Chapter 14: Duty Calls!
A few days after the incident on the Dorado Bay Bridge, Hitoshi was standing before the Rangers silently waiting for Logan to show up. Mason leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed and sighed in boredom. Hitoshi looked down at his phone to check the time as he cleared his throat.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to fill Logan in later," Hitoshi said to the others.
"What is this about exactly?" Ben asked Hitoshi.
"We're here to talk about what's next for us against the enemies," Jirou told Ben as he rose from his seat.
"We still have Odius and Norio to worry about," Hitoshi said to the Rangers.
"No, he doesn't go by Norio anymore," Jirou told Hitoshi.
"That's right, Ripcon mentioned someone called Galvanax," Mason informed Hitoshi.
"I don't understand why Norio would change his name though?" Hitoshi said as he thought to himself.
"With Ripcon gone, I'm sure they'll amp things up too," Beth said to the others.
"We'll just keep getting stronger then too," Mason said as he smirked.
"Speaking of getting stronger," Jirou said as he looked over at Mason. "When was the last time you trained your magic?"
Mason's eyes widened in embarrassment as he quickly looked away.
"Jirou has a point," Hitoshi said to everyone. "You should all start training more often,"
"Are you serious?" Ben said as he threw his arms up.
"Just be sure to inform Logan of this," Hitoshi said as he headed back into the lab.
"You had to open your mouth," Mason said to Jirou as he glared over at him.
"Hey settle down!" Beth said to Mason as she stepped out in front of him. "You saw how close Jirou was to dying,"
"Yeah, I don't want something like that to happen to any of us ever again," Jun said as she got up out of her seat. "That's why I'm going to start training more seriously,"
"And someone needs to start practicing his spells," Ben said as he smiled.
"Can it cowboy," Mason said as he walked across the room.
"Where are you going?" Jirou asked Mason as Mason walked by him.
"I'm going to go find Logan," Mason said as he opened the door. "I have a good feeling I know where he is,"
"Alright, just hurry and get back here before we're done," Jirou said to Mason as Mason walked out the door.
Jirou turned towards the others and saw them standing around the room.
"Come on, let's get started," Jirou said as he walked over to the weapon rack.
Out in the city, Logan was walking out of a comic book shop. As Logan was looking down at his comic book reading it he bumped into Mason.
"As I figured," Mason said as Logan put his comic book back in the bag.
"What's up?" Logan asked Mason.
"We've been waiting for you at the base for a while now," Mason told Logan. "And you ditch out on us with your nerdy needs,"
"Did I miss something important?" Logan asked Mason.
"Sort of," Mason said as he sighed. "We're kicking our training up to the next level,"
"But I don't have time to train today or tomorrow," Logan told Mason as the two walked down the street side by side.
"How come?" Mason asked Logan.
"I'm going to a convention tomorrow," Logan told Mason as he pulled a card out of his pocket.
Logan handed the card to Mason.
"Logan, you can't ditch out on training for this crap!" Mason said to Logan.
"According to you?" Logan asked Mason.
"Hitoshi wants us to train more, not go to nerdy conventions," Mason said as he handed the card back to Logan.
"Fine, I'll go to my nerdy convention while you guys work your butts off," Logan said as he walked on up ahead.
Mason stopped walking and groaned in annoyance.
"Oh this isn't good," Mason said to himself.
Standing on the stage inside of the Galaxy Warriors ship was Cosmo waving to the crowd as they cheered. A monster suddenly ran out onto the stage jogging in place as Cosmo held the microphone up to his mouth.
"Freaks and creeps it is time for a new contestant to take a chance at becoming the best of the best!" Cosmo shouted to the crowd as the monster continued jogging in place beside him.
"Yeah, I will make those Rangers eat dust with my incredible speed!" The monster shouted as he ran circles around Cosmo at blinding speed.
"Settle down!" Cosmo shouted as he tried to hold onto his hat from the wind the monster was creating.
"Speed is also not my only trick!" The monster said to the crowd. "You will see what I'm capable of once I'm down on Earth!"
"You heard Shoespike folks!" Cosmo said as he raised his arm into the air. "Let's send him down and see what he's made of!"
Shoespike began glowing and instantly vanished as Cosmo began laughing maniacally.
