Chapter Two
"Morning guys," called Trini, as she and Kimberly approached Jason and Tommy, the boys waiting outside the school's exam room amid a growing crowd of tenth grade students. "You all set?"
Tommy shook his head. "Do we win points for being honest and saying no?"
"You'll be fine," Kim replied. "Just keep your cool."
"Easier said than done," said Jason. "To be honest I'd feel more comfortable taking on a couple of monsters."
Trini smiled. "Where are the others?" she asked.
"Zac ducked off to get some food before we go in," Jason replied, "and Billy's over there. In his happy place," he added with a smile, nodding over towards where the Blue Ranger was sitting beside a garden bed with his books in his lap, in front of a semicircle of other students all furiously writing as Billy talked them through various mathematical and scientific questions. Seeing the girls, the blond youth smiled cheerfully and waved.
"He's so adorable," smiled Kimberly.
Trini laughed and looked back to the Red Ranger. "Should we turn off our communicators?"
Jason nodded. "I was reading the rules sheet pinned to the door," he said. "We're not allowed to leave until the exam is over in a couple of hours."
"Yeah," said Tommy. "Any kind of interruption and we're in big trouble. We called Zordon before, and he said it'd be okay."
The girls nodded, and reaching for their communicators, they flipped open a tiny hinge on the right sides of the devices, and pressed the button underneath, holding it down for a few seconds until the watch face went blank. Kimberly turned back to the guys, leaving her communicator on her wrist, while Trini unclipped hers and dropped it into her backpack.
Trini closed her backpack and glanced to her wrist. "You know, this feels really strange."
"I guess the Junior Team is on call," said Kim.
Jason nodded. "They'll be right. It's only for a few hours."
Tommy glanced from Trini to Jason, shook his head and shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?" he asked. "Oh hey, guys, check it out - they're opening up the exam room. I'll go get Zac..."
Aaron still had the letter his mother had shown them when he and Matthew had gotten home yesterday afternoon, and it sat on his desk staring smugly up at him, unaware of the full consequences of what it was asking. At first he hadn't reacted - hadn't known how to, not to something like this - but this morning, that feeling of empty blank shock was being steadily overridden by a sense of crushing, hopeless defeat. He knew the family hadn't been left with much of a choice, not with the way things were, and his mother had warmed to the news so quickly that he didn't have the heart to protest. Matthew had been far more vocal, but Aaron knew his brother had gotten off lightly, considering. The fate of the world didn't rest on Matthew having to change high schools.
And the thing Aaron dreaded the most was telling the other Rangers.
There was no way around it, though. They had to know, and sooner, rather than later. But the more he thought about it, the more he just couldn't imagine actually telling them. A few months ago, sure, he could've guessed how everyone would react to something like this, but now they were Rangers, everything was just different. Bigger. A restless few hours' sleep the night before had provided no answers, and it was far too soon that morning when Sarah knocked on the front door of the Gee house.
"Hey," nodded Aaron wearily, stepping outside and pulling the door shut behind him.
"Morning," smiled Sarah, but seeing Aaron's expression, her face fell. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Aaron replied. "Just didn't sleep too well last night, that's all."
"Well if you want to stay home..."
Aaron shook his head. "Don't worry about me," he said. "I'll be fine. Just gimme a few more minutes to wake up."
Sarah smiled, and they turned and headed away from Aaron's house, across the suburb and over towards the Youth Centre.
"So what's the plan for the day?" asked Aaron.
"There's a movie Peter and Brendan want to see," said Sarah. "Plus there's some kind of beach festival this afternoon, and some exhibition at the library Scott wants to have a look at."
"Sounds like fun," Aaron grinned, but as they walked on, his smile fell and he turned to Sarah. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"About being a Ranger," he began. "Did you ever think we'd be doing this forever? You know, for the rest of our lives?"
"Or you could maybe start with an easy one," Sarah said.
