Episode 18: Part 1
"Something tells me this is going to be an awesome summer vacation," Danny Winthrope grinned as he and his fellow Rangers stepped off the bus with their suitcases and looked around. On one side of the bright palm tree lined street was the hostel the six would be staying at. Across the way was a sandy boardwalk leading to the beaches where the deep blue waters of the Pacific Ocean glittered in the sunlight.
"Who would have thought we'd get to go on a trip to Santa Barbara through the school?" Izzy added excitedly as she removed her sunglasses and joined him in looking at the beach. "Professor Bishop really got us a sweet deal."
And she was right. While the Rangers had been taking their Spring Semester final exams, Bishop had done more research on locating Atlantis. Ironically, the Empyrian texts led him toward the legends of the mythical sunken continent of Lemuria in the Pacific Ocean, as well as a possible site in Southern California connected to it. After convincing the University to allot him some resources to do some research around there, Bishop offered the Rangers a chance to come along and assist as his paid summer interns. After one short plane trip, here they all were.
"Remember you two, we're actually getting paid so we do need to do some work while we're here," Joe pointed out as he passed by carrying his luggage. "As much as I hate to admit it."
"Now Joe, all work and no play will make us very dull Rangers," Nick reminded him with a laugh as he walked over and put a cheerful arm around each of his two guy friends, "And consider this… on our off days, we'll be hitting the beach with three beautiful girls of our own."
The Red and Blue Rangers stopped for a moment and considered Nick's words before the three boys quietly exchanged sly looks and conspiratorial laughs.
Not too far away, Kara watched them enter the hostel with the group's luggage while wearing a puzzled frown, "I wonder what's gotten into them all of a sudden," she commented to the White Ranger, "Were the other three just acting a little odd just now?"
Beside the Gold Ranger, Claire gave a gentle roll of the eyes while she applied some sunscreen lotion, "We're near a beach, so I wouldn't worry Kara. Knowing them, I think our boys are just being boys. Now come on, let's go give Bishop a call and let him know we arrived."
Far away from sunny California in the darkest reaches of the stormy Abyss, a warrior dressed in ancient Empyrian armor entered the large throne room of Lord Gideon and slowly approached the fallen Archangel. At the foot of the dias, the two generals Abaddon and Shemhazai stood inspecting their newest agent chosen to do their master's bidding. When the warrior neared, he lowered his head and bowed on one knee, "Lord Gideon, you summoned me?"
The Lord of the demons regarded him curiously and smiled, "Yes Jaral. I have a special assignment for you. Both of my Generals agreed you would be the best commander suited for the job based on your skills and your… unique background."
Jaral removed his helmet revealing a human face with long black hair and striking green eyes. He was also fairly handsome, except for a long ugly scar running down the side of his face. While he also wore the ancient armor of an Empyrian soldier, his skin had turned slightly discolored and his features had become harsher looking due to the long exposure of demonic influences. "What is it you will of me, my lord?"
Gideon gave the traitorous Empyrian warrior one more appraising look before answering, Our spies tell us the Rangers are seeking the City of Atlantis. We have reason to believe it is still intact and may be harboring the Greater Powers."
"Atlantis still exists?" Jaral gasped, looking up in surprise, "And the Greater Powers of the 5 heroes that sealed you away?"
A small scowl crossed Gideon's face at the memory of his defeat before he turned his eyes on his servant. "There existed several portals, or rather gates into city. While I have a force combing the ocean, I want you to search the coastlines and find any portal gates. Your bloodlines and knowledge of Empyrian artifacts will work best should you make any discovery."
"And if the Rangers get in the way?" Jaral asked.
Gideon smiled, "Eliminate them if you have to, but I warn you… one of your kind has already joined sides with them as well. Will that be a problem?"
"My allegiance is only to you Lord Gideon," Jaral answered as he rose to his feet and secured the flanged mace at his hip, "I will find your path to Atlantis and nothing will stand in my way."
The next morning after breakfast, Professor Bishop stopped by the hostel to meet with his Rangers and the six were treated to an unusual sight. Instead of the usual dressy blazer and necktie look their teacher was known for, he was dressed down to a plain t-shirt and khaki shorts. Although this was no surprise for Kara, the others looked on in amusement as Danny smiled from the table, "Morning Professor! We almost didn't recognize you."
