Transdimensional Archives

 
See my first fanfic – 'Welcome to the Saga' – for disclaimer.

A New Power
Chapter Three
By Peter J. Smith

Suddenly, a silver blade was thrust into my line of vision, and in a shower of sparks, it met Gluk's blade and halted its downward stroke.

"Get the hell away from my friend, slimy," growled Jason in a fierce voice. Gluk was momentarily frozen in surprise – using this to his advantage, Jason rammed his elbow into Gluk's face, and despite that fact that it was lost in a glob of slime, Gluk stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. Jason offered his hand – I took it and got to my feet, picking up my sword along the way.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked.

Breathing heavily, I turned and replied. "Yeah," I said in a high-pitched voice. "Yeah, I'm fine. Fine. Absolutely fine. I, uh, I just almost got decapitated, but other than that…does that kind of thing happen often?"

Jason nodded. "On a regular basis."

"Oh good," I replied. "Now excuse me for a moment, I have to go update my will."

He smiled. "Don't worry about it, don't think about it. Just concentrate on the here and now. Oh, and you might want to regulate your breathing."

"Uh, I've gotta get used to this whole super-hero gig," I replied, turning to the others. "Should we help…"

I was about to ask whether or not we should help the other rangers, but the question faded. Because as I watched, I realized that the cavalry that had arrived didn't need any help. Zack was slicing through mud monsters like there was no tomorrow with his power axe, and Billy, using his lance, was helping Scott keep them at bay. But, surprisingly enough, Kimberly was most effective in battling the creatures. Armed with her bow, she shot arrows of pink energy at a furious rate – one particular arrow went straight through two of the creatures, causing them both to instantly explode. With that same arrow, a third was pinned to a boulder behind him and then exploded.

Gluk was not going to take any chances. "Retreat!" he cried, getting to his feet and starting to run. "Retreat!" And so within seconds, the eleven of us were left alone as the mud monsters retreated and left the area completely.

~*~

Once Gluk and his seven remaining monsters had run away back up the valley and over the hill, the eleven of us decided to take a moment's rest. Because after all, although getting to Torlus was top priority, both teams had been walking for most of the morning, the senior team even faster to catch up with us. As we rested, catching our breath, we briefly recounted our adventures. Jason told us how they'd defeated the monster, returned to Zordon and were immediately teleported to Nerimos. Once here, they'd used a second tracker like the one that Billy had already given Scott to travel the same route that we had.

We then told them our story, from when we arrived to seeing Goldar and Scorpina and being attacked by Gluk. Thanking the senior team for their timely intervention, we all soon decided that Rita had to have already gotten to Torlus – on this planet, her monster-creating powers were fairly weak, and to actually use them would've meant that she desperately wanted a monster, and a particularly nasty one at that, to keep us busy.

"Well, I guess that means that we don't have much time," finished Kim.

"Yeah," continued Aaron. "She's probably already gotten to Torlus."

"Well, he's not far away," said Sarah. "Our last reading put him right over this hill."

"All right then," called Tommy, "we've got to save Torlus. C'mon."

Everyone got up and began to walk up the hill, but I called Jason back and the others went on without us.

"Look," I started. "I, uh, forgot to say thank you," I said apologetically.

He smiled. "Don't mention it," he replied.

"No listen, I mean it. Thank you for saving my life, 'cause I have a funny feeling that you'll be doing it a heck of lot more often."

Jason looked at me evenly. "So you froze up, big deal. It happens a lot. Used to happen to me."

"You serious?"

He nodded. "Of course. But you always have to focus – concentrate on the situation at hand and always on what is happening to you. This is going to sound callous, but you shouldn't worry about anyone else – just trust that your friends are going to be okay. Because if someone, or something as the case may be, is pointing a blaster at your head or holding a knife at your throat, you don't want to be focused on what everyone else is doing. Just remember, stay focused."

There was a second of silence. "Thanks," I said. "I'll try it."

Suddenly, Zack appeared in front of us. "You two coming?" he asked.

Jason nodded. "Right behind you." And we followed Zack back up over the hill. But as we reached the top, Billy immediately instructed us to drop to the ground, and as I fell flat on my stomach behind a rock, I saw why.

Beneath the hill lay the Circle of Hianan, as Zordon had called it, a stone circle built out of reddish rock. The hill we were on dropped quite steeply down to the circle. Directly across the circle from the hill that we were currently on was another steep hill, and it was even taller than this one. To our left, and at what I suppose was the front of the circle, lay a valley between the two hills that led to a plain. On the other side of the circle, facing the plain, the ground disappeared and was replaced by air – it was vertical cliff that dropped down at least a hundred feet to the ground far, far below.

