Duplicator had returned to the city, by a hockey stadium, and was busy terrifying the citizens. The security team had sealed the doors to prevent him coming in, but he just laughed at the futile display. He had more than enough power to simply level the stadium; he didn't even need to break through the doors. Of course, doing that would end the panic too quickly. With the thousands in attendance at the game, he was sure that the Sanzu River had to be rising with each passing moment as he launched blasts into the wall.
The Rangers arrived, morphed and ready for battle. Mia was at the forefront of the line-up. Jayden just nodded in her direction.
"It's your plan Mia, it's your show." He told her. "You take the lead."
"Alright Duplicator, leave them alone!" She called out. Immediately, she started to feel a little self-conscious. This was a moment for her to lead the charge, and the best she could think of was 'leave them alone'? "We're sending you straight to the Dark Zone!"
"Ha, don't make me laugh!" He snorted, turning to face them. "Last time, the only reason you survived was because I dried out. This time, I'm fully re-hydrated! You don't have a chance!"
"Well, just stick around by yourelf, and we'll see who has the last laugh." Antonio called out. He and Mia looked to each other, waiting on his response. Duplicator just laughed.
"Now why would I do something like that?" He asked. He started to spit off, generating as many copies of himself as he possibly could. Antonio brought up the Light Zord.
"You Nighlock never get any less predictable." He responded. "Light Zord, full beam!"
The Light Zord shone brightly, casting out a massive wave of light, flooding the area. Duplicator and all his clones staggered, clutching their eyes, blinded by the bright light. The Rangers all squinted to see through, and could see the majority of them were misty, and translucent, but there was one solid Duplicator about thirty feet ahead. Mia clipped the Black Box to her Spin Sword.
"Super Samurai Mode!" She called out. "Alright Antonio, let's see if you can't thin out their ranks!"
"Light Zord, Flashing Strike!" Antonio called out, powering up his attack. He rushed through them, flashes of light going in all directions. Since he had already seen that light passed through the clones, he had thought that perhaps a strong enough light would destroy them altogether. Fortunately, he was proven right, as by the time the attack subsided; only the original Duplicator remained.
"Alright Mia, it's your turn!" Antonio told her. Mia started her Turtle Disk spinning.
"Super Air Wave!" She screamed, launching herself through the air at Duplicator. The Nighlock only just managed to clear his vision in time to see the powerful blade coming straight for him. Mia turned to face her friends as he pitched backwards, sparking as he fell, and exploded. The others just ran over to her.
"That was great!" Kevin gushed, hugging her tightly.
"Well, I couldn't have done it if it wasn't for Antonio's Light Zord." She reminded them. Antonio just held it up, kissing it...well, bumping his helmet to it anyway.
"Yeah, this guy really made all the difference." Antonio agreed. Just then, they saw Duplicator coming back this time at massive size.
"Why can we never find one of these guys with only one life?" Jayden sighed. "Come on, we know what to do."
Mia called forth the Claw Armour Megazord, preparing for battle. Antonio called the Light Zord to full size for back-up, something they were immensely grateful for, since Duplicator appeared to be able to perform his party trick at full size too.
"Wow, that is a LOT of ugly!" Mike commented. "Antonio, reckon Lighty can do his thing on this scale?"
"I guess there's one way to find out." Antonio said with a shrug. "Light Zord, scatter shot!"
The Light Zord fired out a series of power disks, which glowed brightly, carving through the clones. Eventually, all that was left was the original Duplicator.
"Alright, let's bring out the firepower!" Kevin suggested as they formed up their artillery cannon. Jayden produced the Bull Disk, presenting it to Mia.
"Let's give the firepower a little help shall we?" He suggested. "This is your show Mia, finish what you started."
"Can he do that?" Mike whispered to Emily. "I mean, I thought..."
In a flash of light, Mia was standing next to them in Shogun Mode. All of them looked at her in awe.
"Wow, I thought that was Jayden's party trick." Mike gasped.
"That is...kinda hot!" Kevin commented. Mia meanwhile, was just looking at her armour, trying to comprehend the power she was feeling. She knew that Super Samurai mode was powerful, but this was another level entirely! She shook herself back to attention and grabbed the control console, locking onto Duplicator.
