Chapter 33

Today happened to be a bright beautiful sunny day, currently Nariko was on an island not too far from the city hiking through the woods. Little did she know that Serrator was also on the same island as her, cooking up a devious plan for the island residents.

"For centuries I have planned for this fateful day…I will drive a wedge of misery into this island so deep that it will be felt in the Netherworld!" declared Serrator

He placed a Japanese paper sutra into the fire stand before him, "While these flames burn and glaze, fear will overtake the minds of the humans and the island will fall under my dark spell. The humans' fear will spread like wildfire bringing me ever closer to my ultimate goal."

Serrator then turned to Dayu and Deker who was surprisingly not destroyed at all by Jayden who according to Deker was not at his full potential, "And you my minions shall help defeat the rangers when they fall in my trap!"

Then a mooger quickly approached Serrator and whispered in his ear, very pleased at what he's hearing Serrator push the mooger aside and went over to Deker and Dayu, "It seems we have an unexpected guest heading our way."

"And who would that be?" questioned Dayu

"The one and only Yamada princess, she's hiking through the woods as we speak and I happen to have something in store for her…All I need if for one of you to go and fetch her for me."

Deker turned and began walking away, "I'll be the one to retrieve her…I shall be back soon…"

"One more thing the princess better not have one scratch on her when you return Deker, she must be in perfect condition." Told Serrator

"You have my word…After all you are the one repairing my Uramasa…"

Meanwhile with Nariko, she was still trekking through the woods taking in the scenery, "This wasn't a bad idea after all. It's actually nice getting away from the city and the nighlok attacks I should do this more often."

The princess soon arrived at a waterfall and decided to take a break, though as she began to drink water from the fall several twigs snapped behind her. Nariko quickly ceased her drinking and turned around to find no one there. She cautiously walked away from the waterfall and observed her surroundings to still find no one around.

"I must be hearing things…" muttered Nariko, but as she turned around the princess was greeted with the sight of Deker standing right behind her.

She gasps and quickly took a few steps back, "Deker! But how is that possible? You're alive!"

"Yes it would seem that way…Your precious red ranger wasn't at his full potential when we fought so I wasn't completely destroyed by that blow he delivered…Now you're coming with me."

Nariko pulled out her sais from her satchel and got into a fighting stance, "Not without a fight."

Deker smirked at this, "So be it."

The princess charged at Deker swinging her sais at him, he easily dodged her attacks and pushed her back hard. She stumbled a few feet back before regaining her balance; Nariko gripped her sais tighter causing lightning to surround the weapons.

Impressed by what he's seeing, Deker nodded his head in approval, "I see you've been holding back your true powers princess…But will it be enough to stop me?"

"We'll see about that!" Nariko charged at Deker once more and again he blocked her attacks with his temporary sword that Serrator gave him.

This completely caught the princess off guard giving Deker the opportunity to kick her in the stomach. She flew back a few feet before landing on the ground, letting out a painful grunt. Nariko struggled to get back up as Deker made his way over to her, once near he grabbed the princess by the elbow and pulled her to stand.

"I must say you put up a good fight princess, but not good enough to stop me." Told Deker

Nariko's only reply was letting out painful grunts as Deker began dragging her away. They soon arrived at the area where Serrator and Dayu are patiently waiting.

Serrator chuckled and made his way over to the two, "Very good Deker, you don't disappoint."

Deker brought Nariko forward only for her to collapse to the ground, still in pain from the fight with Deker. Serrator knelt before the Yamada princess and gripped her chin, making her look straight at the nighlok.

"So we meet again dear Yamada princess, I'm most pleased to have you here…" said Serrator, he then looked to Deker "Care to tell me what happened between the two of you?"

"She put up a fight, that's all I have to say."

"I see…" Serrator then hauled Nariko up to her feet and dragged her over to the Japanese fire stand.

Once in front of it Serrator let the princess go, having the moogers force Nariko on her knees. She tried to struggle in the moogers' grip but they had a good hold on her.

Serrator grabbed a black beaded necklace from the stand and approaches the princess, "No need to struggle, this won't hurt a bit. Having you under my control will make my plan full proof and the rangers won't be able to stop me!"

He then placed the jewelry around Nariko's neck, once doing so the necklace began to glow causing the princess to cease struggling and become unconscious.

