Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers.
Chapter Two: Digging in Deep to ORE!
When the trio cleared the fence around Lovegood Crater, barren and arid ground met them. They caught a glimpse of the cloaked figure sliding down the slope that lead to the crater's bottom.
"Come on! After him!" Mason ordered and ran towards the slope.
"Wait! What do we do when we get down there? How do you expect to catch this guy?" Derrick called out to her, but she didn't reply.
Felix shrugged at him. "Guess we'll figure it out as we go? Come on, Derrick!" the Latino said and followed Mason's leave. After another heavy sigh, the scientist followed.
When they reached the bottom, Mason was just standing there. Her eyes were locked on the thief, who was also standing towards them. The situation didn't change as the two boys came up and stood on either side of their female companion.
"What's he doing? He's...just standing there?" Felix questioned.
"Man, this guy gives me the creeps. You can't see anything behind that cloak." Derrick commented.
"I know, but creepy or not, he's going down." Mason whispered before stepping forward and shouted at the figure. "Hey! Thief! Who are you?
The figure remained silent but stepped forward as well. He held out his claw towards the ground. In it rested a small brown sack.
"Is that a...claw?" Derrick said dumbstruck.
"I thought I was just seeing things with all that running." Felix answered.
"What...are you?" Mason said, mostly to herself.
However, the answer to that question would wait as suddenly the earth shook. The quake caused everyone to loose their balance. When the humans finally regained there footing, they weren't alone.
Only yards away, several dozen figures appeared. Most were the same, short humanoid figures with long black claws on their huge hands and feet that curved inward. They had tanned brown skin, bulbous noses, and wore tattered dirt covered vests and shorts.
However, leading them was a different figure entirely. His dark brown skin was dotted with rock-liked protrusions and on his head he wore a crown of crimson triangle stone, which matched his singular eye. Each of his huge hands and feet had but four fingers and toes. In between his rock protrusion, a bronze breastplate and mail skirt peeked through. He spoke in a voice that sounded as hideous as he looked. "Charge!"
The cloaked figure finally rose up at the sound of the bronze clinking as the leader lead his army forward. As the thief turned to face the army, the hood of the cloak fell down to its shoulders, revealing his head. The humans' jaws clinched when they saw it, a completely dark brown fur covered mass, with one long, narrow whisker covered pink snout jutting out.
"So, the Gnoma Guild has finally come to Lovegood." It spoke in a gruff low voice as the humans neared him cautiously. However, they stopped as he turn back to them, squinting already small black dots for eyes. "Come! I suggest we all run! You're not ready to face that brute just yet."
"What do you mean? Run? Run where?" Mason questioned.
"Yeah, and what...who...are you? And what are they?" Derrick demanded.
"Questions will be answered in due time, just...follow me. It's only choice. They're coming up quick." The huge mole said, as he turned again to face the army, which bolted closer and closer. He then ran past the young adults.
Felix watched him run past and looked at army again, closing in bit by bit. "Okay, I say we go with mole face! These guys don't look like any kind of joke to me."
"Agreed, plus, he's still got my father's stuff. Come on!" Mason said, and soon all three were chasing after the animal.
However, the chase would end quickly. The mole stopped just short the rim, several of the small humanoid soldiers staring down form it. He backed up to meet the three humans.
"More of them!" Mason huffed between breathes for air.
"What we do now, mole face? Bet you wish you didn't steal our things, now, huh?" Derrick asked the furred creature, who took a look at each of the soldiers, all getting ready to jump and slide down.
"First, I have a name. It's Talpid. Second, I didn't steal the pieces and I didn't expect to use them so soon, but desperate measures and all." He explained, reaching into the small bag he held in his hand.
