Part Twelve

Chapter Four

The quiet midnight of the Manchester city centre was shattered by the flashing lights and screeching alarm from the city's major museum. Across the road from the grim stone building, the Gatekeeper stood in the dark and abandoned parking lot, tilting his head at the commotion.

"Alarms," he said, to nobody in particular. "What a pointless thing. Have these cattle become so blind and stupid that they need lights and sounds to alert them of impending danger? Killing them would almost be a charity."

The parking lot lit up in a blaze of colour, and the Gatekeeper turned to see all twelve Power Rangers standing in a semi-circle around him.

"Great monologue," Tommy began, then raised Saba. "By all means, continue."

Our adversary took a step towards us, not quite believing the sight before him. He was dressed in a tattered black cloak that covered his head, with a diamond-shaped golden pendant around his neck. Even with the lights from the museum, it was impossible to get a clear picture of what he looked like. He was hunched over with a multitude of limbs jutting out from the cloak at unnatural angles. The two arms visible were weirdly elongated, with eight or nine spindly fingers on each hand. And the only thing we could see of his face were two eyes, glowing with an unearthly blue.

"The heroes arrive to waste my time," he growled. "Still, you're earlier than I thought. I'm impressed."

"Don't be," said Ian. "We know why you attacked the Command Centre. You tripped every alarm trying to reach the torch, but you still couldn't get it, could you?"

"And you completely underestimated how quickly Alpha would get the teleport network back online," Sarah added. "Who are you?"

The demon clasped his hands together. Every movement from his fingers was accompanied by the sound of cracking bone. "I had lived a thousand lifetimes before the Shadow King even arrived on Earth," he began. "When I was young, we did not even need names. We were just known. But eventually, he came to call me his Gatekeeper."

"Whatever you're doing, we're going to stop you," Teresa said.

"I've had a thousand years to make my plans, but I am enjoying this confidence," the demon replied. "As misplaced as it is. As bleak as your days are. The sun is about to set on this world forever. And you won't even be here to see it."

"Heard it all before, big guy," Kim said, and summoned her Power Bow with a thought. "And we didn't care then, either," and she shot a dozen arrows straight for him. The Gatekeeper grasped the pendant around his neck and a circular rift opened before him. For a second, we could see the tops of our helmets through the portal as the arrows sailed through, before the arrows rained down over us from the connecting portal. The carpark lit up with sparks and fire as everyone leaped to safety.

"So you've got tricks?" Jason began, and summoned his Power Sword. "Good for you. But you're done here."

"Foolish children," the Gatekeeper sneered. "How do you know I haven't already accomplished everything I wanted?"

"You and what army?" Trini asked.

The Gatekeeper stood to his full height. He towered over us and raised his arm. "This one!" he roared, and snapped his contorted fingers. The windows around the museum's doors exploded outwards, as four enormous shadow demons charged out of the building. The four-legged creatures were all claws and snapping teeth. Vicious and fast, they were almost invisible in the low light but for their eyes, twin points that burned like fire. Three of them raced towards us, and the night was alive with the sounds of combat. The demon on the left launched itself towards Tommy, Kim, Zac and Sarah, while the demon in the centre raced across the carpark for Teresa, Trini, Jason and I. The third demon charged towards Billy, Scott, Brendan and Ian. Even as everyone summoned their Power Weapons, Brendan leaped forward to confront the creature, only to be swatted out of the air by one of the demon's arms and thrown against the side of the building.

Seeing stars, Brendan picked himself up off the pavement. He was about to join the battle when he noticed the fourth demon approaching the Gatekeeper, and it dropped something that glinted green into the Gatekeeper's outstretched hand.

"Perfect," the demon muttered. "All the more power for the master to absorb, yet we have far grander intentions, don't we?"

"Whatever that was, I'm taking it back," Brendan said.

The Gatekeeper turned to him. "Oh, that's a pity," he sighed. The demon reached for his pendant and flicked his hand at the approaching Aqua Ranger. A spinning portal unfolded around Brendan and his momentum carried him straight through. The Aqua Ranger vanished from the scene as the portal shut behind him.

