The Return of Ultramarine: Chapter Five – The Transdimensional Archives

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</HEAD><BODY leftMargin=15 rightMargin=15 MARGINHEIGHT="15" MARGINWIDTH="15">   See my original fanfic, "'Welcome to the Saga', for disclaimer. Now, the final fight scene below is a real doozy of a fight, and is one of my best ever final climactic battles. Hey, would I lie? Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading it – I certainly enjoyed writing it :-). The Return of Ultramarine – Chapter Five

The two fighters stood eye-to-eye in the deserted battleground, silently and wearily staring the other down in a tense standoff, both armed with their greatest weapons. Ultramarine had his two wrist blades, shoulder cannon and years of combat experience. I had nothing but my trusty Power Sword and my wits – I just had to hope that it was enough. Ultramarine broke the tension and made the first move. He leapt forward, swinging his blades viciously and aiming for my stomach – I quickly dodged his left blade and blocked his right blade with my sword, batting it away before lunging at my opponent's chest plate. Ultramarine blocked my sword with his left blade, before slashing at me with a huge diagonal slice. I caught and brushed his blade away, before getting in several rapid slashes to his stomach. Ultramarine recovered, but I pressed forward, slashing again and again. He rapidly blocked and countered my attacks, before lunging forward with a horizontal slash. I smashed my sword into his blade, effectively halting the weapon, but Ultramarine knocked me back with a heel to the stomach. I got to my feet and raced forward, more determined than ever to beat him. He lunged at me with his right blade, but I somersaulted right over him to safety. Ultramarine spun around on the spot, immediately slashing with both blades. I swung my sword in a straight downward stroke, intercepting both blades, before batting them away and landing a direct blow to Ultramarine's stomach. He roared angrily and his left blade sliced through the air towards me – I raised my sword, blocked the blade, turned, struck his right blade away, and slashed my blade down his chest armour. Ultramarine was now in such a frenzied state that he hardly felt it, and although he charged forward, I went on the offensive, slashing again and again. The battle raged on furiously. Lunge, block, duck, slash, parry, the blades were all moving at an incredible pace – had there been any casual observers, the battle would have appeared as a continuous, steady blur. Ultramarine swung his left blade at my head – I ducked, but he swung low, aiming for my feet. I jumped up and back, and he charged forward to continue the assault. Around us, buildings and cars were burning, casting crazy shadows as the two of us traded blows and danced around each other. I swung at his chest, but he blocked and lashed out with a horizontal stroke. I dodged the attack and countered, but Ultramarine was fast, slashing again and again, forcing me to back up. Unfortunately, a fallen lamppost lay on the ground behind me, and while I was fending off blows from Ultramarine, I took one step back too far – my ankle smashed into the metal, and I stumbled backwards. But even while I was falling, Ultramarine activated his shoulder cannon, and a massive energy blast smashed into me and lifted off my feet. I flew through the air, crashed backwards through a shop window and came to a painful stop. Ultramarine laughed cruelly. "Give up now, human." I shook my head to clear the ringing in my ears, and was about to get to my feet when my communicator beeped. I quickly raised it to my mouth and responded. "I'm here," I said, my heart still racing. "Peter, we did it," came Jason's voice. "We found an antidote. Sarah and Scott are okay." I smiled. "That's good to hear." "Yeah, they're waking up now," he replied. "Listen, do you need any help?" "No." My reply was forceful and immediate. "No, you guys have to find Brendan. Don't worry about me." "If you insist. We'll be here if you need us," and the communicator fell silent. "Well what are you waiting for?" jeered Ultramarine, "A written invitation?" I set my jaw, focused on my enemy, grabbed my sword and in one smooth motion, I leapt to my feet and charged towards my opponent with a wild battle cry. I slashed at his blue form with a powerful diagonal stroke. The blow struck home, carving through his chest armour, but he recovered and retaliated, swinging