Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie by Heather Ray (beach read book .TXT) 📕

gaze still transfixed on the injured spy. "You mean Kimberly?"

^YES. SHE HAS BECOME THE FLAME OF DESTRUCTION. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY SHE COULD MANIFEST THE POWER I HAVE SENSED.^

The silence between the teenage heroes was deafening.

Chapter One Hundred Two

The firestorm of uncontrollable power ate at her insides. It felt almost like her organs were slowly melting, creating an agonizing pain that brought Kimberly Hart to her knees.

She leaned heavily against the wall, forcing gasps of painfully cold air into her overheated system. Sweat beaded against her skin, making her limbs feel frigid.

"Got to...push it down..."

she murmured, her entire body straining against the inner flames that surged beyond her control. God...it hurts

!!!

It seemed like an eternity of hellish torture before the blinding flames that gathered around her slowly ebbed into a fierce aura. The light glowed around her skin, illuminating her path through the winding, narrow stairwell leading to the Tower.

She pushed the pain in the back of her mind, along with the rage of thoughts and feelings that had made her dizzy earlier. She let instinct lead her, moving her feet up the stairs, down the hall, and up to the large, heavy doorway.

She reached out with her power, watching as the door was pulverized into chunks of rock, ash, and melted iron.

The Flame ignored the arcane laboratory lining the wall. She ignored the intriguing triangular shape of Zedd's inner sanctum. She simply marched to where Lord Zedd lay, ensconced in shadows upon the stone slab that served as his bed.

Flaming eyes dripped a trail of liquid fire as she glared down on the Emperor of Evil himself...the one responsible

for everything

she suffered for over four months

!!

He almost looked helpless, lying completely immobile on the cold stone. In fact, if not for the thin pipes streaming fluids into his muscles, he would've seemed dead.

But he was far from dead...she felt his dark power pulse steadily, slowly building as he recovered his energies.

Casually, she lifted a single finger. A burst of fire streamed from the tip, neatly searing through all the tubes.

She watched the chemicals spurt from the severed veins, catching fire and spilling along the stone ground. She watched the dark Lord slowly begin to quiver, violently torn from void of regeneration.

His ruby visor gleamed to life, casting its crimson glow over his fiancé. Her eyes blazed with rare anger, casting a terrifying haze to harden the edges of her face. Her hair hung in disarray, framing her visage with a furious halo of golden brown curls. Her skin seemed to glow on its own, vividly contrasting the ebony and scarlet of her regal gown.

Her eyes flared as she held one hand over his shaking body. "Prepare to burn."

The infamous, vicious, heartbreaking letter, blackened with soot and charred at the edges, fluttered from her tense fingers onto his bare chest.

Part Seventeen: Checkmate

Chapter One Hundred Three

He continued to shake, muscles suffering painful spasms as they were brutally severed from the nourishing fluids that gave him vitality. Slowly, he recovered enough presence of mind to recognize what had happened.

His eyes flared at the sight before him. Kimberly hovered above him, bathing in the glory of the Flame's legendary power. Her hair waved in the currents created by the licking fire, swaying feverishly about her shoulders. Her skin was luminescence itself, the steady glow of the fire within lending her a golden tone. Her eyes burned like twin suns, blazing so bright they had surpassed their ruby color and flickered with traces of white.

He saw the page lying on his chest, slowly burning with the flames Kimberly let fall. He didn't need to read it to recognize what it was.

Nicely played, Boy,

Zedd admitted. You managed to produce the one piece of evidence that could force her to see the truth. It seems I have underestimated you...yet again

.

Yet, he didn't allow himself the luxury of anger. There would be other opportunities to ruin the Red Ranger, and make him pay for this latest victory. He would deal with the upstart in time.

Now, there was an even more urgent confrontation that required his attention.

He looked up again, gazing at the lethal beauty that he

had created, and smiled. She had far exceeded his highest expectations...and become a force of Vengeance and Destruction that could topple kingdoms.

"Before you choose this course of action, I suggest you reconsider," he warned. All whispers of surprise or agitation were absent from his confident, commanding voice. "As strong as you might be, you are no match for me."

Kimberly glared at the Emperor as he rose from his berth and assumed a straight-backed, disinterested pose. Her eyes narrowed, bleeding fire. "When you told me that the spell of Maligore no longer controlled me, I realized something. When Maligore died, the Flame of Destruction was still inside me. He no longer exists, so he can't force his will upon me."

She smiled savagely. "Now, my

will controls the Flame. So long as I allow it to char my soul, I have the power to face you."

Zedd responded with a derisive chuckle. "Do you think I did not prepare for every contingency? I told you I have studied the powers of Maligore, and I've determined that, though you are a vessel to contain the Flame, you are still only human."

He watched her carefully, and noticed her confident smirk wane ever so slightly. "Your body isn't strong enough to exercise the Flame properly. In fact, if your body hadn't been reinforced by your long service as a Power Ranger, you surely would've been consumed already

."

He took a step toward her, noting that she refused to show any sign of intimidation whatsoever. "Are you certain you want to bet your life on this?"

The Flame of Destruction went rigid. Slowly the fierce smirk slid off her face, smoothing her features into a calm, stone-like mask. She straightened her back proudly, letting her hands hang at her sides.

Then, the burning aura around her body intensified, momentarily blinding. A tendril of fire leapt from the nimbus, fastening itself at the opening of the room and blocking the entrance.

Zedd watched, mildly surprised that she would bar the room from any interruption.

She stared at her fiancé, the ferocity in her eyes intense enough to give even the Emperor of Evil pause. "Absolutely."

Chapter One Hundred Four

If finding Scorpina lying near death in a pool of mud and blood wasn't enough to shock the Turbo Rangers into critical urgency, learning that Kimberly was responsible surely was.

They managed to shake themselves out of their stupor quickly, as grim determination barricaded all fear and hesitation in the backs of their minds. In situations such as this, when the fate of their friends, and perhaps even Earth itself, could be sealed by even a few seconds of delay, there simply wasn't time for such distractions.

The Power Rangers dashed closer to the palace, following their interim leader beneath the large balcony that seemed to be the point of origin of Scorpina's unfortunate fall.

"Kat," the Red Ranger spoke, "You said this balcony leads to Zedd's throne room?"

"I'm sure of it. It's the largest balcony in the palace."

"Then let's go."

The Rangers all bent in a deep crouch, and leapt, one by one, onto the high parapet. Once the team was assembled, they warily walked into the chamber that symbolized Lord Zedd's terrifying reign. Yet the imposing throne or austere decor did little to hold their attention. Instead, the five teenagers all stared at the bizarre yellow-gold light, hovering a few feet from the throne like a suspended lightning bolt.

"What the heck is that?" Justin wondered, slowly circling the phenomenon. "Whoa...it's only two-dimensional!"

"It's a doorway," Katherine spoke. "It leads to one of Zedd's Dark Dimensions."

Jason stiffened at her words. He remembered quite clearly Rita's Dark Dimension, where the Evil Green Ranger banished him. He had come very

close to death that day, facing first the monster Goldar, and then the Green Ranger himself. If Billy hadn't cracked a teleportation signal through the dimensional walls in the nick of time, he would've been skewered by the Sword of Darkness.

He shook himself. "If Zedd's Dark Dimension is anything like Rita's, the only reason the door would be open is if someone other

than the prisoner was inside." He stared assessingly at the fissure. "I'm going in."

"I'll go with you," Adam volunteered.

"Not right away," Jason decided. "We really can't be sure what's on the other end. If I need to