Disclaimer: Still not mine...

RESTLESS WARRIORS

By Etcetera Kit

Chapter Twenty-Two: Cries of the Wolf

Kira quickly performed the correct pattern to release the handles on the cover to the tunnel. She looked up at Eric as he helped her move it. He looked determined. All of them were going in here and there was no turning back. It could mean their death… but they had to try. She had never felt this close to death before—not even in her time as a ranger. Facing death on a regular basis had become a part of her life, until she was so used to it that it was nothing more than a minor annoyance. Now… she felt that mortal hand grip her more fiercely. Hopefully, they would find Dustin and he would live to tell the tale of what had happened.

The others looked as determined as Eric.

"Ready?" Taylor asked, looking around at everyone.

"No one is ever ready for this," Maya whispered.

"I want to get Dustin out alive," Tori said. Her blue eyes were alight with fear and her voice trembled. Maya had been right—things between Tori and Dustin exceeded friendship, but fell into a gray area that no one could define.

"We all do," Kelsey reassured her.

Kira met Kelsey's gaze. She looked afraid, but there was something else lingering in her blue eyes. Was it guilt? Regret? She couldn't be sure. She felt a hand at the small of her back. Glancing back, she saw Conner standing close to her. She took comfort in his nearness, knowing that he had willingly thrown himself into this fray for her. It was a mark of how much he had matured. A year ago, he wouldn't have even dreamed of being here with her. This could well be the last day that any of them walked amongst the living.

"Now or never," Eric said softly. "Everyone know the plan?"

Everyone nodded. After deciding to go in at sunset to rescue Dustin, Eric had spent the remaining daylight hours concocting a plan for entering the fortress. He figured that Jareth and Vypra would have the tunnel guarded. Therefore, everyone except Kira and Taylor were going to battle them from the front. Once enough clearance was gained, Kira and Taylor were to use their power-up modes to glide over the guards and get into the temple. They would then take out as many guards as possible from the back, so that the others could help them.

Their task, after the others had the guards taken care of, was to find Dustin and get him out of the temple. The others would follow when they were clear to do so. It was a sound plan—and their best bet at getting anything accomplished.

Why then, was she so nervous?

"Kira and Taylor," Eric was saying. "You stay behind us until we give the signal."

She nodded, her mouth dry. Conner's arm went around her waist, holding her close to his side. This was not a battle she had planned on fighting. She wished that it were still three and a half weeks ago, when she had been blissfully ignorant of this. But without this, would she have come to any of the realizations in her life? Probably not. And she certainly would not have a date with Conner… if they came out of this alive.

Maya gazed at each of them. "May the power protect you," she said softly.

That was the way Trini and Zordon tended to send them off. It meant so much. They had to trust in their power source, but they also had to let the power trust them. When that fragile balance of trust was established, the power worked to its fullest extent. She thought to Conner with his Triassic mode and then his battlizer. He had been the one to trust the power more than she and Ethan… and he saw the benefits of it. She wondered if Zordon had restored his ability to become the Triassic Ranger or if he had restored his battlizer.

But there was no time to think about it. There was work to be done. She noticed that Taylor and Eric were standing closer together than she had seen them the entire time both of them had been at the camp site. It had been amusing enough when Maya called them out, but now… they might not see their time of marriage. She shuddered and tried not to think about it. She was a Power Ranger. That was enough. It was enough…

Eric jumped down the hatch leading to the tunnel. Taylor followed suit. Kelsey, Maya and Tori went down next. Kira looked at Conner. His brown eyes said so much. Grasping her shoulders, he pressed a quick, but firm kiss to her lips. "I love you, Kira," he whispered. "You might drive me crazy sometimes, but I love you."

She forced a smile to her face. "I love you too," she whispered back.

Turning and moving away from his reach, she jumped down the hatch. Eric caught her as she came down and set her on the ground. Conner jumped down after her. Taylor glanced up at the fading daylight coming from the hatch.

"Morph," she whispered. The plan always included morphing when they got into the tunnel, because most of them still operated on the secret identities front. Eric and Kelsey were the only two exceptions. Kira looked to Maya. As the ranger with the longest time in uniform, she started the morphing sequences.

"Ready?" Maya asked.

"Ready," all of them confirmed, holding their morphers in their 'ready' position.

"Go galactic!" The Yellow Galaxy Ranger appeared.

"Lightspeed rescue!" The Yellow Lightspeed Rescue Ranger joined her.

"Quantum power!" The Quantum Ranger came to life.

"Wild access!" Taylor became the Yellow Wild Force Ranger.

