Chapter Five

Teresa and Scott were just crossing the yard when I stepped out of the front door with my backpack slung over my shoulder.

"Morning guys," I called. "Heading to the Youth Centre?"

Teresa nodded. "We said we'd meet the Seniors there."

Once I'd reached them, we turned and continued walking up the hill and over towards the Youth Centre. Around us, it was a beautiful April morning - the plants were still dripping from last night's rain, and the sun was hanging just above the horizon in a cloudless sky.

I shook my head. "It's the wrong kind of morning," I said.

"I know what you mean," said Scott. "A fire engine went past really early this morning and I must've jumped about ten feet."

"At least the city's still standing," I shrugged. "I mean, we've still got some time. I hardly slept at all last night though."

Teresa turned to me. "I just hope the Seniors have come up with something."

"They have to have," I nodded. "We're not gonna lose our third ever fight, are we? Hey, did you guys have trouble contacting the Command Centre before?"

Teresa nodded. "We tried calling this morning and got nothing but static."

"Yeah, and we couldn't teleport there either," said Scott. "I guess Zordon and Alpha are trying something and had to shut a few systems down."

"That's what I figured too," I replied. "We'll have to ask Billy about it when we see him."

The three of us reached the top of the hill, the rest of Currimundi lying spread out beneath us, the coastline and school down to the left and the Youth Centre a few blocks over on the right. Crossing the road, we continued down towards the Youth Centre, Teresa turning to her brother as we walked.

"Speaking of the Command Centre," she began, "I saw you yesterday afternoon, when you went to say something. Why didn't you speak up?"

Scott shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I just didn't want to say the wrong thing in front of everyone, you know?"

Teresa smiled. "What, was everyone going to laugh? Scott, we're your friends. The reason we have these coins is that we're supposed to stand up and make a fuss." Scott smiled, and the White Ranger continued. "What were you going to say anyway? I hope you at least trust Peter and I," she added with a grin.

Scott nodded, and looking up, came to a stop. A few metres ahead, a large noticeboard stood between two flowerbeds by the side of the road, holding a sheet of white paper clipped up behind a protective layer of clear perspex.

"Just an idea," he said softly, his gaze fixed on the noticeboard, wheels beginning to turn behind his eyes.

Teresa and I both stopped and turned to see what had caught his attention. "What is that?" asked Teresa.

"One of those 'you are here' maps of the Sunshine Coast," I said, turning to her. "City council put them up about a month back, some sort of tourism thing I think."

But Scott wasn't listening, and taking a step towards the map, smiled. "Just an idea," he repeated, walking up to the noticeboard and pushing the perspex aside.

"Uh, Scott?" I asked, as he dismantled the board and pulled the map free. "I don't think you're allowed to, uh..."

The Blue Ranger turned back to us. "The Senior Team, they're all at the Youth Centre, right?"

"Well, yeah," Teresa nodded.

Scott grinned. "Awesome. C'mon," and he turned and sprinted away from us.

We stood watching him go for a few seconds, and Teresa turned to me. "When I'm good," she said, "I'm good," and we both raced down after Scott.

We reached the Youth Centre at full speed, and racing into the building, we didn't slow down until we reached the training area and turned up towards the Juice Bar. The building was about as empty as it had been last night, and Jason, Kim, Zac and Billy were the only people near the bar. All four of them turned to look as we jogged the remaining distance, pulling up three chairs and breathlessly collapsing into them.

Jason turned to me. "What's wrong?" he asked.

I shook my head. "We ran... all the way... from my place..."

"Geez," he smiled. "Give a guy a scare," and he passed me his fruit shake.

I nodded a 'thank you' and gulped down half the cup. "Scott had an idea..."

"More than an idea," Scott said, and everyone turned to him. Suddenly the focus of the group, Scott shrank back, but beside him, Teresa gently pushed him forward. Scott turned back to the group and tapped the table. "Can I, uh...?"

Billy nodded. "Affirmative," he replied, and once the two Blue Rangers had cleared a space, Scott put the map on the table and rolled it open.

"Way more than an idea," he continued. "Something Zordon said yesterday really stuck in my mind. Remember he told us that every part of Aboriginal mythology is tied to the land? So I figured, whatever's going on here has to fit the same rule."

Billy nodded. "Short of a workable theory, it sounds likely."

