Ultimate Power Rangers:
Reloaded
Ninja Rangers: Chapter Six
Enter
the Hana Ninja
Juniya walked
through a stone corridor lit only by the torch in his hand. Cages lined the
walls of rock. Menacing, blood-thirsty Youkai were kept in the cages. Each
monster was madly insane, capable of massive carnage.
The Youkai
scientist Yugami led Juniya through the stone passage. “These are the most
powerful Youkai we’ve gathered so far.”
Juniya nodded.
“Good.”
The two Youkai stopped in front of the deepest cage.
Yugami slid his key into the lock and turned. “These are the ones you’re
looking for,” the scientist said as he opened the door.
An evil grin
crossed the prince’s face as he leaned into the cell and held the torch
forward. “Are you in here?”
The two imprisoned
Youkai monstrosities huddled in the corner and snarled. They hated the light.
“Excellent…you
two don’t like being here do you?” Juniya asked as they growled. “Perhaps I can
put you into the fight of your lives.”
________________________________________________________________________
Nekomaru drove
through the wooded countryside. Jonathan’s 24-hour stomach bug had passed. They
were taking the back roads back towards the city, which stretched above the
horizon ahead.
The rangers did
not notice the Hana Ninja switch a road sign to make the team lose their way.
The van pulled to the side of the dirt road. The van’s door slid open and the
rangers piled out.
“Not again,”
Zack said as he leaned against the van. He was sick of getting lost.
“My bad, okay,”
Jonathan said. “I was just following the sign.”
The five Hana
Ninja smiled with amusement as they watched the rangers’ confusion. The Hana’s
thoughts were on the game to come, and how much they would enjoy it. Three of
the Hana extended their hands and blew a glittering powder through the air.
The powder
surrounded Nekomaru and caused the van to drive off.
“What was that for?” Jason asked as he and
the others looked around the woods for any sign of Youkai. “Where’d that dust
come from?”
Trini’s hair
stood on end. “Something tells me we’re not alone.”
A second wave
of duct surrounded the teens and clouded their vision. They coughed the dust
from their lungs and tried to wave the dust free. The cloud dissipated as Jason
opened his eyes.
He and Zack
were deeper in the woods and alone.
“Ah man,” Zack
said as he shook his head.
Jason narrowed
his eyes. Someone was playing him and the others. He didn’t like it.
________________________________________________________________________
The other three
rangers were deeper in the woods. They moved among the trees and tried to find
the nearest path, as well as their teammates. “Jason…!” Trini called. “Zack…!”
A volley of
spears suddenly shot from the trees and arced towards the rangers. They dove
aside and rolled across the ground to avoid the spears. Jonathan trigged a
small mine that exploded with concussive force, knocking Jonathan backward. The
teen crashed against the ground and went stumbled down a hill.
Trini and
Richie ran after him. Jason’s voice came through Trini’s morpher with a burst
of static. “Trini are you there?”
“Yes, but we
almost lost Jonathan,” Trini said as she and Richie moved closer to the fallen
ranger.
Jonathan rose
to his feet, but a pair of long bandages lashed out from the woods and wrapped
around his ankles, tripping him. Jonathan crashed against the ground as the
bandages started to pull him backward.
Trini darted
forward to follow.
Richie narrowed
his brow. Something was wrong. They were being played. “No, wait!” he called to
her, but it was too late.
Trini stepped
on a hidden net that wrapped around her and lifted her into the air, suspending
her from a branch as her morpher fell to the ground below.
Richie
immediately sprang forward through the air to help Trini, but a bandage lashed
out, grabbed his ankle, and slammed him back down to the ground.
The bandage
released its grasp on Richie. The teen slowly climbed back to his feet as he
heard rustling sounds come from the trees around him. Richie snapped into a
fighting stance.
A blur of
motion shot forward from the trees towards Richie. The teen dove aside and
readied his morpher as the attacker sped past him. “Shogun transform!” Energy
whirled around him as he morphed into his blue-armored Ranger form.
