It had been a long day. The sun was high and it was incredibly hot. Ryoga sat beneath a tree, trying to make sense of a well-worn map.
"Why is Hokkaido so warm this time of year," he said.
It was then that a panda walked by. It held up a sign, "Hi Rygoa."
"What are you doing in Hokkaido?"
Genma sighed, holding up a sign, "Just follow me boy".
"Are the scrolls finished yet?" asked Kage.
He looked down at Koruma and Masara who were busy writing strange symbols onto blank scrolls.
"Almost, master," said Koruma.
"What is the purpose of these again?" asked Masara.
"It's very simple. We distract the rangers with a demon and then I use a spell to trap them in another dimension. And in order for that spell to work, I need you two morons to finish those scrolls."
With that, Kage pulled out his talisman reciting, "I command the darkness of this world to summon a demon from the netherworld. I command you to come forth now."
It wasn't long after that a demon walked out, coldly and calmly. It was nothing more than a walking skeleton. It wore a tall witch's hat, long black cape and carried a rapier.
The skeleton removed his head and bowed, "I am Bones. At your service."
"He doesn't look that impressive," said Saffron as he walked into the room.
"If that's how you feel, then you can go with him to battle the rangers. Now get your warriors ready," yelled Kage.
"Yes my lord," said Saffron.
"It's so nice of you to stop by," said Kasumi to Ryoga. "I'm sure Ranma will be glad to see you. He and Akane went shopping a little while ago. They should be back soon."
"Well, I was in the area so I thought I'd stop bye say hi," said Ryoga. The panda playing shogi didn't bother correcting him.
Ryoga then looked outside to see Ranma and Akane. They were just walking casually, talking, but surprisingly not arguing. It was then that he noticed something that set off every angry impulse in his brain.
Ranma took a sip from a can of soda. Then Akane took the can from him and took a sip for herself. It was practically an indirect kiss.
Ryoga quickly grabbed his umbrella, leaped from his seat at the table and charged at Ranma shouting, "Ranma prepare to die."
"What did I do now," groaned Ranma.
"How dare you act so flirty with Akane," shouted Ryoga as he swung his umbrella at Ranma.
Ranma quickly stepped back, avoiding the blow.
"Why do care. I thought you had a girlfriend," said Ranma.
Suddenly Ryoga froze in his tracks. Ranma was right and he had totally forgotten about Akari.
"An opening," said Ranma as he delivered a drop kick to the back of Ryoga's head, knocking him unconscious.
"Why would I flirt with that un-cute tomboy anyway," muttered Ranma.
"Who are you calling at tomboy," yelled Akane as smashed a chair over Ranma's head.
Watching Ranma fall unconscious next to Ryoga, Kasumi smiled, "Those two are such good friends."
"Mousse, go take out the trash," ordered Cologne.
"Yes elder," said Mousse.
As Mousse took the trash out back, he heard the familiar chime of a bell.
"Shampoo is back from her delivery," he said happily.
Then his vision went dark as a bike tire hit him in the face.
"Stupid Mousse, why you lie in street," said Shampoo as she pulled her bike to a stop.
"I see pretty birds in the sky," said Mousse.
Shampoo looked up. If there really were birds then Mousse was fine. If not, then Cologne would make her drag Mousse upstairs.
At first, she saw nothing. However, as the clouds moved, several birds flew across the sky. Then she looked closer. These birds had arms and legs.
"Bird men. Shampoo go get Ranma." Shampoo quickly got on her bike and sped off, not caring that she had run over Mousse a second time. After all, she had spent most of the day trying to think of an excuse to go see Ranma.
Ranma got up slowly from his spot on the paved walkway. It felt like Akane was hitting him harder lately. He looked over to see Ryoga also regaining consciousness.
"Does your head hurt as bad as mine," asked Ranma.
"Maybe more. Hey do you hear a bell?" said Ryoga.
They looked over and quickly got out of the way as Shampoo's bike skidded to a halt.
"Ranma, Shampoo need you now," she said.
Suddenly, Akane ran out from the house with a large angry aura surrounding her.
