THE CIRCLE

- 01 -

'ANGEL CITY'


Demons...

Some say they don't really exist - they've been confined to the worlds of children's stories and mythology, and that there's no such things as monsters or creatures of the night. But demons do exist - they exist deep within ourselves. These are the ones we fight not with swords and armour but with confidence, esteem and a drive to overcome. We give them many names; depression, anger, hatred, loneliness...these are our demons.

Lies is another.

Lies in the form of what we teach our children - that the world is a safe place because there's no such thing as monsters. And yet there is - murders, rapists, evil dictators bent on ruling the world - these are monsters; the ones that are remembered by history, which conveniently forgets events which cannot be rationally explained within the confines of a one-dimensional mind. We forget the wars, the massacres, the bloodshed and the evil which we cannot explain, but then do we forget the heroes - the heroes who waged war on those monsters, who stopped the massacres and bloodshed, cursing that evil to spend eternity where it belonged - in hell.

But now, the world is about to remember...


If there was ever a night that could be described as perfect, it was this one. The stars high above danced and twinkled against the pitch black sky, accompanied by the pale light of the full moon looming above Angel City, California. All this reflected beautifully in the dark waters at the city's main beach.

At this hour, the beach itself was normally void of life, only the crashing of the waves and distant music from the nightclub on the promenade would interrupt its silent serenity. On this night, however, things were far different.

A young blonde looked on in horror as she witnessed something which she simply could not believe. She watched through horrified eyes as two warriors battled for their very lives right before her. Well, one of them was clearly fighting; the other was simply being torn apart. The latter was a tall creature - inhumanly tall. It had dark red skin on its body with its lower body covered in blue. The other warrior was much shorter; also covered predominately in red, with a black and white strap across their body, and a large black visor on their helmet. This warrior was also thinner and wore a skirt, leading the young witness to believe that this warrior was female.

The seemingly stronger warrior slashed her sword across the body of the much larger opponent, causing it to spark with damage as it tumbled to the ground. Just as it began to regain its composure, the other warrior ran over towards it, slicing their weapon across it once more, sending it flying off towards the right, once again sparking at it flew through the air.

"Welcome to Earth." called the standing warrior, resting the sword on her shoulder and keeping her attention on the monster.

Her voice was commanding, and warned that she meant business. Her accent was strong and aided her voice in commanding respect. The witness couldn't place it, but the young woman could tell that she was definitely not American.

The warrior slowly stepped forward, her focus set firmly on the creature that had been on the receiving end of her beating. Within her, the fire was burning and her mind focused. This was her moment.

"Now go back to hell!"

The young woman scrambled behind her savior, as a group of humanoid piranha creatures appeared from apparently out of nowhere to aid their leader.

The creature pointed towards the red warrior, and roared something incomprehensible to human ears. The monsters, however, must've understood perfectly as they hurdled themselves towards the Red Ranger without question.

"I was hoping you'd do that." the warrior said. The young woman couldn't be sure, but she thought that she heard a hint of glee and excitement within the hero's voice as she began running toward the incoming monsters.

As the ranger swung her sword across the chest of the leading creature, its chest sparked with damage and it stumbled back to the ground. She then proceeded to land a kick on the second creature's head, instantly knocking it out before slamming her sword through the third with ease. She then turned her attention to the main creature, the excitement flowing through her body like a drug, the adrenaline pumping through her veins and the fire burning deep within her gut. She wanted it - she wanted it dead.

The monster began advancing upon her, determined to rip her limb from limb. Due to its seemingly far greater rage and apparent frustration, the by-standing young woman thought for an instant that the hero may not have much an easy time defeating this enemy as first appeared, but these doubts were soon washed away.

"Power Blade!" she called, as she began to spin the black disk located just below the blade of the weapon. "Burning Tornado!"

As she span the sword's disk, the young woman's eyes found themselves opening wider with awe as the weapon held by the warrior engulfed itself in a spiraling continuous wave of fire, just as the monster was about to reach the red ranger. The ranger, seeing this, twirled the sword to anger the flames, before striking the monster across the chest, causing it to howl in agony, sparking multiple times before collapsing to the ground amidst an explosion the size of a small building.

As the Red Ranger re-sheathed the weapon, she glanced over at the cowering woman, and seeing that she was still in shock, decided to approach her.

"Don't worry." she spoke softly as she crouched down, coming to eye level with the hundled witness. "That thing won't be coming back."

The woman's only response was to look into the visor of the red ranger, her jaw still open from awe and shock. Red Ranger helped her back to her feet, holding her until she was able to keep her own balance.

"I don't understand." The witness said, her voice trembling as much as her entire body. "What were those things? What are you?"

The warrior stepped back slightly as she turned her head towards the sight of the explosion. "I'm..."

Underneath her helmet, she smirked as her heart rate slowed and the adrenaline left her body. Her mind calmed itself just as she turned to leave.

"Nobody." she spoke calmly. "I'm nobody."


Outside was far from dead.

Inside was even further.

As the city's youth danced and partied to the music of their age, one such member of that youth - a black male - was only dancing his way around the crowd to make sure that he never dropped any of the drinks he was holding. As he made his way back to his friends, he smiled at his own success of making it there with all beverages intact. Darting his eyes over the table, he saw all four of his friends relaxing, laughing and generally enjoying themselves. One of them, a young Caucasian man held the attention of the three women, one Caucasian on his arm, one Asian and one Black.

"And then 'bam!' I laid one right in it's face!" he said, imitating a fight with both his voice, and his free arm as he lightly punched the air before him. "And then I warned it to leave this place and to never harm a living soul ever again!"

As everyone lightly laughed at the actions and story of the young man, one other woman perked up.

"No you didn't." the young Asian woman said in between giggles.

"Well...no..." the young man responded, uncomfortably. "Actually, I ran away screaming like a little girl. But I think I sent it a message."

"Yeah." the Black woman giggled. "A message that says Angel City is full of scardies and strange little men."

"Johnny!" the man greeted the Black man as he sat down opposite him. "Will you please tell Olivia and Misha to quit their yapping while I finish my story?"

"Y'know Trevor..." Johnny began as he glanced over at the Black woman beside him before turning his eyes back to the other man. "You'd make one heck of a superhero."

This obvious sarcasm got rounding laughs from Olivia and his cousin Misha, but left Trevor and their other female companion taken aback.

"Hey." the woman said. "Trevor would make a great superhero. Wouldn't you baby?"

"Mmm. Thank you." he responded as they pressed their lips together. "Ladies and Gentleman, that is how awesome my Michelle really is."

"Johnny!"

Johnny's attention immediately turned to Misha beside him, who's face was skewed up as she placed her glass down on the table.

"This is regular coke."

"Yeah?"

"I asked for a vodka and coke." he sighed as she shook her head, much to Johnny's dismay.

"Misha, you just turned 21." he said softly. "Look I don't want you dri-"

"Yeah, 21!" she barked back. "Perfectly legal drinking age. Why can't you just trust me to drink responsibly?"

