Part Eleven

Chapter Nine

"Sooner than I expected," She Who Destroys Heroes said. "But still too late."

"Save it," I said, and raised my Power Sword. "The crashing spaceship, the monsters, even Brendan's dreams. We know it was you. We know you're one of the Shadow King's servants. Where's our friend?"

"And who are you?" Jason added.

"Someone you're not nearly as afraid of as you should be," the reptilian warrior replied. She stepped forward and swung her swords together. But Kim loosed two arrows the second she raised her blades. The arrows took the swords out of her hands and sent them flying. The warrior clutched at her hands, stung.

"Try again," Kim said, her voice icy.

"I suppose there's no use for pretence anymore," the warrior replied. "You killed my brothers, and for that, I'm almost grateful. But to you, I am She Who Destroys Heroes."

I stepped back in shock. Beside me, Jason gasped, while everyone turned to each other.

"The Shadow King had a daughter?" Teresa murmured. "Knew it."

"You're the one who left, didn't you?" Sarah began. "The Shadow King's battle was going poorly so it was you who fled to the stars."

She Who Destroys Heroes clapped her hands in delight. "Ah! You've heard the story?"

"Yep," Zac replied, and pumped the barrel of his Power Axe. "Our favourite bit was the part where you lost."

"And whatever became of all those champions who stood against us? Do the stories tell you that?"

Ian aimed his Power Blasters directly for her. "Where is Brendan?" he asked.

"Beyond any help you could offer him," the warrior hissed. "Even if I hadn't just collapsed the mountain on my way out."

"You're deceiving us," Billy said. "Brendan could more than account for you."

"You fleshlings never learn, do you?" she shot back. "Do you know how many ways there are to destroy a hero? Truly, thoroughly destroy him? I collapsed a mountain on him, Rangers. A mountain! You have lifespans I could measure in eye-blinks, yet those mountains were old when I was young. They are cold stone! They are forever! And you're just children!"

She Who Destroys Heroes' voice trailed away as she suddenly noticed the ground trembling beneath her feet. But it was curiously rhythmic. Less like an earthquake and more like footsteps. She glanced to the top of the ridge to see the gleaming Dilophozord striding across the landscape towards the mountain where she'd just entombed the Aqua Ranger. Even with all her power, she couldn't help but freeze. As the zord approached the mountain, the robot suddenly spun around, slamming its tail into the side of the rocky peak. The top half of the mountain shattered in a massive explosion of rock and dirt that shook the countryside and sent a cloud of debris raining down over the valley. The demigoddess raised her hands to protect herself from the falling rocks, and when she looked again, her face fell.

The top of the mountain was gone, as if it had never been there at all. Dumbfounded, she turned back to the line of Rangers.

None of us had even flinched.

Jason folded his arms across his chest and tilted his head. "And?" he asked.

The demigoddess was incandescent with rage. "Fine!" she shouted. "No more games!" She reached into one of the pouches on her belt and retrieved a glowing blue orb. It was beautiful to look at, but we instantly assumed it was a weapon. Ian fired his blasters while Kim loosed a barrage of arrows. But the blasts and arrows ricocheted away in a shower of sparks, the orb kept safe by a shimmering energy field.

"I think you'll find," the demigoddess smirked, "the Traxian energy core has many interesting properties. And since your coins are out of reach, I'll retrieve that extra burst of power from somewhere else."

Muttering dark incantations under her breath, She Who Destroys Heroes began making symbols in the air with her free hand. Wispy shadows began rising out of the ground around us, drawing into the glowing orb.

"What's she doing?" Ian asked.

"The valley absorbed all that dark magic during the battle with the Shadow King," Trini replied. "She must be drawing the extra magic out of the ground and using it now. We have to stop her!"

But it was too late. Even as we moved towards our enemy, the orb absorbed the last of the magic. With that, the demigoddess threw it over a nearby rise. For a second, nothing happened. Then came an explosion, and the valley lit up with a blinding glare as a pillar of light roared up to the sky and disappeared into the atmosphere. It was so bright that it hurt to look at. For a few seconds, everybody saw spots.

"Giant pillar of light?" Sarah said. "This never ends well."

She Who Destroys Heroes cackled with triumph at the roar of the light, an inhuman howl that left our ears aching. Still laughing, the demigoddess held her arms wide. Too late we realised that she was absorbing whatever dark magic was left. We backed away as she grew before our eyes, soon towering fifteen storeys above us.

"Foolish mortals!" she boomed. "Rescue your friend? Stop my plan? You'll have to go through me!"

"Let's make her regret saying that," Tommy said.

I looked to Jason. "We'll take out the demigoddess," I began. "You shut down that orb."

"Right," the Red Ranger nodded. "Let's go!" The six senior Rangers raced away, while Teresa, Sarah, Scott and I raised our arms to the sky.

"We need dinozord power, now!"

The ground began shaking. She Who Destroys Heroes turned to the top of the hill as the silver Iguanodon was suddenly joined by the orange Stegozord, the white Velociraptor and the blue Brontozord, with the purple Rhamphorynchus circling high above. On the ground, the five of us reached for our belts and shot into the air, materialising in our zords a second later and reaching for the controls.

"Ian, how's the Iguanodon?" Teresa asked.

