Xander looked upon Noah, Liam, Alicia and Sonia with a calm stare. He solemnly said, "If you truly want to understand Jared, I have to take you into his past." He pulled up a file and opened it. It had a list of dates that ranged a few months.
Alicia raised a confused look. "Take us? What do you mean?"
Xander led them to the Training Floor where he sat them all down in a circle. He muttered a spell, creating a Mystic Spell seal under them all.
"Whats this?" Noah asked, staring at the intricate symbols.
"This Spell Seal will help me concentrate my magic a bit better. I'll cast a spell that'll project our minds into the past. We'll observe, so we'll be invisible to everyone but each other. Are you ready?"
Xander looked around at each one of the Rangers, getting confirmation. He muttered a spell, there was a bright green flash, then nothing.
In the minds of the five, the surroundings went from HQ to outside an unknown High School.
"Where're we now?" Liam asked.
Xander said, "James K. Polk High School; Jared's previous school." He led the four rangers to the soccer field behind the school.
A game was going on, and the score was tied 3-3. The rangers recognized a younger Jared tearing down the field with the soccer ball. He weaved through the defense and kicked the ball to the back of the net, raising a loud cheer from the crowd.
"What day is it?" Sonia asked. "Why were we brought back here?"
Xander answered as he motioned for the four to sit down. "Today's the day Jared was activated."
The game ended a few minutes later with the score being 4-3. The newly activated slayer walked out of his school looking for his twin brother when a strange man in his mid 30's approached. The man had short blonde and brown hair. He stood at 6 feet 4 inches and had green eyes and light skin.
"Jared Gordon?" He asked.
"Yeah..." Jared answered with uncertainty.
"My name is Daniel Racine. I would like to talk to you about something." The scene started to fade around the teens. The voices disappeared, and everything went dark when Jared's face, which was smiling, turned into a look of fear and disbelief...
(Cue Theme)
The scene reformed into Jared punching a practice dummy with Daniel watching him. The two were in the woods early in the morning. It had been about a week since Jared was told of his fate and he had been training hard. The new Slayer hand sprung forward about ten feet toward a stake. On his last flip, he grabbed the stake and threw it at high speeds piercing the dummy's head.
Daniel nodded and said, "Your form is good, but you should try aiming for the heart. Sometimes, hitting the head wouldn't fully kill a vampire."
Jared was clearly annoyed. "Daniel, it's been a week and I haven't actually fought a vampire. What am I supposed to do?"
"As you are, you're not ready to fight a vampire. You need more training."
"Alright..."
The scene dissolved once more and reformed. Jared was sitting studying in a library when he felt a cold chill. Without a doubt he knew it was a vampire. He gathered his things and was about to walk out when he remembered Daniel's advice. He wasn't ready. But the way Jared felt about it made him want to prove himself. He quickly exited the library.
He found the vampire chasing a girl in a cemetery.
It was about to bite its victim when Jared said, "Hey, buddy, back off!" He clocked the vamp in the face and sent it flying. He helped the girl up and said, "Go, run!"
"Who're you?" The vampire asked.
"Oh, you don't know? I'm the Vampire Slayer."
"The Slayer? You must be new." The Vamp charged at Jared.
Jared blocked an incoming punch and kicked the vamp's chest. He ran forward and punched its face. Jared roundhouse kicked the vampire and swept it to the ground. Jared withdrew his stake and stabbed its chest. However, he missed the heart and the vampire kicked him away. After receiving punches and kicks from the vampire, Jared back flipped away and jumped and kicked the fiend into a tree. He hand sprung to his stake and threw it as hard as he could and dusted his first vampire.
Unknowingly, Jared was being watched by more vampires who chose not to attack, but tell their leader the information.
The scene reformed into the next day with Daniel thoroughly irritated with Jared. "You killed a vampire?"
"Yeah, besides, it was only one. No problem." Jared assured the older man.
"That's not the point, Jared. You don't realize what you've done."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that all the vampires in LA are tied together under one leader. You killed one of their own and now they want to kill you. That's why I wanted you to train more."
