The Return of Ultramarine: Chapter Three – The Transdimensional Archives

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</HEAD><BODY leftMargin=15 rightMargin=15 MARGINHEIGHT="15" MARGINWIDTH="15"> See my first ever fanfic, "'Welcome to the Saga', for disclaimer. The fight between Brendan and Scorpina is one of the best one-on-one fights I've ever written, so I hope you enjoy. <h5 ALIGN="CENTER">The Return of Ultramarine – Chapter Three</h5>

Brendan worriedly paced the Command Centre, going from Zordon's plasma tube to the viewing screen and then back again, thoughts pounding through his head. He was worried, scared and angry all at the same time. The anger was directed towards Ultramarine, as he had since ceased being angry with the rest of us for leaving him behind – there was no other choice, and he'd have made the exact same decision in their place. The worry was for a multitude of reasons – would the others stop Ultramarine, would Ultramarine succeed in his plans, would his friends even survive their encounter with him? And he was scared because, quite simply, if Ultramarine did reach the Prism, he knew that he was the next target. "Ayeyiyiyiyi!" cried Alpha, watching Brendan pace. "Brendan, calm down! You're doing enough worrying for all of us put together." Zordon nodded. "Brendan, you're likely to wear a track in the floor or have a stroke if you keep that up," he said. Brendan stopped, and looked up. "I'm sorry Zordon, I'm just so worried." "What troubles you?" asked Zordon, concerned. Brendan ran a hand through his curly hair. "In a word – Ultramarine. Particularly after everything that happened last time with Aaron. We could barely stop him, and that was just a normal Ultramarine. If he gets the Prism and then me, there's no way we'll be able to beat him." Zordon shook his head. "Trust me, I have the same worries as you, but we needn't worry – I'm sure that the other Rangers will be able to stop him." Brendan nodded, then resumed his pacing. "I hope so." All of a sudden, the alarm mounted on the nearest control panel began to flash. Brendan quickly turned to Alpha. "Alpha, what is it?" he asked. "Oh," and Alpha burst into a fresh new fit of ayeyiyi's, "turn to the viewing screen." Brendan turned to the screen, only to see a confused and twisted picture. It was the park near Sunland Shopping Centre. There were people running and screaming. An explosion occurred to the right of the screen, and there was more screaming. Another explosion. A great tree came crashing down, shaking the ground as it landed. Then, as the smoke cloud from the last explosion began to dissipate, Scorpina emerged from the chaos, grinning evilly as people ran screaming past her. She turned back towards the road, and sent a fiery energy ball towards several cars parked nearby. "Great," muttered Brendan, and he turned back towards Zordon. "Man, I know what the others said, but I have to go out there." Zordon shook his head, quite wary of the situation that was before them. "Brendan, it's quite obviously a trap to lure you out into the open." "Zordon," began Brendan, raising his hands, "I know that. But if I don't go then Scorpina is gonna kill someone. You said it yourself, they want me. And if I do get captured, it'll at least give the others some time to find me." Silence followed. Zordon had no wish to needlessly risk Brendan, but he knew that Brendan as right – they really had no other choice. The sage smiled in admiration of Brendan's courage. Despite knowing the risk, Brendan knew what had to be done, and was prepared to do it. "Brendan, you are a true Power Ranger," he said quietly. Brendan nodded, and reached down into his back pocket. Although he didn't thank Zordon for the compliment, Zordon knew that he meant to. "All right then. It's morphin' time!" He grabbed his morpher, pulled it out and opened it, and the room was flooded with multi-coloured light. "Dilophosaurus!" * * * "Okay Scorpina, this ends right here, and right now!" The villainess spun around on the spot towards the voice, raising her sword defensively. At first, Scorpina didn't see the speaker, but soon, a figure emerged from a cloud of smoke, the suns rays dancing over the silvery suit that the figure wore, and Scorpina smiled and addressed him. "Rainbow Ranger," she said with a nasty grin. "How good to see you." Brendan continued walking towards her, showing no fear. "What do you want Scorpina?" he asked. Despite herself, Scorpina shivered slightly, disturbed that her opponent showed no apparent fear, continuing to slowly approach her. "Oddly enough, boy, I want you." Brendan stopped, only about six metres short of Scorpina, and for effect, he twirled both sai in his hands. "Well here I am," he replied through gritted teeth, "all yours." Scorpina let out