The rest of the table fell silent as discomfort set in.

"Forget it." Misha pushed herself quickly to her feet and turned her eyes to the bar. "I'll get one myself."

As she made her way through the crowd towards the bar, Misha felt the anger in her. "Argh. Men..." she growled as she reached the bar.

"One Coke with vodka." she ordered to the bartender, flashing her ID as she did. As the bartender nodded, she turned her back on the bar and rested there, and out of the corner of her eye, noticed a lone blonde woman sitting stirring her drink.

"Men suck, huh?" she asked the stranger.

"That they do."

The stranger looked up at her, flashing a quick if somewhat awkward smile.

Taking note of her accent, plus the fact that she was alone, Misha began to query the young woman.

"You're not from around here, are you?" she asked, making reference to the accent.

"No." the stranger responded. "Glasgow born and bred. Just moved here."

"Cool." Misha nodded. "Well, you'll love Angel City." she turned her eyes back over to the table where her friends and cousin sat, particularly glaring at Johnny. "It's got all the asshole, overprotective men you could ever ask for."

"Lovely." the stranger replied sarcastically, again flashing a quick smile.

"One vodka and coke."

Misha smiled as she accepted her drink from the bartender, closing her eyes as she felt the cool glass in her tightening grip against her warm skin.

"Hey," she spoke to the stranger. "I'm Misha, by the way."

She extended her hand for a handshake, which was accepted by the other woman.

"Stephanie." she responded, smiling again.

"If you want, you can join us." Misha darted her eyes back to the table for a quick second. "I mean, we're a decent bunch. Could help you get settled in."

"Oh..." Stephanie glanced over her shoulder. "Thanks, but…I'm actually here with somebody."

As her eyes scanned the room, they failed to locate the person she was looking for. Misha followed her glance.

"Oh that's okay." she said with a smile. "Just drop by if you change your mind."

"I might do that." Stephanie said. "Thanks."

"You have a good night."

As Misha began to make her way back over to her table, Stephanie returned to stirring her drink with her straw. It wasn't long, however, before she found herself joined by someone else.

"Woha." the new man said as he sat down beside her. "People in this city definitely know how to party."

She sighed, not lifting her gaze to him, instead keeping it firmly focused on the drink below. "Is that so?" she muttered.

"And what was that I just bore witness to?" The man asked as he sipped his drink. "A fine young lady asking another young lady such as yourself to join her and her friends. And I see that you bloody jumped at the chance to make some friends." he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he sipped again.

"Not here to make friends, Drew." She responded coldly as she finally looked at him with a face full of discontent.

"No but you do need to socialize a wee bit more."

He then glanced up, noticing that she continued to stare at him, her face looking almost empty of emotion. He placed his drink back down on the bar as he began to figure her out.

"What's the matter?" he queried. However, his only response was her simply staring back at him. For Drew, that was enough of an answer as any words could ever be. He quickly looked around him, making sure that no-one was listening in before leaning in to her.

"...How many?"

"One." she responded, as she returned to stirring her drink. "It came with an army of Piranhi. Attacked a girl just outside at the beach there."

"Type?"

"No idea." she returned to stirring her drink. "Was too busy blowing the thing up."

"Well..." he sighed. "Assuming you're right and this place is the source...what're you going to do about it?"

Stephanie sighed once more, and waited for a split second before she hopped to her feet, her advanced height allowing her to remain eye level with the young man she was with.

"What I always do about it, baby brother. Kick their arses like there's no tomorrow." she said with a smirk as she leaned in and kissed him on the forehead, before taking his hand and guiding him off his own stool. "Now come on. The hotel should have the room ready by now."

Drew took his place beside his sister as they linked arms and began to trundle through the dancing crowd of young party go-ers towards the exit and towards the night outside.

"And don't ever call me a 'lady' again." remarked Steph.


Not far from the nightclub stood the Ruttingdam hotel - an elderly building, small in size and even smaller in reputation. Deep inside, one of its many rooms lay very much dormant with all of its lights out and no life anywhere within. Only bags occupied the floor, awaiting the return of their owners.

The door to this room clicked with the turn of a key, and slowly creaked open to reveal two people, silhouetted against the light of the corridor, until one of them reached in and activated the lights of the room.

"Room 21B." said Stephanie softly. "Guess this is it."

"Hope so or we're in some other poor bugger's room." commented Drew, just as softly. That is, until he seen the actual size of the room ""Aw Christ…" he glanced around. "It's...it's tiny, innit?"

As Stephanie walked further in, she too took note of the small size, and the general condition of the room. The wallpaper was peeling, the bathroom door was lying half open, looking like the lock has rusted away, and most noticeably, the main part of the room to which they had just entered was doubling as the bedroom.

"It's..." she said as she sat down on the bed nearest the window. "It's far from ideal, I know."

Drew could almost laugh at that statement. "Far from ideal?" he quoted. "For God's sake woman it hasnae even got a TV." He sighed as he closed the door behind him and made his way towards the other bed.

"I know." Stephanie repeated as she rubbed her forehead. "But it's all we could afford."

"Aye I know." he sighed, slumping down onto the matress. "I just wish that things weren't like this."

Steph hopped to her feet and walked over to Drew, then crouched down so that she was eye level with him. "Hey, look at me." she said softly as she sat beside him, putting her arm around his shoulder. "I know things are tough, but we'll get through this. You know why?"

"Why's that?" he said unenthusiastically.

"Because we're in this together." She smiled at him. "You and me. That's all I need, Drew. You. My baby brother." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "We've never had much, but we've always had each other. That's all that matters, and if I think for one second that what I do places you in any kind of danger, then I'll back out."

"Steph, no..."

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt. You're my golden angel."

With that, he leaned over to her and placed his head on her shoulder, and she wrapped both her arms around him, making sure that he stayed there.


The view was less than stellar.

The sound was even worse. If you listened carefully to each wave as it crashed against the rocky landscape, you could hear the sounds of the lost and the dammed souls trapped within here moaning and screaming.

And these waves moaned and screamed, they were interrupted further by the presence of a passing barge, which itself was not much more of a comforting experience. Its sails hung high above, and resembled the skeleton of an angel. Its wooden decks creaked as it rocked over each wave of the blood-red ocean below. Inside the vessel, it's three occupants resided, almost peacefully. One of these occupants sat atop a rake of crates, stacked especially for her to sit as she strummed her harmonium, staring out into the red wilderness. The second occupant was a very stout creature with multiple tentacles drooping from his face. He was standing over a large book - almost as large as himself, making constant near-silent grunts as he did. The third resided in a separate room from the others, lying still and quiet, just as it had done for the past thousand-odd years.

The female creature turned her attention to the threshold leading to the room he rested within. Watching him slumber, if indirectly, she thought, was far better than staring out into the abyss that stretched to the horizon. At this stage, anything was better than that. Indeed, fate had not been kind to any of them. Despite, she still felt warmth in her heart when she stared at him. For the other creature, however, there was no such warmth.

"What are you doing?" she barked as she ceased strumming her instrument.

