Chapter Four
Ultramarine smashed his fist down onto the roof of an apartment complex, instantly shattering every window in the top three stories and sending great cracks splintering down the side of the building. Stepping back, he swung his arm at the building's side and reduced the building's top four storeys to rubble. One more punch was all it took for the entire complex to come crashing down in a cloud of smoke and debris.
The warrior stepped back onto Bulcock Street to admire his handiwork, casually crushing two cars and a delivery truck in the process
"Power," he rumbled, "to shatter nations, and a world to grind beneath my heel. I'm invincible!"
Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and Ultramarine looked up and around in surprise to see a giant Parasaurolophus powering through the city towards him. Bellowing as it approached, the mighty Parazord shook the city streets with every colossal step, its eyes glowing red, aqua armour shining under the midday sun and enormous tail swinging behind it.
"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Aaron, the external radio broadcasting his words across to his opponent. "Because you know what? I wouldn't bet on it. Parazord, online!"
Ultramarine sneered beneath his helmet. "I don't think I've ever met such a glutton for punishment. I already humiliated you boy, and now I will wipe you from the pages of history."
Aaron piloted the zord forward. He'd never fought with the Parazord in one- on-one combat before, and he had no idea of the zord's full capabilities. "Maybe I'm not gonna make it out of this in one piece," Aaron replied. "But guess what sunshine? I'm a Power Ranger, and right now your prospects aren't looking that good either."
"Well, then what are we waiting for?" asked Ultramarine, and he took an enormous step forward. "Let's rumble."
Charging forward, Ultramarine immediately smashed the Parazord back with an uppercut. The Parazord quickly recovered, and as Ultramarine continued forward with a roundhouse punch, the zord ducked under the blow, batted away Ultramarine's arm then smashed its fist into Ultramarine's chest armour, before landing another punch to the warrior's helmet. Glancing down to the control panel before him, Aaron's gaze fell on a red switch marked 'lasers', and reaching over, he hit it - red lasers blasted out of the Parazord's eyes and smashed into Ultramarine's chest, sending the warrior to the ground in an explosion of sparks and smoke.
Ultramarine rolled to a stop in a cloud of dust, and smashed his fist down angrily, demolishing a fruit and vegetable store. Leaping to his feet, the blue warrior charged back towards the Parazord, striking the zord back with a double punch to the chestplate. The zord stumbled back in a shower of sparks, but as Ultramarine continued to rain down blows, the zord blocked a high swipe, batted away a low punch and smashed the warrior back with a blow to the stomach. Ultramarine turned back to the zord and swung high - the Parazord ducked the blow, but as the zord turned to face him, Ultramarine stepped forward and landed a kick to the zord's stomach before firing a blast from his shoulder cannon, the entire area erupting in sparks and smoke.
Aaron pushed the zord forward regardless and the Parazord stormed through the blasts unfazed. Approaching the blue warrior the zord went on the offensive, swinging high with a roundhouse punch. Raising his arm, Ultramarine caught the Parazord's fist and struck it away, before aiming high with a roundhouse punch. The Parazord blocked the warrior's fist and knocked it aside, landing a kick to the warrior's stomach. The warrior stumbled back a step but recovered from the blow almost instantly, charging forward and sending the zord reeling with an uppercut. Now with the advantage, Ultramarine continued forward, and Aaron distinctly heard Ultramarine's two wrist blades sliding into place as he steered the Parazord back to its feet.
"I'm bored," grunted the blue warrior. "Let's end this," and stepping forward, he slashed his left blade through the air - the Parazord dodged the blade with metres to spare, but when Ultramarine swung with his right, Aaron maneuvered the Parazord forward to successfully block Ultramarine's arm in mid-swing. But stepping back, Ultramarine slashed again with his left blade, slicing it down across the Parazord's stomach, the blade cleaving through the zord's armoured plating and mangling the pipes and hydraulic systems within the zord's stomach. Sparks and debris rained down from the slash as the Parazord stumbled backwards in a blaze of fire, and while the zord was off-balance, Ultramarine followed it forward with another slash - the blade carved through the zord's chestplate, and the Parazord crashed to the ground.
