Now, on with the Story!
These are some definitions I think you might need to understand some areas of this chapter: Anoya-day, Mensons-years, Aliods-people, centrars-miles
Arriving on Nonatasion
Jason's POV
It seemed like it took us longer than ever before to get to this mission. I know that it has taken us days to get somewhere before, but I feel that there is much more going on around here, but I just hope I'll be able to find out what it is on the way home. We no longer have the luxury of sitting around, we have arrived at Nonatasion.
As barren as Asoriotan was when we first arrived, Nonatasion is just as plentiful with plant life. There could possibly be some animals lurking among these foreign plants, but it is really hard for us to be able to tell because of the foliage. It is the dusk of day here and it is just beginning to become cooler around this area. I have always loved this time of the day best, but it seems to be the wrong time to be embarking on a mission such as this, a mission that could very well end our lives.
I know that we were worried when we disembarked from the ship the last time, but I am much more worried this time about how we will fare. Kim is no where near the physical condition that she was in when we arrived on Asoriotan and Tommy will be much more worried about keeping her safe, which might leave me fighting more things without back up. I know I trust them to look out for me, but I don't know how long they will be able to do that if something bad happens out there. They have to look out for each other first and I think everyone understands that.
Billy, however, says that their powers will act normally, as nothing is wrong with them besides the extra fatigue that they have been under since Angie's birth. I can only hope that he is right about their powers or we will land in a bad place very quickly. If we were to meet anything while trying to get to Lord Zedd's palace and things act up, then I might be delivering the news that we have lost one of the two greatest rangers that I have ever known. I don't know what they would do without each other and I don't know how they continue to risk all of this when they have more to lose than any of the rest of us.
"You didn't happen to bring something to chop these limbs with, did you Tommy?" Kim asked, as they continued to duck under the tree limbs that blocked their path through the plentiful jungle.
Tommy had already had to hoist her over several limbs and she was now looking at another limb that she could not crawl under or climb over without great difficulty. They did not allow her to crawl under anything that they were not able to see under with the flashlights that they carried. Once it turned completely dark, they were going to morph and use the special vision that Billy had installed for them on the way to Nonatasion. They hoped it would protect them if they met anything, but they were not sure what they could possibly meet on this journey. They really had no clue as to what they might wind up going against here.
They honestly had not known what to expect when they landed there, but this was not what they had envisioned going through. They had expected an army of puddies or even some tryadrones, but they had not expected to meet a forest, just a forest, without any traps inside of it, according to Billy. That did not seem like it could be the best defense that Lord Zedd had about people invading his planet. This forest seemed to hold no real danger to them, but it was the fear of what could be behind the next tree that kept them on their toes as it slowly became darker and they were less sure of what they were seeing.
"No, I didn't expect this. I was actually expecting to have to fight something other than a tree when we first arrived on this planet," Tommy said as he tossed Kim over to Jason before easy climbing over the limb and re-grabbing her hand. They then looked out into the jungle, trying to figure out where to go next, as they had a hard time finding the path that Billy had wanted them to follow. They were always having to go around one tree or another and they were not sure if they were going to ever make it out of the woods in one piece. If they fell in some hole, then they were just out of luck, because the other rangers would never be able to find them. They would just be lost in the woods, forever.
Then, they saw it. A small shed situated in the middle of this dense forest of trees, which was odd. They had not seen any other structures and they had been walking for almost an hour, hoping that they were on the right path. It looked innocent enough, so they could only hope there was nothing inside that would harm them when they looked for some sort of ax or knife to help them make it through the woods. They would have willingly continued on without looking, but there were still a few hours before complete darkness settled in over the land. They could not help but hope that an ax would quicken their pace, as throwing Kim over branches did take a good deal of time and some precision, as Tommy wanted to keep her uninjured for as long as possible.
"Me neither, but maybe we'll find something in there that we can use," Jason said as he stepped towards the door, but they were suddenly dropped down into an unforeseen trap.
There was no way to escape it and the pitch-blackness made it nearly impossible to know if they were alone or surrounded by an army of puddies in this underground cavern. The only thing that they could hope was that there was a way out of there that would not harm them or take them a great deal of time. They could not risk either thing, no matter what anyone else thought about it. Both were far too precious to allow them to be wasted and if they could find a light, then they would begin finding their way out of there.
