Here's the next chapter, I have nothing to say about it. Enjoy.
"Okay Zedd, make your move," ordered Tommy as he and the massive red monster sized each other up.
"Well, as long as I am finally going to rid myself of your annoyance, I might as well enjoy it," replied Zedd throwing his staff to the ground where it made a metallic clank as it hit the rocks.
Tommy made the first move, lunging at Lord Zedd with renewed speed and vibrance. He wanted to end this thing once and for all and he wanted to do it now. Suprisingly, Lord Zedd matched Tommy's speed and agility almost exactly as he blocked every punch, kick, and elbow he could throw.
Meanwhile, Goldar and Jason had already engaged in their ongoing feud long before Lord Zedd and Tommy. Goldar despised Jason more than any other being in existence and Jason felt the same way about him. The dual was heated and the opponents were both on their game. It seemed for every good hit Jason got in, Goldar managed to get in two. Eventually Tommy and Jason ended up back to back and bumping into each other. It startled both of them because they had forgotten that another battled existed besides their own. They nearly took each other out without realizing it, but once they did they used the other to their advantage. Switching places they threw off Lord Zedd and Goldar long enough to take a small breather.
"Where's the girls?" asked Tommy in between pants. As he held his hand to his chest he felt his heart beating so fast that he swore it was going to beat right out of his chest.
"I don't know," managed Jason, who was just as winded, "Last I saw of them was right before the fight. They were behind that tree," Jason pointed at the tree. "But, they're not there now."
"Oh don't worry boys" interrupted Zedd as he once again engaged Tommy in a dual of fists, "you'll see them soon enough."
"What do you mean?" questioned Tommy as he blocked Zedd's fierce kick with his forearm.
"Just trust me Tommy, I've got my best man on it," answered Lord Zedd slyly as he lured Tommy away from Jason and Goldar.
"What does he mean Goldar!" demanded Jason as he pinned the giant beast to a tree and was prepared to seal the deal with a kick to the chops.
"Nothing," replied Goldar in defiance, struggling unsuccessfully to break free.
"Tell me, or it's lights out!" threatened Jason as he reached for Goldar's sword, which had not moved from the ground since their fight began. Jason drew the sword back.
"Okay fine!" erupted Goldar, "Lord Zedd meant for all of this to happen, he knew that Kimberly was alive and he knew that she would eventually escape. He wants Tommy to watch her die!"
Jason froze, his lip quivering, beads of sweat gathering at his brow, "Who did he send after Kimberly?"
Goldar paused, not wanting to call for his master's help but also not wanting to divulge his secret. He stared at the blade of the sword, "Scorpina."
"You know I've been in these woods dozens of times but I never realized just how creepy they were until now," said Kira trying to break the silence that had been haunting her just as much as the strange noises. She had no idea Dr. O was such a touchy subject for Kimberly.
"Huh," said Kim shaking her head. She had been deep in thought about Tommy. She was so very worried about him and Jason, and of course she'd been blaming herself.
"Nothing, nevermind," said Kira as she quickened her pace. "We better get moving, it seems like we've been going forever. The house has to be close."
Kira couldn't wait to get back to Dr. O's house, it was so cozy and most importantly safe. The first thing she was going to do when she got there was find Trent, latch onto him and never let go, or at least not for a while. She hadn't realized just how lucky she had been all of this time, facing danger on a daily basis. Each time she had come out on top, but would it end that way for Dr.O? She really hadn't grasped what it meant to be a Ranger before, not until now. They just had to be close to Dr. O's, they just had to be.
"Right," said Kimberly in agreement as she scurried to catch up with Kira who really did seem to be creeped out by all of this.
Kimberly had to agree that this place was definitely no picnic but she had seen worse, like when she was stuck in that other dimension with the Bloom of Doom monster. At least she had Kira with her. Speaking of Kira, Kimberly noticed just how far ahead of her Kira had gotten. These woods could definitely be very dangerous, especially due to the fog's low visibility.
"Hey Kira, slow down," she called, cupping her hands to her mouth.
Kira turned briefly, looked at Kimberly, and then froze like an icicle. Her eyes were as wide as a door and her mouth dropped open. All she could do was stare. The second Kimberly saw the look on Kira's face she knew something was wrong. Kimberly took a deep breath preparing to turn around, but before she could she felt a very cold hand rest on her shoulder. Her glance quickly shifted to her shoulder and immediately she knew who it was. The hand tightened its grip on her but she was stunned, she knew full well what was going to happen to her, but she couldn't react. Kimberly closed her eyes and waited to assume her destiny, when suddenly she heard the most ear piercing, high pitched, painful sound she had ever heard. Forgetting about the hand and her fright she raised her hands to her ears and opened her eyes to find the painful pitch's source. It was Kira.
Rushing to Kimberly's side, Kira grabbed Kimberly by the other arm and managed to tug her away from the hideous monster who was still recovering from Kira's defense. Kimberly and Kira took off running, but Kimberly managed to sneak a look back a the perpetrator. Just as she suspected it was Scorpina, but to her surprise Scorpina hadn't assumed the form of the beautiful Asian woman in gold and silver armor like she remembered. Instead she took the form of the beast that she would become whenever Rita made her grow into a fifty-foot monster. She was hideous, with scorpion features like pinchers and tentacles, not to mention her face. The site of Scorpina in that shape had always turned Kimberly's stomach, and it was no different now.
The two girls ran as fast as they could but Kira's scream had royally pissed off Scorpina, only giving her more incentive to catch up with them, and shortly she did. She once again grasped Kimberly's shoulder, while capturing Kira with a tentacle, which wrapped around the young girl, covering her mouth. The trio was at a standstill now, the two girls overcome with fear didn't know what to do.
