Chapter Three

Suddenly, a silver blade flashed above me, blocking Gluk's sword in a shower of sparks and batting it away.

"Get away from him," growled Jason, his voice low and dangerous. Gluk froze, staring in shock at the Red Ranger, and Jason stepped forward and rammed his elbow into the monster's face. Despite the fact it was immediately lost in slime, Gluk stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. Jason offered me his hand - I took it and got to my feet, picking up my sword along the way.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked quickly.

Breathing heavily, I turned to him. "Yeah," I said in a high-pitched voice. "Yeah, I'm good. Should we...uh...?"

I was about to ask whether we should go help the other Rangers, but the question faded from my mind. Even as I watched, the cavalry was arriving, and they certainly didn't need any help from us. Zac was slicing through mud monsters like they weren't even there with his Power Axe, while Billy was fighting with his lance to help Scott keep them at bay. But Kimberly was most effective in battling the creatures. Armed with her bow, she shot arrow after arrow at a furious rate - one shot straight through two of the monsters, causing them both to explode in showers of slime, while a second arrow pinned another monster to a boulder behind him, and he exploded a second later as well.

Gluk had not expected help to arrive, and found himself at a considerable disadvantage. "Retreat!" he cried, slithering to his feet and starting to run. "Retreat!" Within seconds, the eleven of us were left alone as the mud monsters turned and fled, soon leaving the area completely.

Once Gluk and his remaining mud monsters had all escaped back up the hill, we all took a moment to catch our breath and recount everything that had happened. Jason told us how they'd defeated the monster, returned to Zordon and were immediately teleported to Nerimos. Once here, they'd used a second tracking device to quickly catch up to the five of us. We then told them everything we'd seen, from when we arrived to being attacked by Gluk. It was clear that Rita was much closer to Torlus, if she hadn't found him already. Away from home, her magic would've been fairly weak, and to actually use her powers meant she desperately needed a monster to keep us busy.

"I guess that means we don't have much time," said Kim.

"Well, at least Torlus isn't far away," said Sarah. "Our last reading put him right over that line of hills."

"Then we've got our work cut out for us," said Trini.

Scott nodded. "But thanks you guys, for showing up right when you did," he said, looking around the group. "I don't know how long we could've held them off."

"Don't mention it," said Kim with a smile.

"Yeah, it's what we're here for," added Tommy, and at his tone both Zac and Jason shot him a look.

"But why couldn't Zordon have just teleported us straight to Torlus?" asked Aaron. "Wouldn't that have saved us a lot of time?"

Billy shook his head. "Planetary teleportation doesn't work like that," he said. "Because the destination is so far away, it's difficult to fix exact landing co-ordinates before our arrival, unlike simple teleportation between the city and the Command Centre."

"As close as possible is the best we can do," nodded Trini.

"Wait," began Teresa, "you guys have been to other planets before?"

"Not many," said Zac. "Maybe, like, two or three."

I looked around the group and up to Jason. Now that the Seniors were here, I wasn't quite sure what to say. But Jason caught my look and nodded. "C'mon guys, we gotta get moving," he said, and everybody stood up, turned and began climbing to the top of the hill. But I called Jason back and the others went on without us.

"Look," I began, "I, uh, I forgot to say thank you."

He smiled. "It's okay," he replied, as we began following the other Rangers from a distance. "I'll always have your back."

I nodded. "It's strange though. All I really had to do last time was hold the thing, and I kicked Monitar's butt. I don't know what went wrong."

Jason turned to me. "I do," he said. "You were relying on it, relying on the skills and the power that's automatic to a Ranger."

"I was?"

Jason nodded. "Don't worry, I did the exact same thing in my first couple of fights. Automatic skills are nice, but if you hit somebody who's used to fighting that way, you're in trouble."

"So how do I get around it?" I said. "How do I get better?"

"Train up," he replied with a shrug. "You can only rely on your in-built skills so much, and if you're gonna be a good Ranger, it has to start with you, and not the suit." He paused, and smiled beneath his visor. "And you might want to regulate your breathing, too."

I laughed, and looked up to him. "Thanks," I said. "Again. Are there any more lessons I need to know about?"