Sparks rained down over him in the control room as Aaron glanced desperately across the control panels before him.
"Damn it," he said, "two minutes ago I was winning." Another shower of sparks from an exposed wire forced him to duck. "Power level dropping. C'mon Aaron, pull this together. You can do this." He paused, and glanced around the zord's interior. "We can do this." And with the zord's power level at sixty percent and falling fast, the Parazord slowly climbed to its feet.
"Coming back for more?" asked Ultramarine. "If you insist."
"Trust me," replied Aaron, "it'll be my pleasure." And he reached across to the button marked 'sonic roar', and hit it. The zord's eyes flashed, and throwing back its head, the Parazord let out a bellowing cry - buildings shook, windows shattered, and as the cry went ultrasonic, Ultramarine slammed his hands over his ears in agony. In the zord's cockpit, automatic sound-proofing kept Aaron safe, and glancing down over the controls, he saw a large red button that didn't seem to have a name. Figuring he had nothing to lose, he reached across and slammed his fist against it.
A massive blast of energy exploded from the zord's mouth, spiralling across the battlefield, slamming into the still-reeling Ultramarine and instantly launching him backwards through the air. The warrior crashed to the ground and rolled to a stop in a cloud of smoke, and inside the Parazord, Aaron nodded - judging from his falling power level, doing that again was out of the question, but once had definitely been worth it.
Dazed, Ultramarine climbed to his feet, and shaking his head to clear the ringing in his ears, he turned back to the Parazord.
Aaron grinned. "Coming back for more, eh?"
Enraged, the warrior's eyes flashed red, and with a roar Ultramarine charged back towards the zord. Taking to the air, the warrior launched the Parazord back with a high kick, before landing and slashing again and again with his wrist blades. The Parazord successfully dodged the first few swipes, but it was losing power fast and couldn't stay ahead of the warrior's frenzied assault. Two, three, four huge gouges appeared in the Parazord's chest and stomach plates. Thrown around wildly inside the zord's cockpit, Aaron fought to hang onto the controls, realising he was losing but knowing he had to keep Ultramarine fighting. He slammed his fist against the laser button again, forcing Ultramarine to back off in a shower of sparks. Despite its scars, the Parazord stepped forward to attack, but as the zord raised its arm to strike, Ultramarine slashed high with his wrist blade and cleaved through the zord's arm. With a fiery explosion, the arm spun through the air, crashing to the ground several hundred metres away as the Parazord stumbled back.
In the cockpit, alarms began sounding, and Aaron glanced down to the power level - it was at thirty percent and dropping rapidly. And it was that second he realised the inescapable truth - the zord was dying. There was no way the Parazord could survive the battle, no way he could win this fight. Jason and Tommy had been right. Ultramarine had just been too powerful, and this fight was practically over.
"C'mon," he said, glancing around the cockpit. "Just hang in a bit longer. The city needs us, we can't fall. Not now."
"Aaron!" cried Alpha's voice from the radio. "You've got to retreat! If you keep fighting you'll lose the zord!"
"No," he replied, "Alpha I can't leave. If I do there'll be nobody left to stop Ultramarine from destroying the city."
"But one more blow and we'll lose the zord, and we might even lose you!"
"Alpha, you know I'm right. Just keep trying to find a way to get the others back. Aaron out," and the radio fell silent.
Slowly, despite the loss of its arm, the Parazord managed to climb back to its feet. Inside the cockpit, Aaron was amazed to see that although the power level had fallen below twenty percent, several lights on the control panel flickered as various systems within the zord began to switch back on. With eyes flashing, the mechanised beast suddenly let out a bellowing roar and turned to face Ultramarine. Aaron smiled as he realised that he wasn't alone - the zord wasn't going to give in without a fight. And then, glancing across the city to the park and remembering the Senior Team, he suddenly knew what to do.
"Jason!" he cried, punching the radio controls.
"Yeah?" came Jason's reply. "Aaron, man, you need to get out of there. Your zord..."
