Deswar Productions Presents:
Power Rangers Samurai vs. Ronin Warriors
Act 1: The Girl in the Leather Jacket.
(EXT: PANORAMA CITY, home of the Power Rangers Samurai. In the background we hear a true duet of "Everyday Fun", performed by Steven Skyler and Erika Fong, over shots of different parts of the city, before finally and slowly flying over the Shiba House to find that ANTONIO and MIA are actually singing the song, with JAYDEN accompanying them on guitar while the others watch. MENTOR JI is nowhere to be found. The song finishes and the watching Rangers clap.)
"Wow, Jayden!" Emily exclaimed. "You've gotten pretty good at that!"
"Well, Ji's a good teacher, and Antonio gave me some pointers." Jayden answered.
The six of them had gathered today to catch up on old times since their victory over the Nighlok five years ago. Xandred had been destroyed finally, rather than just sealed away, and although his advisor Octoroo survived, there was always a chance that they could return to cause more trouble in the human world. The Rangers were ready for that to happen, but for now, celebration was the order of the day.
The six heroes talked, laughed, and ate before it was finally time for them to go their separate ways once again.
"It was good to see you guys," Jayden replied. "Once more, for old time's sake?"
The other five knew what he was talking about. They all put their hands in and shouted their battle cry, raising their hands to the sky:
"Rangers together, Samurai Forever!"
"See you later guys; I've got class!" Mia said, heading off to cooking school. She had already gotten her Bachelor's and was hard at work on her Master's.
"I've got swim practice. See you later." Kevin added. He had been able to get back in shape, qualify for the Olympics, but failed to get any medals due the lost training time the Nighlok battle took away. He was now hard at work getting ready for the next Olympics with the hope of coming back with at least one medal.
"Yeah, we should get going too. Em needs to pick up some stuff for her sister." Mike explained. He and Emily had been going out since the end of the battle with the Nighlok.
"Don't forget; it's movie night at my place!" Emily reminded him.
"See you guys later!" Mike called as he and Emily walked off hand in hand.
"What about you Antonio? More fishing?" Jayden asked.
"Yeah! I still have time to bring in some money down by the pier! See you later!"
Antonio and his fish cart left as well. Once again, Jayden was alone. The only one of their group not to show up was his older sister Lauren, but she always seemed to have other plans. Yes, she was the only one who could perform the Sealing Symbol on the Nighlok. Plus, she was the head of the Shiba Clan unless something were to happen to her or she stepped down, but she was the only family he had left, and it would be good to see her every once in a while. As he sat alone on the front steps with his thoughts, Ji finally reappeared after missing the whole party.
"Ji! You missed the party! What have you been doing this whole time?" Jayden demanded.
Ji's odd behavior had started that morning when a letter arrived in the morning mail that he dropped as suddenly as if he had seen a ghost. Jayden had asked him about it, but Ji insisted that he was okay, but clearly wasn't, as he had spent most of the day and the entire get-together going through every single book in the house like a man possessed. Ji pulled the letter out of his gi and showed it to Jayden.
"See this symbol?" He asked, pointing to a sword on a bed of stars towards the bottom of it. Jayden due to his training knew a handful of kanji, but the letter was beyond him. Every single character on the page looked perfect. He nodded in response.
"I knew I had seen it before somewhere, so I have been spending this whole time trying to find where I saw it. I finally found this scroll with both the Shiba Clan Mon and this one. It turns out that at one point the Shiba were retainers to the Tennomi. This document is a record of that." Ji explained.
"The Tennomi?" Jayden asked. This was very strange. His family was retainers in the past to a clan that he had never heard about until now? This was a question to ask Kevin or even Lauren about when he got the chance.
"I asked Daisuke if he knew more. The only information he could find on them was that the head of the clan, his wife, and their only son were all killed one night by a rogue samurai with more balls than brains. I even checked records in Japan; all that they could find was that a shrine had been built around three graves."
"So it they were supposedly wiped out, who sent the letter then? " Jayden asked.
"I have no idea. The letter was signed simply by the seal of the Tennomi Clan. No name. "
"What did they want?" Jayden asked. The "who" was questionable, perhaps he could get the "what" out of Ji. The "why" was already clear; a legitimate member of the Tennomi clan was calling upon his former vassal to come to his aid, just as he had done with Kevin, Mike, Emily, and Mia.
"The writer of this letter says that Moogers were sighted in Japan, and apparently broke a dangerous criminal with ties to the Japanese Mafia out of jail. He or she says they were able to track down a descendant of the Shiba, namely you, and sent this letter asking for your help and that of your retainers to help him."
