Episode 27: Part 1

A faint draft of air tickled the back of Desmond's neck as he made his way deeper into the ancient stone temple of Kane. He gripped his spear tightly as the orange and red light from the weapon flickered and cast a dim nimbus of light around him. To his shock, the temple was like some sort of optical illusion. It was much larger on the inside than it appeared on the outside. A row of great stone pillars opened up into a large hallway lined with carved wooden figures and offering bowls.

As Desmond cautiously walked the ancient hallway, he could see Pele effortlessly gliding along beside him, her footfalls made no sound and her red dress fluttered in an almost ghostly manner. Finally, the hallway ended and opened up into a wide circular chamber with another heavy door at the opposite end.

In the center of the room was a mound of earth that sloped upward to form a miniature volcano. Desmond paused and watched as a plume of flames erupted from the cone at intervals before turning to the goddess.

"Emotion and Aggression are natural parts of being human," Pele said stepping aside to bar the exit to the room, "It lies below the surface, bubbling up in spectacular ways when we least expect it. Great is the warrior who can temper that fury, even when in the midst of battle. Greater still is the warrior who can discern truth and the path to victory over the fires in his heart."

The miniature volcano flared again and a shadowy ancient Hawaiian warrior bearing a club emerged to confront him. Desmond smirked, "A trial by combat huh? Piece of cake."

He leveled his spear and took a fighting stance. The dark warrior paused for a moment before charging forward and clashing with the Red Ranger. Desmond parried aside the blow and easily dodged the second backswing of his opponent. Giving a laugh, Desmond twirled his weapon around and skillfully plunged the weapon into the torso of the dark warrior to destroy him.

To the Ranger's confusion, the doorway ahead of him did not open and Pele remained standing at the exit with her arms crossed and a stony expression on her face. Desmond frowned slightly as he saw the room's volcanic jet go off again, "Am I missing something? Is the test over?"

To his surprise, the Red Ranger saw two club wielding warriors emerge from the shadowy corners of the room to confront him, "Huh… I guess not. All right, I've fought more Nightmarchers off at the same time, bring it!"

From where she stood in the chamber, Pele shook her head in silence as she watched Desmond skillfully fend off the two warriors and destroy them with a counter slash of his spearhead. After a brief pause, Desmond waited for the door to open, but to no avail. The Ranger hurried to the door and felt for a hidden lever or button, but he was unsuccessful too. After fumbling at the door for a minute, Desmond jumped back as four shadowy warriors rematerialized to block his way.

"Uh, Pele? A little help here?" Desmond called as he backpedaled toward the exit of the room. He now changed his stance to a defensive one and his original confident bluster had begun to fade somewhat. Four opponents was still manageable, but he had to fight more carefully now. Not exactly Desmond Waihee's style either.

The goddess sighed and spoke in a level tone, "Remember the words I had spoken Desmond. Master yourself and see your victory through the fires."

The Ranger frowned at the cryptic advice while he clashed with four warriors and fended them off. As he struggled, one of the warriors shoulder checked him in the side and sent Desmond tumbling toward the center of the room. As Desmond recovered and spun to his feet, he barely dodged another plume of volcanic fire that erupted from the miniature volcano in the chamber.

That was too close, he thought to himself as he desperately blocked the blows of all four enemies at once and spun them with a countermotion. Using his momentum, Desmond swept the weapons of all four warriors high exposing their guard and allowing the Ranger to wipe them out with a flamethrower attack of his weapon.

"Ha! Burned with my own fires too," Desmond announced proudly to Pele as his enemies evaporated away in a cloud of embers. To his surprise, Pele remained standing with her arms crossed wearing a stern look on her face. "You are not listening Desmond! Think!"

The Red Ranger didn't have a lot of time to catch his breath and think as eight shadow warriors now emerged to confront him. At this rate, the room would be filled and he would be completely overwhelmed. The warriors charged and Desmond grunted as he tumbled clear, blocking their blows and using even more defensive moves. There had to be some other way to destroy the spirit warriors. Every time he struck one down with his own hand, two more rose to take its place.

The miniature jet of fire in the center of the room erupted again just as Desmond blocked a warrior and shoved it aside, inadvertently pushing it into the fires. The warrior burst into ash and Desmond watched, waiting for another one to come... but it didn't. Now only seven enemies remained. Of course... Pele's words... it was all a metaphor. Desmond had to refrain from destroying his enemies with his own hand and use the natural fires to win him victory.

