Chapter 1
The Secret of the Statues
Derek Stone was tired, but what he felt was not a fatigue of the body, or even of the mind. Stone was tired of his people dying on an hourly basis in Balien camps without so much has a handful of dirt to cover their fallen corpses. He was tired of watching people he had once seen walking on the street mourn their lost lives and toil away under the harsh, cruel watch of the Balien slave drivers. He was tired of the Baliens assuming that the humans wanted to die in their slave camps, rebuilding everything that they had destroyed. The joke, if their could indeed be humour in a situation such as this, was that if they wanted the world as they had found it, why the hell did they destroy it in the first place?
Stone had been one of the few, most thought the only, to actually escape a Balien camp. But Stone knew that this wasn't the case. The rebels that had freed Stone had freed dozens of other slaves from other camps. What Stone was later told was that the camp that he had been a prisoner of was the Balien's highest security camp; one that no one had ever made it out of. When told this Stone casually replied "yeah, but no one had ever made it back from the stockade either". This usually drew scattered laughter from the people that were gathered around him.
It wasn't so much that Stone was the cocky type, or even confident for that. He didn't really want the status that surrounded him…he was, as he had been constantly reminded at the Balien camp, "only human". Or, at least he was; but that's for later. Stone simply didn't want to give the Baliens the honour of watching him breathe his last…or at least while he was in one of their cursed camps. Stone didn't really mind dying surrounded by Balien corpses and dying with a sword in his hands.
It was Stone's courageous nature that led him and his rebel friend Chris to the cavern where they had been given hope. It had been on a night much like this one; a cloudless sky, pitch black with the stars guarding the lives of the humans still drawing breath under the rule of the Balien fighters.
"Stone, you know I believe in you and all that crap, but this, my dear friend, is ridiculous. Even for you" Chris had argued with Stone as they worked their way back to Camp Delta, where Stone had been a prisoner for so long. "Last time I checked Chris it wasn't crazy to want to save your friends from certain doom. And yeah, I know that marching into Delta probably isn't how you'd like to spend your…what day is it today…Tuesday night, but I never forced you to come with me" Stone joked with Chris, the rebel who had aided in Stone's rescue weeks ago.
"I told the council you were crazy as soon as I brought you back. Freeing all the Deltas…you have quite a dream Stone". Chris mumbled as he viewed the sky with a cautious stare, looking for signs of trouble and finding one almost immediately. He nudged Stone and pointed to a nearby rock formation that would serve as cover against the newfound threat.
"Just remember Chris, you volunteered to tag along" Stone replied as they ducked under the rock outcropping to avoid the gaze of a Balien air scout, a Skyclaw. The air scouts were birdlike Baliens that had the qualities of a falcon; sharp eyes and even sharper talons that would rend the flesh from your bones without a second thought. "You and I both know that you'd get in mountains of trouble without me," Chris answered, getting up after the Skyclaw's flyover. The two rebels proceeded to traverse over the outcropping they had just taken shelter under, giving them a stunning heartbreaking view of the landscape before them.
Where fields of grass and playgrounds had once stood were now sparse, barren expanses of sand and dirt. The pale moon illuminated the next five mile stretch almost like a giant light-bulb, which would effectively leave the two in plain view as they made the last open land stretch to Delta; and easy pickings for even the greenest Skyclaw. Stone, however, saw something that he had never noticed before. Right where the old football field had once stood was a severe depression in the ground…almost suggesting that the ground was weaker at that point and had only been exposed due to the blasts of the Balien explosions from the invasion.
"Hey Chris, is it just me or was the old football field flat like it was supposed to be?" Stone asked making sure his memory wasn't starting fail him as a result of his 18 years of age.
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response"
"That's what I thought," Stone replied, pointing at the area of concern. "Then why is there an enormous depression in the middle of the bloody field?"
"Oh I don't know, maybe because the Balien assholes who invaded used these little things called explosives?" Chris answered sarcastically, which he was more than glad to do at any given time.
"Yeah I know that there professor, but then why doesn't anywhere else look like that? The Baliens used explosives in more than this one spot and this is the only spot that looks like that. I say we go check it out." Stone said as he already began to jog towards it.
"You know Stone, in the weeks and days that I've known you I've felt more endangered than I did when I was being shot at by Baliens. You know what that says about you as a person?" Chris grumbled as he struggled to catch up with the more athletic Stone.
