The Gold Rescue Ranger

Truth Discovered

~In the Aquabase~ 

"That's why I stopped you," Captain Mitchell said. "I couldn't let you destroy my kids."

Dana, who was now standing in front of the group, approached her father.

"How can that be? Ryan and Clara were killed in that car crash."

"No, Dana. They weren't." The captain looked away from the group as he started to recount that night.

~Flashback~ 

A younger Captain Mitchell was driving his car one dark rainy night. He had his three kids in the back seat and they were on their way back home after visiting their grandmother. All three kids had gotten a toy from their grandmother and were playing with them. Captain Mitchell took his off of the road for just a second to look at them in the back seat and when he faced forward again, there was a truck. He swerved to avoid a head on collision but he lost control of the car and it was sent over a cliff and exploded at the bottom. 

Before the car went over, though, Captain Mitchell had managed to unbuckle his seat belt, grab his kids, and get out the back passenger door. Even though they had gotten out of the vehicle, their momentum sent them over the edge too. Captain Mitchell managed to grab a root hanging out from the side of the cliff. Dana, the youngest, was clinging to her father's neck while Clara and her twin Ryan were holding on to their father's shoes. 

"Dad, please help us! We're slipping!" Ryan and Clara begged their father to help them but there was nothing he could do but encourage them.

"Ryan! Clara! Just- just hold on!" He yelled.

"We can't! We're slipping!" They kept repeating.

"Help! Somebody please help!" Captain Mitchell yelled as loud as he could, crying out desperately for somebody, anybody to help. The help he got, however, could not have come from a worse place. The ghostly figure of Diabolico was floating just a little bit away from Captain Mitchell.

"I can help you," he claimed.

"Go away!" Captain Mitchell yelled at Diabolico.

"But if I save their lives," Diabolico continued, ignoring what Captain Mitchell said, "they belong to me."

"Never!" 

Ryan and Clara call out for help a few more times despite their father's encouragement. The shoe that Ryan was holding on to slipped first and he was sent falling down the cliff. Shortly after, the one Clara was holding onto also slipped off and she was sent falling after her brother. Captain Mitchell called out their names before giving in and shouting for Diabolico to save them.

Diabolico swooped down, grabbed the two children by the back of their coats, and flew back up to Captain Mitchell, laughing maniacally. 

"Please," Captain Mitchell begged. "I'll do anything. Just give me back my kids."

"You will never see your son or eldest daughter again until their 20th birthday. They are mine now." With that, Diabolico disappears with Ryan and Clara.

"Noooo," Captain Mitchell cries.

~In the present~

"And today is their 20th birthday," Dana finishes for him slowly.

"Sir," Carter says, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "we won't fight them. And we'll do anything we can to help get them back."

~In the Skull Cavern~

"Your father was going to let you die. He didn't care. It was I, Diabolico, who saved you that fateful night," Diabolico says, walking over to place a hand on Ryan and Clara's shoulders. They are once again kneeling in front of him with their heads bowed. "You remember, don't you?"