Hello all, I am very pleased with the response I recieved on the last chapter. Thank you all so very much! I realized that it's been a few chapters since I expressed my gratitude, so I am doing it now in the form of my next chapter. You may want to read the last chapter again before you read this one, just to help make the connections, but it's up to you. Enjoy.
Jason stared up at the Gold monster, which hovered above him. Due to the fog he could only make out the beast's silhouette along with two red glowing eyes. Jason was not the least bit surprised that it had been Goldar who had knocked his morpher out of his hands. But, he was somewhat intimidated. It had been quite a few years since he had encountered the goon and if he recalled correctly Goldar had always proved to be a worthy opponent.
"Shame on you Red Ranger," began Goldar towering above Jason. "I bet you never guessed your precious power coin would lead you to your doom."
"What are you talking about Goldar!" Jason shouted as a demand rather than a question, trying to stand firm and not allow his apprehension to show.
"Well Red Ranger, incase you hadn't noticed it is a little foggy out here. I never would have found you had it not been for your coin. It's an energy source which is very easily detectable because it is so, shall I say, unwelcomed."
"So your saying my powers would do more harm than good," stated Jason, doubting Goldar's claims.
"Oh no, I'm saying your power coin does more harm than good because it's like bate on a hook," explained Goldar. "Your powers don't even work in the cloud unless you morph into them before entering the fog."
Jason didn't like what he was hearing, but regardless he needed to find his morpher and get the hell out of there and find Tommy. Thank God Tommy hadn't taken his power coin with him. Jason remembered seeing it resting safely on the control panel back in the command center right before he went out to find him. He had actually even considered bringing the coin to Tommy but decided against it.
"Tell me Goldar," said Jason, "who else is out here?"
"You know, the usual," responded Goldar casually as he charged at Jason. He too was blinded by the fog, but Goldar was never one to get discouraged so early in the game.
"The usual?" question Jason as he dodged the beast's advances and followed with a spinning kick to Goldar's stomach of steel.
Goldar recovered quickly. "Yes the usual," he continued as he swung his sword at Jason, "Lord Zedd and just a small army of warriors."
Jason rolled on the ground barely missing the sword's blade, "Small army?" he questioned rising from the ground and attempting to kick Goldar's sword out of his hand.
Goldar was too quick for Jason and managed to dodge his kick. "Yes a small army of some of your favorite opponents from the past."
"Mind elaborating?" asked Jason as he and Goldar sparred as if it had been a rehearsed routine, in a way it actually had been.
"Actually I do," answered Goldar becoming winded but far from giving up, "let's just say I feel sorry for anyone that takes more than two steps off that porch." He gestured with his hand in the direction of the porch.
Jason silently mocked the idiot in his head for giving away the direction home, but he was glad the big dumb ape was so, well dumb.
"Well," said Jason smartly as he backed away from Goldar, "it's been fun, I guess I never realized how much I haven't missed this or you."
With that he swiftly dropped to the ground and kicked Goldar's legs right out from under him, and then he took off running in the direction Goldar had gestured towards. He ran for what seemed like forever, he was sure Goldar hadn't followed or at least if he had he was too far behind him to ever catch up. Jason had decided that his morpher was not terribly important right now, it would only blow his cover, so he left it. He knew it was risky, but even if Goldar did get a hold of it, it wasn't like the coin was even any good without him. The power needed him to work, and without him it was just a plain old coin.
Soon Jason found himself coming to a halt. He could have sworn that he heard a voice, but whom? It sounded like a female but he couldn't make out what she was saying. Immediately he thought it was Kim, so he continued running towards it when he realized whom it had been.
The girl stood only a few feet in front of him with her back towards him and she was obviously shaken. Jason didn't want to startle her, but she was an open target. In spite of the thick fog the yellow gem sparkled vibrantly on her right wrist. The first thing that entered Jason's mind was, a power source. Quickly he reached for the bracelet on which the gem was contained. There was no time to explain, he had to get the gem as far away from the girl as possible. There was no telling how many of Zedd's henchmen had already been hot on her trail. As he wrapped his fingers around Kira's wrist she immediately jumped and before he knew it she was gone.
"Kira!" he yelled after her as he chucked her bracelet along with the dino gem as far as he could throw.
But, she didn't hear him, so he took off after her. It was difficult to keep up with the young girl because she had an adrenaline rush like Jason had never seen. Plus the fog didn't help either. He continued to call her name loudly, but she just kept running and running. He saw her smash into trees and stumble over shrubs, but he just couldn't catch her. The faster he ran the faster she ran, until she disappeared completely.
"Can we please decide on something!" moaned Conner as he hunched over in his seat.
He and everyone else had become quite exhausted brainstorming all day, but him mostly. At this point the two teams had managed to narrow the plan down to two options. The first was to attempt to lure Lord Zedd out of hiding by sending a surrender signal through the morphing grid and hope he picked up on it. But, they were pretty sure that Zedd was much smarter than that. The second option was to combine their powers and channel them all into one Ranger, Tommy and teleport him to Zedd's location. The only problem with that was that they still had no idea where that location was and it was very risky to send one Ranger out all alone.
