Animalia: Chapter Five – The Transdimensional Archives

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For the disclaimer, see my original fic, "'Welcome to the Saga'. Now, one of the major reasons for the rewrite was that this was my first ever major zord battle, as in four big zords vs the villain of the day, and I hope that you like the way I wrote it.

<h5><center>Animalia Chapter Five By Peter J. Smith</center></h5>

We'd just about caught up to Animalia when the bolts of lightning struck all around us, scorching the ground and illuminating the area. As we all looked on in horror, one such energy bolt struck Animalia – in a flash of light, our opponent's size had instantly increased tenfold, and he was now looking down at us evilly. He definitely looked fiercer in this state, I decided. "Whoa," stuttered Brendan, but then added dryly, "I take it we have a set procedure for this kind of situation." Jason nodded. "Yep," then, while Brendan watched in awe, the eleven of us raised our arms to the sky and cried, "we need dinozord power, now!" Outside of town the Earth began to tremor. Soon, a huge tear in the ground had appeared, and the mighty Tyrannozord rose from the Earth in a blaze of fire and smoke. Roaring, it began towards us, causing earthquakes with each tremendous footstep. Behind it, the Triceratops and Mastodon zords rose side-by-side, and within a minute, the Sabre Toothed Tiger and Pterodactyl had risen as well and had charged after the other three zords. "Let's go!" cried Jason, and following his lead, the seniors leapt into the air and teleported into their approaching zords. Once inside the Tyrannozord, Jason immediately activated the zord's weapon systems, and pressing the button on the dashboard marked "'radio', he called out to the other Rangers. "Rangers, log on!" "Zac here, time to kick it!" "Billy here, systems go!" "Trini here, set for action!" "Here comes my favourite part," finished Kim. Bypassing their normal tank mode formation, the Sabre-Toothed Tiger and Triceratops drew side by side, and the Tyrannozord's legs folded up and connected with both of them. Then, while the whole mass of zords was still racing over the ground towards Animalia, the now-morphed Mastodon and Pterodactyl attached themselves to the Tyrannozord, and as Billy's and Trini's zords rolled to a stop, the Megazord was launched into a vertical standing position. And with eyes flashing with yellow energy as its systems automatically came online, the Megazord stood ready for battle. Meanwhile, down below, Tommy unsheathed his dragon dagger, and lifting it to his lips, he played the tune that he knew would summon the Dragonzord. Sure enough, within seconds, the mighty zord of the green ranger had risen from the sea, crossed the beach and began to thunder towards us. Then it was our turn. Behind the original set of dinozords were our zords. The Stegozord appeared first, then the Parazord and Brontozord rose side-by-side. After that, the Velociraptor and Rhamphorynchus simultaneously roared to life. As the zords began the trek inland, we all teleported into them. The moment I reached the Stegozord's control room, I followed Jason's lead and spoke into the radio. "Junior Team," I started, "log on!" "Parazord, online!" cried Aaron. "Brontozord, ready for action!" said Scott. "Raptor here, let's rock and roll!" smiled Teresa. "Rhamphorynchus, flyin' high!" finished Sarah. "All right," I said, "let's bring "'em together!" The Parazord instantly combined with the Stegozord and Brontozord and stood upright. Within another second, the Velociraptor had split in half and it and the Rhamphorynchus had joined with the Parazord. Now with arms and a chest shield, we were all teleported into the control room – with yellow eyes flashing under a three-tiered crownpiece, our Megazord now stood side-by-side with the seniors' Megazord and the Dragonzord. Confronted by the three zords, Animalia stepped back to put some distance between us and him, and he turned from one zord to the other. Pausing for another brief second, he charged towards the seniors' Megazord. "Get ready," Jason warned the others, as Animalia thundered towards them, "let's take this freak!" Leaping over mounds of dirt, Animalia launched several punches in rapid succession at the Megazord. It recovered quickly and struck back, smashing Animalia upside the head with a left backhand followed by a right hook. The ground shook as the monster stumbled back, but Animalia regained his strength and leapt back towards the Megazord, raising his arms to prepare for an attack. But Jason expected the move, and the Megazord blocked Animalia's attacks before a kick to the beast's midsection sent him stumbling back. Recovering quickly, Animalia let loose with some bolts of electricity, and the Megazord's exterior erupted in fiery sparks, forcing it to back off. But by now, Dragonzord and our Megazord had leapt in to take up the attack. Animalia turned to Dragonzord and slashed at its chestplate with his claws, but Dragonzord blocked the attack, batting away the arm, before smashing Animalia backwards with a blow to his stomach. Our Megazord raced forward to keep up the attack, swinging out at the monster with a right roundhouse punch. Animalia nimbly ducked under the Megazord's arm and retaliated with a high kick. The Megazord was sent reeling, but came back firing, putting all of its strength into a blow which struck Animalia fair on the chest and sent him stumbling. "Nice move guys," complimented Jason through the radio, as their Megazord finally got back to its feet. As we should have by now expected, Animalia recovered