"Moogers? In Japan?" Jayden asked incredulously. Moogers, properly referred to as Nanashi Renjū, were the foot soldiers of the Nighlok. They came in various forms, including giant ones that the Rangers needed their Zords to handle, but why would they be involved in a jailbreak?
"Yes. This indeed is troubling. The Nighlok are only interested in causing trouble in the human world to flood the Sanzu River. This person must be important if they went to all that trouble to free him."
"Anything else?" Jayden asked.
"Only that whoever sent this will be coming here tomorrow. We should gather the others." Gi finished.
Meanwhile, Kevin had just finished practice and was drying off when his Samuraizer rang.
"Hey, Jayden. No, it's no problem; I'll be over tomorrow afternoon. The Tennomi? Yeah, the name rings a bell, but I could have sworn the head and his heir were wiped out in a single night."
Mia's cooking class had just wrapped up when she too received a call from Jayden to meet at the house tomorrow.
Mike was watching a movie with Emily at her place when his Samuraizer rang.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Hey Mike, it's me, Jayden. I know we just got together today, but can you come by the house tomorrow? Something's come up." Jayden explained.
"Yeah man, not a problem." Mike answered. Jayden noticed he was trying to keep his voice down a little.
"I can't seem to get in touch with Emily. Could you let her know? I'll send Ji to come get you." Jayden asked.
"Yeah, will do. See you tomorrow." Mike replied before hanging up.
In his lap, a sleeping Emily stirred and opened her eyes.
"Did I miss the movie?" She asked sleepily.
"Yeah, you did." Mike answered. Perhaps cuddling with him by resting her head in his lap wasn't the best position for her to be in.
"I'm sorry." Emily apologized.
"It's okay; you were tired."
"Who was that?" Emily asked, finally sitting up.
"That was Jayden. He wants us to come by the house tomorrow. He sounded worried about something."
"Well, you know Jayden. It has to be something big if he called after we all just got together."
Calls were also placed to Antonio and Lauren, telling them to come by as well. Lauren was the rightful head of the Shiba Clan; she deserved to be there in case whoever sent the letter wanted to speak to her. But it had been addressed to him, so it was clear their father's switch off had done its job.
"Well, that's everyone," Jayden said with relief after hanging up for the last time. "Let's hope we get some answers tomorrow."
Kevin, Mia, Mike, and Emily all arrived at the Shiba House early the next morning to find out what was so important. The five of them had just sat down on the ottomans around the living room table when they heard the revving of a motorcycle engine.
"Great…someone's taking my motorcycle again!" Mentor Ji exclaimed.
"No Ji, the sound's coming from outside the gates. " Jayden corrected.
"Mentor's old biker gang's come to visit?" Mike suggested. Emily elbowed him for this.
"No…that's not his bike. The engine sounds different." Mia clarified.
Before anyone else could offer an explanation, an explosion rocked the compound! The five Rangers and Ji rushed outside without a second thought to find the rear gates to the Shiba compound had been blasted into firewood. As the group stood spellbound as to who or what could cause such damage so quickly, they got their answer as a leather-clad figure slowly walked past the splintered remains of the back gates, their identity still obscured behind a helmet. Mike felt Emily grab his hand and squeeze tight.
"I'm scared Mike." Emily confided.
"Me too Em, me too. But could you loosen the death grip a little?" He asked.
"Sorry…" Emily apologized.
The figure stopped a few feet from the Ranger cluster, as he reached up and removed his helmet slowly, shaking his head from side to side to let his hair fall back down, revealing that he was indeed a she. A long haired young woman of Japanese descent clad in jeans, a pink shirt and a leather jacket with what looked like a pair of katana slung over her right shoulder stood before the awestruck Power Rangers Samurai. Mike then felt a sharp pain in his foot as Emily stomped on it.
"What was that for?!" He shouted almost obliviously, even though he knew exactly why; he just didn't think Emily would notice.
"I saw that!" Emily scolded.
Kevin stepped forward and tried what little Japanese he had learned during Samurai training to communicate with whoever this girl was before she rudely cut him off.
"I can speak English." She answered.
Jayden stepped forward in front of a still confused Kevin, who was sure that would work, and asked, "What do you want?"
"Which one of you is the head of the Shiba Family?" She demanded.
"I am." Jayden replied without missing a beat.
"Wait, isn't Lauren the head of the Shiba Family?" Emily half asked herself, half asked the rest of the group.
"Yeah, but she might not know that." Kevin concluded.
"Kev's right, the Nighloks didn't know about Lauren, so why would she?" Mike added.
