At the temple, Antonio continued with the arduous task of programming the Black Box with the Rangers' power disks. He had to take it slowly, programming them in one at a time, but other than that, he was pretty sure he had figured out what he needed to do.
He was not a Samurai. He hadn't been born into one of the bloodlines, but he had earned his own symbol power. While he had augmented it with technology, and he had at one time owed most of it to his morpher, the fact was he was now sure he had tapped into something within himself that was real. The way he weakened, the way he felt ill when he used so much of his power was because it was draining him and not a morpher. He ignored the headache, and he pushed through the nausea, all because he knew that what he was doing was necessary. The Rangers needed the Black Box...Jayden needed the Black Box.
The four power disks surrounded the Black Box at the points of the compass, with the Red one noticeable by its absence. He wished he knew where Jayden was, and he would give anything to be able to help him, but he knew that right now, there was nothing else he could do.
As the spirit of the Blue Dragon floated from Kevin's power disk to the Black Box, he smiled as he fell to his knees.
"That's the first one." He commented. "Now let's try a little Yellow."
He focussed on Emily's disk, but as he did so, hit morpher felt like it was made of lead. He shook uncontrollably and started to sweat badly as he tried to maintain the effort. Eventually the beam broke off as he just couldn't continue. He slammed his morpher into the floor, at which it bounced away.
"Mierda!" He roared as his tears began. Daisuke came from the corner where he was watching the Gold Ranger work and put a hand on his shoulders to comfort him. "The others are out there fighting, Jayden's in that psycho's grasp, and the one thing I can do to help..."
"You judge yourself too harshly." Daisuke told him in a soothing voice.
"That's easy for you to say." He grumbled. "You don't have the whole world resting on..."
His words tailed off as a thought occurred to him. How could he have been so blind? Why hadn't he seen it before? The samuraizers, while they had more to them than that, were essentially cell phones. They used the global satellite network to communicate with each other. He started to tap a few keys.
"I can't finish this right now." He told Daisuke. "But I can hack into the global satellite network and triangulate Jayden's signal..."
"You must complete this task!" Daisuke warned him.
"Sorry amigo, this is more important." Antonio replied as he got a fix on the location. "Without Jayden, all this is pointless anyway."
Daisuke stood in the doorway as Antonio got to his feet to leave.
"Get out of the way." Antonio warned him.
"You must concentrate..."
"Don't think I'm above putting you on your ass dude." Antonio said as a less-than subtle threat. "I'm going to get Jayden back."
As he pushed past Daisuke, the old man just smiled.
Serena had finished packing, and came down to the reception desk to check out. She knew that Vincenzo had all her travel details ready, all she needed to do was pick up her documents and she was all set. She got to the desk and went through the process of ensuring there were no charges on her bill that shouldn't be and took her case to the concierge desk. As she got there, Vincenzo greeted her with a smile.
"You look well rested." He commented as he pulled out a package. "Here, Hayley had this made up."
Serena opened the package, finding a new credit card, driving licence and passport inside, together with some plane tickets and a reservation for a B+B.
"When you get there, your new identity is April Marx." He informed her. "You'll want to leave the stuff with your current alias."
Serena took out the appropriate documents and dumped them in the box as she took the others.
"This looks like a beautiful city." She sighed. "I really wish I could have stayed longer."
"Maybe another time." Vincenzo said with a smirk as he picked up the phone to call her cab. Serena had no idea what awaited her in England, all she knew was that given the way things had gone so far, she could expect it to be difficult.
Back in the cave, Jayden was still recovering his strength, well aware that soon Dekker's patience would run out, and their duel would begin. He still didn't really understand Dekker. He knew that Urumasa had a spirit of its own, and that it hungered for blood, but beyond that, he couldn't tell exactly why Dekker would have forsaken his humanity willingly.
Dayu meanwhile had arrived in the cave unseen, and hid a little way off, observing the events from her vantage point. She didn't want to fulfil the mission she had been charged with, but she didn't have a choice. She prayed that something would happen that would give her a reason to leave.
"Your time is up Red Ranger." Dekker told him, getting to his feet and taking up Urumasa. "On your feet."
"I don't want to fight you." Jayden told him. "You don't have to do this Dekker, you can resist, you can..."
"That's easy for you to say." Dekker said in a raspy voice as he drew the blade, turning into his Nighlock form. "Defend yourself!"
