Power Rangers Nexus
Chapter 12: Pancreas
As stealthily as he could, Jareth crept down the halls of the palace.
"Which way to the throne room?" he whispered.
Third hall on the left, the small irridescent pink-and-purple dragon replied as she walked along beside him. And don't bother whispering. I can hear your thoughts, remember? We're trying for stealth, here.
Jareth nodded, then continued creeping.
So what am I looking for? he thought.
A long staff made of blue-white crystal, with a rose carved into the top. As she spoke....thought?...Zoey projected the image of the staff into the Gold Ranger's mind.
And this is what--
Nullified the Tyrarian's magic? Yes. I was there when he did it. The Stranger just raised the staff over his head, there was a flash, and Whammo! Everything stopped working.
A thought occurred to Jareth, but Zoey answered it before he could ask.
The staff doesn't affect natural, inherent magic. Only applied magic. Telepathy is a natural talent for dragons. As for your friend, Electra, all I can say is that you people must come from a world with an extremely high magic concentration, for her to be born with a gift like that.
Lots of people on Terra are born telepaths....well, not lots, but quite a few. I'd say one in every fifty or so, Jareth thought.
Then why hasn't...oh. Zoey said, once again grasping the answer before it was put into words.
Jareth nodded. Yes, because of things like that. No one wants to be around someone who knows what they're going to say before they say it, or who knows all their big, dark secrets. Telepaths are pariahs on Terra. They get put on meds to suppress it, and if they don't take them, they get shipped off to islands or camps. He shrugged. Methinks I will be keeping yet another Ranger's secret to myself."
Keeping a few already, are you? Ah. Yes, you certainly are.
Jareth rolled his eyes. And you can just keep them to yourself, as well, he thought.
Hey, no problem. You're helping me escape gradual vivisection, remember? Zoey said. Anyway....yes, come to think of it, I can sense strong magic coming off of you, too. Your planet must be soaking in it.
Maybe that's why Medelon hid the Power Coins there, Jareth mused. He came to an intersection of hallways and peered around the corners before moving on.
Zoey considered, getting the details of the Power Coins from Jareth's mind.
I think it's more likely that the magic of the Coins gradually suffused the planet, since they were there so long.
You'd know better than me, the Gold Ranger allowed. Hey, wait...I have strong magic? You mean my Ranger powers?
No, I mean your natural aura.
So…I have magic? Me? What is it?
Beats me, Zoey said. A full-grown dragon would be able to tell, but all I can do is sense that it's there.
Dragons can do a lot of stuff, it seems.
Oh, yeah. We're one of the most powerful races in the galaxy. We can sense magic, conjure fire, cast spells, we're telepathic…some of us can even shapeshift. This is the one.
Jareth blinked at that last statement, then realized that the small wyrmling had been referring to the door.
Any idea where... Jareth blinked as a map of the throne room filled his head. The staff was socketed into a plate in the floor, much like the one to which Zoey had been chained.
Okay, do you know--
Nope.
--how many guard....okay. Jareth twitched. Can you be ready to create a distraction?
I think setting a few people on fire ought to be distracting enough.
Good.
Jareth opened the door as wide as he dared and peeked in. It was empty.
Zoey blinked. I was sure the Stranger, at least, would be there.
Jareth pushed the door open. The room was, indeed, completely empty.
Well? Grab the staff!
"I smell a trap," he said. Then, with a shrug, he strode into the throne room. He walked up to the crystal staff and reached for it, not quite touching. Jareth's eyes wandered around the spacious room. "Traaaaptraptraptraptrap...."
Just take it. I don't sense anyone else in the room, Zoey said impatiently from the ground near his feet.
Wish a sigh, the Gold Ranger grabbed the crystal shaft and pulled it from its socket in the floor.
For a moment, nothing happened.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Electra waved to Tommy as he and Kalen emerged from the forest.
"Has he woken up yet?" Tommy asked, glancing at the stiff, frozen form of the Epsilonian King.
"He's twitched a few fingers," Electra replied with a shrug. "I'm not sure how much longer--"
All three Rangers jumped back in surprise as the King suddenly reared back onto his hind legs, forehooves kicking at the air. The centauresque alien turned around and looked down at them.
"Ali Toonaz Ziraquay?"
"He wants to know who we are," Electra translated.
Tommy very much wanted to ask how she understood him, but knew better than to ask.
"Tell him that we're the Power Rangers," he instructed.
Electra shrugged, then looked back up at the King.
"We're the Power Rangers," she said simply.
The King looked surprised for a moment, then nodded his acceptance.
