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Unworthiness part 2
🕑 Added 2022-05-16 04:00:43 +0000 UTCThe madness continues as the Earth 2-22 Power Rangers team goes face to face with a multiversal threat unlike they have encountered before! Their plan to contact their former teammate had gone awry with the heroes trapped in a place where even Zordon couldn’t reach them!
Could Jason and his friends rise above the challenge and return to the normalcy of their lives as optimistic young superheroes in tights? Or would they succumb to the brutal darkness?
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There you are!
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Inside his helmet, Billy’s glasses reflected the shimmer that he witnessed. Then, his helmet visor suddenly opened. His eyes went the widest just before the diabolical blood-colored goop shot out of the book and straight onto his face.
The filing sludge immediately deadened the Blue Ranger’s voice. The other heroes could hear his useless pleas for help as his mouth became clogged by the material.
“Billy, no!” Kimberly wanted to help, but she realized that her hands were glued to her tome. “I can’t get it off!”
Then, something even worse happened. Insectoid arms sprung out of the Pink Ranger’s thick book and locked her hands. They were trying to control her movement into opening it. Now she had a more pressing matter than caring about Billy.
Her teammates’ situation wasn’t any better. The same thing had trapped the Rangers. Even Tommy and Jason as the strongest member and leader respectively couldn’t break free from the bond. Their hands were forced to hold the books and open them. “We need… to summon our weapons!” called out the Yellow Ranger. “Power Daggers!”
Trini’s quick thinking saved her. Twin glows of light that appeared in front of her materialized into her bladed armaments. Utilizing the magnetic force, she retrieved the two before twisting them into slashing the demonic insect legs. Even though she was freed, the Yellow Ranger needed to cover the sides of her helmet due to the piercing shriek from the cursed Grimoire.
“So loud!” shouted Jason as he couldn’t cover his ears. The fiendish face ornament on his book opened its eyes then its mouth. It also let out a debilitating screech that forced him to kneel. “ARGH!”
“Guys, hang on!” cried out the Yellow Ranger as she slashed Green and Pink’s bondage before for the male Rangers.
Tommy never felt such pressure on her head. It was as if the whole world was yelling at her. Everyone was telling her to stop, to give up, to just lie down and cry. “Dra… Dragon Dagger!”
A bolt of ethereal lightning sent her bladed weapon. “Let me play you the song of my people!”
The Green Ranger played her Dragon Dagger as a flute not to call the Zord, but to fight the incapacitating tome screams. It seemed to work as the tunes replaced the noise.
But then, the combined screams of the Grimoires simultaneously attack Tommy. It was not a melody that escaped the weapon anymore. Instead, the scream penetrated it and into the Green Ranger’s mouth.
Tommy jolted as her ability to sing or even speak a word was robbed from her. No matter how hard she tried, all she could produce now was the regurgitating noise. The attack also made her lose most of her breath even though her mouth guard was bored by a significant opening. The mighty Green Ranger knelt as her suffocation overwhelmed her. Her tongue stuck out in desperation.
“Tommy, what’s wrong, Babe?!” squealed the Pink Ranger as she supported her lover from falling.
They didn’t realize that the Blue Ranger’s helmet was already completely swallowed by Billy’s book. It was as if the upper part of his body had been severed as he entered a pocket universe. Along the way, the slurping and gulping noises of the monstrous tome’s vore consumed his muffled scream.
Not wanting to leave Tommy, Kimberly tossed her Power Bow to Trini who used the weapon’s edge to hack through Adam’s hold while she hurled her own dagger to free both of Jason’s arms. Furious with the sharp screeches of the cursed items, she used her other weapon to stab the cover. It didn’t work and the Yellow Ranger instead got thrown back by the whacking sound.
“Trini, watch out!” But it was Kimberly who was in imminent danger. Her book came after her. It opened itself and spread out the same crimson goop that previously caught Billy. This time, it ensnared the Pink Ranger up her knees and knocked her over. “What the hell, no!”
There was chaos around the Yellow Ranger. Her head throbbed from the previous attack. She knew that she needed to go back to her feet fast. Enfeebled, she pushed herself to reach for the Power Daggers.
But the weapons were already out of her reach. Tentacles of blood-colored stretchy material got to them first before pulling them into the tome’s hungry mouth. It was a mouth all right with stubby yet sharp fangs lining around all the way into the hyperdimensional throat. It struck Trini with instant dread.
No one paid attention to Billy anymore. He was on his last legs anyway, both metaphorically and literally. The Grimoire has consumed the Blue Ranger all the way to the waist. Then, the rest of him was sucked with the loudest slurping noise.
