The Terran Ranger Saga Volume 5 - Heather Ray (young adult books to read TXT) 📗

said the Silver Ranger, running to his teammate's side. He clenched his fists tightly, a faint silvery glow forming around his body. "Let him go!"

Aisha abided, lowering her shield. The cyclone of wind that held Elementor prisoner faded, leaving the monster slightly dizzy. Before he could catch his bearings, Zack held his palms open at arm's length. A powerful wave of magnetic energy struck the monster like an oncoming truck, sending it flying into a patch of trees. As soon as its head touched the trunks, the trees ignited in a wildfire.

"Oops," Zack said, glancing down at Aisha. "You think you can blow out that fire?"

"Wind will spread it!" Aisha argued, as a powerful earthquake caused both rangers to collapse. Zack turned around, and saw all his friends with their stomachs to the ground. "We gotta stop the fire!" Zack hollered over the sounds of the earth moving.

"But first we gotta stop this earthquake!" Kat shouted, "I can't focus my powers!"

"Let's see what I can do!" Jason said, holding out his hand, "Earth Sword!!"

The mighty silver blade appeared in his hand. Jason forced himself to his knees, despite the mighty quake, and dug the blade into the ground. The quaking immediately stopped, but Jason's arms were shaking.

"Hurry," he said in a strained voice, "I can't...keep this up much longer!"

Kat nodded, rising to her feet. She ran into the forest, her Ice Daggers appearing at her silent command. She pointed both daggers at different trees, and the blades, vanished, leaving a stream of water gushing from the hilts as if they were hoses. While Kat quenched the flames and Jason held off the earthquake, a small silver sphere fell from the sky, and landed in Elementor's rock hand. He grinned with understanding, and then slammed it onto the ground. In a cloud of gray smoke, the monster grew to enormous proportions. The six rangers regrouped, and stepped back from the towering monster.

"Consider the situation escalated!" said Zack.

"Call the Terrazords!" Tommy ordered, "Red Phoenix...Activate!!"

"Black Rhinocerous...Activate!!" hollered Jason.

"White Cheetah...Activate!!" shouted Zack.

"Yellow Thunderbird...Activate!!" cried Kimberly.

"Blue Alligator...Activate!!" screamed Kat.

"Green Hawk...Activate!!" yelled Aisha.

Suddenly, the ground at the ranger's feet parted, allowing the huge and powerful Rhinoceros to climb out of the dirt. The Zord was silver and black, with metallic legs and sharp silver horns. Then, a beam of light streaked from the sky, forming the shape of the Cheetah. The Cheetah was mostly white, but the body was gold with black spots. The fangs shimmered gold, and the eyes were glowing red. A flash of lightning struck in the heavens, forming the Thunderbird high in the sky. The Thunderbird was yellow and gold, with silver lightning bolts decorating the wings. The winds picked up, forming a glowing green cyclone. At the top of the funnel was the graceful Hawk, with forest green frame, silver feathers and claws, and a shiny silver beak. A wave of blue energy appeared from the lake, resembling rippling water. Out of the water climbed the Alligator Zord, a massive and sturdy machine with blue frame, silver teeth and legs, and a huge blue tail with sharp silver scales. Finally, a fireball formed in the sky, taking the shape of the Phoenix. The Phoenix was all shades of gold and red, and the golden wings appeared to be on fire.

"Let's do it!!" the six rangers cried, each vanishing from the ground in his/her signature color. They all appeared in the cockpits of their individual Zords, and immediately ran the start-up program. The Zords screamed to life, and they lined up by the lake, with the ground Zords on the shore and the aerial Zords hovering overhead.

"Anybody have any ideas?" Kimberly asked.

^I have one,^

said Billy through the communicator. ^As you've noticed, each part of Elementor's anatomy is composed of a different element. Perhaps if you focus your elemental attacks on the area that would me most damaged, you can defeat him.^

"Sounds like a plan!" said Kimberly. "Maybe my Thundernet will hold him for awhile!"

A lightning rod rose from the head of the Thunderbird like an antenna, and it quickly absorbed the electrons in the atmosphere. Then, the lightning streamed at Elementor, surrounding him in a web of lighting.

"Bingo!" Kim shouted.

However, Elementor's body flared with yellow energy, and he harmlessly passed through the cage of lightning. Kimberly gawked.

"What gives?!" she shrieked.

"I guess lightning energy exudes from Elementor's entire body, not just a specific part," said Jason. "The easiest element to destroy is his arm of ice."

"Piece of cake," said Tommy, "Hyperflame rockets away!"

Two narrow rockets, glowing with red energy, plowed into Elementor -- one striking his shoulder, and the other hitting just above the elbow. Elementor screeched as the protective ice around his arm melted, revealing a narrower arm of crystal.

"My scanners are reading that as the same crystal we destroyed in the Mirror Maze!" Zack said. "It's not very durable. The elements acted like an armor as well as a weapon."

