Episode 22: Part 2
The two Red Rangers hurried deeper into the depth of the cave and down another sloping path for some time until they came to the edge of another cavern. As they approached quietly, they heard low voices in the near distance. Joe quickly extinguished the light of his Keyrune and crept closer in the darkness along with Carter until the two were at the mouth of a cavern lit by torchlights. From their vantage point, the two Rangers watched in silence as the demon Skaard stood before a large ornate basin made of brass.
The large cauldron-like container was covered in ancient sigils that were engraved into the body of it. Protruding from various points of the Cistern were hideous monster faces that were crafted in relief for more demonic ornamentation. Near the top of the cauldron pot was a brass lid and an open slot for the disc key that Skaard possessed.
Before both Rangers could even confer with each other on a new plan of action, the demon surprised them and hurried up to the Cistern, inserting the key in the slot. "At last! The remnants of my fallen Queen's powers are mine to control!"
The Cambion Magogs watched curiously as Skaard turned the key and opened the lip of the Devil's Cistern. As they did, a powerful rush of air and power burst from the top, throwing the demons backward. As the air swirled with evil magic energy and the lights of the nearby torches dimmed, four figures burst from the top of the cauldron and swirled about the room screaming in fury.
Joe and Carter held their breath and crouched in their hiding places fearfully as they witnessed the entities begin to take on the form of ethereal horsemen. They had frightful appearances and radiated an aura of terror from their ghastly mounts. Even more unusual, each evil rider glowed a different color: white, red, black, and pale. The two Rangers continued to watch in horror as the Four Horsemen circled the room and immediately turned on the Magog soldiers standing guard. Before the minions could react, the four hideous riders rode through them and struck them down with their weapons before rushing out of the mouth of the cave in a terrifying cacophony of screams and laughter.
After the escape of the riders, Skaard slowly rose to his feet as the air in the room settled again. The demon shook his head and approached the Cistern, finding that the demonic energy within it had stabilized and now pulsed with a malevolent purplish glow. Deciding to disregard what had just happened, Skaard began to ponder over the open Cistern when several of the winged gargoyle batlings emerged from holes in the nearby ceilings. While they chittered excitedly, Skaard grinned in delight as he saw that the batlings brought several of the Rangers along as captives.
"Well done," he smiled eying the defiant faces of the captured Rangers, "But it seems that two of you are still missing."
"Stuff it demon breath," Nick growled struggling against the grip of several batlings, "You must have really blown it if you let two Red Rangers get away."
Skaard shook his head, "You are in no position to make threats Ranger. You're too late. I have already opened up the Devil's Cistern."
From where she was being held, Claire struggled too and swallowed hard, "What are you going to do?"
The demon commander laughed, "Why use it to rebuild Queen Bansheera's army and super charge it. To think... Gideon actually thinks I'm here to serve his interests."
"I thought you were allies," Danny called out, hoping he could keep their enemy talking and buy some time.
"I was never his ally," the demon snarled in anger, "That arrogant archangel and his Cambion traitors were the ones who betrayed my Queen and had her sealed away millennia ago. Whether it was from the shame of falling from grace or fathering Prince Impus, none of us survivors who served Bansheera ever forgave Gideon for his actions."
Skaard gestured toward the pulsing cistern, "But all that is going to change now. I will seize control of the Cambion Legion and destroy all of its enemies... starting with you five. Drop them in the cauldron!"
While the captive Rangers struggled against the hybrid batlings, Carter and Joe made ready to save their friends. As she struggled against her captors, Kara managed to stamp on the foot of one guard and reverse headbutt him away, "You're not going to get away with this."
"You're right Kara! They're not!" answered a familiar voice from the darkness. Everyone stopped and turned to see Joe emerge from the shadows holding his gladius ready. "You'd better let my friends go demon, cause I've had just about enough of you!"
"All right! I knew you'd come man!" Nick grinned in relief as Izzy also gave a small cheer nearby.
Skaard sniffed in disdain, "You came alone? Very stupid of you Ranger. Batlings! Get him!"
The remaining winged minions scrambled over to charge the Red Ranger before several blaster shots rang out taking down several of the incoming monsters.
"He's not alone," Carter called out emerging from his hiding place keeping his smoking pistol leveled at Skaard, "We Rangers always stand by each other, which is more than I can say for you low life demons."
Turning to the younger Ranger, Carter shot him a grim smile, "You ready?"
"Let's do it!" Joe shouted as the two Rangers charged forward and took on the batlings unmorphed.
Ducking and weaving through the fight, Carter blasted a few more batlings out of the way and punched his morpher, transforming into his Ranger suit while on the move. Taking advantage of the startled batlings, Carter tumbled sideways and shot each of the minions holding the Rangers captive with his expert marksmanship.
