Chapter 17

Today at the Shiba Household currently four of the six rangers were out in the front yard practicing. While Kevin, Emily and Mike were striking practice dummies with their wooden swords, Jayden was practicing some sword techniques by himself. Nariko was also outside but sat off to the side, drawing in her sketch book. Jayden suddenly stopped in his practicing as he thought back to his conversation with Deker in the cave. Mike took notice of this and stopped in his practice to call out to his leader "Dude? Dude!" Jayden snapped out of his little daze and looked at Mike who said "You just suddenly stop…It was like you were a million miles away…You ok?" "It's nothing…" Kevin ceased in his practice and turned to the red ranger "I think the whole thing with Nariko being kidnapped by Deker has really gotten to you." the Yamada princess immediately looked up from her sketch book once hearing her name. Seeing the look on her fiancé's face caused Nariko to go over to his side "Jayden?" "You can talk to us Jayden…We're here for you." told Emily who approached the red ranger along with Mike and Kevin, though once stopping in front of Jayden, Mia had just come out of the household and greeted the group "Hey guys!" "Have you finally decided to join us for practice?" asked Kevin "Oh no, I've told Mentor that I'll be cooking dinner tonight." "Oh no!…Uh…I mean…What's the special occasion?" "Antonio has been working so hard to program the Black Box and I want to do something special for him…Hope you're hungry!" and with that Mia began making her leave in which Jayden began making his way back into the household with Nariko following after him "Jayden wait!" the three rangers simply just watch the couple leave their sights, Mike sighed "Bummer for Jayden…First Nariko gets poisoned by Octoroo and now this." Emily lightly hit the green ranger in the shoulder "Be nice!"

Meanwhile in the Netherworld, Dayu had returned after not once attacking Deker. Angered to hear this Master Xandred hit Dayu so hard making her fall onto the boat's floor "You failed me again! Dayu I ordered you to destroy Deker! But you dare return without attacking that dog! Why?" before Xandred could punish her more, Octoroo immediately came to her aid and stood in front of his master "Oh ah oh! Beating Deker isn't an easy thing to do! Maybe she wasn't up to it!" the squid like nighlok then turned to the female nighlok "Dayu tell the big guy you're sorry!"" No! If you're angry with me then destroy me!" "What did you say?" growled Xandred, Dayu scoffed and looked the other way "You'd never understand ever since I gave my spirit up to evil I've experienced nothing but sorrow! Century after century of constant heartache!" "Oh really?" Xandred then grabbed Dayu's instrument out of her hands "Then I guess you don't need this harmonian!" once it was in his hand, Xandred set fire to the instrument and threw it right behind him. Dayu quickly got up and picked up her ruined instrument "No! My Harmonium! You ruined it!" thus she began to cry at the sight of her destroyed instrument, Xandred then made his way over to Dayu "You chose to trade your spirit to darkness! That deal cannot be undone. It's time for you to forget your pathetic past!" "How could you do this to me? I knew you were evil but this? Oh I must get it fixed!" Dayu immediately stood up and dashed away with Octoroo calling after her "Oh ah oh! Come back Dayu!" "Huh! She won't get far…Summon Rhinosnorus!" barked Xandred, Octoroo turned to his master "Him? Oh…What are you going to do?"

Back in the human world Nariko was taking a stroll through the city after having no luck with talking to Jayden. "There are times that I wish Jayden would come talk to me about his problems…I hate it when he shuts me out like this…" thought Nariko, just as she was rounding a corner people ran pass her screaming "Huh? What's going on?" "Your musical essence is just what I need to repair my instrument!" Nariko looked once hearing the voice to find Dayu standing over a musician laying upon the ground. She quickly ran over and kicked Dayu away from the musician just before the female nighlok could grab him "Oh no you don't!" Dayu took a few steps back before glaring at Nariko "Well…If it isn't the little Yamada princess…I didn't expect to run into you at all, now move out of my way!" "I won't let you harm him!" "This has nothing to do with you!" "Well it does now!" Dayu growled and charged at Nariko attacking her with her instrument only to be stopped by Mia and her spin sword "Oh no you don't Dayu!" "Great just what I need a samurai ranger!" the female nighlok then kicked the pink ranger away along with Nariko and grabbed the musician by the arm "Don't you two dare interfere!" "You're not going anywhere with him!" declared Mia who charged at Dayu with her spin sword, Nariko was about to join until she heard screaming. The princess including Dayu and Mia looked to find fog filling the area and people collapsing right where they are. Then an elephant like nighlok approached the girls, passing over the collapsed bodies "Sleep tight! Don't let the bed bugs bite!" "Rhinosnorus? What are you doing here?" demanded Dayu "The Boss sent me! It's naptime for you!"

