliance of Evil for so long." Dark Spectre looked at the approaching berserk Zord with a sense of unease. "What is that thing!?"
"It is but one Zord, my Lord," an advisor said, placating him. "What difference can one Zord make?"
"True enough. Launch fighters!" came the terse order. "We will crush this petty defence."
"Enemy there... threat ... main threat! Danger! Invading territory!"
Aisha was reacting on a visceral level. There was a threat to her, her 'family', her territory and THIS was one of the main attackers. With Berserker power she ploughed through weapons fire that would have destroyed half of their forces and latched, tearing and clawing, with her Zord to the flagship that contained Dark Spectre.
"Kill... end the threat... fight ... kill... protect ..."
She was merged with the most primal side of her animal spirit the Bear. Gone was the wisdom, and present was the strength and protection this spirit was endowed with in such great quantities.
"Enemy Zord has engaged our craft... physically," the shaken ensign reported, as Dark Spectre's flagship trembled.
"By the Powers of Darkness! Get the fighters to blast it off," Dark Spectre roared.
"My Lord, that may damage the outer hull!" the subordinate said desperately.
"And the craft is not? IDIOT!" Dark Spectre lashed out with his Power, abruptly filling the hapless ensign's bones with liquid fire. The unfortunate creature did not scream for too long as the flagship rocked under the inconceivable attack.
His anger fuelled rather than abated by the murder of one of his subordinates, Dark Spectre roared in defiance and routed power to the hull of his battleship to electrify the intruder, not caring about anyone else who might fall foul of his retaliatory measures. NOTHING could survive that!
An assessment that was proven by the explosions of the outer hull gun turrets as plasma energy tried to purge the ship clean.
Protected by the Master Power, though that energy flared and flickered like a raging fire, impossibly the damage did not seem to stop the Yellow Bear Zord.
The tiny scrap of fighting technology tore and hacked at the surface of the flagship, a speck against its immense bulk, but like a needle against a bloated balloon, piercing, unstoppable and relentless.
A dim awareness warned Aisha this could not last and her conscious mind wrested some semblance of control over her primal attack, arrowing towards an exposed core channel, burrowing deeper into the metallic hide of the enemy craft. The rage flickered and faltered and trusting the invulnerability would last just long enough, she launched deadly missiles whilst embedded in the very belly of Dark Spectre's flagship. A terminal eruption of acid plasma flame streamed into the vulnerable underbelly, filling its internal structure with the purifying fire.
In a series of painfully slow explosions, for all of Dark Spectre's ranting and raving, the Flagship was crippled and dying, bleeding debris and fuel before cracking apart in a startling shattering silence, spewing out a last vomiting burst of white plasma to mark its passing.
A spontaneous cheer rang through the link as the news was passed around, but Rocky was acutely aware that THREE master Ninjetti were tumbling aimlessly on that battleground as the Allies' fleet rushed to engage the remainder of Dark Spectre's forces.
"Billy, we have to get Kat, Aisha and Adam out of there," he called out, selecting the closest of the HomeGuard to instruct and resolutely breaking orbit.
"Understood." Billy glanced at Skye, who was already tracking and plotting a course to intercept the nearest Zord casualty as he tried to fly and not lose too much time on completion of his assignment. The Blue WolfZord chased across the field of fire and locked onto the first disabled craft, the floating Black FrogZord.
"Adam! Adam, can you hear me?" Billy focussed urgently as the Frogzord was drawn into a tractor beam embrace and then more clumsily borne from the battlefield of stars. Encumbered, they took some hits and the Blue Wolf Ninjetti cursed as some of his delicate calibrations were upset, but he was more concerned that there was no response from Adam.
"Skye?" He turned to his friend concernedly, knowing his friend would see the request in his eyes.
There was a glimmer of light in the heart of the Star Crystal as the Phoenix Ninjetti reached out and investigated with his mind.
"He's alive—unconscious, but alive. Exhaustion mainly," Skye reported, sounding relieved.
Billy echoed that sigh of relief, unable to conceal his reaction. "Alert Moonbase we are bringing him in. If he's just unconscious, then some time on the Table should bring him round in no time."
