Chapter 19- Power
Rocky DeSantos bowed solemnly and watched his beginners' class weave their chattering way through the double doors of the gym. He was proud of what he had accomplished- after having to leave the Power Rangers many years ago because of an injury he had in his weaker days often felt that he was expendable in all aspects of his life. Now however he had a successful martial arts school in Stone Canyon and his self-esteem was certainly on the rise.
He grabbed a towel and nodded a farewell to the last of his students as he wiped the sweat from his face before a splitting headache gripped him. He realised, belatedly that this was no ordinary headache as it spread through his body, a great pain in his heart and shadow in his mind, as if all the happiness had been sucked from him. He dropped to his knees in front of his startled colleagues, his brow knitted in pain. Then he crumpled to the ground completely and curled into a foetal ball on the floor, willing the agonising pain to leave him, wondering what could have caused such distress to his body and mind.
Aisha Campbell lowered her stethoscope and smiled at the nervous group of zoologists crowded around her and the sedated antelope at her feet. She had travelled around the world once attaining her degree in veterinary medicine but something about Africa always called her back. However she was scheduled to fly back to Angel Grove in a month's time to catch up with Adam and Rocky, the three had remained firm friends as the years wore on, and she hoped to catch up with Tommy, Billy and Kimberly,- who remained her best girl friend even though continents separated them.
"She's going to be fine. Just a little infection, I can give you something that will clear it right up." She reassured the researchers who had called her out to check on the listless animal. Aisha was about to further describe what could be done to speed the beast's recovery when she suddenly became very dizzy. She put a hand to her head and blinked, thinking the heat had perhaps got to her at last. She hastily took a drink of water but the feeling only intensified, she felt as if someone was tearing her heart, something inside her cried out desperately and brokenly, it was like she was losing a part of herself. Tears started trailing from her eyes and she fell to the dusty ground in pain, sobbing as if the world was ending but her hazy mind unable to comprehend why.
Adam Park was good, in fact, as stunt-men went, he was considered one of the best.
I guess the years of fighting evil monsters really is the best preparation for life in Hollywood. He smirked to himself, taking a sip of his energy drink and reading over the script for the next scene he had to shoot. He was glad the movie-star he was doubling was a wuss who didn't do his own stunts as so many actors professed to do these days, or he'd be out of a job.
"Park, you're up. We want to start with the glass window, roll through the flames from the 'oil' and jump onto the bonnet of the car. Bobby's coming to get you suited up." The stunt coordinator slapped him on the shoulder amicably and Adam nodded glancing around for the costume department who were to fit him out with the necessary safety gear. Suddenly his knees gave out from under him and he toppled to the ground, instantly surrounded by a chattering horde of producers, extras, grips and cameramen who were not helping the splitting headache that had seized him. He felt confused, everything was blurring together and he felt his whole body weaken. He felt lost in a storm of noise and colour and for a moment he couldn't remember who he was. His body ached as if he'd just been run over by a truck and he found himself unable to see anything but shadows, fear knotting tightly in his stomach at what was happening to him, powerless to stop it.
"We've got visuals!" Hayley announced startled as the monitors started flashing.
"Where from?" Ethan queried as the remaining Rangers crowded round the main consoles once more.
"I don't know, I can't trace the origin, it's from Mesogog's fortress that's all I know. Billy I'll reroute the image to you, one moment." She typed an access code and Billy nodded his thanks when he saw the picture.
"Is it Dr. O?" Conner asked hopefully.
"No…" Jason murmured, wide-eyed as the picture came through. Kim was being dragged into the apparent main chamber of Mesogog's lab by Zeltrax and Elsa.
"Oh no." Kira whispered.
"What happened to Dr. O?" Ethan asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
"He failed." Billy muttered, his voice echoing his disbelief.
They observed as Mesogog taunted the Pink Ranger, and they ascertained that the weakness in the barriers must have been a trap to lure Tommy in and capture him also, or at least let Kim think she had a hope of escaping with him.
"You're not gonna get away with this lizard-breath, the Rangers will stop you." They heard Kim staying brave, and Kira nodded resolutely.
"We will stop him." Conner put his hand on her shoulder supportively and for once she didn't slap it away, either too worried or angry to notice.
"Once I have drained you dry…your little friends will be powerless to do anything, except perhaps observe the destruction of your world…and the rise of mine."
"Man, that gets so old." Ethan rolled his eyes.
"You goddamn son of a-"
"Language Ms Hart! There are children watching." Mesogog's beady eye flicked towards them, and he smirked as if he was looking right at them, baiting them as much as he was Kim.
"Son of a bitch." Jason finished for her, hot anger evident on his features.
It seemed an agonising time, both going so slowly yet so quickly at once as they could do nothing but watch Kim's inevitable meeting with the extractor. Then Mesogog pushed the point of the machine into the Pink Ranger's chest and Kim began to scream, an unbearable sound that ripped them through like a blade. The three younger Rangers bunched together, Kira closing her eyes and covering her ears, willing the sound to stop, with Ethan and Conner averting their gazes and gritting their teeth, Conner's hold on Kira tightening. Jason steeled himself to watch his little sister, his eyes filling with tears and his jaw tightening, and Hayley's knuckles were white as she clutched the desk. Then their video connection to Billy flickered and the adults saw him crash from his chair and out of their view.
"Billy!" Jason exclaimed, turning to Hayley in shock, "What's happening? Billy, can you hear us? Billy!"