Jayden realised that the tim for reason had long since passed, and called forth his spinsword, preparing a guard. Just then, a gold blur entered the cave, smashing into Dekker and sending him flying into the wall, before he tumbled to the ground. He got up, glaring at Antonio as he arrived.
"If you want him, you have to go through me!" Antonio snapped. Dekker just approached slowly.
"Walk away fisherman." He responded. "You can leave now..."
"You want the ultimate duel?" Antonio asked him. "Look at him. There's no way Jayden's at his best!"
Dekker couldn't respond. Looking to the Red Ranger, his stance and his grip on the sword betrayed the fact that his strength was not at its best. He was doing what he could to conceal it, but the fact was that he wasn't a hundred percent.
"You want the ultimate duel, come back when Jayden's a hundred percent and I guarantee he'll kick your ass eight ways from Sunday!" Antonio continued. "Until then, you want him, you get both of us."
"You are right." Dekker breathed. "We will duel Red Ranger, just not today."
"Come on Jayden." Antonio commented, keeping his eyes on Dekker as he ushered him towards the mouth of the cave. "The nice creepy guy's letting us go."
As they left, Dekker powered down, taking his human form once more. He just looked to the rocks in the back.
"You may come out now." He announced. "The coast is clear."
Dayu came out, looking to him nervously.
"You knew I was there?" She asked him.
"Your perfume is quite distinctive." He told her. "It is familiar."
"You remember me?" She asked him.
"I remember you from the banks of the river." He clarified. "I know you expect me to remember more, but I am sorry. I have no recollection of you."
"I was sent here to kill you." She told him.
"Will you?" He asked her. Dayu just shook her head.
"You would cut me down before I could land a single blow." She assured him. "Wouldn't you?"
He could sense a longing, almost begging tone to the question. She honestly did hope that he remembered something about her, but there was nothing. He just turned and walked away.
"If you want to live, do not follow." He told her. "Tell Master Xandred that I drove you away."
She just slumped down on a rock and buried her face in her hands. Until now, she didn't know it was possible, but apparently, even Nighlocks could cry.
Over at the site of the battle, the Rangers were holding their own, using what power they could to battle the moogers and the returning Arachtheor. They could see that he had changed, and they all could feel that he was now more powerful than ever. Just as they were facing off against him, Jayden ran into view.
"Jayden!" They all chorused.
"Antonio and I brought a little present." He told them, handing them their power disks. "He said he couldn't finish the Black Box, but he figured you'd need these."
"We need something that doesn't take much symbol power." Kevin added. "But I'm not sure if it'll be enough."
"Send a quintuple slash this way!" Antonio told them as he tackled Arachtheor.
"But we'll hit you!" Emily shrieked.
"I have a fantastico move." He replied. "Trust me!"
"Jayden..."
"You heard him." Jayden stated, spinning his fire disk. "If he thinks he can handle it, I believe him."
"Quintuple slash!" They all chorused, sending their blasts his way. Antonio saw it coming, and launched himself into the air, spinning sharply, whipping the power around himself and augmenting it with his own. He cast it at Arachtheor, sending him flying with a powerful blast.
"Antonio, that was amazing!" Mia yelled. "Where did you learn to do that?"
"Uh...Japan about...thirty seconds ago?" He admitted. "It was mostly theoretical."
"Well if you have any more theories, let us know." Jayden replied, before pointing to some Gaps as giant Moogers came into view. "No time for celebrating now guys, we still have a job to do."
In London, Serena arrived in the airport, collecting her belongings and heading out to the arrivals lounge. She saw a guy there with a sign bearing her assumed name, but given what had happened in Italy, she was a lot more cautious. She approached him slowly, preparing to use her hidden blade.
"What's Hayley's surname?" She asked him.
"Ziktor." He replied.
"What is her connection to all of this?" Serena asked him.
"She met Dr. Tommy Oliver while they were both studying in New York." He informed her. "They were both in the central library..."
"Fine, you are who you say you are." Serena sighed, pointing to the door. "So how long will it take to get there?"
"The B+B's about an hour's drive." He informed her.
"Just wake me when we're there." She muttered. "All this secret agent stuff is exhausting."
