Fishlegs was now busy trying to translate the tax that would reveal the location of the Gold Dragon Spirit Morpher, which had been proven to be the most complex to translate. He had finally managed to crack it and was now showing his findings to the others.
"I have finally managed to locate the location of the final Morpher," said Fishlegs proudly.
"Don't keep us in suspense," said Snotlout folding his arms.
"Right," said Fishlegs nervously. "I have located the coordinates of its location, but it's not located on a planet."
"What you mean it's not located on a planet?" Hiccup asked.
"You see it actually placed on a moon that orbiting a gas giant," Fishlegs explained. "The moon is being referenced as Sargtal."
Toothless groaned. "Not a favourable location."
"You know that?" Stoick asked.
"It's a very hostile world, it's mostly endless desert and it has a very little vegetation and water," Toothless explained. "That is not the worst of it. The temperatures reach all the way to 99 Celsius and all nice called ages 52 Celsius."
"That hot," said Heather.
"Falling into a sinkhole would immediately hydrate you and boil your blood," Toothless continued.
Stoick then turned to Ragnar. "What are the chances of survival?"
Ragnar rubbed his chin. "Not good, but the suits should be able to protect us so long as we don't stay in the sun too long."
"How long exactly?" Hiccup asked.
"Half an hour," said Ragnar. "It would then take another five minutes for our bodies to overheat, unless we have water beforehand."
"I don't like those odds," said Astrid.
"My people are cold-blooded so we can survive on the planet far longer," said Toothless. "We probably would have established a colony on our world if it wasn't for the lack of water."
"Why is it that these temples are on the most un-hospitable planets in the galaxy?" Snotlout asked.
"Because who in their right mind would go to a hostile planet?" Ragnar asked.
"Good thing were not in our right minds," said Ruffnut.
"Yeah, we are hundred percent crazy," said Tuffnut.
"Unfortunately the Drake Rangers would have an easier time navigating the moon," said Ragnar regretfully. "It won't be a suicide trip for them."
Stoick grimaced. "I do not like these conditions, but we cannot allow the last Morpher to fall into enemy hands. I however will not risk your safety, if you have not achieved your mission in 25 minutes you will come straight back and there is no arguing."
"We'll go right away," said Hiccup.
"I would suggest that first we send some of our scouts to investigate the site," Toothless suggested quickly. "The more we know about the terrain, the more likely we have this mission to succeed and everyone coming back home safely."
Stoick nodded. "I want the Rangers to leave within five hours, with or without the report from your scouts."
"Understood," Toothless nodded.
Sadly Johann had just managed to pull of the final coordinates of the Golden Ranger Morpher and presented them to Drago.
"My Lord, we now have the location of the final Morpher," said Johann humbly.
"Excellent, but I refused to let this slip through our grasp like the others," Drago roared.
"I will personally see to it myself," said Johann.
Drago narrowed his eyes. "I think not, you have proven your incompetence to me time and again. No, I want the Drakes Rangers on this."
"What?" said Johann looking up. "Surely you're not suggesting that we allow them to run free? Red Drake has already proven himself to be difficult to control."
"Which is why are we sending someone to accompany them," said Drago.
Then entering through the door was a handsome young man, in his early 20s. He had jet black hair which was tied in a ponytail and you will rather muscular.
"Allow me to introduce to you Eret, he's a very skilled tracker, one of our best," said Drago.
"I didn't realise we still had humans in the army," said Johann taken aback.
"I still have several, though that number might be dropping soon," he said narrowing his eyes at Johann.
"So, you want me to find this Morpher for you my lord?" Eret asked.
Drago nodded. "And I do not expect you to come back empty-handed or do you remember the last time that you did that."
Eret grimaced as he rubbed his chest. "Clearly."
"Don't let me down," said Drago.
Eret nodded and left the chamber.
No sooner had he left then Ryker entered and kneels before Drago. "My Lord, our final preparations are nearly in place."
"Excellent," Drago smiled.
