Chapter 28
Today at the Shiba household Emily and Mike were outside feeding the neighborhood cat that had almost ate Antonio. As the feline was eating the food that was given, Emily watched and smiled at Mike "Now that Antonio is all right with the kitty, I've figured we could let her hang around again." "I hope so." Thus the two rangers made their way back inside their home.
Upon entering Kevin was in the living room busily reading his book on samurai life, while Mia was something going on in the practice dojo. Mike lightly nudges Emily in the side and pointed to the dojo "Hey…Check out what's going on over here."
Both he and the yellow ranger joined Mia's side to watch Antonio, Ji and Nariko sitting at a table in the dojo. All three were focused on unlocking something in the Light zord, Nariko had a book opened in front of her soon showing it to Ji and Antonio pointing at one section "Here…We can try this."
"That's really good Nariko. Now focus Antonio this requires our full attention." Told Ji
The gold ranger nodded and grabbed some trail mix from the bowl beside him and began munching "Ok…I can do this…"
"Wow…I'm used to seeing Nariko and Antonio together since they're childhood friends after all but…It's strange seeing Ji and Antonio acting all buddy, buddy." Admitted Emily
"Yeah…But what are they doing with the Light zord?" wondered Mike
His question happened to catch Kevin's attention who now was watching Ji, Nariko and Antonio in the dojo.
"Maybe with your technology you can harness the power of the sword." Said Ji
Antonio nodded at this and continued pressing buttons on his samurai morpher in one hand while messing with his fishing spool in the other. Fed up with watching the three Mike made his way pass Mia and Emily, walking over to Ji, Nariko and Antonio "I've got to know."
Once close enough to the little group, the green ranger greeted them, "Hey guys what's up?"
Both Ji and Nariko held up their hands shushing Mike, though not once did they take their attention off the book or Antonio. The green ranger soon noticed the bowl of trail mix that Antonio was eating, seeing how it was empty the green ranger quickly grabbed the bowl and filled it with dried cat food. He immediately put the bowl back just as Antonio reached over and grabbed some, stuffing the food into this mouth.
Mike lowly chuckled at this, Mia and Emily saw this also and quietly giggled. Ji who had noticed this grabbed Antonio's wrist just as he was about to grab some more "Antonio…I think we should go fishing now." "Ok…Sure could use a break."
Nariko who had also witnessed what Mike had done, she grabbed the bowl and turned to the green ranger holding out the bowl to him "Hey Mike! Have some." He froze in his steps as he tried to make his escape, slowly Mike turned to the Yamada heir who gave a look and lightly shook the bowl "Come on."
Reluctantly he went over to her and grabbed some of the cat food, putting it in his mouth and eating it. Nariko smirked as Mike turned away still eating the food, Mia and Emily giggled at the face the green ranger made.
10 minutes later in the front yard Antonio was prepping his fishing gear while Jayden was practicing on a training dummy. Once finished prepping, the gold ranger turned to his friend "Hey we're going fishing!"
At this time Ji came out of the household with the Light zord in hand along with Nariko following after. "No we're not." Said Ji
"We're not?" wondered Antonio
The samurai mentor held up the Light zord "We need to keep working on this but we need privacy."
The gold ranger simply shrugged at this "Ok…"
Nariko then made her way over to her fiance who immediately stopped his practicing "You're going along?"
"Yeah it's best that I do, Ji feels that he'll most likely need my help and knowledge with this task."
"Well you three be careful out there."
"Don't worry we will."
Jayden then grabbed Nariko's hand and pulled her over into a kiss, she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned it. A good minute had passed as the couple continued to kiss when Antonio said "Come on you two love birds! You can kiss all you want later!"
Nariko was the one to break the kiss and murmured "I better get going or Antonio won't stop."
"Come back to me safe and sound, all right?"
"I will…Love you…"
"Love you too."
The couple shared one last kiss before Nariko made her way over to the gold ranger, Antonio dramatically sighed "Oh finally! I was wondering whether or not I had to come and drag you away from your fiance!"