"Yeah that I'm making you feel alive"
"Not what I had in mind you ugly, inconsiderate, reckless, son of a…" the latter comment wasn't being used in relation to Stone as a person, unlike the others, but was referring to the fact that as Stone approached the depression in the field gave way to a cavern entrance.
"I always knew that you were overweight you fat ass," Chris joked, thinking that the cavern entrance being exposed was a result of Stone walking into such a close proximity to it.
"Yeah cause you know all 200 pounds of me is enough to make the floor collapse in. Sometimes I wonder if you didn't get hit with a concussion during the raids on the prisons you've maid," Stone pointed out as he walked right up to the edge of the giant entrance.
"But I was clever enough to avoid getting my skinny white ass caught by those alien bastards now wasn't I?"
"Chris, you and I both know that we could sit here all bloody night and argue over who has the greater intelligence, but in the end you'd lose anyways," Stone laughed at Chris' jaw dropping and the punch on the arm that followed. "Look, I get the feeling that this entrance opened up for a reason…and I think that we're meant to go into it. Think about it," Stone began to explain seeing the disapproving look on Chris' face, "this hole could have opened at anytime in the past few months, but it didn't. It opened when we happened to notice that there was something different about the spot and we walked up to it. Besides, you were concerned about being open season for some Skyclaws if we cross this field…I sincerely doubt the Baliens know that these caverns exist and even if they did I doubt they'd be expecting anyone to be coming through them." Stone began to move to the edge of the entrance to descend down into the caverns using the coil of rope he had wrapped on his belt. He adjusted the sword he carried so it wouldn't slow him down on his descent and tied the end of the rope to a nearby protrusion in the earth.
"One day, preferably not anytime soon, your hair brained schemes are going to get you or both of us killed. And you better pray that one of us winds up in hell because if we're stuck in the afterlife together I'm kicking the hell out of you for all eternity for getting me killed" Chris complained as he too uncoiled the rope that was secured to his belt to use for the descent into the cavern. Like Stone bore a sword Chris carried one of the Balien stun-staffs that he had captured from a Balien during one of the rebel raids on Balien slave camps and prisons. His, however, had been modified to have blades on both of the ends of the staff. During some of his spare time, Chris himself had modified the staff by using an old welding machine to weld the blades to the staff. He never thought that the skills he had learned in ninth grade tech class would come in handy. The staff, however, had saved Chris' life and the lives of others more than once.
In contrast to Stone's muscular and athletic body, his long hair and his skill with a sword, Chris was a wiry, not thin, wiry, short haired, sharp tongued rebel that usually planned all the raids from start to finish. This time around, however, Chris was just along for the ride. Stone had planned this two man raid on the toughest security camp in the country. When Chris had questioned him about it Stone had come through with flawless logic.
"Think about it Chris: if we march up to the gates with every soldier we have or even a dozen fighters they'll mow us down with one well placed shot. Two men, however, can sneak in, get a few people out, and get back out themselves before the Baliens are any wiser. Look, even if you don't go with me I'm going. I owe it to them to save them. When I left their hope left with them."
Chris, however, now severely doubted the logic that he had accepted as he began repelling into the cavern's depths, hoping that this massive cave formation would lead into or at least near to Delta. Chris could hear the drips of a water source falling in short drops to the stone floor. Contrary to what Chris would have expected, the cavern didn't have an air of staleness or must or even dust and dirt for that matter. It was almost as if the cavern had an air filtration system, which didn't do much for Chris' confidence that they weren't going to do die tonight.
"Hurry up you old fart you gotta see this!" Stone called from what must have been the cavern floor. Chris hated heights, especially when he was going down, so he had no intention of looking at what Stone wanted him to look at until he had both his feet back on completely solid ground.
"You had better be telling me that this blasted cavern leads somewhere Stone, or so help me," Chris called down as he reached the bottom of the cavern.
"Oh it leads somewhere. Ever heard of the light at the end of the tunnel? Think of this as that in the literal sense."
"Leave it to you to use a stupid metaphor in a situation like this" Chris said as he untied himself from the rope he had climbed down on. But he soon understood what Stone had meant. The mouth of the cavern entrance lead to the mouth of a tunnel where a bright light burned at the far end of the tunnel, seemingly beckoning the two rebels further; welcoming them to the end. "You know what they say about the light at the end of the tunnel and how you see it when you bite the bullet right?" Chris grumbled, clearly not happy.
