A Week to Remember: Chapter Two – The Transdimensional Archives

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For the disclaimer, see my original fanfic "'Welcome to the Saga'.

<h5><center> A Week to Remember Chapter Two By Peter J. Smith </center></h5>

As promised the evening before, at exactly six o'clock in the morning the teachers and assorted camp staff went around to all the dorms and began pounding on doors to wake everyone up. They needn't have bothered with us though, as pretty much everyone in the cabin was already wide awake, and had been for a good half hour. Petey and Luke had woken up first, and were sitting in the corner telling each other rather disgusting jokes, most of which I laughed at but none of which I'll repeat in public, so don't even ask. Scott had woken up early (I guess there's a first time for everything) and was excitedly talking to Jarred about how great it was to be on camp, and it was their conversation that woke me up. Ian and Lochlan, too, were awake – living in Goondiwindi all his life, Lochlan had apparently never seen the ocean before, and was justifiably rather excited. The last to wake up was Matthew, only because his snoring was so loud that Tom threw a shoe at him, waking him with such a start that even Grant laughed. There were two loud thumps on the door, before it swung open and one of the camp staff I recognised from last night, an enthusiastic young man called Mr Potter, bounded in. "C'mon fellas," he yelled, smiling, "rise and shine, up and at "'em. Beach run in ten minutes, be outside!" And with that, the overly enthusiastic camp instructor bounced out the door. "Well, that was cheerful," said Scott, as he rolled out of his sleeping bag, dropped to the floor and went to his bag, which he'd stored on one of the spare bunks nearby. I smiled, rolled my own sleeping bag back and sat up on the edge of the bunk, smashing the top of my head against the top bunk in the process. "Argh…" "Let me guess," came a voice from nearby, "not a morning person?" I laughed and stood up, turning to see Ian and Lochlan standing beside me. "Never, and I challenge anyone to say otherwise!" I grinned crazily. "I guess where you guys come from, being a morning person is a prerequisite, huh?" Lochlan smiled wryly. "Despite what everyone says, Goondiwindi is not outback central and is nowhere near the middle of nowhere." Ian coughed and elbowed his friend in the ribs with a grin. "Okay," Lochlan amended. "We're on the outskirts of nowhere, but that's it." "You two coming?" yelled Luke, standing by the door, ready to go. Lochlan turned back. "Yeah yeah, we're coming." "Well," began Ian, "you guys up for it?" "Yeah, we'll be out soon," I replied, and the two guys nodded and walked over to where Luke stood waiting. I went over to my duffel bag and pulled out a warm jumper and long pants – a chilly breeze was blowing through the room from the open door, and I remembered what Jason had told me. I briefly considered putting on shoes, and looking over, saw Scott contemplating the same decision. "Do you think we need to?" he asked. I shook my head. "Nah, it's only like about twenty metres to the beach, we'll be right." We went outside and joined the large group gathered on the grass, listening to the teachers address us. Mr Chamberlain (Currimundi's Physical Education teacher who had come with us for the week) as well as Mr Di Certo, Mrs Larson and a tall, older teacher from Goondiwindi whose name I could never remember would accompany Mr Potter and another young camp staff member, Ms Moule, on all our forced marches, uh, I mean, beach runs every morning. Signalling us to follow them, the teachers and camp instructors turned and led the huge group of kids between the line of cabins and the shower block, across a small grassed area and over the sand dunes – the beach lay before us, empty and serene in the early morning. Nearly half the Goondiwindi kids charged forward with a sudden burst of speed, nearly trampling the rest of us to death in the process. Trailing at the back of the crowd, Scott and I followed, taking one footstep off the grass onto the sand – and instantly regretted our earlier decision about our shoes. I yelped and jumped about a foot into the air. "This sand is cold!" "Yeow," murmured Scott, treading lightly, "you're right there. The ground is freezing." Although not painful, and certainly not unbearable, the white sand was indeed icy cold, a very refreshing shock to our systems. Back home, the sand on the beach was nearly always too hot to walk on. We continued down the beach, turning near the water's edge. Catching sight of the others nearby, the two of us