Despite himself, Aaron laughed. "I was just thinking," he said. "I mean, things change. What if, I don't know, Scott and Teresa's family had to move back to Italy or whatever. It's not like they're giving up or abandoning us or anything," he added quickly. "It's just, life goes on sometimes, you know?"
Sarah shook her head. "I've never really thought about it," she replied. "I guess I figured we wouldn't have to do the superhero thing forever. I mean, okay, it's what we have to do now, but sooner or later maybe we'll save the day for the last time and get on with living our lives. Why do you ask?"
The Aqua Ranger shook his head. "No reason," he said softly, thinking of the folded sheet of paper in his back pocket beside his morpher. "No reason."
Sarah nodded. "Well, just don't forget," she said, "I'm here."
Aaron smiled. "Thanks," he said, and crossing the street, they both continued towards the Youth Centre.
The doors to the observatory swung open, and Goldar and Scorpina quickly stepped into the room.
"What's wrong?" Rita asked, turning from her telescope to the two generals.
"Empress," said Scorpina quickly, "the teams are separated, isolated from each other."
Rita smiled a wicked grin. "Really?"
Goldar nodded. "Yes my queen."
"Excellent," she said. "Just the opportunity we need," and she turned to where a figure stood in shadow in the darkest corner of the observatory, watching the proceedings with two red eyes. "Ultramarine, you heard that, didn't you? Get down there and do what it is you do so well. You do remember the plan, right?"
There was a barely audible grunt from the darkness, and the figure vanished from the room leaving behind a faint blue vapour trail.
"You know," said Rita, looking back to Goldar and Scorpina, "I get the feeling he just doesn't like me."
It was an ordinary morning in the city of Caloundra. The city's central business district expands out from the main street of town, Bulcock Street, that lies only a few hundred metres away from Bulcock Beach, both named after the first person to settle in the area - Robert Bulcock, who built a homestead where Bulcock Street is now in 1875. Teenagers were taking surfboards down to the beach to enjoy the pupil-free day, families were doing the shopping, and accountants, lawyers and clerks were enjoying their morning tea break in the city's coffee houses and bakeries...
...until the warrior known as Ultramarine suddenly materialised in a flash of blue light in the middle of the street. On either side, citizens took one look at the warrior and automatically turned and ran in an instant blind panic. And it was then that Ultramarine realised what he'd been missing. It was the screaming. The cave on Horath had its benefits, certainly - solitude, darkness, the occasional overconfident bounty hunter - but it was the panicked cries of the terrified insects around him that reminded Ultramarine of everything he knew about himself.
He was power.
He was fear.
And more importantly, he was back.
The Youth Centre was packed with people that morning, filled with students all looking to make the best of their day off, and it took a good couple of minutes for Sarah and Aaron to make their way through the crowd of people to reach the table Teresa, Scott, Brendan and I had grabbed earlier.
"Hey guys," said Scott, as they joined us.
"Ernie must be doing a roaring trade this morning," said Sarah, glancing up to the Juice Bar.
"I'll say," I said. "You guys ready to take off?"
Aaron nodded. "My stomach's rumbling, though. Can we get something to eat first? Early lunch, maybe?"
"Yeah, but you're always hungry," smiled Teresa.
"Fair enough," Aaron replied. "Morning tea then?"
I laughed, about to reply when suddenly our communicators all chimed their familiar six-note tones, barely audible above the noise on all sides.
Brendan glanced around the crowded Youth Centre. "Uh..."
"Locker room," said Teresa. We all nodded, and getting up from the table, we made our way back down through the crowd towards the Youth Centre's locker room. Despite the people outside, the locker room was surprisingly empty, and Sarah shut the door behind us as everyone gathered around me.
I raised my communicator and spoke. "Zordon, go ahead," I said, "everyone's here."
"Rangers," began Zordon, and we could all hear the tone in his voice. He sounded worried. "We've just detected a disturbance in downtown Caloundra."
Scott nodded. "We're all at the Youth Centre, we can morph and be there in a minute."
"No," replied Zordon. "Please come to the Command Centre first."
I turned to the others. "But Zordon, wouldn't it be quicker if we just went there without..."