Serrator evilly chuckled and turned away facing the stand, "Excellent…Lay her down gently moogers, it will take a bit of time before the effects of the necklace make the Yamada princess come under my control…Time which I have to spare…The dai is cast and the rangers will come to this island, but they will never leave…"

Meanwhile at the Shiba household, Ji had gathered the rangers in the living room to look at a map of the island. Ji observed the map for a bit before looking to his students, "The gap sensor has detected some odd paranormal activity on this obscured island, but no actual nighlok attack. This is also the same island Nariko went to for some time alone, I tried contacting her but communication has been cut off…I can't reach her or anyone else…"

Jayden frowned at the news and looked to the samurai mentor, "We'll go check it out." The red ranger looked to his team who nodded and follow after their leader.

30 minutes passed when the rangers arrived at the island, upon leaving the ferry they were greeted with the sight of a messed up dock but no people. While making their way through the messy dock Emily couldn't help but wonder aloud, "Where did all the people go?"

"That's what we have to find out, along with finding Nariko, we better split up into teams." Said Jayden

Mike nodded at this, "Got it." He then looked to Antonio, "Let's go buddy." And the two went off their own way while Kevin and Emily went off another way, leaving Jayden and Mia to head straight down the dock and into the town.

While investigating the town Mia quickly took notice of the people inside the buildings, shutting their windows as she and the red ranger walk by, "Look Jayden…All the people seem to be hiding…They're afraid of something…"

"Something is definitely not right here…" admitted Jayden

Soon they were contacted by Kevin after he and Emily found a young boy trying to run away from them.

"Some kind of ash fell from the sky…And when it landed on the people they all got super scared…The ash is coming from the mountain…That's also the place Nariko was last seen heading to…" informed Kevin

"All right let's regroup at the base of the mountain and come up with a plan." Told Jayden

While Jayden and Mia were making their way to the base of the mountain Kevin and Emily were stopped by Dayu while Mike and Antonio were faced with Serrator who revealed to the two rangers that this is all just a trap set up by him.

With Jayden and Mia they were at the base patiently waiting for the others to arrive, Mia looked to the red ranger, "I wish the others would get here soon."

Before he could answer, Jayden spotted someone coming towards and immediately frown once seeing who it was, "We have worries of our own Mia…Deker…Just what are you doing here?"

The nighlok swordsman stopped a few feet away from the two rangers, "Again I meet you as a sword for hire soon my sword Uramasa will be whole again." He held up his temporary sword, "But in the meantime…I can battle you with this at least for a while."

Both Mia and Jayden quickly morphed in order to fight off Deker who charged at the two. The nighlok swordsman seemed to have no problem fighting the two rangers but soon got frustrated as Mia kept getting in the way of Deker fighting Jayden.

"You're in my way!" growled the swordsman, who got Mia with his sword. As she fell to the ground Deker was about to attack her again but Jayden got in front of the pink ranger blocking the swordsman's attack.

"You rely on teammates to fight your battles now? Have you become that weak red ranger?"

"What?" wondered Jayden

"Your fiance put up a better fight than you! You've lost your edge!"

"Where's Nariko!"

Deker gave no reply but simply pushes the red ranger back and landed a powerful hit on Jayden. He tumbled to the ground and in the process he powered down, Deker stared at the ranger as he sheathed his sword, "You're pathetic! You're not worth fighting anymore, not like this…"

And with that said Deker walked away, Jayden tried to go after him but collapsed in exhaustion and became unconscious. Mia powered down at this time and quickly went to her leader's side, shaking his shoulder "Jayden? Jayden!"

Later in an abandon shrine, Jayden was currently sitting on the ground resting while Mia tried to contact the others, "Hello?...Hello?..." she then turned to her leader, "I can't reach Mentor, the nighlok's ash must be blocking all communications from the whole island…Jayden…Jayden?"

The red ranger simply just sat there, thinking back to what Deker said to him before in battle. Mia took this time to go over to her leader, placing her hand upon his shoulder, "Are you ok?"

Jayden looked at the pink ranger then looked away causing Mia to sit by his side, "Don't worry it's just a minor setback."

"No…He's right, he can see my weakness…I need to find him and Nariko…"

"You're wounded and you need to rest."

