Xandred laughed as he held Dayu to his side. She was weak and breathless from expelling all the misery, grief, and sorrow she had held in place for decades.

"Thank you, Dayu," Xandred said. "Your last tune was all I needed to fully return."

"It was my misery!" Dayu corrected.

"Your centuries of suffering has played its part. Not only am I back, but the Sanzu river is surging. It won't be long now until it floods this pitiful realm."

Dayu exhaled sharply. Her head falling against Xandred's breast plate.

"I have never heard you play such mournful music before," Xandred added. He sounded like a proud father complimenting a daughter on such a great success.

Mustering as much strength as she could, Dayu looked up and met Xandred's gaze. "I didn't play it for you," she said, through clenched teeth. "I played for Deker."

"Either way," said Xandred. "You have served your purpose. I shall grant you one final request if you wish to stay."

"I wish to reunite with my love," said Dayu. "Too long we have been separated."

Xandred sneered in disgust. Being a Nighlok meant he wasn't burdened with human emotions, especially one as trifle as love, and therefore didn't understand what drew someone like Dayu to it. After years, her human side should have been eradicated, but it seemed something had held on.

"You should've embraced your Nighlok side," Xandred said. "But no matter now. I will not keep you from your precious Deker any longer. But a part of you will always remain with me."

Dayu gasped as Xandred's arm around her waist grew tighter. Her already laboured breathing caught as her chest constricted.

"Stop!" Mia called, but Xandred did not heed the command.

Dayu glowed a faint purple and then disappeared. Bursting into atoms and floating away into the ether. Xandred dropped the robe that had been left behind and turned his attention to the team.

His gaze washed over them, stopping on the barely awake Rune as she knelt in the wet sand not that far away. "Ah, little one, I owe as much thanks to you as I do Dayu," he said, striding toward her.

Weak, Rune tried to scramble away. Her arms giving out as well as her legs and she landed with a thump in the sand. "No," she whined, fingers wrapping around her sword. She didn't know what she intended to do, especially with the last of her strength disappearing rapidly from her body.

"Stay away from her!"

Xandred scoffed as Jayden stopped in front of Rune, his own sword raised and ready to fight. The other Rangers, save for the second red ranger, also surrounded her. "Your deception has not gone unnoticed, Red Ranger," he said. "But, for now at least, stay out of things that do not concern you."

The others gasped as Xandred threw them aside with a flick of his wrist. Jayden groaned, landing not that far away, while Rune struggled back to her feet.

"Rune, stay down!" Mia called. "You're too weak to fight alone."

"But I have to try," said Rune. She reached for her Samuraizer, drawing it through the air and feeling the similar surge of power course through her body. It wasn't much, but enough to keep her standing.

Xandred chuckled. A deep rumble in his chest. "Today is the end of the Rangers," he said, gaze back on Rune. "Whether you stand by my side or theirs, does not matter anymore. I have more than enough power now to take what I want."

"More than enough," said Rune. "But still not enough!"

"Xandred!"

Xandred growled and turned, gaze flittering to the top of a nearby cliff and found the new red ranger standing there. "Ha! A little girl does not have the power to stop me," he said.

"You underestimate me," said Lauren. "The only thing that will happen today, is your downfall." She raised her sword.

Without a word, Xandred swiped his sword through the air, hitting Lauren square in the chest with a ball of fire. She hissed and tumbled backward, losing her footing on the gravel, and hitting the ground.

"No, Lauren!" Jayden called.

"Celestial Wave!" Rune called, wielding her spin sword in a circle and slashing through it. A wave of energy crashed into Xandred, knocking him off balance and causing him to whip around.

"Is that all you've got!" Xandred growled. He swung his sword up and back down, aiming it directly for Rune.

There was a crash like thunder and Xandred gasped as a black aura appeared around Rune, tendrils of it reaching up and wrapping around her sword. She stepped forward, newfound strength flooding her system and allowing her the momentum to fight back.

With a yell, Rune threw her weight into the sword, throwing Xandred's arms wide. She jumped up, planted both her feet into the chest, and sent him stumbling backwards into the sea.