"I could say the same to you too," Bishop chuckled grabbing a cup of coffee before he and the Rangers would head out to the piers for the day, "Traded in your blazer too for a polo shirt, huh?"
It was true, all the Rangers had dressed down to light casual summer clothes: Joe and Claire wearing plain red and white t-shirts, Izzy with a pink tank top, Nick in a green short sleeve button down and Kara in a yellow sundress.
"Well, where we're going, you're going to need those clothes because its pretty hot outside. Now, if you've all finished with breakfast, I thought we'd get going and start our search."
After breakfast, the Rangers followed Bishop and headed out past the bright boardwalk to a small harbor area with charter boats. Nearby were several supply stores along the pier and boaters making their way out to beat the morning rush of other ships.
"The site I want to explore is located on the Channel Islands just off the coast here," Bishop explained while they approached the boat he chartered, "I thought we'd get started early today and head out to Santa Rosa Island. I've already packed some supplies and figured we'd camp out there for a few days to do some work poking around for clues. Sound good?"
"Sounds great!" Claire exclaimed, "Maybe if we're lucky, we might see some whales along the way!"
"Now hold on a minute. How long is this boat ride going to take?" Nick asked, suddenly sounding apprehensive.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe a couple hours?" Bishop answered scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Why? You aren't afraid of water, are you?"
The Green Rangers shook his head, "Oh, I know how to swim Professor. I just don't do well on boats. I'd rather have something solid under my feet... you know?"
"You get seasick, don't you?" Joe concluded giving his friend a pointed look. Nick gave a sheepish mumble then shrugged as the Red Ranger patted his shoulder with a sigh and headed back toward the harbor stores, "We'll be back soon Professor. I'm going to pick up some Dramamine from the drugstore because I don't want Nick barfing all over us on the way there."
After a few hours and a relatively quiet ride from Santa Barbara, the small charter boat arrived at Santa Rosa Island around noontime and the Rangers unloaded their camping gear with Bishop. As they took in their new surroundings on the quiet island, they took a short hike up the sandy beaches and began setting up a base camp.
After finishing setting up the tents, Kara took in a deep breath and gave a serene smile at the beautiful coastline, "Isn't the smell of fresh ocean air wonderful?"
"If you say so," Nick muttered flopping down in the shade. He was still looking a little green in the face from the boat ride and needed a while to recover.
While he started preparing lunch, Bishop looked about the beach with a smile, "No point in continuing on today. I guess we can break for lunch and get started on our search tomorrow. The rest of you don't mind taking the day off, do you?"
The Blue Ranger gave a cheer and immediately stripped down to his swimming trunks hurrying off to dive into the water for a swim.
"Well, no objections from me either," Joe laughed in amusement as he watched Danny take off. With a calm smile, the Red Ranger pulled out a book he had brought along and lay down on the warm sand nearby to relax.
Spreading out her own beach towel, Izzy stripped down to her bikini and put on her sunglasses to lay out and sunbathe for a while. While the Pink Ranger lay out on her towel, Claire sat beside her, idly chatting for a bit while casting glances over to the other end of the campsite. Taking a moment to peek out from under her glasses, Izzy followed her friend's gaze toward the Red Ranger, who was peacefully reading his book while looking out toward the ocean.
"You should just go over there and talk to him," Izzy yawned turning her head back to the bright sunny sky.
The White Ranger turned in surprise, before giving a nervous shrug, "Oh, I don't know. I don't want to bother him. Besides, I already told you about what happened during Valentine's Day earlier this year. And it's probably best we don't rush anything."
Izzy laughed gently, "That doesn't mean you can't start laying the groundwork right now. Seriously Claire, it's adorable how you're still so shy about all this."
"Shy about what?" Danny asked as he quickly strode up and playfully looked down on Izzy dripping stray water droplets down on her face.
"Seriously Danny? You're getting me all wet. Can't you see I'm trying to sunbathe in peace here?"
"Yeah, about that that," Danny laughed dripping more water on her, "You're tan enough. I don't think you really need any more sun."
