(Doyles-always) Again and again, thanks for all the support you've given me. It really keeps me motivated to keep on writing. Real glad you enjoy reading this. Course I wouldn't let Derek die, at least not for now. Hahaha~ luv ya!!!

Derek's POV

'Kelly.' I whispered as I saw her crying uncontrollably next to my body. 'Don't cry.'

The scene was filled with pain and sorrow as I saw Kelly bury her face on my chest. 'It's all my fault you're dead.' She sobbed.

How much I wanted to fly down and comfort her like old times, but I knew it'd be impossible. I was already dead; there was nothing I could do about it.

Suddenly, my soul started to pull away from the Kelly as a bright tunnel of light emerged from the far corner of the airport.

Like a magnet, the tunnel came closer and closer. I had to shield my eyes from the brightness as it sucked me inside.

'Derek.' Voices called out as I felt myself move forward. Slowly, I forced my eyes open.

There was a huge, beautiful doorway with flowers decorating it in front of me. Standing next to it, were many of my dead relatives. Both sets of my grandparents, my aunt, all smiling and waving at me.

It only took me a few seconds to see them. 'Jeff! Sensei!' I yelped in joy as I saw the two of them also waving frantically. The other members of the academy were behind them also.

'I don't believe this!' I gasped as I ran over to Jeff and Sensei as they both gave me a big-bear-hug, happy tears were glistered from my eyes.

Jeff looked the same, as I had also knew him. 'It's good to see you bro.' He grinned.

I was about to reply when suddenly, sensei cut in.

'Jeff, perhaps we'd leave the greetings for later.' Then he turned to me. 'Derek, there's someone who'd want to meet you.'

I raised my eyebrows in confusion as I nodded.

Rather then going through the huge door, sensei led me away from it. 15 minutes later, we arrived in some sort of temple.

'Derek, go in.' Sensei jestured as he smiled at me.

'Where is this place?' I asked, but obeyed as I saw sensei shake his head, insisting that I head inside first.

The whole temple was magnificently built, stone blocks piled upon one another as a bright light shone from a huge hole in the center of the celing.

Suddenly, a figure floated towards me, as I strained my eyes for a better look.

Its appearence resembled that of a man's. Rippling muscles filled his body as warpaint was smeared upon his face. A long broad sword hung from his back. Despite his mighty and majestic features, he smiled down at me kindly.

'Greetings, young chosen one. Your name is Derek, am I correct?' He asked.

I had meant to answer him, but was rendered speechless as I simply nodded.

'Hahaha!' The man laughed, 'Very well. Very well indeed. Do you know who I am?'

I looked at him and shook my head, still finding it hard to speak.

The smile on his face didn't lessen a bit. 'I don't find that surprising. My name is Sarough, the god of justice. I'm the one who-'

Suddenly, I remembered what Kanoi had told me during my adventure in Blue Bay. 'You're the one who made the seven ninja morphers.' I exclaimed. Then I noticed my rudeness and quickly apologized.

'No matter.' He laughed. 'That is correct, I'm the creator of the ninja morphers.'

I looked up at him in admiration. 'If I may ask, why am I here?'

'I wanted to speak to you before you returned to reality.' Sarough said simply.

I nodded my head slowly. 'I understand, ab- WHAT?'

The wise man chuckled merrily. 'Yes, you shall be going back to your world. Surely you don't want to be dead, do you?'

Instantly I shook my head. 'Of course not. Anyway, what did you want to say to me?'

'I had wanted to know whether your mentor was right to have chosen you, now I know that there is no way for him to be wrong.'

I smiled sheepishly. 'Well, he um, didn't have much of a choice. You see-'

'Yes, I know the story, but trust me, I have faith in your abilities.' He smiled. 'Back to what I was saying. Technically, you were killed while trying to save others. Because of your bravery and courage, I shall bend the rule once. However, do keep in mind that I will not do this again if you shall ever be killed.'

Nodding in agreement, a small part of me seemed to relax slowly.

Then, Sarough opened his huge palm and placed it before me. Inside was some sort of weapon.

'This is my gift to you, Derek: The Tornado Spear. It was once used against the worst kinds of evil throughout the universe.' He explained.

I took the long spear into my arms and tried to do a twirl with it. The spear however, did not listen to my actions as it clattered onto the ground.

