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Chapter 10- The rescue.
"Wow, look at that." The astro megaship had just left the earth's atmosphere, not too far away from the international space station. Kimberly's eyes were glued to a window which showed the earth from their current position. "It's so beautiful."
Jason was stood behind her, fully suited up, but his helmet was sat on the table behind them. He was also peering out and looking at the beauty of the earth. "It totally is." He placed an arm gently around Kimberly's abdomen as they continued to look out of the window.
"Teleporting is one thing, you travel way too fast to be able to really appreciate how beautiful our world is." Said Kimberly.
"I totally agree. We're truly privileged to be seeing what most people on earth don't get to see." Jason acknowledged.
Kimberly felt Jason's chin on her shoulder and tilted her head to look at him. "Jase, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to come across so rude."
"Forget about it baby." He smiled and gently kissed her cheek.
"Please look after yourself and come back to me. Okay?"
"I will do."
Kimberly quickly turned around and planted a deep kiss on his lips. "I love you Jason." She said, their lips still touching.
"I love you too."
"Hey lovebirds, look."
Tommy's voice interrupted their moment of tenderness and they looked out of the window where the red zeo ranger was pointing with his gloved hand. They could see the moon, not too far away now, gleaming like a glow ball.
"Promise me you'll come back." Kimberly said just as Jason started to break away to put on his helmet, she tugged at his gloved fingers and greedily pulled him back towards her.
"I promise baby." They kissed one more time before Jason walked away to get his helmet on and prepare for their mission.
"I texted Zack before we set off, but in case something happens, tell him that I love him." Trini said, holding Billy's hand.
"Don't be silly Trini, we've done much more dangerous things than this. I have full confidence in your and everybody else's successful returns." Billy replied and got a tight hug in return.
"I love you Billy."
"I must disclose that I love you also." Billy said, tightening their embrace.
"I will be opening the hatch to the galaxy gliders momentarily and preparing them for when you exit." Andros stroked back his long, brown and blonde hair. "Is everyone ready?"
The morphed rangers nodded their heads.
"You go down those chutes." The space ranger pointed to five chutes that led the rangers to exiting the megaship. "Once you go down, the gliders will attach themselves to your feet and you just use your bodies to control their direction. Lean forward to pick up speed, and lean backwards to slow down. To stall completely, stamp your foot and lean back as much as you can"
"It's like surfing." Tommy chuckled. "You'll be absolutely fine." He squeezed Kat's hand who was stood next to him.
"Remember rangers, halt as soon as you reach the moon, and travel to the Palace by foot. It is not too far from where the chutes are positioned, keep travelling north and it should take you right outside the Palace doors. Good luck rangers." Alpha added.
"Thank you Alpha." Jason said looking ahead of him at the pedestal that led to the chutes.
"Who's taking the red chute?" Rocky remarked, smiling underneath his helmet.
"You're wearing blue bro, so definitely not you." Jason said with a laugh.
"I was originally green, so I'll take green." Tommy responded with his own laugh.
"Right, at least that's sorted." Rocky stated.
"Right, rangers. Our friend needs us. Let's go get her back." Jason said, to be met with cheers from everyone.
"Right, here goes. Let's do this." Tommy let go of his girlfriend's hand and walked towards the chutes, with the others following.
"I love you Jase." Kimberly called out to get fiancé who shouted "I love you tooooooo." As he slid down and out of sight.
"He'll be okay Kim. Don't worry." Billy said, his arm around Kimberly's shoulder, Jason's echo still reverberating in their ears.
"Man, this is fucking awesome." Rocky screamed, landing on his blue galaxy glider, going towards the moon.
"It certainly is." Kat responded, leaning slightly to the left in order to position her body towards their target.
"Right guys, stay quiet until we land. We'll stick together and watch each other's backs." Tommy explained, gliding easily along, very close to the moon's surface now.
The rangers leaned backwards and slowed down the awesome galaxy gliders once they reached the moons edge, they then slowed down completely and stalled them.
Tommy nodded his head and the rangers leapt off the gliders and onto the moon's surface.