"Is everybody alright? It's dark down here, stay close, there has to be another way out of this place. We can morph in a few minutes if it seems like we're getting no where," Tommy said grabbing Kim's hand and she reached to grab Jason's hand as well. If they were ever going to find their way out of here, they were going to have to stick together and trust that Tommy could somehow feel his way out of this place, although he had never had the best sense of direction among the three of them, but he was the leader.
"You're cold Jason," Kim said, as she strained to see him, but Jason was looking down at Kim's hand and thinking the same thing about her hand, he just had not been brave enough to say anything to her about it. "Why didnt you say something earlier?"
When he looked at her hand, he realized it must not be Kimberly's as it didn't not fit into his hand as it had in the past. That thought, however, scared the living crap out of him right now. If he was not holding Kim's hand, then whose hand was it? And what might this thing do to them if they suddenly screamed out that it was the wrong person in between them?
"Who's Jason?" A voice asked as Tommy got a firmer grip on Kim's hand and she let out a scream, as she was horrified about what she heard. She had not expected to hear the airy voice come out into the darkness and could only hope that whatever it was, was friendly. If not they were going to have to fight the being in the darkness of this cavernous place, in which it would probably have the upper hand.
"Who's there?" Tommy asked, as he pulled Kim to where she was standing behind him and Jason jerked the being away from Tommy and Kim.
He would take his chances if this thing was hostile, he knew that Trini would understand why he would do something like this. He wanted to make sure Kim and Tommy were still able to go home to their child. Little did he know that he had his own child on the way, but that little bit of information was supposed to wait until Trini decided to tell him. Kim and Tommy both wished that she would have told him before he got off the ship, as Jason would have been more careful, but Trini decided against it.
"I'm Alabaster. I lived on the surface of this planet until Lord Zedd took over my planet sometime ago. Who are you and what are you doing here? It is no longer safe for anyone to be here," Alabaster said as Tommy released Kim from his grip and then walked forward to try to locate whatever was talking to them. He felt that Kim would be fine where she was standing and he knew Jason was in this place somewhere and would help him in any way that he could if things got out of hand.
"We're the Power Rangers. Can you help us get out of here? We're trying to find Lord Zedd and defeat him," Tommy said as Alabaster nodded his head, although none of them could see that action. It was going to be a long walk for the humans, but he had to admit that he had never heard of these beings that called themselves 'Power Rangers' and it did make him curious as to why they were on his planet. They said they were trying to find Lord Zedd, but why would anyone want to try to find him? He was not exactly a being that had many friends that would pop up and visit him.
"Yes, but what are the Power Rangers? I've never heard of those things before," Alabaster said as he lit a torch with the flick of his wrist and began leading the way through the now dimly lit caves.
He was built the same as the rangers, except for the fact that his clothing looked rather odd to them, with a long tan colored robe covering a pair of leggings. He had long, white blonde hair, which he had gathered in a low ponytail and he stood about the same height as Tommy. His skin was lacking the signs of being exposed to any form of light in the recent past, but he held a smile that allowed them to calm down about the danger that they could have been in at the moment. They were honestly just thankful that he could get them to the surface, without too many problems.
"We protect a planet called Earth. Three of our rangers were captured by Lord Zedd and Mesogogg and brought to this planet. We are trying to get them off of this planet and hopefully get rid of Mesogogg at the same time. He's been bothering us for the past few years," Tommy said as Alabaster looked at them and then saw that there were two men and a woman that had fallen into this area that he now called his home.
Two of them seemed to be very protective of each other, as she was following the taller one as he held onto her hand. The other man seemed to be a close friend, but Alabaster wished he could only get inside of their brains to fully understand what a Power Ranger was. They seemed to be skirting the full definition of their job and he disliked knowing that they did not fully trust him, as he wanted to get rid of the evil Lord Zedd as much as they did. He, however, did not have the capabilities to do that as all of his army had been taken away from him when Lord Zedd arrived.
"Earth? Why would Lord Zedd want to harm those from Earth?" Alabaster asked, as he could not understand it. There was no reason for Lord Zedd to go into uncharted waters like that, as he had plenty of beings close by that he could torture without risking vengeance from this group. There must be some history between the two of them that he had not been made knowledgeable of, to this point.
"Because we banished him from Earth and he holds it against us and he always will. How did he conquer you?" Kim asked, as Tommy looked over at her as he had seen the gleam in Alabaster's eyes.
