Author's Note:

This is an Alternative Universe (AU) Story which takes place nine years after the events of "Power Rangers Wild Force" and uses characters from "Power Rangers Samurai", but does NOT follow their original storyline! Also, I have to warn you: OOC. Enjoy!

Fighting the Darkness

The Beginning of the End

Pain. Heat. More pain.

His body hurt so much that he just wanted it all to end. The pain increased and he began to scream although he knew it wouldn't help at all. But suddenly the heat began to fade and he dared to open his eyes in surprise: All the flames, which had been surrounding him until a few seconds ago, were gone. The only thing he could see was a dark figure standing in front of him, watching him. Then he fell into the darkness...

Deker awoke the same moment he always did, the dream almost as familiar as his trusty sword Uramasa. This dream was hunting him the last nine years, ever since the first moment he remembered, but only occasionally. During the last two months, he had been dreaming about it almost every night!

With a little sigh, Deker stood up and took a little walk through the forest. There was something familiar about it, but he couldn't put his finger on it! Still the feeling remained, always leaving him with the hope, he would be able to find something which could trigger a memory that must be hidden somewhere inside his head. From his life prior to the darkness. Prior to the flames.

As a half-human Nighlok, he must have been a real human in the beginning, an unspoken fact that was disgusting him to no end. The thought that he had been one of this weak species! Whatever had happened all this time ago, he was glad for it since it had turned him into a strong Nighlok, a warrior with far greater power than he must have had as a human.

Right now there was only one ting that really bothered him: The curse which forced him to search the world for an opponent that was worthy to fight his Uramasa.

Deker's thoughts were interrupted as he heard humans talking not too far away. Without a sound he kept going slightly increasing his speed. A minute later he stopped behind a tree watching the scene in front of him.

An older man was standing on top of a rock, his eyes following every movement of two young men in their early twenties who wore mainly black training clothes and were fighting against each other. One of them had a darker skin and some blue stripes breaking through the black clothes while the other one seemed to be the same age, but with green stripes.

The later one laughed at his opponent and shouted: "Come on, Kevin, I know you can do better. I'm not even warmed up yet!"

The one called Kevin narrowed his eyes just before striking the other man down with one good shot right before a grin made its way onto his face:

"And how about that, Mike?"

Mike opened his mouth to answer and by the way he looked at Kevin, Deker could tell it wouldn't help to prevent a fight, but the old man interrupted them:

"Enough."

Immediately both men turned to him as he continued:

"The two of you have become stronger, which I am very proud of. Let us return to my mansion where you can get some rest! I think you should honestly consider this suggestion since you will be battling Mia tomorrow."

He turned and disappeared into the woods, leaving the two stunned men behind. The one called Mike slowly whispered:

"But Mia has been Mentor Ji's student for two years now and you and I have only been training for eight months now."
Kevin nodded:
"I guess we must have gotten pretty much better if he's really giving us the chance to fight Mia."

Both of them smiled at each other, clearly looking forward to this, then they followed their teacher.

Deker waited three minutes until he could be sure none of them was around any more, then he turned and walked to the opposite direction not really paying attention to his surroundings but thinking about what he had seen.

This hadn't been an ordinary training fight between ordinary teenagers! There was something different about these two men, he could feel it! He shook his head in confusion and tried to focus on that feeling, but he just couldn't work it out! Before he could think any further, his instincts alerted him and he froze. Again, he heard a human voice, this time a female one. He followed the sound until he was able to see the woman it belonged to.

She was blond and around his age, but what immediately caught his eyes was her clothing: Apart from her black jeans she was dressed in yellow: Yellow shirt, yellow jacket. Deker felt something rising inside him; something he could only describe as recognition, which was weird since he didn't remember her at all. But it still felt like he should know her face. He watched her while she kept talking to herself:

"I still don't know if this is a good idea, Eagle, but the fact that you came back to me must mean that I have to fight against the evil once again!"

She sighed and looked at a little yellow ball in her left hand. For some reason Deker knew that there was a little animal inside it, an eagle to be more specific. He didn't even make the effort of wondering how he knew that since there were obviously some things going on, he didn't understand. But he noticed she was taking the same way, the old man and these boys had been taking.

Again, he waited until he couldn't hear her any more and then stepped out from behind a huge tree. His first thought was to speak with some other Nighloks about what was going on, but his instincts told him to keep this a secret and since his instincts were the only thing he could fully rely on, he took a mental note to watch these humans more often. It definitely was the best way if he wanted to get more information! He would still be able to tell the others later after knowing more about this 'threat'.

Then he began to walk faster reaching the end of the forest...