Maddie was jarred from her recurring dream, one of vivid owls, all varied shades of pink and red, crashing into the ocean as the shadows cast by the sunset consumed them, by a gentle nudging of her shoulder.
"Yeah?" she answered groggily, not bothering to try and open her eyes. When there was no response, she let out a tired breath and asked, "What is it? Is that you, V?"
"I'm afraid not," came a deep voice, definitely not Vida's. Even in her sleep-deprived state, she knew her father's voice, and he sounded worried. His tone alone forced to wake herself up a little more.
"What is it, dad? What's wrong?" she asked, prying her eyes open slowly and propping herself up on her elbows. There was something unsettling about the vibes he was giving off.
"Your sister isn't in her room," he stated. "Or any other room in the house, for that matter." Of there was any one thing he could have said to awake her fully, this was it. She sat straight up and looked her father in the eyes, barely noticing her mother's pacing form just inside her doorway.
"You mean she isn't here as in she didn't come home last night?"
"Unless you know something we don't, then yes," her father answered. "Do you?" His eyes flashed with the fatherly look that seemed to demand an answer, but she resisted.
"Sorry, daddy, but I don't know much. Just that she and Chip were going to hang out and maybe go to a rave. She probably just crashed at his place afterward." Not incredibly common, but it had happened more often than anyone would think. If Maddie hadn't known what had gone down in the past twenty-four hours, she would've believed her own excuse without question. Chip and Vida were such good friends that nothing indecent would happen, and Chip's uncle would be too preoccupied with the head count of the cows, or something to that effect, to notice Vida on their guest bed. Given the details, that theory seemed a little less credible.
As it was, her parents seemed to accept this, though fairly reluctantly. Maddie knew they weren't entirely trusting of Chip in the given situation, no matter how long they'd known him, but this had come up several times before and the young man had always remained as virtuous as he could be. Slowly, they nodded and began to move out of her room, her mother pausing in the doorway after her father had left.
"Ask Chip at work today, okay? I know she may not show up if she really was that tired, but that boy'll be there even if he has the plague." She smiled slightly at the memory of Chip's over zealous approach to being somewhere when he promised to be. "Can you do that for me?" Maddie nodded sleepily, sinking back into her drowsiness as the situation was temporarily resolved, even if the worry was still eating at her. Her mother left the young woman's room, giving her a reassuring, hopeful smile as she left, Maddie returning it weakly. When her mother was finally downstairs, she turned her whole body to look at the clock on the night stand beside her bed. Six fifty-nine. Well, it wasn't too early. In fact, it was almost -
BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!
Her alarm began shrieking at her at the numbers switched to seven, the time she usually woke up and started her day when she didn't have to go to school. On any other day, she'd feel ready to go out there and face the world, but not today. After being up so late last night, and everything that had gone on in the past couple of weeks, she wasn't sure she wanted to leave her bed, not when it was so safe and warm. Life out there may have been going haywire, but in her room, nothing was wrong. She was in complete control here. Nothing could touch her or hurt her and absolutely no one was under a spell that altered who they were. Vida was crawling out of bed and getting ready to go to work. Chip was as high-spirited as ever, and Xander was getting ready for another day of picking up chicks left and right. She and Nick were going on a date later that night to see some cheesy action flick he wanted to see. Everything was absolutely wonderful and perfect.
Except nothing was close to being great, and those thoughts were nothing but lies. Nick was still evil, Vida was a vampire, their lives were on the line every day and she was having out of character thoughts and urges that seemed more and more frequent and disturbingly natural. Even in the comfortable confines of her room, reality refused to leave her alone, and she had to face it sooner or later.
Sitting up again with a groan, she sent her alarm clock and vicious glare.
"Oh, shut up," she muttered as a tiny jet of water permanently quieted the infernal thing.
Unlike every other day, Chip sauntered quietly into work, his mind too preoccupied with assorted plans to help Vida to notice his body going through the motions. Though he was disappointed when he entered the front half of the shop and didn't see her toying with a new song on her turntables, he couldn't say he hadn't been expecting it. After last night, he hadn't wanted to get up either. She was probably back at her house, sleeping away.
Maddie and Xander were both out front, though, Maddie working the register and Xander chatting up some brunette customer. Save for the lack of music coming from the corner opposite the register and Nick still being gone, it seemed almost normal.
Jumping straight into work, he popped over to a confused looking young girl and tried to help her locate the CD her brother had requested for his birthday.
Fifteen minutes and twenty-three dollars worth of sales later, the place was near empty, save the for the employees and a few customers. Chip finished ringing up his sale and glanced at Maddie, who stood tiredly next to him.
"So how's Vida doing? Tired, I'm guessing." She turned her head in his direction, sending him a funny look.
"I thought you'd know," she said. "She didn't come home last night, and we assumed she crashed at your place."
"No, I saw her drive away after she dropped me off. She was heading back to your house." The serious tone in his voice stripped away any doubt she'd had about his honesty. As the enormity of his words, paired with her own knowledge, sank in, her eyes widened.
"So if she wasn't at our house, and she wasn't at yours, then... "
"Then who has her?" Chip mused aloud. Though many ideas passed through his head, one stuck out. "Necrolai," he whispered, multitudes of hatred layering his voice.
"But how can we know for sure?" Maddie asked, hoping it wasn't true. She didn't need to lose someone else to the darkness, let alone her sister, and yet it seemed like she was.
Chip seemed thoughtful for a moment, but then a small grin played across his lips.
"I can't, but you can." She gave him a confused look.
"And how exactly am I supposed to do that?" He simply arched his eyebrows, waiting for her to catch on. After a moment's thought, it clicked. "You want me to talk to Nick."
He nodded, replying, "What better way to find out if V is really down there. You know he can't lie to you." She held up a halting finger.
"We don't know that." The 'oh, please' look she received told her exactly what he thought of her statement without a word.
"This is Nick. Even I know he never would, not unless they just sucked his personality away, but that would take some freaky magic, anyway," Chip answered with a small, playful grin. "Besides, what harm could it do?" Despite the doubtful look she was sending his way, she knew he had a point. After a moment of silence, she sighed.
"I'll try." Closing her eyes, she tried blocking out everything except for the thin thread that led to his mind. She followed it through the murk of everything else, finally falling into the hurricane that was his mind. Above the chaotic and erratic thoughts, she could feel his surprise at her intrusion.
'Hi, Maddie,' he replied brightly. 'Why the sudden visit?'
'Oh, just a few questions,' she replied, wanting to keep this as short as possible. Even his voice could melt her if he really tried. 'Do you know where Vida is?' She could feel his smile.
'Yeah,' he answered simply. She gave him her best mental version of the 'elaborate' eye motion. 'I saw her sitting around Necrolai's caves, staring off into space. I'd say Leelee's plan is working better than I'd thought it would. Never thought we'd actually get V here, really.' Maddie's mood teetered between anger at his flippant attitude toward this and wanting to melt into his voice. With a bit of mental force, she pushed herself toward the anger, a much safer feeling than the other.
'Why the hell do you even need her?'
'No specific reason, really. It's mostly just part of the overall plan to bring down the Mystic Rangers.'
'But you're a Ranger, too,' she countered.
'Technically, yes. I still have my morpher, but I don't even know if that part'll work for me. For all we know, I could end up dead when I try,' he said, making a valid counterpoint. 'Anyway, any more questions?'
