Part Twelve
Chapter Six
Jason and I shot down through the roof of the central chamber and materialised in side-by-side flashes of red and orange. Tommy and Kim were sitting with their backs against the wall where we'd left them, sorting through the information about the torch. Trini was still helping Alpha, while Billy and Scott were surrounded by equipment tables at the back of the room. Seeing Jason and I, Alpha and Zordon turned to us.
"Any luck?" Alpha asked.
"The north and south poles were both clear," Jason replied. "We did a couple of flyovers and didn't see anything. But on the way home, Pete had a great idea."
"That's overselling it," I said. "But I was thinking, we should check old villain haunts. Places where some of our past bad guys used to hang out. They're gonna be harder for us to see. The Shadow King might be in a hurry, but he's still smart. It'd make sense to hide in one of those."
"That's a really good idea," Alpha said. "I'll refine the list of locations at once," and he stepped over to the nearest console. Just as he started pressing keys, an alarm sounded. "Ayeyiyi Rangers!" Alpha started. "Incoming message from Sarah! I'll patch it through."
"Guys?" Sarah's voice echoed out of the room's speakers. "I had a run-in with the Gatekeeper. I found him!"
Billy and Scott dropped their tools and stood up. The rest of us automatically reached for our communicators.
"Where are you?" Trini asked. "We're on our way."
"No, it's okay," Sarah continued. "I'm in the Forest of Eternal Light, but he didn't stick around. Once he saw me, he stepped through one of those portals and disappeared. I've looked around, but there's no sign of him. He's gone."
"Do you know why he was there?" asked Jason.
"Gardening, apparently," Sarah replied. "Before he left, he yanked a sapling out of the ground. But it was weird. You know how the trees here kind of glow? In his hand, the leaves stopped glowing and they started throwing out some kind of shadow. It was like he poisoned it."
"More weirdness," said Kimberly.
"I'm gonna head back your way," Sarah continued, "but maybe I'll swing past Dragon Island and see if they've heard anything."
"Try not to cause a diplomatic incident," Scott smiled.
"Now would I… you know what? Never mind. Sarah out." The radio fell silent.
"Why would he want a sapling from the Forest of Eternal Light?" I asked.
"He couldn't get the torch," Tommy said, and held up a stack of papers. "They must need something that broadcasts shadow."
Another warning light flashed on the console. A second later, Teresa and Zac teleported into the room.
"Looks like we interrupted something," Zac said. "What did we miss?"
We quickly relayed what Sarah had seen to the Black and White Rangers.
"How did you go at the museum?" Jason asked. "What could they tell you about the emerald?"
"Not a whole lot," Zac said. "According to the director, the emerald was found on a dig in Iraq. It's been in the museum's collection since before the Second World War. The workers we spoke to said the shadows went past a lot of valuable stuff and headed straight for the gem."
"There was one thing though," Teresa continued. "The curator told us the gem is the subject of an old legend. Apparently it holds the light of a sacred and holy star."
Billy poked his head up from where he was working. "And the gem was from Mesopotamia?" he asked.
Zac nodded. "That sounds familiar. Why?"
"Astrology aside," Billy began, "the vast majority of local cultures studied and charted the stars, but they never worshipped them as holy in their own right. The best example of that would be several religious orders that existed in Mesopotamia."
"So if the myth is right, and they always are, the gem contains the power of a star," I said. "I'm guessing that is a tonne of raw magic."
"Holy magic, too, which is perfect for the Shadow King," Kim added.
While Jason and I went back to the list of locations with Alpha, Zac and Teresa stepped over to where Billy and Scott were working.
"How goes the end of the world?" Zac asked.
"We're making good progress," Billy began, and held up a blue clipboard. Zac and Teresa could see a list of ideas, half of them already crossed off. "We had to eliminate a few potential solutions since they would play directly into the Shadow King's hands. And we had to rule out using any of the mystical items here in the Command Centre as that would simply be another source of power. Ultimately, I think we're going to have to engineer a solution from the ground up." Billy nodded to himself. "Fortunately? That is my particular preserve."
Zac couldn't help but smile. "Billy, I think you mean jam. You know what? Never mind."
"Do you need any spare hands?" Teresa asked.
"As a matter of fact, we could use some assistance," Billy nodded.
Another alarm sounded on the computers. "Alpha, what's going on?" I asked.
"I adjusted the algorithm that was scanning the globe for any sign of the Gatekeeper," Alpha began. "And ayeyiyi Rangers! We've got a hit."
"I thought we couldn't find any traces of the Shadow King's magic?" I asked.
"We can't," Alpha replied. "But we know he's collecting items of magical power. So we started scanning for those, instead."
Jason couldn't help but laugh. He clapped both Alpha and I on the back. "I'm surrounded by geniuses," he grinned. "Where are we heading?"
Alpha pointed to the coordinates on the screen. "You'll never guess."
"Of course," I murmured, and glanced to Jason. "Might be nothing."
"But it might be everything," Jason said. "We'll take the giant robots. Let's go!"
It was dark and cool down here, and so wonderfully quiet.
The Gatekeeper's footsteps echoed off the metal floor as he stepped into the central chamber of the great underwater structure. He'd heard stories about this place, and found it abandoned almost immediately after arriving on Earth. It had been the perfect place to work undetected. His enemies would probably never know he'd even been there. In the centre of the shadowy room stood a large table, carved out of a piece of the rocky seafloor and streaked with gold and other minerals. Behind him was a panoramic window, created from materials not of this Earth and fortified against the crushing ocean depths with alien super-science. Outside, a forest of kelp swayed gently in the tide. Still, the Gatekeeper didn't care about the furnishings or the scenery. He had everything he needed.
Reaching the table, he added the poisoned sapling to the growing collection of plundered treasures. The demon could barely contain his excitement. He was almost there! About to accomplish what none of the other imbeciles had managed.
He cursed the thought of the others. How much easier would this have been if they'd succeeded in their goals? But no. The master's idiot children had destroyed all of the lost relics. The torch had survived, but lay far beyond their grasp. Even Luna, with all her bluster and pretention, had utterly failed to accomplish anything worthwhile. Still, none of it mattered. In a few hours, it would be…
Dink dink dink.
The Gatekeeper looked around. It sounded like somebody was knocking on the glass? Baffled, he turned to the window, and fell back against the table in shock.
The Red Dragon thunder zord and orange Stegozord were standing outside on the seabed, lit up by the lights of the base. Both robots were in their warrior modes. The Red Dragon's arm was raised, ready to knock on the window again.
In the zord's cockpit, Jason hit the switch for the external speakers. "Anyone home?" he asked.
"Gotcha," I added.
The Red Dragon's fist fell towards the window. In a panic, the Gatekeeper swept his cloak over the table with one hand while reaching for his pendant with the other. Gathering up his treasures, he stepped through a portal and disappeared from the scene. Jason immediately pulled the zord's arm back before it could damage the structure.
I hit the radio. "Alpha, you were right," I began. "We found him in Hydrox's undersea base. But he grabbed the loot and ran. We missed him."
"He ran away all those years ago," Jason added. "He's sticking with what he knows."
"There's no other energy signatures from the base," Alpha replied. "He's gone."
"Agreed," cut in Zordon's voice. "Rangers? This is Zordon to everyone. Return to the Command Centre. We need to regroup."
To be continued.