"Lauren's not here yet, Jay's trying to buy time for her." Kevin reasoned.
"I hope he knows what he's doing." Mia replied.
After the other Rangers talked amongst themselves and Jayden and their visitor looked each other over, she started laughing.
"YOU?!" She exclaimed in disbelief. "You don't look so tough. My little sister could beat you with one hand behind her back."
Jayden's hands made fists at this remark, which Kevin observed and stepped forward before the team leader did something rash.
"Easy man, she's trying to get under your skin, remember what Mentor said about not fighting for the sake of fighting?"
"I know that Kev, but I need to buy time for Lauren if that's who she's really here to see." He explained. Then, to their visitor: "I'm tougher than I look, and I am the head of the Shiba family."
There was a long pause as the stranger let this sink in. All the Rangers, especially Jayden, hoped this would be enough to satisfy her. But their hopes faded when she reached up with her right hand and drew one of her two katana from its sheath.
"Prove it. If you're the real head of the Shiba, you should have no trouble beating me."
Jayden was torn. On the one hand, fighting for the sake of fighting was something he had been warned about before by Ji when he was adamant on fighting Deker. Jayden's reasoning had been that if he did not defeat Deker, Deker would continue to pursue him until their score was settled and his thirst for the ultimate battle had been quenched. But on the other hand, refusing to accept a challenge from another warrior was an act of cowardice in Samurai tradition and furthermore, by mocking him and his family name, and by extension his older sister, father, and all others who had come before him, he had to save face. He looked at Kevin, who gave him a nod of understanding. Of all the Rangers, Kevin was the most versed in the lore and way of the Samurai; he ate, slept, and breathed it.
Jayden was about to reach for his Samuraizer, but then paused; she didn't have any special advantages; at least, any he could see; so it would be dishonorable to morph now. But he would keep it close, just in case she was tougher than she looked, turned into a demon, or something else.
He instead brought out his Spin Sword as he slowly walked forward to meet her while the other Rangers and Ji took seats on the back steps. Jayden and his opponent took fighting stances as their eyes locked, their grip on their swords tightened, and almost simultaneously, they were off as clangs, non-verbal shouts and grunts rang out through the compound.
"Wow! Look at Jayden go!" Emily exclaimed.
"But she's no pushover either." Mia added.
"Who's winning Kev? I can't tell." Mike asked.
"You're right; they're pretty much dead even, but Jayden's got her figured out. Something's bothering me, though."
"Yeah, it's been bugging me too." Mike confessed.
"Boys, if you've got something to share, share it with the group?" Mia asked.
"Yeah, tell us!" Emily insisted.
"Okay. Before she challenged Jayden, she only drew one sword and left the other one in its sheath." Kevin answered.
"So you think she's holding back on purpose?" Mia asked.
"Or she's got a trick up her sleeve." Mike added.
"Jayden…" Emily said simply. Although she and Mike were going out now, she still admired Jayden's skills and leadership and was worried that he might have accepted this duel without knowing everything about his opponent.
Although out of earshot of the other Rangers as the ongoing duel continued to erupt around the back of the compound, Jayden did have the upper hand, but not by much, and not because he was better than her. He had noticed her only go for the one sword, so the alarm bells went off immediately in his head that she was up to something. What that something was, he still wasn't sure; she could be overconfident in her abilities and think she only needed one sword to beat him. She could be giving herself an intentional handicap, or more likely, and this was the hypothesis Jayden had his money on; both "a" and "b" and her preferred fighting style was with two swords, and she was waiting for the right moment to surprise him with it. Except what she didn't know, was that he had a surprise for her too…
"Hey, guys! Sorry, I'm late; the fish were really biting today!" Antonio exclaimed.
While the Rangers were intently watching Jayden's duel, they hadn't noticed Antonio coming through the intact FRONT gates, head out back, and proceeded to scare the distracted other Rangers out of their wits. In fact, they nearly jumped when they heard Antonio from behind them.
"Antonio! Man, you nearly scared me half to death!" Mike exclaimed.
"Late again as always…" Kevin said under his breath.
Antonio paused a moment to take in what was going on, and then started asking questions:
"Who's Jayden fighting?"
Mike: We don't know, she didn't say.
"She? Is Jayden fighting a girl? Is he at least winning?"
Kevin: He is for now, but Mike and I think she's holding back or hiding something.
"What happened to the gates?"
Emily: We think she blew them up when they wouldn't open.
"This fight is making me hungry. I'll go get some snacks for us." Ji interrupted.
"I'll help." Mia offered and followed him back inside.
