Ranma awoke with a very bad headache.
"Where am I," he asked, not knowing if anyone was there.
"The cat café," replied Cologne.
Ranma looked over at the old woman. The last thing he remembered was being dressed in a brightly colored outfit and being hit by a very large blast of fire.
"How did I even get here?"
Cologne laughed, "I teleported you through the use of ancient Amazon magic. I must say, you kids are going to be the death of me."
"If only," muttered Ranma.
Unfortunately for him, Cologne heard what he said. She responded by whacking him over the head with her staff.
As Ranma rubbed his sore head, Cologne said, "Come downstairs, get something to eat. The other four are already awake."
As she exited the room Ranma could only scoff, "Old ghoul."
Cologne stood in front of the five teens as they ate their ramen. They were all ok but they looked like something the cat had dragged in.
"I assume that your first fight as power rangers did not go well," she said.
"What gave us away," said Mousse.
"Never the less, does anyone wanna tell me what happened?"
Ryoga rubbed his sore temple and groaned, "Saffron"
"I thought Son-in-law destroyed him," said a very surprised Cologne.
"He back now," said Shampoo
Cologne went back into the kitchen and brought out several more bowls of ramen. These kids were eating like it was their last meal.
Ranma scoffed, "If you guys just waited for me, we could have gotten him."
"And what makes you think you can tell us what to do," yelled Ryoga.
"I didn't see you coming up with any plans pig boy,"
That was all it took for Ryoga to jump over the table and tackle Ranma to the ground.
"Your lack of a plan almost got us killed," he shouted.
Ranma quickly kicked Ryoga off him, "Were still here aren't we."
"No thanks to you"
WHACK
"Now's not the time. Like it or not, you are all going to have to learn to work together," shouted Cologne after she had hit them both over the head with her staff.
"Do you two ever stop fighting," said Akane. She suddenly remembered something, "I don't know if matters but, I noticed that Saffron's eyes were pitch-black."
A second later, Cologne was directly in Akane's face, "That defiantly matters. It means that the dark warrior has corrupted Saffron. Saffron obeys his every order now."
"Never thought I'd see the day someone like Saffron became someone else's lapdog," said Ranma.
Cologne took out her pipe and lit it while answering, "The dark warriors' powers are very strong son-in-law. But why would the dark warrior have Saffron attack a school?"
Shampoo answered, "Shampoo saw him leave with strange talisman."
Cologne's eyes went wide and she started to cough on her smoke.
"What is it, what's wrong?" asked Mousse.
As Cologne caught her breath, she gasped, "If the dark warrior has what I think he has, he could create and summon all kinds of demons."
"That's not good," said Akane.
"What should we do," asked Ryoga.
"There's nothing we can do right now, except wait."
"And you say I have lousy plans," said Ranma.
Saffron winced as his left wing fell to the ground only for another to grow in its place.
"You should have stayed and made sure those insects were destroyed," yelled Kage as he sheathed his sword.
"I'm sorry my lord. I was just trying to get the talisman to you as quick as possible. Just as well, the five of them were no match for me," said Saffron.
Kage raised his eyebrow, "There were only five of them."
"Yes."
"Well I guess this gives me the opportunity to use my talisman for the first time in ages."
It was perfect. Five warriors weren't even a match for him. And from what Saffron had told him, they hadn't even discovered their greatest weapons. How much trouble could they be?
All he had to do now was create a demon and they would be nothing but a memory.
Kage held out his talisman and activated it with his dark powers, "I Kage the dark warrior command the darkness to summon a demon from the netherworld. King Sphinx, I command you to come forth."
Kage then tossed the talisman forward and a dark portal opened in the middle of the room. Moments later, a creature of darkness walked through."
The creature had gray skin and large wings. It had a lions face and wore an Egyptian headdress. Lastly, it carried a scepter with a golden question mark on the end.
Kage smirked, "King Sphinx, I want you to go to Nerima, find the Sheng Xiao warriors, and tear them apart."
King Sphinx nodded, "Yes Master." Then he flapped his wings and took to the skies.
As Kage sat back down on his throne he ordered, "Kiema, bring me a mirror. Make sure it's a large one."