"Look," continued Conner with exaggeration, "why don't we just ask Dr. O his opinion? After all, he is the one that will be affected the most."
"I think that may be the smartest thing to come out of you mouth today," stated Ethan relieved by Conner's solution.
"I suppose that would be the best idea," agreed Katherine as she massaged her temples. Her head never stopped pounding all day, and all of the stress of having to come up with a plan definitely hadn't helped.
"I agree with Kat," confirmed Aisha, "Tommy is the leader, I just didn't want to have to burden him with this decision too, along with everything else."
"That may be so Aisha," cut in Billy, "but Tommy is the leader. He willingly took on the responsibility and although it may not be easy he ultimately has to be the one to make the call."
"Well said my man," said Zack with a shake of the head.
"Then I guess all that's left now is to present Tommy with his options," said Haley with a look of hesitation on her face.
Nobody wanted to force their friend and leader to have to make such a difficult decision. But what choice did they have? Kimberly's situation definitely wasn't improving and neither was Tommy's. All day long everyone watched as Tommy grew more and more impatient. The stress was taking its toll on him and they all knew that if something didn't happen soon Tommy's health would suffer.
"Okay then, it's decided," declared Trent as he rose from his seat. "I'll go find Dr. O and Jason."
"Thanks Trent," said Billy as he turned to Haley ready to discuss strategy to track down Zedd's hiding place.
Little did they know Trent just wanted an excuse to find Kira, who he assumed was with Dr. O by now. He had heard the back door open at least a half hour ago and he figured she must have found Dr. O and Jason outside. Turning the corner, Trent entered the kitchen. He noticed how dark the room was and was forced to switch on the light. He saw an open can of ginger ale sitting on the counter and he figured it was Kira's. Grabbing the can he then reached for the screen door and pushed it open. Stepping outside Trent was shocked at what he saw. The porch was completely surrounded by a thick heavy fog. Kira hadn't been imagining things, the fog did exist. Then where were she and Dr. O?
Tommy stood frozen and shocked in the middle of the clouded forest. Before he couldn't wait to get his hands on the evil and disgusting master of darkness, Lord Zedd. But now that the ruler stood so close behind him that he could feel his warm moist breath breathing down his neck, he couldn't even move. It almost felt as if he had been paralyzed and suddenly a great fear had swept over him. If Lord Zedd had done all of this had he paralyzed him too?
"Nice to see you again Tommy," whispered the voice vindictively in Tommy's ear. "Did you miss me? Ha, ha, ha…" Lord Zedd erupted into laughter.
Tommy struggled as Zedd's laughter only motivated him more, and finally his muscles became operable. He moved away from Zedd and was now facing him.
"Miss you?" said Tommy taking a defensive stance, "I can't even stand the site of you."
Zedd finally brought his laughter under control, "That's too bad Tommy, we could have been such good friends. After all, I did bring a present for you."
With that Lord Zedd waved his hand as the fog began to clear in front of him and there, only about twenty yards away was the object of Tommy's affection, Kimberly. She was tied to a tree with rope surrounding her like a vine. Her head hung down, her chin resting on her chest, she was obviously unconscious. Tommy briefly lost his breath and had to take several deep breaths to recover. The shock of seeing Kimberly defeated and vulnerable was almost more than he could handle. She looked so sweet and innocent, nothing like the last time he had seen her. She was Kimberly again and everything should have been perfect, but it was so far from that. Her face was so pale and the circles around her eyes were so dark. For a moment the possibility that she might not have survived entered Tommy's mind but he immediately pushed it out. He was too close now to have lost her.
"Kimberly," Tommy said to himself in relief and fear all at the same time. "What have you done to her Zedd!" he demanded as he looked Lord Zedd straight in the eye.
"Never you mind that Tommy," he answered. "The point is she's here and she's all yours."
At that Tommy took off running toward her, his feet moving faster than he ever thought possible. He didn't understand why Zedd was being so generous, it made absolutely no sense, but he didn't care. It seemed as the though the closer he got to her the further away she was, but finally he reached her. He tore at the ropes fiercely, ripping them in half with his own two hands. Soon the limp and possibly lifeless, fragile body fell into his arms. He embraced her warmly as he lowered her to the ground where she finally rested in his arms.
"Kimberly," he said aggressively, studying her face. He carefully brushed some stray hairs away from her eyes and called to her again.
"Kimberly," he said coolly. "Wake up," he waited for a response. "Kimberly," his voice was becoming nervous and shaken. "Kimberly!" he began to yell.
But it was no use, she wouldn't budge. Tommy could feel his throat tighten as water gathered underneath his eyes, blurring his vision. He reached for her pulse on her neck, but his hands were shaking profusely. It took everything in him to steady them so that he might check for a sign of life. His ears were attacked with Lord Zedd's evil laughter, which was uncontrollable now. Looking up he could see the hateful being basking in all his glory. He wanted to kill him.
I realize that most of you probably don't like the direction in which this story is going, but remember I like to play with your heads. Plus, there's nothing better than a good cliffhanger. So, please don't get too frustrated with me and come back for the next chapter because I promise you will not be disapointed. Thanks for you patience.