Disclaimer: The Power Rangers are the exclusive property of Saban, I don't own them, you don't own them, Mr. Saban owns them, okay!
Author Note: The Samurai Rangers, Power Force, the Samurai Zords, Shinobi Zords, UniZord configuration, Ranger HQ, Armageddon, Crush and everyone/everything else not from the TV series in this story belongs to me! Just thought you'd like to know that!
Time Scale: Continues directly after 'Hell's Fury Part Two.'
Hell's Fury Part Three: Facing the Inevitable
By Matt
"Fire Weapon Z!" Kane commanded.
"Wait a minute, we haven't tried the Ultrazord yet, that might do the job! You know how dangerous Weapon Z is!" Louise replied from the satellite she was piloting.
The Black Samurai knew she was right, but that didn't make him feel any better. He was determined to keep on trying, but he knew, deep inside, it would do no good to keep fighting. This Daemon that towered over their Zords, much the same in proportion to a Zord over a human, held all the Power of the Underworld. Actually, Kane didn't know if that was true. This Daemon could just have been an underling, the true master of the Underworld could still be down there, more powerful than even this one, just waiting for the chance to excape!
"Initiate Shinobi Samurai Ultrazord sequence!" Kane commanded. The four Megazords came together, each of the Samurai Zords forming a leg, Shinobi Delta forming the body, and Shinobi Gamma making the head and arms. Now the massive Zord came a little closer to the Daemon is size, although still only up to its waist. As the monster appeared a little smaller to them, it also appeared a little less invincible. Of course, this was all just in their perceptions. The truth of the matter was that it was still as enormous, and just as powerful, but thinking like that would only make things seem worse than they already were.
"Shooting Star!" Kane commanded. The Ultrazord fired a blast of energy into the heavens, the shot seeking out the nearest asteroid. As a massive chunk of rock and ice was caught in the power beam, its trajectory changed, now it was heading straight for the Earth, and in particular, the Daemon. "And just to keep him busy until that arrives, Lightning Strike!" Kane added.
As an invisible force gathered even more of the black clouds together overhead, electricity began to grow within. As the clouds reached breaking point, they released their charge in the form of several massive bolts of Lightning. They struck the Daemon all at once, and for a moment it looked like he had been effected, but that was not the case. He was simply absorbing the energy.
"He's gonna fire it back at us!" Niko called out.
"I don't think so!" Kane grinned, looking up at the sky. They all looked up and saw the clouds parting. Above them was a bright light, and it was getting closer - it was the Shooting Star. It was moving faster than they could really see and took mere seconds to reach them. Unfortunately, the Daemon saw it at the same time. It smiled cruelly, then held its hands into the air, awaiting the asteroid.
The Ultrazord took a few steps backward, they were expecting a large blast as there had been all the other times they used the attack, but it never happened. The Daemon actually caught the Shooting Star in its hands. The impact knocked him to the ground, but he was unharmed. Worst of all, he was holding a massive chunk of flaming rock, with the added power of their blast.
"This doesn't look good!" Chad commented from the back of the Ultrazord.
"No kidding!" Kane said back, then spoke into his communicator. "Michelle, teleport the UniZord away and get back to the Power Chamber, we're out of here!"
"Right!" Samurai Pink replied.
The UniZord vanished, and straight after, Kane teleported the Ultrazord away too. The Daemon stood on the island, waving the asteroid over its head and let out an ear-piercing cry of victory.
Louise had been watching the brief battle on her view screen, and seeing the Zords retreat, she knew what to expect. She was right. The communication channel opened and Kane spoke to her through it. "Louise, we've got no choice now, the Ultrazord was useless against it. You have to use weapon Z!"
"Okay, I'll initiate the attack!" Louise replied. After praying it would not come down to this, but apparently they had no choice now. She wasn't sure what scared her more. The fact that this monster, this Daemon of pure evil had been able to resist the Power of the Ultrazord, or the fact that one wrong move using that weapon could destroy their world.
"Matt, Lucy, Lee, begin drilling!" she commanded. Down on Earth, the three Rangers activated the machines they were currently in control of. A large attachment appeared on the side of each one, a large drill. The blade began to rotate rapidly, then lowered towards the ground. They cut in with ease and continued down, hundreds of feet. It only took a few seconds to reach their targets.
"Final depth reached!" they all reported one at a time.
Great, initiate energy feed!" Louise ordered next.
Activating another control on their consoles, the drills retracted from the holes, and long tubes extended downwards. They reached the bottom and began draining energy from the core of the Earth. They were fortunate that their planet was the same type of planet Weapon Z had been constructed to work on. Earth, like a few other worlds throughout their galaxy, held massive amounts of natural power, otherwise known as the lifestream. The energy within the lifestream is basically pure life itself. When one thing dies, its energy returns to the lifestream, and when something new is created, the lifestream gives it the energy to make it live. It was this that made Weapon Z so powerful. By using this energy, it could cause greater damage than any conventional weapon. It was also this that made it so dangerous to use. Earth needed a certain amount of lifestream energy to continue existing, so if the weapon drained too much away, the Earth would simply die.
As the power cells began to fill, the dishes on top of the machines aligned themselves with the satellite, whilst small compartments opened on one side. From these compartments, a smaller dish emerged, also aligning themselves, these ones pointing at the gateway to the Underworld and the Daemon that had emerged from it.
