An Unstoppable Storm [Archive]

Kameorulez

07-22-2008, 10:47 PM

Episode One: Tempest

It was cold, and it was really fucking dark. Matthew Farris shivered a little, his brownish-red hair bobbing a little as he walked. Reaching up with his left hand, he brushed a couple stray strands of hair out of his eyes, enabling him to see better. His sky blue eyes surveyed the area with a look that said, ‘I know this place like the back of my hand’. Although there was another look in those piercing eyes. A look of nervousness. It was very subtle, but it was noticeable.

The sound of glass shattering brought the young man’s lonely crusade to a halt, and he stood there, on the sidewalk, his hand balled up into fists. “Show yourselves!” He shouted, spitting onto the ground. His spit literally froze halfway to the ground, which wasn’t a natural occurrence in Blue Bay Harbour, especially in the goddamn middle of summer! That’s when he saw them: a small army of black humanoid figures, although they had no faces. Just an orange dragon on their blank heads.

Letting out a primal scream of rage, the army charged at the seemingly helpless young man, who just stood there, his fists held in front of him.

“Kelzacks, huh?” He asked. Standing up straight, he unbuttoned his coat, letting it fall in a heap on the ground. Beneath, he wore a simple black robe with accents of red on it, and what looked like an X over his heart. Just to enforce his presence, he unbuttoned his right glove, rolling up his sleeve a little to reveal a tattoo of a hawk on his forearm. The Kelzacks seemed to respond to this negatively, making odd, high pitched chirping noises to each other. Buttoning his glove up again, he charged at the beasts, launching himself into the air and soaring over them.

He came down on one knee, crushing one Kelzack before landing and doing the splits to avoid two hard strikes aimed at him. Matt spun around on his head quickly, his feet striking at the overpowered warriors like a scorpion. As he finished this action, he flipped into the air again, his small frame flying surprisingly high before touching down on the ground again without a sound. Three Kelzacks remained, and they charged at the young redhead, chirping in anger again.

With a sigh of mock exhaustion, he pushed both of his palms outwards, the hawk tattoo on his forearm glowing visibly through his sleeve. As if in response to his hand motions, the hawk moved down his arm so it was in between his two hands, and suddenly, a battering ram of air shot outwards, ripping the Kelzacks apart. As soon as the Kelzacks were gone, the air stopped flowing, and the tattoo moved back to it’s original spot.

“Oh crap, I got my coat dirty.” Matthew whined, picking the article of clothing up carefully and brushing off some dirt. Reaching into the pocket with his other hand, he pulled out a small, black device with a red emblem in the middle. He pressed two fingers against the emblem, and a female voice rang through clearly.

“Yeah Matt, what’d you find?” The voice was obviously female, and it had a kind, friendly tone to it, one that you’d only hear when you’re talking to a good friend.

“Hey Tori, I didn’t find Lothor, but I got attacked by some Kelzacks.” He replied, getting down on one knee to examine the fallen bodies. Out of nowhere, the bodies disappeared into smoke, leaving only the sound of maniacal laughter behind. Matthew snarled, a look of disgust on his face. Just the sound of that laugh made his mind go back, back to when everything had gone down the proverbial shithole…
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m392/xxtempestxx_2008/nsavatars.png
The Wind Ninja Academy. A secret school located in the mountains overlooking Blue Bay Harbour which trains many, many qualified students to be ninjas. The sun that was slowly creeping up over the horizon was splaying crimson light on the ground. Laid out on the concrete courtyard of the school was hundreds of mats, set up in rows. And on each of those mats sat a student, their eyes closed and their legs crossed in meditation.

Sitting on one red mat in the center was Matthew, his two best friends Dustin Brooks, a goofy smile plastered on his face, and Tori Hanson, her midnight blue eyes offsetting her beautiful features. The area was absolutely silent, the only noise being the sound of soft breathing. After another hour or so of this silent meditation, a man in a grey robe with a blue collar, as well as a tight black headpiece covering his shaved head.

“Would Matthew, Tori, Dustin, Marah, And Kapri please come with me.” He said. The five students names got to their feet, turning their attention to the man known only as Sensei. He turned on his heels, heading towards the forest that was visible just beyond the school.