"Here we go!" Cosmo shouted as the screen behind him turned on and he stepped out of the way.
Down on Earth, Shoespike landed next to a truck at the convention center. Shoespike looked around the truck and saw men carrying boxes into the convention center. Shoespike began rubbing his hands together as he snickered.
"I've got an idea!" Shoespike said as he began glowing.
Shoespike transformed into a man resembling one of the movers and stepped out from behind the truck.
"Hey, we need some help with these boxes," One of the workers told Shoespike.
"I've got you pal!" Shoespike said as he pulled a box out of the back of the truck.
"We need to get all this set up before the convention starts tomorrow," The man told Shoespike as the two of them carried the boxes inside.
"We can get it done," Shoespike said as he smirked.
Back at the antique shop, Mason returned to the base while the others were training together. As Jirou blocked Ben's sword with his own, Jirou noticed something was troubling Mason. Jirou and Ben lowered their swords and made their way over to Mason.
"Did you find Logan?" Ben asked Mason.
"Yeah, but he's not going to be training with us," Mason said as he crossed his arms.
"He can't skip out on this," Jirou said as he grabbed his towel. "He's going to be left behind which will cause all kinds of problems for the team,"
"I'm going to make sure he comes here tomorrow," Mason said to Jirou. "He's not ditching training again over a stupid convention,"
"Logan works his butt off helping dad make our gear," Jun said as she blocked Beth's sword. "Just let him have some fun for once,"
"Now's not the time for fun," Jirou said to Jun as he watched her and Beth continue training.
"I know you want to finish off Galvanax and his crew, but we have lives to live," Jun said as she dodged Beth's sword by leaning back. "Let Logan have fun for once before going off on him,"
"Fine, but Mason will be with him tomorrow," Jirou said as he tossed his towel to the floor.
"If anything fishy happens I'll let you guys know," Mason said as he nodded.
"We'll be here if you need us," Jirou said to Mason.
The next day the convention center, Logan and Mason were standing outside in a line of people waiting to be let into the convention center. Logan reached into his backpack and pulled out a comic book as he smiled.
"I can't wait to get the creator of Mr. Amazing to sign this original issue!" Logan said in excitement as the line slowly began moving.
"Yeah, I can't wait," Mason said sarcastically as he followed Logan on up the line.
"You didn't have to come you know?" Logan told Mason as he looked over his shoulder.
"Someone had to watch your back in case things went south," Mason informed Logan as Logan handed his ticket to the person at the door.
"Just don't ruin this for me," Logan said as he turned towards Mason and saw Mason hand his ticket to the worker.
"I won't," Mason said as he walked up to Logan. "I just want my pal to be safe,"
Logan gasped as he saw a standee cutout of a masked man with blonde hair.
"What's so great about this guy?" Mason asked Logan as he looked at the cutout of Mr. Amazing.
"He's amazing," Logan said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Very funny," Mason said as he rolled his eyes while Logan headed on up ahead.
Standing at a booth was a suspicious man selling sneakers. As Logan and Mason walked by the booth, the man began snickering.
"I knew at least one of them would be here," The man said as his eyes flickered red.
The man picked up a shoe off the table and continued snickering.
"They're in for a surprise when they see what happens to the people who bought my shoes," The man said as a woman walked up to his booth.
A few moments later, Logan was standing in line to meet the creator of the Mr. Amazing comics while Mason stood by. Mason looked at the shoes of the people in line and noticed everyone's shoes were the same aside from Logan's.
"Is this a trend or something?" Mason wondered as he leaned against the wall.
"Why yes it is!" The man from earlier said as he walked up holding a pair of shoes. "These sneakers have everything!"
"I'm not the type that cares about footwear," Mason told the man. "As long as it fits I don't care what people say,"
"But these bad boys let the air flow inside!" The man said to Mason.
"I don't care," Mason said as he looked away.
The man's eyes suddenly began glowing.
"Trust me, you will love these babies," The man said as Mason looked back over at him.
Mason's eyes flashed as he rose up from against the wall.
"Sure, I'll take them I guess," Mason said as the man handed him the shoes.
"You won't regret it, I assure you," The man said as he smiled evilly.
