Images Scattered to Bits (Rita)

[Deleted]

(February 25th, night. Closed to Zedd and Rita.)

“No more Power Rangers, no more Power Rangers!”

The cry echoed through the lunar throne room, loud and triumphant. His minions danced in wild delight, and he soon joined them, holding a familiar silver-haired witch in his arms. At long last, he – no, they – had won!

The party didn’t last long. The moon began quaking with such a force that they were all sent tumbling to the ground. Someone was firing on them! Who dared to attack his stronghold? It didn’t matter – they needed to leave, fast. Whoever it was had rendered them powerless, defenseless, utterly helpless.

They ran, not caring where they went so long as it was far from the blasts. Blasts that got closer and closer with each renewed attack. Rita stopped abruptly, her face filled with concern, but he took hold of her arm and pulled her back on track. Enough had been lost today – his home, his victory, his pride. He couldn’t lose her too…

Lord Zedd closed his visor-hidden eyes with a frustrated sigh, allowing his thoughts to briefly cut off. It was rare that he remembered his dreams, but this one remained etched vividly in his conscious, even all these hours later. There was more to it than what he had been mulling over – though not much – but his attention was fixed firmly on the presence of a certain witch.

Rita had been in the dream, acting much in the same way she had when he first came here three days prior. He was dancing with her before the attack. Dancing.

Zedd opened his eyes and slowly rose from the chair he’d been sitting in, making his way to the nearby window. Though it was but a sliver on this night, the moon glowed brightly against the otherwise coal-black sky. The sight of it stirred an unexpected nostalgia within Zedd. A part of him wanted to be back there, where things made sense and his word was law.

A plane flew overhead, the noise similar to what he had heard in his dream. With a start, Zedd remembered something Rita had told him when he arrived: “…running from the Machine Empire when they took over our palace…”

No… it can’t be! She couldn’t have been telling the truth!

Could she?

[Rita Repulsa]

Rita, Zedd, Goldar, Baboo, Squatt, and several Z-Putties and monsters were gathered.

"Dearly beloved we are gathered here to join these two gargoyles in holy matrimony. Is there anyone here present who knows why these two should not be wed?"asked Finster.

Goldar nods and begins to speak.

"Yes. Now that you mention it I'd like to..."

"Oh can it!" said Rita, throwing her flowers at him.

"Doh." said Goldar, annoyed.

"Get on with it Finster." said Rita.

"Do you Lord Zedd, master of all evil, take Rita Repulsa to be your bride?" asked Finster.

Rita giggles.

"Well?" asked Rita.

"I do." said Zedd.

"no. no." said Goldar.

"And do you Rita..."

"Yes. Yes! I mean I do." said Rita.

"Who has the rings?" asked Finster.

"Ring?" asked Goldar.

"You're holding it meathead. Give me that." said Rita.

She takes the rings from him and returns to standing next to Zedd.

"Here you go Zeddykins. Put this on." said Rita.

They both put their rings on.

"Ok. Go ahead." said Rita.

"By the power vested in me by Lord Zedd I now pronounce you husband and wife. Go ahead and kiss." said Finster.

"Come here my prickly pear." said Zedd.

"Do I have to?" asked Rita.

They kiss.

Rita wakes up as she then remembers Zedd doesn't remember marrying her or most of their life together now.

"It's not fair. I get him and and lose him at the same time." said Rita.

She sighed realizing she wasn't going to get any sleep for awhile. She headed down to get something to eat when she saw Zedd as she paled. But she was sure he'd seen her so she walked in and walked into the kitchen to grab something to eat. She wished there was a way to restore his memories but she always had Finster to help her out with that. Hopefully Facilier or Malachite or DH coule come up with something. She had no idea what to do. Although she knew she couldn't ignore him. She missed him even if he didn't remember her. So after getting a cup of wine she walked out into the living room and smiled at him.

"Hello. Are you feeling alright?" asked Rita.

[Deleted]

Well, speak of the devil.

Rita’s voice drew Lord Zedd’s attention back to reality. He turned to face her, scowling behind his mask at her (apparently) cheerful countenance, as though it was her fault his mood was foul.

“I was,” came the cold reply. Unconsciously, he griped his staff a little tighter. He rudely pushed past the witch and returned to the more comfortable chair. The mysterious golden ring on his hand reflected in the moonlight, something that only served to worsen his already bad mood.