at my stomach with his left blade – I blocked and countered the attack, raising my sword above my head and slicing forward. He raised his arm, halting my blade, and withdrew his right blade – he slammed his open palm into my chest and sent me crashing back into a wall. As I slowly stumbled back to my feet, his shoulder cannon again sent laser blasts surging towards me – the blasts all struck me, and in an explosion of fire and sparks, I was pummeled back against the brick wall. "Let's finish this," Ultramarine growled, and as I once again dropped to the ground, he slowly advanced. Once near me, he raised his right arm and extended his right blade. Hesitating just another few seconds, he slashed the shining blade down towards me. Somehow, I managed to roll to one side in the nick of time, raising my left arm for protection – the very tip of the blade struck my upper arm, exactly half way between elbow and shoulder, and sliced clean through my suit, the blade carving a deep gouge into my arm. I cried out as mind-numbing pain ricocheted through my body, and rolled to safety. In pain, I grabbed my arm – the wound gushed red, warm blood, which flowed down my arm and stained my white glove a deep crimson. But luckily, as I later found out, he'd somehow missed my vein. It still hurt like nothing I'd ever felt, and my arm felt like a dead weight. As I slowly scrambled to my feet, miraculously still clinging to my sword, I forced myself to ignore the throbbing pain. "What's the matter?" asked Ultramarine with an amused tone, as he turned to face me. "Am I a little too much for you to handle?" I didn't answer – I focused on Ultramarine's shoulder cannon. It gave him a clear advantage, and I had to take it out. Tightening my grip around my sword, I paused a second before leaping at him with my weapon raised, aiming for a spot several metres to his right. Ultramarine froze, confused, but by the time he'd realised what I was doing, it was too late – flying through the air past him, I rammed my sword straight into the blue barrel of the cannon, instantly destroying the weapon in an explosion of sparks and fire. I dropped to the pavement and spun around – Ultramarine's body was being rocked by explosions from the remains of his cannon, and he twisted and shook erratically, but somehow, the warrior remained standing. Slowly, angrily, he turned towards me. Then, before I knew what was happening, he was there – forcing me back against a wall, he pinned my arms to my side and brought his two blades to my throat, his red eyes glaring at me, burning bright with hatred. "You have sealed your own fate, Orange Ranger." With the blades at my throat and my heart racing, I somehow kept my cool. "Just tell me one thing," I said with a trembling voice. "Where is he?" Ultramarine laughed, a dry, throaty laugh. "I don't think so. I tell you the plan, then you leave to save the day. That's not gonna happen. Although," and he paused for a brief second, and I held my breath, "I can tell you would have really appreciated the artwork." I knew it. I'd got him. He was so sure of his own success that he just couldn't resist the chance to gloat about it, and I suddenly knew everything I needed to know. And in that moment, I found extra reserves of strength and energy, and using nothing but brute strength, I broke his deadly grip and angrily shoved him away. Ultramarine stumbled back, surprised, and I took a step towards him, raising my sword aggressively. "I ain't goin' anywhere pal," I said, my voice sending a shiver down the hardened warrior's spine. "You've caused enough pain for two lifetimes Ultramarine. But that ends here and now. This time, don't come back." And with energy now fueled by sheer rage, I charged towards my enemy one last time, ready for the final showdown. He lashed out with his right blade as I approached. I easily ducked under the blade, blocked his left blade and sent him stumbling with a kick to the chest. He came back at me, but I was ready – he swung low, aiming for my feet, but I jumped up and over his blade. He followed me and lashed out – I blocked his arm, and counterattacked, swinging my sword at him again and again, stroke after stroke. Ultramarine couldn't keep up, couldn't defend himself, and he finally realised the awful truth – he was tiring, while I was growing stronger. Desperately, he raised his right blade, blocking my sword with a clang, before aiming a low kick at me. The move was sloppy – I easily sidestepped