SPD_Red
03-29-2009, 02:37 PM
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Ranger or Super Sentai. I do own any original characters however.
NOTES BEFORE READING:
- This is an adaption of the Super Sentai Series "Samurai Sentai: Shinkenger"
- I realise that the chapters/episodes are VERY long, and I thank everyone who reads them. Please leave your thoughts on them!
- Whilst this is mainly standard PR fare, some issues such as death is referenced a lot, and there is more violence than normal PR. As such, I rate this fic PG.
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EPISODE 01: Soul Of The Samurai, Part I
(An adaption of ACT 01 of Shinkenger)
My name is Ryu. Ryu Hokoda. 10 years ago, the whole world was saved in a small town known as Summerstone, located in the United States. Whilst the world carried on, unaware of the silent victory that occurred, it was all but silent to me.
Whilst their world was saved, my world was destroyed...
2 months ago I arrived in Summerstone, leaving my home in Japan, hoping to carry on my the legacy of my family and fulfilling their goals once and for all.
That is my goal, as a Samurai…
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was lunchtime at Summerstone High. In the cafeteria, a lone slim-figured Japanese student dressed in denim jeans and a red t-shirt sat at one of the tables eating, almost lost in thought. He snapped out of it suddenly when he heard the voice of someone familiar.
“Hey Ryu, having a good day?” the voice called.
Ryu’s dark brown eyes quickly followed the voice to it’s source – a friendly, athletic looking teenage girl with fair skin, shoulder length black hair and brown eyes. Today she was wearing a pink top with some loosely fitting tracksuit bottoms. Her name was Ellie Marsden.
Ellie was in the same grade as him and out of all the people around him, she was the one that tried to talk to him the most. Or, as he saw it, tried to distract him from his goal the most.
“It’s OK.” He replied, showing no emotion or reaction of any kind in his face or voice.
She smiled at him, sitting down opposite him. Normally she’d ask people before doing anything like that, but Ryu would always refuse, so this time she didn’t give him a choice.
Looking down at his tray, she realised that he hadn’t eaten anything yet. She looked back up at him to see him gazing off into the distance as if in thought, just like he always did.
“Aren’t you going to eat anything?” she asked, concerned.
Ryu sighed. ‘You’re blocking my focus…’ he thought.
“Not today.” He replied, calmly picking up his tray and walking away. Ellie decided not to go after him, not out of annoyance or frustration, but more out of respect than anything else.
She sighed to herself. ‘Will you ever open up to anyone?’ she thought.
She’d known Ryu for just over 2 months now, when he arrived as an exchange student from Japan. Besides that though, she knew nothing about him. Very few people did. He was an unusually quiet person, never interacting with anyone unless he absolutely had to, his mind always somewhere else. Despite his unsociable nature, it was hard for her to see him as being rude. Whenever he did speak to people, he always seemed to do so in a way that made people respect him rather than be angry with him.
Looking up at the clock, she realised that she was late to meet up with her friends. She quickly jumped up and walked hurriedly towards the corridor.
Meanwhile, in a tiny cave far below the city, a large, red crystal floated in mid-air. It remained still for a while, but just for a moment, it glowed in a very faint light, a crack starting to emerge in its side. The sound of a heavy laugh could be faintly heard, echoing throughout the chamber...
A couple of hours later in a nearby park, long after school had ended, another young teenager was teaching 2 of his friends some basics of his martial art, Tae Kwon-Do.
His name was Devin Kemble. His body was extremely toned through a combination of martial arts, weights and general exercise. He had spiked up brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a sleeveless blue shirt and some denim shorts.
As his friends watched, he brought up his right knee in front of him, holding the position for a few seconds so that they could see it, before kicking out in front of him and returning to a standing position.
“Ok guys, that’s called a snap kick. You think you can do that?” he asked, with a tone in his voice that made them feel empowered. They both nodded in response.
“Alright! Show me.” He said cheerfully, watching as they all stood up to take turns.
Isaac Yewton was the first up. He wore a khaki coloured sleeveless shirt with faded green shorts. He had short, jet black hair with dark blue eyes. He wasn’t a muscular as Devin, but he was pretty close. He’d been learning from Devin for about half a year now, and he’d learnt a lot and improved considerably, performing the kick without any problems at all. He landed it, grinning.
“Too easy!” he said cheerfully, his face full of confidence.
Devin smiled, shaking his head. “It might be easy Isaac, but remember, you can always improve on even the simplest of techniques, you must never get too overconfident. Who wants to go next?”
As Isaac sat back down, the girl jumped up. Her name was Claire Bevelle, one of Devin’s closest friends. They’d known each other for years now, but it was only a few weeks ago that Claire decided she wanted to experience some of his world by learning from him. She was the type that loved a challenge, even when she was up against something far beyond her capabilities. She had shoulder length brown hair with hazel eyes. She was one of the shortest people in the school for her age, but she didn’t let that bother her. Today she was wearing a black top with matching trousers.
