Highway to Hell
Part IV: To Hell and Back
by MegaSilver

“Bulkie! I c-can’t feel my legs!” Skull whined as he lay stretched out like spaghetti over a lava pit.

“Aww, shut up and stop whining!” Bulk grunted. “You know they’re… only gonna make it worse if you don’t.”

On Bulk’s other side, Parker Isaacs was attempting to negotiate with a nearby Piranhatron. “Hey, man? I don’t know how much Psycho-Woman is paying you, but I’ll double it!”

“You shut up, too, you idiot!” Bulk grunted. “You know what Psycho-Woman would do to them—and you—if they let you go?”

Parker let out a high-pitched sound. Normally, he would’ve been the object of girls’ affections, but today, he appeared anything but suave. Parker wasn’t used to failing at something he couldn’t buy his way out of. He was a spoiled brat: his parents always gave him money, and he let everyone else know it. Until today, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t buy—a Jaguar Roadster for dates, a health club membership for a great body, even good grades when he could get away with it—but now he was really in for it. No tickets out, at any price.

“Well, then, what are we supposed to do?” Parker moaned.

“C’mon, guys! What do we always do? Wait… for the Power Rangers to show up!”

“Oh, wonderful plan!”

A hundred yards away, Katherine was doing her best to hold her composure. Rocky was hurting really badly, and she could tell he needed a champion right now. Luckily, they’d ended up next to each other. Still, it pained her to see him in this position, his back injuries probably multiplying by the minute. By now, she wouldn’t have been surprised if the rack had undone all the recovery he’d done since his fall a month and a half ago.

“Rocky?”

At the sound of his friend’s voice, Rocky opened his eyes and turned his head to face her. “Mmm?”

“You okay?”

Rocky closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Look, try to hang on. The others will get us out… of this soon.” At this point, though, Katherine was beginning to lose faith herself.

Billy stood up from the computer console. “I can’t find a way in,” he told Zordon. “Whoever locked the entrance did their job perfectly. There’s absolutely no residue to trace.”

“We can contact Cestro and Delphine,” suggested Alpha. “Maybe they know something.”

“Alpha, there’s no way we could break the dimensional barriers without looking at the original signal, and that’s long gone.”

“There has to be something we can do!”

Billy looked up. “Zordon, just who’s behind all this?”

“From what I've observed of the dimension and the Rangers’ surroundings, it’s Divatox, an intergalactic space pirate bent on avenging her spoiled marriage. She’s been attacking us from her SubCraft ever since the Rangers killed her fianceé.”

Billy thought for a moment. “Can you get me on the SubCraft?”

“What?” exclaimed Alpha. “I mean, I’m sure we can, if you swim in, but… why?”

“Well, if Divatox produced this thing, she must have a record of it in her system. If I can get on board, I’ll be able to burn a disc with the information and bring it back.”

“But that would be too dangerous!”

Billy nodded. “I know, Alpha. But we don’t have a choice.” He started for the supply closet.

“Billy,” said Zordon, “do you understand that even if we can get you on the SubCraft, there is an extremely high risk involved in such an operation?”

“I do, Zordon. But powers or not, I’m still a Power Ranger. And this is what I have to do.” With that, Billy grabbed a wetsuit, flippers, and a high-tech scuba pack from the supply closet, pulled off his boots and socks, and closed himself inside the closet to change. When he emerged, Alpha was firing up the long-distance teleportation device.

“Put your flippers and mask on,” instructed Alpha. “The scrambling signal around the SubCraft prevents us from pinpointing its exact location, but we can get you inside a sphere within less than a thousand feet of the ship. Once you retrieve the data, swim away as fast as you can; we won’t be able to teleport you back until you’re out of the scrambler’s radius. I’ll keep an eye on the signal and get you back here as soon as I see you.”

“Thanks, Alpha.” Billy donned his scuba mask and threw his flippers on.

“Aiyiyi! Good luck!”

Billy swam around the exterior of the SubCraft in the frigid Pacific Ocean, avoiding the windows and praying that if a scanner picked him up, it would mistake him for a fish. So far he’d located several entrances, but he had yet to determine which one would be the least dangerous to use.

At last, he picked the bilge. Though the ship’s occupants would undoubtedly notice the sudden change in depth, it was the only viable option as far as Billy was concerned. With luck, they’d waste time trying to reseal it and not even bother to look inside.