“Dude, I have such a wedgie right now.” Dustin said to Matthew, walking awkwardly and wincing as he tried to pull the uncomfortable fabric from his backside.

“Dustin, too much information.” Tori responded with a grimace, glaring at her friend a little. It was actually kind of weird that the three of them were such good friends, since they were so different. Matt was the bold, brave, risk taking one, Tori was kind, shy, yet strong, and Dustin was the goofball who doesn’t like fighting. The three of them walked together, pretty much forgetting about the two girls walking behind them, stumbling in their stupid, six-inch heels.

As the party of seven entered the forest, they were greeted by the sight of a simple red line on the ground.

“Sensei? If you don’t mind my asking, what are we doing here?” Tori asked. The Selection Exam changed every year, and this was the first time they’d ever done something lie this.

“Your objective in this examination is to go out into the forest and find one of three scrolls. The scroll of Heaven, The Scroll Of Earth, And The Scroll of Life. As you have probably noticed, there is five of you, so the two of you that fail to find any scrolls by the time that they get back to this spot, shall fail. The three that find the scrolls, shall remain in the Selection Process.” He stated with a nod, before holding his hand, palm upwards, to the sky.

Three tattoos lit up on his arm, one of a lion, one of a dolphin, and one of a hawk, identical to Matt’s. The five students took their positions on the line, waiting for the signal for their exam to begin. A blast of pure energy shot out from their Sensei’s hand, lighting up the sky and sending the students off running.
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m392/xxtempestxx_2008/nstori.png
Tori’s light boots barely made any noise as she crept through the trees, surveying her surroundings with expertise. She was positive that Dustin and Matt wouldn’t attack her, but Marah and Kapri were unpredictable. That’s when she saw it. A black figure with an orange dragon instead of a face. What was that thing? It wasn’t familiar at all. Not knowing if it was a trap, she flipped into the air, landing in a crouched position on a branch. As it passed by, she heard it make an odd chirping noise, like a bird that couldn’t sing.

Wincing at the high pitch of the noise, she was glad when the foreign warrior moved out of sight, although she couldn’t get the orange dragon out of her mind. Where had she seen that before? Driving it out of her mind, she took off once more. She had a scroll to find.
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m392/xxtempestxx_2008/nsdustin.png
“Sneak, sneak, sneak, sneak, sneak, sneak, hide.” Dustin stated jokingly, creeping slowly along the dirt ground. It was quite disconcerting, the silence that seemed to form a bubble around him, suffocating him slowly. Okay, so maybe his claustrophobia might be forming these thoughts, but it really didn’t matter. Out of nowhere, he felt a hand close around his wrist, and he instinctively took hold of his attackers other hand, flipping them into the air.

It was a black figure with an orange dragon on it’s face. “What the hell?’ he asked quietly, getting into a fighting position. As the warrior came at him, he took hold of it’s forehead, holding it back while forming a sign with his other hand. Vines sprouted outwards from the ground, taking hold of each of the beast’s arms.

It started chirping loudly as Dustin ran off, although it was silenced only moments afterwards. Then again… it might’ve just been the fact that the vines had ripped it in half…
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m392/xxtempestxx_2008/nsmatthew.png
It was really odd. Matthew had thought, maybe, just maybe, he would’ve found one of those scrolls by now. As he walked along the treetops slowly, he heard what sounded like a gust of air, whistling through the tree leaves. Wondering how a gust of wind had appeared o a sunny day like this, he looked up. There it was! The Scroll of Heaven, floating about fifty feet up.

Concentrating, a gust of wind floated up beneath him, sending him flying upwards. He snatched the scroll carefully out of the air, letting the wind stop flowing beneath him and landing, only to be greeted by Marah and Kapri, standing in fighting poses.

“Give us that scroll, Matt.” Marah stated, her brown hair bobbing on either side of her face. She smirked playfully, yet menacingly at him. Before he could do anything, the two of them came at him, kicking at his face with their heeled feet. He ducked beneath their strikes, flipping into the air and kicking them in the chests, before landing and taking off.

