Part Eight
Chapter Six
I always found the university unsettling at night, with its empty plazas, lonely pathways and shadowy buildings. But I'd rarely been here this late, and the campus was even eerier. A predawn fog had rolled over the grounds, cloaking everything in a grey veil. The public art sculptures that seemed so colourful during the day now loomed menacingly out of the mist. I hadn't visited the university's sports centre before, but I found the building the old fashioned way soon enough.
Approaching the building, I saw the windows were dark and there was nobody around. But Jason's car was in the nearby carpark. He and Kim were still inside. I raced up to the front entrance but the door was locked to anyone without a student card. I grabbed the door handle and used my Ranger strength to rip the door off its hinges.
Running inside, I saw Jason and Kim, asleep but otherwise okay, resting their heads on the training mats.
"Guys!" I shouted. I raced over and knelt beside Jason, grabbing his shoulders to wake him up. "Jason! It's me, you gotta wake up!"
It felt like hours, but finally, Jason's eyes fluttered open. "Pete?" he asked softly, still disoriented. "What going on? Where am I?"
"You're at the sports centre," I explained. "You need to wake up. This witch Luna, she put a spell on everyone, and her guards are hunting us."
I heard footsteps and looked up. One of Luna's guards was already in the building! He towered over me, his eyes glowing with blue fire. Before I could react, he shot a blast of light at me. I stumbled away, trying to shake it off, but it was no good. A second later, I tumbled to the floor.
The warrior swept his gaze over his intended targets, but recognised that a morphed Ranger was a far more urgent threat. Crossing the room, the guard reached down towards me.
A hand wrapped around the warrior's wrist and held it in place with an iron grip.
"Yeah," Jason breathed. "That would not be a good idea."
He threw the warrior away and suddenly Kim was beside him, kicking high and forcing the guard back. Finding her footing, Kim fell back-to-back with Jason, her mind still sleep-fogged but raising her arms defensively.
"What is it and why are we punching it?" Kim asked. "And why are we still at uni?"
"Pete said we're under attack from a witch named Luna or something," Jason replied. "She has guards. I'd say this is one of them."
"This is not cool," Kim grimaced. "I have an early class in the morning. It's morphin' time!" and they reached for their back pockets.
"Pterodactyl!"
"Tyrannosaurus!"
With that, the Pink and Red Rangers faced down the imperial guard. Sweeping his gaze around the room, the guard turned and headed for the entrance.
"Go," said Jason, and they raced after him. Following the warrior outside, they found him standing in the grassy field in front of the building, bathed in the moonlight. Without slowing down, Jason leaped towards him, but the warrior spun around with incredible speed and struck Jason out of the air. Even as he fell, Kim sprang forward with a kick, launching the warrior back. He recovered quickly and easily fended off Kim, but not before Jason forced him towards the garden with a powerful punch. In the shadow of the overhanging trees, the warrior seemed frailer, taking longer to find his footing. Pressing forward, Jason kicked high to stun the warrior before landing a flurry of blows on the warrior's chest as he feebly tried to defend himself. Finally, the guard blocked one of Jason's arms and struck him away with a low kick. Stepping out from under the branches, the guard stood to his full height and his eyes glowed blue in the moonlight. Watching him, Kim's eyes grew wide. She raced over to Jason.
"Did you see that?" she asked. "He lured us outside, but he started losing when he was forced into the shadows." Kim looked up to the sky. "It's the moon. He's drawing strength from moonlight."
"Daybreak's not for two hours," Jason said. "How do we shut down the moon?"
"Easier than you think," Kim grinned. "Phoenix thunder zord power, now!"
With a triumphant screech, the massive pink Phoenix zord appeared over the university campus, hovering over the sports centre, blocking off the moon and plunging the area into shadow. A second later, spotlights on the zord's fuselage lit up, bathing the grassy field in a harsh midday glow. The warrior shrank back, visibly uncomfortable. Jason glanced to the Pink Ranger.
"Great thinking," he said, and held out his arm. "Power Sword!"
"Power Bow!"
Raising his sword, Jason charged towards the warrior, carving his blade through the guard's armour in a shower of sparks. As the warrior stumbled back, Kim raised her bow and fired, lighting up the battlefield. Dazed by the assault, the warrior lashed out blindly as Jason attacked, but the Red Ranger easily dodged the warrior's fist, slashing his sword for the guard again and again. The warrior howled in anger as Jason leaped to the side so Kimberly could pepper him with arrows from a distance. Already weakened, the guard had no defence as Jason charged back towards him with a renewed assault. Finally, the Red Ranger dived out of the way, and the warrior looked up to see Kimberly standing before him, a dozen glowing arrows in her bow.
"It's been fun," she said, and fired. The barrage blasted across the field and slammed into the imperial guard. He was instantly destroyed by a massive fireball that shook the buildings around them. The Rangers lowered their weapons while above them, the Phoenix's eyes flashed. As the zord shot away, Jason and Kim glanced over to see the Grey and Aqua Rangers approaching. Jason jogged towards the sports complex just as I appeared in the entrance. Seeing I was still shaky, Jason offered me his shoulder, and the five of us reunited in front of the building.
"Nice move with the Phoenix zord," said Ian. "We hadn't figured out the connection to moonlight."
"Although in hindsight," I began, "splitting up was a terrible idea."
Jason laughed. "If you hadn't, that thing would've got us first," he said.
"What's the deal?" Kim asked.
"We couldn't find Trini or Zac," Brendan replied. "And according to the others, Tommy, Billy and Teresa are missing."
"Our best bet is to reunite with Sarah and Scott," I added.