Jayden abruptly stood up from the ground, "Don't you see? Deker didn't even have his true sword Uramasa today…When he gets it back he'll be twice as deadly."

Mia stood up at this, "Jayden we have complete faith in you."

"There are things about me that you don't know…" thus the red ranger stormed out of the shrine, having Mia call after him "Jayden! Jayden don't do this!" she began running after him, "Jayden, Jayden!"

At the mountain clearing Nariko was still lying at the foot of the stand, remaining unconscious as the black necklace continued to glow. Dayu, Deker and some moogers were there also patiently waiting for Serrator to return.

While they waited Dayu looked up once hearing footsteps quickly approaching them, "Looks like we have a visitor." The moogers quickly got into formation as Jayden showed up at the sight.

He stopped in his tracks and looked to the fire stand, "So this is where the ash is coming from…Where there's smoke there's fire but not for long!" his gaze soon landed on the lying form of the Yamada princess, "Nariko…"

Dayu pushed the moogers aside and stood in front of them with a dagger in hand, "And that's as close you're going to get to the stand and the princess." Dayu then looked to the niglok swordsman, "He's all yours."

"He's not worth fighting for…"

"Fine…Then I'll finish him!"

Dayu quickly charged at the red ranger who pulled out his samuraizer and tried to morph only to be kick hard by Dayu. He fell back onto the ground and Dayu was about to attack him again until Mia showed up to stop the female nighlok.

"Mia this is too dangerous! Protect yourself I can fight my own battles." told Jayden

"Have you forgotten? We put our life in your hands and you trusted to put yours in ours! That promise isn't a weakness Jayden…We're rangers together, samurai forever I'd say more but I owe Dayu some payback."

"Ok Mia I've got your back."

The pink ranger quickly morphed and went back to fighting Dayu giving Jayden the opportunity to morph also. Though Dayu quickly managed to pin Mia to the ground and tried to land another attack on her which the pink ranger blocked with her spin sword.

"You think you can do this all alone? The other rangers have been neutralized! There is no one but the pathetic red ranger to help you!" told Dayu

"I wouldn't be so sure of that!" said Mia who pushed Dayu back hard

"Not so fast!"

Dayu looked and to her surprise saw Kevin and the others making their way over, "How did you?"

"Serrator left us hanging but luckily blue saved us!" told Mike

"It takes more than a little water to stop us!" declared Emily

"Now either you put out that fire and hand Nariko over to me or we'll put it out ourselves and save Nariko altogether." Said Jayden

Before Dayu could do anything, Serrator appeared before the rangers "You're too weak to put out anything! But you can put away those pathetic weapons, no need for a messy sword fight. Haven't you heard? The spin sword is obsolete, isn't that right Malden?"

At this moment a nighlok appeared from the gap, nodding in agreement "Indeed! The era of the laser blaster is here!" the moogers with laser blasters appeared from the gap and formed a line, aiming their guns at the rangers.

"Master blasters, fire!" ordered Malden

The moogers fired their guns and the rangers quickly dodged their fire. The moogers fired once more Jayden quickly pulled out the black box and used its powers to deflect the lasers. The rangers then took this chance to charge at the moogers as they were trying to reload their guns.

As the rangers took the moogers down one by one, Antonio finished taking care of his moogers and went straight towards Malden, landing a successful blow on the nighlok.

"So much for the era of laser blasters, you guys can't hit-" said Antonio, only to be cut off by a black blur attacking the unsuspecting gold ranger.

The other rangers watched in shock as their fellow teammate fell to the ground, Jayden and the others quickly went to his side.

"Are you all right?" asked Mike

"I'm ok…Wow! I guess I spoke a little too soon…What was that just now?" questioned Antonio who stood back up.

Getting an uneasy feeling Kevin looked up and quickly pointed, "Look up there!"

The rangers did and were completely surprised by how many master blaster moogers were on the upper level of the mountain. "There are master blasters everywhere." Said Jayden

"It's like a whole army!" exclaimed Emily

"Unbelievable…" muttered Mike

Malden who was now back up on his feet, brushed some dirt of his shoulders, "Like I said…A new era has begun. These lasers will cap your strength till there's nothing left!"