"Right, let's get close together and move north like alpha said." Tommy explained, the rangers all moving close together.
"Be vigilant team, we don't know what's on this moon" Jason whispered.
"Yeah, let's procure our weapons, just to be safe." Tommy said.
The rangers drew their individual weapons and moved quietly, but quickly forward. It was easier than they thought it would be. They covered a lot of ground and didn't hear or see a thing.
The moon's surface almost glowed underneath their feet as their brisk footsteps moved them to within sight of the moon Palace.
"Look how dark and quiet it looks." Jason said in a hushed tone.
"I know, its so weird." Tommy replied.
"But as we said earlier. It's a little too quiet. We should proceed cautiously."
Tommy nodded his head. "Definitely. Rangers, let's slow down, make sure we stick together at all times."
"You got it Tommy." Kat said.
The rangers moved forward slowly together as one single unit, their weapons in their hands, ready to defend themselves in case of an attack, but nothing happened. They arrived at the Palace doors without any disturbance whatsoever.
Tommy pulled at the castle door and to their shock, the doors opened.
"Wow. What the hell." Rocky whispered, his voice almost inaudible.
"This is too easy." Tommy said.
"Yep, that is what's worrying me." Jason replied.
"I'll take the front bro, I've been to the dungeons more times than I would've wanted to. I need you at the rear, covering our backs. You're the strongest."
"That's fine with me dude." Jason said, moving behind them with Kat, Trini and Rocky in the middle, forming a diamond shape.
"This way." Tommy whispered, pointing to the humongous stone staircase.
The rangers stayed in formation as they descended to the bowels of the castle.
"There's nobody here. What if Aisha isn't here." Rocky said softly.
"If she isn't, we'll go back, search again and we'll find her. But I'm very sure she is here." Tommy responded, slowly leading the way down the hard stone staircase that he was fairly familiar with.
The weapons in their hands were adding a subtle radiance that lit their way down to the dungeons. And after a couple of minutes they arrived at very bottom of the Palace.
"This is it." Tommy signified in a whisper, referring to the enormous stone door in front of them.
Rocky pulled at the handle to no success. "You never know." He shrugged his shoulders.
Tommy raised his sword, ready to charge it and blast the door down.
"We can't blast it down, we'll wake up everyone on the moon and the earth and probably Mars too." Jason forewarned with a slight bit of humour.
"Yeah, you're right. Shit man." Tommy lowered his weapon.
"This is when we need Billy." Jason said.
"Too bad we don't have our communicators huh?".
"Wait," Trini peered through the keyhole. "There is a mechanism in here, if we trigger it-"
We can go through." Jason finished.
"Good work Trini." Kat said.
"I don't think my power daggers can get through, they're too wide at the base."
"Let me try the blade on the blade blaster." Jason said, taking his weapon from its holster and triggering the blade option. He slowly pushed the blade into the keyhole. "It's through," He said positively until it wouldn't go forward anymore. "No, we need something thinner."
"Like what?" Rocky questioned.
"A hair clip." Jason's voice was just audible, he spoke so quietly. "Kimberly usually always wears one, and I know for a fact we have used it at least once or twice, right Trini?"
Trini nodded her head. "Yes, you're right. I didn't wear one today though."
"I did, but I will be able to breathe if I take off my helmet, right?" Kat queried.
"Yeah babe. For some reason, this palace enables us to breathe." Tommy replied.
"Okay, here goes." Katherine took her helmet off with a hiss, pulled one of her hair clips out and handed it to Tommy.
"Thanks beautiful." He told her with a sweet smile before turning over to the locked door. "Right, here goes." Tommy pushed the hair clip into the keyhole and shimmied it around, until they heard a click. "Wow, did they get this door from a DIY store on earth?"
"Never underestimate the power of a hairclip." Jason said.
The rangers opened the door to the dungeons and moved inside to the pitch dark room that smelled absolutely vile.
"Man, it stinks. Aisha, Aisha, are you in here?" Rocky asked in a hushed voice. He received no reply.