At first, it appeared as though the stout, octopus creature had not heard her as he remained fixated on the book before him.

"Working." he finally responded, his voice frail and quivering, almost sounding cold and aged.

The answer did not satisfy his female companion. "On what?!" She asked sternly, keeping her voice low so as to not disturb the resting creature, not that it would make much difference.

"I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to break the curse from the living world." he responded, keeping his eyes on the book.

"Be careful, Perak." The female turned her eyes back out of the window into the wilderness. "You almost sound hopeful."

"Dalas!" he rasped, finally turning to her, catching her attention once more. "Some of the demons we have sent made it to the living word!"

Dalas watched as he waddled over to the window nearest to him, and grabbed the measuring stick placed against the wall next to it, then proceeding to drop it into the sea below.

"They have obviously done some good." he murmured. "The blood level has risen."

Dalas jumped to her feet. The news had her somewhat intrigued. Joining Perak at his side, she studied the sea below. "So the demons have killed some humans?" she asked.

Perak removed the stick. "Yes." he confirmed. "The only way for the ocean to rise is if one of the demons spill the blood of humans, and the higher the ocean, the more powerful the demons we can send to Earth."

Dalas continued looking out at the blood-red ocean below their vessel.

"There's something else." Perak stated.

Dalas turned her gaze to him.

"Of all the demons we have sent out," he started. "Not one of them has come back."

She then turned her attention back to the sea below. "Interesting." she muttered as she strummed her Harmonium once more.


Drew McLauren didn't need an alarm clock.

As he felt something shake him back and forth, he slowly stirred away from his dreams of home back to a sobering reality, back to that tiny, television-less hotel room, and back to the sight of his older sister standing over him.

"Come on. Up!" she ordered. "It's after five."

"Aw you gotta be kidding me, man." he said as he rubbed his eyes. "I dinnae get to sleep until one!"

She smiled. "Sorry, Drew. I need you to get that demon tracking program running."

He groaned as he sat up. "At least.." he said before yawning. "Let's call room service for breakfast first, eh?" He reached for the phone, pulling the receiver off of the phone itself and putting it up to his ear, all before noticing that the chord was broken. "Phone's broken." he sighed.

Steph giggled. "I know. I went down and ordered earlier. They'll bring something up soon."

"Alright." he said before yawning again. "Then I'll at least go for a shower first. That is if this place has ever heard of running water."

She signaled to him that he was clear to do so.

"How long you been up?" he asked as he turned on the water.

She glanced over at her phone, proudly displaying the time of 05:07. "About a half-hour or so." she sat before sitting back down on her bed and rummaging through an open backpack and pulling out a fresh pair of black shoes.

A few minutes later, Drew reemerged from the bathroom much fresher and alert than he was when he went in. He glanced over to his bed where he saw his black laptop sitting awaiting him, and his sister sitting on her own bed fumbling through one of the many backpacks they had brought with them.

"When's room service actually supposed to get here?" he asked.

"I don't know, baby." she said, continuing to fumble through the bag. "Ah!"

Drew watched as she eventually began to remove things from it, starting with a small computer keyboard and a mouse. She then pointed to one of the larger wheel bags.

"The hard drive and monitor are in there."

He sighed as he looked over to the bag that she was pointing at, knowing fine well what she was wanting him to do.

"Steph?"

"Baby?"

"...Can I at least have a coffee first?"


If the night before was beautiful, the day after could only be better.

As the midday sun gleamed high over the city, residents were already going about their day, some working, others relaxing. In fact, in his home, one such resident was even doing both.

Jonathan Tucker fumbled around his small kitchen. At one end of the small room, he kept an eye on a frying pan with two eggs sizzling inside, and at the other, he planted two tea spoonfuls of coffee grains into two waiting mugs, and in between poured cereal into two waiting bowls. Johnny was certainly the morning person of the house.

Not that he had much competition in that manner.

In all the rush, he found time to glance up at the door to the room of his younger cousin, whose snoring almost drowned out the television playing in the living room.

Minutes later, he found himself lightly knocking on that very door in a vain attempt to waken her. "Misha?" he called. "Misha!"

When he got no response, he lightly pushed the door open, continuing to call her name as he approached the bed where he assumed that she was. In fact, if it wasn't for the snoring, he wouldn't be able to tell she was even in there at all, but sure enough, she was - hidden by her large duvet which surrounded her like an ocean.

"Misha?" he called again, this time slightly louder, accompanied by lightly shaking her until she began to stir.

"Uhh what?" she moaned, groggily. "Johnny it's not even nine yet."

"It's twelve." he explained.

"What?!" Misha yelled as she instantly sat up. "I'm late for work!"

"It's Saturday, you moron." he replied with a giggle, much to her annoyance. "You don't work Saturdays."

"Right..." she slowly rubbed her eyes, attempting to wipe away the tiredness.

"Come on. I got breakfast all ready." he guided her towards her doorway and out into the living room where the smell of fresh eggs and coffee were enough to perk her up.

"Mmmm." she murmured as she walked over to the counter between the kitchen and living room as the smell of fresh eggs and coffee passed her nostrils. "Anything to do with last night?"

Johnny sighed as he placed her coffee and cereal down on the counter. "Look I know I'm protective of you."

"Over-protective." Misha corrected as Johnny placed down her egg sandwich.

He leaned back against the counter, sipping his coffee. "I just worry about you, is all."

"Don't worry about me." Misha replied with a smile as she turned to walk towards the television. As she watched it, her thoughts began to change towards a different topic. "Worry about that..."

On the television, images played of the local beach, now looking as peaceful and welcoming as ever with its golden sand and deep blue waters, but the reporter on screen was describing a very different setting.

"Another of those monster attacks?" Johnny asked, looking on from the kitchen.

"Yeah." Misha responded, shoving the egg sandwich down her throat. "Something about a survivor."

"Well that's new." Johnny grabbed his plates and began walking towards his cousin. "You don't believe that it's actual monsters, do you?"

"I believe it's Angel City's finest." she scoffed, swallowing the sandwich. "So yeah, monsters it is."

Johnny thought it best to change topic - talking about monsters and attacks was far from his ideal morning conversation.

"So what're you up to today?"

"Oh I was going to meet Olivia and hang out." his cousin replied, now scoffing cereal into her mouth. "But she said something about a book store so I'm not gonna."

Johnny couldn't help but laugh a bit at her almost care-free attitude, contrasting completely with how she was the night before.

"Besides," she continued, between spoonfuls of cereal. "There's that Beach Party tonight, remember? Gotta get ready for it."

"Y'know what?" he began, smiling at her. "I can't help but love you sometimes."

"Sometimes?" she asked, shooting him a playful glare. "Anyway, I'm sure Livvy will be just fine on her own."


Olivia was on her own. Not that it bothered her much.

The Asian woman smiled as she walked along one of the many streets of Angel City, glancing down at her empty coffee cup in her hand as she did. She knew books weren't of much interest to Misha - or indeed any of her friends- and was in fact quite glad that she never tagged along, giving Olivia time to enjoy her own company.