a wild battle cry, and blasted several fireballs at Brendan. Brendan quickly dived forward, and the blasts smashed harmlessly into the ground behind him, before rolling to his feet, weapons ready. Scorpina slashed at him with her sword, but Brendan easily caught the sword with one sai, before slashing down Scorpina's chestplate with the other. Startled, she jumped back, but quickly recovered and charged forward, swinging her blade wildly. She slashed at Brendan, but he ducked to one side – she repeated the move in the opposite direction, but Brendan blocked her arm and knocked her backwards with a low kick. Scorpina regained her senses and swung back with a vertical slice, but Brendan raised his sai and blocked the sword. Scorpina realised that she was underestimating the skills of the boy, and she somersaulted back out of the way. "Can't handle the heat Scorpina?" asked Brendan. "Then get out of the kitchen." "Oh I've just begun," she replied. "You think you're tough? Feel my sting!" With that, Scorpina ran her hand over the sword, and with the weapon now charged with energy, she flung it through the air towards Brendan. But he stood his ground. "Rainbow Shield, activate!" he cried, and raising his arms, a wave of bright energy blasted out from Brendan and continued forward in an ever-expanding radius. The energy wave and the sword met in an explosion of sparks, and the sword fell to the ground, rendered useless by the wave. The energy wave kept going, slammed into Scorpina, and knocked her off her feet before finally disappearing. Brendan shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears. "Wow," he muttered to himself, "I've gotta try that one again." But he wasn't give any more time to himself. Wisely realising that keeping the battle at a distance was to her disadvantage, Scorpina charged forward to take the fight hand-to-hand. As she reached Brendan, she leaped into the air to knock him down with a high kick, but Brendan easily sidestepped, and as Scorpina landed and turned to him, he went on the offensive, lashing out with a high kick before slashing with his sai. She skillfully dodged his attacks and retaliated with a roundhouse punch followed by a low foot sweep. He jumped up and over the sweep, and then lashed out with his two sai again. Scorpina recovered from the blows, and aimed her left heel for his chin. He caught her armoured heel, pushed it away and spun her around on the spot. Scorpina shook her head to clear the dizziness, before going for his throat with one hand while using her spiked wrist guards as weapons. Brendan blocked one arm, and wrapped his own arm around Scorpina's other hand – the two opponents suddenly became locked in place, neither fighter able to move. "Not as easy as you thought, huh?" grunted Brendan, as he held Scorpina in place. The villainess smiled. "I must admit, Rainbow Ranger, I found you a moderate challenge," she replied, trying to break Brendan's hold. "Yeah, well you can go back and tell Ultramarine that even if he does get that Prism, he'll never get hold of me." With sweat beading down her forehead, Scorpina stood her ground. "Who needs Ultramarine? I'll do it myself." "You and what army sister?" She shook her head. "No army, just evil friends. Rita, now!" At this, Brendan pushed his opponent away and stepped back, realising that it was a trap, and he'd walked right into it. And before he could do anything more, Rita Repulsa herself stepped out from behind a large tree several metres away where she'd been hiding in ambush, and with the red orb of her staff glowing, she shot a red energy blast from the wand which smashed fairly and squarely into Brendan's back. Brendan cried out in pain as the blast struck him. Both his weapons dropped to the ground and landed in the grass, before he himself fell forward onto his knees, and with the red electricity still crackling over his body, he collapsed forward onto the grass, totally unconscious. * * * It was a full five minutes later before Jason and the other Rangers came running over the hill at the opposite end of the little valley, only to find the Rainbow Prism gone and the four of us lying on the ground, still reeling from the beating that Ultramarine had just given us. "Things didn't go too well here, huh?" asked Jason, as they split up and came to our aid. "Well," began Teresa, as Kim helped her to her feet, "if you call getting the tar beaten out of us and letting Ultramarine get away with the Prism a loss, then yeah, we weren't that successful." "Yep, we stank," I murmured, leaning on Billy's shoulder for support. "What do we do now that Ultramarine has the Prism?" "Don't give up yet," said Billy, "remember what Zordon said?" "Yeah," agreed Zac, "without Brendan, that Prism is nothing but a fancy paper-weight." "Well