[ShinySephiroth]

Chapter Twelve: The Lord Born

Zordon sat in Lightning Cruiser. Beside him in the passenger seat was Master Magnus. He didn't say much during the trip, and that's the way Zordon preferred it. He felt as though the trip to Mirinoi should be spent focusing on the mission. Getting one's mind "in the zone", so to say.

In Storm Blaster sat Master Orion at the driver's seat, with Master Kamen in the passenger seat, mirroring his good friend Magnus coincidentally. Behind them sat Masters Tria and Dulcea, facing the opposite direction. Orion and Kamen joked about some of the things they encountered together when they fought side by side in the M51 war against Master Vile. They went through a lot in those battles, and although their relationship would never "gel" like how Kamen's did with Magnas, they were close nonetheless.

Dulcea turned to Tria. "You know... I admire the Gold Warrior. I have dreamt to fully access the power the Morphing Grid has. I saw the good she did. I did not feel anything bad from her." She stopped talking before looking around to see if anyone was listening in. "I don't agree that we have automatically counted her as a vigilante and a scourge to the United Alliance. She must have a good reason for wanting the Corona Aurora. She saved me and my group. She saved Zordon and his group on Solaris 8's moon... I don't know... It makes no sense for her to be bad! It doesn't feel right!"

Tria didn't know what to say. She thought: You are one hundred percent correct! It doesn't make sense because it wasn't the Gold "Ranger"! How do I know? Because I'm the Gold Ranger.

Instead of confessing her soul to Dulcea, though, she gave her a smile and said, "You have a good point there. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Only time will tell..."

The two female Masters looked forward, seeing the War Star armada ships following them. After some extensive healing treatments, Commander Rahp was ready to go in one of the battleships. Commander Zedd was also enlisted into the battle in a ship he was over. Filcar, who had shown great perseverance in the previous battles when not protecting the Zeo Crystal, had also been promoted to be a Commander and joined the others in his own battleship. The Alliance was fearful of what this mission may mean, so they were careful in their selection of fleets and chose those who had shown great courage and allegiance to the Alliance in the recent outings. Especially due to the events at the Intergalactic Conference, with the communication systems getting hacked, the Alliance was beginning to believe there may be a mole in their organization, so they were selecting those who were trustworthy to complete the new assignments.

Tailing the armada was Commander Risp, a human from KO-34. She was a hard commander and ran a "tight ship". The Alliance placed her as the commanding general for this mission because although Zedd, Rahp, and Filcar had proven themselves through diligence and field exams, they were fairly new to running their own unit. The Alliance did not want to leave that to chance. She was known far and wide for her incredible skills and expertise. If anyone were to ensure the mission's success, the Alliance knew that Risp was the woman for the job.

Wanting to support the mission in any way his planet could, Kamen provided the only ship and commander he could spare from Edenoi, but he did not squander: this commander was known for being decisive and cunning. He once was able to, with just his ship and ingenuity, push back half of Dregon's fleet.

Kamen opened a communication link to his commander's ship. "Storm Blaster to Scorpion Stinger. Storm Blaster to Scorpion Stinger. Do you copy?" Kamen had received reports that the closer one got to The Dark Cloud, the more likely communications would get jammed.

"We read you loud and clear. We are good to go and ready for action. Commander Scorpius out."

. . .

It floated through the space it found itself in. It was intrigued by everything it saw, because everything was new to it. It did not know how it came into being; it knew that it was hungry, and what it wanted was more power. It was a being with some form of sentience, yet no learning. It was a giant mass like nothing anyone had ever before seen.

This being floated by an asteroid and absorbed it. It felt like it was approaching something which might quench its hunger for more than just a moment, though. Something big.

A planet... The mass thought. It did not know how it could think, or rationalize, or know words like "planet", but it could. The first vessel it attacked, it felt guilt because it realized some of the objects it was absorbing seemed to be alive and sentient. After feeling the satiety they gave it, though, it did not care. It would rather destroy any and every living thing before feeling hungry again.

It even gave itself a name. I am the Dark Lord. It thought to itself. It knew it was approaching its destination soon. Suddenly, an image and a name popped into its mind.