"Sira Noxic Banna Simpo?
"Yes," she answered.
"Inta Hazzith Kinta Rox?"
"Yup."
"Razzith?"
Electra turned to Tommy. "Why did we drag him out of the dungeon again?"
"Because we thought that if we can restore him to his throne, he can command the guards to stop attacking us, and perhaps help us get off the planet," the Red Ranger explained.
Electra simply turned back to the King and gestured to Tommy, as if to say, "What he said."
The King nodded.
"Artax Neema Gigass Nintu." He turned to Tommy. "Rictus erra nimo?"
"He said," Electra translated. "What's the plan?"
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Ow, Zoey complained. You've knocked one of my scales loose.
Jareth said nothing. His mind was rather preoccupied with the long, sharp iron spikes that had shot up from the ground, one on each side of his head. Had he landed an inch to either side after falling back and tripping over Zoey, he'd have been skewered.
As soon as he'd collected himself, he climbed to his feet and looked around. The spring-loaded metal spines that had emerged from the earth formed a circle, sort of a lethal fence, around the plate where the staff had been.
"Why are YOU complaining?" Jareth asked. "You nearly got me killed. If I hadn't tripped over you.."
Then those arrows would have hit you.
"What?"
Zoey re-played the scene in Jareth's head as she had seen it from the ground. As soon as Jareth had pulled the staff from the ground, a number of arrows had fired from hidden launchers in the walls, all aimed directly at his head. Had he not stumbled back over the wyrmling, he'd have been killed.
The only thing I don't get is the point of the spikes, Zoey said. They really don't seem dangerous, unless you happen to be lying on the ground. As she said this, the wyrmling flapped her batlike wings and flew over them, leaving Jareth to try to squeeze through.
She was right...the spikes really hadn't done much, except to keep him....
A thought occurred to him, and Zoey picked up on it. They both looked towards the ceiling.
The chandelier overhead had fallen about halfway, a number of sharp blades having popped out from it's casing. It had clearly been designed to fall on whoever took the staff, while the spikes kept them from moving out of its path. The mechanism that dropped it appeared to have somehow gotten stuck.
I think I'm beginning to see what the nature of your magic is, Zoey said.
"What? This wasn't magic. This was just--"
Luck. Dumb luck. Phenomenal luck. You've just...what's the term? 'Dodged the bullet'...at least three times. Doesn't that seem at all remarkable to you?
Jareth considered. No, it didn't, but that was only because he was used to it. Everything seemed to make sense...whenever something bad had happened to him, it had always managed to stop something worse. Like that time he'd been hit on the head in the desert, instead of getting his soul sucked out by Psycho Gold. Or just now, when he'd tripped over Zoey to keep from taking an arrow to the face.
Everything does seem to fit, doesn't it? Zoey asked, following this train of thought.
"You have no idea," Jareth replied. Then he reconsidered. "I suppose you do, actually. I DO have uber-luck. I remember this one time--"
Reflect later, the dragon advised. We've got to get that staff out of here, before the Stranger comes back and finds a sprung trap without a corpse in it.
"When you're right, you're right," the Gold Ranger said, twirling the staff playfully. "Lead on."
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"He says there's an entrance south of--"
"All right, I'm sorry," Tommy said. "But I have to ask. HOW are you doing this?"
Electra sighed. "You want me to just come out and say it? Fine." She took a deep breath. "I'm a telepath."
"You mean he....thinks in English?" Tommy asked, looking confused.
Kalen slapped her forehead.
Electra shook her head. "He thinks in the same language he speaks. But I can see the images and emotions and you know, ideas behind the words."
"The essence of language, as it were," Kalen added helpfully.
Electra nodded. "And I can send those same things back into his mind." She jerked her head at the King, who was standing by patiently.
"So....why are you acting like this is a terrible thing?"
Now Electra looked surprised. "Because it is."
"Seems like a handy talent to me....you know, unless you can't shut out other people's thoughts. I can see that getting annoying."
"No, I can do that. Takes a lot of concentration, but it can be done." Electra blinked, tilting her head to the side. "You really don't see the problem? What do they do to telepaths on your world?"
"We don't....really....have any," he said.
"Oh! Well, that explains why you're not freaked." Electra glanced over at Kalen. "But I am wondering why you haven't threatened to blackmail me yet."
"Don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't blackmail you."
Electra narrowed her eyes. "Why not?"
"Because you have nothing I want," Kalen said simply.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Are you insane? Zoey silently screamed at him.
"What are you so worried about? They can't--"
Your magic is LUCK, stupid, not invincibility! Just because things tend to go your way doesn't mean everything always will.
