Everything felt a little fuzzy for Charlie, like she had been awoken from a deep sleep. Her brain was registering that someone was nudging her shoulder and calling her name but she was so tired that she didn't know how to respond. It took a couple of minutes for her eyes to focus on the familiar black hair of her friend, "Eric", she croaked out. The masterdon sentry's head was positioned a few inches away from her face. She could feel his hand on her left shoulder, "Dude, have you never heard of personal space", she added and pushed him away.
"Yup you're absolutely fine", he chuckled, "can you sit up?" Charlie reluctantly complied and got a good look at her surroundings for the first time. They were no longer inside a cave, instead they were on a beach. It didn't look like the beach in Angel Grove though, the sand was dull brown instead of the golden colour she remembered. In fact every looks a little grey, the sea, the sky even the trees in the distance.
"Where the hell are we?" Charlie asked the masterdon sentry, "it feels like we've been swept into a black and white movie".
"It's an island of some sort", Kim made her presence known for the first time. She had returned from the undergrowth that led down from the side of a hill. "I can only see the ocean in every direction", she continued, "there's a slightly bigger hill over there but I can't see any towns".
"How big is the island?" Eric said to the ranger slayer.
"Not very big", Kim replied, "a few square miles if that".
"Any sign of Tennaya or Lauren?" Charlie asked.
The ranger slayer shook her head, "Not that I can see but they can't be far away". She paused for a moment and gave Charlie the once over, "Are you alright to walk?" The sabretooth sentry nodded and with Eric's help, she slowly rose to her feet, "There's a clearing on the other side of that hill, maybe some local's live there".
"It's a long shot but I haven't got a better idea", Eric shrugged and the trio traipsed off into the undergrowth.
They reached the summit of the hill and began to traverse the other side. As they did, Eric noticed something in the distance, "That looks like smoke", he pointed towards a small column of white smoke rising up into the sky.
"You're right", Kim replied, "quickly that way". The trio ran down the side of the hill as quickly as possible, being careful not to trip. The smoke was become more prominent so they knew they were getting close. The ground began to level out and they found themselves in the clearing Kim had spotted from the hilltop. In a clearing was a small camp fire.
From behind the tree, a slow handclap echoed across the deserted island, "Stealing our fire now", Tennaya said, "and the Drakon's sentries sinks to a new low". The tyranno sentry gave them an arrogant smirk and just a few paces behind her was Lauren. Lauren averted her gaze from the rebel sentries but tellingly, she wasn't looking at Tennaya either.
"Is this part of your plot", Kim began, "drag us off to a deserted island and leave us here?"
"As tempting as that sounds, this wasn't my idea", Tennaya stated, "the Corona Aurora decided this would be the perfect place for our final battle".
"So you still want to go through with this", Eric said, "what about you Lauren, are you going to fight us as well?"
Tennaya backed up slowly and placed a strong arm around Lauren's shoulders, "She's seen the error of her ways", she began, "that temptress of the ranger slayer tried to lure her but she knows her place".
The derogatory way that Kim had been described directed Lauren's attention fully towards Tennaya, "You're right, I do", she said with a quiet voice. To the surprise of everyone, she forcefully shook Tennaya's arm off her shoulder and walked slowly over to the rebel sentries. She stood next to Charlie and gave her a small smile.
For a few moments Tennaya was silent but then her face twisted into an ugly sneer and she bellowed, "Traitor, you would stand against your own".
"Don't you remember the oath?" Lauren began, "we swore to stand against anyone who was a threat to the world. There are no exceptions to that, even if they're our family and friends".
Quick as a flash, Tennaya pulled out the Corona Aurora and aimed a blast towards Kim. The Ranger Slayer was frozen to the spot as a streak of green energy sped towards her. Just as he blast was about to hit her, Lauren leapt in front other and took the full force of the attack. The beam hit her in the chest and the Tricera sentry crumpled to the ground, "Lauren!" Kim screamed and knelt down next to her.
Eric's head snapped towards Tennaya, "What did you do?" he said with a dangerous whisper.