As she walked past one of the city's sidewalk bins, she dropped her cup in and continued walking, thinking to herself how quiet the street actually was. Well, almost quiet.

"Hey Liv!"

Her attention was instantly drawn to the source of her name, and she smiled when she saw her long-time friend Trevor Logan making his way towards her. So much for her own company, she thought, not that Trevor's presence was to her annoyance.

"Hey!" she said cheerfully, greeting him with a hug. "What's my Trevvy-wevvy doing out here?"

"Okay, first of all..." he began, breaking the hug. "That name's reserved solely for Michelle."

Olivia pouted.

"Secondly, I was heading to a computer store around the corner. Looking to get myself some new gizmos."

"Gizmos?" she quoted as they began walking together.

"Well...what're you doing out here?"

"Oh!" Olivia jumped slightly with excitement. "New book shop I seen a few days ago. Just over there!"

A large grin crossed her face as she pointed the new bookstore across the street, just waiting for her to enter and spend, spend, spend.

"Laura's Bookshelf." Trevor muttered. "Well, I'll go with you if you go with me."

"Deal!"

As they crossed the road between them and the shop, they noted how there was no light emanating from within. This set some doubt in Trevor's mind as to whether the store was even open.

"Looks closed." he said.

This, however, did not stop Olivia from pushing the door open, revealing that it was unlocked. Excitedly, she creped in followed by a reluctant Trevor.

"Hello?" called Olivia. "Anyone here?"

Glancing around, Trevor could see that there was definitely little light, only a small table lamp on the counter perched over a reasonably large and presumably old book. The store itself was musty, and there was a sense of age within the air; almost as if each book had existed for centuries and had all come together for some mystical cause. This sent shivers down Trevor's spine.

Looking up, he saw a balcony extending around the shop like a ring, connected to the ground floor via spiral staircase at the far end of the shop. The wall alongside the balcony was bare, adorned with the same pale blue colour that covered the rest of the walls. He also noted two closed doors next to one another, and another two on the far end, therefore giving a mirror-effect. And yet still he felt a sense of unease in his stomach.

"Look maybe we should just leave, huh?"

Olivia, meanwhile, was having the time of her life. She was ogling at the books on the shelf with interest, glancing over texts with names such as "A history of Witchcraft" and "Vampyri", all adding to her excitement and glee. The books themselves were neatly lined up on the shelf, in no apparent order that she could tell, but she assumed it was likely by year that they were published or something along those lines. They also came in only three colours - red, blue and brown, adding to the mystical feel in the air.

Then she turned back over towards the counter.

"Trev, look at this!" Olivia said as she scampered over to it, eyeing the large, open book already sitting there, almost as if it was waiting for her. As she glanced over the off-white pages, her eyes widened with glee. "This must be like really old. I don't even recognize the language." She said quietly, flipping through the pages until one in particular caught her eye. She stared for a second at the picture of a fish-shaped warrior, before continuing to flip through the pages, before stopping at another a few seconds later.

Trevor glanced around nervously some more. Something about this place didn't sit well with him. This was made even worse when Olivia began reading aloud.

"Lit mi chetchum,

Un giarga margar..."

This was making Trevor more uncomfortable.

"Hey, should you be reading that out loud?" he asked. Olivia, however, took no notice and continued reading.

"Tiraum ún falu

Godes demán

Shiagi Mentos

Régairi Circlé..."

Olivia glanced over at Trevor, who simply looked on in confusion. However, seconds later their view of one another was suddenly interrupted. Oliva was thrust back by a sudden, blinding flash of light which sent her crashing into the wall behind her, dazing her for a few seconds. She coughed loudly, and shook her head, trying to shake the new feeling of nebulousness that had set in. Eventually, she lifted her head up, expecting to see Trevor standing over her to help her back to her feet.

He wasn't.


Back in their home, Misha and Johnny were to be found still in front of their television. Misha was drifting in and out of sleep, while Johnny's eyes were focused on the soccer replay reel playing on the set itself.

Until they found themselves blinded.

Johnny and Misha were thrust sideward to opposite ends of the sofa, separated from one another as a brilliant flash of light took them both aback. Misha screamed as she covered her eyes in the exact moment it happened, while Johnny was left without any time to react at all.

After a few seconds of nothingness, both shared a concerned stare. Concerned for the well-being of the other, and concerned about what they had just experienced. Johnny felt it best to break the silence, saying what both of them were thinking.

"What the hell was that?" he muttered.


"What the hell was that?!"

Trevor yelled as he began to push himself into a sitting position. He too had been thrust backwards by a blinding light of an origin which was not immediately obvious.

The response was less than what he had hoped for.

"Uh oh." muttered Olivia, as she pushed herself up the wall to regain her stance, attracting a concerned look from a still hazy Trevor. "I think that might have been some kind of spell."

"Spell?!" Trevor quoted, completely in shock. "As in 'magic' spell?"

She nodded, although he struggled to make it out completely. That didn't stop him from knowing her answer.

"Livvy, what did you do?"

"What are you doing?"

Both sets of eyes darted to the landing above them - to the balcony, upon which stood a young woman. Despite her hazy eyes, Olivia could see that this woman appeared younger than her -probably around 20 or so- with rich brown hair and was holding a steaming cup of coffee. The newcomer darted towards, and then down the spiral staircase, headed directly for the counter before Olivia.

"I'm sorry, I..." Olivia began as she felt her senses slowly begin to return to her.

"That's my personal book." the young stranger said, as she reached the counter. "It's not for sale. Please see the shelves for one of many which are." She raised her arm out behind her, pointing to the shelves on the wall.

Between her and that wall, Trevor pushed himself to his feet slowly, using all of his might to keep his balance as he shook his head again. "Actually...I think...think we're gonna go."

A very nauseous Olivia nodded as she began heading for the door, stopping only for a second to ensure that she did not lose her own balance.

Without saying anything further, she and Trevor pulled open the single frame door and quickly departed the store, leaving the mysterious woman alone, staring though the door though which the two had just departed.


The ocean below was as silent as a haunted house on Halloween. The moaning and groaning seemed louder than ever, almost as if those lost and damned souls were reacting to something - something powerful; so powerful as to cause the dead unrest.

Its waters were also in disarray. They were as rough as they had ever been, crashing against not only any aspect of land they could find, but also against - and causing much a rough sail for - The Barge of the Undead.

On board, Dalas found herself on the deck, screaming in agony and clutching her head with both hands as she felt a stabbing pain shoot through it with the force of a lightning bolt. This was in complete contrast to her usual quiet and calculating demina, and caused Perak both confusion and even panic.

"What is this?!" he yelled with his raspy voice, staggering towards the window as the vessel rocked up and down over the waves. As he made it, he rested both hands on the edge of the empty window for balance, sticking his face overboard, almost as if he was looking into the very faces of those moaning souls. "What's going on?!"

Then, as suddenly as it came, the moaning stopped, as did the rough waters and Dalas' screaming. Instead, she was left panting heavily as her body began to recuperate from the traumatic experience it had just suffered, and she slowly pulled herself back onto the crate which she usually sat atop.