"Sounds like a plan," Jason nodded. He gave me a second to steady myself. Once I could stand on my own, we raced away.
The jump had been so sudden that Teresa felt ill before she'd even touched down. She felt solid ground beneath her feet but kept her eyes closed, remembering a trick her mother had once showed her to focus on her breathing until the world stopped spinning. Dreading wherever it was Luna had dragged her, Teresa hesitantly opened her eyes and looked around.
There was nothing but pitch darkness.
"Something's wrong," she murmured. She was exhausted, and couldn't pretend otherwise. "It's too dark."
Luna's voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. "Just give those sad human eyes a minute to adjust." Even when Luna was being kind, it was still insulting.
But the midnight queen hadn't lied. After a short while, the world came into focus around the White Ranger. She was standing on a deserted, empty street. The buildings looming out of the darkness were shattered and ruined. Some of them were little more than piles of rubble. At a guess, maybe they'd once been houses. But the trees were all gone, and there was no sign of any grass or flowers. Indeed, there were no hints of human existence. The silence was overwhelming, crushing and pervasive. It was the middle of the night, but even the stars were weak and far away.
And try as she might, Teresa couldn't shake the feeling that something was there in the darkness, prowling just out of sight.
She instinctively reached for her wrist communicator. The cool metal band was the only reminder of home. "Where are we?" she asked.
Luna chortled. "Back where we began," came her voice.
Teresa looked around in alarm, and finally realised where she was. This was her street! The remains of the houses looked familiar, the longer she looked at them. In the distance, the road still curved away to the left. "I get it," she sighed. "This is what happens if we lose, right?"
"You sad little creature," Luna laughed. "You keep thinking in terms of winning and losing. Where do you think we are? This isn't a vision. This isn't a memory," and Luna paused. "This happens regardless of what you and your friends do. I've watched kingdoms fall and empires crumble, but my beloved? He outlasted them all! Open your eyes, child. Your homes are gone. Your city shattered. There's no safe place for you young people to spend your carefree afternoons. You are going to lose."
Tears welled up in Teresa's eyes. "No." She glanced up and gasped.
The stars were going dark, flickering out one-by-one, steadily consumed by a wave of darkness creeping across the sky, until the universe was empty but for the moon. In all her years as a Ranger, Teresa had never felt so helpless. She barely flinched when Luna spoke into her ear.
"You can't win. You can't," the midnight queen said. "Do you truly understand how worthless you really are?"
Teresa turned to face Luna. Just like that, the world reappeared around her. The colour returned. The stars were shining again, while the sound of traffic and wind through the trees began to reach her. She gazed around, her vision blurry and unfocussed. She was still standing on the street outside her house. She'd never even left. With that, she crumpled to the ground.
Behind her, Luna watched as the White Ranger collapsed. With a wicked smile, she melted into the shadows.
Teresa couldn't be sure how long she sat there. It could've been a minute or an hour. Never before in her life had she felt so hopeless. It was a quiet night, at least here in the suburbs, but she could see a glow on the horizon and hear the distant wail of fire engines in the city. Suddenly, footsteps approached, and she heard a familiar voice.
"Teresa, is that you?"
Teresa wiped her eyes and looked up to see a familiar face. It was one of her neighbours, Mr Jackson. He and his wife were a retired couple who lived down the street. Mr Jackson was proud of his rose garden, and often paid Teresa and Scott to take care of his prize-winning flowers while he and his wife were on holiday.
"Are you okay?" Mr Jackson continued, as he helped Teresa to her feet. "What are you doing out here? It's four in the morning."
"Bad dreams," Teresa said.
"There's a lot of that going around," the elderly man replied. "I've been listening to the radio. Thing are crazy out there. Apparently everyone in town had the same nightmare? But don't worry. The Rangers are on the case. They'll figure this out." Teresa winced, and her neighbour realised his words weren't as comforting as he'd hoped. "Still, let's get you home, hey? Nights like this aren't safe for young people."
Teresa smiled at the awkward phrase. "Young people," she repeated. "That's what Luna said to me before. Young people…" but her expression fell.
"I know where she is," Teresa said. She looked back to her increasingly-confused neighbour. "Thanks Mr Jackson. I appreciate it," she said. "I can make it home from here. I have to go."
"Well, have a good night," Mr Jackson smiled.
Reaching the safety of her front garden, Teresa raised her communicator. "Zordon, are you there?"
Zordon replied almost immediately, and she was grateful for the sound of his voice. "Teresa! Where have you been? We've been worried!"
"I was with Luna," Teresa replied. "She kidnapped me, sort of."
"Are you all right?"
"Not particularly," Teresa said, but continued before Zordon could reply. "Listen, I figured it out. Zordon, I know where Luna is. When she first showed up, she mentioned having a temple. She hasn't just been trying to conquer the city, right? This is personal. This has been about us. And Luna's been in our heads all night! She knows what's important to us. She couldn't have put her temple in the Command Centre, because she can't get in. But there's one other place. And in the last vision, she said something about us young people finding a new place to feel safe." She paused to take a breath. "It's the Youth Centre. That's where she is."
"Alpha has managed to reconnect us with the team. I'll call the other Rangers and have them meet you there as soon as they can."
"Zordon, I have to stop Luna now," Teresa replied. "We can't wait."
There was a long pause, and Teresa knew Zordon was sighing with resignation. "Please be careful," Zordon said. "Alpha and I will not be far away," and the communicator fell silent.
And in the quiet of the predawn hour, Teresa knew what she had to do.
She reached for her back pocket.
"Velociraptor!"
To be continued.