I suppose we should get back to the Command Centre," said Sarah. "You're right," nodded Scott. "Let's go," and we all reached down and pressed the small buttons on our wrist communicators. Instantly, the forest disappeared in a flash of light, and we were streaking over hills, fields and towns on our way southwest to the Command Centre. Finally, the building appeared atop a hill in the distance, and we were drawn in through the roof and all materialised on the floor before Zordon. "Rangers," he began, but we all detected a hint of sadness in his voice. "It is good to see you all made it. Tell me, were you able to reach the Rainbow Prism?" I shook my head. "No," I replied sadly, "Ultramarine beat us to it." "Oh my," said Zordon fearfully. "This is not good. Not good at all." We were about to ask him what was wrong, but Scott, who had been glancing around the room, stepped forward and asked the question that Zordon knew none of us wanted to hear. "Zordon, where's Brendan?" * * * Rita emerged from the cave mouth and walked towards Ultramarine. "Did you get it?" The two villains met, and Ultramarine reached down into the velvet pouch hanging by his belt and pulled out the shimmering cube. "Does this answer your question?" Rita's face quite literally lit up as she took the Prism from Ultramarine's hand and held it up. The effect of the sun's rays on the Prism was quite startling. "Excellent. This is all going to plan." Ultramarine nodded. "Have you kept your side of the bargain?" "Of course," said Rita. "Scorpina and I captured the boy. He's in there," and she turned and pointed to the cave set into the side of the cliff behind them. "Good. Take me to him." Rita nodded, and she turned and led Ultramarine towards the darkened cave entrance. Stepping out of the sunshine into the darkness, Ultramarine suddenly felt a chill. The tunnel was wide, well lit, and he saw that it opened up into another cavern further on. As he and Rita walked, he couldn't help but notice the strange carvings and paintings on the cavern walls around them. Finally, the pair of them reached the end of the tunnel, and crossed into a huge natural cavern. Stalactites hung from the ceiling in abundance, and there were numerous huge stalagmites rising from the ground. Goldar and the putties stood at random points through the cave, and at the far end, Ultramarine noted the silver-suited figure chained to a rocky wall behind a small stone table. Ultramarine quickened his pace and soon reached him – it was the boy. "Brendan, I believe your name is," he said, and Brendan looked up. Although Scorpina and Rita had removed his helmet after they had chained him up, he had remained in his suit. "That's me," Brendan replied, unintimidated by Ultramarine's fiery gaze, and Ultramarine was surprised to see that he hadn't flinched one bit. In fact, Brendan was staring back just as intently. "You know," began the warrior, "it's a pity you never used your powers to their full extent. But I suppose I should thank you for making this so easy." Ultramarine waited for a reply, but none came, so he made his own. "If it's any consolation, I can tell you that it won't hurt at all." At this, Brendan grinned nastily, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "Oh no Ultramarine – it's gonna hurt a lot." The warrior ignored him and turned back to Rita. "Let's do this quickly," he said in his low, gravelly voice. He motioned for Rita to place the Rainbow Prism on the small stone table, which she did. "Begin siphoning away his powers immediately." And he turned back to Brendan. "Any last words before we completely draw away your life force?" he asked, lowering his face down towards Brendan's. Brendan nodded. "Yeah. I know you think you're going to get away with this, but you're wrong," he said coolly, his voice hard. "We're the Power Rangers, we don't lose to toads like you. Even if I don't make it out of here, evil creeps like you always get what they deserve, and the other Rangers will make sure of it." Ultramarine sneered. "You obviously don't know me very well." "If you think you're going to win, you're an idiot," replied Brendan with a mental grin, knowing that he was pushing the right buttons. "What else do I need to know?" Ultramarine had had just about enough. No matter what he did or said, Brendan neither flinched nor backed down. So, raising his right arm and extending his blade, he stepped forward, his red eyes on fire. Leaning in close to his enemy, he positioned the blade millimetres from Brendan's neck. "By nightfall, I will be unstoppable, you and the rest of your friends will be dust, and this planet will be mine," he grunted, his voice low and dangerous. "What do you say to that?" Even with the razor-sharp blade hovering a hair's width from his neck, Brendan