Rocky unclenched a fist. Thank God! That was one down. His own intercept course took him directly towards his last marker for the Pink Cheetah Zord. "Kat? Kat, Aisha can you hear me?" Around him dazzles of hostile fire burst like fireworks and ships flashed and turned, wheeled and burned in the night.
"I've got... Aisha..." Kat gasped out as if she had been running and was still trying to catch her breath. "Her Zord is... trashed..and we have some unfriendlies coming our way." She gulped and swallowed convulsively as her lungs heaved for air. She felt like she was still going to throw up and her muscles were all shaky, which would be fine if she weren't in the middle of a starship firefight. At the end of a cross-country route, or a hard workout or gruelling dance session maybe, but not here and now. Her Zord reflected her drained power and struggled to move at all.
"I'm coming, Kat," Rocky said, his tone completely serious.
"No... you have to stay where you are. Not risk communications," Kat said wearily.
"I am protecting communications. If something happened to you... they... I would fall apart," Rocky replied in a very sensible tone, which was all the more affecting for its calm seriousness. "Rescuing you is a sound strategy—and here I come!"
The Red Ape Zord spun and tore through the enemy squadron, reflecting Rocky's long-pent-up need to strike back at the Nid-hi. It was good to act and release some of the tension that had been rising, as the odds grew ever higher against them.
"I'll cover you." A voice sounded on the normal channels. He had to think a moment, but recognised the ship. There were very few that didn't remember a massive black flying pyramid.
"Thanks, Trey," Rocky said gratefully, sweeping in behind the lee of the Pyramid Zord to retrieve Kat and Aisha, not liking the look of the Bear Zord at all. It seemed a miracle it was hanging together and he secured it carefully before taking it, staggering back to Moonbase with his precious cargo.
"Gotcha, love," he murmured to Kat as he reluctantly released them into a docking hanger. "I hate to do this..."
"..but you have to go. I know." Kat said, a smile audible in her voice "Go on, love. I'll take care of Aisha."
"Be with you soon, Kat," Rocky promised her and himself as he returned to his assigned post with a mental sigh.
~*~
"Are they being deliberately obstructive or just dense?" Jason snapped as he examined his readouts. "Military aircraft, you are ignoring our warnings! Do not engage the enemy, they have shields that your weaponry will not affect." He instructed tersely once again.
"There's very little Tomahawks won't touch," a calm, assured voice responded. "Look, kid, we know what we are doing. We're experienced in live combat. Back off and let us deal with these alien buggers."
Kid? Kid? I've seen more action than you have even if you are three times my age! His Lionspirit growled and he fought the instinct to just stand back and let them get on with it. Jason grimaced; the propaganda of the Darkness Visible was swift in its impact. Rather carefully he used his diplomatic skills from the Peace Conference to not respond hastily.
"I'm sure you have, sir, but I am telling you you'll end up with a face full of missile exploding on you and not a scratch on their ships!" He tried reasoning with them—fruitlessly.
"Jason, leave it. We have an atmosphere entry on the West Coast!" His father's voice sounded over the communicators rather than through the link. "Major enemy incursion."
"But..." He couldn't just let them go into danger like that. They would be killed! Needlessly, more to the point, because they wouldn't listen to vital information!
"Jason! Do as I say." His father snapped out a command that spoke to many childhood instincts and memories, and Jason found himself breaking off and wheeling Red Lion Zord away instinctively.
"Sorry, son," his father added afterwards. "But we need you there. Lilian is going to talk to the military," he said as if pulling an ace from up his sleeve.
"Tell her not to upset too many four-star generals," Jason said dryly. Mrs DeSantos was rapidly acquiring legendary status and his respect for Rocky had increased considerably. "Who is party crashing the West?"
"Zedd and Co." Justin's voice sounded over the normal communication channels.
Jason shook his head. Seemed weird hearing him as a baritone, he was still a kid, for crying out loud. He had a sudden irreverent thought of Justin's voice having broken into a bass and mentally kicked himself for letting his mind try to escape from the pressures at hand.