“Oh, God, Billy!” cried out Jason, but it was too late. The upside-down book jumped on itself back onto the pedestal. The claw-like locks grabbed the pages again. The screams were back too, but the voice was that of Billy this time. The demonic face decoration on the cover was replaced by the poor Blue Ranger’s helmet.
Jason also witnessed another open book attacking the Green Ranger. In her woeful attempt, she tried to keep the cursed tome away from her helmet, but it instead shot out a tentacle of latex straight into her exposed mouth. Then the tendril slithered its way through her mouth and throat.
The madness should end now. The Red Ranger clenched his fists, then shouted. “Power Sword!”
The weapon appeared, but to Jason’s surprise, it didn’t fly to his grip. It instead obeyed another figure who was watching in the darkness.
“Zack? What are you doing, give me my sword back! We’re in grave danger!” Then Jason realized the horrifying truth. “You’re… You’re no Zack, aren't you?”
The figure snickered as he stepped into the dim light. “Oh, make no mistake, Jason. I am Zack. in fact, I am all the Zacks.”
His appearance made the Red Ranger take a step back. “I… I don’t understand.”
“You are so naive, Red Ranger. Do you think your team is unique? There had been many of yous all over the multiverse. There had been many of mes in those teams.” Zack’s voice changed into some kind of a whimper. It wasn’t him changing the tone of his voice. It was simply someone else crying inside him. “And all of us were meaningless.”
There was another version of him too. “The cruel multiverse sees us Rangers as another log to be burned. Another pile of food to be eaten. Another soul to be digested. The pain!”
And more. “The pain! The Red Ranger screamed until pain and pleasure became one. We followed him to be aroused by our eldritch torture. We called ourselves heroes with pure hearts, but we are degenerates with rotten cores!”
The next one seemed to be continuously gagged or choked. “No Rangers could fight the corruption. Sooner or later, they would embrace it. Jason did.”
“Jesse did.”
“Jayden did.”
“Jacintha did.”
“Jewel did.”
“Jian did.” The Zack variant sobbed before continuing. “In the end, we became nothing but mockery in those Grimoires. It’s not simply pulling inside. It dissolves you into giving up your memory, your hopes, and your dreams to add pages upon pages of writing that would be enjoyed by the Amasser for all time. Eventually, we also gave up our living souls to be trapped in the books as our physical forms were assimilated by the stretchy material.”
“They have met and massacred your precious suits, Dragon Shields, Ultrazords long before. They are simple toys to manipulate and devour now.” The first Zack returned to make a statement. “We are a testament of a matchless evil, and your team is next on the menu!”
“Blade Blaster!” declared Jason as he unveiled two energy handguns of red and pink. They successfully blocked the Power Sword's first attack, but the evil Ranger’s movement was too fast. The team leader got slashed by the second strike across his chest.
“Be afraid, Jason. Be very afraid as the emotion will be the last thing you’ll feel for the rest of your life!” Zack stood before the Red Ranger. He swung the Power Sword again for the fatality.
“Hey, Zack!” pierced the voice of Adam that stopped his corrupted teammate. It turned out that the Black Ranger had aimed at Zack with Kimberly’s Power Bow. On it, the Power Ax served as the main projectile. “There’s only one Black Ranger here.”
The hero released the tense string. The weapon struck Zack clean. The Power Sword was dropped with an echoing clanking sound.
Zack staggered with a huge hole in his chest. “You will just be another brick in his temple of… depravity…”
That was before the former Black Ranger collapsed into a pile of tar-like goop.
“Nice one, Adam…” mumbled the depleted Pink Ranger. She couldn’t mount a meaningful resistance as most of her body had been enveloped by the evil cocoon. The stretchiness then deflated to trace all of her costume’s intricate details and her overall fit human shape.
The Black Ranger tried to catch her vainly-pushing arm but failed. The book toyed with him, flipped itself away just out of reach when Adam thought that he would make it. All while dragging the captured Pink Ranger behind it. Eventually, it settled on the ceiling with the squirming Kimberly dangling ass-backward.
“Kim!” hollered Adam with short breaths. The battle had taken a toll on him. He could feel his muscles weakening, strained by these horrors. But he couldn’t stop now. He must continue his fight.
Tommy wasn’t the only Ranger to be gagged by the Grimoires. Besides the defeated heroine, the helmetless Trini also got her entire gaping mouth clogged. Just like her, the Yellow Ranger’s neck was also drenched by the drooling saliva. Her eyes went almost completely wide as the experience pushed her close to a mental breakdown. Even without them being devoured, additional pages appeared on their respective books. They were filled with previous knowledge and memories of Tommy and Trini as Power Rangers. The more they were written, the less they stayed in the heroines’ minds. All they could know was to mumble pathetic protests.