Sarough laughed merrily again. 'The Tornado Spear is not an ordinary weapon, it has a mind of its own. You will have to train with it in order to win its trust.'

'So what you're trying to say is, that I need to train? Now?'

'There's no time like the present. Hurry up now, we haven't got much time. First, gently raise the spear to the same level as your heart.'

Shane's POV

'Derek dead? How could this be?' The question continued to swirl across my head as it started to sink in. We had lost a teammate. Ninja Storm was back to its original number of 6.

Blake took one last look at Derek as he stood up as well. 'We have to get back to Ninja Ops.'

I nodded in grief. 'Let's take Derek back with us. At least let the others see him for one last time, let sensei do his ritual.'

Gently, Blake and I picked up Derek's body and lifted him slowly off the ground. We were about to teleport, when the girl Derek tried to save grabbed me.

'Wait, where are you taking him?' She asked between sobs.

'We will be giving him a small ritual back in our headquarters.' I said quietly, 'He shall be returned once we've finished.'

'Could I come along?'

Who is this girl anyway I thought. 'No, I'm sorry. Navy Ranger, let's go.'

Even before the girl could protest, we sped off back to Ninja Ops.

The place was empty when we arrived, sensei must have gone to meditate. Carefully, we laid Derek onto one of the mattresses, still finding it impossible for him to be dead.

Suddenly, we heard sounds outside as we headed out. The guys were sweating and panting, lyring around as they got some rest. From their looks, it was clear they had defeated another of Lothor's monsters.

'Dudes, you're back!' Dustin whistled as Blake and I walked over. 'You already settled Derek's problem? How'd it go?'

Blake looked at me in pain as I nodded my head.

Taking a deep breath, Blake whispered 'Derek's gone.'

'What do you mean he's gone?' Hunter asked, a look of confusion over his face.

'Derek's dead.' I croaked.

'No!' gasped Tori as she cupped her hands over her mouth in shock.

'This isn't some joke is it?' Cam questioned suspiciously.

I saw Blake's fists clench in anger at Cam's words. 'Do I look like I'm joking?' He roared.

Cam seemed to realize his mistake as he quickly apologized. 'I'm sorry, Blake. How did this happen?'

'Derek changed into some sort of monster while fighting, then got injured badly as he turned back. He died while blocking a hit meant for the civilians. Blake and I took him back here so sensei could give the "Fallen Warrior Ritual". I replied.

'I'll do it.' A voice said suddenly as out heads turned to its source, only to see sensei at the entrance, a wave of sorrow over his face. 'Dustin, Cameron, get the necessary materials. Shane, bring over Derek's body.' Sensei ordered as I rushed off.

Derek's POV

'Haiyah!' I yelled as I danced around with the spear clutched in my hands. The past few hours were past in a hurry as I learned the main moves for using the Tornado Spear. Sarough continued to guide me as I progressed forward.

He clapped loudly as I did the final move, a swift but powerful thrust forward. 'Good. Very good. You are a natural warrior, Derek.'

I grinned widely as I retracted the spear. 'That's it? I learned all the moves?'

'Definitely.' Sarough smiled. 'Well, then I believe it's time for you to return to where you belong. Earth still needs you.'

'Sarough, sir? I really want to thank you for all you've helped me with. I really appreciate it.'

Sarough nodded. 'You're most welcome. Anyway, there's something you'll need to know before going. The battle ahead will be filled with danger and hardship. It'll take determination, courage and strength to get through them. No one knows the fate of the world, but you will be essential in changing it. Do you understand?'

'I won't let you down.' I assured.

With a wave of his hands, I was transported back to the opening of the huge door. Sensei and Jeff was waiting for me yet again.

'Derek, you're back.' Said sensei. 'We know the story already. Don't worry, all of us shall be blessing you here.'

I nodded at sensei as Jeff stepped forward. 'He's right bro. I'll be waiting for you here.'

Before I could even answer them, bright light enveloped me once again.

Shane's POV

We placed Derek's body in the centre of the main chambers as we formed a circle around him. I still couldn't believe that Derek was actually dead, it just happened all to suddenly.

Sensei stepped up onto Derek's chest and started muttering an ancient chant, what it meant was a mystery to us as we watched in silence.

Suddenly, sensei stopped and turned towards us. 'Funny, Derek's body seems to be warmer then it was a few moments ago.'