"Alright, let's see what this can do!" She called out. "Lock on and fire!"
Duplicator disappeared in a massive explosion, leaving the Rangers victorious once more. Jayden put a hand on Mia's shoulder pad.
"You did well Mia." He complimented her.
"Yeah, that was great!" Mike added. "Besides, I'm just stoked that all of us will get that Shogun Mode. That armour looks sick!"
"We'll see Mike, it isn't a toy." Jayden replied. "Anyway, let's go home. We all did well tonight."
The following morning, Mia was walking with Emily, bringing her back to Cody's place. She arrived, finding Cody's dad in the yard, working with Spike, Bulk and Cody, doing yard work to warm them up. As he saw them coming, Cody's dad swung his axe into the chopping block, leaving it propped up and smiled.
"Mia, Emily, it's good to see you both." He told them. "Spike mentioned that you might be coming."
"I just thought that you might appreciate having a little more time to concentrate on your business." Mia told him. "Emily agreed to help with some of the training while you concentrate on some of your projects."
"I guess there are a couple of things I really should be a lot further along with." He agreed. "One client's been waiting for me to finish a dresser for about a fortnight. It'll be nice to finish a job on time for once."
"Alright then, Emily, why don't you go and let the guys know what's happening?" Mia asked her. Emily went around to where the others were working, leaving Mia and Cody's dad alone. Mia just went to him.
"I really appreciate this." Mia told him.
"Well, now we don't have the Bull Zord to take care of, I guess this is one of the ways we can help the Shiba Clan." He assured her. "So, the Serena thing's still bugging her?"
"Pretty much." Mia told him. "I was hoping that this would give her something else to think about."
"Well, Cody can be pretty distracting." He agreed. "I've tried my best, but he still occasionally finds ways to challenge me. That's why you have the Bull Zord."
"Well, Emily's pretty good." Mia told him. "She might need a little guidance with the teaching side of things..."
Her words tailed off as Emily saw what Cody, Spike and Bulk were doing. Instead of calling them away from the yard work, she actually seemed to be showing them how to do it properly. Cody's dad just smiled.
"It seems she approves of my warm-up methods." He chuckled.
"She's pretty familiar with most of the stuff you do here." Mia reminded him. "She grew up on a farm remember? She's been doing most of this stuff since she was a kid."
She made her way over, finding Emily with an axe, showing Spike the correct way to split a log. She let out a little cough.
"Alright Emily, I'm heading back now." Mia told her. "You have my number if you want a lift home..."
"Yeah, I'll call." Emily replied, waving her off, before turning her attention back to Spike. "You see, you need to keep as square as possible, and bring it down in one clean arc, straight up, straight down. It's really good practice for the vertical sword cut..."
As she turned to leave, Mia got a little smile on her face. She was sure that Emily would still have her moments of frustration, especially since one of the most frustrating things in the world to do was to teach, but she couldn't help feeling like even this little step indicated that maybe her idea would give her the break she needed.
In Scotland, Dayu, Toxica and Jindrax had been keeping an eye on the base, and especially on Angela and Joel since they had arrived. They seemed to spend most of their time on the base, but other than that, they only really went into the nearby town to go for a quick drink in the pub.
Dayu managed to find a decent position overlooking the fence as she waited for them to return. Jindrax and Toxica were with her as she waited.
"There are a lot of humans." Toxica commented.
"If they get between me and Urumasa..."
"Whoa there, cool your jets!" Jindrax interrupted her. "Look, we said we would help you find it, but we gave up our war on the humans a long time ago."
"So, you think we can just walk to the front door and ask for it?" Dayu asked him.
"No, we know we'll have to get in." Jindrax told her. "But there's no need for a blood bath. We didn't sign up for that. We'll help you find a way in, and we'll even help you take down anyone we absolutely need to, but if you want to go all hatchet job on the base, you're on your own. Got it?"
Dayu was desperate to get the Cursed Blade from the base. She had reason to believe that it was the key to destroying the curse on herself and Dekker forever, but right now, she could even get close to it. She had no idea how to remove the curse, but until she got her hands on it, it seemed to be a moot point. What did it matter if she knew how to destroy it if she couldn't get close to it?