In an effort to get his mind off of that particular headache, Zedd’s thoughts suddenly shifted back to the dream and Rita’s role in it. She had claimed that they had been kicked out of the palace by the Machine Empire, something that his dream seemed to have backed up. Now was his chance to lend a little more credence to the story.

Or, alternately, prove that the witch had been lying from the start. Personally he was hoping for the latter.

“Rita…” Zedd began carefully, nearly choking on his pride. He hated this, not knowing what was real or imagined, having to rely on her for information that should be readily available for him. “You said we were attacked by the Machine Empire. How did we get away from them?”

Too general.

“What were we doing before they attacked?”

There. That would do for now.

[Rita Repulsa]

Rita paused as this reply. It still hurt. It was like in the old days before he'd married her. How ironic she'd married him to one day kill him and take over. And she'd ended up falling in love with him instead. She sighed before looking up as he spoke again.

"We'd been fighting the rangers together for over a year and a half. We had just succeeded in destroying the rangers powers for the second time. We blew up the Command Center and we'd even stolen the Zeo Crystal. But then Goldar and my idiot brother Rito dropped it and the rangers took it back. The Machine Empire attacked the palace and the two of us Finster, Baboo, and Squatt were forced to flee in your zord Serpentera to my father's kingdom the M-51 Galaxy." said Rita.

She paused with a sigh knowing he really didn't like her father.

"We came back a few months later and found out Goldar and Rito had lost their memories. We returned their memories and regroup with only the four of us and Finster driving on the moon in a trailer we stole from Earth. We plotted against the Machine Empire wanting to take back our palace. We even helped the rangers defeat them once. In the end we blew them up with a bomb and took back oru palace. They were later rebuilt but they knew not to mess with us anymore." said Rita.

[Deleted]

She was making that face again, hurt and vulnerable. Ordinarily, seeing her like that would have pleased Lord Zedd, but now it only seemed to irritate him even more. In a way, it shouldn’t have been surprising – Rita was good at that, after all.

Further frustrating him was the answer she gave to his first question. While he couldn’t remember where they’d gone, Zedd did recall telling everyone to get into Serpentera. With that detail, his ego was dealt two blows. Rita’s story became more credible and it was confirmed that the Machine Empire had indeed been able to overpower him. Both notions were distressing, but the latter in particular tore at his pride. Even if he’d apparently blown them up later on down the line, they had still overthrown him, however briefly. It was a humbling feeling, and he hated it.

“Kicked out by piles of scrap metal,” Zedd muttered bitterly, resting his chin in one skinless palm. That damned ring kept glinting, and he only just restrained himself from throwing it across the room.

To distract himself, the warlord pondered what Rita had said earlier, about the Zeo Crystal. Last he could remember, it was in an underground tunnel beneath his palace, guarded by a force field that kept it from entering evil hands. The circumstances that led to the Rangers – and apparently himself – obtaining it should have been a blur, yet there was another “echo” in his mind as he considered it.

“You shall never get the Zeo Crystal! The force field will destroy anyone who possesses even an ounce of evil!”

“He’s right, Daddy! He tried to get the Zeo Crystal once and look what happened to Zeddy’s face!”

“Very funny, Rita! The force field is nothing to joke about!”

“Your father,” Zedd said suddenly. “He tried to get the Zeo Crystal, didn’t he?”

[Rita Repulsa]

Rita listened to him as he was upset about the Machine Empire's defeat as she grinned.

"Don't worry. We got them back like I said. We tricked them into thinking we were giving them a peace offering only for our bomb to detonate in their faces and blow them up. It took them months to rebuild themselves and we were able to take over the palace. It was priceless." said Rita, cackling.

For the first time since seeing Zedd she was happy for a brief moment. Then she remembered he didn't remember. She paused as he said her father went after the zeo crystal.

"Yes. He did. The rangers stole it and later used it to become rangers after we destroyed their second set of ranger powers. The ninja coins from Phaedos. Are you remembering something?" asked Zedd.

She didn't want to sound too hopeful. But if he was remembering something then perhaps he could regain more of his memories.

