Another thing, I don't know how long these three have been friends, but I have made it so they have been friends since they were little. I am sorry if this is not accurate, and if it isn't, I hope it doesn't take away from the story. Enjoy~

"It's okay." she jumped and slammed into the cell bars in her attempt to get away from whoever it was. If she hadn't been so out of it, she would have recognized the voice immediately.

"Stay away!" she searched along the ground for anything she could use as a weapon, and her hands fell upon some kind of bowl. As the figure loomed closure, she brought her hand around and took a swing at its head.

"Aisha!" the figure grabbed her hands, and it took her a second to stop struggling.

"Adam!" she could see his outline now, and she dropped the bowl as he leaned down to give her a hug. "I thought I was never going to see you again!"

"Can't get rid of me that easily," he joked, still holding her. She hadn't noticed them earlier, but sounds from beyond the bars started getting her attention. Adam must have felt her tense up. "It's okay. They can't get in."

"What are they?" Aisha couldn't make out anything but shadows, and she made a point to stay away from the bars.

"I don't know, and I don't want to find out!" Rocky's voice was right behind her, but when she turned to him, he backed away.

"Rocky, what's the matter?" she tried to step closer, but he kept his distance.

"How do we know that you really are Aisha?"

"Of course she is!" Adam hissed. "Why would he lock himself in here?"

"To trick us!" Rocky circled Aisha, trying to see something that would prove who she really was.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Aisha cried, becoming more and more scared by his behavior.

"When Rocky was captured, they used an image of you. It wasn't until it was too late for him to escape that he realized it." Adam explained, but she noticed that he wasn't coming any closer either.

"Prove it!" Rocky grabbed her wrist, making her gasp. "prove you are Aisha!"

"Rocky! We have been friends forever!" her eyes started watering, not because he was hurting her, but because he had never done anything like this to her before. "You used to help me with my karate when we were younger!"

"Anyone could have found that out." she could see his eyes now, and they were not the kind and gentle ones she had come to love.

"Knock it off Rocky!" Adam grabbed his arm and tried to pull it away. When that didn't work, he got mad, and grabbed Rocky by the neck. This surprised the red ranger so much that he let go and Adam pushed him into the bars. "I said knock it off!"

"Whose side are you on!" Rocky pushed him away, and the two of them faced off.

"Stop it!" Aisha put herself between them, and turned to Rocky. "Listen, I know that it is hard to trust me, but you have to. Do you remember when we were in the fourth grade, and we had to do those trust exercises in karate class. You were scared that I was going to drop you when you fell back, but I didn't. I didn't then, and I wont now!"

Adam and Aisha waited for their friends response, wondering if it had done the trick.

"It's really you!" Rocky pulled her in for a hug. "I'm so sorry, I..."

"It's okay!" she was just happy to see that they were both okay. "Now, we have to get out here!"

"Impossible," Aisha cringed at the voice, and she saw the boys tense up. Hung all around the cell were torches, and one by one they exploded into flame. Aisha could see the scratch on Rocky's face, extending from above his eye to his jaw line. She didn't have time to examine it any closer, because in an instant a hooded character appeared before them. "Even if you were able to get out of this cell, you would have nowhere to go."

"What are you going to do with us?" Adam wanted to beat the life out of him, but he held himself in check.

"You are just bait." the figure pulled his hood back, and the teens cringed. Standing before them was a very old man, and in the light he didn't look at all menacing. His skin was blotched and wrinkled, and his yellow eyes were sunk deep into the sockets. Rocky could picture that any moment the skin would fall right off the bone.

"My name is Kelic, and as you can see I am very old." he leaned heavily on an old cane, a clear globe on top. Aisha couldn't take her eyes from it, for it seemed to pulsate with a power of its own. "that is why I have brought you here."

"Are you going to steal our youth!" Adam quickly exchanged glances with the others, but Kelic merely grinned.

"If only it were that easy, but I commend your quick thinking. I guess in a way I am going to be stealing youth, but not yours."

"Get to the point!" Aisha glared, and Kelic raised an eyebrow at her.

"I would kill you right now, if you still didn't serve a purpose." in a quick motion that none of them could have imagined possible from him, he had rushed Aisha and pinned her to the bars, the orb from the cane against her throat. Adam and Rocky didn't dare move, and Kelic seemed to revel in the fear he saw in her eyes.

"Do it," she closed her eyes, swallowing hard. "I would rather die than remain here as a pawn to lure the others!"

"If I did that, I would never get my prize," he turned away, and returned to his original position. Aisha quickly jumped away from the bars, where things had started reaching through to grab at her. Adam placed himself between her and Kelic, but it wasn't necessary, because he was gone as quickly as he had arrived, leaving them with only questions. Then they were plunged back into darkness.

"We have to warn the others!" Rocky whispered as they huddled together, fearing they would be overheard.

"About what?" Adam shivered as a slight mist set in. "we still don't know what he is up to!"

"He is looking for host," Adam and Aisha both knew the voice, but Rocky jumped nearly through the roof. Standing just beyond the bars were two white clad women, one who looked like she was in her late teens, and one who looked probably in her late twenties.

"Every two hundred years, he must seek out another body to sustain him." the young woman spoke, and Aisha knew she was not the one who had visited them earlier with Dulcea.

"Why not just take one of us?" Rocky didn't like the idea of that beast taking over his body, but if it would save his friends.

"It isn't that simple." the older women spoke, confirming that she had been the one helping them. "He needs one who will give themselves willingly, and who is pure of heart, body, and spirit. As I said before, he has found that pureness in all he has taken, as in you three."

"I know that any of us would be willing to give ourselves if it meant saving the others!" Aisha felt so helpless as she pleaded their case, as if it would change the outcome of things.

"The only way he can enter the chosen body is through the power of love." the younger women disappeared, and the other started fading. She took a long moment looking at Aisha, and then sighed. "You will understand in time, I just hope it is in time. Get some rest now, before he returns."

With that, she was gone, but they couldn't take her advice. They sat on the cold ground, and sat silently, each contemplating her words, but sleep was out of the question.

"Please guys," Aisha pulled her knees to her chest, and laid her head on her arms. "Be careful."

As usual, comments are appreciated at Cricker@Rocketmail.com. This series is almost finished, and just in time because I am going to be leaving for college very soon. I hope to continue writing there, but it depends on my schedule. Thanks to all who have been very supportive through my first series. I'm very happy with it. Keep Smiling~