It audibly laughed. If anyone had been around, what was a laugh to the Dark Lord would've been comprehended as a sound which would come close to being able to define what evil sounded like. Thinking on the image, it was able to think of the name that popped into its mind again.

Mirinoi...

Future: Omega Ranger stared at the monitor. "Dark Lord? I've never heard of it... That's what Magnus was saying appeared outside the Lost Galaxy. That same thing that attacked that Alliance ship. They called it the 'Dark Cloud'...

"Computer: Search all files for 'the Dark Cloud'. Oh, and please remember that I shouldn't be locked out of anything- this is project related." He added, hoping to bypass the restrictions which had been placed on him in the Hall of Legends.

"There are no files for the Dark Cloud."

Omega sat for a moment. "Computer: Are there any files on 'the Dark Lord'?"

"One file found. Report by Katie Walker. Playing audio now."

Omega listened as the familiar voice of the Yellow Time Force Ranger rang in his head. "I am having problems sending Time Force cameras to the point when the Dark Lord first surfaced. Its exact nature is unknown. It actually absorbed a Time Force camera when the camera tried to get close enough to run a mass composition scan. Whenever we sent one to the moment we have calculated as its 'birth', some sort of massive energy obliterates the camera. The risk of leaving more tech floating in space in the past is too great. For now, until Trip can find a solution, we are aborting the mission to ascertain the Dark Lord's origin."

And with that, Omega Ranger stared at his screen. "What are you? You know things something of your nature should not know. This makes no sense..."

Hoping to plow through his duty as quickly as possible, he resumed the archived footage.

. . .

Master Vile paced the command room of the Skull Ship. He was frantic, trying to think of a way to stop the Gold Warrior from foiling his plans.

Rito, sitting back in a chair, swiveled around to face his father. "You know, we could always ask Dischorida for help."

Vile chuckled. "As amusing as it is to see Dischordia forcing the Alliance to act like buffoons, I'm not in a position where I can play with my prey. The Gold Warrior is a serious threat, boy. And what are you doing, just sitting around!? Did I not give you an assignment!?"

"Already done, Daddio!" Rito said, swiveling back to the ship's console. He went to resume the game he been playing.

Master Vile was glad to hear this. "Good, good. Once your sister is done summoning Madam Woe into a new vessel, I will send her down again. It is imperative she gets a fighter in a solo fight. I have yet to see someone clever enough to defeat her without support."

Novact entered the room, a smile on his face. "Master Vile. I have tracked down the Zeo Crystal. It is being loaded onto a ship near the Morphing Master's headquarters."

"Excellent! Now we wait!" Master Vile turned and started walking toward his throne.

Novact's face dropped, confused by Vile's statement. I'm giving you a gold mine here! Let's attack now, you moron! Novact thought.

"But... Master... Should we not attack now?" Novact hid his displeasure with years of practice at pretending not to feel, which was necessary to survive the years of abuse he had to endure from bullies while growing up. Master Vile approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"No, no, my loyal servant. It will be easier to attack them away from the Morphing Masters, where they plan to unload the artifact. I do admire your enthusiasm, though. You're still a little too impulsive for my taste. You'll become a much better general if you learn patience!" And with that, Master Vile went and sat on his throne.

Once again, Novact felt the sting of not being good enough. His whole life, he knew what it meant to not measure up to what was expected. While working with Master Vile, and being trusted with this new power, he felt as if he was someone important. Being a failure, in any capacity, was not a possibility Novact wanted to face. He felt his stutter begin to return. He could hardly begin a rebuttal. He wanted to argue with Vile, to force Vile to see things his way. In fact, Novact did not care if he was right or wrong at that moment: he only cared that Vile agreed with him. If he failed afterward, he would deal with that, but it was more important to have approval and notoriety than to do things right.

Master Vile turned his attention to his protegé. He saw him, bubbling with energy and wanting to get things done no matter what. Vile chuckled. "Oh, dear. It looks as if you have gotten yourself all flustered. Listen, the enthusiasm is great! Once you learn some more tactics, under my wing, you will be one of the best. With your eagerness to perform, you will be like a... a dark wave, crashing down on your opponents."