jogged over. "Hey guys," I said, when Scott and I had caught up. "Top of the morning to you," began Sarah with a smile. "How are you pair doin' this morning?" "We're good," nodded Scott. "A little cold, maybe, but very refreshed." "Tell us about it," said Brendan. "We think the camp people secretly iced down the sand to keep us moving." I smiled. "Don't let Scott hear you – he thinks we're in heaven." "I heard that," muttered Scott, good-naturedly. "Hey, I am happy to be here," Brendan replied with a grin. "But I can certainly understand why people get homesick." "Yeah, yeah, we get the idea," I laughed, watching the Goondiwindi kids playing in the water and kicking up foam. "You know, I really gotta say, this could be shaping up to be pretty cool." "Now you come on board," began Scott. "Seriously, this is gonna be great! A week on our own, away from all the stuff that we have to deal with back home. And, to top if off, we're on the Gold Coast!" "Too bad it has to be a working holiday," I added. "Yeah," Teresa nodded. "I don't suppose you two have found the person we're looking for in the last twelve hours?" "Nah, but we'll sort something out. We've got plenty of time yet." The five of us jogged on in silence for a few minutes, until Teresa turned to see Brendan looking from her to the water and back again with a sly grin on his face. "Say," he began innocently, "the water looks awfully nice this morning." "Don't even think about it." "Think about what?" "Just don't." <center>~*~</center> We all turned around and made it back to the campsite soon enough. Splitting up, we returned to our cabins and changed to slightly cooler clothes, before heading over and joining the group of kids waiting outside the dining hall. When the camp staff opened the doors, everyone went in for breakfast. Along the counter that separated the dining hall from the kitchen were boxes of cereal, sugar, honey and syrup, milk, juice and pieces of toast. We quickly grabbed what we wanted, and headed over for a spare table. Once breakfast was over, we were all told to gather in the main hall to hear the day's activities. Everyone eagerly made their way over and sat in line, and Mr Burgess stood up in front of the large mural, holding our attention. "Okay," he announced, in his loud, booming voice, "we're running a little behind, so this'll have to be fast. First of all, the group that comprises cabin number seven and dorm one," and at this, Scott and I looked up, as this was the group that Teresa, Scott and Brendan were in, "because there aren't as many kids in your dorms as in the others, you'll combine with the Muddies to form one big group." Everyone clapped and cheered at this, and Scott pumped his fist in the air. "Secondly, because the bus is about to leave, you guys will be leaving first," he continued. "Your group will be the first one to head to SeaWorld this week, and since we're already late, you'd better get moving now. Follow Mrs Manderson to the bus…" but whatever else he was saying was drowned out by the roar of cheers that accompanied his last statement, as everyone in the Muddies leapt to their feet with a frenzied cry. SeaWorld, one of the three major theme parks on the Gold Coast as well as a major tourist attraction, and we were heading there first. I turned to Scott, and saw him smiling a massive grin. "Awesome," we both said in unison, and joined the mass of students racing out of the hall towards where Mrs Manderson stood beside Tallebudgera Camp's very own minibus. We'd luckily missed the morning rush hour, and the bus trip across the Gold Coast only took about fifteen minutes, everyone happy when the bus finally pulled under SeaWorld's overhead monorail track and into the massive carpark. Primarily built to serve as a wild-life sanctuary, SeaWorld later grew into a tourist attraction as well as a five star resort. Covering several dozen square kilometres of ground, the park has dozens of artificial lagoons, some of which are the largest in the world, and houses numerous animals in need of a home. Whenever any sick or injured sea animals come ashore anywhere on the Australian Eastern Seaboard, a SeaWorld team of marine biologists is always there first. One section of the park features roller coasters and other rides and attractions, and another holds the Nara Resort, an internationally famous first-class hotel, with all sections linked by SeaWorld's monorail system. Mrs Manderson and Mr Di Certo quickly led us through the front gates, and we were greeted by several smiling SeaWorld staff members who proceeded to take us on a guided tour of the theme park. They led us across concrete pathways, past enormous