it, before ramming my elbow into his face and throwing all of my strength into a roundhouse punch. The blow was staggering, and Ultramarine stumbled back. "No!" he roared in angry disbelief, "I will not be beaten by a child!" Enraged, he raised his right blade high into the air and swung it at me with all his might. "This is for Aaron!" I cried, and swung my sword towards the descending blade. The two blades met with a crash, and my sword sliced clean through Ultramarine's blade. The blade spun away from Ultramarine, flew through the air and harmlessly fell to the ground. Ultramarine froze, stunned, but seeing his shattered blade, he roared in anger and swung again with his left blade. "This is for Brendan!" Again, my sword struck his blade in midair, and Ultramarine's left blade snapped neatly in two. The warrior stumbled backwards, clearly shocked at the sight of his destroyed weapons. "And this one's for me." I raised my sword high into the air, and lightning bolts from a suddenly cloudy sky struck the sword, instantly charging it with shimmering orange energy. Then, I slashed the sword down through the air towards him, and a massive blast of energy exploded from the sword, surged across the battlefield and smashed into him. Ultramarine cried out, half in pain and half in disbelief, but I soon lost sight of him as a glowing fireball consumed the warrior, and he was torn apart amid a massive fiery explosion that lit up the area and echoed down the street. After that, there was an eerie silence. Finally, the smoke cloud began to dissipate, and I finally saw all that I needed to see – Ultramarine was gone. The centuries-old warrior had died, and this time, I somehow felt sure that it would be for good. Satisfied, I turned away, and raised my communicator to my mouth. "Alpha," I began breathily, my heart still pounding in my chest, "are you there?" "Peter!" came Alpha's frantic voice. "Are you all right?" "Yeah, I'm fine Alpha. I did it. I killed him." There was a shocked pause. "Aye-yiyiyiyi!" I smiled. "Alpha, listen, have you guys found Brendan yet?" "No, we're still looking for him, but…" "Well," I interrupted, "I think I may know where he is. Can you read out a list of all the caves within, say, a thousand kilometre radius that have Aboriginal rock painting?" "Just give me a second," Alpha replied, and there was a pause while he furiously typed. "I've got them. They're in random order. The first on the list is the closest – Aidenson's Cave, about a hundred kilometres north of the Command Centre. The next is Atlas Rock, a cave that's about fifty kilometres to the west of Brisbane. Ah, the next one is the Sapphire Gallery, located about 900 kilometres southwest of Caloundra in the Blue Mountains. Then…" Hold on… "Wait a second Alpha," I began, cutting him off. "What was that last one?" "The Sapphire Gallery." Of course. Ultramarine, sapphire and blue. It had to be the place. "That's it Alpha. That's the place." "How can you be sure?" "Trust me," I replied quickly. "I'm sure. That's where Brendan is. I'll teleport there now – get the others and have them teleport there too." "Right away Peter," replied Alpha, and completely ignoring the wound on my left arm, I lightly tapped my communicator and disappeared from the scene in a bright flash of orange light. * * * "Guess what?" asked Rita happily, crossing the cave to where Goldar stood guarding Brendan as his power was being drawn into the Rainbow Prism. "The Orange Ranger just defeated Ultramarine! He's gone for good!" Goldar was shocked. "Are you sure?" Rita nodded. "Positive. And you know what that means," and she turned down to Brendan's lifeless body. "The Rainbow Power is all ours!" "What a wonderful turn of fate, Empress," replied Goldar. Suddenly, there came a flash of light from beneath the pair of villains, and turning, they saw Brendan demorphing, his silver suit disappearing. His helmet, resting on the rock table beside him, also disappeared, leaving him in his street clothes. Then, while remaining steady, the beam changed colour. "What happened?" asked Goldar, confused. "All of the Rainbow Power has been drawn into the Prism," smiled Rita. "His Power Coin is now worthless. The Prism has begun drawing the boy's natural energy." She turned away, and glanced around the rest of the huge cavern. "I love it when a plan comes together…" she began, but caught sight of two figures – Squatt and Baboo – standing over with the putties. "What are they doing here?" "They just wanted