Mason sat down on a bench and took off his shoes and put on the new ones he just received.
"They're not so bad after all," Mason said as he rose to his feet.
Mason glanced over and saw that the man was now gone.
"I guess he went to giveaway more shoes," Mason said as he looked back over at Logan.
Logan came up to the front of the line and saw the writer of his comic before him.
"How're you doing?" The man asked Logan.
"Great!" Logan said in excitement. "I'm a huge fan Mr. Hanson,"
"Yeah, that's what they all say," The man said as he chuckled.
Logan pulled out his comic and handed it to Mr. Hanson.
"Wow, this is an original copy of issue one!" Mr. Hanson said in astonishment.
"It was my dad's," Logan told Mr. Hanson.
"You want me to sign it don't you?" Mr. Hanson asked Logan.
"Of course, that would be great!" Logan said as he smiled.
Mr. Hanson picked up a marker off the table and pulled the comic out of its sleeve. As Mr. Hanson began writing on the comic, Logan noticed Mr. Hanson's shoes.
"Hey, what's with everyone wearing those shoes around here?" Logan asked Mr. Hanson.
"They're cool aren't they?" Mr. Hanson told Logan as he smiled.
"I guess?" Logan said in confusion.
The logo on the shoes suddenly began glowing causing Mr. Hanson to freeze in place.
"Are you okay?" Logan asked Mr. Handson.
Logan then gasped as he saw Mr. Hanson's body turn to gold.
"What the heck?" Logan said in confusion.
"Logan!" Mason shouted as he noticed the people in line behind Logan turning to gold.
Logan looked over at Mason and saw him making his way to him. Mason froze in place and instantly turned to gold next to Logan.
"Mason!" Logan said in horror as he saw his friend standing in front of him turned to gold. "What's going on here?"
"I'll tell you," The shoe salesman said as he walked out from behind a woman who was turned to gold.
"What did you do to them?" Logan asked the man.
The man began glowing as he laughed evilly. The man transformed into Shoespike right in front of Logan.
"Those shoes were created using my powers," Shoespike told Logan. "It looks like your shoes stick out like a sore thumb!"
"Sorry, but I got these shoes last week," Logan said as he pulled out his morpher.
Logan placed his Ninja Power Star on his morpher and prepared to morph.
"Ninja Spin!" Logan shouted as he spun the Ninja Power Star on his morpher causing him to transform.
Logan transformed his morpher into its Claw Mode and took off running towards Shoespike.
"Eat this!" Logan shouted as he went to strike Shoespike.
Shoespike dashed aside in the blink of an eye causing Logan to miss.
"Did I mention that I'm the fastest freak around?" Shoespike asked Logan.
"It's going to take more than speed to stop me," Logan said as he put his morpher away and pulled out his Ninja Star Blade.
Shoespike ran up to Logan and rammed into him causing Logan to crash into a booth causing it to collapse.
"You're not going to defeat me," Shoespike told Logan as Logan crawled out of the collapsed booth.
Logan placed his hand on his wrist and gasped.
"Where's my Ninja Comm?" Logan said in confusion.
Logan looked over at Mr. Hanson's booth and saw his backpack sitting on the table.
"I left it in my backpack," Logan said as he rose back to his feet. "I need to get it and contact the others or hope they figure out what's going on,"
Shoespike shoulder blocked Logan instantly causing Logan to crash into a table at another booth.
"Face it Yellow Ranger, you won't be making it to the finish line," Shoespike said to Logan as he chuckled.
"I still have gas in the tank," Logan said as he tossed a t-shirt aside that was lying on him as he rose up.
Inside the Ranger's base, Jirou and Ben were training with their actual swords as Beth and Jun stood by watching in awe. Ben swung his Rockstorm Guitar at Jirou causing Jirou to retaliate by easily knocking Ben's weapon away with his Ninja Star Blade. Jirou lowered his sword and walked over to the bench and sat down.
"We still haven't heard anything from Mason or Logan," Jirou said as he wiped the sweat from his face with his towel.
"I guess we overreacted a bit about monster attacks," Ben said as he held his Rockstorm Guitar over his shoulder.
"I'm going to go take a look at the computer in the lab," Jun said as she walked over to the doorway to the lab.