Billy felt around in the pockets of his pack for something to use as a weapon and found a hammer. Hopefully, they can’t detect this, he thought as he beat through the panel.

When Billy took that last swing that caused the panel to cave in, the water began to flood the bilge, sucking him in easily. Once inside, Billy struggled to reach the rising water surface.

Now, if only there was a way out of here…

As he thrashed around, trying to stay afloat, he heard a creaking noise, and a new panel came down to seal the space where he’d knocked the old one from. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a ladder up to the ship’s chambers. Perfect.

As Billy back-stroked over to the ladder, he felt something cold slide against his ankle. He looked up and just about lost it when he saw an eel slithering past him. As quickly as possible, he grabbed hold of the ladder, kicked off his flippers, and began to climb.

He rose through a trap door on the SubCraft’s command level and ducked down quickly when he saw Rygog and Porto standing nearby.

“What the hell happened?” Rygog growled.

“How am I supposed to know?” Porto defended himself. “One minute, the bilge was fine; the next, we were on our way down into the nearest steam vent!”

“Well, pay closer attention next time!” Rygog stormed out of the room.

Porto followed close behind. “Well, excuse me! You know, it’s not like anyone else could’ve stopped it as fast as I did!”

When they had wandered far enough off that their footsteps became inaudible, Billy lifted himself out of the bilge and, being careful to crouch down, looked for the main computer terminal.

Let’s see… auxiliary, weapons, portals…

He’d found it. Instantly, he popped a CD-R out of his pack, slid it into the data burner, and fired up the computer.

“Please enter the passcode for dimensional access,” the speaker said in a crackling voice.

Oh, crap, Billy thought. Hacking. No biggie, just… better hope they don’t come back before I’m done. Fortunately, no one came by, and Billy was able to access the files to the portal and burn them onto his CD.

Just as he was placing the disc back in its jewel case, a fist slammed down on the terminal screen. Billy slid the disc back into his pack and jumped backwards. Standing over him was Rygog and an army of Piranhatrons.

“FOOL!” Rygog hissed. “You dare to break into our system? SEIZE HIM!”

Instantly, Billy jumped back into the bilge, looked around frantically to see where his hammer had fallen, found it, and began to beat the new door out. Within moments, the Piranhatrons were upon him, but he managed to take a good many of them out with his hammer.

When he’d pounded the door through once more, he suddenly realized he’d forgotten to put his flippers back on. Too late now. He struggled to breast-stroke barefoot against the incoming current with several Piranhatrons on his heels.

Finally, he was out of the SubCraft. Now, to get as far away as he could. But when he’d swam about eight hundred feet, a Piranhatron caught up to him and pulled his oxygen tank off. Billy wrestled with the menacing creature to recover the pack with his CD. He couldn’t afford to lose.

At last, Billy had won, but he was still almost two hundred feet away from the threshold with no oxygen tank. He breast-stroked as fast as he could, his hands and feet growing more numb by the minute from the cold water, and all of a sudden, his nose began to bleed.

Oh, no. Not now.

He was in the middle of the ocean. Bleeding was never a good thing to do here. Suddenly, his old, long-ago-conquered fear of fish returned in full.

Oh, God, please keep the sharks away.

At last, just as he thought he would lose consciousness, he felt the sensation of being teleported.

“Billy! Are you all right?” asked Alpha when he saw the wet, bloody ex-Blue Ranger collapsed on the floor with no oxygen tank or flippers.

Billy breathed quick, deep breaths. “Yeah… I’ll be fine. Just a minute.” He rolled over so that he faced downward and held his nose.

Alpha grabbed some towels from the supply closet. “Here,” he offered. “Take these.”

“Thanks, Alpha.” Billy patted himself down with the towels and wiped some of the excess blood off his face. “Man, that water’s cold. I can barely feel my feet.”

“I’ll go get you some warm water.”

“Billy, did you manage to retrieve the data?” asked Zordon.

“Yes. It’s in the pack.” Billy nodded towards his ragged scuba pack on the floor. “I had to go through hell and high water to get it, though. Now I know how the students must be feeling.”

“Good work. It is beyond impressive that you would infiltrate such a dangerous facility to save the lives of others. You are truly worthy to be called a Power Ranger.”

“I did what I had to, Zordon,” said Billy, sopping up the last of the blood from his nose.