She raised her knee and attempted to kick out, but she did so far too quickly and lost her balance, nearly falling over completely. Fortunately for her, Devin anticipated that she might not do it correctly and was able to catch her before she fell over.
She looked at him and without saying a word, he helped her stand back up again before nodding with a smile on his face, letting her try again. She began to smile also and Devin stepped back. She raised her knee again and kicked out, this time successfully before returning to a standing position.
Turning her head to Devin, she grinned. “How’d I do?” she asked him.
Devin nodded. “You did great. Keep practicing!” he said cheerfully.
Meanwhile, in the small cave under the city, the crystal’s glow was getting brighter and brighter, it’s smooth surface cracking more and more as the light pulsated. As the heavy laugh continued, a faint voice could just about be heard…
“The time for this disgusting rock is running out. All will perish!”
Back in town a few hours later, a teenage couple was standing on a bridge looking out over the river that ran through the area.
The young man, dressed in a grey shirt and jeans, brushed his relatively long black hair out of the way of his pale blue eyes and turned his head to face his girlfriend, putting his arm around her to give her a gentle hug, resting his head on her shoulder.
“It’s moments like this that really remind me of how special you are. Thanks for being here Sara.” He whispered in her ear, pulling his head away as she turned to face him. “Is it really OK for you to miss cheerleading practice? I know how important it is to you.”
The girl nodded, smiling gently. “Don’t worry about it.” She said, looking out at the sun setting over the river, her boyfriend also looking out with her. “Skipping just the once can’t hurt. Besides... This view is beautiful, and there’s no-one else I’d want to spend this evening with.”
“Yea... It’s great. Thanks again, Sara.” He replied.
He felt so lucky to be going out with her. They’d only known each other for about a year, but they were already extremely close, although they had only been going out for about a month.
He thought she looked fantastic as always. She had a relatively thin build, with shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes. Today she was wearing a yellow top with a long black skirt.
She hugged him tightly. “Thanks Gareth.” She whispered as they looked out at the sunset...
On the other side of town, Ryu was out for a walk. In the back of his mind he could feel it; the pulsating of the crystal. The beginning of the end. He reached inside his pocket, pulling out a fist-sized pentagonal metal object that had the Japanese symbol for fire on it. He took a long hard look at it for a few seconds before slipping it back in his pocket and carried on walking.
‘Tonight’s the night.’ He thought.
As he continued walking, he didn’t realise that he’d been spotted by Ellie, Derek, Isaac, and Claire, who had met up and were hanging around. Ellie started to walk after him.
“Ellie? Where are you going?” Derek asked. He got no answer however, as she was more focused on Ryu.
“She so likes him, even if she’d never admit it.” Claire said, watching her friend nearly running at Ryu.
“Ryu, hey! Enjoying the nice evening?” she said.
Ryu turned to answer, but just as he did, the pulsating stopped. He grabbed his head in pain as a wave of pain shot through him.
“Ryu? Ryu!” Ellie cried. Her cries attracted the attention of the others, who could clearly see Ryu in pain.
“What the hell?!” questioned Devin, who ran towards them, followed closely by the others.
Ellie put her hand on Ryu’s shoulder, but as soon as he did so he started to run, bolting off towards the end of the road.
“RYU! WAIT!” Ellie shouted as he disappeared out of sight. Without thinking, she started to run after him, the others following closely behind…
In the cave far below them, the crystal was no more. In it’s place stood a shadowy figure, freed from his prison. He was breathing quite quickly, as if he was exhausted and trying to get his breath back.
“I can sense you, boy! Time to take what’s mine!” he cried.
A red light began to envelope him. Seconds later, he was gone...
Whilst this was happening, Ellie and the others continued to chase Ryu. Suddenly, fear filled screams could be heard up ahead, around the next corner. As Ellie dashed around the corner to see where the sounds were coming from, she stopped, terrified by what she was seeing. The main plaza was ahead of her. Dozens of terrified people were running around everywhere, terrified.
It was then that she saw why – they were under attack by what could only be described as demon-like beings, roughly the same size as an average man, dressed in yellow clothing and covered with black and red armour with heads like something you’d expect to see out of an alien film. They carried sharp-looking swords that they were trying to attack people with. There were around 10 of them. As Devin and the others ran around the corner, they saw them too.
“What the hell is going on? What ARE they?” Claire asked, horrified and confused.
Devin shook his head. “I don’t know, but those people are in trouble, we’ve got to do something!” he said with a determined tone to his voice.
The others turned around to look at him as if he was some kind of insane lunatic. He knew how they felt. Getting involved would put their lives on the line, but he knew that if nothing was done at all, the lives of the public in general would be in danger too.
“You guys don’t have to join me on this one, but as a martial artist, I’ve been taught to use my skills to defend those that can’t defend themselves, and those people are in trouble. I can’t stand here and do nothing!” he cried.