"Get ready Louise, we're nearly done down here, power cells are maxing out." Lee reported.
"Begin lifestream energy transformation." Louise ordered. The machines rumbled into life, the complex workings of the machines transforming the massive energy they now held into a different, more useable kind of power. Once the change was complete, the machines took over, knowing what to do. Half of the power from each of the three machines was transferred to the satellite in the form of a wide green blast of energy. The three dishes on the underside of Louise's satellite receiving it.
"Okay guys, all sections are fully powered. We're ready to fire." Louise said via the communicator.
"Good luck!" Kane replied.
"WEAPON Z, FIRE!" Louise gave the command. All together, all four Rangers activated their parts of the weapon. They had all thought that the drain from the lifestream that they had needed was complete, but as they activated the firing mechanisms, the same thing began to happen. Energy was drawn up from the core of the planet, transformed and beamed up to the satellite, at the same time, two other beams of energy shot from each machine, heading directly for the other two. Eventually, the pyramid of energy connected all four.
The power maintained itself, growing stronger as it fed off of the lifestream. "Louise, what's going on?" Lucy asked.
"I don't know! I haven't exactly used this thing before." She replied. Without warning, another blast of energy shot from the satellite into the ground. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment.
"Okay, it looks impressive, so when does the actual hurting him part begin?" Chad asked, almost sarcastically.
Seeing Weapon Z in action was a true marvel to behold. The view the other Rangers had on the view screen was of the Earth from several hundred miles away. All that could be seen, was a large, glowing pyramid formed by six beams of green energy. It stretched across half of the planet. The Daemon was so big, it could just be made out on their view, despite only appearing the size of an ant.
"I don't know. Just keep watching." Kane insisted.
"Well that last beam of energy that Louise shot down didn't do any good, it didn't even hit the Daemon." Chad said.
"I don't think it was meant to!" Kane smiled. They all looked closely and saw a green glow forming beneath the monster. The five Rangers watched in awe as the lifestream seemed to explode forth from the Earth, sending the Daemon flying high into the air.
Just as it reached the center of the pyramid, the real attack began. The satellite and three ground machines released all the energy straight at it. As the four beams met in the center, there was an explosion, larger than anything any of them had ever seen. To the Rangers, it didn't look that large, but that was only because they were seeing it on such a small scale. In their view, the Earth was only a meter across. In reality, the explosion spread across hundreds of miles of sky.
The Daemon fell to the ground. The impact from its fall, along with the shockwave from the explosion was truly devastating. The whole planet shook, large breaks opening in the ground. Ripples formed in the Seas, which soon grew into small waves, growing steadily larger until they were fully formed Tsunami's. The Cities nearest to the epi-center merely crumbled to the ground, coastal areas were washed away in the tidal waves, the water finally stopping dozens of miles inland.
The four Rangers controlling Weapon Z had teleported back to the Power Chamber as soon as the attack was initiated. Now, the nine Samurai Rangers stood watching the result of their attack. Their world, already ravaged by war and tyranny was literally falling apart. As much as they knew they did what had to be done, they couldn't help wondering one thing - was it really worth it?
"Look at the destruction we caused." Lucy mumbled, near enough in shock over the events she was seeing.
"It had to be done." Niko assured her, but from the way he said it, he seemed like the one who needed assuring.
"He's right. We had to stop that thing!" Kane agreed. "At least it's over."
"Do we actually know that?" Sean asked. "I mean, do we really know it's over? Weapon Z was powerful, but did it finish that thing?"
None of them even wanted to consider the possibility that they had failed, but Sean was correct, they had to check. "Bring it up on the View Screen!" Kane ordered.
Alpha walked over to the controls slowly, entered the co-ordinates for the sight of the rift and activated the screen. For a moment, all they saw was dust and water vapor. Tremendous amounts of it had been thrown up into the air when the Daemon crashed down. They stood, staring at it, waiting for it to settle so that they could be sure they were successful.
Before that could happen, their questions were answered. The daemon jumped out of the debris, through the cloud of dust and vanished. They didn't know where it had gone, but the fact remained - it was still alive!
It was a lot later before anyone spoke. Most of them hadn't even moved. They weren't even watching the screen any more, they just stood, frozen to the spot in mortal fear. Nothing could stop this thing. Their Zords, the most powerful Zords yet created could not stop it, Weapon Z, a weapon banned by the Galactic Council for being too powerful could not stop it. If they couldn't do it, then the Earth, and in time the whole galaxy, was doomed.
"What can we do?" Michelle asked.
"There's nothing we can do!" Kane said. They all looked round at the Black Samurai. He had always been so strong, even when the rest of them were ready to give up he had been insistent that they carry on and don't give up.
"Sorry, I'm not going to allow that! The prophecy that foretells of this also says of a way to stop it. If we can figure that out, we can stop this thing!" Ultima said strongly.
"Get real, Ultima! We've thrown everything we've got at that thing and didn't even make it flinch, what else are we meant to do? Ask it nicely to go away and not take over our Universe?" Kane snapped sarcastically.
"Look, this isn't even my world, but I'm still willing to try and save it! If you can't even be bothered to try and save your own world then I feel for you and every other person on this planet." Ultima shouted back.
"Well there aren't that many people left on this world to feel sorry for now, is there! And whose fault is that?" Kane said, a disgusted look spreading over his face as he looked at the ex-Dark Lord.
"Oh you really didn't want to go there!" Ultima growled as the two got closer to each other.
