Episode 22: Part 1
Early morning rays of sunlight sparkled off the waves of the Pacific Ocean as Joe Hale sat by himself on the empty beach watching the red disk begin to rise over the waters. He had just returned from a long morning jog to work off his frustration from the other day and sat resting in the sand feeling exhausted. As he closed his eyes and took another deep breath, he heard a voice call out from behind, "You look like you could use a little company."
The Red Ranger turned slowly to see Carter approaching down the sand dunes from the boardwalk. Joe exhaled and gave a tired nod as the older Ranger stepped forward and took a seat beside him in the sand.
"Everything ok?" Carter prompted him with a patient voice as they continued to look out at the sunrise.
"Nothing I can't handle," Joe answered digging his feet into the sand, "About yesterday night... I'm sorry you were around for the little outburst. That wasn't one of my better moments."
Carter smiled gently, "You're a Red Ranger and leader of your team. Believe me, I know what it's like to have a lot of pressure and responsibility placed on your shoulders. Sometimes you beat yourself up about things or let battles get to you. Trust me, I've had my share of blow ups back in Mariner Bay too."
"I find that kinda hard to believe," Joe muttered quietly, "You're a legend and you make it all look so easy... knowing exactly what to do and what to say at every time. I only wish I could be like that because if I can't... then lots of people might get killed. Like what almost happened yesterday."
Carter shook his head, "You're still a young Ranger Joe. I've made plenty of mistakes and bad calls myself. In fact, what happened yesterday reminded me of a very similar incident long ago. I was forced to put out some fires to stop an explosion, but a young boy was still badly hurt by a collapsing building. I felt so guilty at the time and didn't realize that if I had followed my first instinct, then he might not have even survived at all."
"That sounds awful," Joe commented taking in the story as Carter put a hand on his shoulder.
"During that event, my mentor Captain Mitchell taught me a valuable lesson about leading a team into battle. Sometimes the obvious choice will be the wrong choice. Whenever we react, or use our weapons, we always have to be aware of our surroundings and use this first."
Carter pointed to his head and fixed the younger Ranger with a solemn expression.
Joe nodded quietly and took in the Lightspeed Ranger's wisdom, "Thanks Carter... I think I understand now."
Carter smiled and gently clapped his younger counterpart on the shoulder, "Don't worry. You'll make mistakes sometimes, but I can see you've got a good team behind you. I know they'll back you up, and so will I."
Both Red Rangers exchanged a smile as Joe rose to his feet and brushed the sand off, "You know, that's a really good piece of advice Carter. Your father in law sounds very wise."
"He is," Carter sighed standing up, "To be honest, I think my wife Dana is the one with all the common sense. I'm just teaching you what I already learned from them."
"Well don't worry," Joe said gently in reply, "There is one thing I think you can still teach me... how to handle a blaster like a cowboy gunslinger."
"I think that can be arranged," Carter chuckled thoughtfully as he led them back toward the boardwalk, "But first things first. The others will be waking up soon and we've still got a busy day of searching ahead of us."
Later that day, the demon Skaard and his small company of Cambion soldiers made their way deeper into the Santa Ynez mountains. It was a warm arid region and while demons had little need for nourishment or sleep, they stopped a moment to take in their surroundings. All about the hiking trail were dusty rocky outcroppings save for a large stone formation that almost resembled a wide open mouth.
As the demons stepped into the cave mouth to escape the hot glare of the sun, Skaard turned to one of the Magogs, "You're certain that this is the right cave?"
The leading Magog of the company nodded and made a gibbering noise while pointing deeper inside. Skaard growled and shoved the Magog forward. "Take point on this. If Bansheera's other servants left traps or guards, then I won't be the one suffering for it."
The small demon party made its way into the dark cave following a passageway that became wider and deeper the further underground they went. After passing several winding passageways they came upon a large cavern with a yawning opening in the ceiling. The Cambions looked about carefully for a few moments before they heard the sound of many wings. To their surprise, a small host of demons with wings and stony skin dropped down from the opening the challenge them.
"Batling-gargoyle hybrids," Skaard observed flaring up his fists at the approaching monsters.
While the other Magogs cowered, Skaard met the charge of the stony batlings and knocked a handful of them aside with ease. As the batlings regrouped, their leader swooped forward. Skaard continued to look on in disdain as the largest and most fearsome of the cavern guards took a flying leap and tried to smash the intruder. In one swift motion, the Cambion commander sidestepped the attack and deflected the blow aside. Bringing around his other fiery fist, Skaard smashed the gargoyle warrior in the head with a punch that shattered the warrior in a cloud of flame.
Both the Magogs and the batlings stopped and cowered for a moment acknowledging their new leader after his display of force. Skaard sniffed and waved toward the batlings, "You lot! I want you to let us pass. Stand guard here for any other intruders!"
The batlings looked to each other for a moment and nodded, stepping aside for the Cambion raiders. Turning back to his own party, Skaard gestured for them to follow, "Come on. If there are demon sentries here, then we must be getting close. Let's get a move on!"
