Ep. 4: The Marks of a Good Swordsman
Episode(s) Adapted: What Are Friends For? (何のための仲間)
People were gathering near some railing on a bridge.
"Check it out! A giant robot!" a guy said, seeing the Megazord.
"Okay, let's give it a shot!" Robin said.
"Understood," Vivi said as they were all in the cockpit at their wheels.
"All right," Doc said.
"Let's get a move on," Marvelous said.
"Which are we gonna try it with?" Joe asked.
"Well, let's start with Zeo!" Robin suggested, taking out the key.
"Come forth! Zeo Battlezord!" they all said as they entered their keys into their wheels with a twist. "Let's go!"
"Huh?" one of the bystanders said as they saw.
The Megazord's ports opened up, but nothing came out but steam.
"Oh dear…" Vivi said after they saw.
"So far, no good…" Robin said. "All right, let's try the Turbo Powers!" she said, taking out the yellow key. The Megazord reset itself & they flipped their keys. "Come on, Turbo Lightning!"
"Let's go!" they all said, repeating the process, only to get the same result. The onlookers looked very bored.
"How strange," Doc said.
"This is just boring," one of the kids watching in front said.
"Let's get outta here," another said.
"So lame!" a teenager, who was trying to capture video with his smartphone, said.
"Oh man, I'm gonna be late!" a businessman said, checking his watch.
The Megazord's swords fell from its sides as everyone left.
They were flying on board the Galleon.
"I can't believe none of them worked…" Robin said. She sat down on the futon inside the ship. "The only one we can use for now is the Mystic Dragon, huh?" she asked as the camera went to it.
"We're talking about the ultimate powers of every Power Ranger team," Joe said. "They're not gonna be that easy to get our hands on."
"It's so logical it ticks me off!" Robin said.
"I guess we have to discover 17 other things to really get anywhere," Doc said.
"Like the courage, which you were able to discover…" Vivi said.
"That's fine. But for now…" Marvelous said, walking into frame with his jacket hung over his shoulder. "Joe, Vivi," he added as he sat in his chair.
"Yeah?" Joe said.
"Go do some food shopping so we can have lunch."
On board the Gigant Horse...
"Action Commander Skatana has arrived," the Commander said as he introduced himself to Vekar, bowing.
"I hear from Biorg that you're an expert swordsman?" Vekar said.
"Observe," the Commander said, taking an apple & throwing it up in the air. He unsheathed his sword & slashed at it. It landed into Vekar's hand. He looked at it, wondering. Skatana then put his sword back in its sheath with a final 'sling' & the apple split into multiple slices in his hand. Vekar used one of his glove's talons to hold a slice.
"This is an apple, I take it?" Vekar asked.
"Yes, boss," Biorg answered. Vekar bit off a piece into his mouth.
"Well done, Skatana," Levira said.
"There's no need for these simple party tricks," Damaras said. "I want you to cut down every being on that planet."
"I shall deploy immediately," Skatana said with a bow.
"I really should carry one, Joe," Vivi said as they exited the store.
"It's fine. I've got enough strength for both bags."
They walked along, but a building was then cut in half as they did. They looked over in that direction.
"What do you suppose is happening?" Vivi asked.
"Not sure," he said, then began to run with her following.
Skatana took his sword & slashed several more skyscrapers. The top halves of them fell as some X-Borgs cheered him on.
"Are you the one responsible for this?" Vivi asked as they caught up to him. Joe put the bags down several feet away.
"What do you think you're playing at?" Joe asked.
"I thought I would demonstrate my swordsmanship to the people of this planet," Skatana explained. "If you stand in my way, I'll cut you down."
"Interesting," Joe said, then the rest of the team came down on the ropes.
"You know this country considered it a great act of terrorism over a decade ago to hit buildings with powerful strikes, right?" Joe asked.
"What country wouldn't? Now, leave me alone so I can do my job without your distractions!"
"You're the one who messed up our lunch," Marvelous said & then they flipped their morphers & keys.
"It's Morphin time!"
"Pirate Crew"
"Pirate Crew Red!"
"Pirate Crew Blue!"
"Pirate Crew Yellow!"
"Pirate Crew Green!"
"Pirate Crew Pink!"
"Power Rangers…Pirate Crew!"
"You're those pirates with the 3 million Woolong bounty on your heads?" Skatana asked, looking at their wanted poster. "X-Borgs!" he said & they all ran at them.
"Let's make it showy!" Marvelous yelled as they drew their weapons & charged in.
They started slashing, Joe made it to Skatana & they started dueling one on one, both countering the other until they jumped down into an empty parking garage, still dueling.