"Okay, you two stop it right there!" Louise called out, finally stepping in. "You know you're only acting like this because of the Underworld's influence! Look deep inside for the respect you know you have for each other."
The two black warriors stopped in their tracks as they listened to her words. They did as she requested and suddenly felt the anger subsiding. Louise turned to everyone else. "Okay, I want everyone to leave. Go back to your families and just tell them what's going on. They will probably still be arguing like we have! Try to calm them down and just fill them in. I'm not gonna lie! The situation's bad, and this time we may not win, so just make the most of it! I'm gonna stay here and keep looking for some way to stop this thing! I know you all want to try and help, but inside, you know your family is more important, so I'm not gonna make you stay." Louise called out.
They were all shocked by her open and honest statement. Hearing someone else say what they were thinking, about not winning this time, really hit them hard. One by one, Michelle, Niko, Chad, Lee, Matt and Kane all left. Next, Divatox and Ultima left together. That just left Power Force, Louise, Sean, Lucy and Alpha.
"What about you guys?" Louise asked them.
"Where have we got to go!" Rygog exclaimed, speaking for the whole of Power Force.
"We don't have any family to go to. We'll be more help just helping here!" Lucy said, doing her best not to sound scared.
"Okay, let's get to work. Alpha, I want you to keep searching for Zordon. If we can get him back, wherever he's gone, he may be able to help us defeat this thing. The rest of you search through every text in the computer's database for anything about this thing. There may be something that can help us!" Louise ordered.
"What about you?" Lucy asked.
"I've got an idea that may help us!" Louise said calmly, then morphed and teleported out of the Power Chamber.
"Okay, you heard her everyone, let's start searching." Sean called out and they all sprang into action.
Matt and Niko were sitting next to each other on a sofa in the rec. room, watching their little brothers play together. For now, both of them were silent. They just continued watching the two boys.
"Do you think we should tell them what's going on?" Niko asked.
"No way!" Matt said back quickly. "I know it'd be deceiving them, but they're both just kids. They don't need to know, it would just scare them."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Niko sighed. He paused for a moment and watched them again. "Why do you think they haven't been effected by all this? I mean, they haven't got annoyed or even slightly angry once!"
"I don't know. Maybe the influence of the Underworld doesn't make us evil, it just brings our own evil up to the surface and they don't have any evil in them!" Matt guessed.
"Yeah, you could be right." Niko agreed quietly.
They went back to observing their brothers in silence. After a few minutes, the two boys came over and sat down to either side of them. "Hey there tough guy!" Niko grinned, putting an arm round the younger boy.
"I'm wiped!" Lewis said back.
"Me too!" Mark whispered. He had gone really shy. He was close friends with Lewis, but he hardly knew Niko, and he always went like that around anyone new.
"Okay, how about we take you back to your rooms and you can get some sleep!" Matt suggested to both of them. While he was saying it, Mark was curling up at his side and his head was getting closer to his big brother's lap.
"Nah, I'm comfy here." Mark grinned before shutting his eyes.
"I guess that goes the same for you." Niko commented, looking round at Lewis who was leaning on him, but he was already asleep.
Louise appeared out in the middle of nowhere. It was risky exposing herself like that, but she expected the Daemon to not bother about her. She was like an insect to it so she was just hoping she was free to get on with what she intended to do. She wasn't sure her plan would even work, but she had to try.
"ARMAGEDDON!" she called out. She waited a moment, knowing that he was able to detect her. He had always been able to detect the Rangers when they left the safety of the power Chamber's extended shielding.
"You called?" a voice came back, but a voice is all it was. There was nobody there, almost as if he was speaking directly into her mind.
"Armageddon, do you know what is happening?" she asked.
"If you mean the Underworld opening, then yes, I do!" he replied.
"You must help us stop it!" she ordered.
"Why must I? I do not see any problems with it!" he said back.
"You don't seem to understand. This isn't just a normal threat, this is something that even the Great Morphin' Masters feared. Our most powerful weapons have been unable to even faze it. Unless it is stopped here, it will take over this entire world, then spread across the universe!" she snapped.
"A Universe ruled by evil! Now why doesn't that worry me?" he commented sarcastically.
"This thing is not like you! It will not take over, it will not control, it will simply destroy!" Louise shouted. "And it will destroy you!"
Armageddon laughed and said, "We'll see, Samurai Ranger, we'll see!" Then the voice vanished completely.
"Well that was a great success!" Louise cursed before she teleported back to the Power Chamber.
"You guys found anything yet?" Sean asked Power Force. The four members of Power Force, Sean, Lucy and Alpha were all sitting around the Power Chamber with hand held consoles. On each one was different tomes and ancient texts. They were all busily reading through them.
"No, nothing!" Rygog said back. So far, all they had found was the prophecy being told in slightly different detail, but always ending the same. They were starting to lose hope once again.
"Ay-yi-yi, this is pointless, if the computer searches did not find any reference to a way to stop it, what good will it be reading through manually?" Alpha asked.
"Alpha, the computer can only search for obvious ways. Reading through it we could find something that could help us, something that the computer may not interpret as a solution." Lucy explained.
Just then, a flash of red energy came in and Louise materialised. "Where've you been?" Sean asked.
"I was trying to get Armageddon's help! I thought that this 'thing the Underworld would never have' might be good and evil working together, but he has no intention of helping. He thinks that he could survive their domination." Louise explained.