"Thousands," he smiled. "We'll get there eventually..." but suddenly, Zac appeared in front of us.

"I hate to bust this heart-to-heart," he said with a grin, "but are you two coming?"

Jason nodded. "Right behind you," and we followed Zac towards where the other Rangers were crouching at the top of the slope. But as we reached them, Billy motioned for us to drop to the ground, and as I fell to my stomach behind a large boulder, I saw why.

Beneath the hill lay the Circle of Hianan, as Zordon had called it, a stone circle built out of reddish rock. The hill we were on dropped quite steeply down to the circle, while directly across from us was another steep hill. To our left and the front of the circle, a valley ran between the two hills leading out to a wide plain, with what looked like a ruined city in the distance. Opposite to the plain, however, the ground was replaced by empty air - the circle ended at a vertical cliff that dropped thousands of feet to the ground far below.

Strange circular designs covered the floor of the circle, and in one section was a larger version of the triangle/third eye symbol we'd seen back in the Command Centre. Four tall stone columns stood around the edge of the circle, and they all looked in danger of collapsing at any time. As it was, debris lay scattered from one side of the platform to the other. And a man, Torlus himself I assumed, stood tied to one of the columns. Around him on all sides was an ocean of putties, hundreds of them, and I could make out the golden form of who I assumed was Goldar nearby. Rita was there as well, standing before Torlus, and Zordon looked to have been right - the medallion was nowhere in sight.

"Whoa," breathed Scott. "What do we do now?"

"Yeah," said Zac. "We can't fight our way through that many putties. There must be more than a hundred down there."

"Including Goldar, and the rest of Gluk's mud monsters," added Aaron.

"Well," said Jason, "we could..."

"We need a diversion," I said quickly, interrupting him. "That way, we could sneak down there, rescue Torlus and get the heck out of there before they realise we've even been there at all." I turned to the others but saw Jason staring at me. "Oh, sorry. That was your part, I guess?"

"Are you kidding? I'm impressed."

Billy nodded. "A sound strategy. Indeed, diverting their attention may be the only way of extricating Torlus, short of fighting the entire army. Perhaps we could summon the zords? Jason?"

Billy looked over to Jason, but the Red Ranger was staring across the group. Hearing his name, Jason shook his head and looked up quickly. "Sorry."

"What were you looking at?" asked Zac.

Jason glanced back to where I lay peering down the hill. "Myself four years ago," he said softly, then raised his voice. "You guys are right, a diversion is our best bet. I don't think we should summon the zords though, that might scare Rita too much."

Trini nodded. "We can't panic Rita with Torlus caught right in the middle."

"Exactly," Jason replied, then glanced around the group. "Although, I think I do have an idea, and while it's not foolproof, in terms of being crazy, I think we're gold..."

"You idiot!" cried Rita, smashing Gluk across the back of his slimy head with her wand. "There were thirteen of you and five of them! How could you lose?"

"We didn't count on the Senior Team showing up so soon," grunted Gluk. "Your Crabitron was obviously too weak to keep them occupied very long..."

At that, pure fury crossed Rita's face, and she raised her staff again. Realising he'd just crossed the line with 'Danger' written on it in bright flashing letters, Gluk stepped back quickly and slithered away. Shaking her head, Rita crossed the stone circle back towards Goldar.

"This is getting nowhere," she said. "Have you found it yet?"

Goldar shook his head. "No my queen."

"Damn," Rita swore. "He must have hidden the thing somewhere. The Rangers will be here any second now."

Goldar glanced up and almost dropped his sword. "Sooner than you think," he said, pointing towards the hill opposite the column where Torlus had been restrained. Turning to see what he meant, Rita saw six Power Rangers climbing down the hill in plain view, three from either team - green, black, yellow, white, light blue and purple. Approaching the circle, the six Rangers stopped in a line, and the army of putties, who for the rest of their existence would associate the sudden appearance of coloured spandex with pain and injury, all immediately began to watch them, waiting for the slightest sign of danger.

"Ah, Power Rangers," began Rita, "how wonderful it is to see you all again. And Tommy, come to turn on your friends again?"

Behind his visor, Tommy gritted his teeth but ignored the taunt. "Rita, word has it that you're being mean to kindly old men."

