Watching from the balcony of the lunar palace, Rita turned sharply and stalked back into the great hall, not even noticing as Squatt and Baboo began cowering in the corner. As frightening as Rita could be when she was only slightly angry, when she was furious, you did not get anywhere near being in her way. It was something they had learn merely from watching her methods ten thousand years ago.

"Finster!"

The wizened old sculptor stepped out of his work shop and bowed to the sorceress as she continued on her path toward him. "Yes, Lady Rita?" He blinked in surprise at the infuriated look in her eyes, not quite sure what was wrong. "Is something the matter, my lady?"

A quick nod was the first response. The second came after the sound that signaled Goldar's return to the palace. "The golems have been reduced in their numbers," she stated, then whirled about to raise her staff and slam the end down on the stone ground. "And you have failed yet again to destroy the Rangers!"

The griffizon curled his upper lip, giving a rude snarl in reply, but saying nothing else as he walked away toward a corridor. The bright flash and barrier of light that generated before him reminded the soldier that Rita was not one who tolerated being brushed off so easily. "I trust you saw what they are now capable of already."

"I saw," came Rita's retort as she stepped closer to the griffizon warrior. As soon as he'd turned to face her, she slapped him hard across the face. There was a snarl as he shut his eyes in reaction, and a green line of his blood welled up from the scratch left behind. "I saw, and I was disappointed, Goldar! They are children compared to you, yet you let them escape in your first encounter, and now you let them have the battle just because they had learned to summon new weapons!"

"These humans are different!" he roared in reply. His body seemed to have grown in size, but it didn't intimidate Rita, nor was he trying to do so. Such an increase in size was merely his body's instinctive reaction to being angered so. "Something about them is different than the other humans on the planet. The Red Ranger has the smell of Gaeans on him, as do the Yellow and Black Rangers, while the Blue Ranger feels to be something other than human."

The sorceress frowned, then turned back toward the balcony. "And I suppose that their Pink Ranger is also more than mere mortal."

"No," came the reply. "She is the only one who smells like the rest of the humans now inhabiting Gaea."

That answer Rita had not expected. With the other four Rangers having been reported to be more than normal for their kind, she had expected the same to be true for all of them. But there was a simple mortal in their ranks after all? It was something to keep note of should it prove to me useful information in the future. "She is their weak link, then?"

A nod, though Goldar could only agree in terms of the Pink Ranger being from a less powerful race of human life. "She is no less capable than her fellows." He paused. "There is another issue, Mitress. The humans no longer speak the Realm language of the world we once waged war for. Save for the Rangers, none could understand me."

"I have noticed," was the mage's more calm response. She glanced to the head of her staff, pondering what to do about the situation. "Under other circumstances, this would be of no importance, but we were ordered to take Gaea and its inhabitants intact. That means making them understand us so that they may surrender." She was silent after that, her eyes narrowing in thought. After a long silence, Rita lifted the end of her staff from the stone and turned to head for one of the darkened corridors. "Finster, construct new golems as best you can. Goldar, come with me."

The old cobbler bowed and returned to his workshop while the griffizon trailed after Rita. He noted that the wall-mounted lighting fixtures were coming to life as they went further into the corridor, reacting to their mere presence rather than any spell that the sorceress had cast. They were descending deeper into the palace catacombs, Goldar knew, and the specter had warned them of something imprisoned within the depths of the castle.

"Our own hunt will soon begin," the mage hissed, waving her hand as they reached a large stone door. The door shifted and slid open, revealing within a small chamber and a pedestal. On it lay a small golden coin, one that Rita now took from its resting place and moved between her fingers. After a moment, she clutched the coin tightly and gestured for Goldar to follow her back up into the main palace.

"Is that not the coin that you took-"

A nod was her first reply. Rita said nothing until they had exited the stairwell, then turned to face the griffizon and gave him a cold stare. "Zordon will no doubt be sending his new champions to find the weapons carried by Gaea's ancient heroes. Something else I have pondered is that Zordon has his five warriors."

"That is due to what happened to the sixth Ranger back in the old war," Goldar added, knowing what Rita was getting at. It was something he was loathed to admit to, but it might very well be a necessity. "You yourself handled that issue."

Again, Rita only nodded, now playing with the coin. "To fight a Ranger, perhaps we need one of our own." She gave a wicked grin as she once more clutched the coin in her hand, now turning sharply to her warrior. "All we need do, Goldar, is await a proper champion of our own and grab him before Zordon realizes what we've done. To do that, we must learn the new language of the humans, and understand them better."

