The Chargers screwed up AGAIN! Poor San Diego: it's crazy how the Patriots seem to always win these close games...makes you wonder if the game is scripted like professional wrestling...hmmm...

Enjoy the next chapter everyone. Here's hoping for a Pats vs Saints Super Bowl!

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There are over fifty known nuclear power plants in Japan, with five of them being located in Tokyo. Although it was certainly ironic that the country which was the first to feel the wrath of the atomic bomb back in 1945 would have more nuclear plants than any other country in the world, the country's dependence on nuclear power stems not from a need for weapons, but to meet its energy needs as its natural resources are relatively lacking compared to other countries.

Turn what was used to destroy them into something that could be of benefit: truly, the resilience and resourceful of the Japanese people was something to be noted.

The two most recent power plants, however, were created by the Mishima Zaibatsu. After Heihachi regained control of the Mishima Zaibatsu by emerging victorious in the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2, he did many things to regain the trust of leaders around the world. One of the many things he did was spend time helping his own country by providing it with more usable power thanks to the Zaibatsu's wealth.

However, the reasons for building these power plants were not entirely devoted to charity: it would also give power to the factories of the Mishima Heavy Industries, the birthplace of the robotic warrior Prototype Jack. It was also the place where the Russian military robot Jack-2 had its programming created, which would later come back to haunt Heihachi when Jack-4's attacked him at Honmaru. After Heihachi once again took back the Zaibatsu in the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6, he had that particular factory that created Jack-2 and Prototype Jack shut down.

I can see why that geezer pulled the plug on this place, Hwoarang thought as he navigated through the abandoned factory. It's just like him: old and busted.

Hwoarang and his comrades had entered this factory following the clues they had obtained about Astaroth's attacks so that they may discover the golem's lair. There were not many places he could have gone unnoticed with the evidence they had gathered, but the places that were possibilities included the factory that the Korean martial artist was venturing into.

Before they entered the building, the septet agreed to split up so as to search the building faster. Each of them had been equipped with a small headset so that they could call each other for help should they run into any trouble. As Hwoarang finally found the power box, he discovered the panel that controlled the lighting of the factory. Now all I have to do is switch it on and hope it doesn't blow.

Flipping the handle that controlled the power, the panel shot out sparks for a couple of seconds before a loud hum could be heard. The overhead lighting in the room that Hwoarang was in crackled to life as he turned on his headset radio. "Hey Kazama, did that do the trick?"

Good work, Hwoarang, Jin's voice praised Hwoarang through the radio before continuing. Please check on the others to see if they have lights in their area, as well.

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Third Floor

"Everything looks good over here, chap. We'll keep on looking, though."

Steve put his finger off his headset radio and walked over to Feng, who was quietly observing his surroundings whilst standing in place. With the exception of Hwoarang, who had asked to search by himself, all of the other Shinkengers had decided to split up into groups. Considering that Steve seemed to work best with the relatively new Feng, Jin decided to pair them up.

"I don't see anything around here, Feng," Steve said as Feng turned his head. "Should we try moving to another part of the factory?"

"Not yet," Feng put up his hand as his gaze suddenly shifted to a nearby window. "I feel something: a malevolent aura coming at us…"

"Well, that certainly didn't take long," Steve said out loud as he followed Feng's gaze. "So how far would you say he-"

CRASH!!

Feng and Steve jumped back in surprise as the window and the wall it was mounted on exploded in front of them. As the dust settled, their eyes widened as they got a good view of what it was that burst through so much glass and brick: Astaroth, the golem that they had been hunting.

"ShinkenBlue and ShinkenBronze," Astaroth cracked his neck in anticipation and readied his battle axe for combat. "I challenge you to a duel to the bitter end!"

"How in the world did you get up without the others noticing?" Steve asked with sarcastic innocence in stark contrast to Astaroth's lethal challenge. "We're currently on the third floor!"

"I had a very lengthy running start," the golem answered with equal wit. "Now how about you morph so I can actually break a sweat?"

However, Steve reached not for his morpher, but for his headset. Pressing the transmit button located near his ear, Steve issued a call for help. "We have found Astaroth: he's on the third floor on the eastern side." The English boxer waited for a response, but received none. Undeterred, Steve pressed the transmit button once again. "Jin, Hwoarang, come in!"