'None,' she replied nonchalantly. 'But I'll be seeing you soon.' She disappeared from his mind, fuming and already forming a plan. Chip stood next to her, giving her an eager stare as her eyes fluttered open.
"So?" he asked impatiently. While she was talking to Nick, Xander had sauntered up from the back, now standing a few feet away and looking on with interest. While Chip was consumed by his curiosity, Madison was slipping into something entirely different. You could visibly see her entire mood darken as her plan began to take shape. Again, Chip asked, "So?", a bit more insistent this time. She turned toward him sharply, a flash of crisp, dangerous blue crossing her eyes as rain began beating down mercilessly outside, despite the cloudless day they'd had. Though Chip took no notice of this, too intent on knowing what she'd found out, Xander witnessed it all, including the dozen or so people who rushed in to avoid the unrelenting downpour.
"They have Vida," she stated. "They're not going to give her up." Such a simple sentence managed to set off something in the usually spacy Chip. His mood swiftly changed to match Madison's, dark clouds threatening to form around the two before much longer. As it was, harsh crack of thunder came from outside, startling Xander and lighting up the darker-than-night sky. Maddie was far from done talking, though. "And they still have Nick. I'm through with them taking away people I love. I'm sick and tired of it. It ends today."
Nervously (how else could he be when they were like that?), Xander approached the pair.
"What exactly are we going to do?" he asked. Neither Ranger turned to look at him, both giving anything before them intense and calculating glares. Anger played across their features in its most pure form, frankly frightening Xander.
Just when he thought she hadn't heard him, Maddie replied, "We're going to the Underworld."
Something about this plan troubled Koragg. It was solid, more so than some things Morticon thought up, but something still nagged at the back of his mind. Of course, that didn't stop him from letting it proceed. If that little vampire princess wanted to try her hand at being evil, then he'd be there to watch if and when she failed. The nagging refused to cease, though.
When Morticon had first forced her, along with backing of Nick, to present her idea, he'd thought for sure it would fail. The Morlock's ego and lack of sufficient brain power prevented him from accepting most plans he heard, and Koragg had been sure that this too would be shot down. When her short speech was over, it had been instantly approved, coming as a complete shock to most everyone. Necrolai had been angry, having not been asked about her part in everything, but he'd simply been astonished. That had quickly faded away when Nick's following words registered in his mind.
"I don't want anyone to even touch Madison, though," he'd said. "If we do this right, she'll come to us on her own, and even bring the ones we don't get."
It was becoming increasingly irritating to deal with his son's juvenile infatuation with this light witch. Love itself he didn't have a problem with, but a true dark wizard knew when duty came first, and Nick still couldn't see that. His inability to let her go was infuriating for the fact that it both prevented the Rangers' destruction and that kept a shred of light in the young man's mind, holding him precariously back from the darkness.
He respected the girl, at least, even if he wished her presence had never graced the planet. It was her influence that was holding Nick back from his true darkness, but she wasn't as soft as she'd once seemed. He'd noticed an edge in her actions recently, darkening bit by bit, and that managed to please him, even slightly. If this trend continued, she could soon be a suitable interest for his son.
At the moment, she was still an enemy, and that warranted his hatred. She may have developed a stronger personality in the time she'd been a Ranger, but she was still a follower of the light, and her newfound strength changed nothing but his respect for her. If his son didn't manage to turn her, he would destroy her himself and finally banish the light lingering in the boy.
Whichever scenario played out, he knew that everything was about to undergo a serious upheaval.
"What was that all about?" Leelee asked, arching a vaguely interested eyebrow.
"Just everything working out perfectly," Nick replied, shaking the traces of Madison out of his mind. The vampire princess's face lit up.
"So they're coming? All of them?"
"I don't know about all of them, but Maddie's coming."
"So you finally get your girl," she interjected with a smirk. "Where do we go from there?"
"Well, I suppose Xander and Chip'll be on her tail when they realize we're all having our little party down here."
"And if they come along with her?" Nick smirked.
"Then everything goes just a little bit faster. They all come here, try to 'save' us and, when they get soundly beaten and try to retreat, they can't. Around then, we can take their powers if we want and resurrect the Master, but I'd rather let them keep their morphing abilities. It just makes them a better challenge."
"I would like to be able to go up there and stay there, though," she griped. "And we can't do that unless the Master rises and we rule." The whole evil thing wasn't something she was really interested in, but she could try to fit in with it if it meant finally escaping these pits once and for all.
He gave her a wicked smile. "That'll come eventually, after we get rid of the rest of their allies. Right now, though, we need to get ready. There's no telling when our guests will arrive."
"Shouldn't we think this out a little bit more, Maddie?" Xander asked in an almost pleading tone, nearly jogging to keep up with the young woman's pace.
Not looking back at him, she responded, "What else is there to think out? We tell Udonna what we're doing, see if she wants to help and then we're off."
"But isn't that a little hasty? Don't you think Udonna will want to help flesh out the plan just a little bit?"
"Not if she wants to save her son," was all she said, but it was enough to stop Xander dead in his tracks for a second. Son? Udonna had a son? And he was in the Underworld too? Something occurred to him, but in went against everything he'd learned about magical history since they'd become Rangers.
". . . It's Nick, isn't it?" he asked quietly, trying to grab Madison's attention, and hopefully Chip's with it. "He's her son." His words succeeded in stopping the vindictive pair, Maddie closing her eyes as if to organize her thoughts and Chip giving her a questioning look.
"Yeah, it is. It's a long story, and I'd love to explain later when everyone is safe and sound on the side of good again. Long story short, Koragg used to be Leanbow and he and Udonna were in love. They had Nick, but when the Great Battle happened, this guy named Daggeron was sent out to protect him. He disappeared and Phineas took Nick to his family in our dimension, and then changed Udonna's memory so the grief wouldn't kill her." Taking a deep breath, she started walking again, not caring whether or not the guys followed her now. By the time she'd reached Root Core, they'd both caught up with her again, each preoccupied by their thoughts.
Udonna sat inside at the table, a small book before her. Maddie caught a glimpse of a handful of people happily standing close together, posing like it was a picture even though it was clearly a part of the paper itself, before the elder woman flipped it shut in a startled way, seeing the trio enter.
"Hello, children. I was... expecting you." She added the last part hesitantly, as if she hadn't been expecting them quite so soon.
"Then you know what we're doing here?" Maddie ventured, trying her best to be as patient as she could.
"Yes, I do, and I agree with Xander. You are being hasty," she replied patiently, recognizing the same behaviour that so many young red magicians had exhibited in her time as a teacher and, although it was very odd to see it from a blue witch, it cemented in her mind what she knew they must do.
"How can you say that when it's your team, your son, that we're out to save?"
"Because I know that a well thought-out plan is usually much more successful than rushing headlong into a fight. I'm sorry, but I cannot let you do this. I can and will help you once you are prepared, though."
"And how are we supposed to prepare?" Chip inquired. Though he'd settled down considerably more than Madison, he was still eager to finally retrieve his friends. Their mentor turned to look at him.
"There are individual skills that you each must study to succeed in our mission," she stated. "You, Chip, will research and create a Dawn Crystal, the only thing strong enough to kill a vampire queen and free Vida from her spell." She looked to Maddie. "Madison, my dear child, I am going to show you how to protect your mind from unwanted invasion." Last in order, she turned to Xander. "Clare knows a skill that will be particularly valuable to you in the caverns of the Underworld, and she would be glad to teach it to you." Xander gave her an apprehensive arch of his eyebrows.