Kiema, who had been standing in the doorway, immediately obeyed. She dragged her lackeys Koruma and Masara along with her.
"What is the mirror for," asked Saffron
"I simply want to watch the destruction of the warriors. And with another spell, the mirror can be used for more efficient travel."
Kiema soon walked back into the room followed by Koruma and Masara who were carrying a large mirror. The mirror was the size of two king size mattresses and the two lackeys were struggling to hold it up.
Kiema gestured towards the mirror, "Is this large enough my lord?"
"It will do," said Kage. He pointed towards the wall he wanted to place the mirror on. As the lackeys placed the mirror on the wall, Kage began to meditate.
Koruma and Masara stared wide-eyed as Kage began to chant words that they did not know. What happened next amazed them even more.
Kage's eyes began to glow and a ball of energy began to form. The energy ball swirled around Kage and then flew towards the mirror. When the ball hit the mirror, the mirror rippled like water.
Kage stood up from his throne, "Show me the King Sphinx".
The mirror rippled and slowly, the image of the demon appeared on the mirror. He was still in flight towards Nerima.
"I need some amusement before he gets there," said Kage. "Saffron, send Kiema and some of your soldiers to Nerima."
Kage walked over to the mirror, "Show me Nerima."
As the mirror changed, Kiema and the soldiers stood waiting for further orders.
"What would you like us to do my lord," asked Kiema.
"Simply go through the mirror and cause some chaos," said Kage as he put his arm around Kiema.
The next thing she knew, Kiema was lifted off her feet by Kage and thrown through the mirror.
Kage looked at the soldiers who had looks of surprise on their faces.
"Well, get going," he said.
The soldiers shrugged and followed orders. Kage laughed evilly as they flew through the mirror one by one.
"Elder I've been meaning to ask, how do you know so much about our powers," asked Mousse.
Cologne sat down. She put out her pipe and began to tell her story, "When I was a few years younger than Shampoo, I met a warrior. She was worn and tired. Out of kindness, I invited her into my home, gave her something to eat, and a bed to sleep in for the night."
"When I awoke the next morning, she was gone. I found a note on my kitchen table that said, 'I leave it all in your hands'. Along with the note, she left the tiger and dragon figures. Unfortunately, the dragon figure was stolen from me years later."
"I spent many years since then researching the purpose of the jade figures. I only used the tiger figure's power once in my research. It was in that research that I found other warriors with similar powers. They were called the power rangers. And you five are the newest team."
Akane was the first one to speak, "Did you ever find out who the warrior was?"
"I believe she could have been a descendent of one of the original warriors who sealed away the dark warrior long ago," said Cologne.
"Well old ghoul, thanks for the history lesson. I'll see you later," said Ranma as he got up and left.
"Wait Ranma, Shampoo go with you," called Shampoo as she ran after him.
"Ranma don't you dare touch Shampoo," yelled Mousse as he followed her only to have the door slammed on his face.
"Ranma take Shampoo on date yes," said Shampoo as she grabbed Ranma's arm.
"Let go," said Ranma shaking his arm in a vain attempt to get her off.
"Where you going anyway"
"I just needed a break. I was getting tired of all the 'save the world' talk."
They soon found themselves in the park. Ranma found a tree to sit under and began to meditate.
As Ranma closed his eyes and began to clear his mind, he felt a disturbing presence in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw Shampoo's face leaning in for a kiss.
Quickly he pushed her away, "Now's not the time."
Ranma lean his head back in exasperation. He looked up into the sky and saw a flock of birds flying by. Then the flock started to descend from the air and it was then that Ranma realized they were not birds.
"Kiema".
Shampoo looked up as well and quickly pushed Ranma out of the way. Within seconds, Kiema came down with a powerful axe kick.
Shampoo was then picked up by one of the birdmen and tossed into a swing set. Ash she got up, Shampoo saw the same birdman flying towards her with his sword drawn. She quickly stepped to the side, avoiding the blade and delivered a roundhouse kick to the birdmans' face.
Instinctively, Shampoo turned around, kicking another birdman in the chest. She finished him off with a hard open palm strike to his sternum.
Before Shampoo could even catch her breath, three more birdmen were dive-bombing her from above.
