"This is gonna be so cool," Alex exulted with a grin.
Cecil took one hand off the steering wheel to give him a gentle slap and moan, "What a terrible pun."
The passenger laughed and turned around in his seat to look back at every else. Amber sat in the back seat of the van, squashed against the side by Rachel Manus and a disguised Bane. In front of her, Patrick, Harper Quinlan, and Sarah Collins were similarly packed in tight. "Hey, Amber," Alex was calling back to her. "Your turn to choose the music."
"Whatever everyone else wants," she called back.
Rachel giggled as Bane whispered something to her, then he himself snickered behind the back of his hand to cover it up. He looked halfway decent, Bane did, with his hair tied back and tucked into the back of his shirt, the rest covered with a stocking cap, and glasses to draw attention away from his polished crystal eyes. Together he and Rachel had spent most of the ride exchanging secret looks, and probably enjoyed being pressed up against one another. And to complete the masquerade, Bane had assumed the name Henry Vaughan, the name of some poet from the 1600's.
Harper, a friend of Alex's and Patrick's from Harrison High School, suggested, "There are some great rock and roll stations out of Denver that don't reach Ivory Glade. Maybe we can find one of them."
"Okay," Alex agreed. Fiddling with the tuner, he cycled through the strongest radio stations, stopping briefly to check out what was playing. He passed a country music station, a heavy metal one, one playing John Tesh that caused everyone to moan, until he came to one reporting the hourly news.
"...small city of Ivory Glade, Colorado, continues the rebuilding process after last June's still-unexplained invasion by a group calling themselves 'The Twilight.' For the past year Ivory Glade has established a reputation for unexplained happenings, but seems to be protected by a group calling themselves Power Rangers. Until now the only other sighting of so-called Power Rangers was the town of Angel Grove, California, which has endured almost five years of such attacks. Continued periodic coverage as new details unfold. CSN Colorado State News time one o'four."
Up in front, Amber noticed Cecil tensing up, as both hands tightened around the steering wheel and his eyes snapped straight ahead. Directly behind him, not noticing, Sarah remarked, "How terrible. Ivory Glade gets thirty seconds of airtime and not one word about Craig missing or his parents's murder. Why can't the Power Rangers handle that when they're not busy fighting giant flaming bugs?"
"I dunno," Harper sighed. She turned around, her dark blue eyes locking into Amber's direction, and asked, "You disappeared for months; where'd you go? Is Craig there?" Brushing back some of her long, dishwater blond hair, she could not resist adding, "You look so much like him."
"Yeah," Amber agreed, trying not to show any outward signs of the nervousness the questions were causing her. "We were cousins."
Alex mercifully turned around and shouted, "Hey! We're here!" Both Harper and Sarah turned back around to watch as their minivan drove under the welcoming gates of White Holiday Ski Center, and as their exciting winter vacation began.
Shifting to look beside him, Cecil pulled the red scarf covering his mouth down and challenged over the high winds, "Race to the bottom?"
"I don't wanna waste time," Amber called back as she anxiously used her poles to slide back and forth, adjusting the feel of her weight on the skis, "waiting for you down there." She grinned her sincerity as he laughed and playfully shrugged his acquiescence.
Amber turned just her head to glimpse behind her and saw Rachel patiently guiding Bane across toward the beginner's hill. He still seemed unsure of the sport, but betrayed nothing of his lacking confidence in his demeanor. Nearby, Patrick cheered him on with, "Nice job, Henry," as if Bane were a little child, and Sarah giggled into two mittened hands.
Growing impatient, Amber pushed forward, succumbing to gravity, and placed herself directly into the stream of the powerful planetary force. Using her own strength and shifting her weight, she guided herself side to side as she traveled, excited at the freedom it offered. The speed was incredible, and it was all a combination of her own doing and nature. Cold air whipped across her face, as refreshing as the first gust of autumn air in her old home of North Carolina. Leaning right to avoid colliding with another skier, she realized she was closer to the base of the hill, and began slowing down, until coming to a gradual stop and inhaling deeply to catch her breath. A long stream of vapor clouded her vision as she exhaled.
Looking back up the snow-covered hill, she wondered long how she really would have to wait for Cecil to catch up with her. When she had first met him, Amber had taken him for a head-in-the-clouds, overdramatic type with a weird and unique personality. Lately he had changed, becoming more open and friendly while showing his sense of humor and love of life, but at the same time he just seemed incomplete. Much of that she attributed to becoming an Omni Ranger because she had gone through it herself.