Johann just looked at the two of them. "What preparations of this? I was unaware that we had another plan in motion."
"Because I did not see the sense of telling you," Drago growled and then turned his attention back onto Ryker. "How soon is Operation Shellfire close to completion?"
"In a few days."
"Excellent, that in one fail swoop we will annihilate the Rangers and add our home to our empire," Drago smiled as he turned towards the window looking down upon earth. "Once that is accomplished nothing will stop us from conquering the galaxy."
Five hours later, Toothless' scouts gave the report of the surrounding area. Fortunately the area peered had some mountain ranges which created vast shadows across the landscape, but there was still no sign of the temple.
Hiccup and the others were suited up and soon drove through the porthole and landed on the sandy desert of Sargtal. Toothless was with them acting as a guide, mostly due to his insistence and they had no time to argue.
"Don't think that this will make it in our top five of holiday choices," said Ruffnut.
"Unless they want glorious sunshine and sand to reach as far as the eye can see," said Tuffnut.
Astrid looked at them. "Seriously, you're still trying to make a travel guide of the galaxy?"
"If it ain't broke don't sit," said Ruffnut.
"We should strive stick to the shade as often as we can," Ragnar advised as they drove.
"How much water did we bring?"
"We've probably got enough about a day so long as we ration it," said Heather.
"Hopefully we will be here for that long," said Fishlegs.
"We won't, we promised my Dad that we would leave in the next checking if we had discovered anything," Hiccup reminded.
"How can we possibly hope to find the temple in the middle of this wasteland?" Snotlout asked gesturing to the vast desert. "I mean there's nothing but sand out there, in fact I very much doubt that we will be seen anything but—"
Snotlout was too busy talking to notice where he was driving and suddenly found himself falling down a sinkhole.
"Snotlout!" Hiccup yelled.
Quickly they came to a stop and immediately approached the sinkhole.
When the leaned over they found the temple at the very bottom of the sinkhole and Snotlout just sat there in the sand.
"How did you get down there?" Astrid stared in bewilderment.
"With my eyes shut!" Snotlout yelled from the bottom.
"Who built the temple in the middle of a sinkhole?" Ragnar frowned.
"Only one way to find out," said Hiccup.
They pulled out the climbing gear and immediately slid down the sinkhole, the biggest problem was trying to secure the ropes fortunately there were some boulders close by. Once they reached the bottom they got a better view of the temple and it looked exactly like the others, but this time it had a statue of a well armoured dragon which was a cross between a Hercules beetle and a rhino.
"What kind of dragon is that?" Heather asked.
"That's a Rumblehorn," said Fishlegs. "According to the text it was part of the Tracker Class, it was also particularly strong dragon."
"I certainly don't want to meet one of those," said Astrid.
"We best get inside before were fully cooked," Hiccup advised.
No one argued and they quickly entered into the temple and into the cool shade. Once inside Fishlegs began working on the inscriptions, Hiccup leaned at the entrance and he was soon joined by Astrid.
"Is something bothering you?" Astrid asked.
"I just want to know why we have to keep our relationship secret to the others?" Hiccup asked.
"I just wanted to be the two of us for little while, I mean I'm not saying that we shouldn't tell them," said Astrid.
"But when?"
"Maybe when all this mess is over. I mean you said it yourself that while on a mission we have to forget our relationship."
Hiccup looked at her. "I hope I'm not gonna get in trouble for suggesting that."
"No, I agree, I mean I am militarily after all and there are rules against fraternisation for reason. Though technically you could say that were not militarily any more, I mean not all of us have a military background."
"Guys, I think I found something," said Fishlegs.
Hiccup and Astrid then quickly approached Fishlegs.
"What is it Fishlegs?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure, Bath this is what I've been able to translate. 'To get your hands on the golden light, you must prove yourself to all those that fight. Choose the path that leads to that that lies deep within your soul, if not everything around you will become foul.'"
"I hate riddles," Snotlout grumbled.