"It's.." she began, still attempting to catch her breath. "It's them."

"What?" Perak wheezed back, attracting her eyes over to his own. He began waddling over to her. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" she snapped back, still feeling a twinge of pain as her companion stopped in his tracks. "One of them casted the activation spell. I sensed the magic."

"And so did they." Perak noted, referring to the souls below as he glanced over to the large window to his right - the very same that Dalas had spent many a century staring out of.

"Perak this is serious!" she growled, her voice full of hatred and bloodlust, pulling herself back off the crate and grabbing the smaller creature by his shoulders, hoping that he would provide her with something she could use to satisfy her desire for causing pain.

"I know." the stout creature retorted, pulling himself free of her grasp. He turned and waddled back over to his books on the far end of the room. Dalas watched as he began rummaging through one of them. "Still, you did say 'activation' spell..." he slowly turned back to her. "Didn't you?"

Slowly, she nodded. "Yes."

"That allows us an advantage." he responded wheezily as he returned his gaze to the book he held in both his hands. "The Piranhi can smell the mystical energies of demons, witches..." he coughed. "Or even The Circle."

Dalas perked up. Perak's words struck a chord with her, and what's more, gave her an idea. She pushed herself off the crate with ease, making sure to pick up her harmonium from the deck before walking over to the large window.

"Piranhi!" she yelled, opening her arms to summon the demonic creatures from the depths of the crimson ocean below the vessel upon which she stood.

Dalas and Perak watched as the dark red waters began to sizzle and torrents of air bubbles surfaced. From these pools of bubbles stemmed a hazy, almost mystical stream of smoke. These then merged into one and darted towards the vessel, shooting past Dalas and materializing behind her in the form of ten of the demonic foot soldiers that she had just summoned. The skin of the creatures matched the deep crimson of the ocean. This, along with their piranha-shaped heads made them look as menacing and dangerous as they actually were. Their yellow armor and brown leg stalkings covered their main body, giving them a formidable fighting attire. Each of them bowed their heads as Dalas turned to them, awaiting her instructions.

"You will go to Earth." she ordered them, waving her hand over them as if it allowed her more power over them than she already had. "Go there and seek out The Circle."

Each creature kept its head bowed.

"Seek them." Dalas continued. "Find them. Kill them."

The creatures nodded and began making their way back out the window. As each of the creatures leapt overboard, back into the blood ocean from which they came, Perak kept his eye on his female companion.

"Still," he began, his voice as raspy as ever. "This doesn't explain why we've heard nothing from any previous demon we've sent out."

Then it hut him.

"Do you suppose one of them has been active already?"

"Humph." Dalas said as she brought her harmonium up, holding it once more in both her hands and strummed it once more.


The beach can be a lovely place sometimes.

The beachside cafe, however, was even lovelier.

Late afternoon saw a group of young adults sat around one of its small, white outdoor tables - a group of people who should be enjoying their day, relaxing in the sun with each other, and yet not one of them had a smile on their faces.

"Wait, you guys too?" Johnny asked curiously, leaning in.

"'Too'?" Trevor quoted. "It happened after Livvy here did some magic mumbo-jumbo and sent me crashing to the floor!"

This caused Johnny to smile slightly, both in confusion and in somewhat entertainment at Trevor's choice of words.

"Magic?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

Misha looked on with interest, showing little signs of seeing the humorous side like her cousin, while Olivia kept her head down.

"It's not like I meant to." she muttered.

"I know." Trevor said, glancing over at her.

"Guys."

All eyes fell back on Johnny, who was still sitting with a slight grin on his face. "Magic? Are you kidding me?"

"Well how about you explain it then, genius?" Trevor snapped back. "We all suddenly experience this great flash of light, even though we were at different ends of the city when it happened and we all experienced it after she finished reading from this weird book."

"Wait..." Misha began, attracting the attention to her. "Book? That new bookstore?"

"Yeah." Trevor nodded. "There's something really weird about that place."

"I'll say." Johnny remarked, still smiling. "You going into a book store, Trev? That is weird."

Trevor scowled, as did Misha.

"Don't be an ass. " she ordered, keeping her tone cool yet commanding, causing Johnny to shoot her a scowl of his own. "Livvy." She reached under the table and placed her hand on Olivia's leg to get her attention.

Olivia finally lifted her head, glancing into Misha's welcoming and forgiving eyes.

"Why don't you take us to that bookstore? Whatever happened, we might get answers there."

Olivia began to pull herself up, as did the others.

"Yeah, there was this weird store-keeper girl." Trevor said. "Willing to bet she has those answers."

Just as the group were about to make their departure, they were interrupted by a series of screams coming from the cafe. As they each turned to see what was going on, they each saw something they did not ever expect.

The Piranhi slowly advanced upon the group, their eyes set on them like they were hunters homing in on a vulnerable prey. In a way, they actually were. The group of demonic creatures waved their swords and yelled something only they could comprehend, much to the terror of the group.

"Run!" Johnny screamed as the group wasted no time in following his command. However, the creatures were instantly in pursuit, and it took them little time to catch up with the fleeing humans.

Misha's heart raced as fast as her legs. Unfortunately, her legs gave way and she tumbled to the ground, causing the others to stop, knowing that one of their own was down.

"Misha!" Johnny called as he ran back to her in the direction of the oncoming creatures, picking her up just as they were on top of them.

He pushed her away again as one of the monsters swiped down at them with its weapon, missing each of them by inches. Johnny ducked and dogged various swipes of the sword, before catching it in both hands. The monster began to overpower him, lowering it's sword to his face as he attempted to push it back. Using all of his might, he thrust the monster backwards, freeing himself, before landing a punch square in it's face, knocking it to the ground. Unfortunately, he never saw another of the creatures heading towards him until it tackled him to the ground.

Misha, meanwhile, was still ducking and screaming. She attempted running from the one swiping at her, until she found two others blocking her path. Seeing no other way out, Misha thought on a new plan, and kicked the monster that had been swiping at her. The creature stumbled back, and its friends who had attempted to stop Misha's escape decided to enter the fray and grappled her. They were holding her arms back as she waved her legs, attempting to find the momentum to free herself. They then threw her to the ground with quite some force like she was a rag doll.

Trevor was also attempting to avoid the monsters attacking him. He too was unsuccessful as one kicked him in the gut, making him stagger back, yet retain his balance. He had little time to recover as the creature that kicked him grabbed his shoulders and tossed him aside with ease.

Olivia screamed as she ducked an attempted swipe by one of the monsters before attempting to run away, her entire body trembling from fear. She got a few steps before one creature grabbed her by the hair, causing her head to snap back in agony. The creature then kicked her square in the chest, sending her crashing to the ground.

As the monsters re-gathered together before them, the humans regrouped, each of their bodies still screaming in pain from the beating they just took.

"What'll we do?!" screamed Misha as loud as she possibly could, given her beaten body.

