Chapter 26
It happened to a beautiful day in the city, at a local flea market Mike and Emily brought Nariko along to meet up with Antonio for a picnic. It didn't take long for them to find the gold ranger at his cook stand. Mike and the girls took their seats at a table Antonio happened to set up for them.
"What a beautiful day to have a picnic!" said Emily
"Yeah thanks for inviting us Antonio!" said Mike
The gold ranger smiled at his friends and began preparing the food "It's my pleasure but it's going to be your pleasure once you taste my habanero, hollandaise heron burger. A little bit of this, a little bit of that."
"Yeah! I'll try some of that!" said Mike
"Can I help with something Antonio?" asked Nariko
While cooking the fish, the gold ranger nodded "Yeah could you pass me the pepper shaker right in front of you?"
"Sure."
Just as she reached and grabbed the shaker, Antonio immediately noticed the Yamada heir's bandaged hand "Nariko…What happened to your hand?"
She froze for a second before quickly handing the pepper shaker to Antonio and hiding her hand behind her back "Nothing!"
The gold ranger frowned at this and reached over grabbing her wrist in order to get a good look at her hand "Nariko tell me what happened to your hand."
She pulled her hand out of his grasp "Just had a little accident one day at the household."
"Does Jayden know about your injury?"
"No…"
"Nariko…You should at least let him know."
"Antonio is right Nariko…Jayden should at least know that you got hurt." Said Emily
"It's only an injury, it's not something important he should worry about!" snapped Nariko
The three rangers couldn't help but stare at the Yamada princess in surprise by her sudden outburst. Noticing their looks Nariko sighed in frustration "Look…I'm sorry for snapping at you Emily…It's just that…"
The yellow ranger smiled and rubbed Nariko's back to comfort her "It's all right…You have your reason for not telling Jayden…And you don't have to tell him right away but just at least promise me that you will when you're ready?"
"I will…I'm sorry guys but right now I'm really not in the mood to eat, I'm gonna head back to the household that is if you guys don't mind…"
Mike smiled and shook his head "Not at all, I hope your hand gets better Nariko."
"Thanks Mike…See you guys later."
The Yamada heir stood up from her seat and hugged all three of her friends before taking her leave from the market. Though just as she left Antonio noticed a guy doing a strange pose "Whoa…What's up with that guy?"
Then Mike spotted a biker also doing a strange pose "Maybe they're doing yoga…"
Soon more and more people began doing strange poses, not liking the look of things Emily stood up from her seat "Guys…I think there's something wrong."
Mike also stood up from his seat and began following the yellow ranger, just as Antonio was about to follow after his friends he suddenly stopped in his tracks and slowly laid down on the ground, laying perfectly still.
Amongst the strange posed people stood a cat-like nighlok by the name of Switchbeast who evilly chuckled at the sight "Ha, ha, ha, ha! With one zap I've trapped their spirits into useless junk and the power rangers are next! So…Who else can I zap?"
Before Switchbeast could do more damage, Mike and Emily showed up to stop the nighlok. "Emily go help those people, I've got this." Told Mike
"Right!" and the yellow ranger darted over to the closest person, shaking their arm. Though they didn't move at all or respond, Emily looked back at Mike "They're like the others! They're in a trance or something!"
The green ranger focused his attention on the nighlok and pointed his spin sword at the creature "What did you do to them? Wake them up!"
"Eh…I don't think so!"
Mike charged at Switchbeast with his sword raised high "I said wake them up!"
The nighlok quickly blocked Mike's attacks along with Emily's who immediately joined the fight. The two rangers were then sent back by Switchbeast who scoffed at this "Too easy!" the nighlok then sent out some tail like whip with a pointed tip towards Emily and Mike only for it be stopped by Kevin and Mia showing up.
"Surprise!"
Switchbeast quickly turned around to be hit by Jayden's spin sword and stumbled back a few feet. The red ranger charged after the nighlok, attacking him head on. Switchbeast immediately blocked the ranger's attack "I think it's time for a change!" the creature then got Jayden with its pointed whip right in the chest.