"Stop your whining old man. Look at these walls…these must date back centuries, if not millennia! There's no way these could be a result of the Balien attack. These must have been here long before the Baliens, us, hell these look like they're from another planet" Stone exclaimed, clearly amazed at what he was seeing.
"Yeah another planet, like wherever the hell the Baliens are from you numbskull!"
"No not like that. Can you see those barbaric bastards making anything this serene? And besides, based on the rock formations and other stuff, I took a geology class in school by the way, this cavern must predate the Balien invasion by centuries at least," Stone said as he examined the rock walls of the cavern, seeing things that he apparently could understand and set a firm date to.
"Whatever. Lets just figure out what this light at the end of the tunnel is, and how it's probably going to kill us mind you, and get on to being dead and all that," Chris groused as he continued along the tunnel path. Stone concluded his examination of the walls of the tunnel and jogged to catch up to Chris, who was considerably further along the cavern since Stone had stopped to figure out how old the cavern was. What Chris failed to notice in his haste to meet death was the fact that the tunnel walls were beginning to change into something more resembling an extravagant hall of ancient times. The two rebels were beginning to see the source of the blinding light that was at the end of the tunnel; an elaborate cavern surrounded by torches emanating flames seemingly made of pure blue energy. The flames illuminated the cavern, revealing that there were engravings on the wall that would lead one to believe that they were pictures; similar to the cave drawings found in caves that were inhabited by cavemen.
"What do you suppose those mean," Stone asked Chris, who was busy looking around the cavern in what most would believe is awe, but Stone knew Chris was trying to figure out how to get the hell out of the cavern as fast and easily as possible.
"Well, seeing as that picture there has something going down in flames and some big scary, not that I'm scared mind you, thing standing over it, I'd assume that the aforementioned scary thing is gonna to come out, toast us to a nice medium rare, and then…" Chris rambled, openly upset about their current predicament.
"As sure as I am that will happen," Stone began, letting his sarcasm drip like water from a ceiling onto the floor, "I meant more how the hell did they get there in such detail and who the hell put them there." The drawings themselves were in colour, but not the kind that one would typically find in a cave like the ones that archaeologists found on a somewhat regular basis. These drawings looked as if they had been laser etched into the stone, and practically painted on by someone who knew exactly what they were doing. The pictures were not crude in anyway, but rather detailed, much like the details one would see in a professional painting…the only problem was that neither Chris nor Stone was able to decipher what the picture was actually trying to say. The two examined the pictures around the room until they reached what would appear to be the point of the pictures around the room. A huge stone door that, of course, had no obvious way to open yet clearly blocked the way that the two rebels needed to go.
"You know Stone, every time, every single goddamn time I try and raid or do anything remotely productive in your presence we run into a wall. Now, the times that preceded this one that wall was more figurative but, as you can see, the shit has finally hit the fan and we've run into a wall that we cannot overcome through perseverance. And even though I know you're stronger than me, no amount of hitting that wall with your sword will open it. Moreover, the only thing I can think of trying, short of knocking, is walking up to this fancy looking circular thing on the floor," Chris moved over until he was standing in the direct center of a circular design on the floor, directly in front of the stone entry gate, " and saying 'OPEN SESAME!'"
Much to Chris and Stone's surprise the door rumbled open, splitting evenly down the center of the door, revealing yet another passage. "Say one word Stone, and it'll be the last one to ever escape your lips," Chris said, glancing at Stone who failing miserably at his attempt to suppress his laughter.
"Me say anything? Never! But seeing as we keep running into the unexpected and/or things that tend to throw a wrench into the simplicity of life, I saw we draw our weapons," Stone suggested as he drew his sword from his over-the-shoulder scabbard. The blade was of Balien origin, with a polished steel hilt and a titanium alloy blade that was narrow near the hilt, flaring out and then drawing back in to a graceful blade.
"Great, more surprises," Chris complained, as he was so good at doing, as he brought his staff into his hands from his holster on his back. The duo began to trek down the torch-lit passage, cautiously scanning the shadows for any sign of danger. The passage began to lead downwards at a rather alarming rate, leading the two to believe that they were going to lose their footing and fall down the remainder of the passage at any moment. Contradictory to their current streak of good luck (they hadn't run into any Baliens after all) the two rebels lost their footing within 50 feet of the slope's beginning and began to slide what would most likely be their doom.