"How are they doing in Europe?" he asked, not wanting to disturb Delphine if it was not necessary.
"Making headway," came the rather evasive response. "Experiencing much the same attitude you are getting now from their military forces."
"Tell me they didn't reach the capital cities," Jason begged as the blip of enemy craft appeared on his sensors.
There was a telling hesitation.
"Dad?" Jason felt the pressure of that silence grow in a way that made the back of his neck prickle.
There was a cough and a clearing of throat as if words were proving reluctant to control in his father's mouth. "Er... most of the capital cities are safe - so far."
Hesitation was NOT good news. "Where did they reach?" Jason asked in a tense tone.
"Geneva, Moscow... and part of London," his father said, reluctant to burden his son with this information. The newsfeed was horrific in its graphic depiction of cities in flames.
Jason closed his eyes momentarily. God. He'd BEEN to those places. Walked their streets, laughed and breathed the air that was now choked with destruction. When he opened his eyes again, they were filled with a purpose and fire that would have startled those who knew him. Revenge Ý no, but justice, justice was allowed.
"Son? You need backup before you take them on. Jason? Jason, are you listening?" His father cursed as the channel was cut off and he watched that tiny glowing speck of light on the tracking display head straight towards the large cluster of enemies.
~*~
Divatox watched Rita and Zedd drop through the atmosphere and then chose an insertion point that would take her down near Washington, DC.
Reasoning told her that if the United States, however pitiful a group, did not know the location of this Orb then they had sufficient resources to extract that information with all haste. She waited until that Red Lion Ninjetti was engaged in battle before locking on to the White House and taking over their communications with ridiculous ease.
"Mr President - I believe that is the term of address you use." Divatox's visage appeared from every screen, her voice from every speaker. "We are feeling a little impatient now. We want that Orb, and you know what? When you can destroy a planet with little effort, you don't get terribly enamoured of being kept waiting."
"We don't HAVE access to that information," the President said firmly. "Not that I would hand it over just like that if I did."
"Oh, I think you would." Divatox smiled, a cold malicious curve to her lips. "You are not aware of how much incentive you have to do so." The half mask seemed to crawl with shadows for a moment. "Let me make this clear. You have one hour to provide me with the location of the Orb, if not the item itself, or I will release a nerve gas over your city that will have your precious voters ... dying in agonies in about... oooh, 5 minutes." She smiled again.
"I recommend that you not even consider that I am bluffing. There are plenty of civilisations who found out the hard way that Divatox the Space Pirate never bluffs when the real thing is so much more fun."
The President was then treated to a compilation of Divatox's greatest massacres from around the galaxy before her face appeared again "One hour. Oh, you'll need a timer." And one of her bombs materialised on his desk, reinforcing how completely outclassed he was in terms of technology and security.
The President looked up and saw the message in Divatox's eyes glittering with malice.
There is nowhere that I cannot get to you, anytime, any place.
As her image vanished, he reluctantly set in motion the calls to set all of the resources at his disposal on the task of locating this object.
"If nothing else, I need something to be able to bargain with it," he rationalised, but deep down it was a cold fear that slipped chill fingers into the pit of his stomach and squeezed the co-operation from him.
~*~
"Forces of Darkness, there's only ONE of them!" Zedd grumbled. "We should have borrowed some of Scorpina's warriors."
"Quiet! I'm trying magic here!" Rita snapped, the ritual falling in tatters as her concentration tore apart at the disruption.
"My Lord, it is that one who was the Red Ranger." Goldar snarled, his eyes glowing red. There was a bond between them, and with the instinct of a warrior race Goldar sensed it was time for them to meet again. He looked forward to it. "I request my Lord's permission to enter the fray."
Lord Zedd looked irritated. "Of course. Take Cyclopsis and stop that blasted Red Ranger... Red Ninjetti, whatever he is, from bothering us until Rita has found the Orb."
The giant winged primate snarled in a grin and, making an obeisance, hurried to battle, savouring the expected defeat of a bitter enemy like the taste of hot fresh blood in his mouth.
