A plane landed in an airport, before being towed into the terminal. Baggage handlers all approached it under the careful watch of security personnel making their rounds.
The side of the plane was opened, and one of the baggage handlers, or "throwers" as they were sometimes called, pulled on one of the stacks of luggage, releasing the bungee holding it in place and causing it to spill onto the ground.
"Hey, be careful!" The supervisor called out in his native tongue. "Some of those bags are marked as fragile!"
"Yeah, because we always paid so much attention to that before." He replied with a little smirk. They both shared their usual laugh as the cart arrived to collect the bags.
"Alright, just load up quickly." The Supervisor told them. "I don't get overtime, and I have every intention of going home in..."
His words were cut off as one of the throwers stumbled and fell; dropping the case he was holding. He was staring into the cargo hold, pointing as he did so.
"What now?" The supervisor asked.
"I saw something moving!" He stammered. The supervisor just rolled his eyes.
"Someone's probably just trying to smuggle their dog again." He groaned, pulling the man up.
"I saw a shadow." He stated. "That was no Chihuahua!" He stated.
"Grow a set and get on with it will you?" The supervisor chastised him. "Do you really want me to call...?"
Just then, he heard something, and he had to agree that it sounded a lot larger than a small dog. It had to be something fairly big. He started to approach slowly.
"Should I get security?" The thrower asked. "It could be a person..."
"Don't be stupid." The supervisor replied. "Do you have any idea how cold the luggage hold gets?"
His words were cut off as one of the bungees wrapped itself wrapped around his neck, and he was dragged backwards into the plane. Three terrified baggage handlers heard a couple of sounds indicating a struggle; before the supervisor's unconscious body flew out of the hold, landing in a heap.
"Security!" One of them screamed, shortly before a suitcase flew out, smacking him in the head aggressively.
A short, blonde woman leapt out of the hold, landing a little way from them, before rushing them, taking down the first with a flying knee attack to the jaw. The other she caught and grabbed in a sleeper hold, taking him down quickly.
She looked around, hoping she had managed to take them down in time, but as a shot rang out, her head snapped around, and she saw a couple of armed guards approaching. Although the journey was necessary, and this was the only way she had the means to get where she needed to be, even she knew that airport security was pretty humourless in the modern era.
Seeing some fuel nearby, She concentrated her mental energies, and they erupted in flames, exploding with enough force to send the security flying, leaving them writhing on the ground, trying to put out the flames on their uniforms. She really wished she had time to check on them, but was satisfied they were alive, and started to sprint for the fence.
By now, and alarm had sounded, and she knew more security would be on the way. This would only make her escape harder. As she approached the fence, she saw a stack of storage containers near the fence, and saw an escape route. She leapt up, grabbing one of them, and hauled herself up; rolling onto it just as a couple of rounds rebounded off the metal near her.
She looked up, seeing that one of the security staff had gotten onto the container and rushed him, reaching him before he could bring his weapon to bear. She kicked the gun aside, and punched him in the face, before grabbing him and running, launching him off the side, where he landed on top of the fence, screaming in pain as he crushed down the barbed wire. She jumped across, landing on his back with both feet, using him to cross the wire unharmed, and causing him to tumble over to the outside as she leapt off, landing nimbly on her feet, before running off.
Other security arrived, but by the time they got there, she had disappeared into the distance. One of them faced the others.
"Get an ambulance; we have people hurt down here!" He called out to one of his assistants. "This is security, we have a breach."
He just looked out into the distance as he listened to the response. Who had done this? And if they had caused so much damage just running away, then they could have done worse, so he had to wonder, who was that girl?
The following morning was full of activity in the Shiba House. The Rangers had been up early, training hard. Jayden and Ji had started to worry that the recent lack of activity from Xandred had left them all taking it a little easy in training, and Jayden in particular had a feeling that something big was coming.
One of the things that was spooky about Jayden was that he had frighteningly good instincts when it came to the Nighlock, verging on the precognitive. While all of the Samurai had been raised to take up their duties, it was a different level when they said Jayden had been around it his whole life. He had been a kid when the last team was active, but as his home, he had indeed been in the Shiba House at that time, making him the only one that had actually met at least one of all the other Rangers' families. He had literally grown up around Nighlock, and seen pretty much everything that they had done. If there were such a thing, he was the world's expert on Nighlock, having literally dedicated his life to studying them. If he believed something was coming, no one would doubt him.