aquariums containing brightly coloured fish, coral, manta rays and sharks, into a low grey building where we all sat in a large amphitheatre and watched divers hand-feed sharks and rays, and finally towards "'Dolphin Cove', a huge lagoon complete with an anchored pirate ship, where dolphins swam back and forth. Time passed quickly, and it was soon midday. We were all gathered together in the section of the park devoted to sideshow rides, with towering roller coasters on either side of us, a flume ride which twisted around a Viking castle up ahead, and a huge artificial volcano cheerfully titled "'The Bermuda Triangle', with corresponding surprises inside. It was there that Mr Di Certo announced the good news – we had an hour to ourselves and lunch would be at one. Everyone cheered happily, and the group split up, everyone charging off to try the respective attractions, being told to gather back in the same area by one o'clock. I'm pretty sure that it's just me, but I absolutely cannot stomach theme park rides, roller coasters and the like, and always do my best to avoid them. I personally think that it's residual angst from when I once travelled to Disneyland, Los Angeles, and had a particularly nasty time on the "'Pirates of the Caribbean' ride. Whatever it is, it's quite embarrassing, particularly since my best friends have all seen me face down far more dangerous threats to my well-being than side-show attractions, and I did my best to avoid everyone in the following hour, finding a seat in the shade in the group's original meeting place and waiting. Eventually, with the sun high in the sky, everyone began slowly drifting back in twos and threes. Luke and Petey came into sight, Petey threatening his best friend with all sorts of horrible things if Luke forced him onto the roller coaster one more time, with Lochlan and Ian behind them. "Hey," came a voice from behind me, and I spun around. "Where did you disappear off to?" asked Teresa, as she and the others walked up. "You missed all the cool stuff!" "I, uh, had something I had to do," I said quickly. Scott sat down beside me. "Hey, that's cool. Anything important?" he asked, stressing the word "'important' and lightly tapping his wrist watch/communicator. I shook my head. "No, I'm still nowhere near solving that particular problem." Sarah rested her hand on my shoulder. "Yeah, well, don't kill yourself thinking about. We're at our best when we're up against the clock, right?" Teresa nodded. "Exactly." Behind us, Mr Di Certo and Mrs Manderson walked up to the gathering group of kids, having spent the last hour as guests in an air-conditioned staff lounge, and called us all together. "Well," began Mr Di Certo happily, as everyone began to mill around the two teachers, "I see you've all enjoyed yourselves. How about lunch?" <center>~*~</center> Rita Repulsa knew something was going on. Goldar and Scorpina knew that something was happening. Even Squatt and Baboo knew something was up, but, try as they might, none of them could figure out exactly what. They'd been watching the eleven Power Rangers closely for days now, ever since that late-night trip to the Command Centre last week which certainly implied an emergency, and now listened in confusion to what the five younger Rangers were talking about. "Maybe Zordon has a cold or something," said Squatt helpfully. Rita rolled her eyes. "Whatever it is, I hate being left out of the loop." Goldar stepped forward. "My queen," he began, "perhaps now is not the time to worry about such matters. After all, the five junior Rangers are on their own, surrounded by dozens of civilians, and Finster has just finished a series of several new, powerful monsters…" The witch immediately turned to him and snapped her fingers. "Goldar, that's it! Just what I need to cheer myself up. Oh, Finster…?" <center>~*~</center> With the sheer promise of lunch by the artificial lake near the park's entrance driving us on, we all eagerly followed the guides back towards the front of the park. As the concrete path we were following passed between the dolphin lagoon and the "'corkscrew' rollercoaster, one of the Currimundi girls, a bubbly, smiling friend of ours named Jane Noonan, began telling us all about several Japanese tourists who'd cornered her and began taking pictures, fascinated by her pale complexion and blond hair. Everyone laughed, and she was about to continue when suddenly, a loud, urgent-sounding alarm began to sound, echoing through SeaWorld's exterior PA system. Having seen enough emergency situations to last several lifetimes, Mr Di Certo took charge, automatically spinning around and raising his hand, motioning for us