"This Minosaur is tough." Koh winced as he deflected another fatal blow from one of its swords. Canalo inserted the Biri Biri soul into his Mosa Changer and fired electric blasts at it but it was conducting the electricity into the ground by sticking its swords in the ground.

"We need to get serious. Towa and Bamba can handle the other monster." Melto warned them, to which they nodded in agreement.

"Doshin Soul!"

"Nobi Soul!"

"Mukimuki Soul!"

From a good distance away, Melto whipped his extended sword at the Minosaur while Asuna got close and threw a muscled punch, which combined with her natural superstrength, was powerful enough to make it budge a few feet.

Koh used Doshin Soul's sonic punches at the Minosaur and to his relief, they were working. Just as Koh was going to deliver the last punch, the Doshin armor suddenly became unstable and broke off. Koh cried out in pain as sparks flew out of the Doshin Soul and electrocuted him.

"What?!"

"What happened to the Doshin Armor?" Melto furrowed his brows as Koh yanked out the now glowing Doshin Soul.

"Something's agitating Pachygaroo. He's angry." Koh frowned.

"Koh! Look out!" Canalo's warning barely came in time for Koh to dodge out of the way of the Samurai Minosaur's sword but only to be met with a kick to the head.

"Koh!" Melto and Asuna quickly jumped in front of him to shield him.

"Grudge!" The Minosaur swung its swords around wildly, the green lights floated from the other monster into it. Melto however grew suspicious and surprised when it didn't grow big. He didn't have time to pounder it though when two figures leapt overhead.

"Green and blue?" Asuna blinked in confusion.

"Who…?"

Blue pointed his sword at the Minosaur menacingly. "Minosaur! We will stop you! You won't have your way anymore! Prepare yourself!"

"Stand back newbies. Let the seniors show you how it's done, the old fashion way." The green ranger waved his sword at Koh and his friends.

"What!?" Asuna seethed as she and Melto helped Koh up. "At least we aren't wasting our breath yelling threats at the Minosaur like your friend! It can't think beyond its obsession so your words mean nothing to it!"

Blue fell over when he learned his threats were in fact ineffective and cried, "No way…!"

"Oi, look what you've done." Green sighed in exasperation and nudged his companion. "Oi Ryuunosuke! Get up, we still have a job to do."

"Ah! Right!" Blue scrambled up. The two launched their attacks on the Minosaur, slashing their swords at it, blocking where necessary. To Asuna's disgruntlement, they were good and were holding their own against it.

"What's their problem?" Asuna huffed and jumped back into the foray, leaving Melto to support Koh.

"You alright?"

"Yeah." Koh shook his head to get rid of the dizziness. "Who are those guys…Wait, their swords! And their movements! They're almost the same as the two people from that day."

"Yes, the woman is over there." Melto said drily and nodded at Kaoru's position where she was recovering. "And judging from the looks of it, the one in Red is the same person who destroyed Kleon that day."

"Not that it lasted long." Koh winced at the Minosaur who now had its hands full with Asuna, Canalo, and Green and Blue.

"One of these days we need to find a way to permanently destroy Kleon." Melto hummed in agreement. "Come on, we should help them."

"Right." Koh straightened and got out the Max Claw. "I'm going to hit it and the monster Bamba and Towa are fighting."

"Got it. I'll make sure everyone's in position." Melto nodded, knowing what his friend was asking from him. He rejoined the fight and began giving out instructions.

"Asuna, Calano! Lure the Minosaur to my position! Bamba, Towa! Keep the monster right where it is and get clear when I tell you to!"

"Got it!"

"Looks like they have a plan." Ryuunosuke muttered to Chiaki.

"Yeah. Let's go with it." Chiaki spun the disk on his sword to get his spear out. He then noticed that the red had some sort of weapon in his hand that created a bulkier armor around him. Chiaki can't help but let out an impressive whistle. "Would you look at that?"

Even Ryuunosuke was taken aback by the other red's armor. "Wait, doesn't that look like Gaisorg's armor?"

Looking closely, Chiaki realized that the armor did indeed resemble the sentient armor they heard was rampaging during the Strongest Battle. "Oi…"

The Ryusoulgers were oblivious to the Samurai's sudden trepidation as they worked Koh's plan. Asuna and Calano's attacks pushed the Samurai Minosaur to Melto's position with a barge of slashes from their swords. Over with Bamba and Towa, the older brother figured out their plan and nodded at his brother.

"Grab Krosh!" The two used their Tsuyou Souls and grabbed one of Krosh's arms each to hold her in place.

"What?!"

