To be continued...
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Damiana sighs as she tops the wooded hillcrest and looks down into the valley below. Home. She unconsciously rubs the encircling grooves of the silver bracelet around her left arm. It clinks against the bronze cuff bracelet also on her arm. Its bronze twin circles her other wrist. Damiana takes a deep breath, squares her shoulders, and walks purposefully down the hillside to the village of tents, half broken-in horses, and never broken-in women.
Cries of “Damiana!” “Welcome home!” “Where’s Ephanine?” “ Tell us about Athens!” greet Damiana as she crosses over the outermost edge of the village’s perimeter. She looks down at her silver bracelet as she passes by the back of the stable where she found it one summer ago. It had been her souvenir from that battle--her humbling reminder of her gullibility and her affirming reminder of her heroic redemption.
“Sister.” A pair of maternal-like arms encircles Damiana.
“Aella,” Damiana replies, returning the much appreciated hug.
“Queen Cyrene will want to see you first, but then come see me. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Your majesty,” Damiana says humbly and bows respectfully. “I bring this message from Ephanine.”
She hands Cyrene a tight scroll. Cyrene looks annoyed, and her expression becomes worse as she surveys the scroll. Upon completion, Cyrene slams the scroll down on the arm of her throne.
“Damiana! You have single-handedly managed to undo all the progress Ephanine has made. She and I have had to work hard to forge the alliance with King Krokus, and you have almost ruined it with your foolishness,” Cyrene steams. “For many moons I’ve been receiving coded messages from Ephanine explaining what she’s had to do to smooth over your many incidents. But I had no idea to what extent she has had to go to to make amends. Damiana, your behavior has disgraced the Amazons. And as Ephanine’s message states--and I quote-‘King Krokus has requested that Damiana return home to Istria and not return.’”
Ephanine had talked to Damiana about Krokus’s request and the contents of the scroll before Damiana left Athens. It stung then, but the mortification of hearing it from the Queen of the Amazons makes Damiana want to shrivel up and die.
“Leave me,” Cyrene strains to check her temper. “Come back at sundown when I’ve had time to think about what to do with you.”
Damiana offers a weak bow and scoots out of the tent meekly. Tears well up in her eyes as she tries to slip away from the area.
“Damiana?” Aella calls.
Without looking at Aella, Damiana tries to control her voice enough to neutrally shout back, “I’ll be back before dark, Aella. I need to pay homage to Artemis.”
Damiana walks quickly to the edge of the village and then breaks into a run. Even though her vision is blurred by streaming tears, her memory leads her deftly over log and through tangling underbrush, even at breakneck speed.
Damiana falls in a heap at the base of the Wells of Artemis. She almost vomits from adrenaline, fatigue, and the ingestion of tears. Damiana reaches a trembling hand out to cup and drink some of the Wells’ restorative waters. She slowly rights herself and makes her way to the temple. Damiana smiles when a moonstone ring catches her eye. It had remained just where she had returned it the previous summer.
Damiana approaches the statue of Artemis and repeats the invocation Ephanine had taught her so long ago. All the gold jewelry and shiny weapons glittering in the lamplight used to distract her so much she could never make it completely through the invocation without losing her place. But today, heart heavy and eyes closed, she does it in one attempt. She unconsciously reaches for her silver bracelet as she bursts into tears again.
Why, Artemis? Why can’t I do anything right? I thought my days of shaming my sisters were all behind me, but I’ve done it again! Help me, Artemis, to find my way.... Damiana sits down on the temple floor, burying her face in her knees and hugging them to her chest. She is oblivious to her surroundings--in particular to the momentary darkening of the sun.
“We read you, Cassie,” Carlos says into his communicator while holding back a flexible tree limb so TJ can pass.
“Phantom Ranger and I have reached Andromeda 9 and have started issuing the emergency relief supplies to the rebels,” Cassie’s voice says. “We should be back in the next 24 hours or so.”
“Good,” says Carlos. “If you run into any trouble, Zhane is still on the Megaship. He can give you our coordinates. Right after you left we started receiving a strange reading on the monitor, an anomaly in the Morphing Grid. It led us here to this uncharted planet in the Tartarusian system. We wondered if it might be Zordon, so we came down here to check it out.”
“Hey, keep me posted, will you? I want to know if you find Zordon.”
“We will,” Carlos says, trying not to get his hopes up.
Damiana wipes her closed eye lids with the backs of her hands. She opens her eyes and finds herself sitting in a forest. The trees look similar, but the Wells and the temple have vanished.
“Artemis?” Damiana whispers and thinks, Where am I?
She does the invocation again.
Uh, Artemis, thank you, but I’m not sure what I’m doing here. Is it because....
Damiana freezes and strains her ears to make sense of a strange whirring sound.
“Great Artemis...,” Damiana gasps as a group of four metallic men charge out of the brush. She only hesitates for an instant before her Amazon training kicks in. She deftly ducks the first attacker’s slicing blow from an oddly curved sword. Off balance from the move, the metallic man is quickly knocked off his feet by Damiana’s sweeping foot move. She grabs his sword and slams her foot squarely into his solar plexus. She whirls around to meet two more attackers. Her form is sloppy, but Damiana manages to deflect their strikes. Battle spirit surging, Damiana screams a fierce warrior cry. Momentarily stunned by her volume, the metal men are easily bested as Damiana does a horizontal sweep across their abdomens with her new sword.