On the floor of the circle were peculiar circular designs, and in one section was a much larger version of the triangle/third eye symbol we'd seen back in the Command Centre. Four tall stone columns stood at random locations – all looked as if they might collapse at any moment. As it was, debris lay all over the stone circle. And a man, Torlus himself, I rightly assumed, stood tied to one of the columns. All around him were putties, at least seventy, and I could make out the golden forms of Goldar and Scorpina. Rita was there, too, standing in front of Torlus, and from what I could see, Torlus didn't have the medallion hanging around his neck.

"What do we do now?" asked Sarah quietly.

"Yeah," said Zack. "Man, we can't fight that many putties. That's like an entire army."

"Well," started Jason, "we could…"

"We need a diversion," I said quickly, interrupting him. "That way, while Rita and her goons are dealing with it, we can sneak by and rescue Torlus." I turned to the others but saw Jason staring at me. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I steal your thunder?"

"Are you kidding? I'm impressed."

"Well, perhaps we could endeavor to deposit a small incendiary device that, at detonation, would draw their concentration away from Torlus enough for us to try and extricate him," said Billy.

There was a second of silence as we all turned to him. He caught us staring and frowned. "Sorry, I tend to be long-winded when I'm nervous."

I smiled. "Don't worry about it, Billy, but you're going to have to speak English from now on."

"What he meant to say," began Trini, patting Billy affectionately on the shoulder, "is that maybe we could plant a bomb that would draw their attention long enough so we could get to him."

Jason shook his head. "No, I've got a better idea. There aren't eleven of us here for nothing…"

~*~

"You idiot!" screamed Rita, turning from Torlus and whacking Gluk across the back of the head with her wand. "There are twelve of you and only five of them! How could you lose?"

"Well," stammered Gluk, "we didn't count on the senior team showing up. Your Crabitron must have been too weak to keep them very long…"

At this, Rita raised her staff again, and realizing that he'd crossed a line he was not supposed to cross, he turned and quickly slithered away. Rita crossed the stone circle to Goldar on the other side.

"This is getting nowhere," she murmured. "He refuses to talk – we haven't gotten anything from him. How did your search go?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, my queen."

"Damn," swore Rita. "I must have that medallion. The rangers will be here any minute."

"Sooner than you think," grunted Goldar, pointing towards the hill opposite to where Torlus was tied up. Descending the hill, Rita saw, were six rangers, three of each team – green, black, yellow, white, light blue, and purple. As they approached the circle, they stopped, standing in a line, and all the putties on the platform began to watch them anxiously.

"Ah Power Rangers," cried Rita, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "how wonderful it is to see you. And Tommy, come to change sides again?"

"Rita," started Tommy, ignoring her, "word has it you're being nasty to nice old men."

"He has something I want," she replied.

"Well, he doesn't want you to have it," said Sarah.

Rita ignored her. "Why so few? I could have sworn there were more of you."

"Your little mud monsters kinda dropped our numbers significantly," replied Trini.

Rita didn't believe this for a second, and as well she shouldn't. Because at that very second, Aaron, Jason, Billy, Kim and I were slowly climbing down the hill facing the other six rangers and behind Rita and her crew. The distraction was working perfectly – every single one of Rita's forces was keenly staring at the others, not even bothering to check on Torlus. We went quickly but carefully, being careful not to even breath loudly. Finally, we reached the bottom. We were now in plain sight of everyone. Jason signalled to us with a hand movement to go to Torlus. Two putties were guarding him, but because they had their attention focussed elsewhere, Kim and Billy easily caught them off guard and knocked them out.

Then, as Torlus watched, Jason and I used our swords to cut through his ropes. Suddenly, I heard a voice in my head.

'Do not be alarmed, it is me, Torlus,' it said. 'Part of my power is telepathy. Would I be right in assuming that you are Zordon's Power Rangers?'

I nodded, not realizing that everybody could 'hear' him, partly to answer him and partly to shake the ringing in my ears. It felt pretty weird having someone talk to you inside your head.

Finally, Jason cut through the last of the ropes. Still completely silent, we turned around and began to trace our way back across the circle, carefully but skilfully avoiding all of the rocks and pebbles on the ground.

'I must thank you for coming to my aid,' Torlus continued. 'Are we going to Zordon?'

Suddenly, before we got the chance to answer him one way or the other, a figure stepped in front of us, halting our escape. It was Scorpina.

"Well well well," she said acidly, "look what we have here. Oh Rita?" And here, Rita turned, and so too did half her army. Our cover was blown. Damn.

"Nice diversion," Rita grunted. "Pity it didn't work. Putties, ATTACK!"

The army of putties sprung into action, instantly leaping forth at everyone and reducing the entire circle into a running, screaming, chaotic melee.

"Torlus," Jason said quickly, as dozens of putties around us sprang into action, "yes, we're taking you to Zordon, but tell us, where is the medallion?"