Takeru paused in his attack and read the battlefield. His eyes widened under his helmet upon seeing Ryusoul Red's armor but figured out their plan. He rushed to Kaoru and pulled her away just in time.

"Everlasting Claw!"

The devastating attack pierced through the Minosaur, destroying it.

"Bamba, Towa, now!"

The two rolled away as Koh's attack was now headed towards Krosh. But strangely, Krosh didn't seem bothered by it. In fact, her smirk grew as Koh got closer.

"What?" Melto narrowed his eyes. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something else coming their way. "Koh! Look out!"

Koh didn't have time to stop his attack and was tackled harshly out of his trajectory, crashing into the ground. He rolled with a groan.

"Koh!" Bamba and Towa rushed to him and helped him up. But their eyes were now on the second Samurai Minosaur.

"It revived!?"

"No, this is a different one." Melto corrected Asuna. "This one is stronger and more dangerous." He warned.

His warning was correct. Fire engulfed its swords and one swing from them created a shockwave that sent everyone flying. It then slashed down Bamba, Towa and Koh before they landed, causing them to cry out in pain and demorphed.

"Guys!" Asuna and Melto rushed to them.

"What do you think?" Krosh turned to Kaoru with a mocking smirk. "Your daughter must hate you a lot to create such a powerful Minosaur."

"What?!" Kaoru jolted and stared at the Minosaur. It's posture, the way it fought and the fire coming out of its swords...it's the same as Hiromi. Her eyes became wide in horror. "No…"

"Where is Hiromi-hime!?" Ryuunosuke demanded when he and Chiaki regrouped with Takeru.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Krosh laughed menacingly. She swung her flaming sword on the ground. Everyone covered their faces to protect them from the flames. When they looked up, Krosh and the Minosaur were gone.

"Darn it!" Chiaki punched the ground in frustration.

"She has Hiromi." Kaoru said faintly, unable to process that her daughter was a Minosaur's host and the bomb Krosh dropped on her all at once.

"Mother." Takeru gave her a worried look as he helped her up.

Over with the Ryusoulgers, Melto, Asuna and Canalo dropped their transformations and went to help their friends up.

"There's no doubt the Duridrons have teamed up with a new enemy." Melto said grimly.

"We know this enemy. We clashed with Krosh 60 years ago." Towa revealed. This gained surprised looks not only from the Ryusoulgers but also from the Shinkengers.

"Wait just a minute!" Ryuunosuke called, raising his hands as he approached them. "You don't even look old enough to be 25. How…?"

The Ryusoulgers shared looks, debating internally if they should reveal the Ryusoul tribes' longevity to them. Bamba caught Koh's eye and gave him a small shake of his head.

"We are not supposed to reveal the Ryusoul tribe to outsiders." He reminded their unofficial leader softly.

"But we already told Ui and her father a lot about us." Koh reminded him.

"That's different." Bamba grunted.

"Please." Kaoru spoke up as Takeru helped her over. "Whatever you can tell us about Krosh, please tell us. I need to save my daughter." She bowed low to the Ryusoulgers.

"Hime-!"

"Bamba." Koh gave the regal knight a meaningful look when Bamba looked uninclined to help her. "We can track down the Minosaur and Krosh. You and Towa should talk to them."

"Nii-san, this is about Yojiro-san and Senri-san's great granddaughter." Towa reminded him. That got Bamba to cave. Takeru tilted his head at the mention of one of the previous ShinkenRed's name.

"Fine." Bamba sighed and turned to the Shinkengers. "Let's go somewhere else to talk."

"We can go back to my manor." Kaoru spoke, relief palpable in her voice.

"I'll go with the other Ryusoulgers to track down Hiromi-hime." Ryuunosuke offered.

"Please do." Takeru nodded. The two groups split up, with Ryuunosuke following Koh, Asuna, Melto and Canalo to the city center while the remaining Shinkengers went back to Kaoru's manor.


When the Shinkengers and Ryusoulgers arrived at Kaoru's manor, they were greeted by a battered Tanba and the remaining Shinkengers.

"Hime!" Tanba rushed to help her despite his own injuries. "You're hurt! Oi, someone bring the medical kit!"

"Hikoma-san directed us to find Hiromi-chan when he didn't hear anything from the group sent to find her." Mako explained to Takeru her, Kotoha and Genta's absence from the earlier fight. "We found Tanba-san and the Kuroko badly injured and brought them back."

"Thank you." Kaoru sighed as Takeru and Tanba helped her to sit down on the bench in the sitting room. Her face tightened in worry when she met her husband's expressionless face. "Dear…"

"Will you get Hiromi back and make it up to her?" He asked.