Some time later, the Rangers made their way into the rocky passes of the Santa Ynez Mountains to scout out the area for themselves. While Nick and Danny hiked up a trail with Carter, the other Rangers soared ahead and did wide sweeping passes in the air, scanning the countryside for any unusual rock formations or activities.
When they finally regrouped, and the others powered down, Kara was the first to speak. "There is a small foothill, probably no more than a mile or two from here. I spotted some Magogs standing guard near the mouth of a cave."
"And where there are Magogs, there's trouble not far away," Danny concluded with a grin.
"Do you think it's possible for us to get the jump on them?" Joe asked, "If we can take out the sentries without alerting the others, we might be able to go on the offensive inside the caves."
The Gold Ranger nodded, "I believe so. There are some outcroppings on the other side of the ridge. We might be able to shoot them from range without them even knowing."
"Leave that to me," Claire said with a wink, "I could use a little target practice."
The White Ranger was indeed right. After taking out the two Magog sentries with ice arrows, the 7 Rangers made their way to the mouth of the cave and entered hesitantly. While the Red and Gold Rangers lit their Keyrunes and led the way, Izzy gave a nervous gulp, "I'm not sure about you guys, but whenever we go into these kinds of caves, it always makes me a little jittery."
As they began walking into the gloom, Nick gave her an encouraging pat on the back, "Relax Iz, being so close to all this earth works well for me and my powers. I promise we're not going to get buried alive or trapped."
They continued on their way following the narrow passages until they reached a wide open cavern area. As they strained to look out into the darkness, the Rangers could hear the faint whistle of air coming from some yawning opening in the darkness.
"Well, that's not creepy at all," Claire muttered screwing up her courage and sticking near the comforting light of the Red Ranger's Keyrune. When the Rangers reached the middle of the cavern, the Blue Ranger spoke up.
"Hold on a sec, did you guys hear something?" Danny asked from behind causing the group to stop. Everyone fell silent and looked around the cavern for several tense moments, straining to see outside the radius of light cast by Joe and Kara's Keyrunes.
"You're probably just being paranoid," Claire sighed but the Gold Ranger silenced her.
"Quiet. There's something here."
Everyone held their breath again as the sound of falling pebbles and skittering wings echoed in the cave. Before they realized it, the gargoyle batlings were upon them and dropped from the wide hole in the ceiling.
"Everyone! Morph now!" Joe called instantly summoning his Feather saber gladius. Before he could morph and call out another order, a batling swooped down and knocked him over from behind. Nearby, Carter made a tumbling dive behind some rocks and fired a few wild shots from his blaster, still destroying two minions in the volley.
The other Rangers were not faring as well, having been too surprised to morph. Claire shrieked as she was grabbed by the shoulder and lifted up into the air by a batling while Nick was also grabbed by several others and dragged into the sky as well. Both Izzy and Danny drew their Keyrunes but were shocked when more batlings swooped from the darkness and swiped the artifacts from their hands while others surprised them from behind and lifted them into the dark air.
Only Kara had managed to react and throw off her first attacker, sidestepping him and kicking aside another batling. Despite her speed and agility, she tried to dodge another blow but tripped over an uneven bend in the ground. As the Gold Ranger stumbled and fell over, she was gang piled and restrained by a handful of winged demons. While they carried her off into the dark cavern's open ceiling, Joe rolled over on the ground where he had fallen only to meet the gaze of another batling looming over him.
The demon lunged for him but the Red Ranger brought his short sword around in a backswing, slashing the monster across the chest, destroying it. While the Ranger struggled to rise, another blaster shot rang out, taking down another demon and causing the rest to scatter and retreat back into dark recesses of the caves above. In a heartbeat, Joe felt Carter rush over and pull him back up to his feet with a strong grip.
The two Red Rangers watched in horror as the others were carried off into the dark caverns above. Joe tightened his grip on his gladius and shouted desperately into the gloom, "Nick! Claire! Everyone!"
With a growl, he prepared to summon his wings and take flight after his friends but Carter caught him by the shoulder with a firm grip. "Wait! You shouldn't take off by yourself."
"My friends are in danger. I have to do something!" Joe answered heatedly trying to break free for a moment.
Carter shook his head, "Stop and think for a minute Joe. We don't have a lot of time and the demons are just up ahead opening the Cistern. If they do that, then we'll all be in really big trouble. Stopping them is still our first priority."
The Red Vanguard Ranger relaxed his posture slightly, "Another one of those obvious choice situations... right?"
Carter gave a grim nod in reply, "We have to trust that the other Rangers will be able to hold out for just long enough to rescue them next. Besides, we don't know how badly you'd be outnumbered up there, and if something goes wrong, I can't fly to help either."
Joe took a calming breath and nodded turning back toward the dark passageway up ahead, "All right then. Let's wipe those monsters out then save our friends."
Carter readied his own blaster with a nod and led the way deeper into the gloomy cave, hoping they wouldn't be too late to save the other Rangers, or stop Skaard from unlocking the Devil's Cistern.