Glancing over his shoulder, Trevor found out exactly what they were to do.

"Plan A." he responded, between heavy breaths. "Run!"

Once again the humans wasted little time in responding to that command. The group took off with such force, finding the adrenaline within helping them gather the energy for speed - their flight instinct kicking to life.

The Piranhi were about to get back into hot pursuit of their prey and fulfill the mission set to them by Dalas. However, just as they were about to follow the humans, they instead found their bodies light up with sparks as if they had been electrocuted by a lightning bolt.

A lightning bolt of fire.

Seeing that the humans were clear of the fray, Red Ranger leaped from her spot atop one of the promenade's many buildings, welding her Power Blade in her right hand. She somersaulted through the air, and upon landing, rolled over her shoulders and instantly began striking at the monsters. Two of the creatures brought their own swords down upon her, but she blocked with her own, before mustering some of her arm strength to over-power them, then swiping her weapon across their chests, sending them into an array of sparks. Without turning, she stabbed a Piranhi behind her before it had the chance to attack, then removed the weapon, kicking away another of the soldiers as she did, before swiping the weapon across its neck, instantly beheading the creature. Turning to the other creatures who had regrouped, Red Ranger began spinning the disk on her weapon's hilt.

"Power Blade!" she called. "Burning Tornado!"

As the flames spiraled up the blade of the weapon, she slashed it through the air, sending a wave of intense fire that incinerated the remaining monsters with ease.

Now that she finished off the last Piranhi, each of them erupted into its own small explosion, indicating to her that the battle was over.

Beneath her fiery red helmet, Stephanie breathed a quiet yet forceful sigh of relief. No-one had needlessly died here today, and for that, she was eternally grateful. She was also grateful for something else.

She raised her right hand to the side of her helmet, towards her ear and tapped the cold red material.

"Drew." she spoke, attempting to garner the attention of her younger brother. "You there?"

Though Drew had boasted to her that his communication system was state-of-the-art, the delayed response from her brother made her wonder just how true that statement was, or if the delay was just Drew being Drew.

After only a second which seemed to last much longer in her mind, she heard the response which she had been hoping for.

"I'm here." Drew confirmed his tone initially quite serious and on-task. Quite the opposite of what Drew normally was when demonic activity was not involved.

She smiled slightly at his response, if for little reason other than knowing that he wouldn't dare be anywhere else but in front of that computer of his tracking the action. "Your program worked like a charm." she noted.

"They were there?" he queried.

"They were there..."

She turned her head back to where the monsters had been moments earlier as they exploded, as her mind began working. She recalled the events of the previous few minutes in as best detail as she could, and felt a growing sense of concern in her gut. She turned her head and stared out in the direction which the group of humans had taken off in. Her mind continued its work as she recalled watching how the demons had singled them out within what was a reasonably busy area, and she began to wonder why.


Laura's Bookshelf was normally a quiet store. Not to say that it never had its fair share of custom for a store of its caliber, but it was quiet enough to be solitude for those wishing to escape the bustling lifestyle of Angel City.

That was about to change.

Olivia Guyver thundered the door open, catching the attention of the sole inhabitant of the entire store as she and her friends poured in, clearly out of breath and scared out of their wits.

The storekeeper, whom both Olivia and Trevor recognized as the mysterious girl from before, was descending the staircase with a handful of books when it happened. The recognition was mutual.

"You again." she greeted cooly, peering over her books as she stopped on the stairs. "Did you forget something?"

"Yeah." responded a much out-of-breath Trevor. "We forgot to ask you what the hell is going on!"

The response he received was less than what he was looking for. "I don't know what you're talking about." This, teamed with her retaining of her cool tone began to grate Trevor's nerves.

"The hell you don't!" he yelled, gesturing towards the counter where the book Olivia read from earlier remained, this time completely closed. "Olivia here cast a freaking magic spell then we get attacked by some kind of demonic creatures!"

As soon as these words left Trevor's mouth the stranger's demina completely changed. The blood seemed to drain from her face as she lowered her handful of books.

"Demonic creatures?" she quietly asked.

"Yeah." Misha squealed. "Giant fish monster things!"

The stranger's eyes drifted away from them as she entered deep thought. Now she understood what the group were talking about.

"Piranhi..."

"And I saw those things before!" Olivia yelled at the girl, just as the latter darted down the remaining stairs and placed her books upon the counter before rummaging through the main book which Olivia had earlier read through. "I saw it in that book!"

The keeper looked up again, this time locking eyes squarely with Olivia.

"You read this book?" She asked.

Olivia scratched her head, both in confusion and embarrassment. "Well...yeah. I mean it was there and...and stuff..."

The stranger shook her head. "No I mean, you read this. This book can only be read by..."

She looked off to the side, again deep in thought, only to instantly return her eyes to the group of individuals before her. Despite, she quietly thought aloud, although just loud enough for each of them to hear her. "...by a chosen few..."

"Chosen few?" Johnny finally spoke up, gaining the attention of the stranger for just a split second before she returned to her book, rummaging through the pages once more.

"The chosen few..." she began, keeping her eyes down on the book before her as she spoke. "A group of elite humans chosen to defend the Earth against demonic threats."

Finally, she found the page she was looking for and returned her gaze to those before her.

"In ancient times, that group was known as 'The Circle'. They waged war on the demons and sealed the worst of them to the depths of hell."

The group just started at her as she continued her story.

"Those demons you encountered - the Piranhi - are basic foot soldiers usually created by an Emptháa Demon..." she glanced back down at the book again. "I'm only aware of one Emptháa in existence."

"Wait."

All eyes fell on a very confused Misha, who raised her hand up slightly almost as if she were in a classroom, wishing a teacher's attention - in fact, that's actually how she felt. "What does this mean for, well, us?"

"You." The stranger responded, standing up straight as a small smile crept over her young face. "You are that chosen few."

This did nothing for solving the confusion experienced by each of the group, as well noted by their facial expressions and general body language.

Noting this, the stranger continued. "The Piranhi can sense mystical energy given off after a spell is cast. They can, in essence, smell mystical energies."

Olivia glanced over her shoulder to her friends just as something clicked in her mind. "That would explain why they came right after us."

The girl nodded.

"The spell you cast" she continued. "That activated your powers."

"Powers?" Trevor pondered. "What powers? I didn't see any powers."

"That's because you haven't harnessed them." The strange girl disappeared beneath the counter for merely a second. "To do that..."

She popped back up again, placing upon the counter a large, black steel case.

"You'll need these."

The locks of the case clicked as the girl undone them, before twirling it around and pulling the upper half back, revealing inside four red and black clamshell phones encased in black foam.

"These," she began, motioning for each of the group to collect one of the devices. "These are your morphers. They are your keys to accessing your weapons and armour, as well as the vast interweb of knowledge that will be at your disposal."

Each of the group marveled at the devices in their hand. They turned them around in their hands, passed them from hand to hand and inspected them up close, all in amazement. Johnny, however, remained somewhat skeptical.

"And how do we access these 'powers'?"