"Clare?" he asked, only vaguely hiding the fear he felt in learning a magical ability from the sorceress-in-training. Udonna grinned lightly.
"Yes, Clare. I assure you, she is quite adept with this skill, even if she has little opportunity to apply it." When he didn't put up a protest, although the look on his face still told of how unsure he was, she returned her attention to the trio of teens as a whole. "Now, are all of you ready? I can safely say that if you choose to continue, multitudes of danger lie on your path, greater than anything you've faced yet as Rangers and magicians in ways you cannot even understand. I ask again, are you all ready?" Each nodded without reservation, at least outwardly. "Good. So begins the Underworld's end," she added with a coy smirk. The others didn't smile, simply nodding again and heading off to their individual tasks.
Chip about-faced and bounded up the small set of stairs to where the Xenotome sat. The pages flew open on the simple mental command, fluttering down gently as Chip laid his fingers on the yellowed edges.
"Show me how to make a Dawn Crystal," he commanded in a no-nonsense way. Words shimmered onto the previously blank pages, detailing each step in the process and even featuring a realistically proportioned illustration. When he ran through the list of ingredients, he realized exactly how tough this was going to be, considering how volatile some were and how bad he was at potion making. Bad was an understatement, really; horrendously and inept usually went hand-in-hand in the description he would've used. It wasn't that he didn't try, but more attributed to his attention span, which was on the shorter side, and his attention to detail wasn't the best, unless, of course, it was being used to catch continuity errors in his favorite shows and movies. He'd tried several times to make potions for various reasons, mostly because yellow magicians were supposedly expert potion makers and he was striving to live up to his branch's trade. Even the most basic of potions had failed miserably, so how on earth was he supposed to make on as complex as this that actually became a solid is he did it correctly?
Reminding himself whom he was working to save, he busied himself with finding some of the more common herbs while burying his lack of self-confidence in this area as best as he could.
Xander ascended the closest set of stairs, walking nervously to what he knew to be Clare's room. It wasn't that he doubted her ability with this particular skill after Udonna's accolades; he was more afraid of anything she accidentally did while she was teaching him. He still trusted her to be careful - after all, this situation demanded complete seriousness. They were out to rescue Nick and Vida, and Xander had the feeling that Udonna had more of a reason to come than just helping them and finding her son.
Only time will tell, he thought as he pushed open the door to Clare's room. The young sorceress-in-training sat on her bed reading a book that seemed newer than those around her. She hastily read the last few words of the paragraph she happened to be on and stuck a bookmark between the pages.
"Sorry," she apologized with an honest smile. "I read a lot. Not much else to do around here, and something about other people's views on magic fascinates me. Have you ever read Harry Potter?"
"No," he replied. All he knew was the gist of everything, and that was mostly because he'd dated a girl who'd been really into it. Of course, being friends with Chip didn't hurt.
"No, didn't think so. The author has a good idea of how magic works, but it's kind of off for the most part." He nodded with interest, taken back to the long ramblings of said obsessed girlfriend, but she could tell he really wasn't into it. "Sorry," she said again. "I assume you're here because Udonna wants me to show you how to do the whole elemental shift thing, right?"
"Actually, I'm not sure," he answered. "Udonna wanted you to teach me this thing that'll be really handy in the caves. Are we talking about the same thing?"
"Oh, in the Underworld?" she asked brightly. "Yeah, I think we're talking about the same thing. What I'm talking about would be really handy for you down there. We just need to get started right now, okay?" Before he could answer, she'd taken him by the hand and dragged him off into another room.
Madison sat idly in her chair as Chip and Xander went off to their tasks. She couldn't believe Udonna was making them wait. Vida and Nick were down in the Underworld, but she was stuck up here, forced to wait so Udonna could teach her some stupid new trick. Why did she need to know this, anyway? Did Udonna think she couldn't save them without it? That was a lie. Maddie knew she was more than capable of saving them both alone. Chip and Xander were just tag-alongs on her personal mission. In the end, she wouldn't need them. She didn't need anything but herself, and she certainly didn't need Udonna and her stupid skill.
Only when she was partway out the door did she realize what she was doing. In the flurry of brash thoughts, her feet had carried her almost out of Root Core. It took her a moment to come to her senses. What was she doing? What was she thinking? Anything they could learn that would make it easier to get Nick and Vida back was well worth the wait. So where had those arrogant ideas come from? They seemed too out of character to be her own, and yet the mental trail led back to her own mind.
Barely aware of what she was doing for the second time in just minutes, she sat back down in her chair. What was going on with her? Shirking the law, her not so minor attraction to Nick's dark side, all the weird little things from the past couple of weeks that didn't seem so weird until she threw them all together. Where were they all coming from? Was there some other force out there, influencing her secretly? Who would want to do that? How many people even could?
Before she could pursue those thoughts any further, Udonna approached her.
"Are you ready?" she asked, breaking Madison's train of thought. The girl nodded quickly. She may have found her proper mindset, but she was still anxious to get out there.
"As ready as I can be," she answered, sitting up a bit straighter. Udonna took the seat next to her.
"Good, for what I am about to teach you takes great patience and determination to be truly effective. First, you must close your eyes and takes my hands." Madison did exactly as she was told, anticipating whatever was about to come."Thank you," Udonna murmured. "Unios mens." Instantly, Maddie recognized the spell. It was the same one Nick had used to create a telepathic connection. She arched her eyebrows, eyes still shut.
"What was that for?"
Though the question was more than a little demanding, Udonna remained calm and balanced. "A mental connection is necessary to know that you are performing the skill properly," she replied. Maddie could fell the slight smile on her mentor's lips just through her words. "May we continue?" The Blue Witch nodded. "Good. Before we go any further, you must know that learning this is of the utmost importance to our mission, and is not something be taken lightly. Without proper protection, your mind can be used against you in some of the most vicious ways by your enemies."
"Like Nick?"
"Yes, most especially Nick. If he is allowed to access your mind during battle, it could endanger everything. While I know that you treasure the small connection it provides between you two, we may not be able to retrieve him if he knows too much of what we are planning." As much as she wanted to deny it, it did make sense. Nick wouldn't hesitate to pop into her mind and know their plans in a heartbeat. Temporarily trading in her little comfort in order to regain her sister and boyfriend was a more than welcome trade.
"Now," Udonna continued, "we truly begin. You must start by following the trails of your thoughts back to your own mind, journeying within yourself like you would any other person." Maddie followed her mentor's lead, tracing the lines of consciousness into the depths of her own mind. When she heard Udonna speak again, it had an echoing, quieter sound to it, as if coming from much further away.
"As you fall deeper into your mind, mentally build a wall around each layer, brick by brick around every thought." Visualized stones dropped neatly around every idea and notion she passed. This went on in perfect silence, at least to her ears, for many minutes, until she reached the end, finally touching on the central core of her being. For good measure, she built up her barrier around this too, as a final defense should Nick get, or even try to go, that far.