Tommy then pulled her closer and slipped his arm around her, as wherever they were was rather damp and he did want Alabaster to get the full idea that Kim was well spoken for. The being seemed nice, but he was not taking his chances in case things turned ugly over the next few minutes. That was something that he always imagined would happen when they took help from a stranger. He still felt rather leery about the whole situation and he could not help but wonder what he might do to them. They were having to put complete trust in a stranger and he had never been comfortable doing that one thing, because some strangers would just lead them to Lord Zedd and they would want them to be destroyed.
"He arrived here one anoya and began fighting our forces, which I now understand better as he had no place he was welcome to go back to because of your banishment. He struck harder than anything I can ever remember experiencing during my time here and I can not imagine what it must have been like to fight him during a full scale attack. I was lucky. My family, however, was killed within a few anoyas and my castle was taken over by Lord Zedd and his minions. I was and am the sole, remaining prince of Anotayon. That is what this region was called before he took over. If he knew I was still alive, then he might come after me as well. I have been hiding for the past ten mensons, hoping that he would leave my planet, but he has not. He had continued to try to terrorize the aloids that are left in Anotayon, but many of them left when he came here. They made it out in time to save themselves and their families and for that, I am grateful. I do not know how many more of them I could have handled suffering that horrible death," Alabaster said with a hollow voice as they all exchanged a glance.
They had not known that Lord Zedd had taken over this planet and they knew what would happen if Alabaster showed himself while Lord Zedd was still here and in power. Lord Zedd did not want any opposition and it surprised them that he had not tried to confirm Alabaster's death after he took over. It seemed that Lord Zedd might have thought Alabaster dead, because he had hidden himself so well. He had been wise to hide himself at the time, but it must have been miserable to be hiding for this long and to not know if it was safe for him to once again return to the surface. That was where he was meant to be and the toll on him was great. It was obvious by just looking at him that that was the case.
"That's horrible," Kim said sympathetically as Alabaster gave her a smile before continuing with more details of the story.
He knew they would need to know as much as they could about the events that had been going on with Lord Zedd while they were away, but it might not help them as much as they hoped. He knew nothing of their weapons and he could only imagine what they would be capable of if they had found any of the weapons that the Anotayon's kept. He had managed to destroy many of them during his last few days of reigning over the empire and he hoped that the magical protection still held over them, as he was still alive and well. If it was not holding over the weapons, then these rangers might not be able to make it anywhere near the palace, as these weapons would detect them and kill them. He did not think it wise to tell them, as he hoped and prayed that they were still undiscovered.
"Well, there are still some regions of the planet that have not been taken over by him, from what I remember of my last few days on the surface. Other aloids, like me, live in vast underground cities, centrars away from here. I, however, could not leave this region, as many did. My home is in this place and I can not leave it, unless it is utterly destroyed and I know that it had not been, at the time. It may be now, but I trust that it is still standing, otherwise Lord Zedd might have decided to live in one of these caves, as they do provide a great deal of protection from the outside," Alabaster said as Jason suddenly saw an amephor pass by and he went into combat mode. Those things had given them hell the last time they had seen them and he did not want to have to deal with them again.
"Watch out," Jason said as Tommy and Kim went into battle mode as well, while Alabaster gently put his hands on Jason's and Tommy's shoulder to pull them back from attacking. He was not as worried about the woman flying at them unless they began attacking her first, as she seemed to have the most common sense about her at the moment. There was something about the men that made them more jumpy, although he could not figure out what it was.
"They will not attack. Those are still under my control," Alabaster said, as Kim backed off, but Tommy and Jason still seemed wary to turn their backs on the creatures. If they were to be attacked, they would never forgive Alabaster for talking them out of defending themselves against these creatures that had dealt them such a hard fight only a few years before. How could they be under his control when they had come and fought against the rangers only a few brief years before? "How did you know about them? I thought that they only existed on this planet."
"Nicarni-Aso used those against us when we were trying to defeat her," Kim said as she noticed the look on Alabaster's face change to a steely look and she was worried that she had said something to upset him, although defeating Nicarni-Aso did not seem like something that would make anyone mad. The woman had caused so much pain and it was more of a service than anything else that they could think of it being.
"Then the population must be gone except for those few you saw just then. They would rather die than obey someone who is doing the wrong thing," Alabaster said as Kim, Tommy, and Jason could not believe those words. They had been hard to defeat then, but would they have been impossible to defeat if they were truly loyal to their leader? They did not like contemplating that thought for a long time and were glad when Alabaster spoke again, this time seeming more curious about their situation before they came here. "Nicarni-Aso, you say? I thought that she was locked up by someone mensons ago. I have not heard her name, in what seems like forever. She was a horrible evil."