“Get back here!” Kapri yelled, getting to her feet and chasing after him, with Marah not far behind her.
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m392/xxtempestxx_2008/nstorianddustin.png
Tori was still looking for a scroll, as well as trying to remember where that orange dragon was from. That’s when she saw her scroll. The sunlight was glinting off of a glass case beneath the surface of a lake. The Scroll Of Life. Pointing at the water, a dolphin tattoo shone on her arm, suddenly causing a geyser of water to sprout up, sending the scroll flying towards her. With the object clutched in her hand, she took off towards the forest entrance, only to run into Dustin five minutes later.

“You got your scroll yet?” She asked, slightly out of breath from the running she had been doing.

“No! I can’t find it-” He started to complain, but then he saw the third scroll. The Scroll of Earth, shining faintly from inside of a tree. Smirking, the yellow-clad ninja slammed the palm of his hand into the ground, sending a shockwave rippling across the Earth, ripping the tree in half. Grabbing the scroll, he took off after Tori, who had already left.
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m392/xxtempestxx_2008/nsavatars.png
Matthew made it back to the entrance, Marah and Kapri right on his heels. As he made it, he smirked back at the two girls, who looked furious as they saw Dustin and Tori run up with the other two scrolls, and handing them to their Sensei, he smiled, bowing to them.

“Congratulations. I knew you three would make it.” The looks of anger on Marah and Kapri’s faces became more and more obvious, until Marah let out a shrill scream that made everyone in the area jump. Making a sign with her hands, smoke surrounded the two, angry girls, changing them. Making them look more… evil.

“Marah… Kapri, you can’t!” Sensei whispered in fear, attempting to run at the two girls and stop them. Suddenly, some invisible force propelled him backwards, sending him sprawling to the ground.

“Sensei!” Tori screamed, running over and helping him up, tears pooling in her eyes as she saw the blood, slowly trickling from his head, staining the ground below. Setting him down gently, she turned to Marah and Kapri. And she was pissed. That’s when she saw it: smoke pouring from every orifice in the girls’ bodies, flying into the air and slowly compressing into a humanoid shape. With a bout of maniacal laughter, the smoke cleared, revealing an armoured figure beneath.

“L-Lothor…” Sensei gasped, feeling the last life forces in his body leave him. With a final gasp of air, the powerful warrior’s eyes closed forever.

“You killed Sensei!” Dustin shouted, a look of anger obvious in his brown eyes. As he started to get into a fighting stance, he stopped. Although he wanted to, he just felt this…. Resistance inside of him. He just couldn’t hurt Marah and Kapri. But why?
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m392/xxtempestxx_2008/nstori.png
“YOU BASTARDS!” Tori screamed, sprinting towards the two, now creepy smoke free girls. As Lothor attempted to stop her, he was surprised by Dustin and Matt attacking him from either side. Ducking beneath a kick to the head from Dustin, he grabbed the yellow-clad ninja’s foot, tossing him off to the side before blocking a flurry of strikes from Matthew with his forearm. No matter where Matthew struck, Lothor blocked every attack, until he saw his opening. Slamming his palm into Matt’s chest, he sent the boy sprawling, all breath having left his body.

Tori’s actions were more out of desperation and anger than actual attacks. She was pissed, and the two girls were having fun. A primal scream of fury rang clearly through the air as Tori leapt towards Kapri, landing on her back and attempting to gouge her eyes out with her fingers. Screaming in fear, Marah answered, striking Tori in the side. Landing and rolling, the Water Ninja landed in an almost cat-like position before leaping towards Marah, making a sign with her hands. Out of nowhere, a hollow pillar of water surrounded Kapri, stopping her from coming to her friend’s aid.

“Marah! Get me out of here!” The pink haired girl shrieked, her shadow being the only proof that she was even still there. Marah and Tori matched blows, every punch matched with another punch, every kick matched with another kick. It was endless, until Tori went in to kick, and as Marah kicked towards her, the blonde girl lashed out with her knee, causing the traitor to spin around before getting kicked in the face viciously and flying into a tree.

“You hurt my daughters! Now, I’m going to hurt you!” Lothor stated with a snarl, walking briskly towards Tori , pulling a sword seemingly out of midair. Before she knew it, Lothor was behind her, the sharp blade of the sword pressed against her neck. The blade slowly cut into her, sending her crimson blood trickling down It. Then a thought came to her… why weren’t the other students responding to all this commotion?

