The Return of Ultramarine: Chapter Four – Shadow Ranger's Library

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See my first ever fanfic, �ƒ¢â�€š¬�‹�"Welcome to the Saga', for the official disclaimer. The Return of Ultramarine - Chapter Four

"Well," said Sarah, walking down the empty street alongside the others, "it certainly looks quiet." Scott turned to her. "A little too quiet." Zac nodded. "Yeah. Looks can be pretty deceiving." "You two are so cynical," she said with a small smile, as they continued down the road. Reaching the intersection between Minchinton Street and Bulcock Street, everyone cautiously scanned both roads before continuing on down Bulcock Street. As they passed the intersection, Trini thought she saw something move behind a parked car a little way back, and she tapped on Zac's shoulder, pointed towards the car, and as Sarah and Scott kept walking, the two of them doubled back. Suddenly, the ground in front of Sarah and Scott erupted in smoke and flames, and they jumped back to avoid the fireball that soon rocketed skyward. Stumbling backwards, Sarah tripped over and Scott, who remained on his feet, helped her up as Trini and Zac ran over. The smoke cloud soon began to clear. "Good afternoon," came a pleasant voice, and everyone turned to look only to see an unmistakable figure standing amidst the wreckage. "Scorpina," grunted Sarah, as if the name left a bad taste in her mouth. "What do you want?" "Yeah," said Scott angrily, "haven't you done enough?" The villainess smiled evilly. "Oh no, I've just begun," and with that, she raised her hand to her mouth and blew - a fine white powder began to billow out from her hand towards Sarah and Scott, who quickly stepped back and raised their own hands to block the powder. "Don't breath it you guys!" called Trini, realising Scorpina's intentions, but it was now too late - Sarah and Scott had already inhaled the white power, and they began to cough violently for a few seconds, before their eyes rolled back and they crumpled to the ground. But Scorpina kept blowing the dust cloud, and the cloud was fast approaching Trini and Zac. They turned to each other, nodded, and simultaneously reached for their back pockets. "Mastodon!" "Sabre-Toothed Tiger!" Both Trini and Zac morphed in bright flashes of light, and now protected from the dust, they charged forward towards their fallen team mates. They quickly bent down over them and found that luckily, both Sarah and Scott were still breathing - although the dust was most likely harmful, at least it wasn't instantly lethal. Angrily, Trini got up and turned to Scorpina. "Get out of here," she said, her voice acidic, and realising that she could do no more, Scorpina quickly teleported away. She turned back to Zac. "We better get them back to the Command Centre." Zac nodded. "Yeah, you're right," he said, shaking his head. "Man, things just keep going from bad to worse, don't they?" Trini nodded a reply, reaching for her communicator. At the far end of the street, about one hundred metres distant, a door opened and several citizens began to timidly venture out of the shore they'd taken refuge in during Scorpina's original attack earlier that day. Trini briefly glanced back, realising quickly that they were too far away to clearly recognise Sarah and Scott, and she and Zac were about to teleport them all away anyway. Suddenly, there was another flash of light from where Scorpina had been standing moments before, and both Rangers looked up worriedly as a small blue portal began opening above the road, and none other than Ultramarine himself dropped down out of it, landing lightly on the road. Scanning the abandoned street, his glowing red eyes soon settled on the two Rangers. "Well, what do we have here?" he asked, amused. Trini angrily stood up, in no mood for games. "Tell us where Brendan is," she demanded. Ultramarine waved his hand noncommittally. "He hasn't left the planet, if that means anything. But where would the challenge would be if I simply told you?" he asked. "Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" asked Zac in a low voice. "What are you doing here anyway?" "Good question Black Ranger," he replied, a particularly evil tone in his voice. "What I'm doing is starting my conquest of Earth an hour early, by obliterating the city that you fools have spent so much time and energy trying to protect," and the warrior gestured back to the group of people fearfully watching the exchange, "all in full view of your fellow citizens, who will undoubtedly be left wondering why you were all too busy to save them." He stopped then and stepped back, and both Rangers had no problem picturing the arrogant warrior smiling victoriously beneath his armoured helmet. "How does it feel to be so powerless?" and Trini and Zac were forced to duck as a massive laser blast roared past them and smashed into a shopfront behind them, immediately engulfing it in flames. At this, the crowd of people watching from afar instantly turned and ran for their lives. Trini turned to Zac. "We can't stay and fight," she said, shaking her head, "we have to get Sarah and Scott to safety." Zac nodded, realising their lack of options, and pressing the buttons on their communicators, the two Power Rangers and two unconscious humans teleported away, leaving Ultramarine alone on the deserted road, free to cause as much destruction as he wanted. * * * Feelings of dread had gripped Alpha and the other Rangers as they all watched what had happened. The minute Trini and Zac had teleported back into the Command Centre, Alpha and Billy had already unfolded two stretchers and placed them on the ground near the viewing screen, and the boys quickly lay Sarah and Scott down on them as Alpha went out the door, down the hall and into another room to collect some medical equipment. Trini and Zac quickly demorphed, and Jason, Kimberly, Teresa