"Flip the device out, and use the activation phrase 'Summon The Circle'." The stranger calmly replied, closing over the now empty case. "The next time the demons attack, use the morphers. Trust me, you won't regret it."

Johnny took a look over at his friends, seeing in their eyes that each was just as dumbfounded as he was, but they seemed to be much more open to the entire scenario than him. Of course, Olivia and Trevor were here when this all began, and all of them had been attacked by strange monsters, but he was still left with a few questions.

"Trust you?" he asked rhetorically. "We don't even know who you are."

In response, Olivia leaned back to him and began whispering. "That'll be Laura." she said. "As in 'Laura's Bookshelf' - the store we're in."

"Oh..." Johnny replied, glancing over at Laura who simply stared back while nodding ever so slightly to confirm Olivia's answer.

Laura puffed her cheeks as she slowly walked around the counter towards the group, breathing a heavy sigh as she did. "We still have one problem, however."

The group locked eyes with her, each of them clearly wishing to know what that problem happened to be.

"And what's that?" Olivia asked.

"Your morphers," Laura began. "They will mask your mystical scent. The Piranhi won't be able to track you down."

"Well that's a good thing...isn't it?" queried an uncertain Trevor.

"No!" Laura shot back sternly. "They look for you, they can't find you, and they get frustrated and decide to satisfy themselves in other ways." She darted her eyes across the group. "Most likely finding a group of innocent people to terrorize."

As each of them lowered their eyes to think, Misha's grew wide almost instantly. She had it. She knew. "The Beach Party!" she exclaimed. "Tonight at sunset. That's where they're going to be!"

"Then that's where you're going to be." Laura explained. "Sunset isn't long away now. You better go."

Reluctantly, the group began filtering out, one by one. First Misha, then Trevor, followed closely by Olivia. Johnny remained still in his very spot, his eyes locked with Laura's only for a few seconds, but long enough to send a message - he never quite trusted her, but eventually, he too left, following his friends out into the evening light, and into what he perceived as complete uncertainty.


"They should be back by now!"

Dalas grumbled as she smacked her hand down hard against the wooden crate which she sat atop. She was angry, but also concerned that her soldiers had not reported in. She knew if they had succeeded, they would have done just that. Therefore, there was only one possible reason for their silence.

"Perhaps they were defeated." Perak replied, placing down his favourite book on his own crate which he used to store each of his books, before turning to her. Dalas glared back at him - she knew he was right of course, but she didn't want to hear it, least of all from him.

She jumped off the crate and walked back over to her favourite window, eyeing the blood ocean below, before casting her arms out to her side as before, raising her head slightly as she spoke.

"Depths of the Blood!" she yelled. "I summon a soldier to lead my army."

Upon her command, the waves of the ocean began to pick up. Dalas remained rooted in her spot with her arms extended, while Perak watched on. One of the waves gained so much height that it crashed through the window, but completely bypassed Dalas, missing her head by mere inches. As she turned around, she saw that the wave had resulted in exactly what she had asked for.

The new arrival was tall. Predominately black with silver chest and head armour, some of that armour extending out on the right side of its head to form a short horn, and on the left shoulder to form a two larger horns. Its eyes, however, appeared the most dangers - small, cold and as red as the oceans below.

Behind the creature stood a small army of Piranhi. Like the creature before them, they stood silent, head lowered and awaiting their new mission.

Dalas wasted little time in giving them that very mission.

"You," she began, walking towards the lead monster. "You will take the Piranhi to Earth. Your goal is simple - find a group of humans and attack them. Use them to lure out The Circle."

Silently, the creature nodded and bowed in respect for Dalas' order, before walking over to the window through which it arrived and leaping overboard, followed closely by the demonic foot soldiers.

"Dalas" Perak wheezed as he stared at her from the other side of the room. "If The Circle have only just been activated, then what do you believe happened to the other demons we've sent out?"

She glanced over at him. "That's a Vorkah demon." she said coldly, referring to the lead creature she had just dispatched. "It'll take much power to destroy, so be ready for it to return with the information you seek."


As the sun lowered over the horizon of Angel City, the city's beach found itself cast under a red sky, an eerie omen of the events about to take place.

None present, however, were aware. Instead, they danced to the loud music projected from a DJ station and consumed the beverages they had either brought with them or bought at the beachside cafe. The youths were happy, enjoying themselves, generally spending a Saturday night partying in one of the most beautiful spots of the city. All in all, it was a perfectly average evening.

That is, of course, until someone screamed.

The Vorkah demon was intent on having a party of its very own as it and the Piranhi instantly began their assault. The youths spent little time staying around, as they began running and scurrying away from the new threat that was apparently there to see to their deaths, and this was not something any of the civilians wished upon themselves as they fled in the opposite direction from which the newcomers were advancing from.

Except not all of them were running away from the action.

Johnny, Misha, Olivia and Trevor ran through the crowd, heading right for the demonic army wrecking havoc. Once through the crowds, they stopped, eyeing the monsters before them. The demons all turned to face them.

"Hey." Trevor spoke. "Don't remember that guy before."

"Yeah you'd remember him." confirmed a rather nervous Olivia. "He's all big and evil and stuff."

Misha smirked as she glanced over to her friends, Olivia and Trevor to her left and Johnny to her right. "Well let's do it then!" she said, flashing her new morpher, resulting in not only growls from the monsters, who simply waited to understand what was going on, but also in a strange look from Johnny.

"What?" she asked. "Let's do it!"

"Fine." he muttered, pulling out his own morpher, as Olivia and Trevor did the same before all four flipped them into phone position.

"Ready?" Johnny asked, pulling back his morpher-welding arm.

This in turn resulted in similar looks from the others for only a second. "Ready." They all responded together.

Each brought their arms over their chest in a cross.

"Summon The Circle!"

They each swiped their arms back out to their sides, activating the morphers.

The creatures shielded their eyes from the brilliant flash of light for merely a second. When they looked back, they saw that the humans had gone, now replaced by four coloured and armed warriors.

Each of the new rangers marveled at their new coloured suits as they felt an incredible flow of power pulse through each of their bodies. The Vorkah, however, gave them little time to enjoy it, raising its arm out and pointing to the rangers. While it remained silent, the Piranhi knew exactly what to do, and they began hurdling themselves at the new warriors.

Johnny - The Blue Ranger - brought his fist out before him. "Alright, let's send these things packing!" he roared, before running towards them, followed closely by each of his friends.

Blue Ranger flipped over one Piranhi and upon landing, blocked an attempted punch from another with his wrist, scoring a kick square to its head. He then twirled around, caught another of the creatures by the wrist and punched it in the face, sending it falling back to the ground. As another came at him, he swiftly dogged it, opening his belt buckle to remove a large black disk and attaching it to the handle of the weapon sheathed at his side.

Upon removing the weapon, he began spinning the disk wildly.

"Power Blade!" he roared. "Aquatic Storm!"

The blade of the weapon glowed a bright blue as blue flames encircled it. He then slashed the weapon through the air, causing it to send out a powerful wave of blue energized water which upon impact sent the Piranhi into a flurry of sparks, and some fell to their end.

