Chapter 16: Dark wish part 2

Chelbell2016:

Ok so next chapter for you. Only a few more and then it will be heir apparent and I don't know about anyone else but I cannot wait for those two.

*Keeper of the powers*

Courtney's POV:

I was still looking for Bowen. Hoping he was all right.

"Oh no," Maddie says looking around for Bowen she had spotted something else. "The rock porium."

The record shop where I had worked for the last half a year... it was a wreck. I finally take a look around to see people looking miserable and everything is trashed in the area. Vida spotted a familiar face.

"Toby?" She asks and we all see our boss pushing a trolley around.

He hears Vida calling, spots us and begins to walk our way.

"Hey guys," he says as he moves forwards. "I was worried about you. I thought that..."

We all move forwards with me right at the back of the group.

"Toby do you know where Bowen is?" I ask hopeful.

He just looks confused as he stares at me.

"Who's Bowen?" He asks and then he looks around at the others. "And who is she?"

Ok now I am really confused.

"What?" Maddie asks realising that he means me.

I laugh although I don't find the situation even remotely funny. "At least he's still got his sense of humour."

The others also laugh.

"No seriously, who is she?" Toby asks again and I know that something bad has happened.

"Toby," Vida says as the others all look back at me, still confused. "What happened to the rock porium? What happened to all the colour?"

Toby begins to get distraught as Vida finishes.

"You... you're trying to mess with me," he says raising a hand in the air. "You don't remember how the darkness took over?"

"Huh?" Vida says.

"Four months ago," Toby continues.

Something occurs to me. I have only been in briarwood for four months.

"Guys," I draw the other rangers attention to me. "Somethings happened. The world as we know it has changed. Four months ago is when I first came to briarwood, and we became... you know who."

I glance at toby as I finish and the others get what I didn't say.

"Hey, guys," Toby says looking happy as he holds a little music box in his hand. "Do you hear? I got... music."

He listens to it.

"I still have to listen to it, even though it's banned," Toby explains and this makes me wonder one thing.

"Banned music?" Chip says in disbelief. "Toby, who banned it?"

I am shocked when a spell seal appears on the ground and a few hidiacs and a styxoid appear. Toby jumps in shock and Maddie steps back when she spots them. They all growl as they come moving towards Toby.

"Hey," I say as they crush his music device. "They can't do that!"

I go to throw fire at them but nothing works. Oh no! I decide to try something else.

"Let's ranger up!" I tell my team hoping that this would work.

We all reach for our morphers to find that they are no longer here.

"Our morphers!" Xander says.

I try my sensing powers
but nothing. I have no magic.

The styxoid and hidiacs barge through us.

"We'd better get back to rootcore," I tell the others.

Knowing that flaming wont work right now I go to run through the tree. Unfourtanetly nothing happens and I end up with a headache from head-butting the tree. Vida stops me from landing on my butt.

We now know that we will have to take the long way around.

*Keeper of the powers*

We all run up to rootcore. I gasp at what I see. Rootcore is destroyed. I have a bad feeling that this is imperious' doing.

"No," Chip says distraught.

We all walk towards the wreckage that had been our base for the last four months. Xander bends down and picks up the Xenetone which is in half.

"What happened here?" He asks staring at the book and then glancing back at the four of us.

"What happened everywhere," I tell him kicking at the ground.

"GET AWAY FROM HERE!" A very familiar voice says.

We look around to see a clearly very scared Udonna. She was not wearing her usual clothes. She is wearing a hoodie of some sort and is brandishing a broom at us.

"My home get away!" She orders us. "My home! go!"

"Udonna, don't you remember us?" Maddie asks stepping forward. "You taught us everything we know. We're the power rangers."

I begin to wonder if Bowen is around.

"Were the mystic force," I continue trying to get through to the sorceress.

"Liars," Udonna spits out at us. "The legendary ones never came. I waited for them. They never came. Only the darkness. Only the darkness."

"Huh?" Chip asks in confusion.

We hear another familiar voice.