There was nothing but static over the audio link and the video link only showed the rapidly swinging chair he had just fallen from. Then a heavy groan cut across the line.
"Billy, talk to us, are you alright?" Hayley asked slowly.
Billy for his part could not hear the concerned voices of those in Tommy's lab, for such a pain had come over him as he had never known. He would have thought he was dying if was not taking so long and was so inexplicable, he was in perfect health. His logical mind worked through his pain and he realised that his reaction was tied to Kim, having been a Ninja Ranger with her, their spirit animals interlinked through the power of Ninjor. He heard the Wolf howling in distress in his mind, crying out for its sister the Crane, and he heard Kimberly's scream in his ears as he too cried out, the pain overcoming him and plunging him into the darkness he fought against.
Tommy sat up, the front of his uniform still smoking from the combined blasts of Elsa and Zeltrax and his head swimming.
He staggered to his feet just as the doors slammed shut and Kimberly was pulled out of his reach again, though he could hear her cries for his help through the metal- and the sound broke his heart.
"Kim… Kimberly!" He called, stumbling to the door and pounding against it with all his might. It did not budge or buckle one bit.
"No, no! Open up you bastard…open up!" He demanded the doors, taking a few steps back and then throwing his weight against them, begging them to move just a crack so he could pry them open, but it was no use.
He raised his Brachio staff once more, twisting the handle and thrusting it to the ground.
"Fire strike, power up! Full power, now!" He called as a fierce river of fire swelled out in front of him and snaked towards the doors, enveloping them in bright flame. But when the smoke cleared from the attack, the doors were unaffected as before, as if taunting him for his inadequacies. He knew he had to get out of the cell, Kimberly would be dead if he didn't and that did not bear thinking about.
"Earthquake, strike now!" He twisted the staff yet again, trying a different attack, but as soon as the staff hit the metal floor the quake was absorbed by it, and it merely shook the weapon in his hand as the attack was snatched away.
Then the screaming started, in his head, in his heart, rattling his body. It was Kim- there was no doubting that- crying out in an agony he had never felt before, as if she was losing her mind and her heart, and he realised in horror that was what was happening to her at that moment. The pain was unbearable inside him, it had started off dully like heartburn but had grown into a blazing, consuming flame inside him, almost knocking him off his feet in its intensity. If he had not been morphed Tommy was sure he would be unconscious by now, the weight of the pain was excruciating even though the protection of his gem. He realised this was Kim's life slipping away as his knees gave way and resolutely, if blindly he used his staff as support to push himself back to his feet. He felt as if his body was on fire, he could almost taste Kim's terror and pain as if it were palpable, and it made him want to vomit. He could not see anything but white as if about to faint but willed his body to keep moving, knowing Kim's life depended on him.
He heard another scream now join Kim's, and another, and another, until five voices were crying out in pain, and a new one at last joined them, this he belatedly recognised as his own. He was responding to the pain, trying to help but unknowing how to, until the voices increased in pitch and loudness, roaring like the wind inside his head as he felt his arms moving and his hands pushing against something solid. With a raging cry of anger and agony he felt a white-hot power envelop him and with a flash of multicoloured light the door was incinerated, dissolving from in front of him as if it was dust. The bright beam of light shone through the corridor and lit the entire area- Tyrannodrones recoiling in terror at the unexpected sight. Tommy charged down the corridor as if being controlled by some unseen power, blind but for where his feet moved him. He came to another shut door but this one dissolved in front of him as rapidly as the first, the bright rainbow burst of light illuminating the inhabitants of the room which happened to be Mesogog's lab.
Zeltrax, Elsa and Mesogog whipped round at the sound of dissolving metal and the bright flash of light.
"What…is this?!" Mesogog demanded as his two henchmen stepped forward to engage the Black Ranger, who was a fearsome sight. His visor shone white and he glowed with a pulsing multicoloured energy that wove around him like smoke, the spikes on the arms and legs of his suit were extended and his gloved hands were glowing with black power.
"How did you escape?" Elsa demanded in an enraged snarl, rushing forward to attack. Tommy merely extended his arm and caught her as she ran, throwing her to slam into the opposite wall.
"Elsa! How dare you Oliver, I shall kill y-" Zeltrax was tossed aside to crash into the shelves of coloured liquids and creatures that were stored for future monsters, crumpling to the ground in a heap and accompanied by the sound of shattering glass.
Mesogog did not back down at this sight and met the glowing Black Ranger head on, gripping him about the shoulders Mesogog sneered,
"It is too late Dr. Oliver, she is dead now!" With an unearthly and primal roar the Black Ranger lifted the dinosaur-like villain and threw him backwards, through the hole where the doors had been and all the way back into the wall at the far end of the corridor, where the overlord collapsed in a heap. Kimberly's screaming abruptly stopped, and with an explosion of pink light she demorphed, her ninja suit disappearing leaving her in her loose training clothes. Her skin was deathly pale and her chest did not rise or fall.
Tommy raced to her side faster than he knew how to, and the leather straps melted at his touch. He picked the lifeless Kimberly up gently and extended his arm, sending a final blow of black energy into the main control console of the lab, destroying it with a crackling burst of electricity. Then, as if not of his own mind he found himself back at the invisi-portal and staggered through. He stumbled to the ground and placed Kimberly down, his gloved hand trailing over her porcelain cheek tenderly before he too fell to his knees, and collapsed.