Across the carpark, Brendan's disappearance went unnoticed as the rest of us fought desperately to hold off the Gatekeeper's shadow demons. Ian and Scott spun under a blow from the demon that had targeted them and rolled to their feet. The demon lashed out for Billy, but the Blue Ranger raised his lance, struck away the creature's claws and swung the weapon for the demon's chest. The creature retreated and Billy followed after him, oblivious to the figure of the Gatekeeper looming behind him. Before Billy could realise the danger, the Gatekeeper spun a portal towards him and the Blue Ranger disappeared, mid-step. The demon roared towards its two remaining opponents, when Scott leaped down before it and caught the creature's fist with his staff, giving Ian the chance to fire both Power Blasters. The intense light from the blast was enough to destroy the beast, but even as the demon disintegrated, the Gatekeeper had thrown another portal, and both boys disappeared.

A few metres away, Zac and Kimberly were managing to keep their foe at bay with their Power Weapons, blast after blast forcing the creature to keep its distance. While the demon was off-balance, Sarah stepped around the creature's claws to land a powerful blow with her mace, but she didn't see the Gatekeeper turning his attention to the battle. Once Sarah had rolled clear, Tommy raised Saba and hit the demon with a blast from the sword that instantly destroyed it. He looked back as Kim and Zac disappeared through portals, and realised too late that the Gatekeeper was standing nearby.

"Sarah, go!" he shouted. Even as Sarah realised the danger, both her and Tommy were swallowed up by the spinning portals.

"Eight down," murmured the Gatekeeper.

In the middle of the carpark, Teresa was keeping the shadow demon at bay with her whip when a new sound reached us, sirens from approaching police cars.

"They're responding to the alarm," I said.

Trini glanced past the demon. I was closest to the road. "Pete! Get them out of here!" she called. "We'll hold off the demon."

As I sprinted away to greet the police cars, the shadow demon dodged around Teresa's whip and raced forward. Teresa avoided one blow but the creature was fast, sending her crashing where she disappeared through a portal before she knew it was there. Side-by-side, Jason and Trini attacked the creature together, Trini landing blow after blow with her daggers while Jason carved his blade across the demon's chest. The creature roared and retaliated, but with Trini keeping the demon's attention, Jason charged the blade of his sword with power and sliced the glowing blade through the creature's body, instantly obliterating it. The Red and Yellow Rangers glanced around the battlefield and had only a second to wonder where everyone was when the Gatekeeper launched a portal at them. They leaped to safety, but the Gatekeeper growled and spun two more portals that rapidly swallowed their targets.

"Eleven down," he nodded.

After explaining the situation to the police, I raced back to the battleground only to come to a stop. Aside from the Gatekeeper and the one remaining shadow demon, we were alone. I'd only been gone half a minute!

I raised my sword as the Gatekeeper closed in. "Where are my friends?" I demanded. "What did you do?"

"The last one standing," the Gatekeeper murmured. "How pointlessly noble."

"Don't waste your time," I said, but we both heard my voice waver. "I know your game. You've done it to everyone else. But you're not getting inside my head."

The Gatekeeper let out a sharp bark of laughter. "What on Earth makes you think I even want to?" he asked. "Your team-mates made for good sport, but you? Let's be honest. You're not even worth the effort."

He tapped his pendant and spun a portal towards me. I leaped to safety but it was too late. My boots left the concrete but landed with the soft crunch of freshly-fallen snow. I looked around in confusion, and realised I was standing on top of a mountain. The snowy ground sloped away in every direction, with not a building in sight. High above me was an endless vista of stars. I stabbed my sword into the snow.

Where was I? Was I even still on Earth?

Just when I was starting to panic, my communicator beeped. I don't think I'd ever been more relieved to hear Alpha's voice.

"Rangers!" his voice echoed into the night. "I found you all! I think. We lost you for a minute, but you need to return to the Command Centre as soon as you can!"

Even as I reached for my wrist, I felt the Gatekeeper's words still in my head. I knew it was a trick. I knew he was trying to hurt me. But still.

Was I really that worthless?

To be continued.