For several minutes she waited, until her internal temperature ran as cold as the exterior, and she scurried up the hill a way, behind a tree, and lifted her ShadowTech Morpher up to her mouth. "Cecil," she whispered through it, hoping Alpha Systems would deliver her voice directly to his ears. But there was no response. "Cecil!" she exclaimed again, with another absent answer.
Suddenly the tree Amber was hiding behind exploded, sending big chunks of wood and little splinters everywhere. Throwing herself to the ground, she covered her head to avoid the debris, then leapt to her feet and whirled to investigate what happened. The tree was completely gone, roots and all, leaving a faint circle of gray ash sprinkled over white snow but nothing more. Realizing the event might have drawn attention to her, she ran for another, larger tree to hide behind.
Thrusting her Morpher to the sky, Amber said quickly, "It's morphin' time! Omni Cerberus!" and instantly the black uniform of the only Earth-created Omni Ranger replaced her heavy winter clothing. Although the material was thin, and tight around her body, it still provided excellent warmth.
Seconds after morphing, the second tree exploded and vaporized, but this time instead of ducking to avoid the dangers of airborne wood, her reflexes were enhanced enough to simply deflect any headed her way with a swipe of her hand. Scanning the area, Amber sought to locate who or what was doing this, and suddenly a very bad feeling about Cecil and the others was growing on her.
By pure chance, in the corner of her vision, she spotted two people, one man and one woman, clothed in black, purple, and orange, the signature and ranking colors of Twilight Legion. "Moon Glider!" Amber summoned her recently-acquired vehicle and hopped onto it. The Glider looked very much like a motorcycle, except that instead of having wheels it hovered a couple inches off the ground, and was painted to look like bright moonlight shining in a pitch black night. At high speed, Amber raced to where she was the Legionnaires and found them running away. It was fairly easy for her to catch up and, upon doing so, she jumped in front of them and caused both to freeze in their frozen tracks.
Executing a lightning-fast, powerful forward kick to the Legionman, the Black Ranger knocked him down backward into the snow. The Legionwoman lifted a two-handed device and grinned devilishly as it began to emanate with dull red light. "Zenith Aura!" Amber cried, forming the rainbow-colored energy shield around her entire body. The weapon discharged a thick beam of energy and, with difficulty, Amber knocked it to the side. It struck a third tree nearby and again shattered it to non-existence.
"Shadow Blades!" Two short and thin-bladed knives materialized in Amber's hands and, quickly, she flung one forward to pierce and inactivate her enemy's strange device. Charging forward as the Legionwoman stood stunned, with a blank expression on her face, Amber intentionally fell, flipping over as she did so, and extended her legs. She knocked the second Legionnaire down on top of the first one, then retrieved her Shadow Blade and reported into her Morpher, "Oriquin, I'm teleporting two Twilight Legionnaires to you."
Through Alpha Systems, Oriquin responded, "Understood. Are you going to investigate why Cecil, Bane, and Alexander have vanished from our monitors?"
"They're not being located?" Amber asked. "Why not?"
"I'll contact Rebecca and Brittany to help you search," promised Oriquin. "I was not watching when their signals disappeared, but Alpha alerted me as soon as it happened. I have a feeling this is the work of..."
Amber finished for him, "Rapture Hold." Touching a Legionnaire with each hand, she channeled the ShadowTech power out from the Ability Band, into her hands, then into her assailants and teleported them all the way back to Alpha Complex. "I'll scour the mountains with the Moon Glider. Have the other girls do the same, and contact me when anything is learned."
In her ears she heard Oriquin say, "A good plan. I will do it right away."
Climbing aboard the Glider once again, Amber began by racing to the top of the hill, where only innocent skiers were going about their business. No trace of anyone from her company. Sighing inwardly to herself, she began a slow sweep of the surrounding area, doing her best to ignore the gawkers and starers all around.
He groaned before opening his eyes, but really he wanted to scream. It seemed as though, ever since Craig had cursed him with superheroic powers, he was constantly getting knocked out, knocking himself out, or knocking someone else out. He supposed it was the price you pay when your inherent talent is mentally based. Deciding it was worth the shame, Cecil went to draw power out of the OmniTech Morpher to dull the pain but...
Nothing. He focused harder, but still no response from the Ability Band.
"They are not working," Bane whispered in his ear.
Looking around, Cecil realized they were in some type of enclosure with walls on all sides, a domed ceiling, and all of it was composed entirely of ice. "What the hell?" he asked loudly, and heard a echo shimmer in the air, "Hell."
