Ultimate Power Rangers:
Reloaded
Ninja Rangers: Chapter Seven
Reunited
The Hana
Rangers watched as Ninjared’s body plummeted towards the rocky creek below,
sparks tearing across his body. The Hana smiled beneath their helmets as they
saw his limp form crash below.
The Hana
returned to their ninja uniforms and dashed down to ground level to inspect
their handiwork. Hana Blue walked over towards the fallen Red Ranger’s body and
turned him face up. She and the others took a step back in shock.
It was a dummy.
Ninjared had
escaped, using one of the oldest tricks in ninja history.
“He can’t have
gotten far,” Hana Blue said.
Hana Orange
noticed a trail of blood leading away from the shore. “Look,” she said to alert
her teammates.
“Follow it,”
Hana Blue said as she and the others dashed forward, following the trail.
________________________________________________________________________
Jason hurried
through the forest while in his ninja outfit. He limped on his injured leg and
clutched his arm, but kept moving forward despite the pain. He needed a plan
fast.
Jason stopped
in his tracks when he noticed small drips of blood from behind him. He was unintentionally
leaving a trail for the Hana to follow. The blood loss also explained his
intense dizziness.
Jason covered
up his wound and climbed up the nearest tree. He made it to the top of the
branches before leaping to another tree, and then another, backtracking along
his own path of blood as the Hana Ninja passed by underneath him.
The Hana
crouched to the ground where the trail of blood stopped.
“he tricked
us,” Hana Green said. “Clever little brat.”
“Let’s go,”
Hana Orange said as she led her teammates away. Jason followed them back to
their base.
________________________________________________________________________
The Hana and
barbarian Youkai gathered in an old two-story warehouse covered with run-down
metal siding. Jason stood outside and peeked through a window, watching as the
Hana Ninja regrouped with the two Youkai monsters.
Jason could not
see his friends, but spotted Nekomaru parked inside near the back of the
warehouse.
The teen snuck
around the back of the warehouse, staying out of sight. A pin drop would have
made more noise. He snuck underneath a hole in the rear of the wall and moved
towards Nekomaru.
Jason entered
the back door of the van and moved towards a side panel along the van’s
interior. He pulled a small black bag from the van before leaving.
Jason stood at
the rear of the van and lucked up. He spotted a duct system that looked large
enough to support him. Jason quickly hopped on the top of the van and pushed
off to swing into the vent system.
________________________________________________________________________
Jason crawled
through the vent shaft as quickly as possible. He wormed his way to a small
grate that looked down to the main room. The Youkai monsters and Hana were
beneath him.
He also spotted
the other four rangers in their ninja outfits. Each was tied and bound with
their arms behind their backs.
Juniya and the
Youkai scientist Yugami entered the room. Juniya wrinkled his brow as he looked
at the kidnapped rangers. The Youkai prince was disappointed. “There’s only
five. Where’s the fifth?”
“I-” Hana Blue
started to say.
“Get back out
and find them,” Juniya said.
The Hana Ninja
bowed their heads at their master and darted out of the warehouse.
The doctor
paced around the two barbarian Youkai. “I could do some interesting things with
these two. I need to plan first, of course.”
Juniya nodded.
“Come…” The Youkai left the warehouse.
Jason pulled
out a small screw and slowly drilled a hole in the vent. He pulled a thin,
razor-edged wire from the black bag and lowered it down the hole, dangling it
down towards the captured rangers below.
Trini grabbed
the wire behind her back and started cutting against the rope.
________________________________________________________________________
Juniya, Yugami,
the two barbarians, and the Hana Ninja were outside the warehouse along with
Dorodoro when they heard laughter split through the air. They snapped to
attention as their eyes darted back and forth in search of trouble.
“You missed
one!” Jason shouted from the warehouse.
The Youkai
turned to see Jason and the other four rangers standing on a fire escape that
ran along the side of the warehouse.
The teens
readied their morphers. “Shogun Transform…Ninja, power!” they shouted as energy
swirled around them and they morphed into their Ranger forms. They snapped into
fighting stances.
Ninjared!”
“Ninjablack!”
“Ninjablue!”
“Ninjayellow!”
“Ninjawhite!”
Together, they
shouted. “Shogun Task Force, Ninja Rangers!”
A cloud of
sparks gently flowed across the Hana as they transformed into their Ranger
armor.