"Let's test that hypothesis," said Jason, the Rhinocerous running across the ground. Elementor made the mistake of trying to block the Zord's attack with his crystalline arm. The Rhino's sharp horn tore through the crystal, shattering the fragile material to dust. "Now we're cooking!" said Tommy. "His arm's gone!"

"Instead of destroying each part of its body individually, why don't we just hit a critical part?" suggested Aisha. "Like the head? Its obviously protected by fire."

"I'll try my Deep Freeze Cannon," said Katherine, the Alligator stepping forward, "but I need a distraction!"

"You got it!" Aisha called, the Hawk streaking at the monster. She spun circles around the monster's flaming head, confusing the monster and causing it to spin, swinging at her madly. While it did so, the Alligator's gargantuan mouth opened wide, and a spout appeared between its razor teeth.

"Locking..." Kat muttered. "And fire!"

A stream of liquid poured out of the cannon, and Elementor screamed as he felt the ice cold surround his head. The aura of flames on his head vanished, leaving a sphere of clear crystal.

"Let's finish this fight!" said Tommy. "Form the Terran Megazord!"

The six Zords all floated off the ground, and began changing shape.

"Head ready!" yelled Tommy.

"Right arm ready!" said Aisha.

"Left arm ready!" called Kimberly.

"Body ready!" announced Zack.

"Right leg ready!" called Jason.

"Left leg ready!" cried Kat.

"Bring 'em together!" Tommy ordered, and the six Zords moved together, locking at the joints to form the Terran Megazord. The Megazord lowered to the ground, nearly reaching the height of Elementor.

Although Elementor was seriously weakened, he wasn't ready to give up yet. With a mighty grunt, Elementor swung his remaining arm at the Megazord, striking the head with its earth arm. The Megazord stumbled back. but ducked the follow-up swing.

"Time for a KO!" called Aisha. The green arm drew back, and struck Elementor's chin full force. The crystal shattered instantly, and the rest of the monster began exploding once the head was destroyed. In a massive burst of rainbow energy, Elementor was reduced to cinders.

"Talk about a glass jaw!" Zack commented.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Just outside Angel Grove High School, the Power Rangers, accompanied by their friends Rocky and Adam, approached the building. Kimberly glanced down at her watch, and frowned.

"We're nearly ten minutes late," she muttered. "What excuse do we use this time?"

"I forgot my locker combination," Tommy said with a shrug. Zack smiled.

"Tommy, you're the only person in the world who can get away with that one!"

"Adam had to go to the nurse with chest pains again, and I walked him," suggested Rocky. Adam nodded in agreement.

"I have study hall," said Katherine, "so fortunately, being late doesn't matter."

"Maybe I'll have a doctor's appointment," said Aisha, "I can get my dad to write me a note. Mr. Mason will be satisfied if I bring the note tomorrow."

"Its not fair, your dad knowing your a ranger," Zack muttered.

"There are good and bad points," Aisha said with a grin. "Getting excuses for school is a good point, but having him constantly badger me to be careful is definitely bad."

"Oookay," said Kimberly, "I have gym now, so I can Coach Baily that I had to make up a quiz during lunch, and it went overtime."

"That's a good one," said Tommy. As the group of teens headed for the building, Alexis lingered back.

"It's now or never," she muttered to herself, catching up with Jason. She grabbed his arm gently.

"What's up, Lex?" he asked her.

"Um, Jase, could I talk to you for a minute? Or do you need to rush to class?"

All the other rangers turned around, and glanced at the two in surprise. Kimberly shook her head, and opened the front door.

"Come on," she said, "if they need to talk, then they need to talk! Alone."

After their friends entered the building, Jason turned back to Alexis. "About anything in particular?"

Alexis nodded, somewhat uncomfortably. "Yeah. About 'us'."

Jason nodded, taking Alexis by the arm. "Come on," he said, leading her off the stairs. They walked into the Gym and Juice Bar, which was relatively quiet after the rush at lunch hour. They sat down at a small booth along the wall, across from each other. Alexis folded her hands, and lay them on the table. Jason leaned back in his chair, and watched her expectantly. She remained quiet for a moment, as if searching for the right words.

"Jase," she said finally, not looking at him. "We've been friends for awhile now, and over the past year, there've been some...shifts in our relationship. I mean, we were friends back when you were the Red Power Ranger, then we got a bit...closer when we talked over the phone, when I was in Philly and you in Geneva. Then you moved back to Angel Grove, and everything changed. And then I came back, and things've changed again. I...I want you to be completely candid with me, Jason, because no matter what else we were since we met over a year ago, we've always been friends. And friends are honest with each other, no matter what."

"What do you want me to be honest about?" he asked, trying to look her in the eye. But she continued avoiding his inquiring mahogany gaze.

"I want you to be honest with me about your feelings. For me."

This time, Jason cast his gaze to the table between them. Alexis noticed, and watched his reaction with her curious emerald eyes. Jason took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

"Alexis," he started finally, "I really do care about you. Your friendship means a lot to