Maybe this thing isn’t so different from my bo staff after all, Damiana thinks smugly.
Her self-congratulation ends abruptly as the final metal man easily knocks the sword out of her hands.
And maybe not, Damiana thinks and begins to back up cautiously. She turns her back on the metal man and breaks into a run. Damiana turns her head back toward the man as she nears a low hanging limb.
“C’mon, little metal man!” Damiana taunts. He picks up the pace and closes the gap. As Damiana passes under the branch she leaps into the air. With straight arms she swings around the circumference of the branch, planting her soles firmly into the metal man’s back. The momentum from her release drives him face first into the forest underbrush.
Damiana grabs his sword and raises it high over her head.
“Wait!” Damiana hears a woman’s voice yell.
A curiously attired young woman with blue spiraled hair steps out of the brush with more of the metal men beside her.
Damiana clunks her current foe on his head and then charges the other metal men surrounding the woman. The woman raises her black staff with the diamond-shaped tip and points it at Damiana.
“You fool!” she says and blasts Damiana with a bolt from her staff.
Damiana stops midstride and falls to her knees in pain. After recovering from the blow, she salutes the woman with the traditional Amazon gesture.
“Forgive me, Artemis. Now I understand,” Damiana says in humility.
“Artemis?!” the woman snaps. “The name is Astronoma.”
Damiana looks confused and then thinks, Of course, she must be a priestess of Artemis sent to test me.
“Yes, forgive my ignorance, my priestess.”
“Priestess?” Astronoma mumbles to herself. “I could learn to like that.”
“Get up,” Astronoma commands.
Damiana obeys and stands. Astronoma approaches her, circling Damiana to observe her strange attire.
“I saw you fighting my Quantrons. You’re quite a good warrior.”
Damiana beams.
“I could use a warrior like you in my army.”
“It would be my honor to serve you,” Damiana says, kneeling in respect.
“Oh, get up,” Astronoma says testily.
Damiana rights herself, embarrassed.
“Come with me,” Astronoma says sharply, “whatever your name is.”
“Damiana,” the young Amazon replies humbly.
Damiana is awed by all the strange objects in Astronoma’s village. Lots of metal and enclosed flames emitting all the colors of the rainbow. Though the forest’s temperature is warm, the aura of the village seems cold. Astronoma’s metal dais seems out of place in the forest’s lush foliage. Off behind it is a large cylindrical object covered by a silver-colored cloth.
“Doniana,” Astronoma says climbing onto her dais.
“Damiana,” Damiana corrects softly stopping at the dais’s base.
“Whatever,” Astronoma says turning to face her. “My spies tell me that my enemies are in the vicinity. I expect an attack by nightfall. They’ll be coming for that.” Astronoma points at the strange cylinder.
“What is it?” Damiana asks.
“It doesn’t concern you. Stay away from it,” Astronoma warns.
Priestess or not, this woman is starting to work my nerve, Damiana thinks. Astronoma can see Damiana getting angry and makes her tone sweeter.
“I need a skilled warrior like you, Damiana,” Astronoma says noticing how Damiana seems to soak in the praise. “These intruders must be stopped at all cost.”
“But why?” Damiana asks.
Can’t this girl just follow orders! Astronoma growls internally. Quantrons are so much easier to work with.
“Because,” Astronoma continues aloud, “one of them killed my last remaining family member, and now they’re after me.”
“I understand,” Damiana says, remembering how it felt to lose sisters in the fight against Titus, even if they weren’t her blood sisters.
“Elgar!!” Astronoma yells.
“Yes, Astronoma,” a bumbling creature with a funny shaped head stumbles up to the dais.
“Show Damiana to the troops and get her ready for the attack. Those Power Punks should be here any time now.”
Astronoma steps down from the dais, “I must tell Dark Spectre that I have Zordon and my plan is proceeding as scheduled.”
“OK, boss,” the weird creature says, waving dopely.
Elgar’s orientation session is surprisingly brief and informal, unlike any training lesson Damiana had ever received from an Amazon. And his conversational style was beginning to thoroughly annoy her.
“So...yadda yadda yadda. Say, are you hungry? I’m starved. I think I might go get something to eat. You wanna come along?” Elgar says in rapid succession.
“No, I’m fine.” Damiana lies. Having the annoying creature go away was more important than having food at the moment.
“Suit yourself,” Elgar shrugs and lopes away.
Damiana sits down on the edge of the dais relieved. The cylindrical tube catches her eye again. It doesn’t concern you. Stay away from it, Astronoma’s voice echoes in her head. Damiana sits still for several minutes listening to the birds.
I wish those Power Punks would hurry up and attack, Damiana thinks. Between Elgar and sitting here twiddling my thumbs, it won’t be much of a fight. I’m going to die from boredom before they even get here.
Damiana sits quietly for a few minutes more. The cylinder seems to beckon to her.
