Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, House of Anubis or Big Time Rush
House of Power Rangers
Chapter 18: House of Upgrades
There hadn't been an attack in weeks! The rangers were shocked but not ungrateful. The last attack had been about a week before Christmas and it was already January now, practically February! It was amazing how much time they had in the day. They could do so much more. Mike had convinced Emily to go out skateboarding with him (they had decided soon after Christmas but before the new year that it was probably best for them to just stay friends), Kevin and Mia decided to go outside to a field to train while Jayden had chosen to stay in the courtyard to do so. Nina had been with him earlier in the day before she left to go and study. She usually stayed in her room but for the past few weeks she had been going out to do so. Sometimes because Shaylee just wanted to go out, so she'd drag Nina along with her and she'd bring her work but sometimes, such as today, she'd go out to meet certain people.
"You study Ancient Egypt in England," Kendall asked. "Why?"
"The school was kind of obsessed with it," Nina replied. The two of them were sitting at the back of a cafe, Kendall's back towards the entrance so people couldn't see his face, so they had less of a chance of being disturbed. He also wore the beanie he had received from Nina for Christmas which made her smile whenever he wore it. It was just him today though; apparently the others had other plans for the day. Not that she ever really planned on meeting them there (knowing that he they were likely to be there didn't count as planned right?). She still hadn't given any of them a way to contact her but around the third time she'd come here with Shaylee, they were earlier than before and it just so happened that Logan and Carlos had gone there too to get coffee. Apparently at least one of them was there every day to get coffee because it was their favourite coffee shop. It also just so happened to be where she met Kelly and Gustavo. "It's also actually surprisingly interesting." Now, however, usually if they were there at the same time and they had time they would sit with Nina for a while before either of them had to leave.
"All I know about it is mummies, pharaohs and Tutankhamun," he shrugs.
"That's a decent start," she points out just as her Samuraizer rings for the first time in weeks. Nina raises her eyebrows, slightly surprised, before quickly turning to answer, hiding her samuraizer from his view.
"Nina," Mike's voice rings through. "You have to come meet us at the bottom of the stairs by park. Quick, it's important."
"Alright, I'm on my way," she replies before shutting her samuraizer and putting it away. "I've got to go."
"It's cool. I should probably be going too," Kendall replies as she packs away her books hastily.
"I'll see you the next time I see you," she smiles quickly, waving as she rushes out of the shop.
It doesn't take her too long to get to the park. Once there, she sees Shaylee and the rangers, except Antonio all surrounding an area on the pathway.
"I was afraid this would happen," Jayden sighs as she arrives.
"Afraid what would happen?" Nina asks, alerting them of her presence. As she gets closer, she sees a relatively big red puddle which could really only be one thing. "Oh wow! Is that all Sanzu river water?" Jayden picks up a fallen twig and dips it in. It catches alight... he nods.
"This is not good," Kevin says shaking his head and pacing, nervous habit of his Nina had picked up on.
"We've seen the netherworld break through to ours before," Emily points out. Jayden's looking up at her before getting up to answer,
"I know but this much water is really dangerous." Nina sees Shaylee tap Mia before the two of them turn to walk a little further from the group.
"And with pools like these, the Nighlok can rehydrate. Without even going back to the Sanzu river!" Kevin exclaims.
"Guys over here!" Mia calls from a little further away, where she's standing with Shaylee. Running over, Nina stops short, seeing what they've seen. A pool of Sanzu river water still bubbling through a drain.
"Last time that this happened. Mentor said it was a sign that the Nighlok were growing stronger," Kevin says.
"Uh, it gets worse. Look!" Mia says.
"Worse?" Nina sighs before seeing what she just raised her hand to point at. Footprints which definitely aren't human. Mia's right. Definitely worse. Considering how long it had been since an attack, she really should've known the Nighlok were up to something big.
The rangers decided to split up seeing as there was suddenly a lot more work to do. Mia and Mike stayed behind to follow the footsteps, Jayden and Kevin went to see if they could find the Nighlok and Emily, Shaylee and Nina had been tasked with finding the leaks and blocking them. Shaylee could track them down and Emily could use her symbol power to create rocks and boulders or Nina could use hers to break some bricks down to block them instead. The trio had been working pretty well together until Nina and Emily get calls on their samuraizers. Their calls didn't last long, luckily.
"What were those about?" Shaylee asks, not looking up from her tablet. She was pretty sure she'd found another leak not too far from where they were walking.
"The others want us to meet them in the forest. Mike's been able to track the footsteps and they think they might be getting close," Emily says.
"That was Antonio. Mentor said we need to try and finish the Black Box," Nina sighed, not wanting to leave her teammates but knowing she was needed elsewhere.
