Episode 18: Part 2
Just as the Rangers paused again and held their breaths, several spinning bola weapons came flying at them from the sides of the ravine. With lightning speed, the Rangers tumbled or rolled out of the way from the flying projectiles, but Bishop was too slow and got his legs snared by two of the weapons. As the professor went tumbling face-first into the dirt, the Rangers whirled around when they heard a sardonic laugh come from atop a nearby boulder.
From their vantage point, the Vanguard Rangers saw a scarred young man with dark hair and green eyes wearing ornate silver steel armor. All around him, a pack of Magog demons sprung from their hiding paces with their own weapons ready to close the noose on their ambush. "Well... isn't this ironic. After all this time, we finally meet again Kara." said the warrior with the scarred face.
The Gold Ranger squinted a moment and gasped as slow recognition dawned on her face, "Jaral... is that really you?"
The Cambion field commander drew his mace and idly ran his fingers along the flanged edges in amusement, "In the flesh... or what's left of it."
"You know this guy?" Nick asked as he tensed and kept an eye on the Magogs encircling them.
Kara nodded slowly, "Jaral and I had been comrades back in Eden. He was a half blood just like me. We had trained together in the same group and learned to become warriors."
"We did," Jaral added with a smile, "but you're leaving out one important part. You were always better than I was. No matter what I did, I could never measure up to your abilities. We were supposed to be friends who stuck together against those pompous Empyrian commanders. But you kept sucking up to them to get a Keyrune and a posting."
"I had been trying to prove myself to them," Kara replied evenly, "You would have slowed me down then... and I'm sorry for having done that to you."
"It doesn't matter anymore Kara," Jaral sniffed, "I went and found power on my own. Lord Gideon and his Cambion armies gave me more opportunity and power than the Empyrian angels ever did."
Joe fixed Jaral with a hard look, "Let me guess, better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. One of those deals, right?"
The traitorous Empyrian warrior smiled, "Something like that. Now, I'm here to find the gate to Atlantis and secure it for Lord Gideon. You can either show me the way, or I kill all of you. What will it be?"
The Rangers exchanged glances before pulling out their Keyrunes together, "Vanguard Ascend!"
"Have it your way then," Jaral sighed waving his troops forward against the now morphed Rangers.
As a violent melee erupted in the ravine, Bishop struggled to free his legs from the tangled cords and ropes of the bolas. Nearby, Claire fought her way through the Magogs and pulled her Feather Stinger pistol while Danny engaged the Cambion commander first with his gladius. As the White Ranger fired her pistol, Jaral dodged the first volley and deflected the last shot back at her with his reflective steel mace. As Claire was thrown backward by her own shot, Jaral knocked Danny's weapon aside and sent him flying backward with a powerful blow too.
While the Blue Ranger rolled away, both Nick and Izzy attacked together with their weapons. Both stopped in surprise as they both landed a blow, but Jaral kept his balance and held his stance. The Cambion grabbed the Pink Ranger's wrist and shoved her hard into Nick throwing the two Rangers off balance for a moment. In that instant, Jaral called on some dark demon magic and blasted the two backward with a dark fireball at close range.
Seeing his friends get thrown aside, the Red Ranger cut his way through the last of the Magogs with his own saber and locked weapons against Jaral next. Both fighters clashed weapons and dodged each others blows until Joe outmaneuvered Jaral and slashed him twice across the torso. Grunting from the blows, Jaral used his demonic endurance to stay on his feet and turn the Red Ranger's weapon aside, slamming him in the side with two mace strikes in reply. Again, both fighters moved at the same time and kicked, sending each other falling backwards into an awkward roll.
As Jaral recovered to his feet, he turned as the Gold Ranger sprung over her own comrade and took her turn to attack. Jaral laughed as Kara attacked him furiously and landed several quick hits with her swords. Kara growled as she slashed Jaral again and sent him flying backwards hard into the dirt. "Nothing has changed Jaral. You cheated and joined the enemy, but I'm still better than you are."
Jaral continued to laugh gleefully, "You were always a better fighter Kara, but I was always a smarter one." He slammed his mace on the ground and kicked up a cloud of dark smoke and dirt which momentarily blinded the Gold Ranger and her friends.
When the dust cleared the 6 Rangers turned in alarm and spotted Jaral now standing over the struggling form of Professor Bishop. Despite his best efforts, Bishop gasped as Jaral clutched his neck in an armored vice grip. With a smirk, the Cambion commander raised his mace, "Not one step closer Rangers. If you do, I smash your teacher's skull open."
"Jaral! Let him go you bastard!" Kara tightened the grip on her swords and shifted her stance to spring, but the Red Ranger's hand quickly restrained her by the shoulder.
"Hold it Jaral! There's no need for that," Joe called lowering his sword, "We'll do what you want, just don't harm him."
Bishop grunted again and continued to feebly struggle against the warrior's grip while Jaral laughed, "You humans are too predictable. I had already stated my goal. Stand down and show me the way to Atlantis."
The six Rangers looked to each other for a moment quickly trying to figure out another way to diffuse the hostage situation, but Jaral tightened his grip on Bishop. "I will not be kept waiting Rangers."
To everyone's surprise, Kara was the first to sheathe her weapons and power down. She gave an expectant look to the others and they all reluctantly followed suit.
"That's better," Jaral smiled loosening his grip on the Professor slightly. With his other hand, he gestured further into the ravine, "Well then, shall we continue on our way?" The six Rangers began slowly walking deeper into the ravine, but not before each giving Jaral looks of pure hatred and disgust. The traitorous Empyrian laughed again and joined the Rangers along the dirt path making sure he kept his hostage out of his student's reach.