"It's not what it sounds like Akane, I swear," said Ranma. If he were a dog, his ears would be down and his tail would be between his legs. Before he could say anything else, Akane punched him into the koi pond.
"Why you do that. Shampoo need Ranma to come help with bird men," said Shampoo.
"Next time let her finish you macho chick," shouted the now female Ranma.
Several minutes of arguing later and they were off. Mousse joined them on the way. Shampoo could have sworn the birdmen had landed on the bridge Ranma and Akane crossed to go to school. Still, something was missing.
"Ryoga get back here," shouted Ranma.
That was it. The group had turned left and Ryoga turned right.
"I was right behind you," said Ryoga as Ranma dragged him back.
When they got to the bridge, they stopped. Saffron was there and he was standing next to a skeleton in a cape.
"Looks like it's going to be one of those days," said Mousse.
Instinctively, they reached for their jade figures, which instantly transformed into the zodiac morphers.
"We need Sheng Xiao power NOW," they called as their morphers activated, transforming them into power rangers. Each of them held out their hands, allowing their weapons to materialize.
"I'll handle Saffron. You guys can take out the rest," said Ranma.
"Is that the whole plan," asked Ryoga.
"It's all I've got so far."
The rangers' transformation had not gone unnoticed by the bird warriors. "Get them," said Saffron.
With that, the birdmen took to the air and flew towards the rangers.
Akane met the first one bird warrior head on, smashing it out of the air with her hammer. She looked over to see Ranma and Ryoga delivering jump kicks to another warrior.
Shampoo easily evaded slashes from the talons of the two bird warriors she was fighting. While sidestepping another slash, she noticed something. Saffron and the skeleton hadn't done anything since the battle started. However she didn't have time to worry about it as she dodged another strike.
Shampoo quickly flipped over the bird warriors, turned around and hit both of them in the head with her chui.
As a bird warrior flew down, Mousse ducked and grabbed the warrior as he passed over him. Mousse then flipped the bird warrior over and slammed him on the ground. Before he could catch his breath, Mousse found himself under attack by another warrior.
The warrior came down with an axe kick that Mousse easily sidestepped. Mousse quickly back-flipped away from the warrior. He was cursing his ranger powers at the moment. The suit was practically skin tight, his hidden weapon techniques wouldn't work right. That's when an idea struck him. He grabbed his nunchucks and flung one of the clubs at the bird warrior he had just escaped from.
It was just as he hoped, the cord connecting the clubs stretched. The club struck the warrior in the chest and zipped back to Mousse. Mousse quickly threw the club again, smacking the bird warrior in the forehead. When the warrior staggered back, Mousse met him with a kick to the chest.
Ranma quickly evaded a strike from the warrior she was fighting. Deciding to ignore him, she leapt in the air, using the warriors head as a post to jump from. She gripped her dao sword while leaping toward Saffron, who had been keeping his distance since the fight started.
She swung her sword downwards, hitting nothing but air. Suddenly, Saffron grabbed her from behind. He started swinging her around in midair and flung her down towards the pavement.
Ranma quickly rotated her body so she was facing the ground. She extended her arms shouting, "Moko Takabisha". The blast of ki easily slowed her fall.
"Is that the best you can do," Ranma shouted at Saffron.
She spoke a little too soon as Saffron came down towards her with his hands aflame. Ranma could dodge his fist with little difficulty but still, Saffron left no opening. Then Saffron blasted her with a large fireball.
As she lay on the ground, a Ryoga's umbrella passed her, struck Saffron, turned around and returned to Ryoga.
"You dare to challenge me," said Saffron as his wounds healed.
"If anyone is going to beat up Ranma, it's going to be me," shouted Ryoga.
Ryoga opened his umbrella, sending it spinning towards Saffron. Saffron flew up high, dodging the umbrella. He shot several large fireballs at Ryoga who easily dodged them. However, while he was able to dodge the umbrellas, he forgot about his umbrella. The umbrella slammed into Ryoga whose suit was able to protect him from the bladed edges.
