Disclaimer: I got nothing.
Note: So things kinda start falling into place here. I guess we'll see what happens.
They were surrounded; there was nothing they could do. Trini looked to her left and there laid Harris' lifeless body. Thomas was barely holding on, as he was assaulted from all sides. She heard Hayley's scream, though she couldn't see where she was. Trini couldn't find Hannah.
All that was going through Trini's head was the thought that this was all her fault. She had chosen to follow Necrolai, she had made the decision for all of them, and it was her fault that they were all dying.
"Trini help!!" It was Hannah's voice.
Trini scanned the area trying to see in the darkness, he eyes adjusting. Finally she could make out the figure of the young girl, and what had caused the scream. Necrolai had her hands around Hannah's throat, forcing her against a wall.
Necrolai's voice sounded like a harsh hiss, "Congratulations Trini, you just got everyone killed, and this one," Necrolai stroked her hand along Hannah's face, "you let down the most. You promised to keep her safe, and you failed."
"Necrolai, you lied to us!" Trini tried to leap at the Vampire Queen, but couldn't move.
She saw Necrolai lean in towards the young girl. Trini knew what was about to happen, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to stop it. Any second now Necrolai would sink her teeth into the young girl's neck, and Trini would be alone.
"NO!!!"
Deep in the Underworld of Daemon's World, a realm of fire and stone, the world belonging to he who was known only as the Dark One.
The Dark One, who was banished from the surface centuries ago, who sought to rule the world he believed to be rightfully his. Slowly he had begun regaining his strength all the while recruiting lost souls into his employ, and seeking those he believed would serve him well as generals when he finally succeeded. The first of which was an evil being, offspring of two dark lords that had turned from their evil ways.
"Thrax. Something is happening on the surface, something that could become problematic in my plans," the Dark One spoke deep and cold.
"My lord, I have felt these things as well. Ever since you pulled me from the confines of the Earth's moon, I have been feeling an ever-growing presence coming closer," Thrax, son of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, knelt before the figure of the Dark One.
"Lord, one of my scouts has informed me that the Vampire has made contact with human creatures," a female voice spoke, as a tall figure slowly showed herself. Trakeena, the Insectoid princess, approached the Dark One.
"Humans? On this planet?" The Dark One's voice never shifted in tone.
"Yes lord," Trakeena replied.
"Interesting, I wish to learn more about these humans. Thrax, send forth a small team of your henchmen, to gather information on these creatures, I do no expect them destroyed, but if it happens…so be it," the Dark One delegated.
"As, you wish," Thrax turned towards what looked like a large pit, and spoke, "Lost Souls, appear, send forth my pawns."
A small team of dark creatures appeared from the pit, vaguely humanoid in shape, with glowing eyes and a hide similar to stone. The creatures seemed to have very little free will, and appeared as they had been called, merely pawns, not meant to destroy things, but to cause diversions. These creatures answered to Thrax as their commanding general.
"Seek out the Vampire and the humans that travel with her," Thrax commanded as he raised his staff, the staff of his father, and struck it to the ground, a small portal appeared and sucked the pawns into it.
The Dark One turned from his two generals, saying he must go and rest and as such left the generals alone.
"The thought of groveling before a being still disgusts me," Thrax spoke aside to Trakeena.
"That's traitorous speak Thrax, do not let our master hear those words, unless you want to be destroyed," Trakeena replied coolly.
"Yes, because your so loyal," Thrax said snidely, as he walked away.
The two generals slowly returned to their chambers, as the Dark One settled into his own, able to view the attack of the drones when they reached their target.
"My lord, do you think you can trust your general's loyalty?" A voice from the shadows spoke towards the Dark One.
"No, but what choice do they have?" The Dark One answered.
Trini was covered in sweat, about to witness something that she had hoped to never see. She couldn't move, no matter how hard she tried.
"Trini…Trini," Hayley's voice echoed through Trini's ears. Hayley was still alive.
Trini tried to scream out, to get Hayley's attention, to no avail.
"Trini, wake-up," Hayley's voice was drowning, "You're just dreaming. It's only a dream."
Trini woke-up in the darkness, covered in a cold sweat. As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness she could see the figures of those around her.
"Hayley," Trini hugged the red head, then immediately sought out Hannah; to make sure she was okay.