As they relaxed with some breakfast, Emily checked her e-mail, while Mike started up a video game. They had all agreed to extra training, but even Jayden and Kevin knew that training until everyone was too exhausted to fight was pointless. Stephen had a computer in his arms as he got to the door with Serena.
"I should be back by dinner time." He told her. "I just need to get this stuff back before anyone notices."
"Well, I don't have much to do today." She told him, wrapping her arms around him. "You know, Spike's school has a pep rally today."
"A pep rally?" He asked her. "Wouldn't you rather we do something a little more...you know...less public?"
"Young and impressionable ears are listening." Mike called out as he started up LA Noire. "Emily's are young, mine are impressionable."
"It's compulsory for all students." Serena told him. "Spike's been having a rough time, I just wanted to...you know...check the place out."
"I just never thought pep rallies would be your thing." He commented.
"Why not?" Emily asked. "She was a cheerleader at High School."
"Emily!" Serena hissed, giving her a harsh glare. Stephen just cocked an eyebrow.
"A cheerleader?" He asked her. "Really?" She just rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I was a cheerleader." She admitted. "It's not something I normally advertise."
"Why not?" He asked her.
"Just get to work." She replied, turning him around and shoving him out the door. She then turned to Emily.
"Emily..."
"Summer sent us an e-mail!" She rushed out before Serena could do anything. "She said she's been for her first scan."
"Really?" Mia asked as she came across with Kevin. Only Mike didn't bother coming to the computer, becoming too enthralled with the case he was working on in his video game. "Is that an attachment?"
"She said she sent a picture." Emily told them. She clicked on the link, and pulled it up. Serena, Emily and Mia moved closer to the screen, their faces lighting up as they looked at it, while Kevin just scrunched up his face.
"Uh...what is that exactly?" He asked. "It looks like a blob."
"It's the scan." Mia told him.
"Yeah, I get that." He replied. "But...you can't see anything!"
"That's not the point though." Serena told him. "You know that's a baby."
"You just need to know what you're looking for." Mia answered. She pointed to the screen. "It's an early scan, so there isn't much to see, but there's the head, and that's the body."
"It's adorable." Emily said a little dreamily. Kevin just looked to the three women and shook his head.
"I still can't see anything." He admitted.
"That's not the point." Serena reiterated. Kevin just shook his head and walked away.
"I will never understand women." He muttered as he left the room.
Spike arrived at the school, being dropped off by his mom and his uncle. Kim was going to be in town for another couple of days, and when she had heard of the pep rally, she insisted she wanted to see it.
Despite that, and the nerves he had about the potential fallout from the day before, he couldn't help smiling. He had been told that he could stay. He couldn't wait to tell his friends that he would not be leaving.
As he got into the halls, he noticed that there were a lot of whispers. He had been expecting this, it had happened before. People knew who he was, and had been whispering all week, but then he noticed something odd. There was a group of girls who saw him, and smiled, waving as they continued to whisper. He just waved back half-heartedly as he continued on his way.
A few football players saw him and turned away, but instead of doing it defiantly, or as a mark of disrespect, it seemed like there was more of a sheepishness about their actions. It was only then that he noticed that the group was a lot smaller than usual; a lot of the usual group of cheerleaders and hangers-on were absent.
"Hey Spike!" A kid called out, making his way past with a huge grin on his face. Spike just nodded in response. He couldn't really recall even seeing him before, never mind speaking to him. Some kids he knew were in the computer club all raised their hands and called out to him. He again was just completely baffled.
As he got to his locker, Mal, Jimmy and Vicky were waiting. He made his way over, looking to Vicky.
"Are you OK?" He asked her. She just nodded.
"I was going to ask you the same." She told him. "You did take a couple of hard hits."
"Hey, I'll be alright." He replied, just as a few girls walked past.
"Hey Spike." They greeted him on their way past. He just smiled and waved, before turning back to them. "Alright, would someone tell me what's going on?"
"You're kidding right?" Jimmy asked him.
"Yesterday, I was the thing people scraped off their shoe. This morning, everyone's treating me like Bono or something." He told them. "Kids I've never even met before are talking to me. What gives?"
"You really don't know do you?" Jimmy asked him. Spike just snorted.
"Does it look like I know?" He asked. "What gives?"
Mal pulled out his iPhone and tapped in a few commands, before showing it to him. Spike took it and watched what was on the screen. His mouth hung open as he saw it.
"Oh God." Spike gasped. "Someone else had a camera?"
"The fight's been on the internet all night. You have over 20,000 hits already!" Mal told him excitedly, slapping his shoulder. "You're a YouTube sensation dude!"
"I...but...I..." He started to stammer. "So everyone's seen this?"
