Power Rangers Nexus
Chapter 9: Breaking and Exiting
Tommy looked up as the cell door quietly creaked open and Electra tiptoed back in.
"Well?"
"Yeah. I scouted around, like you asked. The door that we came in, the one that opens directly to the courtyard? It doesn't open from the inside."
"So how do we get out?" Jareth asked.
"The prison chambers are connected to the rest of the castle. We'll have to go through the inside. Trouble is, the only way out that I could find is the main drawbridge."
"Meaning we have to get past all the guards."
The blue-haired girl nodded.
"Lovely."
"I know the way there. I can lead us out."
"Well.....we'll need a distraction," Tommy said, looking at Jareth.
"Then you're in luck." The Gold Ranger grinned. "Distractions are my specialty."
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Jareth peeked out around the corner, then turned back to the others. Tommy, Electra, and Kalen were all standing in the narrow hallway that connected the prison cellblock to the rest of the castle, struggling to quietly lift the petrified Tyrarian King, with the unconscious Terina draped across his equine back.
"Three guards. With nasty-looking spears. And cool hats." He peered out again.
"Can you handle it?" Tommy whispered.
"I think so. Hey, they can't understand a word we say, right?"
"Right. Why?"
Jareth grinned, and calmly stepped out into the room.
Tommy tightly closed his eyes and crossed his fingers.
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"Hey!"
The green-skinned centaurs stared at Jareth, evidently surprised to see him.
"What are you waiting for? What kind of guards are you? Come get me! I'm the distraction!"
Shaking their heads in astonishment, the guards made chuckling comments to one another. Jareth could guess what they were saying, even if he couldn't make out the words. What kind of moron escaped from his cell just to stand there and yell at the guards?
"Hey! What kind of moron doesn't know a distraction when he sees it?"
Having enjoyed their laugh, they drew their spears and lazily pointed them at Jareth, clearly not considering him much of a threat.
"Uh-oh. Umm..." Jareth dig frantically in his pocket for a moment, grabbed a handful of quarters, and flung them as hard as he could at the guards.
The Tyrarians cried out in surprise, raising their arms to shield their faces from the metal discs.
And the Gold Ranger took off down another corridor.
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In hot pursuit, and moving on their hooves far faster than any human could ever run, the guards gave chase. The hall was narrow, barely wide enough for two grown Tyrarians to walk side by side, so at a full gallop is was necessary to go single-file.
The one in the back screeched to a halt. Something had clicked...how had this one escaped his cell? Surely he'd have left the door open for the others of his kind. This was a distraction! He was leading them away so the others could escape!
Turning on his proverbial heels, the Guard trotted back to the prison block.
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Tyrarian castles are grown, not built, made entirely from vegetable matter. The floors are nothing but earth that has been tightly packed by countless stamping Tyrarian hooves. Every wall has enormous wide windows, some transparent, some stained glass. These windows are not designed to open; they are simply to ensure that as much sunlight gets in as possible, for the Tyrarians are photosynthetic, dependant on sunlight to survive. The halls are narrow and full of labyrinthine twists and turns, an unusual and, one would think, detrimental feature for a castle inhabited by horselike people. A latticework of decorative vines covers each and every internal wall.
Visitors to Tyrari are very rare, due to the planet's inconvenient habit of negating all technology that comes within several thousand miles of its atmosphere. Consequently, their castles are designed with centaurlike life forms in mind. Had the designers of this castle had humans in mind, and known that humans evolved from tree-climbing animals, it's quite doubtful that they would have made the walls so very climbable.
As soon as he was around the corner, out of his pursuers' line of sight, he grasped the vines clinging to the wall and clambered as quickly as he could into the exposed rafters.
Two of the Tyrarians turned the corner. Two? Hadn't there been three?
Jareth waited for the first guard to gallop past, turning the corner, then dropped from the ceiling down onto the second Tyrarian's back and clamped his hands over the guard's eyes.
Unable to see or stop moving in time, the guard was unable to turn the tight corner and slammed headfirst into the wall, neatly knocking himself out cold.
Since Tyrarians didn't come with seatbelts, Jareth was, of course, thrown against the wall as well.
"Owwww," he said, getting up and dusting himself off. "Well that's one down."
The Gold Ranger started to head off after the other one, but on impulse, turned back to the fallen Tyrarian guard.
A grin crossed his face, and he snatched the black felt fedora-like hat from the unconscious centaur and placed it firmly on his own head.
"Spoils of war, dude."
Hoofbeats announced that the other guard had turned back, probably having heard the THUMP. Jareth ducked and grasped a handful of sand from the floor. Spinning around just as the Guard reached him, spear drawn, the Gold Ranger threw the sand up into his face.
The guard cried out, clutching at his eyes, as Jareth raced past him down the hall.
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"Wait....weren't there a pair of guards just outside?" Tommy asked as they drew near the open drawbridge.
"Fine time to remember that," Kalen snapped.
"They aren't there now," Electra said.
"How do you kno--never mind. Okay, on three.....one...two...three...lift!"
They had shortly gotten outside the castle and across the bridge. The Black Ranger had been correct; the guards appeared to be off on break.
"Sloppy," Tommy said.
"Not really," Kalen replied.
"What do you mean?"
"The Guards at the gate aren't needed anymore. They did what they were supposed to do. Capture us."
Tommy blinked. "Are you saying this entire rescue mission..."
"Was a trap. For us. Just a theory, mind you, but I think it's a sound one."
Tommy glanced back at the castle. "Okay," he said. "First thing's first. Let's get Terina back to the ship."
"What about the King?" Electra asked.