Another warrior charged him and Desmond rolled backwards, using the foe's momentum to throw it into the fires too. He glanced over to Pele who now broke into a wide smile and nodded gently. All right, two down and six to go. Each time the volcanic jet went off, Desmond stayed near and outmaneuvered each enemy until he pushed the last shadow warrior into the fires. As it died away, no new enemies appeared and the door leading forward slowly began to grind open.

Desmond fell to one knee, catching his breath and wiping his sweaty brow. That could have ended much worse and he blessed his lucky stars he had discerned the victory condition, even if it had originally been by accident. Pele shuffled beside him and offered him a hand up.

"Well done Desmond, you've passed your first trial. You've been reminded of the importance of using your observation and wisdom to win battles when brute force and emotion is not enough."

The Red Ranger nodded and slowly began to make his way toward the door with a feeling of dread in his heart. If that had been the first trial, he could only wonder what greater challenges lay ahead.


Meanwhile, the other Ocean Rangers spread out along the grassy grounds of the sacred grove to gather supplies for a campsite. After having their morphing bracelets rendered powerless by the island's magic, the Rangers now found themselves at a disadvantage and much more vulnerable. As a safety precaution, they paired up to watch each other's back while they went about their work.

After a short walk toward the far edge of the woods, David and Alex busied themselves collecting some food. Fortunately, with David's knowledge of the flora, he was able to pick out which fruits, nuts, and roots were edible and the two friends began to gather the food in a pile. David laid out his green over-shirt on the ground and they worked to stack the food on it so that they could bundle it up later.

While they worked, Alex tried to lighten the mood a little and turned to the Green Ranger with a small grin, "Hey Dave, I'm guessing this is bringing back some memories of your days with the Japanese military huh?"

David snorted in amusement as he sorted out some edible roots, "Oh sure... tramping around the woods carrying fifty pounds of gear over ten miles? I loved doing FTX. (field training exercises)

Alex continued to pick some papaya fruits from a low hanging tree and chuckled idly, "Well... I'm just glad you're around Dave. You always have a handy skill and it seems like you're a guy we can rely on in any situation."

He glanced over toward the Pink Ranger in surprise and felt his face grow a little warm having been caught off guard by the compliment. He quietly smiled to himself and got back to work. A while later, the two prepared to head back to the campsite with a full bundle of food when they heard an ominous rustling from the bushes nearby.

"What do you think that is?" Alex hissed quietly as she tensed up.

"No clue," David replied in a hushed voice. He took a moment to swallow his fear before he stepped forward. He knew that Alex was a tough courageous girl who could hold her own in a fight, but in this situation, he was still the man and he felt it was his job to be brave. Emboldened by Alex's words earlier, David summoned his great club weapon.

"Dave! What are you doing?" Alex asked but he hushed her.

"I'm going to take a quick look around. Wait here."

The Pink Ranger put her hands on her hips indignantly, "I appreciate the chivalry, but I don't need to be protected."

David sighed and rolled his eyes, "Tactics, woman. If there's an intruder, I'm going to flush him out so you can jump him, ok?"

"Oh... uh... I knew that," Alex replied sheepishly summoning her own weapons. "Just... be careful, ok?"

David nodded and headed off into the nearby bushes leaving Alex to sigh and restlessly look around the clearing. She turned her head a moment, but when she looked back, she was startled to find the sight of the faceless green sea hag Mujina emerge from the brush. She leveled her sorceress staff and cackled, "Now I've got you little girl."

Alex recoiled in fear before taking a fighting stance, "What are you doing here you witch? What did you do with David?"

"Oh you'll see the Green Ranger soon enough," Mujina maliciously cackled as she continued to advance, "Once I eliminate you, you can both meet in oblivion."

"No!" Alex growled through clenched teeth as the enraged Pink Ranger charged forward to do battle against the swamp hag.

Meanwhile, David made his way through the brush and found nothing. Giving a shrug, he made his way back to where he left Alex. Most likely the "intruder" had been some wild animal that got spooked and ran off. Either way, David was relieved that was the case, but as he walked back into the clearing, his heart froze as he spotted the sinister form of the mollusk warrior General Kuta waiting for him.

David tensed up and looked around in desperation, but there was no sight of Alex anywhere. "Kuta! Why are you here? Where is Alex?"