When she'd completed that, she waited for Udonna to continue, but the elder woman remained silent. Maddie held out for a while longer, but her attention was slowly drifting to the headache she was developing. As she was reluctantly pulled back to the physical world, a stabbing pain spread to her temples, elevating rapidly to searing pain akin to that of a branding iron. It felt as if her mind was being torn apart thought by thought, the most terrible of which rose to the top and lingered firmly, piling upon each other with the obvious intent of breaking her down. A red veil of pain blanketed her sparse thoughts and memories, but a single one managed to break through this in shining color: fight it. It escalated rapidly to a rippling point of light, dissipating the pain as she grasped onto it like the lifeline it was.
"Enough!" she barely heard herself shout as the pain kept fighting against her, pushing away the spreading grains of light. Her single word seemed to set off the golden thought, exploding its power through her mind. The pain evaporated into the ether, sharply replaced by sight of Root Core as she snapped back to the physical realm. She blinked hard a few times to reassure that she was indeed alive and, with that knowledge, glanced hesitantly around the room. Chip hovered over a smoldering cauldron, staring as he stood frozen, stuck in the middle of adding a powder she couldn't identify. Udonna sat before her in the same position she'd been in last time, a minuscule smile on her lips. Even Xander and Clare were poking their heads over the balcony, Xander's seeming different from the usual, darker, almost a heavy shade of grey. Maddie blinked a few times to make sure this wasn't a trick being played on her by her seemingly rebelling mind, but she couldn't do much more than that as Udonna began speaking amidst the silence.
"That was very good, very good indeed, especially for your first attempt. Your walls held for a while, but I was eventually able to start tearing them down. You felt the pain, did you not?" Maddie nodded, none too happy. "A good sign. If it hadn't hurt, they wouldn't have been near strong enough. Now you must simply practice making them stronger." Again the younger witch nodded and closed her eyes, back to her task.
Udonna sat idly in her chair for only a moment before perking up as Chip posed a question.
"Hey, Udonna? Where do you keep the hair from a bat's wing? I can't find it in the ingredients cabinet." The mentor stood up and slid open a panel of the wall, revealing nearly one hundred vials of varying sizes.
"This is where I store the more rare and powerful potion ingredients, for future reference. This," she said, carefully picking up a medium vial filled with short, dark hairs, "is what you seek." Extending the glass out to him, he took it gratefully and plucked a few out.
"Hair from a bat's wing," he murmured, taking another vial from the table next to him and opening it gingerly. "Purified flakes from the first snow." Another glass moved to his hand, the other ending on the table again. Then, struck by an epiphany, he froze.
"Wow, I'm sounding like a sorcerer," he said in amazement. Udonna smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Chip, you are a sorcerer," she replied, smile belying more than she seemed to be giving away. He gave her a funny look, but couldn't question her any further, as she walked back over to Madison. Giving only another moment's thought, and then attributing her comment to misunderstood semantics, he went back to his potion.
"Are you doing well, Madison?" Udonna asked, reclaiming her seat next to the young witch. Maddie nodded vaguely, still lost in the visualization. She placed a hand on Maddie's own, pulling the girl out of it.
"I can tell you are improving, but that is not the full extent of the skill," she stated, garnering a nod that was both interested and mildly confused. "As you are now, you can semi-effectively prevent entry to your mind only by venturing within yourself. Unfortunately, your enemies will not grant you that privilege. You must be able to build and hold up the defense while engaged in battle. This, my dear, is where it becomes difficult. Are you up to it?"
"Do you even have to ask?" Udonna smiled again and stood up.
"Come then. We must begin." Maddie too stood up, brow furrowed.
"What are we doing?" she asked. Her mentor's smile only crept further across her face.
"Dueling, of course," she answered, summoning her wand. "Are you prepared, or are you too weak to fight an old sorceress?" Maddie grinned slyly.
"Oh, you're on."
"Ugh, are they coming yet?" Leelee whined. She was absently fiddling with a lock of blonde hair, twirling it around the dagger she was holding. Nick rubbed a temple and shook his head.
"I can't exactly tell," he responded. "I'm having a hard time getting into Maddie's mind." The vampire princess rolled her eyes.
"Oh, come on. You've been able to just walk in before. Why can't you now?" Letting his hand drop back down to his side, he turned to look at her.
"I'm not sure. I think she's trying to block me." Leelee tilted her head in confusion.
"Why would she want to do that? I thought she was crazy about you." He shook his head, summoning his sword from thin air and looking at it thoughtfully.
"Yeah, but that wouldn't stop her from blocking me out. Probably some attempt to help them save us." He shrugged and held up his blade, aimed at the girl. "Whatever works for them, I guess. Now, how about we get back to our preparations?" Without a second's hesitation, he launched himself at her, sword aimed for her neck. Only quick reflexes saved her, dodging the swing just in time. At the same time, she turned the defensive move into one of offence, driving a non-lethal blow into his gut. He stumbled away, sputtering, as she smirked.
"Having fun yet?" He glared at her, massaging the point of impact tenderly.
"Oh, you haven't seen fun yet."
Nearly four hours later, both women still stood in defensive positions, their breathing more irregular than before. They'd gained several spectators in the form of Clare, Chip and Xander. While Clare and Xander had emerged from their practice room about half an hour ago, Chip had been done, or as close as he could be until dawn actually rolled around and finished the job, with his Dawn Crystal for what seemed like ages. He'd remedied this long wait by alternating between reading a historical book that seemed more like fantasy than reality, and watching Udonna and Madison fight. Udonna gained the upper hand more than once, but Madison always managed to even things out again and regain her ground. Occasionally they'd stop to fix up the minor injuries and Udonna would give her young charge tips on how to improve her use of this mental defense.
After another thirty minutes, they finally and completely stopped, only then realizing that they were being watched. As they sat down, Xander gave them a curious smile.
"Done?" he asked simply. Maddie nodded and took a drink from the glass of water she'd summoned. Whatever she'd seen earlier, real or imaginary, was gone, as he was his usual healthy shade of a light tan once again.
"It looked pretty intense," Clare commented, trademark exuberant smile on her face.
"You don't know the half of it," Maddie replied, only half joking. Clare nodded back knowingly.
"I never could master that," she said. "At least Udonna could pass it on to someone."
"You may not have learned this skill, but you are a fine sorceress nonetheless," Udonna added. A moment of appreciative silence followed, but Xander broke it quickly.
"So what now? Are we going to go? I mean, we've got all of our stuff done, right?" All except Chip nodded.
"I have to wait until dawn to finish my Dawn Crystal. We can't go until then."
"Then I would advise you all to go home, go back to work and rest until tomorrow. We will need all the strength we can summon," Udonna stated, a grave seriousness in her tone.
"But what about Vida? What should I tell my parents?" Maddie asked. Those weren't the only things running through her, mind but she held back the protests, knowing that the mentor was right. She was too tired now to be at her best in the Underworld, and that was the only way they would win. "They're already worried about her."
"I'm sure you will come up with something," the mentor replied. Her vague smile was mildly disconcerting, as if she already knew what Maddie had been thinking about doing. "Now go. Tomorrow will be one of the most difficult days you face as Rangers. None of your safeties are assured, but we will push on no matter what. We must not lose sight of our goal."
It was only seven o'clock in the morning, an ungodly hour for most teenagers, but Madison was wide awake, sitting in her chair at Root Core. Chip was in his seat across from hers, staring down at the triangular yellow crystal in his hands. He'd been here longer than she, since just before the sun rose to make sure that the final stage of his potion went off without a hitch, and he still looked completely energized, ready for the fight ahead. Udonna and Clare were in other rooms, preparing themselves for what was to come.