"Yeah, let's take a break and go check on Mason and Logan," Beth said as she rose to her feet.
Jirou and Ben followed Beth into the lab as Jun sat down in the computer seat and brought up the map. Jun brought up a camera feed outside of the convention center and noticed that nobody was around.
"Is it just me or is there a severe lack of people at this convention?" Beth asked the others.
"Maybe they're all inside?" Ben guessed as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe," Jun said as she moved to a camera inside.
Jirou noticed a gold statue on the screen and pointed at it.
"They're either showing off a lot of gold statues, or something is going on," Jirou said to the others.
"Let me check another camera inside the center," Jun said as she changed the camera.
Beth gasped when a line of gold statues was shown on the screen.
"That's not actual statues," Ben said in horror. "That's innocent people turned to gold,"
"Let's get down there and make sure Logan and Mason are safe," Jirou said as he turned away and walked towards the exit.
"I tried contacting them and neither one of them would answer," Jun said as she rose from the computer chair.
"Then we need to hurry," Ben said as he and the others followed Jirou out of the lab.
Inside of the convention center, Logan was trapped as Shoespike was running around him in a circle keeping him from escaping. Logan went to escape and was pummeled by Shoespike making Logan fall to the ground.
"I can't do anything!" Logan said in frustration.
"Just hand over your Power Star and I'll be on my way," Shoespike said to Logan as he continued running circles around Logan.
"No, you're not getting my Power Star," Logan said as he rose back to his feet.
"Then I'll take it by force!" Shoespike shouted as he dashed towards Logan.
A blast hit the ground in Shoespike's path towards Logan causing Shoespike to come to a halt.
"Who's butting in my business?" Shoespike said as he looked over.
The other Rangers ran up beside Logan ready for battle. Jirou lowered his Ninja Blaster as he stepped forward.
"You're not taking anyone's Power Stars," Jirou told Shoespike.
"Guys, thanks for coming," Logan said to the others.
"Why didn't you contact us?" Jun asked Logan.
"I left my Ninja Comm in my backpack," Logan said as he sighed.
"Its fine, we were able to get here in time to back you up partner," Ben said to Logan as he nodded.
"Stop yapping and start fighting!" Shoespike shouted as he dashed towards the Rangers.
Moving at blinding speed, Shoespike continuously struck each of the Rangers as he ran around them. The five Rangers fell to the ground as Shoespike stopped in front of them laughing evilly.
"This guy is fast!" Ben said in astonishment.
"We need to use that speed against him somehow," Jirou said as he rose back to his feet.
"That's it!" Logan said as he jumped to his feet.
"Basher Bots come on out!" Shoespike shouted as a group of Basher Bots appeared around him.
"We'll try and keep this creep busy for you Logan," Beth said as the Basher Bots ran towards the Rangers.
As Logan stayed back the other Rangers began battling the Basher Bots.
"Let's see," Logan said as he began looking around while the others fought the Basher Bots.
Logan noticed fire sprinklers hanging from the ceiling and quickly pulled out his Ninja Blaster.
"This just might work," Logan said as he aimed up at the fire sprinkler.
Jirou ran up to Shoespike and swung his Ninja Star Blade at him. Shoespike disappeared from in front of Jirou and instantly appeared right behind him. Shoespike kicked Jirou in the back causing Jirou to crash into a table at a booth.
"Not even the Red Ranger is quick enough to take me on," Shoespike said as he crossed his arms.
Logan fired a blast at the fire sprinkler and hit it causing it to begin going off along with the other fire sprinklers in the convention center.
"What's going on here?" Shoespike said in confusion as he became drenched in water.
"Let's see that speed now Shoespike!" Logan shouted as he ran out in front of Shoespike.
"With pleasure," Shoespike said as he cracked his knuckles.
As Shoespike readied to dash towards Logan, Ben struck a Basher Bot that was sneaking up behind Logan.
"I've got your back!" Ben said to Logan as he ran off to fight the other Basher Bots.
Shoespike began running towards Logan and slipped as he stepped in a puddle of water on the ground. Shoespike slid across the convention center at full force and crashed into another booth.
"Looks like you're having hydro plane problems," Logan said as he pulled out the Ninja Master Mode Power Star.