Meanwhile Ranma had his hands full with Kiema.
"One thousand bird wing slice," she called, while firing blades of wind at Ranma.
Ranma dodged all but one of the blades, which struck him in the arm. The rest struck a tree, slicing it into firewood.
Ranma ignored his arm and ran forward delivering a snap kick to Kiema's side. Kiema quickly grabbed Ranma's leg, lifted him up, and then slammed him down on the ground.
While on the ground, Ranma delivered a hard kick to the back of Kiema's legs, sweeping her off her feet.
Kiema looked up to see Ranma waiting for her to get up.
"You could have finished me off while I was on the ground you know", said Kiema.
Ranma got into a fighting stance, "It isn't right to kick someone while their down."
"Can't say I share your code of honor."
With that, she took to the air and delivered a flying kick witch Ranma barely dodged. Kiema was unfortunate in that the attack left her wide open.
Ranma leaped up into the air shouting, "Kachu tenshin amaguriken."
Kiema came crashing down as Ranma delivered hundreds of punches to her back.
Ranma walked away from Kiema as she struggled to stand. He had to make sure Shampoo was ok.
Ranma walled over to find Shampoo doing a handstand on the shoulders of the last standing birdman. Then her legs came down, crashing into the birdmans' back and sending him smashing into a tree.
Shampoo quickly ran over to Ranma, "We go on date now, yes".
Ranma sighed, "Man you have a one track mind. Wait, where did Kiema and the bird warriors go?"
Shampoo took a look around, Kiema and the birdmen were indeed gone.
Kiema and the birdmen came falling back through the mirror.
At first, Kiema was a little disoriented but, when she realized where she was, she had to say, "Why are we back? We could have beaten them,"
"Really, because it looked like you were the ones who were getting beat. You weren't accomplishing anything so I brought you back. Having a two way mirror is really convenient when ingrates are getting nothing done," said Kage.
Kage looked back at the mirror at just the right time. The King Sphinx was in Nerima and was now descending on Ranma and Shampoo.
"Looks like we missed one," said Ranma as he looked up.
"Big one," said Shampoo.
King Sphinx glided down, landing gracefully in front of them.
Shampoo was the first to act. She charged forward and leaped into the air, attempting a jump kick.
The Sphinx laughed as he began to flap his wings at a rapid pace. The wind coming from them was strong and it easily stopped Shampoo in midair. Then it literally blew her away.
As Ranma witnessed this, he felt around his pocket and pulled out his figure. Instantly, the figure transformed into a power morpher.
Ranma shouted, "I need Sheng Xiao power NOW."
Red light erupted from the morpher, transforming Ranma into the red ranger.
"Bring it," said King Sphinx.
Shampoo couldn't believe her luck. The Sphinx had inadvertently blown her strait towards the Cat Café. Still, that didn't change the fact that she was still high in the air and falling fast. She had to think fast. The power suit, it was able to survive being hit by a giant ball of fire, maybe it could help cushion her fall.
Shampoo grabbed her figure from her pocket calling, "Shampoo need Sheng Xiao power NOW."
Within seconds, Shampoo transformed into the pink Ranger and crashed through the roof of the Cat Café. Slowly she got up, her theory was right but that didn't stop her from feeling a lot of pain from the fall. At least the floor was soft.
"Shampoo, could you please get off of me," groaned Mousse.
Akane was the quick to ask, "What happened to you?"
Shampoo completely ignored Mousse and franticly replied, "Ranma in trouble."
Ranma drew his spear and charged at the Sphinx. King Sphinx quickly drew his scepter and blocked Ranma's spear with ease.
The held their weapons against each other in a stalemate, neither of them giving any signs of fatigue. Then the Sphinx decided to fight dirty.
His scepter started to glow and hundreds of fireballs burst from it. Ranma was too close to dodge and took the blast at full force.
Ranma flew back, dropping his spear, and falling hard on the ground. The next thing he knew, the Sphinx was on top of him, pinning him down with his foot.
King Sphinx then lowered his scepter in front of Ranma's face.
"Any last words," laughed the Sphinx.
"Just a message for your boss. I'm better than you and I'll always be better because I have friends."
