Part Five
Chapter Two
"Thank you for coming," said Prince Trystenn, glancing from Zac and Trini on one side to Brendan and Scott on the other, as they made their way down a cobblestone street flanked by a dozen of Trystenn's soldiers. "I didn't expect you to get here so quickly. At least, not on such short notice."
"No worries," Scott replied, running his gaze over the crumbling stone buildings towering over them. "We're always happy to help."
"Yeah," added Zac. "It's not like we're far away."
The young prince smiled. "No," he agreed. "You only live, literally, on the other side of the galaxy."
It was a warm, bright morning in the fabled city of Azhron, Trystenn's kingdom on the planet Horath. The planet was about as far away from Earth as it was possible to be, but nonetheless, the Rangers visited so often that they had their own rooms in Trystenn's palace. There was a nice breeze blowing in off the coast, and the planet's two moons hung low over the horizon. Unfortunately, the city of Azhron was fabled for all the wrong reasons. Years ago, the Rangers had helped restore Trystenn to his throne. Ever since, he'd led a campaign to rid the city of the mercenaries and monsters who'd moved in. But while sounds of the city in the distance were still reaching them, the current neighbourhood was eerily quiet, all shadowy courtyards and ancient, abandoned buildings.
"We're rather be here than rescuing the Phaedos Sky Sword," Zac said.
Trystenn rolled his eyes. "That thing hasn't been stolen again, has it?" he asked.
Trini laughed. "You'd be surprised."
Scott turned to look at a pair of colourful three-legged creatures, picking through the rubble before being chased away by a frog-like animal the size of a cat.
"What are you looking at?" Brendan asked.
"Everything," Scott smiled.
"It's been too long since we were on a mission together," Brendan said, and clapped his hand against Scott's shoulder.
"So how are things back home?" Trystenn asked cordially. "School, families, that kind of thing?" He noticed the looks everyone was giving him and shrugged. "What? I don't get the chance to gossip very often. State dinners are very dull."
The soldier closest to Trystenn laughed. He was tall and solidly-built, about the same age as Trystenn with tufts of dirty-blond hair peeking out from under his helmet. The Rangers knew him as Sebastian, Trystenn's loyal lieutenant and one of his oldest friends. "Some of them can be exciting," Sebastian said.
"Yes, but exciting for horrible reasons," Trystenn added.
Brendan grinned. "We're close to the end of the year, so exams are a thing," he replied. "I'm kinda glad for the break today."
Trystenn turned to Zac. "And how are things with you and, uh, Angela, was it?" the prince asked.
"We're fine," Zac said quickly. Behind him, Trini and Brendan shared a look. "Listen," the Black Ranger continued, "I was late to the Command Centre this afternoon, and we took half an hour to find each other when we teleported to Horath. So what's the deal? Why did you need us?"
"Now you're here, I should explain properly," Trystenn began. "Almost four years ago, we began the task of reclaiming the city of Azhron. Today, friends, we may finish the job. The outer district here," and the prince waved his arms around the buildings they were passing, "is the final part of the city to be wrestled under control. Last week, we drove out a team of mercenaries who'd been stockpiling various mystical artefacts. That in itself wasn't a worry, but one of them made reference to Kolobus the Conqueror, and I got nervous."
"Kolobus?" Trini repeated.
"It's an old legend," Trystenn replied. "Kolobus the Conqueror, an alien despot so ancient that he predates humanity. Loose upon the galaxy, he travelled from planet to planet, until a plucky band of heroes locked him away in some kind of enchanted jewel. Like I said, it's supposedly just a story, but given the progress we've made? I didn't want to take any chances."
"So you called us in?" Brendan asked.
"Horath's Rangers are dealing with some incursions to the north," Trystenn explained. "And you all started this journey with me. I thought you might want to be here when it ends."
"Where is this stockpile anyway?" asked Scott.
"In a temple at the edge of the city," the prince replied. "We're close. Just ahead."
The Rangers looked past Trystenn to the old stone building at the end of the street. The temple had seen better days. Parts of the roof had caved in, while a corner of the building had collapsed and was now little more than rubble. The street seemed quiet, though, and nothing else was moving. As they approached, Trystenn held up his hand, bringing everybody to a stop.
"How should we play this?" Zac asked.
"In theory, the building's empty," Trystenn said. "But it would be folly to take that for granted. Sebastian? Take your troops and enter the building from the opposite side."