"Ninja storm—ranger form!" The Blue Wind Ranger called on the power of water and took her place amongst them.

Kira and Conner exchanged a glance and nodded. "Dino thunder! Power up!" Both of them were transformed, Conner into the Red Dino Ranger and she into the Yellow Dino Ranger. They looked at Taylor for the signal. She motioned for her and Kira to stay behind while the others moved forward.

Eric put Kelsey with him on the left side of the corridor, while Conner and Tori took the right side. Maya followed along behind Kelsey. Everyone pulled out their weapons, holding them ready against unseen attacks. Kira followed the line of sight Eric was setting with his Quantum Defender. Everything was still. How far down the tunnel did these guards Eric was hypothesizing about come? It was too still. No demons in sight.

The torches began to come on as they walked. Eric motioned her and Taylor to a side of the corridor. The yellow rangers washed out in the pale torchlight. Tori's uniform became a strange, sick-looking shade of green. Conner's and Eric's seemed darker somehow, more blood red than Crayola red. She tried not to shudder at the thoughts. If they could get in and find Dustin… it would make their lives much easier.

She was afraid of being cocky and thinking that no guards gave them an immediate in. Things like this always happened in the movies and people died because of it. No… this wasn't the movies. This game was real.

"Where are they?" Conner asked softly.

Eric suddenly came to a halt, everyone behind him bumping into him. Conner stopped across the tunnel and Kira could almost see a frown under his helmet.

"What?" Maya asked him.

Eric shushed her and he looked like he was listening. He turned slowly so that he was looking across the tunnel at Tori. Kira didn't know what he saw. "Tori, duck!" he cried suddenly, firing the Quantum Defender.

Tori ducked just as the Quantum Defender hit where her head had been. Something made a gargling, choking noise—almost a squeal—and fell to the ground. It was a demon. Kira's eyes went wide as they crowded into the center of the corridor.

"We're not alone," Eric muttered.

Just as he said those words, demons began to pour out of the very walls, forming a tight circle around them. They were surrounded by things that looked like little muddy potatoes on legs.

"Great," Taylor said. "The Mr. Potato Heads."

"You had to say it," Conner said to Eric.


Maya pulled out her Quasar Saber as the demons began to pour out of the walls. The initial Mr. Potato Heads, as Taylor called them, gave way to larger and more varied demons. The ranks finally seemed to end with the Batlings—Queen Banshera's foot soldiers. Maya had only had to fight them once before this mission, when the Galaxy Rangers had helped the Lightspeed Rangers with a bug problem.

She swung out at the nearest demons and they flew backwards at the force of her blow. Laser fire surrounded her and she realized she was the only ranger without a blaster. She had a cannon-like weapon she could pull out, but the quarters here were too confined and she didn't want to think about doing something that could cave the tunnel in. She didn't want to be trapped with a bunch of angry demons and she was sure that the others didn't either.

Eric was cursing with obscene creativity as he fired shot after shot at the demons. If this had been any other situation, Maya would have laughed.

The others seemed to be doing just as well, as random shots of yellow, blue and red light whizzed past her. It was amazing that they didn't hit one another with the wildness this fray was gaining. She concentrated on the demons closest to her.

"We can't break through," Conner cried.

"We'll break through," Eric shouted back. "They can't multiply."

Maya wasn't sure that was true, but Kelsey's shouted affirmation of the veracity of his statement gave her some hope. "Trans-dagger!" she called, pulling out her trans-dagger and putting it into the beta-bow formation.

She shot off a few yellow arrows that seemed to be nothing but pure energy. She had not used this formation much as a ranger—Kendrix preferred it, but it made sense in this situation. A Batling came up to her and she took him down with one arrow.

"Taylor! Kira! Now!" Eric yelled.

Maya was vaguely aware of two yellow-suited bodies pushing off the ground and gliding above them. Yes! Taylor and Kira were getting away. At least that part of their plan was working. She caught Eric surging forwards against the demons, taking hits left and right. Following his lead, she moved forward through the demons.

The others followed suit and soon it was a matter of shooting or shoving away demons that got in their path. The things still continued to pour out of the walls. This was insane. Then suddenly, she realized—these demons were not all demons. Some of them seemed to be more than the Batlings, solider, more real… Goblins… hadn't one of the spirit realm leaders said something about Jareth being king of the goblins. He would have an army of them at his disposal. No wonder some of the beings had taken harder falls than the Batlings and Mr. Potato Heads. Goblins…

"They're goblins!" she yelled to Eric.

"What?" he screamed back.

"Goblins. Treat them like normal mutants!"