"No," interrupted Zordon firmly. "Just trust me Rangers," and the communicator fell silent.
"What was that about?" asked Brendan.
Teresa shrugged. "He's never sounded like that before," she said.
Aaron nodded. "I guess it's something major. Let's go," and with that, we tapped the buttons on our communicators and disappeared in six bright flashes of light. The Youth Centre disappeared, the city and then the countryside flashing by beneath us in a blur of motion, and seconds later we materialised in the Command Centre beside Alpha.
"Zordon, what's wrong?" asked Sarah, immediately looking up to our mentor.
"Yeah," I began. "Why couldn't we just go and fight the monster? Okay so we won't have the Senior Team as backup, but we could've at least had a shot..."
"Ayeyiyi," said Alpha. "If only it were that simple Rangers."
"Alpha is correct," said Zordon. "You will not be facing one of Rita's monsters today. You will be facing Ultramarine." He paused, letting his words sink in. "Please observe the viewing screen."
We all looked towards the back of the room as the viewing screen flashed to life, showing a tall figure rampaging down the main street of the city and leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. The warrior - who I immediately assumed was Ultramarine - was completely suited up in bulky blue body armour, with an orange triangular symbol on his chest and on both armoured boots. A round blue helmet covered his head, and where his face should've been was something resembling a gas mask. Above this, two glowing red eyes stared out from under the lip of his helmet. Mounted on his shoulder was a small blue laser cannon, and above each wrist was a shining blade that extended forward.
"He doesn't look so tough," I said, as we all looked back to Zordon.
"I warn you not to underestimate him," Zordon replied. "Ultramarine is a member of the Brotherhood, a race of warriors whose sole mission in life is to fight and destroy. Ultramarine is deadly in many forms of combat, capable of single-handedly holding off armies and laying siege to entire civilisations. Believe me, Ranger, he is not an opponent to be taken lightly."
"Civilisations?" repeated Sarah. "What do you mean?"
"Throughout history," Zordon began, "whether by magic, a blend of magic and science, or sheer luck, the human race has managed to cross time and space to inhabit other planets in the galaxy. Planets such as my home world Eltar, the desert planet Nerimos, Lomerius, Techthon, Horath, Triforia, Phaedos..."
"But if he's so dangerous why didn't you warn us before?" asked Scott.
"In the distant past, Rita and Ultramarine fought together," said Zordon. "But their alliance ended spectacularly, and they both spent a great deal of time trying to kill one other. I would never have expected them to become allies again."
"What do you think?" asked Brendan. "Should we call the Seniors?"
I shook my head. "We can't, they're still in that big exam this morning. And besides, Jason told me yesterday that their communicators would all be turned off right now." I glanced up to Zordon, and he nodded.
Sarah looked to her watch. "They've only got about a half hour to go, and the monster alarm might interrupt them anyway. We'll just have to hold this guy off for as long as we can."
Teresa nodded. "Alpha, keep your eye on the Senior Team. As soon as you can, contact them and send them into Caloundra to help us."
"What's the city look like anyway?" asked Scott. "Is there anyone who needs our help?"
Alpha shook his head. "The city was evacuated after Ultramarine's arrival," he said. "The town centre is deserted. There should be no civilians in any immediate danger."
Aaron nodded. "Good news at least."
"Okay, the plan's set," I said. "Let's roll."
"Be careful Rangers," boomed Zordon, concerned. "I'd try to stop you but I don't think I could. Ultramarine is a truly formidable opponent. Good luck, and may the power protect you."
I nodded. "Thanks, we'll do our best," and I turned to the others as we all reached for our back pockets. "Okay guys, this is it. It's morphin' time!"
"Parasaurolophus!"
"Rhamphorynchus!"
"Brontosaurus!"
"Velociraptor!"
"Stegosaurus!"
The six of us shot down towards the city in six bright streaks of light, materialising on the road a short distance from Ultramarine. Watching our arrival at the head of a trail of destruction, the warrior turned to face us as we all stepped forward and raised our arms defensively.