"And what of the Rangers that serve as Gaea's protectors?"

The sorceress hesitated before nodding. "When we sense their translocation to where Zordon hid the weapons, follow them and do what you can to prevent the Rangers from obtaining them. I'll concentrate on learning what I can of the humans and their speech."

"And then?"

A flash of her teeth signaled what they both knew was the answer. "And then," she replied, "Gaea shall be ours."

Legends

Even as the streams reformed into the five armored teenagers, Zordon was looking down toward the red form, his eyes brows knit as the boy gave a flight back snap of his head to make his helmet retract. "Are you sure that you and your friends are ready, Jason?" the sage asked as the other Rangers mimicked Jason's actions to retract their own helmets. "While the rewards are great, the caverns where the legendary weapons are kept were not named the Caves of Despair without reason."

That, Zordon had failed to mention before. There was an audible gulp as Kim took a step back from everyone else, noting that she wasn't the only one who seemed nervous about the whole prospect. "Do we have to do this part of the deal?" she quipped, now regretting her decision a bit. "I mean...Jason, we're kids! We're pretty lucky that-"

"We don't have any other choice!" the oldest member of the team stated, cutting her off before Kim could finish. He sighed, tilting his head down to cause his helmet's reformation. "Goldar alone is powerful enough to take us all on at once, we need any and every advantage we can get." He looked up to Zordon, noting that the sage's image looked very worried about them. "You guys don't have to come with me, but I have to go." He paused. "We're Earth's only hope."

The image of Zordon's head only sighed, giving a barely perceptible nod. Jason, it seemed, had a sense of duty that was outweighing his self-preservations. It was a noble quality, but one that might cause him trouble in the future. Yet it also was a quality that made Zordon know he had made the right choice in appointing Jason leader. "Set the teleportation system for the caverns, Alpha." He looked to the other Rangers, noting their fear. "You are not forced to undertake this mission, and your friend will not make you follow him into danger. He has made the decision for himself alone."

"If you think that I'm backing out, forget that!" Zach exclaimed, now walking forward to join Jason. "I'm not gonn'a lie, man. I'm scared, but I know that you are too!" There was a grin now on the young man's face as he patted Jason's shoulder and reformed his helmet into place. "I'm with you, bro!"

A nod from Trini as she restored her helmet and joined Jason and Zach. "We're in it together, just like when we started. Can't break it up now."

They looked over to Billy and Kim, he were looking more than a bit reluctant. "We could get killed doing this," Kim said, glancing to Billy for some support. "I mean, saving the world and all is cool, but not if I'm gonn'a get splattered on some space monkey's fist."

After a moment, Billy stepped away from Kim and stood with the others. "That won't matter when his boss nukes everyone," the boy stated, allowing his helmet to reform around his head. "Don't stop them now, it won't matter, because we'll still be dead." He tilted his head slightly toward her as the visor opened. "At least this way, we have a chance."

She didn't reply, only now standing there alone. "I can't," the girl finally whispered, almost huddling against the computer behind her. "Guys, I'm scared, and I can't help it. I can't believe none of you aren't-"

"We are scared, Kim," Jason stated, repeating what even Zach had admitted. "If you think we're not, then you're lying to yourself. But the difference is that we don't let that fear stop us." He sighed, now turning back toward Alpha and nodding. "Send us in, buddy. We'll have to make due with four."

The robot hesitated, but with a nod from Zordon, he entered the needed coordinates into the system. "Ai-yai-yai...I hope you know what you're doing, Jason..."

The four energized and streaked away , leaving Kim to sit on the ground, now curling up in depression. "I don't want to be alone," she whispered to herself.

The streaks of light raced through the air, reaching toward a point beyond the hold of human civilization. Arcing across the earth, over land and seas, the four streams made their way into the regions surrounding the north polar area of the planet, now twisting upwards before coming about and down into the ground. Through layers of ice and tundra they passed until finally emerging into a vast underground chamber. Now touching ground, the four streams reformed back into the armored teenagers, leaving them in pitch black darkness. No one moved, not knowing how stable the ground was yet, or where they were.