Yesterday afternoon had been stressful, to say the least. After her shift had ended (Toby had forgiven them for skipping out so quickly, but still given them extra hours to make up for it), she'd gone back home and done the only effective thing she could think of to explain Vida's absence to her parents: she'd used a temporary memory alteration spell. It only lasted for a few days at the most and she could end it once they got Vida back. That cleaned up all the messy explanations as to where she was and why she was acting weird, even if it was slightly immoral. In this case, Maddie thought it could be glossed over, given everything that was going on.
Finally, Xander strolled in and joined the small group, Udonna and Clare ascending the stairs to round out their party a moment later.
"Are you all prepared?" Udonna asked, looking to the three teens. They nodded, along with Clare, and Madison stood up.
"Then let's not waste any time," she commanded, dormant leader-like qualities bubbling up.
"Are we all going?" Clare asked, both eager and afraid.
"I believe you should stay here, my dear," Udonna answered. The apprentice's face fell slightly, but her expression contained a grain of understanding. "You must protect Briarwood, Root Core and the forest as a whole should anything happen while we are gone. Are you willing to do that?" The younger woman seemed shocked.
"You trust me with all of that? What if I mess up?" Udonna shook her head and sighed, a weary smile on her lips.
"Have you no self-confidence, child? Do you not trust my belief that you can defend two worlds and rally the peoples of both into battle?"
"Of course I trust you," she responded without hesitation. Clare knew she could trust her aunt to the death.
"Then you must do this. Should the crystal ball alert you of any darkness, fight it off with any being who will follow you. The Ancients will protect you. Now," the mentor said, turning her gaze to the trio of youths before her, "we must go. The darkness has awaited our arrival for too long, and they will be eager for a fight. We must hurry." They all nodded seriously and came together, disappearing into a seal. Their last sight of the surface was of the apprehensive but ready Clare waving goodbye. Each of them hoped it wouldn't be their last time seeing the animated girl.
As quickly as they'd gone, they were in the Underworld, standing in a desolate hallway. Chip and Xander took a moment to regain their equilibrium, still not quite adjusted to that form of movement. Teleportation wasn't something most people expected to have to get used to. It was only a moment, though, before they were fine once again, looking to Udonna for direction as Madison already was. This was something she was used to, and she easily slipped into an authoritative mode.
"Chip, both you and Xander search for Vida. Madison, you must obviously search for Nick. As for me, I will find Koragg," she stated, the helm of mentor and leader coming naturally. Both young men nodded, but Xander followed it with a question.
"How are we supposed to find them? I mean, these caves are probably huge and there's no doubt that they already know we're here." The mentor held up her worn wand, akin to their original ones, with a tiny grin.
"What else would we use but magic?" she asked rhetorically, laying it out flat on her palm. "Cuspis ut Koragg." The stick began to hover above her hand, pivoting in every direction until the snowflake crystal on its tip settled on the doorway to her right. Chip's eyes barely held in the delight that the rest of his face refused to show at the prospect of more magic, wand quickly appearing in his own palm.
"Cuspis ut Vida!" he commanded. His wand copied Udonna's, swirling in circles for a few seconds before stopping abruptly. The garuda crystal pointed to the hall just beyond their mentor. He looked up with a smile. "Guess this is where we split up."
"Hopefully not for the last time," the elder woman responded as Maddie used the same spell, Nick as the target. Blue light shone from her crystal as it indicated the only other way to go, the hall past Chip and Xander.
"I guess we really are splitting up here," she added, shivering slightly as the impact of what they were about to do hit her. Udonna noticed this brief sight and placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.
"The Ancients chose you, and they will watch over you until the end. May they always protect you." The teens repeated this to one another quietly, not knowing exactly what it meant or who these Ancients are, but understanding the basic meaning behind it. The three parties proceeded in their general directions without a word after that, not knowing if they'd all be back together again.
"So? Are they coming now?" Leelee asked again. She was becoming increasingly impatient, not only because the Rangers had failed to show up yesterday, but they had to be awake so early in case they arrived now.
"I told you, I can't tell. Madison's still cloaking her mind," Nick replied. The vampire princess was really grating on him now. Why couldn't she be quiet for more than thirty seconds? Hmmmm... Maybe there was a spell for that.
Leelee began a biting remark, but froze mid-word as a tapping noise caught her ears.
"Do you hear that?" she inquired, getting only the shake of a head for a response. "Someone's coming. I'm going to go." She scurried away into a side passage, not really wishing to fight. This whole plan may have been her idea, but she was liking it less and less. Lately, she'd been questioning how evil she really was, and this plan had been a last-ditch effort to see. Now a feeling of dread was creeping up into her mind, and it was trying to prove what she had begun to suspect. She really didn't want to get caught up in what was about to happen, not when she was this divided. Anyway, whoever it was, it sounded like they meant business.
Nick remained stoically in his spot, back turned to whoever was coming.
"Hello, Nick," came a strong voice not too much later, one that he recognized instantly.
"Finally here?" he retorted. "I thought I'd be long past dead before that happened."
"Preparing to fight someone you love takes time." A grin crept across his features.
"Ah, so this is a matter of love. How sweet. Really, I should've seen it coming," he sneered, turning to meet his visitor. Madison stood in the archway, looking at him and the many niches in the walls, generally inhabited by Hidiacs, that seemed to span upward forever. She stood in a powerful stance, obviously willing to fight at any given moment.
"So what now?" he asked playfully. "Are you going to fight me? Drag me kicking and screaming back to the light? I doubt you even can." Maddie shot him a fierce glare, on par with one of Vida's most powerful. At least the skill hadn't been lost in this twin.
"Don't be stupid. You don't belong here, and you know it. I can see it in your eyes." He arched his eyebrows.
"Oh really? How touching." The look on his face shifted, a degree softer than before. "I love you, Mad, but you're the one being stupid. This is my place. My destiny lies here." She snorted with derision.
"If you believe that, you're more deluded than I thought. You know you're supposed to be with us, as a Ranger and as a friend. You just don't want to see it. The Master doesn't want you to see it."
"Hey, whatever helps you sleep at night." The shrug of his shoulders, the look in his eyes, how he acted like this was all one big joke to him, was really beginning to tick her off. It had only been a few days since she'd seen him, but he'd seemed so demure then, only an edge of darkness behind his actions. Now it seemed to be the whole of his personality, dominating every aspect of him. That wasn't going to last, not so long as she was around.
"Don't think I won't fight you," she stated evenly, a hint of challenge behind her words. His eyebrows knitted together in a condescending arch.
"Come on, Mad, I know you better than that. You couldn't fight me even if you wanted to. Why even fight fate? I belong here, and you belong at my side, it's as simple as that." She could see the traces of light pushing and fighting their way into him, but she refused to let it get to her. He was still evil, and she wasn't going to stop until that changed, no matter what games he tried to play with her.
"Don't you dare do that," she warned strongly. "Don't you dare try to tempt me. You know where you belong, where we belong, and I'm not afraid to show you the truth by force."
"Do your best," he scoffed, "but I st-" His words were cut short by the force of a spell that connected harshly with his shoulder and sent him into a spinning arc through the air. The thud echoed throughout the caves as he landed on his stomach, scarcely softening the landing with his hands.
As he pushed himself up, an amused smile covered his face. "You actually did it. I'm surprised at you, Maddie. Never really saw you as the abusive type," he snarked.
