Silently they approached, taking full advantage of the terrain. There was a lot going on, and they were on a truncated timetable. They didn't have long before the concert, and if their mission wasn't complete before it started...that didn't bear thinking about.
Crushing disappointment was a common feeling, they wished things could be different, that they could just go to the concert like seemingly everyone else in town, but once again circumstances had stood in the way. Now, they had serious obstacles standing in the way of what they wanted, vigilant, steadfast guards that would give no quarter in stopping them on their mission.
A guard looked over as one of the nearby crates started rocking, but as it fell silent a second later, just went back to position. He breathed a sigh of relief as he realised he had almost blown their cover.
"That was a close one Monty." Victor breathed a sigh of relief as he looked to his comrade. He and Monty had been heroes the day of the attack at Levi's signing, and they had received a lot of adulation all week from the rest of the students, and even a few teachers. However, it did leave them in a very unfortunate position. When the tickets went on sale online, Victor had been in the hospital and Monty had been with him, waiting by his bedside, meaning that by the time Victor was able to leave, the concert had sold out. They had been unable to get their hands on the tickets they so desperately wanted. The price of their heroism it seemed was missing out on the concert they had protected.
Victor cast a look around the corner of the crate, seeing a couple of guards waiting by the back entrance, before pulling back into cover. He looked to Monty and smiled.
"They have the entrances covered, but I have a secret weapon." Victor told him, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a book. He gestured to the title on the cover. "Secret ninja, the art of covert entry and invisibility."
"This book is going to get us in?" Monty asked him.
"I was inspired by the Rangers." Victor told him, opening the book to a passage. "It says here that the ancient ninja were masters of covert entry. They could slip in and out of even the most heavily guarded palaces without being seen until the moment they strike! It says that one Grandmaster actually sat drinking tea with the Shogun and he was none the wiser!"
"You're a genius Victor!" Monty gushed.
"I'll never get tired of hearing you say that Monty." Victor answered with a grin.
"You're a genius..."
"Quiet!" Victor rushed out. "Alright, we've got this far, but if we're going to get past those guards, we have to be smart. Now, in the book it suggests..."
He started leafing through the book.
"Path of least resistance, find an entrance that isn't guarded." He stated. Monty looked around the corner and came back, shrugging.
"They all look pretty well guarded to me." He remarked.
"Alright, stage two; don't enter covertly if you don't have to. Guards are human and the weakest point of any security system. Bribery often works."
He looked to Monty, who just pulled out his pockets, showing they were empty. He opened his wallet, which was similarly unimpressive. All he had was a library card, a pizza coupon and ten dollars.
"Unless they like pizza, I've got nothing." Monty told him. Victor sucked his teeth.
"Yeah, allowance day isn't until next week. I'm broke too." Victor commented. He read through a little further. "Failing bribery, threats can work. Often guards could be coerced or blackmailed into allowing entry."
Monty looked to the guards and then back to Victor.
"Um...there are a lot of them, and...they look pretty big." Monty commented. "You might be alright with one of them, but in a fight, I'm about as intimidating as a damp paper towel."
"Hmm...you have a point there." Victor stated. "Disguise! It suggests disguise! The ninja would often use disguises to get into secure areas."
"What about the trash?" Monty suggested. "Why have a backstage pass when you can be backstage trash?"
"Sounds a little stinky." Victor answered. "Maybe if we can get security uniforms..."
"Hey guys!" They heard someone call out. They looked around to see the three guards at the door turning. One of their comrades came out, carrying a bag of green leaves. "Refreshment break!"
"Aw man, awesome!" One of them called out as they all went inside, leaving the door completely unguarded! Monty and Victor both blinked, then looked to each other.
"Does the book say anything about...?"
"Never looking a gift-horse in the mouth?" Victor asked. "Absolutely!"
With that, they ran into the building, checking around quickly to see that they weren't seen. Victor breathed a sigh of relief.
"Alright, we're in, that's stage one." He stated. "Now, stage two, we need to find Levi and..."
"Hey! You two!" They heard someone call out. They both turned to see Tom down the hall, waving in their direction, before breaking into a run.
"Um...Victor? What does the book say about...?"
"RUN MONTY!" Victor called out as they ran away. Tom was moving as quickly as he could, but was still limping as a result of his torture at Ripcon's hands. He paused for a second.
"Guys, you don't understand!" Tom called out, waving their backstage passes. They had left the hospital before Tom and his crew could find them, and so he hadn't been able to track them down to let them know that they had been rewarded backstage passes for their part in the rescue. "Come back!"
Meanwhile, on the cliffs overlooking the concert, only a short way from the stadium, the Rangers were making their way towards the focus point of all the earthquakes. While earthquakes were relatively common in California, occurring at least once every three months, the fact that there had been more than a dozen in a week, and in particular four already that day alone all coming from the same area was far from natural. The team had gone to investigate quietly. As they came up behind a boulder, Preston pointed in the direction of the stadium.
