[ShinySephiroth]

Chapter Thirteen: The Letter of the Law

The new Zedd recognized the formation his opponents were forming. He shot Black Energy from his hand and ripped through a large portion of fighters. Screams could be heard from the smoke and ash the blast left behind. As that happened, Zedd clutched his left arm.

...That was too much energy... I can’t do something like that again... The Dark Lord thought.

<Ha. It looks like your plan didn’t work exactly as you had figured, huh?> Zedd mocked the beast inhabiting his body. Zedd then felt the Dark Lord begin to think. Images flashed through Zedd’s mind. The thoughts ended upon the term “power regulator”.

The Dark Lord, ignoring Zedd’s words, began searching for the next part of his plan. While this was happening, he was using an extreme amount of power, hopping from area to area. The Gold Ranger was right on his tail. As she got closer to him, Lord Zedd got closer to what he spotted: a target to appease his need for a power regulator.

From the ship nearby, Burai looked at Cestro. “They need our help. What can we do?”

Cestro considered for a moment before answering. “We can always use Storm Blaster and Lightning Cruiser.”

Burai nodded. “Excellent! Margaret, stay here and monitor the systems. We’ll need someone to remain safe, in case...” He let his words trail off, not wanting to confirm the worst for those around him. Margaret nodded and turned to her computer. She moved her silver hair out of her line of vision, tying it into a ponytail.

Meanwhile, Scorpius watched as Lord Zedd easily evaded the Gold Ranger and the Morphing Masters. Such power! What I could do with a power like that...

Scorpius realized he was half jealous that power was being wasted on a grunt from the United Alliance. He considered what that power would’ve meant, seeing how Zedd’s persona changed, but after a moment realized his free will would’ve been an ample sacrifice to be so powerful.

Storm Blaster and Lightning Cruiser flew overhead, unable to pinpoint Zedd with their blasts. Cestro had made a point of putting their vehicle’s blasters on stun, so they could see what they could do about separating Zedd from the parasite within him. The Gold Ranger, still in Shadow Mode, could not move fast enough to catch Lord Zedd. Perhaps if she knew in what direction Zedd would go she could at least keep up, but losing time trying to also process his rapid directional changes, she could only keep him in her sights.

I have to get to him. She thought. I can’t let someone innocent fall to a fate of... this!

In the meantime, Commander Risp had finally reached the battlefield. She found herself next to Rahp and Filcar. They looked at her and saluted. She noticed Filcar looked as if he had been crying. Rahp approached her first.

“Commander Risp. We have our men reorganized. They are attempting to secure Commander Zedd. Permission to speak freely?” He looked at Risp in the eye for the first time.

“Permission granted.”

He relaxed and started speaking his intents to her. “I am afraid for Zedd. What can we do to help him? I mean, who would’ve thought that thing would have...?” He looked down at the ground.

Risp was one of the few outside Zedd’s platoon who knew the story behind the formation of Zedd's group: they had found some sort of artifact and were “commissioned” to protect it for the Alliance until the Morphing Masters decided what they would do with the artifact. Commander Risp was the one who led the team who gathered the archaeologic team and later interrogated them, “recruiting” them to the cause.

Personally, she did not agree with the Alliance’s tactics, but orders were orders. She knew Sentinel Knight had made a tough decision to quarantine Zedd's group and "volunteer" them to be soldiers to guard the Zeo Crystal. She knew he and a select few other Morphing Masters had weighed the pros and cons and had decided that the crystal's secrecy was more important than the comfort of the archaeolic team. Regardless of all that, a stab of guilt for being a key part of Zedd and his people becoming entangled with the military hit her, leaving Risp with a sense of loyalty to the intent of rescuing Zedd from his predicament.

Placing a hand on Rahp’s shoulder, Risp said, “We will find a way to get to him. We just need to wait for the Morphing Masters to assess the situation further.”

Rahp looked up, a fire in his eyes. “No. I have waited long enough for the Morphing Masters. Nowhere in the Alliance creed does it say soldiers need to wait for the Morphing Masters. I am a commander in this mission, and I say we hit hard now and do what we can to get back our fellow soldier. He is a hostage, and the Alliance does not negotiate for hostages: they save hostages.”

Filcar looked up at Rahp’s powerful words. They struck a cord in Risp as well. She looked at this man, exuding leadership in a time of uncertainty. She nodded. “Attention!”

The two of them straightened up and faced their commander. Looking at Paul Rahp, Commander Risp said, “I am turning over the role of general commander to Rahp. What are your instructions, commander?” She then fell back to attention. She had realized with Rahp’s connection to Zedd, and his determination to get the job done, he would be a perfect fit for this mission.

Meanwhile, Master Magnus as the Defender and Master Kamen did the best they could to keep up with the superpowered beings, but could not keep up. As that occurred, Dulcea dropped down from some trees as they stopped to catch their breath.