"Then what do I do?"
"We're gonna have to speed up your training. I didn't want to do this yet, but we're going to have to unlock your Supernatural ability."
"My ability?"
"Yes, every Slayer power is different. Supernatural powers are tied to your personality, your subconscious, your Mana levels, and emotions. The slayer before you could phase through solid objects."
"Wait, what's Mana?"
"I guess I should explain." Daniel answered motioning for Jared to take a seat.
"Mana, is one of the many mysterious energies that can be mastered. Other energies within this group include chakra, Heart Energy, and so on. Those select individuals who utilize Mana gain access to Supernatural potential..."
The scene dissolved and reformed into Jared running at Daniel with glowing red eyes. Daniel's soul gate appeared on his chest and the slayer forced his hand into it. The silvery ribbon structures flew in all directions as Jared pulled out a chunk of purple crystal. The substance burst into lights and revealed a sleek, silver stake.
"I did it." Jared commented as the stake dissolved into lights and re-entered Daniel.
"Good job, Jared. Let's take a break."
"Daniel, what's my power called?"
"Honestly, I've never seen anything like it before. It's completely new."
"You told me about the Mystic Realm. I don't understand the connection between the Slayer and it."
"As you know, that's where Light-Watchers come from. We're assigned charges to take care of, whether it's a person with Supernatural Powers, future Light-Watchers and in your case, the Slayer. It's a never ending war against evil. There's also a prophecy... it's that one Slayer will find the Ancient Spirits and vanquish a powerful darkness."
"Ancient Spirits?"
"Spirits of Warriors who fought thousands of years ago."
The scene reformed itself. Jared was sitting in the lunch room of his school, clearly preoccupied. A new voice said, "Jared, where've you been lately?"
"Hey, Callum." Callum had brown hair and blue eyes. He had lightly tanned skin and was the same height as Jared. "Sorry, dude. I've been pretty busy lately."
"Ok, but you're still going to the dance tonight right?" Jared had completely forgotten about Homecoming.
"Yeah, I'll be there."
"Don't forget. We have to pick up some chicks, dude!" With that, Callum left.
After school, Jared was jogging through the woods when he felt many different chills in the air.
He followed it and found a coven of vampires meeting up. He felt the biggest chill come from the vampire with the stereotypical look. Vladmir rallied up his forces.
"The Slayer has vanquished one of our own. He is a High School student and is newly activated. Tonight we will make him suffer then end his life!"
Jared let out a small gasp and immediately drew attention to himself. He sprinted away with five vampires chasing him. One jumped from tree to tree and tried to drop on him, but Jared grabbed the vampire's arm and threw her into a ray of sunlight. He kept sprinting on. However, more and more vampires cornered him and he was eventually trapped.
Vladmir smirked as his minions held Jared down. "My, oh my. The Slayer. What an honor it is to meet you."
A Vampire in the crowd called out, "Let's kill him!"
However, Vladmir stopped them. "No. We make him suffer. Let us tear his classmates apart then kill him."
The scene dissolved and reformed into Jared tied to a chair in a dark room. He was being held prisoner in the school's boiler room, right below the gym. The vampires wanted Jared to hear the screams as death filled the gym. The Slayer tried to struggle free but it was no use. When the vampire on guard wasn't looking, Jared focused his strength and broke free. He snapped the Vampire's neck and dusted it. He immediately ran upstairs and found Daniel to explain the situation.
When Jared finished his explanation, vampires on motorcycles crashed through the doors and attacked people.
Daniel commanded, "Jared, our first priority is to get everyone out. Go now!"
Jared nodded and proceeded to throwing the vampires off of students. Jared found himself at a disadvantage with no stake. He spotted Callum standing in a corner.
"I have an idea." He sprinted at his best friend and focused his energy. When Callum met Jared's red eyes, his soul gate appeared. Jared pressed his hand into Callum and pulled out a mass of crystal. The crystal burst and revealed a ball that looked to be made of giant flower petals. It floated in Jared's palm. It then opened and revealed itself to be a giant flower shaped shield. Jared raised it in the air and threw it. Like a fast disc, it flew through the air and sliced up many vampires.
