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Doomstoned - part 2
🕑 Added 2022-01-01 08:38:18 +0000 UTCEven the Rangers will have their fruits of labor! Or is it their blossoming career?
Responses for Doomstone were good enough that it encouraged me to expand the story. It is easy of course since there are still three juicy Rangers who still think they could rescue their teammates.
Don’t walk around in a haunted forest, children. Especially if the forest has no exit!
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Watch yourselves out there in the dark!
Jason could feel his body transforming. Not morphing, as he already used the Morphing Grid energy to be the spandex-clad superhero that is a Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger. That being said, he didn’t become the hero he wished to be.
His memory went back to earlier that day when he, Zack, and Trini just finished their scuba diving just outside of Angel Grove. Half-naked with his wetsuit zipper opened, the fearless team leader activated his communicator. “What’s up, Zordon?”
“Rangers, you have to return to the Command Center. I’m afraid I have some grave news about your three comrades.”
“Ayiyiyi, literally!” exclaimed the distressed voice of Alpha-5 before the message was cut off.
“That didn’t sound good. Let’s go, guys!” The three Rangers stood next to each other. Holding on to their Power Buckle, they were converted into pure teleportation energy that shot out into the evening sky.
“Behold, the Viewing Globe!” said the interdimensional floating head of the space wizard. The youngsters turned around to watch the massive crystal ball at the center of the circular chamber. It showed the perils of the Blue, Pink, and White Rangers. “Where are they?” asked the concerned Trini.
“They had been trapped inside the Haunted Forest, the personal dimension of Doomstone. He’s Rita’s latest despicable creation with the power of resurrecting monsters you have previously defeated.”
Zack flinched when Doomstone used his powers to revive Rhinoblaster. “That one’s gonna give me nightmares.”
“Unfortunately, that is not all. As per Kimberly and Billy’s insistence, I didn’t disturb your Halloween chaperoning event. The two Rangers teleported themselves to save Tommy that had been in a tight situation since his Power Buckle was taken by Doomstone. While they managed to get the transformation item back and Tommy was able to reinforce their power, the three Rangers were cornered.”
Jason didn’t like where this was going. “What happened, Zordon?”
“It was Doomstone’s plan all along to let them go, knowing that they wouldn’t have anywhere to go anyway. His personal dimension barrier prevented them from teleporting out and me from finding out their crisis until it’s too late.”
The Viewing Globe changed its projection into the scary house underneath the nightmare tree that Billy, Kimberly, and Tommy went into. At least, that was where they went after the tentacle ambush. The trio screamed as they were pulled inside. Tommy tried to hold to the door hinges, but the fat vine’s hold on his neck was too suffocating. With the three heroes shrieking on their way into the hellish dark corridor, the door slammed shut.
Whatever happened inside the house, it wasn’t for their teammates to see. Only bright flashes of different colors mimicking each captured Ranger’s power gave a clue of what happened to them. That along with the gut-wrenching screams from all over the house.
Trini was shocked, but nothing prepared her for what was coming. Three gravestones appeared on the misty lawn. Each bore the name of the captured Power Ranger. The Rangers themselves were nowhere to be seen until bulges began to protrude out from the nightmare tree’s bark. The bulges slowly took vaguely human shapes before transforming into the three Rangers.
“No!” exclaimed Jason as he witness Billy, Kimberly, and even Tommy get assimilated into a part of the tree itself. Their arms were extended to the sides in a spread eagle position. Vines penetrated their costumes from all sides and angles, some were pumping diabolical goop. At their first emergence, the three Rangers let out screeches of agony beyond anything Jason and his friends could handle.
The screams turned to pants and sobs as their consciousness returned. “No, please, no! Not like this! I can’t be turned into something like this!” sobbed the Blue Ranger as he futilely tried to free himself from the tree. It was useless as he wasn’t captured and cocooned by the bark. He was actually a part of the bark. The veins relentlessly pumped their content to tranquilized him.
His helmet visor opened. It was clear the youngster inside wasn’t the bubbly geek that Jason once knew as his teammate. Billy’s face had been turned green. His lips darkened and even close to black. He had been corrupted by the tree.