"There you are," It's Clare and she looks terrible, with really messy hair. "I've been looking ev-"

She stops when she spots us. She holds Udonna protectively.

"Who are you?" She demands to know, clearly not recognising us. "So you better not try and harm us."

We all shake our heads.

"Clare we would never harm you," Xander promises her.

This doesn't make her feel better.

"You know my name," she says her eyes widening in shock. "You must be one of them."

"No," Chip says firmly trying to console the frightened blonde. "I'm not one of them. None of us are, believe me. We're your friends."

She looks confused as he says this.

"Clare, it's the truth," I say trying to convince her when she shakes her head. "Listen, please tell us what happened. What happened to briarwood? What happened to rootcore? What happened to you and Udonna? What happened to Bowen?"

Udonna's eyes widen and fill with tears at the mention of her only son.

"Don't you know what happened?" Clare asks in shock, still holding on to her aunt. "There's no more good magic in the world. Bowen tried to stop the forces of darkness... he died after a few battles. It was too much for one warrior alone."

Now I have to fight the tears.

We all walk away, trying to decide how to fix this.

"Let's see," Chip says as we walk through the forest. "We've lost Jenji. We're no longer power rangers. We no longer have any magic. In fact, there's no longer any good magic, and the worlds ruled by the dark forces. This is officially about as bad as it gets."

We all step back as Koragg jumps down in front of us. I prepare to fight the evil knight.

"I've been looking for you," he tells us with his sword pointed at the five of us. He shocks all of us when he lowers his guard and places his sword in the ground. "We need to talk."

I move forwards, having no intention of talking to this guy. "We don't talk, not to you."

I pick up his sword and I am about to strike him when the others all grab me. Vida steps in front of me and places her hands on my shoulders to push me back.

"Hey, hey," she says looking into my eyes. "You know me, Courtney. I love the battle as much as the next guy, but lets hear what he has to say."

I glare at the knight wolf as Maddie steps next to me.

"We have no more magic Courtney," she reminds me and I feel myself want to act violently towards Koragg. "It's over."

I think for a few seconds and then I pass him his sword. He places it back inside the shield.

"We'll talk," Maddie tells him as I step backwards until I am in front of the others. I may not have any magic, but I still have my ninja skills.

"The world we knew has changed," he begins glancing at all of us. "You must tell me what you know of this."

I wonder why he doesn't know, isn't he one of the people behind it.

"All we know is that our world changed soon after Solaris and I lost genie to that.. bulldog and yeti," Vida tells him.

"Of course," Koragg says in understanding. "Your knight lost his genie, and Imperious made him grant a wish that the power rangers never existed."

I look around at the others realising that he is right.

"Okay," Xander says addressing Koragg again. "How about the bulldog and the yeti?"

"Fightoe and 50 below..." Koragg growls and I gather that he doesn't like them either. "They work for Imperious, and they are as much my enemies as they are yours.

"What?" Vida says confused.

"Excuse me?" Chip says also in disbelief. "Am I missing something? You and that mummy have been trying to turn us into vapour for months, and now you're saying you don't like the new guys because they got rid of us?"

I tried not to laugh at the thought.

"Not because they did, but because how they did it," Koragg says and I am really beginning to not get this guy. "And how they tried to get rid of me. But most of all, those two are planning to overthrow the master."

I shake my head and decide to speak up.

"So you want darkness to rule the world," I clarify trying not to sound mocking. "But not if they don't do it nicely."

We all laugh. Koragg growls as he walks towards us. I raise my hand with a fireball in it. This is to warn him not to come any closer.

"Without honour, victory is meaningless," he reminds me. As a ninja I know that he is right. "It is the one thing in this world that no one can take from you. I would battle them myself, but my magical powers have also been taken away. But I can help you get your powers back and defeat Fightoe and 50 below."

I laugh having had enough of this nonsense.

"And you guys took his sword away from me," I say and the others give me a look.