all to stop. "What's happening?" asked Sarah. He turned from Mrs Manderson to the SeaWorld guides and receiving no answers apart from blank looks, he shrugged, and was just about to reply when something in the distance caught his attention, and a look of terror began to form on his face. Curious now, and slightly afraid, everyone in the group spun around too, only to be met with the sight of running, screaming tourists, racing down the path towards us. And something else. "Oh no," muttered Scott. A tall creature was advancing quickly along the pathway towards the group of school kids, paying no attention to the tourists and park staff around it. Appearing to be anything but human, the six-foot tall animal was coloured a deep blue with purple stripes, and along it's backbone, several large purple fins were visible, the same fins also evident on the back of its arms and legs. A fish-shaped head with two beady yellow eyes sat behind long jaws of sharp, pointed teeth, and long, wicked-looking claws were visible on both its grasping arms and powerful hind legs. There was no doubt as to what this thing was and where it had originated. Our day had very suddenly gone from awesome to potentially lethal. Everyone but the five of us automatically took a step back and turned to the guides for help. Mr Di Certo didn't waste another second. "C'mon kids, let's go, let's go!" he shouted, and guides and students alike turned and ran for their very lives away from the steadily approaching monster. Amidst the panic, the five of us instantly turned to each other, already thinking the same thing. I turned and pointed towards a small brown shed up ahead. "That should give us some privacy." "Right," everyone responded. Racing over, we ducked around the wooden structure, finding ourselves between it and a chainlink fence, not needing to worry about being spotted as the area had long since become abandoned. "It's morphin' time!" <center>~*~</center> The monster angrily watched the crowd disappear, but decided not to put up a chase. With an evil grin, he held his arms out and two fin-shaped blasters materialised in his palms. Slowly taking aim, he pointed them at the fleeing kids students. "Like shooting fish in a barrel," he murmured. All of a sudden, accompanied with loud battle cries, five shapes somersaulted over the monster's head in a blur of motion and landed side-by-side ahead of him, effectively blocking the monster from the civilians. "Hold it right there pal," said Brendan, raising his hand, as the five us stood facing the beast. "Yeah," nodded Sarah. "One more step and we'll fillet ya." The monster growled evilly. "I'll call you when I'm even remotely afraid," he sneered. "The name's Barracuda, and I'm here on a mission." "Good for you," I replied, as we slowly advanced on the monster. "We're here on holiday, and we don't appreciate the interruption." "Then maybe you'll appreciate this!" he yelled, and raising his blasters, began firing, sending energy bolts screaming through the air towards us. Everyone dived forward to safety, the blasts harmlessly smashing into the ground behind us, and rolled to our feet. "Nice try," began Scott, his Power Staff forming in the Blue Ranger's hands in a flash of blue light, "but no cigar." The monster was unfazed by his miss at point blank range. "Okay then," the monster said, "how about my school of putties?" With that, he held his arms out, and the air around us was suddenly filled with dozens of the grey warriors, appearing out of nowhere and dancing around us menacingly. "Putty patrol, attack the Rangers and get the kids. Destroy them all!" About half of the grey warriors sprang right over the five of us, and raced along the pathway behind us, their grey boots pounding the ground with supernatural speed. "Uh oh," said Teresa, watching as half the army of putties dashed off after our friends and teachers, while the other half closed in on us. "We've got problems guys." I nodded. "Teresa, you and I can chase "'em down. You guys stay here and take care of these goons." "Right!" everyone replied, and immediately, the Blue, Purple and Aqua Rangers launched themselves at the grey warriors, somersaulting into the fray and instantly going on the offensive, rapidly dropping opponents with flurries of lightning fast kicks, punches and judo chops, all the while with Barracuda urging the putties on. Meanwhile, Teresa and I backflipped out of the fight, moving in orange and white blurs of colour, got to our feet and took off. We had to stop the putty patrol, and they'd already gained a considerable advantage. <center>~*~</center> The putties soon caught up with the group of fleeing students