Once she landed, Rune felt the strength drain from her again. She raised a hand to her head and groaned, falling to her knees and demorphin.'

Xandred laughed. "Pitiful!" he goaded. "Your Nighlok powers are weak. Just like Dayu, you relied too much on your human half. It makes you pathetic."

Rune ignored him. She hadn't intended for her attack to do anything but distract him, giving the others enough time to find Lauren and prepare the next part of their plan. Lauren may not have liked or trusted her in the slightest, but there was one thing Lauren couldn't deny after this was Rune's desire to lock Xandred away.

Crunching of gravel and wet sand drew Xandred's attention. He braced himself for the clash of sword on his armour, laughing even as a slight tickle thrummed through him. He shimmered, and then disappeared, appearing a short distance away and rushing through the team at speed's a cheetah would be jealous of.

"No, guys!" Rune groaned, watching as the others hit the ground hard. She tried to crawl to them, but her head was swimming and her vision unclear.

"You all waste my time," said Xandred. He turned his back, sight set on the city in the distance. He took one step forward, stopping as the other Rangers skirted across is path.

"You're not going anywhere!" Antonio said.

"You shouldn't get in my way!" Xandred swore. He opened his jaws, blasting them with high break winds and hurling them off their feet.

Rune felt an arm wrap around her and looked up to see Jayden. His eyes held concern, and for a moment she wondered if it was an act.

"Are you okay?" Jayden asked.

Rune released the fearful breath she had been holding and nodded. Her body ached, protesting in response to her lie, but she forced it down; determined not to let her true pain register on her face.

"Are you?" Rune asked.

"I'll live," said Jayden. His gaze swept out toward the fighting and then up to where Lauren stood, drawing the sealing symbol. He felt useless. Like he should have been doing something other than standing on the side-lines. But he wasn't Red Ranger anymore.

Watching him closely, Rune squeezed his arm. "We can still help," she said. "You can still help."

"How, I'm not -"

"Of Ranger status," said Rune. "But you still have Symbol power and magic. When they were younger, Kali and Nick had a falling out, but they never let it interfere with their ranger duties. While this situation is not exactly the same, you can still use your inherited abilities to help your friends."

Jayden hesitated. "What about you?" he asked.

"I need time to recover," said Rune.

"I thought you said you were alright?" Jayden teased.

Despite herself, Rune smiled. "And you should know me by now," she replied.

"Stubborn."

"Overachiever."

Jayden chuckled and pressed a kiss to her head. "Whatever you do, be careful!" he warned.

"Same goes for you," Rune said. She felt his warmth disappear as he pulled away, and part of her wanted him to come back, but she also knew that he needed to do this. Even if it were only to prove that he was still worthy of upholding his father's legacy, even now.

With a sigh, Rune lowered herself onto the ground and closed her eyes. Welcoming the comforting and relaxing darkness behind her eyes.

BOOM!

Rune's eyes snapped open. Xandred was pinned against the mountain ahead of her, the sealing symbol pressed against his chest. Even from where she knelt, Rune could feel the anguish and anger radiating from him as the Sealing Symbol went to work. His armour cracked and turned grey, crumbling under the heat.

Then it was gone.

Xandred managed to raise his arm, shove his sword against the symbol, and force it into the Earth. The sound was deafening. The symbol disappeared, leaving behind scorched earth and flickering flames as Xandred landed on his feet.

He laughed as he walked through the flames, his body healing instantly.

"What? No!" Lauren cried from on high.

"This is far from over," said Xandred, a sinister grin on his face.

Mike shook his head. "I don't get it," he said, confused. "How could it not work?"

"What's with that white patch on his chest?" Antonio asked. "I've never seen that before."

"I thought no Nighlok can stop the sealing symbol?" Mia asked.

Easing herself up from the sand, Rune stumbled over to the others. "They can't," she agreed, clinging to Jayden as he held her close. "But a half Nighlok can. He absorbed half of Dayu's life force when he killed her. That white patch, Antonio, it's her. It's got to be."

"Maybe there is hope for you yet, little one," said Xandred. "Once we extinguish your human half. Nothing will stop you."

"If that means you too, then fine," said Rune.

"What? No!" said Emily. "Rune, you can't be serious?"