"It's not a riddle, whoever wrote this decided to speak in rhyme," said Hiccup.
"I hope they don't it all the time," said Heather.
"Please don't start," Hiccup groaned.
"Sounds as if there's two pathways we have to take," Astrid concluded and then her eyes turned to the entrance. "Yet all I see is one."
"Then let's go down it," said Snotlout.
"No," said Hiccup quickly. "That cannot possibly be the right way to do it."
"But it's worked on the other temples."
"Because there was a puzzle, that is no puzzle," Hiccup pointed out.
Ragnar nodded. "I agree, but if that is not the entrance then where is it?"
Hiccup rubbed his chin and thought about the rhyme. "It said that we must prove to all those that fight and that the path rests with in our soul. Maybe it wasn't talking about an actual entrance, but something else."
"What's he mumbling about?" Snotlout asked now looking more confused than ever.
Hiccup then saw the engraving on the floor and saw slots, five of them to be precise and they were all of different shapes.
"I wonder," said Hiccup and he immediately summoned his sword.
"Hiccup, what are you doing?" Astrid asked.
"Testing the theory," he said and immediately plunged his sword into one of the slots and it fitted perfectly. "Guys, all weapons are the key. Find the correct slot and insert them."
Astrid looked the original Rangers and they all nodded. They summoned their weapons and immediately began to insert them into the slots one by one. Suddenly they heard the sound of moving to use on the floor beneath and began to lower itself.
"It's an elevator," said Ragnar.
They kept on going down deeper into the earth until finally it came to a stop and they found themselves in a new chamber.
"Okay, so this time it needed the five Rangers to open the door," said Astrid.
"Guess whoever designed this place new that other Rangers would appear," Heather shrugged.
Fishlegs then kneeled against more inscriptions. "I found some more inscriptions and mentions why the original Dragon Spirit Rangers chose humans to take up the mantle."
"Go on," said Hiccup.
"Apparently the original Rangers were chasing after some great evil and their ship crashed on earth, in ancient Greece. They would have perished if it wasn't for a group of humans, who rescued them from the wreckage. It in take long for the Rangers to realise that the great evil had infecting with monsters and they decided to fight back."
"Explains how they ran into humans," said Hiccup.
"The humans fought alongside them dealing with these monsters and their names went down in history. Hercules, Perseus and Achilles to name a few."
"I thought that they were demigods?" Astrid frowned.
"We are talking 4000 years ago, over the years the story must've got muddled up, but it always kept to the original plot."
"That's good and all, but where is the Gold Morpher?" Snotlout asked.
"Hang on, hang on," said Fishlegs as he continued to read. "As far as I can tell it is trapped in a complex mechanism. We have to prove ourselves to have the knowledge to disable it."
"And where would this mechanism be?" Snotlout asked.
"I think this looks like it," said Ruffnut.
"Most definitely," said Tuffnut.
They turned and saw that they were standing next to a statue of a Rumblehorn, but it was resting on some sort of mechanism. It was hard to describe but it looked like scales of some kind and they appear to be some kind of hourglass in the centre.
"I can't make heads or tails of this," said Astrid.
Hiccup and Ragnar then began to examine the mechanism to have some idea of how it operated.
"The hour glasses is some sort of time, I can estimate that's two minutes long," Ragnar deduced.
"Scales indicate some sort of weight system," said Hiccup as he pondered. "However, I don't see any weights."
"So you've got no clue how this thing works?" Snotlout deduced.
"Give them some time," said Astrid.
"Fine," said Snotlout as he sat down on a rock.
Unfortunately, the rock he sat on immediately sank and they heard the sound of gears moving. Suddenly the walls began to close in towards them and hourglass the mechanism began to turn.
"Snotlout!" they yelled.
"I just sat down!" he yelled.
"Looks like we got no choice but to figure this out quickly," said Hiccup.
"But the walls would smash this mechanism in the process," Fishlegs frowned.