Then, the Blue Ranger vomited through the open visor gap. What he disgorged wasn’t his lunch or any other food leftovers. It was a greenish goop. “Help… Somebody, help…”
“We are defeated…” sobbed Kimberly on his side. “Doomstone… Doomstone trapped us here for eternity. I will never be able to go back to my home… to my friends…” The Pink Ranger vomited too. “I miss gymnastics… My future is now gone…”
“I never wanted to be a Ranger… Now, my fate is sealed… We are dead and buried…”
Dead and buried, the three Rangers repeated those words over and over again. Then, they jolted. Their eyes became wide. They voiced out words but it wasn’t like their minds were there anymore. “Your friends had been captured by Doomstone’s Nightmare Tree. Once victims are taken by it, they are forced to undergo endless scenarios of torment until their humanity is gone. You must save them, Rangers. Billy and the others don’t have much more time before the worst possibility comes true.”
“Say no more, Zordon. We’re on it and we’ll destroy that ugly rockface Doomstone as a bonus.” Jason brought out his Power Buckle. The others agreed and followed suit. “It’s morphin’ time!”
“Tyrannosaurus!” proclaimed the Red Ranger.
“Mastodon!” proclaimed the Black Ranger.
“Sabretooth Tiger!” proclaimed the Yellow Ranger.
“May the power protects you,” said Zordon before the trio teleported out.
“What the heck?” blurted Jason as they arrived at the creepy dark forest that is Doomstone’s personal dimension. They got in pretty far from their friends’ previous landing to prevent accidental meet up with the monster himself. That didn’t prevent their problem though.
“How can this be?” asked the confused Trini. She should have been the Yellow Sabretooth Tiger Ranger, but now she’s the Black Mastodon one.
“I gotta say, this kinda cool,” commented Zack as he admired himself as the new Red Tyrannoranger.
On the other hand, Jason got Trini’s previous Ranger identity. “This is so weird. Perhaps the dimensional barrier is also messing up our Morphing Grid energy. Zordon, can you read me?”
Jason’s communicator gave off nothing but static. “Zordon?”
Trini tried with her wrist device too. “Zordon, come in.”
Zack shook his helmet. “Nothing, I guess we’re on our own here.”
“Eyes on and guards up, we don’t want any surprises considering our current situation.”
“Can we still have our weapons?” asked Trini sheepishly.
“Let’s try it,” replied Jason. “Power Swo- I mean, Power Daggers!”
“Power Sword!” shouted Zack.
“Power Axe!” shouted Trini.
Even in their mixed-up condition, the Rangers could still arm themselves. The trio ventured out deeper into the woods. Not wanting to be ambushed on the ground, they leaped between the massive trees’ trunks. Unknown to them, their superhuman maneuvers were monitored by a shadowy figure in the dark.
“Any sign of Doomstone?” asked Jason the Yellow Ranger.
Zack shook his head. “Nope.”
“Not here.” Trini gulped. The place was giving her the creeps. She couldn’t see so far and the wind was making her shiver even under the protection of the Ranger spandex costume. “So what’s the plan? We’re just gonna ransack the place and destroy the nightmare tree?”
“That’s a good enough plan to me,” commented Zack.
“That’s the main plan, but we need to be careful. We don’t know what Doomstone did exactly to corrupt our friends. Besides, we also don’t know what kind of things he can do with their powers now.”
The Rangers got their answers soon enough. The low mist that hung that covered the cursed earth hid a group of plants with thick intertwining veins. It also concealed the main bodies in the shape of massive bulbous flowers. The flowers immediately shot out goop at their coming prey.
“Watch out!” warned Jason as he made the leap.
Two Rangers were able to dodge the attacks altogether, but Zack had to use his Power Sword to block the threat. The weapon protected him from danger but itself was entangled by the sludge. The Red Ranger himself fell unceremoniously to the vein-covered ground. “My sword!” he cried out as Zack was forced to witness the plant’s vore of it.
“Hang on, we’re coming!” Jason shouted as he saw the anxious Red Ranger on the ground. “Zack, behind you!”
The strange moon in the sky was revealed. Its light shone the growing form of the massive flower that stalked the Red Ranger from behind. Finally noticing it, Zack stood there frozen. Somehow, he felt dread that make his muscles stiffen. “No, no, no…”
“He’s not gonna make it. Power Daggers!” Jason leaped to the ground with dual weapons at his disposal. The lurking tentacle-like veins were easily cut down by their energy attacks. There was a loud shrill from the monstrous plant as the decapitated tendrils leaked out greenish goop while they were flailing chaotically.
