The Terran Ranger Saga Volume 5 by Heather Ray (novel24 .txt) 📖

stopped talking suddenly, as her head turned quickly to the direction they had just come. Zack noticed her reaction, and turned to where she was facing.

"What?" he said.

"I hear something," she whispered. "Something's coming."

"We'll make our stand here," said Zack, silently summoning his Lance of Light. "At least there isn't a whole lot of snow to get in our way."

Katherine nodded, and thrust her hands at the snow. The snow suddenly flew from the ground to the sky, as if a grenade had exploded from beneath it. The sudden explosion of white caused the lingering creatures hiding behind the large snow banks to fly backwards. Kat stepped back, and took a defensive stance. The Viper Putties then collected their bearings, and gracefully leapt at the bumper car arena. Slowly, they approached the two rangers.

"Five, six, seven, eight..." Kat muttered, "I guess we each take four?"

"Sounds fair to me," Zack replied. "You hang back, I'll make the first move."

Before Katherine could reply, Zack pole-vaulted himself at the Putties with his lance. He didn't manage to hit any of them, because they all avoided him as he landed. As soon as he landed, he rotated his long lance in a complete circle, knocking over all the Putties that were within four feet from him. He then rose to his feet, and blocked all the Putties' kicks and punches with his lance, occasionally pelting them with the two ends, which were topped with heavy prisms.

Meanwhile, Katherine summoned her Ice Daggers and watched Zack's attack. Of course, it didn't take long before four Putties left the Silver Ranger, rushing at the Blue Ranger. She was prepared, and as soon as one Putty was close enough, she ducked his fist, and while turning full circle, she sliced off his leg at the knee with her razor sharp dagger. The Putty fell to the ground, and Kat focused her attention on the other two, knowing full well that it would recover soon. As expected, after only a few seconds, the leg grew anew, and the Viper Putty was ready for action. He fired a stream of deadly venom from its mouth, aimed for Kat's head. Kat had seen it through the corner of her eye, and dove for the ground, allowing the stream of poison to fly over her, and strike another Viper Putty in the face. The Putty writhed in silence as it slowly disintegrated.
Chapter Fifteen

On the other side of the lot, the Green and Black Terran Rangers approached a carousel, with horses, unicorns, dragons, and chariots covered with inches of ice and snow.

"How big is this place anyway?" Aisha huffed.

"Pretty big," Jason answered. "The traveling carnival comes each year, and it pretty much has room for every teen in Angel Grove. We came here a couple years ago, not long after we became rangers, and Trini's cousin Silvia got lost. It's a big place."

"...with dozens of places for Rita and Zedd to hide whatever magical nexus they're using."

"Yep," said Jason.

"At least we have Alexis back," Aisha said, hopping onto the carousel and looking around. Jason lingered back. "With seven rangers, things should be easier."

"Yeah," Jason muttered, "I guess they should."

Before Aisha could think about the underlying meaning of Jason's comment, a group of Viper Putties leaped down from the top of the carousel onto her. Jason moved to help, but suddenly the carousel began rotating. Jason turned around, and saw three more Viper Putties at the machine's controls.

"Hey!" Jason yelled, running towards them with his Earth Sword at the ready. "You're not licensed to operate this kind of machine!"

Jason punctuated that statement by chopping off the hand of the Putty that was pressing buttons on the console. The hand quickly evaporated, but the Putty soon grew a replacement. Jason leaped out of the way as another Putty spat a mouthful of the sticky corrosive venom they were armed with.

On the carousel, Aisha felt dizzy as the machine began spinning far faster than it usually did. She shook her head to orient herself, and stumbled back just in time to avoid a Putty striking her in the solar plexus. She rolled back, and struck her head against a plastic pony. She groaned, and weakly rose to her feet.

"Good thing this uniform comes with a helmet," she said, rubbing the back of her green headgear. "That surely would've done some permanent damage."

Aisha regained her balance, and delivered an explosive snap-kick, knocking one of the Putties off of the carousel, and into the metal fence around it. Aisha grinned under her helmet.

"Four to go..."

Aisha took another step back, preparing to launch a deadly roundhouse kick, when she felt her foot was stuck. She glanced back, and noticed her right foot was jammed between the floor of the carousel and the large cylinder in the center. She frowned and tried in vain to pull her foot out as the four remaining Putties approached her from the front.