Across from he and Bane, Patrick was slouched against the ice wall still passed out, while Harper was sprawled out on the ice floor, and Sarah was in a uncomfortable position pressed against the wall and leaning forward. Alex was alert, his terrified green eyes wide as they took in their situation. Rachel rested under Bane's arm, looking satisfied and happy even in such a miserable setting.
Cecil realize the ice on the floor was clear, and below them was some kind of light source illuminating the cell, creating their seven shadows on the ceiling. "You can't morph either, can you?" Rachel asked quietly. "And after those two wake up, even if you can, you won't be able to."
"Where is Amber?" Cecil asked them.
Bane shrugged. Rachel shook her head slowly. Alex puffed helplessly.
"We're under the mountain, aren't we?" sighed Rachel, leaning further into Bane's arms. He stroked her hair gently and she relaxed even more.
"Trapped under a mountain of ice," Alex muttered. "Shit."
Struggling and slipping until he was able to stand up at least partially straight, Cecil smiled faintly and assured them, "Not for long. Oriquin is probably already on his way here to free us."
The Sun Glider appeared over the crest of the next mountain and, spotting Amber, the Yellow Ranger moved at high speed until she hovered a foot or so nearby and noted sadly, "Still no sign of them."
"Well, what do you think?" Amber probed, knowing Brittany right now was twice as smart as she probably ever would be.
Brittany sighed, fiddling with the controls of her Glider absent-mindedly, and offered, "If Alpha System can't find them, they're somewhere with no light. No natural light, anyhow. And they didn't teleport or we could've traced their residual energy since their DNA is on profile."
The news was not as comforting as Amber had hoped it would be. "It's as if the ground just opened up and swallowed them whole."
"A possibility," Brittany agreed, not realizing it was only an inappropriately timed joke and not a real suggestion. "We could go back and examine where they last were and look for any sign of ground disturbance."
"Then let's do it," urged Amber, turning the Moon Glider around and taking off forward to retrace her path, with Brittany and the Sun Glider close behind.
Cecil held Sarah tightly as she cried. It was not a pleasant sight when she had woken up, realized where they were, and instantly broke down in tears. Harper had regain consciousness a few minutes later and was handling the situation a lot better and stronger. Nothing had changed much since then. Occasionally Cecil would wipe away Sarah's tears with his coat sleeve before they froze to her face and made her even more uncomfortable.
Leaning up, Rachel whispered something into Bane's ear, and he blushed. The pale New Omnian's cheeks turned from off-white to bright red and he instantly turned away from everyone before they had a chance to notice. Something was definitely going on between those two.
"What's wrong, Henry?" asked Harper from the other side of the ice cell.
Bane turned back, his composure instantly restored, crystalline gaze shining through even the glasses designed to hide it. "But thou shalt in thy mother's bosom sleep," he chanted in a forlorn and ominous voice, "whilst I each minute groan to know how near Redemption creeps. Then shall we meet to mix again, and met, 'tis last good night; our Sun shall never set."
Returning to him an unspecial dark blue gaze, Harper frowned and asked, rather rudely, "What?"
"It's a poem," Rachel sneered. "And it's beautiful."
"Shut it, virgin," retorted Harper, acting as though she were lunging forward, but ironically slipped backward.
Cecil sharply ordered, "Enough. We have to concentrate on getting along." He wiped Sarah's face again and wished desperately he could trade places with Craig at that moment, for both their sakes.
Kneeling down to examine the circle of ash, he scooped it up in one hand and lifted it to eye level.
Two impressions in the snow, the size of humans, surrounded by heavy footprints on every side, and more ashes not far from the site.
He could feel something important happening in the way the entire flow of energy on Earth was reacting violently.
Realizing others were closing in at a rather fast speed, he fled into a grove of evergreen trees and sought sweet refuge among their mighty and everlasting shadows.
Arcanza's voice laughed in the back of his head.
"Becky!" exclaimed Amber as she dismounted her Glider and sent it back to its resting place in the Zord Holding Bay subchamber.
The Pink Ranger gave the Black Ranger a quick hug and promised, "We'll find them soon, I know it."
Brittany unexpectedly grabbed Amber's shoulder tightly and shrieked, "Who's that?"
Turning her attention to the distance, Amber spotted a humanoid figure approaching them, adorned in loose fitting clothing with strange alien designs stitched all over them. It had male facial features, a well-trimmed black beard and close-cropped graying black hair, and carried a quarterstaff with a shimmering crystal tied to one end of it. "Greetings, assassins," he spoke.
From behind a nearby evergreen, Corout emerged, a satisfied smile tilting his pointed nose upward. "This is Naelride, ladies," he informed them. "Watch out. His power is imprisoning."