"Nobody move!" Jason ordered, trying to see where they were. An instant later, the eyes of his helmet's dinosaurian motif came to life, projecting twin beams of light. There was a faint laugh from Jason as the four Rangers remembered that the armors reacted to their very thoughts. "Okay. Guess that means headlights on, guys." It only took a moment for the other Rangers to activate the lights of their helmets, allowing them a better look at the cavern the had landed in.

Desolate, empty, and strangely dry, without any sign of water that they could see. Yet they could see where a good number of stalagmites and stalactites had come together to form full columns. Their visors could pick up no signs of life within the caverns, meaning that they were alone here.

"I'm picking up a strong source of energy," Billy stated as he took a step further into the cavern. "There's several of them, scattered all over the place." He sighed and glanced back to the others. "We're gonn'a have to split up if we're going to do this."

Reluctantly, Jason nodded. He could feel something pulling him in the direction of one of the tunnels, something calling to him. "Odd," he mused, allowing his visor to run a trace on the tunnel. There was something down there creating a large signal, but he couldn't get a fix on it. "Things work by thought..."

After a moment, Jason determined what he needed to track it down, now focusing on that function. Instantly, his visor flared with light just before a bulky gunmetal colored piece closed down over the visor, leaving a thin line of glowing red. The new scan visor revealed that there were tendrils of light reach to each of them coming from each of the tunnels. Only one tunnel did not have a path of light, meaning that this was what was meant in that there had to be five Rangers.

"Looks like each cave is meant for one of us alone," he concluded, now looking back at his fellow Rangers. "Billy, take the far left tunnel, Trini the next one. Zach takes the first one right of the center, which is the one I'll take." He allowed his scan visor to retracted, leaving him to walk toward the central branch. "If you're in doubt when you hit forks in the path, trust in the feeling you get, like something's calling to you." A sigh as he made his way into the tunnel. "And God help us."

As the staff tapped against stop floor, Rita Repulsa made her way toward the balcony. "What is it?!" she hissed while Squatt and Baboo were just about dancing around her. "You said it was important, but not-"

"The Rangers have entered the Caves of Despair, mistress," came Goldar's answer as he leaned against the entryway of the balcony. He noted the look on Rita's face, deciding not to taunt her further. "They are going after the weapons of the gods, just as we had feared."

The sorceress was silent as she looked upward toward the Earth. "Damn you, Zordon," she whispered before whirling about, now re-entering the great hall. "Finster!"

The cobbler quickly appeared from within his workshop, holding a small clay figure in his hands that resembled the golems. "Yes, my lady?" he asked, careful not to drop the figurine. "How might I serve?"

She didn't reply immediately, though the reason she had called for him was more than clear. She looked to the figurine, then to the golems that stood behind Finster. "Are they ready?" she asked.

A nod, though it was an unsure one. "For now, I suppose," Finster replied. "However, I still have not been able to master the finer points of their constructions. As such, the golems I can make will be merely lesser versions, not to mention that I do have a limited amount of material to construct them from." He sighed, almost disappointed with himself. "I do apologize, my lady, for failing this task."

Rita did not reply. She gave a nod for him to set down the figurine so that his work could be test. Once Finster had placed the figure on the ground and stepped away, Rita gripped her staff tightly, tapped its end on the stone floor, then brought it up and unleashed a barrage of magic from the head. The clay figure began to grow, now matching in size to the golems, though it was obviously not the same as they were. It was slimmer, less bulk around its muscle designs, and clearly not as resilient in structure. But with the loses they had taken, it would have to do.

"How many are ready?" she questioned, her eyes shifting to look at the wizened cobbler.

"I have a dozen prepared, my lady, waiting your magicks and your command."

A nod came as Rita walked past Finster and the golems, now entering the workshop to see the group of small clay figurines waiting for her. With a small smile on his lips, Rita raised her staff and unleashed the energies which brought the figures to life, enlarging them while their eye sockets filled with red light.

"To the Caves of Despair," the sorceress hissed, unleashing a spell that sent the golems blasting apart into energy before launching toward the Earth. She turned and walked back to the balcony, watching her new soldiers as they streamed away to the planet. "Stop them from finding the weapons of the gods, or you will know the wrath of a scorned woman!"

There was a dripping sound as Billy wandered through the tunnels, constantly turning about for any sign of trouble. It wasn't so much knowing the danger he was in now that put him on edge. It was not knowing what could come after him here, or when. "Really not liking the whole split up thing right now," he muttered under his breath while the light beams from his helmet continued to show the cavern path before him. Having followed Jason's advice and gone along the paths that seemed to be pulling him in, Billy was now inside a vast cave, and no visible way out.