"Mentor's right," Shaylee says, looking up at Nina. "Considering how many more leaks there are, the Nighlok are getting much stronger and have a serious advantage over you guys right now. The Black Box is exactly the edge you need." Nina nods, pulling out her disc before handing it to Emily. Ever since Nina had started helping with the Black Box, she'd often had to give the other rangers, usually Emily, her disc so they could form the megazord if she didn't make it in time.
"Shaylee, where's the leak you found? I'll go and seal it before heading back while you guys meet the others."
Maybe an hour after Nina arrive back home, she and Antonio hear the front door open.
"You check what's going on with them, I'll stay here," Antonio tells her, typing something in his morpher. Nina nods leaving, knowing he'll yell for her if anything happens. Walking into the living room, Nina finds her teammates slightly roughed up but otherwise unharmed.
"What happened?" She asks, startling the rangers and Shaylee with her sudden arrival.
"Mike was able to track our roaming Nighlok, but it was Arachnitor, but he mutated and was so much stronger, so he got away," Kevin explains, clearly bummed about that last part.
"What are you okay? You should've called me."
"It's okay we're fine," Jayden assures her.
"Besides, it's more important that you finish the box. Right now, though we should find where this Nighlok is rehydrating," Emily suggests, the other nodding in agreement.
Shaylee opens the map, as Mentor Ji enters the room, multiple yellow dots appearing.
"There are many spots where the Sanzu river is seeping into our world," Ji tells them.
"At this rate, it looks as though Xandred plans on flooding the Earth," Shaylee adds, frowning.
"We have to work as a team," Kevin says, decidedly. "Even harder than before."
"The Nighlok have tried to ambush us before, this time, it's our turn. We'll ambush him," Jayden says, clearly with a plan in mind. He crouches down at the map.
Emily asks the question all the others are thinking, "But how?"
Jayden smiles, "He'll need to rehydrate," he says tapping the map. "So, we'll catch him at the source."
The others go while Shaylee, Nina and Antonio stay behind.
"It's okay, it's okay," Nina tells Antonio as he groans, fists clenching his hair. They're so close to completing the Black Box, so close! They just need to complete this last task and they'd have done it but every time it seems to be working it stops. "We've got it this time. We have to. We've come too far not to." Antonio squeezes his eyes shut for a moment before suddenly opening them, his mouth dropping open too.
"Why didn't I think of it before?" he whispers to himself. "Nina, I have an idea." The purple ranger nods, placing the box on the table as gold rangers taps at his morpher. Directing it at the box a stream of symbol power goes straight to the box, raising it and this time… it stays up. It's working! Nina thinks, her smile growing. Soon enough the stream of symbol power stops flowing and the box glows gently, floating back down so Nina can catch it in her hands. Suddenly, in an almost trance-like state, Nina whips out her samuraizer, before drawing the symbols of the ranger's elements, all of them; fire, air, water, earth, forest, lightning and light. Once she completes the seven, she draws one more symbol but before she can even look at what she's drawing properly, she finishes, and she comes too. She doesn't know what it was but clearly… it worked.
"Nina, you did it!" Antonio exclaims, as he runs over engulfing her in a hug which she gladly returns, rocking on her feet for a moment. "Me? Are you kidding? This was both of us!" Nina replies pulling away. "We actually don't have time for this! We have to go help the others," she tells him, turning to leave the room.
"Shaylee! Mentor!" Nina calls, walking into the living room. Mentor Ji's actually already there and Shaylee enters soon enough.
"What's up?" Shaylee asks, looking up at them. Nina hands Antonio the Black Box who holds it up proudly as Nina watches the other twos grins grow.
"We finished it!" Antonio exclaims however when Nina glances at the box that's no longer what she sees. What she does sees however is Jayden and Kevin waiting on the ledge of an abandoned building.
"This must be the source," she hears the red ranger say although his voice is slightly echo-y, far away but there's no mistaking it's him. However, peeking around the corner, she sees Octoroo. She's not exactly there (she's come to realise her vision don't work like that), it's more like she's looking in on whatever's occurring. She also couldn't really control what she saw but focusing on the Nighlok helped her to tune in on what he was saying.
"They think they're going to ambush him but they're in for the surprise. Walk past these," Octoroo was saying holding up two plaques with dark symbols on them, "and say goodbye to your morphing power, rangers!" He places on the wall before moving to another location and placing it all the wall, hiding just before Jayden and Kevin cross the barrier.
"Oh no," Nina breathes before she sees Antonio's handing waving in her face.
"Nina," he says, seeing her eyes focus on him. "What's wrong?"
"We have to go. The others need us," she says, walking towards the door.
"It's okay. They haven't spotted the Nighlok yet," he says slightly worried. "You can rest for a moment."
"No, we can't," the purple ranger says shaking her head. "They don't know why they can't morph!"
"She's right," Shaylee says re-entering the room, with two bottles of water. Nina doesn't even know when she left but Ji's missing too. "Mike just called, they've found the Nighlok and their morphing powers aren't working." Antonio furrows his brow, clearly with a lot of questions but knowing there's no time to get answers now.
