Chapter 9: The Trials Part 1
Madison led them deeper into the forest, until they came to a large clearing containing two very large boulders. Once they reached their destination, Madison turned to them and motioned towards the rocks.
"Your first trial is simple: move these boulders. One for each of you. If either of you can do it, we shall move on. If both of you can, then we will be done."
"Piece of cake."
Troy took out his morpher, only for Madison to force his arm down.
"Without using your powers. I promise you won't need them."
"Oh."
Noah groaned in exasperation.
"You're kidding me, right? Those boulders are far too large for even a world record bodybuilder to lift, much less either of us."
"Noah, relax. I'm sure she knows what she's doing."
Troy made his way down to attempt Madison's challenge. Before he did so, she gave him some words of encouragment.
"Remember, as long as you believe in magic, anything is possible."
Troy nodded and approached the rock. After studying it for a minute to find the best way to approach it, he wrapped his arms around it and gave it a hard tug. As expected, the rock did not budge an inch, but he wasn't ready to give up. Closing his eyes, he focused on Madison's words.
Believe...
Believe...
Believe...
"I believe...I believe in magic!"
Invigored, Troy pulled back with all his might...
And the boulder followed suit! With one mighty heave, the rock was in the air and in his arms. In fact, he found that it felt rather light. His mission accomplished, he returned to Madison and Noah.
"Dude, that was awesome!"
"Congratulations, Troy. Now it is your turn, Noah."
Feeling motivated by seeing Troy's display of strength, Noah stepped up to take his chance. Wrapping his arms around it, he closed his eyes and concentrated...
"I believe in magic...I believe in magic..."
And tugged with all his might, yet the boulder refused to budge. Not wanting to let the others down, he tried again, but still the boulder remained in place. After several more tries of this, he simply had to give up.
"I'm sorry, Troy. I tried, but..."
"Its okay, Noah. That wasn't the only test, right Maddie?"
"Correct. And the next test starts...NOW!"
Before either of the two could react, Madison drew her Morpher and shot sparks at both the boulder, causing them to move on their own and chase after Noah and Troy. Understandably frightened, the two tried to move out of the way, only for the boulder to follow. Realizing their only hope was to outrun them, the two bolted off in opposite directions.
"Remember: To use magic, all you need to do is believe in magic!"
Troy ran through the forest as fast as he could, but every time he looked back the boulder was always at least 10 feet away. While athletic, he knew he couldn't run forever, and sure enough he felt his breath start to get away from him, and the boulder catching up. Knowing there was only one thing that could stop him now, Troy closed his eyes and turned to the boulder, stretching out his arms in an attempt to shield himself.
"I believe in magic...I believe in magic!"
Realizing he wasn't flat like he should be, he opened his eyes to find the boulder nowhere to be seen. Looking down, he found a small pebble, which the boulder had shrunk down to through his belief.
"Phew."
Noah, on the other hand, was having a much more difficult time. While he wasn't exactly out of shape, he was by no means in a good enough shape to outrun the boulder, and it was catching up fast. Despite how many times he said he believed in magic, nothing seemed to work and he was about to keel over in exhaustion. Feeling that there was no other way, he collapsed on the forest floor and waited for the worst...
Only to see the boulder zip over him, as if it had hit a ramp and bounced over him completely. At first he thought he had been responsible for this miracle, but then he found Madison and Troy coming over to him, Troy helping him to his feet.
"You alright, dude?"
"No, I'm not alright! I've failed twice now!"
"Worry not, Noah. I still have one final test."
With that, Madison walked off, Troy following her. Noah hesitated at first, not believing it to be worth it, but after a minute he followed suit. Maybe this one would be different after all...
"Legendary Black Ranger Mode!"
Back with the others, they were busy trying to repel The Armada's forces. Jake, in his Black Dino Ranger form, used the fire mode of his Brachio Staff to create a wave of fire, incinerating a good number of his opposing forces. Once they were done, he used the water strike mode to short circuit the rest of them.
"Oh yeah!"
Gia had an equally easy time, using her advanced speed from the Aquitar Ranger Powers to slash through the robots with ease. One tried to get the drop on her from behind, but she sensed it coming as easily slashed it away.
Emma's Rocket Blaster made short work of the robots, blasting them to bits from a distance. With the grunts taken care of, the three turned their attention to Volcran.
"Your turn now, ugly!"
"You think that'll scare me? Bring it on!"
Deciding to switch it up, the three rangers took out new keys.
"Legendary White Ranger Mode!"
In a flash, Emma was the White Rhino Ranger, Emma was the White Tiger Ranger, and Gia was the White Aquitian Ranger. Weapons drawn, they charged at the Field Commander.
Taking him down was easier said than done, however. Jake was the first to attack, managing to match him in hand to hand combat. However, Jake was inexperienced, and was starting to get sloppy, giving Volcran one to many chances to land his blows. Emma ran up to help, using her White Tiger Baton to bash Volcran's body. Even together though, it wasn't enough to finish him off, and he threw them back. Gia leapt up, slashing him rapidly with her sword, but even then he was still too strong.
"Is this all you've got? Pathetic!"
With one wild wing, Gia was sent flying, landing hard on her back with a thud. The three regrouped, weary but still ready to fight. However, Volcran had seen enough.
"I'll finish you later. Right now, I have bigger fish to fry!"
Spinning rapidly, he bore a hole into the ground miles deep. By the time the rangers got there, he was already long gone.
"Dang it! He got away!"
"He could be going after Troy and Noah. We need to warn them!"
"Right. Troy, are you there? Troy! Noah? Anyone!"