Hey all, once again you guys didn't let me down with the reiviews. They were great! Thank you everyone! I apologize this chapter took so long but it's been a crazy hectic week. I hope you like it. And one more thing, if any of you are looking for another fic to sink your teeth into then I STRONGLY recommend "Conflicts of Interest," by Grey17. The writing is amazing and the storyis pretty damn good too. But you must be 17 or older because it's rated R. I know I've mentioned this one before but it really is worth your time.
"What's going on? These tengas just won't go down!" yelled Aisha to anyone that could hear her. She was in the middle of an intense battle with two relentless tengas and a third one had just entered the picture.
"Aisha's right," declared Zack in response as he was brought to the ground by a double kick from two of the oversized birds. "I don't know how much longer I can hold out!"
"Me either," added Katherine who was now pinned to a tree by two tengas. She had no free arms, just her legs. "I don't remember them being so strong!" She finally gathered enough strength to overextend her leg up and over her shoulder knocking the tenga in the face, releasing her left arm.
"I don't know," replied Billy, "it looks like you've got things pretty well under control!" He was referring to Kat's last maneuver. But, Billy on the other hand wasn't having quite as good of luck. For some reason he had become Scorpina's main target. Was it possible that Zedd had been keeping tabs on them and knew that Billy had taken the lead of the team?
The Rangers had been in battle for quite some time and with every passing moment were becoming more and more concerned.
"Shouldn't the kids have been here already?" questioned Katherine as she removed her blade blaster from it's holster and began blasting the tengas with a red beam. The only problem was that every time she knocked one down another one would appear.
"Yeah, they should have!" confirmed Zack as he too pulled out his blade blaster and began firing.
"I hope they didn't run into any unexpected visitors!" added Aisha as she did a back handspring causing two tengas to collide. She too utilized her blade blaster.
"Well then it's too bad that they did run into some unexpected visitors!" interrupted Scorpina as she captured Billy in an impressive headlock. But he too took the queue from the other rangers and blasted Scorpina in the foot at a very close range causing her to release him.
Grouping together with their backs turned towards each other the Rangers knew that they couldn't keep this up forever.
"What do we do Billy?" questioned Katherine as she shot at Scorpina swiftly.
"Well, it sounds like there's not going to be any relief coming our way any time soon. I say we run," responded Billy.
"Run where?" asked Aisha puzzled, but still on guard.
"Why not follow the path," suggested Zack, " at least then maybe we can regroup with Tommy and Jason."
"You got my vote!" confirmed Aisha.
"Okay guys, on the count of three," declared Billy. "One, two, three!"
All four Rangers took of running on the path's course. Their main concern was keeping enough space between themselves and Scorpina and the tengas, so they still had to continue firing. Zack was in charge of leading everyone on the right path while everyone else concentrated on tenga control.
"What the hell!" shouted Conner in annoyance at the putty that had been on him like ants on sugar for the past few minutes. It seemed like no matter how many times he pounded on the putty it just wouldn't quit.
"Calm down," shouted Kira back, "they can't last forever!"
"Yeah well neither can we!" replied Ethan as he too struggled to keep the upper hand or at least an equal hand.
"Come on guys, don't give up!" encouraged Trent who was using his saber quite successfully.
The battle raged on for quite sometime, but finally the four teenagers found themselves in a pile on the forest floor.
"Get off me!" yelled Conner at Ethan who had just been tossed on top of him.
"Oh a thousand apologies Conner, because I landed on you on purpose and all!" yelled Ethan back sarcastically.
"Guys!" screamed Kira, breaking up their fight. "We don't have time for the power trips. Everyone stand up."
Eventually everyone followed Kira's orders and Trent was relieved by her initiative because he knew that had he gotten involved it only would have ended up in a three-way fight.
"Kira's right guys," said Trent, "we have to work together."
"Together at what!" snapped Ethan, "We're surrounded by ugly gray mutants that keep making that incredibly annoying sound, and I don't see us gaining the lead anytime soon!"
"For once, I totally agree with Ethan," agreed Conner, who was at his wit's end.