quickly, and with a blast of electricity bolts, the Megazord was sent reeling. The monster now turned towards the approaching Dragonzord, and took several short steps over a row of low hills towards his enemy. But before Animalia had even made it to the zord, Dragonzord had summoned its finger missiles and sent several dozen flying towards Animalia. A few missed and hit the ground, but most found their target, smashing into Animalia and causing him some pretty heavy damage. And before he had the chance to launch a counter-offensive, our Megazord stepped in, knocking Animalia back with several blows to the chest. But suddenly, Animalia let us have the full force of his electricity attack, and both Dragonzord and out Megazord were knocked back. "He's all yours guys," said Sarah through gritted teeth, as emergency lights began blinking and showers of sparks rained down on us. Under Jason's control, the Megazord charged forward, blocking a punch from Animalia with a metallic clang and retaliating with an elbow to the solar plexus, well, that is if the beast had one. Then, the Megazord's eyes began to glow, and it shot out laser blasts at the beast. Animalia was quick though, and he dived forward under the blasts, demolishing several small hills in the process, before getting back to his feet and once again sending forth several huge electricity bolts. But before he could do too much damage to the Megazord, the Dragonzord was there, and it spun around on the spot, smashing Animalia with its drill weapon. Now madder than before, the beast sent Tommy's zord crashing back with an ultra-fast high kick, so fast that we barely saw it. Then, he turned and sent the Megazord stumbling back into our Megazord with a rapid series of blows to the chestplate. "Whoa," said Zac, "this guy's fast. We gotta shut him down now." "I'll say," agreed Kim. "How much more of this can we take?" "I'm not sure," replied Billy. "He's not the toughest opponent the Megazord has ever faced, but his natural abilities are apparently a match for our weaponry." "Well we gotta do something," I called back through the radio, "if we don't stop him now, he'll demolish the town." With that, both Megazords and the Dragonzord slowly picked themselves up and turned to once again face the enemy. All of a sudden, a roar of primeval ferocity rang out, echoing off the zords, carrying over the battleground and sounding all over Caloundra. At that moment, everyone felt the ground rumbling and knew instinctively that something very large was approaching very fast. And everyone including Animalia fearfully directed their attention north towards the commotion. "Oh my," I said. Racing towards us was a giant silver Dilophosaurus. Its three-toed feet pounded across the ground, throwing up clouds of dust with each footstep, and I saw that the Megazord-sized robot glimmered with a silvery tint. The zord's head had two thin rows of shiny metal atop it, two eyes that glowed red and a mouth filled with conical, sharp teeth. As it got closer, it slowed down, and upon reaching us, the zord stopped completely and roared out a challenge to Animalia. Smiling, I realised that Brendan had arrived. "Hey guys!" called Brendan cheerfully. "How do you like my Dilophozord?" "It's fantastic," I replied through the radio. "Yeah," agreed Aaron. "It's cool." "Do you know how everything works?" asked Billy. Inside his control room, despite being faced with a bevy of flashing lights, controls and monitors, Brendan nodded confidently. "I hope so. But which button is the A/C?" Sensing the threat, Animalia crossed the plain quickly and leapt forward to attack. Animalia swiped at the zord's head with his claws, but the zord ducked under the monster's arms. Animalia hesitated for a second and slashed at the zord's chestplate, but Brendan was ready. It knocked Animalia's arm away and sent him stumbling back with its own claws. The Dilophozord quickly followed Animalia, but Animalia recovered and, spinning around rapidly, its scorpion tail struck the zord's chest plate repeatedly. Stumbling backwards, the Dilophozord stumbled and fell to the ground with a crash. "Ow," said Brendan, wrestling the controls of the Dilophozord and finally managing to get it upright again. "You meanie." "Brendan," called Kim through the radio, "are you okay? Do you need some help?" "Hey thanks for the offer," said Brendan, watching Animalia advance, "but I kinda want to get a feel for the controls. Plus, I think that this baby can do it. Uh, you might want to shield your eyes though." Suddenly, the Dilophozord's mouth opened, and a huge jet of flames roared forth. Lost in the flames for a few seconds, Animalia soon reappeared, staggering back and falling over. "I'll have my monster medium to well done," he said through gritted teeth. "Nice move," I complimented. "Thanks," he replied, as the Dilophozord walked around the downed Animalia towards us. "But I think it's time that we took this nasty beast out for good, don't you?" "Sounds good to me," replied Teresa. "Power Sword?" In the other Megazord, Jason shook his head. "Nah. There's something that you guys need to see. Ready?" he asked the others. They nodded, and the five senior rangers raised their arms to the sky, shouting simultaneously, "We call upon the power of Titanus!" Once again, the ground began to rumble, but this time, it was on a far grander scale, reminiscent of a magnitude ten earthquake. Suddenly, several of the low green hills in the distance exploded, sending dust and debris flying high into the sky as a massive zord burst right through the hills onto the battleground. Shaped like a giant brachiosaurus, the