Novact regained his composure. He liked what he was hearing. He also realized, for the first time in his life, he did not need anyone else's approval to get something done, or to feel good about himself. Hearing that he had the potential to beat down anyone in his path was appealing to him. Master Vile's words planted a seed in his mind which couldn't be easily unearthed. Novact looked at the being he once thought of as his master. "A dark wave, huh?"

"That's the spirit! You are dismissed, Novact!"

Novact walked out of the room, feeling pleased with himself.

. . .

Burai looked out the window of the armada cruiser. It had been a while since he had been sent on assignment. He turned around and looked over the Droid he and Zordon had packed into the ship. He was to monitor its energy expenditures, and all other relevant vitals during the Droid's premier battle.

Zordon had told Burai what to look out for and how to manage the equipment from the war ship. The ability to broadcast long range was still under development, so the ship would need to stay fairly close to the action. Even though it's to be a lackey... I am glad I get to finally see some action. I am a member of The Top, after all...

He thought of how irregular it was that he and Cestro did not see much action as of late. He thought that perhaps the Alliance was trying to ensure the Morphing Masters always had a pool to pick from. This matter, however, deemed itself too important to the Morphing Masters, so they sent all of The Top to this incident. Burai turned to see Cestro working on final adjustments while the new member who had taken Zordon's place, Margaret, observed fluctuations on the monitor.

Margaret was from the ill-fated planet, Decrof. She had been a key element in helping the Alliance during the war in the M51 Galaxy. Through her research she had been able to ascertain that the weakness of the Blue Globbor was sunlight. Although she only showed her findings to the forces of the United Alliance at a point in which Decrof could not be saved, her reveal greatly aided the forces to be able to inhibit Vile spreading rapidly through M51, eventually slowing him down so that he did not progress outside of that system.

Turning and flashing a big smile to Burai, Margaret greeted him. Burai's stomach was in a knot. He found her very attractive, from her appearance down to her intellect. She was witty and kind to everyone around her. Her silver hair swung around her as she turned. "Oh, Burai! I have another question about the Morphing Masters: what type of animal is Animus? He looks very humanoid to me, albeit hairy... how does that make him from the Animal Realm? I mean, for an Animal he's very... uh... short. When I think of an Animal, I think of someone like the leader of the Animal Warriors, Black Lion."

Burai shrugged. "Apparently he is some sort of ape-like creature... now. One of Animus' abilities he gained from the Morphing Grid is that he is able to store some of his self in the Morphing Grid. Since he can do this, if he falls in battle, he can be reincarnated later on, at an undetermined time. His Willpower slowly can seep out of the Morphing Grid and it will inhabit the body of an infant, or in utero... I don't know. When's a baby a baby? Right?" Burai felt silly for starting to ramble. He wanted to answer all of her questions, but also to show some personality.

"Oh, interesting! Anyway, I think the Droid is ready to go!" Margaret grabbed Burai by the hand and pulled him toward the machine. Ever since Margaret became an official member of The Top, Burai was glad he had not been picked to become a Morphing Master. Although he felt the sting over being overlooked, and was still bitter over it, working with Margaret was worth not receiving the honor.

. . .

The Dark Lord saw the planet Mirinoi. It was pleased. The planet was everything it thought the planet would be. The Dark Lord knew its hunger would be quenched for quite some time. It descended upon the planet, compressing itself into a mass smaller in diameter, but just as powerful.

When the beast looked down, its black and smoky tendrils reached and ripped chunks of earth out of the ground. As the mass absorbed the chunks, it felt pleased. The Dark Lord imagined how it would feel when it had finished the whole planet.

Suddenly, the Dark Lord felt a blast hit its side. It was able to perceive a group of people running toward it and getting into formations around it.

The Alliance... The Dark Lord thought, anger beginning to fill its being. It did not know why those beinga spelled bad news for it, but it knew they did. The Dark Lord whipped out a tendril holding a boulder and chucked it toward one of the soldiers. The soldier yelled out something and was suddenly adorned in some special armor.