"Is that safe?" Antonio whispered when he was sure Mia was out of earshot.
"Don't you remember? She's in cooking school now." Emily reminded him.
"Yeah, we can trust her with something other than a Spin Sword now." Mike reminded him.
Emily contemplated elbowing him for that comment; even he was speaking the truth; whenever the group would get together to catch up on old times, Mia would whip up something that was not only edible but delicious; but he still shouldn't have said it, so she elbowed him anyway. Antonio took a seat and watched with his fellow Samurai Rangers as Jayden, and the mysterious sword wielding biker chick continued to fight to almost a draw.
Jayden knew he had to do something; otherwise, this fight would go on forever with no clear winner. He had to morph, and soon, but it took time to draw the kanji and she wouldn't give him any. He'd give her an opening without making it look like he was, she'd sense victory and go for her other sword; then he'd roll away and Ranger up.
"You're not as weak as I thought you'd be." She taunted as they locked swords and tried to push the other away.
"You're tougher than you look." Jayden retorted.
"But it's time to end this!" They said in unison.
She kicked the bottom of her other sheath with her boot, launching the other sword out of its sheath and catching it, a move she did effortlessly and flawlessly, as Jayden rolled backward before she could strike, pulling out his Samuraizer in the same motion.
"Samuraizer! Go Go Samurai!" He shouted, drawing his kanji for "Fire" quickly and morphing into the Red Samurai Ranger.
"Yeah! Now we're talking!" Mike exclaimed.
"This proof enough for you?" Jayden asked.
"So you're a Power Ranger. I know how to deal with you, spandex-suited sissies." She scoffed.
Suddenly, Jayden's Samuraizer rang. According to the caller ID, it was someone named Doctor K.
Jayden held up a finger to ask for time as he answered it.
"Hello?" Jayden asked, and then handed to his opponent. "It's for you."
With a look of confusion on her face, the still anonymous biker swordswoman took the Samuraizer from Jayden and said "Hello?", only to get her ear screamed off by whoever was on the other end about how it was NOT spandex and in fact some kind of very advanced battle suit made of unknown materials before she cut the caller off by replying, "Sorry wrong number." She then handed the device back to Jayden.
"Now where were we…" she said to herself as the sound of hoof beats filled the air.
"Now what!?" she exclaimed as a white horse decked out in red with a tall, confident blonde girl atop it. A handsome man with shoulder length hair in what looked like Arabian garb, with a katana tucked under his belt, was hanging on for dear life behind her. They rode in and stopped short of the two of them. The black haired girl fighting Jayden growled at the interruption to her duel as the blonde on the horse pulled out what looked like a phone and unfolded it into what resembled a paintbrush (complete with pop out tip).
"Symbol Power! Sleep!" She exclaimed, drawing kanji quickly which flew at the other girl and she instantly passed out.
"Lauren! I wasn't sure how much longer I could have kept it up before she got suspicious. Thanks for the save, sis." Jayden replied.
"No problem, little brother. Besides, from what my new friend tells me," Lauren replied, indicating the man behind her, "a two-sword style wasn't the only thing she was holding back."
"Lauren!" Emily exclaimed at the sight of her other surrogate big sister's arrival as she and the other Rangers rushed over to greet her, since it was clear the fight was now over, just as Mia and Mentor Ji came back out with refreshments, only to find it was already over. What exactly Jayden's opponent was holding back would have to wait.
"Who was that?" Kevin asked, looking to the now sleeping swordswoman.
Lauren climbed off her horse and drew another few kanji on the unconscious Japanese girl. From what her riding companion told her in terms she understood, letting this girl "morph" would result in a large crater where Shiba House was.
"He knows." She replied, indicating the man on the horse.
"He says his name is Shinta Tennomi, and he's the one who sent the letter you told me about. Sleeping Beauty here, whose name is Sakura, by the way, was supposed to accompany him to act as a translator or something but she decided to race off on her bike and leave him behind. Luckily for me, I ran into him soon after she left him in the dust and hurried here before things could completely get out of hand. It looks like I arrived just in time." She explained.
Meanwhile, back in Japan…
A man in traditional Japanese garb with hair similar to Ji's was sitting Japanese style being told something by what looked like a Japanese stagehand. Other people similarly dressed were in the room as well.
"So let me see if I have this straight. They liberated the outfits of seven of your number, promising to bring them back, and said they were headed for America? And you say our Lord and the Princess were among them?"
The man in black nodded.
"TONO! HIME! How could you let him talk you into whatever crazy plan he has?!" The man shouted.
This brings this chapter to a close…