"Not exactly," said Ragnar as he pointed at one of the walls. They turned and found that the wall had been hollowed out in a shape that fitted around the mechanism perfectly and on the other side the other wall was exactly the same. "They designed this place so the mechanism would stay intact, if someone triggered the trap."
"How about you guys discuss how to disable the trap before it squashes us to paste!" Snotlout yelled.
Hiccup was then struck by inspiration. "There aren't any weights here because we are the weights."
"Come again?" said Ragnar.
"We have to stand on the scales and make sure they're perfectly balance," Hiccup explained.
"You sure?" Astrid asked as she and the others were doing everything they could to push the walls back.
"It's the only thing that makes sense."
"Okay, but how do we keep it level?" Heather asked curiously. "If memory serves we all weigh differently."
"I didn't say would be easy, but we have to try."
No one had any better ideas and did as Hiccup instructed, but Heather was quite correct making sure that the scales they've perfectly balance was hard. Fishlegs was the heaviest among them by far which meant finding the correct balance was extremely hard.
Fishlegs climbed onto one of the scales and it immediately tipped, Snotlout, being the second heaviest, quickly mounted on the second scale. However, his weight alone was not capable of equalising the scales and only raised only a tiny bit. Everyone else was practically the same weight so they had to climb onto Snotlout's scales wonder the time.
Astrid, Ragnar and Heather joined with Snotlout causing the scales tip much further, but it was still off. The twins then climbed on, but there are weight added upon the others caused Fishlegs to rise and he was now lighter than their combined weight. Hiccup was by far the lightest among them, but he was the only person left and he immediately joined Fishlegs.
Thankfully his tiny amount of weight was enough to tip the scales so that they were now even, a good thing too because they were about 30 seconds away from being squashed. The moment the scales life they heard the sound of a mechanism and the walls immediately stopped and they began to revert back to their previous position.
"Thank goodness," said Fishlegs with a hand over his heart.
"Did it work?" Astrid asked.
Hiccup jumped down and approached the statue and found that its mouth was now wide open. "It worked."
"Now all we sure that there is a Morpher in there somewhere?" Snotlout asked.
Hiccup looked into the dragon's mouth and indeed found the golden Morpher. "Here it is."
No sooner had he pulled out of the statue's head then suddenly he was struck in the back.
"Hiccup!" Astrid cried.
The attack came from White Drake, who was standing with the other clones as well as Eret.
"Are thank you for doing all the work," Eret smiled as he approached Hiccup. "I'll be taking that Morpher off your hands."
"W-who…?" said Hiccup weakly.
"The name is Eret," said Eret humbly. "You could say that I am a bit of a treasure hunter and this is the best kind of treasure one can get."
"He's so dreamy," said Ruffnut, who was now enraptured by his muscles.
"He's also working for the enemy," Astrid pointed out.
"He's still dreamy."
Astrid groaned and immediately pulled out her axe and jumped off the scale down towards him with a battlecry. However, her clone immediately stepped in and blocked her attack with her scythe.
"Nice try," she said with a smile and immediately pushed her back.
"I would have for that you would have learned your lesson by now," said Red Drake shaking his head. "I mean is this the fourth time that you've been ambushed when entering one of these temples?"
"He has got a point," said Fishlegs.
"I'm going to knock that smug grin off his face," said Snotlout as he clenched his fist.
"You are indeed welcome to try, but I can guarantee that you shall only be disappointed," said Red Drake.
Elsewhere, Johann was meeting Krogan in secret to inform him of his meeting with Drago.
"He clearly doesn't trust either that anymore," said Johann.
"And more concerned about this Project Shellfire that Ryker is leading," said Krogan with his hands behind his back. "And I haven't heard anything from Viggo over the past week."
"You think that he's up to something as well?"
"He's not the kind of man that sits on the sidelines and allows others to do his dirty work. However, our immediate concern will have to be his older brother, he may not have his brother's brains but that doesn't mean that he's not dangerous."