"But everything always has...."
Look. Even if your magic is so strong that everything that can possibly go right for you, will…and I don't think it is… there are still situations you could get into where nothing could possibly go right. And you should do your best to stay out of those situations.
Jareth paused. He'd been in one of those situations before. "Shouldn't supernatural good luck keep me from getting into those situations in the first place?"
No. Just the opposite. Zoey prodded one of the fallen guards thoughtfully. That's the thing about probability-altering magics. They don't just whistle up good luck out of nowhere. What your aura does is to draw luck IN. Which means you warp the probability of events around you. Sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the better, usually just for the weird. Anyway, Zoey said, fluttering over the fallen Tyrarian guards. The one thing luck can't protect you from is the conscious decision to do something stupid.
Jareth stepped around them as well, approaching the small door that led out of the castle.
Although I must say, Zoey chuckled appreciatively. I've never seen anyone incapacitate three guards with a rubber band before.
"It's a gift." Jareth grinned, pushing against the door. It moved rather more easily than he would have thought. Glancing back to be sure Zoey was still following him, Jareth ducked through the door....and ran headfirst into Tommy.
"What are you doing here?" they both asked.
"Umm....saving you," Tommy answered lamely. "And also trying to get our hands on..."
"This?" Jareth asked, holding up the staff.
"Akka bonaza." The King said, pointing at the staff.
"He said--" Zoey began.
"That's a dragon," Tommy interrupted, staring down at Zoey.
"Good eyes," Kalen said in a deadpan.
"He said, 'That's it'," Electra completed the thought.
Actually, he said, 'That's the one', Zoey corrected. It helps to actually speak the language, she added smugly.
"Guys?" Jareth asked. "Could we discuss this...on the way to the ship?"
Moments later, they were all clambering through the small secret passage.
"How in the world do Tyrarians FIT through there?" Kalen asked as she squeezed through the small opening at the end of the tunnel. "Oh," she said, moments later, as she watched the King emerge. She twitched, blinking. "Nothing should be THAT flexible..." she muttered.
"Nikelia Polepherion."
His Majesty says that you should return to your ship and tend to restoring the magic while he goes and reclaims his throne, Zoey translated.
"My, what an efficient language," Kalen said.
"What about the Stranger?" Jareth asked.
Tommy, who'd been staring at Zoey, turned to face Jareth. "Who's the Stranger?"
"You know, the guy who kicked His Majesty here off the throne."
Zoey ran her hand over her head, as though smoothing back her scales. The other Nyera won't side with him, now that they know he--
"Nyera? You mean the Tyrarians?" Electra asked.
The dragon gave her one of those looks designed to make someone feel like an idiot.
"Is everything from Terra called a Terran?" she asked simply.
"Technically, yes," Kalen replied. "Cultures that have made interstellar contact almost always refer to other races by their planet of origin, instead of by species."
Jareth nodded. "It's true. Terina's told me that she thinks of us as Terrans, not humans. And her people were called the Klorai, but everyone still calls her an Eltarian."
Enough social commentary. Get a move on, people. We can deal with the Stranger, and Terina's on her deathbed.
With that, the wyrmling turned tail and followed the King back into the castle.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"As I see it, there are two ways this could work," Kalen said to the other Rangers that stood gathered around Terina's unmoving body, scrutinizing the staff in her hands carefully.
"And those are?" Tommy asked.
"Possibility the first: This staff is creating the null-magic spell, and the only way to end the spell is to destroy the staff."
She was about to go on, when Tommy asked: "And the other?"
Kalen glared at him. "Did it ever occur to you that I might not be finished?"
"Sorry. Please, continue."
"The other is that since this staff is what created the spell, it may be the only thing that can reverse it, and if we destroy it we'll all be stuck here forever."
"And Terina's good as dead," Electra said, gazing at the form on the medbay's table.
Jareth reached out his hand for the staff, and Kalen handed it to him, seemingly disinterested.
"Well," he said. Then, surprising everyone, he swung the staff in a wide arc, smashing it against the wall. Bits of crystal feel like rain, littering the cold metal floor.
Tommy's mouth hung open. "What did...why....What were you thinking?"
Jareth twisted his wrist. With a flash, his Power Morpher appeared in his hand.
"It worked."
"What if it hadn't? Terina could have died!"
"From the look of things, she would have died anyway before we figured out how to use the staff to reverse the spell," Jareth replied. He looked over at her. "And she may die anyway if we can't get her to morph."