Saffron then flew down, grabbing Ryoga and sending him flying off the bridge with a fireball.
"Insolent fool," muttered Saffron as he flew to where Bones stood, watching the fight. "I leave this in your hands," he said, handing Bones the finished teleportation scrolls.
With that, he took off. Things were going as planned. As soon as the blue ranger rejoined the team, Bones would unleash the scrolls power and the rangers would be gone.
When Ryoga recovered from the attack, he realized that he had been blasted down the valley the bridge went over.
"I'll get you for that," he muttered. Then he started running up the hill towards the bridge.
Ryoga looked left, and then right, "Now how do I get back to the bridge." He then started running in various directions, trying to find his way back to the fight.
Meanwhile, Ranma had recovered and now had her back to Akane. Shampoo and Mousse, soon joined them as bird warriors surrounded them.
"What's the plan now," said Akane.
"Quite frankly, I'm open to suggestion," said Ranma.
The Skeleton that had done nothing but watch the fight stepped forward.
"Here let me help you get a-head," he laughed while tossing several scrolls towards the rangers.
The scrolls flew over the rangers and opened around them, forming a circle. Purple beams of light shot out of the scrolls, connecting them. The next thing they knew, the rangers found themselves levitating off the ground.
"What's happening," said Mousse.
"It no can be good," replied Shampoo.
Their surroundings started spinning in every direction and then everything went black.
Ranma looked around. The bird warriors were gone and he saw nothing but darkness and a layer of white fog covering the ground. It was strange. There was nothing but darkness, yet Ranma and the other rangers could see around the area as though it were clear as day.
"What is this place," said Ranma.
"Look out," screamed Akane.
Bones suddenly leaped forward, slashing Ranma's chest with his sword. The Skeleton turned to laugh, and then he disappeared.
"That no good," said Shampoo.
Cologne looked out the window to see Ryoga, powered down, and lost.
She hopped out of the restaurant, quickly catching up to him. "I thought you'd be with the others," she said.
Ryoga looked down, embarrassed, "I got lost. I was trying to find the bridge and next thing I knew, I was here."
Cologne sighed. "Come with me," she said, leading him toward the bridge. This was no good. Ryoga would be of no use to the team if he kept getting lost like this. Once she got back to the restaurant, she would have to work on a spell to get Ryoga's sense of direction under control.
It wasn't long before they arrived at the bridge.
"What's this," said Cologne.
Cologne stared wide eyed at the floating scrolls.
"What are they," asked Ryoga.
"Teleportation scrolls. I fear the others have been transported to a dark dimension. It is lucky I found you. With your help I can dispel the scrolls and bring the others back." said Cologne.
Suddenly, they heard screeching noises coming from the sky. Then the bird warriors' descended upon the two like hawks.
"I need you to hold them off while I focus my energy," said Cologne as she began to mediate.
Ryoga nodded, looking at his wrist to see that his zodiac morpher had already formed.
"I need Sheng Xiao power NOW"
Ranma charged Bones, swinging her sword wildly and managing to slice through one of his arms.
She then turned and kicked the skeleton in the chest, shattering it into pieces.
"That was easy," Ranma laughed.
However, as soon as the words left her mouth, the skeleton started to pull itself back together.
"Ranma look out," shouted Shampoo.
Ranma quickly ducked a swipe from Bones' sword. Ranma then jumped back and regrouped with the others.
"Were going be having a lot of fun together," said Bones. Suddenly his eyeholes started glowing red and he started firing energy bolts from them, hitting the four Rangers.
Akane was the first to recover. She leaped forward, bringing her hammer down on Bone's shoulder. Again, he fell to pieces only to pull himself back together. Bones retaliated by swiping his sword, slashing Akane's side.
Akane looked up to se Bones standing above her. The Skeleton was about to stab her when Mousse dashed forward, grabbing Akane and pulled her to safety.
"Thanks Mousse," said Akane.
"Hey, if you were gone, Shampoo would be hanging around Ranma a lot more often," replied Mousse.
"Next time, just say, 'you're welcome',"
Ryoga fought off the bird warriors as best he could but they greatly outnumbered him. Every time he kicked one down, three more took its place.