“I suppose I should allow you to rest for a little while before you continue with the operation,” Zordon offered as Alpha returned with a tub of warm water for Billy’s feet.

Billy shook his head. “The others aren’t resting; I’m not resting,” he answered. “We have to get them out of there. Although… I guess I should at least change,” he grinned.

Feeling as though the strain of the ropes would tear her apart, Katherine shut her eyes tight, wishing that she would die. If this was what the rest of her life would be like, she couldn’t take it. Torture… fire, water, ropes… every day… it was too much. She couldn’t bear it; nor could she stand to watch her classmates take it.

We have to get out of here. We just have to.

The Rangers would come for them. They would make it.

And then what?

Katherine’s heart sank. She’d been avoiding the subject of her future ever since prom night. She’d go to college, of course, or dance school, but until that sudden, unexpected coronation dance less than a month ago, she had fully counted on spending the rest of her life with Tommy. Then she’d given him up—back to Kimberly—and destroyed her dreams and plans of the future. Within days, she’d given her powers back to Kimberly, as well.

Not that she blamed Kimberly. It was my decision, after all, she knew. Somehow, though, that seemed to make things worse.

I shouldn’t be feeling this… I didn’t have to make myself do this… I…

She tried to convince herself otherwise.

… could have sat by, watched my relationship with Tommy slowly crumble to pieces, maybe destroying any last shred of friendship, watched Kimberly suffer for years before she got the help she needed, or… no. I couldn’t.

But now look where it got me…

All of a sudden, a barrage of multicolored lasers struck the Piranhatrons standing guard by the torture pit. Katherine craned her neck as much as she could to see the five Turbo Rangers charging towards the racks to save the class.

Down the line, Bulk and Skull cheered and hooted. “It’s the Power Rangers!” they cheered.

The Rangers moved in as fast as possible. Now that they’d alerted the Piranhatrons to their presence, they had no time to waste. Unless they took them all out immediately, the soldiers would undoubtedly begin to execute their friends.

While the other four battled the Piranhatrons, the Red Ranger began to free the students. The racks were all connected, and there was no way he was going to be able to pull the whole thing out of the pit of fire. “Alpha, can you send the Red Lightning Turbo Vehicle?” he spoke into his communicator.

“We’ve just implemented the codes for the portals. I’ll send the Zord your way!” Alpha replied.

Behind Tommy, a large black hole opened in the dimension, crackling with purple energy. Within seconds, his Red Lighting emerged.

“All right!” He grabbed the wench, tied it to the center of the rack, hopped in the cockpit, grew the vehicle to colossal size, and hit reverse. Within no time, the massive car had pulled the rack, and the students, out from the pit. He hopped out of the Zord. Now to untie them. “Hey guys, I could use some help!” he called to his friends.

At his call, the Rangers threw the last of the Piranhatrons into the fiery chasm. “We’re on our way!” the Pink Ranger cried. Instantly, the four leapt over the chasm and helped loose their classmates.

“Is everyone okay?” Kimberly asked when she’d freed Katherine.

Katherine winced at the pain in her arms, neck, and legs. “I don’t know,” she said. “Rocky’s not doing so hot.”

“We’ll get him to a hospital as soon as we can,” Kimberly promised, cutting the comatose former Blue Ranger loose and carrying him into the Red Lightning TurboZord.

At last, they had all been freed. “Everyone climb aboard!” the Red Ranger ordered, pointing to the ramp that led up to the interior of his Zord. Once the students were safely inside, the five Rangers jumped into the cockpit. “Alpha, Billy, we’re all ready. Open a portal and get us out of here!”

Two miles behind them, Divatox and Elgar rode a chariot pulled by three speedy snake demons. Elgar was talking to Porto on a cellular phone. On either side were two more gargantuan hellbeasts, prepared to crush those that foiled the plans of their creator.

Elgar hung up the phone. “Porto says the demons are fully charged and ready for action!” he reported.

“Perfect,” Divatox hissed. She snapped her whip at the snake demons. “FASTER!”

Back at the Power Chamber, Billy pounded his fist on the computer. “Dammit!” he shouted, his voice echoing throughout the large room.

“Billy, calm down. What’s the matter?” asked Zordon.

“I grabbed the wrong disc! The codes on this disc create a portal that’ll pull things into the dimension, but I can’t generate one to pull them out!”