"No, no, no, no, no, think about this," Xander says and I don't like were this is heading. "What choice do we really have? We know the outcome the way things are now. At least Koragg's way we might still have a fighting chance."

Against my better judgement we are going with Koragg.

"You must go to the tribunal of magic," Koragg informs us as we walk along. "And ask them to reverse the wish. It's the only way."

"And you're gonna take us to them?" Vida asks.

"The tribunal resides in another dimension," he tells us. "I no longer have the magic to transport you. You'll have to go with him."

We are all shocked to see Fireheart.

"Far out!" Chip says chuckling. "Fireheart."

The others all move forwards but when they get close, Fireheart fires at them and they jump back.

"He doesn't remember us," Maddie says frowning. "We raised him from an egg."

"No you didn't," Koragg informs us. "You never found the egg. I did. I raised him. He's my dragon."

"NORTHRAX UNDOM SONDOR!" Koragg says with his hand pointed at Fireheart who immeadietly looks calmer. "He will take you now."

I begin to move forwards.

"Thanks," I say to Koragg a little reluctantly.

"Go with honour!" Koragg finishes as we take off.

"Let's do it!" I tell my team as we leave Koragg behind.

*Keeper of the powers*

We are flying on Fireheart towards the tribunal.

"This is amazing!" Chip says.

I feel so lost without my mystic powers. I feel... I feel as if they have always been apart of me.

The others all laugh.

"All right!" Chip cheers and then begins to address all of us. "You guys have got to admit, this is one exciting adventure."

"Oh yeah?" I question with a raised eyebrow as I glance back at Chip.

"Not knowing where were going, not knowing when were gonna get there, not even knowing if were gonna get back!" he says.

I frown as I look at him again. "Yeah, really exciting."

I have to hold on more as Fireheart dodges blasts that are aimed at us.

"Going somewhere?" Necrolai, who is in the air not far from us, questions us mockingly.

As Fireheart continues I spot her following us. "There she is, hold on guys."

"Gotcha now!" She tells appearing right beside us.

She fires lasers at us again and Fireheart dodges all of them. He then knocks her out of the way and she screeches. We all call out as Fireheart turns to face Necrolai as he fly towards her.

"Go Fireheart!" I call.

He blasts her with purple energy. H then flies away from her and we all look down to how high up we are.

"Look!" Vida says and we all look in the direction that she is pointing.

"Hey is this it?" I ask when I see electricity and different things.

"I believe so!" Chip confirms.

Fireheart sends out more flames and a portal appears. We all cry out in shock.

"Everybody, hang on," I tell my team as we get closer to the portal.

We go through the portal and the next thing I know we are on a sandy beach, and their is colour again. I look around at my surroundings with the senses of a ninja. We thank the dragon who brought us here.

"What is this place?" Vida asks.

"Uh, guys," Chip says sounding a little unsure. "I'm not so sure about this place anymore. I mean, I know I said it was an exciting adventure and all, but.. I think we'd be better off going back to briarwood."

"I'm not going back," I tell him looking around. "We didn't come all this way to go back home now."

The others still looked a little unsure until Fireheart left. They tried to call him back but it didn't work.

"Well there's only one thing left to do," I tell the others walking on.

*Keeper of the powers*

We walk through the dessert hoping for any sign that we are near the tribunal.

"You'd think they'd at least have some signs out here," Xander says getting a little worried.

"Sure," Vida says sarcastically. "Something like, 'Secret tribunal of magic three miles ahead'."

I chuckle at that.

"Yeah, well, at least we would know if we were headed in the right direction," Maddie points out.

Before we can say anything else, some sort of man appears in front of us. We fall into fighting stances. With or without sensing powers something tells me that this guy isn't friendly.

"Why have you come here, humans?" The being demanded from us.

"That's none of your business," I snap moving forwards.

Xander stops me.

"Let me handle this one," he tells me.

I roll my eyes. 'Here we go. Plan Xander, the one that never works.'

"Hi," Xander says smiling. "The names Xander. We just flew into this dimension on a dragon, and we're looking for the tribunal of magic."