"So how are we going to deal with him?" Johann asked.
"While it pains me to admit it, we might actually need the aid of the Rangers," said Krogan.
"You're not suggesting that we help them? If Drago finds out that we—"
"That's why he won't find out, a little an ominous call to their command centre should be more than efficient. According to the files that Viggo created upon dear general, he is not one to ignore the threat."
"We can't just warn them that their city is under attack, we going at the give them a bit more concrete evidence."
"Which is exactly why we have two find out more about this Project Shellfire," said Krogan.
Meanwhile Hiccup and the others win the fight of their lives trying to maintain a hold over the Morpher, which was now in Eret's possession.
Hiccup had managed to come from that sneak attack and was now chasing after Eret as he made his way to the left.
"You're not going anywhere," said Hiccup as he drew his sword.
Red Drake then immediately cut in front of him holding his two-handed sword. "And neither are you."
He then swung his sword down towards Hiccup, but Ragnar appeared out of nowhere and blocked the attack with his shield.
"So, but our commander is too busy to deal with the likes of you, me on the other hand will gladly occupy you," said Ragnar and immediately pushed back.
"Thanks, Rag!" said Hiccup gratefully.
"Stop him!" Red Drake ordered.
Both Black and Yellow Drake then jumped out with bludgeon and pike in hand and then slammed them towards Hiccup. However, Snotlout and the twins immediately jumped in, Snotlout blocks the bludgeon was the twins dealt with the pike.
"Stay back lizard lips, that's not your flight," said Snotlout.
"To get to him you have to go through us," said Ruffnut.
"And you need all the luck in the world to do that," said Tuffnut.
White Drake then aimed her bow directly at Hiccup and fired an energy arrow, but Fishlegs jumped in and blocked the arrow with his hammer. But then jumped in and flung her whip forcing White Drake back.
"We won't let you near Hiccup," said Fishlegs.
"Or any one of our friends," said Heather.
Blue Drake tried to disengage from Astrid to go after Hiccup, but she wouldn't allow it and kept on blocking her advance.
"Running away from a fight? Are you sure you're my clone?" Astrid challenge.
Eret could see that the clones were preoccupied and there was no way he'll be able to reach the elevator in time. Instead he immediately drew out a pair of daggers and quickly raise them in order to block Hiccup's attack.
"Come on, let's see what you've got," said Eret.
Eret then pushed back in the hopes to get within Hiccup's guard, but Hiccup jumped back in order to prevent that from happening. He then quickly spun around and swung his sword and Eret ducked in time to avoid it.
"Not bad," said Eret.
"Sorry but I don't accept compliments for my enemy," said Hiccup and thrusted his sword forwards.
Once again they clashed once more.
"It's nothing personal, I just like living that's all," said Eret.
"And how is that working out for you right now?"
They continue to clash blade against blade, but unbeknownst to anyone their constant fighting within chamber was actually damaging the supports below them. Fishlegs then attempted to strike White Drake with his hammer, but she managed to jump out of the way and he struck the ground with immense force.
Immediately the ground began to shake beneath them and suddenly the floor began to give way.
"What's happening?" Snotlout yelled.
"Fishlegs' attack must have weakened the structure below our feet," Ragnar deduced.
"I didn't mean to," said Fishlegs.
"Everyone move!" Hiccup yelled.
Everyone quickly backed away from the collapsing floor, but then the stones beneath both Hiccup and Eret gave way and soon the two of them fell into a deep chasm.
"Hiccup!" Astrid screamed.
Hiccup awoke to find himself no longer his Ranger form and were possibly the most killer headache in his entire life. It took him several moments to process what had happened and that when he remembered falling into the chasm with Eret.
"I see you're finally awake," said Eret's voice.
Hiccup turned and found Eret sitting next to him. "You!"
Hiccup attempted to rise but he winced in pain. "Don't move, you've got a sprained ankle."
Hiccup looked at him curiously. "Any reason why you're not finishing the off?"