Ryoga opened up his umbrella, sending it spinning towards the bird warriors, taking out three of them. Another warrior flew down, grabbing Ryoga by the shoulders and tossing him to the ground.
"Just another minute Ryoga," said Cologne.
That was easy for her to say. She wasn't the one fighting right now. Ryoga couldn't used the breaking point due to the fact that he was on a bridge and he might accidently hit Cologne if he used the lion's roar.
Ryoga grabbed his umbrella and knocked out two more warriors before being kicked in the back.
"Ryoga, it's time," called Cologne.
Ryoga punched a bird warrior, knocking him out, then he jumped infront of Cologne.
"What do you need me to do," asked Ryoga.
Cologne turned him around so he faced the scrolls. Ryoga stood there, watching the bird warriors recover from his attacks. "Whatever you're going to do, do it now," he said.
Cologne muttered some words and a golden aura surrounded her. She thrust her hands forward and the aura flowed into Ryoga.
"Uses the Sheng Xiao power to destroy the scrolls," Cologne said.
On instinct Ryoga raised the morpher on his wrist high and pressed the button he usually pressed to morph. A bright blue and gold light shot out of the morpher and bounced off the scrolls, disintegrating each of them.
"The others should be back soon," said Cologne.
The bird warriors had now recovered and were charging towards them.
"Give it a rest," shouted Cologne. She held out her fist and using her ki, made the water below rise up. "Shark fist," she called. Then the water took the shape of a shark and flew towards the bird warriors. The flow of water easily knocked the warriors off the bridge and into the river below.
"I sometimes forget you can do that," said Ryoga.
Meanwhile, the other four rangers were standing back to back. Bones had disappeared and they awaited his next attack.
"I have a plan," said Ranma. "We shatter the body and while he reassembles himself, we destroy his head."
"How would that be different from destroying the rest of his body," said Mousse.
"Hopefully, without his head, his body won't be able to pull itself back together."
"So how do we get the head," said Akane?
"I'm still working on that," replied Ranma.
Suddenly Bones reappeared, wildly firing his eye bolts at the rangers. Mousse quickly stepped forward, dodging his shots and tossing one of the clubs from his nunchucks at bones. The impact caused the Skeleton to stagger back a little.
"Shampoo, there's your opening," shouted Ranma.
Shampoo nodded and dashed forward. Within seconds, she smashed bones through his torso and legs with her chui. The skull began to levitate and hover above the body. Thinking quickly, Shampoo grabbed the skeleton's cape and wrapped it around the head, disorienting it.
"Ok, you two ready," said Ranma.
Akane and Mousse nodded, "Yes."
"Just try not to dig in to hard with your boots," said Mousse.
Mousse braced himself on the ground. Seconds later, he felt two figures run up and jump off his shoulders, one after the other.
Ranma was starting to come down from the jump. "Swing as hard you can Akane," she shouted. Ranma soon felt Akane's foot on her back and push off. If Ranma's plan worked, Akane's strength combined with the force she would gain from jumping down should turn the skeleton's head into dust.
The skull moved around wildly and Shampoo was having a hard time holding it. She saw Akane in the air and quickly let go and moved out of the way.
Akane could see the skull moving and was hoping she would be able to hit it. She had an idea. Akane saw where the skull was and imagined Ranma's face calling her un-cute, tomboy, and every other insult he had ever thrown at her. The imaginary Ranma even denied saying he loved her at Jusendo.
"Ranma you JERK", she shouted while making contact with the skull. Everything seemed to stand still in the dark dimension. Then Akane found herself at the center of an earthquake.
Bones screamed one last time before his skull became powder. His body fell apart and dissolved soon afterward.
Akane looked around and could not find the others. Suddenly, she found herself disappearing and the world became brighter. Akane looked around to find herself back on the bridge with the other four and Cologne.
"I can't believe Ryoga of all people got us out of that place," said Mousse.
"He had help," said Cologne, "Now come with me. I have a spell that I'd like to try that can benefit you all if it works."