"Well, she was locked up, but she was able to escape her captivity several years ago and began attacking Earth again. Several of the rangers that are with us now went on that journey as well. She was difficult to defeat, but we can say that she is gone this time. We made sure of that," Jason said as Kim looked away from Tommy, who still could not understand why she had done what she had done those years ago.
"It is fitting that you defeated her, being from Earth. She once ruled over that planet with an iron clad hand and I know of many that were killed because of her cruelty. Now, enough about your past conquests, what is going on in your life on Earth? You are not as young as some would expect one to be while in this line of work," Alabaster said as Kim and Tommy exchanged a glance. Should they tell him about Angie or leave that out of their life story? They already had enough drama to fill several books and being on another journey after just having a child was enough to start filling another book for the ages. It was odd how so many people would love to hear the story of the Power Rangers, if they only knew how long that story would be, it would lose a lot of interest. "Oh, a little aloid."
"Aloid?" Kim asked as Alabaster simply nodded his head and then saw that she still did not comprehend what he was talking about in the slightest bit. He had thought that she might be able to turn the word into child, but she had been unable to process it, not that he blamed her. Their languages seemed to be similar in many respects, but there were some words that remained foreign to each other and he could only hope that he knew the correct human word for aloid.
"I think, they call them children on your planet," Alabaster said, as Kim nodded her head and Tommy smiled down at her. It was odd how she could be happy to talk about Angie, after trying not to think about her for the past four days while they sat aboard the ship and had nothing but time to think about it. Now it was something to keep their minds off of what was going on around them. They needed to be able to do that, as they were going to be dealing with many hard things that were yet to be seen. "What's her name?"
"How did you know we had a girl?" Kim asked, as Tommy had still not removed his eyes from Kim and Alabaster merely nodded towards Tommy. He knew that the man must have a daughter, as he was still interested in seeing her mother talk about what she could do and what she was like. If it was a boy, he would have begun talking immediately, at least from his experiences with people.
"I just do, now what is her name?" Alabaster asked, as Tommy finally decided that it was his turn to speak up, as Kim was giving him a look that it was time for him to do such a thing. She didn't know if she could really talk about it in depth, but Tommy could and she was going to leave it to him.
"Angie," Tommy said, as Alabaster nodded his head and then stopped as he reached a section of the cave that had a small pond in it.
Alabaster had crossed it in order to get into the most secluded section of the cave, but it had been a long time since he had gone across it, as he tried to stay in the areas that were harder for Lord Zedd to reach, if he ever discovered this cave. He wanted to be able to take back over once Lord Zedd was gone, but there had been no one else that had tried to defeat him, besides these rangers. They were this planet's only chance to get back to the way that things were before they were conquered and he hoped that they could do what they had set out to do.
"Can you swim?" Alabaster asked as Kim looked down at the water. It was murky and she wondered if there was anything in there that might attack them while they swam across. As if reading her mind, he answered the unasked question without skipping a beat; this type of mind reading was starting to become a little bit scary as Kim had noticed he had bit his tongue several times. He did not want them to know of the powers he had, as it would truly make them wonder why he couldn't have handled Lord Zedd on his own. "There is nothing in the pond, you shall be able to make it across easily."
"Let's get this over with," Kim muttered, taking off her shoes and placing them in the backpack that was situated on her back. She did not need anything to weigh her down while she was swimming, as the backpack was going to be enough with the supplies that it held and she didn't really want to make Jason or Tommy double up on the gear that they were carrying. They already had a heavier load and she couldn't bear to make them take much more.
"Do you have any extra clothes?" Alabaster asked as they shook their heads no and then waded into the water behind him. He wondered if he should lead the way, not knowing how well they could swim, but he figured by their builds that they would be able to keep up well enough and he began swimming as quickly as he could. He felt that something was off in this cavern, but he could not put his finger on what it was and he knew that the lake would on be safe for a little while longer. It seemed to have not detected what it was supposed to and he couldn't help but wonder what it might be looking for.
"You okay?" Tommy asked as Kim swam next to him as they made their way across the cavern. It would have been a wonderful place to look at if they had, had the time, but this was not a pleasure trip. They had a mission to accomplish and everything else was deemed unimportant until it was done and they were on their ride back home.
"Yeah, it's just colder than I expected," Kim said, as she felt her feet hit the bottom of the pond and saw that they were still several yards away from the shore that Alabaster was already approaching, while only beginning to walk towards the shore. "Funny, it sure is shallow here."
"Hurry," Alabaster said, as he saw something move under the surface of the water and it worried him.