Logan placed the Power Star on his Ninja Star Blade and activated it.
"Ninja Master Mode!" Logan shouted as the armor appeared on his body while his Ninja Star Blade transformed.
Shoespike rose from the destroyed booth and saw Logan activate his Ninja Master Blade.
"I'm not losing right at the finish line!" Shoespike shouted as Logan walked towards Shoespike.
Shoespike began running towards Logan once again and started to stumble after stepping in another puddle. Logan struck Shoespike with a powerful slash and destroyed Shoespike instantly.
"And the Yellow Ranger crosses the finish line by a hair!" Logan shouted as he powered back down to his normal form.
As the other Rangers walked over to Logan, the people turned to gold began turning back to normal. Mason gasped as he turned back to normal. Mason began looking around and saw the others nearby.
"What happened?" Mason asked the others.
"You were turned to gold for wearing those terrible shoes," Logan told Mason as he pointed down at Mason's shoes.
"At least you guys took care of that monster that caused this," Mason said as the convention center began rumbling.
The Rangers ran outside and saw a large beam tower hitting the ground reforming Shoespike's body as it grew larger.
"Mason, get somewhere private and catch up with us," Jirou said to Mason.
"Will do," Mason said as he nodded.
Mason ran off as Jirou and the others pulled out their Zord Stars.
"Summon Zords!" Jirou shouted as he and the others activated their Zord Stars on their swords.
The Rangers entered each of their Zords and came up to where Shoespike was still growing from the beam. The beam faded away and revealed a revived Shoespike towering above skyscrapers in the city.
"We'll need to limit his movements," Logan said as the mechanical arms in the back of the Nitro Zord began tossing caltrops towards Shoespike.
"I'll turn this city to dust!" Shoespike said as he began running towards the Zords.
Shoespike stepped on the caltrops causing him to stumble to the ground in pain.
"My feet!" Shoespike shouted in pain as he grabbed one of his feet.
"Nice going Logan!" Jirou said as the Robo Red Zord ran up beside the Nitro Zord.
Shoespike slowly rose to his feet and groaned in annoyance as he looked over at the Rangers.
"Let's take this guy down!" Ben said as he rolled up on his Bull Rider Zord.
"I'm not going down that easily!" Shoespike said as he began running towards the others.
Blue flames hit Shoespike causing him to fall over. The Dragon Zord flew by overhead and went over to the other Zords.
"Welcome to the party," Jun said to Mason.
"Let's just get this over with," Mason said as he knelt down on the head of his Zord.
Jirou pulled out the Ninja Fusion Star and placed it on his Ninja Star Blade.
"Activate Ninja Fusion Zord Formation!" Jirou shouted as he spun the Power Star on his sword.
The six Zords began glowing as they began combining. Shoespike rose back to his feet and saw the Zords finish combining and land on the ground across from him.
"This thing's in a whole other league!" Shoespike said in fear.
"Master Slash!" The Rangers shouted as the Robo Red and Robo Rider Zords began glowing.
The Megazord's sword began glowing from the energy from the Robo Red and Robo Rider Zords as it rose the sword into the air. The Megazord swung its sword downward and struck Shoespike with full force causing the ground to begin shaking momentarily.
"That's a DNF for me!" Shoespike shouted as he fell to the ground and exploded.
"Ninja Rangers, we just crossed the finish line!" Logan said in celebration.
Back at the convention center, Logan ran up to Mr. Hanson's booth and saw that his backpack was gone. Logan looked under the table as he became even more worried. Mr. Hanson walked up behind Logan and cleared his throat causing Logan to bump his head on the underside of the table.
"Oh, it's you!" Logan said as he rose to his feet.
"Yeah, I was looking for you," Mr. Hanson said to Logan.
"This place is a mess now," Logan said as he looked over at the workers cleaning up the damage caused by Shoespike.
"Yes it is," Mr. Hanson said in agreement.
Mr. Hanson pulled Logan's backpack out from behind his backpack and held it out to Logan.
"You forgot this at my booth earlier," Mr. Hanson said to Logan.