Izzy took off her sunglasses in growing annoyance, "Ok, last warning. If you don't step back, I'm going to hold you underwater until you stop breathing."
The Blue Ranger cast a sly grin over toward Claire for a moment. "Well come on then Iz. I'd love to see you try," Danny laughed reaching down and scooping up the surprised Pink Ranger in a princess carry
"Hey! Danny! Put me down!" Izzy began sputtering and squealing with laughter as he charged back into the surf to dunk her in the water. Claire smiled and laughed to herself as she watched the two fall into the water and start splashing each other furiously. To her surprise, she saw a shadow fall over her and she looked up into the smiling face of the Red Ranger.
"Hey!" Joe grinned gesturing to the towel she was sitting on, "Mind if I join you?"
Claire shook her head and scooted over still giving him a surprised look, "I… I thought you were busy reading."
"I was," he shrugged, "I came over to see what all the commotion was about."
He grinned and gestured over to Izzy, who had now climbed onto Danny's back while trying to force him back into the water. "Since your partner in crime is a little… preoccupied right now, I figured I'd keep you company instead."
"Oh… sure," Claire smiled enjoying the attention now. Reaching over, she gestured to the book in his hand, "Umm, what book were you reading?"
"Oh, well… promise not to laugh?" Joe asked sheepishly, "I've always loved fantasy novels and I was wanting to catch up on a little bit of fun summer reading. Hopefully you don't think I'm too nerdy now."
"Of course not," Claire smiled brightly, "I love those kinds of books too and I'm a self proclaimed nerd myself!"
From where he lay in the sand, Nick watched in amusement as Joe and Claire began an animated discussion about their favorite books while Danny and Izzy continued to wrestle and play in the surf. It was a wonderful sight and the only thing keeping him from still feeling sick at the moment. That was until Kara approached with some lunch that Bishop had packed.
"Nick, I've got some sandwiches. Do you like tuna salad?"
The Green Ranger took one look and smell of the sandwich before bolting for the nearest sand dune to empty his already weak stomach. As she watched in confusion, the Gold Ranger shrugged and took a bite of the sandwich, before sitting down herself, "Huh. I guess not."
The next day, the Rangers left their campsite and headed up a hiking trail from the beach toward the rocky uplands of the island. After a short trek, they came to a gently sloping ravine covered in grass and small trees. "Ok everyone," Bishop remarked as he pulled out his map and compass. "This looks like the place to start our search. Let's spread out and start taking a look around."
The six fanned out across the ravine to cover more ground and walked together in a line. "So, what exactly are we looking for?" Izzy asked aloud while they walked.
"We're looking for an Empyrian portal. It should look like some kind of large stylized archway."
"What would that be doing here?" Nick chimed in, "They didn't live here, did they?"
Bishop shook his head, "No. But if they did, it probably wasn't for very long."
Kara nodded her head, "According to some of the texts I helped translate, my people used those portals to escape from Atlantis and get to safety on the mainland. My guess is there are remains of an Atlantis gate buried around here.
"Seems strange doesn't it?" Claire remarked idly, "That with a name like Atlantis, it may actually be somewhere in the ocean opposite the Atlantic."
Bishop shrugged, "The legends of the lost continent of Lemuria bear some similarities with Eden. We can only assume Atlantis fell somewhere nearby the remains of the old continent too."
While they continued walking through the wide ravine, Joe kept an eye on their surroundings until he noticed some small rocks tumble down the slope of the gently rolling hill. He signaled his friends to stop and pointed to the falling stones that had now settled on the ground.
"What? Are you scared of some kind of avalanche?" Danny sniggered at his friend's paranoia.
"More like someone sneaking up on us," the Red Ranger hissed back urging Danny to be quiet.
"Maybe it was just an animal or something," Nick suggested quietly as he looked about casually.
Kara shook her head quickly, "No. Do you see any animals, or hear any birds?"
She was right. It had become unusually quiet and typically animals didn't often stick around when Cambion demons were nearby. That was one benefit of having those kind of natural instincts, Bishop thought to himself darkly. If there were demons nearby, most likely they were after the same thing. As that moment became more tense, he could only hope that whatever threat was present, that his six students would be able to drive it off.