“Well said!” shouted a voice from behind them. They all turned around to see Gareth and Sara running towards them, slowing to a stop when they were close enough.
“Gareth! Sara! What are you doing here?!” questioned Ellie.
“Well... We were just hanging out and...” Sara started to mumble. Whilst their friends knew they were close, they didn’t know how close. They had been keeping it as quiet as they could until they had chance to test the waters.
Seeing her struggling to explain, Gareth finished it off. “We heard the screaming and we came to check it out, but now really isn’t the time for this. We have to get the people to safety and try and hold these lunatics off until some real help arrives!”
Isaac nodded. “He’s right, we don’t have a lot of time. Devin, you’re the best fighter out of all of us. What do you think we should do?”
Devin sighed. He hated being put in charge, but because he was so reliable, he was always ending up in that position. He thought about it quickly, coming up with a plan in seconds. “We should all play to our strengths. Isaac, Gareth. You and me will rush in there and pick fights directly, buying time for Claire and Sara to get people out of here. Ellie, I know you can fight too, so you’d be good at doing both, so I’ll let you decide what to do.”
Ellie nodded, as did the others.
“Right, lets go!” Gareth cried, running towards the trouble ahead of them. Everything else did the same.
As they reached the trouble, Sara and Claire went for the nearest people, ushering them away and helping up those that were lying on the ground as the others rushed ahead.
Sara knelt down beside someone to help them up, but just as she did so, one of the monsters appeared before them, it’s sword raised to strike. She started to scream. Just as the monster began to swing, Isaac lunged into it, sending them both flying to the floor. As he landed, Isaac rolled away and jumped up, ready to fight. He nodded to Sara and she nodded back, leaving with the person she’d helped as fast as possible.
As the mayhem began below, the shadowy figure from the cave was now standing on top of a nearby building, surveying the chaos.
He was a huge monster, just as dangerous-looking as the creatures in the plaza. He was easily about 7 foot tall, coated in red and black armor, his appearance like that of a demon, complete with fang like teeth and black-wing like parts on either side of his head. In his hands he held a massive sword.
“Go forth, my Nanashi warriors. Destroy all those who stand in your way!”
Just as he spoke, he felt a familiar presence. He gripped his sword tightly as he turned around. Before him was a man dressed in red, an outfit he recognised all too well.
“So, the Red Ranger has come once more to try and destroy me. You must be the son of that fool that used those powers to seal me away 10 years ago. He threw his life away for nothing, and it looks like you will too!”
The Red Ranger drew his katana from it’s sheathe, holding it tightly, preparing to strike. “Your time is up, Gyaranth. I’ve waited for a long time for this moment. Whilst you’re at your weakest, I will strike you down where you stand, in honour of all those that have died by your hands!”
With that, the Red Ranger charged at his opponent, clashing blades. Gyaranth wasted no time in fighting back. He might have been weaker than he’s ever been before, but he was still fully capable of fighting back, attacking the Red Ranger with powerful strikes. Fortunately, the Red Ranger was skilled, dodging, blocking and countering various blows. This carried on for a few moments until their blades clashed again, locked against each other.
“I will NOT let you repeat the tragedies of the past!” the Red Ranger cried.
Gyaranth just laughed. “Tragedy? The only tragedy here is that you won’t live long enough to see the end of this pathetic human race!” he replied.
Down in the plaza, Devin could see the fight up above, but didn’t have time to look for long as he was being attacked by 2 of the monsters, one in front, one behind. He ducked to avoid a sword attack from the one in front, quickly getting back up and running at it, delivering a powerful knee strike to it, quickly chaining it into a back kick to try and stop them. Both attacks stunned the respective opponents, but failed to hurt either. Just as he landed his leg from the kicks, another monster came at him from the side, bringing down it’s sword from above. Fortunately Devin was able to jump out of the way just in time to stop himself from being killed for certain.
Isaac on the other hand was keeping himself busy trying to keep some of them away from Sara and Claire, who were nearly finished with evacuating people. Two of the monsters were right in front of Isaac, swinging their blades in his general direction. There was no way on Earth that he could counter, all he could do was dodge and hope for the best.
Gareth wasn’t faring much better, being forced to use nearby chairs and tables as cover, jumping over them and kicking them at his opponents. He knew that he couldn’t really do anything to hurt them at this point. He was just hoping that the police, or even the army, showed up soon to help them.
Back on the rooftop, the vicious battle continued to rage. Whilst the Red Ranger was proving that he was skilled, there was little he could do to stop the ferocious attacks of Gyaranth, who was slowly regaining his strength with every passing second, forcing the Red Ranger to dodge more and more. For a split second, he could see the people fighting to protect the citizens below.
‘They’re in trouble, but I can’t let my focus down now!’ he thought, returning his focus to the battle.
Meanwhile, Ellie had decided to go down the route of distracting the monsters and buying time rather than trying to fight them directly. Having successfully attracted the attention of a couple of them, she quickly ran down a nearby alleyway.