"Jayden!" exclaimed Mike
He and the others were about to go help their leader when Switchbeast aimed an attack to them "Switch blast!" the attack made the group stop in their tracks, thus giving the nighlok a chance to send out another pointed whip to a gnome "Time to make a switch!" with his powers Switchbeast was able to switch Jayden's soul into the gnome.
The red ranger cried out in pain and powered down, his cry soon faded and Jayden went into a pose immediately standing still. The rangers quickly ran over to their leader "Jayden!"
"Is he ok?" asked Kevin
Mike shook the red ranger's shoulder "Jayden wake up!"
Switchbeast laughed and began making his way over to the gnome "Ha, ha, ha! Switchbeast you've done it again! Now it's time to finish him off, just one blow and the red ranger is history!"
Once standing in front of the garden gnome Switchbeast raised his weapon up high, ready to attack. Mike saw this and darted over, quickly blocking the nighlok's attack "History isn't my favorite subject!" "Well then let me school you!"
Mike quickly dodges the nighlok attack who then went after Kevin and Mia as they joined the fight "In 1492 I took out the rangers pink and blue!" Switchbeast then pushed the two rangers back hard and hit them with his switch blast. Kevin and Mia flew back, crashing into some stacked boxes.
"It's time for another switch!" declared Switchbeast which he immediately did, Emily quickly charged at the nighlok "Oh no you don't!"
Switchbeast easily dodged the yellow ranger's attack but stumbled a few feet back, grabbing his chest "Oh no! Dried out already? I need Sanzu River water to recharge, this isn't over yet rangers!" and with that said the nighlok made his escape through the gap.
"You won't get away next time!" declared Emily who then went over to where the blue and pink ranger landed "Kevin, Mia!"
Mike took a good look at the damage Switchbeast caused "All those people are frozen…" he then looked to the garden gnome "And that nighlok thought that destroying the gnome would destroy Jayden…He must've switch Jayden's soul into the gnome! Oh no Jayden, man that's messed up! Nariko is not going to like this one bit…"
Back at the household after spending some time finding the objects that their friends' souls were trapped in, Mike and Emily brought the items back along with their friends' bodies in turn informing Nariko and Ji on what happened.
Emily set the garden gnome on the stand and began lightly tapping it, then waved her hand in front of its face "Do you think that they're awake in there?"
"We're awake, we hear you!" cried Jayden, Mia, Kevin and Antonio though their cries were not heard by Mike, Emily, Ji and Nariko.
Ji observed the rangers' bodies "So this nighlok switches people's spirits into objects."
Emily nodded "Yeah and the victim's body take the shape of the object."
"Why can't you hear us?" questioned Jayden
"At least we can still hear each other." Antonio pointed out
"Back and forth…Back and forth…Who knew being a fan would be so boring?" sighed Mia
"Boring? If this thing doesn't stop soon I think I'm going to be sick!" groaned Kevin as his soul was stuck in the ballerina body of a music box.
"What should we do Mike?" asked Emily
The green ranger examined his friends' bodies and thought for a bit "Hmm…Let me see…So the monster tried to destroy the gnome…That nighlok tried to smash the gnome after Jayden's spirit was switched into it. I think if the object gets destroyed…The person does too…"
"All those people! We have to save them!"
"But how do we figure what they turned into?"
"You guys have to try…Or those no hope for any of them." Said Ji
"Perhaps if you defeat the nighlok then everyone will be free." Told Nariko
"Then we'll have to train hard till the nighlok returns." Said Emily
Mike nodded at this "Sounds like a plan."
Minutes passed and Nariko returned to living room after tending to the flowers in the garden. She immediately stopped in her tracks once seeing a tutu upon Kevin's body. The Yamada princess burst out laughing at the sight, the blue ranger looked at her in disbelief "Nariko don't laugh at that! Oh! When I get back in my body, Mike is so going to get it!"