"Great," he said, looking around for any sign of another tunnel leading out of the cave. Frustrated that there was none, the young Ranger turned to find that the way he'd come in through wasn't there. "Hey!" came his upset cry. "It was here just a second ago!"

With a sigh, Billy turned back to the expanse of the cave, noting that there was nothing else there as far as he could see. "Just great," he muttered, now walking toward the center of the chamber. "Stuck in this pithole and the only way out decided to vanish on me."

He sighed again, now sitting down as he tried to figure a way out of the chamber. "Wish one of the others were here with me," came the quiet remark. He looked around, suddenly feeling a lot smaller than he really was in this large cavern chamber. "Even Kim would be better than being alone."

The silence suddenly overcame all ambient sound. The dripping ceased, leaving Billy with an uncomfortable feeling that something was not right. There was something else in there with him, he could fell it. "Hello?" he called out. No echo, like the darkness itself had absorbed the sound. That was not normal, especially in a cavern network like this. There should have been some kind of rebound of sound, not silence.

"Why do you bother? You know that no one will accept you."

He stood and whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. "Who said that?!" he yelled, only for the darkness to again muffle his cry. "What do you mean?!"

"You're different, you'll never fit in with anyone. Especially since you're not like them."

He turned about again, trying to use his helmet lights to find where the voices were coming from. There was no one else there with him though, and the scanning abilities of his helmets could sense no other beings. "This can't be happening," he whispered, taking a step back while looking about for any sign of another presence. "No one is here!"

"Of course not," the voice whispered, now sounding as it it was right next to him. "They will never accept you."

Now spinning about with a sharp gasp, Billy found himself facing something he had never seen before. It looked human in basic form, but there was something inhuman about it as well. Wide watery eyes, the shine of unearthly intelligence, and its head had what looked like some kind of growth around it that opened to expose the eyes and mouth. No doubt alien, yet something comforting about the being, he recognized.

"You find more in common with something not of this world, how can you ever be accepted by anyone here?"

Billy spun about to see people turning away from him. It was everything he dreaded, because of the way he was. Too young for his level of learning, too small for much else, and more to the point, he was an outsider. He took a step back, suddenly feeling very cold despite the armor protecting him. "But I have...I have to fight for them...just because I'm younger, just because I'm smarter than I should be..."

"You know the real reason they will not accept you, you always have."

The boy didn't reply. He knew what the voice was talking about, even if he never had spoken of it to anyone else. "I-I..."

"You are nothing like anyone else. It's why he left, why you never knew him after then, and there was always an excuse for why he wasn't there."

The boy stumbled back, hand held against his chest as he struggled to breath. He could feel the power fading away, his armor de-energizing slowly around him. It felt even colder now, like all warmth was being sucked away. "Why am I fighting? Why-"

"For a world that could never accept you? Why even try?"

The cold was overwhelming, threatening to consume him completely. He was afraid, being eaten alive by it. The voices kept whispering to him, making him fear more, doubt himself more. It was like the very darkness around him was trying to drain him.

And then he realized what it was, what was causing this. Zordon had said this place was called the Caves of Despair. It was playing on his fears, turning them against him. And he knew that he could not let his fear overwhelm him. "My friends will never reject me, even if they knew!" he screamed out, now feeling a warmth coming from within. He clenched his fist, breathing in as he found himself truly believing what he told the darkness. "No matter what anyone else says, even if they knew, my friends will always be there, they already accepted me!"

As he screamed out those words, the darkness was flung back while his armor returned to full power, now revealing a massive chamber lit with glowing stones. There was a long and cleared pathway leading toward a dais, where Billy could see something resting on what appeared to be some kind of alter. He ran forward along the path, rising up the stairs to see an ornate lance weapon waiting there for him. Reaching for it, Billy felt a flash in his mind the moment his hand touched the lance's handle shaft. The blade of the lance going into someone's side, soon replaced with the image of a great war. Flashes of what seemed to be memories continued to go by, until the boy was returned to proper awareness.

His hand pulled away as his mind caught up with everything he had just seen. "The Lance of Longinus," he whispered, realizing what this weapon was. The mythical lance that had been known as the Spear of Destiny, and it was his. After a moment, Billy took a deep breath and grasped the handle shaft, lifting the Lance from its resting place and taking hold of it in both hands now.