"You'd be surprised how far a little motivation can get you," threw back the young witch. A bright red jet of magic whizzed past her ear, but she refused to flinch. "You missed."
"That was just a warning. Next time I won't miss."
"What makes you think there'll be a next time?"
"And what makes you think this fight'll be that easy?" he retorted. "Only one of us can get what we want, and I don't plan on losing."
"That makes two of us." She fired another spell at him, but he managed to avoid it, if just barely. He regained his footing and sent three spears of fire in her direction. A hastily summoned wall of water was all that stopped them, leaving only a thick haze of steam in their wake.
Maddie spun around, keeping her senses on high alert. A fraction of a second too late, she heard the whooshing sound of a sword cutting through the air and turned in time to find the blunt edge of Nick's blade meeting her gut with enough force to throw her back. She skidded nearly twenty feet across the room and was hardly able to blink before Nick was swinging his sword down at her again. Without a thought, she transmuted her wand into a trident and caught his blade inches from her face.
"Nice toy," he commented. "Is it new?"
"Of course. You guys aren't the only ones who get cool weapons."
"Not much you can do with your little pitchfork is there, though?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised," she snapped back, pushing him off with all force she could muster. He stumbled away from her quite ungracefully as she stood herself up slowly and deliberately. The trident sat menacingly in her palms, almost overflowing with untapped power. Nick gave it an appraising once-over and grinned.
"You may have a powerful new weapon, but you hardly know how to use it. I hate to say it, Mad, but you won't be much of a challenge until you learn how to use that thing."
Anger flared in her eyes as the trident seemed to tremble slightly in her clenched hands. "I may not know how to fight properly with this thing, but there's no way I'm letting you beat me," she said firmly, building rage repressed as best as she could achieve. His taunting words were getting to her, though their effect was different from what he'd intended. They gave her the drive to fight and bring back the Nick she loved, not this crossbreed of his darkness and light. That goal pushed her more than anything to fight him until she found the perfect time to bring him back. She wasn't sure how she'd accomplish that, only trusting that she'd know what to do when the time came.
Amidst her half-second of thought, she felt a searing pain flare up on her right shoulder. Holding back the sudden outcry of pain, she saw that Nick had used her mere moment of thought to strike out again. A thin line of blood trickled out of the gash, staining the thin whiteness of her undershirt. If not for the leather vest, the cut would've been much worse and much more painful.
Taking in and reacting to all of this in only another fraction of a second, she thrust her trident up into his gut instinctively, pushing him onto his back and leaving him gasping for air. In an instant, she was standing over him, the pointed tips of her weapon held dangerously close to her face.
"You bastard," she whispered, repressed rage and sorrow set free. "You just hang around down here and live in your demented little world where you're supposed to be like this and it isn't hurting anyone. You don't even realize what you're doing to all of us, do you? Your grandma is worried sick, Gracey misses you so much, Udonna and Clare seem so much less alive sometimes, even Chip and Vida are acting differently and Xander's just doing what he always does: trying to hold us all together. And what about me? You have me on this emotional roller coaster every time you come and go, and you know what? I'm tired of it, sick and tired. This needs to end so everything can go back to the way it was supposed to be and we can all go back to normal." The snarl behind her whisper momentarily caught Nick off guard, but he quickly recovered and grinned.
"Temper, temper, Maddie. Wouldn't want to accidentally touch that dark magic, would we? Could lose our powers that way," he replied. "And who are you to say that this isn't normal? It is a subjective idea, you know. This could be my normal."
"You're a fool if you think this is your normal." He slowly moved his sword closer to her leg as she went on. "Our normal may be different from most everyone elses', but even this isn't it. I'm just here to bring you back to our normalcy." Swiftly, he swung the flat side of his blade at her right leg, sending her toppling to his left. He scrambled up, sword held out as a warning.
"I told you, Mad, you're not going to win. I'm just better with my weapon and, in the end, you're just not a fighter. This'll only end badly unless you give up now. Just surrender and we can have peace together. No darkness or light, just us, going wherever we want and doing whatever we want. What do you say?" She glared at him as she propped herself up using her trident. Oh, the bruises she would have tomorrow...
"Not a snowball's chance in hell," she managed between breaths. "I'm bringing you back with whatever power it takes." He arched his eyebrows amusedly, arms crossed over his chest.
"Oh, really? Any force? You'd break one of the biggest Ranger tenets, straight from Zordon himself, just to bring me back? Touching," he mocked, riling her more.
"Desperate times," she stated simply, holding her trident into the air. The blue mermaid crystal resting at the meeting point of the three prongs flashed brightly. "Anything for you."
"I dare you," Nick said, entertained. "Do it."
"If you insist." In a flash of blue light, her entire body was encased by the traditional stronger-than-believably-possible spandex and the nigh-invulnerable helmet. He sent her an impressed grin as she lowered her weapon back to her side.
"Why am I not surprised? The more and more I see, the more convinced I am that you really do have a dark side. Of course, it still won't be enough. You aren't the only one with that little trick." He held out his own sword, red phoenix shining from its resting place at the blade's base. Maddie let out a clipped snort of laughter.
"Try it if you want, but it won't get you anywhere. You know our power only works for light magicians, and you aren't a light magician, not by a long shot." He flashed her a superior smirk.
"That may be, but I guess we'll just find out, won't we?" He paused, giving her one last grin. "Dark source, evil force!" For a moment, nothing happened, giving Maddie reason to smirk back. This would be easier then she'd thought.
Her smile faded away when the crystal set within his sword began to spew black smoke, winding its way around his body. A few red sparks leapt viciously across the yet uncovered parts of his flesh, drawing the smoke to them. It covered him entirely for only a moment, then faded, rolling away as if caught in a wind, leaving only a flabbergasted Blue Ranger and a smirking Red Ranger.
Chip and Xander ran silently through the corridors of the Underworld, each growing increasingly uncomfortable as the number of candles perched on outcroppings steadily increased. The wand hovering above Chip's hand would twist with every turn they were to make, but Chip's mind was far too preoccupied to notice his automatic steps. All the tiny dancing flames reminded him of that unspeakable night nearly eleven years ago. The drifting scent of burning wood and unrelentingly harsh light pervaded his senses, putting a block between him and reality. The harder he fought against it, the more it seemed to invade his every sense and thought.
Just when it threatened to overtake him, another thought blared resoundingly though his mind: Vida. She was close. They were close. Any moment now, she'd be in the same room, and the thought frightened Chip. He knew they'd have to fight her, and probably Necrolai, too, but it still seemed like a foreign thought. Sure, they'd had arguments (what friends didn't?) But this was a real, physical fight, not a dispute over the best new local band. What frightened him the most was how easy it seemed. He had no reservations when it came to possibly fighting her into unconsciousness and, like she'd suggested two nights before in the club as she helped him recover, sacrifice her for the greater good. He knew that, unappealing and disturbing as it was, he could do it if it came down to that.
A cool burst of air threw him back into reality as the wizard duo entered a large cavern, extending upward for what could've been an eternity. Two figures stood readily across the room, both instantly identifiable even in the flickering light of thousands of candles. Neither moved, only glaring at the new arrivals. Xander was the first to step forward, a charming smile adorning his features.
"Hi, I'm Xander. Would it be possible that we could work this out in a nonviolent way?"