"Shouldn't some of us stay with you?" Sebastian asked.
Trystenn glanced to the four Power Rangers standing behind him. "You know?" the prince began. "I think I'm going to be okay."
Sebastian smiled. "Of course," he said. Gathering the rest of his soldiers, Sebastian led them through a narrow alleyway to the back of the building. Trystenn watched them go, then nodded to the two large doors facing the street.
"Shall we?" he asked.
Trini tapped Zac and Brendan on the shoulder. "Make an entrance," she said.
Zac nodded, and the Black and Aqua Rangers approached the two doors. "Power up," the Black Ranger said. Side-by-side, they spun around on the spot and slammed their heels into the doors, sending them flying into the temple. Even as the doors clattered to the ground, the four Rangers charged through the dust cloud into the building. Trystenn hung back to draw his sword then raced into the temple after them. But meeting up with Sebastian and his troops in the centre of the building, everyone lowered their weapons. There was nobody inside.
"That was anti-climactic," Brendan said.
"Wait a second though," began Scott, gazing around. "What is this stuff?"
The temple was deserted but it wasn't empty. Piled up around them on every available surface were dusty old books, odd trinkets, glass vials full of mysterious liquids, and other strange artefacts. As the group split up to explore, they noticed the statue of a winged beast, peering over them from a nearby ledge, while bladed and spiked weapons leaned against the walls.
"I'd say we found that stockpile," Sebastian ventured.
Trystenn stepped away from a statue he was sure had just blinked. "This makes me uneasy," he said. "No sign of Kolobus, though."
"All this dark magic," Zac murmured. "This place feels wrong."
"I don't suppose we could take some of this back to Zordon?" asked Trini.
"If it's dark magic? You can have all of it," Trystenn replied.
Trini followed Sebastian to the centre of the room. Before them stood a small stone column about a metre high. Resting on top of the pedestal was a large round gemstone. It was about the size of a tennis ball, dark but with an odd pattern of white markings carved on its surface. The jewel seemed to shimmer with violent flashes of red and blue, even though no beams of light were currently falling on it. Both Trini and Sebastian were drawn to the gem, hypnotised by its beauty. Unable to stop himself, Sebastian reached out to touch the glittering surface, but the thought snapped Trini out of her trance. She swatted his hand away.
"Don't touch it," she said quickly. "We don't know what it is or what it does." As she leaned in close, her eyes focussed on the white markings along the gem's surface. Her face fell.
It couldn't be.
"Scott, check this out," she called, and the Blue Ranger jogged over.
"Wow," Scott breathed. "That is not a small jewel."
Trini smiled patiently. "Look at the markings on the side," she said. "Use your Ranger vision. What does it look like?"
Scott leaned down and studied the pattern for a few seconds, then gasped. "Like the picture in that physics textbook Billy showed us," he said, and pulled back. "That pattern is the background radiation of the Universe. I mean, it's slightly different," and Trini nodded. "But that's definitely it. What the hell is in this gemstone?"
The answer occurred to both of them at the same time. "Kolobus."
Even as they said the word, the gemstone began rolling across the top of the column by itself. Sebastian instinctively reached out to catch the jewel from falling. Before they could stop him, his fingers grazed the top of the gem.
Something enormous exploded from the gemstone, the force throwing everyone in the building to the ground. The few intact windows shattered, and parts of the ceiling were blasted away. Helping Trystenn to his feet, Zac turned to the centre of the room. A huge figure was taking shape above them. It was easily four metres tall, the two horns on its head scraping against the ceiling. The creature's body was dark with pinpoints of light, as if physically composed of the night sky. The inside of its mouth was glowing with blue fire, while the beast's arms reached all the way to the ground. On the monster's chest was a loud, spiralling vortex.
"Finally!" Kolobus shouted, raising his arms in victory. "I am free to consume the stars once more!"
To be continued.
Author's notes – there's a quick reference early on in this chapter to the Phaedos Sky Sword. The sky sword is a magical relic (from the planet Phaedos. I probably didn't need to explain that part) that I first introduced in Tommy's point-of-view story "Time Off". Since the events of that story, the Rangers have encountered this magical sword on more than one occasion, and I just really liked the idea that this holy relic goes missing – or gets stolen by various supervillains – so often, that it's become a running joke.
Such a joke that even Trystenn – who lives on the literal other side of the galaxy – has heard of it, and laughs along with the Rangers about it.