Ninjablue leapt
through the air towards his attacker. The monster was
a bulky, orange-skinned barbarian with a massive double-edged
blade. Ninjablue angled his descent towards the Youkai and swung his blade
downward.
The barbarian
parried the blow and chopped his blade across Blue Ranger’s armor. The massive
sword sparked upon impact, swatting Ninjablue from the air like an insect.
The Blue Ranger
rolled into a low fighting stance and held his blade close to his body in a
tight fighting stance. The opponents circled around each other. The Youkai held
his blade forward horizontally, drool dripping from his fanged mouth.
Ninjablue ran forward and swung his blade towards the
villain’s head. The Youkai blocked the blow, so Blue Ranger twisted his wrist
to bring his sword to the other side of the villain’s head. The barbarian
parried the blow.
The Youkai
stepped forward and chopped his blade against the Ranger’s collar bone.
Explosions sparked on impact as Ninjablue tumbled across the ground.
The Blue Ranger
armed his sidearm in dagger mode and dashed forward with his two weapons ready
to strike. Ninjablue hopped forward and swung his blade downward towards the
monster. The Youkai blocked the blow as Ninjablue twisted around, spinning
while swiping his shorter blade towards the villain’s body.
The Youkai swung
his blade downward, slashing the blade across the Blue Ranger’s hand, knocking
the shorter saber away.
From behind
Ninjablue, a second Youkai monster leapt from the treetops and arced downward
towards the Blue Ranger. The creature was identical to first, only skin was
dark blue. The blue-skinned barbarian slashed his large double-edged sword
across the Ranger’s back, the blade sparking on impact.
The two Youkai
moved in at the Blue Ranger from both sides and ran their blades across the
Ranger’s armor. The blades sparked on impact, nearly snapping the Ranger’s body
in half.
The Blue Ranger
stumbled across the ground and rolled into a crouched position while retrieving
his sidearm and aiming the weapon forward.
“Shogun
Blaster!” he shouted, triggering bursts of fiery gold energy that exploded
harmlessly across the two Youkai with a
flurry of sparks.
The attack did
not slow the two monsters at all as they charged forward. Ninjablue tried to
use his blade to parry their strikes, but he could not. The creatures slashed
their sabers across the Ranger’s chest, sending him crashing against the
ground.
The Blue Ranger
rolled backward onto his feet and placed his hands together in front of his
chest. “Ninpo, torrent attack!” Streams of rushing water shot forward and
slammed against the monsters, smashing them backward.
Ninjablue
dashed forward to attack again while the monsters rose to the feet. The
orange-skinned barbarian spun forward and slammed the edge of his blade against
the Ranger’s chest. Ninjablue tumbled backward. His body went limp.
________________________________________________________________________
Jason and Zack
arrived to find the scene empty. “Oh man, we’re too late,” Zack said.
“It’s alright,
Zack,” Jason said. “We’ve been in worse situations before.”
The teens heard
shuffling noises from within the woods. They snapped into fighting stances,
expected an attack from any direction. A volley of throwing stars shout from
the woods and struck the rangers.
Their clothes
fell to the ground, their bodies having vanished.
The Hana leapt
forward in their gray ninja garb and looked down at the clothes. “Their ninpo…”
The Hana leader hissed.
Jason and Zack
then burst from the ground in their ninja garb with their swords ready.
“Let’s go,” Jason shouted as he and Zack
charged towards the ladies with their blades held forward.
The Hana
returned the charge as sprinkles of energy shimmered around them and they
transformed into their feline armor. Each suit of armor was a different color:
orange, dark-pink, purplish-blue, olive-green, and dark, violet.
Hana Orange
leapt downward towards Jason while chopping her blade towards the ranger’s
head. Jason ducked under the blow and rose his saber just in time to block two
strikes from Hana Green and Hana Violet. Jason snapped out his right leg with a
hook kick that knocked Hana Violet aside and a roundkick that knocked Hana
Green aside.