"Damn, that could have worked!" Sean snapped, thinking about the possibilities of working alongside Armageddon.
"So what do we do now?" Kraegor asked.
"We keep searching!" Lucy said. "It's the only way!"
"I wish Zordon was here! He's a Morphin' Master, so he might have known the way to stop it." Louise said.
"Yeah, any luck finding him yet?" Louise asked.
"No Rangers, but I have discovered something. Wherever he has gone, he has gone of his own free will, there is no sign of him being forced." Alpha reported.
"What? Could he have deserted us?" Lucy asked.
"Ay-yi-yi, no Rangers, I have known Zordon for thousands of years, he would rather die facing a threat like this and allow you to escape than desert you!" Alpha said, defending his life-long friend.
"Okay, enough talk, now we keep working!" Louise ordered as she took a mini console and started reading.
She didn't even get a chance to sit down before they were all disturbed again. The alarms went off, then cut off as suddenly as they had started. "Alpha?" Louise asked.
A picture came onto the view screen of a small army emerging from the main rift. The massive Daemon that they had originally fought had shrunk itself down to nearly human size and started leading the Daemons somewhere. All the Daemons appeared to be the same type, all more like ghosts than actual monsters. That was when the picture cut off.
"What happened?" Rito asked.
"It seems their energy is blocking our scanners. Look at the view screen." Alpha ordered. As they all looked, they saw a picture of the Earth from space. The spot where the island had been was now covered with black, and it was spreading fast, presumably spreading out as the Daemons moved across the surface.
"So where were they heading?" Garrison asked.
"Judging by the trajectory they were on when we saw them, they were heading... here!" Alpha said, sounding genuinely terrified.
"But I didn't think we could be detected!" Louise commented.
"It would appear that they can!" Alpha replied.
"Okay, we have to find something in these texts and we have to find them soon!" Louise called out. "How long until they get here?"
"Assuming they are moving at the same speed as their scan block is spreading, we have just under thirty minutes!" Alpha said, panicking.
Kane walked slowly along the corridor, heading towards the Power Chamber when he heard a noise from down one of the side passages. Walking back a short way and taking a different route, he came across Michelle. She was sitting outside a room on the floor. He knees were held up against her chest and her face was in her hands. The sound Kane had heard was her crying. He walked over to her.
"Room for one more?" he asked. She just looked up at him and nodded very slightly so he took that as a yes and sat down.
"What's up?" he asked.
She sniffed, then said, "It's my parents. All they keep doing is shouting at each other or shouting at me. They've never argued before so seeing them like this... it scares me!"
"Yeah, I know exactly how you feel!" Kane said, looking straight ahead at the wall. "When I got back to my parents' quarters, they were arguing with each other. I calmed them down and explained what was going on, and they started arguing again. No matter what I did, shouting and arguing was all they'd do."
"So what did you do?" Michelle asked, wiping a tear from her cheek.
"I gave up!" Kane smiled.
"What!" she exclaimed.
"Well I didn't give up all together. I gave up trying to stop them that way. If I ever wanted to get the parents that I know and love back, I knew there was only one thing to do!" he explained.
"What's that?" she asked, looking slightly more hopeful now.
"Stop the thing that's making them act like that!" Kane said.
Michelle smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I never thought of that."
"So whadda you say we head back to the Power Chamber and see what we can do." Kane suggested.
"Yeah, okay, just give me a minute to tell my parents what's going on! They may not be acting like themselves, but they still deserve to know." Michelle said as the two of them stood up. She opened the door and they immediately heard two very loud voices. Kane flashed her a confident smile and she went inside.
"So that's it? That's why I've been feeling like this?" Mike asked his little brother.
"Yeah." Chad replied. "I guess it is. We're doing all we can, but we just don't know what's gonna happen!"
"Damn, you must be scared!" Mike said.
"Me, scared? Ha, I laugh in the face of danger!" Chad said, putting on a brave front.
"Yeah, I thought so!" Mike said back. He stared into his little brothers eyes as they started watering. He hugged Chad and whispered, "It's okay little buddy, I'm scared too!"
"Mike, I lost you once, twice if you count the you from the alternate world! I don't want to lose you again!" Chad sniffed.
"I know, and you won't. No matter what happens, I'm staying with you... to the end!" Mike said back.
Louise stood looking at the View Screen. It now showed their area of the continent. The black wave was growing rapidly closer, it was now mere minutes away from them. The Red Ranger turned to the others and said, "Someone please tell me you have something!"
Nobody replied.
"Then I just have one thing to say. It has truly been an honor knowing, and working, with all of you. I hope somehow, some way, we make it through this, but if not, I just want you to know I love you all and if I could, I wouldn't have changed a thing!" Louise commented.
None of the others had anything to say in return. Lucy and Sean both walked up to her and they held each other, all watching the View screen as the black wave got closer. Five hundred feet, four hundred, three hundred, two hundred, one hundred, fifty, twenty... the view screen cut out and the black wave penetrated the walls of the power Chamber. They closed their eyes and didn't even try to edge away from it. They knew there was no escaping it so they just let it absorb them.
Louise opened her eyes and looked round. Where was she and how had she got there? She was in a large empty room with no apparent doors or windows. Walking over to one wall she started examining it, searching for some way out to try and see what was going on.
Okay, this is weird!" she commented. Turning round to look at the opposite wall she mumbled, "I'm sure it wasn't that close before!" Shrugging it off, she went over to examine it.