"He has something I want."

"Well, normally we ask nicely and say please," said Sarah.

Rita ignored her. "Why so few? I could've sworn there were more of you."

"Your mud monsters sent a few of us home early," said Zac smoothly.

Rita didn't believe for a second, but it never occurred to her how right she actually was. Even as Zac spoke, Aaron, Jason, Billy, Kim and I were slowly climbing down the hill facing the other six Rangers, behind Rita and her army of troops. The distraction was working perfectly - every single putty was keenly staring at the six other Rangers and ignoring what was going on behind them. We moved swiftly but carefully, careful not to even breathe too loudly. Once at the bottom of the hill and now in plain sight, Jason signalled us to Torlus with a hand movement, and we crept towards him. Two putties were standing guard, one on either side, but Kim and Billy grabbed them and silently took them to the ground.

As Torlus watched in amazement, Jason and I used our swords to slice through his ropes. He glanced from Jason and I to the others, his eyes lingering briefly over our morphers and the white diamond designs on our chests. I glanced up to check on him, and the wizard smiled quickly and nodded, realising who we were and who'd sent us, and I returned to the ropes at his side.

Finally, Jason sliced through the last of the restraints. Still in absolute silence, oblivious to the conversation between Rita and the others, we turned around and led Torlus back towards the hill, but before we'd even had a chance to get the mage to safety, a golden-armoured figure stepped before us, blocking our path. It was Scorpina.

"Well," she said, an expression of evil glee crossing her face, "look what we have here. Rita?" And with that, Rita turned towards us, and so too did half her army. Our cover was blown.

Damn.

Rita's eyes flashed with fury. "Nice diversion. Really. Putties, KILL THEM!"

The army of putties sprang into action, immediately leaping towards everybody standing around the outside of the circle. For a brief second, I was standing under a malevolent grey tidal wave of leering grey faces that was rapidly sweeping towards us.

"Torlus," said Jason quickly, as dozens of putties sprang towards us and Aaron, Billy and Kimberly leaped to intercept them. "We're taking you to Zordon, but where did you hide the medallion?"

"It's over there," he said, pointing to one of the stone columns near the cliff edge. "I was able to hide it in a gap under the column before I was captured."

"Thanks," nodded Jason. "We'll take it from here." And raising our swords, Jason and I joined the others and charged into battle.

The Rangers acting as the diversion had indeed attracted the attention of most of the putties and consequently found themselves under attack first. But instead of hanging back, the six charged forward across the red earth to meet the mass of grey warriors and engage them on their own terms.

The sheer number of adversaries immediately forced Teresa and Tommy back-to- back, but even as they were surrounded, the two were already fighting back. Tommy knocked numerous putties to the ground with two roundhouse kicks, and the ones that escaped were slammed backwards with powerful uppercuts. Another wave swept forward to replace their fallen comrades - Tommy blocked a high punch, batted away a low kick and took that opponent down with a heel to the jaw, before a high jump-kick flattened several more. He spun to the side as another fell towards him - only to gape as Teresa smashed the putty out of the air with a high punch, before spinning to the side and dropping another with a high roundhouse kick. The Green Ranger smiled for a second, shook his head and turned back to the putties facing him, while behind him, Teresa continued to frantically kick and chop into submission any enemy who crossed her path.

Behind them, Zac was plowing through the ranks of putties, knocking adversaries aside with every swipe of his axe and clearing a wide path with energy blasts at every opportunity. Trini was fighting furiously beside him, her Power Daggers flashing through the air like solid lightning, landing blow after blow on her adversaries and leaving a trail of broken and defeated opponents behind her.

Jason and I were slowly working our way over to the column Torlus had pointed out to us, seemingly facing Gluk and his mud monsters more than any of the other Rangers. Beside me, Jason was nothing more than a blur of crimson, slashing his sword from left to right and moving forward with every step, mowing down mud monsters and putties like grass. He somersaulted over a mud blast, swinging his sword above his head and decapitating a monster on either side as he landed. He rolled forward and slashed his sword again - it carved through two of the monsters like a laser beam through butter - before wiping out an entire line of putties with a spinning barrel kick.