"The football team have been cowering like whipped dogs all morning." Jimmy informed him. "No one's even seen Justin."
"Shit, this is the last thing I wanted." Spike grumbled. "I just wanted to be left alone!"
"Well, I doubt that's going to happen now." Jimmy laughed. "You're the King of the School."
"Look guys, I don't want to make a big thing out of this." Spike told them. "I just want..."
"Hey Spike." She heard someone behind him say as she tapped his shoulder. He gulped as he turned around, recognising the voice. It was Melanie.
Melanie was on the cheerleading squad, and were it not for the fact she was a Sophomore, she would probably have been the captain of the team. She was a little taller than Spike, and for her age, her body was already developing quickly. She had a slender, though healthy physique, and long, curly blonde hair that fell past her shoulders. She had a bright smile full of perfect, straight teeth. She approached him as he turned.
"I saw the video." She told him.
"Uh...yeah, apparently everyone did." Spike told her.
"You know, I always did think Justin was a jerk." She told him. "I'm not the only one."
"I can believe that." Spike said, his voice cracking a little as she stepped closer. He could feel a tightness in his chest, and his blood was beginning to race. He was sure his face was turning red. "Um...I..."
"You know, I always did think you were kind of cute." She responded as she gently pushed Vicky aside, pushing Spike into the lockers and approaching him closely. "Are you going to the pep rally? I'll be performing."
"Um...yeah, it's compulsory?" Vicky replied a little coldly. Melanie just seemed to ignore her and continued to smile.
"Maybe we can do something some time?" She asked him, handing him her phone number. "Call me."
As she left, Mal and Jimmy were grinning like mad as Spike watched her go, his mouth hanging open.
"Yeah, being the school hero looks like its hell." Mal teased him.
"The first bell's rung." Vicky replied sharply as she grabbed her bag. "Come on."
Over at the Tengen Gate, Daisuke was sitting, meditating by the shrine dedicated to the battle of the Tengen Gate. The other guardians were performing their usual duties, upkeep of the gardens, upkeep of the grounds, training and suchlike, and he was only dimly aware of them in this state.
While not the same as the power of the Noble Clans, the Elder Guardian had a deep connection to the energy forces that separated the Netherworld from the Land of the Living. He felt a great number of the disturbances, and could feel several shifts in the power balance. It was not something that came without cost; he had spent a lifetime mastering this connection.
He was uneasy, and felt something deeply disturbing in the winds. The energies were not a form of radar, and were not exact, so he was unsure what it was, but he knew a major shift was coming. A major power would soon be unleashed that would tip the balances in the ever-lasting war between the Samurai and the Nighlock. He was spending longer and longer in seclusion trying to find the answers, hoping that something would let him know what he was feeling, but so far he could not even determine on what side the power that was coming was aligned. All he knew was that it was coming, and coming soon.
His eyes jerked open, and he looked down before him. He was holding his cane, before a sand box. In his meditative state, it often happened that he would scribe symbols that showed what his mind experienced, giving him clarity. He sighed as he saw that the symbols were still not clear, still elusive as to what he was feeling. He just shuffled the sand with his hand to erase the symbols, certain that they were of no value.
Just then, he heard a commotion by the gate. He immediately got to his feet, using his power in a rare instance. He, like all the previous Elder Guardians and the Samurai that using powers frivolously, abusing them was a bad thing. His advancing age meant that he was stiff, sore, and not as nimble as he once was. He knew full well that using his powers, he would be as nimble and athletic as men decades his junior, but he always just accepted his physical limitations as part of his reality. However, this disturbance troubled him.
As he got to the gate, he saw a number of guardians standing, weapons at the ready. He made his way to the fore, and tried to see what they were looking at.
Before him, he saw a short, blonde woman, with dirty, dishevelled clothing. She was slumped in a way that indicated exhaustion, but even then there was a power in her stance that showed her strength. He could see some injuries.
"Who are you? How did you find this place?" One of the guardians, armed with a bo staff screamed, waving it in a threatening manner. "Speak!"
The girl raised her head, and Ji could see her crustal blue eyes, and her young face. His eyes opened wide.
"You?" He asked. The stranger never responded. He just made a gesture with his hand to tell his guardians to put their weapons down. "Take her inside!"
"Sir?" One of them asked.
"Prepare her a room." He continued. "See to it she is cleaned, fed and treated for her injuries."
He approached her and looked into her eyes.
"Our means are at your disposal." He told her. The stranger just wordlessly walked past him, following the guardians inside.