Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Power Rangers (*sob!*)

Summary: Some of the Rangers have to face one of their worst
fears when tragedy strikes a former teammate.

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To Hell and Back -

Chapter Nine: The Vortex

* **

Jason found himself in some kind of dark hole - a whirlwind of shadows that seemed to have no end and no beginning.

Finally, he found the edge. It was a cliff, where he stood and looked down into the hazy shapes below. Deep in the darkness, he saw her.

Kimberly, or at least some solid-looking but rather translucent version of her, was lying on her side on what looked like a cold stone floor. From the distance Jason was standing from, he could only make out her shape and couldn't see whether she was moving.

"Kim . . ." he breathed, ecstasy and anger surging through him like a conflict of enemies.

For a moment, he just stood there, his eyes fixed on the shape below. He thought about the Rangers, and all the grief they were being put through on account of Crayan, wherever he was. He remembered Rocky's tears and Aisha's screams. His mind drifted to Billy and his broken, confused sorrow.

He remembered Zordon and his paternal wounds that might never heal, like his own. Alpha's grief had been evident even in a robot; even they had suffered for what had happened to her.

And then he thought about Kim. Alone, lost, afraid - there had been no one to help her, no one to save her from the endless stream of demons that must have haunted her in her subconscious as they stole her from the world.

He thought about the agony and pain she must have felt, the terrible fear, and the aching longing to be home and to be with her friends. His heart was nearly crushed at the realization that she might have been crying for him, and he had waited so long to come.

A second before Jason leaped down into the swirling darkness, his eyes glued only to her pale form, he made a solemn vow.

For Kim and for the ones who loved her, he'd go to hell and back to bring her home safe.

***

As he drew nearer, he realized that her entire spirit was shaking, sobbing uncontrollably. He began to understand her broken words, and something screamed inside him as he heard them:

"Jase . . . oh, Jase, where are you? Save me, Jason . . . I need you."

He covered the rest of the distance in a flash. Slowly, hands trembling, he sank down beside her to turn her over in his arms. Her expression changed; it was as if a light of hope had burned bright in her hollow eyes.

"Jason?" her voice was whispery, like it had been in the church, but it was there.

"It me, Kimmie," his voice was thick with tears. "I'm here, and I'm going to take you home even if I die doing it."

Dark laughter from behind him made Kimberly's soul grab onto Jason's shoulders and crumple against him. Jason gently wrapped an arm around her waist and disentangling her, turned to face the demon that had taken her from him.

He knew instantly why everyone, even Lord Zedd, feared Crayan. Tall and huge, the dreaded demon was not so much ugly as intimidating. With an aura that blazed strength and power, a manner that shouted no mercy and eyes that burned a deep red of fire, Crayan was every creature's nightmare.

Jason laughed.

Anger shot through his blood and his veins like poison, removing from him any element of fear or consideration. All he could think about was what this demon had done to his Kimberly, and he was going to make him pay.

"You may just have to die for it, Ranger," Crayan drawled, amused. "You cannot fight me."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "No? Let's see then, shall we?"

He leaped up and threw a flying kick at Crayan's face. The demon stumbled back, but whipped out with his arms to grab Jason's foot and yank it downwards so that the ex-Ranger fell with a crash to the cold ground.

There was an anguished cry from Kimberly, and that was all the encouragement Jason needed. Leaping to his feet, he launched into a series of martial arts moves from his Ranger days.

But Crayan was the toughest opponent yet. Five minutes passed, and Jason was growing tired. His forehead was cut and blood poured from his arm where his Ranger suit had been slashed by one of the demon's deadly claws. Without his helmet, Jason had no extra power.

"Pity you didn't think ahead, huh, Ranger?" Crayan laughed as Jason stumbled backwards, reeling from a harsh blow to the jaw.

Jason felt that surge of angry adrenaline again and he whirled around, his entire body lifting off the ground as he launched a powerful kick-and-punch at Crayan, breaking the demon's gruesome nose and causing him to gasp for air.

But it couldn't go on forever. Jaosn felt his energy slowly draining. Any other warrior would have been massacred a long time ago, but his need to get Kimberly to safety and his love for her kept him going.

But as her voice faded into whispery sobs of fear for him, his own life force began to diminish - and Crayan began to win.

Just as it seemed that all was lost, and that Kimberly and Jaosn would be trapped in that vortex, dead and alone, something strange happened.

In a blinding flash of light, the vortex shattered and Jason, Crayan and Kimberly's fragile soul lay in a patch of grass - in a cave.

Crayan gasped: "This cannot be!"

A glow appeared in the entrance of the cave, and eight beams of light shone into the grass. Jason watched, incredulous, as the light became two yellow beams, two red, one blue, one pink, and two black.

The colours faded and there stood eight Power Rangers.

"How - ?" Jason choked on his words, unable to believe what he was seeing.

For there were Tommy in Red, Adam in Black, Kat in Pink and Tanya in Yellow - four of the present Zeo Rangers. Then there was Rocky, who seemed to be in his original suit of Red (Jason had his Blue after all). But also, amazingly, standing there were Billy in his original Blue, Zack is his original Black, and Trini is her original yellow.

The Mighty Morphin Rangers were back.

"Impossible!" Crayan screamed in anguish. "How can this be? Nine Rangers?"

"Ten, actually," the spirit of Kimberly staggered to her feet. "Even a soul, Crayan, has the power of the Ningette within her. With all the Rangers, past and present here, you will be destroyed."

In a blur of power and a scream of agony, Crayan was blasted from ten different directions by beams of suddenly glowing light.

His body burst into a million pieces.

The light faded, and the Rangers looked at one other.

"Why?" Jason asked, his arm sliding around Kimberly, because she looked very weak and faint.

Trini smiled. "It takes a lot for a best friend to walk away," she said, her eyes on Kimberly. "And I managed to do it. I wasn't going to do it again."

"Sometimes," Rocky said, patting Jaosn on the shoulder, "All it takes is a little hope."

"How did you know where I was?"

The Rangers glanced at each other, and Billy grinned. "Lord Zedd supplied enough power to the Command Centre to restore it completely. He told Zordon where you had gone."

Tanya seemed disgusted. "Never thought I'd be grateful to that creep."

"Consider it even, Tanya," Jason smiled, staring out of the save entrance at the sky, where a twinkle of black light seem to wink at him. "We owe each other a debt neither can ever repay, and yet, we both seemed to have repaid it."

"Come on," Zack said, his eyes on Kimberly's translucent face. "Let's get her home."

** TBC.

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A/N: I hope this was a good climax to the action of the story. A little more to come (the story is almost over, though - waaah). Please review and let me know what you think . . .

[~Skimboardergurl (spelling?) - thanks a lot for wishing me luck in school; I think I'm gonna need it~]