and deftly managed to overtake them, cutting off their escape route and fencing them into a corner between two maintenance sheds. Everyone shrank back and huddled together in fear, whimpering helplessly as the line of silent, grim warriors slowly advanced on them. With the Power Rangers nowhere in sight, a particularly crazy thought began forming in Ian's mind, and he turned to Lochlan and tapped him on the shoulder. "Lochie," he whispered, "you remember that karate course we took last summer?" Lochlan nodded, and was about to ask Ian what that had to do with anything when he realised what Ian was thinking. "No," he said firmly. "No way. We are not…" "We have to do something," Ian interrupted urgently, "until the Power Rangers get here." Lochlan shook his head at Ian's idea. Ian was right, of course, but still. "If we die, I'm never speaking to you again," he hissed, but Ian smiled anyway, grateful to have his friend watching his back. The grey warriors advanced without fear towards the kids, the need for caution non-existent as the Rangers were busy far away. And so, they were caught completely and utterly by surprise when, without warning, Lochlan suddenly sprang forward and sent several putties to the ground with a powerful spinning kick. Ian too leapt forward, jump-kicking two enemies and knocking a third down with a left backhand. "Ian! Lochlan!" cried Mr Di Certo, "What are you doing? Get back here!" The two boys, spurred on by adrenaline, either didn't hear the shout or chose to ignore it, even though their opponents had now recovered and were launching an offensive. Ian ducked under a roundhouse punch before grabbing the putty's arm and throwing him to the group, and spinning around, a low foot sweep took two more enemies to the ground. Beside him, Lochlan had picked up a trash can lid and was effectively using it as a shield to block and attack, batting aside opponents before smashing the lid into them. Sidestepping a high kick, he spun around but had his weapon yanked away from him and was violently flung to the ground. Looking up, he saw two putties closing in on him, but suddenly, a gloved hand appeared around each of the warrior's skulls, and the two putties were forcefully smashed into each other before crumpling to the ground. Getting to his feet, Lochlan stepped back in shock – the Orange Ranger stood before him, larger than life, a pile of unconscious putties around him. "Good work," I nodded, as behind me, Teresa was effortlessly taking down Ian's remaining opponents. "Thank you," I added, placing a firm hand on Lochlan's shoulder, before turning to where Mr Di Certo stood waiting anxiously. "You'll all be right," I said, doing my best to disguise my voice. "Lead everyone to the front of the park, let us take it from here." The teacher nodded. "Thank you Rangers," he replied, before turning back to everyone. "Okay kids, let's go!" After congratulating Ian, Teresa walked over to me and we watched the group quickly leave the area. "Did you just see what I just saw?" I asked, turning to her. The White Ranger nodded. "I think I did. But c'mon," she said, "we can deal with that later. We have to go back and help the others." <center>~*~</center> "Fight you claybrains, fight!" cried Barracuda, enraged at how easily the three Rangers were defeating the putties – and that they were. Scott was easily taking down several at a time with his staff, while Sarah and Brendan were fighting back-to-back. Kicking and punching in perfect unison, a pile of crumpled putties was forming around them. Finally, a high roundhouse kick from Sarah sent their final opponent to the ground, and the three Rangers turned to Barracuda. "Your turn," said Brendan. "Fine by me," the monster nodded, and immediately raised his blasters and began firing. Both Sarah and Brendan crashed to the ground, but Scott nimbly dodged the blasts, and leaping forward, he brought his staff down onto the twin laser weapons, instantly smashing them both, before ramming his Power Weapon into the beast's jaw and sending the monster stumbling. Barracuda was soon back on his feet, but by now, the Purple and Aqua Rangers had recovered, and they raced forward to aid Scott. Brendan immediately leapt into the air, spinning around and smashing his heel into the beast's head, while Sarah followed with a kick to the chest, both attacks sending Barracuda reeling. He recovered quickly and launched himself forward, blocking an attack from Sarah and striking her back with a roundhouse punch, before turning and sending Scott crashing with a kick to the stomach. Brendan raced to the aid of his team-mates, and as he began helping them to their