The Feared Pit of Doom

Otto, Sprx, and Gibson followed the water flow all the way to the waterfall.

"Now what! It's obvious Chiro isn't here." Sprx said still carrying Otto.

"Let me check with my scanners." Gibson replied as he scanned the area. "Hmm; Strange."

"What is?" Sprx asked.

"It seems we missed three life readings where we ended up originally."

"Wouldn't Antauri sense them?" Otto asked.

"Yes; unless someone was watching us the whole time."

Sprx looked around to see if he could spot anyone trying to follow them. "Let's get back and get them outta there. – Hey Gibson, you might want to inform Antauri that we're on the way to get them."

Gibson rolled his eyes as he activated his long range communicator.

"Gibson to Antauri, are you there?"

"We read you loud and clear Gibson. – What's wrong?"

"I used my computer to track down where Chiro and the others could be when I found two human signatures and one fairy like one. – I located them where we were at first."

"We know; but Mandarin was watching. We didn't want to give him another chance to catch Chiro." Antauri whispered.

Mandarin smirked as he heard this and quickly began heading back.

Antauri immediately felt it. "Get to them quickly! Mandarin is on his way now!"

Everyone dashed to try to reach their destination in time while the three in the hole are oblivious to everything that's going on.

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"I could carry both you and Chiro out of here you know." Miranda said.

"No, our new enemies will see us."

"Good point. – Do you have any more suggestions?"

Sam stayed quiet and thought about the question for a minute. She was pulled out of her thoughts when once again Chiro woke up.

"Sam? Are you there?" He asked without even sitting up. He was way too weak as his body continued refusing to seal up the wound.

"Yes; both Miranda and I are still here."

"Leave…….while….you still can….."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I feel someone coming towards us. – I don't know who it is but it's better to be safe than sorry."

"We're not gonna leave you!"

Light poured into the hole as they all looked up; excluding Chiro.

"Well well well, look what we have here." Mandarin said as he and Valina threw everyone out of the hole and into the mud along side the river.

Sam quickly went over to Chiro and wiped the mud off Chiro's head.

"What's this? – The boy is hurt?" Mandarin chuckled as he saw blood fill another piece of Sam's clothing.

She glared at them as Miranda turned into a tiger and went in front of the two teens.

"A changling?" Valina said shocked. "It would be a great ally for the Skeleton King!" She smirked before she walked towards her enemies.

"Stay back you witch!" Miranda growled.

Mandarin jumped towards them. "Monkey Mind Scream!" He attacked as Miranda. Sam and Chiro were pushed back in the lake.

Miranda formed back into her fairy state as she fell unconscious as well as Chiro did. Sam however remained conscious as she struggled to get up.

Mandarin laughed. "Why do you continue to get up? In the end, your fate will be the same." Mandarin stopped walking towards her as Sam stood back up.

Her whole body was trembling; but she didn't care.

'I have to stale until the Hyper Force gets here.' She thought to herself as she got in a defensive position.

"You want to fight me?" Mandarin laughed even louder than before.

Valina just stared at Sam; wondering why this girl felt different.

Mandarin got his claw out and ran towards Sam. Sam's heart raced when he jumped up in the air and was going to strike her.

She closed her eyes and held her hands above her head. Valina's eyes widened as she felt Sam's energy sky rocketing.

"No!!!!!!" Sam yelled as a big flash of light surrounded the whole area. Mandarin closed his eyes in pain and fell to his knees.

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"We're almost there." Antauri said as a white light flooded his vision.

He heard the rest of the team yell in pain as well; but he kept going.

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As Sprx, Gibson, and Otto turned the corner only to be enveloped in the light as well.

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The light dimed until it completely disappeared. Sam fell to the ground in exhaustion and wondered what just happened.

Valina slowly got up to see Mandarin unconscious next to her.

'Something about that girl is very different than everyone on Shugazoom. She's as strong as Chiro, but in a different way.' She thought to herself. Sensing Antauri getting closer, she grabbed Mandarin, Sam, and Chiro.

Antauri came out of the forest to see the two teens and the witch disappear in mid air.

Antauri looked at the ground as anger and sadness took over his emotions.

The rest of the team arrived to see Antauri's state and knew they were too late.

Otto walked around the river bank to catch a glimpse of their fairy ally.

"Miranda?" Otto said as everyone turned to Otto.

Miranda weakly looked up as Otto picked her up. "You alright?" He asked as the little fairy stood up.

"I-I think so."