"Oh, you silly Green Magician," Necrolai sneered. "You never learn, do you?" A purple-ish pink blast of energy threw him back without warning, sending him into the wall at a harsh angle. His right shoulder connected with the sharp stone wall bordering the entrance. Instead of collapsing, he simply disappeared without even touching the floor. The vampire queen and Chip stared in confusion at the spot while Vida merely glared into space. Necrolai's features suddenly snapped to Chip.
"Where did your magician friend go?" she spat, hate overrunning from each word. The Yellow Wizard returned her glare full force.
"I don't know," he replied evenly, "but I do know that Xander is more than capable of handling himself."
"And what about you, Yellow Magician? Can you handle both your friend and I now that it is two on one?" He was about to reply with a snippy retort when the wall just beyond the pair of vampires seemed to wink at him. It took the boy only a second to make out the vague features hidden by the candlelight, a smirk spreading across his face.
"Oh, I wouldn't be counting on that," he said as a leg jutted out of the wall, sweeping the queen's legs out from underneath her. She fell brutally to the ground as a jagged grey figure emerged from behind her.
"Forgotten about me already, have we? That's not very nice," it said, words joking and very obviously slanted by an Australian accent that the rough grey skin, almost like living rock, couldn't hide. Vida leaned over to her mistress and helped the vampiress up, scowling at Xander as she did so.
"Don't you dare touch my mistress," she snarled. When the queen stood fully upright, her servant let out the wild punch she'd been holding back, aimed directly at her Green Magician friend's head. He stood completely still, melting into the floor just before her fist connected. As easy as it would've been to simply stay still and let her hand try to hurt his stony exterior in a way that would've infinitely more painful to her than to him, this carried an element of surprise that he enjoyed.
Even as the whiffing follow-through of her swing continued through its arc, he was already up behind her. A well-placed push to the side had her on the ground, gasping for air.
As this went on, Chip leapt into the beginning fray, sending a crackling bolt of lightning at the distracted vampire queen. It caught her across the chest, spinning her into a downward spiral as tiny tendrils of electricity ran across her skin. Again she was on the ground by way of a Ranger, but this time it was harder to get up. If she'd been human, she would've been unconscious, possibly even dead, and even a regular vampire would have been out of commission for a minute or two. Getting hit by lightning could do that you, even if you were the Queen of the Vampires.
Being just such a creature, she was only slowed for a few seconds as she regained muscle control. Those few seconds were enough for Chip to dash over to her and flip her onto her back with a swift kick to the gut. He summoned his crossbow by thought and sent a regular arrow into each hand, pinning her to the ground.
For a moment, she smirked. Mere arrows could not hold her down. They were as useless as every other weapon. That thought process was rapidly derailed as a severe wave of pain washed over her, emanating from her hands.
It was Chip's turn to smirk. He put a leg on either side of her torso and crouched down, nearly straddling her stomach.
"Like them? I coated each one in holy water before I came. I'm what you could call the resident vampire hunter of our team. Bad luck for you, huh?" She didn't reply, only hissing in pain as smoke came from her palms. "Hurt, don't they? And the best part is, it'll never kill you. It can burn for an eternity, but no death. One of the perks of being the queen, but I guess you'd already know that. Now... " He let his words trail off as he fished something out from his cloak, something opaque, yellow and triangular. Through the thin lines of smoke and unending pain, Necrolai could only barely see this new object.
"Do you know what this is?" Chip asked rhetorically after a moment. "I'm sure you do. It's a Dawn Crystal. Recognize the name? You should; I don't know why you wouldn't, really. It is the only thing that can kill you." He continued on, but she heard nothing, focusing entirely on gathering herself. Slowly, she her hands up, so slowly that Chip didn't notice. Each movement was pure agony, but she persisted, finally reaching the point where she tore them up sharply, pushing the young wizard away. In the same movement, she raised her legs and kicked him further back with a blow to the chest. He lurched backward and onto the ground as she nursed her now free and languidly healing hands.
Twenty-odd feet away, Vida was faring about as well as her mistress. Every punch, kick and spell aimed at her former friend simply missed or bounced away, no harm done to the teen. Occasionally he'd slip away under her feet, appearing on any other side and delivering a quick attack. One would think that she'd have expected come to expect this move eventually, but between the obedient murk Necrolai had placed in her mind and the random timing of his movements, it was nearly impossible for her to defend herself. Still, she kept up on the onslaught of attacks, magical and physical alike despite the knowledge that they weren't working. Only the most powerful attacks she could summon even left a mark, and they exhausted her slowly depleting power, making her efforts all the more difficult.
Xander, bored with the whole thing after a few minutes, dropped into the ground and moved underneath his friend. The whole power was strange, no matter how right he felt as one with his element, but the strangest thing was the ethereal view he had of everything. Not only a detached view, but ones coming from every point of rock he was connected to.
Focusing his thoughts only on the cool stone around his consciousness, he threw up a circle of evenly spaced stone bars around Vida to form a natural cage. In the next instant, he was aboveground again, still willing the walls to hold against her inhumanly strong punches.
Chip gasped for breath, clutching his chest with one hand as the other helped him to stand up steadily. His opponent was only a dozen or so feet away, cradling each wound alternately. She looked up at him and issued an animal-like snarl.
"You foolish wizard," she said. "You have no idea what you are getting yourself into."
"Funny," he replied, taking even and determined strides toward her. "I was thinking the same thing about you." Before she could even see it, his hands were held out before him, palms downward, a righteous passion imbuing his very aura now. The vampiress stared at them in questioning for only a moment before she was overtaken by another rip of pain and a flash of white light that temporarily blinded each of them, save for Chip. A peal of thunder soon followed.
When his sight returned, Xander was met with the sight of the Queen of the Vampires on her knees doubled over. Thousands of volts of electricity danced over her skin and clothes alike, extending in its purple-white glory all from Chip's hands, much like the Force Lightning of Star Wars, a movie series the Yellow Wizard had seen more times than everyone else he knew combined.
Only a few seconds later did he let up, dropping his arms back to his sides.
"You're the fool here if you think I'll be that easy to beat," he said quietly and with a threatening edge, ready to resume his attack at any moment. Necrolai was now breathing harshly as her body divided its healing energies between her hands and everything else. The young man glanced to his other friends and, receiving an affirmative nod from Xander, knew he was good to proceed. Coming closer to the hunched villainess, he took her by the throat and pulled her up to standing height, enough voltage issuing from his hand to keep her stunned. Again he pulled out the Dawn Crystal, which he'd hidden away as he recovered from her earlier attack, and held it menacingly over her chest.
"One more time now. I don't like you messing with my friends. Not Xander, not Madison, not Nick and definitely not V. We protect each other at any cost, but this one doesn't look like it should be too hard to satisfy." His eyes glinted dangerously, a very repressed side of his personality just barely slipping out. "I'll give you one last chance. Free Vida and leave us alone."
Struggling against his tazer-like grip, she spat, "Never, Yellow Wizard. She is mine for all eternity!" His intimidating fierceness shifted to a coy smirk and a wiggle of his eyebrows.
"Okay, whatever you say. Just remember that you brought this upon yourself." He threw her back against a wall, firing a bolt of lightning into each of her freshly healed palms and holding them in place with his mind. A few cracks of thunder were heard as a summoned electrical storm kept the cavern perpetually lit.
Rainbow spots littered Xander's sight, but he could make out Chip purposefully attaching the Dawn Crystal to the end of his crossbow. When it was firmly held in place, the Yellow Magician lowered the bow and took aim.