"I know," replied Aaron quickly. "The Parazord can't take much more of this. But that's why I'm calling, I've got an idea. Where are you?"
"The fight moved into the west side of the park. Why?"
"Can you try and herd the putties through the park and out near Minchinton Street, and then get out of the way?"
"Well yeah, I guess so. What do you have in mind?"
"Just trust me," and he clicked the radio switch off.
The Rangers didn't quite believe their ears. "What does he want us to do?" asked Zac.
The team had been battling their way through the ranks of the putties for the last fifteen minutes, and so far they seemed to be winning, as the unmoving bodies of dozens of the grey warriors littered the ground around them. But it seemed as if both sides had agreed to a temporary cease-fire - the putties had regrouped back behind Goldar, while the six Rangers gathered together about twenty metres away from them.
"Herd all the putties through the park and out near Minchinton Street," replied Jason. "Near the furniture factory there on the corner."
"For what purpose?" asked Billy.
"He didn't say why," Jason replied. "He just said he had an idea."
Tommy glanced around to the others. "Can we trust him?"
"There's no reason not to," Trini replied.
Jason nodded. "We might as well give it a try," he said. "Blasters out!"
"What's the matter Rangers?" asked Goldar, raising his sword. "Giving up?"
"Not hardly," said Jason. "Fire!" The Rangers all aimed low with their blasters, Tommy using the Dragon Dagger, and six multi-coloured laser blasts smashed into the ground in front of the putties, sending up a shower of dirt and smoke. The putties all immediately jumped back out of danger, and standing in a line, the Rangers fired again and again, each time moving Goldar and the putties further back.
Moving through the forested park, past the public swimming pool, the cricket pitch and the odd sculptures standing in the shade, the Rangers saw the park's eastern side approaching, and with another few blasts they'd forced the putties out of the park and back towards Minchinton Street. Stepping back, the troop of putties suddenly fell into the shadow of Ultramarine, who was standing over the City Council building further down the street.
"Billy, Zac, you guys go round that way!" called Jason. "Aim them back towards us!" The Blue and Black Rangers nodded and immediately sprinted away. Seconds later, another blast from the Rangers had forced Goldar and the putties to retreat back into the street.
Trini glanced to the Red and Green Rangers on either side. "At least it's working," she said.
Tommy nodded. "I just hope Aaron knows what he's doing."
"There never was a key," I said, standing up and massaging my back. "We could search all day, we're not going to find it."
"You sure?" asked Teresa, as everyone stood up and walked over.
I nodded. "Positive. The whole point to this place was to keep us away from the other Rangers while Ultramarine was attacking the city. I mean, Aaron probably threw a loop into Rita's plan, but we were never meant to leave here."
"Great," said Scott. "So next question..."
"How do we get back?" asked Sarah.
"Quickly," I said, walking over to the gateway. "Jason and the others are pobably helping Aaron by now, but we still need to get back there. There's no telling what it'll take to bring down Ultramarine.
"And you have a plan?" asked Teresa.
"Count on it," I replied. "Orange Ranger, power down!" And with that, my suit vanished in a flash of light, and I was standing in my street clothes.
"By... powering down?" asked Sarah, confused.
I shook my head, and reached down into my pocket. "No. By picking the lock." My fingers closed around the small red pocketknife in my pocket, and pulling it free, I kneeled down by the huge heavy padlock.
"A pocketknife?" asked Scott. "Where did you get that?"
"It was a birthday present from a great uncle who lives in Vancouver," I said, concentrating on the lock. I'd never actually picked a lock before, but the padlock was huge and clunky. It shouldn't be that hard. I jammed the blade into the hole and began to twist it from side to side. "It's saved my butt more times that I can remember. And hopefully..."
Suddenly, there was a quiet 'chink' sound from inside the lock, and the padlock opened and fell into the mist. I dropped my pocketknife back in my pocket, stood up and pulled open the door. Behind the doorway was a swirling purple vortex that illuminated the Dark Dimension with an eerie blue light.
"Wow, nice work," nodded Brendan. "If I ever need to break into someone's house, I'll know just who to call."