"Peter, you got any coloured pencils?" Scott asked. I nodded, and reached into my backpack, handing him the bundle of coloured Crayolas I kept within. "Thanks," he replied, and taking the light blue pencil, he looked back down to the map. "There has to be a pattern, right? Now the entire coastline has been off-limits because of the sharks and really bad surf," and he shaded the pencil right down the waterline on the map. "And the flock of animals yesterday all came from the northwest," and he drew a wide diagonal line to the north of the city.

Jason nodded, automatically reaching for the red pencil. "Okay, I see what you mean," he said. "I fought the Three here in the plaza, and we took on the Doolagahl yesterday here in the park..."

"Billy," began Kimberly, turning to him, "remember what you said about those three farms?" The Blue Ranger nodded, and reached for the navy pencil.

I decided I couldn't ignore fate, and reached for the orange. "So, pretty much anything weird that's happened in the city in the last week?"

Scott nodded, turning to me. "Yeah, exactly," he replied, and for a few minutes, we all continued shading in areas of the map. Finally, seven pencils and a pile of pencil shavings later, everybody sat back, out of ideas. The map of the coast was now a bright patchwork of lines, scribbles and shaded areas - and all the areas together seemed to form a large triangle that covered the city, with its base along the coastline and pointing to the west.

Teresa glanced down the left-hand side of the map. "From the looks of it, "she said, "everything points west to the Glass House Mountains," and she tapped the apex of the triangle. "Straight to Mount Tibrogargan."

There was a second of silence. "Guys," began Kimberly, turning to Zac and I, "what are the stories about the Glass House Mountains?"

"Well, the Aboriginal myth says that the Glass House Mountains are a family of sleeping giants," I replied. "Tibrogargan is the father, and Beerwah is the mother. She's pregnant, and that's why she's the largest of the entire mountain range."

Zac nodded. "So the story goes, during the Dreamtime the family escaped the rising ocean by heading west. Tibrogargan told his eldest son Coonowrin to help Beerwah, but Coonowrin didn't realise she was carrying a baby and left her to fend for herself. Tibrogargan helped Beerwah to safety but was so angry with Coonowrin that he struck his son on the top of the head with his club."

"Which is why the top of Mount Coonowrin is shaped the way it is," nodded Jason.

"Exactly."

Scott looked around the group. "Okay, so just how badly have we underestimated this?" he asked quietly. "We thought Rita was just messing around with Aboriginal mythology, but she actually woke up a mountain and set him loose on the city."

"That is a pretty scary thought," I said.

Kim nodded. "I'm not looking forward to going three rounds with a mountain, that's for sure."

"But we're not suggesting those tales are anything other than fanciful explanations of natural phenomena?" Billy asked, glancing around the table. "The Glass House Mountains are nothing more that alkali rhyolite, the cores of prehistoric volcanoes that eroded away over millions of years."

"But it makes a lot of sense," I said. "What if there are powerful Aboriginal spirits grounded to these mountains?"

Teresa nodded. "Imagine waking up after sleeping for thousands of years, and finding that the world you knew is gone and Rita is whispering things in your ear. That'd be enough to freak anybody out."

"It's more than that though guys," said Kim, turning to Zac, "way more. Remember yesterday when the Liru called you 'traitor', and how the Doolathingy just wouldn't attack you? And remember what they said, about wanting the land returned to its rightful owners?"

Jason nodded, understanding what Kimberly was saying. "You're right," he said, looking back to the rest of us. "Think about it. Okay, so you're Tibrogargan. You've just woken up to find no trace of the Aboriginal tribes who used to live nearby, and somebody else occupying their land. What other conclusion would Tibrogargan come to? That's what he's doing, he's trying to avenge all the Aboriginal tribes that used to live here." He looked to Zac. "But when he saw you fighting with us, it totally threw him."

The Black Ranger nodded. "About time this all started making sense."

"Tibrogargan will probably listen to you before he listens to any of us," Jason said. "You might be able to get through to him, change his mind."

Scott nodded. "Who knows, maybe we can make him come to his senses or something. We just have to find him."

I smiled. "It's gonna be hard to miss him, being a mountain and all."

Jason turned to Scott, Teresa and I. "I take it you guys had trouble contacting the Command Centre this morning?" We nodded, and he continued. "Normally I'd say we need to tell Zordon where we're heading, but we have a deadline and this can't wait. Call the others - we need to get out there now."

The team materialised in the field facing Mount Tibrogargan in eleven multi-coloured flashes of light. Teleporting in we'd seen that the area was deserted - a couple of farmhouses sat a few kilometres away while the railway line connecting the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane passed by a few hundred metres behind us. Straight ahead, though, its pointed peak towering high above us, was Mount Tibrogargan.