to come out for the day," Goldar replied. "Well, all right," said Rita reluctantly, "just so long as they don't touch anything…" All of a sudden, sounds of battle began to echo from the tunnel entrance and fill the cavern, and Rita and Goldar quickly turned to see what the disturbance was. Suddenly, several putties came flying out of the tunnel, and they crashed to the ground in the middle of the cavern. There was more noise – about three more putties were thrown out of the tunnel and landed on the growing pile. And Rita was not surprised in the slightest when all ten Power Rangers emerged from the darkness triumphantly, walking into the cave and brandishing their weapons. "Give it up Rita," said Jason. "It's all over." "Ultramarine may be gone," replied Rita angrily, "but you will never stop me. Putties, get them!" Jason quickly turned back to us. "You guys deal with these losers, Peter and I will get Brendan." "Right!" everyone agreed, and we all charged into battle, the cavern around us already echoing with the sounds of combat. Following Jason, I raced forward towards the far side of the cavern where Brendan sat chained, dodging the stalagmites jutting up from the ground and swinging my sword at any opponent who came too close. A few steps ahead of me, Jason leaped up onto a small ridge and dived off, taking out several putties on the way down, and as he rolled to his feet and continued forward, two more ran at me, but I immediately took them down with a jump kick. The wall was near, but Jason held out his hand, and we both came to a stop. Rita stood over Brendan, and she was reaching down for the Prism. Jason nodded, and we both immediately aimed our swords at the villainess and sent energy blasts surging towards her. Rita instantly jumped back, and the blasts harmlessly crashed into the ground. And realising it was probably better to count her losses, Rita cursed us under her breath before stepping back and disappearing into the darkness. "Let's go," said Jason, and we raced towards Brendan. He was demorphed, which I took to be a bad sign, but he looked okay, and I immediately swung my sword at the chains holding his arms to the wall – the sword easily carved through the chains, and Brendan slumped forward. Jason took aim with his own weapon, and severed the chains binding Brendan's legs. The Red Ranger turned to me. "I'll get Brendan out of here," he said. "You get the Prism." I nodded. "Sure thing," I agreed. Jason held out his hand, and his sword disappeared in a red flash of light. Bending down, he placed his arms around Brendan's still unconscious form and picked him up. Satisfied that Brendan would be okay, I turned away to where I'd seen the Prism, but received a mild surprise – the Prism was gone. I looked up and around, and despite the battle going on around me, it was easy to spot Squatt, standing a few feet away, holding the Prism. "Give me that Prism," I growled slowly, advancing towards him and raising my sword menacingly, "and I won't smear your brains across the countryside." "Rita will reward me well when she sees what I've done," replied Squatt, backing away from me, not watching where he was going. "You Power Rangers are never gonna stop her." All of a sudden, he stumbled back over a sharp rise in the rocky floor. He fell backwards, letting go of the Prism, and as he crashed to the ground, the glassy cube flew through the air – I dropped my sword and made a frantic leap for the Prism, racing through the dark cave and diving to intercept it, but I was two seconds and three metres too late, and I could only watch in utter helplessness as the Rainbow Prism hit the rocky floor with a crash and instantly smashed into several thousand tiny pieces. * * * By the time the battle was over, and Rita's forces had all retreated, Jason had already carried Brendan out of the cave, teleported him back to the Command Centre and gently laid him down on one of the stretchers still in the room. Jason briefly considered going back, but dismissed the thought. It wasn't that he didn't trust Zordon and Alpha to look after Brendan – just the opposite, in fact. But he was worried, and he personally wanted to make sure that Brendan would be okay. He was the leader, after all (although, he reflected with a smile, Peter had somehow unofficially become co-leader in the past weeks) and it was his job to look after the team. Whenever one of the Rangers was in trouble, he felt it quite personally. But only after the rest of us had