Meanwhile, Joe vaulted past several batlings and used a flying soccer kick to smash another one aside. As he dodged a follow up blow and did a handspring off a charging batling, he pulled his Keyrune, "Vanguard Ascend!"
In a brilliant light, the morphed Red Ranger emerged and burst forward leaping toward Skaard with a winged jump. The demon commander gave a surprised cry as the young Ranger pounced on him, trying to beat down his guard with the gladius. Using his momentum, Joe blocked and parried aside Skaard's fists while drawing his Feather Stinger pistol in his other hand with one motion. Skaard gasped in surprise as the Ranger aimed at his face and fired at close range, sending the monster sprawling backwards.
Even as he clutched his face in pain, Skaard roared in fury, "You arrogant child!"
With that, he began igniting as flames and magma violently erupted all over his obsidian body.
While the monster did that, the other Rangers broke free and morphed, rejoining their leader to confront the enemy. "You ready to take this guy?" Danny asked cracking his knuckles expectantly.
Joe turned his head and glanced toward the pulsing Cistern, "Everyone, I need you to contain that demon vat. I'll take care of this guy myself."
The other Rangers split off as the Red Ranger swiftly traced a sigil in the air with his own Keyrune and summoned his golden Archon armor. As he did that, Skaard took a fearful step backward in surprise, "What?"
Carter stepped beside Joe who called his saber sword and leveled it at their enemy, "If you play with fire, you're going to get burned. Carter?"
The Red Lightspeed Ranger readied his blaster as Skaard fired off an intense flamethrower from his hands. In an instant, Joe curled his four glowing wings together forming a protective shell around him and warding off the attack.
Meanwhile, Carter tumbled aside and fired back with another powerful fire extinguishing burst of flame retardant from his pistol. The flames suddenly died away as Skaard sputtered and flailed, having his powers momentarily neutralized. In an instant, the other Ranger burst his wings open and threw himself at the demon with a blazing fully charged sword swing of his own.
"Radiant Smite!" the Ranger called as his weapon flared brightly and neatly bisected the monster from collar to hip with one clean cut.
"How..." Skaard sputtered, "Bansheera, I..."
The monster never finished his sentence as he exploded into a miniature cloud of pyrotechnics.
"That's the end of that," Carter said giving his pistol a twirl before holstering it. Turning toward the Cistern, he gestured to the other Red Ranger, "All right, we've got one last fire to put out."
Joe nodded and turned to see the other Rangers had already called their own golden Archon armor and drew their Keyrunes on the surging cauldron of evil energy. Each of the Rangers circled the Cistern, using their angelic powers to form a sort of containment ring around the cauldron to prevent any further seepage of dark corrupting magic.
The Red Ranger stepped forward beside Kara strengthening the formation and pushing back the demon magic slightly.
"We can't hold like this forever," Nick called trying to push back against a new surge of energy.
"Nick is right!" Izzy called, "I say we smash this thing."
Joe thought for a moment, then shook his head quickly, "No Iz. Sometimes the obvious choice is the wrong choice."
The other Vanguard Rangers looked at him in confusion while Carter couldn't help but smile a little behind his own visor.
"Ambient demon energy is escaping the Cistern in the open position right?" Joe explained, "If we close it again with the lid and the key, then that should reabsorb all this dark energy outside."
Claire reasoned it out for a moment then smiled, "Yeah. That just might work."
"Then keep holding your positions," Kara called grabbing the fallen Cistern key and lid from the ground, "I know what I have to do."
In a concerted effort, the Rangers held their ground and pushed back together against the surging power of the Cistern giving Kara just enough time to leap in and slam the heavy lid of the cauldron closed. The others watched and held their breath as the Gold Ranger inserted the disc key and turned it in the opposite direction, sealing the container once again.
To the Rangers' amazement, all the dark energy that had been pooling in the room began to gravitate quickly back to the pot. As expected, the evil demon magic curled back into the mouths of the ornamental heads sticking out of the Cistern until everything returned to normal. As the Vanguard Rangers breathed a sigh of relief, Carter raised his blaster and fired on the key that locked the Cistern. The moment the ornamental artifact was destroyed, the rest of the brass cauldron began to tremble and shake for several violent moments before cracks appeared on the body. A few heartbeats later, the entire Cistern fell apart and the neutralized demon energy within safety dissipated into a puff of smoke.
"Just in case that Gideon character decides to make another pass," Carter announced putting his weapon away.
All the Rangers relaxed their stances and let the tension drain away. It had been a long and frightening day. Despite the destruction of the Devil's Cistern and another one of Gideon's warriors, four strange and powerful entities had still been loosed. Whether or not the Horsemen were enemies of the humans, the Cambion demons, or both... remained to be seen. For the time being, it was better to accept the situation as it was and still consider it an overall victory. For the second time this summer, the Ranger's attempts at a meaningful vacation time had been interrupted and they were now eager to get back to Santa Barbara to try and enjoy the remainder of it.