She was a keen practitioner of the art of parkour, so she felt confident in being able to evade her attackers even in such a limited environment like the alleyway. A solid wooden fence was blocking the path in front of her. Checking behind her that they were still chasing her, she ran at full pace towards the wall, running vertically up it for a few steps before flipping backwards over the monsters when she got as high as she could go. She just about made it, landing behind them. She quickly kicked them from behind, forcing them against the fence before running away.
As she ran out of the alleyway however, she was ambushed by four more of them. She looked around frantically and she saw an open shutter to her left, leading into a small warehouse. Not needing to think about it, she dodged another sword attack and bolted for the warehouse, hoping to cut through the open shutter on the other side that lead to the river.
Just as she dashed inside however, another three of them appeared from the other side, forcing her to stop. ‘Where the hell are they coming from? There wasn’t this many just now!’ she thought, her mind racing. She was now trapped in the warehouse, surrounded by 7 of them.
Two of them charged at her. One swung it’s sword at her, which she evaded, but she was unable to avoid a kick from the other one, which sent her flying into a crate. She smashed into it and dropped to the floor.
From a distance, Sara saw what was happening.
“ELLIE! NO!” she screamed out loud. The others turned their attention to Ellie, but they were too preoccupied to help her.
The Red Ranger heard the distressed scream. “NO!” he cried out loud. Gyaranth realised he was distracted and wasted no time, bringing his sword to the Ranger’s left arm before pulling it away, the entire length of the blade cutting into his arm, sending sparks flying everywhere.
The Red Ranger cried in agony, his other arm holding his injury. He backed up to gain some distance. He was injured, but still determined to fight.
Knowing that Ellie was in great danger was forcing him to reconsider his actions. He knew that he could continue fighting Gyaranth, but with his strength coming back to him so quickly, he was becoming too much to handle. He also knew that if Ellie was injured, or worse, because he didn’t react, it would be entirely his fault. There was no decision to be made.
“You haven’t won, Gyaranth. This isn’t over!” he cried, jumping off of the building to the ground below.
Gyaranth watched on as the Red Ranger left the battle. “That’s it, run you worm! With your injury you can’t save her anyway. The Nanashi will kill you all!” he said, ready to observe the battle.
Ellie screamed as the Nanashi surrounded her, but just as they did a small ball of fire flew in through one of the open entrances, entirely destroying three of the Nanashi and creating a lot of smoke. The Nanashi and Ellie turned their heads to see the smoke clear, a Red Ranger standing in it’s place.
“Nanashi! Your end is here!” he cried. Looking behind him, the Nanashi that was attacking the civilians in the plaza were now coming straight for him. He pulled his belt buckle open to reveal a black disk. Taking it in hand, he slipped it onto the end of his katana's hilt, unsheathing it once more. He pulled it up by his face, taking a split second to prepare for the battle ahead before charging at his opponents, taking on several at once before running through them, taking the battle out the other side of the warehouse, towards the river.
He fought expertly taking out many of them with no effort whatsoever, despite the massive pain he felt from his injury. Two more Nanashi tried to surprise him by jumping up from the river, but he predicted the attack without a problem, slashing them back into the river below before continuing his assault.
After taking down a few more Nanashi, the Ranger opened his belt buckle once more, this time revealing a red disk. He flipped it into the air, bringing the hilt of his katana up towards it, the disk sliding along it perfectly to replace the black one, which had disappeared by this point.
He span the newly attached red disk, his sword now engulfed in flames. Determined to end the battle, he began his assault anew, cutting his foes down with flame-filled slashes, ripping through the remaining Nanashi with a few simple strikes. He turned his back to his enemies, the flames on his sword dying out. The Nanashi exploded in a tremendous ball of flames before fading away, just like the fire that killed them.
Sheathing his katana, he ran back to the warehouse to check on Ellie. He was relieved to see that she was safe. The others had come to her aid as well, stood around her.
“I... I don’t know who you are, but thank you.” She said, noticing his injury. “Are you alright?”
He looked away, not wanting to say too much in case they recognised his voice. He turned his back to them and walked away.
“Woah, hold it right there! You could at least answer her!” Isaac replied.
The Red Ranger stopped for a second before running out of the warehouse. The others ran after him, but by the time they got outside, he was long gone, as was Gyaranth...
Meanwhile, in a mysterious location, Gyaranth was on the deck of a ship, floating in a sea of blood. He looked out at the endless red skies, thinking out loud.
“Blast it! I should have destroyed him when I had the chance. But there is still time; he must be stopped before he considers giving the other Ranger powers away!”
He turned around, drawing his sword and holding it above his head with both hands. “Zardek! I summon you!” he cried.
His sword glowed bright red, becoming a ball of energy that slammed into the ground before him, creating a red mist. As the mist cleared, a terrifying monster stood in it’s place.
“How can I be of service, my lord?”
TO BE CONTINUED…
Next time: Soul Of The Samurai, Part II
The others are surprised to discover the Red Ranger's identity, and with the arrival of Zardek, choices must be made!