"Hi," said Sarah. "Welcome to Caloundra."
Aaron nodded. "We're here to hit you."
The warrior sneered. "Wow," he said, in a deep gravelly voice. "For a second there, I was almost impressed."
I shook my head. "You have no idea who you're dealing with pal," I said. "So get out of our city right now."
"The problem is that I do," Ultramarine replied. "I've crushed more opponents than I can remember, and you actually think you can threaten me. You are children, and the fact you think those coins will protect you from me is actually quite amusing. But Rita was right - it has been far too long," and with that, the warrior's two metal blades slid forward out of his wrist guards, and raising his arms he stepped towards us.
"Let's take this freak down," I said. "Blasters out!" We all unsheathed our side-arms and aimed them at the steadily advancing Ultramarine. "Fire!" Six laser blasts smashed into Ultramarine, and the whole area erupted in a blaze of sparks and smoke. But as the smoke cloud cleared, Ultramarine stepped through unharmed, as if nothing had interrupted his stroll up the street.
"Whoa," said Teresa. "Guys, that barely fazed him."
"We'll just have to do this the hard way," said Scott. "C'mon guys, let's take him!" And we all charged forward.
Teresa and Scott reached the warrior first, and ducking under twin slashes from his arm blades, they spun around and smashed their heels into his chest. What normally would have totally floored an opponent merely caused Ultramarine to stumble back a step, and both Rangers bounced away from him. Regaining his footing, Scott leaped towards Ultramarine and swung out with a lightning-fast left hook, but Ultramarine caught the blow and struck Scott's fist away, aiming a punch for Scott's helmet. The Blue Ranger ducked under the blow and dodged around a chest-high swipe before swinging a right backhand - reacting with surprising speed, Ultramarine caught his wrist, spun the Blue Ranger off his feet and threw him away.
Even as her brother fell, Teresa stepped forward and summoned her Power Whip, immediately cracking the weapon towards Ultramarine. Unfazed by the stinging blows, the warrior turned to the White Ranger, grabbed the whip and forced her forward, swinging a punch as she fell. But Teresa dived over the blow, and rolling to her feet, she spun on the spot with a high roundhouse kick - Ultramarine raised his arm and blocked the blow, turning to face the White Ranger as she continued to attack. He dodged a blow from the left, blocked a chop to the neck and struck away a low swipe. Stepping forward Teresa aimed high with twin judo chops, but Ultramarine caught her wrists, batted them aside and sent her crashing with a blow to the stomach.
"Teresa!" I cried, as the White Ranger crashed to the ground.
Ultramarine turned to me. "Orange Ranger," he growled. "You're mine!" Racing forward, he slashed with his right arm blade, but I ducked around the blade then leaped to the side as his left blade flashed towards me. Following after me, the warrior slashed out again, but I somersaulted over the blade, found my footing and took to the air, landing a rapid kick to his chest. While he was off-balance, I threw all my strength into a right roundhouse punch. His head snapped to the side but he immediately turned back to me, slashing out with his blades. I kicked away the left and ducked under the right, fighting to stay ahead of him. But the warrior was just too fast, carving his left blade down my chest and sending me crashing backwards in an explosion of sparks and smoke.
The warrior turned to face his three remaining opponents and found Brendan racing towards him. "Silver Ranger, power up!" Brendan cried, and two ribbons of light exploded from his chest diamond, spinning through the air towards Ultramarine. The first one blasted straight through Ultramarine's helmet in an explosion of sparks, while the second one began looping around Ultramarine on an invisible axis, spinning around faster and faster. Dazed from the assault but quickly recovering his senses, Ultramarine lashed out with his blades and managed to slice the second beam in half. The first stream of silver light spun back towards him, but Ultramarine took aim and fired a blast from his shoulder cannon that spiralled across the battlefield and slammed into Brendan - the ribbons of light vanished, and Brendan crashed to the ground.
