Disclaimer: All character within are owned by Saban.
Zordon's Savior
By Jason Barnett
The fire in the ruins of the Temple of Power did more for Dulcea than allow her to see the animal spirits of those who journeyed for the Great Power. It gave her visions of the future, or glimpses into other realities. More reliably were the visions of current events it provided.
"Never have good and evil met in a battle such as this. One could be destroyed for all time."
Suddenly the fire flared brightly allowing her a vision of the future.
She saw the Red Ranger battling his sister, then it blurred for a moment and she saw Zordon's tube which had been in the background, releasing his life energy. She saw it expand accross the galaxy and then the vision ending.
"I cannot allow Zordon's death. He is to great a rallying point for the forces of the light. His death would demoralize us to much to come back from the defeats we are suffering."
She walked over to the edge and looked down at the Neola Jungle and the Monolith.
"The Great Power could save him, but I am the only one here to make the journey."
There was one way to slow the aging process though she had never attempted it.
"Ninjetti!" In a flash she was clothed in a green Ninjetti uniform with a gold coin bearing the symbol of the owl then slowly she descending down the steps into the forest.
Dulcea reached the halfway point with no trouble except for dealing with some of Phaedos' larger bugs. Her hair had started to silver and wrinkles were appearing on her face. Flexing her hands she could feel the early onset of the arthritis that someone who constantly welded a bostaff could expect in middle age.
She had just passed the boneyard where some of the planet's most dangerous extinct predators lay when the rattle of bones reached her ears. Whirling she saw a sight that chilled her to her soul. Two dozen humanoid skeletons were marching towards her. None had any flesh remaining though some still had tatters of Ninjetti uniforms around them. And though they had no vocal cords she could still hear them.
"Traitor!"
"Servant of Darkness!"
"You didn't warn us!"
"We weren't prepared!"
"Our worlds died!"
"How many more will?!"
"Rangers continue to quest, continue to die!"
"All for the power you protect!"
Their words cut her like a knife but she attacked anyway. Kicks and punches shattered the bones of the dead Rangers but they knitted before her eyes.
"I warned you that the quest was dangerous. I told you there were more reliable ways of gaining the Power. You refused to listen. I did my duty to the best of my ability."
"Not good enough!"
"Our lives were cut short!"
"Yet you live forever!"
"Even though there are many times I would rather not." She pulled her staff out and began whacking the skeletons left and right. When that did no more damage than her weaponless assault she split it in two and twirled the whistling sticks. The sound they produced was only painful to evil and she almost hoped it didn't work on her attackers. But it did. They clutched long rotted ears at the side of their skulls and collapsed.
"And now the Great Power uses it's victims to enforce it's quest. Sometimes I almost think that an evil force created this as a trap for the forces of good. And I am the one forced to send people seeking it."
She honestly did believe that at times, for even though those who reached the Monolith were always rewarded with remarkable powers very few teams ever successfully reached their goal. Facing those dead Rangers had caused her a great deal of pain.
"Sometimes, I hate my job."
Again, except for a few animal pests and overgrowth she had no problems reaching the Monolith. The only difficulty was her own waning endurance as she continued to age. In fact she fell into the clearing when she tripped over a root. By the time she had arrived her hair was totally grey and wrinkles were far mor obvious. She looked like she was in her mid sixties, even though it was a well preserved mid-sixties.
As she approached the Monolith the sky was lit with teleportation signals. Astronema, Ecliptor, Master Vile, Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa, the Machine Empire's Royal Court, and Divatox teleported into the clearing.
"No way to tell if they're real or created by the Great Power."
"Oh, we're real Dulcea," Astronema sneered. "You're it. The last one we have to crush to acheive total victory."
"Good can never be defeated."
"I'm sure there'll always be rebels against our rule but you are the last one with power enough to be a threat."
Dulcea braced for attack as they began to fire at her. She rolled, avoiding the blasts and defending when she could. Knowing she couldn't win a physical battle she turned to psychological warfare.
"Vile, I know that Dark Spector is dead. You're one of the most powerful villains left. Why allow yourself to be ordered around by a girl who is no older than the Power Rangers who defeated you. She has nothing left but Ecliptor."