NOTES BEFORE READING:
- This is an adaption of the Super Sentai Series "Samurai Sentai: Shinkenger"
- I realise that the chapters/episodes are VERY long, and I thank everyone who reads them. Please leave your thoughts on them!
- Whilst this is mainly standard PR fare, some issues such as death is referenced a lot, and there is more violence than normal PR. As such, I rate this fic PG.
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EPISODE 01: Soul Of The Samurai, Part I
(An adaption of ACT 01 of Shinkenger)
My name is Ryu. Ryu Hokoda. 10 years ago, the whole world was saved in a small town known as Summerstone, located in the United States. Whilst the world carried on, unaware of the silent victory that occurred, it was all but silent to me.
Whilst their world was saved, my world was destroyed...
2 months ago I arrived in Summerstone, leaving my home in Japan, hoping to carry on my the legacy of my family and fulfilling their goals once and for all.
That is my goal, as a Samurai…
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was lunchtime at Summerstone High. In the cafeteria, a lone slim-figured Japanese student dressed in denim jeans and a red t-shirt sat at one of the tables eating, almost lost in thought. He snapped out of it suddenly when he heard the voice of someone familiar.
“Hey Ryu, having a good day?” the voice called.
Ryu’s dark brown eyes quickly followed the voice to it’s source – a friendly, athletic looking teenage girl with fair skin, shoulder length black hair and brown eyes. Today she was wearing a pink top with some loosely fitting tracksuit bottoms. Her name was Ellie Marsden.
Ellie was in the same grade as him and out of all the people around him, she was the one that tried to talk to him the most. Or, as he saw it, tried to distract him from his goal the most.
“It’s OK.” He replied, showing no emotion or reaction of any kind in his face or voice.
She smiled at him, sitting down opposite him. Normally she’d ask people before doing anything like that, but Ryu would always refuse, so this time she didn’t give him a choice.
Looking down at his tray, she realised that he hadn’t eaten anything yet. She looked back up at him to see him gazing off into the distance as if in thought, just like he always did.
“Aren’t you going to eat anything?” she asked, concerned.
Ryu sighed. ‘You’re blocking my focus…’ he thought.
“Not today.” He replied, calmly picking up his tray and walking away. Ellie decided not to go after him, not out of annoyance or frustration, but more out of respect than anything else.
She sighed to herself. ‘Will you ever open up to anyone?’ she thought.
She’d known Ryu for just over 2 months now, when he arrived as an exchange student from Japan. Besides that though, she knew nothing about him. Very few people did. He was an unusually quiet person, never interacting with anyone unless he absolutely had to, his mind always somewhere else. Despite his unsociable nature, it was hard for her to see him as being rude. Whenever he did speak to people, he always seemed to do so in a way that made people respect him rather than be angry with him.
Looking up at the clock, she realised that she was late to meet up with her friends. She quickly jumped up and walked hurriedly towards the corridor.
Meanwhile, in a tiny cave far below the city, a large, red crystal floated in mid-air. It remained still for a while, but just for a moment, it glowed in a very faint light, a crack starting to emerge in its side. The sound of a heavy laugh could be faintly heard, echoing throughout the chamber...
A couple of hours later in a nearby park, long after school had ended, another young teenager was teaching 2 of his friends some basics of his martial art, Tae Kwon-Do.
His name was Devin Kemble. His body was extremely toned through a combination of martial arts, weights and general exercise. He had spiked up brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a sleeveless blue shirt and some denim shorts.
As his friends watched, he brought up his right knee in front of him, holding the position for a few seconds so that they could see it, before kicking out in front of him and returning to a standing position.
“Ok guys, that’s called a snap kick. You think you can do that?” he asked, with a tone in his voice that made them feel empowered. They both nodded in response.
“Alright! Show me.” He said cheerfully, watching as they all stood up to take turns.
Isaac Yewton was the first up. He wore a khaki coloured sleeveless shirt with faded green shorts. He had short, jet black hair with dark blue eyes. He wasn’t a muscular as Devin, but he was pretty close. He’d been learning from Devin for about half a year now, and he’d learnt a lot and improved considerably, performing the kick without any problems at all. He landed it, grinning.
“Too easy!” he said cheerfully, his face full of confidence.
Devin smiled, shaking his head. “It might be easy Isaac, but remember, you can always improve on even the simplest of techniques, you must never get too overconfident. Who wants to go next?”
As Isaac sat back down, the girl jumped up. Her name was Claire Bevelle, one of Devin’s closest friends. They’d known each other for years now, but it was only a few weeks ago that Claire decided she wanted to experience some of his world by learning from him. She was the type that loved a challenge, even when she was up against something far beyond her capabilities. She had shoulder length brown hair with hazel eyes. She was one of the shortest people in the school for her age, but she didn’t let that bother her. Today she was wearing a black top with matching trousers.