Instead of being impaled on a lovely set of spikes, Stone and Chris could feel the path twisting and turning farther and farther under the surface, giving them a small hope that they wouldn't have to account for all of their sins just yet. Then, as quickly as their slide down the slope had begun, it ended, landing the rebels firmly on their asses in front of a robed figure leaning heavily on a staff in front of five statues embedded into the rock walls. The statues seemed to be made of pure marble, yet they had a sheen that marble typically didn't emit. Each of the statues was bearing a unique weapon in a unique pose. The centre warrior was wielding a sword above his head poised to attack in a ferocious downward slash. The leftmost warrior was a female crouched on one knee taking careful aim at an airborne enemy with a bow. The next warrior, directly to the sword bearing warrior's right, left if you're looking at them, was a large, somewhat over muscled warrior holding an axe before them, ready to defend against the looming threat. The female heroine to the sword warriors left, right if you were gazing at them as Chris and Stone were, was holding a pair of daggers, ready to deal a lethal strike with both hands. Finally, the rightmost warrior was a wiry champion that was seemingly captured in the middle of spinning his bladestaff before him. What was common about all five was the bracelets that all five statues were wearing, each containing a different coloured gem.
"Ah, I've been waiting for you two to arrive," the robed figure said as he turned to face the two rebels. The man's voice was raspy, like he had been smoking his entire life, yet you could sense the power that emanated from the figure, despite his frail appearance and demeanor. He leaned heavily on the staff, is if he had suffered some great injury that pained him whenever he moved his leg. The robe shrouded the man in shadow from head to toe, with the cowl of the robe concealing the man's face in complete darkness.
"What do you mean waiting?" Chris demanded, changing the grip on his staff in anticipation of a fight if he didn't like the answer the old man gave him, "How would you have any idea we were headed here, seeing as the entrance to this place just appeared to us?"
"Ah, you're referring to the gaping hole in the field that opened when you approached? I thought so. Do you really think it is coincidence that the entrance opened when you happened to walk past? How many times had you walked over that area before the Balien invasion and it had never opened? Now, logic would tell you that the Balien invasion weakened the ground and that's why it happened, but what you will soon find it is nothing is what it seems when it's in relation to this place," the old man said as Chris relaxed his battle stance to somewhat lean on his staff. Chris figured that there was no danger in this place, and since they hadn't encountered any problems this far, he moved to examine the staff bearing statue. He ran his hands along the weapon, looking for any signs of weakness in the stone. As his hands reached the grip of the weapon he felt the hands of the statue relax to a certain extent, as if it wanted to release the staff to Chris, but was unable to do so at the present moment. After tugging on the weapon to see if force would prevail, Chris's examination moved to the bracelet that was on the wrist of the statue. The band seemed to be made of polished silver with a sapphire inset in the center of the bracelet surrounded by glyphs and runes that were indecipherable to the rebel. Chris began to move to remove the bracelet from the statue but was halted by the old man.
"Curious one aren't you Kolthor…I mean Chris," the old man said as he hobbled back to the center of the cavern, standing within a circular design on the ground that much resembled the one Chris had stood on when he had said "open sesame" to open the wall.
"Kolthor? Who in the hell is Kolthor? And how did you know my name! I sure as hell haven't told you and neither has…"
"Stone? No he hasn't either. I can read minds; it's a perk of the job," the old man joked, "but don't worry my powers only extend to interpretation, not control; meaning I can't control you. All I can do is just read what you're thinking and send my own thoughts into your brain patterns in the form of messages. Its how I'll contact you when you're outside the cavern and I need to pass something along," the man said as if he had made this speech countless times before. "And to answer your question, Kolthor is the person whose statue you are examining. He was the blue Ranger in the last millennia when the Baliens invaded the first time," the old man began, clearly wanting to get into a story that would likely explain things well enough to avoid further questions.
"Wait, you said the first time…that implies that this isn't the first time the Baliens have come to Earth, let alone taken over," Stone inquired of the old man.
"Very perceptive young man, and if you had let me finish, you would understand. Now, as I was saying, about a thousand years ago, give or take a few centuries, the Baliens arrived on Earth and laid siege to the planet and like this time, they had taken over within a few hours. I know for a fact that their four hour take over is one of their slowest invasions ever. Now, where was I?" the man stopped to gather his thoughts, "Ah yes. So, just as things have turned out this time, a few survivors found this cavern, but there was no one to get them through the questions. All that was here was a dais with the five bracelets resting on them. The five warriors placed them on their wrists and set forth as the Rangers of Power, or as you would call them now, the Power Rangers, and destroyed the Balien invaders. Unfortunately the Balien generals escaped the planet before the Rangers could destroy them. I'm pretty sure it's the same generals that have returned to invade this second time around. I also assume that the generals figure that this time there won't be any Rangers around as the average human life span is less than a century. What they don't realize is that the power is everlasting…it will always be present when it is needed. All that it requires is a host to harness its power; a champion of goodness that is willing to stand against the threat and fight back."