The elephant nighlok then blew some fog from his snout like hand towards Dayu who immediately pulled the musician in front of her. The fog hit the musician and in turn he immediately collapse to the ground unconscious. "This is Master Xandred's wake up call! I'm not coming back!" told Dayu, soon Jayden appeared and attack Rhinosnorus sending the nighlok to the ground. The red ranger safely landed right next to Nariko as the other rangers showed up. Jayden then turned to his fiancé "Nariko are you all right?" "Yes I'm fine…" Rhinosnorus immediately got back up on his feet "Rangers! I'm working here!" Jayden quickly pushed Nariko back behind him and the rangers who charged at the nighlok with their swords drawn. From the corner of her eye, the Yamada princess saw Dayu picked up the unconscious musician and began carrying him away. "Dayu stop!" exclaimed Nariko who began chasing after the female nighlok only to stop as Rhinosnorus appeared right in front of her "Nighty night!" he blew some fog towards the princess and to her luck Jayden quickly tackled her out of the way. The couple quickly got back up on their feet and the red ranger turned to his fiancé "Nariko…" "No need to worry Jayden…I'm all right…" "I want you to stay by my side, you don't have to worry about Dayu, Mia and Emily already went after her." "Ok…" soon Mike and Kevin joined the couple's side while Rhinosnorus stood a few feet away from them "Time to turn out the light!" "Not so fast horn nose!" the nighlok was then attacked by some fish and Antonio joined the rangers' side. Jayden looked at his friend a bit surprised "Antonio!" the gold ranger cockily grinned at him "Leave it to me!" Nariko soon noticed Rhinosnorus raise his snout towards the gold ranger and went to him "Wait Antonio!" to their dismay both she and Antonio were hit by the fog and collapsed right on the spot. Jayden immediately caught his fiancé "Nariko!" Kevin face palmed his helmet as he saw the unconscious gold ranger "Oh no!" Mike looked down upon his fellow ranger "Hey buddy not exactly a good time to take a nap!" "And they won't wake up until I say so! Yum! The more they dream, the tastier the snacks they'll be!" Jayden glared at Rainstorms "Nighlok! Do you really think we're going to stand here and let that happen?" "Of course not! I gulp down my grub in the dream world but I'm going to let them marinate for awhile first things first…I need to go and catch Dayu!"

Suddenly a purple portal appeared right over Antonio's chest to which Rhinosnorus made his escape through. "An inter dimensional portal! I better call Ji and see just what we're up against." said Jayden who pulled out his samuraizer and contacted the samurai mentor. Once explaining what's going on Ji had looked up the current nighlok in a book "Jayden that nighlok is Rhinosnorus. He puts his victims to sleep and enters into their dreams, his victims then experience vivid fantasies usually happy ones. Once devoured his victims never wake up in the real world again who knows how long until Rhinosnorus starts eating his victims…Jayden you must locate and destroy him fast." "We're on it Ji." the red ranger then hung up and put his samuraizer away before powering down. Mike and Kevin who were already powered down went over to their leader. "So what's up?" asked Mike "We have to enter the dream world." told Jayden "So we have to find a way into the dream world?" "How do we do that?" asked Kevin, Jayden gently laid Nariko on the ground "I'll use my symbol power…I'm not sure just how much energy it will take but I can do it." "I hope you're right…" said Mike, the red ranger caressed his fiancé's cheek before standing up with his samuraizer in hand "I doubt I'll be able to keep the portal open very long…Jump in as soon as it materializes, I'll be right behind you!" Kevin nodded at this "Got it!" Mike then looked at his friends' unconscious bodies "Hold on Antonio, Nariko help is on the way!" Jayden quickly put his symbol powers into action and right over Nariko's chest a portal appeared. "Go now!" exclaimed the red ranger, both Mike and Kevin immediately jumped through the portal which closed behind them. Jayden fell to his knees in exhaustion and began panting a bit before looking at Antonio's and Nariko's unconscious forms.

Inside the dream world Kevin and Mike safely made it through, the green ranger smiled as he looked at himself "Cool we made it!" the two then looked around to see several people dressed in different types of clothing, happily enjoying themselves. "This is the dream world? It seems…Pretty normal." admitted Kevin "Yeah…Normal…" said Mike, the two rangers then began walking around a bi until they spotted Antonio in a suit holding a big trophy "Check this out! I did it! World's biggest fish of the year!" Kevin quickly approached the fisherman "Antonio! You're just dreaming!" "Dude this isn't real!" added Mike. Antonio quickly went over to the two "What are you doing? This is my golden moment!" "You're in a nighlok's dream world! Nothing is real!" told Kevin "Tell that to my trophy!" the blue ranger then began trying to take away Antonio's trophy who was stubbornly holding onto it. "Guys stop!" said Mike who then heard someone humming. He turned around to find Nariko dressed in a traditional royal kimono tending to some flowers. The green ranger quickly made his way over to her "Nariko!" the princess looked up at the call of her name and smiled once seeing who it was "Oh Mike hello!" "Nariko listen you're in danger right now!" "What are you talking about? I'm in no danger, all is peaceful here." "No Nariko you're wrong! You're in a dream right now!" "Oh you're being silly right now Mike! Now if you'll excuse me I think my wedding is about to begin soon." "Mmm! Tasty you'll make one heck of a lunch!" both Nariko and Mike turned around to find Rhinosnorus standing there. "Kevin! Get over here man!" exclaimed Mike, the blue ranger stopped his struggling with Antonio and once seeing the nighlok he joined his friend's side, protectively standing in front of Nariko. The two then pulled out their samuraizers and morphed into their rangers forms, ready to fight the dream nighlok. "What rangers? How did you get into my dream world? I didn't put you to sleep!" growled Rhinosnorus "We're crashing your slumber party!" told Mike, Kevin nodded "That's right! We're going to give you a dose of reality!" Rhinosnorus scoffed "In your dreams!" the blue ranger looked back at the Yamada princess "You stay here Nariko, Mike and I will take care of this nighlok!" "But-!" to her dismay the two rangers had already began charging at Rhinosnorus soon engaging in battle.