"She can barely breathe," Electra noted. "I don't see how she'll be able to shout 'Saber-toothed Tiger'."
"Oh, the morphing calls aren't necessary to the process," Kalen said calmly. "Morphing is accomplished by willpower and concentration. The calls are just mantras to help us focus."
"So you're saying if she were to focus, she might be able to morph without speaking?" Jareth asked.
Kalen nodded.
"Yeah, that's true. Zord-1 mentioned it a while back. But how do we get her to do that? She's a bit beyond communication at this point," Tommy said.
Jareth glanced at Electra. "Not ALL communication."
Electra nodded resignedly. "Yes," she said. "I'll do it."
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The garden would have been beautiful, with its exotic plants and masterfully crafted topiary...if not for the frost. A thin layer of ice covered ever leaf, every flower, and the sky above was a dismal, leaden gray. A light drizzle fell over the garden, every drop as cold as ice.
Electra shivered as she looked around. This was the inside of Terina's mind, she had to be here somewhere. The Black Ranger couldn't help but wonder where this scene had come from. Was this Eltar? The plants were beautiful, but they certainly didn't look like any kind she'd ever seen on earth.
Despite knowing that time was of the essence, Electra couldn't resist a closer look at the foliage. She was surprised to note that the flowers, beneath the frost, seemed to have circuitry printed on them. In fact...
On closer inspection, there wasn't a thing about this garden that was natural. The flowers were made of cybernetic crystal, the few insects that scuttled through the foliage were nothing more than clockwork. When she listened closely, the faint sound of wind blowing through the bushes and birds chirping repeated themselves at regular intervals, like a recording set on loop. A raindrop she caught on her tongue had the sickening flavor of oil. Even the grass beneath her feet had the distinctive crunch of plastic astroturf.
No way was this Eltar. Terina never talked much about her homeworld, but every indication was that Eltar had been a lush paradise. No, this was a world of Terina's invention, something the sick alien's feverish mind must have dreamed up.
Something yellow caught Electra's eye...Terina herself sat in the middle of the garden, on the ground, arms wrapped around her knees, shivering.
"Terina?"
Terina slowly turned her head as Electra walked up to her, also shivering, her fishnet sleeves providing almost no insulation from the bitter cold.
"E-electra?" Terina stammered, shivering furiously. "What are y-you d-doing here?"
"I'm here to help you."
"T-the last time someone t-tried to h-help me, they t-turned me into t-this..." Terina gave a bitter chuckle, then clutched her legs to herself more tightly, shivering even more that she had been.
Electra raised an eyebrow at this. What did she mean? No time to inquire now. "Terina, you have to morph."
"M-Morph?"
"Into your Ranger form."
"I..I d-don't know if I c-c-can..."
"You have to. Go on."
Terina held out her hand, looked at it uncertainly, then gave her wrist a flick. With a flash, her Power Morpher appeared, the golden glow from the coin seeming to dispel a little bit of the cold.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Tommy, Jareth and Kalen stood waiting, watching Electra as she stood at the end of the cot, eyes closed, an open hand on either side of Terina's head.
"How long do you think this'll take?" Tommy asked.
"Shh," Jareth shushed him. "Lecca needs to concentrate."
Abruptly, there was a bright flash as Terina's Power Morpher appeared in her open palm.
"Yes!" Jareth whispered. "Halfway there...."
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Terina looked at the Morpher in her hand.
"Go on," Electra encouraged gently. "Do it."
"W-why?"
"It'll save you."
"S-so? Someth-thing like this'll j-just happen ag-gain. It always d-does."
"That's no reason to give up. Go on."
"A-all....all right..." Terina held the Morpher out in front of her. "S-saber...Saber t-toothed tiger!"
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
With a blinding flash of yellow light, Terina's tiny form was replaced by the armored body of the Yellow Power Ranger. The force provided by the morphing process threw Electra back from the small girl.
"Oww.," Electra complained, sitting up and rubbing her head. She looked up at the table upon which Terina lay.
Terina sat up, looking around cautiously. "Am I back?"
Tommy grinned. "Sure are."
"You had us all worried, Ter," Jareth said, relief in his voice.
"Ahem," Kalen muttered.
"Well, you had most of us worried."
Terina hopped down off the able and helped Electra to her feet.
"Thanks," she said sincerely.
"No problem," Electra replied. Then, she was gone again, back in her own little world.
"So," the Yellow Ranger asked, turning to the others. "What now?"
"Now," Tommy replied. "We figure out how to get off this planet." He turned to Jareth. "And you and I need to talk."
Jareth raised an eyebrow curiously.
