Part Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Reaching for our communicators, Teresa, Sarah, Scott and I shot towards the valley floor. Alone in the cockpit, Ian steered the MegaIguanodon towards the base of the shattered mountain where the Dilophozord was still standing guard. Ian peered through the window as the MegaIguanodon reached the mountainside. The blow from the Dilophozord had uncovered some kind of chamber in the centre of the mountain. Whatever it had once been was nothing but rubble now, but a pool of red liquid stood in the centre, visible through the debris. Steering the zord as close as he could, Ian tapped his communicator and appeared on the ground a second later.

As he approached the pool, the liquid seemed to pull back at his presence. His mind made up, Ian reached for a panel on the side of the MegaIguanodon's foot, pulled out a harness connected to a length of cable, and attached it to his belt.

In flashes of pink and white, Kimberly and Tommy appeared on the other side of the pool.

"Think this through," Tommy said. "We need to go in together. We've got no idea what might be down there."

Ian tightened the cable around his waist. "I know exactly who's down there," the Grey Ranger said, "and gods or not, I'm not coming back without him."

Kim lowered her voice. "Go and get him," she said. "We'll be right behind you."

Ian nodded. Without waiting another second, he dived head-first into the pool. He fell forever, or maybe it was a minute, but the endless desert took shape around him. He soon felt sand beneath his feet. A few metres away was his best friend, and Ian dashed over to Brendan's side with a wild yell, catching the Aqua Ranger as his legs gave out. He pulled Brendan's arm around his shoulder to keep him upright.

Ian was just about to say something when he felt the gaze of the Shadow King. He looked up to the chained king and shrank back.

"Whoa," he gasped. "That's our bad guy?"

"Yeah," Brendan nodded. His voice was barely audible.

"He's big," Ian stuttered.

Tommy and Kimberly fell out of the sky and landed on the sand beside them, harnesses attached to their belts. Seeing the Shadow King, they too froze. By now, the king was pulling violently on the one remaining chain.

"Is that him?" Kim asked.

Brendan nodded. "He's still chained up," he said. "For the moment."

"We have to get out of here," Tommy said. "That pool was making some weird noises when we came through."

Ian grabbed his best friend and held him close. With that, they hit the switches on their harnesses and were yanked into the air as the lines retracted. The Shadow King howled with anger as the Rangers flew up into the sky. But the sound soon faded as the Rangers were dragged out of the pool of blood, the cable not stopping until all four of them were lying on the rubble by the sides of the pool.

The rest of us had only just reached the pool when the four Rangers emerged. We rushed forward to greet them as Tommy and Kimberly climbed to their feet. Brendan gazed around the group until his eyes fell on me.

"Did we get her?" he asked.

"We got her," I said.

"I knew she was evil," Brendan said. "I was playing along, right? I figured, I could find out what she was up to. Maybe stop her. She thought she was leading me into a trap. Truth is, I was trying to get her away from the rest of you. Maybe even get her to tell me what the plan was."

"That was a hell of a gamble, man," Zac said.

Brendan shook his head. "I wasn't betting my life on me," he said softly. "I was betting my life on you." With that, he unclipped his helmet, sat up and gulped in grateful lungfuls of fresh air.

Ian did the same. "Even the air in that desert tasted funny," he said.

"Wait, you guys were in the endless desert?" I asked, and glanced over to the red pool. "That's what was in there?"

"It wasn't a desert," Brendan breathed. "It didn't used to be. Time was funny in there, like it was broken. I saw glimpses of the past. They tried to appease him! The wizards and spellcasters who created that place, they made it a lush forest, somewhere to keep the Shadow King and his followers so they wouldn't want to leave." Brendan's voice caught in his throat. "He poisoned it. Just by being there, the Shadow King poisoned an entire world."

"Wait," said Jason, and glanced between Kimberly and Tommy. "You guys saw the Shadow King?"

"Yeah," Tommy said. "He's bigger than we thought."

Just then came the smell of black magic and the strangest cracking noise. We turned as the pool of blood began to solidify, turning to stone before our eyes and then fading out of existence forever.

To be continued.