Having come down off the high of the battle, the Rangers walked on for some time keeping their eyes on the rock formations around them, as well as the demon walking with them. As they walked Bishop slowly reached into his pants pocket and removed a folded piece of paper.
"What are you doing?" Jaral snarled jerking Bishop hard for a moment.
"Making sure we're going the right way," Bishop answered, "We have to check the clues that were translated."
Jaral grudgingly relented and let Bishop move a little more freely and check his notes.
"What do your notes say next Professor?" Claire asked hesitantly.
Bishop checked his paper and looked around thoughtfully, "We should be close. According to this, the Great Hand points directly at where the gate should be."
The Rangers checked their surroundings and found themselves around several unusual and random looking rock formations. "Maybe we have to use our imaginations and look for some rocks that look like fingers or something." Danny muttered.
Kara nodded and held her Keyrune out while pacing forward, "That makes some sense. If we are close, perhaps our own Keyrunes will resonate and help lead our way."
"All right everyone, let's spread out and keep our eyes peeled," Joe said gravely as he followed suit.
"Remember Rangers... do not try anything funny or the professor dies," Jaral threatened keeping a close eye on the 6 students.
As they walked about the site, Izzy came to a higher rock formation and gestured to the Green Ranger, "I'm going to try and get a better look. Can I get a boost up?"
Nick cupped his hands and braced himself as the Pink Ranger hopped off his hand hold and made an athletic jump up to the rocky shelf. Using her vantage point, Izzy scanned the surrounding area until her eyes caught sight of a formation of rocks that resembled a curled human hand with the forefinger raised forward at a low angle. "Everyone! Come quick! I think I found something!"
After regrouping with her friends, Izzy pointed the Rangers ahead toward the rock formation she had spotted in the distance. Very slowly, the group navigated through several narrow rocks and finally came to the stone hand with the outstretched finger. They turned their heads together and followed the direction of the pointing finger until they spotted what they were looking for. Tucked away and partially buried in another rock formation on an inclined path was what looked to be an arched structure.
As they neared, both Kara and Jaral couldn't help but recognize the familiar design and architecture of the archway. Even if time and weather had worn away some of the writing and more ornate motifs of the arch, this was in fact a portal gate that had been used by the Empyrian race.
"This is it," Kara said slowly, 'This must have been a gate that our ancestors used to escape from Atlantis."
"This would be fascinating technology... but how can we even be sure that Atlantis really is on the other side?" Claire asked with a curious voice, despite the hint of skepticism.
"We can't," the Gold Ranger answered bluntly as she turned to look at Jaral. "Now, we've found the Gate and brought you to it. Let Professor Bishop go."
"Not just yet," Jaral said running a gentle hand down one side of the arch, "We all want what's on the other side of this portal, so we'll cross over first... together."
"What are you talking about demon?" Nick growled impatiently.
Danny sighed, "For all we know, the city could be flooded or underwater Nick," Danny answered, "He wants to make sure that if he winds up drowning or stuck at the bottom of the ocean, then so do we."
"Precisely Blue Ranger," Jaral grinned as he drew on his Empyrian bloodline to activate the glyphs on the portal archway. The Rangers watched in awe as the ancient glyphs began to glow one by one until the empty center of the arch began to light up and ripple with bright radiant energy as time and space were temporarily bent to allow the portal space.
Jaral gave the others an expectant look but Joe held his Keyrune up firmly, "If we do this with you, we go morphed."
"As you wish," the Cambion shrugged as he allowed the Rangers to morph again, "Now... are you ready to cross over?"
The Rangers looked to each other nervously before giving a tentative nod. With a smile, Jaral pushed Bishop forward into the portal first and dove in after him. The 6 Rangers gave a startled cry of alarm at their enemy's sudden action and rushed directly into the portal themselves, more concerned for Bishop's safety at the moment than what might be on the other side.
As they crossed over into the bright light, the Rangers were dazed and disoriented before feeling themselves thrown forward by some sort of magical momentum. Stumbling forward, the 6 Rangers blinked their eyes and found themselves in a large atrium of a building. When they regained their senses, they spotted Jaral further up ahead having left Professor Bishop behind for them. Bishop was still on his knees looking around in shock and wonder at the sight before them.
All around them was the architecture of a large room that was both futuristic and beautifully antiquated at the same time. Gentle ambient blue lights glowed dimly from crystals, reflecting off beautiful vaulted ceilings made of glass that towered around them. Slowly, each of the Rangers removed their helmets and stared in wonder at the ancient city around them.
"Amazing..." Bishop murmured as both Joe and Izzy helped him rise to his feet, "Can this really be the lost city of Atlantis?"
Nearby, Kara stood in silence, staring out the glass at the rest of the city around her. After all this time... to see all this... one of her people's cities still preserved... it was almost like she was home, except a few thousand years too late.
Nick glanced over in concern and caught sight of the unusual display of emotion from the Gold Ranger, "Kara... are you ok?"
Kara's breath caught and she slowly wiped away the tears that had begun forming at her eyes. "Forgive me Nick... I just... need a moment."
The Green Ranger put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed gently with a comforting smile, "It's ok. I understand."
Up ahead, Izzy steadied Bishop before they continued any further, "Professor, are you sure you're ok?"
Bishop nodded, "I'm fine. But we're not going to have a lot of time. It seems Jaral knows about whatever it is that's buried here. We can't let him get a hold if it first."
Taking a deep breath to gather his courage, the Red Ranger turned toward the others and lit his Keyrune to light their way. "Ok Rangers, you heard Professor Bishop. Whatever it is that Gideon and Jaral are looking for here, we're going to stop them. But we need to be careful. Who knows what other dangers are lurking out there in the dark ruins of this city."