"Werewolf?" Serena asked, shooting Mike a strong look of disbelief as he told her exactly what Emily had shared with him. "My sister thinks a mythical creature got into the house and attacked her?"
"The monster's real to her," Mike nodded his head. He had to agree with Serena, the idea sounded crazy, but if Emily was scared he wanted to comfort her. It really didn't matter to him what he was tracking down as long as he found it.
"But a werewolf?" Serena asked.
"We've seen stranger," Antonio shrugged, "Nighlok do come in all shapes and sizes. I guess as long as we find something wolf-like, we'll know we got the right thing."
"Samurai are crazy," James shrugged and put his hand in the air, "You all know how I feel about dogs. Wolves freak me out even more. At the top of that list: werewolves," he looked to Serena, "Sorry, you're on your own."
Serena rolled her eyes and looked to Mia, "In my fairy tale, I'm the shining knight and he's the fragile princess."
"HEY! One phobia of all things canine does not make me fragile."
"He's still the princess," Serena chuckled and Mia laughed with her.
Kate walked to the map, which Ji was studying to try and find the werewolf monster Emily claimed attacked her, "Anything yet?"
"He disappeared. He must have gone back to the Netherworld."
"Any idea where he'll come back up?" Kate asked and sat down beside Ji, "I really doubt he came all this way for a dog. Something tells me the job's only half done."
"Something tells me this mystery is only half solved," Ji muttered. "Why would a werewolf leave with a dog?"
"Maybe he's lonely and looking for a mate?" Antonio suggested. He was nudged hard in the ribs by Jayden, "Ow! What?"
"Let's just go see if there are any signs of him," Jayden said and got up from his stool, "Ji, James, you two stay behind. Keep an eye on Emily and make sure whatever that thing was, he doesn't come back. The rest of us will go out and search for clues."
As the Rangers followed Jayden's orders, Ji looked to Kate, seeing she had every intention of going with the Rangers. He had a bad feeling. Though she was trained to protect the Samurai she had never once been in battle. If they did run into something, he didn't want her to be over her head.
Kate noticed his concern and smiled, "I'll be fine. You keep an eye on my girl."
"This Samurai stuff is tough business…"
"So was raising me," Serena shrugged, "Kate survived that."
"Your parents survived that only because of me," Kate chuckled. She turned back to Ji, "When Serena was little, I had to fight off the boogeyman with nothing more than the tiny pillow she liked to sleep with. I won."
"Boogeyman never hid under my bed after that beating," Serena nodded and smirked, "Taught him a thing or two about messing with a Samurai and her guardian."
"Just be careful," Ji made Kate promise, "The Samurai life is… unpredictable."
"I'll be careful," she nodded and the Rangers set out. Once the door was closed, James turned to Ji with a wicked grin on his face.
"So…"
"Not a word, Jameson."
"That's not my name."
"It is now, and it will be if you keep up that smirk," Ji got up from his stool, "I'm going to see if Emily remembers anything else."
"C'mon, Ji," James got up to follow him, "For an older woman, Kate is good looking. And she's strong and smart and independent. You two do flirt quite a bit…"
"You understand that while I would like to one day find someone to settle down with, right now a relationship is not ideal for me. Not while…"
"Everyone else manages," James groaned. "C'mon, Ji. You're really not getting any younger. Just give the woman a flower, compliment her hair, her clothes, or her eyes and BAM, she's guaranteed to agree to date you."
"In case you've forgotten…"
"In case you've forgotten, that woman's been batting her pretty little eyelashes at you since she moved into this town. Hell, she only moved here to be with you. C'mon, Ji, is it really that hard to ask her on a date?"
"I have other priorities."
James took in a deep sighed, "Alright, Ji… Jiseph, I didn't want to have to do this."
"Jiseph?"
"You left me with no other choice."
"Oh boy."
"I will clean the house, cook the meals, and keep these Samurai in check for a month if you man up and asked the pretty lady on a date."
"Cook, clean, and babysit? For a month?"
"For a month," James held out his hand to shake on it, "C'mon, Jiseph, you've got to take this deal."
Ji shook James' hand, "I guess this is an offer I can't refuse."
-Samurai-
Antonio clutched the Samuraizer tightly in his hand, "Bad things happen when we split up."