No, Damiana thinks. For once, I’ll do what I’m told. I always get into trouble when I don’t. I can’t afford to be shamed again.
Damiana sits for a few more minutes, drumming her fingers agitatedly.
Maybe I’ll just take a little peek. What could it hurt?
Damiana looks around cautiously to make sure no one, especially Astronoma, is looking and then creeps over to the cylinder. She slowly lifts up a corner of the silver cloth.
“Oh dear gods!” Damiana shouts and then quickly muffles her voice. She drops the cloth, recoiling in horror. It was a giant floating head!
“Damiana,” a deep, gentle voice rumbles.
Damiana almost falls over backward trying to move away from the huge talking head.
“Damiana, do not be afraid.”
“How...how do you know my name?” Damiana asks in astonishment.
“Damiana, I am Zordon from Eltar. I was expecting you to come some day, but I’m surprised to find you here.”
“But...who told you to expect me?” Damiana cautiously lifts the edge of the cloth again.
“The ancients,” Zordon says. “The ancients prophesied that there would be one from the past who would be the key to the future. It’s got to be you, Damiana.”
“No, it doesn’t ‘gotta be me’,” Damiana retorts, annoyed about not knowing what this bodiless creature was talking about.
A low rumbling of a laugh comes from the tube.
“They told me you would be a feisty one. You remind me of someone I used to mentor,” Zordon pauses and sighs. “But those days are over. I can’t help you in this state. You must find Zhane. He will give you....”
“ATTACK!!!!!” Astronoma’s piercing voice echoes throughout the village.
Damiana drops the edge of the cloth and springs away from the tube. She snatches up her awkward new sword and charges into the woods along with the rest of the metal men.
“We’re getting close,” TJ says reading a hand-held monitor. “The signal from the anomaly is getting much stronger. Unfortunately, so is Astronoma’s signal.”
“Let’s morph,” suggests Ashley turning her wrist over to expose her morpher.
“No, wait,” Andros says gently taking Ashley’s wrist. “The longer we stay unmorphed, the harder it will be for Astronoma to track us.”
TJ punches a few buttons on his scanner and starts up a low hill.
“It looks like the signal is coming from the other side of this rise,” he says. “A little bit further and....”
A high pitched battle roar startles TJ, but not as much as the Quantron sword which gouges his monitor, knocking it out of his hands. Another blow from the blunt edge of the sword catches him underneath the chin and sends him sprawling. His head hitting the base of a tree, TJ lies dazed. Three Quantrons quickly rush him. Two hold his arms while the third removes his morpher and communicator.
“TJ!” Ashley screams and runs to his aid.
The third Quantron rushes back to Astronoma who has just topped the rise. He proudly gives her TJ’s morpher and communicator. Astronoma dangles them in the light and smiles smugly. Then--just for yucks-- she throws a few electricity bolts into the crowd.
Carlos does a dive roll to avoid the blast. He lands at Damiana’s feet. Damiana places a kick to his abdomen as he rolls up to a stand. He quickly recovers and volleys with several kicks of his own to loosen her grip on the sword. He wrenches it away from her and uses it to slice two nearby Quantrons. Carlos finishes with a leg sweep leaving Damiana on her rear. He then leaves her to fight more Quantrons. Damiana growls in embarrassment and rage.
“Don’t just sit there!” Astronoma yells. “Get them!”
Damiana pounds the ground and jumps to her feet. Elgar and the Quantrons have one of the intruders encircled. Damiana notices the intruder’s strange hair coloring. The Quantrons hold him tight while Elgar strips him of his odd chunky bracelets. Elgar then replaces them with shackles.
Another group of Quantrons surround the blonde intruder who sits on the ground with her fallen companion. They too take her strange bracelets and shackle her.
“Noooooooo!” Damiana hears the remaining attacker yell as he charges toward Astronoma.
Astronoma sends a blast his way, but he dodges it with another dive roll. The completion of his roll places him in Astronoma’s face. He shoves her backwards, sending her to the ground. Her staff flies off into the underbrush. The morpher and communicator in her hand also take wing.
“Priestess!” Damiana yells, knowing that she will surely fail Artemis’s test if she allows the Priestess to be killed. Damiana darts and snatches Astronoma’s fallen staff from the underbrush.
Carlos is so intent on grabbing TJ’s morpher that he doesn’t notice Damiana’s approach. Just as Carlos catches the morpher and communicator, Damiana jabs him in the gut with the blunt end of the staff and then sweeps his feet out from under him. He lands unceremoniously on his backside. Damiana snorts in derision. Several Quantrons quickly surround Carlos.
“I’ll take those,” Astronoma says snatching the morpher and communicator out of Carlos’s hand. “And those.” She removes his morpher and communicator as well.
“Bring them back to base camp and lock them up,” Astronoma orders Damiana and Elgar.
“Alpha, I think something must have happened to them,” Zhane says, pressing buttons on the Megaship’s scanning monitor. “They should’ve been back by now. If not back, then they should have at least checked in by now.”
“Affirmative, Zhane,” Alpha says teetering over to the console and pressing some more buttons. “How strange!”