Kira was definitely freaked out by the disgusting creature. It seemed that every monster she saw today just kept getting uglier and uglier. But this one took the cake, Kira wanted to cry. She stared at Kimberly, wide eyed, unable to speak because of the barricade. Kimberly stared back at Kira and gave her a reassuring look, which actually did help Kira feel better.
Once again Kimberly knew that this whole thing was all her fault and once again she had dragged this poor girl through hell. She probably should have just left her back in the clearing with Tommy and Jason, they had to have been having more success than her, right? Kimberly knew exactly what she had to do, she had to save Kira at all cost.
"What do you need the girl for!" Kimberly demanded as she tried desperately to ignore the giant bug's warm breath as it breathed down her neck.
"I have my orders," replied Scorpina in her deep forceful voice, as she began to slowly wrap another tentacle around Kimberly.
But Kimberly knew that once she had her wrapped up it was over for both her and Kira, so she acted quickly. Kimberly swiftly jerked away from Scorpina's grip as she raised her fist to Scorpina's face and struck her, hard. Scorpina shrunk back in pain but did not relent her grip on Kira.
"You'll pay for that Kimberly!" declared Scorpina.
"Yeah," replied Kimberly taking a karate stance, " and who's going to make me? Certainly not you with all that extra baggage," she gestured towards Kira.
Scorpina charged at Kimberly but Kira was sharp and immediately picked up on Kimberly's plan, so she planted her feet firmly in the ground and refused to move with Scorpina. Scorpina tried to drag Kira along but it was too hard to pull her and try and catch Kimberly.
"Nice try," said the mutant as she lengthened her tentacle and once again reached for Kimberly. But Kimberly was too fast, her years of gymnastics had definitely paid off because after several back handspring she was far out of Scorpina's reach.
"It's either me or her!" she declared. "Lord Zedd wants me so if you showed up with only her I'd hate to think what he would do."
Scorpina thought for a minute, Kimberly did have a point, what did she care about some stupid high schooler anyway?
"Very well then," said Scorpina, "I'll let her go, but only on one condition."
"What's that," questioned Kimberly suspiciously.
"The girl has a special power that does not require her gem to activate, it is a danger to me. I cannot allow her the opportunity to use it against me."
"Fine," said Kimberly cutely, "Kira, you promise you won't use your scream on the lady?"
Kira nodded her head vigorously trying to convey her promise.
"That's cute," cut in Scorpina, "but I'm just not that stupid."
"You sure about that?" asked Kimberly mockingly.
Scorpina starred at Kimberly intensely, picturing all of the ways she was going to torture her if given the opportunity. She never much cared for the Pink Ranger before and it appeared that some things never changed because she was now utterly and completely annoyed with the woman. She knew Lord Zedd was waiting for her and she had wasted enough time, so without warning she rapidly whipped the teenage girl into a tree face first causing Kira to hit her head, hard, knocking her out cold.
As Scorpina released Kira, the girl fell to the floor and Kimberly definitely felt like she was going to hurl now. She didn't have the strength in her to run anymore. Once again another one of her plans had backfired and once again it had been at Kira's expense. Scorpina quickly gathered up Kimberly with two of her tentacles and without any hesitation they were gone, leaving Kira alone and unconscious.
"I can't see a damn thing!" yelled Conner as he followed the other team.
"Will you just shut up boy!" replied the Yellow Ranger over her shoulder as she followed behind Zack. She'd had just about enough of the young jock's complaining, and now things were serious.
Ethan immediately started laughing, but had he seen the look on Aisha's face without her helmet on he would have thought otherwise.
"Guys, just be quiet," said Katherine in her typical sensitive voice, "this is serious, you can't be fooling around."
"Sorry," said the Blue Ranger and Red Ranger in unison as they lowered their heads in shame.
Both teams had ventured out into the mysterious fog, leaving Haley behind to man the command center, which was pretty much useless at this point since her signal couldn't penetrate the fog either.
After a few minutes of roaming, Trent suddenly made a discovery, "Hey look you guys footprints." He dropped to the ground pointing them out.
They were small, undoubtedly a woman's and judging by the treadmarks they were made by boots, which meant they were Kira's.
"They're Kira's," declared Trent.
"What?" questioned Conner as he shoved past everyone else, eager to see them.
"They're Kira's alright," he confirmed, "but when were they made? They could be from last week."
"Actually," began Ethan "Kira hasn't been out here since before it rained the other night, I think it's safe to say that they're fresh."
Everyone sighed in relief, at least they were on the right track. Following them they made another discovery of another set of footprints, trailing behind Kira. They were much bigger than hers, undoubtedly belonging to a male.
"Whose are they?" questioned Katherine in anticipation.
"Well," began Billy, "they appear to have been made by sneakers, "What kind of shoes were Jason and Tommy wearing?"
"Tommy was wearing hiking boots," replied Katherine immediately.
"And I think Jas was wearing the sneakers," added Zack.
"Then this is good new right?" asked Aisha, "Jason and Kira are together."
"But why aren't they morphed?" questioned Ethan, "There's no way in hell I would have come in without my suit."
"And where's Dr.O," asked Conner, looking around for answers but not finding any because of the fog.
"Let's just keep going," said Billy, rising from the ground and following Trent.
Not long after Trent spotted something through the fog, it was lying on the ground and it appeared to be dirty blonde hair, it was Kira. He immediately rushed to the site, not saying a word to anyone or even acknowledging their presence. He was so close and finally he reached her only to be heartbroken to find Kira alone and unconscious on the forest floor.