Kuta threw his head back and laughed through his tentacled maw, "That doesn't matter right now. If you want to see the Pink Ranger, you'll have to deal with me first."

"Whatever it takes then," David growled as he gripped his club and quickly advanced to rescue his friend.

What neither he or Alex realized was that in reality they were charging each other with their own weapons drawn. Whether it was the effects of the magic in the sacred grove, or the doing of the aumakua spirits, they could not be sure. All that the Green and Pink Rangers knew was that they were clashing with one of their enemies, unaware that some mysterious illusion magic was at work.

As the two Rangers clashed and began to unwittingly fight each other, neither of them noticed the two figures looking on in the clearing. A large Hawaiian man in green tribal clothes adorned with grass stood with a beautiful Hawaiian woman wearing a grass skirt and flowers in her hair. They looked to be man and wife and as they observed the events curiously, they held each others hands.

If the two Rangers had not been blinded by magic, they might have caught sight of the deities and recognized them as their own patron gods Lono the God of Nature and Peace, as well as his wife Laka, the goddess of Tradition and Hula. While the two gods patiently stood back from the battle that unfolded before them, they wore a worried expression, hoping that the Rangers would eventually be able to see through the enchantment they were under.


On the other side of the woods, Hannah and Naomi made their way through some brush until they came across a small natural spring. They had been tasked with looking for some fresh water and the sound of a trickling stream was music to their ears. The two girls hurried over to the cool refreshing water, splashing their faces and greedily drinking their fill before sitting back to rest a while.

"You think the others are having any better luck?" Hannah asked while washing her hands.

"Dave is the resident nature expert. I'm sure he'll be able to rustle up some grub for us," Naomi replied confidently. After a long pause, she gave a sigh, "I'll admit... when I came along on this trip, I wasn't exactly expecting us to rough it this badly either. Can you believe I've never been camping to begin with?"

The Orange Ranger smiled in amusement, "Yeah... you don't really strike me as an outdoorsy type of girl, err... no offense."

"None taken," Naomi chuckled good naturedly, "Coming from a wealthy family, I'll freely admit to being a little bit of a spoiled princess in that regard."

"Aw, trust me. Camping's really not that bad," Hannah said cheerfully, "Whenever my Dad wasn't too busy flying missions or doing training exercises, he'd take me and my mom on camping trips sometimes. Those were always fun... except in those cases we weren't stranded on some magic island with scary ghost things threatening to kill us."

"Best we keep the glass half full," Naomi sighed in agreement, "Speaking of which... how are we going to transport some of this water back to the campsite?"

Hannah scratched her chin in thought before rising to her feet and summoning her hook blade weapon. She walked over toward a coconut tree and picked up a few large coconuts before tossing them in the air and splitting them clean in half with a slash of her weapon. The Orange Ranger proudly picked up the hollowed out coconut shells and presented them to her friend.

"Hopefully David can find some natural gourd plants that we can fill wilth water. In the mean time, we can use these coconuts. What do you think?"

"I think I'm glad I partnered up with you today," the Yellow Ranger smiled while affectionately tousling the teen's hair.

"I'm sure Maui would be really proud of me too," Hannah said looking at her hook weapon for a minute. "Let's go fill up these shells."

As the two girls headed over toward the natural spring ad bent down to collect water, Hannah glanced idly over toward the treeline and froze as she spotted the familiar face of Murry... or rather her patron deity. The trickster demigod wore a concerned expression and pointed to the waters shaking his head.

Hannah frowned in surprise and confusion, "Maui? I... what's going on?"

Naomi glanced over curiously, "Hannah? What's wrong?"

The Yellow Ranger stopped and froze in as she glanced back into the waters of the spring. Instead of seeing her reflection, she was greeted by the sight of her beautiful late mother who extended her arms out in a welcoming gesture.

"Mom?" Naomi murmured in wonder as she reached for the surface of the water. In a heartbeat, the image of her mother changed into the malevolent visage of the sea witch Hine Nui. The ancient goddess of Death and Darkness extended her arms out toward Naomi in what looked to be some sort of optical illusion, but it became all too real when the girl felt a pair of cold icy hands burst from the water and grab her violently by the neck.

Hannah tore her gaze away from Maui and whirled around in horror to see her friend and fellow Ranger be pulled headfirst into waters by some mysterious force. She didn't see what had happened and she didn't know what was going on either. All she knew was that her companion was in danger so she did the only logical thing she could think of. She dove headfirst into the water after Naomi.