"Not how I do things," said Eret dismissively. "Only because I work for Drago, doesn't mean that I agree with everything he is doing."
"But why you working with him in the first place?" Hiccup asked.
"Because there's no point standing up against him, he's just too powerful."
"And yet we seem to be doing a good job in dismantling his empire."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time you faced him weren't you trounced?" Eret reminded. "And in fact all you've done is won victories against his flunkies, not the same thing. Anyway, it's all academic until we can get out of this."
"What are you suggesting? We work together?" Hiccup asked.
"I very much doubt that can get out of this mess by ourselves and after which we can continue our little fight for the Morpher, though with you with a sprained ankle put you in a serious disadvantage."
"You're forgetting about my team."
"You really expect them to come and get you? I mean don't get me wrong, you might be their leader, but we humans care more about survival than anything else and we would sooner save ourselves."
"You're wrong."
"I know it to be true," said Eret and he immediately undid his shirt revealing a burn mark which resembled a dragon skull with a sword through it. "Drago gave me this last time I failed and he promised that he would be so generous the next time. So, I will do whatever it takes to survive."
"Does that include working with me?" Hiccup asked.
"Naturally, it's not like anyone else is gonna come to our rescue."
Eret was wrong Astrid and the others were deeply concerned about Hiccup, but at the moment they had ever problems namely the clones. Astrid was seriously conflicted, she wanted to rescue Hiccup, but she couldn't ignore the clones.
"I don't suppose you would consider a truce until we sort this mess out?" Astrid asked.
Red Drake smiled. "Not likely."
"You do realise that your own man is down there," said Ragnar.
"And we should care why?" Black Drake asked.
"Uh, because he's got the Golden Morpher?" Ragnar pointed out. "I very much doubt that your boss will like it if you come out and he handed."
Red Drake looked at him. "You're right, he wouldn't, but we could just take care of you and then go for it."
"So you won't even consider joining forces?" Heather asked.
"Not in the slightest," said Red Drake.
"So much for negotiations," said Ragnar looking at Astrid. "And I don't like the idea of fighting them in such a closed space, we've just witnessed what happens if were not careful."
Astrid nodded. "Not like the given us much choice though."
"Plus even if they do suggest that we take this outside, would get cooked very quickly," Fishlegs pointed out.
"Take them!" Red Drake ordered.
The clones immediately began to move it, but then suddenly there was a silver blur and something struck the clones with incredible speed. Then suddenly appearing in front of them was the Silver Ranger with staff in hand.
"It's the Silver Ranger," said Ragnar.
"What's she doing here?" Snotlout asked.
"I wouldn't complain," said Ruffnut.
"Yeah, she did just save our butts," said Tuffnut.
Red Drake picked himself up and narrowed his eyes at the Silver Ranger. "Who are you?"
The Silver Ranger nearly took up a battle position and tightened her grip on her staff.
Red Drake growled. "Fine, go on with your little rescue mission. We'll be waiting outside to finish what we started."
Blue Drake looked at him. "Are you sure this is wise?"
"You remember the last time we faced her and now she's got the backing of seven Power Rangers," said Red Drake narrowing his eyes at all them. "Better to deal with them when we are in more favourable terms."
With that the clones made their way to the elevator and they watched as they were lifted up back to the surface.
Astrid then approach the Silver Ranger. "As much as I appreciate the help, I demand that you tell us who you are."
"Actually, you already know me," said the Silver Ranger she turned to face them.
Astrid blinked, because she recognised the voice and then the Silver Ranger deactivated her suit. Their eyes widened, because standing before them was none other than Valka.
"Valka?" Astrid gasped.
"I know this is sudden and we have a lot to talk about, but at the moment we need to rescue my son," said Valka.
Meanwhile in space, Ryker was smiling at the final preparations of his Project Shellfire. He was standing on a powerful warship which was very close to completion.
"Soon nothing will stand in our way in conquering Earth," he said with a smile.