She also knew what they had told her. There were at least two Rangers in the complex. They weren't Dayu's Rangers, but she doubted they would be any less troublesome. Without their help, she wasn't sure if she could get in. Anything could happen, but with their help, it would be a lot easier.
"Alright, fine, we'll do it your way." She replied. Just then, Toxica nudged them.
"It's them." She told them, pointing to a jeep, bringing Angela and Joel back to the base. They watched them clear security, before heading inside. Shifting a little, they waited to see where it went, before it finally came to one of the buildings, going inside.
"Alright, now we just wait to see where they go now." Jindrax told them. It was a long time, and as they continued to watch, Dayu couldn't help thinking that the end of her long quest, the day she would release herself and the man she loved from the curse was so close she could almost taste it.
"That's a long time." Toxica commented. "Maybe there's an exit we can't see?"
"Or maybe they never left." Jindrax suggested.
"What do you mean?" Dayu asked him.
"The power always felt distant, even from here." Jindrax reminded her. "Maybe it's underground!"
"Of course, the building...there might be shelters underneath!" Toxica replied.
"Alright, so we know where it is." Dayu stated. "So, any ideas how we get in?"
"Uh...let us think about that." Jindrax answered. Dayu just sighed. She was so close, and yet it was still out with her reach.
"I guess I've waited this long." Dayu commented. "Another day or so won't hurt right?"
Meanwhile, as Joel and Angela came back down towards their quarters, Carter came running over to them.
"Angela, sorry about this, but we need you." He stated abruptly.
"Now?" She asked him. "But...?"
"It's important!" Carter insisted. As he ran off in the direction of the lab. Angela and Joel followed him, arriving in the lab. They stared through the safety glass in amazement at what they saw. Urumasa, which had been sitting in a containment room on its own, being subjected to tests remotely by lasers and mechanical arms, was now glowing, far more brightly than they had ever seen it. The entire room was bathed in a deep, red light. Lasers that had been scanning it were going haywire, some of them rebounding and shorting themselves out in a hail of sparks.
"What the hell happened?" Angela called out as she ran to the control console to check on the scans.
"I don't know, about ten minutes ago all hell broke loose!" One of the other scientists screamed in response. "The energy readings are going off the scale!"
"What can you tell us?" Angela asked as some more sparks flew inside the room and one of the lasers exploded.
"I...I don't know!" He told her. "We haven't been doing anything different, but suddenly...this happened!"
"The sword's reacting to something." Angela told him. "What happened to that arm?"
She pointed to one of the mechanical arms, which was just a useless metal rod now.
"It melted!" He told her. "We tried to put it into deeper containment, but it just melted the arm!"
All of a sudden, the alarms stopped, and the glow started to subside. Angela hit the control for a fire extinguishing spray, dousing the room. She looked up, seeing the sword sitting, as inert and lifeless as she had ever seen it.
"What the hell was that all about?" Joel asked.
"Um...any thoughts?" Carter asked her.
"I have one theory, but it's just that." Angela commented.
"Well, it's more than the rest of us have." Carter told her. "Let's hear it."
"The sword burns anyone that tries to hold it right?" She reminded them. "That guy that tried to grab it needed skin grafts remember?"
"Yeah, that was pretty gnarly." Joel agreed.
"We already know it has a lot of power." Angela asked them. "What if it can sense the presence of danger?"
"Sense danger?" Carter asked her. "You think, maybe like its alive?"
"Exactly." Angela told him. "What does any animal do when it's in danger?"
"It defends itself." Carter said as a realisation came over him.
"It won't let anyone draw it right?" She asked them. "Well, what if it knew something even bigger was coming? Something even more dangerous to it? Like maybe something that could destroy it?"
"Then it'd pull out all the stops to prevent that happening!" Carter agreed. "Joel, call the Admiral, tell him to increase security. Call in reinforcements from other bases, whatever he needs!"
"What?" Joel asked. "Carter..."
"It's sit quite happily on a base with nuclear firepower for weeks without so much as a hiccup, and now it goes ballistic?" He asked in response. "Who here really wants to see what caused that little freak out?"