“Nice of you to join us.” The Defender said through his helmet. Dulcea looked at the black blur that was the Gold Ranger chasing the red blur which was Lord Zedd.

“It would be nice if we could keep up with them...” Dulcea looked at her two fellow councilmen.

Kamen placed his hand behind his head, elbow pointing up. “I hope you’re not insinuating what I think you’re insinuating...”

Dulcea looked down, and then back to the two fighters. She had been insinuating something: connecting to the Morphing Grid, to become warriors similar to the Gold Ranger.

Before they could give her thought further consideration, Lord Zedd found his target. As he landed, he sent a shockwave out from his self. Unfortunately for him, it caused his body to start to shut down again. The Dark Lord used all his remaining energy to keep the body he was inhabiting from completely failing. Zedd could hardly stand the pain and his brain caused his consciousness to go “unconscious”, leaving the Dark Lord as the vessel's sole pilot.

Lord Zedd looked to find the Gold Ranger trying to recover. He pointed his hand at the target of his desires on one of Mirinoi’s trees: what would help become his power regulator. The power from Zedd hit the target and teleported it into his hands. As he did, he found himself surrounded by Dulcea with her staff, the Defender, Orion wearing the Light Armor, and Kamen with his saber. The Gold Ranger jumped in with the others, Power Staff in hand.

Lord Zedd cackled. As he did, he leaned back, his body fully involved in the laugh. He showed his enemies what he held: a giant snake. “Prepare to meet my wrath!” Lord Zedd then focused his energies into the snake, much like Master Tria had done with the Zeo Subcrystal and her Power Staff. The snake then transformed into a large, metallic staff. A giant Z was found at the staff's head.

As the warriors encircled Lord Zedd, Master Zordon finally approached the group, having abandoned the totaled Droid Five. As he did, he saw everyone sporting their weaponry. Zordon spied Lord Zedd and his new Z Staff.

“AHHH!!!” Lord Zedd yelled as he used the staff to blast those around him. The Morphing Masters quickly darted out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting vaporized. Lord Zedd was glad he had the staff: his powers were too much for his mortal frame, and was quickly destroying it. The Dark Lord turned the snake into a staff to serve as his power regulator, to not destroy his vessel. He feared if his vessel were destroyed, because his essense was junctioned to it he, too, would be destroyed.

The Morphing Masters reassembled, with Zordon in the middle. He knew he would have to up his game. He had intended on saving the equipment he was thinking of for a later time, because Sentinel Knight had passed a law for the Alliance stating explicitly how the Morphing Grid was not to be used as a direct power source for fighters. Zordon in his research, though, had found a way to mimic certain features of the Morphing Grid. He had actually proven all beings and objects have some sort of connection to the Grid, though the depth of the connection varied from person to person. He had been planning on sharing his findings before he had been promoted to be a Morphing Master. After the promotion, though, things had escalated and he hadn't found the time to reveal his findings. And, with those findings... his secret.

Well, I guess impressing investors isn’t the forefront of my responsibilities anymore. Zordon thought. Hopefully Sentinel won’t suppress this idea. I wanted to have time for him to process this before unveiling it to the public.

Zordon looked at his comrades. He stared at Lord Zedd: the man Zordon swore to protect on his first mission with the Morphing Masters. The man who he felt he had failed. The man I will bring back from the clutches of evil.

Zordon extended his hand. “Saba! Come to me!”

A red saber appeared in Zordon’s hand. It seemed to have a tiger head on the end of the hilt. The blade extended a bit as Zordon gripped it upside down. The Defender tilted his head, unsure of what he had witnessed.

“Nice parlor trick, Master Zordon. Let’s see what it can do.” Lord Zedd taunted.

“Everyone stand back: he’s mine.” Zordon charged forward.

“Zordon, is this wise?” The head on his saber said.

“I need your help right now, Saba. We can talk logic later.” Zordon replied as he rushed his opponent.

“Oh, my...” The head, Saba, replied.

Zordon swiped at Lord Zedd. Lord Zedd easily parried the attack with his staff. He then pointed the staff at Zordon and sent the rookie Morphing Master flying back. Zordon performed a flip midair, correcting himself and landing back beside the Defender and the Gold Ranger.

“Attack!” Rahp yelled. He and the other militants had been in hiding, waiting for their commander to give the order. Commander Rahp had assigned all the troops to set their blasters to a stun setting, in hopes of retrieving Zedd. Once he saw Lord Zedd had dropped his guard, he ordered everyone to storm the field.

The Morphing Masters followed in step, with Storm Blaster and Lightning Cruiser flying overhead.

“Cestro, are you ready?” Burai said over his dashboard communicator, sitting in Lightning Cruiser.

“Ready!” Cestro replied in his underwater-esque voice.