Kim’s tome returned to the pedestal. Her days as the Pink Ranger were now officially over as the closed book showed her helmet on its cover, just like what happened to Billy.
“Rangers, come in!” A familiar voice cut through the static. It was Zordon!
“Zordon, is that you? We’re in a tight situation here. We’re in pretty bad shape. They got Billy and Kim!”
“You must retreat, Adam. Stop everything you’re doing and return to the Command Center now!” ordered the Ranger’s mentor with an unusual authoritative tone.
“But I can’t leave now! Tommy and Trini are-”
“There’s no time!”
Indeed, time was running out for the team. Adam could feel his Ranger powers wearying with two of his friends captured and the other two close to it. He turned to the team leader for the only solution he could think of.
“Jason, we gotta unite our power!”
But his faith was in the wrong hands. The Red Ranger suddenly got tossed by an unseeable force and was crucified upside-down in the air. The hovering hero writhed in agony as evil symbols burned the palms of his extended hands. The serpentine spiraled across his tight costume while a spiky arrow marked his crotch that bulged beyond his control. His howls slowly degraded into moans and pants.
Then the stone floor in the middle of the pedestal circle erupted. A statue of a naked woman appeared. Her features were wrong, as a human with snakeskin. Her arms were multiple with two of those talon-ending hands gripping the massive ball made of the same granite material while the others were opened to capture the darting books of the Blue and Pink Rangers. The gray figure then opened her mouth disproportionately wide. Into it, the Red Ranger was gobbled helmet-first into the cramped esophagus. Even though the statue seemed to be made of stone, its characteristics changed into an elastic one to accommodate her victim’s vore. The last thing Adam saw of his team captain was the Red Ranger’s boots weakly kicking the air before those two were also swallowed. Then, the eternally-struggling helmet of Jason appeared and pushed out of the hellish ball as its prisoner. “Adam, please! Please help me! I can’t help! It’s eating my soul! I’m sorry, I am useless as a Red Ranger! Please don’t let it
“Adam, you will fall with your team if you don’t teleport now!” commanded Zordon again. The Black Ranger cursed. He posed himself to prepare the teleportation. He jumped right after the surrendering Tommy and Trini surrendered their Grimoires to the female statue’s other hands, thus further completing the spell. They stood still as their mouth kept one accepting a bulk of who-knows-what into their open mouth. Their eyes were blank and the tears that flowed before had dried up. The Rangers were no more.
The Black Ranger was energized into a silver-colored comet that shot out through the chamber’s ceiling.
Adam arrived at the darkened Command Center gasping. He had to lean on one of the advanced alien computers just to keep himself from collapsing. He looked down at his trembling hands. Was it all real or was it just a twisted nightmare? If it’s a nightmare, the Black Ranger was so eager to wake up.
He slapped his helmet. He was still there. The second option, the worst one, was the real one. “Zordon!” he called out to his mentor as he staggered across the superhero lair. He passed the two main energy pillars that glowed with violet rings.
“Welcome, Adam,” said Zordon in his still-calm voice.
“What just happened back there? The team… Something took my friends,” explained the Black Ranger with stutters from the shock.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“No, not really. But I had to sacrifice my weapon to destroy Zack. they already got to him before we could!” The Black Ranger was hesitant to continue. The memory of his friends’ demise was too much to bear. “The others… They are trapped in the Grimoires!”
“The most important thing is that you’re here and safe,” said Zordon with an assuring voice. “Then, we can continue with our plan. But it’s not going to be easy. Are you willing to do anything to be with your Ranger teammates again, Adam?”
Adam groaned. His damaged golden-colored Dragon Shield reflected the space wizard’s cylinder glow. He was tired, but he knew his duty as a Power Ranger. “I’m ready. I will do it.”
“Excellent. Please stand back.”
The central part of the Command Center was rising. The floor itself protruded out as a collection of spires. At first, they were black in color like the rest of the structure, but they slowly turned clear as crystals.
The humbled Black Ranger couldn’t believe his eyes as the majestic structure grew. For Adam, it looked like a crystalline throne. The inner space was befitting for someone of his size. “What is this, Zordon?”
“The White Light Infusion Chamber. It will further upgrade your Ranger power beyond that of Tommy’s Dragon Shield. With it, you can help me help your friends.”
“A weird choice of words, but okay,” commented the Black Ranger. Doubt set in on his mind. Would it be all worth it?