In an instant, it seemed, he brought out three pieces of dull pale white crystal. "Quickly, take this. It's called Orichal, a rare mineral from this crater. To make a long story short for the moment, it has rare abilities and powers. If we are going to fend off this lot, you need it." He then gave a piece of the crystal to each of them. "Now, hurry and summon the Orichal's powers. Dig into yourselves, your very essence! Let the Orichal shine through you!" Talpid shouted out
"Dig into ourselves? " Mason murmured, staring into her pale white piece. Suddenly, it flashed with a glint of bright red light
"Let the Orichal..." Felix joined her, his crystal giving off a blue glow
"..shine through us..." Derrick whispered as his became yellow.
"Good, now, let them guide you towards your future." Talpid instructed. "...as Power Rangers!"
"Power Rangers? Us?" Mason exclaimed.
"Like the ones I saw on TV from Angel Grove a few years back?" Felix said, equally shocked. "No way!"
"Yes, to become Rangers, trust in your crystals. Do as the Orichal tells you!" The giant mole answered.
"Alright. Let's do this!" Mason said and closed her eyes, concentrating on her Orichal. Suddenly, its glow became stronger before fading out, the piece now completely red. She held it above her head as she shouted, "Digging in deep! Orichal shine!"
Suddenly, red rays of light shot from the tiny crystal. They covered her completely as she bent over and slammed the ground with her fist, causing the lights to seemingly explode as they formed around her. As she rose, she spread out her body, letting the light surround her. As it faded, her Ranger suit formed, a red vest with a white long-sleeved undershirt, gold belt, gray spandex pants, and red boots. On her vest, over the area were her heart was, a black D is emblazoned. Her helmet formed next, its black visor clenched in between impressions of two red drill heads.
"Breaking into full power! Red Driller!" Mason's voice boomed from behind the helmet as the image of huge red drill breaking the earth's surface appeared behind her.
When Felix and Derrick saw her, they stood dumbfounded for a moment.
"Well, boys?" Talpid prodded them out of their awe.
The two looked back at him before nodding, as their crystals turned blue and yellow in the same manner as Mason's. They copied her stance as they shouted together. "Digging in deep! Orichal shine!"
Derrick's yellow light formed around him to create a Ranger suit that was styled in the same manner, but it was yellow with a black L over the chest. His helmet's visor his held between two yellow impressions that look like metal scoops, each with four metal square prongs.
"Scooping away all doubts! Yellow Loader!" He shouted out, the image behind him forming into a large yellow front end loader, scooping up dirt mixed with shiny minerals
Felix's blue light also formed his Ranger suit, with his chest letter and H and his visor was held between two molded blue wheels.
"Carrying our courage! Blue Hauler!" He yelled, with a huge blue dump truck with six wheels screeches behind him, its bed full with dirt and minerals.
"Yes, you did it! Now, attack the Gnomax!" Talpid commanded.
"The what-ax?" Felix questioned.
"Those short hideous big nosed creeps all around us; they are the Gnomax, soldiers of the Gnoma Guild They are your enemies now. Come on, one good knock to the nose should do the trick, like this!" Talpid said and charged forward. As he ran, the mole faded in and out, flashing in different spots each time. Then, as he got close to one of the clawed foot soldiers, he became solid and clawed it straight in the nose. He watched as it crumbled into sand at his feet.
"That is so...cool!" Felix said, and then charged for a Gnomax, quickly hitting it on the nose. Instantly, it faded to sandy dust. "Ha ha! Yes! Take that, Gnomax."
"Alright, my turn!" Derrick said, and went towards a pair of foot soldiers that had just slid down from the rim. Quickly he jumped up and kick one in the nose, causing to fall and knock down its partner, who fell head first on the ground, dissolving away as it hit the hard soil.
Mason found herself surround by Gnomax as well. "You guys wanna play, huh? Well, bring it!" She said. However, as they charged in at once, she was force to dodge several punches. She manage to kick two out of way, but another one grabbed her arm, twisting it. As she grunted and struggled to get loose, Talpid saw and quickly dashed for her, appearing and reappearing in motion as he had before. Mid-dash, he hit the attacking Gnomax on its fatal spot, forcing it let go of Mason before it became sand.