Once again she found nothing. She turned for a second time, heading towards one of the unexamined walls and noticed the first wall she had looked at now seemed closer too. "I don't like this!" she commented. "This room seems to be getting a bit small for my liking!"
'Get a hold of yourself!' she thought. 'This may be a small room, but it's not too small, don't let the claustrophobia take over!'
She continued searching everywhere for some way out, but could find nothing. All that happened was every time she turned round, the opposite walls seemed to get nearer. She stretched her arms apart, and each hand managed to touch an opposing wall. "Okay, now I know the room's shrinking!" she commented. "But it only seems to happen when I look round, all I have to do is not look!"
She considered morphing, but both her morpher and communicator were gone. "Don't look, Louise, you know what'll happen if you do!" she said to herself.
'No, go ahead, look round, there might be an exit there and you get out of this place, this tiny, awkward, uncomfortable place!' a voice inside her head replied.
"No, it'll just get smaller if I look!" she snapped.
'Look, a way out!' the voice called. It was a sneaky trick, but it worked, Louise turned round and once again the room shrank, but this time it kpet going. She span around, watching as the ceiling came down and walls closed in. Getting dizzy all of a sudden, she collapsed to the floor. Mere seconds later, the walls all stopped, the room now only the size of a coffin. Samurai Rec fidgeted, trying to get out, but the more she moved, the tighter it got. before she knew it, the room was so small she couldn't even move a hand.
"NOOO! LET ME OUT OF HERE! LET ME OUT!" she screamed, as loud as she could, but it did no good, she was stuck there, unable to move.
Lucy stood in the Desert with all the other Rangers. Ultima and his whole army had just joined Armageddon. "So Rangers, any of you want to try out that Power again?" Armageddon asked.
"Don't count on it!" Lucy called out, but she was in for a suprise. One by one, the Rangers who had been brought from the past started walking towards him. Moments later, it was all of the other Rangers, Armageddon and the whole of Ultima's army sttod facing the ten Samurai Rangers.
"Guys, this doesn't look good!" Lucy commented, but she was blasted in the back before she could continue. Rolling over, she looked back and saw Michelle standing there with her Storm Bow in hand, the Pink Ranger had fired on her.
"Looks pretty good from where I'm standing!" Michelle said maliciously.
"What!" Lucy exclaimed. "What are you doing?"
"Wow, you really are that stupid, aren't you!" Kane commented. "We're joining Armageddon!" The other nine Samurai Rangers started walking towards the powerful being.
"And it looks like you're on your own!" Chad added.
"But, you guys are meant to…" Lucy started, but she was cut off mid-sentence.
"You really don't get it, do you?" Sara excleimed. "We're basically betraying you. If we could be bothered right now, we'd even kill you, too!"
"But you're my friends!" Lucy cried.
"Yeah right! We were never your friends, we were just using you to make up the numbers! You've never been one of us and now you never will be!" Lee snarled.
"No, please, don't leave me!" Lucy cried as she watched her friends walking away from her.
"Finally, you've dared to face me alone!" Sean said happily, facing Armageddon.
"Yes, Ranger. And now I shall defeat you!" Armageddon said confidently.
"I don't think so! I am unbeatable. I am strong, fast, powerful, and you don't stand a chance!" Sean said, not even noticing that his voice was changing even as he spoke.
Armageddon laughed. "Doesn't look that way to me!" he commented.
"What do you mean?" Sean asked. His enemy held out a hand and a mirror appeared before the unmorphed Ranger. Sean looked in shock and terror at what he saw. He only looked about fourteen years old.
"What have you done?" Sean snapped, his adolescent voice not sounding at all scary.
Armageddon laughed once again and watched as Sean grew younger and younger. The Gold Samurai watched terrified in the mirror as he shrank from the once strong and mighty young man, into no more than a child. He was down to eight years old and still growing younger, his clothing hanging around his small body.
"No, please, I don't want to be a child again, I don't want to…" but he stopped there, so young that he was unable to even talk. Armageddon reached down and picked up the baby.
"So, Sean, how does it feel? How does it feel to be a baby again, completely helpless, not even able to walk." Armageddon taunted. He put Sean back down and a small laser pistol at his side. "This weapon is powerful enough to destroy me, one shot is all it would take, just lift it up, fire and it will all be over!"
The baby cried loudly as inside his head Sean screamed. He reched over to the pistol but his tiny hands couldn't even stretch around the handle, let alone pick it up. Stuck as a baby, with the means to destroy his enemy literally at his fingertips, he just screamed out.
Michelle came out of her parents room and looked down at Kane, who was still seated on the ground. "You ready?" she asked.
"Yeah, let's go see if we can help." Kane replied, getting up.
"What's that?" Michelle screamed out as they saw a wall of black energy speeding towards them.
"I don't know, but RUN!" Kane called out as the two of them started running. The went the opposite way down the corridor as fast as they could, but suddenly Lee emerged from one of the side doors.
"What's all the noise about?" he asked, stepping into the corridor. The two running Rangers crashed into him and they fell to the ground together.
Before they could even say anything, the black wave engulfed them.
"What's going on?" Michelle called out. There was total darkness and she could feel that she was tied down. "Where am I?"