She raised her knee and attempted to kick out, but she did so far too quickly and lost her balance, nearly falling over completely. Fortunately for her, Devin anticipated that she might not do it correctly and was able to catch her before she fell over.
She looked at him and without saying a word, he helped her stand back up again before nodding with a smile on his face, letting her try again. She began to smile also and Devin stepped back. She raised her knee again and kicked out, this time successfully before returning to a standing position.
Turning her head to Devin, she grinned. “How’d I do?” she asked him.
Devin nodded. “You did great. Keep practicing!” he said cheerfully.
Meanwhile, in the small cave under the city, the crystal’s glow was getting brighter and brighter, it’s smooth surface cracking more and more as the light pulsated. As the heavy laugh continued, a faint voice could just about be heard…
“The time for this disgusting rock is running out. All will perish!”
Back in town a few hours later, a teenage couple was standing on a bridge looking out over the river that ran through the area.
The young man, dressed in a grey shirt and jeans, brushed his relatively long black hair out of the way of his pale blue eyes and turned his head to face his girlfriend, putting his arm around her to give her a gentle hug, resting his head on her shoulder.
“It’s moments like this that really remind me of how special you are. Thanks for being here Sara.” He whispered in her ear, pulling his head away as she turned to face him. “Is it really OK for you to miss cheerleading practice? I know how important it is to you.”
The girl nodded, smiling gently. “Don’t worry about it.” She said, looking out at the sun setting over the river, her boyfriend also looking out with her. “Skipping just the once can’t hurt. Besides... This view is beautiful, and there’s no-one else I’d want to spend this evening with.”
“Yea... It’s great. Thanks again, Sara.” He replied.
He felt so lucky to be going out with her. They’d only known each other for about a year, but they were already extremely close, although they had only been going out for about a month.
He thought she looked fantastic as always. She had a relatively thin build, with shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes. Today she was wearing a yellow top with a long black skirt.
She hugged him tightly. “Thanks Gareth.” She whispered as they looked out at the sunset...
On the other side of town, Ryu was out for a walk. In the back of his mind he could feel it; the pulsating of the crystal. The beginning of the end. He reached inside his pocket, pulling out a fist-sized pentagonal metal object that had the Japanese symbol for fire on it. He took a long hard look at it for a few seconds before slipping it back in his pocket and carried on walking.
‘Tonight’s the night.’ He thought.
As he continued walking, he didn’t realise that he’d been spotted by Ellie, Derek, Isaac, and Claire, who had met up and were hanging around. Ellie started to walk after him.
“Ellie? Where are you going?” Derek asked. He got no answer however, as she was more focused on Ryu.
“She so likes him, even if she’d never admit it.” Claire said, watching her friend nearly running at Ryu.
“Ryu, hey! Enjoying the nice evening?” she said.
Ryu turned to answer, but just as he did, the pulsating stopped. He grabbed his head in pain as a wave of pain shot through him.
“Ryu? Ryu!” Ellie cried. Her cries attracted the attention of the others, who could clearly see Ryu in pain.
“What the hell?!” questioned Devin, who ran towards them, followed closely by the others.
Ellie put her hand on Ryu’s shoulder, but as soon as he did so he started to run, bolting off towards the end of the road.
“RYU! WAIT!” Ellie shouted as he disappeared out of sight. Without thinking, she started to run after him, the others following closely behind…
In the cave far below them, the crystal was no more. In it’s place stood a shadowy figure, freed from his prison. He was breathing quite quickly, as if he was exhausted and trying to get his breath back.
“I can sense you, boy! Time to take what’s mine!” he cried.
A red light began to envelope him. Seconds later, he was gone...
Whilst this was happening, Ellie and the others continued to chase Ryu. Suddenly, fear filled screams could be heard up ahead, around the next corner. As Ellie dashed around the corner to see where the sounds were coming from, she stopped, terrified by what she was seeing. The main plaza was ahead of her. Dozens of terrified people were running around everywhere, terrified.
It was then that she saw why – they were under attack by what could only be described as demon-like beings, roughly the same size as an average man, dressed in yellow clothing and covered with black and red armour with heads like something you’d expect to see out of an alien film. They carried sharp-looking swords that they were trying to attack people with. There were around 10 of them. As Devin and the others ran around the corner, they saw them too.
“What the hell is going on? What ARE they?” Claire asked, horrified and confused.
Devin shook his head. “I don’t know, but those people are in trouble, we’ve got to do something!” he said with a determined tone to his voice.
The others turned around to look at him as if he was some kind of insane lunatic. He knew how they felt. Getting involved would put their lives on the line, but he knew that if nothing was done at all, the lives of the public in general would be in danger too.
“You guys don’t have to join me on this one, but as a martial artist, I’ve been taught to use my skills to defend those that can’t defend themselves, and those people are in trouble. I can’t stand here and do nothing!” he cried.
“Well said!” shouted a voice from behind them. They all turned around to see Gareth and Sara running towards them, slowing to a stop when they were close enough.