kept his cool, smiling in the face of death. "Bite me, blue-boy." Ultramarine let out a ferocious roar, and spun back to Rita. "Do it!" At this, Rita shut her eyes and began to chant a silent incantation. Suddenly, a yellow beam of light shot out of the Rainbow Prism, and hit the very centre of the white diamond on Brendan's chest. Feeling his eyelids suddenly growing heavy, Brendan slowly shut his eyes and slumped forward, and for the second time that day, the Rainbow Ranger drifted into unconsciousness. Satisfied, the warrior turned back to Rita. "The other Rangers are undoubtedly already searching for their lost comrade." She nodded. "Scorpina and I have already done what you required of us. Those Rangers are about to find out that things won't be as easy as they think." * * * "Man," I said angrily, my hands clenched in fists of rage, as I paced in front of the viewing screen. "That manipulative, scheming, evil low-life…" Sitting near me on a control panel, Jason nodded. "Absolutely," be agreed, his voice cold. "First Aaron, and now Brendan. And here's a truly terrifying thought – Ultramarine is gonna wind up an almost infinitely more powerful enemy." "Well," began Trini, in effort to calm us, "let's not jump the gun." And she turned to Zordon. "It'll take Ultramarine a while to siphon away all Brendan's power, won't it?" she asked hopefully. Zordon nodded. "Yes Trini, you're correct," he said. "It will take some time before all of the Rainbow Power has been drawn into the Prism, and as Brendan said before he left, that gives us some time to find him." "Time," repeated Zac. "The one thing we don't have." With a link that almost bordered on psychic, the exact same thoughts began swirling around Billy's and Trini's minds, and the two locked eyes, realising exactly what the other was thinking – everyone needed a bit of motivation. They both jumped to their feet. "Well then," started Billy, "since time isn't on our side, we'd better get moving." "Yeah," said Trini, as we all turned to the two of them. She turned and waved her arm towards Alpha and the control panels. "We'll set the computers to run a sweep of the morphin' grid, and we can all check for any signals that would lead us to Brendan, the Prism or Ultramarine, just the same as we all did this morning." I stopped pacing and beside me, Jason got to his feet – this plan sounded good. Zordon, too, agreed. "Excellent. Be sure to try any caves or pocket dimensions that Rita has used in the past." "Oh, aye-yiyiyiyi!" burst out Alpha suddenly, waving his arms around frantically. "Rangers, it won't work." "Why not?" asked Scott. "Rita probably has a forcefield around Brendan and the Prism. The computers could go right past them both without picking them up." Jason stepped forward. "All right then, we'll just have to do a manual search," he said, surprised at his own confidence. "It'll take longer, but we really don't have many other options." He then turned from one person to the other, a plan forming in his mind. "Billy," he began, "you, Zac, Tommy and Trini can stay here and help Alpha. If you find places where Brendan is likely being held, tell the rest of us, and we'll go check it out. We'll work in teams, for safety's sake. Kim, you'll be with me, Sarah and Scott, you can be a team, and Peter, you can work with Teresa." There was a second of silence, before everyone swung into action. "Good plan Jase," I said, as everyone went to their places. Suddenly, the Command Centre's alarm system began to sound, and the viewing screen instantly blinked to life. "Great," muttered Scott, "now what?" Billy leaned over a keyboard and began typing. "I'll try to get us a visual," he said. Realising what he meant, everyone in the room turned to the viewing screen. The screen showed an empty Bulcock Street, still deserted from Scorpina's attack earlier in the day when the evacuation alarm had first gone out. There were several abandoned cars parked at the side of the road, but certainly nothing was out of the ordinary. The road was deserted and silent, apart from the wind rustling the litter on the pavement. "Billy," began Sarah, "are you sure that's right?" Billy nodded. "The computers picked up a strange signal coming from downtown." "Well," she replied, "Scott and I'll go check it out." "Wait a second," I started, concerned. "What if it's another trap? We can't put anything past Ultramarine at this point." "You're right," agreed Trini, turning to me. "Zac and I will go too, just in case." Sarah nodded. "You guys keep looking for Brendan, and we'll be back as soon as we can." And with that, Sarah, Trini, Scott and Zac tapped their communicators and, disappearing in bright flashes of light, they teleported into Caloundra.

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