Talpid continued his charge to clear the remaining Gnomax around the Red Ranger. He stopped and came back next to her, taking care of a few soldiers on his way.
"The trick to defeating Gnomax in hand-to-claw combat is not to let them swarm. Fight them individual and they aren't much of a challenge, but even a Ranger came become overpowered when several are attacking together. Learn that lesson well, Red Ranger." The mole instructed.
"Thank you, Talpid. I owe you big." Mason replied, grasping her arm that had been twisted. She looked over at Derrick and Felix, each taking out Gnomax left and right as they now were side by side, punching and kicking together.
Talpid, however, looked past her towards the horizon. "Don't thank me just yet..." He murmured as another figure came into view behind the bronze armored captain.
The figure was slender, with a tanned face of a human adult male with dark, copper colored eyes. Long bushy black hair sprouted from out under a large gold triangular cap, with a fiery feather attached to its brim. His ears were large and pointed. He was dressed shoulder down in bronze armor, which gave him the look of a knight. However, mass of different size shiny black crystals tore through the shoulder, elbow, and knee guards. He smirked as he looked out towards the battlefield, locking eyes with the cloaked mole
"Rangers! Retreat now!" Talpid ordered as he saw the knight approach the fight slowly.
"What? Retreat now? We're winning! These guys are easy!" Derrick protested after turning a pair of Gnomax to dust with his Topaz Pick.
"Yes, but he isn't." Talpid pointed towards the new arrival. "Even though you are strong, you're not ready to take on high-level Gnoma Guild members yet, especially not the second-in-command. So, quickly, follow me!"
"Right behind you, Talpid." Mason said as she ran after him, followed by Felix, who kept looking back at the remaining Gnomax, the bronze-armored captain and the new figure in the crater. Derrick reluctantly became the rear for a moment.
"After them! Don't let them escape with Orichal in their possession!" The captain barked his orders towards the few Gnomax. However, all though soldiers kept on the Ranger's heels, they couldn't run quite as fast. The humans and their mole leader were becoming more and more out of reach as they neared Lovegood Crater's 20 foot west wall.
As they bolted, Talpid slowed down to come beside the rangers. "There is a hole in the wall coming up. Duck into it and inside, just to your left, there's a big green button. Hit it just as soon as I come in the hole behind you, got it. No sooner. No later." The mole explained.
"Why? What are you going to do?" Derrick implored.
"Just trust me. I'm going buy us some time." Their animal companion explained before stopping in his tracks.
Felix looked through his visor at his friends. "You heard the mole! Keep running!" He exclaimed.
A few moments later, the Rangers found the hole in wall. It was hardly bigger than your average doorframe, but they did as they were told and charged in, finding the glowing green button exactly where Talpid told them it would be. They stood by it as they waited anxiously for the large upright mole to appear.
However, he was currently busy with his own task. The Gnomax were closing in, only a few away. "Orichal Shield!" Talpid said and held out his claw, revealing a piece of purple Orichal embedded in it. Suddenly, a purple aura came from it and shot out to form a dark purple opaque force field. He could help but smirk as some of the Gnomax hit it with their noses as they charged and instantly turned to sand. "That will keep them at bay, but not for long." He whispered to himself and then made his break for the hole.
When he reached it, he dove in. "Hit the button now!" He yelled as he ran past the Rangers. As Derrick smashed his hand into the button, a metal sheet appeared from the opening's side and made a loud whoosh as it filled the hole, sealing the cavern from the outside world.
"Welcome to the Shaft." Talpid said as he picked up a large flashlight from a cubby carved into the cavern's wall just beside the button. "Stay close and follow me. This place is home, but you don't want to get lost in it." He said as he turned on the light. Then, hugging the wall as much as he could, the mole lead the new Power Rangers down into the caverns, where, for now, nothing but darkness met them.
Author's Note: The Ranger suits took me awhile to decide on. I went back and forth on the shirts, but I always had the letters. Oh, and Talpid is named after "Talpidae" the biological family of most moles.