Serrator then stood by Malden's side, feeling very pleased with himself, "Not only that rangers, meet my new puppet who easily took down your gold ranger in the blink of an eye!"

He stepped aside for the rangers to see Nariko standing there in a black kimono with her sais in hand. The rangers stared at the Yamada princess in completely shock, "Nariko!"

"So tell me rangers, like her new look? I certainly do!" said Serrator

"What did you do to her?" demanded Jayden

"Why I put her under my control of course! It was just too easy that I should've done this before when she was that hooded figure who always helped you out."

Serrator then tucked a piece of hair behind Nariko's ear, "Why don't you show your dear fiance and precious rangers just what you can do princess?"

And to the rangers' surprise Nariko rushed forward and elbowed Antonio in the gut, then turned to Mia and Emily grabbing their arms and flipping them. Mike tried to stop her but ended up getting kneed in the stomach and thrown towards Kevin. Jayden quickly wrapped his arm around her neck, only for Nariko to quickly get out of his hold and kicking him hard in the chest.

Serrator evilly chuckled and clapped his hands, "That's enough for now my puppet. Let Malden have his fun and if he fails I want you to take care of the rangers for me, understand?"

Nariko walked back over to Serrator's side and gave a simple nod, satisfied with the answer Serrator began walking away, "Now if you'll excuse me I have some business to attend to."

Suddenly from out of nowhere Ji arrived on his bike, carrying something upon his back. "Mentor? What are you doing here?" questioned Jayden

Angered by the samurai mentor's sudden appearance, Malden sent some moogers towards Ji "Attack!"

The samurai mentor easily took down the group of moogers with no sweat and in turn took away their weapons, "You call this a blaster?" he took the item he was carrying off his back and uncovered it to reveal a blaster that looked like the bull zord, "Now this is a blaster!"

Ji then tossed the blaster to Jayden who admired the weapon. "Sweet…"

"It's a gift from Cody! It's called a bullzooka!" told Ji, he brought out a power disk and tossed it to the red ranger, "Fire it up!" "Thanks Mentor!"

And with the powers from the bullzooka and his spin sword, Jayden was able to defeat Malden and the master blaster moogers. Though of course Malden came back in his giant nighlok form, Jayden looked to his team, "I need to stop that fire and save Nariko…Can you guys hold him off in the bullzord? Antonio you take the lightzord."

While Kevin and the others went to take care of Malden, Jayden started approaching Nariko only to have moogers get in his way. He quickly took care of them with his blaster and continued to approach his fiance.

The red ranger soon stopped once he was a few feet away from the princess, "Nariko snap out of it! It's me Jayden!"

"Are we here to talk or are we here to fight?"

"I'm not fighting you Nariko."

"That's too bad because you don't have a choice Jayden!"

Nariko then charged at the red ranger, thrusting her sais at him. Jayden blocked her attack with his spin sword and push the princess back, "Nariko stop this I'm not fighting you!"

"That's not going to make me stop!" she charged at him again but Jayden kept blocking her attacks which began to frustrate Nariko, "Why aren't you fighting back?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you!"

Nariko growled and kicked Jayden in the chest hard, causing him to fall onto his back. The princess then walked over to the red ranger and stood over him, "You made this too easy for me Jayden…Time to end this…"

"Nariko I know you're in there, I can't help you if you don't fight Serrator's control on you! Please snap out of it, I love you!"

The princess scoffed at this and raised her sais which was surrounded in lightning, ready for one more attack when suddenly she stopped. Nariko let go of her sais which fell to the ground and she held her head in pain, "Wh-What's happening to me?"

"Nariko!" exclaimed Jayden

She took a few steps back still holding her head and began grunting in pain, "I-I can't! No…I-I must fight!" the princess soon cried out in pain, causing Jayden to quickly stand "Nariko!"

She looked to the red ranger still holding her head, "J-Jayden…The n-necklace…Get it off me!"

Not needing to be told twice, Jayden quickly approached the princess and grabbed the black beaded necklace. He pulled hard on it and in turn the jewelry broke into pieces, the red ranger quickly took a step back as Nariko let out a loud cry of pain and a black aura came shooting out of her body, disappearing in the air.

The princess heavily panted and tiredly looked to her red ranger, "Jay…Jayden…" she then collapsed right on the spot, having Jayden rush forward and quickly catch his fiance, "Nariko!"