"Wind Shield!!" she shrieked, holding out her hands. A flash of green light formed the circular shield, and as soon as it materialized, she felt the pressure of a squirt of venom from the other side. She sighed in relief.

Too bad our uniforms aren't made of this material,

she thought as she knocked another Putty in the stomach with her shield. We'd be able to take far more punishment!

Chapter Sixteen

Back by the Ferris wheel, Alexis and Tommy looked around warily, walking in a circle. In the center of that circle was Kimberly, her entire attention focused on maintaining the golden shield of energy prohibiting the fall of any more snow. While Alexis continued to walk, her eyes caught the large building in front of her. She continued to look at it, thoughts running through her mind.

Billy tried to teleport us in as close to the energy source as possible. Maybe the source is right in front of us!

"Tommy!" she called, turning to the leader of the Power Rangers, "I have an idea of where it might be. The mirror maze!"

The Red Ranger glanced at the building, and nodded. "Go check it out. If you find anything, contact the rest of us."

The Purple Ranger nodded, and jogged into the building. Tommy watched her leave, completely oblivious to the cold red eyes watching him from within one of the cars on the Ferris wheel.

"Now that the Purple Ranger is out of the way, and the Gold Ranger is otherwise occupied, only Tommy remains. Perfect."

The creature moved so quickly, it only looked like a flash of gold as it moved through the crisp air. Tommy turned around just in time to duck as the creature flew above his head, landing a few feet behind him. Tommy rose to his feet and fell into a defensive stance as Goldar unsheathed his mighty golden blade.

"So, once again it is you against I, Red Ranger," Goldar growled.

"And once again, I'm going to fillet your hide!" Tommy retorted, his Flame Saber glowing faintly with heat energy. The two seasoned warriors immediately fell into a dueling match. As their mighty swords clashed, the warriors continued moving further and further from Kimberly, who was oblivious to the events around her. Goldar grinned maliciously as he battled the Red Ranger, glancing at the Gold Ranger. He then nodded his head, and two Viper Putties leap from the Ferris wheel, and ran directly at Kimberly. Tommy gasped when he saw them, and turned around, making the fatal mistake of turning his back on Goldar.

"KIMBERLY!!"

he screamed. "LOOK OUT --!!"

His warning was cut short as he felt the sharp end of Goldar's sword cut through his side Tommy gasped in pain and surprise, and fell onto his stomach, blood staining the white snow around him. He rolled over onto his back, and saw Goldar raising his sword for the final blow. He faintly noticed that the snow began falling once again, momentarily blinding the large canine warrior. Goldar swung down with his mighty sword, but it suddenly stopped, only inches from Tommy's helmet. Goldar's eyes were wide with shock as he pushed down with all his might. But the sword wouldn't move. He didn't notice the faint golden glow around it, until he was suddenly thrown into the Ferris wheel by a faint gold force. Tommy was dizzy with pain, and lay limp as he felt someone removing his helmet. Through bleary eyes he made out a golden form in front of him. He tried to struggle, but he couldn't muster enough strength to break the firm grip on his chest.

"Tommy, stop it!" ordered Kimberly. "It's only me."

"Kim?" he muttered, "I thought you were Goldar."

Kim shook her head. "That's the last thing you should say to your girlfriend, Tommy Oliver!"

Tommy chuckled a little, but winced as Kimberly gently probed the sword wound.

"I don't think the sword punctured any organs," she said. "What happened? I thought you'd be more careful!"

Tommy smiled at her. "I was stupid, and I turned my back. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered, helping Tommy sit up, "I heard your warning, which disrupted my concentration and caused the TK shield to collapse. The Putties were so surprised by the sudden downpour of snow that I managed to knock them both out of my way. They're still alive, though. I just had to make sure you were okay."

Tommy nodded, and tried to stand up. He then noticed that Kimberly had encased the pair inside a smaller TK shield, protecting them from the two Putties who were punching and kicking the field in vain. Tommy's hazel eyes narrowed as he saw Goldar approach them, his sword at the ready. Kimberly held him by the shoulders, instinctively knowing what he was thinking.

"Tommy, you're hurt," she said. "You can't face Goldar!"

"Yes I can," he argued, rising to his feet. "With your help, at least."

Kim nodded and let go and Tommy painfully rose to his feet. She handed him his helmet, and he lifted up his sword