“That’s because they’re all gone. I hid them all on another dimension.” Lothor whispered through clenched teeth, the blade still cutting into Tori’s neck. She whimpered, and the helpless noise made the evil man smile.

“Uncle! Stop!” Came a commanding voice, somewhat similar to Sensei’s. Barely managing to look up, the three ninjas were surprised to see what looked like a green streak of light shooting towards Lothor. Only managing to hold his sword out in time, the evil blade seemed to halt the light’s progress entirely, allowing everyone in the vicinity to see what it was. It was an Asian boy, not much older than the three good ninjas that remained. Smirking at Tori playfully, he flipped to the side, pulling a green, circular device from his pocket.

“Guys, I suggest you open those scrolls right about now!” He stated, his Japanese accent ringing through clearly. Suddenly, a powerful beam of green energy shot from the center of the device, sending the two girls flying into the sky, landing who knows how far away.

That left Matthew, Tori, Dustin, and this stranger against Lothor. The vile man smiled, his eyes shining with realization.

“Cam, you seem to be doing good, but really, four against one? This hardly seems fair.” He said, his evil smirk remaining as he clapped his hands, summoning a small army of the Orange Dragon things.

“Guys, open the damn scrolls!” He shouted angrily, looking around at the army. He couldn’t take all of these Kelzacks on, let alone all of the Kelzacks and Lothor. Well he could, maybe if he just- no, he couldn’t do it. Not until it had been properly tested. Sighing, he glared over at the three fallen students. At his glares, the three of them opened their scrolls.

The scrolls were blank, except for a symbol in the center of them, which was red for Matt, blue for Tori, and Yellow for Dustin. From these symbols shone bright light, which slowly changed shape until there were three devices in the student’s hands, the scrolls having totally disappeared.

“Good, now attach them to your wrist and shout Ninja Storm! Ranger Form! HA!” Cam now instructed them as he started to fight off the Kelzacks that were charging at him. “Oh, and since I’m guessing you don’t know, these things are called Kelzacks. Be afraid of them.”

It seemed like the Kelzacks were engulfing him, practically jumping over each other to get to him. Gasping in shock as she saw this, Tori slammed down the device on her wrist.

“Ninja Storm! Ranger Form! HA!”

Standing before a raging tempest, Tori’s hair flew around wildly as her ninja uniform slammed away, revealing a blue, armoured suit beneath. The helmet clasped onto her head in three pieces, with the visor filling in last.

Without even thinking about what she was doing, the now morphed Blue Ranger pulled a ninja sword from the sheath on her back, running towards the army of Kelzacks with it held tightly in her grasp. The blade ripped mercilessly through the first one that she found, leaving it twitching in the ground in two pieces.

Matthew and Dustin smiled at each other before slamming the devices down on their wrists.

“That looks like fun.” Dustin said, watching Tori as she continued to cut up Kelzacks.

“Damn straight.” Matthew replied, watching the battle just as closely.

“Ninja Storm! Ranger Form! HA!”

Standing before a raging tempest, Matthew’s hair flew around wildly as his ninja uniform slammed away, revealing a red, armoured suit beneath. The helmet clasped onto his head in three pieces, with the visor filling in last.

Standing before a raging tempest, Dustin’s hair flew around wildly as his ninja uniform slammed away, revealing a yellow, armoured suit beneath. The helmet clasped onto his head in three pieces, with the visor filling in last.