"And you want us to be those champions," Stone replied, pointing out the obvious.
"Of course he wants us to be the champions you idiot! Why would he be telling us this if he didn't want us to harness the power? So we could go tell other people? So we could post an ad at all the Balien camps saying 'wanted: five rebels willing to use extraordinary powers to fight bastard invaders'?" Chris, extremely exasperated, cried.
The old man chuckled, shaking his hooded head at the two exchanging verbal jabs. He remembered what it was like to be in their position. In truth, he had been one of the fighters that had found the five bracelets a millennium ago in this same cavern. He had been their leader, the one who had charged the brigades of Baliens and stormed their fortresses, never backing down. Those days, however, were far behind him, and he had been the one to take on the role of Protector, waiting the next generation of rebels who would once again harness the ancient powers to battle the Baliens. Stone and Chris reminded him of himself and Kolthor arguing on a regular basis about everything and anything…they had been best friends, and the old man remembered burying Kolthor's body in the courtyard of the castle which he had ruled over until his death. The Rangers had split up after the Baliens fled back to their home planet, wherever that was. They had gone back to their separate kingdoms and ruled to the end of their days, retaining their power bracelets until they breathed their last. Upon their death, they were immortalized, rather magically, in the cavern with a statue, where their weapons and bracelets now rested. The only reason the old man had a statue and was still drawing breath was because he, as aforementioned, had taken the mantle of Protector and swore to train the next generation of Rangers if, and when, the time should arise.
"If you two are quite done, I'd like to finish my story," the old man, who had tired of their bickering after his reminiscence, began, turning back to the two. "Yes, I'd like you two to be part of the next generation of Rangers, but I cannot force you to take on the power. If you don't want it there is nothing I can do other than try and talk you into it…a Ranger must voluntarily take their place, it cannot be forced upon him or her. Now, before you answer, let me tell you what you get as part of the package," the old man shifted to face the statues.
"Stone, you would take the mantle of the red Ranger, bearing the Ashblade and commanding the Phoenix. Should the Ashblade ever be lost or destroyed a new one with materialize in your hands the next time you call it forth. Like the Phoenix, the Ashblade regenerates. You are also leader of the Rangers, the first to fight, and the last to leave the battlefield. The bracelet you would bear would be inset with a ruby," the old man waved his staff and the bracelet and sword of the centre statue began to float in mid air in front of Stone. "Remember, you must voluntarily command this power. I cannot force it on you nor trick you into accepting it. What I offer you is not a path that will be easy to follow or walk; what I offer you is the chance to fight back and free your people as I once did."
"You were one of these Rangers old one?" Stone inquired, shocked at this tidbit of information that was dropped so casually.
"Yes, I was their leader, as I hope you to be. My name back then was Rion," the old man, now identified said as if he was mentioning that the sky was blue.
"Well then Rion, I guess I'll have to show you how the red Ranger gets things done in this day and age," Stone said with a smirk, stepping up to the floating sword and bracelet, grasping the blade with his right hand and extending his right hand through the bracelet. Upon touching his skin the bracelet conformed to his wrist, the runes and glyphs briefly glowing as it set itself on his arm.
"Well done Stone," Rion said as he removed his hood, "I guess you would say its pertinent information for me to tell you how to activate your new powers? The activation command and motion sequence is…" Rion was cut off by Chris' interruption.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Chris said moving closer to the staff bearing statue, "why don't you tell me about this guy, then give Stone the info on how to work this new power of his?"
Rion sighed. "Have it your way. That, dear Chris, is Kolthor, as I've said he was the blue Ranger when I was the red Ranger. He wielded that staff like it was an extension of him; in fact it is exactly like the one you bear now. The blue Ranger wields the Skystaff and commands the Pegasus. The blue ranger is the tactician, planning all attacks and making strategic recommendations to the red Ranger in battle." Rion waved his staff once again and the staff and sapphire bracelet were floating before Chris, awaiting his acceptance of the powers.