Shaking his head, Brendan rolled to his feet just as Ultramarine charged forward and slashed with his blades. Brendan leaped back around the blades and summoned his Power Sai as Ultramarine followed him forward, slashing at the Silver Ranger. Brendan caught one blade with his sai and struck it away, before jumping up and back over a low slice and slashing both sai for Ultramarine's chest. The warrior quickly stepped back out of danger, before carving his blades towards Brendan and forcing the Silver Ranger to retreat.
Hearing steps behind him, the warrior spun around as Aaron and Sarah attacked, both leaping towards him and swinging high. He blocked both moves, and the two Rangers regained their footing and attacked again - Aaron kicked high, while Sarah aimed a blow for the warrior's stomach. Dodging around Aaron, Ultramarine caught Sarah's fist, batted away another punch from the Purple Ranger and threw her aside, before turning back to Aaron, blocking a punch and carving his blades from the Aqua Ranger. Aaron somersaulted back over the blades and leaped forward to attack again. But as he approached, Ultramarine raced forward and smashed him out of the air, and the Aqua Ranger crashed to the ground and rolled to a stop.
"Aaron!" I cried, as we raced over to the Aqua Ranger. In all the years I'd known him, I'd never seen Aaron come off second-best. "Are you okay?"
He nodded as he climbed to his feet. "Yeah," he replied. "But Zordon was right, this guy is just something else."
"What else can we do?" asked Scott. "We have to keep fighting him, at least until the others get here."
"Scott's right," Sarah nodded. "We don't have a choice."
Across from us, Ultramarine took the opportunity to raise his arm blades and charge towards us.
"Guys!" said Teresa suddenly. "Here he comes!"
I stepped forward. "He's mine," I said. "Power Sword!" Leaping forward, I raised my sword and the three blades met with a metallic clang that echoed across the battlefield. Ultramarine immediately stepped back and swung again, but remembering everything Jason had taught me, I blocked his right blade, struck away his left before swinging high and slashing at his chest armour. Ultramarine froze, stunned by the blow, and I spun around and smashed him back with a high kick. But Ultramarine recovered quickly, slashing out with his blades as I continued forward towards him. But with every swipe, I blocked his moves and countered his attacks. Finally, he swung both blades towards me from either side, but I brought my sword down and kept both blades in check.
"Orange Ranger," he grunted. "I'm impressed. You're good."
"You mean I'm winning."
"I didn't say that."
His shoulder cannon once again roared to life - at point blank range he couldn't have missed, and the blast lifted me off my feet and sent me flying back past the other Rangers and crashing through a shop window. But before anybody could react, Ultramarine continued firing, and the entire street erupted in sparks and smoke as each of the Rangers was blasted back away from him.
"Perfect," said Rita, an evil smile creeping across her face as she watched the battle through her telescope. "He even got them into position for me. I thought Ultramarine might've been past his prime, but he's still good, I'll give him that."
Goldar nodded. "He has lost none of that fire since last time," he said. "I cannot wait to see him take down the Senior Team."
"Then let's clear the road," Rita said, and looking back to the planet below, the witch raised her wand and bolts of lightning shot down towards the Earth. "Bring on the main event!"
With everything aching, the six of us slowly climbed to our feet, leaning on each other as Ultramarine steadily advanced.
"Man," said Scott, glancing around the group. "What now? He totally stomped us."
I glanced around and shrugged helplessly. "I..."
But standing beside me, Teresa put her hand on my shoulder. "Please," she began, "don't say 'I don't know'."
I nodded. "Okay, I won't say it," I said. "But I'm open to ideas."
Aaron shook his head. "I know we can do this, I know I can beat him," he said. "It's what we're supposed to do."
Across from us, Ultramarine sneered beneath his helmet. "They are making Rangers out of weaker stuff these days, aren't they?" he asked. "It took me days to break the last team, but I'll be done with you in minutes."
"Well," said Brendan. "Somebody's in love with himself."
I nodded, and looked to Aaron. "We distract him and you break him."
The Aqua Ranger nodded. "Works for me."