The Yamada heir playfully shoved the golden ranger "Oh quiet you! Come on, let's catch up with Ji!"
Later at a secluded spot in the hills, Antonio was sitting at a picnic table continuing his programming. Nariko was sitting by his side, looking through the book from earlier. Ji was a few feet behind them, pacing back and forth looking at the gold ranger in thought "If Antonio can do this, he'll unlock tremendous powers."
To his complete surprise Ji was ambushed by some moogers who quickly captured the samurai mentor without catching the attention of Nariko and Antonio. Once capturing mentor, some moogers began sneaking up on the remaining two. The gold ranger ceased pressing on the keypad to his morpher "Nariko…Mentor…It's done…"
The Yamada heir looked up from the book "Really? Well done…" she turned around in her seat "Ji, Antonio is-" the princess stopped once setting eyes on the moogers, Antonio turned around too and quickly got up in alarm. He stood in front of Nariko to protect her but before he could morph, a mooger charged up to the gold ranger and exhale a red fume that immediately knocked out the ranger who fell to the ground.
"Antonio!" exclaimed Nariko, before she could do anything the same mooger exhaled the red fume that knocked out the gold ranger in the princess' face. She let out a cry of surprise before collapsing to the ground right next to Antonio.
Back at the household Jayden was still training in the front yard with the practice dummy, just as the red ranger was practicing his kicks and punches he suddenly stopped once feeling a light pain. He stopped and grabbed his side, looking at the spot in thought "What was that all about? And I don't like what I'm feeling right now…Like something bad has happened to Nariko…"
The gap sensor brought the red ranger out of his thought; he looked at the blinking symbol then to his team as they ran out and stood in front of him. Jayden nodded to his friends and left through the front gate with the others following. Minutes passed as the group made their way to the spot Nariko, Antonio and Ji were.
Upon their arrival Emily spotted something up ahead and pointed "Hey look, over there!"
While Emily, Mia, Jayden and Kevin gathered around Antonio's fishing gear, Mike quickly made his way over to Light Zord who happened to be lying upon the ground.
The green ranger quickly picked up the lantern zord and looked at it "Light Zord! Antonio…Mentor…Nariko…"
Mia came over to Mike at this time also looking at Light Zord "They would never leave this behind!"
"Someone must have ambushed them." Declared Kevin
Jayden frowned at this but nodded "I think you're right…"
"Oh man…This all my fault! They wouldn't have come here if I hadn't been messing around…" said Mike
"You've finally figured that out, huh?" questioned Kevin
Not wanting to put up with any fighting Jayden firmly said "Enough! All that matters now is finding Nariko, Mentor and Antonio."
Mike sighed in frustration and looked at the lantern "What were they doing with this thing anyway?"
While scanning around the area Kevin spotted something on the ground and picked it up. Once realizing what it was he turned to his fellow rangers "Hey everybody!" they immediately went over to the blue ranger who held up the item he picked up "It's Antonio's fishing spool! And the line leads…"
Kevin followed the fishing line that lead to some stairs a few feet away "That way…"
The rangers made their way to the stairs and upon reaching it; they saw that it had a door at the bottom leading to an underground tunnel. "Of course it would lead to a creepy tunnel." Said Mia
"They must have taken them down there…Get ready we're going in!" told Jayden
All five rangers morphed and immediately made their way into the tunnel. It was very quiet and eerie in the tunnel, not to mention the place was barely lit. "It's too dark in here to see!" told Kevin
"I can fix that!" declared Mike, he held up Light Zord and in seconds emitted a bright light
"Thanks Mike." Said Jayden, he then bend down and grabbed the fishing line on the floor. The red ranger looked at it for a bit before following the line "The trail leads this way." With that being said the other rangers quickly followed after their leader.
Meanwhile outside in a secluded spot, Ji, Nariko and Antonio were tied together to a pillar with moogers patrolling around and the nighlok named Eyescar watching over the three.
"Ah yes! Now all that's left for us to do is play the waiting game." Said Eyescar
Antonio struggled against the ropes that bind Ji, Nariko and himself, after struggling for a bit he glared at Eyescar "What do you want from us nighlok?"