[Deleted]

The image Rita painted succeeded in getting a cruel laugh out of Lord Zedd. In fact, he could almost see it for himself…

He was standing next to a broken-down Earth vehicle – an RV, he believed they were called – with Rita, Goldar, Finster, and what seemed to be a walking skeleton clustered around him. Before them was a group of robots. Just picturing them made Zedd’s blood pressure spike. Rita gave the shortest among them a box wrapped in brightly colored paper, after which they quickly got into the RV and sped off, but not before watching the destruction of their mechanical enemies. There was an impromptu mini-celebration and then…

“We’re back.”

Without really realizing it, Zedd had repeated the words spoken in this newest “echo”, his voice just loud enough for Rita to hear. Speaking of Rita, she had begun to speak again, drawing him back into reality.

“Second set of powers?” he snapped. “Just how many do those blasted teenagers go through?”

With that bit of news, Zedd’s previous good mood evaporated like dewdrops in the summer. Rita’s asking if he remembered anything – despite most likely being well-meaning in nature – made it even worse.

“Yes.” His body began its familiar red glow. “You insulted my face to my face!”

[Rita Repulsa]

Rita paused listening to him. Hearing him say we're back when he spoke as she smiled remembering that day as well.

"Well the rangers were on their sixth set of powers when I was sent here. Although it was an entirely new group of rangers as we hadn't fought them for over a year after all. We went on a honeymoon after we stopped the Machine Empire and during that time Divatox attacked. Then after Divatox destroyed their base and their current powers Dark Specter sent Astronema to attack Earth. So we were out of a job again. We still have our palace but we were forbidden to attack the Earth or interfere in Astronema's attacks." said Rita.

Rita paused at him and smiled.

"Sorry about that. But we were always insulting each other especially when a plan failed. But I never really meant it. I loved you Zeddy. I still do. I hope one day you can remember all of it." said Rita.

[Deleted]

Six sets of powers.

Six. And apparently there was a new Ranger team to deal with somewhere along the line. Joy. As if Lord Zedd’s mood couldn’t get worse, he found out that the destruction of the Command Center – an honor that should have been his and his alone – had been accomplished by a space pirate of all creatures. Not only that, but he was forbidden to attack Earth, the task relegated to some up-and-coming brat who would no doubt only succeed in making the Rangers more difficult to defeat.

Even after telling him all of that, the witch had the gall to smile at him, to act like it was perfectly acceptable to insult him directly, to insist that she loved him. Zedd wasn’t sure what he hated more, the blatant disrespect or the fact that a part of him felt the vaguest sense of familiarity behind the words. An “echo” was beginning to rise in his mind, but he shoved it away, clinging instead to his anger.

“I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, Rita,” Zedd hissed, spitting her name as though it were poisonous, “but it’s obvious that you need to be reminded of your place.”

The glow of his body became more intense.

“And stop calling me Zeddy!”

[Rita Repulsa]

Rita paused as his tone. She frowned glaring at him.

"You're the one who needs to be reminded. You married me Zedd. We're equals. We even joined our staffs together to make our monsters grow. We've created monsters together, plotted together. We destroyed the ranger's first base and two sets of their powers. We almost even killed Kimberly. Closer than we ever had before. Tommy ruined our fun but she quit the team shortly after that. To go follow her dreams in gymnastics. In fact every ranger we fought against is no longer on the ranger team now. It's all new rangers now." said Rita.

She frowned as he said stop calling her Zeddy and shook her head.

"I will not. I will not go back to being just some servant you order around. Your my husband, my friend. We have a son together. Have you forgotten Thrax too?" asked Rita.

She was tired of being sad. She would try to help him remember. She would do whatever it took to get her Zeddy back. No matter how long it took to do that.

[Deleted]

“You? An equal to me?” Lord Zedd snarled. “Never! I would sooner make that Pink Power Brat my queen!”

No sooner had he mentioned Kimberly than Rita mentioned that she’d apparently nearly died. Though the prospect intrigued Zedd, at the moment he wanted nothing more than to burst the witch’s bubble. And it just so happened that he had the perfect tidbit with which to do just that. Why hadn’t he thought to mention it before?

“In fact, I almost did.”

Though Rita couldn’t see it, a nasty smile had crossed his face.

“While you were floating around in space, I had Goldar kidnap Kimberly, and were he not an incompetent moron, she would be ruling by my side.” The unseen smile widened. “An excellent choice, don’t you think? She’s very beautiful, after all.”

“We have a son together. Have you forgotten Thrax too?”