“Let’s kick some Kelzack ass, dude.” Dustin said with a smirk that wasn’t visible behind his yellow helmet. Pulling out identical swords to Tori’s, they ran into the battle, ready to kick some serious ass.
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m392/xxtempestxx_2008/nsmatthew.png
Matthew did a cartwheel, pressing the flat end of his sword into the ground as he did before slamming the sword down on one Kelzack, cutting it into two, tall pieces. Noticing a few more Kelzacks coming at him from other directions, the Red Ranger spun around, cutting into them and sending sparks flying in every direction. With one last attack, he stabbed one Kelzack through the heart, making ear-shattering screams flying through the air.
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m392/xxtempestxx_2008/nsdustin.png
Wanting to simply fuck with the Kelzacks heads, Dustin held his sword in front of him, blocking every strike that they threw at him before disappearing into the ground. It looked like he’d just disappeared, but in reality, he was using his earth control powers to ‘burrow’ through the ground and pop up in the center of the army. His plan succeeded, and he ended up right beside Cam, his sword held at the ready. Pretty much every Kelzack in the area came at him, but with surprising strategy, he formed a dome of earth around himself and his new ally, making sure that there was enough room to let air in.

“You okay, dude?” Dustin asked, listening to the battle raging on outside.

“Yeah, I just- well, Sensei was my father, and with this device, I should be able to morph. I just.. Don’t think I’m ready to.” He stated, sighing.

“Don’t worry man, I think you’ll know when you’re ready.” The Yellow Ranger reassured him before burrowing out of the dome and pointing his sword upwards as he rose, stabbing one unsuspecting Kelzack where the sun don’t shine. Wait, do they even have anything down there? He asked, shrugging his shoulders. The yellow ranger turned his attention back to the fight, and leapt into the fray.
http://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m392/xxtempestxx_2008/nstori.png
Tori was still pissed. She was really fucking pissed. Her blade continued to mercilessly tear Kelzacks to shreds, their screams only hitting the cold shield that the blue ranger had formed around herself, to stop her emotions from getting the better of her. As two of them tried to grab at her arm, she stabbed into one of them, channelling an incredible amount of water into it’s body and destroying it in a tidal wave of water that exited through every orifice in it’s body. Spinning around, a trail of water flew behind her sword, forming a shimmering line of water in the air.

By doing this, she continued to spin faster and faster, the lines multiplying an becoming more dense until she stopped, letting out a small laugh from behind her helmet before thrusting her sword out in front of her. The previously shimmering, seemingly harmless lines became sharp as knives, slicing into the Kelzacks mercilessly, destroying about twenty of them instantly. Looking outwards, she was pleased to see that Matthew and Dustin could take care of the few remaining Kelzacks, and, seeing her opening, she flipped towards Lothor, slashing downwards towards his head with her still unfamiliar weapon.

Somehow, the evil being grabbed the blade in on hand before laughing maniacally and striking her in the chest, sending sparks surging all over her body. Crying out in pain as it caused her to demorph, the blonde gazed in fear up at Lothor, waiting for the finishing blow.

Hearing the cry from inside the dome, Cam’s eyes widened in anger, and with surprising strength, he shattered the dome with a strike of his hand, leaving him standing there, dirt showering all around him. Taking off across the ground with a green streak underneath his feet, his speed increased dramatically until he was merely a green blur. With a glare, Lothor held his sword at the ready, waiting for the strike that was inevitably going to come. He failed to notice as the green blur sped behind him, and Cam’s boot struck the back of his head with such force that as Lothor fell, he left a dent in the ground.

With an angry grunt, the evil man teleported away, knowing he was outnumbered.

“For some reason, I don’t think that’s the last we’ve seen of him.” Dustin sighed, demorphing.

“Get the fuck back here, you murderer!” Tori screamed, whipping around as she attempted to find Lothor. Matthew and Dustin were a little bit scared by this new side of her, since she was always such a nice, calm girl.

“Tori, it’s okay. Just calm dow-” Matthew tried to reassure her, demorphing and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Tori continued to spin oddly, looking for the evil man. Well, until she felt Matthew’s hand that was.

“How can you tell me to calm down? Sensei’s dead, and you two… you two don’t even care.” She whispered, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked around at the three men, her gaze lingering on Cam the longest before she walked away, tears dripping to the ground beneath her. It was sad enough that she was leaving, but that wasn’t the part that kept the three from talking.

It was the fact that they couldn’t even muster up the courage to stop her…

Author's Notes: I would just like to point out that Tori's unsufferable bipolarism is totally intentional. It'll be explained later :). Oh, and I'd just like to point out that this episode ended back in Matthew's flashback. You'll know when it goes back to real time, because it'll be back at Matthew and the Kelzacks that he killed.