Chapter 7

Amazon Part 2

Ernestine shuddered as she approached Master Paine. 'I've failed him yet again and now I'm going to pay for it,' she thought to herself miserably. Nevertheless, she mustered up all her courage and stepped up to him. "I'm back."

"So you are," he replied, turning around.

"Master Paine, I'm sorry for-"

"Don't waste our time. It's pointless," said Master Paine.

Ernestine shuddered, preparing herself for the punishment. This was it now . . .

"I knew that would happen."

She nodded quickly, looking down at her feet. What was taking him so long to destroy her? The sooner he got it done, the sooner the pain would be over with.

"You must go back and fight them again," ordered Master Paine.

Ernestine looked up at her master. He was obviously planning something.

"Aren't you going to-"

"No," he interrupted. "Don't realise?"

"Realise what?" Ernestine stared at him, obviously confused.

"It's Gavin! The scientist! Their mentor!" snapped Master Paine. "I should have known that he was keeping a watchful eye on them. Which is why I am sending you back. I'll take care of the scientist myself."

Ernestine's eyes widened in disbelief. "You're giving me a seccond chance! But . . . how are you going to find the scientist?"

Paine groaned. "You stupid girl! You really think I'd forget where his lair is? After all I have served time as one of his warriors!"

"OH!" she exclaimed, finally understanding. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Do what you can. I'll be ready for them," said Master Paine, chuckling evily.

Callum looked down, fingering around with his helmet, feeling pretty helpless. Should he tell the others now or wait until the time was right?

Behind his back, the others watched him with pity.

"I feel really bad for him," sighed Olivia.

Alex nodded in agreement. "Yeah, this is a tough time for him, seeing that he's the leader and all."

"Should we give him some space?" suggested Jason.

"Yeah, we should," agreed Olivia.

The three of them turned around and headed off but Zoe stayed where she was. Like the others, she felt terrible for Callum but couldn't help wondering what was bothering him. She was debating herself whether to ask the red ranger what was wrong or not to.

Zoe quickly decided not to ask him what the matter was because the last two things she wanted to do at a time like this was upset Callum even more and also ruin her tough-girl image. Trying not to overthink things, Zoe quickly turned her back on Callum and paced out of the room.

It wasn't long until the familiar sound of the alarm filled the lair and the Rangers ran into the lab to see what the problem was.

"It's Ernestine. She's back," said Dr. Sparks. "You should take the Energy Cycles. Like last time, I'll send you back if things get really bad."

The Rangers nodded and put on their helmets, ready to go, including Callum who just wanted to get it over and done with. Dr. Sparks watched them leave before turning around to look at the computer screen. For some reason he couldn't help feeling that he was being watched . . .

"Energy Cycles GO!" Zoe shouted as she and the others jumped on top of the motorbikes, Callum lagging behind. They raced off, in persuit of the Amazon Ranger.

"According to Dr. Sparks, Ernestine should be a few kilometres away. The drive shouldn't take too long," Zoe called back to her teammates. "Callum, speed up!" she added as she caught him about a metre behind.

'Shouldn't he be leading us?' the blue ranger thought to herself, beginning to wonder why she was concerned about him in the first place. 'Oh yeah, he's Mr. Big Leader. Obviously he's going to have all the exciting moments. See if I care. If he wants to be a loner, then let him be a loner. But he's going have to stop lagging behind and step up as a leader if he wants to lead us to victory! Otherwise I will smack him in the face and take control of this team in a heartbeat,' she decided.

A little while later, the Energy Cycles drove up to Ernestine who was waiting for them, helmet and all.

"I've been expecting you," she chuckled. "Now let's finish what we started!"

The Amazon Ranger charged at the Rangers in their Energy Cycles.

"Wait for it . . ." Zoe coaxed the others. "Wait for it . . ."

The Amazon was only a few paces away.

"NOW!" ordered Zoe and she and the others immediately charged up their Energy Cycles and began to race them around Ernestine. "Activating the Energy Ring Strike," Zoe muttered as the energy from the motorcycles began to connect, forming a large ring, surrounding Ernestine. The Amazon Ranger stood in the centre of the ring and Callum couldn't help noticing that she looked a little too calm . . .

"Ice Blade!" shouted the Blue Energy Ranger, ready to slash Ernestine with her sword.

"WAIT!" yelled Callum.

But it was too late. Ernestine jerked out her arms and the Rangers found themselves being blown away and off their motorcycles. They all toppled backwards in different directions, completely seperated.

Ernestine chuckled. "Now, who's first?"

The Rangers looked up in horror. What was she on about?

