Chapter Thirteen
"I think I got it," said Andros after a while.
Ashley and Kim stood up from where they were sitting. "What does it say, Andros?" asked Ashley.
"It says, more or less, that we have to follow the path to the middle of this cave, where something is waiting for us."
"And I don't know if this is a something that we have to fight or get past to get this power," said Billy.
"Or if it is something that just holds the power," continued Adam.
"The only thing for sure is to get to the middle of the cave. It shows the eighteen people arriving in the cave at once and coming out, they are more powerful than before," finished Zhane.
Mondo, Machina, and Sprocket arrived on KO-35.
"Everything looks the same!" complained Sprocket. He laughed. "Not for long, though!"
He looked at Mondo, who ordered the cogs to begin the destruction of the planet. Karovians began to run out of their houses after hearing the commotion. They saw the cogs and began to scream and yell. Most Karovians ran forward to fight the cogs.
"Go get 'em!" yelled Sprocket.
"That's right, humans!" yelled Zedd. "Run away! Run until you can't run no more!"
Rita laughed evilly. "Yeah! We'll find you! And we'll destroy you all!"
Zedd laughed as he destroyed the entire Las Vegas strip. "What will you humans do for enjoyment now?"
They continued to laugh as they watch the humans scrambling to get out of the city, screaming and running for their lives.
Goldar laughed as he and Scorpina walked through the city of San Diego, watching everyone run out as fast as they could. They began to destroy the major areas.
Goldar sent a bolt of energy from his sword to the ocean, creating a massive tidal wave.
Scorpina spread her fingers out and stung all the humans who were in her direct view. They all dropped and began to writhe in agony. She laughed.
Goldar looked at Scorpina and nodded. They disappeared right as the tidal wave came crashing down on the city of San Diego. People began to scream and started to run towards their cars. People were crying and not paying attention to one another. Animals were wandering around aimlessly. Children were abandoned by their parents. Parents were frantic, not knowing where their children were.
"Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi. This is horrible, Zordon! We must leave! Divatox is nearly inside!"
"Yes, yes, yes," said Divatox. "KEEP TRYING!" She watched as the piranhatrons were scrambling to open the door. They tried to squeeze the door open. "Yes, you've found it. Hurry up!"
Goldar and Scorpina returned to Mesagog's lair as Rita and Zedd appeared. "Destruction of the west coast is complete."
"We must shift our eyes eastward, then," growled Dark Spector. "The rangers have not yet been seen. Zedd nodded. "We must continue our siege of earth. Don't stop until we've taken it over."
He looked at those around him. "Goldar, start in New York City and work your way inward. Don't forget the southern states, like Florida. Astronema, start in Asia and work towards the west. Try to create an earthquake over there. That worked wonders the last time it happened, even though it wasn't created by evil. Tsunami and tidal wave and all."
Astronema narrowed her eyes at her assignment. Ecliptor came next to her. "Accept it, my princess for you will take over once we destroy them all."
"Master Vile, you will begin in South Africa and work your way up. General Havoc, begin in England and work towards the interior. Meet in Turkey."
Astronema turned to Ecliptor. "You're coming with me."
"Oh Zeddy, all my dreams are coming true!" exclaimed Rita. "Now all we have to do is wait for the power rangers to destroy them and all will be right!"
"What about us, Ed?" asked Rito. He pointed to himself and Scorpina.
Zedd glanced at Dark Spector, who nodded to him. "You two will go to Liaria. Destroy them, all the Liarians!"
Scorpina nodded. "Of course." They disappeared in a wave of Zedd's wand.
"Our plan is almost complete," said Mesagog.
Elsa smirked. "Our powers continue to grow. Hell, even with that new power source, the rangers are no match for us."
Andros, Ashley, Kim, and Tommy came across a wall. "Think this is it?" asked Tommy.
"We could only try," answered Andros. Kim and Ashley nodded. "Everyone be on guard." They all gathered up against the wall. "Push on three. One, two, three." The four of them pushed. Nothing happened.
"Well, that's just great, isn't it," said Kim.
"There's nowhere else to go," said Tommy. "Unless...there's a hidden door or something." He and Andros began touching the door to see if there was anywhere to go.
"I guess we're stuck here. There doesn't seem to be any way in," said Billy.
"There must be a way," said Ethan. "It couldn't have just led us here with no way out."
"It might," said Zack, shrugging his shoulders.
"There has to be some way in, Adam," said Aisha.
"I'm telling you, I don't see one," he answered.
Cassie and Carlos began to look up and down on the door.
"There aren't even any more of those inscription things," mentioned Kira.
"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Zhane. "A dead end!"
"It can't be," said Jason. "It wouldn't have led us here just to finish at a dead end."
Conner shrugged. "It might."
Trent nodded.
"Where are Andros and Zhane?" a Karovian yelled out.
"I don't know!" someone answered. "We need their help!"
Mondo, Machina, and Sprocket laughed as they watched the Karovians helplessly fight against the cogs.
"Maybe you read it wrong, Andros," said Ashley.
