[ShinySephiroth]

Chapter Eight: The Power of Gold

Zedd looked over as he saw Orion fall to Novact's blade. Anger filled him. It was anger toward Novact himself: he chose to abandon the Alliance for personal gain. This traitor had once been considered by Commander Zedd to be a victim of circumstance. Upon seeing the malicious look on his face, however, Zedd lost any and all pity he had once had for the man.

Novact was what many people called "a loner". He kept to himself. Zedd first saw the man during the interview process for acceptance into his archaeologic group. Novact had stuttered his way through the entire interview. Zedd had seen, however, promise in him through his written application, so out of pity he brought him onto his crew.

Biggest mistake... Zedd thought as the worm laughed at Orion's body, lying broken on the boulder they were upon.

Zedd charged toward Novact, leaving Rahp with Lightning Cruiser. One beast charged at him. Zedd performed a somersault, having both his feet connect with the monster's chin as he twirled backward. Both the monster and Zedd found themselves on the ground, though only one was conscious.

Another beast spied the event and ran forward, lifting up its leg to stomp Zedd. On his stomach, Zedd caught sight of the henchman through his peripheral vision. Zedd spun his legs around, hitting his opponent's ankles. Using the momentum, he found himself back on his feet. He continued his pursuit of Novact.

Lightning Cruiser and Rahp gave Zedd cover as he ran forward. Zedd leapt onto a small rock to use the extra height it gave to jump onto Novact's location. As he did, midair, a blast hit him in the left side of his rib cage.

Zedd fell to the Earth. Master Vile shrieked with laughter, now merely playing with his prey. He walked over and kicked Zedd's smoldering body.

Zordon watched everything from the bottom of the pile in which he found himself. Perhaps out of spite, those atop him didn't do anything but pin him down. Zordon screamed to Orion to stand up. Sweat and dirt hugged his face.

It can't end like this! Zordon thought. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion for him. Then, from out of nowhere, Zordon found himself free. He sprang up to see Rahp.

"If they're just going to lie there, they really make themselves easy targets. Now, let's go save Master Orion!" Rahp lead the way, blasting and kicking a path for Zordon to follow. As Rahp met a wall of opposition, he screamed to Zordon, "Just go! GO!"

Zordon took a running start and flipped over the mass, landing beside the fallen Morphing Master. Novact stared Zordon down in a rage. Zordon shook Orion's body, ignoring him.

"Are you alive!?" Zordon asked urgently. After a pause, he heard laughter.

"You always were direct with your questions..." Orion wheezed as he turned onto his back. A pool of blood lay where his body had been. Orion grabbed Zordon's hand tightly. "Rip that kid apart..."

This knocked Novact out of his daze. He was surprised that from all the power Master Vile had given him, he was unable to place the finishing blow on Orion. Novact drew his blade. He beckoned Zordon over with his index finger.

Zordon wiped blue hair from off his sweaty brow. He heard Rahp and Lightning Cruiser behind him, fighting the horde. Zordon had subconsciously charged two orbs of power. They sat menacingly in his hands.

Suddenly, more henchman, mainly Tengas, appeared onto the scene, dropping down from the ships Master Vile had sent after him from Solaris 8. Novact snapped his fingers in mock disappointment.

"Shucks, kiddo. See ya later!" And like that, Novact was teleported aboard one of the ships.

In a rage, Zordon released his White Energy, blowing away a couple dozen enemies about to come upon him and Orion. This blast, unfortunately, hit Rahp and Lightning Cruiser. Rahp flew through the air and hit his head against a rock wall, falling to the ground out of consciousness. Lightning Cruiser jerked up and down, blinkers flickering on and off. Then, it stopped moving altogether.

In the midst of the chaos, Master Vile approached Zordon and Orion, howling with laughter. He was flanked by henchman on both sides. "Bravo! Dazzling performance. It is a shame it must... come to an end! I will now destroy you myself!"

Zordon continued to stand, unflinching. He wore a sneer on his face. "Bring it on, Vile."

They rushed toward each other. As they met in the middle, Vile wrapped his arms around Zordon. After rattling him for a moment, he flung Zordon onto the side of a gravel encrusted slope. Zordon rolled down, grunting as he did. Once at the bottom, Zordon was surprised to find Orion waiting for him, his sword digging into the ground as he used it as a crutch.

Orion chuckled as he saw Zordon roll to his feet. Looking down, Orion said, "This monster's pretty tough." He helped Zordon to his feet.

Master Vile flew down to their location, proclaiming, "It gets worse!" As he landed, he waved his short staff and caused the ground around the two to explode, hurling chunks of earth at both of them. More Tengas flocked around Master Vile as that occurred.

Zordon struggled to get up. Orion lifted himself again with his sword. Zordon looked at Orion. "We can't let Vile win, Orion."

Master Vile chuckled some more. "Let me win? You are letting me win? Face it, you are powerless against m- Huh!?"

Suddenly, the Tengas to his right crumpled to the ground. Master Vile heard the wind whistling to his left and as he looked, he saw what looked like a shadow pounce on and off those to his left. He then felt the shadow land on his chest, a force more powerful than any other he had ever felt. The next thing he knew, he was on his back.

Zordon and Orion followed the shadow's movements. Zordon lost track of it after it toppled Vile. Orion was able to follow it to the top of the trench in which they found themselves. "Look, Zordon. Up there!"

As Tria glided up to the top of the trench, she focused all her power on the connection to the staff, wishing to mask her appearance in some way. What she hadn't realized is upon concentrating as she did, she unlocked the true potential of the Morphing Grid. Upon landing, gold lightning surrounded her. She was instantly enveloped by a black suit with gold armor. The final part of her armor was a helmet, taking upon it the insignia the king of Triforia gave her so long ago.