"Oh come on, you look kind of cute!" teased Mia
"Cute?"
Nariko's laughter died down and she went over to the garden gnome "Oh I hope you're all right in there Jayden…"
The red ranger smiled at his fiancé's concern "Don't worry Nariko I am."
He soon became concern himself once spotting Nariko's bandaged hand as she began brushing some dust off the gnome "Nariko…"
"Jayden what's wrong?" asked Mia
"Nariko, she's hurt!"
"How do you know?" asked Kevin
"Because I see her left hand all bandaged up! I'm just wondering how she got hurt…"
"Oh…So you saw…" said Antonio
"Wait…You mean you knew Antonio? How come you didn't tell me?"
"Jay calm down! I just found about Nariko's injury today! All she told Mike, Emily and me was that she had a little accident at the household one day and that's all she told us."
"But why didn't she tell me?"
"She said it wasn't something important for you to worry about…"
"Nariko…"
The Yamada heir quickly hid her bandaged hand with her kimono sleeve just as Ji came walking in "Hello Nariko." "Hello Ji." "Checking on the others?" "Yes."
As he began to leave the room, Ji glanced at Kevin and did a double take as he saw the tutu on the blue ranger's body. Nariko saw this and turned away quietly snickering, Ji continued his way out of the room when he stopped in his tracks. The samurai mentor made a disgusted face "Ugh…What is that smell?"
Nariko looked at the samurai mentor in wonder and soon made a disgusted face too as she smelled something in the air "Ugh! I agree with you Ji, what is that smell?"
Both she and Ji made their way over to Antonio's body and the fish his spirit was trapped in. Ji picked up the plate of fish and stared at it, along with Nariko.
"Hey it's not my fault I'm a fish out of water." Said Antonio
"I'll put him in the refrigerator before he spoils." Told Ji
"Sounds good to me." Said Nariko
Thus the samurai mentor ran off with the plate of fish in his hands, Nariko was about to make her way back to her room when the gap sensor went off. She went over to the coffee table to look at the city's map. Once obtaining the nighlok's location she made her way to the front yard where she met up with Ji, Mike and Emily.
As she informed the two remaining rangers on the location, Ji held out the black box to the green ranger "Mike before you go I think you're going to need this."
"The black box? Ji…Nariko…I'm not sure if I can handle this…"
"You can do it Mike…We know you can." Said Nariko
The green ranger reluctantly took the black box from Ji's hand and smiled a bit "All right…I have a plan but it's pretty risky and a little bit crazy."
Emily smiled at this "Sounds like a Mike plan, what is it?"
"All right here's what we do…"
Soon Mike and Emily left the household, making their way to the city to meet up with Switchbeast. It turns out Mike's plan was to get himself switched into the nighlok's body and to their luck they managed to do that. Now in control with Switchbeast's body, Emily and Mike messed with the nighlok for a bit by transferring the creature's soul into a soccer ball.
The yellow ranger kicked the ball around for a bit before squeezing it real hard. Having enough of the torture Switchbeast agreed to show the two rangers how to switch everyone back to their bodies. Being switched back into Mike's body, Switchbeast used the ranger's sword and attacked his own nighlok body in the chest. By doing so immediately everyone that the nighlok switched went back to their rightful bodies.
At the household Nariko was back in the living room reading a book when she suddenly heard screaming. The book she was reading flew out of her hands as the princess jumped in fright from the sound. Nariko turned around to find Antonio to be the one screaming and touching his face, she quickly went over to his side "Antonio!"
Kevin, Mia and Jayden immediately joined the princess' side once returning to their bodies.
"Buddy you're ok!" told the red ranger
The gold ranger then scurried off having the others quickly follow after him. Antonio arrived at the kitchen to find a cat eating the fish his soul was once trapped in. Not able to take in the sight, the gold ranger screamed and fainted right on the spot. The others soon showed up in the kitchen and were completely surprised to find the fainted gold ranger on the floor.