“What?”
“The scanner only tracks them to a certain point and then one by one their signals disappear. Ohhhhhhh,” Alpha whirs agitatedly, “There is a strong presence of Astronoma there also.”
“Call back Cassie. I can’t wait. I’ll meet her and Phantom Ranger on the planet.” Zhane pushes a few buttons on his morpher and heads toward his launch tube. He shouts back to Alpha, “They were heading for that anomaly, so I’ll head for that signal. Cassie can track me to wherever Astronoma is holding them...if she’s still holding them.”
“Be careful, Zhane. Ohhhhhhhhh.”
The camp is dark and quiet except for the forest creatures and Damiana’s steps as she makes her rounds. She walks by the large tube and stops when she hears a voice call her name.
“Damiana, you’re being fooled,” Zordon says.
“What?”
“Your friends are your foes, and your foes are your friends.”
“You don’t know what you are talking about. These people killed the Priestess’ family. They deserve to die,” Damiana says in a huff.
“You are mistaken. You need the people you captured.”
“I don’t need anybody. Artemis has given me a test, and I will pass it.”
“Ohh..Dami-AAAAnaaaa,” Elgar yells from the door to Astronoma’s compound.
Damiana groans in frustration and walks slowly but in a seemingly natural gait away from Zordon.
“Yes, Elgar.”
“There you are. It’s my turn to take watch,” Elgar says yawning and then bumbling into the darkness.
“That’s OK, Elgar. I’ll take your watch,” Damiana says wishing he’d go lose himself in the forest.
“Really?” Elgar says excitedly.
“Really,” Damiana says flatly but then croons. “You’ve really worked hard today. You deserve a full night’s rest. Besides, I’m not really tired.”
“In that case...,” Elgar says and bumbles back into the compound.
After Elgar disappears, Damiana walks briskly back to the tube.
“Why do you think I need them?” she whispers tersely.
“They will help you achieve your goal.”
“They’ll help me pass my test?”
“Yes.”
“How do I know you’re not lying to me?”
“Ask them about Zhane.”
Damiana sneaks over to where the Rangers are being held.
“Hey!” the female captive whisper-shouts from behind the door’s grates. “Hey, I have something to tell you.”
“You do?” Damiana says incredulously and presses her face close to the door.
“Yeah...this!”
The metal door crashes into Damiana’s head as Andros “pushes” it open. She falls to the ground, and the Rangers rush out. The one with the strange colored hair flips an object at her before he joins the others. They quickly head into the concealing darkness of the forest.
Collecting herself from the blow, Damiana thinks, They fooled me! They all fooled me! She reaches into the edge of her belt to find the odd rectangular key Elgar had given her, but it’s gone. She picks up the object the captive had flipped at her. How did they...oh no, I’ve messed up again.
“GUARDS!!!” Damiana yells.
A sleepy Elgar plus Astronoma and some Quantrons charge from the compound. Elgar and the Quantrons fan out into the woods, but Astronoma stops at the still sitting Damiana.
“What happened?!” Astronoma yells. “Where are they?!?”
“I’m sorry, Priestess,” Damiana says chagrined. “They tricked me some how and stole my key.”
“You idiot!” Astronoma snarls. “Find them, you fools!”
Damiana shrinks from the reprimand but then pulls herself up.
“I will return them, Priestess. On my honor as an Amazon.”
“You better,” Astronoma says jabbing Damiana in the gut with her staff’s point, “or you’ll be the one in the cage.”
Astronoma storms back into the compound leaving Damiana shielding her tender abdomen and rubbing her silver bracelet. A dripping sensation causes Damiana to put her hand to her forehead. Instead of trying to clot the trickle of blood, Damiana smears a red line across her forehead with her fingers. She draws her dagger and holds it up to the moon.
“I won’t fail you, Artemis,” she swears and heads into the woods to track her quarry.
“What are we gonna do?” Ashley whines while leaning heavily against a large tree and trying to catch her breath.
“I don’t know yet,” Andros answers, leaning over to prop his hands on his knees to try and catch his own breath.
“First thing, we’ve got to get rid of these,” Carlos says holding up his shackled wrists.
“Then we’ve got to get our morphers back,” TJ chimes in.
“Shh!” Ashley warns, placing a slightly chipped, French manicured nail to her lips. “I thought I heard something.”
A battle cry makes the Rangers freeze. Then like a yo-yo, Astronoma’s strange new female warrior springs down from the branches above while holding onto a thick vine. She grabs Ashley, and then springs back up into the dense foliage.
Hidden by the leaves, Damiana stands on top of the branch. One hand holds onto a petrified Ashley. The other holds the dagger at Ashley’s jugular vein.
“Surrender now or your leader dies,” Damiana shouts down to the other Rangers.
“Leader?” they say in unison, including Ashley.
“I said surrender!” Damiana orders.
“Uh...guys, she’s not kidding, and remember I’m afraid of heights...,” Ashley waivers.
“OK, OK, just bring Ashley down and we’ll talk,” Andros says.
“No more tricks,” Damiana says seriously. “Try anything and she dies.”
“Agreed,” Andros replies.