"Don't bother trying to call for your friends," Astaroth laughed an awful laugh as Steve realized that his distress call would not be heard. "Before I got here, my boss gave me a scrambler so that I wouldn't have any unwanted company." The golem turned his head and pointed to a small black device lodged in his ear. "I'll start with you two and work my way to the others!"

"I still have not forgotten what you did to Dragoon, you fiend," Feng pointed an accusing finger at the golem before getting into a fighting stance. "He was your comrade, and yet you struck him down without remorse. Have you no shame?"

"The Jeet Kune Do incubus was obviously considering defection," Astaroth explained himself. "I did what needed to done with traitors!"

"Then I suppose you wouldn't mind if I did what needed to be done with a monster like you!" Feng spat back as his ki crackled across his body, flowing into his morpher which reacted by utterly in a deep robotic voice, "Standing by…" Once his morpher was fully charged, Feng turned to Steve just as the blonde martial artist had finally given up on his radio. "Steven Fox, it is obvious that we are isolated. We will have to hold him off until the others realize we are in danger."

"I hear that, ol' chum," Steve nodded his head and charged his ki, and continued to do so until his morpher began to crackle with power. The boxer took a deep breath while as body was engulfed in a blue light. Following Steve's lead, Feng yelled that fateful word as Astaroth prepared to strike.

"HENSHIN!"

In the next instant, Feng and Steve were gone from view. In their place stood ShinkenBronze and ShinkenBlue, fully prepared to battle their long-time foe Astaroth. "Let's get this over with, you big lummox!" Steve motioned Astaroth towards him with his hand as he and Feng assumed a fighting stance while the golem let loose a battle cry.

Swinging his axe with a mighty motion, Astaroth barely missed the two Shinkenger with a devastating horizontal swipe that ended with the blade of the axe becoming stuck in the wall. The golem struggled to get the blade free, and left himself open to a pair of glowing fists courtesy of his two foes, causing him to let go of the axe's hilt and reel back in pain.

"You let go of your weapon that has taken so many lives," Feng observed while he raised his iron claws. "That is a fatal mistake that shall be your downfall!" Bringing his hand down, the Kempo master swiped Astaroth across his chest, scratching his exposed pink heart and bringing forth a roar of agony. When Feng attempted a stab, however, Astaroth caught his hand and pulled it towards him.

"Do not think of me so helpless that I am inexperienced in bare-fisted combat," the monster bellowed as he wrapped his arms around Feng and got him into a crushing embrace. "If you think that for an instant, it will be your downfall!" The golem increased the pressure of his embrace, eliciting a sickening cracking sound from the martial artist unfortunately enough to be in his grasp. Feng's arms suddenly shot and whacked Astaroth in the head, and the golem responded accordingly by altering his hold on Feng, turning it into a double leg hold.

Using the massive Chinese man as a bludgeon, Astaroth swung Feng into the oncoming Steve, letting the former go so that the two of them could crash into the ground. Quickly pushing his comrade off of him, Steve flipped back onto his feet and resumed his fighting stance while Astaroth removed his axe from the wall. "It's my turn, mate! Get ready!" Swaying the left to avoid the golem's punch, Steve countered with one of his own: a powerful uppercut that left blue sparks in its wake.

An attack of such magnitude would normally send a man flying. However, Astaroth was not a man: he was so much more. The uppercut merely caused him to take a few steps back and counter by bashing Steve's hip with the back of his axe. The Englishman roared in pain as he was sent flying into the wall. The golem prepared to deliver a finishing blow when he was sent careening backwards himself by Feng's glowing palm.

"Are you all right?" Feng ran over to Steve's side and helped him onto his feet. "He seems more determined this time: usually he's a distraction for a bigger plot."

"I know what you mean, Feng," Steve nodded his head in agreement while he gripped where he had been struck earlier. "He certainly has that look in his eye…although it's really not any different from the look in his eye on normal days."

"How can you make jokes at a time like this?" Beneath his helmet, Feng rolled his eyes and turned to Astaroth. "At any rate, we musn't slay him too quickly. He might be able to tell us who he's been working for all this time!"

"You should stop talking about my well-being and start worrying about yourself," Astaroth eavesdropped on Feng and Steve's conversation before firing off a blue beam of power at them. The beam hit its mark, and both his opponents suddenly found themselves wrapped in flame. However, the flame did not burn them, at least not immediately.