Yellow Ranger - Misha - was scoring kicks all round. She blocked an attempted swipe at her gut with her right leg, mustering all her leg strength to kick the monster away, before instantly using the same leg to attack another incoming demon. This one, however, caught the kick, and Misha used her remaining leg to push herself off the ground and kick the demon on the back of the head, freeing herself and brining the monster down.

"Oh now this is a party, huh?"

She then opened her own buckle and attached the disk she found there to the hilt of her weapon, unsheathing it right after and began spinning the disk.

"Power Blade! Earth Fury!"

The blade erupted in a glowing yellow energy as she swung it through the air, sending a yellow shockwave towards her opponents. Upon impact, it turned the Piranhi to stone for a mere instant until they shattered.

Pink Ranger - Olivia - had already unsheathed her sword, swinging wildly at anything that moved. She clashed swords with one Piranhi, before kicking it back and swiping the weapon across the chest of the demon.

"This is awesome!" she exclaimed with glee. She had no time to rest, however, as she rolled out of the way of another, striking her sword against the legs of this one causing it to fall to it's knees, just as she kicked it back. She began spinning the black disk on the hilt of her blade.

"Power Blade! Hurricane Spiral!"

As the bade glowed a bright pink, Pink Ranger slashed it through the air towards the army of demons, causing a wave of pink energy to thunder towards them at light speed, giving them no time to escape as they were incinerated upon impact.

On the other side of the battlefield, Green Ranger - Trevor - swung his fist at a Piranhi, who attempted to block with its sword. The weapon, however, was shattered upon impact. He then punched the creature in the jaw, before twirling out of the way of another's attempted shot, squealing an extended 'Woo' as he did. He opened his buckle and placed the disk on the hilt of the sword at his side, before removing the weapon.

"Power Blade!" he called, spinning the disk. "Forest Thunder!"

He slashed the weapon through the air as a green surge of electrical green energy swiped his opponents down with ease.

As Pink, Yellow and Green Rangers regrouped, each of them high fived one another, before they heard Johnny scream in both pain and terror.

Looking over, they saw him being manhandled by the terrifying Vorkah demon, which was barely breaking a sweat.

"Hey!" Pink Ranger screamed as each of them took a battle stance.

The demon's response was to hold Johnny down with its foot and raise its hand, sending a stream of electric energy towards the other rangers, causing their new suits to erupt into a series of sparks as they fell to the ground in pain.

There was nothing for it to fear. These newcomers posed little threat and would be easily wiped out. Nothing they could do would stop that.

Nothing they could do.

The demon then found itself erupting with damage, thrown back and thus freeing Blue Ranger from under its heavy body. As the creature stumbled back, each of the new rangers began searching for the source of what had just saved them from a likely death. They didn't have to look very far to find it.

Red Ranger somersaulted over their heads and landed with might between them and the monster. Her attention was completely fixated on the demonic creature before her - the very one that she had just sent a message to.

Beneath each of their helmets, the new rangers eyes went wide and their jaw dropped. After all, Laura had not informed them that there was another ranger.

"What?!" Trevor muttered.

Yellow Ranger glanced over at him. "Another one?!"

As their minds raced with questions and their eyes looked on in awe, Red Ranger raised her Power Blade and began spinning the disk attacked. However, instead of a launching an attack, the weapon glowed and began to grow. The rangers watched as her sword doubled in size, and presumably weight as she began to use both hands to grip it's long handle.

"Volclancer!" she shrieked, throwing the new, large red, white and gold weapon over her right shoulder. Instantly, she took off running towards the creature, which had no time to move before she swiped the large weapon at it, sending it flying off to the left towards the ocean.

It landed with a splash, and just as Red Ranger attempted running to it again, it raised its hand towards her and launched another series of electric bolts. Red Ranger stopped dead and shielded herself with her giant sword until the attack ended a few seconds later. When she lowered the weapon, her new enemy was nowhere in sight.

"Damn!" she cursed beneath her breath, as her sword returned to its previous form.

The other rangers quickly pulled themselves to their feet, and Blue Ranger wasted no time in heading over towards the new arrival.

"Hey!" he said.

Slowly, Red Ranger turned to him, but remained quiet.

"W-what's going on here?" he asked, slightly out of breath. "Who are you?"

Red Ranger remained quiet for a few seconds as all eyes were focused on her. She never intended to reveal herself so quickly, but knew fine well if she didn't, each of them would have died when she could have prevented it. She glanced over to where the monster was seconds previously before turning back and walking away, each of the other rangers simply watching as she did.

"Nobody." she muttered. "I'm nobody."

Laura's Bookshelf was quiet enough during the day normally, but to say it was dead at night would be an understatement.


Inside, the sole occupant sat at one of her many books with a steaming cup of decaff coffee, spending Saturday night in her favourite way - alone. That is, until, they came bursting in.

Thundering their way through the door, a clearly upset Johnny with a confused Misha, Trevor and Olivia. Upon seeing this, Laura instantly jumped to her feet.

"You really should lock your door at night." Johnny growled, locking eyes with Laura. "You never know when strange people might show up."

"What do you mean?" Laura asked.

"Another ranger." Misha answered quickly, her tone far from as hostile as her older cousin's. "A Red one saved us from one of those monsters."

"You didn't tell us anything about a fifth ranger." Olivia said sternly.

"I didn't tell you" Laura explained, retaining her cool yet her tone very stern. "Because I didn't know. All references I have to The Circle keep the number of warriors vague."

"Right..." Johnny said sarcastically. "And we're expected to believe that?"

"Do you believe me when I tell you that thanks to a magic spell your friend cast, you're now a super-human fighting force destined to fight the evils of the underworld?"

Johnny sighed as he broke his stare with Laura, knowing fine well she was right.

"I promise you," the storekeeper continued. "I don't know this Ranger."

Misha shook her head. "So...what do we do?"

Laura glanced down at the girl and gave her a quick smile. "Go home." she replied calmly. "Get some rest. You'll need it after tonight."

Johnny glared back up at her, but kept his mouth closed, as the team nodded and once again began filtering out of the door. Laura sighed as she watched them. She was confused, concerned, and not just concerned about the mystery ranger, but now she had a team of new rangers who needed her to guide and train them, but saw that the relationship was not going to be an easy one.

As they excited, moral seemed to change significantly as Misha squealed with joy.

"Still it was awwweesome!" she said, clinging on to Olivia's shoulder. "You should do magic more often!"

"Hey, I did kick ass, didn't I?" Trevor gloated, punching the air as if he was punching a monster.

All but Johnny giggled and laughed as they walked down the street, headed for their homes. Inside, Laura switched out the last of the store's lights and watched from the main window as the group made their way down the street into the darkness. When they weere out of sight, she took a glance up at the rooftop of the medium-sized building directly opposite her store. Lit only by the moonlight, she made out the shape of a figure standing there staring back at her, and held her breath as she stared back.

Stared back into the visor of the Red Ranger.