Streaks of Purple Saga Volume Two, Heather Ray [story read aloud txt] 📗

his right hand, trapped in a perpetual fist.

"Tommy?" Alpha ventured, leaning in to look closer at the former Green Ranger.

The young man's expression softened, and slowly, dazed mahogany eyes slid open. "Alpha..."

Alpha sighed in relief. At least Tommy was all right...

His cheer died when Tommy's hand finally relaxed, revealing a small, circular design blazed onto his palm. Within the disc-shaped outline was a three-toed footprint.

"Aye yi yi!" Alpha shrieked in alarm, taking a step back, "Tommy, you're hand!"

Tommy struggled to sit up, drawing his sore hand toward him. His skin was reddened with some sort of burn, but the design was unmistakable.

His eyes widening, Tommy reached his other hand into his jeans pocket. After a brief search, he looked again at his hand.

"My coin?" he whispered, turning an incredulous glance at Zordon, "Is this my coin?"

"APPARENTLY SO," Zordon admitted, obviously almost as surprised as Tommy, "ORIGINALLY, ALL THE POWER RANGERS ABSORBED THEIR POWER COINS INTO THEIR BODIES TO ACCESS THE POWER. THAT IS HOW YOU WERE ABLE TO TRANSFORM INTO THE EVIL GREEN RANGER BEFORE I HAD GIVEN YOU A MORPHER. I HAD RECONFIGURED THE COINS TO NEED THE MORPHER AS A SAFETY PRECAUTION."

"But, how did you do it, Tommy?" Alpha wondered. The boy was too overwhelmed to speak, his gaze boring into the design on his palm.

"I didn't!" Tommy argued, shaking his head to clear his mind. "I didn't even know it was possible. And my coin is dead! I lost every last drop of power, remember?"

It was then that Tommy noticed the alarm lights flashing all around him. Concern welling in his heart, he dashed to the Viewing Globe.

His stomach tightened as he witnessed some demonic creature swoop from the sky, grabbing the Black Ranger in one of its six clawed limbs.

"What is that

?" he gasped.

"THE OTHER RANGERS ARE ENGAGED IN A BATTLE," Zordon explained, "THE CREATURE THEY FACE IS ONE WITH INCREDIBLE POWER."

Tommy bit his lip, his considering gaze turning from the Viewing Globe to his palm, and then back again.

"Oh no you don't!" Alpha suddenly shouted, "There's no way you're going out there."

"But they need help!" Tommy protested, holding out his hand, "and it looks like I can give some!"

"ALPHA, BEGIN RUNNING SCANS ON TOMMY," Zordon decided. "WE MUST DETERMINE IF HIS POWERS ARE RESTORED, AND HOW LONG THOSE POWERS MIGHT LAST. UNTIL WE KNOW FOR SURE THAT YOU ARE IN STABLE CONDITION TO FIGHT, TOMMY, WE WOULD ONLY PUT THE RANGERS IN FURTHER DANGER. IF YOUR POWERS DID RETURN, ONLY TO DISSOLVE AFTER A BRIEF MORPH, THEN WE WOULD ONLY DISTRACT THE OTHERS."

Tommy frowned heatedly, folding his arms as he watched the battle progress with hardened eyes.

He winced as the Black Ranger was released from the nightmare's grip, falling limply into the jagged cliff of the rock quarry.

"Hurry up," Tommy sighed. "They don't have much time."

Chapter Two

"Zack? Zack, answer me!"

Billy swallowed back his panic, gently jostling his close friend. Red blood stained the Blue Ranger's dust-blackened gloves, oozing steadily from several gashes along the Black Ranger's shoulders.

The monster's razor-sharp claws did a great deal of damage when he had plucked the Black Ranger off the ground to take him on a joyride.

Zack remained a dead weight, his arms hanging limply when Billy tried to adjust his position. With a heavy sigh, Billy gave up, doing his best to gently lay his friend on the ground.

The young genius gulped as his fingers hovered above the bleeding wound Zack had suffered.

"A monster was never able to penetrate our armor," he realized, his fear building. "In order to actually harm us while Morphed, the monster has to be able to not only penetrate the armor, but the energy layer between the outer armor and our skin beneath!"

Billy rose to his feet. "How does a monster tear through a transformation? What are we dealing with?"

Jason had asked him to make sure the Black Ranger was alive, and assess whether he could possibly continue fighting. After a quick observation, Billy decided that the Black Ranger was more or less all right. True, he was bleeding, and was also dazed. But the Morph would repair itself soon enough, restoring Zack to fighting form.

Of course, when the Morph was eventually broken, Zack would have to be properly treated. But considering the battle at hand, the Rangers couldn't afford to be short-handed.