Rather, it wrapped around them like a snake coiling around its prey. The fire contined to dance around them until it suddenly dived down into the ground, forming a puddle that suddenly spread across the boots of Feng and Steve, rendering them immobile. "What in the world is this stuff?" Steve shouted out loud as the puddle took form, finally settling into the design of an elaborate pentagram. "First it's fire, then it's liquid, and then it's just a stain!"

"It's a little technique I've been practicing for a while now," Astaroth explained while his fist continued to burn with a sapphire inferno. "It'll completely negate the armor in your suit and strike you from within like what you humans do with microwaves!" Lifting up his burning hand, Astaroth shouted forth an incantation while the pentagram responded accordingly: "IZU AA ZAZARE!"

Mighty bolts of electricity danced inside the pentagram as Feng and Steve were bombarded with unholy lightning. In mere seconds, their Shinkenger suits dissipated and they were given the full wrath of the lightning, eliciting screams of unbearable pain. After what seemed like an eternity in their eyes but in truth only a little under a minute, Astaroth snapped his fingers and the pentagram stopped glowing, allowing Feng and Steve to drop to the ground unconscious.

"I won't kill you immediately," Astaroth said to them, knowing full well that they could not hear him. "I have something even more exciting planned."

"Well, it's a pity that you won't be able to carry out this plan!"

The golem turned around in surprise and received two kicks to his face that sent him flying backwards, soaring over Feng and Steve and landing flat on his back with a thud. Quickly regaining his footing, Astaroth identified his attackers as ShinkenSilver and ShinkenWhite. How did they know I was here? Astaroth mumbled as he resumed a fighting stance. I guess I made a little too much noise.

"What did you do to our friends, freak show?" Asuka pointed an accusing finger at the monster while Kenichi drew his katana. "You better not have hurt them!"

"And what if I did hurt them, you bosomy runt?" Astaroth taunted while he charged towards the couple, making sure that he stepped on the fallen Feng and Steve while doing so. "What are you going to do about it?" So surprising and intense was Astaroth's speed that neither Asuka nor Kenichi could predict his movement, paying for their failure of doing so by being sent sprawling backwards from the golem's mighty shoulder ramming.

The two young warriors landed on their feet and countered with an assault of their own. Asuka leapt off of Kenichi's shoulders and hit the golem in the face with an aerial palm, while Kenichi followed suit with a wing-propelled diving kick. The second blow caused Astaroth to take a few steps back, but a second palm thrust from Asuka caused him to teeter dangerously like a tower of blocks which just had its foundation significantly altered.

Taking advantage of the opening given to them, Kenichi and Asuka shot out their fists and simultaneous punched the golem in his exposed heart, forcing him to topple over. However, the success of such an attack was short-lived, as Astaroth used his axe to disrupt Kenichi and Asuka's footing and fall down themselves while he stood back up with minimal signs of damage.

"I don't have time to play with you so soon," Astaroth shouted out loud as he stomped on Asuka's throat while Kenichi rolled away to regain his footing. "So I'm going to make this quick and painful." Astaroth turned his head to Kenichi who had just realized the predicament Asuka was in. "Tell me, something, pretty boy: where should I cut first?"

"Asuka-chan!"

Kenichi's wings glowed fiercely while he dashed towards Astaroth at blinding speed with his sword raised. Using all of his mighty strength, Kenichi rammed his head into Astaroth stomached and forced his off of Asuka, having him roll backwards uncontrollably. Asuka moaned in Kenichi's arms as she tried to regain her footing. "What is with him today?" Asuka muttered as she groggily resumed her fighting stance. "He seems a lot tougher to beat then normal."

"That's because I'm through playing around with you idiots!" Astaroth butted into the conversation and snapped his fingers. An instant later, two grey-skinned Lizard-men with unusually spiked tails jumped through the hole in the wall Astaroth created and landed gracefully on the floor. "Today, you will perish in most foul manner! Lizard-men, attack them!"

"Do you honestly think just because their skin color is different and they have more spikes that they'll fair any better than the red ones?" Asuka scoffed while she and Kenichi prepared to combat the newcomers. "That's bordering on discrimination, Asty, and I thought you were better than that!"