Over in Japan, the Rangers assembled back in the temple after the battle. They had managed to get by, but they could all concede that they had a certain amount of luck working for them. For one thing, Arachtheor had disappeared after Antonio's attack, and hadn't come back as a Mega Monster. They didn't even want to think about how things could have turned out if that had happened. Daisuke had his attendants bring them their bags, knowing what was coming.
"I really wish we could stay longer." Jayden said regretfully. "However, I fear that Master Xandred will be btargeting our home again soon."
"We really need to get back." Kevin said, hugging Mia. They all looked to where Emily was nervously chewing her nails.
"Why couldn't Dekker take us back through the gap?" She muttered. "I hate planes."
"Yeah, we kind of got that." Mike replied, stroking his hand. Even thinking about the last time made it hurt. "At least this time we have stuff for you to take so you should sleep."
"It'll be fine Em." Antonio assured her. Daisuke handed him the Black Box.
"Here, good luck Gold Ranger." He told him. "May you succeed where many others have failed."
"Before we go though, there's just one thing." Antonio stated, putting down his bag. "Something occurred to me during the battle."
"What is that?" Daisuke asked him.
"None of the Gap sensors in the temple until Arachtheor arrived." He stated.
"So?" Mike asked him.
"So who poisoned the drinks?" Antonio asked. It was only then that the Rangers realised what he was getting at.
"Jayden drank the tea before the first Gap Sensor sounded." Kevin recalled.
"I checked the diagnostics, and none of them have been de-activated." Antonio told them. "They all worked at the time he was poisoned."
"So what does that mean?" Mia asked.
"If a Nighlock came in and poisoned the tea, it would have set off the Gap sensors." Antonio explained. "That means that whoever poisoned the tea..."
"Was already here." Mike concluded. "It was someone in the temple."
"What are you saying?" Daisuke asked.
"I'm saying someone sold you out!" Antonio snapped. "Someone betrayed the temple and us. Someone made a deal with the Nighlocks!"
"But who...?"
"I'm sorry Daisuke, but there was only one person who was unaccounted for." Jayden stated. "Wasn't there Kenzo?"
Kenzo looked a little stunned by the accusation.
"You went missing after bringing us here from the airport for ten minutes, more than long enough to go into the woods and meet with Octoroo." Jayden continued. "None of the other attendants touched the tea. Only you did."
"Kenzo?" Daisuke asked. He just laughed.
"You are all blind to the possibilities that the Nighlocks offer." He stated. "I am more powerful now than I could ever have been!"
"Kenzo, I raised you!" Daisuke yelled, his eyes full of shock as he pleaded with him for this to not be true. "You were raised in the ways of the guardians!"
"Do you really think I have any interest in living in this god damned temple my whole life?" He snapped. "I surpassed your training long ago father. Your time has passed. It is time for humans to step aside for the dominant species!"
With that, he transformed into a black, scaled creature with a forked tongue and long, sharp fangs. He disappeared into a Gap with a flash as the Elder Guardian fell to his knees, tears running down his face.
"My son!" He sobbed. "How could I have been so blind?"
"I am sorry Daisuke." Antonio assured him, putting a hand on the old man's shoulder. "I took no joy in this."
"You did what you must." Daisuke said with a morose tone in his voice. "Kenzo has made his choices. We can only do what we must."
With that, the Rangers picked up their luggage and left, all of them feeling the change in the temple. Daisuke had lost a son, a pain none of them could understand, and all of them sincerely wished they never would.
Meanwhile, in the Netherworld, Kenzo was in a cave, waiting as Octoroo arrived.
"You took your time." He muttered.
"You failed!" Octoroo chastised him. "My plan..."
"Your poison failed, not me!" Kenzo snapped. "Don't pin this on me noodle-face. You can't blame me for the fact your poison took too long to work."
"Enough of that." Octoroo said waving off his answer. "Right now we have more important things to worry about."
"Like what?" Kenzo asked him.
"Like the fact that troublesome Yellow Ranger's sister is still searching for Kasamune." He responded.
"You cannot send simply anyone because Master Xandred would notice if you used one of his Nighlocks." Kenzo said with a smirk as he changed back into his human form. "Of course, he does not yet know of our deal. He doesn't know I'm a Nighlock."
"How do you feel about going to England?" Octoroo asked him. Kenzo just smiled.
"I can't wait." He replied.
Fin.