I followed his lead, watching him for a brief second before charging forward. My style was nothing short of hack and slash, but it was effective nonetheless. I reduced one monster to a puddle of mud with a single horizontal slash, before turning in one motion and bringing my blade right down a second monster's body, slicing him in half. Two putties leapt at me - I dodged around one and smashed the hilt into the second's stomach, causing him to double-over briefly. I leaped up and jumped off his back, launching one foot at an approaching mud monster and the other at another putty, immediately taking both to the ground. But no matter how many mud monsters we destroyed, they just kept slithering away and reforming.

Jason and I continued forward, the battle raging around us. The column Torlus had pointed to was only about ten metres distant, and we were closing in with every step. Across from us, Sarah was fighting off a horde of opponents with her mace, furiously smashing putties aside with every blow and fighting to keep ahead of the tide. Beside her, Aaron was blasting away with his laser blasters, shooting anything that came near him and cutting a wide swath through the ranks, while a few metres away, Scott was spinning around on the spot, blocking then attacking with his staff and striking out whenever he could.

With their backs to one of the stone columns, Billy and Kimberly were also battling their way through dozens of opponents. Spinning from side-to-side, the Blue Ranger was dropping putties with every swing of his lance, slashing high and blocking low. Wielding her bow, her right arm nothing more than a blur of pink and white, Kimberly was shooting at anything that moved, firing a rate of two or three arrows per second, adjusting her aim between shots and picking off dozens of adversaries one-by-one.

A wave of putties separated me from Jason. I elbowed one out of the way, turned and suddenly found myself face-to-face with a tall golden-clad warrior.

"You must be Goldar," I said.

"And you're the Orange Ranger," he growled, raising his sword. The putties around us on all sides immediately took a step back. "It would please me no end to remove you from my mistress's troubles."

"Nice to meet you too," I replied. With that, we both raced forward and swung our blades - they met with a clang that could be heard over the battle and bounced off each other. I paused for a second and Goldar took the advantage, swinging high before sending me backwards with a low kick. He lunged forward to continue the attack, but I recovered quickly and ducked under one slice before stepping around a second. He turned and swung again - I raised my own blade, blocked the path of his sword and batted it away.

"Too bad pal," I said. Leaping to the attack, I dodged a low slash, caught his arm and slashed at his chest armour in a shower of sparks, before stepping forward and ramming my fist into his cheek. He grunted in annoyance and brushed away my fist, not remotely fazed by the blow, but just then a wall of putties flowed between us. Thankful for the interruption, I spun back around - the column was only about three metres away. Running forward, I dived to the ground as a putty lunged for me, rolled to my feet and found myself at the base of the column.

"Jason!" I cried, hoping he could hear me above the roar of the battle, "I'm here!" Keeping my sword by my side, I scanned the dirt around the base of the column, running my fingers along the ground. A piece of the column seemed to shimmer for a second, and suddenly there was a gap in the stone where there wasn't a moment ago - I reached in, and my fingers brushed against something. It was the ribbon the medallion hung on, and grabbing it, I pulled the medallion out into the light. It sparkled in the sunlight as I held it up, golden, beautiful and about the size of my palm. The picture back in the Command Centre hadn't done it justice.

"That's it!" cried a high-pitched voice. I spun to see Rita Repulsa racing towards me. Before I had time to defend myself, Rita raised her wand and landed a glancing blow to my shoulder - pain shot down my arm and I dropped the medallion. It bounced off a stone and ricocheted away - as I watched in horror, it skittered across the stone, getting closer to the edge of the cliff.

A few steps behind me, lost in a sea of grey faces, Jason looked up to see the medallion bouncing towards the cliff edge, while I scrambled frantically after it. He struck away the closest putty and dropped another with a high kick, before turning and immediately beginning to carve a desperate path towards the edge of the cliff.

Not knowing what else to do, I dived after the medallion - by now, it had shot off the ground and was hanging in the air. The ground disappeared beneath me as I grabbed at the ribbon, and I hung suspended for the briefest of seconds, reaching out desperately for the side of the cliff only a few short feet away. Then it was too late, and I was tumbling headfirst down into the void.