materialised back in the Command Centre did Jason hear about what had happened once he'd left, and only then did he really realise just how much trouble the still sleeping Brendan was in. "Alpha," Jason began, once everyone had demorphed and told them about the destruction of the Prism, "do we stand any chance of getting the Rainbow Power back into Brendan's power coin?" The little robot shook his head sadly. "No Jason. All of Brendan's power had been drawn into the Prism – when it smashed, it took Brendan's powers with it." "Man, Ultramarine is gone and Rita retreated," said Tommy angrily. "How could we still have lost so badly?" "Yeah, I can't believe this is happening," agreed Scott softly, sounding personally hurt by the loss. But indeed, everyone felt that loss – it was devastatingly total. With Aaron, we'd all seen how he used his zord to destroy the army of putties, and we'd been there when Goldar had crushed his Power Coin to dust, but this time around, Brendan had lost his powers alone, and the last we'd seen of him had been back here, in the Command Centre, telling him not to follow us. Scott continued, shaking his head sadly. "Now that Brendan has lost his powers…" but his voice trailed off. I stepped forward, putting my hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him, but I knew exactly what he was trying to say, and I had known since I watched the Prism hit the ground and smash. "There's only four functioning Junior Rangers," I finished for him. "We're only two-thirds of a full team." Beside me, Teresa nodded. "Yep. The Junior Team of Power Rangers is history." "Don't say that Teresa," said Kim, but she knew that Teresa was right, as did every person in the room – we'd be forever short of one member of the team – we couldn't form the Megazord, we couldn't work together effectively, and we certainly wouldn't be much use to the Senior Team now. Behind us, Brendan stirred, and it looked briefly as if he might wake up. But no, after several minutes, he remained asleep, and we all continued our conversation. "Who'll tell Brendan what happened when he wakes up?" asked Sarah. "I'll do it," I volunteered. "It should be me anyway. I'm the one who couldn't save that stupid Rainbow Prism." "Don't blame yourself," said Jason kindly but firmly. "The only person we can blame for this, you already killed, remember? And we should probably take a look at that arm…" I glanced down to my left arm. The wound from my battle still ached like crazy, and although it wasn't particularly deep, I knew I'd have a scar for life. "It's not bleeding anymore, it can wait," I said softly. "I just don't want to leave." Jason nodded, then offered a small grin. "Just don't go getting gangrene on us or something." I smiled and turned back to Brendan – he looked so helpless, lying there with his eyes shut, unaware of what was going on. Behind me, Tommy stepped up to Jason, whispered something in his ear, and Jason turned around and patted him on the back. I think I picked up the words, "don't worry about it," from Jason. Suddenly, at the back of the room, Scott jumped to his feet, a thoughtful expression on his face, and everyone turned towards him "Hey guys, I've got an idea," he said excitedly. "Now tell me if this is crazy, but Aaron lost his power coin and his zord, right?" We all nodded, and Scott continued. "Well, Brendan still has his power coin and the Dilophozord, he just doesn't have any power." There was a brief second of silence as we all put two and two together, but once we had, everyone started smiling joyfully and laughing. "Scott that's brilliant!" cried Trini. Sarah nodded happily. "Yeah, good thinking." "Uh," began Zac, "can someone come back and pick me up? I'm a little lost…" Jason smiled. "Listen," he explained, "Brendan might have lost his power, but Aaron's aqua power is still roaming freely through the morphin' grid." He looked up Zordon. "Will a power transfer work?" Zordon nodded. "I see no reason why it shouldn't. Alpha, can you make the necessary preparations?" * * * Slowly, he began to open his eyes. Light instantly came flooding in, making everything achingly blurry. But soon, his eyes grew accustomed to the light, and the blurred shapes around him came into focus. "Hey there," I began softly, kneeling over Brendan as he slowly opened his eyes. "We were starting to wonder if you'd ever wake up." Brendan smiled, instinctively realising that he was okay. "Well, you know, what with almost dying and everything, I