Tennaya's arm was shaking and her eyes were wide with disbelief, "I-I-I", she tried to speak but she was too stunned to form a proper sentence. Suddenly the ground began to rumble and the tyranno sentry was knocked off her feet, the Corona Aurora tumbled out of his hand. In a fit of rage, Eric had opened fire at Tennaya. Seeing that the Corona had fallen from her grasp, Tennaya scrambled across the grass to retrieve it. She clutched it to her chest like she was holding a small child.
"We've got to get Lauren somewhere safe", Charlie said to the others.
"Yeah preferable away from Gollum over there", Eric commented towards Tennaya. Kim stepped up and pushed a button on her morpher and in a flash, the group was teleport away from the clearing, leaving Tennaya alone with the Corona Aurora.
Kim's teleportation had moved the sentries across the island to the other hill they had seen earlier. There was a small sheltered opening in the rocks where they would hopefully be obscured from view. Charlie sat dutifully by Lauren's bedside and waited for her to wake up.
"How's she doing?" Kim asked the sabretooth sentry.
"Alive", she replied, "there's no visible signs of injury so hopefully she's just been knocked out".
"I still can't believe Tennaya would do something like that", Eric shook his head.
"Why not, it wouldn't be the first time she's attacked one of us", Kim shot back.
"Yeah but she one of her own", Eric sighed, "this is so messed up".
The whole island began to shake violently. The tremor passed in a few moments but everyone was shaken up,
"it would help if we knew where the hell we were". Charlie said
"Venus Island", they heard Lauren mumble from her makeshift bed, "Venus Island", she said again and this time her eyes fluttered open. Charlie's immediate reaction was to pull the Tricera Sentry up and wrap her arms around her. It took her a few second to realise what she had done and when she did, she sheepishly lowered her back down, "Wow, I should get knocked out more often", Lauren gave her a small smile.
"Yeah she's feeling alright", Eric laughed.
"Then perhaps it's time she gave us some answers", Kim still wasn't as trusting towards the tricera sentry as Charlie was.
"Didn't you read the ranger history", Lauren asked and laughed to herself, "I see the rumours about the ranger slayer jumping into action without assessing the situation are true".
"We were also compassionate enough to save you from your deranged friend", Eric commented, "so perhaps you can give some answers, starting with where you got those morphers from".
Lauren looked down at the morpher on her wrist, "We were given them when the Coinless base was attacked, we had no idea where they came from". It wasn't a total lie, she really didn't know where they had come from. She wasn't prepared to say that Trini had given them the morphers, she didn't trust them that much yet.
"So the Coinless just so happened to be developing morphers" Eric continued to push the issue.
"Did you three know about your morphers before you received them", Lauren asked. Eric's mouthed opened and quickly shut again, "Yeah that's what I thought".
"Perhaps we can talk about that once we're off this island", Charlie steered the conversation away from the stolen morphers, "you mumbled something about Venus Island?"
Lauren nodded, "Its the private island of Lord Zedd".
There was another rumble, this time even more violent than the one before. The sentries that were standing up had to crouch down low to keep their balance.
Once the tremor had eased off, Kim ran to the opening in the cliff and looked outside, "Oh that's not good", she stated, "I think the island's sinking".
"Don't be an idiot", Eric joined the ranger slayer but almost immediately, she had to agree with her. The beach where they had landed was now gone and the coastline was halfway up the original hill they had climbed, "Oh man, this is freaky".
"The entire island is unstable", Charlie began, "which means that we need to find Tennaya and fast. If we're going to get out of here, then I think we're going to need the Corona Aurora". The others nodded slowly in agreement.
"Maybe you should stay here", Charlie said to Lauren.
The tricera sentry shook her head, "No, if anyone is going to save her, it's going to be me". It took all of her strength but Lauren rose stood up and gingerly followed the rebel sentries .
Somewhere else on the island, Tennaya sat on a tree stump with her head in her hands. She felt a strong tremor that shook the entire island and once it had finished, Tennaya was immediately on her feet, something was alerting her to danger in the area. "Hello tyranno sentry", Tennaya knew that voice so she wasn't surprised to see Drakon standing beside her, "I have an interesting proposition for you".