Minutes later, the rangers had powered down and were sitting around a table inside the Cat Café.
"Please hold out your jade figures," said Cologne.
Everyone did as they were told and Cologne began to recite words from a spell book that she had brought down from her room.
"What's this spell supposed to do anyway," asked Ranma.
Before anyone else could speak, the jade figures began to glow and seconds later, they transformed into the zodiac morphers.
Something was different however. The morphers contained two additional buttons on them. One red and one blue.
Cologne closed the spell book, "To answer your question son in law, the spell has enhanced your zodiac morphers. The red button will allow you all to communicate with each other. That way you can call for help, should you need it. The blue button will allow you to teleport to each other's location. That way you will always be able to help one another no matter where you are."
Ranma was quick to notice Cologne glance over at Ryoga's direction. She figured that the spell was probably meant mostly for the lost boy right away.
"I guess this could come in handy," said Akane.
"Why morphers no change back," said Shampoo.
It was true. The zodiac morphers had not changed back into jade figures.
"It must be a side effect from the spell," said Cologne.
Akane and Ranma shrugged while pocketing the morphers. After the initial shock, the others did the same.
Akane and Ranma were about to leave the Café when Ranma heard someone call her.
"Ranma wait," said Ryoga.
"What's up," asked Ranma.
Ryoga was rubbing the back of his head, nervously, "Could you take me to Akari's farm. I haven't seen her in awhile."
Ranma smiled, simply happy Ryoga for once wasn't trying to pick a fight.
"Go on, Ranma. I'll tell Kasumi to keep your dinner in the microwave until you get back," said Akane.
"Ok, let's go. I wanna get back before it gets dark," said Ranma.
Akane smiled watching the two of them leave. They really were good friends.
As Saffron and his warriors flew back to the palace, Saffron was stuck on a thought. His powers seemed off today. Almost as if they were being held back. That's why he left the battle early.
Once he got back to the palace, the dark warrior was quick to chastise him.
"I see you failed me again. I thought I could expect more from the phoenix king," said Kage.
"I'm sorry, my lord. But something was wrong with my powers."
"That's no excuse. Next time, you will stay and make sure the job gets done."
Saffron nodded his head, "Yes, my lord."
Saffron quickly departed the throne room. Now was not a time to bother the dark warrior with trivial questions.
Kage sat back on his throne, the dark aura surrounding him dying down. That fool. Saffron was slightly stronger than most of his slaves. If he didn't block Saffron's power, then he could break free of his enslavement. Kage couldn't allow that, Saffron was too powerful to lose. He would have to keep using his dark powers to keep Saffron oblivious to his power loss until the rangers were finally destroyed.
Kage smiled and started laughing.
The next day at school, Ranma was leaning back in his desk, half asleep.
Akane was right next to him, as was quick to kick him if she saw him nod off in the slightest.
Hinako, in her adult form, stood from her dest, "Class, we have a new student today. Please give a warm welcome to Niseko Kancho."
A second later, a girl walked in. She was very pretty and had jet-black hair in a high ponytail. She was wearing, a lime green knee length dress over torn jeans. Her look was complete with a pair of causal sneakers.
"Whre's your uniform young lady," asked Hinako.
Niseko smiled and nervously said, "The principle said they didn't have an extra one for me yet. I don't think he's all there. He kept trying to cut my hair."
"Well, I guess it can't be helped for now. Anyway, you can take the empty desk in front of Mr. Saotome. Who should really be awake right now?"
Akane quickly kicked Ranma waking him up. His eyes opened lazily to a pretty girl sitting in front of him.
She looked back, "Hi, I'm Niseko. Wanna be friends."
Ranma looked at her and then looked at his scowling fiancé.
This was not going to end well.
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. Bones was always a favorite villain of mine. Oh and I have decided to cut the team up from five ranger teams down to three.
Akane and Shampoo will team up with Ninja Storm
Ryoga and Mousse will team up with Mystic Force
And Ranma will team up with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
I'm totally looking forward to writing those chapters, (will definitely be a 2-3 parter). But it's going to be a while before I get to them.