"You're half decent," Skatana said. "But, not good enough! Your strikes are pathetic."
"What!?" Joe asked as they clashed blades.
"I don't know who taught you," he got Joe to stumble back. "But they seem remarkably incompetent."
"Why you—!" Joe said, charging at him & clashing blades once more.
It went back to the Gigant Horse as Biorg looked out the front windshield.
"Are you concerned?" Damaras asked him. "Worried whether the action commander you selected will perform as expected?"
"No," Biorg answered. "My duty is simply to execute the orders that Prince Vekar has given me," he said, bowing to him.
It went back to the two swordsmen.
"I suppose I should start taking you seriously," Skatana said, preparing an attack. He held his sword up & rotated it around himself counterclockwise, summoning many swords.
"What the…"
"Savage Sword...Thousand Sword Strike!" Skatana said as he launched the swords.
Joe started blocking them with his sword as the blades came at him. Skatana then slashed with his regular sword, striking him in the chest. Joe tumbled back, rolling on the ground, demorphed, bleeding slightly.
"Impudent weakling," Skatana said.
"Joe!" Vivi said as they caught up.
"You ok?" Robin asked as she & Marvelous stood in between the two while Vivi & Doc looked him over.
"Oh, five on one, is it? Truly the last recourse of cowards," Skatana said.
"Ironic, coming from the jerk who just unloaded a truckload of X-Borgs on us," Robin burned.
"I don't have time to waste dealing with you all," Skatana sheathed his sword, then started walking away.
"You're not getting away!" Marvelous said as he & Robin started to run after him.
"Wait!" Joe said. "I'm going to fight him...alone!" he said, getting up.
Vivi looked worried.
They were back on the Galleon.
"Sorry for the wait!" Doc said.
"I don't believe we took that long, though," Vivi said as they brought out their cooked foods to the table. "And I continue to be delighted by how impressive your assorted skills are, Doc," she said as they put the foods down.
"Well, for a pirate, being able to eat fast is more important than being able to eat well," Marvelous said as he looked at the food.
"More than the taste—?" Doc said.
"He means you should hurry up & finish eating before the Armada shows up again!" Navi said.
"Oh? Where is Joe—?" Vivi asked, noticing the empty seat.
"He took off for something," Robin answered.
"In his condition?" she wondered.
The scene went to a training field Joe set up in the nearby woods. He stood there, calm, sabre in one hand, a regular blade in the other, concentrating, waiting. Vivi found him & watched from several yards away.
Joe opened his eyes & cut the ropes in front of him, triggering blades to fly up at him, slashing at them.
"Joe…" she said, starting to run.
"Stay back!" Joe yelled to her, then continued slashing. He got hit by a few blades.
"Joe!" she said as he yelled in pain.
She then ran to him as he fell to one knee. His sleeve & arm cut, bleeding.
"Joe…"
"You're in the way!" he pushed her away. "Go back!"
"Why do all of this—?" she asked.
"To beat him. He was able to beat me because he had an advantage in the number of blades. If I can't handle it with one sword, I'll use two…If I can't handle it with two…" he said, standing up.
"That's…If you are so concerned with numbers, then two of us should fight instead of just one! And even then, shouldn't the five of us fight together?"
They stared at each other for a sec.
"This has nothing to do with you," he said, back turned to her.
"'Nothing to do with—'? Isn't that why we've become a crew?" she asked.
"Just go back already," he told her. "I don't have time to talk about this."
She walked back they way she came, leaving him alone.
"If it hadn't been for those pirates, we could've gained so much ground!" Vekar said on his ship to the others.
"I didn't take him to be a serious threat, but next time we cross blades..." Skatana started.
"So that wasn't your full strength..." Vekar asked. "In that case, I want you to eliminate that blue pirate in 10 seconds next time!"
"No sir, I've seen through that blue boy in his entirety...It should only take 5 seconds."
"Do not underestimate him," Biorg said to him. "He was originally trained in a style that uses two swords."
"What!?" Skatana said, shocked, then walked over to Levira. She chuckled slightly.
"Leave him be...How can I?" Vivi asked Marvelous.
"All I'm saying is that the rest of us won't fight against that Armada bilge rat," he said to her.
"Why? Are we not Joe's friends!?" she asked.
Marvelous got up & crossed his arms as he talked.
"Sometimes being crewmates is about more than just working together in combat."
"In that case...why are we even friends!? I don't understand!" she said, running to the stairs to go up top.
"Oh, Vivi…" Navi said.
The Galleon sailed through the night skyline as Vivi was in the Crow's Nest...
