The Terran Rangers/The Spectrum Force/Sailor Moon - The Preliminaries Volume 5 by Heather Ray (lightweight ebook reader .txt) 📖

psi-patterns. I mean, he's only met them once, and that was months ago, for a very short time."

"Well, I have faith in Zordon's abilities," said Billy. "If he says he can find our missing friends, then he can. He isn't one to put our hopes up falsely."
Part Eleven

Chapter Thirteen

A tall man in a shimmering silver robe stood alone in a vast, rocky wasteland. He looked up into the barren sky, and raised a single hand into the air. A crooked wooden staff appeared in his hand, and a flash of green light spread from the head of the staff, filling the area with an eerie green light. The wizard watched silently as his staff transformed his surroundings into a small asteriod floating in the blackness of space. But the space doesn't have thousands of soft, white dots of light. Rather, the sky was illuminated with small, rainbow colored streaks of light. Each streak of light represented a different dimension of existence. Some of these dimensions differed in year, and still others differed in universe. But they all differed, and their number approached infinity. This was the Astral Plane, a realm that only could be accessed by those whose minds were so evolved, they can communicate through telepathic means. The landscape could be molded by the inhabitants of the plane to suit their particular needs. Now, the mighty telepathic wizard Zordon of Eltar stood upon the solitary asteroid, reaching out into infinity, searching for two semi-familiar psi-patterns. The strain of such an endeavor was fierce, as the sweat that formed on his ashen face attested to, but Zordon refused to quit, or allowed the strain to get to him.

I must reach Rachel and Keith, he thought mutely, I must muster the strength to send a telepathic summons throughout the Multiverse, aimed at their psi-patterns, and hopefully, they'll know who I am.

Part Twelve

Chapter Fourteen

Rachel Castaneda opened her eyes, and once again found herself in unfamiliar territory. She raised her head, and in shock, she stared out into the dry desert that surrounded her. But she quickly realized she wasn't alone. Right before her eyes lay her former opponent, Sailor Mars, who remained unconscious. Rachel gasped as she rose to her feet, and saw her friend Keith also on the sand, donned in the Red Spectrum Enforcer uniform. She also saw two other familiar people, and a young brunette girl dressed similarly to Sailor Mars.

"What happened!" she shrieked, kneeling beside Keith and shaking him. "The White and Black Rangers?! What's going on here, and who's really behind this mess?"

Keith finally responded to Rachel's actions, and opened his eyes to see the face of the Purple Enforcer.

"Ray!" he said, sitting up. "You're alive!"

"Yes," she said, helping her friend stand up, "and I think the others are also. Do you know what happened?"

"Well, after we fell through that vortex, I woke up in this raging blizzard. I met up with the Black Ranger, and we...we started fighting. Although I can't exactly remember what prompted the fight..."

"That's a familiar story," said Rachel gesturing towards the unconscious Raye Hino, "I was trapped in some fog, and I ended up going toe to toe with Sailor Mars."

Both Rachel and Keith turned when they heard a muffled moan coming from the White Ranger. They both jumped when the saber attached to his belt floated off the ground, and stared at them.

"Well, what are you looking at?" the saber barked.

"You know, I never realized Tommy's sword is alive," said Rachel to Keith. She then turned to Saba. "Is the White Ranger okay?"

"Just great," moaned Tommy, sitting up and touching his helmeted head. He then pulled off the helmet, and shook his head to rid himself of the cobwebs. "What happened?"

He rose to his feet, and looked at Rachel and Keith for a moment.

"The Spectrum Force is here?"

"Only the two of us," said Rachel. "We were kidnapped from LA."

"Something similar happened to me and Adam," said Tommy, walking over to them.

"Adam?" asked Rachel curiously.

"The new Black Ranger," said Keith, rubbing the back of his neck. "He replaced Zack."

"How did you know?" asked Tommy.

"Because," said Adam quietly, lifting his head, "he cleaned my clock earlier."

Keith looked down at the ground guiltily, and then offered his hand to Adam. Adam accepted the Red Enforcer's help, and stood up.

"I...I'm really sorry about that," said Keith, "I don't know what came over me..."

"I do," said Sailor Mars, as she helped Sailor Jupiter to her feet. "When I was battling the Purple Enforcer, I felt a powerful evil energy. It urged me to use full force, to finish my opponent. For good. I tried to fight the force by searching within me, and figuring out where it came from. It was in my head, but it was a foreign presence."

"And, what does that mean?" asked Jupiter.

"It means, we're being manipulated," said Tommy, crossing his arms, "I remember a voice, telling me that my dark side can never be conquered. I...I couldn't perform the final strike, and kill Sailor Jupiter."

"Someone was talking to me also," said Keith, "and I saw him! He, he was a man. A tall blonde man, with a weird costume. I forget what he called himself --"

"Solar," said a deep, powerful voice from behind. All six heroes turned about in surprise, and saw a sphere of golden energy touch ground, and mold into the form of a tall, rather muscular human man, with blonde hair and aqua colored eyes. He grinned, and approached the heroes. Keith immediately struck a defensive stance, and snarled at Solar.

"He's the one behind all this," said Keith. "He's the one who brought us here, who pit us against each other!"

"But...why?" asked Rachel.

"To determine who is weak, and who is strong," said Solar, "I planned on choosing an ally, to assist me in my destruction of the Multiverse. Of course, anyone who works with me must be totally devoid of a conscience. So, I put the six of you to the test, because you are the strongest of your superhero teams. You all failed."

"What do you mean 'failed'

?" asked Adam.

"You failed to destroy your opponents. You failed to cross the final line. To kill. You are too weak to destroy those weaker than yourself. You cannot be my allies, and therefore, I must dispatch of you."

"So you say!" yelled Keith. "So far, all you've done is talk! You haven't lifted a single finger!"

"I didn't have to," said Solar, his eyes glowing bright gold. He pointed his index finger at the Red Enforcer, and the latter was thrown clear across the desert by some invisible force.

"He's a telekinetic," said Rachel. "He can move things with his mind."

"I can do much more than 'move things' children!" he roared, creating a vortex wind similar to the one that teleported the six heroes to Otherworld. The wind whipped through the barren sands, blinding the heroes.

"That's enough of that!" said Sailor Jupiter, "Jupiter Thunder...CRASH

!!"

A stream of lightning bolts leapt from the antenna in the center of Sailor Jupiter's tiara, flying into he sandstorm towards its creator. The winds died down, but Solar didn't seem hurt.

"That guy is toast!" cried Keith, who flew back to the battle scene. He whipped out his two Flame Daggers, and pointed them both to Solar. Twin streams of flames flew at the villain, who just leapt out of the way.

The White Ranger summoned his saber Saba, and nodded at the Black Ranger. Adam nodded back, and silently summoned his Power Ax. The two Power Rangers rushed Solar, slicing and swinging with their mighty weapons. But Solar deflected the ranger's blows with an invisible force field, protecting his body. The force field expanded, and trapped both Power Rangers within. The force field immediately began to shrink.

"They don't have much time!" said Rachel, closing her eyes in concentration. A purple force field appeared inside Solar's, and pushed out while the latter pushed in. The strain of holding up a force field against such a powerful opponent caused Rachel to fall to her knees with exertion. Keith immediately ran over and helped his friend by adding his red force field to her purple one. Together, they kept Solar from crushing the Power Rangers.

"I'll try something," said Sailor Mars, bringing her fists together, "Mars Firebird...STRIKE

!!"

A small flaming image of a bird shaped from Mars' flames, and shrieked as it flew at Solar. Solar turned to face the small bird, and then waved his