thought I'd take a nap. Hey," he said suddenly, seeing my left arm and sitting up, "what happened to your arm?" "Long story." "Oh, okay. Did we win?" I smiled. "More or less. Ultramarine is toast, and Rita is probably back on the moon with a major head-ache. The bad news, however, is that…" and I paused sadly, not really knowing how to break the news to him. Finally, I found the courage. "The Prism, it finished draining away all of your powers, but it was destroyed." His smile fell. "Oh no," he said in a whisper. "Does that mean…?" "Hey, remember what you once told me?" I asked. "There's always a silver lining. The Rainbow Power might be gone, but we figured out we could transfer Aaron's aqua power into your Power Coin." His grin settled back into place. "Works for me," he said, then using me for support, he slowly got to his feet. While Brendan had been waking up, Alpha had called in the Dilophosaurus Power Coin and managed to track down the aqua power, and Billy had gotten us a picture on the viewing screen of the Dilophozord stored in its holding bay. I slowly helped Brendan into the middle of the room. "Thanks everyone," he said slowly, "geez, I owe you guys so much." Jason smiled. "Well, we still kinda owed you for helping us take down Animalia a while ago." "But we'll still be expecting some great Christmas presents," continued Scott with a grin. The two of us finally reached the centre of the room, and I stepped away slowly, just in case Brendan couldn't stand under his own power. But he found that he could, so I retreated to the back of the room, standing between Jason and the viewing screen. "Are you ready to receive the aqua power?" asked Zordon, as Alpha came forward and gave Brendan his Power Coin. He took the coin, nodding bravely. "Ready as I'll ever be. Will this hurt?" Zordon smiled. "You'll be fine," he said. "Alpha, please begin the power transfer." Alpha nodded, flicking a switch on the control panel, and suddenly, the lights in the room flickered as a massive amount of power was drawn into the two huge electrodes on either side of the room. I couldn't help but worry a little for Brendan's safety. All of a sudden, an aqua coloured beam of energy shot down from either electrode into Brendan's coin, and aqua energy began to flood down Brendan's arms and into his body. Beside me on the viewing screen, I saw the same thing happening to the Dilophozord – slowly but surely, aqua energy was racing up the zord's exterior. Suddenly, there was what could have been an explosion in the room, and not only did the viewing screen shut off, but the energy flow ended. Everyone raised their arms to shield themselves, and slowly lowered them when the light and sound ended. Then, everyone was happily running forward – an aqua suited Ranger, with a Dilophosaurus Power Coin and an aqua sai in either hand, was standing in the centre of the room. Brendan placed his sai on the control panels on either side, before reaching up, unclipping his helmet and removing it. As we crowded around him, the smile on his face said it all – despite the losses that we'd suffered that day, and the various injuries we'd all received in the course of battle, we had triumphed over Rita and Ultramarine, and we had won. And what's more, we were more than ready for next time. "Well done," boomed Zordon happily, and we all turned to look up at him. "Rangers, you cannot know how proud of you I am. These last few weeks, not only have you defeated Ultramarine twice, but you selflessly came to the rescue of your fellow teammates in true Power Ranger fashion. I know now that this is the way it was destined to be – Brendan, the aqua power is yours, was yours, and will always be yours to command, from this day on." Brendan smiled, and we all looked around at our fellow team members happily. I glanced over to Jason, and saw he was looking back at me. He winked good-naturedly, and I smiled. "Power Rangers, these last few weeks have been a battle. A battle which, I must admit, I could not see us winning. But despite everything, despite the injuries and incredible losses, you all remained strong throughout the crises, and we made it. But more than that, we triumphed. And with Brendan in his new role as the Aqua Power Ranger, I am more than certain that the safety of humankind is now in the very best of hands. Once again, I am personally proud of you all, Power Rangers, and may the Power protect you forever." The End

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