However, this new weapon wasn't enough. Jared led Callum out of the building which was now full of vampires. He figured that the majority of LA's cult vampires were there, so he used the opportunity. He sparked a flame and set the gym ablaze. However, Vladmir wasn't there because Jared felt his bloodthirsty aura.
The two found Daniel in a plaza kneeling while clutching his bleeding arm.
"Daniel, what happened?"
"Vladmir is powerful. Be careful."
"But I-"
"You can do it. I know you can." His soul gate appeared and Jared pulled out the silver stake.
Vladmir appeared from the shadows and laughed. "How pathetic. You really believe this Slayer can slay me? He's weak." The head vampire snapped his fingers and one last minion appeared and charged at Jared. The Slayer led the minion away from the plaza and into a dark alley. He ran up the wall, back flipped over the fiend and staked its heart.
Vladmir was floating above him. "Impressive. But what about this?!" A blood red stream appeared in his hand, and Vladmir sent it at Jared like a whip. The Slayer jumped away and saw Callum running toward him.
"Callum, no!"
"Jared, what's going on here?!"
The Slayer pulled out the sphere from Callum's soul and expanded it into its disc form. It acted as a shield as it blocked the bloody stream.
"Stay here." Jared said.
Jared focused his Mana into his feet and jumped up to Vladmir entering a high paced battle. However, it quickly became one sided as Jared couldn't keep up with the vampire. He threw the disc at Vladmir and forced him to the ground. He then burst forward and tried to stab the stake into Vladmir's heart, but was blocked.
"Hmm... it seems that the source of those weapons are those two humans. I wonder..."
Vladmir threw Jared into a dumpster and landed behind Callum. He picked the human up by his neck and bit into him. Callum let out a gigantic scream.
"Callum, no!" Jared yelled. A gunshot was heard and Vladmir screamed in pain. Callum was dropped on his front. Daniel appeared with a gun that fired silver bullets.
"Daniel!" Jared called out.
Jared's head reeled and he found himself staring at Daniel who was being held in a lock by Vladmir. "Jared, throw the silver stake at us. It'll go through both of us!"
Jared was hesitant. "But, you'll die too!"
"Vladmir is a powerful vampire! He needs to be slain!"
Jared closed his eyes and focused. "Ok..." He opened them and threw the silver stake as hard as he could.
"Now I strike!" Vladmir announced. The vampire fired a red ball of energy at the stake and destroyed it. As soon as it happened, Daniel screamed out in pain.
"What's happening?!" Jared asked.
"From what I could see..." Vladmir explained as he let Daniel fall to the ground, those items you use come from the human's soul. So, if the soul is destroyed..."
Daniel screamed in pain one last time and fell to the ground clearly dead.
"No... Noooo!" Jared yelled.
The scene dissolved and reassembled. Jared was on the ground unconscious and Vladmir was so injured, he fled.
The four teens woke up to Xander staring at them. "And now you know..." He softly stated.
"Jared..." Liam whispered, tears running down his face.
"He had to do so much on his own." Sonia commented.
Alicia said, "After losing his best friend, it's no wonder he acted the way he did. He didn't want us to get hurt..." She stood up and looked around at her friends, "He didn't want to lose anyone again."
Noah punched his left hand with his right and stood up. "He thinks we're only friends because of these powers. We have to find him… tell him what's what."
Xander smiled and nodded. "Devon, can you give them some more healing?"
"Sure can do." Devon replied.
~Gordon Manor~
Later that night, Jared was in his bed room and felt the chilling sensation of Vladmir. He opened his eyes and opened his closet. He pulled out a trunk and unlocked it with Mana. Inside this trunk were slaying weapons. Stakes, holy water, crossbows, garlic, etc. He packed them all and formed a plan in his head.
-HQ-
Devon picked up on Jared's signal. "I found him! He's close to Vladmir!"