A few days later, the Rangers met outside on the boardwalk overlooking the beach to say their goodbyes to Carter. After another whirlwind week of meeting a Ranger legend, battling more monsters, and preventing another world ending disaster, the Rangers were weary, but sad to see their new friend leave so soon.
Professor Bishop was the first to step forward, "Take care Carter. It was great to meet you and I'm glad my research was able to help you too."
"Thanks Gabe. I only hope when this is over, your research about the angels and demons can be officially published," Carter grinned shaking the professor's hand and clapping his shoulder.
Turning to Izzy, he laughed gently as she gave a hopeful look and held out a photo of the morphed Power Ranger along with a black pen. Carter took the pen and scribbled a small note before officially signing his autograph. "To the second prettiest Pink Ranger I've ever met. Lots of love ~ Carter Grayson"
"Thanks for everything Carter!" she gushed giving him a little hug, "I can't believe I really got to meet you in person!"
Kara stepped forward and gently took the star struck Pink Ranger by the shoulders, moving her off to the side, "Indeed. It was a great privilege Mr. Grayson."
Turning to Danny, the Red Lightspeed Ranger smiled and tilted his head slightly toward Izzy, "Keep at it kiddo," he said out of earshot, "In some ways you kinda remind me of my own team's Green Ranger Joel. Funny, witty, and persistent with the ladies."
"Oh? How did that work out for him?" Danny asked curiously as he shook Carter's hand.
"Last I checked, he's happily married," Carter winked playfully. Turning to Claire, he shook her hand too, "Speaking of which, I think you'd have a blast talking to his wife Angela. She's probably the smartest scientist and engineer I've ever met."
"Then I guess I'll really have to come and visit Mariner Bay sometime," the White Ranger agreed with an enthusiastic smile.
"Same goes for you Nick," Carter added turning to shake hands with the Green Ranger, "If you get lucky enough, I'm sure my friend Kelsey would be more than happy to take you rock climbing all over our own mountains."
"Sounds like a plan," Nick laughed in reply with a firm shake.
Finally Carter stopped in front of Joe and gave a proud smile, "As for you... you did great out there kid, and I'm really proud of you. You wear the color well and if I'm being honest, you remind me a little of myself when I was younger."
"I still have a lot to learn," Joe smiled as he shook his older counterpart's hand, "But you still taught me a lot and really helped me become a better Ranger, so thank you. I'm just glad I got chance to serve alongside you."
Carter put a friendly hand on the Red Ranger's shoulder and laughed, "Well, you did learn from the best. Now if only I could get my own son Troy to take direction as well, he could have the makings of a Power Ranger in a couple years too."
Carter gave another friendly laugh as he stepped away from the boardwalk and headed toward a waiting taxi cab on the street. "Thanks again everyone. If any of you ever decide to visit Mariner Bay, give me a call. You'll always be welcome in my home."
The Rangers watched as Carter got into the cab and drove off, leaving them to their own struggle against the demons. From high above, the keening sound of some seagulls called out from the clear summer skies while the gentle sound of the pounding surf echoed in the near distance.
"Well, I have to admit that it's lucky we were here this summer," Professor Bishop sighed, "By my count, you six probably saved this whole region at least twice in one month."
Kara nodded thoughtfully, "Still, it's unfortunate that we will be leaving to go home in a few days. I can't help but wish I had more to time to see the sights here."
"Now Kara, I think there's a way we can do a that while still having a little bit of fun," Danny smiled putting a friendly arm around her shoulder, "I was thinking we could all use our Ranger wings and start by going for a little leisurely flight."
"Danny, we aren't supposed to use our powers like that," Claire reminded him crossing her arms.
"Not unless we say we're just going on a little patrol," Joe grinned thoughtfully towards the Blue Ranger, "We're just going to make sure the demons had retreated for sure. What do you say?"
The others began to smile and nod as Danny gave an enthusiastic laugh, "Well in that case, I say Vanguard, Take Flight!"
A/N:
Thanks for reading everyone! Hopefully you enjoyed having Carter around to lend a hand. If anyone is curious, this version of Carter is also a nod toward the work of a fellow writer and a good friend of mine: ImaSupernaturalCSI. If you want to read some excellent PR stories about life after Lightspeed Rescue, Carter and Dana's romance, and a boy named Troy, then definitely check her work out! It's great stuff. Thanks again Ima for letting me borrow your Carter!
Coming up next is a more light hearted episode. Our Rangers return for a new school year with plenty of new challenges to overcome starting with demonic spies, mistaken identities, and major dating disasters. See you then!