Even though his face was hidden by his helmet, King Sphinx could tell that Ranma was grinning.
Suddenly, the Sphinx was hit in the side by a yellow hammer. He tumbled to the ground and looked back up to see the other four rangers standing above the red one.
"Thanks," said Ranma as he got up and grabbed his spear.
"Save it Ranma. I'm only here because Akane asked me for help," said Ryoga.
"And I'm only here for Shampoo," said Mousse.
"Nice to know I have such good friends," said Ranma.
"Will you three cut it out," yelled Akane.
"Boring" yawned Kage.
With that, he got up and walked over to Saffron, "Hold still."
"What do you need my lord," asked Saffron.
With lightning-fast hands, Kage tore a feather from one of Saffron's wings. Then his dark aura flooded into the feather until it was as black as night.
"I just need this to make things much more interesting."
Then he threw the feather like a dart through the mirror. The feather fell towards the Sphinx and hit him like a bolt of lightning.
"That can't be good," said Ranma as darkness enveloped the Sphinx. "We need the Zodiac Sling guys."
"Zodiac Sling" questioned Ryoga.
"You know, that weapon we made to fight Saffron."
"You're so creative with names Ranma," said Mousse with very thick sarcastically.
"I am aren't I," replied Ranma.
Akane sighed, why did they always argue at times like this.
"We don't have time for this," she yelled as she grabbed Mousse's numchucks, handed one club to Shampoo and the other to Mousse.
The other rangers quickly added their weapons to the combo and Ranma prepared to fire the sling.
"Fire now Ranma," said Shampoo.
Ranma pulled the sling a bit further and let it go. However, it was too late.
The shot bounced off the cloud of darkness and was fired directly back at the rangers.
Ranma, thinking fast, pushed the other rangers down. The shot flew directly over them and embedded itself in a tree.
"Guys, we have a big problem," said Akane.
The cloud of darkness was growing larger. Soon, it was the size of a skyscraper.
"What's happening," said Mousse.
"It can't be good," said Ryoga.
The cloud dissipated and their stood a massive King Sphinx.
The Sphinx laughed as walked forward, attempting to step on the rangers.
"You can't win," laughed the Sphinx.
Ranma quickly moved out of the way as the Sphinx brought down another foot. They were able to find some shelter underneath some trees. This wasn't right. He couldn't lose to this guy. He never lost when it mattered.
That's when he heard a voice in his head. "It's time for you to unleash the power of the sheng xiao. All you have to do is call for it."
Ranma looked around and got the feeling that the others got the same message.
"Please tell me you guys heard the voice," he said.
They nodded.
"What do you think it meant," asked Akane.
"Only one way to find out," said Ranma.
Ranma raised his hand to the sky, and the others did the same, "I call upon the power of the Sheng Xiao. Please help me defeat our enemy."
At first, nothing happened and the King Sphinx was starting to get closer to where they were hiding. Then the world suddenly seemed brighter. Clouds parted and huge rays of sunlight shined down upon Nerima.
The Jade figures appeared out of thin air and flew up to the sky. Then they began to glow and then they shot up into the sky like rockets.
"This is unreal," said Akane.
It was a mutual thought because as soon as she said it, five gigantic mechanical beasts ran down from the sky. They were a red horse, yellow ox, blue pig, black rooster, and a pink tiger. The ox was large and built like a tank with a pair of horns. The horse was also bulky but it was fast and had two silver cylinders attached to its shoulders. The pig was smaller than the horse and but it came with a powerful set of silver tusk. The tiger was the same size as the pig but was slimmer and had a whip like tale. The Rooster was the smallest and had razor sharp feathers.
Suddenly, Ranma and the others were teleported away from their hiding spot.
Ranma's eyes went wide. He was now looking at the Sphinx at eye level. That's when he realized, he was inside the horses' head. And he was pretty sure the others were also inside their respective animals.
"Let's do this," shouted Ranma.
The horse seemed to read his thoughts because it charged forward, slamming the Sphinx with its hooves.
Despite their new weapons, the King Sphinx was not about to go down without a fight. He waited for an opening and when he found one, he smashed his scepter over the horse's head, causing it to fall over on the ground.