"I've got what I want, the three of you! Not only that I've got what Master Xandred wants and that would be the Yamada princess! He'll be most pleased with me once I give her to him."
"You stay away from Nariko! And besides why us?"
"You're the catch of the day! You're the bait I'm going to use to lure the rest of your colored coated friends."
Eyescar then stood in front of Antonio waving his samurai morpher in front of her face "Wouldn't you like to give them a call? I bet you would but too bad! They'll come for you from the only entrance to this valley, from right there!"
The nighlok pointed to a specific spot in the valley "And when they do my mooger army will be waiting with open arms! Bwahahahaha!"
Eyescar then went over to Nariko and began stroking her cheek "I can see why Master Xandred has an interest in you, such a pretty little princess." Nariko quickly jerked her head away from the nighlok's touch; Eyescar evilly chuckled at this before walking away.
"I'm really starting to hate being kidnapped by the enemy." Huffed Nariko
"Don't worry Nariko we just have to keep faith that Jayden and the others will find us." Said Ji
"Nice to hear that Ji, but I'm not worried at all. I just hate being kidnapped and used as bait."
"And besides we don't need faith…Remember my fishing spool? I accidently dropped it…I wonder if someone named Jayden might find it?" said Antonio
"This is why I'm glad to have you as a friend Antonio." Said Nariko
"You know…This time you surprised even me Antonio." Admitted Ji
Back with Jayden and the others, they were still making their way through the tunnel. While travelling through Mia cautiously looked around "I've got a bad feeling about this…"
"This is beyond creepy!" admitted Emily
Soon Jayden stopped in his tracks causing the others to do so, the red ranger kneeled down and picked up a fishing spool on the ground "It's the end of the line…Literally…"
"Everyone be on guard!" warned Kevin
Thus all five rangers formed a circle with their hands on their spin swords just as the moogers came storming in and began attacking the group.
"Man talk about a lot of moogers!" said Mike
"There's no sign of Mentor, Antonio or Nariko!" Kevin pointed out
Amongst their fighting Jayden noticed the Light Zord crazily flying around "Hey check out the Light Zord! It's flying around all on its own!"
Soon the lantern returned to the floor only to be kicked hard by a mooger, Mike noticed this and went to the zord's aid "Oh no! Lighty got dropped kicked!"
While the rangers continued on fighting with the large group of moogers, back with Nariko, Ji and Antonio all they could do was wait for the rangers' arrival since they were bounded by rope. As they waited Ji said to the gold ranger "You know…When you first came back…I thought you were trouble…But I'm glad to say that I was wrong."
"You are?"
"Yes…You deserve your spot on the team…You're truly worth your weight…"
Knowing what Ji was going to say, Antonio smiled and finished for him "In gold?"
The samurai mentor chuckled a bit "Sure…"
Nariko lightly giggled at this and shook her head, Antonio was quiet for a moment before saying "Hey…In case we don't make it out of this…I want to thank the both of you for putting up with me…And you know…Believing in me…"
To their displeasure Eyescar decided to show up at this time and butt in on their conversation "All I want is capturing the rest of your crew! Now the three of you be quiet!"
Meanwhile with the rangers Mike managed to reach Light Zord and discovered something was in the lantern. He pressed a button on the sword which launched a power disk, one that Jayden easily caught and used its powers. The power disk turned out to be the Shark disk that Antonio happened to be working on the whole time and was finally able to unlock its powers.
Jayden quickly got rid of the large mooger group with the Shark disk and with his team, continued their way down the tunnel. The group soon made their way outside and to their dismay found a large mooger army gathered in the valley. "Did we already filled our quota for today?" questioned Mike
"The forces seem more focused across the valley." Told Kevin
Jayden nodded in agreement "You're right, they're expecting us along the valley."
"Sure but if we charge down there we'll still be outnumbered a hundred to one." Told Emily
"True…But I have an idea."