Suddenly the lights flicked on and Michelle saw a terrifying sight. She tired to scream, but nothing came out, all she could do was stare helplessly. All around her were spiders, ranging in size from money spiders, right up to the massive breeds found only in the most sheltered areas of tropical forests. Some were harmless, others' bites were only as dangerous as a wasp sting, but then there were the more deadly breeds, in particular the most deadly of all, the funnel web!
Michelle didn't care about their size, or how dangerous their bite was, all she cared about was that they were arachnids, and that terrfified her. Ever since she was a child she had suffered from acute arachnophobia, even the sight of one was enough to send her running, but seeing millions of them, all around her was more than she could handle.
Thrashing around frantically she attempted to break lose but it did no good. Screaming out for help, she prayed someone, or something would hear her, but no such salvation came. They grew ever closer, until finally, the first one reached her. The restraints tightened so much that she couldn't move in the slightest. It started crawling up her leg, the sensation of its eight tiny legs send electricity shooting through her nervous system. Terror filled every inch of her being as more and more climbed over her.
They were in her hair, over her body, and just starting towards her face. She felt the smaller ones climbing into her ears and crawling up her nose. She opened her mouth to scream for help again but the spiders just flooded into it. She was buried under a living blanket of spiders, trapped underneath her greatest fear of all.
Lee sat up slowly. He felt hot sand underneath him, it shifted slightly as he stood up and opened his eyes. They soon shut again as he was nearly blinded by the light. Slowly working them open again and letting them grow used to the brightness, he looked around. He appeared to be in some sort of desert. He was at the top of a large dune and as he circled around, searching for some sign of civilisation but there was nothing.
He started walking, the hot sun blazing down above him. For hours he continued on, walking slowly, the loose sand hard to walk on and making his legs ache that much more. He knew he had to find water soon, he guessed that the reason he was there, in that particular place, was so that he would die of thirst. It soon seemed that was not the case as he came across a small oasis. Not much more than a few trees and a tiny lake surrounded by grass, but it was enough. He drank as much as he possibly could and sat down for a while to rest in the shade of a tree.
He knew the Sun should have set by now, but it seemed like that would not happen for it hadn't even moved from its spot directly above him all the time. The heat was just getting too much, he stripped off and jumped into the lake, the cool water refreshing him immediately. as he sawm about he couldn't help thinking, 'I wish the others were here now!' He hated the idea of trying to get back to civilisation alone, in fact, the thought of doing anything alone was quite unnerving. When he first woke up in the middle of the desert he thought it was bad dream, he'd had them before. He would just appear in the middle of nowhere, and as far as he walked in any direction, he would not find anything or anyone, just emptiness. He made himself stop thinking about it as he was starting to scare himself.
He got out of the water and laid in the Sun for a few minutes to dry off before he got dressed again, then, taking another long drink, he continued walking. The hours turned into days, somehow, he always came across food or water just as he needed it. The desert was endless, apart from the occasional oasis, there was nothing but sand. It was starting to get to him. Seeing nothing but the endless expanse, being constantly on his own, now knowing if he would ever get away, he would have spent all day crying from the sheer exasperation of it had he not known that it would dry him up quicker.
At the start of the sixth day, he just seemed to stop thinking, all he did was walk, and walk, and walk, nothing else. Every time he stopped to rest, he would cry himself to sleep, and then wake up screaming. Of course, the screaming continued into the waking world as he realised his nightmares were no worse than reality, this was a living nightmare for him.
"So, the mighty Black Samurai faces me at last!" Armageddon sneered at Kane.
"I'm taking you down!" Kane snapped as he charged toward the dark warrior. Armageddon stood there, taking his blows as if they were nothing. Kane didn't give up though, he continued fighting until finally Armageddon pushed him away.
"I was going to keep you around merely for your feeble entertainment value, but I'm afraid now you have lost even that and simply bore me!" Armageddon commented. "You are only a child, you pathetic Ranger! You are not even a man yet!"
"One day I will be a man! When I'm older I will be the strongest warrior there is and you will fall at my feet!" Kane growled through gritted teeth.
"Oh you wish to be older? That can be arranged!" Armageddon said.
Kane felt something strange happening. He started to grow, his already muscular frame grew larger and stronger, he was ageing into a mighty warrior. He found himself morphed into a new costume. It seemed like his Samurai uniform, but also stronger. The Power spoke to him. 'In time, as you grow stronger, so too does your link to the Power! You are strong now!"
"Now you shal feel my wrath!" Kane called out. Bringing out a shadow saber and moving at the speed of darkness, kane shot forward and impaled Armageddon on it. The Dark Warrior fell to the ground, dead. "I am invincible!" Kane called out, but then something else happened. He powered down and looked at his hands, they seemed to be ageing again. He was growing older by the second, the skin on his hands starting to wrinkle.
Morphing again, his uniform was once again different. 'As your body shrivels and grows weak, so too does the Power!" Involuntarily, he powered down and looked at the morpher in his shrivelling hands. Right before his eyes it rusted and corroded into a pile of dust that blew away with the wind. Kane stumbled and fell to the ground. He put down a hand to break his fall, but his old bones were brittle. His wrist just snapped and he felt a hip breaking as he hit the ground. Reaching his healthy hand up to his head, he took hold of his hair. It came out in his hand, a clump of old, grey hairs.
p align="left">"NOOO!" he called out, but even his voice sounded old and hoarse. He had to face it, he had become that which he feared most – old!