She stared down at the sight of her allies, while the enemy regrouped. She focused on her opponents. Moving into her fight stance, she found herself kiaiing.

"Wa-Watsaw!" She yelled.

"Hey! Where did he come from!?" Master Vile roared.

"Another fighter?" Orion asked, turning to Zordon.

Zordon couldn't take his eyes off the golden clad fighter. "But whose side is he on?"

She tapped herself on the chest, proclaiming, "Okay. Now it's my turn!"

She then swan dived into the middle of the horde, flipping before she touched down. She swiftly kicked two Tengas who approached her, dodging another before landing a gut punch on a fourth. She faked a high kick, only to sweep the legs of another enemy.

She turned and got back into her fighting stance. "Who's next?"

One Tenga advanced while the others stared apprehensively. She blocked its every punch, as if her Zeo Subcrystal was enhancing her ability to read the enemy's body language. She then grabbed its arm and sent her elbow into his gut, sending the monster to the ground.

After taking out two more grunts, Zordon turned to address Orion. "Orion, he's incredible!"

Orion nodded, watching her. It was then that he first noticed something about the uniform: it had a skirt.

He nodded and looked at Zordon. "But why haven't we seen her before?" Zordon't eyes widened as he turned and noticed this himself.

Novact stared down from the window of the starship. He pounded the wall with his fist, turning to the others in the ship who had been watching from a monitor. He said, fuming, "Another fighter!? What's going on here!?"

Madame Woe, a female being with a mask for a face and an interesting blue gem on her forehead, fanned herself, covering her eyes with the fan. She turned her back toward the monitor. "Oh, I just can't bare to watch any more of this!"

Vile's son, Rito, shrugged. "I have no idea where he came from, Novice."

Novact pushed Rito out of his way. "Fool! The name's Novact."

Rito picked himself up, afraid to confront his father's newest powerful fighter. Instead, he simply asked, "What'll we do with more fighters?"

Novact slowly turned to them. He sneered as he said in his raspy voice, "Destroy them all! Send in more troops right away!"

While more beasts flew down, Zordon and Orion were ignored as the Tengas attacked the Gold Warrior. She continually beat them all into submission in the mean time, causing more and more to appear with the goal of ending her life.

Meanwhile, Master Vile found himself with a tough battle. Zedd had awoken and battled his way to where the others were, and he began giving Vile everything he had. Zordon saw this and ran to his aid. As Zordon approached, his eyes glowed with a White Energy. He fired currents of Energy at Vile. Zedd used what little Morphing Energy he could, but he wasn't nearly as proficient as anyone who made it to The Top, let alone someone who could become a Morphing Master.

Master Orion watched them from behind a boulder. As he felt his own energy return, he tapped into the Morphing Grid to heal himself.

Suddenly, Tria found herself outnumbered. Some of the goat-men fired on her, causing her to roll for cover. Almost like an instinct, she knew what to do. She stood up and stretched out her arm.

"Alright." Focusing, she summoned her Power Staff into her hand. "It's time for a gold rush!"

Her staff, for the first time, went into battle mode. She felt it brimming with power. The power of the Zeo Crystal.

Getting into a running stance, she stretched the staff out before her and bull rushed her opponents. "Wa-Watsaaaaaaw!" She yelled as she hit them, residual Morphing Energy coating them. The Monsters exploded behind her as she resumed her fighting stance.

"Power of Light: Activate!" Orion yelled, jumping into the fray, pulling Vile away from Zordon and Zedd.

"I've got this demon by the horns." He announced as he grabbed Vile's head, causing Vile to almost take a knee.

Vile suddenly glowed with a light, teleporting away from Orion. Orion, Zordon, and Zedd prepared themselves to fight as the gold clad warrior landed in front of them. They could feel the immense power dancing off of her.

Vile yelled frantically, "I will destroy you, too!"

Grunting, Tria took the challenge and charged at him. Her face behind her helmet was scrunched up with determination. She couldn't think about what she was doing at that moment, because she knew it would psyche her out too much. She was going up against the biggest, most dangerous man in the universe and in any normal situation, she would have been terrified.

Zedd yelled after her, "Hey! Be careful!"

"Hiyah!" Master Tria screamed as she did another swan dive into Master Vile. She suddenly was in her Shadow Form again, constantly plowing into her foe. He fell to the ground again as she desisted, feeling exhausted.

As she landed, she groaned. That attack takes way too much out of me!

Zedd turned to Orion. "Master, who is this fighter?"

Orion shook his head. "I don't know, but I'm glad she's here."

Vile pointed his staff at Tria. "Alright. No more fooling around!" He sent several blasts of Dark Magic at Tria, only a few connecting. She flipped out of the explosion and landed nimbly on her feet, crouching to a knee with her own staff in tow.

Suddenly, her body was flowing with Zeo Energy. Autonomously, she clicked a button on her staff, causing the ruby atop to glow. She pointed it at Master Vile and several orbs of Gold Zeo Morphing Energy blasted him. He erupted into a black flame.

Tria stared at the smoke and flames. Is it over? Did I..?

She joined the other three. They were about to speak to her as they heard laughter.

"You cannot rid yourselves of me! Until next time, Gold Warrior!" He then teleported onto his ship. It turned and began its flight back to Gamma Vile.

Orion turned to the Gold Warrior. "Thank you for your help."

She bowed her head, placing a hand up to her shield. "I am only glad you are safe, Orion."

"How do you know me?"

The Gold Warrior turned away, thinking of how foolish she had been. She went into Shadow Mode and bounded away.

"Wait!" Zordon yelled.

"Who was she?" Zedd thought aloud.

"I don't know," Orion said. "But be sure the Morphing Masters will find out the mystery of this Gold Warrior."