feet, Barracuda slowly advanced. All of a sudden, two forms dropped down in front of the monster, and he was sent flying when both Teresa and I rammed our heels into his scaly chest. "You guys okay?" I asked, as Teresa kept her eye on the monster. "Never better," replied Sarah cheerfully, as the three of them joined us. "There's five of us now guys," began Scott. "Let's get him!" "Right!" And everyone charged back towards the monster. I charged towards Barracuda first, leaping over a low foot-sweep and knocking him back with a high kick before smashing his jaw with a powerful right backhand. The monster recovered quickly and lunged towards me, but Teresa and Scott leapt into the fray, Scott using his staff to bat the beast's claws away and Teresa landing several powerful judo chops to his elongated neck. Barracuda roared angrily and spun towards the White Ranger, but Scott raced past her and leapt into the air, both boots connecting with the monster's torso. Staggering backwards, Barracuda was unable to defend himself as Sarah launched a high roundhouse kick at him and then ducked back, allowing Brendan to send the monster crashing to the ground with a powerful kick to the stomach. "Good job guys," I began, "now let's finish him. Blasters ready!" With that, everyone reached for their side blasters, and aimed for the body of the fallen monster. "Fire!" Five simultaneous laser blasts instantly exploded from our weapons and smashed into Barracuda, the force of the combined blast instantly tearing the beast apart amid a huge explosion which lit up the area with a blinding glare and echoed throughout the park. Everyone instinctively stepped back from the fireball and raised our arms to block flying debris, before turning away and reholstering our blasters. "Well," began Brendan cheerfully, "that was fun." "Like gum surgery without anesthetic," Sarah nodded. Scott laughed. "Shall we go join up with the others?" "You guys, wait," said Teresa suddenly, drawing their attention. "Before when Peter and I went back to help everyone, we saw something." Sarah stepped forward, addressing us both. "Well, don't leave us hanging, what did you see?" With that, Teresa and I related the earlier fight to the other three Rangers, carefully detailing how Ian and Lochlan had confronted the putties and had even taken numerous opponents down. Finally, we stopped, and there was an awed silence. "Wow," said Scott simply. "Yeah, I'll agree with that," nodded Sarah. "I take it you guys already jumped to the same conclusion?" asked Brendan. Teresa nodded. "Definitely. Solves all our problems." "Well, most of them at any rate," I said. "I'll tell Zordon tonight, and we can move on it tomorrow. Phew," I paused, smiling under my visor, "talk about a weight off our shoulders, huh? Now, let's go find the others." The five of us quickly found an abandoned building, demorphed and slipped back into the crowd, tracking down our classmates and subtly rejoining the group when Mr Di Certo wasn't looking. Sadly, the battle had shot our afternoon plans apart. Less than five minutes after the fight, SeaWorld basically shut down. All the rides and attractions had to be thoroughly checked by a team of technicians and engineers, aquariums had to be inspected to see if they were still structurally sound, and all of the animals had to be looked after. It didn't particularly affect us though – the water skiing show we watched while eating lunch went on regardless. We returned early that afternoon to the camp, luckily travelling at a time when traffic on Gold Coast roads was practically non-existent. Thanks to the forced closure of the park, we had several hours of free time before any of the other groups made it back, and we all spent the afternoon playing sport on the oval opposite the campsite. Everyone eventually returned by about five thirty, and dinner was served an hour later, fish and chips oddly enough. When supper was served, we all made sure to drink copious amounts of the warm chocolate milk. Finally, late that night, when the rest of the cabin was deep in slumber, using skills long since honed to perfection I got out of my bunk, dressed quickly and silently slipped around behind the cabin before even the security guards noticed anything. Then, with but a touch of a button, I was about a thousand kilometres elsewhere. I materialised in the Central Chamber and looked up at Zordon. Neither of us bothered with pleasantries, not out of rudeness but because we knew what this was about. And Zordon's look of anxiety quickly turned to relief when I quickly said four simple words. "Zordon, we found him."

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