Billy steeled himself, grasping his discarded Power Lance and hurrying out of the small, shallow cave in the rock that would serve as Zack's recovery area. He gazed at the battle from the mouth of the indenture, frowning deeply.

After realizing that an all-out attack strategy proved unsuccessful, the three remaining Rangers had opted for speed over strength. After all, even the most devastating attack would be useless against a monster that was too quick to be touched. The Rangers even managed to fire twice from the laser cannon assembled from their individual Power Weapons, but all they had managed to do was graze the beast's thick tail. It wasn't enough to do any observable damage either; it just seemed to irritate it.

Kimberly flipped into the air, barely missing the enormous tail that repeatedly stabbed the air. She landed perfectly after a follow-up handspring, but breathed in sharply and continued rolling. She took a brief second to glance at the spot where she had landed, the rock smoldering with an eerie black fire.

"He's so fast!" she panted, bolting into a run. She wanted to make as much room between her and the freakish creature as possible.

Erebus gave chase, smirking gleefully at the terror that hovered around the short girl like a delicious aura. Chaotics just loved

the taste of fear. It was like a fine wine... intoxicating and sooo satisfying.

And it didn't take much effort to make these colorful children bleed with terror.

Chapter Three

Meanwhile, far above, a glittering purple form hovered, watching the battle with grim interest.

"By the gods," she whispered, her entire body tingling with a creeping sensation, "What kind of horror is

this?"

Kreia hated being faced with puzzling circumstances. She prided herself in an extensive knowledge of all realities, through long hours of study, as well as some practice.

She closed her eyes, reaching out with her dwindling power. She needed to sense more, to create a mental picture of all the energies swirling around in the environment. Perhaps that would be the map to understanding.

She slowly detected the grim aura concentrated around the monster that faded slightly with distance. But that aura filled the area for miles, collecting around the individual Rangers as they fought for their lives.

"It feeds off of them," she noted, her stomach retching in disgust, "Off their fear."

Her scowl deepened, and she followed the column of energy she had seen stretch from the monster in her direction. It reached to the heavens, glittering with black energy.

Her brow folded thoughtfully at the source of the energy. The moon.

"But the moon isn't the ultimate source," she decided, "Only a mirror, like how the moon reflects the sunlight. It's reflecting this energy, and the energy is strengthening the beast."

A piercing scream drew her attention. She hovered lower, watching in horror as the monster crushed the Yellow Ranger beneath its claw. The screams of agony chilled the Purple Ranger, and even from that distance she could see crimson stain the bright color of the uniform.

"Kazu..." she whispered.

Of course, she knew the Ranger below was not Kazu, the indomitable, noble hunter. In fact, the current Yellow Ranger was female.

Kreia didn't recognize the form, nor the voice that rang with pleading as she screamed. But it didn't matter that she didn't know the girl below. It didn't matter that she barely had any energy left. She had to do something

.

She was, after all, a Power Ranger.

She gathered her energy once again, manifesting the cyclone of pure energy that had so nearly killed Goldar on the moon. But this time, the cyclone buzzed even louder, energy whirling brighter and faster than ever before.

Kreia poured all the energy she could spare, her head becoming light. Still, she forced herself to hold on... to remain connected to the Physical Plane through Alexis.

Just... hold... on...

Then, her breath escaped in a terrifying scream that might have shattered glass. Everything below stopped, as four pairs of human eyes, and one set of Chaotic, watched the swirling cyclone descend with terrible force.

Even though the Yellow Ranger was helpless beneath the weight of the monster, the precision of the cyclone was sharp enough to leave her completely unharmed. The brutal attack plucked the twelve-foot beast into the air, sending him spinning in a storm of violent energy.

Trini gasped as numbness crawled through her wounded body. The Pink and Blue Rangers were quick to rush to her side, Kimberly cradling her head while Billy gently probed the visible wounds.

"Trini?" Kim gasped, her voice shaking with fear, "Say something!"

"I'm... fine," she rasped, her voice grating on her sore throat.

"No you're not," Billy argued, his tone heavy with strained composure, "He may have cracked some ribs, and his claws cut deeply into your abdomen. I can't tell what's broken unless you move, but it'll be torturous."

"I said I'm fine," Trini repeated, trying to demonstrate by rising to her elbows. Her insides were aflame, and despite her incredible self-control, she shivered.

"That's it, you're going back to the Command Center," Billy decided, his tone brooking no argument, "There's no way you'll be in any shape to help us."

Billy rose to his feet, glancing toward his leader. "Jason, Trini has to get immediate medical attention!"

But the Red Ranger didn't hear his friend's report, too focused he was on the writhing beast high above. It screamed in tortured fury, swirling madly in the epicenter of a tornado strong enough to send him to Oz,