Kaoru lowered her head in guilt. "I need to save her. Whatever problems we have, we can wait until we rescue her to settle."

Her husband pursed his lips unhappily and stormed out of the room.

"Oi! Get back here you cur!"

"Tanba, not now." Kaoru tugged on her retainer's robe to stop him from chasing her husband. She heaved a sigh. "He has every right to be angry with me. I haven't been a good mother to Hiromi. That is why she was able to form a Minosaur."

She turned to the two Ryusoulgers who were silent at the corner of the room. The three Shinkengers who were not part of the earlier battle were staring at them curiously. Kaoru shakily stood up with Takeru's help and her gaze met Bamba's.

"Was Krosh telling the truth that she was part of the Shiba Clan?"

Her question garnered disbelief from the Shinkengers but when Takeru thought about it, it made sense since Krosh was able to fight his attacks off and why Kaoru was so shaken.

Bamba exhaled deeply but it was Towa who answered. "Yeah, Krosh was a human but became part Gedou when she got mad that she was not selected to become ShinkenRed."

"Wait just a minute." Chiaki cut him off. "How can we be sure that you are telling the truth?" His distrust was mirrored by the other Shinkengers, Tanba and Jii.

"Here." Bamba showed them a talisman which Takeru and Kaoru recognized.

"That talisman…the Shiba family only gives them to people outside the Samurai clans they can trust." Kaoru muttered as she lightly fingered the talisman, feeling the protection spell on it that ensured it would be destroyed if it switched hands.

"So does this mean that they are telling the truth?" Chiaki raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"I would say that we can trust them for now." Kaoru sighed. "And I want answers and my daughter back."

Bamba nodded and folded his arms as he leaned against the wall. "To start, Krosh was once known as Shiba Kira, master of the sealing character, slayer of demons, scorching flame of the Shiba clan, etc."

"Those are some long titles." Chiaki whistled, making Mako hit him in the shoulder.

"And she obtained all those titles before she became a Gedoshuu." Kaoru frowned. "If she was that impressive, why wasn't she selected to be 16th head?"

Everyone quieted down as they were curious as to why an impressive member of the Shiba clan was not selected to be a Shinkenger that would cause her to become a half Gedoshuu.

Bamba looked reluctant to tell but a nudge from Towa made him relent. Sighing, he lowered his head. "Shiba Kira had great potential to be a Shinkenger. However, her achievements made her arrogant towards the people she was supposed to protect. Yojiro's father detected darkness growing in her so he decided to hand the title down to his son instead. She became mad and decided to destroy the Shiba Clan for denying her birthright."

"So she became a Gedoshuu to exact her revenge, even going as far as to expose the Shiba manor's weakness to Doukoku." Kaoru said grimly. The room fell silent at her revelation.

"What...?" Takeru managed to choke out.

"Hime, she is the one responsible for Masataka-tono's death?" Tanba asked faintly.

"She told me that she told Doukoku how to penetrate the manor's defenses in hope that the Shiba clan would be wiped out. That's why he was able to attack the manor and kill my father." She revealed, her fist now clenched tightly. "She took Hiromi and made a Minosaur out of her to spite me for being able to use the sealing character and passed it on to all of you to seal up the Sanzu River."

"We will save Hiromi, Mother." Takeru promised her.

"Speaking of which, where's Ryuunosuke?" Genta asked, having noticed that the water samurai was not with them for the first time.

"He went with the other Ryusoulgers to look for Krosh and Hiromi."

"Ah, I just remembered, Hiromi-hime was not the only one taken." Tanba suddenly said. "She was playing with a green kangaroo-like robot in the forest. The monster that took Hiromi also took the robot."

Bamba and Towa straightened at that and recalled what happened to the Doushin armor when Koh and the others were fighting the first Minosaur.

"Nii-san, do you think that they are talking about Chibigaroo?" Towa whispered to his brother.

"It's likely. I'm going to tell Koh about this."

"Should we ask them how they know your grandparents?" Takeru asked Kaoru quietly.

Kaoru bit her lower lip then shook her head. "Not now. I get the feeling they won't give us an answer if we ask. So far, they seem truthful enough."

"Alright." Takeru gave a small nod. He turned slightly and gestured for the Kuroko to treat Kaoru's injuries. He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "We'll get Hiromi back, I promise."

There has been a crease on Kaoru's forehead since learning that her daughter was kidnapped. At Takeru's assurance, it lighten slightly but it was not enough to fully calm her. She needed to save her daughter. The Minosaur, just what negative emotion did it take from Hiromi?