He gave her a curt nod over his shoulder, before the Quantum Defender started firing at everything he could see that didn't look like a ranger. Goblins would fall and then disappear into a slightly green cloud. She wondered where they went.

But it didn't matter. She concentrated on the matter at hand—getting to the temple to help Kira and Taylor. Soon enough, the started to see the constant torchlight and… another battle raging by the balcony.

Eric came to a halt and Maya nearly ran into him. Kira and Taylor had been held up by Owling. Oh no… those brown eyes needed to lose that glazed look. He needed to come back to the good side. Kira got a hit on him with her blaster.

"Don't hurt him!" Maya cried running past Eric.

"Why?" Taylor asked.

"Because he was once good," she responded.

"He's not exactly playing nicely with others," Eric muttered.

Maya threw herself into the three-person battle. Owling made a strange noise and threw Taylor and Kira away from him. "No!" Maya cried, holding on to him while he tried to throw her off. "You're good! You're Owling Byrrd. You're brother is Arval Parrot!"

"I have no brother," he growled.

She moved one of her hands. "Look into your heart!" she pleaded with him. "This heart… this is where you are!"

He threw her off of him. Maya went flying backwards, only to be caught by Eric. He steadied her and put her back on her feet. Owling glared at them. "I serve King Jareth," he said. "And I will rule at his side."

"He's done something to you!" Maya cried. "You're not yourself."

Owling paused and something flickered in his brown-green eyes. He was remembering, but he looked up and threw off the memories. Eric still had Maya around the waist and he threw her towards the balcony.

"Find Dustin!" he said. "We'll keep this bozo busy!"

Maya looked back, the three of them engaged in battle with Owling—and no one appeared to be winning. Steeling her resolve, she swung herself over the balcony and took a long fall onto the temple floor below. Morphed, she felt barely a tremor from the fall. She looked up from the crouching position she had landed in. Demons and goblins were staring at her as if she had just jumped into a church service. Vypra and Jareth were standing by the altar.

She strained to see the altar. Dustin was tied to the altar. He wasn't moving, save for the shallow rise and fall of his chest. He was alive, but unconscious. And Vypra had done something to him—cuts were all over his chest in the strangest… demon writing. She had written on his very skin.

For a long moment, she stared at the demons and they stared back. Then at once, they rushed forward. She knelt and fired arrow after arrow at the demons. Soon enough, she had a clear path. She ran forward to the altar.

Halfway there, she froze as did everyone else in the temple.

Silence reigned in the room. Maya's heart froze, wanting to not believe what had happened. That knife had not gone singing through the air and sliced the tender flesh at the throat. It had not stopped the gentle rising and falling of that chest. A river of red ran over the side of the altar. Tears stung her eyes and streamed down her face, though no one could see because of her helmet. Vypra's head was raised in triumph, but Maya could not hear her. There was a roaring in her ears.

Dustin was dead.

The cries of the wolf rang out in outrage.

And she realized that the web of dreams had been fully awakened.


Aisha Campbell leaned over the hurt German shepherd. It wasn't a surprising injury for a city dog, since the Los Angeles drivers left something to be desired. Her young assistant handed her a stethoscope as she listened to the heartbeat. It was strong. As soon as they set the leg, this dog would make it to see more years if the drivers learned to pay attention.

She picked up a cotton swab to apply a local anesthetic.

Without warning, she felt something akin to a migraine crash into her brain. She dropped the cotton and leaned forward, the pain almost too intense to be real.

"Dr. Campbell!" her assistant cried. It felt distant.

An image settled into her mind. A man was strapped to some kind of stone table, his throat had been slit by something. The place was surreal, like something out of Fantasia. Horrible laughter and cries of pain hit her ears. All she knew was that in Mariner Bay, other yellow rangers needed her help.


Tanya Sloane-Park stared at the quizzes that her math classes had taken earlier that day. Years ago she would never had imagined herself a teacher nor would she have imagined herself married to Adam, but it had happened. Adam walked into the room and smiled.

"Still grading?" he asked.

She just smiled. He came into the room and sat next to her on the couch, when she felt an intense pain hit her head with mind-blowing intensity. She clutched her head and slid to the floor between the couch and coffee table, only able to wonder what was going on.

"Tanya!" Adam cried in a panicked voice.

But he was just background noise. A scene passed in front of her. Someone was strapped to an altar. His throat was slit and he was dead. Cruel laughter hit her ears as people cried in outrage and sorrow. Shadows hit the wall from a fire and danced like demons on Halloween. He had been a yellow ranger and there were other yellow rangers who needed her in Mariner Bay.