"Levi's concert is happening right over there." He commented.
"And it's about to start in less than an hour!" Hayley complained.
"Then let's finish this up so we can get back there." Calvin suggested.
"Hayley, see if you can get some recon from the locals." Brody said, pointing to a nearby mole. Hayley called out, waving it over. The mole looked a little surprised to see a human that could actually speak to it, but bounded over, at which Hayley picked it up, petting it and squeaking with it for a moment.
"You know, I will never stop finding that cute." Calvin said with a smile, getting one in return from Hayley. She put the mole down and looked to the others.
"She said there have been some weird things digging up the area just around that ridge." She told them. "She said something about things that smelled like machines, something that smelled like bacon and something that was like a moving rock face."
The others just stared at her for a moment. Hayley just shrugged.
"Moles have bad eyesight! They go more on smell than anything else!" She reminded them.
"Bacon...that could be Ripcon." Brody answered. "The machines are probably kudabots. The rock face...I guess that'll be the monster."
"She said just around this ridge." Preston said, making his move to scout ahead. As they got there, they found what looked suspiciously like the entrance to a mine. However, unlike the many sealed mines in California that were left as a reminder of the Gold Rush, this one seemed to have been erected recently. They could see bright blue and black robots taking out carts of rocks and dumping them on the ground, while others stood watch.
"Why would they be moving dirt?" Preston asked.
"The fault is in this area, what if they're digging right into the fault to try and trigger it?" Sarah asked. "They could set off an earthquake that could level the whole city!"
"They're trying to set off an earthquake from INSIDE the tunnel?" Calvin asked. "That'd be suicide!"
"Robots don't have much of a sense of self-preservation." Brody reminded them.
"Is it just me, or do they look different?" Hayley asked.
"Whatever, a kudabot's a kudabot." Brody answered, pulling up his mask. He made a few gestures indicating where they should approach from. "Preston, Calvin, Hayley, keep watch. Sarah and I will check out the tunnel.
They all headed off on their approach routes, each getting as close as possible to their selected guards. Preston was the first to make his move, dropping down on top of a guard. However, instead of taking it down, which is what normally happened, the Basher bot remained on its feet, with Preston on its shoulders. It turned its head completely around to stare at him.
"Uh...guys...we may have a problem here!" Preston said, just as Hayley and Calvin flew through the air, crashing through piles of rocks that were piled up near the cave entrance.
"OK, they are NOT normal kudabots!" Calvin complained as he got up. Soon, they were surrounded by the new, stronger robots. "What do we do?"
"I guess since they already know we're here..." Preston said, pulling out his morpher. Calvin and Hayley did the same. They watched as Brody and Sarah slipped inside. "...we act as a distraction."
"Ninja SPIN!" They called out together, morphing into action.
Back at the arena, Levi was showing Mary and her parents around, chatting with them about the concert, and everything that went into it. Mary had already told him she was interested in music, and so he wanted to let her see exactly what went into a concert.
"So over there's Chuck, he does all sorts of really complicated things with computers that I'm not smart enough to understand." Levi told her. "He's the one that sets up the sound equipment just right to make sure my music sounds the best it can for each venue. The different shape and size of a room can really affect it, so he makes sure that all sorts of reverb and all sorts of other technical words that I forget don't mess up my sound."
"Wow, all these people work for you?" She asked him. "I thought...I thought it was just a case of people wanting to be around you and getting paid to do nothing."
"Believe me, that isn't the case at all." Levi chuckled. "There's a lot more to go into it than just picking up a guitar and singing. Trust me; you do NOT want to see what I look like in the morning before Clarissa works her magic with my make-up."
"When I grow up, I want to be a singer, just like you!" Mary declared. Levi just smiled.
"Well, if you work hard at it, there's no reason it can't happen." Levi told her. "Just remember, there are a whole bunch of other people involved and they are a lot smarter than I am."
"LEVI!" Tom called out as he came limping up, a little out of breath. Levi looked to Tom, a little surprised.
"Tom, what's going on?" He asked. "Is everything alright? The concert's about to..."
"Levi, did you see a couple of guys run past here?" Tom asked him. Levi just shrugged and shook his head.
"We just got here." He told him.
"Levi was just telling me about acoustics." Mary said proudly. She looked around as she seemed to notice something in the distance, before heading off in the direction of some sound equipment.
"They were sneaking in." Tom told him. Levi just sighed.
"It wouldn't be the first time that's happened." Levi joked. "I'm sure the guys can handle it."
"You don't understand, I recognise them, it was those guys from the signing." Tom told him. "Victor and Monty? The guys you wanted to give these to?"
He held up the passes. Levi suddenly realised what he meant.
"Right, those guys!" He said. "They're here?"
"Levi?" Mary called out.