It was light, almost like a feather. He stood there, still, then in a flash spun around, swinging out with the Lance and cutting through the air while a visible 'wake' shimmered behind it. Both hands gripped the shaft, twirling the Lance like a bo before Billy spun around, using the spearhead in a slashing motion, now twisting the Lance to turn about and spin around by the shaft on his back before grabbing it again.

Turning toward the entry point of the cavern, which was now no longer open, he spun the Lance about over his head, lightning lacing about through the air and cascading about thicker and thicker with each full revolution of the spearhead. Finally, bringing the Lance about, Billy brought it crashing down with both hands, sending a massive blast of energy toward the opposite wall of the chamber that slammed into rock and detonated violently. As the dust cleared, Billy found that the opening had been restored, allowing him to leave the chamber. He took a breath and ran, not in fear, but now knowing he had to find the others so they could regroup. "Hang on," he whispered, now diving back into the dark tunnels. "Please get through it."

"Man, this is one of the lamest tests I ever seen for being a superhero," Zach grumbled as he walked down the tunnel, now stepping into a massive empty chamber. It was disturbingly dark, almost to the point of the lights from his helmet not reaching more than maybe ten feet in front of him. The further he went into the chamber, the less his helmet lights seemed to pierce the darkness.

Another step, and he found himself engulfed by the shadows, now walking into what looked like the halls of his school. He looked at his hands, noticing that he still had his armor on. A quick check confirmed that his helmet was still there, but when he heard a bell ring, Zach was beginning to doubt his own senses. How could he be here when he was just in the caves a moment ago?

He heard a bell ring, and students milled out of the classrooms. For a moment, Zach looked around for a place to hide, but no one reacted to his armored form being present. It was strange, like he wasn't there to them. It should have been noticeable, a guy walking around in the school halls in black and white armor with a helmet fashioned after the head of a mastodon.

Then he saw someone that caught his attention. The boy ran over to what looked like a familiar girl from school, opening her locker while gathering things she needed. "Angela!" he cried, but there was no reaction. Zach blinked behind his visor, unsure as to what was going on. "Yo, Angela! Pay attention!"

No response. The girl acted like he wasn't even there, let alone that she couldn't hear him. "Angela, look at me!" Zach yelled, reaching to grab her shoulder, but passing right through her. He looked at his hand in shock while Angela walked away, not even reacting to him having moved through her like a ghost. Everyone was acting like he didn't even exist.

"They don't care about you. They would never see you no matter what you do."

Spinning around, Zach looked about for the source of the voice, but there was none. People were now leaving, passing through him and not even reacting. "What? What do you mean?!"

"You're not important enough to anyone to see. Why fight for a world that doesn't care about you?"

He stumbled back, armor beginning to fade while looking around at all the people ignoring his very presence. It was a cold and helpless feeling. "Why don't they see me, I'm right here!"

"You mean nothing to them. No one sees you, they have no need to. You mean nothing to the world. You are nothing."

Again he stumbled, landing on the ground and breathing in hard while his armor was starting to fade away. It was like a cold hand was tightening around him, draining the life away from his body. He had been able to do practically nothing when they had faced Goldar that first time, and to make things worse, he hadn't been able to figure out himself their weapons. Was he really that meaningless?

"You're not important to anyone, you never will be. No one will ever see you."

Wait. If he wasn't important, why was this voice paying him so much attention trying to convince him of that? Someone who had no meaning, no worth, wasn't going to have a focus on them like this. They wouldn't be told they meant nothing, they would just be ignored. "You do!" Zach cried out, recognizing what was going on. His armor began to stabilize, returning to solid form as he stood up straight not. "You seem to think I'm worth trying to trash talk me down into not believing that I mean something!"

There was silence, and Zach smiled to himself, knowing that he was right. He did matter, otherwise something wouldn't be trying to deter him. "I mean something to all my friends, to my family, and to this team! You're not going to take that away, no one can!"

The hallway began to crack, crumbling away as Zach continued to walk further down the corridor. "You want us all to give up, to forget who we are and listen to what you say, and it ain't gonn'a happen! I'm one of the team, and I ain't gonn'a stop that now!"