Burai felt bad he had not been much help up to that point: Lord Zedd’s shockwave had temporarily taken a lot of the vehicle’s systems offline, including targeting. It seemed as though the staff was amplifying Lord Zedd’s attacks, making them more concentrated and controlled. It was Cestro's opinion that it not only regulated how much output came from Lord Zedd, but also allowed it to not “splash” everywhere. All the same, the two vehicles seemed safe from permanent damage.

Scorpius, now the only person not involved in one way or another in the fighting, continued to watch from afar. He continued to be in awe of the might Zedd had received. “Amazing! Absolutely amazing!”

The gem on Scorpius' forehead, which all people native to Edenoi had, recorded everything he saw into a format he could later transfer to a computer. He wished to analyze all of the data he saw later, hopefully to see how to defeat Lord Zedd himself and rip his powers from him. He was awestruck by Zedd’s new ability to take on six Morphing Masters, the Gold Ranger, and four different Alliance subunits. “I need power like that!”

Risp was amazed at Lord Zedd’s agility. His movements were fluid, like a beautifully choreographed dance. He had a counter to everything the Alliance threw at him. What no one knew was the Dark Lord was accessing all of Zedd’s Alliance training and was able to, due to his nature, recall everything faster than mortals could normally process, being able to fully regulate ion channels and Zedd’s entire nervous system in general. He was like an enhanced myelin sheath throughout Zedd’s neural network.

Filcar did the best he could to keep up. What little energy he could use to tap the Morphing Grid, he did. He flung small rocks and debris at Zedd while trying to get closer. This was supposed to be me! Let Zedd go! Take me! If I had been stronger, Zedd wouldn't have been taken! Andrew Filcar thought frantically. The burden of the recent events was taking its toll on him. He did not want the guilt on his shoulders.

Master Orion, in his Light Armor, was able to get close to Lord Zedd. He exchanged blows with the beast before being flung into a tree. Not by coincidence, Lord Zedd had flung him into a tree in which Master Dulcea was situated, prepping for an aerial attack. Master Orion slammed the tree hard enough to knock her down to the ground.

Zordon shot lasers out of Saba’s “eyes”. Lord Zedd seemed to be able to absorb them with his staff. Lord Zedd then began to laugh. “Fools! You will never destroy me!” He then sighed. “I am tired of this. Time to explore the universe!” And with that, he simply vanished.

Everyone looked around to see the damage. Friends had fallen; many others were injured. Master Kamen was the first to notice what was due to become a big deal: “Everyone, look!”

The Gold Ranger had her hand to her shield. She was glowing a bright gold color. It was an odd sight: the suit seemed like it was vibrating around her. Then, suddenly, she demorphed.

What? How!? No! Tria, demorphed looked around at everyone stunned. Her secret was out.

Dulcea was pleased: seeing Tria was the Gold Ranger concreted to her the ranger was in the right and not the villain Sentinel Knight had painted her to be. The Defender and Kamen were divided: they had seen how the Gold Ranger saved them in the conference hall, but also heard of her attack on Sentinel Knight.

Zordon was shocked. He looked at her, almost pleading that it wasn’t so. “But, why!? You are supposed to uphold the law, not destroy it!”

Tria shook her head. “I did not break any laws! I--”

“You attacked Sentinel Knight! He said he felt you tapping the Morphing Grid!”

“That doesn't even make sense! I'm usin' a Zeo Subcrystal. I didn’t tap the Grid! That wasn’t me!”

“Oh, so there are two gold rangers now? How convenient!”

“You are so ungrateful! I saved you back on Solaris 8 and--”

“Me, ungrateful!? I am extremely grateful... to the Alliance! They are the ones who maintain order in the universe, but when anarchists like you start running around, everything is put into jeopardy!”

Master Orion sent a ball of Light between the two debaters, narrowly missing them, to get their attention. “Stop it, you two. We need to work things out. Tria, you will need to come back with us for questioning.”

“Of course, Master Orion.” Although Tria outranked Orion in the council, his words and her law breaking gave him precedence and authority over her.

“That’s not enough!” Zordon yelled. “I have the law on my side: Tria, as the Gold Ranger you have broken Alliance Law: You are under arrest!”

Kamen sighed and shook his head. And to think only moments ago we were battling for our lives against a brainwashed Alliance commander. Now we're battling each other.

“Zordon, I think you are taking this too--” Dulcea started. Before she could finish, though, Zordon pointed Saba at Tria.

Tria summoned her Power Staff and as she did, Zordon fired. Tria rolled out of the way.

“It’s morphin’ time!” Tria yelled out of habit. She found she was able to morph faster when she performed similar habits before each morph, as if a memory trace had been formed to help her access the power quicker.

The Gold Ranger stared at her friends. Zordon pointed Saba again and fired. She went into Shadow Mode and bounded away.