The New Team
Chapter 3: The First Battle
By Peter J. Smith
Chapter 3: The First Battle
By Peter J. Smith
Instantly after morphing, we teleported back to the school, an experience which I'm sure I won't get the hang of for a quite a while. We landed back on the oval, all suited up and ready to go. My uniform was mostly orange, with white gloves, boots and belt and a white diamond on the chest. On my belt hung my blaster, as Zordon had called it. The other's uniforms were the same as mine, except that they were wearing their own colour. Teresa's uniform was outlined with black stripes.
"Where'd he go?" asked Aaron, scanning the oval for any sign of Monitar.
"I don't know," replied Sarah. "But he ain't here." She was right - we were the only people in sight.
"C'mon, he's gotta be around here somewhere," I called. "Keep your eyes open." And with that, we took off towards the cluster of school buildings, running up the path past the bike racks, and past the rooms in single file. I noticed that the school buildings were all deserted. Good. If this monster was as dangerous as Zordon said he was, then the less innocent civilians around, the better. We all reached the smaller of the two covered areas, and we walked towards the tuckshop.
"Well, look at this," came an evil-sounding voice. We all spun around to see that Monitar had been following us. But he looked surprised to see us. "There are five more of you. You're multiplying faster than rabbits. Please tell me you're not looking for a fancy dress party."
Bravely, I stepped forward. "No. We are the junior team of Power Rangers."
Sarah stepped forward, too. "Yeah, and we're here to defend the Earth from scum like you."
"Big words," he grunted, "but can you handle a little power drain?" With that, the diamond on his chest began to glow, and blue lightning bolts shot out towards us. I dived beneath one such bolt, pulling Sarah to the ground with me. Behind us, Scott dived forward under the bolts, Teresa nimbly leapt into the air and out of the way, and Aaron picked up a wooden chair and threw it into the blast, stopping it from hitting him.
Monitar paused in confusion. "This is going to be harder than I thought."
"I agree," I said. "Charge!" And the five of us ran towards the monster. I reached him first, and I slammed my fist into the side of his snout. He recovered quickly and knocked me to the side with a blow to the chest. Sarah was next, leaping into the air to knock him down with a high kick. Teresa and Scott immediately followed this up with two powerful kicks to the chest. Finally, I picked myself up and joined Aaron. He slammed Monitar back with a vicious uppercut, before smashing his fist into Monitar's gut. I continued the assault by pummeling his stomach, so much so that he was thrown backwards.
"All right," I said, as we grouped. "This is easier than I thought it'd be."
"Yeah," agreed Sarah. "We're winning."
Monitar picked himself up out of the garden and stood tall, facing us. "Not for long," he grunted. "Putties, attack!" And suddenly, we were surrounded on all sides by humanoid grey and black warriors.
"Let's take these freaks!" I cried. "Spread out!" And with that, we all leapt towards the putties. I jumped into the air, over a garden bed, and crashed down heavily, taking two to the ground instantly. On my left, three more attackers ran at me - I jumped up and knocked all three to the ground with a single roundhouse kick. One immediately got back up onto his feet - one low foot sweep dropped him without another sound.
Behind me, Teresa and Scott were fighting back to back. Teresa was battling nimbly but ferociously, knocking down putties left and right with elbows here and high kicks there. Scott was taking a far more physical approach to the battle - grabbing his opponents heads, he would either slam them against each other or against the wall. He reflected that it was a tad violent, but his approach had all too quickly left them without opponents.
Aaron was plowing through them, throwing them around like they weighed nothing. He elbowed one in the gut and slammed his fist into another's cheek. He soon found that there were too many putty creatures around him - leaping into the air, he landed on a wooden bench to finish the fight. Now a full foot taller than any of his enemies, he easily managed to finish them off.
"Wow," said Jason, amazed. The senior rangers were watching the whole fight on the viewing screen, a TV-like device set up in the back of the Central Chamber. "They're handling putties better than we ever did on our first day."