~*~
"The battle goes well, my lord, for all their sudden manifestation of Allies," Ilana reported from her fighter where she was co-ordinating the battle with all her fearsome intelligence and ability. "We are making headway toward their planet. Their forces have been distracted by the second assault, as you predicted."
The soothing voice of the Darkness Visible responded. "This is as planned, though I note our Allies have become over-enthusiastic in their attempts to secure the Orb on my behalf." There was a hint of wry sarcasm to the last phrase.
"My Lord, if they cannot locate it with their brutal methods, then..." Ilana paused, "how do you propose to do so yourself?"
"Such a bold question, my Chosen." The Darkness Visible chuckled with wry humour. "Plans within plans. We will locate my Orb, never fear... let's just say I have one of the best minds at my disposal working on it."
"Yes, my Lord." Ilana's voice disappeared as the Darkness Visible stared out across space.
It really was a shame that mind wasn't actually on his side. "Don't let me down, Wolf Ninjetti, I have placed a great deal of trust in you," he murmured to himself as the conflict burned in the heavens against the backdrop of stars.
~*~
"Nearly got it," Billy said under his breath. "Try and hold them off a little longer, Skye; I need some stability here."
"Doing my best," came the terse response as WolfZord tackled another of the swarms of quantrons converging around Rocky's position. "Not helping that you've half of WolfZord's innards out to make your gadget, whatever it is, reality mapper thing."
"Gotta have the tech from the holographic imager. You've flown instrument blind before," Billy replied absently, drawing back and twisting the last connection to the power source in place. "Got it. Here we go."
The Blue Wolf Ninjetti flipped a switch and a three-dimensional pattern appeared in the air above the jury-rigged device, sparkling with lights and overlaying the holographic representations of the planets.
Skye risked a glance behind him. "Lovely, sparkly, pretty. What the hell does it do?" he wondered aloud as he banked the Zord hard right to avoid potential destruction.
"Illustrate concentrations of reality. Even inactive, the sort of impact a substance that focussed reality would have a significant effect on normal reality." Billy said, frowning as he scrutinised the holographic map of reality nodes.
Skye nodded and looked again quickly. "Without being rude, I see lots of sparkly lights, but nothing that sticks out from the rest of it, not really."
"You're right." Billy sighed to himself. Had he spent all that time on NOTHING? "I was SURE it would be obvious. I'll just have to search the hot spots."
"Could you do it quickly?" Skye replied anxiously as he began to sweat a little under the pressure. How Rocky was managing to fight and retain his communications focus he didn't know. "Only things are, um, getting out of hand here."
The screen ran up a list, and it was fortunate that it was alphabetical as Billy immediately paused over one entry. "Angel Grove, California. I wonder..."
Was it really that much of a coincidence? Was THAT why Zordon's base was there? Why all the villains seemed drawn to conquer there first rather than somewhere actually politically important?
And if he could come to this conclusion, then so would they.
"Cestro? Cestro!" he called urgently through the Ninjetti link.
"I am here," Cestro responded calmly. "What is it, Billy?"
"I've hooked up a reality mapper looking for that Orb," he explained quickly. "And Angel Grove shows up as a hot spot. The moment they realise, they'll be coming after you al... all our families, our home."
Damn, but that brought it home. That familiar feeling he got when a monster alert went off in the early years and the danger was immediate, up close and personal, threatening all they held dear.
"I will prepare for battle immediately," the Aquitian responded, still sounding calm. Billy wished he felt as composed as Cestro seemed to be.
"we'll be there as soon as we can, but we can't leave Rocky up here until someone covers him." Billy promised, itching to get there. "Kim! We could use some support here!"
"Give me a moment, and I'll be there," came the response, from the Pink Crane Master Ninjetti. "The Nid-hi are swarming all over the place up here, how Tommy and the others are stopping them from completely breaking the line I don't know. Tanya is going to be like the world champion of jigsaw puzzles by the end of this."
The tone was familiar, and Billy felt himself smile a little. "And not even a stereo in sight."
"I heard that!" Kim retorted "Consider yourself covered, now go and do whatever it is you have to do and get your tail down to Earth!"