Dr. Sparks was getting ready to teleport the Rangers back to the lab. Yes, Ernestine was examining the Rangers closely, ready to make her choice . . .

His finger hovered over the button, ready to press it . . .

"Hello, Gavin."

He whipped around to see Master Paine standing in front of him, grinning in the most horrible way.

"Oh, silly me. I forgot, you prefer to be called by Dr. Sparks."

"How did you get in? I had my best security on guard!" the scientist cried.

Master Paine chuckled. "What a silly little scientist you are. You really think I'd forget your ways that quickly?" He stomped up in front of Dr. Sparks who found himself in quite a helpless position. "Now tell me how to get the Sports Energy Power! Or else . . ."

He glanced at the screen where Ernestine was heading in Zoe's direction.

"My Rangers will never let you steal the Sports Energy Power under any circumstances!" shouted Dr. Sparks. "And neither will I!"

"Very well. Seeing that you're just as useless as you were in the olden days, I'm just going have to destroy you." And with that, Master Paine made a grab for Dr. Sparks who dodged his hand before diving through his legs.

"You really think I haven't learnt anything over my past experiences?" Master Paine demanded, beginning to let his temper go. "Check THIS out!" He stretched out his hands and began to concentrate really hard on activating a power. Seeing this, Dr. Sparks quickly reached out and grabbed the first thing that came to him: a glass jar containing acidic liquid. He ran up to Paine and was about to smash it over his head when he felt it.

That horific pain.

It was almost as if somebody had grabbed his brain and was twisting it around and around and still twisting it even if it seemed it couldn't be twisted any more . . . Dr. Sparks grabbed his head and screamed as the pain grew worse . . . he collapsed to his knees, Master Paine still going at him . . . And Dr. Sparks fell unconcious.

"Oh dear," chuckled Master Paine, picking up the unconcious doctor in his huge hands. "I think we both got a bit carried away there . . ." And he disappeared, taking Dr. Sparks with him.

"Don't worry. The pain won't last long," said Ernestine, approaching Zoe, ready to strike.

"Probably because I'm not letting you make me suffer any!" the Blue Energy Ranger snapped. She jumped to her feet and pulled out her Ice Blade. "Bring it on!" The two girls started fighting against each other.

"Let's help her!" said Jason and he, Olivia and Alex leapt up and ran up to Ernestine to join the fight.

Callum just stayed where he was, watching on weakly as Ernestine and the Rangers fought. He couldn't understand why he was being so useless . Why didn't he want to fight? Was it because of his nightmares? Was it because he was so underconfident? Was it because he had this weird feeling inside him, that he couldn't help feeling that there was something wrong? His Red Energy Morpher didn't seem to have as much energy in it as last time . . .

He heard shrieks coming from his teammates and looked up to see Ernestine, blasting his teammates with bullet-like beams from her fingertips. The beams struck each Ranger several times, sending them flying backwards. While they were stunned, the Amazon Ranger stepped forwards and activated a power which caused a screeching noise to fill the Ranger's ears. It was like a siren only it was much more shrill and much more painful. Zoe, Olivia, Alex and Olivia tried to cover their ears but it was pointless.

Callum suddenly realised that if he didn't act fast, his teammates would suffer.

"Lightning Saber!"

The Red Energy Ranger got up and charged at Ernestine who unfortunately saw it coming and whipped around before striking him with electricity that surrounded his entire body. Pain stung his arms and legs and he collapsed down, unable to move. The pain was so bad, it caused him to demorph.

"Callum!" Zoe cried, resisting the urge to scream "Why are you so useless?" Even if she was going to scream that, Ernestine pretty much said it for her.

"You're a pathetic little 'Power Ranger'. No energy and no courage whatsoever," the Amazon Ranger spat. "There's no point in taking you away. It'll waste good power."

She turned to face the remaining four Rangers. "You're coming with me."

And with that she disappeared, taking Zoe, Olivia, Alex and Jason with her!

Callum immediately pulled out his Red Energy Morpher, wondering why Dr. Sparks hadn't transported them back. "Dr. Sparks, come in!"

No reply.

"Dr. Sparks?"

Silence.

He jumped to his feet and began to run at full speed, not stopping until he reached the lab. Only then did he see the chaos that had been caused.

There was no Dr. Sparks but the lab was ruined. There were notes, broken glass and liquid everywhere. And the computer screen had been smashed.

Callum clutched his head with his hands and muttered "Oh no . . ."

To Be Continued . . . Again

Ideas for this are more then welcome! A new Ranger? A new Zord? New Power? FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST IDEAS!