"Let's go," he nods.
Arriving at the scene, Nina and Antonio have already morphed but the other rangers are still stuck in their civilian forms with their spin swords. Nina directs the gold ranger towards the first plaque before going to find the other plaque herself. She and Antonio slice through them, with their spin swords, keeping on the side before the barrier's effects. Luckily, that's all it takes for the barrier to be broken, the rangers in the wrong side gaining their suits, their morphing power back.
"You guys are here!" Emily exclaims as the team regroup.
"How did you know to destroy those plaques?" The blue ranger asks.
"Yeah! You just saved me from having to get a major haircut," Mia tells them.
"Never mind that," Nina says before turning to the red ranger, holding out the Black Box. "We finished it. I think now's a good a time as any to try it out." The others don't need to see his face to know he's smiling as he takes it.
"I think you might be right."
Those Nighlok's stood no chance against Jayden in his upgraded form. Physically, the main new addition was a white sort of cape jacket, but it was also, so evident Jayden had grown in strength. He cut through the movers and spitfangs like paper before taking down the Nighlok. The other rangers simply stood back admiring his work. Facing the Nighlok in mega mode was a new experience too! The Black Box had made the whole thing much more powerful and combining the clawzord to only improved it more! The rangers also decided to combine the beetle, swordfish and tiger zords with the octozord to create a cannon. However, it required plenty of symbol power do they could only fire it once but being the skilled team, they were, that was all they needed to win. Now they were simply dealing with the aftermath, blocking the remaining pools of Sanzu river water.
"I just don't understand how you knew," Antonio was telling Nina as they walked back over to where the team said they'd regroup. "it was like you zoned out for a moment and suddenly you knew they were in trouble."
"Did you ever consider that I could be psychic?" Nina asks. He stops pulling her to stop suddenly.
"Are you?" He asks so seriously that Nina can't help but laugh.
"No!" She continues walking. "I don't really know how I knew to be honest." It's not really a lie. Even though it's been about two years she's still not quite sure exactly how her chosen one powers work or even what they all are.
"Good thing that's the last leak," they hear Mia say from around a corner.
"For now," Kevin says as they approach, the blue ranger clearly having just arrived with their leader. Emily pulls away from a side hug from Mike as Antonio speaks up,
"Aww, man! Don't be such a downer we just won."
"Yeah, but I don't like that the Nighlok have found a way to mutate," Emily sighs.
"The threat is growing," Jayden agrees. "but so are we. Thanks to our man Antonio and of course, Nina."
"I hear that. We've finally got an edge on Master Xandred," Mike grins, fist bumping them both.
"We just have to keep on getting better a stronger. We have to be, super samurai," Jayden tells the team who smile at him.
Later, that evening Nina's sitting on the bed in her room, her United Kingdom candle lit (luckily Shaylee loves the smell, apparently it helps her feel she's there whenever Nina tells her about her time there.) just laying on her bed. She, Antonio and Emily had used a lot of symbol power today, so they were feeling drained so after eating that night everyone just went their own ways, most to their rooms. It wasn't long before Shaylee entered their shared room, sitting cross legged on her bed, eyeing the purple ranger. Even with her eyes shut she could feel her staring at her, mainly due to lack of movement and the fact that she hadn't said anything when she entered.
"Yes?" Nina asks, opening her eyes and turning her head towards her.
"How did you know that they couldn't morph?" She asks.
"I already told you I have no idea. I just did," Nina replies shrugging.
"The same way you just knew how to active the Black Box?"
"I guess so," Nina replies, getting uncomfortable with the questions now. She didn't want to lie or at least keep secrets, but she didn't think she was supposed to tell them about the whole chosen one thing. However, considering how often it seemed to be helping her situation with the rangers maybe… maybe she was wrong. Maybe she could tell them… not now though. Luckily Shaylee seems to get that she doesn't really want to talk about it.
"Sorry, I know you don't really want me to quiz you about this right now," she sighs. "It just seems a little weird… and I promise this is the last question, but do you recognise this?" She holds up a sheet of paper with a kanji on it. At first Nina is more than ready to say no but just as she opens her mouth to say so, the image flashes in her head and she knows it's not for the first time.
"Yeah," she nods. "I do." It's the symbol she drew on the Black Box. The one she forgot almost immediately.
Whoa chapter eighteen already?! You guys are seriously catching up quick…? I mean, I guess technically I'm catching up with myself but still. I know I'm a little late, so sorry about that, today (well I guess yesterday) was just super busy but don't worry, friday should be nice and prompt (meaning anytime on Friday). I realised I forgot to mention in the previous chapter that Jayden's arm had healed just before Christmas just to his samurai strength (and the help from Shaylee and a touch of symbol power didn't hurt anyone either). Ooh what's so special about the symbol? I don't think I've even decided yet! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and of course I'll see you on Tuesday. Thanks for reading!