Skye laughed to himself, a strange sound in the grimness of battle and Billy responded with a "Thanks, Kim!" as they turned and headed toward home.
~*~
Rita muttered under her breath, drawing on her ages-old powers, invoking her desires into the twisted black magic that had taken her this far. The VisionFire dust lay in her hand, a corrupted version of the Ninjetti power, and focusing, she flung it into her consecrated black flame. A remarkably similar image appeared to that currently shimmering in the WolfZord and she cackled. "Ha! Follows the Magick lines of power I mapped not long after we first arrived." She crowed and then paused. "And the Magick reservoir at Angel Grove was unusually strong. If we had taken there, we would have been unassailable. I wonder... Zedd!" The last was a screech that demanded attention.
"What is it? I'm watching half our armies kick the daylights out of that annoying Red Ranger... Ninjetti... whatever," Zedd grouched.
"I think it's at Angel Grove," Rita interrupted. "The Rangers' home base. Makes sense, doesn't it?"
Zedd paused, the reasoning flowing through his twisted mind all too easily. "It does indeed. Hmmm. Goldar!"
"My liege?" There was the sound of explosions in the background as Goldar's gruff voice came over the communications link.
"Finish off that Red Ranger, then join us at Angel Grove. We have business there." Lord Zedd smiled and then turned to see Rita talking to Master Vile on screen and groaned.
When she was done, he complained loudly. "Why did you tell HIM?"
"Because he has the resources to bust that two-bit town wide open, and we don't," Rita said, picking up her staff. "Besides, we're FAMILY."
Zedd shook his head. "And that would be reason enough for most to stab each other in the back." He sighed. Try as he might, he'd never been able to get Rita to shake her family connections and loyalties. Well, he guessed all of them had at least one vice.
"Lock co-ordinates Angel Grove," he ordered, turning his back on a very pleasing battle in search of the greatest of prizes. They all had to make sacrifices for Power after all.
~*~
"Zedd's breaking formations, Jason," Rocky informed him through the link, his mental tone tinged with alarm. "He appears to be heading toward Angel Grove!"
The Red Lion Ninjetti swore. "I've got Goldar and a host of fighters all over me! I can't get out!"
"The Power Chamber is dealing with it, I hope, and Billy is coming down," Rocky informed him, receiving confirmation from Justin. "But that means you are on your own."
Jason glared at his enemy out of LionZord's cockpit "That's just fine. Just how I want it."
"Watch yourself, Jase," Rocky said anxiously. "Goldar is a tough one."
"Don't worry, no reject from the Wizard of Oz on steroids is going to get me." Jason reassured, flexing LionZord's Laserclaws in preparation to make a leap. "I'll get to Angel Grove as soon as I can!"
~*~
A sight that had not been seen in Angel Grove for some time appeared via live feed on the local news. Master Vile had obliged Rita's request by sending down some monsters to rampage randomly as a distraction, and the once nearly daily occurrence of strange misshapen creatures trampling through the city streets was happening again. Fortunately there was at least SOMEONE to fight them off.
"Yeeeehaw!" Justin was in warrior mode and exploring the phenomenal jumps his DolphinZord could do. The monster he was facing was not at all impressed when he caught it around the back of the head. "Stupid thing." He shook his head and thwapped it neatly with his trident and then bust it apart completely with a SonarBoom.
"I think whatshisname... Finster's oven is in need of an overhaul. Definitely undercooked efforts," Justin muttered and turned "On to the next one. Cestro, how are you doing?"
"I am despatching the enemy with comparative ease," came the calm response with only a faint hint of anxiety, as Cestro was experienced enough to know when he was dealing with cannon fodder. "This concerns me. The real focus of their attack is yet to come and we are being diverted."
"Billy's on his way," Justin reassured. "We have some backup coming."
"Indeed," Cestro admitted. "We must not let them get to our base of operations."
"That goes without saying," Justin replied. "Billy! Get yourself down here pronto."
"On our way," Billy answered as WolfZord plummeted through the yawning void of space.