"The tribunal of magic?" The being repeats.

"Yeah," Xander tells him.

"Then you're headed in the right direction," the man informs the five of us. The look on his face makes me frown.

"Excellent," Xander says and the others smile, except for me. "Then we'll just be on our way. Let's go!"

The others begin to walk forwards. I don't.

"But to get to the tribunal of magic," he informs us preparing to fight. So do we. "You have to get by every warrior that's tried to get there and failed."

More beings like the one in front of us appear. I share a look with Xander as his plan didn't work once again.

"Well, if that's the only way," Vida says.

The beings run at us and I use my dino powers to force three away from me. The leader moves forward and we begin to fight. I duck under a punch and block a kick. I flip him and he lands back on his feet. He runs forwards again. He drops to the floor and goes to sweep my feet out from under me. I jump over his foot and kick him as he jumps up. He goes stumbling back. I jump into the air and kick at him multiple times. He lands away from me and as he gets back to his feet, he does something stupid.

He drops his guard.

"Well done," the leader says and the other beings disappear. "You've earned this."

He holds a key out to me. I take it and the others regroup around me.

"Use it wisely," is the last thing the guy says before disappearing into the sand.

We carry on wondering what this key goes to Chip gives a few suggestions but I stop when I see what it must be to.

"A door," I say cutting Chip off.

There is two doors right in front of us. they are at an angle from each other. The one closes is white, the other black.

"That's odd," Maddie says as we walk forwards.

"Well, this is interesting," Vida says walking around the doors. "Two doors in the middle of nowhere... Leading to nowhere."

Me and Maddie share a look. We don't think that.

"Mmm," Maddie says pulling a thoughtful look as she walks forward. "Uh, sis?"

She walks forward with the key and opens the white door first. We all hold our breaths, waiting to see what is behind it. We are a little shocked to see Toby back at the rock porium. Briarwood has colour and our boss is asking for us.

"One at a time, one at a time," he tells his customers. "Of all the days to be late. Where's my team?"

The others look really happy, but I know this isn't why we were sent here.

"Guys, it's Briarwood," Vida says and she looks like she wants to go through. "It's the rock porium. Even the colours back... Guys, it's home."

"And it looks like Toby need our help," Chip inputs. "What are we waiting for?"

"You guys haven't learned have you?" I say shaking my head.

They all send a look my way but before anyone can say anything Maddie speaks up.

"Wait!" She says to the others as they make a move towards the door. "I know this sounds weird, and even weirder coming from me, but that's home and safe, and I don't think it's the door for us."

I nod my head in agreement but the others look a little unsure.

"You're right it doesn't sound like you," Xander tells her.

"Xander, I agree with her," I tell him. "We've been using our powers way too much lately. We took advantage and we need to stop taking the easy way out."

"Guys," Xander says turning to Chip and Vida. "The tribunal of magic is offering us a way home. I say we take it."

"And I say we don't," I say getting a little annoyed. "We came to find a tribunal and reverse a wish. We go home now because we're scared or it's an easy way out or it looks like everything's back to normal, then we deserve to live the rest of our lives without magic."

I look around at all my team, hoping that they would see sense.

"Courtney's right," Vida agrees and I sigh in relief. "We didn't come all this way to take the easy way out."

Maddie nods and closes the door. It disappears into the sand.

"Then our only choice is to go through the other door," Chip says walking towards the black door.

He opens it and we see a green portal leading to who knows where.

"What happens if it gets worse once were inside?" Xander asks me a little annoyed.

I glance at him and begin to walk forwards. "Then it gets worse."

I go through the portal and the others follow my lead.

*Keeper of the powers*

We emerge out of water, surprisingly dry. We are in some sort of land. It is bright and instead of sand there's grass. We all pat ourselves down not believing that we are dry. We look around and see a platform with the colours red, black and white carpets and drapes.

"This is intense," Xander points out.

Suddenly three beings appear colour coded on the platform.

"Look," Maddie says pointing them out to all of us.