I nodded. "Next stop, Caloundra," I said, and then reached for my morpher. "It's morphin' time! Stegosaurus!" Orange light exploded from my morpher and filled the dimension, and when it faded away, I was suited up and ready to go. Hesitating one more second, I shut my eyes, grit my teeth, and leaped forward into the vortex.
"And so Aqua Ranger, this is it," said Ultramarine, watching the Parazord take faltering steps towards him. "Your zord is dying, the fight is over, and predictably, you were nothing."
Aaron shook his head. "Funny thing about that," he said softly. "The city's still standing, I'm still here, and the only thing you'll be remembered for is getting your butt pretty damn thoroughly kicked. By me. Let's finish this." Gritting his teeth, Aaron reached across and grabbed the controls, and once again, the zord roared to life.
With a sudden burst of speed, the Parazord thundered forward, smashing Ultramarine back with its remaining hand before sending him stumbling with a high kick. Ultramarine recovered quickly and slashed at the zord's head with his left blade. The zord quickly ducked under and around the blow, batting Ultramarine's other hand away and striking its fist into the side of the warrior's head. Ultramarine stumbled back, dazed from the blow, and stepping forward, the Parazord spun around, aiming its tail for the warrior's face with every intention of knocking Ultramarine off his feet. But Ultramarine was simply too fast, and as the tail flashed towards him, he raised his right wrist blade and struck out, slicing the blade through the Parazord's tail. In a blaze of sparks and smoke, the broken tail flew away from the rest of the zord, landing with a crash over on the nearby beach.
It was the final blow. The loss of the zord's tail triggered a massive explosion from the remaining stump, and the zord began swaying from side-to-side as fire roared through its superstructure, blowing armour plates clear of the zord's body.
To anyone watching, it certainly seemed to be the Parazord's final moments. Sarking cables hung loose where its arm used to be, and fire was erupting from the huge gashes in its chest and stomach. The stump from the zord's tail was on fire too, and the zord was being rocked by constant explosions from within its metal hulk. Fires were breaking out all over the zord's body, and one-by-one, different systems within the zord began shutting down.
Down below, heroes and villains alike watched the Parazord. Goldar and the putties were stunned, and the six Senior Power Rangers were also frozen in helpless shock.
"Damn it," said Jason. "We've gotta help him, we've gotta do something."
"Like what?" asked Kimberly weakly. "What can we do?"
Beside the Pink Ranger, Tommy shook his head in disbelief. Even when the Green Ranger had lost his powers, at least he knew the Dragonzord was safe. But watching a zord die was just something else. He'd been fighting beside Jason when the Red Ranger had spoken to Aaron, and it was that moment the Green Ranger realised that Aaron had willingly sacrificed his zord to keep Ultramarine away from the rest of the city behind him.
That was strength and determination Tommy knew he'd never expected any of the Junior Team to show. The team - the entire team - had just suffered a catastrophic loss at the hands of Ultramarine, and Tommy suddenly couldn't wait for the chance to hit back.
Across the city inside the Parazord, Aaron remained calm. The Senior Team had done what he'd asked, and the plan was set.
"C'mon," Aaron said, slowly regaining control of the zord. "We're not out of the game yet. Let's take 'em down." The zord was too far forward - at least fifty metres away from where he needed the mechanised beast to be. Slowly, its battered and twisted joints sparking in protest, the zord took a step back over a street of houses, and then another. Two was all it needed, and it now towered over the army of putties and the six Rangers.
Kimberly turned to Jason. "What's he doing?" she asked.
Jason looked from the towering zord back down to the army, and realised Aaron's plan. Suddenly, a huge explosion ripped through the zord's left ankle, throwing the zord off-balance. Slowly at first but steadily gathering momentum, the zord began leaning sharply to one side, and was soon plummeting out of control towards the ground.
"Get out of the way!" cried Jason, and the Rangers leaped to safety just as the Parazord crashed to the ground, shaking the entire city and instantly reducing several nearby buildings to rubble. But even as the Parazord was plummeting towards them the putties hadn't moved, and by the time they realised what was about to happen, it was too late - nearly every single grey warrior was crushed by the zord, and the putties that survived the impact were soon destroyed by the massive explosion that ripped through the zord's body seconds after its collapse, tearing the zord in two.