Some of the sludge showered the Red Ranger whose reflex was too late. At least, he was able to defend himself before the extra-thick vein slammed him away. The hero was hurled to cut a nearby tree in half. “That wasn’t fun at all…,” mumbled the black youngster in his dizziness.
The monstrous plant had been awoken and the Rangers were in trouble. They still had a chance though since most of the flower’s structure was still underground. “We gotta hit it with everything we got before it surfaces!” said Jason quite loud to fight the rumbling noise.
“Should we fight it or just flee?” asked the concerned female Black Ranger as she readied her ax.
Jason’s sound judgment suggested that they just flee. They had a more pressing matter of rescuing their teammates. But inside his helmet, Jason sweated. Doubt filled his mind as to which decision to take. He never felt like this before. It was as if the chance of being heroes would pass them if they choose not to fight. “We’ll destroy it!” answered the team leader.
“Here we go!” Zack was unarmed, but his fists and boots would do just fine. He took a fighting pose along with his friends in front of the threatening flower.
The fower attacked. Its tendrils shot out a lightning-fast barrage. But the Rangers were faster. When the world around them seemed like stopping, Jason and his teammates moved up to take the challenge. The sharp blades of their weapons cut through the numerous tentacles, even outright chopping them into pieces for some.
Their agility even enabled the Rangers to use some tentacles as stepping stones to destroy more of the incoming menace. They moved like ninjas in the wind, striking with precision blows. Jason’s own Power Daggers gave distinct and beautiful X-shaped marks on the enemy, even on the petals of the flower.
The Rangers seemingly reappeared to regroup. Before them, the monstrous plant shrieked in pain as more of its body parts were destroyed. Black liquid poured out to soak the misty ground, even spraying on the Rangers too.
“Is it time to go yet?” asked Zack.
“No, it’s time to finish it off. We may not have the full team, but the Blade Blaster is still an option!” Jason took out his Blade Blaster and converted it from dagger mode to handgun one. “Ready yours!”
The other two Rangers nodded. “Ready!”
“Let’s get this over with and save our friends. Flowers, out!”
The three Rangers fired their Blade Blasters. High-intensity beams converged on one spot on the monster flower. Its petals burned for a moment before the whole bulbous head gloriously explode. For a moment, daytime arrived in the Haunted Forest.
“Yeah! Nice one, guys!” exclaimed Jason as he high-fived his friends. He pumped his fists before holstering his blaster. “Now let’s get our friends!”
The trio dashed out into the creepy treeline again. Behind them, the smoldering husk of the flower was still burning bright in some parts. In all of its parts, black goop spewed numerous droplets into the cold air.
“I don’t like this, Jason,” commented Trini while they ran across the short grass area. “Why haven’t we seen Doomstone yet?”
“Yeah, I figured out presence already got exposed by now, particularly with our previous action.”
Jason grunted. “Don’t worry, maybe this Doomstone monster is not as bright as Zordon told us. Perhaps this dimension is too big even for its owner.”
Inside her Black Ranger helmet, Trini frowned. “I don’t think that’s-”
But Jason shushed her. The Rangers hid behind the thick bushes. There were movements in the distance. The Yellow Ranger whispered, “It’s that it?”
Zack’s mouth went agape for a moment. In front of them was the massive creepy tree with a howling face on its trunk and an equally creepy old house at the base. “Yeah, that’s it all right.”
The wind blew to create eerie howls, but that wasn’t just it. There were accompanying voices too. Human voices, to be exact. Jason recognized them as voices of his fallen friends. “They’re there.”
“Welcome, welcome, Rangers, to your forever home!” laughed another voice that they didn’t want to hear. It came from a figure they didn’t want to encounter. “Remember your sins and take responsibility for them!”
The surprised trio took a fighting stance. “There’s nothing sinful about defending all life on Earth, Doomstone. You’re the one who is an abomination and we’re taking you down!” said Jason heroically.
“Your hubris is exactly what is holding you back from admitting your sins. Even at the end of your heroic life, you fail to see the crimes you have committed. Why don’t you learn from your friends who have found peace in humility?”
That made Trini flinched. She couldn’t bear to know what happened to her best friends. “What did you do to them?”
“Let’s bring more friends for the storytime, shall we?” Out of Doomstone’s extended arms, flames hurled and hit the grass. Rumbles and monstrous roars before ghastly hands emerged. Monsters escaped their graves. Saliguana, Stag Beetle, and Lipsyncher opposed the heroes.
“Uh-huh, this is bad,” commented Zack as he scanned the monsters.
