- Chapter 11 -

- Blue Bay Harbor -

It was the following day, after the three kidnappings by Xiarayne and Exerion within mere hours. This hung heavy on the mind of Shane Clarke as he hung out at his friend Kelly's extreme sports store, Storm Chargers, playing a skateboarding video game. Despite not being as focused as usual, he was doing incredibly well, on his way to capturing a new record. His best friend, Dustin Brooks, took a seat next to him on the couch, opening up a motocross magazine with an article on their friend and former ranger ally Blake Bradley winning a prestigious championship.

"So when are you leaving to meet with Dr. O, bro?" asked Dustin, wondering if Blake would be willing to bet the enormous trophy he held up in one of the pictures in a race against him.

"Doctor? Are you okay, Shane?" Kelly asked from behind her counter. "Also Dustin, your break ended ten minutes ago."

"Yeah, I'm good. He's a friend of ours, from Reefside. Just going to go visit him tomorrow to... catch up," Shane explained quickly. "Get back to work, man."

"But I'm not done yet," Dustin grumbled quietly, standing up and leaving the magazine where he was sitting. He walked over to the helmet rack and began to sort them by color.

"Okay, then," said Kelly, a little disappointed by not getting the truth. She could always tell that Shane and the others kept things from her, and it made her a little sad that they didn't seem to trust her enough with what they did. She often thought about what it was that they did, and if it was something that would get them in trouble one day, but decided to stay out of their business, still holding on to hope that one day they'd tell her themselves.

A short while later, Shane lost at his game after only being a few hundred points shy of his old record, as Kelly had flipped through order catalogs while she simultaneously kept an eye on Dustin to make sure he was doing something. The Red Ranger shut off the TV and game system, and turned to her. "Hey Kelly, when were you supposed to get that new shipment of boards?"

"They came in this morning," she replied with slight puzzlement, then turned to Dustin with an exasperated look. "Didn't I tell you to stock the new arrivals?"

"Yeah," he said, then offered the apologetic smile that had gotten him out of trouble with her for years. He hurried along to the back of the store, and found the boxes labeled with the manufacturers' logos. He bent to pick them up, but as he did, he noticed a figure, partially hidden by the shadows, near the door leading to the outside.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be back here," he called.

He started walking towards the person, but was then kicked in the midsection for his troubles. He stumbled back, into a steel holding rack, causing a loud clang, catching the attention of Shane and Kelly, who'd been talking across the counter.

"What're you doing -" she started, walking into the back. She stopped in her tracks and sentence when she saw the armored warrior slowly walking towards Dustin, who was bent over, holding his stomach.

Shane then made his way through the door to the back, and joined the two in the back. He scowled once he saw the armored warrior, and he and Dustin assumed their fighting stances. "Kelly, get out of here," he instructed.

"But what about you guys?" she asked. Just then, in a flash of voilet light, more of the creatures appeared, filling most of the back room.

"We got this, dudette," said Dustin, his confidence only slightly hampered by the new additions. Kelly was reluctant in listening, only looking at her friends with concern. Dustin quickly turned to her and repeated, "We got this! Just go!"

Kelly gave them a last look as she began to slink behind the two, then turned and headed back to the front of the store, the warrior's eyes following her out as they shifted their heads. They then turned back to the rangers, and ran at them, but the ninja instructors leaped over them, careful not to hit the ceiling. They landed with a roll on the ground, and got back to their feet with raised fists.

Shane then noticed that they door to the outside was now behind them, and turned to open it. "Not enough room here," he said, quickly moving to the outside, Dustin following closely. They made enough space as the warriors spilled out as well, and Shane was the first on the attack. He struck one with a kick, then ducked under a right swung, countering with a sweep. Dustin connected with a tornado kick, then caught a punch to flip the monster. He spun to the side to avoid a kick, and with his momentum was able to deliver a backfist. Shane was able to duck under a high kick by carefully falling onto his back, then quickly springing back to his feet to punch the monster in the face

The warriors then began to move back in a retreat as the rangers smirked, thinking they were finished. But it turned out to be a ploy, as the orbs in the center of their chests began to glow, and they fired purple beams at them. However, the rangers had expected a move like that, and used their ninja streak to jump high into the air, avoiding the blasts. Once they came back down, Shane put his palms together. "That's pretty cool," he said, "but here's something that'll really blow you away!" With that, he unleashed a powerful spiral of wind at them, knocking them against the wall.