"They have a little surprise in their fangs, runt," Astaroth chuckled while he watched his Lizard-man attempt to take a chunk of flesh out of Kenichi and Asuka with their claws. "Just hold still and you will discover that surprise will be!"

Kenichi sent the first Lizard-man's sprawling backwards with a standing punch, pursuing the creature as if rolled onto its feet only to send it right back down with a shoulder tackle. The Lizard-man, with its primal instincts and reflexs, quickly got on all fours and crawled towards Kenichi before rising up and sending the boy careening with a head-butt.

Asuka didn't have much better luck against her sparring partner, either. Although she sent the creature into the air with a powerful vertical elbow, the Lizard-man had both the skill and ingenuity to right itself in mid-air and come down on Asuka with a tackle. The reptilian monster slashed as Asuka's suit with its claws, drawing forth sparks with every swipe and a cry of pain to go along with it. When she finally kicked the creature off, she scrambled onto her feet to run to Kenichi, who had just sent his own foe spiraling to the ground with a standing roundhouse kick.

However, the two Lizard-men suddenly lashed out at the two Shinkengers, latching onto their necks with their fangs. Kenichi and Asuka screamed in agony as they desperately struggled to keep their heads from becoming bitten off as easily as someone would bite off the tip of a carrot. With their hands glowing in unison, Kenichi and Asuka fired off a blast of ki directly into the creatures' temples, killing them instantly by blowing a hole in their skulls.

However, even though the death-grip of their jaws was no longer affecting them, the pain was as strong as ever, as if it was coursing through their very souls. "Are you feeling a little woozy, kids?" Astaroth taunted as he sprung into action by grabbing the two stunned teenagers. "Those Lizard-men you've killed injected you with powerful but short-lived venom that'll leave you completely paralyzed for the next fifteen minutes!"

"More poison," Asuka whispered to Kenichi before they were flung into a wall. "First it was the Sorel creep, and now it's this guy…"

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First floor

"Hwoarang!"

The Korean martial artist turned around to see Jin and Xiaoyu run towards him. For the past ten minutes, that hadn't heard anything from Feng and Steve on the third floor. When Jin radioed Asuka and Kenichi to investigate, they couldn't hear anything from them after arriving on that particular. Hoping that it was merely a communications problem, Jin asked a desparate question. "Have you heard anything from Steve and the others?"

"Nothing but static, Kazama," Hwoarang answered with disappointment as he looked to a nearby stairwell. "I don't know about you guys, but I think we should go up there, too."

"That's exactly why we came down here," Xiaoyu nodded her head in agreement before readying her morpher. "Whatever the problem is, it'll be a lot safer if we're all together to solve it!"

Before she and her comrades could head for the stairwell, however, a loud banging sound was heard in the large room. The trio looked around in confusion to see where the sound had come from, but the second bang allowed them to pinpoint the location: it was coming from the upper part of the wall. Before they could say anything, the upper part of the wall exploded in a blast of bricks.

An instant later, the trio saw a pair of bodies being tossed out of the newly created hole in the wall. Jin and Hwoarang sprung into action and caught the falling figures and instantly identified them to be their fellow Shinkengers Asuka and Kenichi, their suits full of cracks and blemishes. Waking up in Hwoarang's arms, Asuka's eyes widened as she took a deep breath. "Hwoarang, Feng and Steve are up there! You have to help them!"

As if to emphasize her concern, two more bodies fell from the hole, causing Jin and Hwoarang to quickly put down Kenichi and run towards where they would land. The two martial artists caught their other comrades and quickly inspected their bodies for any permanent damage. They're still breathing, Hwoarang thought to himself while he looked to Kenichi and Asuka, who were lying helplessly on the ground while Xiaoyu tended to them as their suits dissipated in a flash of light. But there's only one guy I can think of who could take them out so easily…and here he comes!

"That's four down, and three to go," a familiar voice bellowed as yet another figure came from the hole in the wall and landed on the floor with a powerful thud. Astaroth cracked his neck and raised his axe in a fighting position while he looked at his next three victims. "ShinkenRed, ShinkenYellow, and ShinkenBlack, I have come for your heads," the golem used his axe to point at the Shinkengers already lying on the floor. "Silver and White have been rendered paralyzed for the time being, while Blue and Bronze are currently sleeping off the effects of the pain and suffering I have given them!"