Ashley screams in terror as she and Damiana spring to the ground again.
“Ow!” Ashley yells as the impact drives the knife-point slightly into her neck.
“Move,” Damiana orders the Rangers and points out the direction with her head.
“You’re making a big mistake,” Andros says.
“Shut up and move,” Damiana barks.
“I’m serious. Where ever you came from, you obviously don’t know who you’re dealing with,” Andros continues.
“I know exactly who you are. You are the Power Punks, and you killed Priestess Astronoma’s family,” Damiana says shoving Ashley forward.
“Power Punks?!” Carlos can’t help but laugh.
“Look,” TJ says, “Astronoma is no priestess, but I assure you she earned the title Princess of Evil.”
The moonlight glimmers off Damiana’s left wrist as she reaches up to push Ashley in a new direction. The shimmer catches Ashley’s eye. Hoping to distract Damiana, she asks, “What a pretty bracelet. May I see it more closely?”
“Move it, blondie,” Damiana says and smugly thinks, You’re not going to fool me with that old trick.
A sudden shimmer of silver light comes down from the sky right in front of Ashley and Damiana.
“I said no tricks!” Damiana yells, grabbing Ashley around the shoulders with her left arm and strengthening her grip on the knife with the right.
“ZHANE!” the Rangers yell.
“Zhane?!” Damiana says. Her momentary distraction is long enough for Ashley to stomp Damiana’s foot and slither out from beneath her grasp. Damiana recovers enough to grab Ashley by the hair and swing her off to the side.
“Owwwww!” Ashley yells, Damiana still holding onto her hair.
Zhane charges Damiana, knocking her down and causing Ashley’s head to bend backward.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!” Ashley wails. “Hair, Zhane, HAIR!”
The force of Damiana’s falling body finally releases Ashley. Unfortunately, not all of Ashley’s hair is released with her.
Ashley stops cold in her tracks and touches the slightly bare patch at the back of her head. She whirls around and says, “You wench!”
Zhane grabs Damiana’s knife-holding wrist. They roll on the forest floor, causing Zhane’s digimorpher to fall out of his uniform.
“Ow!” Zhane yells as Damiana cracks his lower left arm against a tree root. He rolls Damiana back the other way. In trying to loosen the knife from Damiana’s grasp, Zhane accidentally drives the butt of the knife into his digimorpher. The shock from the damaged electrodes causes Damiana to yelp and drop the knife. Soon after, Zhane out masses Damiana and momentarily pins her to the ground.
“Move over, Zhane. She’s mine!” Ashley orders.
“NOBODY,” she continues, hand on hip and with her neck rotating clockwise, “holds me at knife point. And I’ll show you what it means to be snatched bald-headed!”
Ashley grabs a fistful of Damiana’s braids and tugs.
“Ashley. Ashley! Let go of her!” Andros says.
“No way, Andros,” Ashley growls in response.
Damiana starts to scream from the hair pulling. She manages to loosen her left arm from under Zhane and reaches up to grab Ashley’s wrist.
“Let go of me!” Damiana yells.
“Never!” Ashley replies.
The moonlight bounces off Damiana’s bracelet.
“What? I haven’t seen one of those since....Where’d you get that?” Ashley demands.
Damiana continues to scream.
“Guys, she’s got an old Turbo communicator!” Carlos says, his eyes opening wide.
“Where did you get that?” Ashley presses Damiana while maintaining a firm grasp on the Amazon girl’s braids.
“It’s mine! Artemis gave it to me,” Damiana says, squirming in an attempt to release Ashley’s death grip. “Ashley, enough with the hair-pulling,” Andros says, removing Ashley’s clenched fist from Damiana’s head.
“Man, get off her,” Carlos says, dragging Zhane up by his elbow.
“Here,” Carlos offers Damiana his outstretched hand, still shackled. “What’s your name?” She looks at him warily and then stands up on her own. She straightens out her vest-like top and knee-length skirt, both apparently made of animal hide. “Damiana,” she says defiantly. Carlos pulls back his still outstretched hand not sure whether he should be offended or embarrassed. Damiana wonders why no one is actively holding her hostage and so turns her eyes to the branches above to plan her escape. Carlos can see the plan forming in Damiana’s head. “Now, just one minute,” he says, gently but firmly grabbing her arm. Damiana prepares her counterattack but aborts it when Carlos says, “Zhane, help me out here.” Zhane notices how Damiana visibly backs down when he grasps her well toned arm, and he smiles smugly. No one can resist the old Silver charm, Zhane thinks. Steady, Damiana. Study the enemy. Think first, act later, Damiana reminds herself. “I still want to know where she got the Turbo-style communicator,” Ashley presses.
“Look,” TJ says coming forward, “as intriguing a mystery as the communicator is, it’s going to have to wait. It won’t take Astronoma much longer to find us. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“But what about the morphers?” Ashley asks. “Only Zhane can morph.”
“Correction,” Zhane says, releasing one hand from Damiana’s arm to hold out his smoldering digimorpher. “Plan B?” TJ suggests. “I’ll contact Alpha and have him send the Silvercycle and the Galaxy Gliders,” Zhane says matter-of-factly, shaking his communicator down his wrist.