On cue, Naelride thrust his staff forward, and a metal cage instantly appeared around Brittany, capturing her inside. "Shine Saber!" Brittany called, and sliced her way through the metal with her signature weapon.
"That explains it," Amber concluded. "This guy imprisoned Cecil and the others just like that."
"Exactly," Corout laughed, pointing downward to the snow.
At the same time, Oriquin was speaking into Amber, Brittany, and Rebecca's ears, "Preliminary data shows destroying Naelride will free all those he imprisoned."
"Then he's finished!" cried Amber, throwing herself forward and performing a perfect jump kick, reinforced with the power of the Zenith Aura. With a quick movement, Naelride caught her leg with the quarterstaff, twisted it, and send her directly to the ground in front of him, where a swift kick thrust her backward through the snow.
Linking hands and extending their opposite palms, Rebecca and Brittany simultaneously used, "Electrocution Surge!" and "Blinding Surge!" The double blast of both Rangers' ultimate powers made Naelride howl with pain, but it had no more serious effect than that.
The surprise must have spooked Corout, though, because he suddenly thrust a syringe filled with thick liquid into Naelride's arm and teleported away in a flash. Slowly Naelride began to expand and grow in size, in just over a minute he was towering over the three girls as they scrambled to find a safe haven. "We need the guys' Morphers to form the Megazord," Becky panted as they ran.
"Maybe Babel can help us," Amber suggested. She had a little experience piloting the incredible ancient CarrierZord.
"Actually," replied Brittany in a distant voice, "I've pretty much finished the new CrusaderZord, and we've designed it to match Amber's powers. The Dark Crusader is ready to deploy."
Amber patted Brittany on the shoulder and cheered, "Great!" Taking another look at giant Naelride, she ordered, "I'll pilot the Crusader. Becky can use my Cerberus OmniZord. Brittany can operate Babel, and we'll come at him from three sides."
"Yes!" Becky laughed, and Brittany muttered, "I suppose."
Lifting her Ability Band into the air, the Black Ranger summoned, "Cerberus OmniZord! Babel CarrierZord! Dark CrusaderZord!" Without wasting precious time, she teleported into the cockpit of the Crusader and began to study the controls and operations. "What's this?" she asked Brittany through the communicator.
The Yellow Ranger answered back without excitement, "What's what?"
"These details...it's a new attack," Amber realized.
Becky reported, "There are instruction here, too. Is that what we're going to do?"
"Yes," Amber decided quickly. "Move into position." Quickly she maneuvered the CrusaderZord directly in front of Naelride, who lashed out to strike it with his quarterstaff but did relatively no damage. Babel moved off to one of Naelride's sides, while the Cerberus's paws settled deep in the snow on the opposite side. "Triple Umbra Attack!"
A beam of black energy shot out of the Crusader's hand and into the Cerberus's second head's mouth, while another beam from the Crusader's other hand extended to the top of the Babel. A final beam from the CarrierZord's pinnacle to the OmniZord's mouth was formed, and suddenly Naelride was caught in a triangle of black energy. Slowly the triangle began to fill with the same type of shadow power and surrounded Naelride instantaneously. With a final howl, the Imprisoner exploded. Switching the Dark Crusader to auto-pilot, Amber teleported back down to the ground and searched for any trace of her missing friends.
The evergreens' shadows provided excellent cover, but just in case he summoned up enough of the filthy power to create a cloak of invisibility completely around himself. Whenever he did that, he got the urge to kneel over and throw up until the feeling of sickness and decay passed, but he knew it never would. So he made the decision to tough it out and watched carefully.
The attack combining the OmniZord, CrusdaerZord, and CarrierZord was very impressive, but compared to the power he knew it remained virtually nothing. Naelride was weak and broken even before the battle.
In the sky, a large cube appeared, with all six clear sides so its contents, seven teenagers, were visible. Slowly it began to dissolve, as though the cube was made entirely of ice melting in the sun. As a group, they fell to the ground with a thud in the snow.
"Cecil!" the Black Ranger exclaimed, running up to hug him, but stopping short as he realized she could not do that in front of unknowledgeable eyes. "Are all of you alright?"
"Yeah, thanks," Alex answered as he helped Harper and Patrick, who looked as though he had just woken up, to stand.
The Black Ranger nodded and gave the thumbs-up sign. "Everything has been taken care of. Enjoy the rest of your vacation."
But everything had not been taken care of, he thought sadly as withdrew and called another wave of sickening power in order to teleport away. The scales of light and darkness continued to swing back and forth, and if he did not take an active role soon, reality itself might fall out of balance.
Original Publication Date: 18 October 2001