"I don't see how this fits with Dulcea's bit of the sacred knowledge," Skye said again as they entered Earth atmosphere with a familiar re-entry judder. "'And it shall be hidden in the place where none shall look but without it none shall see to seek.' What does that have to do with Angel Grove?"
Billy shook his head. "I don't know. It doesn't come together, I admit it, but the main reason we are going there is because THEY don't know it doesn't fit. And if I saw this information and had the same history that we all do, I would come to the conclusion that this is the place to start looking."
"Readouts picking up monster activity," Skye confirmed as images and readouts flicked up with a variety of data.
"Ah, but where are the real players?" Billy murmured. "There we go. Rita and Zedd trying to get the one up on their allies. You can always rely on them to try a double-cross." What was more concerning was the way they were hoving in above the Power Chamber and the town.
Home... my home.
After all their time wandering in space, the poignancy of returning to home had been nearly overwhelming. Billy felt he hadn't understood what people meant by having roots somewhere until he had left, and then returned. There was a physical pull to his home and a desperate need to preserve it. Rationalising it and finding altruistic reason were neither here nor there, there were memories and parts of himself invested in every part of Angel Grove and he wasn't going to allow them to be destroyed.
"My home has a guard dog and he's got sharp teeth," he said aloud and without prompting Skye gripped his seat as the attack acceleration punched in and they dived at Rita and Zedd to thwart their attack.
~*~
The Darkness Visible sighed with impatience. A part of his complex being cautioned him that he had waited too long to jeopardise things with hasty actions, but another chafed at the delay. Eons, and he was close enough to touch victory. Petty battles raging around him, his creatures fighting for him were merely a distraction. By all means, if they succeeded he would reward them. Give them a planet. What was a planet but a speck of dust in the universe? Ha. Or even a galaxy. He would have powers not even the gods dreamed of, powers that transcended natural Laws. All he needed was the final bit of information, the bit that, for all his knowledge and vast experience, he could not retrieve himself. Finally he would have infinite power in the most literal interpretation of the phrase and be truly eternal. The reign of order would spring from his mind and all that was imperfect and unfitting would be purged. Pleasant thoughts indeed. There was no thought that failure was possible, he had pre-empted EVERYTHING thanks to their foolish reliance on Prophecy. It was like a complex game of chess where his opponent had thoughtfully provided him with a list and sequence of the moves he was going to make. That was a delightful irony and he laughed to himself as he awaited the final moves in his end game.
~*~
"What do you MEAN there's no record of this thing?" The President of the United States roared, perspiring a little as he looked at the counter ticking down in the bombproof shielding they had put around it. "You have complete access to ALL databases—total clearance!"
"Nothing matches this search parameter, sir." The nervous researcher nearly dropped his printouts."These are the nearest files and possible correlations."
"Jesus." The President grabbed them. "Well, it's something. Christ knows if it will be enough."
"Maybe if we had more time ..." The researcher stammered as both of them turned to see the bomb count down the final ten seconds, hypnotised into a paralysis by its metronome tick.
A muted pop that was oddly anticlimactic made them both jump. "Time is not something we have left," the President said, sitting down heavily.
The screen flicked on around them. "Like my alarm clock, Mr President?" Divatox laughed at his ashen expression. "Let's see how you've done on giving millions of your precious citizens a death row pardon, shall we?" She had been in earth territories long enough to know how to twist the knife. "Where is the Orb?"
The President shuffled the papers frantically. "We have a selection of possible... highly probable targets," he began hastily.
Divatox glared and her fingers toyed with a control. "Do you have the Orb there?"
"Well ... no ... not actually HERE as such." The man tried to cover his panic. "But we have information that might tell you where it is, and surely we can negotiate."
"Enough! You think you are ruthless, you people of Earth. You think you know of Power and its uses. Political Children! Stupid political children, all of you! Well ... children who don't do exactly as they are told get punished." Divatox smiled with venomous sweetness. "Say goodbye to your population ... Mr President."
And she pressed the button with as little pang of conscience as if it was a toy.
Above the capital city the missiles with their deadly payload exploded, sending an obnoxious purple toxic nerve gas cascading across the city. Divatox helpfully relayed a live broadcast of this across the world.
