[Zordon's Legacy Exposed]

Vile was starting to lose his power and was worried about his reputation. He thought destroying the Rangers would be an easy way of keeping his rep intact. But once he saw it wasn't so easy, he knew to go into hiding. Also since he would eventually have his power problem exposed to Zedd and Rita. Vile couldn't afford to ignore Vile's order to the meeting. But likely stayed in hinding during the real fighting. I think Hexagon of SPD eventually hunted him down to make sure he was eliminated as any kind of threat. They also didn't want him passing off his knowledge to anyone else.