Andros shook his head. "I'm sure it said to follow the path. There weren't any forks or anything. It was a straight shot here."
Kim sat down on an oversized rock. She put her head back and pulled her arms above her head. She accidently grabbed a crevice in the stone above her. There was something peculiar about it. She stood up and examined it further. "Hey, Tommy..."
"Yeah, Kim?"
"Uhh, I think you should see this."
Tommy, Andros, and Ashley gathered around Kim. "What is it?" asked Tommy.
"That." Kim pointed the spot right above the crevice. Tommy looked surprised at the painting.
"A Crane and a Falcon."
Kim nodded. "And there's this little crevice thing right beneath it."
Tommy looked at Kim. He extended his hand and smiled. She took it and he and Kim put their hands in the crevice. A space big enough just for those two.
A light began to emit from the wall. It began to split in two.
"I think it's opening," said Rocky, shielding his eyes.
Billy nodded. "I wonder how."
"Hey look!" Kira pointed to the wall.
"Ahh!" They all looked down as they shielded their eyes.
"I wonder how it opened," said Cassie.
"Looks like it decided to open," said Jason.
"I wonder why," said Zhane.
"Maybe it got tired of five rangers waiting for it to open up," said TJ.
"Very good, piranhatrons!" exclaimed Divatox. She walked into the Command Center. "Find the inner chambers! And hurry!"
"Oh no, she's broken in! Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi! What do we do, Zordon?"
All the rangers simultaneously ran in after the stone wall opened up.
"Look," said Ashley, pointing. Andros, Kim, and Tommy followed her gaze. It was the spirit of a Crane and a Falcon flying together. It guided them into a central room. They then flew off into another direction.
The four of them looked around the room. "Whoa," said Kim, still holding Tommy's hand. "Weird."
"Hey look!" exclaimed Billy.
"The Crane and the Falcon," said Ethan. "Flying together. Soulmates reunited."
"I think they want us to follow them," said Zack.
The spirit of the Crane and the Falcon led Rocky, Billy, Zack, and Ethan to the same room as Andros, Ashley, Kim, and Tommy.
"What are you guys doing here?" Billy and Kim asked at the same time.
They all watched as the Crane and the Falcon flew off into another direction.
"Is that..?" started Aisha.
"A Crane and a Falcon!" exclaimed Kira.
"I think we should follow them," said Adam.
Aisha, Kira, Adam, Cassie, and Carlos followed the Crane and the Falcon to the same room where the other rangers were.
"You found us!" exclaimed Kim when she saw Aisha and the others.
"You...and you led us here," she answered, pointing to Kim and Tommy.
The Crane and the Falcon flew off once more.
"So, let's go in," said Jason.
"Wait, what's that?" asked Trent.
"It sort of looks like...two birds," answered TJ.
Zhane cocked his head. "I think it's something more than two birds."
"It's a Crane and a Falcon," said Conner.
Jason nodded. "And I think it wants us to follow them. So, let's go."
The five of them followed the Crane and the Falcon into the central room where the other rangers were.
"Pull the plug on the robot," said Divatox as she walked into the Command Center. She looked up. "Zordon, we meet again!" A few piranhatrons cornered Alpha and disabled him.
"Divatox," started Zordon. "You will not get away with this."
Divatox gestured around her. "I believe I have once before and I will again." She looked to her piranhatrons. "Go tie him up! Get him! Dark Spector will be needing that power source."
"The rangers will return. Good will prevail."
"Blah, blah, blah. We've already destroyed most of the earth, while your rangers are off traipsing the galaxy. They are no match for us."
"You guys made it too!" exclaimed Kim. She let go of Tommy's hand and ran forward to hug Jason. "Look." She pointed around the room. "It tells our story."
Jason looked around with a look of disbelief on his face. He saw the first ranger moment painted on the wall when he, Zack, Billy, Trini, and Kim were teleported from the Youth Center to the Command Center. Everyone stared the paintings on the wall. They saw five rangers facing off against a green, the green transforming into the white, and the destruction of the power coins. They saw the a Crane, a Falcon, a Bear, a Wolf, an Ape, and a Frog. The Crane and the Falcon were intertwined with each other and glowed when the spirits of the animals returned to the wall painting. They then saw a painting of the Zeo crystal and of the source from which Tommy and the others received his Turbo powers.
"Hey, look, that's me in a giant pizza!" said TJ, pointing. Everyone laughed.
There was a rocket ship and a painting of Andros meeting the other rangers. The paintings showed Terra Venture and the Quasar Sabers, along with the death of the pink galaxy ranger. It skipped some ranger generations and showed multiple red rangers facing off against Serpentera. It then showed the Dino Gems and the paintings of a Cheetah, a Gorilla, an Eagle, a Stag, a Tiger, and a Lion. There was then a picture of twelve rangers with their respective animals emerging from them while six other rangers were flying above them in six colored beams.
"This is so weird," said Kira.
"Tell me about it," replied Kim. She ran her hands along the wall.
"It looks so old," said Aisha.
"It probably is," replied Rocky.