"I've got a bit of damage from the crash," the Grey Ranger began. "But I think my systems are still functional."

"Good," I said. "Let's not waste time. MegaIguanodon power, now!"

Lightning struck down from a suddenly-cloudy sky as the zords transformed. Side-by-side, the Brontozord and Stegozord's bodies rotated forward as the Iguanodon's lower legs folded back. Hovering over the blue and orange zords, the Iguanodon connected with them to give the MegaIguanodon new legs. Taking to the air, the Velociraptor split in half to form arms for the larger zord, while the Rhamphorynchus fell out of the sky and attached to the MegaIguanodon's back in the zord's crossbow mode. With that, the five of us were teleported to the zord's cockpit with Ian in the centre, Scott and I on either side and the girls behind us. Lightning danced across the zord's exterior as it raised its fists, ready for battle.

"MegaIguanodon, online!"

Clearing the hill in one gigantic step, the MegaIguanodon crossed down into the valley, closing in on the mad demigoddess and shaking the mountains with every step. With the pillar of light behind her, She Who Destroys Heroes summoned her twin blades in a flash of light.

"You are worthless fools!" she roared. "My father will conquer this world with an army of shadows by his side! Do you really think you stand a chance against us?"

"Whoever she is, she's the only thing standing between us and Brendan," I said. "Let's take her down."

"Right!"

Without wasting another second, we pushed the zord forward, the stage set for an epic battle. As we approached, the demigoddess raised her swords and struck them against each other. The shockwave smashed into the MegaIguanodon and shook the whole valley. But we held the zord steady and the MegaIguanodon stayed standing. Our opponent's eyes went wide. She tried the move again but the zord charged forward, blocking one of the blades and striking the other aside before landing a powerful blow to the warrior's chest. She stumbled away from us, but as we followed after her, she recovered and slashed forward with her blades. The zord caught one but couldn't stop the other, and she carved it through the zord's chest armour in a shower of sparks and smoke. Alarms went off around us, but we kept control of the zord. When she swung again, we aimed a powerful blow for her wrist, forcing her to let go of one of the swords with a cry. The other sword fell towards us, but the zord caught the blade with one fist and shattered it in two with the other.

Stunned from the blow, the demigoddess staggered back, clutching her hands. Glancing around, She Who Destroys Heroes saw the wreckage of the Traxian ship beneath her. Grabbing the hull, she launched the ship straight for us. The MegaIguanodon raised an enormous fist and struck the ship out of the air. As wreckage rained down over the valley, the demigoddess fell towards us with her claws raised. The zord stepped around the move and struck away her boot when she kicked low. In desperation, she aimed a wild punch, but the MegaIguanodon blocked the move, struck away her arm and rocked the demigoddess with a glancing blow to her shoulder. And before she could recover, the zord swung both fists with all its might, launching the warrior off her feet and slamming her against the mountainside a hundred feet away.

As the demigoddess picked herself up, we charged the zord after her to continue the battle.

On the ground below, the senior Rangers raced across the valley floor towards the the pillar of light.

"What do you think that thing even does?" Zac asked.

"Execute her master plan?" Billy suggested. "It probably releases her father from his extradimensional prison."

"Whatever it is, it's not gonna be good," Kim added.

Reaching the top of a small hill, the Rangers came to a stop. Down below lay what was left of the grove of long-dead trees, the skeletal trunks and branches bleached from centuries in the sun. On the other side was the base of the pillar of light. The Traxian orb was barely visible at the centre, hovering a few feet above the ground. But even as they stepped towards it, a low growl filled the air, and a monstrous beast stepped into view, guarding the bottom of the hill. The creature had the size and proportions of a grizzly bear, but instead of fur, was covered in what looked like porcupine quills. On its face, two red eyes stared at the Rangers, with two more eyes further back on the beast's forehead.

"We should've guessed she'd have a back-up plan," Zac said, and tightened the grip on his Power Axe.

"Tommy?" Jason asked.

The White Ranger nodded. "You keep Smokey busy. I'll take out the orb," he said.

The Rangers headed down the hill towards the monster, the beast watching as they approached. Keeping a tight grip on Saba, Tommy stepped away from the others and quietly made his way through the dead forest. The beast glanced to the White Ranger, then suddenly punched the air. Its arm shot towards Tommy, the quills stabbing the air as the creature's arm lengthened and struck Tommy off his feet, sending him crashing.

With that, the Rangers charged. Kimberly took aim and launched a volley of arrows as she ran. But the bear was fast for something so large. It dodged the attack before striking out with its arms. Trini dived over one and rolled to her feet without slowing down, while Billy batted the other away with his Power Lance. With the Rangers drawing closer, the beast lashed out again and again, the spiked limbs whipping through the air around the heroes. Kim somersaulted to safety while Zac was thrown into one of the trees, snapping the trunk in half. The beast attacked again, but it was too late. Reaching the bottom of the hill, Trini spun around the creature's arm and sliced her daggers across its chest, while Billy kicked high and slammed his boot into the beast's jaw. As the monster staggered back, Jason took to the air, carving his blade down the beast's chest and throwing the creature away in a blaze of sparks and fire.

Gaining ground with every step, the Rangers followed after their foe.

To be continued.