Okay, so this is a continuation of the History of the Samurai Power Rangers AU story. First and foremost, I would like to recognize Darian Fawkes and Lily Hanson, whose stories inspired me to write this and any similarities are completely unintentional.
Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers.
1996
John Shiba had never seen his home as it was now. Panorama City, the city he and his team had defended for a year, was chaos as fires erupted from the various nighlok attacks. Moogers swarmed the streets, pulling civilians from hiding places and running them through with swords. Buildings were falling down as Byron and Jacob warred with giant moogers in the Battlewing Megazord. Through the swarms, he could see both Louise and Marie hacking away to no avail.
He worked tirelessly to hack and saw through the crowds. Whenever possible, he pulled a civilian from the grasp of the mooger onslaught, but there were simply too many. The gap portals continued to glow red as they emitted wave after wave of footsoldiers for the enemy.
John had been raised to be the red samurai power ranger. His father had been one, and his grandfather. It had been his family's purpose for a millenia. Trained in combat and tactics since birth, he knew exactly what the proper way to lead his team should look like. They should be cutting through the moogers like nothing with plenty of time to return home for dinner. That was what was expected of him. That was what his father had told him to do.
It had been this way throughout his time as a ranger: he would think about what was expected, and then his team, his friends, would show him that the expectations were flawed. This wasn't just a personal war; this could decide the fate of the world. A world he had been separated from for far too long.
Whenever he thought of the normal world, one not filled with fighting the nighlok, he thought of his family. As always, these thoughts came in the midst of a battle. His wife, Erin, had moved across the country to California to be with him after a chance encounter in New York. She had always kept him grounded and urged him to try to find a life outside of the samurai. He wanted that life for his children. Lauren and Jayden deserved to have a sense of normalcy that he didn't. He would find a way to give it to them.
Blasts from the megazord battle shook him from his reverie. Staring in stunned horror, barely parrying another oncoming mooger, he saw sparks of electricity overcome the megazord. He struggled to keep an eye on it as moogers took his attention, but he saw the tigerzord blasted to the city, chains erupting to snag it. "NO!" he shouted, but to no avail as the zord was dragged away.
That wasn't the worst of it. The megazord seemed to be disengaging, falling into the smaller zords that made it up. Finally, all that was left were the swordfish and beetle zords that the blue and green ranger swiftly jumped into as their battle continued.
From the wreckage, a small pentagonal shape flew to him. Landing on his shoulder, seemingly too damaged to continue battle, was the lion foldingzord. The zord had been with him since childhood, and had been his only playmate while trapped within the walls of the Shiba House. Seeing it was alright, he could do little more than a sigh of relief before he turned his full attention back to the battle at hand.
"John!" he heard Louise call. Unable to respond, he simply nodded and hoped she got the message. "There's too many. We need to retreat! We've already lost the Clawzord and the Tigerzord." She seemed to have made her way over to him, hacking a trail of moger as she went. "If we stay," she began, standing next to him now.
"We die," gasped, thankful that ranger powers staved exhaustion else he'd have fallen hours ago.
Another blind slash of his sword through a now mooger and John saw the root of their trouble. Master Xandred, lord of the nighlok, stood and watched as his forces brought carnage to the city. He seemed untouched as he brought misery to the city. In fact, he seemed to relish in the cries of the dying.
Typical, thought John furiously. Raising his sword, he prepared to charge.
Before he so much as moved, he felt Louise's hand on his arm. "John," she insisted. "We need to go."
Running was something he hated to do, but it seemed unavoidable. Flipping his samuraizer, he called into it. "Retreat. Get back to the Shiba House through any means necessary. We have to regroup."
Not waiting for a response, he and Louise charged back through the crowds of moogers. The final battle would not occur in the city.
The rangers, John, Louise, and Marie, had all demorphed and sat in the Shiba House common room. They were gasping while Ji, their friend and Mentor, tended to their wounds. Erin, too, was assisting by bringing out steaming cups of tea in hopes of calming them; they would feel no better until Byron and Jacob walked through the door.
As though having heard their prayers, the blue and green rangers stumbled in, de-morphing as they did so. Both were beaten and bloody as they clutched the wall for support. Jacob's shirt was torn and charred skin ran across his right side. Byron seemed to hobble as he clutched a profusely bleeding leg.
"Oh god," gasped Marie as they all rushed to catch the wounded rangers. Gripping their shoulders, Ji and John pulled them inside, though John struggled through his own cuts and bruises.
"We fought as-hard as we-could," Byron seemed unable to speak properly as blood seeped from his mouth. He looked mournfully at John. "The swordfish got lost as we made our escape. I'm sorry, lord shogun," he bowed his head. "You entrusted it to me and I failed to protect it."
"Fuck that," John snapped, leaning Byron back onto the sofa. Erin brought over a first-aid kit and he went to work on staunching the bleeding from Byron's leg. "I'm just glad both of you got away."
Jacob gasped as Marie moved ointment over the burn. "The beetle took a pretty bad hit, too. I've gotta say-hah-we were lucky to make it outta there at all."