Chad didn't even see it coming, the black wave swept through his room as he stood there. He could feel his brother still holding him as the sensation passed, but there was no sound and everything was dark. He spoke, and he knew the words came out but he didn't hear them. Speaking again, the same thing happened. He felt his brother pull away and he tried to look round. He thought for a second that the lights had gone out, but then he would at least see the dim emergency light by the door. This wasn't the normal darkness you would get in a darkened room or at night, something was starnge. Even more strange was the way that he could hear nothing he did.
Walking slowly over to the door, feeling his way along, pressed the button. It slid aside, but he didn't hear the whoosh that he normally did. He carried on down the hallway, feeling his way along until he got to the Power Chamber. He went stright through without stopping and came to the outer door. He knew it was daytime outside adn stepped through. He felt the warmth of the Sun across his whole body and on his face, but no matter how many time he blnked or rubbed his eyes, he could not see it – or anything else.
The slow realisation spread over him, he had gone deaf and blind. Screaming out in anger and fear just made it worse as he never even heard the scream.
Mark woke up, full of energy once again. He was awake so he didn't intend to be alone. Getting up and rushing over to Lewis, he owke the other boy up. It wasn't long before the two of them were playing together again on the opposite side of the room.
"What's that?" Mark asked after a few minutes, pointing over to the wall behind Matt and Niko. The White and Silver Samurai's turned and looked, they hardly even had time to turn round before the blackness engulfed them.
Matt sat in his seat. The teacher was at the front of the room at her own desk, calling out the grades. He was quite happy, he always got straight A's, and although it did get him some resentment, it had managed to also get him a little respect, for he didn't boast about it, and always tried to help the others get their grades better too, but this time was strange. The teacher went through them all, and every single person had an A until she got to his.
"Matt Elling – F! I'm very disappointed in your failure!" the teacher called out. He looked almost in tears as he thought about it – his first F ever.
A little later on, Matt had gone to find out who had made it onto the football team. Every other year he had been the star player so he knew what to expect, and due to the bad grade, he desperately needed cheering up. "Hey, Matt didn't make it! Not even a reserve!" someone called out. Everyone started laughing at Matt's failure He started walking away with people making comments about it.
"Man, what is wrong with me today?" he asked himself.
After school had finished, he headed off to his job, it wasn't a partcularly spectacular job, but he loved it. He couldn't imagine ever leaving. He had good friends there, he'd achieved quite a high position in the company, and it was really good pay, too. Sure it was just work in an ice cream parlo, but he still loved it.
When he got there, he was shocked to see nobody there. Normally by now it was bustling with activity. There was a large 'Out of Business' sign on the door. Naturally he was worried, so he ran over and knocked on the door. A young man, not much older than he was came and opened the door, but before Matt could even say anything, he had received a punch in the face that sent him flying to the ground.
"What the hell was that for?" he asked, getting up.
"This is all your fault, you put my Dad out of business, after all he's done for you!" the young man snapped.
"What? What did I do?" Matt asked.
"Last night, when you closed up, you left the main freezer open. All of our stock melted and we can't afford to replace it! We've gone bankrupt because of you!" he shouted. "If you ever show your face around here again, I swear, I'll rip it off, now GO AWAY!"
Matt wandered away, numb. Not only had he loved the job there, but the owners had actually been his friends, now he had done this to them! "I'm just a total failure! I should just go jump off a bridge!"
'But what about Mark?' he suddenly thought.
"Damn, I couldn't do that to him, he's got nobody else!" Matt sighed to himself.
'Yeah, but how long until you fail him as well! You've failed at everything else! It's just a matter of time until you let something bad happen to him! Just kill yourself now and he'll never have to know the pain of being hurt by you!' The voice said next.
"No, I'd never do anything to hurt him!" Matt insisted. Suddenly, everything around him shifted to a memory Matt had, yet it was a memory of something yet to happen! Everyone ran, screaming, Ultima had come personally to capture the people of this City. Matt ran, holding Mark, but Ultima appeared in their way. He grabbed hold of Mark and Matt just kept on running.
The images went back to where they had been before that. 'See, you let him get captured so you could escape!' the voice said accusingly.
"No, it didn't happen like that!" Matt said. He waited for the voice to say something back, but nothing came. "Who am I kidding? I failed at everything else and I failed Mark. It doesn't matter how it happened, I still let him get captured while I escaped! I'm a total failure!"
Niko smiled as he lay on the beach looking up at the deep blue sky. It was so peacefull and tranquil. Sitting up, he rubbed some more lotion over himself, he was always proud of his tan and he wasn't about to ruin it by letting himself burn, he'd be getting 'lobster' comments from his friends for the rest of his life.
He laid back down and closed his eyes, revelling in the warmth of the Sun and just enjoying the sound of the waves gently lapping up onto the beach and the occasional bird chirping. He felt himself slowly drifting off to sleep, and seeing no reason not to, he let himself drift into unconsciousness.
Suddenly, there was a shout from the water. Sitting up and looking straight ahead, he saw Lewis quite a way out into the water and something was attacking him. Niko ran up to the edge of the water and stopped dead. "Come on Niko, a little accident in the water and you're too scared to get back in! Come on, Lewis needs you!" he said to himself.
'But you remember last time, don't you Niko, in fact that's all you can remember! You know what it was like, feeling yourself sink under the water, not even able to save yourself! You remember what it felt like to feel the water flooding down your throat, what it was like to feel your lungs burning without air! Be serious, how do you think you can save him when you couldn't even save yourself. If you did have the nerve to go back in, you can't swim! How would you get to him?' a voice inside his head snapped at him.