Hana Blue
pointed up at the Rangers. “You are still no match for us!”
“You wanna
fight, you got it!” Ninjared shouted as he and the other Rangers leapt downward
towards their enemy.
Ninjablack drop
kicked a soldier in the chest, knocking the grunt back against two of the other
soldiers. A second grunt lunged towards the Black Ranger with a jagged blade.
Ninjablack knocked the soldier’s wrist away and slammed a spin kick across the
grunt’s head.
“Shinobi Knuckle!” Ninjablack shouted. He activated
his black and gold knuckles and launched a flurry of punches that exploded
against the grunts.
“Shinobi
Crossbow!“ he shouted as he armed a miniature crossbow mounted on his fist.
The Black
Ranger aimed his cross bow forward and fired darts of energy that exploded
against a group of Dorodoro with a burst of spark.
Hana Green and
Hana Orange moved towards the Black Ranger with their sabers in hand.
Ninjablack unsheathed his sword and stepped back into a defensive stance. The
two Hana charged at him and swung their swords, but Ninjablack slapped their
blades away as he dashed past them.
The Black
Ranger spun around and swung his blade through a horizontal arc that thrashed
across Hana Green’s back with a burst of spark. Ninjablack twisted his wrists
and swung his blade towards Hana Orange. Hana Orange blocked the blow as Black
Ranger’s saber clashed against her own.
Hana Orange
knocked Black Ranger’s saber away answered her weapon towards Black Ranger’s
stomach. Ninjablack brought his blade downward to parry the blow, then swung
upward in a powerful slash that sparked across Hana Orange’s armor and knocked
her backward.
Nearby,
Ninjablue rolled into a crouched position as a group of Dorodoro charges
towards him. The Blue Ranger leaned back and snapped a volley of throwing
blades that exploded against the soldiers, ripping through them as sparks
exploded across their bodies.
Ninjablue
sprang to his feet and unsheathed his sword as the Dorodoro came closer. He
dashed past a ground while slicing through its gut. Blue Ranger spun forward
with an upward slash across a soldier’s chest and a horizontal swing that cut
across another grunt’s throat.
Slightly
farther from the warehouse, Ninjawhite unsheathed her sword as a group of
Dorodoro surrounded her.
A soldier
lunged towards the White Ranger with his blade. Ninjawhite sidestepped and
slammed the handle of her weapon against the back of the grunt’s neck. The
soldier crashed to the ground as Ninjawhite spun forward with a diagonal strike
that thrashed across a soldier’s chest.
White Ranger looked to her right as a soldier charged
towards her and swung his blade down towards her head. Ninjawhite slapped the
sword away and ran her own blade through the soldier’s chest.
Hana Pink and
Hana Violet charged towards White Ranger with their blades held outward.
White Ranger
parried Hana Violet’s sword and slammed a right inner crescent kick, left
roundhouse kick combo that slammed across the villain’s head. Hana Violet swung
her sword towards Ninjawhite, but the White Ranger vanished in the blink of an
eye.
The two Hana
stood side-by-side, expecting another attack.
Ninjawhite
suddenly appeared hovering in the air from the villains’ side. White Ranger
extended her hands as a cloud of diamonds formed in front of her. “Ninpo Shard
Attack!” she shouted. The shards shot forward like an energized diamond storm
that exploded across the two Hana Rangers’ armor.
Meanwhile, Hana
Blue and Dorodoro charged towards Ninjayellow. Ninjayellow snapped a volley of
throwing blades that exploded against the grunt’s, stripping Hana Blue of her
soldier escorts. Yellow Ranger unsheathed his sword and swung the blade towards
the Hana. They clashed blades high and low.
Ninjayellow
slapped Hana Blue’s sword wide and swung downward, his blade sparking across
her chest upon impact.
Nearby, the two
barbarian Youkai stood on opposite sides of Ninjared. The villain’s charged
forward to attack. The blue-skinned barbarian chopped down towards the back of
the Ranger’s head while the orange-skinned Youkai swung horizontally. Ninjared
ducked and sidestepped to avoid both blows.
Red Ranger
slashed his blade upward across the blue-skinned barbarian’s back and slammed a
sidekick against the orange-skinned villain’s face.
The
blue-skinned Youkai swung its blade towards Red ranger’s chest. Ninjared lifted
his saber to parry the blow, but the villain’s double-edged sword was too
powerful and slashed across Red Ranger’s chest with a burst of spark.