"For Vida!" he shouted, pulling the trigger and releasing a bolt of built-up electrical energy, Dawn Crystal making the deadly arrowhead. In the very moment that he freed his shot, Xander's concentration dropped just enough for one of Vida's punches to break through the thick stone of her cage. She was out without a thought, leaping through the air toward her mistress. Her arc flew perfectly across the path of Chip's arrow, the pointed tip of the projectile piercing her gut and continuing on through the other side. She fell to the ground with a bloody spattering of crimson liquid just as the crystal sliced into Necrolai's heart. The vampiress let out an ear-shattering scream before fading to ash. The remains never had a chance to settle, though, as dark smoke pulled it into a nether world, removing it from their presence.
Unfortunately, both Chip and Xander took no notice of this. For a moment, Chip stood triumphantly, taking in the good he'd just done. Then, just before the smoke arose, what had just happened actually hit him. Both he and Xander were on their friend instantly, the former cradling her head while the latter looked over her wound.
It was serious, more so than anything he'd ever seen, even in slasher movies. Blood ran freely over the ground and, if he looked in at the right angle, he could see her internal organs pulsating madly as they tried to fix the aberration. Their efforts were for naught, for it was a fatal wound, and Chip knew it without looking.
"Oh, no, no, no," he murmured, tears running down his cheeks as he looked at the girl in his arms. Her color was returning, but it was draining just as fast. Burying his face in her shoulder, he muttered, "What have I done?"
The caves wound endlessly around her. Each jutting hall never seemed to end, let alone bring her any closer to her goal. Her wand twisted around every so often, taking her down another hall that wouldn't end. Any person with less will would've given up by now, choosing to abandon their search.
Udonna was different. Not only did she have quite the motivation to succeed, but she knew of their fate if they failed. She'd refrained from telling the Rangers, Madison especially, because it would put far too much pressure on the young magicians. In fact, if Madison didn't accomplish her mission, they were all fated to spend the rest of their lives in these caves. While it was relatively easy to teleport into the Underworld, only someone with access to dark magic could leave. That meant that if she didn't turn Nick back, they were trapped. The witch had enough stress weighing down on her already without knowing that their escape depended on the completion of her task.
Finally, the sorceress found herself in a wide cavern, thoughts still amok as her wand landed in her palm. Without looking around, she knew that her target was here. In a defensive stance he stood, sword remaining sheathed in his shield.
"Welcome, White Witch," Koragg growled. It couldn't be seen, but a fierce gleam rested in his eyes. "We finally come face to face again. This time, you will pay for your acts against my family." She shook her head.
"I have committed no acts against your family because it is also mine."
"Lies, all lies," he spat back. "Light propaganda."
"It is only the truth. We were happy once, with our son, but it was all taken away by darkness. We can be happy again, Leanbow." His gaze snapped to her on that last word, irrational hate and calm knowing bubbling up. It echoed through his mind, touching the darkest crevices.
He pressed his hands firmly against the sides of his head. What was this magic that affected him so? What silent spell had she woven into her words? It took all of his mental fortitude, but he fought the word out of his head, dropping his arms back to his sides and standing straighter.
"Nice try, witch, but it will take more than that to hex me." He pulled his sword from its scabbard within his shield and pointed it threateningly in her direction. "I will not tolerate your spells or lies any longer."
"I am using neither spells nor lies. I speak only the truth when I tell you that you were once a noble light warrior, chosen by Fortis himself as his avatar and to lead our armies against the darkness. You only forget because the master wills it to be so."
"More lies!" he shouted, voice tempered in such a way that less seasoned magicians would've turned coat and ran. "You will pay for each one."
His movement almost beyond what she could track, she barely blocked his sword with her wand, transmuting it into a sword of her own in a shower of white sparkles. The sound of blades connecting rang through the cavern like demented church bells as they exchanged blows.
Both were more than capable swordsmen, neither gaining much ground as the fight pressed on. Koragg swung low, aiming for her legs, but Udonna anticipated this, leaping over it and connecting with his head. The helmet absorbed most of the hit, but stars still exploded before his eyes. As he stumbled a bit, she returned her weapon to its regular wand form and aimed it at him.
"Loricatus distraho!" White sparkles flew from her wand and dissolved his armor upon contact. Moments later, an older man with slightly curly dark hair and tanned skin paled by many years underground stood before her, raising his eyes slowly to meet hers.
"Now, I will say it again," she stated firmly, all business. "You are not Koragg, despite what the Master would have you believe. You are Leanbow, and it is time for this lie to end." He snarled and lunged at her, sword ready to attack. She had expected this, though, and shouted, "Restituo memoract!" followed shortly by, "Restituo forma!" Two nigh-identical jets of white energy shot out at him from her wandpoint, throwing him physically to the ground.
Flashes of another person flickered over him even as he arced toward the floor and skidded back a bit. One moment he was the normal Koragg, long hair and dark clothes, and the next he was someone else Udonna knew only from memory, combed back curly hair and softer features. The face had hardly changed over the years, only showing a few signs of aging.
Udonna stood frozen, taking in what nearly twenty years had done to the man she loved. Nothing too drastic, really. Just some greys around the temples and few wrinkles, not major things. One important factor she did notice was the flashes of appearance - they were lingering longer on the true Leanbow every time they appeared. That was a sign that her spell was working; soon, her family would be whole again.
Just as she began to rejoice, something virtually disastrous cropped up. Red threads of electricity sparked wildly around his temples bringing back the Koragg persona each time. They grew longer and more frequent, stripping away her spell as they reinforced their own. Distantly, she could scarcely hear a guttural, rumbling laughter. Then, from across the room, she heard a different laugh, a twisted version of the one from memory, dark and foreboding, and still all too familiar.
"Foolish witch," he boomed mockingly. "You cannot use your magic to change me. I am much too strong. You will learn why you do not attempt such a thing." Through the hair draped over his downward tilted head, she gasped as her eyes met his own, a fluctuating red, changing like the waves of a sea of blood. All traces of his former self were lost in the shifting crimson waves that gave her an inhuman glare.
As a purple-red flash of light filled the room, a beam of white light cut through it, canceling out the morphing energy Koragg had summoned. He was thrown forcefully back and already Udonna was striding toward him, satisfied with her spell. Rubbing his head for a moment, he quickly let his hand drop to eye level so he could inspect it.
"What did you do, White Witch? Where is my armor?" Udonna smiled lightly.
"I leveled the playing field. You took my morphing ability, and I stopped yours." She paused, raising her wand, a sword again mid-movement. "If it is a fight you want, then it is a fight you'll get."
A/N - Wow, finally. Finally. Over a month, but I did it. I won't make excuses, though I do have some good ones. It is longer than usual, though, so I guess that's some compensation.
Not much to say this time. One thing I want to mention is that if you notice I use the word 'magician' a lot more now, you can blame DarkStarShadow. Heaven and Hell is a brilliant story, and I highly recommend it.
One thing that's been on my mind lately: is it sad or just plain odd that certain elements of my story a disturbingly close to how there are in the show? The little things, I mean, that I wrote before they even mentioned them on-show. Does that mean that I'm good enough to be a writer for the show, or that the writers are on the same skill level as a sixteen-year-old girl?
Tangent-ish-ness aside, hope you enjoyed it, and here's hoping the next'll be up quicker.