Part Four

Chapter Three

She recognised Pineoctopus instantly. He wasn't a foe she'd forgotten. But this version seemed far more mobile than the original. The creature's legs and lower body were covered in green scales of armour. Black pods adorned the monster's chest and shoulders, and erupting from those was a writhing mass of red tentacles. The creature's three eyes hung on the ends of yellow tendrils that emerged from where its head should've been. The creature was everything she remembered, but somehow, even worse.

Trini felt herself trembling. But tightening her grip on her Power Daggers, she stepped forward.

"Good work," she said loudly, her voice carrying around the empty park. "Just like with Scott and Sarah, you skimmed the surface of my thoughts and found a particularly fearful memory, all just to stop me." She paused to let her words sink in. "But for all your power and all your bluster, I don't think you understand people very well. Because if you did?" and she spun the yellow daggers in her hands. "You'd know I've been waiting for this."

Pineoctopus let out an inhuman screech, and his tentacles whipped through the air towards the Yellow Ranger. Her arms a blur of motion, Trini slashed at a tendril on the left and sliced through another on the right. She stabbed at a tentacle aiming for her helmet and carved through two more attacking her from the side, before spinning sideways into the air as several swept for her ankles. She launched one of the blades for an attacking tendril while in mid-air, before finding her footing, destroying a tentacle with her other dagger and summoning the first one back to her hand. Keeping the remaining tentacles at bay and closing the distance between her and Pineoctopus with every step, Trini slashed both blades for the monster's chest, throwing the creature away in a shower of sparks and smoke.

Before Pineoctopus could recover, Trini took to the air, hanging suspended for a fraction of a second before slamming her boots into the monster's torso, lifting the beast off its feet and sending it into the duck lagoon with an almighty splash. Pineoctopus reached for the railing with his remaining tentacles and tried to pull himself out of the water, when the tentacles of the lagoon's sea monster exploded out of the pond, wrapping themselves around the creature and dragging him under the surface where he was instantly lost from view.

Trini watched for another few seconds to make sure the monster was gone. "Good riddance," she said.

Turning to the pavilion, she pulled the flap of canvas protecting the entry aside and stepped inside. The shadowy interior of the tent was empty aside from some overturned wooden benches and some cages a few metres past the entrance. But as Trini's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw another large cage in the centre of the tent, with four small forms inside. The children. They looked to be barely conscious, but she could see they were breathing, and she let out a sigh of relief. Wary of a trap, she raised her daggers and made her way towards the cage, when a dark figure stepped into view.

Her opponent had a mop of unruly silver hair with streaks of blue and red over a pair of lidless, black eyes that contained no hint of humanity. His mouth was twisted into a cruel grin that was much larger than a human mouth should've been, and he wore a dark cloak with twisted and warped tools clinking against each other in his belt. Without slowing, Trini approached him.

"Toymaker," she said.

"Right on schedule," the amusement park owner cackled. "The Yellow Ranger, here to save the day. We knew we'd see you. We just weren't sure when."

"If you know who I am, that means you know what I can do," Trini said. "So I am leaving here with the children, regardless of what happens next."

The Toymaker trailed his hand along the bars of the cage, his clawed nails scratching at the railings. "You really want a fight?" he asked. "With the children caught in the middle? So helpless and vulnerable?"

Trini froze. She hated to admit it, but she knew he was right. She couldn't risk a battle. Not with the children there. The other Rangers would be here soon, which meant she just had to keep the Toymaker's attention on her. With that, she threw her daggers at the ground where they embedded in the wooden floor, and continued.

"That's fair," she said. "No fighting. But I want to know something."

The Toymaker leaned forward. "Yes?" he hissed. "What do you need?"

"You kidnapped four children," Trini replied. "Why?"

"You mean, beyond the spread of righteous terror that…"

Trini cut him off with the wave of her hand. "Yes, I get it, you're evil," she said irritably, then pointed at the Toymaker's chest. "But that doesn't answer the question. Why are you doing this? You conjured up an entire amusement park as part of an elaborate trap. Why? What are you getting out of this?"

