The Spectrum Force/Rachel Summers by Heather Ray (graded readers .TXT) 📖

The Orange, Blue, and Green Spectrum Enforcers wander through one of the tunnels, searching for their missing friends. The Orange Enforcer stops in her tracks, and floats off the ground.

"Guys," she said, "The bad guys can be anywhere!"

Just then, over a dozen Shadow Warriors leapt out of the shadows that danced throughout the cave. The Spectrum Force immediately began to counter-attack with skilled martial arts moves. Jocelyn, who was hovering above the ground, just managed to catch someone move from the corner of her eye. She turned around quickly, but saw nothing but darkness.

"Time to shed some light on the subject," she said aloud, focusing her energy. She managed to project powerful rays of orange light, which illuminated the entire cave. The Shadow Warriors were not affected by the bright light, but Jocelyn did see a tunnel in the direction where she saw movement before.

"Guys," she called, "can you take it from here? I think I found something."

"These guys are a piece of cake," said Matthew, leaping out of the way of a Shadow's punch, "Go for it!"

Jocelyn converted herself into a beam of orange light, and flew through the tunnel at light speed. She soon caught up with the being she had seen before, and slammed into it, causing it to fall to the ground hard. Jocelyn converted back into human form, standing on top of her opponent.

"Okay, Celea," she snapped, "where are Keith and Tammy?"

"Little brat!" muttered Celea, throwing the Orange Enforcer off her, "You've just bitten off more than you can chew!"

Jocelyn flipped in the air, and landed on her feet a few yards away from Celea. Celea formed a long bow in her hands, at Jocelyn summoned her Ice Bow. The two women were at a standstill, with their weapons prepared for firing.

"Do you honestly think you are as good a shot as I?" asked Celea, "I've been hunting with this bow for centuries!"

"Probably not," answered Jocelyn, "But I'm certainly gonna try!"

With that, Jocelyn fired an ice arrow. Celea deflected it with one of her dark arrows, and quickly fired another arrow at Jocelyn. Jocelyn leapt out of the arrow's path, and delivered a ferocious flying kick to Celea's jaw. Celea grunted in pain, but she quickly recovered, and elbowed Jocelyn in the stomach. The Orange Enforcer doubled over in pain, and Celea used this opportunity to retrieve her bow. But before she got a chance to fire, a bolt of orange light energy crashed into the low ceiling, causing the tunnel to collapse around Celea. Jocelyn protected herself with an orange force field, but Celea didn't have that option at her disposal. She frowned down at Jocelyn, who was smiling.

"I guess that's your cue," said Jocelyn, standing up, "Unless, of course, you don't mind being buried alive."

"We'll finish this some other time, Human," snapped Celea, as she vanished in a cloud of black mist. Jocelyn continued down the collapsing tunnel, running as quickly as she possibly could.

Meanwhile, just down that same tunnel, Tamara and Keith were being held by a group of Shadow Warriors. So long as their Spectrum Stones were held be evil, they could not Spectrum Sync, and escape. But, the ceiling suddenly began to collapse, giving them the opportunity to escape. The Shadows were momentarily distracted, giving Keith the chance to wriggle his hand free, and smack the Shadow holding him in the chin with the bottom of his open palm. The Shadow was momentarily stunned, and Keith leapt away.

"Spectrum Sync... RED!!" he cried, holding his red stone into the air. The light cascaded from the stone, and filled the entire tunnel with pulsing red energy. The energy was harmless to Tamara, who was still being held by a Shadow, but the Shadow Warriors were injured by the primal release of radiant energy. The Shadow holding Tamara was forced to let her go, so she quickly stumbled behind Keith, and gave him the thumbs up. The Red Enforcer first erected a force field around himself and Tamara, to protect them from the falling ceiling. Then held out his fists, and powerful beams of red light shot forth. He swept across the chamber, the energy creamating any Shadow it touched. Soon, Tamara and Keith were alone, surrounded by the charred remains of the Shadows, which instantly began to evaporate.

"Great job!" said Tamara, "Now, let's go find the others. Spectrum Sync... YELLOW!!"

Tamara was bathed in a bright yellow light, and transformed into the Yellow Spectrum Enforcer again. The release of energy only served to quicken the collapse of the ceiling. Keith grabbed Tamara's hand, and lead her through the tunnel back the way they came.

"We have to catch up with the rest of the Force," he said, "Before this entire underground maze falls apart!"

They didn't run for long before they saw a faint orange light coming from down the tunnel.

"Joce?" called Keith.