Rune shrugged. She didn't know whether she was serious or not. But, if Dayu's human half were what was keeping Xandred from being locked away then why couldn't her Nighlok half counter it?

"There's another option," said Jayden.

"How do we stop him now?" Lauren wondered aloud.

Xandred laughed. "You can't."

There was a flash of red, and Xandred slipped away, disappearing through a gap between the rocks.

~X~

"Sylvie, give your brother back his toy," Kali said. She had agreed to watch the twins for Lorna and Xander while they entertained some form of a weekend date retreat. Neither had really enjoyed a honeymoon, despite being married almost a year, and had put in requests to take the weekend away just for themselves.

At first the request had been put on hold, given the many troubles that were unfolding in Paranoma city with the Samurai Rangers, and Kali needing all hands-on deck in case something happened. Then there was the slight problem of their twins, but with Serrator now defeated, and Kali back at the helm in Root core, also more than happy and capable of tackling the twins for a few days, the couple had left for time alone.

"It's not a toy!" Nico protested. He was only nine months younger than Sylvie, but more than capable of putting up with her antics. "It's a Batman action figure!"

"Whatever," Kali muttered.

"But I wanna play with Batman," Sylvie pouted, handing the toy back. "He always gets to be Batman!"

"Because batman is for boys!" Nico argued. "Go play with barbie."

Kali rolled her eyes and had to mentally remind herself that Nico was three and didn't fully understand societal stereotyping. "Where's V and Z?" she asked Sylvie.

"Playing in their room," Sylvie answered. "I asked if I could join, and they said no. I want Mummy and Daddy. When will they be home?"

"They've barely been gone a day," said Kali.

"Why couldn't we have gone with them?"

Kali shook her head and handed Sylvie a book. "Would you like to play batman or learn about your magic?" she asked.

"Ooh! Can I learn about my magic, too?" Nico asked, abandoning his toys.

"I could tell you the story that Udonna told me and your dad."

"Is it about Catastros?" Sylvie asked. "Dad already told us it. He said Uncle Nick was afraid of him."

The twins giggled.

Kali smiled at the sound. There was nothing more endearing than children's laughter. "He was indeed," she agreed. "Do you want me to tell you the real story of Catastros, and how he helped us as Rangers?"

The twins nodded.

"Okay. Let's -" Kali cut off as the dragon's mouth opened and Rune rushed inside. She looked tired, weary, and ready to break down in tears.

Breathing heavily, Rune rested against the round table and took a few, deep calming breaths. When she looked up, and took in the complete scene before her, she felt a flush of regret. Kali was babysitting, and looked to be in the middle of some sort of lesson.

"Oh, I'm interrupting," Rune said, apologetically.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Kali asked. She hadn't been expecting company today, and while it had been a slow day for the forces of darkness, she didn't expect them to take a complete day off.

Rune shook her head. No, nothing was okay. She had been kicked out of the Shiba house my Lauren for assisting, unwillingly, the return of Xandred from the Sanzu River. Not to mention the death threats she had been getting from the older Shiba since her return.

"Sylvie, Nico, why don't you go get comfy in the library," said Kali. "I'll join you as soon as I can. I need to speak with Rune."

"Okay," said the twins.

While they were disappointed that Kali couldn't spend time with them as planned, they also understood her position as Hellhound. She was needed where evil dwelled, and unfortunately that sometimes meant cutting into their time with her.

As the twins scampered off upstairs, Kali turned back to Rune. "Tell me everything," she said, sitting down opposite the youngster at the round table.

Rune took a deep breath and started from the beginning. She told Kali everything. From Lauren's return, to Xandred's. From the backhanded comments to the death threats, and more.

"She just kicked you out?" Kali asked. It was scary for Rune to see her so calm. "Didn't the others try to stop her?"

"Jayden did. She told him, as the official and rightful heir of the Shiba clan, her word is final."

Kali grit her teeth. Lauren Shiba hadn't been back for more than twenty-four hours and already was throwing her weight around. She didn't know the team enough to be issuing orders, at least not in Kali's eyes.

"What about Ji?"