Getting a bit impatient Eyescar kneeled in front of Antonio and grabbed the rope around his neck "Your pathetic buddies will be coming through that passage any minute now. And you get to watch them fry!" the nighlok jerked on the rope hard before letting it go.
Antonio groaned a bit in pain and coughed a little, Nariko looked at the gold ranger in worry "Antonio!" "I'm fine Nariko…I'm fine…"
"Don't worry Antonio, we'll make it through this!" told Ji
Eyescar scoffed at this "Even in defeat, they're delusional!"
Suddenly a loud whoosing was heard above, causing Nariko to look up. She smiled once seeing what it was, Ji looked also and grinned before looking at Eyescar "Not delusional, I just got a hunch."
The nighlok soon heard the whooshing sound and looked up at the sky "Huh? What's that noise?" Eyescar then spotted the Battlewing coming towards them and firing its lasers at the mooger army.
As the lasers took the moogers down, Eyescar cried in disbelief "Impossible! They avoided my trap! I thought they could only spot us by coming through that path!"
The rest of the moogers were dealt with Kevin, Mike, Emily and Mia while Jayden piloted the Battlewing. Mia quickly ran over to Antonio, Ji and Nariko cutting them free from their rope binds "Hey guys, you're free!"
Antonio and Ji grabbed both of Nariko's arms, quickly leading her away from the battle as the four rangers surrounded Eyescar. Kevin quickly used his hydro bow on the nighlok knocking Antonio's morpher out of the monster's hand. Emily ran and immediately caught the device soon handing it to Antonio.
The gold ranger caught his morpher and quickly morphed to join his friends on the fight. Eyescar growled at this "How in the world did you rangers figure out my trap?"
The nighlok soon turned around to make his escape but immediately stopped in his tracks once seeing Jayden standing there with the shark blade in hand "Not so fast!"
"Yeah you're not going anywhere! Not after you laid your slimy nighlok hand on Nariko and planning to take her to Master Xandred!"
The red ranger became angered at this and tightly gripped his sword "Now there's no way I'm letting you escape nighlok!"
And with that the fight continue on but did not last long, thanks to the Shark disk's powers Jayden was able to defeat Eyescar but not for good. The nighlok came back in his large form and thus the rangers summoned their megazord. With their newly acquired Shark zord, the rangers used its powers to defeat Eyescar once and for all.
Later back at the household, everyone had gathered at the table to have some lemonade. While they were sipping their drinks Ji smiled at the rangers "Faced against with impossible odds, you got the job done. You saved us and I will be forever eternally grateful."
Antonio smiled at his friends while munching on some trail mix "That makes the two of us."
Nariko smiled at Jayden and held his hand "I had no doubt at all, I knew you guys were going to save us but thank you. I can always count on you all, especially you my darling red ranger." She gave her fiance a kiss on the cheek before wrapped her arms around his waist hugging him.
Jayden chuckled at this and returned the embrace "I'm just so relieved to find the three of you safe and sound, especially you Nariko."
"So…Is the shark disk great or what?" asked Antonio
Jayden smiled at the gold ranger "You truly out did yourself."
"Oh no…Now he's going to be more full of himself." Joked Kevin
Mike soon noticed the bowl once filled with trail mix was now emptied, feeling a little bit mischievous the green ranger quickly filled the bowl with cat food once more. He then held it out towards the gold ranger "Hey Antonio…How about some more snacks?"
"Thanks!"
Noticing what Mike did just now, Nariko quickly reached over and grabbed the bowl out of Mike's hand "Forget the trail mix, Antonio I'll warm you something up in the kitchen."
"Cool, thanks Nariko."
"I'll help you with that Nariko." Said Ji
As they were getting up from the table, the Yamada princess gave Mike a look, one that Jayden and the others except for Antonio noticed. While she and Ji made their way back into the household Jayden and the others began to laugh at Mike.
Antonio just looked at his friends in confusion as he sipped his drink "What?"
This only cause the others to laugh even more, Jayden patted his friend on the back "We'll you later for now let's just relax, we deserve it anyway."