With that last cry, the illusion was broken, walls crumbling away into nothing to reveal the cavern chamber and a glow from the far end of it where there was a large dais and stone alter. As Zach approached it, he could see what looked like a very large sledgehammer, with a handle that seemed electrified while a chain trailed from the pommel of the handle and ended in an attachment that resembled a lightning bolt.

As he stepped up to the alter, the young Black Ranger reached out and grasped the handle, now feeling his mind flood with images. Lightning crashing down around him, the hammer being swung hard into what appeared to be a massive demonic beast. The rapid fire barrage of visions blasted through his mind until he was finally returned to the real world, holding the massive sledge in his hands, and having a new instinct in his soul; how to wield it.

The chain and lightning bolt end flew up and wrapped around his arm, while in a burst of insight, Zach flung the hammer outward, the chain growing rapidly in length and allowing the sledge to fly out and slam right into the wall, causing it to explode out from the sheer force. There was a mighty clap of thunder from the impact, and the hammer snapped back long the chain to return to Zach's hand seconds before he let it fall down a few feet, now swinging it about expertly as if it weighed nothing to him, almost like he'd trained with such a weapon and style all his life.

Now hopping back onto his free hand, Zach displayed a move that would made anyone else pale in shock as he swung the chained sledge out toward the wall where his entry had been. The incredible explosion and thunder from the impact send pulverized flecks of rock flying, but the way out was one more clear. Seconds later, Zach was on his feet, and the hammer returned to his hand, now placed on his back to rest there until needed. "Oh yeah!" he exclaimed as he ran for the tunnel opening. "Now that is what I'm talking about!"

The dripping continued as Trini stepped into the large empty chamber. Her head swiveled as she looked around, not sure of what exactly to expect in here. It was starting to become more shadowed the further she entered the chamber, and she kept getting the odd feeling that she wasn't alone.

"Is anyone else here?" she called out, though only her own echo replied. The dead silence was starting to bother her. It wasn't the lack of reply; it was the lack of any echo. The large changer was almost muffled, sound being smothered before it could reverberate off the cavern walls. There was something not right here.

It felt unusually cold, like a numbing drop into icy water. Chill factor should not have been affecting her through the armor, yet she definitely felt a slow and certain numbing of her body. "Hello?!" she cried before tapping the side of her helmet while focusing on Jason. "Jason, can you hear me?"

No answer. It was nothing but white noise. Their communications should not have been cut off, not with out powerful they had shown themselves to be so far. Something was definitely wrong here. "Zach...Billy?" Nothing. It was dead quiet, and it was feeling colder the longer she stayed here.

With a groan, Trini turned to leave, but found the way was sealed. The opening that had led her in here wasn't there anymore, like the cave itself refused to grant her leave. "What's going on here?" she whispered, looking around for any sign of escape. Now she was afraid, being sealed in this chamber with no way out and no way to contact the others. "God, no..."

"What is it that you fear most, little girl?" came the voice. It caused her to whirl about, trying to find the source of it. "Do you fear being alone? Do you fear never being seen by anyone else? Or do you fear what you feel inside of you?"

No answer came from the Yellow Ranger, save to look for an exit. She was boarding on panic now with no way to get out of the chamber. "Who are you!" she cried out. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Or is there something else you fear?" the voice continued, almost sadistically amused in its tone. "You fear endings...especially your own." There was a malicious laugh now, pressing into her mind. "And yet you foolishly follow your friends into what will certainly be your death!"

Something moved, and Trini spun around with her Saber-Claws barely just flaring into existence on her hands. Ready to counter what was coming, Trini found herself flung back, a stabbing sensation in her stomach while she was now slammed against the stone wall. She felt her armor fading away as she looked down to see a sword, impaled into her stomach, and blood was flowing out. She coughed violently, now craning her head to see what had caught her off guard and done this.

It was a helmet, like a twisted version of their own, with flames burning relentlessly in the visor. Instead of the lips plates like their helmets, there was a metal plate with rows of fangs on the top and bottom, while she could feel contempt behind the burning visor. Another cough, and she could taste blood in her mouth. "Wh-why?"

"You will meet your end in this," the voice said, mocking her even as she was bleeding to death. "You fear everything ending, and stupidly throw yourself into a war."

She coughed again, hitting the floor of the cave. "No...I can't die now...not now, I still...have so...much..." Her body was going numb, senses dulling while her vision began to fade. She was dying, and no one could save her. She was scared, frightened now as the syrupy cold blanketed her body. Her fear...it was killing her.