Rune shook her head. Ji had tried to reason with Lauren, explaining that Rune was a valuable member of the team and had never left her Nighlok half interfere with her position as Ranger, but Lauren had refused to listen and just reminded him that he worked for her family, not the other way around.

"She's put up wards around the house," said Rune. "They protect against Half Nighloks."

Kali grit her teeth and stood.

"Where are you going?" Rune asked, watching as Kali grabbed her jacket.

"I'm going over there," said Kali. "Lauren has no right to come in and take over like this. She may be the one destined to take down Xandred, but she's not a leader. She's being a tyrant. It seems the others also need a reminder of who you are, and what you're capable of."

Rune jumped up and intercepted Kali at the door. "Please don't!" she pleaded. "Please. I don't want the others thinking I'm a cry baby who needs her big sister to come fight her battles," she said. "Besides, Lauren's already made it clear she doesn't care for Mystic Force interference. She's not going to listen to either of us."

"Then I'll make her listen," said Kali.

"That'll make you just as bad as her."

Kali sighed. Rune had a point. "Fine," she caved. "I won't go over there. But you still need a way to show her you're not like the other Nighlok. Tell me about what happened with Xandred. How is he back, and why didn't Lauren seal him away when she had the chance?"

Settling back at the table, Rune started her story from the very beginning, and Kali listened with an open ear and a keen interest. She was determined to prove Rune's worth to Lauren Shiba.

~X~

Jayden heaved a deep breath as he stared at his phone. He had tried to contact Rune, but it seemed she was either out of signal or ignoring him. The latter, he guessed, especially since the way Lauren had treated her since finding out the truth. To say he was upset at his sister would've been an understatement, Lauren was basing her trust in Rune on her outdated knowledge of Nighlok. Eighteen years ago, he'd have agreed with her, but things were different now.

"Hey, Lauren needs us in the living room," said Emily. She'd been sent to find Jayden and bring him back inside.

Pocketing his phone, Jayden nodded.

"You thinking about Rune?"

"Is it that obvious?"

Emily shrugged. "We're all thinking about her," she admitted. "We don't understand why Lauren can't seem to take our word in trusting her. Rune's not a bad person, after all."

"I know," said Jayden. He'd tried his damnedest to get Lauren to reconsider, but she'd pulled the head of the Shiba house card and there wasn't much he could do about it. She was the official head of his house, despite not being around for eighteen years. He fell under her command now, they all did.

Emily twiddled with the hem of her sleeve. "Do you really think Lauren would try and lock Rune away?" she asked.

"I wouldn't have put it past her," Jayden admitted. He studied Emily closely, and then reached out to squeeze her shoulder. "Rune's all right. She's at Root core with Kali. She'll be safe there."

"I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing," said Emily. "Kali is awfully protective of Rune. I'm surprised she hasn't come in huffing and puffing and threatening to burn the house down."

Jayden chuckled. It did sound like a very Kali thing to do.

"Hey, Lauren's getting impatient!" Mike called from the door.

"We're coming," Jayden called back. He wound an arm around Emily's shoulder and led her back inside. The door closed on them, and the trio entered the living room to find Lauren and the others around the table.

Lauren looked up as they entered. "What took you so long?" she asked.

"We got to talking," said Jayden. "What's going on?"

"I've made a decision. One that impacts us all," said Lauren. "You all know what's coming next. That cloud of sorrow that Dayu released probably has the Sanzu river ready to burst, add it to the cloud of fear that Rune unleashed and it's only a matter of hours before it seeps into our world."

Mike looked down at his hands. "To be fair," he said. "It didn't look like Rune had much of a choice in the matter."

"Whether she meant it or not, it happened," said Lauren. "Xandred is here, and Rune helped in bringing him back. I know you want to trust her, Mike, I know you all do," she looked around at the team, "but she helped resurrect him."

"She also gave most of her energy to distract him," said Kevin. "It gave us time to find you, and you to cast the sealing symbol."

"A symbol that now doesn't work," said Lauren. She was done arguing over Rune Winters. The team had one chance at stopping Xandred, and she believed their focus should now be on that.

A heavy silence hung around the table.