"Well," replied Zordon, "I do believe that's why we chose them."
"Yeah I know," said Jason. "But still."
"Weren't expecting them to do too well, huh?" asked Trini, pausing to watch Teresa execute a perfect tornado kick that knocked down five putties. "Don't worry. I had the same kind of thoughts."
"They can't be better than us," snorted Tommy.
"Well Tommy," smiled Kim. "Take a look - they are."
"Don't worry, Tommy," said Billy. "Your job is safe." And they continued to watch in silent appreciation.
Sarah slammed her final adversary to the ground. Being the last one to do so, she quickly rejoined us as we launched an attack onto the monster itself.
Aaron was the first to defeat all his putties, and when he came near Monitar, the creature swung at him with its claws. Aaron quickly ducked under the attack and retaliated with a kick to Monitar's stomach. The monster stumbled back, before knocking Aaron away with a laser blast from its eyes. Aaron's suit sparked at the blast, throwing him backwards. Aaron quickly realized that the suit had actually absorbed the blow, making it hurt much less than it really would've. It still stung, though.
Teresa swung her fist at Monitar's snout - her hand connected, jarring Monitar and spinning him sidewards. She then leapt at him with a high kick, but in a lightning-fast move, he spun right around and caught her foot, catching her in mid-air and throwing her half way across the garden and right into a classroom.
Scott and Sarah both attacked with kicks to the chest, but Monitar batted Scott away and shot at Sarah with a laser blast. She skillfully ducked underneath the blast, before lashing out with a nasty right backhand that sent the lizard stumbling back. All of a sudden, Scott was by her side, and they both lashed out again, Scott knocking Monitar off balance and Sarah sending him flying. He came down with a thud, but in a second, he was back on his feet. Moving with such speed that he caught them completely off-guard, he slashed at both of them with his claws, sending them back in a blaze of fire and sparks.
At that exact moment in time, hundreds of kilometres away, eight voices groaned simultaneously. "That's not good," said Zac, worriedly.
Monitar looked around as we slowly picked ourselves up off our feet. "Please, try and do better than that," he mumbled, and then, the blue diamond on his chest began to glow again. "I doubt I'll get much out of them at all," he said.
Suddenly, I grabbed his shoulder, spun him around and smashed both my fists against his head. Quickly following that up, I spun around once, knocking him back with a kick to the head, before spinning around again and dropping him with a foot sweep. I didn't have time to finish him off - the others might be hurt. I quickly ran back to check on them. They were all a little worse for wear, but other then that, they all looked okay.
"What now?" asked Sarah. "That barely fazed him at all." It was true - Monitar was now back on his feet, facing us and hissing.
"I don't know," I murmured. "Anyone got any ideas?"
In the Command Centre, Tommy turned back to Zordon. "They can't do it," he said. "We have to go help them."
Zordon shook his head. "It is impossible. You are powerless, rangers. There is no way you could help them now. They are on their own."
"Don't worry," said Jason through gritted teeth. "They can do it. But they need their power weapons." And then, under his breath, as if to us directly, he began to chant, "Power weapons, power weapons."
Almost as if I'd heard Jason in the Command Centre, I suddenly realized what to do - we needed to call on our weapons.
"Guys," I said, as Monitar approached us cautiously. "We need our weapons."
"Good idea. Let's do it," agreed Teresa. "Uh, how, though?"
I shrugged. "Let me try something." And I raised my voice and held out my hand. "Power Sword!" I cried out. Nothing happened. Damn.
"What are you doing?" asked Monitar suspiciously.
I shook my head, clearing my mind. We were only going to have one more shot at this before he attacked us again. Closing my eyes in concentration, I focused on my Power Coin and the image of the sword that had appeared in front of me. Holding out an open fist, I tried again.