The white one begins to speak. "You are the first to get to the tribunal of magic in three centuries."

"You are wasting our time, and yours," the black tribunal member says with hostility.

"They have made it this far," the red one speaks with a nicer tone. "They are entitled to be heard. Speak!"

I frown worried that this wont work.

"Hi. The names Xander," Xander begins to say stepping forwards.

"Enough," the black coloured member says holding his hand up. "We do not care about a name. Why are you here?"

Xander steps back and motions to me. "I think you'd better handle this one, Courtney."

I nod and move forwards. "Well, uh, to cut to the chase, there is this bad guy, imperious, who stole our genie and made him grant a wish. He wished that the power rangers never existed."

"You are the power rangers?" The white one asks curiously.

"Yeah," Chip answers. "I'm yellow. She's red. this is..."

He is cut off by the black member.

"Enough. Go home," he tells us and I frown deeper. "There is nothing we can do for you."

"Wait, wait a second," I say raising my hand, trying to stay calm. "We were told that you could reverse a genie's wish."

"We can," the white woman informs us.

"But we won't," the dark guy says. "GO!"

I feel disappointed and upset that we came here for nothing.

"I don't believe this," Maddie says from behind me.

We begin to walk away.

"Let's go," Vida says also disappointed.

"Wait!" The red one says and I turn back hopeful. "Why is it that you want the wish reversed?"

"Because our magic has been taken away from us," Vida tells him. "And dark magic now rules the world."

"So your world still has magic," the dark one asks.

"Well, yeah," Chip confirms. "But it's dark and evil and icky."

"We do not judge good or evil magic," the red one informs us and I frown. "We just ensure that their is magic."

"Please don't take this wrong," I say raising my voice. "But I have been on three different ranger teams and you cannot tell me that there is anything the same between having good magic, and having evil."

"You are the ranger legend?" the white one asks shocked.

"Well I wouldn't say legend but yes I am the three times ranger," I tell them.

"But she is right," Xander says. "Guys, you cant seriously say dark, evil magic is the same as having good wondrous magic."

"No. It isn't the same," the white one agrees.

"I'm curious," the dark one says. "Just how was your genie stolen?"

Oh no.

"We had been in battle after battle," I tell them not wanting to blame this all on my friends. "The others were tired and I was injured badly. They asked Solaris to use his genie, and when he did, Jenji was captured."

"And who was responsible for this loss?" Dark member asks.

I pause before answering. "We didn't mean for this to happen. We didn't do it deliberately."

"Yeah, it just happened," Xander growled and I placed a hand on his shoulder. "No one was responsible. Sometimes it just happens."

"It would serve you best not to raise your voice," the red one says. "We are not the ones responsible for loosing your genie."

I stop the others before they say something bad as the white one speaks. "I think it best we change the subject," she says and I am grateful. "Let's see. What would you do if we were to grant the reversal of this wish?"

"We would go back and fight the darkness," Maddie tells the trio. "And restore the world to the way it was. And there would be colour, and laughter and people could be free."

"And Toby could have his store back," I tell them. "And we'd have music."

"And Udonna would have Rootcore and Bowen," Vida says next.

"And we'd have our dragon back," Xander puts in.

"And I'd have my cape back," Chip shout and we all give him a look. "What? It may not mean much to you, but it does to me."

"They present a good case," the white one says turning to the other two.

I nod my head hopeful.

"We need to confer," the dark one says.

They all group together. We wait patiently for good news.

When they return we all listen quietly.

"We admire the ability it took to get here," Red says. "We applaud the case you presented us. By the powers entrusted in us, we do not grant your wish."

My smile falls and I feel like I have failed everybody.

"Go home!" Red says waving his arm.

The next thing we know we are back in the dark briarwood and being shoved around. For the first time in a while I feel true despair.

We lost. I cannot believe it. What do we do now?

*Keeper of the powers*

Chelbell2016:

Sorry it took so long. It's a really long chapter. Try to update by Thursday.

Chapter posted on the 28/03/2017 at 23:29