Lauren waited a few seconds before continuing. "I've decided that I'm going to hand the leadership of the team back to Jayden," she said, surprising the team. "I should've known I wasn't a good fit as leader. My job was to lock Xandred away, and I failed. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry," said Jayden. "You didn't let us down."

"I let dad down," said Lauren. "Dayu's human half was a side I didn't see coming."

"None of us did," said Emily.

The others nodded.

"Either way, it was my responsibility to save the planet, and I couldn't even do that," said Lauren. "If I had then the hardship of destroying Xandred wouldn't be in your hands."

The shadows in the hall shimmered.

"And that, in my personal experience, is where you went wrong," said Kali, stepping into the light. "Good attempt at the banishing charms around this place, too. Strong enough to keep out a half Nighlok, especially one that had just been de-energised in battle, not so strong for her hellhound mentor, however."

The Samurais jumped and turned.

"How did you get in here?" Lauren asked. "We don't want you here."

"Speak for yourself," said Kali, accepting a hug from Emily almost immediately. "So, does anyone care to explain why one of your own is asleep at Root core, right now?"

Jayden felt a wave of relief. At least he knew Rune was safe. He had no doubt she wouldn't have been and had already guessed she'd have gone straight to Kali, but that didn't mean he felt guilty for her having to do so. She belonged at the Shiba house with him and the others.

Kali stared at Lauren, but the other woman remained silent.

"Is she hurt?" Mike asked.

"Physically, no," Kali answered. "Emotionally, mentally, and spiritually? That remains to be seen." She glanced over Lauren. The woman wasn't anything she had expected. The power radiating from her was powerful, but appearance wise, Lauren didn't look anything special. Just another kid with a superiority complex.

Lauren, meanwhile, seemed to have the same thoughts about Kali. After all the stories she had heard from the other Samurai, she had expected an older woman, late forties, maybe. But Kali was rather young. The power was astronomical, but given she was the guardian of life and death, Lauren had expected it.

"You're the new Hellhound," said Lauren. "We finally meet. I've heard remarkable things about you."

"Wish I could say the same," Kali replied. "You cast out a good chance of you beating Xandred when you banished Rune from here. You're lucky she's more forgiving than I am. She still wants to prove that she's not like Xandred and the others, still seeking your approval. I, on the other hand, couldn't give two imps about what you think."

"I'm -"

"Head of the Shiba clan, fulfilling my destiny, blah, blah, blah," said Kali. "Save it, Lauren. I've heard it before. I was in your shoes, once, and I saved my realm and rejoined it with the human one. I made it so your father's plan had a chance to work."

"Maybe reuniting the two realms wasn't the best idea," said Lauren. "If you hadn't have, then Xandred wouldn't be riding his ship into our world."

"Then do you job and stop him!"

"We tried!"

"No, you tried," Kali corrected. "Remember where I said that was your first mistake? You came in thinking that you could just take over the team, but still work as a one-woman army. You had everything you needed at your disposal - an entire team of Samurai, a half Nighlok, a former half Nighlok, and the Mystic Force - but you wanted nothing to do with any of them. I'd say you were self-centred, but the situation speaks for itself."

Lauren flushed in anger. "My father's plan was me. I was the one with the sealing abilities, I was the one who trained her whole life to master those abilities, I was the one who everyone believed in."

"Well done on your father for raising a narcissist," said Kali. "It is individuals like you that make being a Ranger difficult. Unfortunately, you're not the first and you most definitely will not be the last. But every ranger who thinks they are a leader and not a follower has done only one thing - fail."

The room was silent.

"Your hatred of Rune and her kind is why you will continue to fail," Kali added. "Handing the team back over to Jayden may be your only redeeming quality here. Regardless of whether you want him to or not, I know Jayden will include Rune in his plans. She has just as much right to fight and destroy Xandred as the rest of you."

Lauren turned quickly to her brother. "We can't trust her," she said. "She helped release him."

"She's also helped stop him the last year and a half," said Jayden. "She was terrified of you learning the truth because of how you'd react, and I hate to say that we all reacted the same when we found out."

"But you didn't banish her," said Kali.