"People of Earth." And in some strange way Divatox managed to imply the word 'scum' in her address. "We've asked nicely for the Orb, we made a deal with your Leader to get it back, and you'll be unsurprised to note he couldn't deliver on his promises." She gave a rather disturbing, vindictive smile.
"Politicians, hey? Well, I DO deliver on my promises, just as I promised to gas the whole of your capital city here if your President did not produce the Orb."
The picture lingered on random shots of people dropping in paroxysms of agony in the streets, chaos and mayhem.
"I'll make you all another promise. Every hour until the Orb is delivered to me I will depopulate another major city picked at random around the world." The Space Pirate smiled sweetly, but there was a threat on the edges of those words like blood fresh on a blade.
"Oh dear god." Diane Scott could not believe what she was seeing. "This CAN'T be true. There has to be some way ... somehow." She looked around at the others in the Power Chamber. "They have to stop this!"
"How?" Adam's father said, fixated on the pictures with a grim focus. "How can you stop a nerve gas? There's no way..."
"Not for us, maybe, but what about them?" she said, gesturing skyward. They all knew whom she meant, but they had no answers for her.
Rocky however was already on it, the moment the broadcast began. Think laterally, he urged himself. Think resources, think potentials...
Ordinary Ninjetti? Probably not. Master Ninjetti? Possible in terms of Power. Mentally he reviewed the Master Ninjetti and toyed for a moment with getting Delphine to somehow suck the gas away, but where would it go and the tornado required would level the place... no....
His eyes widened suddenly and he sat up. "Zack! Zack, get your mongoose butt down to DC IMMEDIATELY!"
"I hear and obey," Zack quipped. "What's going on down there?"
"Nerve Gas." Rocky sent over the link through gritted teeth. That was sheer terrorism, the scenes going on as Divatox made her speech. "Hurry, Zack, they haven't got very long!"
"Rocky man, I don't know if I can DO anything," Zack's voice sounded worried.
"At least we can say we have tried," Rocky replied quietly. "Could you live with standing by on your conscience?"
"No, I couldn't." There was no trace of lightheartedness in Zack's voice now. "If there's a way..."
The Black Mongoose Zord arced through the atmosphere, through the heart of the noxious purple cloud, and landed in the midst of the chaos that had been a city, minutes before.
He exited the Zord and stood, rage and anger that were alien to his soul finding him. He was safe suited up like this, the Glyph Sigel on his chest sparkling jet black. Immunity... he had the Master Power of Immunity... but what did that mean? That he could survive a poison?
His mind flashed suddenly back to a date with Aisha where they discussed her childhood and her attempts to save the wildlife where she lived.
It seemed incongruous until a key phrase was remembered.
"You can produce an anti-toxin out of the poison," she said when they had been trying to find the source of what seemed to be poisoning the animals. "And then use that as a catalyst to neutralise the rest."
Suddenly it seemed all too obvious what he had to do.
"Oh man, I must be nuts," he murmured aloud and grasped his helmet carefully.
"Zack, what are you doing?" Rocky sounded anxious. "ZACK!"
His mongoose spirit chittered anxiously. "One does not invite the bite of the cobra ..."
"Unless it is to save those you protect," Zack replied and spoke aloud. "Getting some fresh air, Rocko," as the helmet was removed, leaving him exposed to the deadly atmosphere. He tried not to breathe, but in the end he gulped the foul air into his lungs, feeling it sting and burn.
A trembling hand went to his glyph of power as he struggled through spasming lungs to say the words. "Master... Power..." a spate of whooping coughs robbed him of voice, but he rallied. "Master... Power Sigel!" and he felt a rush inwards, a cleansing, a fire burning and screaming through his blood, hunting down each molecule of poison and with great effort, he TURNED the flow of that energy and sent it out... sent it away, into the sky, into the city, making them a part of his body that had to be cleansed of poison. He collapsed to his knees, and then to his side rolling to lie out flat there on the road, his black Ninjetti Master Gylph gleaming and pulsing out his channelled spirit energy.
"Delphine! Delphine, do you read me?" Rocky was panicking... he could feel an ebbing away in his mind where Zack should be. "You done over there? Zack needs help!"