Watching the battle from far above, Rita Repulsa had not taken her eyes away from her telescope for a second. It didn't matter that her plan had certainly not worked out how she'd thought, it didn't matter that Ultramarine had sustained some heavy damage during the battle with the Parazord, and it didn't matter that almost her entire army of putties had just been obliterated.
The cruel, triumphant smile on her face said it all.
The scorched exit hatch on the side of the zord swung outwards and fell off its hinges, and Aaron stumbled out, heart pounding in his chest. He'd survived the explosion and had somehow managed to make it to the escape hatch, and now, leaning against the side of the ruined zord, he reached down, demorphed in a flash of light and dropped his morpher into his shirt pocket, gulping down great lungfuls of air. Wiping the sweat from his brow, the Aqua Ranger glanced around and smiled at the sight of the puddles of clay on all sides. The Parazord had done it. But he didn't see the shadow creeping up behind him until it was too late, and a clawed hand suddenly wrapped around his neck, hauling him to his feet.
"You think you're so clever?" Goldar growled.
"Worked, didn't it?" Aaron replied, struggling to free himself and glancing around desperately for anything to use as a weapon.
"You destroyed the putty patrol, but you missed me," the golden warrior continued, "a failure I promise that you'll live to regret," and with that, Goldar turned and dragged the still-struggling Ranger away.
The five of us made it back just in time. Leaping through the vortex, we landed in the park beside the city's cultural centre, only a short distance from where the battle was taking place, and we watched in shock as the crippled Parazord crashed to the ground and obliterated the army of putties. Frozen in almost disbelief, we stood there in a trance as the zord literally fell apart before our eyes, and we didn't hear the Senior Rangers until they were only a few metres away.
"You guys all okay?" asked Jason. Surprised, we all turned to him.
"Yeah," replied Teresa quietly. "We're okay."
"You guys made it back safely?" asked Tommy.
Scott turned to the Green Ranger. "You thought we wouldn't?"
"No, I just thought that..." but Tommy paused. The Senior team had broken in and out of the Dark Dimension enough times. "Good work."
"Yeah, great," said Sarah. "For all the good it did."
"Ultramarine did this, didn't he?" I asked, my voice quiet.
Kim nodded. "Yeah, although it was Aaron's idea to take down the putties."
"We should've gotten back sooner," said Brendan.
"It wasn't your fault," said Trini. "We made the decision to stay and fight the putties, after all."
Brendan went to reply, but Sarah suddenly interrupted him.
"Where is Aaron?" she asked. "He must've survived the zord being destroyed, but where is he?"
Billy shook his head. "We couldn't approach close enough to investigate thoroughly. Perhaps he teleported back..."
"Wait!" cried Scott suddenly. "Guys, there he is!" Everyone turned to where he was pointing, and we all saw Goldar dragging Aaron along behind him down the street and away from us, the pair of them soon disappearing from view.
"C'mon, we gotta go help him," I said, when suddenly a great shadow fell over us, and the ground began to shake as Ultramarine stepped over the ruined Parazord towards us.
"One down," he boomed cheerfully. "Who's next?"
Tommy looked over to us. "We'll take care of Ultramarine," he said. "You guys go and rescue Aaron."
"You got it," I said. "Give him hell for us."
"Count on it," nodded Jason, and the five of us immediately turned and raced away from the Senior Rangers.
Trini turned to Tommy. "I'm impressed," she said.
"You were right," he replied, glancing back to the ruined Parazord. "When you take on one of us, you take on all of us. Guess I only just got that."
The Yellow Ranger smiled. "I'm glad you came around."
"Me too," Tommy replied, then looked to the Red Ranger beside him. "For the Juniors. Let's break this freak."
Jason nodded, glancing up to the figure towering over them. "You thought you had a fight on your hands with Aaron?" he asked. "Trust me pal, you ain't seen nothing. C'mon guys," and the Rangers all raised their arms to the sky. "We need dinozord power, now!"