"I say we run," suggested Kira.
"Run where?" asked Conner "we can't see a thing in this fog, dammit!"
"We'll just keep following the trail," continued Kira, "we'll eventually meet up with the other Rangers. I'm sure they know how to beat these guys."
"I'm with Kira," replied Trent.
"Of course you are," mumbled Conner under his breath. He couldn't stand the way that Trent was always fawning over Kira.
"What was that?" questioned Trent immediately. He knew that Conner had feelings for Kira and he hated to admit it but he was beginning to become a little threatened by them.
"I said of course we are," Conner paused for a second to think, "uh, too."
"Well then let's kick it!" yelled Ethan not wanting to hear the dispute.
Everyone followed Ethan's lead and charged through a wall of putties leaving them no choice but to let the colorful pack through. Finally the Rangers were free; Kira was leading, following the path left by her friends exactly. The guys held up the rear doing what ever was necessary to keep the putties at a safe distance.
"Stop wasting my time Goldar!" yelled Jason as he punched and kicked at the monster as fiercely as he ever had.
Goldar had discovered Jason behind a bush that had served well as a protective shelter for a while. But even the fog was no help because Goldar was more determined than he had ever been to find the Red Ranger and destroy him once and for all.
"Wasting your time?" questioned Goldar. "You should be thanking me for the extra time I've allowed you to be on this puny planet!"
"Oh yeah," shot back Jason, "if it's so puny then why's it so hard for you to conquer it?"
He had Goldar on that one and Goldar had never been real swift. The monster paused for a second to come up with an answer, allowing Jason to take control of the situation and snatch away Goldar's sword. But Goldar wouldn't tolerate it; he immediately struck Jason hard with a blow to the chest, sending Jason up in the air only to be halted by the incredibly hard tree. Jason slid down the bark and landed hard on the moist soil. He was once again hidden beneath the fog.
"Zeddy!" yelled the high pitched squeal of Rita Repulsa as she appeared out of thin air in the clearing.
Her ear piercing shrill caused Lord Zedd to flinch resulting in the deadly beam that was meant for Kimberly to miss her and hit a tree behind her. Zedd yelled in dissatisfaction.
"What's wrong with you woman!" he screamed animatedly at his wife.
Kimberly and Tommy simultaneously let out the breath they had been holding in ever since the moment that Zedd raised his staff to Kimberly. They gave each other a relieved glance before drawing their attention back to the quarreling couple.
"What's wrong with me!" snapped Rita as she walked swiftly towards her husband. "You were going to kill that annoying powerless priss without me! How could you!"
Zedd realized his mistake, more importantly he realized the hell that Rita would put him through the next few days if he didn't apologize.
"Oh my pet," he began trying to let go of his anger, "please forgive me. I'm afraid I did get ahead of myself. What was I thinking?"
"Hmm," snapped Rita, "that's more like it. Now where were you?"
Tommy and Kimberly immediately locked eyes, up until now they had been so relieved that Kimberly's annihilation had been postponed that they forgot that it was going to happen eventually.
"Help me," pleaded Kimberly to Tommy silently.
Tommy made out the words on her lips and realized that never before had he failed her when she asked him for help. But, unfortunately it was looking like there was in fact a first time for everything. But Tommy didn't want to believe it and just like before he began to violently struggle with the rope which binded him to the tree. After a few seconds he realized it was helpless. Turning his head to the left he froze and listened for a moment. When his gaze returned to Kimberly he quickly reassured her by mouthing "It's going to be okay."
Kimberly gave him a 'how do you know look.'
"Trust me," mouthed Tommy back to her with a smile.
Kimberly smiled back at him, though not very confident in his claims. What did he mean it's going to be okay'? How in the hell can things be okay when they were both helpless?
"Well Kimmy," began Rita stepping in front of the former Pink Ranger and blocking out her view of Tommy. "I've been looking forward to this moment since the minute Zordon selected you to be his Pink Ranger. I have to say victory is sweet, ha, ha, ha…"
Kimberly turned her head away from Rita. She definitely didn't want Rita to be the last face she ever saw. Instead she peered behind the witch and noticed that Tommy had come back into view. The only problem was that he was not paying attention to the situation at all. Had he lost interest already? Kimberly had always thought that Tommy's wandering habits were cute but right now was just not the time. She scowled at him angrily, but he didn't even see her do that. 'Fine,' she thought, 'I might as well just be put out of my misery now then.'