"Hey guys! You'll never guess who I found!"

The hyper force huddled around Otto and the changling.

"Did they get Chiro and Sam?" Miranda asked.

Antauri looked down for a moment before responding.

"Yes; but we'll get them back."

"We must hurry though. – Chiro suffered a severe blow to the head in which caused him to have a short concussion."

The Hyper Force went pale. "Are you absolutely sure he suffered a concussion?"

"Yes. Sam didn't realize it, but I knew from experience."

Tears rolled down Jinmay's eyes as she cried in her hands. Nova tried to calm her down, but she too was very worried.

"Do you know where they're going?" Antauri asked Miranda.

"Not yet. But when they arrive, I'll know."

The team looked at her in confusion.

"When ever we are separated, I see her through one of my eyes while the other sees normally."

"Well then, we better start looking for them until they arrive at their hide out." Gibson said before he looked at Antauri."

"Agreed. Hyper Force, Go!" Antauri yelled as they activated their jetpacks and began their search.

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Valina arrived at the Pit of Doom no less than fifteen minutes later.

Mandarin came back into conciseness before they threw Chiro and Sam in a cell they prepared for them.

"What about that ritual you were talking about?"

"Patients Mandarin. We have to wait until Chiro is awake and the sun is setting to perform it."

Mandarin mumbled to himself before following Valina to prepare the ritual ground.

Sam stirred in her sleep until she woke up with a start.

Looking around, she could plainly see they were in a huge ditch of some sort.

She then went to Chiro's aid and stroked his hair. Sam knew people always felt better when they knew someone was watching over them, do she thought stroking his hair would let him know she was there.

Chiro moved a bit before he opened his eyes. He felt the pain that lingered in his back from the Heart Snatchers subside a bit; but a new and more horrible pain arose in his head. He tried to reach up to fell if he hurt anything, but he was too dazed.

Sam noticed Chiro awaken. "Sh…..Everything will be alright." She whispered to Chiro.

Chiro tried to remember who the voice was coming from until he remembered him being in the hole.

"Sam?" He managed to whisper.

"Yes Chiro?"

"Is-Is the Hyper Force okay?"

Sam's eyes widened. "You remember the Hyper Force?"

"Just a little bit. All I can recall at the moment was waking them up and the whole heart snatcher ordeal. – We've got to get those citizens out of that fortress!" Chiro suddenly said loudly.

Sam then remembered about all those parents and children who were forced to work for the Heart Snatchers.

"We'll get them out as soon as the Hyper Force finds us."

Chiro looked around to see they were in the Pit of Doom.

"How'd we end up in here?"

"Mandarin and Valina put us in here after they captured us."

"But, I don't remember that."

"That's because you were unconscious. – You have suffered a severe blow to your head in which case made you lose a lot of blood."

Now Chiro knew why he seemed so weak and tired.

"You've been taking care of me?"

"Yep!"

"I guess I owe you one."

"That and a new shirt."

Chiro slightly turned to see the bottom of Sam's shirt missing.

He chuckled and then looked at the wall again.

"Have you meant Jinmay yet?"

"Jinmay? – Oh ya! Your girlfriend!"

Chiro blushed. "Ya. – Wait a minute, how did you meet her if she's on Ranger 7?"

"She came down to help find you and regain your memory.

"What do you mean?"

"King Phoboes killed you." Chiro froze completely.

'Killed?'

"He shattered your heart crystal and died. However, Roger gave up his life to bring you back. Unfortunately, your life became tangled and you lost all your memories."

"Roger……died for me?" Chiro was in complete shock. The man was pure hearted and really had no idea why he was serving Phoboes. 'He didn't deserve to die.' Chiro thought.

"How did the monkeys take it?"

"At first, they were Heart Broken. – Hearing their leader ask who they were after you died over whelmed them you know."

Chiro looked down feeling very guilty. 'I'm sorry Monkey Team.' He cried as tears rolled down his pale cheeks. 'I didn't mean to let go Antauri.'

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The monkey team just got out of the Zone of Wasted Years when Miranda stopped immediately.

The Hyper Force stopped as they saw Miranda's eye turn different colors.

She saw a huge hole in the ground. It was dark and a blackness covered the area. The next thing she saw was two kids huddled up in the corner of a cell; one crying while the other seemed to be talking. Miranda immediately knew they were Sam and Chiro.

"They are being kept inside a deep trench in the ground."

"The Pit of Doom." Antauri growled as the team immediately set course for the dreaded pit.

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