Part Eleven

Chapter Six

With his ears still ringing from the blast, Tommy made his way to the ground and rushed outside to join Jason and Trini, watching as Kim, Billy and Zac continued trading fire with the menacing black cube. Even as they reached the grassy field between the science faculty and the eatery hall, Kim took aim with her Power Bow. But the cube returned fire, forcing her to somersault to safety. Zac took to the air, raising his axe, but the eye almost immediately appeared on the closest face and blasted the Black Ranger out of the air.

"Any ideas how we kill this thing?" Tommy asked, holding up Saba.

Jason took a second to reply, studying the cube's movements. "I don't think it's alive, it's just following programming," Jason replied. "Trini said it's here to distract us, and I think she's right. The only vulnerable point on any of the sides is the lens. But the lens can only focus on one thing at a time, can't it?" and the Red Ranger raised his wrist to his helmet. "Guys, I've got an idea," he began. "It won't be easy, but if we time this right, we can do this," and he relayed his plan to the other Rangers. "Let's go!"

And five helmets nodded in unison. "Right!"

Jason sprinted onto the grass, holding out his arm and summoning his sword with a thought. The lens appeared on the side facing him and fired, forcing him to leap to safety. But opposite, Zac had already taken to the air. The cube refocussed its lens on the approaching Black Ranger but it was too late. Zac smashed his axe into the lens just as it appeared before dropping to the ground. The side of the cube exploded in sparks and flame, and the cube dipped before righting itself a few seconds later. But the damage was done. The lens blinked and shook as it tried to reform on the smashed side, but couldn't. With the cube damaged, Tommy raced forward, dodging an incoming blast but leaving an opening for Kim to fire her bow. The lens refocussed but was too late to stop a dozen arrows smashing into it.

With two sides of the cube reduced to sparking ruin, the Rangers redoubled their efforts to bring the device down. Billy distracted the cube and avoided a blast, allowing Trini to throw her Power Daggers and smash the lens when it appeared before her. As the cube sank further and further to the ground, Zac drew its fire and allowed Jason to stab it with his sword, while Kim held the cube's attention long enough for Tommy to destroy another side with Saba. Finally, shuddering and sparking, the cube fell towards Billy, who summoned his Power Lance with a thought and threw it like a javelin straight towards the sole undamaged face. The lance speared up through the cube, and as Billy summoned the weapon back to him, the cube crashed to the ground, broken and defeated.

The Rangers raced across the grass and converged around the device. "Let's see what's inside this thing," Tommy said. He and Jason carved their blades through the nearest side. Discarding his axe, Zac reached for the torn pieces of metal and ripped them free, exposing the cube's interior.

"Whoa," Kim breathed.

None of the Rangers would ever agree on what it was they saw powering the cube. Trini said she thought it was alive, or at least, once had been. Billy saw it again in a dream he had, sometime later, and said the inside of the cube was a gateway to somewhere bigger. Tommy swore he saw nothing but a shadow and never spoke of it again. Whatever it was, it was gone a second later, crumbling to ash as they watched. The sides of the cube followed, and there was soon nothing left of their adversary but a pile of dust in the breeze.

"What the hell?" Zac asked.

Trini thought back to the late-night meeting in the Command Centre at the start of the week. "I have a theory," she said. "You're not going to like it."

Their communicators beeped, and Tommy raised his wrist. "We're here Zordon," the White Ranger began. "We just had to deal with a homicidal geometry lesson."

"We know," Zordon's voice crackled through. "We're sorry we didn't send any back-up. But we have an ongoing situation, Rangers. Things are worse than you think."

"What the hell is this thing?" I asked, as the sea monster continued lashing at us with its tentacles while safely submerged under one of the jetties.

"No idea," said Sarah, fending off an attack with her mace, "but we're not gonna beat this thing if it stays underwater."

"You're right," I said. "I'll draw it out and you get ready to shoot."

"Right!"

Taking a breath, I sprinted across the grass to the water's edge. The beast reared up to attack, when I sprang into the air, somersaulting over the monster as its claws snapped shut behind me. Landing on the jetty, I took a second to get my bearings and raced up towards the dock. With the splashes behind me, I knew the beast was on my tail. Without slowing down, I spun around, my Power Sword appearing in my hand, and slashed at the nearest tentacles. The creature roared and retaliated, aiming low and taking my feet out from under me. I crashed to the jetty hard and rolled to a stop. Across the water, Teresa and Sarah were still battling the tendrils and couldn't get a clear shot. With me vulnerable, the beast used its tentacles to haul itself out of the water and onto the jetty.

A streak of blue shot down out of the sky towards the beast. Scott materialised in mid-air, slamming his boots into the creature with all the force of a runaway freight train. Caught unawares, the monster was thrown across the water, crashing to the grass in a tangle of limbs. With our opponent wounded, Scott offered me a hand.

"You timed that impeccably," I said, as the Blue Ranger helped me to my feet.

"You're the only person in the world who would use that word right now," Scott said, and we raced back to the park.

Dazed from the attack, the monster picked itself up off the grass. But looking around, the beast froze. Scott, Sarah, Teresa and I were surrounding it on all sides, cutting off its path back to the water.

"Let's do this quick," I said.

The creature bellowed an inhuman roar and lashed out with the few tentacles it had left. Scott summoned his Power Staff with a thought and spun it for two of the attacking tendrils, wrapping them around the weapon and holding them in place. Across the field, Teresa flicked her Power Whip around the beast's body and held firm. The creature tried snapping at the whip with its claws. When that failed, it launched a tendril for the White Ranger, but Sarah batted it away with her mace. With the monster held in place, I ran my hand over the blade of my Power Sword to charge it, then slashed the weapon in a wide underarm swing. The Rangers dived to safety as the arc sliced across the battlefield and slammed into the beast, instantly destroying it in a fiery explosion that shook the park and rained debris over the water.

The four of us regrouped in the centre of the park. All around, the charred remains of the sea monster were crumbling to dust.

"Scott, it is good to see you," Sarah said.

Scott grinned. "I can't leave you guys alone for five minutes," he said. "What was it? Do we know?"

"No clue," I replied. "The thing just ambushed us. It's definitely not one of Zedd's. Beyond that, I couldn't tell you."

"Where'd you go?" asked Teresa.

"I was in Springfield catching up with Dustin," Scott replied.

Both Teresa and I cooed. "Aww…"

Scott blushed. "It wasn't like that," he said sharply, then lowered his voice. "I mean, it was nice to see him, but, no. I figured the Wind Ninja Academy has access to different alien networks than we do, right? So I asked Dustin to check it out, and he said the same thing that Zordon did. Everything is suspiciously quiet. There's no chatter at all about Earth, like everyone's avoiding us."

I glanced around my team-mates. "That doesn't sound good."

Scott nodded. "Dustin also said that…" but before he could continue, six streaks of light shot down out of the sky. The senior team materialised beside us a second later.

"Scott?" said Trini. "We're glad you're back."

"He got here just in time," Sarah said, then pointed to the wreckage from the fight. "We had kind of a seafood problem."

Jason nodded. "We just had the worst geometry lesson ever."

"At the same time?" I asked.

"There is definitely a larger force at work," Billy said. "Once we'd defeated our foe, Zordon and Alpha contacted us. Brendan and Ian need our immediate assistance in Africa. We're heading for central Ethiopia."

"Let's move," I said. We reached for our communicators and vanished from the scene.

To be continued.