"Keith?" she answered, quickly flying over to them, "Tammy! You're both okay!"

"Where are the others?" asked Tamara.

"Last time I saw them, Matt and Craig were fighting some Shadows. They should have finished them off by now."

"This whole tunnel is falling apart," said Keith, "We have to go find the others!"

The three Enforcers raced down the tunnel, protecting themselves from the falling debris with force fields. Soon, they reached the end of the tunnel, where it joined with the much larger tunnel where Matt and Craig were just destroying the two remaining Shadow Warriors.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Craig, "The sky's falling here!"

"We realize that," said Tamara, "Celea jumped us, and used her black energy arrows to block our connection with the spectrum."

"Don't worry about her, though," said Jocelyn, "I think she went home."

"Let's get going," said Craig, leading the way, "Phoenix's psi-beacon is still going strong!"

"We'd better hurry," said Matthew, glancing down at his green Spectrum Stone. It was emitting bright bands of purple light. "I think Rachel needs us!"

Acheron was busy disconnecting the full batteries of energy that had been absorbed from the Phoenix Force residue inside Rachel Summers. The Phoenix herself is barely conscious, just barely managing to uphold the telepathic beacon. Christopher Greyson is out cold, and the only thing keeping him alive is Phoenix's link. Acheron ignores the Purple Enforcer, who is lying unconscious on the other side of the chamber, leaning against the stone wall. The chamber begins to shake gently, and dust and small pebbles begin to fall from the ceiling. Acheron looks up in surprise.

"Seems like the cavern will be collapsing soon," he observed, "I believe now is a good time to leave. I have plenty of energy from Phoenix, and I shall bring her with me to the ship, where we can keep her as prisoner until we need energy again."

Acheron deactivates the energy draining machine, and begins to prepare for departure. He fails to notice as Phoenix's green eyes open slowly, and a sly grin crosses her face.

He turned off the machine! he doesn't realize that now I can release Chris from my psi-link, and utilize that energy against him. But, I know I can't break this sphere from the inside. Its especially constructed to withstand my powers. *Purple Enforcer! Wake up!*

Rachel Castaneda's eyes shoot open underneath her blue visor, but she remains motionless.

*Who's there?*

she asks.

*Phoenix. Listen carefully. I can't destroy this sphere. You're going to have to do it.*

*But, if you don't have the power, how can I?*

*Perhaps your sword can help. All magic is susceptible to iron.*

Iron... thought Rachel, as she slowly reached for her sword, which lay beside her, half buried in dust. She grabbed the purple hilt, and leapt up as silently as a cat. But, it wasn't silent enough, and Acheron turned around quickly.

"You're more resilient than I first believed, Human," he said, firing twin beams of energy from his eyes, "But that still doesn't mean you'll survive this escapade!"

Rachel dodged his energy beams, and flew towards the sphere containing Phoenix. She lifted her Lightning Sabre high, and sliced downwards with all her might. To Acheron's surprise, the blade managed to chip the glass. Rachel smiled, and prepared for a second swing.

"Oh no you don't!" yelled Acheron, concentrating a powerful pulse of energy in his hand. He then released this energy as a continuous beam, and aimed it for the Purple Enforcer. She turned around, and managed to block the energy by placing her sword in its path just in time. The energy was deflected, and struck the stone wall just to the side of Phoenix's crystalline prison.

If I can redirect the blast just a little,

thought Rachel, who was being pushed back by the force of the energy beam, I can free Phoenix and Chris with Acheron's own magic!

As Rachel was pushed backwards, the deflected beam got closer and closer to Phoenix's sphere. Rachel then sharply turned the sword, sending the blast right at the weak spot in the glass, which she had created with her sword earlier. To Acheron's horror, the crystal shattered, and Phoenix floated out of the glass remains. She turned towards Acheron, and released the Phoenix fire in a blinding beam of hot flames. Acheron leapt to the side, and he tried to protect himself from the scorching rays with his cape. He scowled angrily, and faded away in a cloud of mist.

"You may have escaped me, Eternal Flame!" he cried, "But, I still have the energy I stole from you!"

Phoenix turned around, and saw the batteries that contained her energy slowly disappear into nothingness. She lowered herself to the ground, and fell to her knees weakly.

"Phoenix?" asked Rachel, helping her stand, "Are you okay?

"I will be," she whispered, "once the Phoenix Force recovers. But, Acheron stole a great deal of power from me..."

"Quick," said Rachel, "we have to get out of here. Wait here, and I'll free Chris."

"Okay..." Phoenix replied, just managing to stay on her feet. Rachel ran over to the intact