Purple

Spores: Part Seven

"HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN THE RED RANGER NOW, THOUGH?!" Jason bellowed angrily at the looming face in the wall. He couldn't help but blame a little of this on Zordon. He withheld information, made him think that they had time when little by little Billy and Kimberly were getting sicker in the background. Who knows? Maybe it threw off his game and got Zack captured or worse? The damn space wizard could be a little more forthcoming.

"I thought it would affect your judgement as a leader if you let things get too personal."

"YOU ARE DAMN RIGHT!" He was practically fuming at this point, his sweat covered face nearing the bright red of his shimmery suit. He was about to continue on his rant when Alpha came back over to the group after having administered his serum to the two intoxicated rangers.

"Okay, guys. GUYS. We have more important things to discuss right now. We now have two rangers captured by our froggy friend and we still don't know where he's keeping them."

"Yeah we do..." A weakened voice came from behind. Billy stood, hobbling a moment and leaning against the railing before puking over the side. Alpha tilted his cylindrical head, as if to squint in pain if the robot could, silently muttering another 'Ay Yi Yi' to himself. Billy steadied himself once more, taking a breath before looking up at the others.

"T-toads like covered, moist spaces where they can be left alone. A water source for soaking since they don't drink... a dark place to rest. An abandoned motel is perfect for that. You happened to stumble upon its lair and didn't even know it." He hobbled over before leaning against Jason. He gave him an almost smartass smile, as if there was still leftover juice from the spores within him.

"...dumbass."

Kimberly hobbled over after retching her own guts of the toxins, suddenly keenly aware that Trini had been captured and it was all her fault.

"Trini is there. We gotta go. We don't know how long that thing has been poisoning her." She said, determination on her face as she approached the center podium.

Zordon overlooked the three wayward rangers, his greyed out staticy lips almost pursed with concern.

"You must be on your guard at all times. This creature is vicious and cunning, and you are the last stand between it and the destruction of the town before it inevitably reproduces."

Jason looked up at him, about to say something with a smart tone, but Billy cut him off.

"We will, Zordon." He said, looking at Jason from the corner of his eye. He nodded to Kimberly, and their voices rang out in unison.

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

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The three lights faded into view, illuminating the grotesque mossy water of the abandoned pool. The cement was still wet from the struggle earlier, pieces of broken plastic littering the walkway from the various chair explosions. The three of them had their Blade Blasters drawn, watching Jason's signals as they quietly made their way toward the gutted out main building.

The motel portion had seen better days, and that was generous. Part of the roof had caved into the room closest to the pool, leaving one of the rooms exposed and succumbing to nature. It looked almost more like a cavern than a manmade structure in the night, adding to the otherworldly eeriness that filled the air around them. Strewn all about the floor were pieces of wood that had rotted off of furniture and doorways, and if they looked hard enough they were likely to find the decaying corpses of animals that had lost their way and came here to die.

"Not exactly five-stars anymore..." Kim said under her breath as they looked around. The broken room led to the main hallway via shattered doorway, dimly lit with a strobing emergency exit light that somehow stayed on after all these years, casting ominous red shapes on their visors. The longer they walked down the murky corridor, the more their feet stuck to the floor. It was then that they started to realize they were stepping in some kind of... fluid.