Shampoo was quick to defend Ranma and had her tiger jump onto the Sphinx's back and sink its teeth into his shoulder. The Sphinx simply grabbed the tiger and flipped it over his shoulder, slamming it to ground.
Then the ox and pig rammed the Sphinx. He fell but got up quickly, and then he fired a barrage of fireballs at the ox and pig. They fell back as they took the hit. It was then that they heard Ranma's voice.
"How are we still losing," he said.
"Maybe because being the pilots of giant robot animals doesn't come naturally," said Ryoga.
Suddenly, a shinning black light raced across the sky, spinning like saw blade. It slammed into the Sphinx, slicing off one of his wings in the process. The wing fell off and then evaporated into dust.
"What was that," said Akane.
"So, dizzy," groaned Mousse.
The black light revealed itself to be the rooster.
"How you do that," said Shampoo.
Once Mousse's vision stopped spinning, he replied, "It was simple. When I was transported inside, I realized that my zord was smaller than the rest. So I meditated and it spoke to me. Suddenly I knew exactly how to use its attacks."
Before he could elaborate further, the King Sphinx had recovered from the attack and delivered an axe kick to the rooster, immobilizing it.
"Not good," said Mousse.
Shampoo tried to remain calm. Sure, she didn't really care for Mousse but she wasn't going to let him be crushed. Suddenly, she felt the tigers' power. She knew exactly what to do.
The tiger zord charged forward and leaped into the air, from its paws sprang shinning pink claws. It landed on the Sphinx, emending its claws in his chest.
King Sphinx quickly kicked the tiger off and jumped into the air, ready to strike it with his scepter. Suddenly, two large chains wrapped around his torso. He looked back and found that the chains were the tusk from the pig zord.
As the Sphinx struggled to get free, the ox came charging. Then it leaped into the air and landed so hard, it caused a fissure to open up beneath the Sphinx.
It was then that the horse zord ran up and kicked the Sphinx into the fissure.
"No, I can't lose. This is not supposed to happen," yelled the Sphinx.
"Time to jinx this sphinx," said Ranma.
The horse zord delivered one final kick to the Sphinx, sending him tumbling down into the fisher where he was finally destroyed.
"We did it," shouted Akane in triumph.
It was the evening now and the rangers had de-morphed and the zords had disappeared as quickly as they came. Everyone was now at the Cat Café, and had just given Cologne the report on what happened.
"You see what you can accomplish together," said Cologne.
"Shampoo and Ranma make good team against bird people," said Shampoo as clung to Ranma's arm.
"Pervert, I'm going home," muttered Akane as she walked away.
"Hey, wait up Tomboy," yelled Ranma as he ran after Akane.
Shampoo ran after him yelling, "Ranma, forget Akane and stay with Shampoo."
"Ranma, tell Akane you love her so Shampoo can be with me," shouted Mousse as he ran after them and fell into an open manhole.
As Mousse wandered around in the darkness, he heard Ryoga's voice groan, "Where am I now?"
Cologne sighed. They would be able to accomplish great things if they could actually work together for longer than five minutes.
"I'm sorry we faild you my lord," said Kiema as bowed down for mercy.
Kage relaxed in his throne, "No matter. Today was simply for me to test their strength. It is of no great loss. I'll destroy them next time. The fight has only just begun."
Would have had this up sooner but I was buys battling my arch nemesis, writers block.
For the record, I usually write the Ranma characters in whatever the current year is so all the previous rangers seasons have already happened. Also I know that zord battles can cause mass amounts of destruction. My plan is to ignore it. Seriously, if you watch episodes of power rangers, you'll sometimes see entire skyscrapers be destroyed in zord battle. Yet they act like it didn't happen and thousands of people didn't possibly die in the fight. Anyway, I'm continuing that tradition.
That said, here are some things to look forward too.
They still have seven more jade figures to find and with them, seven more rangers.
Ranma, Akane, Shampoo, Ryoga, and Mousse each get sent to a dffernet point in the past and team up with five other past ranger teams.
Ranma will eventually acquire a battlizer.
Lastly, the Nerima crew will eventually grow up and get past their personal fights as they learn to work together as Power Rangers.
