Final Goodbye

Part Two

"Zordon!" Alpha exclaimed, remembering the last time. "Zordon!"

    The room cleared of the smoke from the explosion. Standing in front of Alpha was a man who appeared to be in his early fifties, but in remarkably good shape. His shoulder-length white hair seemed to flow into his white robes.
    "Who are you?" Alpha demanded of the figure.
    The man turned to face the robot. "Alpha, I am Zordon," he said in the familiar voice.
    "Zordon? But I thought..." Alpha looked helplessly at the shattered column. "I mean, when Ivan... you..."
    "When Ivan shattered my column, it was an act of maliciousness. The bonds Rita placed me in were still active; they are what caused me to age so rapidly. This time, I have broken her restraints myself, allowing my true form to be retained."
    Alpha's circuits were reeling. It was too much for him to handle at once. "Ayi...yi.....yi..." escaped as his pathways overloaded.
    "Poor Alpha," Zordon said, moving the robot to a safer place. He then concentrated, hands together. A soft white glow began to emanate from his hands. Zordon kept concentrating as he moved his hands apart. A staff began to coalesce, tipped with a sharp dual blade. Zordon opened his eyes. "Yes," he remarked, grasping the weapon. He tried a few practice swings. "It is good to hold the White Glaive again." His face clouded over as he remembered the last time he wielded the Glaive.
    That time had been a time of tragedy as well. His twin sister, Zorana, had been kidnapped. Zordon had just reached the rank of White Morphin Master a few weeks before. When news of his sister's kidnapping reached him, he set off on his own to rescue her from her captors. It had been a long trek for him, following the trail left by her clumsy captors.
    The path led to a starship in orbit around Eltare. He battled his way aboard and confronted her captor: Lord Zedd.
    Lord Zedd was also in a different guise then. He was humanoid, with luminescent ivory skin, gleaming shoulder-length ebony hair, and eyes that burned like coals in their sockets. Zedd was a rogue princeling, a youngest son making his name through piracy.
    Zordon confronted Zedd, and the battle was harsh. Zordon realized that Zedd wanted his sister for more than ransom: he planned to coerce Zorana into marrying him. Once wed, Zedd would be a member of the Eltaran royalty. In hope of defeating him, Zordon loosed the power of the White Glaive. Zedd was engulfed in the wave of White power. When the light died, two of Zedd's minions carted the burned carcass away before Zordon could destroy it.
    He went in search of his sister, roaming the hallways unchallenged. When he finally found where she was being held, he received a shock. Rather than be forced to marry Lord Zedd, Zorana had killed herself moments before her twin came to rescue her.
    Zordon had held her lifeless body for hours, weeping at the loss of his sister. When he had no more tears to cry, he gathered her in his arms and transported them back to the family homestead where she was buried with honor. He had left Eltare soon after.
    Now Zordon looked around the Power Chamber, at the remnants of his prison littering the floor and consoles, at the view of the five bodies still on the Viewing Globe. "This time," he whispered, "this time, there shall be no escape!"

    Zedd and Rita had just received news of the suicides. Mondo and Machina had arrived at the palace for a celebration. Finster had cranked up the old organ and was playing lively waltzes as the two couples danced. Gasket, Sprocket, Goldar, Rito, Clank and Orbus hung around the refreshment table glorifying their respective leaders' parts in the Defeat of the Power Rangers.
    "Lord Zedd was the greatest of the Alliance!" Goldar was insisting. "It was his wise thinking that initiated the Alliance and brought about the defeat!"
    "But without Mom and Dad's technology to build the creatures, Zedd's thinking wouldn't have done any good!" Sprocket protested.
    "But without Sis's magic, the creatures wouldn't have worked," Rito added.
    Gasket would have added to the debate, but he had just caught sight of Archerina entering the throne room and hurried off to ask her to dance.
    "We've finally done it," Rita said to Zedd, who lowered her into a deep dip. "We've finally gotten rid of those Pesky Rangers."
    "Who would have imagined that they'd save us a lot of work by killing themselves," Zedd laughed, pulling his wife back up into a very close dance position. "Now we're free to take over Earth!"
    "Now we're free to take over Earth!" Mondo said to Machina as they whirled in technically perfect dance patterns. "But what are we going to do about Zedd and Rita?"
    "Oh, let them stay, my love," Machina purred. "Earth is a large planet. Once we divest it of its resources, we'll be leaving anyway. Rita and Zedd will be welcome to it."

    Zordon crept through the Moon Palace, following the sounds of organ music. He passed silent forms of deactivated putties covered in dust. Since the gift of the Tengas, the putties hadn't seen much use. Apparently with the deaths of the Power Rangers, Zedd hadn't felt the need to post guards. Zordon tightened his grip on the White Glaive.
    "He wasn't counting on me," he whispered hoarsely.

    The argument at the refreshment tables was getting close to becoming a brawl.
    "Lord Zedd!" Goldar insisted.
    "Mom and Dad!" Sprocket retorted.
    "Lord Zedd!"
    "Mom and Dad!"
    "Lord Zedd!"
    "Mom and Dad!"
    "Tastes great!"
    "Less filling!"
    "Tastes great!"
    "Less filling!"
    "What?" Rito asked, looking up from the tray of hors d'ouvres he'd been scarfing down.