"Lewis!" Niko screamed out as he saw his little brother sink under the water – and not come back up. He didn't have a chance to scream out again, for he suddenly found himself in the air above a vast expanse of water. Dropping into it, he felt himself starting to sink. Flailing his arms about wildly, he tried to stay afloat, but he just didn't know how to do it. He sank under the water and watched in terror as the surface grew ever further away.
Just as the voice in his head had said, he felt his lungs starting to burn without a fresh supply of oxygen into them. Something strange had happened, he had not died, yet he had no way to save himself, he was just left there, sinking into the water.
As the events that had just consumed Ranger HQ and the whole Power Rangers team approached the two boys, they slowed down. In all the other instances, it had appeared to be no more than a wave of black energy, but as it slowed own, it was revealed to be the main Daemon with all of its ghostly warriors. Their evil radiated outwards slowly, masking their appearance ever so slightly. Sped up, it looked like the black wave they had seen enter the room.
"What did you do with them?" Mark snapped.
"You dare question us?" the head Daemon asked.
"Of course we dare question you! You've done something with our brothers and we want them back!" Lewis shouted.
The Daemon laughed. "We have done to them the same thing we shall do to you. They are in limbo, a place without destination, a place without time where they shall live their greatest fears for all eternity! They are our prisoners as shall you be along with everyone else in your Universe!"
"No! My brother will never let that happen!" Lewis insisted.
"Just go away!" Mark screamed.
"Children! How pathetic!" it laughed. "Get them!"
Two of the ghostly Daemons shot forward, attempting to go inside their bodies and place them in limbo. Lewis jumped in the way of them, he may have only been older by a few years, but he still felt a duty to protect his younger friend. The two Daemons engulfed him and he fell to the ground, screaming for a moment before vanishing completely.
"NOOO!" Mark cried out.
"So your little friend saved you! Never mind, there's more where they came from." the Daemon commented.
A swarm of the monsters flew towards the White Samurai's little brother, but stopped dead in their tracks. For some reason, they could not absorb him. "WHAT!" the Daemon called out. "This is impossible! We can not take him?"
The massive Daemon stared down at the child for a moment. "You… you can't hurt me?" Mark asked.
"No, it appears I can not!" the Daemon said, frankly.
"Then I'll give up!" Mark commented, suprising the Daemon. "I'll let you take me if you let my brother, and Lewis, and all the others go!"
The Daemon said nothing, it just started backing away. Mark was starting to glow, he walked towards the monsters, reaching out to them. The creature stumbled and fell to the ground. "Take me and release the others!" Mark insisted, not knowing exactly what he was doing or how he was doing it.
"NO! Anything but that!" the Daemon screeched.
Suddenly, the two of them were transported into a vast expanse of space. "Child, I will accept the offer you have given me, but you must promise one thing!" the Daemon insisted. "You may never touch me!"
Mark was about to accept when several glowing figures appeared before them. The Daemon froze. "Mark, you can not agree to this!" the first one said.
"Why not? Who are you?" he asked.
"We are the spirits of the Great Morphin' Masters, guardians of the Universe." a second spirit said.
"You may not accept this offer, for you hold the fate of this Universe quite literally in your hands!" a third explained.
"I don't undertsand!" the little boy commented.
"This monster, this Daemon can be stopped by just one thing!" a fourth commented.
"And you are the only thing that can stop it!" the fifth said.
"The ancient prophecy foretells that the only thing that can stop is it something it can never possess!" number six explained.
"You have that which may be able to stop it!" the seventh said quickly.
"But I'm nothing special!" Mark commented.
"Oh but you are!" One said.
"You are something very special!" Two commented.
"You are a child!" Three continued.
"And you possess the innocence of a child!" Four explained.
"That will be able to stop the evil!" Five said sternly.
"Now go, innocent child!" Six said.
"And remember you are special!" Seven finished.
The spirits of the Morphin' Masters disapeared and the Daemon started moving again. "So, do you accept my offer?" it asked.
"Never!" Mark snapped.
They appeared back in the rec room and mark stepped forward, touching his hand gently onto the beast's arm. The glow that surrounded the boy spread into the monster. It could feel itself dying, for it had been touched by the only thing that could stop it. The Daemon vanished and the black wave washed away, leaving those it had claimed in its wake.
"Mark, what happened?" Lewis asked.
"I stopped it!" was all he replied before running over to his brother and hugging him tightly.
Later on, everyone gathered together for a briefing by Kane. "Okay people, I suppose you're all wondering exactly what happened! Well it seems we… or should I say Mark… discovered how to stop the thing. There was only one thing in the Universe that they could never have, and that was something every child possesses – innocence! None of us could have expected that, or guessed it, I suppose we're just lucky that what happened, happened! The Daemons have returned to the Underworld and the rift has sealed. The good news is, the people of New Angel Grove have started to reapir the damage they have done to the City and there seems to be no serious harm done! We were hoping that Zordon's disappearance was something to do with the Underworld's opening, but as he hasn't reappeared, we must assume it is something else! We'll keep searching for him, but the chances are he will come back when he has done whatever he is doing!"
"So what do we do now?" Lee asked.
"The only thing we can do after a victory like that!" Kane commented. "Celebrate!"