"Wow," I breathed, "I've never been so close before."

Beside me, Aaron nodded. "Yeah, it's massive," he said. "You see the face?"

I glanced up, and nodded. Just under the triangular peak of the mountain was an enormous sheer cliff-face, at least as wide as a football field and scarred from long exposure to wind and rain. Side-by-side at the top of the cliff-face were two sunken hollows, huge pockets in the side of the mountain that gave the uncanny impression of the eye sockets of a skull. Underneath them, a smaller hollow in the grey and black granite could've been the skull's nose, while a thin horizontal scar across the cliff formed the mouth. Beneath that, overhanging plants fell to the foothills and treeline, giving the mountain a long mossy beard.

"I guess that's where the legend started," said Trini.

Zac nodded. "He's forever looking away from his son Coonowrin, who he's still pretty miffed at," he said, then looked to Jason. "So what's the plan?"

"Well it's his mountain," Jason replied. "Tibrogargan has to be around here somewhere. All we gotta do is find him and try to..."

"Too late for that," boomed a voice that froze everyone in their tracks. It was like Zordon was speaking down to us - the voice was deep, ancient and seemed to hum with power, resonating right through to the back of our heads. But the voice also left an unmistakable impression of cool, solid rock. "You found him."

We all looked around for the speaker, and Tommy looked up. "Hey guys, check it out."

Everyone looked up to the skull on the side of the mountain. For a second, I wondered what Tommy had meant, but the longer I looked at it, the more the markings in the rock began to look like an actual face. And before any of us had realised it, two eyes were staring down at us angrily from the side of the cliff.

Tibrogargan opened his mouth to speak, revealing inky blackness behind. "Whatever lies you wish to speak, keep them," the mountain rumbled. "Your deceit will find no purchase here."

I turned to Scott and shook my head. Scott was right, we'd figured correctly - but standing in front of a mountain that was both alive and angry was terrifying, and I felt my heart pounding in my chest.

Jason stepped forward, raising his voice. "Look, we don't want to fight you, we're not the badguys here."

Tommy nodded. "You've got this all wrong. The people in the city down there are completely innocent."

The mountain sneered. "She said you would use those words to deceive me, and I am neither impressed nor amused."

"She?" repeated Trini. "So you've been talking to a woman, or girl...?"

Tibrogargan seemed to nod, the entire mountain shaking and rubble raining down over the cliff-face. "The last of my people, the only survivor of the white plague."

"But it's all a scam!" said Sarah. "She's the one who's been lying to you, using you."

"Enough!" thundered the mountain, his voice deafening. "I will tolerate your trespass no longer! You eleven are the only things standing between me and reclaiming the land of my people, and when things are in my way, I move them."

Even as the mountain spoke, clouds began to swirl in the sky high above, and as shadow fell across the field, the Doolagahl and Liru suddenly appeared in front of us. Then came a whisper of wind and a soft murmur, and suddenly the Kwinkan had returned, the formless shadows sweeping down from the mountain towards us.

"Okay, we don't have a choice any more," said Jason, reaching for his back pocket. "Guys, c'mon. It's morphin' time!"

"Parasaurolophus!"

"Rhamphorynchus!"

"Brontosaurus!"

"Velociraptor!"

"Stegosaurus!"

"Dragonzord!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Sabre-Toothed Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

With a final flash of light, we were all fully morphed and ready for battle. As one, we summoned our Power Weapons with a thought, Aaron and Zac taking aim, Kimberly drawing her bow and Jason and I raising our blades.

Scott tightened his grip around his Power Staff and glanced along the creeping line of Kwinkan. "So, ready to get our butts kicked again?"

Jason turned to him. "We can take them," he said, "if we..." but glancing up, his voice trailed off, and he took a step back in surprise. "What the...?"

Without warning, a thin stream of light suddenly shot down over our heads, spinning through the air and blazing straight into the ranks of the Kwinkan. The effect of the ribbon of light was instant and catastrophic - every shadow it passed through exploded in sparks and vanished in a puff of smoke as the beam continued to lay waste to the army. So bright it was almost painful to watch, the ribbon of light was joined by a second beam that arced down over us. Spinning around each other, the two streams shot back through the army, whipping through the ranks of shadows with devastating effect. The quiet murmur of the Kwinkan steadily turned into a roar of terror and panic, as the shadows desperately fought to escape the beams of light.