Zordon’s eyes glowed. His voice was calm. “I know that you’re afraid. All of your teammates have been captured and corrupted. Truthfully, my original choice for this was Jason. Given the unfortunate circumstances, this will instead give you the opportunity to prove yourself as a truly worthy Ranger.”
Adam sighed. It was now or never. He could do this. His friends wouldn’t give up yet, so why should he? The Black Ranger stepped into the chamber and sat on the crystal throne.
“You will feel a slight tinge, but don’t worry.” Zordon heard Adam squeaking as a strange sensation built in his body. First, it spread throughout his form-fitting Ranger suit, then moved to his skin and into his internals. The hero then screamed. His mentor continued. “It will get worse.”
“What are you doing, Zordon? ARGH!” The Black Ranger tried to move, but he was glued to his seating position. He couldn’t even lift his arms and fingers. Only his helmet that moved to hold the intense agony. His screams continued to fill the Command Center.
It was accompanied by Zordon’s growing laughter. It was inhuman, it was maniacal. This was not the Zordon that Adam knew and respected.
The crystals moved, then pierced the Black Ranger. The translucent sharp edges cut into his sides without spilling any blood. It was as if his body was welcoming the alien material. Then, more of them punctured his arms, thighs, even his neck.
It was an experience of a living hell. The sheer pain was slowly degrading Adam’s consciousness. “What… What are you doing to me?”
“I always wanted to have my own Alpha. The robot one was too dull. His smell was even stale. Converting a living hero like you into my personal servant is much more interesting.”
Adam’s words became disjointed as his exhausted slowly succumbed to the crystalline infection. The throne stabbed the top of his helmet and easily lifted it away. Inside, the young hero’s face was already glimmering from the assimilation. “Zordon?”
“Indeed, I am Zordon, Adam. But I am not your usual puny blue head. It is already the time to burn that wrinkled skin. Worry not, Black Ranger. I am still your owner. Your master.”
“Master…” Adam repeated the only recognizable word for him like a robot.
“Do you Rangers really think that you will have a fighting chance? Your Zack has been under my thrall even before you receive the broadcast. That is because I am the only reason why you received it in the first place.” The evil Zordon chuckled inside his time warp. “And Zordon tried to peer into the multiverse without protecting his individuality. Such a moron. The moment he opened his mind was the moment I took him over. Your whole mission was mine to control.”
“No…” Tears slowly flowed down Adam’s eyes. He was as petrified as a statue now. “That can’t be… We… Rangers….”
“Rangers are my favorite entertainment. Simply watching you desperately to save each other was already enticing, but holding your souls within the Grimoires let me savor the moment much longer.”
From the shadows, the same female statue walked in. In her six arms, she held the whole Earth 2-22 Power Rangers team either as prisoners inside the locked tomes or a prisoner inside the inescapable granite ball. It wasn’t a granite ball after all. It was her bloated stomach like a pregnant woman. “Jason and the others had served Goldara well as my harbinger. With them, she would be unstoppable for the next universe.”
Cracks and crevices then appeared across the female statue’s body. The stone surface crumbled to show the gold inside. Goldara truly lived up to her name. She then took one of the Grimoires to be shown to the helpless Adam. It had the Green Ranger’s helmet on its cover. She opened it.
Adam screamed. The face inside the book screamed at him. It was Tommy, or what’s left of her. Her face and pushing arms were now nothing more than bulges on the latex-like page. Writings described all details about her. Her powers, her origin story, her ups and downs as a Ranger, even her hopes for the team. All were now owned by the book. In return, nothing was left in her.
Goldara’s arms multiplied again. It was an act to torment the Black Ranger further. Each of them opened a book that showed the captured Rangers’ terrified faces. All of them had been assimilated and now lived a life of constant agony. They couldn’t even form meaningful words to beg for release. They simply screamed.
“I am not worthy! I am not worthy!” shrieked Adam. Into each of their mouths, his remaining Black Ranger power was sucked. He had tremors and his eyes became white. His mouth opened and drooled.
Zordon was pleased. “Together, you are much more!” mocked the libidinous evil blue-head as the last Ranger was no more.
His victorious amusement persisted as the former Black Ranger finally stood up off the crystal throne. He had been thoroughly transformed. His skin sparkled like it was covered by diamonds. His eyes were black minerals. His hair seemed made of tiny obsidian shards. The final part of his eternal humiliation and subjugation was his face with a permanent screaming expression.
“How does it feel to finally realize your destiny as a trophy?” titled Zordon to his newest slave. With that, the corrupted Black Ranger put on his helmet.