"We'll leave him at the edge of the forest. That's far enough away from the castle that he probably won't be recaptured, and he should revive if left in the sunlight. Right?"
Electra nodded. "What about Jareth?"
"We'll come back for him, if he hasn't made his own way out by then."
The Rangers hefted the wooden centaur and began dragging him towards the trees.
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Jareth ran for all he was worth down the hall, finally ducking into a room and slamming shut the elegantly carved door. He leaned against the polished mahogany, catching his breath. A steady stream of galloping hoofbeats stormed past outside.
"Whew. Note to self: Listen to doors before opening them."
You wandered right into the guards' barracks? Smooth.
Jareth glanced sharply around the room.
"Who speaks?" he asked.
YOU speak. I think. I just think loudly, is all.
The Gold Ranger blinked, for the first time realizing what an extravagant room he'd found.
The walls were hung with masterfully woven tapestries, a dressing table with a beautifully carved mirror stood against one of the walls, there was a wardrobe, a bed clearly designed to be slept on by a centaur, and, in one corner, a round marble bath set into the floor, numerous bottles and jars on the shelf next to it, all seemingly carved from crystal.
In the center of the room was a dragon.
It was small, perhaps four feet long, with iridescent scales that shimmered pink, purple, and fuchsia. A pair of batlike wings grew from its back, and around its neck was a thick golden collar.
I'll thank you to stop referring to me as 'It'.
"Sorry. I don't know your gender."
My gender doesn't quite match up to the ones you know, but 'she' comes closest.
"Ah. That's okay, I have a friend who's the same way. My name is--"
Jareth David Valentine. I know. I'm Zoeyealykthetes. It's a pleasure to meet you.
"Likewise. Do you mind if I call you Zoey?"
Zoey? Hmm....Zoey....I like that.
Jareth squinted. The dragon's mouth didn't move when she spoke. And she seemed to know what he was about to say before he said it. Was she--
Yes. Like your friend outside, I'm telepathic. All dragons are.
Like his friend outside? What did she--
Oh, come on. You know what I'm talking about. Electra.
Jareth nodded. "I suspected, but I wasn't sure. The way she spoke to the King..."
Zoey nodded. I tried to send her a message, to let you know what you had to do to help us, but I guess it didn't get through. Or maybe she just didn't understand it. I did send it in verse, she admitted.
"So what are you doing here?" the Gold Ranger asked.
The dragon drew herself up to her full height, almost three feet tall sitting up.
I am the Great Dragon of Tyrari, Guardian of the Royal Family.
Jareth shot her a skeptical look. She hung her head.
Okay, fine. I'm still just a wyrmling, PET of the Royal Family. Happy now?
"Not really. I need to get out of this castle and help my friends."
You can help them much more easily by helping us.
"How do you figure?"
Restore our people's magic, and they can use it to throw that ship of yours back into the sky.
"Great! How do I do that?"
First thing's first. Set me free.
"Set you...oh." Jareth saw that what he had originally mistaken for a heavy golden collar was actually a restraint. A thick golden chain connected it to a plate set into the floor.
It's completely fireproof, my claws don't make a scratch, and it's enchanted so that I can't pull it out of the ground. The Stranger has the key.
Jareth glanced at the keyhole set into the metal plate on the floor to which the chain led. He fished Kalen's nailfile out of his pocket.
Zoey caught the thought. She smiled, showing far more teeth that should have been able to fit into a mouth that size.
Jareth was suddenly very glad he and this creature were on good terms.
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Terina lay on one of the platforms in the Astro Megaship's medbay. All of the equipment was dead, but it really wasn't needed.....one could tell just by looking at her that she was running out of time. Her veins stood out a deep purple against her skin, which had become so pale it was almost blue. She was covered in a cold sweat, her hair had gone all stringy, and her eyes, when opened and examined, were so bloodshot they were completely red.
Tommy couldn't make out a pulse, but then again, Terina wasn't human. He couldn't be sure he was looking in the right place. She was still breathing, rapidly and shallowly, and every few minutes she would mumble something incomprehensible, as though she were suffering fevered hallucinations.
"A pity we can't morph," Kalen said idly. She leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
"I don't see how it could help her, even if we could."
"Her Ranger form wouldn't be affected by whatever's killing her."
Tommy blinked. "That's true. We don't have to get off the planet to save her....we just need to get our powers back."
"And Electra said that it was the new arrival at the palace who took away everyone's magic, didn't she?"
"She did. So the key to helping Terina....."
"Is back at the palace," Kalen finished.
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"I still don't see why they didn't just kill you, if they wanted you out of the way so badly," Jareth said, making conversation as he worked on the lock.
I'm too valuable, Zoey replied, sounding as though she almost regretted that fact.
"How so?"
Dragons have a lot of magic in them. An ounce of my blood is worth a fortune on the intergalactic black market. One of my eyes could buy you a small planet.
"He was going to dissect you?"
Oh, no...that implies killing me first. If he killed me, my parts wouldn't stay as fresh. He was just going to cut out the bits he needed, one by one.
"Charming." Jareth frowned. "You do realize that once I pick this, you'll still have to drag the chain around?"
No, I won't. Take a close look at the collar. No hinges, no seam. It's magical. Open the lock and the whole thing vanishes.
"Ah."
As if to prove her right, something clicked beneath the floor, and the chain and collar disappeared in a shimmer of dancing sparks.
Zoey stretched, rubbing the chafed scales around her neck. Oh, that feels SO much better. Thank you.
"Welcome. So, now what?"
Zoey cracked her long, sinewy neck, then looked the Gold Ranger in the eyes. Listen up. This is the tricky part.