Yes, she was afraid to die, but something else flashed in her mind. Something other than the things she had left to do in her life. "So much to protect," she whispered, and slowly, focusing on that, she felt life return, her armor slowly re-energize around her. "I am afraid, but that fear, I cannot let overcome me." She saw it now, and as she began to accept it, that maybe she could die, but that the price would be worth the reward of protecting everyone she cared about, that numbness began to fade, her senses coming back one by one.

"I'm not afraid to die if it means that others have a chance!" she cried out, dragging herself to her feet and looking that burning glare right on. "For my friends, my family, and everyone on this planet, I will not fear death!"

That single final scream shattered the figure before her while her body felt full life in it again, now revealing the chamber, but with a dais alter at the end of it. Breathing hard, Trini walked toward the dais, seeing a pair of long daggers that were ornately design. She could feel what was like wind around them, constantly shifting about the blades as she stepped up to the alter. In fact, she could even hear the rush of air surrounding the two daggers.

She reached out tentatively with one hand, touching the hilt of one of the daggers. There was a flash in her mind, images that revealed where they had been, what they had done. She could see an ancient castle, the blades arcing through the air and ripping through monsters and unrecognized creatures. She could hear the yells of the person holding them, a man from the voice, and as the images continued to rush through her head, Trini was overwhelmed by the sensation, until at last she was returned to the real world, now holding both daggers in her hands.

Seconds later, the weapons were spinning about between her fingers, a sharp hiss of wind with every swing and thrust while the air seemed to split from the blades. Every motion was followed by that cutting gust of wind, air rippling around Trini as she moved almost in a dance with her new weapons. Move after move, it was perfection, not one slip or near self-hit as the blades and Trini began to move faster and faster.

The entire room began to vibrate as the Yellow Ranger continued her dance of attack, then was ripped into as a vortex formed around her before being flung toward the far wall. Rock was torn open as the maelstrom of air battered away, until at last the opening was revealed again, allowing Trini to depart. "Time to get back with the others," she whispered, now racing out of the chamber and down the tunnel.

Darkness and the crumbling sound of stones echoed from the path in front of the Red Ranger as he stepped further down into the tunnel. He was descending deeper downward into the earth, the sloping path of the caves was more than enough to tell him that. What was waiting for him down there, though? Something was pulling him deeper into the caverns, but he wasn't sure what or how.

"Just great," he muttered as he came to a pile of rocks that was blocking the path. The tunnel was sealed off, leaving him to sigh and start pulling down the debris blocking his way. As he continued to pull the rocks away, however, he noticed something odd. The rubble was starting to resemble large blocks of shattered concrete instead of cave walls. "What the?" His eyes narrowing behind the helmet, Jason continued to dig through the debris, now traveling upward until at last he broke through the rubble, blinded for a moment by unfiltered light.

And when he opened his eyes again, climbing out through the hole, he stared in horror at what he saw. Before him was the burning ruins of Angel Grove, the sky stained red with smoke and ash, while debris and destruction was all around him. The Red Ranger pulled himself out of the hole, walking down the street and taking in the horrific sight. How had this happened, how was he even here? They had teleported into the north pole, not the city!

Bodies, he could see, were everywhere. He ran over, turning one over to see if there were any survivors, but stumbled away in horror as he saw the face; Kimberly's. "Oh god..." he whispered, almost falling from his feet. "Oh god...no!" The boy turned, seeing that all around him were the faces of his friends. It was a nightmare come true, and he could hear, in his mind, their screams as they had died. Everything he'd been afraid of happen, and it had come to be while they were gone.

"We shouldn't have left," his voice cracked out as he stumbled back, now feeling his power fading away. "We didn't...I failed them all!"

A pair of bodies caught his attention. Even as his armor was fading out of existence, he made his way over, dreading who he would see now. He knelt down, slowly turning one of the bodies, then felt his heart nearly stop at who he saw. "M...mom?" came the terse whisper. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The other body was confirmed as what he thought. "Dad?"

Something wasn't right, he realized. As he looked further down, he saw a third body, this one smaller than the two beside him. Hesitating, Jason gently set down the body in his arms, walking over to the child's corpse, then turned it over, narrowing his eyes as he saw the features. Blue eyes, brown hair...he knew that face. But something was wrong, even more than the bodies of his parents.