“Gareth! Sara! What are you doing here?!” questioned Ellie.
“Well... We were just hanging out and...” Sara started to mumble. Whilst their friends knew they were close, they didn’t know how close. They had been keeping it as quiet as they could until they had chance to test the waters.
Seeing her struggling to explain, Gareth finished it off. “We heard the screaming and we came to check it out, but now really isn’t the time for this. We have to get the people to safety and try and hold these lunatics off until some real help arrives!”
Isaac nodded. “He’s right, we don’t have a lot of time. Devin, you’re the best fighter out of all of us. What do you think we should do?”
Devin sighed. He hated being put in charge, but because he was so reliable, he was always ending up in that position. He thought about it quickly, coming up with a plan in seconds. “We should all play to our strengths. Isaac, Gareth. You and me will rush in there and pick fights directly, buying time for Claire and Sara to get people out of here. Ellie, I know you can fight too, so you’d be good at doing both, so I’ll let you decide what to do.”
Ellie nodded, as did the others.
“Right, lets go!” Gareth cried, running towards the trouble ahead of them. Everything else did the same.
As they reached the trouble, Sara and Claire went for the nearest people, ushering them away and helping up those that were lying on the ground as the others rushed ahead.
Sara knelt down beside someone to help them up, but just as she did so, one of the monsters appeared before them, it’s sword raised to strike. She started to scream. Just as the monster began to swing, Isaac lunged into it, sending them both flying to the floor. As he landed, Isaac rolled away and jumped up, ready to fight. He nodded to Sara and she nodded back, leaving with the person she’d helped as fast as possible.
As the mayhem began below, the shadowy figure from the cave was now standing on top of a nearby building, surveying the chaos.
He was a huge monster, just as dangerous-looking as the creatures in the plaza. He was easily about 7 foot tall, coated in red and black armor, his appearance like that of a demon, complete with fang like teeth and black-wing like parts on either side of his head. In his hands he held a massive sword.
“Go forth, my Nanashi warriors. Destroy all those who stand in your way!”
Just as he spoke, he felt a familiar presence. He gripped his sword tightly as he turned around. Before him was a man dressed in red, an outfit he recognised all too well.
“So, the Red Ranger has come once more to try and destroy me. You must be the son of that fool that used those powers to seal me away 10 years ago. He threw his life away for nothing, and it looks like you will too!”
The Red Ranger drew his katana from it’s sheathe, holding it tightly, preparing to strike. “Your time is up, Gyaranth. I’ve waited for a long time for this moment. Whilst you’re at your weakest, I will strike you down where you stand, in honour of all those that have died by your hands!”
With that, the Red Ranger charged at his opponent, clashing blades. Gyaranth wasted no time in fighting back. He might have been weaker than he’s ever been before, but he was still fully capable of fighting back, attacking the Red Ranger with powerful strikes. Fortunately, the Red Ranger was skilled, dodging, blocking and countering various blows. This carried on for a few moments until their blades clashed again, locked against each other.
“I will NOT let you repeat the tragedies of the past!” the Red Ranger cried.
Gyaranth just laughed. “Tragedy? The only tragedy here is that you won’t live long enough to see the end of this pathetic human race!” he replied.
Down in the plaza, Devin could see the fight up above, but didn’t have time to look for long as he was being attacked by 2 of the monsters, one in front, one behind. He ducked to avoid a sword attack from the one in front, quickly getting back up and running at it, delivering a powerful knee strike to it, quickly chaining it into a back kick to try and stop them. Both attacks stunned the respective opponents, but failed to hurt either. Just as he landed his leg from the kicks, another monster came at him from the side, bringing down it’s sword from above. Fortunately Devin was able to jump out of the way just in time to stop himself from being killed for certain.
Isaac on the other hand was keeping himself busy trying to keep some of them away from Sara and Claire, who were nearly finished with evacuating people. Two of the monsters were right in front of Isaac, swinging their blades in his general direction. There was no way on Earth that he could counter, all he could do was dodge and hope for the best.
Gareth wasn’t faring much better, being forced to use nearby chairs and tables as cover, jumping over them and kicking them at his opponents. He knew that he couldn’t really do anything to hurt them at this point. He was just hoping that the police, or even the army, showed up soon to help them.
Back on the rooftop, the vicious battle continued to rage. Whilst the Red Ranger was proving that he was skilled, there was little he could do to stop the ferocious attacks of Gyaranth, who was slowly regaining his strength with every passing second, forcing the Red Ranger to dodge more and more. For a split second, he could see the people fighting to protect the citizens below.
‘They’re in trouble, but I can’t let my focus down now!’ he thought, returning his focus to the battle.
Meanwhile, Ellie had decided to go down the route of distracting the monsters and buying time rather than trying to fight them directly. Having successfully attracted the attention of a couple of them, she quickly ran down a nearby alleyway.