"It's over there," he instructed, pointing at one of the stone columns. "I hid it in a gap under that column."

"Thank you," said Jason, "now get to safety, and let us take it from here." And wielding our swords, Jason and I followed the others as they charged into battle.

The rangers that had stood by the hill and acted as a diversion had indeed attracted the attention of most of the putties. But consequently, they found themselves under attack first, and instead of hanging back, they charged to meet the enemy, racing forward over the red earth.

The sheer number of putties present had almost immediately forced Trini and Tommy back to back, but after the initial surprise, they began to fight back. Tommy knocked numerous putties to the ground with two high kicks, and the ones that didn't fall were slammed off their feet with powerful uppercuts. Trini was battling through her opponents with style, kicking and chopping into submission any putty that crossed her path. Behind them, Zack was plowing through the ranks of putties, knocking his adversaries aside with his power axe and sending them flying with bursts of fired energy.

Jason and I were slowly working our way over to the column that Torlus had pointed out to us. For some reason, Gluk and his monsters targeted us more than any putties. Beside me, Jason was fighting like a Trojan, swinging his sword from left to right and continually moving forward, mowing down mud monsters like grass. He jumped up over a mud blast, and as he came down, he swung his sword above his head and decapitated two monsters, one on either side. He leapt forward and slashed his sword again – it carved through two of the monsters like a hot knife through butter.

I followed his lead, watching him for a brief second and then charging forward. Although my style was nothing short of just 'hack and slash', it was nonetheless effective. I reduced one mud monster to a puddle of mud with a horizontal slash, before turning and bringing my blade right down from one monster's head to his stomach, slicing him in half. A putty leapt at me – I smashed the hilt into his stomach, which caused him to double over in pain. I then jumped up and landed on his back, before leaping off and launching one foot at a mud monster and the other at a putty – both fell without another sound. But no matter how many mud monsters we took out, they kept slithering away and reforming.

Jason and I continued forward – the column where Torlus had hidden the medallion was only about ten metres distant. Beside us, Sarah was using her mace to perfection, batting away any attackers and then smashing them upside the head. Aaron was blasting away with his laser pistols, and numerous putties were reduced to puddles of clay, not to mention the putties that he bashed over the head. I also noticed Scott fighting well – blocking then attacking adversaries with both hands gripped around his staff, a pile of unconscious putties soon formed around him.

A large group of putties separated me from Jason. I elbowed one out of the way, turned and suddenly I was standing face to face with Goldar.

"You must be Goldar," I said.

"And you are the Orange Ranger," he growled at me, raising his sword. "It would please me no end to remove you from my mistress's troubles."

"Pleased to meet you, too," I said sardonically. In that instant, we both raced forward with raised swords – they met with a loud clang that could even be heard above the sounds of the battle. We paused for a microsecond, and Goldar took advantage, sending me backwards with a kick to the solar plexus. As he lunged forward to continue the attack, I heard 'focus' in my head. He swung his sword, but he was a fraction of a second too late, and I ducked away.

"Too bad, Goldy," I muttered. Then, my sword struck his chest armour, freezing him for a brief second, and it was all I needed to smash my elbow into his face, sending him reeling. I turned – the column was only about two meters away. I ran forward and dived under a putty's out-stretched arms, and finally, I was at the base of the column.

"Jason!" I cried, hoping that he would hear. "I'm here!" Keeping hold of my sword with my left arm, I probed the ground surrounding the column. To my left was a gap in the stone – I reached in, and my fingers brushed against something. It was the string on which the medallion hung – I grabbed it and dragged the medallion out. It was golden and quite beautiful. The picture back in the Command Centre hadn't done it justice.

"That's it!" cried a high-pitched voice. I turned to see Rita Repulsa racing towards me. Before I had time to react, Rita had launched an attack with her wand that I never saw coming. She struck me a glancing blow on my right arm, and I dropped the medallion. It hit a stone on the ground and ricocheted away from me – as I watched in horror, it skittered across the stone, getting closer to the edge of the cliff.

Acting on adrenaline alone, I dived for the medallion – by now, it had shot off the ground and was now hanging in the air. The ground disappeared beneath me as I grabbed at the string – I hung suspended in mid-air for a brief second, then, I began to fall. The shock alone caused me to let go, and soon I was falling, spinning around in mid-air, watching the edge of the cliff disappear and listening to the wind as it whistled past me.

Jason was in the process of battling several putties at once when he saw me dive over the cliff. With a healthy amount of anger, he literally threw the putties aside and leapt towards the edge, almost falling off himself. He looked down – he couldn't see me falling and he couldn't see me grasping at the medallion for a second time, but he did hear me scream in pain when I did so.

"PETER!"

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