and myself were all called back to the Command Centre. "Are they going to be okay?" asked Teresa, nearly sick with worry over her brother, directing the question up at Zordon. "We'll know soon enough. Alpha," and we all turned back to the door - Alpha walked back in, carrying the medical kits, and he opened them and went over to Sarah and Scott, "please proceed." The next few minutes crawled by seeming like hours, but finally, Alpha walked back over to the rest of us. "The good news is that they're both resting comfortably and breathing okay," explained the robot, "but ayeyiyi, their heart-rates are slowly dropping. If we don't wake them up within the next twenty minutes, they'll slip into comas and, uh, we won't be able to wake them up. Ever." Jason angrily slammed his fist into a control panel, drawing everyone's attention. "Man, can things get any worse?" "Well," began Billy hopefully, "we'll just have to scan the computer's databanks and try to find an antidote." "Which will keep us from finding Brendan in time," said Kim, nodding to herself. "Not to mention," and she turned back to the viewing screen which showed Ultramarine blasting his way down the main street of Caloundra, "we have to find a way to stop Ultramarine from destroying the city at the same time." Teresa nodded. "That was Ultramarine's plan all along. Send us all flapping in so many different directions at once that we wouldn't stand a chance of reaching any of our goals in time. He's been a step ahead of us the whole time." Trini turned to her. "You're saying we need to get one step ahead of him?" "Well, no," Teresa replied. "I was going to suggest just killing him, but I like your idea too." Jason smiled. "Okay, so we've established that the odds aren't exactly on our side," he said, his tone becoming serious again, "but just how do we turn this around?" "Well we need to find some way to save the city," said Zac. "Ultramarine said it himself, it's a symbolic victory. We're stretched so far that we can't even save Caloundra, that's not going to go down very well with the public." I stepped forward. "Look, Ultramarine was a trump card that Rita could only play twice. She did, and at the risk of killing the metaphor, the bad guys have run out of aces. I mean, from this point on, they've got the most to lose. And that's how we can win." I paused, looking around the room. I was pretty sure the others weren't going to go for my idea, but I had to do something, three of my best friends were in danger. There was fear, close to the surface, about what I was going to suggest, but there was also anger. And a lot of it. "I'll take on Ultramarine. Alone. Which will give you guys enough time to keep searching for Brendan, and try to find an antidote." There was a brief moment of stunned silence in the room. "Are you out of your mind?" cried Tommy, astonished. Jason nodded. "Yeah, Tommy's right. Working together, you guys could barely stop him, and the last time you tried to take a monster solo, you were almost killed," he said, reminding me of my first morphed encounter with Gluk. He stepped forward, putting his hand on my shoulder and shaking his head. "I'm not gonna let you do this." "We don't have a choice," I replied. "As many of us as possible have to stay here to try and save Sarah and Scott, as well as find Brendan before his powers fall into the wrong hands. Besides, I've got a big score to settle with Ultramarine." Tommy was unconvinced. "What if he doesn't want to fight you?" I nodded. "He will. At heart, Ultramarine is a warrior, with an ego the size of Queensland. He'd never turn down a challenge, no matter how easy it seemed - his ego would completely forbid it. Ultramarine's enormous self-confidence is his Achilles' Heel, and that's something I can use to defeat him. Heck, I might even be able to get him to tell me where they're holding Brendan." "Peter does have a valid point Rangers," said Zordon, thoughtfully. Jason nodded, reluctantly accepting my grim determination, realising that the possibility of defeat hadn't even entered my mind. "All right then. Good luck, and please be careful. We can't lose you too," he said softly, looking into my eyes. I smiled and nodded. "Thanks," I replied, and stepping back, I reached for my back pocket. "It's morphin' time! Stegosaurus!" And with that, I morphed in a flash of orange light and teleported away. Jason turned back to the others. "You heard him - we've got work to do." But as everyone turned away, Teresa quickly walked over to him, realising that Jason was still troubled by the decision. "I wouldn't worry about Peter," she began, trying to reassure the Red Ranger. "He can handle Ultramarine, he'll be okay." "I hope you're right," he said. "Trust me," Teresa replied. "Peter was angry as heck - Ultramarine won't even know what hit him. I almost wish I was there to see it, to be honest." Jason smiled. "Yeah, I kinda figured that about him. Thanks," he nodded, "now c'mon, let's get to work." But Tommy still wasn't convinced, and he grabbed Jason's shoulder, pulling him back. "Peter is gonna get slaughtered," he said, his voice low with either fear or anger, Jason couldn't tell which. "Why did you let him go?" "Look," stated Jason, a little louder than he would have liked, "have some faith in him. We don't have the time to worry," and he watched Tommy turn away with a hurt expression on his face. Wow, thought Jason, did I just raise my voice to my best friend? He shook his head. It must have been Ultramarine. He was pushing everyone to their limit. He turned back to the group and put those thoughts to the back of his mind. "C'mon people, let's find that antidote." * * * Chaos, destruction, fire - this was where he belonged, the blue warrior reflected, as he slashed his wrist blade through another lamppost, sending it crashing to the ground, and blasted a shopfront with his shoulder