Lord Zedd probably knew that this cave led to a way off of this region of the planet, but he doubted he would have planted anything there, unless he had done that recently, when he knew that the rangers were coming. The rangers, however, would have had a hard time navigating the caves without a guide. It had taken him months to learn all of the intricacies and he still did not go in some parts of the cave, due to the lack of knowledge that he had about them. If he had an odd feeling, he did not enter that part of the cave, although some would think that cowardliness, but he knew better than to tempt some of the old magic in this place.
"That was cold," Kim muttered, as her baby pink tee clung to her curves and her jean shorts had water flowing down her legs as Jason and Tommy got out of the water behind her, with the water making small puddles at their feet as well. Their clothes clung to them as well, but it did not seem as if it bothered them at all to see her like that. It was not the first time and they were almost sure it would not be the last time that they had to go through water in their full clothing.
"Well, if you wish to stop and warm up, we can, but I sense that you are urgent to get to the surface and continue on your mission," Alabaster said, as Tommy nodded his head and then placed both of his arms around Kim. He was wet, but he was not as cold as she was from the short swim across the pond. He did weigh a little bit more and it still seemed that that was what kept him warmer in the water, but he knew that it might not be enough to keep her warm. She needed to be warm more than anyone else and he didn't know what he could do to help her out. "Here."
"Thanks," Kim said, as she slipped on the tan robe over her clothing and found that it was indeed a great deal warmer and even felt dry, which was odd since he had gone through the same water that they had only moments ago. There were some odd things on this planet and she would have loved to figure all of them out, but again, time was a factor that was not on their side. "What powers do you hold?"
"Powers? I have no powers that are abnormal here," Alabaster said as he again flicked his wrist to set the torch alight and they looked into a part of the cave and could see a tiny light in the distance. It was dim, but it was a ray of hope that they were getting close to the surface, although they were not sure if they were ready to go up there. They were not as prepared to face Lord Zedd here as they wished, but they would be able to take it. "Now, it should only be a few more minutes before we get there, quickly now, I do not wish that you should be detected by Lord Zedd."
"He can detect us?" Tommy asked as Kim gave Tommy an odd look. She knew that he might become agitated and they did not need to deal with this right now. They had to maintain focus, as they had known that there was a possibility that Lord Zedd could find them at any time. This was his home planet now and he did have an advantage that they did not have.
"It is possible, but I doubt it. I thought that I might want to warn you about it," Alabaster said, as Kimberly went to hand him his cloak. He was going to need it more than her and she was almost certain she would warm up very quickly. It was still fairly warm outside and she was sure her clothes would dry in a matter of minutes, plus she had Tommy and Jason with her. "My castle is in that direction. It is about a two hour walk from here, but I am sure that you will be able to cut that trip down some."
"Thank you," Kim said with a smile and then turned to follow Jason and Tommy in the direction that they had been pointed.
"Be careful, rangers," Alabaster whispered as he turned around and went back into the cave, for a few minutes. He had to figure out someway to help these people, even if it was rather odd for him to try to do that right now. He had protected his identity for so long, but he knew of a community of aloids close by and he knew he needed to go get them. They would be able to help the rangers if they were backed against the walls, which might happen to them, although it did not seem like that would be a first.
"I don't like this," Tommy muttered, as Kim grabbed his hand to let him know that she was standing at his side again. He didn't like the feeling that he was getting by just walking a few yards from the safety of the cave. It seemed as if everything was now focused on them and he was not sure how to take that type of unseen pressure.
"It's going to be fine, Tommy. You know that," Kim said with a smile as she spotted something ahead of them. They continued towards it, hoping that it was nothing that would bother them. They really did not have the time to deal with any delays, as the other rangers were suffering because of it.
"What is that?" Jason asked, as he lifted up the blanket and before they knew what was happening, Richard grabbed Kimberly and disappeared into oblivion. It had been their plan the entire time to capture her once they saw the chance and it had appeared much earlier than they had thought it would. Now, they were just going to have some fun playing with Tommy's emotions, which ran much stronger and harder than they had in the past few months. "What just happened here?"
"Damn it. Contact the others Jason. It looks like Lord Zedd wants to play dirty," Tommy said, as he started in a dead sprint towards where he hoped Alabaster's castle still stood. If they harmed so much as one hair on her head, he was going to kill them with his own hands, no matter what anyone else thought of that action.
AN: I know that this is a bit of a cliffhanger, but I hope that it will be worth it in the end.