"In a minute Mary." Levi told her. "Let security know, when they find them I don't want them thrown out, I want them held so I can..."
"LEVI!" She called out again.
"What is it Mary?" He asked. Mary just pointed to a speaker that seemed to be moving a little. Levi and Tom just looked to each other, before approaching. They stood either side of the speaker, before crouching down. The movement stopped, but Levi could definitely hear breathing inside.
"I think..." Mary started to whisper, before they heard a sneeze coming from another speaker on the other side of the corridor. Mary started sniggering, but Levi put a hand across her mouth to stop her, and put a finger to his lips to indicate to Tom to be quiet.
"Say Tom, what are these still doing here?" He asked. "I thought all the speakers were on the stage already."
"These speakers?" Tom asked. Levi glared at him, at which Tom nodded in understanding. He didn't always understand how he thought, but he could always tell when Levi had an idea. "Oh, THESE speakers!"
"Yeah, why don't you have the guys take them up?" Levi asked.
"You heard the man!" Tom said, clicking his fingers, at which a couple of runners came with trolleys, beginning to load up the speakers and wheel them to the stage. Tom just shook his head as they were taken away.
"I sure hope you know what you're doing Levi." Tom stated.
"Trust me Tom." Levi said with a smile. "This is going to be a night those two will NEVER forget."
Back at the site of the battle, Hayley, Calvin and Preston were doing their best against the Basher bots. They were definitely a lot tougher than the kudabots they were used to, and definitely took a lot longer to go down and stay down. They hadn't been prepared for so much resistance, but now that they had upped their game, they were beginning to make headway.
"These new bots are tough!" Preston commented as he took down a couple with a burst of blue flame from his hand.
"Yeah, but we're tougher!" Hayley answered, wrecking one with her sword, while blasting another to pieces with the whiplash attack from her Ninja Blaster.
"That's the last of them!" Calvin said as he sliced one in half across the waist. "Alright, let's keep watch, Brody and Sarah could really do without any unexpected visitors."
"Whatever they're doing, I hope they finish soon, the concert's about to start." Preston muttered. Hayley just sighed as she sat on a rock.
"Preston, I think it's time we faced facts...Cinderella ain't going to the ball this time." Hayley said dejectedly. "The concert's starting in a couple of minutes, even if Brody and Sarah came back right now, by the time we even get there the doors will be locked."
"Aw man, that sucks!" Preston whined.
"Still, it's what we signed up for." Calvin said as he sat with Hayley, putting his arm around her. "There'll be other concerts."
"Maybe someone should tell that to the new guy." Preston muttered.
Down in the cave, Sarah and Brody headed deeper into the cave. There were a lot of Basher bots down here, and it looked like they were all working, digging away at the rock face. They had seen how tough they were briefly up top, and so were careful to keep out of sight. They stopped behind a stalagmite as they saw a large creature, seemingly made of rock, with large scoops for hands.
"How much do you want to bet he's the one responsible for the earthquakes?" Brody asked Sarah in a whisper. Sarah checked the locator on her Ninja-comm.
"According to this, we're almost right under the arena." She told him.
"Faster, faster!" Stonedozer called out. "Soon, I'll be able to trigger an even BIGGER earthquake!"
"Another earthquake?" Brody asked.
"They've undermined the whole concert hall!" Sarah yelped as she did the math quickly in her head. "If they trigger that earthquake, they'll bring down the whole arena. There are over 20,000 people inside!"
"Levi has to stop that concert!" Brody said, getting onto his Ninja-comm. "Levi, come in Levi!"
Meanwhile, back at the concert hall, the final preparations had already been made. The warm-up act, the Rebel Rockers, were just finishing up their set, and everyone was getting settled in for the main event.
Levi took his Ninja-comm off, leaving it on a crate as he was handed his guitar, heading up the stairs. They were passing the Rebel Rockers, who were on their way down.
"Hey man, great set!" Levi said as he high-fived a few of them. "Terry isn't it?"
"No, I'm Terry." Another once called out. "That's Antonio."
"Right...sorry, my head's all over the place." Levi answered. "You guys did a great job, the crowd sounds really hot!"
"They're definitely a great crowd!" Antonio answered.
"Say, you guys want to come party with us afterwards?" Levi asked.
"Sorry, I've got to get back to Panorama." Antonio answered.
"And I need to get back to the hospital." Terry added. "Dr Watanabe has rounds early tomorrow."
"Well hey; we'll look you up next time we're in the area." Levi assured them.
"For sure!" Antonio answered as Levi went up to the stage. As he and the rest of the band headed down though, Terry heard a bleeping. Both he and Antonio went for their phones, but could see that it wasn't either of them.
"Old habits die hard eh?" Antonio asked.
"You said it!" Terry laughed. "Come on, Serena's waiting!"
With that, they left, unaware of the imminent danger as the Ninja-comm bleeped away, unanswered.