    Zordon stood outside the throne room, hearing the conversations and arguments. They're celebrating, he thought sadly, gripping the pole of the glaive. They'd better enjoy themselves now, while they can.
    Patiently, he waited.

    The party carried on long into the lunar night. Zordon barely heard the revels, focusing on concentrating his long-unused combat skills, honing them. He heard a few pops from the room; Zedd was opening champagne.
    "To our victory!" he crowed, raising his glass high.
    "To your death!" Zordon roared, glaive raised high, as he made his entrance.
    A glass fell to the floor and shattered. "How...how?" Rita stuttered. "How did you escape your prison?"
    "You underestimate the power of grief," Zordon growled. "Now all of you shall pay for destroying my Rangers!" With a bloodcurdling battle cry, Zordon swing his glaive, glowing with White energy, slicing through the nearest Machine. Sprocket screamed as his father's head rolled to the ground, sparking with blue and while energy. Zordon then arced the glaive back, slicing through Machina.
    Rita backed up slowly, retrieving her wand from behind the refreshment table. "Zordon!" she called out. "Those Machines may not have been able to defend themselves, but we fight on the same field!" She used her wand to gather energy, creating a sparkling dark sphere that hovered above her. "Haaaah!" she screamed, using the wand to send the sphere hurtling towards Zordon.
    Zordon lowered his glaive, slicing the sphere in half, the energy parting around his body, reforming behind him. "You'll get yours, witch," he retorted, ducking just as the energy sphere rebounded off the wall behind him, engulfing Rita and her wand in the dark light.
    "Nooo!" she screamed, her robes burning with white-hot light.
    "You killed my wife!" Zedd exclaimed. He picked Sprocket up and hurled the smaller Machine at Zordon, who batted him away with the sharp end of the glaive.
    "Come back, Zedd! It's time to finish what we started ten thousand years ago," Zordon called.
    "Gasket, what should we do?" Archerina asked, dismayed. "Should we help Zedd...or..."
    "Save ourselves," Gasket decided. "I am now ruler of the Machine Empire. If we hurry, we can escape before Zordon..."
    His words were cut off as he and his fiancée were engulfed in a blaze of white fire. "Goodbye, my love," Archerina moaned as she and Gasket dissolved in the White energy.

    "Zedd! Come out!" Zordon bellowed, stalking along the halls of the fortress. "Come out and face your fate!"
    "Only if my fate is to destroy you!" Zedd growled, leaping out of the shadows.
    Zordon lowered his glaive, taking a fighting stance. "I still owe you for the death of Zorana!"
    Zedd laughed. "That twit? I can't believe you're still yearning for her after ten thousand years. What was she, your mistress?"
    "She was my twin!" Zordon howled, rushing at Zedd. Zedd's staff changed, the Z becoming a long, curved blade. He parried the attack, then was immediately on guard again.
    Zordon was in no mood to follow the "gentleman's rules of dueling." He thrust his glaive through a hole in Zedd's defense, the blade sinking deep into Zedd's abdomen. "And now...to finish it!" he howled, pouring all the bottled and fresh grief into the attack, letting the White power flow through his hands, up the pole, and diffuse through the blade into Zedd.
    Zedd screamed in agony as the White power flooded through him, searing his muscles and frying his nerves, cooking him from the inside out. Zordon twisted the glave, letting the sharp edge tear up Zedd's body, ripping through what was left of his flesh and skeleton. Blood and ichors flowed freely, flooding the floor with the gruesome mix.
    "Join your wife in hell," Zordon growled, ripping the glaive from the body. It fell to the floor, ashes flaking from the charred corpse. Just to be sure Zedd couldn't be revived again, he brought the glaive down, slicing the corpse into ribbons and gobbets of flesh and bone.

    Back in the throne room, Zordon looked around. The remains of the party mixed in macabre contrast with the destruction he had wrought. Rito and Goldar had long disappeared; only Finster was left, slowly, mechanically pushing a mop back and forth. Upon seeing Zordon, he fell to his knees.
    "Morphin Master, please, spare this lowly one," he begged.
    "Do I...know you?" Zordon asked hesitantly. The form of this one is different, but the voice... He sounds familiar.
    "I was one of your students." Finster raised his eyes to meet Zordon's. "Before I was captured and ...corrupted. Please, restore me to what I was."
    "I...I do not know if I can," Zordon told him. "But I will try." He raised the White Glaive, Focusing healing energy through it, and touched the flat of the blade to Finster's head. The energy flowed through the blade and into Finster, who fell back, enraptured. When the glow faded, a young, white-blond, blue-eyed humanoid in a white tunic and leggings stood there.
    "When I was your student, I was known as..."
    "Finnan," Zordon completed. "You were taken not long before my sister was. You were a lucky one."
    "I would dispute that, if not for today," Finnan whispered. "Please, let me return with you. I want to resume my Morphin training."
    Zordon looked at Finnan. "It will be hard. The Rangers..."
    "I know. But there is time. Please."
    Zordon placed his hand on the young man's shoulders. "Come. We shall return to Earth. I will need help restoring the Power Chamber. This threat may be taken care of..."
    "But Master Vile may come to avenge his daughter's death." Finnan finished the thought. "We can face the threat together."