"You're gonna catch a cold," Robin said, coming up to her & putting her jacket on her shoulders. "Do you know why Joe's so focused on his swordsmanship?"
"No…Why is he?"
"I don't know either."
"Robin…"
"But I think…He probably has some painful memories about someone...probably the one who taught him how to use his sword style."
"What?"
"I asked him about it once…& he just had an expression like I'd never seen before…...& told me not to ask about it," it went to Joe practicing as she talked. He narrowly avoided a blade, but got a cut on his cheek for his troubles. "When he isolates himself like that, it's because he's trying to put up the best fight he can. So I think he wants you to just let him get on with it...because you're his friend," Vivi looked at her, puzzled. "That's what I wanna believe, at least. If he's all by himself, it means he's got a very good reason to be..."
Robin was deep in thought.
It went to the next morning...
Joe launched some more blades & began slashing at them, visualizing Skatana's pattern. When a blade came right at his face, he held out his sabre with his right hand & split it down the middle, Robin Hood-style.
"Good. This should do it," he said.
It went to Vivi & Robin, who were sleeping on the futon under a blanket next to each other.
"I found them! I found them!" Navi said. "I found the Armada at point M-720!" Vivi woke up & started running to Joe, Robin's head fell to the cushion, then she finally woke, seeing Vivi running off. "What to do? What to do?"
Joe was walking through the forest to the battleground. Vivi was in front of where he was walking. He stopped in front of her & she held out her sabre for him to use.
"You sure about this?" he asked.
"I don't know, but...we are friends, after all," she said.
"I see," he said, taking the normal blade & slashing it into the ground, then took her sabre in his left hand. He gave her a nod & a smile, then started walking again. She smiled & followed, several paces behind.
Joe walked up to Skatana as he waited.
"So you've come, blue boy."
"This time, I'm bringing you down!"
"I'd like to see you try."
Skatana gripped the hilt of his sword. Joe threw the sabres up in the air & took out his morpher & ranger key. He turned the key in the morpher.
"Pirate Crew!"
He caught the sabres & they both charged in, Skatana taking out his sword. They started clashing. Vivi watched from behind a big rock.
"Take this! My master stroke!" he geared up the attack. "Savage Sword...Thousand Sword Strike!" he said, launching them. Joe started slashing them away as Vivi was watching in her spot.
Suddenly, three Bruisers came out of nowhere. Two planted his feet to the ground while the third held his top half.
"What!?" he shouted. Skatana launched his strike & hit him. They let go & he fell to the ground.
"How could you!? You coward!" Vivi shouted after coming out of her hiding place.
"Don't be an idiot. There are no rules in a fight. You just have to win. This is what it takes to survive in this harsh universe. Playing by the book will just get you killed," he put his foot on Joe's shoulder, holding his blade in front of his helmet. "Now perish, blue boy."
Vivi flipped her key & put it in her morpher.
"Pirate Crew!"
"Joe!" she said, charging in. She got held up by some X-Borgs. "You honorless coward!" Joe looked towards her.
"You're finished!" he raised his sword, then was shot at several times, causing him to fall back. "What!?"
The others came down the ropes morphed.
"Well, this is pretty interesting!" Marvelous said, slashing a Bruiser.
"An enemy has to be a sneak like you to be worth bringing down!" Luka said, dealing with one of her own.
"We'll handle the small-fry!" Doc said as he dealt with the last one.
"Thank you," Joe said, getting up.
Skatana got up as well & Joe charged at him.
The others fought off the X-Borgs & Bruisers.
"Why are you—?" Vivi asked, surprised.
"We're friends, right?" Doc said, fighting X-Borgs. "We were worried about you."
"Like he said," Luka said, taking on some of her own.
"Thank you…" Vivi said as they got in a group.
The Bruisers lined up in a line.
"Let's do it!" Robin said, getting out a key.
"Right."
They flipped them up.
"Power Switch!"
They said as the Bruisers shot lasers at them.
"Jungle Fury!"
They jumped above the explosions at them as they started taking them on hand-to-hand. Marvelous dealt with one, Doc fought the second, & Robin & Vivi handled the last one. Robin used the Jungle Bo to slash at it, then launched it in the air, allowing Robin to jump up & slash, then kick it. They lined up again as the Bruisers were on the ground.
"Let's keep it going!" Marvelous said, taking out another key & flipping it.
"Power Switch!"
"SPD!"
They took out the SPD weapons.
"Final Strike!" Marvelous said as they aimed them while the Bruisers got up.
They fired on the Bruisers & finished them off.