She was a keen practitioner of the art of parkour, so she felt confident in being able to evade her attackers even in such a limited environment like the alleyway. A solid wooden fence was blocking the path in front of her. Checking behind her that they were still chasing her, she ran at full pace towards the wall, running vertically up it for a few steps before flipping backwards over the monsters when she got as high as she could go. She just about made it, landing behind them. She quickly kicked them from behind, forcing them against the fence before running away.
As she ran out of the alleyway however, she was ambushed by four more of them. She looked around frantically and she saw an open shutter to her left, leading into a small warehouse. Not needing to think about it, she dodged another sword attack and bolted for the warehouse, hoping to cut through the open shutter on the other side that lead to the river.
Just as she dashed inside however, another three of them appeared from the other side, forcing her to stop. ‘Where the hell are they coming from? There wasn’t this many just now!’ she thought, her mind racing. She was now trapped in the warehouse, surrounded by 7 of them.
Two of them charged at her. One swung it’s sword at her, which she evaded, but she was unable to avoid a kick from the other one, which sent her flying into a crate. She smashed into it and dropped to the floor.
From a distance, Sara saw what was happening.
“ELLIE! NO!” she screamed out loud. The others turned their attention to Ellie, but they were too preoccupied to help her.
The Red Ranger heard the distressed scream. “NO!” he cried out loud. Gyaranth realised he was distracted and wasted no time, bringing his sword to the Ranger’s left arm before pulling it away, the entire length of the blade cutting into his arm, sending sparks flying everywhere.
The Red Ranger cried in agony, his other arm holding his injury. He backed up to gain some distance. He was injured, but still determined to fight.
Knowing that Ellie was in great danger was forcing him to reconsider his actions. He knew that he could continue fighting Gyaranth, but with his strength coming back to him so quickly, he was becoming too much to handle. He also knew that if Ellie was injured, or worse, because he didn’t react, it would be entirely his fault. There was no decision to be made.
“You haven’t won, Gyaranth. This isn’t over!” he cried, jumping off of the building to the ground below.
Gyaranth watched on as the Red Ranger left the battle. “That’s it, run you worm! With your injury you can’t save her anyway. The Nanashi will kill you all!” he said, ready to observe the battle.
Ellie screamed as the Nanashi surrounded her, but just as they did a small ball of fire flew in through one of the open entrances, entirely destroying three of the Nanashi and creating a lot of smoke. The Nanashi and Ellie turned their heads to see the smoke clear, a Red Ranger standing in it’s place.
“Nanashi! Your end is here!” he cried. Looking behind him, the Nanashi that was attacking the civilians in the plaza were now coming straight for him. He pulled his belt buckle open to reveal a black disk. Taking it in hand, he slipped it onto the end of his katana's hilt, unsheathing it once more. He pulled it up by his face, taking a split second to prepare for the battle ahead before charging at his opponents, taking on several at once before running through them, taking the battle out the other side of the warehouse, towards the river.
He fought expertly taking out many of them with no effort whatsoever, despite the massive pain he felt from his injury. Two more Nanashi tried to surprise him by jumping up from the river, but he predicted the attack without a problem, slashing them back into the river below before continuing his assault.
After taking down a few more Nanashi, the Ranger opened his belt buckle once more, this time revealing a red disk. He flipped it into the air, bringing the hilt of his katana up towards it, the disk sliding along it perfectly to replace the black one, which had disappeared by this point.
He span the newly attached red disk, his sword now engulfed in flames. Determined to end the battle, he began his assault anew, cutting his foes down with flame-filled slashes, ripping through the remaining Nanashi with a few simple strikes. He turned his back to his enemies, the flames on his sword dying out. The Nanashi exploded in a tremendous ball of flames before fading away, just like the fire that killed them.
Sheathing his katana, he ran back to the warehouse to check on Ellie. He was relieved to see that she was safe. The others had come to her aid as well, stood around her.
“I... I don’t know who you are, but thank you.” She said, noticing his injury. “Are you alright?”
He looked away, not wanting to say too much in case they recognised his voice. He turned his back to them and walked away.
“Woah, hold it right there! You could at least answer her!” Isaac replied.
The Red Ranger stopped for a second before running out of the warehouse. The others ran after him, but by the time they got outside, he was long gone, as was Gyaranth...
Meanwhile, in a mysterious location, Gyaranth was on the deck of a ship, floating in a sea of blood. He looked out at the endless red skies, thinking out loud.
“Blast it! I should have destroyed him when I had the chance. But there is still time; he must be stopped before he considers giving the other Ranger powers away!”
He turned around, drawing his sword and holding it above his head with both hands. “Zardek! I summon you!” he cried.
His sword glowed bright red, becoming a ball of energy that slammed into the ground before him, creating a red mist. As the mist cleared, a terrifying monster stood in it’s place.
“How can I be of service, my lord?”
TO BE CONTINUED…
Next time: Soul Of The Samurai, Part II
The others are surprised to discover the Red Ranger's identity, and with the arrival of Zardek, choices must be made!