"No matter how many times you use it, that line always works, dude," Dustin commented, leaning and resting his arm on Shane's shoulder as they grinned. But their smiles faded as the warriors began to climb to their feet, with their wrist guantlets glowing, the blades lengthening.

- XXX -

Just as the brawl had begun between Shane and Dustin and the monsters in her shop, Kelly was running down the street, going a few blocks before bursting into her friend Tori Hanson's custom surfboards shop.

"Tori!" she called for the Blue Wind Ranger as she came to the counter, grabbing ahold of it to stop herself and catch her breath.

"What's wrong?" she asked from behind it, closing the register that she was counting money in, already having a suspicion based on what Shane had told her about what was going on with the Red Rangers.

"They guys, they're fighting off a group of monsters back at my shop," she said through a pant, setting her red hair back in place.

The two customers in the shop looked over in concern at Kelly's words, as did Marah and Kapri, who were showing the two young men a selection of surfboards across the wall. They decided that right now wasn't the time to make a purchase, and exited the store in a reserved rush. Marah, Dustin's girlfriend, and Kapri, who'd been flirting with one of the boys, walked over to the counter, eager for an explanation.

Once Kelly was finished telling the scenario, Tori looked at the three with a stern look. "Okay, Marah, Kapri, you two stay here and run the shop. Kelly, can I count on you make sure nothing happens here?"

"What're you going to do?" Kelly asked.

"I'm gonna go help the guys."

"Us too!" Kapri chimed in.

"We wanna help!" Marah added.

Kelly looked at the three uneasily. "No offense, but what can you guys do?"

"Just stay here," Tori ordered, then gave the sisters a sharp look. "The three of you." She then headed to the back of her store, and quickly opened her locker. She grabbed her purse and searched inside for her Wind Morpher, retrieving it and strapping it onto her wrist. She then used her ninja streak to race out of her store, and to the back lot of Storm Chargers, where Shane and Dustin where fighting a losing battle against several armored monsters.

She interjected herself into the melee with her ninja streak, taking out several of the warriors with lightning-fast moves. Once most of them were down, she stopped in front of the friends, and asked without turning to them, "You guys okay?"

"We've been better," Dustin replied, wincing.

"I'll take it from here," she said, taking her fighting stance.

Before she could head back into battle, a red thunderbolt crashed into the ground just in front of the remaining warriors, and a black-cloaked warrior with crimson hair now stood where it struck, grinning at the three rangers. "Hello there," Exerion called out, twirling his crystal sword. "So, the cavalry's arrived. This should be fun."

He pointed his sword at Tori, instructing his warriors to attack. As they charged, the Blue Ranger moved her arms in a circular motion, bubbly water trailing as she summoned her element, then put her palms together to blast powerful jets at the warriors, sending them flying back. Exerion unmercilessly struck away any of the monsters that came his way.

"Impressive," said Exerion, "but I suggest morphing to take me on. Your water powers won't have as much effect."

Tori smirked as she raised her morpher, happy to comply. "NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM! HA!"

"Be careful, Tori," Shane warned. Dustin then pointed out that the remaining warriors were fleeing the scene, in the direction of Tori's shop, where Kelly and the sisters were. They took off, following them to prevent them from causing more damage.

Tori unsheathed her Ninja Sword. "Didn't think I'd be morphing again so soon," she commented as she and Exerion circled each other. It hadn't even been three weeks since her powers had been restored by the Sentinal Knight to be a Retro Ranger.

"If you want to run, now's the time," said Exerion with a brandish of his blade.

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing," she replied smartly.

They ran at each other, and Tori rolled under a horizontal slash, then tried a sweep that Exerion evaded. Their swords clashed, steel on crystal, with the two pushing forward, trying to overpower each other. He then pushed her weapon to the side, and swung at her midsection. Tori recovered quickly, then kicked away another attack, responding by slashing across his chest, sending him back a few steps. He launched lightning bolts at her from his free hand, but she flipped back to evade them. She combined her Ninja Sword with its sheath to form its blaster mode, then began to fire at Exerion, who gracefully sidestepped the blasts, almost dancing around them. The sparks from the beams hitting the ground around him kept her from his sight, and she used this to her advantage, using the ninja streak to hit him multiple times.