Doomstone didn’t need to order his fellow demons to attack the Rangers. They immediately got enraged by Jason and his friends and rushed at them. The fight was on.
Trini noticed that while the monsters were attacking them relentlessly, they never used their powers. No power-draining, brain-scrambling, or fire-breathing ugliness. That surely made the playfield even.
“Full physical force, guys!” reminded Jason as he tackled Stag Beetle and gave Lipsyncher a double kick to help Zack.
“Where were we? Ah, right, your friends! Mischievous little Rangers try to break my plan, not knowing that my plan is greater than they could ever imagine. They entered my house and expected to find my weakness. Instead, they were greeted by a powerful reminder of their sins. Rooms after room exposed their wickedness, peeling their layers of lies of being righteous heroes. I must say, you kids are putting lots of makeup on to lie to yourself!”
“No lies here, Doomstone!” replied Zack as he jabbed Saliguana. “Just a pure spirit to kick your butt!”
“I like your spirit. The higher they consider themselves, the harder they fall. The deeper they hide, the easier they are buried.”
“Same as before, guys!” Jason brought out his Blade Blaster again and shot Stag Beetle right in the face. It was the same for Trini with Lipsyncher and Zack with Saliguana. The monster shrieked in pain as their faces burned.
Jason expected a quick victory, but the creatures refused to go down so easily. They instead turned the fight into a frenzied charge against the Rangers. Like raving demons, the trio attacked the heroes. Stag Beetle even tackled Jason to the ground and scratched his arm until releasing the Blade Blaster. He then flipped around and used its foot talons to scratch the Yellow Ranger’s helmet. Nothing like a jumping dolphin kick to up the humiliation.
Jason slumped on the ground, grunting at the recent damage. Struggling to get back up, he noticed the same peril his friends were having. Saliguana used his tail to slap the Red Ranger’s helmet over and over again while Lipsyncher smeared her giant lipstick weapon to obscure Black Ranger’s sight into a panic. The tide of battle was clearly turning for the worse.
The Yellow Ranger didn’t have much time himself. Noticing the coming shadow, Jason immediately moved before Stag Beetle’s pinchers could pierce his helmet. This time, it was his turn to tackle.
Beyond the chaos, Doomstone observed. He chuckled at how easy the Rangers were lured. They were too focused on their fight that they failed to notice the environmental changes. Around them, vines twisted and coiled with each other to build foundation structures. Floors emerged, drywalls were erected, and doors were added. Soon, the Rangers were trapped inside a half-finished house.
Jason reached for his Blade Blaster and shot the leaping Stag Beetle right in the mouth. The monster exploded into a disgusting black goop. Panting, the Yellow Ranger didn’t waste time to save his friends by firing the weapon at the base of Lipsyncher’s and Saliguana’s head. The two also exploded into sludge. “You guys okay?” asked Jason with short breaths.
With the same fatigue, Trini and Zack gave him thumbs up. But their situation was far from over. Finally, the Rangers noticed the emerging house around. “What the heck?”
Trini was filled with dread, especially after seeing the complete roof of the house hovered above their helmets. “No, no, no… We gotta get out of here!”
“Let’s go!” The trio of heroes ran as fast as they could toward the open entrance. Their journey was made perilous due to worsening tremors. “Just a little more!” exclaimed Jason as he reached for the hinges.
Then the hinges were suddenly bolted with a soldier door blocking their way. The startled Yellow Ranger heard another rumble coming from above. He yelped as the roof came crashing down on them.
Surprisingly, they were not injured. The roof was merged with the rest of the house structure by a series of veins and fat tentacles. It was dark before, but now it was close to pitch black as more and more of the gaps on the wall were patched in. Then, even the windows were blackened out. The Rangers were caught in the night.
Jason’s advanced helmet detected the sudden lack of light. The helmet’s visor lit up with the infrared vision of his surroundings. In a green hue, the Yellow Ranger could see his friends. “You guys okay?”
Zack and Trini nodded. “What was that all about?” commented the Red Ranger.
“Looks like Doomstone is cunning. He’s trying to trap us in his house. When we’re too far away from the original one, he made another one here.”
“We gotta find another exit, Jason,” said Trini.
“What’s wrong with-ARGH!” Zack winced as his hand felt a burning sting the moment he touched the knob. “It burns!”
Out of reflex, the Red Ranger kicked the door hard. It didn’t budge, but Zack’s action made the house tremble like in an earthquake. “What is happening?!” called out Trini.