"I can't see anything. We need a light." Jason said, bumping into Trini. "sorry".
"Yeah. Here" Tommy's Zeo sword began to omit a red glow.
"Wow, this is awful." Trini commented, looking around at the various empty cells which looked extremely uncomfortable. Chained laid around everywhere, rocks, stones and dust covering the walls and floor.
"Aisha, are you here girl?" Rocky called out again. "Man, where is she?" Rocky said as the team moved further into the dungeon.
"Aisha!" the blue zeo ranger called out again, louder this time.
"Rocky. Is-is that you?" A feeble, weak voice replied.
"Oh my god. Aisha. Where are you girl?" Rocky asked, quickening up his pace.
"At, the- the end."
The rangers ran forward deeper into the dungeons.
"She's here." Tommy said, his star riser illuminating a cage to their right.
"Is it really you guys, or am I seeing things?" Aisha asked, slowly, gingerly getting to her feet, rubbing her eyes in disbelief.
"You're not seeing things. We're here to rescue you Aisha." Rocky stated.
"Rocky. Its so good to hear your voice." Aisha replied.
"Yours too. How do we get you out of here Aisha? Is there a key to the door?" Rocky asked.
"Yeah, but Scorpina has it." Aisha responded.
"Okay, I'm going to try and use this hair pin." Tommy said.
"It won't work. I tried mine already." Aisha responded. "Tommy, where are you. I can't see no white ranger."
"I'm the red zeo ranger in front of you with he flowing sword." Tommy slid his fingers thorough the cage bars which Aisha held with a weak grip. "We'll get you out."
Tommy slid the hair pin into the lock and tried to open it but Aisha was right. It wouldn't budge.
"I told ya." Aisha said.
"Dammit. What the fuck are we going to do." Rocky said.
"Rocky, since when did you start to swear?" Aisha asked.
Ricky gave her a little chuckle. "I'll fill you in when we get home. We're gonna have to break through the cage. We don't have another option."
"I think you're right. Let's try and slice through the bars with the power sword and the star riser." Tommy said.
Jason walked up to the cage, he and Tommy raised their swords, charged them up and swung them at the cage, slicing through a couple of bars, clinking sounds of metal, shattering the silence.
"Let's hurry up." Tommy said, he and Jason slashing again, and again and again, until the front bars of the cell were broken and more than large enough for Aisha to fit through.
"Guy's, I'll need a hand, I'm so weak." Aisha said, just managing to hold her balance.
Rocky, Jason and Tommy helped Aisha make her way through the cage and out onto the dungeon floor. Aisha turned around and flung her arms around Jason.
"Rocky. Thank you so much."
"Ummm, I'm over here."
A voice behind Jason said, Aisha's face laden with confusion.
"Hi, I'm Jason."
"Oh Jason, hey. Sorry about that." Aisha said, slowly moving away and gingerly running to Rocky and wrapping him in a hug. "Thank you Rocky. That must be Tanya and Kim." Aisha said, holding the yellow and pink ranger in cuddles.
"Actually, they're Kat and Trini." Rocky said.
"Oh crap. Hi girls." Aisha gave them one last squeeze and then embraced Tommy. "God, you guys look so different."
"We have a lot to catch up on. Come on let's go, someone just have heard us breaking down that cage." Rocky said.
"Yeah, let's haul ass. And quickly." Jason said.
Rocky picked up Aisha and placed Alphas oxygen mask around her nose and mouth and carried her out, surrounded by the other power rangers, protecting them.
They made their way to up the stairs, quick as they could without making much noise.
"Rocky, I have to tell you something." Aisha said, rocky carrying her through another block of stairs.
"Yeah Eesh?"
"There's more than one bad guy. Scorpina and-"
"Silverback or something."
"You know?"
"Yes, they started something on earth. I'll fill you in later." Rocky said.
"It's not just them two, there's-"
"What in the name of all that is evil, are you doing down there human. I can hear you upstairs in my chambers."
The rangers halted, Scorpina's loud voice making its way closer and closer to them
"You better not be doing anything silly. I'm warning you." She shouted.