Relieved to have his fiance back in his arms, Jayden held her close and laid a kiss upon her forehead. He then looked to the fire stand and aimed his blaster at it, Jayden fired one shot at the stand completely destroying it. In turn the island inhabitants were released from the fearful dark magic, making everything go back to normal.

Once the stand was destroyed Jayden slowly stood up, still holding Nariko in his arms. At this time Deker decided to approach the ranger, Jayden saw this and tightened his hold on his fiance while pointing his blaster at the swordsman.

Deker smirked a bit at this, "So you're starting get your samurai spirit back." He drew his sword, "But that thing is no match for a swift blade." Before the swordsman could make an attack, Serrator got in front of him at this time "Stop! I go away only for a short time to find the red ranger has broken my control on the princess how disappointing…Now gentlemen…A battle of egos? No, no I have bigger plans for you. Let's make this a clash of titans!"

Thus the two disappeared along with Dayu only to have two spitfangs and a papyrox to take their place. Ji and the other rangers joined Jayden at this time, the samurai mentor quickly took Nariko out of the red ranger's arms "Don't worry Jayden I'll take Nariko to a safe place while you and the other rangers take care of those three!"

"Thanks Ji!"

Later after the rangers took care of the spitfangs and papyrox, the group made their way back to the dock where Nariko and Ji were currently waiting at. As they walked down the dock Mia looked to her leader, "Deker was wrong about you Jayden…You were born to be our leader, to be a part of us." "Thanks Mia…" he watched as the pink ranger walk ahead of him to soon mutter "If they only knew."

As he continued to walk down the dock, Jayden's eyes soon landed on Nariko's form. A smile broke out on his face as he saw her awake and back to her old self, "Nariko!"

She immediately looked at the call of her name and smiled once seeing it was her fiance, the princess then left Ji's side and ran towards her red ranger. Jayden held out his arms open for his princess to which she ran straight into and in turn he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.

"Oh god…I'm so glad you're all right!" said Jayden

"Thank you so much for saving me Jay…" she then broke the hug and averted her gaze to the ground, "Jayden…I want to apologize for my actions towards you and the others…"

"Nariko you don't have to apologize, you were under Serrator's control, no one here is blaming you for what you did."

"But I was aware of what was going on! I tried to fight it but necklace's powers were too much…Until your voice reached out to me, Jay…Without you I wouldn't have the strength I needed to continue fighting against Serrator's magic and help you set me free…"

"Nariko…"

"I also wanted to say that I'm sorry for not telling you and the other rangers that I was the hooded figure that helped you guys…"

"Was that what you wanted to tell me the other day?"

"Yes…But I got scared…"

"Why?"

"I was afraid that if I told you then you would be really angry with me for keeping this secret for so long."

"I could never be angry at you, being upset with you yes but…Nothing could ever make me angry at you…I love you Nariko…"

"I love you too Jayden…"

The red ranger then lifted the princess' chin up and lean down, capturing her lips in a kiss. Nariko smiled and eagerly returned it, wrapping her arms around Jayden's neck. He took this time to wrap his arms around his fiancé's waist and pulled her closer, starting to make the kiss more passionate.

The other rangers and Ji couldn't help but watch the couple with smile on their faces. "Nariko and Jayden are just so perfect together, don't you think?" asked Emily

Mia nodded in agreement, "They sure are."

"Come on you two lovebirds! You better hurry or we'll you two here on the island!" teased Antonio

He soon winced in pain as Mia and Emily hit him in the shoulders, "Antonio!"

The couple broke their kiss and playfully glared at their golden friend, noticing their look Antonio nervously laughed and began backing away, "Ha, ha! I was just kidding you know! You can go back to your kissing now, don't mind me!"

Kevin sighed and grabbed the gold ranger's shoulder, "I suggest you run Antonio."

"You think so?"

The two look to find Jayden and Nariko quickly walking towards them, Kevin patted his fellow ranger's shoulder, "Yeah I believe so."

The blue ranger then took a step back as Antonio scurried off with Jayden and Nariko chasing after him. Kevin along with Mike, Emily, Mia and Ji began to laugh as they watched the couple catch Antonio and dunk him in the ocean waters, getting wet also.