Finally, the two streams of light turned and vanished back over us. Jason glanced back to the rest of the team. "Heck of a magic trick, guys..."

I shrugged. "Wasn't us," I said.

Scott nodded. "Yeah, it was him."

In a blaze of light, another Ranger was suddenly standing a few feet in front of us facing the Kwinkan. His suit was silver, with a white diamond on his chest, white gloves and boots, and a silver blaster hanging by his side, his silver helmet mostly resembling Tommy's. Frozen in shock, the eleven of us could only watch in silence as the twelfth Ranger stood sizing up the army for a few seconds more, before charging towards them.

The Kwinkan edged forward cautiously, but the Ranger waved his arm and another beam of light suddenly shot from the shimmering white diamond on his chest, scorching through the air and immediately wiping out a huge crowd of the shadows. The creatures roared and surged in from the side - the Ranger simply turned his head, and a ribbon of light shot through the tide, the entire rolling mass of shadow vanishing in a cloud of sparks. The beams continued to wreak havoc among the ranks as the Kwinkan desperately tried to flee them, and stepping forward, the Ranger raised his arms - the beams vanished as a pulse of white light shot forth from the Ranger, instantly clearing a huge gap in the army. But with the angry mountain still behind them, the remaining shadows had no choice but to surge back towards us.

"The hard way, then?" said the Ranger, in a strangely familiar voice. "Works for me. Power Sai!" and two shining silver sai materialised in his hands.

Even as the Kwinkan rapidly closed in, the Silver Ranger attacked, leaping forward with a high kick. To everyone's surprise, the blow actually connected, a black form flying backwards and disappearing into the ranks as the Ranger dropped to the ground. Several shapes swarmed in from the side - striking out with his sai, the Ranger cleaved through the shadows in a shower of sparks, leaping sideways to avoid an attack from the front and sending the attacking shadow flying with a spinning kick. Finding his footing, he sent an opponent reeling with a left backhand, and dodging incoming shadows, sent several more crashing with his sai. Ducking under a chest-high swipe, he struck the shadow back with a high kick, before sending forth another beam of light and flattening an entire line of shadows.

By now, we could watch no longer, and the eleven of us raced forward as the remaining Kwinkan retreated backwards, their number now significantly less.

"Listen," I said as we reached him, "I don't know who you are, but thanks for your help. That was incredible."

The Ranger turned to me, tilting this head. "Peter? Wow, so it is you..."

I stepped back in shock, suddenly realising why I recognised his voice. "Brendan?"

The other Rangers turned to each other, and Brendan nodded. "That's me," he replied. "Don't worry, Zordon explained everything this morning, about your powers, the zords, the Senior Team and what's been going on the last couple of days."

Sarah laughed. "You're our Sixth Ranger?" she asked. "Wow, that's awesome!"

Jason smiled. "So you got the twelfth Power Coin?"

Brendan nodded. "I was on my way to school when Zordon teleported me straight into the Command Centre," he said. "Heck of a way to wake up, let me tell you. And for the record, if we make it through this, I owe Mr Cheng's Video Rental a huge debt of gratitude."

I smiled. "What dinosaur did you get?

"The Dilophosaurus," Brendan replied, tapping his Power Coin.

"Two-ridged lizard," I nodded. "For the two ridges of bone on its head."

Brendan laughed. "Junior science, huh?"

I smiled. "Amateur palaeontology."

Across the field from us, watching from his vantage point, Tibrogargan's eyes began flashing with fury, and he glared from the few remaining Kwinkan to the two monsters.

"You fools!" he thundered, his voice echoing across the countryside. "Crush them!"

We all spun back to our adversaries and raised our weapons. The army of Kwinkan parted, and the Doolagahl and Liru stepped through towards us, the Liru hissing, the Doolagahl raising its enormous fists and the army of shadows again slowly closing in.

"You up for this?" asked Zac, looking at Brendan.

Brendan nodded. "You guys take the ape and the snake," he said, and grinned beneath his visor. "The army's all mine."

Jason smiled. "C'mon guys, let's show 'em what twelve Rangers can do."

"Right!"

Brendan immediately charged away towards the army of shadows, while the rest of us split up as the Doolagahl and Liru approached and stepped away from each other to approach the team from either side.

The Doolagahl slowly approached Zac, Tommy and Jason, grinning wickedly. "In our last two battles you could barely lay a finger on me," the beast growled, "and this time I will enjoy tearing you apart."