While Nariko watched the battle a few feet away Rhinosnorus was starting to get frustrated with the two rangers "Guess what rangers? You're on my turf now and here we play by my rules!" then the nighlok used his powers on Mike and Kevin which sent the two falling to the ground. Nariko gasp and quickly went over to their sides "Mike, Kevin! Are you two ok?" "N-No…Ah my butt!" complained Mike, Rhinosnorus slowly approached the three while chuckling "Ha, ha, ha! In this world I always win I can do anything I can dream up! You could say I'm on a roll!" Rhinosnorus stopped and summoned a huge boulder that began heading towards Nariko, Mike and Kevin. The two rangers quickly pushed the Yamada princess out of harms way and began running from the boulder. Mike soon stopped his running once realizing something making Kevin stop also "Mike what are you doing?" "Kevin this is our dream world too right? Well I've got a plan!" suddenly Mike grew really big and kicked the boulder along with Kevin who landed right on top of Rhinosnorus. "Ok…This is really a dream because I just witness a sort of cartoon moment there…" muttered Nariko who soon joined up with the guys, Mike returned to his normal size and stood over the nighlok "Now that I'm getting the hang of this dream world I'm getting a kick out of it!" "What a snooze! I'm out of here!" Rhinosnorus quickly got back on his feet and began running away with Kevin and Mike following.

Soon the three had left the dream world and back into reality where Kevin and Mike successfully destroyed Rhinosnorus' mist blower. In turn all the people that the nighlok put to sleep began waking up. Back with Nariko and Antonio, the two woke up from their slumber and slowly sat up. While the Yamada princess began looking around at her surroundings, Antonio began frantically looking around him "Where's my trophy?" "Nariko…Antonio…" the two looked behind them to find a tired looking Jayden sitting there. Nariko immediately went over to her fiancé's side "Jayden!" Antonio also went over to his friend's side "Jayden what happened?" "Both you and Nariko were trapped in the dream world. Kevin and Mike went in to save the two of you." "Oh yeah…They were there…Come on let's get you up and away from this place." both he and Nariko helped the red ranger up, putting his arms over their necks and leading him away, not at all knowing that they were being watched by Octoroo through a gap "Oh ah oh! Red ranger now I got you! This is the perfect time to put an end to your sealing power for good!" Nariko, Antonio and Jayden soon stopped in their tracks once hearing something. They quickly turned around to find giant Moogers appearing from the gaps. "Uh oh…We've got bad company." said Antonio, Jayden took a step away from him and Nariko "We need to go into megazord mode!" "But you're exhausted Jayden!" protested Nariko "What other choice do we have love?" Antonio took out his samurai morpher "All right buddy let's do this together! Just like when we were kids playing in your backyard, the two of us against the baddies." "Please you two…Don't do anything too rash out there." pleaded Nariko "We promise love." said Jayden, she then took a step back to let her fiancé and Antonio morph. She soon watched at how easily the two rangers took down the giant Moogers with the Clawzord and Lion folding zord without taking much damage. 10 minutes later Nariko met up with Jayden and Antonio who were resting right outside a warehouse. "Oh thank goodness I've found you two! Both of you did good out there." said the Yamada princess, Jayden nodded in agreement and tiredly looked at Antonio "Yeah…Good job out there…Just like old times…Are you ok?" "Every muscle hurts…" Nariko laughed a bit at this and patted the gold ranger's back before hugging Jayden who automatically returned the embrace. Suddenly Nariko spotted the garage door the warehouse beginning to open. As it fully opened she gasp once seeing Deker standing there his sword in hand. Both Antonio and Jayden looked soon glaring at Deker "Oh no…Not him again…" thought Nariko, the red ranger then let go of her and stood up to face Deker. Both Antonio and Nariko quickly stood by his side ready to protect the red ranger. "Jayden what are you doing?" asked Antonio, Nariko looked at Deker and demanded "Why do you want to fight him now? Why?" she then tightly held Jayden's hand as the three watch Deker unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards the red ranger obviously ready for the upcoming battle.