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+--- Thread: Rise (/showthread.php?tid=4863)
Rise - Lord Zedd - 08-08-2016
Lord Zedd cast his arms to either side, and with one mighty yell of fury he exuded enough dark energy to completely decimate this annoyingly white realm and all its inhabitants.
That's what he tried to do, at least.
Instead, he found himself standing before the Fountain of Infinity with his arms outstretched as he screamed at nothing, and no magical energies even began to form around him. He realized that doing nothing but shouting in such an odd pose made him look exactly like one of those Power Rangers, so he angrily dropped his arms to his side and stood up straight. He looked around to take in the environment and the many strange people that were looking at him, materializing his Z-Staff in his hands as he did.
Things had been looking up for Lord Zedd after a rough couple of years. After years of being thwarted by teenagers – ones led by the greatest force of good ever known, but teenagers nonetheless – and expelled from his castle by a robotic empire, he’d finally gained the upper hand. Gone was the domain he’d secured for himself across several galaxies, taken over by the same Machine Empire that had ambushed him on Earth. He’d been patient and lurked in the shadows, waiting for the right moment. It had arrived, and the machines had fallen to his wrath. Victory had been sweet, made that much better by his recent lack of experience with it.
He’d barely had time to let out a victorious cry before being confronted by a white faced child-god that had taunted him, and challenged him to be entertaining. How dare he. Robbed of his voice and movements while the being had explained this “Omnilium” phenomenon, he now used the same breath he’d intended for a shout of joy to instead curse Omni.
He looked left. He looked right. How was one supposed to be a proper jester and interest the white child in a realm of bland nothingness? The real question was, had he really been stolen so blatantly from his own castle? Perhaps the machines had left behind traps or explosives, and they had actually killed him so quickly he never knew it happened, and this was the afterlife. What a depressing scenario.
The fact that he was being approached by not one, but three individuals clad in all white, just like a Ranger, seemed to support his hypothesis that this was indeed hell. Funny. He’d always assumed there would be a lot of fire or a lot of ice. One of the extremes. He wouldn’t fully commit to the idea that he was dead just yet. He’d seen plenty of precedent for people to banished to other dimensions and alternate realities, and he really just didn’t want to admit that he’d been bested by someone as pathetic as King Mondo. He would crawl his way back, dragging the corpses of all who stood before him along for the ride. These three would set the tone.
“Haven’t seen you around here before, prime,” the center man said as they came to a stop. “You must be new. Welcome to the Omniverse. I’m Captain Searle.”
“Tell me about this realm and I may consider sparing your lives,” Zedd immediately demanded. He had no use for pleasantries with these inferior lifeforms.
Searle shifted, then glanced to the troops on either side briefly. He was well versed in the hostility of a fresh prime. “Low ready. Set on stun.”
Zedd heard the click on the rifles of the end Stormtroopers, and watched as they raised the guns ever so slightly. The barrels were not pointed at him, but it wouldn’t take much effort on their part to fix that. How adorable. Lord Zedd could only respond with a gleeful laugh. Even without his magical prowess, no mortal could stand against him in direct combat, and that might exactly what he needed to help fix his mood.
Captain Searle, ever the professional, kept his cool even though the other two were a bit uneasy on their feet over this strange newcomer's laughter. The lead Stormtrooper just sighed. “Just so you know, a lot of primes tell us they’re limited in odd and unique ways from the world they knew.”
“Impudent wretch,” Lord Zedd’s voice rose as anger replaced his laughter, and he stepped towards the three. “I am Lord Zedd, and I need only a fraction of my strength to boil your flesh within that hideous suit of armo-“
There was a loud pop, and a sudden impact sent Lord Zedd stumbled backwards, clutching his chest with his free arm. He braced his staff against the white floor, which prevented him from falling right over. He looked in bewildered fury to see that the Stormtrooper on the right had shot him. Not only was that injustice infuriating enough, but it had actually hurt like hell. How could such feeble peashooters harm him, with only one shot, even? The man was right, the dark lord’s powers were limited far more than he realized.
“What is the meaning of this!?” Zedd gasped as he felt around for a wound. There wasn’t one, as the Stormtrooper had made good on his orders to stun.
“Are we good, now?” the captain asked. “Do we have an understanding?”
Zedd’s regained his breath and balance, but did not step towards the three again. He couldn’t believe that these three peons would clearly be a match for him in a straight fight. He had a long way to go.
Captain Searle waited in silence for only a few seconds. He was so done with this unstable prime. “Well, we’re with the Empire. We’re here to help new primes get acquainted with this world.”
“The Empire?” Lord Zedd scoffed once more. “How amusingly presumptuous.”
“And yet, it’s stuck,” Captain Searle gave a shrug. “We’ll give the name to the group that wants it the most, if they can take it.”
Lord Zedd nodded, carefully and deliberately. Searle could tell he was thinking about doing exactly that.
“There’s eight gates that lead to different verse,” Captain Searle continued. Theoretically, he should be recruiting any prime he encountered, but this one might be fine to let go. “There’s all sorts of different environments, depending on which one you select. Plenty of potential for anything in any of them.”
“I desire only power,” Lord Zedd responded. “Where would I seek the means to destroy all that oppose me?”
Captain Searle blinked behind his mask. Oh well, Space Marines needed something to do, too. “Back behind us is the gate to the Imperial verse, Coruscant. You want to join the big dogs? That’s us. Fair warning though, if you raise hell there they won’t be shooting stun guns at you.”
“I will investigate your Empire,” Lord Zedd said after some brief contemplation. “It just might serve me well.”
Searle watched as Zedd brushed past them and began to walk towards the gate to Coruscant. Good luck with that, dude.
Lord Zedd was brimming with anger as he walked, but he knew he had to keep it under control. If Omnilium was the key to getting his powers back, he would gather all he needed. If he had to work with this Empire to do so, it was an injustice he would stomach for the time being. Loathe as he was to admit it, they were mighty, and he needed help. It didn’t matter.
He had fallen before. He would rise again.