“Alpha, this is Zhane,” he says authoritatively. No response. “Alpha? Do you read me?”
No response. Not releasing Damiana, Zhane reaches over to tap the communicator face against his other hand.
“Alpha? Come in, Alpha.”
The Rangers sigh in desperation.
“I must have cracked it against that tree root,” he says apologetically. “Well, at least Alpha should be able to track us to this general area, and Cass should be able to follow the same signal we did.”
“But we were tracking the signal from the anomaly in the Morphing Grid,” TJ says confused.
“So was I,” answers Zhane.
“But how could you when the only signatures here are from us? And we don’t even have our morphers.”
“The Turbo communicator!” Ashley shouts in excitement, “that’s where the anomaly’s signal came from!”
Ashley’s enthusiasm quickly deflates as she realizes, “Then that means it’s not from Zordon.”
The Rangers sigh again in visible disappointment.
Zordon? Damiana thinks.
“GET THEM!” Elgar’s voice booms from the dark of the forest. As Elgar and the Quantrons reach the edge of the clearing, Damiana does a back flip, using Elgar’s surprise and the momentum of her flip to break free of Zhane and Carlos’s grasps. She quickly relocates her dropped dagger.
“I’ve got them, Elgar!” Damiana shouts circling the Rangers in a battle-ready stance.
“Damiana, is that you?” Elgar says, pushing some tree limbs out of the way. “Man, I can hardly see in this dark.” Elgar and a host of Quantrons surround the Rangers.
“Yes, it’s me, Elgar. I have the Power Punks. Where is Priestess Astronoma?”
“She’s still at base camp. Dark Spectre should be arriving soon,” Elgar says smugly.
“Here,” Damiana says roughly grabbing Ashley by the shackles and throwing her into Elgar. “Take their leader and lead the way. The others are still shackled, so they won’t give the Quantrons any trouble.”
Damiana uses a nearby Quantron’s sword to cut off a length of strong vine. She roughly grabs Zhane’s wrists and wraps them with it.
“I’ll take up the rear and keep an eye on this new hostage,” she says.
“OK,” Elgar says and then bumbles off to his right, Ashley in tow. He stops and then bumbles off in the opposite direction. He stops a second time and tries a different direction.
Damiana sighs in disgust over his incompetence. She looks to the sky, notices the location of the key stars she noted earlier, and then points in the direction of a fallen log.
“That way.”
“We’re hooooooooome,” Elgar shouts entering the compound. He and the Quantrons roughly shove Andros, Ashley, Carlos, and TJ into the dimly lit room.
“Well done, Elgar - for once,” Astronoma says emerging from the darkness. “Did you find that stupid girl who let them escape in the first place?”
“I gave you my word that I would return them, Priestess,” Damiana fumes as she and Zhane enter through the doorway. “I recaptured them, and I brought you another.”
“Why,” Astronoma says slinking forward, “if it isn’t the Silver Ranger.”
“Astronoma,” he says cooly.
She eyes Zhane up and down, noticing the vine encircling his wrists and the pine needles sticking to his uniform and to the back of Damiana’s hair. Whipping her blue corkscrew-curled head around, she barks at Elgar,” Take them to the holding room and don’t let them out of your sight.”
“You,” she barks at Damiana, “stand outside and guard the door.”
“What about the prisoner?” Damiana asks.
“He stays,” Astronoma says sharply.
“Yes, Priestess,” Damiana says quietly and exits.
Elgar and the Quantrons drag the other Rangers away.
Several minutes later an agitated Astronoma shouts, “DAMIANA!”
“Yes, Priestess?” Damiana replies entering the compound.
“Watch him,” Astronoma says getting up in Damiana’s face, “and don’t let him escape like last time.”
Damiana’s blood boils in embarrassment and anger.
“Yes, Priestess,” she says with a tone more testily than it should be.
Astronoma gives her an icy look.
“Astronoma!” a deep voice booms from an adjoining chamber.
“I’m coming, Dark Spectre,” Astronoma shouts back in a sweeter tone.
“Don’t blow it again,” Astronoma pitches one last barb Damiana’s way before grabbing a bulging metallic cloth bag on her way out. She slaps the door’s panel irritably, and the door slides shut behind her.
Arms crossed and feet shoulder-width apart, Damiana stands rigidly in the doorway.
“Boy, that Astronoma’s all charm, isn’t she?” Zhane quips. “She can turn it on and off like a light.”
Damiana glances over at him but says nothing. She notices the vine is off Zhane’s wrists and he is cockily lounging on a padded seat. The aroma of succulent, yet mostly foreign, foods wafts through the room. Zhane pours himself a goblet of clear fluid from a decanter. As much as she tries to stifle it, Damiana’s stomach emits a reverberating growl. Zhane almost spits his drink out laughing. Damiana’s cheeks burn.
“You know, there’s plenty here,” Zhane offers. “I don’t think Astronoma will miss it.”
He picks up a piece of bread-like substance and begins to stand. Damiana jerks to a battle stance.
“Easy,” he laughs warily and continues to stand slowly.