"We're a group of three, you big baby," Mia rolled her eyes and looked to Kate who was sharing an equally annoyed look. They understood splitting up wasn't the greatest idea, but there was so much forest and only so little of it could be covered if they stuck together. Assuming the werewolf Nighlok monster was still on Earth, they figured he would hide in the woods. Where exactly was hard to determine, but easier if they covered more ground. While Kevin, Mike, Serena, and Jayden had gone deep, deep into the woods, Mia, Antonio, and Kate stayed closer to the house, keeping their eyes peeled for anything suspicious.
As Antonio and Mia bickered about the dangers of splitting up, Kate thought she heard something unusual and ventured slightly off path. It sounded like something panting, but not something big like a werewolf. It was something small. Pushing leaves and branches out of her way, she stepped deeper into the forest and to her surprise and relief she found Storm. The dog wasn't in a good way at all, having fallen to her side and panting very, very loudly, with a look of pure pain on her face, but she was alive.
"Mia! Antonio!" Kate called them over and she could see Storm's eyes looking at her, trying to examine her. She had spent a little bit of time around the dog, but not enough to be considered a friend. Given Storm was likely very scared and very sick, Kate thought it best if one of the Samurai approached her.
Mia and Antonio were immediately by her side, and as soon as Mia saw the sick dog she fell to her knees and scooped her up in her arms, "Emily's going to be so happy when she sees you."
"Not in this condition," Antonio said, "We can tell her we found her, but she looks like she needs a doctor."
Mia cradled the dog in her arms, "You'll be okay."
Antonio called Jayden to let him and the others know they had found the dog and wanted to take her to the vet. While he did that, Mia and Kate tried to make Storm comfortable. Kate had taken the dog in her arms so Mia could use her symbol power to make a blanket. Storm started to cry when she left the safety of Mia's arms, and even though Mia stayed very close, and Kate worked hard to sooth the dog, Storm's cries started to turn into growls.
Antonio had his back turned to the girls as he made his call, and when it was over he tucked his Samurai Morpher away and turned around just in time to see the transformation. Storm's growls grew louder and louder as her body got bigger. Her long and sharp teeth were longer and sharper and her claws grew out as well. Up on her hind legs, Storm now stood taller than Antonio.
"There is a werewolf," Mia whispered as she backed away from Storm, pulling Kate back with her. From where he was standing, Antonio fumbled to get his Samurai Morpher.
Storm, the werewolf, growled ferociously and swung her arm at Mia and Kate. Her claws only just missed the two of them as they jumped back and started to run. Antonio's eyes grew wide. If they weren't prey before, they certainly were now, and there was no outrunning a werewolf. Soon they would be caught, and in this state it looked like all of Storm's training not to be aggressive was thrown out the window.
He didn't want to do this to Storm, but it looked like he had no choice, "Samurai Morpher! Gold power!"
Jumping into action, and running as fast as he possibly could, he caught up to Storm just as she was about to lay her claws in Kate. He stopped her overgrown paw with his sword and pushed the werewolf back. His advantage only lasted for a moment as Storm turned her attention to him. She reached out, wrapped her paw around Antonio's neck and lifted him off the ground. His Samurai suit could do a lot to protect him, but if someone was strangling him, he couldn't breathe.
To make matters worse, Storm had two arms. While one held Antonio up, the other sliced at him. The first attack was enough to make him power down, the second earned Antonio four long, deep gashes across the chest. The third never came. Before she could swipe at him, she was shot in the chest by one of Kevin's arrows. It didn't pierce through her chest, but it was strong enough for her to drop Antonio and stagger back, and it left a few superficial marks in her skin.
But what seemed to hurt her most was the water. When it splashed her, Storm cried out very loudly in pain, dropped on all fours and then ran away.
"Antonio!" Jayden cried, seeing his boyfriend on the ground covered in blood. As he ran to tend to him, Kevin, Mike, and Serena went to check on Mia and Kate.
"We're fine," Mia promised as Kevin inspected a very small scratch on her back. When Storm had caught up to her and Kate, she had tried to swipe at them and just barely managed to nick Mia's skin before Kate tripped over a root, forcing Mia to fall with her.
"What about Storm?" Mike asked and looked around, "You said you found Storm."
"You're not going to believe this," Kate said. "Storm is the werewolf."