That soldier, Master Orion, yelled, "Charge Up Mode!" and fired a giant ball of Light Energy at the Dark Lord. It thought the energy would feel good, but instead of absorbing it, the Dark Lord felt pain. It grew angrier.
Another enemy suddenly charged the Dark Lord, blasting at it.

The Defender... It thought, looking at Magnus in his Defender Armor. He looked over the armor, at the bluish hue it had, the emerald pentagonal gem on the torso, and the horns on the helmet. It was truly an intimidating piece of hardware. Reaching out one of its tendrils, the Dark Lord tried to absorb the Defender, but the Defender was too fast and avoided the black whipping appendage.

Zordon, having joined the fight with other Alliance soldiers, shot currents of White Energy from the Emotional Spectrum at the Dark Lord. Landing in the area as well, Dulcea and Tria pointed their blasters. All of the soldiers were unleashing a storm of fire on the beast, not knowing if it meant anything. The mass of evil swung it tendrils about all the while, trying to destroy everything in its path. It was pleased that it finally grabbed a soldier, absorbing it into its ever hungry "body". The Dark Lord felt some of its vigor return, but it wasn't enough to heal everything it was getting bombarded with.

Meanwhile, Commander Scorpius looked at his troops. This is my chance to prove myself to the Alliance. I'll rise the ranks in no time and finally rid myself of that horrid Edenoi! Scorpius thought.

Sneering, Commander Scorpius pointed at the creature he was instructed was called the Dark Cloud. It truly did resemble a cloud to him, albeit with something that seemed to be a gelatinous shell acting as a casing. "Fire everything you have!"

The soldiers under Scorpius' command blasted the beast. The Dark Lord felt pain shooting throughout its membrane covered body. To try and heal some of the damage, and to rid itself of some of its attackers, it began throwing tendrils out to absorb Edenites.

From a ways out, Command Risp spoke into her communicator to her troops as she surveyed the battle. "... Move out. Ensure the enemy is taken out. Do all you can to protect the other troops."

Claire Risp's eyes stared at the Dark Lord as her troops swarmed around her toward their target. She pulled out her sniper blaster and began taking shots at each of the tendrils. Some of the tendrils broke, releasing their victims. Very quickly, however, the tendrils were fully formed again.

What is this thing made of? This is not good... Risp thought to herself. She stared at her fighters, hoping the best for them.

"Droid Number Five: Activate!" Zordon commanded into his wrist tech. Zordon feared he was too close to the Dark Cloud, but was glad to see the communication went through. A red, humanoid battle bot teleported from the War Star ship nearby onto the battle area. It had black accents around its body, silver shoulder armor pads and white wrist mounted gauntlets which were programmed to be able to shoot lasers. A yellow light shone from the Droid's chest, being from its internal energy core. It's large eyes shone with the same color. Blue accents were designed around the light emanating from the yellow core on the chest. Getting into formation, Commanders Zedd, Filcar, and Rahp wrapped around the feet of the Droid to act as support.

Filcar smirked. "Nice to be back, guys. Ready to tear this thing apart?"

The two of his comrades nodded. Seeing their troops start to succumb to the Dark Lord, they feared for their own lives themselves. Zedd thought about how all of this had started: they were recruited into the forces of the United Alliance because they were good at their jobs. They had once been innocent archaeologists who had been caught in the crossfires of history. One thing each of them vowed was that they would be able to return to their normal lives one day.

Zordon, having teleported himself into Droid Five, sat in the pilot's seat. His Droid leapt forward toward a tree, stretching out a leg. As the leg approached the trunk, the Droid flapped its arms, sending its torso up ahead of the leg. As the Droid's body began to pass the tree, the foot landed on the tree's trunk and the Droid propelled itself toward the Dark Lord.

Master Magnus shot Morphing Energy blasts meanwhile, while Kamen absorbed the blasts from his friend with his electro saber before redirecting it with better concentration and precision to hurl them at the Dark Lord's membrane. Kamen knew that the more the enemy was distracted by outside attacks, the more efficient a direct hit from Zordon in his Droid could be, since it would go unblocked. The Morphing Masters hoped Zordon's vehicle would be up to the task.