Zhane holds the bread out to her. Damiana’s mouth waters as she remembers she hasn’t eaten since before she entered Istria. Zhane can see Damiana silently arguing with herself over duty versus personal need. He takes a few steps closer. Damiana warily approaches him and then snatches the bread out of Zhane’s hand. Damiana consumes the morsel in two bites.
“I’ve got more,” Zhane says gesturing over his shoulder to the spread by the padded seats. “And I’ve got some water you could wash it down with.”
He slowly backs up towards the seats. Damiana follows him cautiously, feeling strangely like the rabbit she once lured into semi-domesticity when she was a child. Zhane sits down and pours her an inviting cup of water from the decanter. She hesitates and then sits across from him. He passes her the cup. The light slightly better from the new angle, Zhane starts when he gets a good look at Damiana’s bloody brow.
“Oh, wow, I’m sorry,” he says starting to reach out to her.
“What?” she says shrinking back in her chair skeptically.
“I didn’t realize we’d hurt you like that,” he continues. “I’m sorry. Here.”
He dips his cloth napkin into his water glass and squeezes out the excess. Damiana gives him a look of utter bewilderment as he gently presses the cloth against her wound. Her expression softens, and Zhane relaxes. But then she slaps his arm away. Her chair topples over in her haste to get to a fighting stance. Startled, Zhane leaps to his feet.
“I’m not buying it, Silver Boy,” Damiana spits, throwing the cloth in his face. “You think you can fool me. When will your kind ever learn.”
He removes the cloth from his face and drops it on the table.
“My kind?” Zhane asks honestly confused.
“Men, you idiot,” Damiana says angrily, but shifts uneasily in her stance. “You think all you have to do is charm a woman to get her to betray her kind. Well, I’m telling you, those days are over.”
Zhane throws up his hands in confusion and defeat.
“You’re as bad as Astronoma. All I was trying to do was apologize, and you get all…all...hostile! Women!” Zhane huffs and sits down angrily facing away from her. “Look, you sounded like you might be hungry, so I thought I’d be friendly and offer. That’s it.”
“Is it?” Damiana sneers.
“Yeeeeesss,” Zhane retorts, turning to face her. He points at her and says, “Your wound is bleeding again.”
Damiana touches her fingertips to her still tender forehead. Zhane picks up the cloth again and walks slowly over to her. Standing at slightly less than an arm’s length, Zhane gently presses the damp cloth to Damiana’s forehead.
“Are you aware that you have a big clump of pine needles stuck to the back of your head?” Zhane laughs quietly.
Damiana puts her hand up to her head trying to locate the offending needles.
“No, here.” Zhane takes her hand and guides it to the clump.
The door to an adjoining chamber whooshes open suddenly.
“Astronoma, I….” Elgar bumbles in.
“Elgar!” Damiana yells, startled. In a reflex action, she turns, elbowing Zhane in the gut. She breaks away and runs to the side saying, “He tricked me. Get him!”
Elgar charges forward to the best of his ability. As Elgar reaches Zhane, who is bent over holding his ribs, Damiana also charges forward. She grabs Elgar’s clawed arm and whips him around to face her.
“You, my friend, are the biggest fool of all,” Damiana says, punching him in the solar plexus.
Elgar stumbles backward, falling over Damiana’s overturned chair. He lands on the floor, the tip of his pointy head catching the edge of the table and the tray. The impact tips the tray, sending the decanter of water arcing up and then crashing down on his head.
“Come with me,” Damiana says, grabbing Zhane by the arm.
Damiana throws back the cloth covering the large cylindrical tube.
“Zordon!” Zhane says in amazement.
“Zhane,” the deep, fatherly voice says. “You found him, Damiana. Now all you need is….”
A pink light and an odd sparkle land behind Damiana.
“Zordon!” the materializing young woman squeals. She releases the encased hand of a materializing man. Then she notices the odd looking girl standing beside Zordon’s tube.
“Damiana?” Cassie says in bewilderment. “How….”
“You two know each other?” Zhane asks confused.
“It’s a really long story,” Cassie explains, grabbing Damiana’s forearms in the Amazon symbol for friendship.
“What a sweet homecoming,” a deep, sarcastic voice booms from the sky.
“Quite,” an equally sarcastic Astronoma says from the doorway. Elgar stands behind her holding his sore head.
“Dark Spectre!” Phantom Ranger gasps and assumes a fighting stance.
“Sorry, but I’ll have to cut this little homecoming short,” Dark Spectre says. Zordon’s tube lights up and begins to ascend into the sky.
“No!” Damiana and the Rangers cry.
Phantom Ranger fires his laser at Dark Spectre, who just laughs at the feeble attempt. Damiana jumps with all her strength. She clasps onto the edge of the rising tube.
“No, Damiana,” Zordon says hurriedly but gently. “Let me go. Your place is with the Rangers. They need you now.”
“But…,” Damiana protests.
“Let go and take your place with them.”
Reluctantly, Damiana lets go. As she free falls, Damiana panics. How is she going to land without shattering her legs? She feels a strange force catch her and then lower her gently into Zhane’s arms.