Rita's laughter was becoming louder and even more annoying as Lord Zedd cut in.
"Oh just shut up." ordered Kimberly hatefully to Rita.
Everyone, including Tommy became silent and directed their attention at Kimberly.
"What did you just say to my wife?" questioned Zedd, trying to control his anger.
"You heard me," said Kimberly flatly, "I told her to shut her ugly face."
"Hey…" began Rita raising her hand to Kimberly and taking a few steps closer, "you really shouldn't have said that."
"And what are you going to do about it huh?" questioned Kimberly in a smart-ass tone. "What are you going to kill me? Because it's not like that wasn't going to happen before. Face it Rita, there is nothing you can do or say that is going to give you any power over me now."
Rita began to shake with anger and hostility, Kimberly was right, no matter what she or Zedd did to her there was nothing she could do to control the woman.
"That's it!" declared Rita lowering her hand. Not even slapping Kimberly across the face would satisfy her now. "Finish her Zedd!"
"Gladly my dear," replied Zedd as he backed away from Kimberly and then raised his staff towards her.
As the silver pole began to become consumed with flashes of lights and small bolts of lightning Kimberly realized her mistake and quickly glanced at Tommy for one final look. Like before he wasn't paying one hint of attention to her.
"Say goodbye, Kimberly," said Zedd one last time as he drew his arm back.
Kimberly closed her eyes tightly, and held her breath waiting for the blast to finish her, but it never came. Instead she heard a distinctive and familiar "Hiyah!"
Jason sat on the dirt motionless for just a second while he processed what had just happened. Goldar had just launched him right into a tree and it did not feel good. Looking around him all he could see was the fog and some shrubs straying from the bushes. As he attempted to move he felt something slithering against the back of his head and immediately thought it to be a snack. He rapidly lunged away from the tree, landing on his hands and knees, still holding on to Goldar's sword. As he turned around he realized that it hadn't been a snake at all that had alarmed him, instead it was a rope, and it was moving. Suddenly it clicked to Jason that he had been leaning on the exact same tree as Tommy. Smiling, Jason quickly maneuvered his way back to the tree and was able to peek around the trunk where he saw Tommy's hiking boots attempting to struggle. Jason was careful not to let his head peek out of the fog because Goldar was undoubtedly searching for him. So he rose as high as he could and called out to Tommy.
"Tommy," he whispered, but no response. "Tommy!" he said a little louder afraid that he may have blown his cover to Goldar. But still no answer. Finally, he called to Tommy again but this time he tugged slightly on the rope while he did it. This finally got Tommy's attention and he looked down at him with no reaction in his face. Jason understood that Tommy didn't want to blow his cover so he made it quick.
"I have Goldar's sword, when you give the signal I'm going to cut you loose, but there's no room for error so you better be prepared for this one, bro."
Tommy appeared to have no reaction to Jason's plan but knowing Tommy, Jason knew that Tommy understood. So he remained crouched and waited for a few moments. During that time he noticed that Tommy appeared to be centering himself through meditation. His eyes were focused on the fog below him and it seemed like nothing could ever infiltrate his concentration. Most likely he was playing out different scenarios in his head in preparation for the battle ahead. Soon Jason heard Kimberly's little outburst and couldn't help but chuckle silently when she told Rita to 'shut her ugly face.' He even noticed that Tommy's attention had been broken. But then, when things began to become even more tense and serious he was beginning to wonder if Tommy had any intention of acting upon the situation. Jason could hear Lord Zedd say goodbye and just as he was about to rise and take care of things on his own he heard his best friends signal.
"Hiyah!"
With that Jason rose strongly to his feet and with all of his might he swung the heavy gold sword as fast as he could and easily split the ropes in two. Tommy was free and Jason's cover had been blown.