Another day, another update. We're getting closer to the end, but there's always something new in the plot to prevent that, isn't there? Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, especially Bored-Girl-84. Today's her birthday, and I made sure this was updated just for her. Enjoy!
Chapter 34 Rescue Rangers Go!
Katherine wasted no time in running out of Finster's lab and back to the room where she'd originally left Jason. She hoped that he was still there. She had to get him away and to teleport back to the Power Chamber.
Her footsteps echoed along the corridor and she didn't want to run into anymore of Rita's henchmen. However, things were never that easy. As she turned the corner, she bounced off of something hard and flew backward, landing hard on her butt. She glanced up quickly, ready to defend herself. She groaned when she saw that it was Rito again. Getting to her feet she demanded, "Get out of my way or else."
Rito quickly stepped aside. "I wouldn't dare pull something on you," he muttered before continuing on his way.
Katherine breathed a sigh of relief. At least she'd had some effect on Rito. She hoped she'd left him scarred. At any rate, she continued to hurry to where she last remembered being. She checked multitudes of doors along the way, finally picking the correct one. She glanced inside, looking to see what was going on. Jason and Tommy were involved in fighting Goldar, but Rita was nowhere to be seen. Katherine had a feeling that she'd gone off to make sure the rest of her plan was carried out.
Observing the room more closely, Katherine noticed that there were also a few Tengas waiting against one far wall. None of them were helping Goldar so Katherine guessed that he had ordered them to leave the two Zeo Rangers to him. Stupid egotistical monkey she thought. She realized that the instant she told the boys to report back to the Power Chamber, she could leave. The boys would follow soon after.
Counting slowly to herself, she watched the fight and waited until Tommy and Jason were away from Goldar. Goldar had gotten stronger since Katherine had remembered him. He was able to hold his own against Jason and Tommy and all three seemed evenly matched. Tommy delivered a blow, which Jason mimicked from behind Goldar. They were able to throw him across the room. Katherine took this as her chance. She ran inside. "Jason, Tommy! Forget Goldar. Maroon's teleported off with Kimberly! We need to regroup back at the Power Chamber right away!" She watched both of them nod at her before she teleported away in a flash of pink light.
Alpha jumped in surprise when someone teleporting landed right behind him. He turned and looked to see who it was. "Katherine! You have returned!" he shouted happily.
"Jason and Tommy aren't far behind," she commented as streaks of light appeared beside her.
"Welcome back, Rangers. I suspect something has gone wrong. Kimberly hasn't returned with you," spoke Zordon. "I would like to hear what has happened so far on your mission."
"There's no time for that. Rita and Maroon had other plans," began Katherine. "I found Maroon and Kimberly in Finster's lab eventually, but Maroon teleported away with Kimberly while I was stuck bonded to a table. She had two wheelchairs with her as well."
"I'm afraid that Rita is preparing for one final showdown. This is the deciding battle Rangers and you're going to have to be prepared for anything she throws at you."
"I have a theory that she's going to create a showdown between Maroon and the Rangers using Kimberly's disability," spoke up Billy from behind.
"We're going to need the other Rangers," added Jason.
"Alpha, contact the others and have them teleport here immediately."
"Right away, Zordon," replied Alpha.
Youth Center
Adam was sparring with Rocky when his communicator beeped. He and Adam looked around before power walking to the hallway. Tanya shortly followed them from her seat at the bar. "We read you," called Rocky.
"Rangers, you must report to the Power Chamber immediately. The mission has been changed," spoke Zordon.
"Right away," answered Rocky. The three teens glanced around before pressing the button to teleport on their communicators.
When the three of them arrived, they found Jason, Tommy, and Katherine unmorphed and waiting on them. "Guys, what's happened? Where's Kimberly?" asked Rocky.
"Adam, Rocky, and Tanya there is no time to give details," spoke Zordon. "Not even I have heard the story yet. We do know that Maroon is to be arriving on Earth sometime soon with Kimberly."
"How do we know this?" asked Tanya.
"I found out her plan right before she left," answered Katherine.
"Rangers, you must go on a stake out. I fear that Maroon could appear at any time in Angel Grove."
The Rangers let this information sink in. A stake out could be a few minutes or it could be a few hours. Whatever the case, they couldn't do anything else until Maroon was defeated once and for all. Tommy turned away from the rest of the Rangers, but only Katherine noticed.
He's been through so much. Maroon had to do something to him too. I wonder if he and Kimberly had a small talk. Maybe that's what he's thinking about. He saw how broken she was, just like the rest of us did. Katherine placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, and this time Tommy didn't push it away.
"Rangers, good luck and bring back Kimberly safe and sound."
"May the power protect you," said Zordon as the group of teenagers teleported away.
The group landed in Angel Grove Park. Tommy turned to face his teammates. "All right guys. We're going to have to split up if we're going to find Maroon. We'll keep in contact through the communicators."
"Adam and I will go together," suggested Rocky.
"Tanya and I will go together," added Katherine, though she would have rather gone with Tommy so she could talk to him. However, she knew how well he could push her away too.
"Then Tommy and I will go together," added Jason. Jason could already tell that something was up with Tommy. He was way too quiet. "Keep in touch guys." He held out his hand.
"Right," answered the other Rangers, contributing their hands as well.
"Keep in touch," added Jason as he pulled his hand away. The Rangers split off in different directions.