"Oh no. What do we do?" Kat asked.
"There's four of us, we'll take her on." Tommy replied.
"I know you're hungry. I'll get you something better from earth tomorrow." Scorpina said, pausing in the middle of the staircase when she saw the rangers in front of her. She quickly, dodged out of the way as four beams of energy came shooting at her. She quickly hid behind a large stone pillar.
"Don't be stupid rangers. Put her down now and I'll let you go. If you don't, I have no option but to destroy you." Scorpina warned.
"You know we can't just leave her here Scorpina." Rocky shouted.
"We're taking her with us." Tommy added.
"You leave me with no choice." Scorpina clicked a device on her wrist." Silverback. The rangers are here, freeing our prisoner. And they're fully morphed, alert master."
"Master?" Jason repeated.
"I think he's called Gasket or something." Aisha said. "That's what I was trying to tell you Rocky, before she interrupted me."
"Gasket? Gasket is Alive? Son of a bitch. We need to get out. NOW!" Tommy shouted, he and Jason exchanging a glance.
The rangers ran up the staircase as fast as their legs could carry them, Scorpina did not attack, but retreated instead. She knew she couldn't take out five fully morphed rangers.
The team of power rangers made it to the castle door which Tommy kicked open just as they heard a roar behind them.
"Rangers!" Silverback roared, flying down the stairs faster than a beast his size should be capable of.
"Tommy, let's keep going, as fast as you can. That silver bastard is gaining on us." Jason shouted from the rear of their formation. The red ranger was running backwards half the time, keeping one eye on Silverback and Scorpina, who were running after them.
"You'll be okay Aisha." Rocky said, running as fast as his legs could carry him and Aisha, his back beginning to wear down, but he didn't feel it at this moment in time, adrenaline was taking over, his zeo powers turning him almost superhuman. He was moving faster as stronger than he had moved in the last four years. He glanced down at Aisha who had her arms wrapped around his neck.
"I knew you would come." She mumbled.
"You know me. I might be an idiot but I'd never leave my friends. Especially not you."
"I missed you." Aisha said, looking into the blue ranger's visor.
"I missed you too."
"We're nearly there guys." Tommy shouted.
"Yeah, so are they." Jason looked at the monsters, now just metres away from them. "You guys go, get Aisha to safety. I'll hold them off."
"No way Jason. We're not leaving you." Trini countered.
"You have to. We need to save Aisha."
"What, and lose you instead?" the yellow ranger asked
"You won't lose me. Have you forgotten how much of a bad ass I am." Jason chuckled but then saw Scorpina raise her jagged sword and charge it, ready for a blast. "Guys, DUCK!" he shouted.
The rangers quickly ducked and avoided the energy blast.
"Go now." Jason shouted.
"No way Jase. I ain't leaving you." Tommy shouted.
"Why not!"
"Because Kim will kick my ass. I'd rather face a lifetime in that dungeon than tell her I left you behind."
"I'll be okay. I'll join you once you get on them glider things."
"Then I'm going stay and help you." Trini said, stopping at the same time as Jason, just as Silverback and Scorpina charged at them with their weapons.
Trini used her daggers to defend against the sword from Scorpina and Jason clashed his power sword against the huge silver sword of Silverback.
"Go!" Jason shouted. He knew that the gliders were a few metres away now. They could make it.
Tommy looked at Kat and Rocky. "You guys know where the gliders are right?" he resumed as he saw their nod. "You two go on. We'll try holding these two off and join you, if we don't get to the gliders, you guys get to the megaship and tell Andros to bring it here and zap us inside."
"Okay. Look as after yourself Tommy. I love you." Kat said.
"I love you too. Now GO!"
Kat and Rocky with Aisha in his arms didn't waste time and continued on.
Tommy turned around and saw both rangers at a standstill with their opponent's. He saw the opportunity in front of him and quickly charged his star riser and shot it at Silverback, hitting him square in the chest and sending him tumbling to the ground of the moon. "Run guys, Run!" Tommy shouted.