Xander was surprised. "No way, he can't do it alone!" He turned to the four. "Go, now!"
-The Cemetery-
Jared stalked his way into a catacomb and found Vladmir rallying his troops like before. He took out garlic and used his powers to set it on fire. He threw them like grenades and they exploded, dusting many vampires. They saw him and charged. The Slayer turned tail and ran. Vladmir was very amused. As Jared ran up a flight of stairs, he snapped his fingers and sent a spark of fire at a rope. The rope snapped letting many water balloons filled with holy water dust more vampires. Jared made it out of the catacombs and bottlenecked the rest of the vampires through the use of his crossbow.
After the forces were wiped out, Vladmir walked forward, clapping slowly. "Very impressive. You have grown as a Slayer. However, there's still one vampire you must kill and it's not me." He snapped his fingers and a familiar face appeared.
Jared's eyes widened. "Callum?!"
"Hey, buddy. How's it going?"
Vladmir smirked. "Yes, Callum has been such a great servant to me."
"Callum... no... Why?"
"Don't ask me why, Jared. I feel so much better now than I had alive. I'm strong, fast and smart."
A rogue vampire dashed from the darkness, intent on killing Jared. However, Rachel jumped down from a tree with her sword and slashed the Vampire in half.
"Rachel?" Jared asked in shock.
"You didn't think I'd let you out of my sight did you?" She asked with a smirk. "I knew you'd pull something like this."
Jared simply nodded, morphed, and took a stance. Vladmir fired a red ball of energy when an attack made of water, wind and lightning blocked the attack from reaching Jared.
"Jared!" The Slayer turned to see his team mates running toward him.
They approached him and before he could protest, Noah said, "We know everything! All of it. And we understand! But you can't shut us out, man."
"The point is, you can't fight this guy alone!" Sonia exasperated.
"We're friends!" Alicia said. "We stick together. Let us help you avenge Daniel!"
"Trust us!" Liam finished.
Jared thought it over and with a clear head, nodded. "If you want to... Let's take them down." The Five charged in just as Vladimir snapped his fingers. Shadow Beasts appeared to oppose them. The wolf-like creatures were accompanied by new Beasts.
Some resembled boars with large white horns. Others were giant ravens that flew above while a couple others resemble gorillas. The Rangers wasted no time in fighting the newcomers. Rachel broke off from the rest of the group to fight Vampires that were springing up from the ground.
Though they were much tougher than Shadowlites, the Five managed to take them all down. Unfortunately, more appeared to replace the fallen. Leading the charge was Phoenix.
"Jared!" Liam shouted, "We'll take these guys. Go get Vladmir!"
"Right!"
Phoenix had other plans. He jumped in front of Jared and summoned two curved swords that glowed with fire. "Hello, Slayer…"
"Phoenix… You're really getting annoying," Jared summoned his X-Sword and Legend Sword.
"I get that a lot." The Phantom jumped forward, clashing blades with Jared, who matched him beat for beat. Flames burst in all directions from the two warriors. One moment, Jared would have the upper hand, the next, Phoenix would. For the most part, they were on even footing.
Suddenly, a female voice called out, "Gorgon Eye!" Red Laser beams rained down from the sky, destroying the Shadow Beasts and knocking the other Four Rangers to the ground..
"Guys!" Jared called out, leaving himself open for Phoenix to attack. A wave of crimson fire sent Jared flying into a tree, causing him to demorph.
Medusa appeared and summoned a staff with a glass orb on top. It glowed, and many snakes appeared from the ground and tied up the four rangers.
"It was a trap..." Jared weakly said.
"Yes it was, Slayer." Medusa said. "We're going to make you suffer before we kill you. And what better way to make someone like you suffer than to make your friends lose their hearts to make them Phantoms?"
The Twilight, along with Jared's team mates, disappeared just as Rachel destroyed the last of the Vampires.
Jared dropped to his knees. "No... I lost them... I have to find them. I'm not gonna let them become evil."
From a distance, Slade watched intently, wondering how the rest of this would play out.
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