The blue-skinned Youkai swung his blade towards Red
Ranger’s back. Ninjared turned and blocked the blow, which nearly sent him
crashing to its knees. The orange-skinned Youkai charged in behind the Red
Ranger. Ninjared turned, keeping his blade pressed against the other Youkai’s
sword, but positioning the weapon to block the orange-skinned villain’s blade.
Ninjared
clenched his jaw beneath his helmet. His wrist and arm had nearly snapped off
from their swings.
Ninjared slid
his saber away while ducking to the side. The two Youkai fell forward while
swinging their blades against each other, explosions sparking and knocking them
backward.
Ninjared rolled
back to his feet and placed his hands in front of his chest. “Ninpo Fire
Storm!” Comets of fire circled around the Ranger before shooting forward. The
fiery comets exploded against the Youkai monsters and sent them flying backward
as explosions tore across their bodies with bursts of spark and flame.
The villains
quickly regrouped and slammed their swords against the ground. An energy wave
tore forward through the earth and exploded beneath the Red Ranger’s feet. The
blast knocked Ninjared backward and sent him slamming against a tree before he
crashed onto the ground.
Ninjared used
his sword to steady himself as he rose to his feet. “It’s about time I cut you
two muscle brains down to size…”
The Red
Ranger’s sword started to glow with pale blue light as he slowly swung the
blade in a circular pattern. “Hidden-style full moon cut!” he shouted. He swung
the blade sideways with a streak of energy that exploded against the monsters
and knocked them backward.
The Rangers
regrouped around Ninjared as the monsters slowly stumbled back to their feet.
They extended their hands towards the sky as a dark cloud appeared in the air.
Bolts of lightning shot down and struck the monsters, charging their cells with
energy and expanding them to giant size.
The Rangers
pulled out their coins. “Battlezords, power up!” they shouted and tossed the
coins into the air with streaks of golden energy. The coins flashed as the five
slender Battlezords appeared. The Rangers merged with the Battlezords and
willed the zords to snap into fighting stances.
The Youkai
scientist Yugami teleported enhancements onto the giant barbarians.
Thick-plated chest armor formed over their bodies and blade blasters ran along
their arms.
The monsters
extended their blade blasters and fire pulses of energy that exploded against
the slender zords. Battle Ape leapt through the explosions and charged forward
to attack. The red zords slammed a roundkick against the orange-skinned Youkai.
The
blue-skinned barbarian swung its arm blade downward, thrashing across the
zord’s back with a massive burst of spark. The blue barbarian wrapped his arms
around the zord’s arms and held Battle Ape in place.
The orange
barbarian stood in front of the zord. The monster’s arm blade started to spin
like a drill as he smiled with delight. The villain thrust his drill forward.
Battle Ape
leapt away at the last second, and the drill slammed against the orange
barbarian, knocking the monster backward.
Ninjared and
the other Rangers leapt from their Battlezords. They needed heavier firepower.
“Shogunzords
awaken!” The massive warrior forms of the Shogunzords rose from the earth as
the Rangers levitated backward, merging with their zords. The Shogunzords stood
in attack formation and charged forward.
“Shogunzord
fusion!” the Rangers shouted. Their zords crackled with energy and started to
reconfigure. The zords merged, armor fusing together and forming a giant shogun
warrior.
“ShogunMegazord
saber!” the Rangers shouted, summoning the Megazord’s golden blade. “Ignite!”
The sword
ignited with fiery energy and slashed downward, ripping through the two
barbarians and tearing the Youkai apart. The monsters’ energy overloaded and
exploded, their bodies turning to fiery ash that faded into nothingness.
________________________________________________________________________
“I’m glad
that’s over,” Jonathan said as he and the others walked back towards Nekomaru.
.
“Could have
been worse,” Zack said.
“I think it
is,” Richie said.
“Why?” Jonathan
asked.
“We’re still
lost,” Richie said.
“Damn,” Zack
kicked a stone. The stone knocked against the sign at the fork of the road and
turned it around, back to its original position before the Hana manipulated it.
“Well let’s
just follow the sign,” Zack said.
“Because that
did so well last time,” Jonathan said sarcastically.
Trini moved
closer to Jason. “You’re quiet.”
Jason nodded.
“Those Hana Ninjas are still out there.”
“We’ll be fine,
Jason,” she said. “I know it...”
To be continued…Chapter Eight