Hana Orange had
landed behind the teen. She spun towards him while bashing the end of her
saber’s handle against Jason’s temple.
Zack swung his
saber through a fierce series of strikes that Hana Blue dodged and ducked from.
She leaned forward and slammed a scorpion kick against the ranger’s head before
spinning forward and slamming a hook kick across his face.
Zack stumbled
backward but stayed on his feet. Then the two barbarian Youkai appeared. The
monsters pounced forward and surrounded the ranger. The orange-skinned warrior
snarled. “Another little toy,” the monster growled.
“Shut up,” Zack
shouted as he leapt through the air to attack them.
The five Hana
Rangers surrounded Jason. Hana Orange extended her hand and blew a sparkling
powder that surrounded the ranger. The teen vanished from sight as the dust
swirled around him.
The Hana dashed
off to the distance in streaks of motion, leaving Zack alone with the two
Youkai monsters.
One of the
Youkai slammed a kick against Zack’s gut, and the other monster bashed a fist
across his skull. Zack fell to the ground, his ninja garb going limp as he
vanished from beneath his uniform.
Ninjablack
suddenly dropped from the trees and slammed a double sidekick against the
orange-skinned barbarian, knocking the Youkai backward. The monster collapsed
to the ground.
The
blue-skinned Youkai swung his massive blade towards the Black Ranger. Black
Ranger tried to block the blow, but the powerful swing pushed past the Ranger’s
slender saber and thrashed across the Ranger’s chest, sparking on impact.
Ninjablack kept
his balance and placed his fist in his palm, focusing his power. “Ninpo ground
quake attack!” Ninjablack shouted. Chunks of rock and debris shot forward from
the earth and streaked towards the two Youkai.
The monsters
batted the debris back towards Ninjablack. The debris exploded against the
Ranger’s armor and knocked him backward.
________________________________________________________________________
Jason was not
taken far and quickly ran back towards the Black Ranger. He moved in close
enough to see the Black Ranger slam against the ground. Zack’s armor flashed
and powered down as one of the monster’s placed a foot on the fallen ranger’s
chest.
“Zack!” Jason
shouted, but the Hana Rangers surrounded him before he could help.
Jason armed his
morpher. “Shogun transform!” Red energy swirled around him as he morphed into
his Ranger form and unsheathed his sword.
Red Ranger blocked a strike from Hana Orange and
twisted her sword arm down as the other Hana surrounded him. “Zack!”
“Run,” Zack
said as Ninjared struggled to hold the Hanna off.
Ninjared slapped
two of the evil Rangers’ blades away, but Hana Green and Hana Orange slashed
their sabers across the Red Ranger’s back before he could move forward.
Ninjared narrowed his eyes beneath his helmet. He could not just leave Zack.
“Find the
others. Go!” Zack shouted again.
The others.
Ninjared slammed a hook kick across Hana Green’s head, but Hana Blue slammed a
round kick that crashed against the Red Ranger’s ribs. Two more Hana spun past
him, slashing their blades across the Red Ranger’s armor and sparking on
impact.
His arm went
limp as the blow snapped bone.
Ninjared knew
he needed to regroup, no matter how much his instincts were screaming at him to
save the Black Ranger. Ninjared clenched his jaw, turned and ran.
________________________________________________________________________
Ninjared ran across an old wooden bridge that extended
over a rocky creek far below. Every muscle in his body ached with pain, and his
broken arm was throbbing.
Hana Green and
Hana Blue landed on the bridge in front of him, and the other three Hana cut
off his escape from behind.
The Hana
extended their hands and emitted a cloud of sparkling dust that exploded across
the Red Ranger, tearing and ripping across his armor with burst of sparks.
The blasts
knocked Ninjared over the railing. Bursts of spark continued to explode across
his armor as his limp body went plummeting towards the rocks below.
To be continued…Chapter Seven