"I've always said you were gonna be the death of me Stone," Chris said, turning to face the sword wielding Stone, "Might as well take a few Baliens with us eh?" Chris reached above him and wrapped his fingers around the staff, allowing the bracelet to conform itself to his wrist. "Now you can go through the whole user guide to these things Rion," Chris instructed, making himself feel as if he was in control of the situation.
"The similarities between you and Kolthor are amazing," Rion said, clearly exasperated with the situation. "The activation phrase for your powers is rather simple…unforgettable even in the worst of situations. Bring your arm across your chest and cry 'for freedom!' and extend your arm out before you, spreading your fingers and behold the power that you wield. Now, there is one thing that you must remember," Rion explained, "You two alone cannot fight back the Balien invasion even with the powers you know possess. You need to find three others to share these powers with you, as there are three statues remaining. Should you ever want to return to this cavern simply picture it clearly in your head and you when you open your eyes you will find yourself encased in these hallowed walls."
"How will we know who to choose as Rangers Rion?" Stone asked, wondering how one chose someone to be the ultimate fighting machine.
"That, my dear boy, is where you are mistaken. People don't choose the power, the power chooses the people. Now, you're probably wondering how you know which people the powers have chosen right? When you are near someone who is destined to be a Ranger you will see a clear image of the statue whose power they are to inherit. To bring them here, transport here as you normally would while touching the Ranger to be. Both of you will be brought to this cavern as I explained earlier," Rion said gesturing to the walls of the cavern.
Stone and Chris both nodded in understanding as they discarded their old weapons for their respective Angelblade and Skystaff. The two felt the power coursing through their veins, like they had gotten a sudden adrenaline rush that would never fade.
"Oh, one more thing," Rion said as he turned to face the two rebels and the newest Power Rangers, "You can't tell anyone you're a Ranger. I know, believe me I know, that it's easier said than done. You can't morph in front of your friends, unless they're Rangers too of course; you have to run off to a sheltered area and come out in your Ranger form…much like Superman would change in a phone booth."
"But that doesn't make sense…what does it matter if people know who we are?" Stone asked, obviously not understanding the logic behind that requirement.
"You never know who's watching…there are likely Balien spies within your merry band of rebels. If you're true identities get out you won't be safe even in your human forms. This requirement is for the safety of your friends more than it is for you. If the Baliens get a hold of someone near and dear to you they know you'll do something rash to get them back. Trust me," Rion whispered, turning away from the Rangers. The Balien general Auron had found out his secret identity and had captured his wife and pink Ranger. He, of course, had rushed off to save her, only to watch her be killed once he had fallen into the Balien trap blindly. He had only made it out because of Kolthor's impetuous rescue attempt. Rion never forgot that it was her statue had been the first to be in this cavern, and just as he would never forget that he had failed her.
"Now, since you were on your way to make a midnight rescue, you'd best be on your way. I'm sure that the Rangers will have much more luck than two rebels would," Rion said with a wink.
"Rion, we've been down here for hours…it must be morning by now!" Chris cried at the entire waste of the rescue attempt.
"Chris, you're supposed to be the tactician, which typically implies a certain level of intelligence," Rion began, oblivious to Chris' rage, "Look at your watch."
Chris figured it was safe to humour Rion's command, even if it was just to prove him wrong. Chris glanced down at the wristwatch he had worn since the Balien invasion and felt his blood go cold. It read 11:51 p.m.; they had left the base at 11:45 p.m. in order to reach Delta for midnight dead on.
"I'd say something along the lines of 'what sorcery is this' but seeing as we just inherited mystical powers to become superbeings and all that I think it would be kinda redundant. So, how in blazes did you pull that stunt?" Chris requested of Rion, who bore a smug grin across his weathered face.
"Telepathy isn't the only trick the Protector can pull Chris," Rion said, a gleam entering his eyes. "When it suits me I can slow, quicken, or in this case, stop time. You'll find with time, excuse the pun, you'll be able to do the same with your powers. Now, begone with you! There are people to free and Baliens to destroy; may the power protect you as it once did me."
With that, both Stone and Chris drew a clear picture of the outskirts of Camp Delta in their minds, and in a flash of red and blue lights they were gone, leaving Rion alone, once again, in the Cavern of Power.
"May the power protect you my friends," Rion said, "I fear you'll need every ounce this time."
Author's Note: Please feel free to read and review. I'm open to suggestions and ideas. The next chapter will be up in a few days to a week. Thanks for reading.