Zac stepped forward. "Maybe, maybe not," the Black Ranger replied. "You see, last night I did a bit of research. And I realised for the first time just how amazing the Aboriginal people of Australia really were. Not only did they learn to survive in some of the harshest terrain on the planet, they created a cultural history, not of lands conquered or monuments of stone, but of stories. Some of those stories are older than the pyramids, older than anything else on Earth, even older than these Power Coins, and that's amazing." He paused, and grinned beneath his visor. "And they even figured out how to beat you. Aaron, now!"

Across the field the Aqua Ranger nodded, raising his blasters and firing, carving our two parallel channels in the dirt on either side of the Doolagahl, the high grass immediately catching fire. Changing his aim, Aaron fired again, and the Doolagahl was soon totally boxed in by walls of fire on three sides and Power Rangers on the other.

"You see," continued Zac casually, as the Doolagahl glanced back and forth in alarm to the walls of fire suddenly surrounding him, "the peoples of Australia had a ceremony they performed to keep your kind away - a sacred dance followed by burning off the underground around camp. As it turns out, you got a thing about fire." The beast looked back to Zac, his expression one of absolute fury, and Zac smiled. "So, wanna dance?"

Tommy suddenly somersaulted over the Black Ranger, rolling to his feet and unsheathing his Dragon Dagger in one smooth motion. Bringing the dagger to his helmet, a familiar six-chimed tone soon rang out. Thundering towards the Green Ranger, the Doolagahl raised its fist and swung with all his might for Tommy's chest - only to bounce back harmlessly in a shower of sparks. Tommy continued forward, still playing the flute, and roaring in anger, the Doolagahl swung again, raining down punch after punch - the blows fell like battleships colliding, and still Tommy kept moving forward. The Doolagahl stepped back in confusion, and Tommy took the opportunity to attack, slashing out with his dagger and forcing the monster back. With the Doolagahl retreating, Zac raced forward to join Tommy, and a side-by-side double kick sent the beast crashing.

Stumbling back, the Doolagahl found himself far too close to the fire. Scrambling back into the centre of the field, Jason and I leaped down in front of the beast, slashing our blades through the air. The Doolagahl ducked the blades and backed away, but moving in unison, Jason and I swung forward, slashing high then bringing the blades back down in a clean diagonal slice. The beast inched back, keeping one eye on the flames, and dodging the blades he retaliated, sending a left backhand at me and directing a low kick at Jason's stomach. I ducked around the blow while Jason kicked back and struck the beast's foot away - stepping forward, the beast swung at Jason's head, but I struck away his fist with the hilt of my sword before a right roundhouse punch sent him crashing.

Jason nodded. "Thanks," and we charged after the Doolagahl to continue the battle.

Across the field, the Liru had darted towards a group of the remaining Rangers - Teresa, Kimberly, Scott, Billy and Sarah - when the fires suddenly sprang up around the Doolagahl a few metres away.

"Interesssting," the creature hissed, its narrow eyes focussing on the Rangers, "it appearsss you learned of the Doolagahl'sss weaknessss. Sssuch a pity that will not help againssst me."

"Maybe not fire," said Sarah. "But we read up on our Aboriginal history today, and as it turns out you've got a few weaknesses too. You were beaten, a long time ago by the Rock Python people."

The snake turned from the Purple Ranger to the two Blue Rangers on either side, hissed angrily and charged, rapidly covering the distance between them - only to come to a screeching halt as Billy suddenly raised his lance, the Liru centimetres away from impaling itself.

"They realised you were just too dangerous to fight up close," continued Sarah. "So they fought you with their spears and throwing sticks. They figured out your weak-point and sent you slimy creeps running." She paused. "Three guesses what's about to happen."

Slashing with his lance, Billy sliced the blade at the end of the weapon towards the Liru. The beast ducked under the blade, dodged to the side and raised his arms to catch the weapon, when Scott suddenly swung with the end of his staff, batting the creature's arm aside and landing a solid blow to the creature's gut. The Liru staggered back but recovered and turned to attack - only to leap to safety as Kim shot a barrage of arrows, the field erupting in sparks and smoke. The creature rolled to safety and leaped to its feet, but the two Blue Rangers dropped down blocking its path, again striking out with their weapons and keeping the monster out of striking range. The beast knocked aside Scott's staff and raked its claws for Scott's chest, but Billy blocked the beast's arm and sent him crashing with a jump kick.