“Good catch, guys.” Cassie winks and then starts her morphing sequence.
As Zordon’s tube enters Dark Spectre’s grasp, Zordon shouts down, “Zhane! Give Damiana what I gave you!”
“Zordon! Nooooo!” Zhane yells as Zordon’s case disappears.
“Deal with them, Astronoma,” Dark Spectre booms and then disappears as well.
“Why aren’t you morphing?” Cassie asks Zhane impatiently.
“I can’t,” Zhane answers. “I’ll explain later. Right now we’ve got to get that bag,” Zhane says and points to the bulging metallic bag hanging at Astronoma’s hip. “She’s got the other Rangers’ morphers and communicators in there. She said she put the Rangers in the holding room.”
“Right,” Phantom and Cassie respond in unison.
“Cassie,” Phantom Ranger says squeezing her gloved hand, “make your way to the other Rangers, and I’ll follow shortly.”
He turns to Zhane and says, “Zhane, if you’ll provide a little distraction please….”
Phantom dematerializes.
“What about me?” Damiana asks.
Zhane grabs her hand and pulls her toward Astronoma. “I think you’ll distract just fine.”
“You snake!” Astronoma says acrimoniously to Zhane. “You men are all alike! Fickle! Elgar told me how he found the two of you.”
“That’s right, Astronoma,” Zhane shouts back in mock bravado while holding tightly onto Damiana’s hand. “How do you think those pine needles got there in the first place?”
He grabs Damiana around her waist and kisses her firmly. When he breaks away, Damiana just stands there stunned.
“Damiana?” Zhane says, his face inches from hers.
She just stares at him.
“Duck!” Zhane shouts.
Damiana and Zhane dive in opposite directions. The tip of Damiana’s braid singes as she rolls to get out of the way of Astronoma’s blast.
So focused on her vengeance, Astronoma is easily toppled off her high-heeled boots by an invisible rushing force. Trying to regain her balance, she releases her grip on her staff. Astronoma topples into and over Elgar while trying to break her fall. In the
hub-bub she scarcely notices the bag being released from her belt. It quickly floats behind the compound’s closing outer door.
Zhane stops and laughs, but Damiana scrambles to grab Astronoma’s staff. She stands, holding it menacingly close to Astronoma. Astronoma tries to wriggle backward, but Elgar blocks her way.
“I trusted you,” Damiana says turning the staff over in her hands, “but you used me. And…for impersonating a high priestess of Artemis, you must die.”
Damiana draws the staff back. “This is for Zordon.”
As the staff fires, Zhane pushes Damiana to the side.
“No, Damiana!” Zhane shouts.
The off-target blast lands close to Astronoma’s head. Astronoma shrieks as she smells singeing hair.
“Look what you’ve done!” Astronoma screams feeling for her missing blue curls.
“Damiana, we don’t kill people,” Zhane says grabbing Damiana’s hands, which are still on the staff.
“Let’s go!” Cassie yells as the last morphed Ranger runs from the compound. She uses Satellite Stunner to blow a scorching hole in the door’s locking mechanism. The remaining Quantrons pound on the door.
“That’s not going to hold them long,” Cassie warns.
“Galaxy Gliders, Hang 10!,” Andros shouts, arm outstretched.
The surfboard-like contraptions arrive almost instantaneously. Damiana’s jaw drops in amazement as the Rangers hop onto their corresponding gliders. Phantom jumps up behind Cassie, wrapping one arm around her waist. Damiana tugs her hands and the staff loose from Zhane’s grasp. She aims it once more at Astronoma.
“Now you’ve been shamed. I guess that’s punishment enough.” Damiana tosses the staff in her hands and adds tauntingly, “You want this?”
Damiana takes a few preparatory steps and then hurls the staff with all her might. Like a javelin it flies deep into the forest.
“Send Elgar to go get it,” Damiana laughs. “He’s got a pretty good sense of direction.”
Astronoma just sits there and fumes.
“Damiana,” the Ranger dressed in black says quietly and offers down his hand. His accent strikes a chord in Damiana which causes her to hesitate. Carlos silently wonders if she’s going to refuse his help yet again and embarrass him in front of the other Rangers.
The warrior, Damiana revels in amazement remembering his battle prowess and the sense of honor he exhibited in their previous encounters.
“Don’t let them get away!” Astronoma yells to the Quantrons who are beginning to emerge from the now broken door.
Damiana grabs Carlos’s forearm in the Amazon gesture of respect and then jumps up behind him.
“Hold on,” Carlos advises.
Gladly, Damiana thinks and firmly hooks her left arm under his arm and across his chest. Carlos jumps slightly at the firmness of Damiana's grasp. Damiana is momentarily stunned by the electricity the grasp seems to ignite in her. As they make their ascent, Damiana can’t help but squeal in delight as the wind rushes through her hair.
“C’mon, Zhane,” Ashley says sympathetically and offers her hand to her visibly crestfallen friend.
Astronoma watches as the Power Rangers soar off into the stars. In a tantrum she pounds her fists on the ground and then on Elgar. She fights back tears of anger and humiliation as she counts all the losses accrued that day.
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