"No, but we did ignore her, and I have regretted that decision from the minute I agreed to it," said Jayden. "Rune is not evil, Lauren. Half Nighloks are, apparently, misunderstood."

"There's no 'apparently' about it," said Kali. "You made a judgement call on a minority based on your assumptions of the majority. Rune, Deker, and Dayu, they all did what they had to in order to survive. If you spent more than five minutes with any of them and just listened, you'd realise that there was more to their grief than met the eye."

Lauren stared at Jayden, but he refused to meet her gaze. She huffed and turned her attention away. It was obvious that he wasn't going to listen to her.

Kali met Jayden's gaze. "You've just become leader again," she said. "A decision that should never have had to be made, if you asked me, but, nevertheless. What's your plan of attack?"

"Xandred thought he was making himself stronger by absorbing Dayu's human essence," said Jayden, "but he sees human feelings as a weakness. If we can target that spot on him, and hit it with enough power, we should be able to destroy him."

Kali licked her lips. "You're going to be need a lot more than should," she said. "You need a fool proof, guaranteed, flawless plan."

"Are any plans flawless?" Kevin asked.

"They are if you can guess your opponent's next move or include a divine move," said Kali.

"A divine move?" Mia asked. "What's that?"

"A divine move is an exceptional, inspired and original move; one that is non-obvious and which balances strategy and tactics to create an unexpected turning point in a game," said Ji.

Kali nodded.

"Is there such a move?" Emily asked.

"There's always such a move," Kali replied. "And it so happens, Rune and I have one."

The Samurais shared a look while Lauren stared, suspiciously.

~X~

The next morning, Kali stared into the crystal ball at Root Core. It had just gone off, alerting her and everyone else to the invasion that now blanketed the whole Magical Realm. She looked up as footsteps hurried down from upstairs, the door to the dragon mouth opened, and her various communicators beeped simultaneously.

"It's really happening?" Lorna asked, flushed and out of breath. She was a little annoyed that she had to cut her weekend with Xander short, but with the fate of the world at stake, it was more than worth it.

Kali nodded. The crystal ball was just a swirl of blackness.

"My monitors show multiple incursions all across California," said Cam. "The highest point being Panorama city."

"It's Xandred," said Rune. "He did it. He managed to flood our world."

"It's not over yet," said Kali, reassuringly.

"But what can we do?"

"We've faced an invasion like this before," said Kali. "Multiple times. We won then; we'll win now."

Rune looked scared but the others were nodding.

"Rune, you have to go re-join your team," said Kali. "They're going to need you to stop Xandred. The rest of us will take of the Sanzu."

"How do you plan to do that?"

"We have Magic on our side. There's not much we can't do."

Rune hesitated. "What about Lauren?"

"She's not head of the team anymore," said Kali. "She passed it back to Jayden, and he wants you there. This is as much your fight as theirs."

Rune stared at Kali. How did she know what Jayden's plan was, more to the fact, how did she know Lauren had passed back the reigns? "You went there, did you know?" she asked. "After I pleaded with you not too."

"Berate me later," said Kali. "Your team needs you. Are you ready?"

Rune sighed. She wanted to say a lot more than she had, but Kali was right. The time to argue wasn't now. Now, she a world to save and a Shiba to prove her worth too.

"I'm ready," said Rune.

"Good. I'll send you to Jayden's coordinates. Good luck."

Muttering the transportation spell, Kali watched as Rune disappeared in a flicker of black sparks and then turned to the others. "Our job is to keep the river from reaching the coast," she said. "If it interferes with our water supply then it'll corrupt it, and we may not be able to fight it."

She tapped the round table with her wand.

"I've stationed each of you around the coast, use your wands, magic, abilities, whatever you need to keep the river within our respective cities," said Kali.

"What about innocents?"

"Send them to the magical realm," said Kali. "There's defenders waiting for them. I've deployed forces to sweep as many as they can out now, but if there's any stragglers it's on us to evacuate them."

The others nodded.

"Keep in contact," said Kali, straightening. "And be careful. This river water is nothing like we've ever seen before. Mission is simple, keep it at bay and evacuate as many civilians as possible. Ready?

"Ready!"

"Then let's go."

TO BE CONTINUED…