The Liru retreated back, his eyes darting around desperately for a way to attack, when Teresa somersaulted down in front of him, her whip materialising as she landed. Cracking the whip towards the beast's feet to keep it at a distance, she spun the whip around her and sent it arcing towards the beast's underbelly, the stinging blows forcing the creature back. The snake made a frantic grab for the trailing end of the weapon, but with a flick of her wrist, Teresa wrapped the whip around the beast's hands. With the Liru caught, she forced him forward and took to the air, catching the Liru with the tip of her boot and dropping to the ground. The beast staggered back, and Teresa pulled the whip free and glanced to her team-mates.

"Sarah, now!"

Raising her Power Mace, the Purple Ranger raced past Teresa and swung the weapon on an arc straight for the tip of the beast's snout - the blow connected and the Liru flew backwards with a howl of pain, crashing to the ground and rolling to a stop in a cloud of dust.

Sarah lowered her mace. "The one weak point of the Liru people," she said.

Beside her, Billy nodded. "Amazing how these legends always have a kernel of truth to them," he said, and smiled brightly. "Who knew?"

Having been forcibly thrown through the wall of fire, singing his red fur, the Doolagahl retreated away from the team and raced over to his scaly companion, shakily helping the Liru to its feet as everybody regrouped. There was not a single Kwinkan shadow creature in sight, and we all turned to Brendan in amazement - he must've wiped out the entire army one-by-one.

"Awesome work guys, we did it," said Jason, then turned to me. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

I nodded. "Right there with you," I said, and facing the defeated Liru and Doolagahl, we raised our swords into the air until the blades crossed high above us - for a second the two swords shone with power, before a massive energy blast exploded from the blades, spiralling across the field and slamming into the two monsters, instantly launching them backwards through the air in a massive explosion that lit up the field and echoed off the side of the mountain far away.

We lowered our swords triumphantly, and Brendan stepped up beside me, smiling beneath his visor. "Okay," he said, "now that was awesome."

Zac looked up to the face of the mountain watching the scene, growing fury evident on his rocky features. "So we wiped out your army and beat your pets," he said. "Are you going to listen to reason now, or do we have to do all this again?"

"Very well," the mountain replied, his ancient voice thick with anger. The entire peak was trembling now, showers of stones cascading down the cliff-face. "Your brute strength has won the day. Let us see if you can battle this as easily as your fought them." And although the mountain continued to shake, Tibrogargan's face vanished back into the grey rock, and seconds later we were looking at a blank cliff-face.

"What was that about?" asked Kimberly.

"I don't know about you guys," said Aaron. "But I'm guessing not good."

Sarah nodded. "Given we just wiped out his army, he's probably a little angry."

"So much for trying to reason with him," I said, as the shaking grew more violent and the ground beneath us began to shudder.

"Well you're right about one thing," came a scratchy voice, and we all turned to see Rita herself striding towards us with her wand raised, flanked on either side by Goldar and Scorpina. "Definitely not good."

"It was all you, wasn't it?" asked Jason, as Rita came to a stop over the defeated bodies of the Doolagahl and Liru. "You lied to him, tricked him."

Rita grinned. "I merely woke the old man out of his dream," she said. "Apart from giving him a push in the right direction, everything else was Tibrogargan's idea, and quite an inspired plan it was." She paused, her wand suddenly flashing. "And he'd hate to be disappointed now. Magic wand, make the monsters grow!"

A storm of lightning bolts struck down from the wand, dancing across the field, throwing up clouds of dust and striking the downed bodies of the two monsters. The ground began to shake even more violently, and then with a great roaring noise, the two monsters suddenly returned, standing fifteen storeys tall and towering over us. Everyone immediately jumped back.

"This is normal right?" asked Brendan, his words almost lost over the roar of the earthquake happening around us.

"Pretty much," replied Trini.

I nodded. "Although usually the ground has stopped shaking by now!" It was getting difficult to stay standing - it felt like the entire field was about to get up and leave us behind.

"Guys!" cried Kimberly suddenly. "The mountain! Look!"

Everyone on the field turned to look. The entire mountain was trembling, trees tumbling down from its highest peaks and showers of boulders cascading down the mountain's sides. Within a few seconds, great cracks had begun appearing in the foothills around the base of the mountain, the earth itself splitting apart and entire groves of trees disappearing in clouds of dust. The fissures began opening more frequently, barely visible now in the cloud of destruction...

...and then, in defiance of every possible law of physics the entire mountain lifted itself up off the ground, rising high into the air before moving away from us and heading straight for the city of Caloundra.