"Power Sword!" I shouted again. This time, as my fist began to close, a thin beam of orange light appeared in-between my fingers. It soon got larger, and my fist closed on a handle - my Power Sword had formed. The handle was black, with little orange stripes. The guard above the hilt was also black, but turned up decoratively. Above it was a little circle with the same picture of a Stegosaurus that was on my power coin. The blade itself was long, thin, and white.
"Cool," I smiled, glancing over my weapon.
"I'll give that a try," murmured Scott. "Power Staff!" And with that, a long, light blue staff formed in his hands.
"Power Whip!" cried Teresa, and the hand-grip of her whip appeared in her hand, the whip part trailing away behind her.
"Power Mace!" said Sarah, and a purple mace formed in her outstretched hands.
Finally, Aaron cried, "Power Blasters!" and two aqua laser pistols formed in his hands.
"All right," said Aaron, then he looked at me. "Shall we?"
I grinned beneath my helmet. "We shall."
"Yes!" cried Jason, back in the Command Centre. "They did it!"
Once more, we charged the monster. Monitar was totally unprepared for any attack. Gripping his staff with both hands, Scott viciously attacked Monitar, inflicting heavy damage upon the creature, and Teresa managed to snake her whip around the beast. Flicking her hand, she sent Monitar into a spin. As he got back up, Aaron blasted him with his hand-guns.
Monitar had had enough. He got up, turned and began to run. However, he didn't get far - Sarah and I stood in his way, blocking any escape.
With a wild battle cry, Sarah leapt at the beast, hitting him and smashing him with her mace. Monitar howled in pain, and as he turned to escape, I ran towards him and immediately slashed my sword across his chest. The blow was too much - he fell to the ground with a crash.
He got back up, and I attacked him again and again, slashing left and right, wielding my sword like a natural-born fencer. Finally, he could take no more. He turned away from me and back in the other direction, forgetting that the other rangers were there. "Now!" I cried, and Aaron began firing. The blasts smashed into Monitar and knocked him backwards, and Scott struck him with his staff, causing him to spin around. He fell towards me, and then realized what was about to happen.
"Good night," I smiled darkly, holding my sword straight out in front of me. Monitar fell onto it with a cry, impaling himself with a sickening crunch. But as he did so, my blade went straight through the blue diamond on his chest, destroying it instantly. Monitar fell to the ground and moved no more.
"All right!" cried Trini, watching the battle. "They did it! They defeated him!"
"Yes!" cried Jason happily.
I ran back to the others. "Everyone okay?" I asked.
"We're all fine," smiled Teresa.
"That was a damn good move," laughed Aaron.
"Thanks," I smiled.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light behind us, and we turned around to see an old woman standing by the monster. In fact, old was an understatement - she looked ancient. She wore a long red and brown dress, and had on a Madonna-shaped breast-plate. Around her neck hung numerous charms and jewels, her hair was done up into two horns that stuck out away from her head, and she carried a thin staff that ended in a large red orb. Although I may have described her badly, she looked quite terrifying.
"Who are you?" I asked.
She sneered evilly. "I'm Rita Repulsa," she cackled. "Who the hell are you?"
Teresa stepped forward defiantly. "We're the Power Rangers," she said.
The woman named Rita frowned. "Darn. Zordon used the extra power coins, didn't he?"
"You'd better believe it. Is that thing yours?" smiled Sarah, pointing to Monitar.
But Rita ignored Sarah and stepped back. "You can fight your way all right, but let's see you fight my way. Magic wand..." she said, holding her staff above her, "make my monster grow!"
Instantly, white energy bolts shot from the orb end of her staff, illuminating the whole area and striking the downed body of Monitar. There was a sudden hissing, and a great roaring, and then the body of Monitar was replaced by a giant foot. We realized quickly what had happened - Monitar had just grown. He was horrifyingly massive, easily as tall as a ten story building. He now stood with one foot on the oval and the other over the teacher's carpark onto the road, glaring down at us.
"Have fun," smiled Rita. She then literally melted into the air, leaving the five of us alone with the giant-sized Monitar.
"What now?" I asked, trembling with fear.