"Like it's been here for hundreds of years," said Kira. She looked at Ethan.
He shrugged. "I'm speechless."
"What do we do next?" asked Carlos.
Andros and Zhane scoured the walls for anything that looked familiar to them. "Over here," called Andros. The rest of the rangers joined him in one corner of the room. He and Zhane were reading a script that nobody else recognized, except probably Billy, who wasn't paying attention to them.
"So, what does it say?" asked Cassie.
Zhane and Andros looked at each other. They telepathically agreed not to say anything. "Nothing important," said Andros. He stood and walked around to the wall of the paintings and stared at those again.
"Look," said Billy. "It's the eighteen of us. We're standing around that thing over there," he pointed to another stone fixture, "in a circle, and we look to be receiving the powers."
"Anything else?" asked Tommy. Billy shook his head. "Well, I guess the only thing we can do is try, then."
The rangers proceeded to gather around the fixture. They looked at the fixture and noticed that there were designated spots for each othem. They stood in a circle: Tommy, Kim, Billy, Zack, Jason, Rocky, Aisha, Adam, Carlos, Cassie, Ashley, TJ, Zhane, Andros, Trent, Kira, Ethan, and Conner finishing the circle next to Tommy. They submerged their hands into the stone fixture and felt a beam of energy pass through them.
"The power drain of Dark Spector has begun," said Ecliptor.
"Very well," answered Astronema. She looked at the remnants of the Great Wall and saw everyone fleeing for their lives. "Time to go swimming, humans."
"I'm suddenly feeling extremely weak," said Dark Spector. "Where is Divatox?"
"She has not yet returned," answered Zedd. Dark Spector growled.
Mesagog looked at the various viewing devices in his lair. He saw that almost everything was destroyed. He rubbed his claws together. "Everything is coming together perfectly."
Zedd and Dark Spector nodded.
"Come on, what are you waiting for?" Divatox yelled impatiently. "It wasn't hard before, really now, how hard is it to steal a giant tube?"
The rangers stared at each other in awe, with all of them morphed into their suits. Conner was dressed in his Dino Ranger suit, modified to be light brown and include an embelm of a cheetah and a tyrannosaurus that was laced in red. "Wow," he said. "And I thought I felt good after becoming the Triassic Ranger, but this is unbelievable."
Ethan was also in his Dino Ranger suit, but noticed that it was cyan with an embelm of a gorilla and a triceratops on his chest. "This is so cool!"
Kira looked down at her own Dino Ranger suit. It was purple and she saw an eagle and a pink-laced pteradactyl on her chest.
Trent was in his Dino Ranger suit, changed to silver, with an embelm of a stag and a dragon.
Andros, Zhane, TJ, Ashley, Cassie and Carlos looked down at their familiar suits of red, silver, blue, yellow, pink and black. "This looks exactly the same, but it feels wonderful," exclaimed Ashley. The others nodded.
"More...stronger," said Cassie.
Adam looked down at his Mighty Morphin' suit. It was black with an embelm of a frog, a lion, a mastodon and a square laced in green. "Wow," he said.
Aisha looked at her yellow Mighty Morphin' suit in amazement. She ran her hands over the embelm of the bear, the griffin, and the sabertooth tiger.
Rocky was in his red Mighty Morphin' suit with an embelm of an ape, a dragon, a tyrannosaurus, and an upside-down triangle laced with blue. He sighed in amazement.
Jason looked down at his suit, identical to his old Mighty Morphin' suit, except that it was gold. There was an embelm of a lion, a dragon, a tyrannosaurus laced in red, and the Kanji sign for king.
Zack looked at his Mighty Morphin' suit. It was orange with black stripes and had an embelm of a tiger, a mastodon, and a lion.
Billy looked at his suit. Blue, with an embelm of a wolf, a unicorn, and a triceratops.
Kim looked down at her own pink Mighty Morphin' suit. She, too, ran her fingers over the embelm of the crane, the firebird, and the pteradactyl. "Morphinomenal!" she exclaimed.
Tommy looked at his suit. His white Mighty Morphin' suit. He looked at his embelm of a falcon, a tiger, a dragon laced in green, a star laced in red, and a brachiosaurus laced in black. He looked at everyone else. "This is incredible." Everyone nodded.
"Guess white's your true color," said Zack. He looked at Tommy's embelm. "I think I'm gonna find the next rangers. I need more things on this." He pointed to his own embelm. Tommy laughed. "And I should get some other colors, too."
"Guys, we should really get going," said Kim. Andros nodded. "I really hate to think of how what's been happening while we were gone."
A bit of an FYI for those that don't remember: Jason & Rocky's dragon, Zack & Adam's lion, Aisha's griffin, Kim's firebird, Billy's unicorn come from the Thunderzords. Tommy's star, Rocky's triangle, and Adam's square and Jason's Kanji sign come from Zeo. And I kind of glided over the Turbo powers since they didn't have any special symbols like Zeo or Mighty Morphin/PRDT. Besides, I didn't really like that season too much. hehe.