"Oh thank goodness!" Logan said as he took his backpack. "I thought someone had stolen it,"
"I can understand you leaving it behind," Mr. Hanson said as he chuckled. "I don't want to imagine what that monster that caused this ruckus looked like,"
Logan reached into his backpack and pulled out his comic that Mr. Hanson had signed.
"At least this beauty is still okay," Logan said in relief.
"Keep that thing safe kid," Mr. Hanson said as he patted on Logan's shoulder.
"Oh, I will!" Logan said as he smiled.
"Keep an eye on my social media account too," Mr. Hanson told Logan as he began walking away. "You'll like what you see,"
"Will do!" Logan said as he watched Mr. Hanson walk away.
Logan put his comic back into his backpack and pulled out his phone.
"Time to repeatedly refresh his page," Logan said as he headed towards the front.
As Logan exited the convention center, the others were standing outside waiting for him. Logan was staring down at his phone as he walked up to the others and bumped into Mason.
"Hey, watch where you're going dork!" Mason said to Logan causing Logan to look up.
"Sorry!" Logan said as he lowered his phone.
"It's a shame the convention had to close early today," Beth said to Logan as she was sitting on a bench.
"Yeah, but it'll be open again tomorrow," Logan told Beth.
"You and Mason should come back again tomorrow then," Jirou said to Logan.
"No, I'm not going back in there," Mason said in disgust.
"It's fine, I got what I came for," Logan said as he smirked. "I need to catch up in training with you guys anyway,"
"Are you sure?" Jun asked Logan.
"Yeah, I'm positive," Logan said as he nodded.
"Then you better start running," Ben whispered into Logan's ear.
"Wait, why?" Logan said in confusion.
"Because the last one back to the store has to clean up after closing!" Ben shouted as he got a head start.
"Oh come on!" Logan shouted in frustration as the others ran off after Ben.
Logan took off running after the others as the sun began setting behind the skyscrapers in the background.
Out at a dig site on Kiyomi's family's island, men were at work digging in the area as Kiyomi and her father watched from outside of the hole. Kiyomi's father sighed in disappointment and turned away from the men at work.
"We've been searching for this for a while now," Kiyomi's father said to her.
"And we're so close to finding it!" Kiyomi told her father. "Just give them a little more time,"
"I don't know if I can," Kiyomi's father said as he closed his eyes.
"Hey, I found something!" A man shouted from the dig site.
Kiyomi looked over and saw the man brushing at something in the dirt. Kiyomi slid down the slope and ran over to the man.
"What is it?" Kiyomi asked the man.
"It's some type of tablet with drawings of lions on it," The man said as he pointed at the tablet stuck in the ground.
Kiyomi knelt down and looked at the tablet. Kiyomi pulled out a knife and jabbed it into the ground and began trying to dislodge the tablet from the dirt.
"What is it Kiyomi?" Kiyomi's father asked her.
The man helped Kiyomi pick up the tablet as she pried it out of the ground.
"Look at this!" Kiyomi said to her father as she revealed the tablet to him.
"We're even closer than before," Kiyomi's father said as he smirked.
Kiyomi handed the tablet over to the man who then carried the tablet out of the dig site. As Kiyomi took a step, the ground beneath began collapsing.
"Kiyomi!" Kiyomi's father shouted in horror as he watched his daughter fall into a hole that was formed.
Kiyomi landed on a pile of dirt hard causing her to scream in pain. Kiyomi opened her eyes and saw the light shining down on her from above.
"What the heck?" Kiyomi said in confusion as she slowly leaned up holding her back.
Kiyomi pulled out a flashlight and shined it out in front of her and noticed something on a pedestal.
"No way!" Kiyomi said in disbelief as she struggled to her feet.
Kiyomi slowly made her way to the pedestal and saw a black box with inscriptions covering the box. As Kiyomi reached for the box, the box began glowing. The box released an electric jolt as Kiyomi laid her hand on the box shocking her.
"Ow!" Kiyomi said in pain as she quickly pulled her hand away.
"Kiyomi!" Kiyomi's father shouted at her from above. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah!" Kiyomi shouted back to her father. "I think we found it!"
"I'll send someone down to help you get out!" Kiyomi's father shouted to her.
Kiyomi looked at the box again and saw an insignia resembling a lion on it.
"It's definitely it," Kiyomi said as she smiled.