Hannah was nearby, as Trini came up beside her, "Bad dream?" Hannah looked towards Trini.
"Yeah, terrible even," Trini answered honestly, "I'm starting to think following Necrolai this far wasn't the best idea."
Despite her hesitancy, Trini thought it best they continue to follow the Vampire, they had followed her in too far and knew there was no way they'd be able to find the way back. Trini only hoped that her dream was just that, a dream.
The tunnels they traveled through seemed to begin to grow lighter, but no one was sure whether or not it was due to it actually getting lighter, or if their eyes had just become adjusted to the darkness, allowing them to see better. Regardless the five humans continued to follow the Vampire. Not everyone was keen to following a Vampire into dark catacombs, but they followed because Trini suggested it, and they all hoped she had made a good decision.
The further they went in, the more they hoped to soon be out. Approaching what seemed like a massive chamber, something happened that surprised them all, very dim light seemed to wash over their bodies, encompassing them in a warm feeling that vanished moments after it washed over them. Necrolai seemed surprised at the action as well.
"What was that?" Harris asked no one in particular.
"You got me," Thomas answered.
Trini moved forward towards Necrolai, asking the Vampire if she could explain what that was.
Necrolai seemed as unsure as the humans, not able to give a clear answer.
The travelers moved along further, before something else odd happened. The strange light came back over the bodies again, but this time it stopped on Trini, as it seemed to scan the entirety of her body. Trini fell to the ground, collapsing as a deep red colored light engulfed her. The others rushed to her side, afraid something had happened to her.
Moments after she collapsed, she stood right back up, nothing seemed to be wrong with her.
"You okay?" Hayley was the first to move towards her, followed by Hannah.
"Yeah, though that was weird," Trini sounded groggy, but for the most part she seemed okay.
No one was certain what had happened, and each of them had their own worries that maybe something could've happened to Trini. Trini seemed to be the least concerned; in fact something about her seemed stronger. She looked the same, yet somehow she seemed different.
"How much further do you think it is?" Hannah had moved up beside Trini.
"Can't be that much further," Trini said, hoping she was right.
"Are you okay?" Hannah seemed slightly concerned about the older woman.
"Oh yeah, I'm feeling really good actually," Trini smiled.
"We're nearly there," Necrolai spoke from the front.
The pace quickened, everyone subconsciously speeding up in hopes to be free of the dark caverns. The exit seemed to be so close that nothing seemed to be able to stop them, or so they thought.
From nowhere a rip seemed to appear in the air in front of them, and a doorway seemed to open from nowhere. A handful of weird beings stepped from the doorway. No one was sure what they were looking at. Each creature resembled walking rocks, and each was armed with a weapon of some sort, mostly rugged swords or rough hewn axes. They leapt on the humans immediately. The creatures fought with no real skill, but with great an unmatched ferocity.
Had it not been for the adjusted eyesight and the light that was starting to shine from the ever approaching exit, the five humans would have been fighting blindly. Each one was thankful that the attack had been now, as opposed to earlier when they would've been completely lost.
Trini yelled for Hannah to get back as she was assaulted by three creatures, which she seemed to fend off fairly easy. She moved with speed she'd forgotten she had. A fourth lunged at her; she flipped over the creatures head, planting both feet in the thing's back, knocking its sword free. She grabbed it for herself and plunged it into the creatures back, as it let out a piercing scream and falling to the ground.
Harris and Thomas were back to back trying to fend off their 3 attackers to the best of their ability, and were fairing well enough. Thomas' age worked against him, but he managed to remain on his feet. A fourth attacker levied an axe at the former firefighter, but timely interference in the form of Hayley bashing the creature on the back of the neck with one of the fallen weapons from the attacker she had fought had dropped.
There was no time for thanks as he took the axe that had almost done him in from the ground and moved to Harris aid. Hayley, Harris and Thomas began to back each other against the influx of dark attackers. Despite eliminating three of the pawns for good, the others just seemed to keep coming. Trini seemed to be handling her steady attackers with ease, as her memories of fighting Rita's Putties as a teenager came back.
Occasionally Trini would glance in the young girl's direction to make sure Hannah was safe. It seemed though that the creatures attacking hadn't even noticed the girl, a fact that Trini was thankful for. The glances were swift so as not to give away her presence. What was unseen to Trini though was that someone had noticed her presence.