Master Vile's
Maroon had made Katherine think she was teleporting to Earth, but she wasn't ready just yet. Instead, she had teleported herself, Kimberly, and the wheelchairs to the dungeons. She had to prepare Kimberly for the final battle. If Kimberly screwed up, the whole plan was ruined. Although, thought Maroon, it wouldn't matter because I'd feed off whatever she did say. Even so, I still have to warn her. She needs more fear.
Kimberly lay curled in a corner, the wheelchairs laying haphazardly beside her. She was trying to play like she'd passed out. Maroon knew better than to fall for a simple trick like that. She walked over to where Kimberly lay and kicked her in the side. "Get up you. I know you're faking." The groan that Kimberly emitted pleased her. "Now listen up. If you don't follow this plan as I instruct you, I'll kill you by my own hand. And I'll enjoy every minute of it too."
"What makes you think you'll win?" asked Kimberly boldly.
Maroon growled and pulled Kimberly up by the collar of her shirt. Kimberly squirmed and screamed. "Shut up! You do as I say, or I'll kill you!" She tossed Kimberly to the floor again. "Now listen closely. You'll use this wheelchair for transportation. I know you know how to use it too. Don't forget that I have your memory. I know what you can and can't do." She knew she had Kimberly cornered.
Kimberly felt powerless to do anything. Maroon was right. She did know exactly what Kimberly could and couldn't do. Kimberly couldn't feign stupid. Maroon would catch her in the act, and then all hope would be lost. I hope the Rangers can stop her… I don't know how much more of this torture I can take.
"Now, make sure you follow my every command. If you do everything correctly, then we will catch the Rangers in a trap and we can finally kill off Tommy!" Maroon chuckled evilly.
Kimberly paled. "Tommy?" Maroon was repeating the plan again. Kill Tommy the Betrayer.
"Yes, Tommy." Maroon did not know that Kimberly already knew the entire plan from Rita. "That no good betrayer of the queen must die."
Kimberly played along with everything, hoping to get new information from Maroon. "Then why am I involved in this plot? Why am I the one with the life changing disability?"
"You are just a pawn in the plan, little Kimberly. If we get to you, we get to Tommy. No matter whether or not you two are no longer a couple doesn't mean you aren't a connection to him. You are the gate key to taking Tommy down."
Nothing new to help me. She's just telling me everything I already know. "So you couldn't get Tommy on your own? You had to pull me in, just to make certain that you'd be able to get him? You had to use bait?"
"You got a problem with that?" growled Maroon.
"What if I do?" retorted Kimberly. Maroon was really pissing her off. She could give it right back. She did know that Maroon couldn't kill her yet. She was crucial to the plan, thus she only could cause trouble without death.
Unfortunately, Kimberly had forgotten that even though Maroon couldn't kill her, she could still do anything to torture her. Maroon once again picked her up by the collar, but this time began slapping her repeatedly. Kimberly flinched each time Maroon's hand crossed her face, but promised herself that she wouldn't scream. She wouldn't give Maroon that pleasure. Small tears slipped from her eyes and trailed down her cheeks. Maroon grinned and tossed her down again.
Kimberly glared at her. "Your turn," she whispered.
Maroon looked at her questioningly. "My turn?"
"What comes around, goes around," stated Kimberly as she rubbed at her cheeks. The pain was burning her and she figured that she must look as red as a beet.
Maroon groaned. She realized exactly what Kimberly meant. Her temper had bested her once again without her even realizing it. She took a deep breath, and began to face the torture she had given Kimberly.
Angel Grove
Tommy and Jason were searching the park for any sign of Maroon and Kimberly. However, they'd had no luck so far. Tommy pulled his communicator to his wrist. "Anything found, guys?" he asked.
"Negative," were all the replies he received. Tommy sighed. Maroon was probably prolonging her arrival on purpose. She probably wanted to torture the Rangers just a little bit longer before making her grand appearance.
Jason noticed Tommy lost in his thoughts. "Penny for your thoughts," he offered.
"It'll cost more than that," replied Tommy sarcastically.
"It's about Kimberly, isn't it?"
"Is it really that obvious?"
"You've been through hell and back. I don't know much of what happened to you, but from what I saw in the park before Maroon teleported you away, things were progressing quite quickly."
"She was a demon bitch. She toyed with me just like she did Kimberly. She violated me against my will with her stupid potion. And I was too weak to resist it. I fell for it, just as she wanted," explained Tommy, becoming angrier with each word.
"Tommy, calm down. What Maroon did to you was wrong, but you couldn't resist it. You resisted it as much as Katherine was able to resist Maroon's bonding power. It couldn't be helped. You're only human, Tommy," answered Jason as he placed a hand on Tommy's shoulder.
Tommy shook it off. "It's not so easy. She got me just as she got Kimberly. You didn't see the hurt, all the pain in her eyes. I did, Jason. I saw it, though she barely talked to me. Maroon had successfully broken down an ex-Ranger. I felt just like Katherine did after Maroon kissed her. Katherine never had to say anything about it. I simply knew by looking at her. Maroon has the power to break you in ways you couldn't imagine."
"Come on Tommy. You've gotta think positively. We'll defeat Maroon."
"I hope so," replied Tommy, shaking his head sadly.
Next time on Windmill into the Fall: Tommy's being broken, but Jason's trying to pull him out of his funk. Will Maroon finally teleport to Earth to begin the final showdown? Find out next time on Windmill into the Fall!