The Toymaker blinked. "Uh, I was, um…"

"You don't even know, do you?" Trini said. "Do you see how pointless this is? You're going to hurt so many people, and you don't even know why? Do you think this'll end here? If I can't beat you, four of my friends are on their way, and the rest of the team won't be far behind. You think we're the only Rangers on Earth? We're not even the only Ranger team in Australia. That's not even talking about our friends and allies, or what'll happen when the next supervillain with an ego and an axe to grind shows up on Earth. What then? Are you going to fight them all?"

"I don't… you're just…" the Toymaker stammered. "Enough! You're trying to confuse me! I have my mission!"

"Yes, but you can't even tell me what it is," Trini said.

From somewhere behind her, she heard footsteps approaching. A second later, the other four Rangers raced into the tent. Without taking her gaze off the Toymaker, Trini held out her hand and brought the four Rangers to a stop. Despite the interruption, the Toymaker's attention didn't waver from the Yellow Ranger for a second.

"And you still haven't told me what you're getting out of this," Trini continued. "Power? Fame? Let me tell you something. In a hundred years, they won't even remember your name. They won't remember the things you did or said, they won't remember where you lived or what you looked like, or what you built or made," and here, the Toymaker seemed to shrink back. "The only mark you will ever leave on human history is that you were someone who hurt people for no reason whatsoever. So tell me, right now." She paused to catch her breath. "Is that the person you want to be?"

The Toymaker didn't respond for a few seconds. Instead, he faltered and looked around, as if seeing the pavilion for the first time. And when he looked back to Trini, she could see the black was fading from his eyes. He seemed shorter.

"You know, I used to love children," he said softly. His voice was far away, as if he'd just woken from a deep sleep. "I used to make toys for them in my workshop, you see. It made me happy." He stumbled over the word before continuing. "I would hear them laugh and play. It used to give me such hope."

"They can again," Trini said.

With the slightest twitch from the Toymaker, the cage melted into thin air, leaving the four children lying on the ground. Trini pointed to the cage, and the other Rangers dashed over and scooped up the kids, carrying them outside.

"But then he came," the Toymaker continued, "whispering awful things in the dark, threats and promises. He was so insistent… what have I done?"

Trini's face fell. "Who is this 'he'?" she asked. "Who's in charge here?"

The Toymaker was about to reply when his eyes flew wide. "He knows," he murmured. His body suddenly shook as his arms and neck contorted in unnatural poses. He shouted out ancient curses as his body trembled in pain. Trini felt a rush of air and the sound of faraway thunder. The air grew hazy with the stench of dark magic, and she felt it. Something was in there with them.

"I'm not the first," the Toymaker continued, his body racked with pain. "There have been others! You bested, ugh, bested Ag'reth and the, the first-born." Every word was forced through gritted teeth, a struggle of sheer willpower. "He Who Devours Will is already here! He's coming for you!"

"Who?" Trini asked. "Where are they? We can protect you!"

"No," the Toymaker grunted. "I will not be used again!" He slammed his hands together, and a burst of light exploded outwards. The park vanished in an instant, the buildings and attractions fading away like shadows in sunlight. Trini blinked. They were standing in the middle of a construction site, with the Rangers and the rescued children heading for the street.

Trini stepped closer to the Toymaker. His body was starting to glow, and he was clearly struggling to breathe. "I can help you," she urged.

"No, you don't understand!" the Toymaker gasped. "The chains are breaking!" He finally met Trini's gaze, and the Yellow Ranger felt like he could see right through her visor. For a second, the Toymaker was nothing more than a kindly old man.

His eyes were green.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

Trini grabbed his hand and pulled him close, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace. For a second there was silence, broken only by a distant roar of primal, ancient rage, and then the Toymaker was lost in a fireball as an enormous explosion shook the construction site, throwing the fleeing Rangers to the ground.

In the distance, the crowd screamed as the plume of smoke roared skyward. As the smoke cleared, the four Rangers picked themselves off the ground. They quickly checked the children over, but the Rangers had taken the brunt of the blast, and aside from some scrapes, the kids were okay. Kimberly looked back to where Trini and the Toymaker had been, and caught herself a second before shouting out her friend's real name. She had a brief moment of panic, then breathed a sigh of relief as Trini emerged from the smoke cloud and stumbled towards the rest of the team. Her visor was cracked and her suit was torn, but she looked unhurt.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" asked Kim.

Trini nodded. "It's over," she said. "He's gone."

To be continued.