cannon. He turned back around, and noticing a car that was, as yet, undisturbed, he walked over to it, and jamming his right blade right through the door of the small car, he ripped the door clean off and flung it away - it spun through the air, before crashing through a window of the burning shop. But as Ultramarine turned to continue, a sudden voice rang out and echoed down the street, freezing Ultramarine on the spot. "All right Ultramarine, this ends here and now." Ultramarine slowly turned, angry that his fun had ended, to see a lone figure emerging from a smoke cloud, silhouetted against the inky black cloud. The figure was a fair distance away, but was taking slow, deliberate steps towards Ultramarine, and soon, as he became clearer, Ultramarine recognised him. "Orange Ranger," he grunted in his hoarse voice, as he too began to walk towards me. "What a pleasant surprise." I ignored him, and continued walked forward, determined not to be intimidated by the warrior. "You've got a lot to answer for Ultramarine," I said acidly, "so I suggest you get out of here. Now." "But why would I want to leave when my master plan is so close to completion?" he asked sinisterly. "No-one on this planet can stop me now." "I can stop you," I replied, in a voice very low and very dangerous. "You?" he laughed scornfully. "You may not look like it in your present form, but you are a mere child. What do you know about combat and fighting?" "I know enough to make you bleed." Behind us both, a leaking fuel tank caused a car to explode in a fireball, but neither of us noticed, our concentration locked on each other. "I have slaughtered all those who stood against me, I have devastated entire civilisations," Ultramarine grunted. "What chance do you think you stand against me?" I wordlessly held my hand out, and in a flash of orange light, my Power Sword formed in my hand. "You came back to get revenge on us, didn't you?" I asked, my voice cold and hard. "We're just a few more in a long line of innocent victims. Well guess what?" and I stopped in the middle of the street, raising my sword aggressively. "I'm here to avenge every single person you've ever hurt. What goes around comes around, buddy." Now only several metres away from me, Ultramarine raised his arms and glared at me with those glowing red eyes. "Well then," he growled, "let's have some fun," and with that, both razor-sharp wrist blades slid into place, and he took a menacing step towards me. * * * Jason and Kimberly materialised back in the Command Centre in bright flashes of red and pink, and they immediately walked over to Alpha and Trini, who were both rapidly typing on about three different keyboards at once. "The Glass House Mountains are clear," nodded Jason, referring to the mountain range to the southwest of Caloundra, as Trini looked up. "Yeah," agreed Kim. "No sign of anything out of the ordinary. Are you any closer?" Trini nodded. "Yep. We found a faint signal that resembled what Brendan's Rainbow Powers would be like if they were deep underground or in a large cave. And even better, the signal is originating somewhere on the eastern coast of Australia. We called Peter and told him just after he left." "Good work," said Jason. "We'll keep checking out cave systems. Have you had any luck finding the antidote?" "Nope," Trini replied. "We're still looking." Meanwhile, Billy was scanning through a database on ancient medicines, looking for any reference there might be to sleeping powders. He quickly scanned through traditional Japanese medicines, before moving out of that and into medicinal techniques of the ancient Druids. There were several files relating to sleeping powders - well aware of the fact that time was slipping away, he quickly read through the first file then closed it and opened the second. To his amazement, the first sleeping powder listed matched up with everything they knew about the one Scorpina had used on Sarah and Scott. Not to mention, the picture accompanying the file showed a billowing cloud of white dust. Bingo. "Guys!" he cried excitedly. "I think I've got something!" With that, every single person in the room rushed over and crowded around him, trying to get a look at the screen. "What have you found?" asked Trini. "Well, according to this, the ancient Druids used a sleeping powder just like this one. That doesn't surprise me," he said, "I wrote a history report on them about a month ago, and they were very good with ancient natural medicines. Anyway, according to this, when Europe was conquered by the Romans, they found use for the powder, knocking out soldiers while doctors patched up wounds and removed arrows..." his voice fell away as he quickly scrolled down the page. "And?" asked Zac urgently. "Well, Roman doctors realised that, if they used too much of the powder, the patient didn't wake up, and as they never developed an antidote, they stopped using it. However, according to this, the Druids did develop a second mixture that canceled out the effects of the sleeping powder." "Excellent," smiled Jason. "Yeah, this gives a list of the ingredients. I'll just print it out," and he pressed a couple of buttons on the keyboard - a sheet of paper emerged from a slot on the control panel, and Billy grabbed it and held it up. "They're all natural," he told the teens, "herbs, leaves, that kind of thing." "There's a natural health food store in the main street of Caloundra," remembered Kimberly happily. "They've probably got everything we need. It'll be abandoned, so we can teleport straight in there." "Well done Rangers," complimented Zordon. "Well what are we waiting for?" asked Trini. "Let's go!" Jason turned to the viewing screen, and focussed on Ultramarine's blue figure. "Hold on Ultramarine," he said with a hard smile, "your well-laid plans are about to come crashing down."

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