"What the hell is he doing?" That was Tommy cutting in, sensing something of Rocky's panic.
"I think he's trying to stop the nerve gas," Rocky explained, feeling terribly guilty.
"How?" The White Falcon Ninjetti was terse and to the point.
"He's taken his helmet off and invoked his Master Power - in the middle of the affected area!"
"Oh man!" Tommy groaned. "Is he managing it?"
"Difficult to tell," Rocky said helplessly.
"I will assist and stop Divatox from her destructive ways," Delphine said sounding weary from her prolonged battle over Europe. "I will be within range momentarily." But they were all aware it would probably not be soon enough to stop Divatox from trying again.
Fire in the blood, that's what it was, pushing out. Toxins clashed with the Master Power of Immunity and fought a battle no less epic than the one occurring in space.
As Zack lay there on the warm road, chest heaving, a darkness descended, shadows encroaching around his vision as he stared up at the sky and PUSHED hard at the limits of his power.
Not enough. Not enough ...
And there—a stillness inside of him, the depth of the Black Power offering that which only the Black could... the bargain.
"There are limits even with the Master Power," his mongoose spirit said sadly as not all the gas was neutralised. "You stand on the threshold. This is as far as you can go..."
Zack felt the choking air, the knowledge in him that he could step back now and live or go on and die. And what would dying profit if nothing more was gained...?
But the Power of the Black was potential. Yes, he had spoken to Adam; he had seen it in the awakening of himself to his Ninjetti power. The potential to change the limits of things. God help him.
What was to stop this happening again? What was to stop them destroying the Earth with biological weapons, poisons, anything? Nothing. Nothing at all.
A press of a button and all the might of the Ninjetti and their lives rendered into chaos and death.
Zack lay on the tarmac of the street, feeling its solidity, familiarity beneath questing fingers and hated himself because he there was no way he could avoid the question, or worse still, the answer.
Could I stop that? Could I make a difference?
And a deeper voice inside, a deeper and more fundamental harmonic resonated through him in answer, offering the double-edged sword of its potential. It would give whilst taking away.
Yes. Choose.
And the options were then so obvious... so obvious... but no less hard for all that.
"I'm so sorry, Aisha," he whispered through strained breath from ravaged lungs, his decision made. "So little time we had ... so little ... But, my love ... Zack Taylor has the last laugh..."
The Master Power gathered in him and his whole body began to glow brighter and brighter, starting to stream up into the sky, dissolving his thought and mortality into the light born of the Black.
And where she lay wounded and unconscious in Moonbase, a tear ran down Aisha's cheek, its glistening trail marking the path of Zachary Taylor's final dance through the skies of Earth.
~*~
"ZACK!" It was Skye, sensitive to the burning place in his mind that responded to his passing.
"No! Zack, please... no!" he moaned in desperation
Billy jumped, startled, and turned. "What? WHAT!?"
"He's, oh god, he's going to..." Skye looked at Billy, his eyes brimming suddenly. "He's done it, he's..." The artist crumpled inwards, unable to finish.
"No." Billy felt the moment crystallise around him, locking him in place despite their own danger. "No, he can't, you ... No, there has to be ..."
"He's dead," Skye said, swallowing and looking at Billy with anxious concern mixed with grief. "I'm sorry... if only ..." He choked off the rest of the sentence. It was his own hell that he knew his life could possibly save others if and when it was used.
"Why... why?!" Billy said angrily, not understanding what had happened or what had been gained by Zack using his life to fuel his Master Power.
Skye nodded to the monitor where Divatox released another salvo of deadly nerve weapons and they exploded high in the air. There was a brief sparkle of energy around the lurid gas and it turned black and then faded, neutralised immediately.
"Oh Zack." Billy was white with grief and shock. Gone. His friend, who could make them all laugh; who could show them how to survive the emotional shocks over what they did with such ease that they barely noticed, was gone. Zack, whom he had played with when they moved to Angel Grove, who had been part of who he was, part of his life, somewhere in his memories and now...
Now memories were the only place he would ever be.