Joe was dealing with Skatana's technique, slashing the blades away.
"I've seen through your technique!" he said.
Skatana slashed his regular sword at Joe, but he held his sabre forward & clashed with it, tearing it in half & finally hit him.
"This is it," he said.
"I don't know about that," Skatana said, shooting more blades from his body..
"Wh-what the—!?" Joe said, fighting them off.
Levira was watching on a monitor on board the Gigant Horse...
"When Skatana found out that the blue one used two swords, he got worried," she said. "So I gave him a little something extra."
"I'm not done yet! You want more!?" Skatana said.
Joe avoided the blades, somersaulting on the ground, then two blades came out of the ground at him.
"What!?" he asked, then got struck by them, falling to the ground & getting slashed at, but managed to fight a few off. He fell to the ground.
"It's about time I finish this…" Skatana said.
"Joe!" Vivi said as they looked at him. Marvelous kept her back.
"He just needs more," he said. Vivi looked at him & he held his sabre in his hand. "Take them, Joe!" he yelled.
"The rental fees are high, though!" Robin said.
"And you've got food shopping duty for the next 10 times!" Doc said.
Joe looked & they threw their sabres to him. He caught all of them.
"Three's enough!" he said, catching them. "Hilts merge!" he said, holding them, 3 in one hand, 2 in the other.
"A five-sword style!?" Skatana said. "Do you think a bluff like that will help you beat me!?" he said, launching his blades.
Joe focused on them, then jumped in the air & twisted around, slashing at the blades in a whirlwind. When he landed, he destroyed all of the blades in quick succession.
"Impossible... it can't be!" Skatana said.
"It's over," Joe said.
"Well done," Robin said as they watched on the side.
Joe flipped his belt buckle & 5 keys flew out & went into the cylinders on the sabres.
"FINAL WAVE!"
He charged the attack.
"Five-Sword Style…Blue Slash!" he said, slashing at Skatana. The five blue ranger suits appeared out of the slash & hit him.
"Megaforce!"
"Samurai!"
"Mystic Force!"
"Ninja Storm!"
"Lost Galaxy!"
Joe then came in & finished the job, taking Skatana down.
They sensed his life force was gone on the Gigant Horse.
"Curse them!" Vekar said.
"It's not over yet, sir," Lavira said, getting the trigger.
Skatana & the Bruisers grew big. The Bruisers then turned into their ship forms & Skatana rode on them.
"Persistent, aren't they?" Marvelous asked as they saw.
They fired lasers on them.
"Jeez... they never learn," he said, punching in the numbers on his morpher.
5-5-0-1
"Red Galleon!"
"Pirate Megazord Combo! Megazord, ready!" they said as they formed it.
Marvelous flipped up the Red Mystic Force key.
"Let's get serious!"
He said as they inserted their keys.
"Ranger Key, set! Mystic Megazord formation ready!"
They followed after them as the Dragon spewed fire at Skatana. He threw blades at them. They avoided them.
"These blades sure are annoying," Robin said as they steered.
They flew up to them & the dragon breathed its fire, taking out two Bruisers, causing Skatana & the last one to fall to the ground.
"Got 'em!" Doc said.
They landed, then brought out the cannon.
"Bruiser!" Skatana said, having it be a shield.
"Megazord Starburst!" Marvelous said, launching cannon balls at it, taking it down.
"Shall we conclude this battle the same way?" Vivi asked.
"Don't got much of a choice," Joe said & they turned their keys again.
"Let's go! Dragon Magical Bind!"
The Dragon flew out & bound Skatana, taking him down as the Megazord stood there, stoically.
They were back on the Galleon as Joe put a cake on the table, dressed in an apron.
"Eat up," he said & they all looked at him, then got up & walked towards him.
The cake had letters on it, spelling out 'Thank You.'
"Joe…" Vivi said, after walking up to him.
"Don't stare. I-it's not like I baked it for you or anything," he said, turning his back to them. "Now, hurry up & eat."
Marvelous & Doc went right to it as Robin went slower than them.
"Yup, that's our Joe all right!" Robin said.
"Oh, wait a moment! I'll put some tea on," Vivi said as Robin started digging at it with a fork.
"I want some!" Marvelous said.
"Hey, mind your manners!" Doc said.
"Doc, move it!" Marvelous said.
"Hang on a sec!" Doc shot back.
Vivi started walking, then went over to Joe & wiped the one dollop of icing off his nose with her pointer finger, then ate it. She smiled & so did he. She then went to make the tea & he went back to the table.
"Ok, who wants a slice!?" he said as he got a knife to cut it.
END