Jason and Trini took advantage of their numbers gain and double teamed Scorpina, until she was also sent to the ground. They ran like their lives depended on it, because if they were honest, they did.
They caught up to Tommy in no time. "Let's Go!" Tommy said, without hesitation, and they made a run for it. Jason glanced behind him and saw that they were running clear of the monsters, who were just now getting to their feet.
They sprinted and caught up to Kat and Rocky who were now very close to the edge of the moon and the galaxy gliders.
"You made it." Kat screamed, seeing her boyfriend.
"We sure did." Tommy glanced behind him once more and saw Silverback and Scorpina still far away. "Come on, let's go."
"And where do you think you are going you pesky red ranger!" Tommy froze when he heard that familiar, creepy, evil voice.
"Gasket!" Tommy said with clenched teeth, turning around.
"Well, Prince Gasket, soon to be King Gasket. I have waited a long time for this Tommy." Gasket scowled, walking up to the rangers who were very close to the galaxy gliders. "And the gold ranger is now a red ranger. How very Interesting. You rangers have a price to pay. You destroyed my family. I will destroy yours."
"Yeah, we'll see about that Gasket." Tommy retorted.
"You know, we can't let you leave right." Princess Archerina added, appearing next to her husband.
"Who said you get to make that call." Jason responded.
"Aaah yes. That's the Jason I know." Gasket glanced at his wife and smiled. "The bold, but foolish Jason."
Scorpina and Silverback had caught up to them now.
"This is the end for you power rangers. This is for the machine empire." Gasket said with pride. He raised his hideous, mouldy looking green sword, his wife raised her pink bow and arrow.
The power rangers knew that they couldn't just hop onto the galaxy gliders. If they foolishly turned their backs on their opponents, they would be destroyed, with no chance to defend. They had to fight and survive.
"Aisha, we'll get out of this." Rocky cradled Aisha in his arms and looked into her eyes." I want to tell you something though."
"Are you ready for your demise, rangers?" Silverback growled.
"What?" Aisha replied, still clinging on to Rocky.
"I-"
Silverback and Scorpina began to charge at the rangers, stopping Rocky from saying his next sentence.
"Stand your ground rangers. Do not give up." Jason shouted.
"You act as though you have a choice." Gasket said. He and his wife began to move towards the rangers also.
The monsters were inches away from the rangers now. They couldn't defeat four, powerful monsters. It was too much.
"Huh. What in the blazes is that!" Gasket shouted.
The rangers smiled as they saw the astro megaship hovering above them.
"No. This can't be." Gasket barked, watching as the astro megaship fired at the aliens.
One, two, three, four, five, the blasts continued to rain on the evil aliens whilst a hatch at the bottom of the megaship began to open.
"They're going to beam us up guys. Be ready, it's milder than teleporting, so you'll be fine." Tommy said to his friends around him.
The hatch fully opened and a multi-coloured beam began to seep out of it.
"Here we go guys." Tommy shouted above the blasts and weird screams of Scorpina.
"Silverback! Don't do it!" the gold clad Scorpina screamed, dodging out of the way of another blast.
"Do it Silverback!" Prince Gasket growled as a blast connected with his foot, leaving gasket limping around and hopping on one foot.
"Aaaaargh!" Silverback, now at least 10 metres away from the rangers, raised his sword in the air.
"Silverback, please. Not her!" Scorpina pleaded, staring at Silverback's target.
Silverback ignored his friend Scorpina and launched the sword in the air like a javelin.
Time seemed to stand still for a few seconds, the sword flew through the air as the rangers were traveling upwards towards the astro megaship in its beam. Unaware of the damage coming their way. Unaware that they weren't getting away unscathed. Oblivious of the fact that their lives would never be the same.
The sword found its target.
Authors note:
Oooh I'm going to leave it right there with that deliciously annoying cliff-hanger. ;)
I have a very very busy few days ahead of me. But I will continue this story and post a new chapter within a week or two.
RR please guys
Thank you.
Peace out
RedDragon