Ashley Hammond had been making dinner and trying to feed her one-year old. She had come to the conclusion long ago that babies managed to eat through osmosis, since their food always seemed to end up on their faces and not in their mouths. She smiled as little Serena banged her spoon on her high chair.

Andros came into the room, finishing loosening his tie from work. He leaned over and kissed her. She smiled. "Watch out for Serena," she warned.

He didn't say anything, just smiled as he kissed his daughter on the forehead and sat at the table, as far away from the filthy baby as possible.

Quite suddenly, she felt a crushing pain in her skull. Slipping to the floor and clutching her head between her hands, she let out a cry.

"Ashley!" Andros cried, falling to the floor beside her and cradling her in his arms. An image was burned into her mind. A young man was on some kind of altar, his throat cut. Horrific images of demons danced around him and a pale man with the knife stood over him. For some reason, she knew he was another yellow ranger and he was dead. Others needed her help. She had to go to Mariner Bay.


Far into the future, Katie Walker was going about her normal closing routine at the Time Force headquarters. It was almost time to leave for the day and she was heading to the cafeteria to pick up something to eat before heading home. It was business as usual for her.

"Hey Katie!" Trip Regis called with a grin as she passed him in the hallway.

She was about to respond, but an unreal pain came to her and forced her to stop and sink to the ground in its wake. Pain like this had been eliminated, hadn't it? What was going on with her? Nothing like this happened anymore.

"Katie, are you all right?" Trip's panicked voice came to her.

An image almost burned itself into her mind. Someone was strapped to a table and he was bleeding. She wanted to yell at someone to help, to get a dermal regenerator and stop the bleeding before it was too late, but something told her he was dead. Laughter hit her ears and it sounded demonic and cruel, like someone was celebrating pain and the loss of life. She wanted to stop it, but couldn't. One thing came to her.

She had to go to the past and help these people. She had to get to Mariner Bay. They were yellow rangers as she had been a yellow ranger. They needed her.


Elizabeth Delgado frowned and looked at the dinner selections. Nothing looked appealing. It was like they made the food awful just to discourage people from coming to places like this. She paused for a moment before deciding dinner was out. Nothing was edible.

"Hey, Z!" Bridge said as he cheerfully came in and filled his plate, digging into the terrible food.

She tried not to blanch at him. Suddenly, she felt something crush her skull. Crying out, she sank to the floor beside the table, trying to figure out what was going on. Was this Emperor Gruumm or one of his goons? No, they had never caused this much pain before. What was it?

A scene played out before her pain-blurred eyes. Someone was strapped to a stone table and he was bleeding. No, he was dead. People cried out in sorrow and pain for him, as the cruel laughter tried to cover their cries. He was a yellow ranger. The others were yellow rangers as well. She had to help them. She might be the newest yellow ranger, but she had a duty to the others who came before her. She had to go to Mariner Bay and help them.

To Be Continued...


Author's Note: I feel like I should be hiding from the people storming my dorm room with torches and pitchforks. Oh well. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this storyit means a lot to me! The reviews from the last update absolutely blew me away! Also, there's still a bunch of chapters left in this story (well, not a bunch, but more than just one or two.) Hang in there with me, guys! Now for reviewer responses to everyone who reviewed chapter 21:

CamFan4Ever- Thanks for your kind words!

dustori- I plan on finishing this piece. I know that my unfinished LXG fic may lead people to believe that my stories won't be finished, but this one definitely will be finished. Thanks for your kind words.

fenestrae- Glad you liked that weapons argument. I figured that Eric would be looking for a fight if he's upset and it would be more amusing if it was over something nonsensical since all of them can morph. Thanks for reviewing!

Funky In Fishnet- Thanks! I'm glad you liked the bit with Maya remembering her Halloween on Mirinoi. I had debated whether or not to leave that scene intact. :) Your review was really sweet!

Hagar- Foreshadowing? Moi? Surely you jest! lol Thanks for your kind words!

Lucy E- Thanks for your kind words! Hope this chapter satisfied you for now...

Samurai-Nashie- I guess the sentiment for this chapter is the same as the last chapter, huh? lol Thanks for reviewing.

Satori Blackthorn- Thanks! I know your out there even if you're not reviewing. lol As to everything else, you shall see:)

Thalia-Sandy- Thanks for your sweet words!

Warstock-Leonhart- I'll find your e-mail address somehow. lol Thanks for your sweet review!

xXFattyonfireXx- Your review was really sweet! Thanks for your kind words. As to the Dustin/Tori thing... well... things are not looking so good right now, but I can't say much more without giving something away.