"I was planning on taking control later but now is as good a time as any. I can make it seem like an accident." He threw her towards Astronema but she was able to roll up. If she hadn't heard him talking she might have thought that the bolt he fired was aimed for her and just missed but it passed over her shoulder and struck the Princess of evil.
"Watch where you're shooting you old fool!" she fired back at him. It continued, with each shot being the excuse for the next.
"Rita, Zedd if Vile beats her you know he'll lord it over you forever. He certainly hates the fact you got married."
"She's right, Zeddie. Every time I talk to him he says I could do better than you."
"And the Machine Empire. Why are you taking orders from organics."
"Well we had nothing better to do and it seemed like a good plan."
"Even though the current leader is making a mockery of you by having cybernetics installed on herself."
"I think she's right Mondo, dearest."
Now almost everyone was involved in the fighting.
"You're not going to get me that easily, old lady. I don't want to run the entire UAE, to much buracreacy for my tastes. I just like the pillaging and plundering."
Dulcea, now over seventy was quickly overpoweredby the space pirate. Desperately she swept her staff and knocked Divatox's legs out from under her. She toppled into the acid pit below.
By the time she turned the only ones left were Astronema and Ecliptor. "Very clever, but all that did was allow me to remove some dead weight. Ecliptor, kill her."
Her mentor moved forward to obey the order. Dulcea split her staff in two and threw it at two points on his body. One damaged the cybernetics on his head, the other the cybernetics on his side. He froze up instantly.
Astronema fired her Wrath Staff at him. "Move you idiot. I gave you an order."
"Ecliptor, that isn't the girl you raised as your daughter. Its Darkonda's final revenge against you, turning someone you care about against you."
Ecliptor forced himself up, apparently the staff blows had removed the circuitry's control of him and he turned himself towards her.
A sword blow was parried by Astronema forcing her to turn of her energy blast but the damage to his side was causing his movements to be jerky and uncoordianted. No sooner had Astronema finished him off than a sword broke through her chest. Dulcea had used the oppurtunity to grab one of the fallen villains weapons.
As soon as Astronema was killed all of them vanished. "Just the test. I have to get the power. I can see the light from Zordon's life force, scattering accross the universe."
The Monolith opened revealing a giant coin with her symbol, the owl. Mustering what little strength she had left she threw her staff into it and the coin shattered, releasing a golden wave of energy.
It continued upwards into space and outwards away from the planet and when it touched Zordon's energy wave there was a flash of light as the two merged, looking sort of like two of the Olympic rings. As the light touched Phaedos the destroyed coinin the Monolith reassembled itself. Dulcea deaged to her previous age from where she had been lying on the ground and a bald man wearing wizards robes appeared, wide-eyed in shock.
"What happened. My energy tube was shattered, I should not be here."
"I know. I saw a vision of your death, so I journeyed for the Great Power to save you."
Zordon smiled seeing his old friend then embraced her. "Dulcea, it has been far to long since we have spoken. And you're young inside the Neola Jungle."
"I shouldn't be though. I was near death just moments ago."
"My purity wave must have broken the spell that prevents you from entering here."
"Purity Wave? Zordon, what happened? My vision was incomplete. I assumed that you were caught in the crossfire of the battle between the Red Astro Ranger and his sister."
"No, I ordered Andros to shatter my tube to release all the energy that has been accumulating since I was imprisoned ten thousand years ago. It should either destroy or purify all the know evil in the galaxy."
"You wanted to die? I'm sorry had I known I would have respected your wishes."
"I didn't wish to die, Dulcea I thought it was necessary. You've given me a wonderful chance. I contented myself with the thought that for the time the galaxy would be at peace. Now I get to see it without the battle of good against evil and speak to my former enemies that have been given a second chance at life."
"Zordon, when you go I would like to come with you. I don't have the power to leave the planet and this quest showed me I'm not totally content with my lot in life. There should be no need for the Great Power now, so there is no reason for me to stay."
"I would welcome you on my journey. I believe we should visit Earth first. I've wanted to see that young world up close for most of my imprisonment. And I must speak with Andros."
"Of course. If he's anything like most Red Rangers then he's blaming your death on his failure as a leader."
"Without a doubt," Zordon laughed as he teleported them both.
The End