A neutral “What?” was all Zedd could muster to such news. It was one of the few things Rita had told him that didn’t fill him with rage. Quite the contrary – he had hoped to someday have an heir to his evil empire. Even the idea that the child’s mother was Rita wasn’t enough to annoy him. Despite his previous comment about Kimberly, Zedd couldn’t deny that there was a certain element of beauty about his former servant.

[Rita Repulsa]

Rita looked at him in shock.

"You WHAT?" asked Rita.

He had almost married Kimberly. Granted she had married him to kill him and take over his throne at first. But she had ended up falling for him. And she didn't want to lose him. She frowned listening to his explanation and end up laughing.

"You trusted Goldar? Every task either of us gave him he always bungled it. No matter if he was alone or with Scorpina or Rito. But for once I'm glad he did fail. Although it's not like you would had a long marriage to her. Tommy and the other rangers would have found a way to stop you and save her and ruin your marriage. They always found a way." said Rita.

She smirked knowing she had spoken the truth. Despite how much she hated the rangers she had grown to respect them over time. They had defeated thousands of plans from her, Zedd, Master Vile, Mondo, Machina, Gasket, Archerina, Divatox, Havoc, and Astronema. No matter how inexperienced the rangers were or how long they served as rangers. Even the new space rangers had her respect. She still wished Dark Specter had chosen her and Zedd to destroy them. She froze as he said "What?" as she realize he really had forgotten.

"You really don't remember our son? our marriage or anything for the past few years. The last battle you had before you married me was when you used the Rock of Time to turn the rangers into kids. I remember hearing about it. Is that the last thing you really remember?" asked Rita.

She paused remembering he had gone to his 100 years but she didn't really want to bring up her love potion as he'd ended up falling for her on his own anyway.

[Deleted]

“Tommy was no longer a Ranger at that point, or didn’t you know that I undid your little mistake? Once I was back in command, I wanted the field swept clean of all your failures.”

Lord Zedd did have to agree with Rita on one point (not that he would say as much out loud) – no matter what obstacles were thrown at them, the Power Rangers always managed to find a way to come out on top.

“You really don't remember our son?”

“Haven’t you been listening?” Considering this newest question, Zedd found himself wondering what low he had stooped to in order to have a hypothetical child with Rita. “You know, I never took you for the maternal sort, my dear.”

My dear? Zedd blinked. Where had that come from?

“The last battle you had before you married me was when you used the Rock of Time to turn the rangers into kids. I remember hearing about it.”

Ah, the Rock of Time. One of his finer schemes, at least before those goodie-goods had to ruin it.

“Is that the last thing you really remember?”

“No,” came the blunt reply. “The last thing I remember is falling into the centennial sleep. When I awoke, it was in a forest –”

There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, and in mid-sentence the “echo” that he had suppressed before suddenly roared to life.

“But Lord Zedd, my machine is still experimental! To activate it before it was ready –”

“Silence, Finster! Rita is in another dimension somewhere, and I’m going to find her. Now open the portal!”

A sigh. “Yes, Lord Zedd…”

[Rita Repulsa]

Rita smirked.

"My failures? Ha. I got rid of his powers once too Zeddy. And they just found another way to use them. You're the true failure. You got rid of his powers completely and he got an even stronger one in the Tigerzord powers. Like I said before you would never have gotten Kim as your queen." said Rita.

She cackled and then froze. He really didn't remember Thrax.

"He took after you. He even has his own Z Staff modeled after yours." said Rita.

She paused as he said my dear. Then he spoke saying the last thing he remembered was going to sleep and then waking up in that forest He trailed off as she was sure he remembered something.

"Have you remembered something?" asked Rita.

[Deleted]

Lord Zedd bristled.

“You were only able to get rid of them temporarily! That fool Zordon managed to extend them! Besides, you’re the reason we had to contend with the Green Ranger in the first place! How dare you try to turn this back onto me! You’re the failure! It’s what got you banished, little witch!”

“Goldar, have you lost your mind? This little witch…”

Zedd pushed the echo aside when Rita began to talk about their son. When she said that Thrax had a Z staff modeled after his own, the Emperor of Evil couldn’t help feeling a sense of paternal pride. Obviously he’d done something right there.

“Have you remembered something?”

“Yes,” Zedd said slowly. “I think it was how I came here. Some harebrained device of Finster’s sent me here.” He looked at Rita carefully. “I was trying to find you.”