The walls erupted with tentacles. “Get away, get away from here!” ordered Jason as he grabbed Trini and Zack’s wrists and pulled his friends out of harm’s way. With the first floor coming to life, his best option was the stairs at the end of the tight corridor.
It was tight all right. The walls on either side were moving closer with every second. “Dammit, it’s trying to crush us!”
Nearing the corridor’s end, the Rangers needed to move sideways due to lack of space. Around the house structure contorted with the most demonic way. It was inside a living monster house.
Jason arrived at the base of the stairs. He helped Trini climb, who in turn helped Zack was behind her.
But Trini felt her grip on the Red Ranger’s hand tighten. Zack suddenly hovered in the air. The hero looked down to see that his legs were bound by a fat tentacle. “No, no, don’t you let go!”
“I won’t! Jason, help me!”
At the other end of the corridor, the walls crushed themselves before unveiling a new space between. In it was a massive blooming flower. Inside, countless fangs ravenously waited for its newest victim. More tentacles shot out to nullify the Red Ranger’s resistance. It even vomited out more of the black goop. “I’m slipping!”
The Yellow Ranger got his share of the goop spray. His focus on helping Trini pull their teammate was distracted by it. Jason’s mind went hazy. He somehow could smell the foul-odored substance even inside his helmet’s protection. He moaned hard.
“Jason, Jase, help me pull Zack!”
After a moment of dizziness, Jason was back. He immediately reinforced Trini’s strength. But then, the worst thing happened as the stairs’ railings began to break under pressure. “You have to let go, Trini!”
“What, no!” rejected the Black Ranger. “I can still get him!”
The goop’s effect got its hold on Jason again. The world around him became hazy. He snorted. “If you think you got him, why don’t you join him?”
“What, Jase-” Trini’s gut-wrenching scream filled the fight corridor. Losing her grip due to Jason’s betrayal, she joined Zack to be devoured by the monster flower. The two Rangers still struggled to escape even as the plant’s throat violently chewed their bodies. After a moment, only their arms were still visible and even those were drowned in the repulsive goop and swallowed too.
Feeling no remorse, the Yellow Ranger left the scene. The corridor behind him contorted again into a solid wall. No trace of his former teammates was present.
The creaking wooden floor traced Jason’s footsteps as he walked down another hallway. Perhaps he walked down a few meters, perhaps a dozen kilometers. Everything felt pointless now.
The Yellow Ranger looked down at his arms. The black goop from the previous fight mixed with the countless black spore to cover his gloves and the spandex fabric. They forced themselves into the costume and connect with his skin.
Jason moaned and panted. His heroic mind had a hard time telling the difference between what was fake and what was reality. He knew one thing: he was a fake. A fake hero who had tons of sins to be confessed. He glanced into the numerous rooms on either side of the hallway. The people there had confessed theirs and looked at how happy they were.
More rooms where Jason saw Billy or Kimberly or Tommy drowning themselves in either violent death scenarios or wild violation by Doomstone. They were his servants now as their fate told them to be.
Behind the Yellow Ranger, numerous copies of the former Blue, Pink, and White Rangers peeked in. Their faces were filled with lust and eagerness to fondle the fresh meat. They would have their time.
But now, Jason continued to walk down the hallway. Inside his helmet, he vomited. Not his lunch or his last drink, but a greenish goop. He moaned again with a voice that echoed in the corridor. Then, he stopped.
Before him was a massive flower. Like before, its interior was filled with countless sharp fangs that would easily chew him down. With blackened lips, Jason smiled at it. His eyes reflected the brainwashing glow of the petals.
The Yellow Ranger then jumped in. His maniacal laughter replaced his screams. The fallen Rangers’ copies giggled and mocked his demise. Soon, only his body remained. Soon, only his boots remained. Soon after, none of the former Mighty Morphin Power Ranger was left.
Outside, a similar glow escaped the house’s numerous broken openings before loud crash noises were heard. Three windows were destroyed and from each of them, a massive flower bloom. The numerous petals opened and opened up until the core was exposed.
At the center of it all was the face of the corrupted Zack Taylor. His face was blank and the last petals to protect him were that of the peeled-off Red Ranger helmet. He opened his mouth and a long green vine extended out. From the other flowers, the same horrific fate was for Trini the Black Ranger and of course, Jason the Yellow Ranger. All of them now live a life as part of the Nightmare Tree.