giant zord had a wide body, a long silver neck and a small head with two glowing red eyes. The silver, black and white zord was so enormous that looking at it felt as if you were witnessing one of the world's great wonders. Words alone could barely describe it. As it rolled along the ground on great black wheels, I noticed that its tail had split in two and each half had repositioned itself forward over the zord's shoulders. "Wow," I said. "Ultrazord, power up!" the seniors continued. The Dragonzord split right up the middle, and each half swung out horizontally. Then, the Megazord jumped into the air, and the two halves of the Dragonzord lowered themselves onto the Megazord, forming an armour of sorts. Finally, this combined mass of zords teleported over Titanus and dropped down into the back of the mighty carrier, forming the colossal and incredibly powerful DinoUltrazord. Looking at Animalia and the incredible weaponry that he was facing, I suddenly almost felt sorry for him. Almost. He was evil, created by evil to commit evil. And it was our job to protect innocent people from the things that this beast had shown such an aptitude for doing. "Lock on," began the senior rangers sitting inside the Ultrazord, "and fire!" The cannons and lasers that adorned the front of the Ultrazord roared to life, all simultaneously firing a massive energy blast towards Animalia. The barrage of lasers, fireballs and missiles crossed the battleground in an instant and slammed into Animalia, instantly knocking him off his feet and tearing him apart in a massive explosion that sent a fireball rocketing skyward. The noise of the explosion shook windows throughout Caloundra, and the fireball briefly lit up the area before turning to smoke. "Yet another one bites the dust," remarked Jason, as Titanus roared victoriously. <center>~*~</center> "Congratulations," smiled Zordon, as we all removed our helmets and gave Brendan a collective pat on the back. "Brendan, you piloted your zord like a natural and skillfully battled the monster alongside the others." "Well," he said, "it was definitely a new experience. Something I'm not sure I'll ever get used to." "Zordon," asked Sarah, "does Brendan's arrival have anything to do with the fact that, earlier this morning, the communication was all off-line?" Zordon nodded. "To infuse Brendan with such great power was quite risky, particularly with the very short time frame that we had. Any interruptions would have put everyone in quite a lot of danger, so we had to shut down all the systems this morning." "And then, when we turned everything back on," continued Alpha, "we were horrified to learn that Animalia had chosen then to attack, so we immediately sent Brendan after you." "Well," said Tommy, "it was a good thing that he got there when he did, otherwise we would have been in a lot of trouble. "Such great power…?" said Kim slowly, repeating Zordon slowly. "How strong is our newest member's powers?" "Brendan draws his power from the sixth junior power coin," explained Zordon, "which bears the image of the dilophosaurus. Now, the power from this coin doesn't actually have any colour linked to it, unlike all of your respective powers." "So," I started, turning to Brendan. "What colour are you? Silver?" He shook his head. "It sounds kind of hippie," he said, self-consciously. "I'm the Rainbow Ranger." Zordon smiled. "Brendan's powers are derived from the light of the rainbow," he continued, looking down at us. "When Rita made Animalia, she used natural elements that were combined with a healthy dose of magic. Alpha and I realised that, for you to stand a chance of beating him, we needed to do the same. Now as his powers come from pure light, they can never be tampered with or changed by evil forces. His place among the junior team is that of Tommy's – the "'sixth' ranger. His powers, zord and weapons, the Power Sai, are different to the other five but still essentially the same. Brendan, you are the perfect compliment to the existing team – you were born to be a Power Ranger, and I believe that you will fulfill your duty excellently." Brendan smiled. "Thank you." "Now I realise that I've left things a bit late, but there is something that you must be told, Brendan," Zordon continued, a serious expression on his face. "From here on in, things will be difficult. You will be faced with danger, perils and an untold number of horrible creatures that the forces of evil will unleash. And quite frankly, you stand a very good chance of becoming seriously injured. Knowing this, do you still wish to be a Power Ranger?" There was a moment of silence in the Command Centre. I must admit, after what Zordon had just said to him, I frankly expected Brendan to say no. Heck, Zordon had been more blunt with him than he had been with us. So, it was to everyone's surprise that, after a few seconds, Brendan smiled and looked Zordon in the eye. "Well, what with the medicare, award rate, holiday pay and club in the country," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "I just can't think of how the problems outweigh the benefits." With that, we all smiled and laughed, and it was with great happiness that I walked up to him, took his outstretched arm and shook it. "Brendan Watts, welcome to the club," I said with wide smile. "You're gonna love it." The End <center>~*~</center> Next Time on Power Rangers - All hell breaks loose when Rita recruits a fantastically powerful military monster to take on the Power Rangers. Will the Power Rangers be able to defeat him, and who will become a casualty of war?

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