Under the barrage, Exerion timed and anticipated the attacks, then blocked the forthcoming one with his sword. He slashed out at her, with Tori ducking under the blade, but he spun in place with a roundhouse kick that connected, sending her staggering. The Blue Ranger came back at him with an assorted variety of kicks of her own, but he ducked, dodged, and blocked all of them, catching her by the foot on the last one. He flipped her, but as she turned in the air, Tori began to fire beams from her morpher, striking him as sparks flew from his underarmor. He didn't seem to show much pain over the blasts, however, as he merey winced as he gave her a grin.

"You're pretty good," he said.

"You're not so bad yourself," Tori replied. "Maybe we should even the playing field a little, though."

She put her hands together, and used her ninja powers again, this time making the street turn into a lane of water. She stayed on the surface as Exerion fell under, and smirked inside her helmet as she prepared to strike. However, light began to shine under the water, and a small explosion went off as Exerion reappeared, flying several feet high.

"Big mistake," he called out. He fired off lightning bolts from his sword as he slowly descended, the entire area of water sizzling as it was electrecuted, along with Tori, who yelled in pain.

The water disappeared as she collapsed, her visor opened, revealing her face to Exerion. He strided over and bent down, offering his hand to help her up, feeling a pang of guilt at having hurt the beautiful young woman. She left him hanging, causing him to smirk, and turn to head down the street.

"Wait," she said, struggling to get to her feet in her numbness. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To collect my prize. I won," he said with an edge of malice. A thunderbolt hit him as he teleported away.

- XXX -

Five minutes later, Tori wasn't halfway down the street as she staggered to her shop when she spotted two figures in red and yellow, also walking with evident pain. She met up with Shane and Dustin a minute later on the sidewalk, where their defeated faces now lowering her hopes even more. "What happened, guys?"

Dustin looked down at the ground as he slumped against the side of the building they stood next to, so Shane took it upon himself to answer. "We managed to take care of the monsters outside of your shop, but then that guy with the red hair that you were fighting showed up, and he beat us." He paused for a moment, then added, "He took the girls. Kelly, Marah, Kapri."

Tori absorbed the information, looking over at Dustin with sorrow. "I'm really sorry, Dustin," she said. She thought about putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, but decided that he'd more than likely shrug her off, so she turned to Shane. "And this is all because of that Xiarayne guy that's coming for the Red Rangers, right?"

He nodded. "I should've figured that he would try something like this," he said angrily. "Dr. O told me he was kidnapping girlfriends and wives, but I thought since I don't have one, they wouldn't try anything like this with me." He growled as he kicked the wall, which seemed to snap Dusting out of his haze. The Yellow Ranger got off the building, but still didn't offer any words as he looked at his friends.

Tori sighed. "This is my fault. I should've known that using water against him when he used thunder attacks would've been stupid," she said. "I almost had him."

"It's not your fault, Tori. And it's not yours, either, Shane," said Dustin with a new determination. "They just managed to beat us this time. But we're the Power Rangers; this kind of stuff happens to us all the time. But it always works out in the end, right? So that's what we're gonna have to do."

Shane and Tori were glad to see Dustin riled up and ready to get the girls back, but both knew the truth. "Dustin, man, I'm sorry, but this isn't your battle. They came after the girls because I'm a Red Ranger, and I'm gonna have to be the one to team up with the others to beat these guys."

Dustin frowned. Deep down he knew what the situation was, but didn't want to accept it readily. "He took Marah, Shane! I'm not just gonna sit around and do nothing! I can't do that!"

"You're going to have to, though," said Tori in a comforting voice. "This is out of your control. I wanna help just as much as you do, but this is for the Red Rangers to handle."

"There's gotta be something we can do to help, man," he said, his demeanor softening as acceptance sunk in. He then turned to Shane, and said, "Well, I know you and the other Red Rangers, you guys are more than capable of getting them back. So bring her back safely, okay, dude? Bring them all back safely."

Shane nodded. "Alright. I'll go get Hunter and let him know what's happened, and then we'll be on our way to Reefside." He looked at his two friends, Tori giving him a hopeful smile, Dustin trying to do the same. He put out his fist for them to pound, then returned their smiles, and vanished in a streak.