"They can't be here," he said, realizing what was going on. "My parents can't be dead here, they died twelve years ago in a car crash!" He stood up, armor starting to re-energize while he turned toward the smoke filled sky. "And I know for a fact he didn't die there!" the boy continued, pointing to the child's body. "None of this is real, it's all playing on my nightmares!"

The city began to crack, revealing that his words were true. "This is all an illusion, trying to break me down with my own fears!" he cried out, feeling within him a burning sensation of strength. The city began to crack further, revealing light spilling out from the ruptures. Now he realized what was going on. The caverns were testing him, seeing if he could face his worst fears. It was trying to make him face failing everyone, and while he would never escape that, he would not let it overcome him. "I won't fail them, no matter what! I will do everything I can to save them all!"

There was a roaring sound as the entire city exploded apart, now revealing that Jason was inside a vast camber. None of the destruction or ruins were actually there, but at the end of the camber, standing up in the stone of the alter dais, was a sword. Jason looked at himself to make sure he was in his armor, then walked toward the dais, his visor showing that the object impaled in the stone alter was producing incredible amounts of energy.

As he neared it, Jason could see the details of the weapon. Golden markings ran down the length of the silver blade, while its hilt guard was highly stylized, red like a ruby with silver runes and a series of mirrored "steps" that looks like either flames or the rims of a set of wings. In the center of the guard was a large blue gemstone, one that almost was glowing on its own. The sword, he could feel, was calling to him, drawing him toward it.

With one hand, he reached out, wrapping his fingers around the hilt. In an instant, he felt a barrage of images flashing through his mind. A young boy taking hold of this very sword, drawing it from a stone. Images of a battle field, scenes of some kind of royal court. An old man, dressed in robes and looking very wise speaking to the boy, now grown into a young man. They continued, revealing the last holder of the blade to Jason as he realized what it was he had been chosen by.

And then, as the memories of the sword ended, he pulled it from the stone. The room grew brighter as it came free of the alter, and Jason could swear that there was a chorus of voices singing as it slid out of the rock. "I never thought it was real," he whispered, now bringing the magnificent sword up to look into the blade. "The sword of kings...the Sword in the Stone...

"Caliburn."

The blade shined, almost winking at him. After standing there for a moment, marveling at what he had gained, Jason suddenly snapped into ready stance, swinging the sword back and hard as the shimmer of the silver blade arced through the air. It came about, the boy shifting it into his other hand and coming around to bring it curving upward at an angle. Another twist of his body, and Jason sent what looked like a wave of sheer force flying through the air, a wave that slammed into rock and caused an explosion from the impact.

Turning toward the blocked entryway, the Red Ranger brought back the sword, allowing it to begin glowing brightly as it drew in flecks of light from the air. Now snapping his head up, Jason surged forward, the sword whipping around as he jumped up and brought the blade crashing down against the rock sealing the entrance. Arcing through stone, the blade flashed before touching the ground and causing the rocks to explode outward, now leaving the way clear.

As the debris settled around him, Jason stood upright, now bringing the Caliburn back in a spin and placing it against his back. There was a distinct electrical crackling sound as the sword stayed in place, and he ran down the tunnel now, hurrying back to the central chamber to regroup with the others. "Time to get this party back on track!"

It didn't take long for him to get back to the main chamber, seeing the others arriving as well with their own weapons in hand. "Looks like there wasn't much to worry about after all," Jason remarked as he walked over to to his fellow Rangers. "Let's get a hold of Zordon and-"

The words weren't finished as there was an explosion, sending rock and debris flying while the four Rangers were flung to the ground. As they pulled themselves back to their feet, the dust settling, the Rangers looks to see a group of golems stepping out of the rubble, led by the Cyclops. "Hello, humans," came the clay monster's malice filled words as it came to a halt. "Did you enjoy the nightmares?"

There was a heavy thud as Zach let his new weapon hit the ground. "You don't know what you're dealin' with this time, buddy!" he replied as he grabbed hold of the chain connecting the hammer to his arm. "You're lookin' at four mean teen fighting machines!"

For a moment, the living statue gave an expression of surprise, but then narrowed its single eye and shifted its posture while clenching a fist. "I recall that there were supposed to be five of you, human," it replied almost mockingly. After a moment, it nodded, signaling to the golems moment before they began to move toward the Rangers again. "Something that your commander did not tell you, humans. Without the fifth weapon, this cavern will not let you leave!"

To be Continued...