"Their pain and suffering won't begin to compare to yours once we're through with you," Jin threatened while he and his brethren readied their morphers. In an instant, their Shinkenger suits fully materialized across their bodies while they assumed their respective fighting stance. "Let's finish him off, guys! Xiaoyu, start us off!"

At Jin's command, the lithe Chinese woman jumped up behind Jin and Hwoarang and propelled herself off of their shoulders, flying towards Astaroth feet-first. Hitting the behemoth in the face, Xiaoyu pressed onward with a blinding flurry of aerial kicks. Bouncing off of the monster's skull, Xiaoyu back flipped away and allowed Jin and Hwoarang to send the monster sprawling backwards with a pair of standing kicks that left sparks of ki in their wake.

Astaroth quickly landed on his feet and sent the approaching Hwoarang screeching across the floor with a jumping knee to his chest. With a mighty swing of his axe, the golem slashed Xiaoyu and Jin across their abdomen, drawing forth sparks from their suits and a cry of pain to create a symphony of battle sounds. Astaroth ran over to Xiaoyu and began to stomp on her neck as if he were trying to put out a fire. Xiaoyu's screamed in agony as her throat became subject to the golem's considerable weight.

This did not escape the attention of Jin, who sprung back into action and sent the golem spiraling away with a powerful Wind Hook Fist. With his opponent temporarily stunned, Jin leaned down to Xiaoyu, who was struggling to breathe thanks to the pressure her throat had just endured. Before Jin could say anything encouraging, however, he was sent screeching across the ground with a whack of the hilt of Astaroth's weapon.

Stepping in to back up his rival, Hwoarang took to the air and hit the golem with a jumping kick, following up with an aerial roundhouse kick that knocked Astaroth off of his feet, and concluded the combo with an axe kick that sent the creature crashing to the ground and landing flat on his back while Hwoarang landed gracefully on his feet. The Korean continued the assault with a powerful stomp to the monster's exposed heart. Even though Astaroth roared in agony, he quickly regained his composure and rolled to the side to avoid a second stomp.

Astaroth scrambled to his feet and picked up his axe just in time to parry Hwoarang's standing roundhouse kick and swat him away to send him flying into a bunch of empty oil drums that were lying nearby. With the Tae Kwan Do ace struggling to get up but comically falling down repetitively thanks to the barrels, Astaroth turned his attention to the oncoming Jin and Xiaoyu.

With their hands bursting with energy most pure, the two young martial artists locked their wrists together and reared back. As they did so, the energy in their hands began to stabilize and swirl around their palms. "This is for everyone you've killed and maimed, you freak," Jin shouted before turned to Xiaoyu, who nodded her head in acknowledgement before turning back to Astaroth. Once their power had reached its zeniths, they fired off their collected power in the form of massive spheres of energy.

"SHINKEN ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE: TEKKENSHU MAELSTROM!"

"This stupid technique again?" Astaroth taunted as he put his axe over his shoulder as a baseball player would hold his bat over the mound. "Your orange-haired buffoon tried this trick on me already…I'll show you what happened!" As the two metaphorical pitches raced towards him, Astaroth's axe burned with dark red fire as he swung his weapon to swat the two orbs of power right back at their origins. Massive showers of sparks spewed from the suits of Jin and Xiaoyu as they were sent careening backwards and landing flat on their backs with sickening thuds.

The two martial artists writhed for a couple of moments, but soon passed out as their Shinkenger suits faded along with their consciousness.

"Damn it," Hwoarang cursed as he finally regained his footing and looked at the scene before him. All of his allies were now completely helpless to stop Astaroth from having his way with them. "Looks like I'm on my own…"

"Come forth, ShinkenBlack," Astaroth turned to Hwoarang just in time to sidestep a quick punch. "I have decided to spare your friends for the time being. Do you know why?"

"Because you're a sick freak, and that you want to watch them squirm before you delivering the coup de grace?"

"You bring up valid points to be sure," the behemoth stroked his chin as he pondered Hwoarang's words. "However, that's not the main reason I'm letting them slide. I'm saving them for later because of you. Weeks ago I told you that the next time we met, it would be a fight to the finish." Hoisting his axe over his shoulder, Astaroth cracked his neck yet again as his body started to burn with blue fire. "Now I will show you my true power!"