Before he could respond, John saw his children peeking into the living room anxiously. Erin, too, saw them and shook her head. "No," she breathed, marching over to them. "Come on. Both of you are going back to bed. We set up that safe room so neither of you would get hurt. Don't even think about leaving unless your father or I come to get you." With that, she shoved them along.
"This is really bad," Marie stammered. "Ho-how do we stop this?"
Ji replied "You must stop Master Xandred. Without him, the nighlok forces will scatter and retreat."
"I don't think you saw us out there, Ji," snapped Louise. "We were totally outmatched. We don't have the power to destroy him,"
Their mentor seemed unphased. "I said 'stop' not 'destroy'. You may, as previous generations have, use the sealing symbol to stop him."
John chuckled morosely. "With the energy I have left, I'll be lucky to make a seal that lasts a year. Xandred's smart. He exhausted me before revealing himself. I don't have the energy to create a proper seal."
"You might," said a voice from behind them. Limping into the room, still injured from a week previously, was Maria. The gold ranger looked solemn as she spoke. "With our help. If we use energy symbols on you, transfer our power to you, then you might be strong enough to finish the seal."
There was a beat of dead silence before he debunked her plan. "Maybe so," he agreed. "But the sealing symbol takes time and without any cover, I wouldn't be able to do it before Xandred took me down."
"If we only transferred what you would need," ground out Jacob, face scrunched as the disinfectant was dabbed on him. "Then we could cover you while you finished this."
"Suppose you do have the power to do this," he cautioned. "That still might not give us a lot of time. At full power, the symbol only lasts about twenty to thirty years. We are all exhausted. There's no way even part of your strength would be enough to get it up to full power."
Byron stared solemnly at him. "We don't need full power." His voice was set. "We just need time to train the next generation."
"We have enough power for that," agreed Louise.
Around him, the rangers were taking out their samuraizers, beginning to draw the energy symbol. As each one was cast, John felt a rush of energy encompass him. He could tell that they understood what they were risking. This was his one and only chance. He needed to cast this symbol.
"Remember," he said, choosing to skip over the tearful gratitude, "Keep them off me at all cost while I cast the symbol. I don't have any energy to spare." As they nodded, the Gap sensor blared. Turning to look at the screen, they saw that Xandred and his forces were marching along the deserted path toward the Shiba House. This was it.
Without a word, the six of them rushed out of the Shiba House, adrenaline and ranger powers working to overcome injuries. As they stormed out, they traced their symbols in the air and called "GO GO SAMURAI!" With flashes of color, the power rangers went to face their final challenge.
John lagged behind as they ran, careful to allow the others to have a safe distance for their battle. It didn't sit well with him to allow him to fight while he simply drew, but the fact remained that it made sense. The sealing symbol was their only chance to survive this.
It felt like he was watching a movie as the others charged into the oncoming nighlok attack. The two sides charged into one another and the clash began. Seeing Xandred laughing in the background, John began the first stroke of the symbol.
One by one the moogers fell as the rangers fought, forcing Xandred himself to enter the conflict. John couldn't help but watch as his friends battled the lord of the Netherworld. First to battle him was Byron, still weak from his earlier battle. The two fought for a heartbreaking few minutes before the blue ranger fell and de-morphed. Then, to further prove the defeat, Xandred brought down sickening slices to the blue ranger, and John could tell no more.
Turning back to the symbol, John continued to draw it. Each stroke seemed to take a day's worth of energy from him, but still he continued. Byron had given everything for this. The least he could do was not allow the sacrifice to be for nothing.
Jacob didn't even last a whole minute after Xandred took over for the moogers. Two sharp slashes and the man was done; he flew to the ground with a THUD! Before Xandred could advance to finish him, however, Marie jumped in his path. Lasting longer than the other two, she managed to drive Xandred away from the fallen rangers before she too was defeated. John let out a shuddering gasp as he watched Xandred impale her now unmorphed body through the stomach and pull away.
It was almost done now. His arm ached from the energy loss he was experiencing, but there were just a few more strokes to be done before the battle was over. He just needed a little more time.
Having taken down the moogers, Louise and Maria aimed to best Xandred as a team. Together, they ducked and swirled around him, jumping and weaving as his attacks came. Finally, the nighlok struck a blow to Louise, de-morphing her and sending her to the ground with a gash across her chest. Maria, the least exhausted, held on for a few minutes of futile fighting before collapsing to the ground herself.
No one was left as Xandred approached the red ranger. "You think your puny seal will stop me?" mocked the nighlok lord. "You have been fighting for hours; your energy's been drained. You will never have the power to properly seal me away." He raised a red skinned hand and emitted a vibrating blast that John had to dig his heels into the ground to sustain. Still, the force was too much and he felt himself demorph.
Struggling to remain standing, he cast the final stroke. "I'm not just using my energy," he spat. "I'm using theirs. Samurai Symbol Power!" He cast the symbol forward. "SEAL!" It struck Xandred dead on and blasted him back with pulverizing force. John fell to his knees and stared as the nighlok screamed and was forcibly blasted into a gap. As the explosions dissipated, John collapsed.