"Antonio!" exclaimed Kevin
Mia, Jayden and Nariko then looked at the blue ranger to find him still wearing the tutu Mike put on him. Noticing their looks, Kevin looked at himself to find the tutu upon his body, immediately he became embarrassed and ran out of the room which the girls and Jayden couldn't help but lightly laugh at.
As their laughter died down Jayden immediately remembered what he saw earlier and gently grab Nariko by the elbow "If you'll excuse us Mia, I'm going to have a talk with Nariko in her room." "Sure thing Jayden."
Thus the red ranger led his fiance out of the kitchen and towards her room. Upon entering Jayden let go of Nariko's elbow and closed the door behind him "Is there something that you're hiding from me Nariko?"
"No…I'm not hiding anything from you."
"It's no use trying to lie to me Nariko, I know."
"Know what?"
The red ranger approached his fiance and once he stood in front of her, Jayden grab Nariko's wrist and lifted it up to reveal her bandaged hand "That you're hiding your injury from me! Nariko…Why didn't you tell me you got hurt?"
She pulled her hand out of the red ranger's grip "It's nothing for you to worry about."
"It's already too late for that because now I'm worried! Tell me what happened Nariko."
"I just had a little accident that's all."
"I'm not accepting that as an answer, tell me exactly what happened and I'm not leaving until you tell me."
The couple stared at each other for the longest time until Nariko sighed in frustration "I made some hot tea the other day and while I was pouring some in a cup, I got distracted and accidently poured some of the hot tea on my hand that's what happened…"
"That's it?"
"Yes…I told you it's nothing for you to worry about."
"Well I can't help but get worried whenever you get hurt…I care greatly for your safety Nariko…Protecting you is my top priority along with protecting my team…Promise me the next time you get hurt you'd at least let me know?"
Nariko looked away and simply gave a small nod, Jayden then pulled the princess into a tight embrace "I'm sorry for raising my voice at you…I really don't like it when we fight…"
"It's all right Jay…"
"I love you."
"I love you too."
The red ranger kissed his fiancé's head and laid his head against hers, still holding her tightly "I mean it…I love you so much and nothing is going to change how I feel."
Very touched by what he said, all Nariko did was returned the embrace and buried her face in Jayden's chest not before saying "I feel the same way too Jay…"
Later after Emily and Mike returned, everyone had gathered outside at the table for a little celebration. Of course Antonio was the one cooking the food and as he placed a hamburger patty on Kevin's plate, the blue ranger made his way back to the table while looking at Mike "I can't believe you switch bodies with Switchbeast, I never would have thought of that."
"It wasn't like a wanted to and it's way creepy, but it was the only way I could think of."
"And you did it by yourselves, just the two of you." Said Mia
Emily smiled at this and looked at the green ranger "It was mostly Mike."
He shook his head at this "No way…We worked as a team."
"Well if it weren't for you I'd still be a gnome." Told Jayden
"Yeah then I'd have to place you outside, a nice decoration for the garden." Joked Nariko
The others lightly laughed at this while Jayden wrapped his arms around his fiance and began tickling her a bit "Not funny Nariko!"
Through giggles she managed to say "I thought it was!"
The couple soon stopped and began eating their meal Antonio prepared for them, Kevin smiled at Mike and Emily "Once again thanks you two."
While they ate Mike brought out his samuraizer and showed the picture he took of Kevin in a tutu to the others. They began to laugh at this while the blue ranger curiously watched them. The green ranger then turned to Kevin, grinning at him "So…You're not even mad about this?"
He showed the blue ranger the picture to which he gasps in shock at while the others continued on laughing. Kevin looked at Mike in disbelief "You took pictures? Give me that!"
He tried grabbing the green ranger's phone who quickly held it away from him. Mike then stood up from his seat and began to teasingly wave his samuraizer in front of his fellow ranger. Kevin got up from his seat too "Mike give me that!" thus he began chasing Mike around the yard who still kept on teasing Kevin about the photo and the others laughed in amusement while watching the two rangers' childish act.