'Dad, that isn't possible.' Remarked Cam as he started to walk towards the corpse.

Even before either of them could speak, Derek's body suddenly jerked up, sending sensei flying across the room as we all jumped back in surprise.

'What the hell is going on?'

Derek's POV

I sat up and opened my eyes, only to see myself in Ninja Ops, the others were staring back at me in terror and surprise. Dustin looked as if he was gonna faint any second.

'Guys, it's me, it's ok.' I grinned as I jumped off the small table.

They looked at me suspiciously, I could see that they were still not convinced. Tori walked up and sort of poked me with the tip of her finger. The next thing I knew she was hugging the daylights out of me!

'Derek, you're alive! It's a miracle!' She yelled happily as the others quickly joined her around me.

Shane grabbed me by the shoulders and shaked me hard. 'How on earth did you do it, bro?'

'Yes, Derek. I'm sure we'd all like to know.' Kanoi said as he jumped onto the table, brushing dust off himself.

'Sorry bout that.' I said timidly. 'Well, the god of Justice, the maker of the morphers, Sarough sort of gave me a second chance.'

'What? You met him, in person?' gasped Hunter with envy, 'That is sooo sick, man!'

Blake nodded in agreement. 'Oh yeah!' He suddenly said, 'There was this girl who wanted to come with us when we insisted to take you here, do you know her?'

Damn! I thought, I totally forgot about Kelly.

'Do you know what happened to her or anything?' I asked quickly.

Shane looked surprised by my actions as he scratched his head. 'Well, uh, no.'

I glanced down at my morpher. 'Guys, I gotta go. Thanks a lot for everything, I'll contact you later.'

'Derek, w-' started Dustin, but I already started to teleport before he could finish his sentence.

A few moments later, I re-emerged from the bathroom of the airport. Everything around looked normal already, except for the ceiling which I broke. I ran around the area, searching for Kelly, but she was nowhere to be found. Slowly, I started to grow worried. What if something happened to her during my absence, could she be captured by the Insectrons, or worse, tortured?

In panic, I used my ninja senses silently and strained every muscle inside me to detect her "qi" (air or spirit energy in Chinese). To my relief, I sensed her beyond the customs, that must mean that she would be boarding the plane every minute.

Knowing that I had limited time, I ran back to the toilet in a hurry and quickly teleported inside. Able to sense her "qi", I soon found Kelly standing near the big glass windows, her eyes were still wet with tears. Just her look itself tore my heart to shreads.

Silently, I walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder gently. 'Excuse me, miss.'

No word could discribe the look on her face as she turned to look at her. Sobs racked up inside her as tears gushed out of her eyes again. 'Derek!' She yelled as she embraced me.

I patted her gently as she cried uncontrollably into my shoulder, people around kept shooting strange looks at us. 'It's ok Kel, I'm fine. I'm alive.' I whispered.

'How? You- How did you come back?' Kelly asked as soon as she regained control over her voice.

She listened in amazement as the story of meeting Sarough and the training of the Tornado Blade unfolded.

'That's about the whole thing!' I breathed.

'Thank goodness for Sarough then. You got me so worried the whole time.'

I grinned in agreement, 'Well, I'm back now, and better than ever.'

'Passengers for flight 12 please enter through gate 4.' Announced the attendant as everyone got up and headed in the same direction.

Kelly looked at me, her eyes containing something I had no idea what it was.

'Listen, don't worry about anything now, I'm already ok. Take care over there, gimme a call or something when you land, k?' I said in a voice I thought was completely stupid.

She nodded slowly. 'I'll miss you.' Again, she hugged me once more.

With that, she walked over to the gate. I gave her one last wave as she turned back to look at me. A feeling was churning inside me, for what I didn't know. Perhaps I felt as if a part of my body had left me with the departure of Kelly.

'Well, she's going to a safer place, a place without me.' I sighed.

Being dead once didn't just tell me how quick life could end, it also aged me by several years. I knew all too well, that the demon inside me had to be kept contained. There wasn't an excuse good enough to let it out anymore. Was there?

First of all, I know this chapter is really cheesy and it sucks. I know it does, I really hated it while writing, but it was something I had to do. My apologies for this. In order to keep up with the time, I'll be setting the time of the next chapter half a year later. Stay tuned.