Seeing that Kamen and Magnus' distraction was working, Zordon had Droid Five reach out and punch through the Dark Lord's membrane, puncturing it to reach deep into the its core. Before the Dark Lord could react, Droid Five opened its hand and released what it had secretly been holding in its closed fist: an implosion device. As Zordon finished the task, the Droid performed a flip midair and landed yards away from the opponent. All the while, Zedd, Filcar, and Rahp shot at it and threw plasma grenades.

What is this inside me...? The Dark Lord thought.

"Everyone: run!" Master Zordon ordered, indicating the deed was done.

Burai, on the ship, knew what this meant. He turned to Cestro. Cestro nodded and pushed the detonator. Turning to Margaret and Burai, he said, "It is done."

An explosion went off in the beast. Zordon looked up to see no effect of the blast in sight. "Huh? Everyone, are we okay?"

Zedd was the first to answer. "It seems the blast did not work..."

What no one knew was that the blast had actually gone off as planned and had indeed damaged the Dark Lord, but only from the inside. The blast did not escape the membrane surrounding the beast's nucleus. For all intents and purposes, Master Zordon's plan had worked. All of the systems inside the Dark Lord were severely damaged and beginning to fail.

"Everyone... look." Master Magnus ordered, pointing at the Dark Lord with his blaster. "It appears the Dark Cloud is faltering..."

As he said this, the Dark Lord fell to the ground with a mighty thud, its smoke like body looking odd plopping down. Its membrane kept its inner parts floating like a mosaic. I must survive. I cannot let this be... my end.

Suddenly, an instinct programmed into this being made itself aware of its only possibility. Only possibility for survival. The Dark Lord discovered it had a parasitic nature. It knew what its next move, its only move, was.

"Fire!" Master Orion yelled the exact moment he noticed movement from the Dark Lord: a smoky tendril lifted itself up.

The soldiers' intent was to protect themselves from the attack. What they could not foresee was how they were helping the beast: The Dark Lord lifted a tendril so it could puncture its own membrane. Coupled with Alliance fire, the tendril flew down and poked a hole in itself. Black smoke shot out from the hole, deflating the body.

No one knew what to do. Unseen by the heroes, the Dark Lord had scanned the crowd surrounding it, looking for susceptible, yet powerful, potential hosts. After finalizing its quick scan, the Dark Lord had its target, and the troops knew not how to defeat this beast, now in the form of a black smoke cloud.

Seeing this, Master Tria slipped behind some trees. She focused on the Power Staff, feeling the Zeo Morphing Energy pumping into her. "... it's morphin' time..."

Becoming the Gold Ranger, she ran out from her hiding spot and rushed toward the Dark Lord's smokey body. She had planned to only become the Gold Ranger if absolutely necessary: she feared becoming an intergalactic incident, because she knew that would cause the entire Alliance military to have her on their most wanted list. She saw the smoke fly out of the Dark Lord's membrane in mind numbing speed.

It shot toward Filcar, Rahp, and Zedd. She pointed at them and yelled, "Get out of here! Run!"

The troops ran every which way, forgetting their training. In a mass of confusion, chaos created by the basic instinct each soldier had to survive, soldiers ran about in terror, running into each other and around each other. They no longer cared for the well being of their comrades: only in themselves. Meanwhile, the smoke that the Dark Lord had become approached Commanders Zedd, Filcar, and Rahp, getting closer and closer. It had its target amongst the three. Just as it had calculated, the slower of the three, Filcar, was in reach. It would soon have its host.

Zedd looked back. Filcar, you idiot! Speed up! He thought. He could see that although only slightly slower than his comrades, Filcar was going to fall to the Dark Lord within a matter of moments.

Commander Zedd pulled out his blaster and turned around. Flashes of the interview he had conducted with Filcar passed through his mind when the man, Drew Filcar, had given his application to join Zedd's archaeologic team. Zedd sneered as he stopped on a dime and spun around, pointing his blaster at the cloud that was the Dark Lord. I got you guys into this mess... I'm not letting anyone fall! He charged the smoke beast.