I looked back to the others, about to relay the plan when suddenly the world went haywire. Without warning a storm of lightning bolts struck down from the sky, dancing over the buildings and trees around us. The team all glanced around in confusion except for Aaron, who'd raised his fists and charged forward just as the lightning surged down towards us. I raised my sword to follow him when in a blinding flash of white, the city suddenly disappeared.
The world reformed around me into a wide circular space, although it was too big for the interior of a building and I suspected I wasn't even on Earth anymore. The area was enclosed by a stone wall with golden bars and strange gargoyle designs, with a starry sky for the ceiling. I couldn't see the ground, though - a thick layer of grey mist filled the entire space, and I could barely make out my own knee-caps, let alone the ground. Turning to see if I was alone, I breathed a sigh of relief - the other Rangers had been teleported here with me.
"Everybody okay?" I asked.
Teresa nodded. "Yeah, I think we're all fine."
"But where are we?" asked Scott.
"Guys," said Sarah, glancing around the place worriedly, "where's Aaron? He's not here with us."
There was a second of silence. "Oh no," I said quietly. "He's alone with Ultramarine."
"Rangers," came a sudden voice, and everyone turned to see Goldar and Scorpina standing at the far end of the space. "Welcome to Rita's Dark Dimension," continued Goldar. "We hope you like it because you'll be here a very long time."
"Whatever," said Sarah. "C'mon guys, we're getting out of here." And we all reached for our communicators.
Goldar shook his head. "As even the Senior Team knows by now, it won't work," he said. "The Dark Dimension is cut off from the Morphin' Grid. You can't teleport in, and you can't teleport out. Well, we can, but anyway. The only way to leave is through the gateway," and with a wave of his sword, an odd doorway rose out of the mist in the middle of the room. Sitting inside a stone doorframe that was covered in strange carvings, the door was gold and sealed shut with a huge ancient-looking padlock.
"If you can find the key," said Scorpina, "you can unlock the door and leave. I'd hurry if I were you - your aqua friend won't last long."
I stepped forward angrily. "Where is it?"
Goldar's lips curled into an evil grin. "On the ground somewhere. Good luck," and with that, they both disappeared in twin flashes of flame, leaving the five of us alone in the silence of the Dark Dimension.
"Find the key?" repeated Teresa, glancing around. "Guys, this is almost too easy."
"I wouldn't bet on it," said Sarah, looking down into the mist.
I nodded, and was about to speak when something brushed past my leg. Whatever it was, it felt solid but also gave me the unmistakable impression of somehow being long. Glancing down, I caught sight of a long, thin shadow that quickly disappeared into the mist.
"Uh, guys," I began, "we may have a problem."
"Ayeyiyi!" cried Alpha. "Zordon, I've just lost five of the Rangers! They've disappeared right off the Morphin' Grid!"
Zordon glanced across to the viewing screen in alarm. "Ultramarine was a set-up," he said, with slow realisation. "Rita's plan all along was to split the teams up. Alpha, run a scan for the other Rangers. Try the Dark Dimension, as well as any of the other pocket dimensions Rita has used in the past."
"But what about Aaron?" Alpha asked. "Zordon, we have to send him help!"
"At the moment, finding the Junior Team is the only thing we can do," Zordon replied. "We have to have faith in Aaron. Until news of the attack reaches the high school, there's just no way of contacting the other Rangers." Zordon paused, sighing, but looking down to Ultramarine on the viewing screen, an idea suddenly came together. "Alpha, the schools all had monster alarms installed to supplement their existing fire alarm systems, didn't they?"
"Yes Zordon," replied Alpha. "I recall the Rangers talking about it. Why do you ask?"
"The alarms are likely wired into the school's central server, which itself would have to be connected to a modem," Zordon said. "It may take us a few minutes but we might have a way of alerting the Rangers to the situation after all."
"Zordon that's brilliant!" Alpha cried. "I'll get working on it right away."
"Excellent," the sage replied, and glanced back to the viewing screen. "Hold on Aaron. Help's on the way."