In one of those swift glances Trini saw something that she had feared since the beginning. Necrolai seemed to be brandishing her fingers, which ended in sharp talons, as she leapt in the direction of the young girl. It seemed that she was ready to attack. The Vampire had betrayed them, but there seemed to be no way possible that she would be able to rescue the girl.
"NO!!" Trini yelled to what seemed no avail.
Then something more amazing shocked Trini. Yes, Necrolai was attacking, but what she was attacking wasn't Hannah, it was one of the pawns that had managed to sneak behind the girl. With her talons reared, Necrolai plunged her hands into the gut of the rock creature, tearing through its flesh, and causing sparks to fly from its hide. The creature let out a shriek of agony as its body fell to the ground in convulsions.
Trini was so surprised at the Vampire coming to the defense of the girl that she momentarily lost her attention, and one of the creatures landed a lucky attack to Trini's gut, doubling her over. Several more creatures seemed to be coming from the tear, a couple moving towards Hayley and her crew, a couple moving towards the Vampire who seemed to be caught up in the rage of battle as she violently defended the girl. The last few that arrived noticed the doubled over Trini, and recognized her as the greatest threat, targeting her immediately. Trini was easily surrounded by six or more stone creatures as they piled on. Her moment of lax had opened up a world of hurt for her.
It seemed hopeless; no matter how much she struggled she could not regain her ground. Just when it seemed a lost cause she felt a sudden surge of power wash over her. She couldn't explain it, but a force seemed to consume her. Strength flooded her body and it a bright flash of red light she felt herself pulled from her current reality, though she never left it.
In a sudden burst of power Trini found herself able to force the creatures off of her. Her strength, speed and reflexes seemed to be super-charged, as she plowed through the shocked pawns atop her. Caught in the moment she didn't even realize what had happened to her.
The others noticed though. Trini no longer stood before them as a human being wielding a jagged stone sword. She stood garbed in crimson, her arms and legs covered in black, a dark crystal shining from her chest, her feet and hands in gloves colored the same as her top. Around her head was a band, and on her back an empty sheath. In her hands she wielded a menacing looking katana-like sword. The small jewel on her head-band glowed as her head was covered in a helmet matching the crimson she wore.
"No way," Hayley mouthed quietly, as she was assaulted again. Her lapse in attention didn't leave an opening though, because the creatures were just as surprised as the humans.
No one had time to really process what had happened as the assault continued. Trini moved swiftly as she eliminated the creatures easier than before. She had realized what had happened. She was a Ranger again, and she knew the powers that entailed, and she used the effectively.
"Return," a voice emanated from the tear in the air before them.
Just as quickly as the pawns had rushed into the cavern, they vanished back into the tear, as the tear seemed to seal and vanish.
Everyone stood by, slightly out of breath, but they all ran towards Trini.
Hayley was the first to speak, "Oh my God, you're a Power Ranger again. Wow."
"I've never see one in person…" Harris spoke as he looked over the crimson clad Ranger before him.
"That's so cool," Hannah came forward and poked Trini, "you still there Trini?"
Trini reached behind her head and unclasped the helmet removing it and letting her hair fall over her shoulder. The helmet seemed to disappear from her hands as the jewel on her head band reappeared. "Yeah, it looks like I'm still here."
"How," Thomas came and looked at the woman, "did this happen. Was it when you collapsed? I mean, this is just amazing."
They all looked to Necrolai to see if she had the answer. Necrolai was just as amazed as they were though, "I have no idea…perhaps you can learn more from the Foils."
"If you don't know how this happened, can you at least tell us what those things that attacked us were?" Trini looked to the Vampire.
"Minions of the Dark One, that's all I know," Necrolai answered, "once again you can learn more from the Foils."
"Okay then, I guess we're going to visit the Foils," Trini looked towards her companions.
"I can't go any further; I'm not particularly welcome in the city. They're not too fond of Vampires. They may not welcome you initially, but a Ranger they may recognize so it would be in your best interest to remain in that form."
"That won't be a problem, I'm not sure how to change back," Trini then thanked the Vampire as Necrolai returned to the caverns.
"Well, we've gone this far," Harris spoke up, "May as well finish up."
The five humans, the Ranger in the rear, made their way towards the walled city that was in front of them.
TBC