From the position she had designated as he sniper's nest, Commander Risp took aim and took one shot at the smoke beast. She had no effect on its approach or speed. The blast wisped past quickly out of her scope. She pulled her sniper blaster back and stared as Zedd began to charge toward the smoke beast. "Troops, close in on the beast. Commander Zedd is in trouble."

"Filcar! Drop!" Zedd ordered. Hearing Zedd's voice, Filcar automatically did what he was ordered to do. As he dropped, Zedd unleashed everything his blaster had into the encroaching monster. The energy blasts, too, passed through the Dark Lord, not doing any damage at all.

"Argh!" Zordon screamed, sparks flying from his Droid: He had done the opposite of what the troops and along with most of the Morphing Masters had done: he was still giving chase. Zedd's blasts flowed right past the Dark Lord's smokey body and hit Droid Five by accident and, almost as if directed by fate, hit vital collateral circuits in the Droid's system.

"All systems down!" Cestro screamed from his console onboard the War Star armada ship.

"Divert energies to another part of the system, Margaret!" Burai ordered.

Turning to Burai, Margaret shook her head. "I am unable to do it, Burai... All systems down!"

Burai sneered. Impossible! I checked those systems myself! There should have been a backup to at least divert the energies in Droid Five to help in case of system failures...

"Are you sure, Margaret!?" Burai demanded as he began to rush over to her.

"There's no time to double think people, Burai!" Cestro yelled. "If Margaret is going to be a member of The Top, you'll need to trust her judgment! Now get back to your post!"

Burai stopped and nodded. "I'm sorry, Margaret, I-"

Margaret winked at him, but quickly turned back to her console. "Don't worry about it! But we gotta get back to work and fast!"

Meanwhile on the battlefield, the Gold Ranger in Shadow Mode bounded toward Zedd and the Dark Lord to help the commander. Masters Orion, Kamen, and Magnus stopped their onslaught of long distance attacks as they were shocked to see the shadow signifying the Gold Ranger.

Dulcea, too, stopped when she saw the shadow. She's here... I need answers! Who is she!?

The Dark Lord's remnant shot forward, unaffected by any of the blasts. It saw Zedd, who it just thought of as 'the body', before it. It realized it wasn't its original target but, recognizing Zedd from its initial scan, thought: The fool is stronger and allowed itself to be caught. My gain...

Commander Scorpius watched through his binoculars from a distance, observing his men running around with the others, unsure of what to do. He watched as the Dark Lord gave chase to Zedd, Filcar, and Rahp. He watched as Zedd confronted the Dark Cloud. Scorpius hoped his studying of the beast's movements would help him find a pattern to defeating it. Using the troops on the field as bait seemed like the best option to him. What he saw next, though, when the Dark Cloud advanced upon Zedd, changed his life.

Zedd could not react. He felt his nose and mouth fill with thick, black smoke. He couldn't move. He tried to scream, run, call for help on his communicator. Nothing happened. He saw the Gold Ranger land in front of him. He saw the Morphing Masters run up, falling in line behind her. They stared at him, unsure of what to do. He saw through his eyes Alliance troops gather around him as he felt himself fall to the ground onto his back.

Suddenly, he "heard" something. Zedd, is it? That's a nice name. You were a dedicated soldier. I thank you for keeping this vessel in such good shape. Now watch me run your reputation through the mud...

Zedd felt his eyes dart around. He felt his brain drudging up battle tactics he had learned from the time he entered the Academy to that point. He suddenly recalled all of the battle formations and strategies the Academy employed.

Zedd felt his mouth curl into a smile. His voice, uncontrolled by him, flowed out of his mouth. It sounded like a combination of his voice with this deep, otherworldly, raspy tinge.

"Prepare to feel my wrath, Morphing Masters." He felt his hand lifted up to be in front his face, digits slowly moving as he spoke. "I am your worst nightmare: I am Lord Zedd!"