Teddy and Bryce snapped into fighting stances. Teddy arced an eyebrow at Bryce, not expecting him to react in the same way. "Bryce, don't be stupid. Get out of here."

"Run," Bryce said again. "Don't get involved with this."

Teddy narrowed his eyes. "What's going on?"

The Anglars pounced forward and attacked.

Teddy smashed a jumpkick upside a soldier’s head and spun forward with a sidekick that smashed a second soldier back. Through the corner of his eye, he saw Bryce smash a kick upside a soldier’s head and bash his fist across a second soldier’s face.

Teddy knitted his brow with confusion. "Bryce, where did you learn to fight like that?"

Bryce flipped a soldier to the ground and slammed his heel against its chest. "Kind of a long story."

Sparks suddenly exploded around them as they dove for cover and rolled into crouched fighting stances. They looked up to see Cy-Axe stalk towards them with his blade held forward.

"Prince…" he growled. "This was your one chance to redeem yourself, and instead you fall victim to these humans and their emotions"

Bryce narrowed his eyes. "We’re just as human as they are."

"What?" Teddy asked. "What the hell is going on?"

Cy-Axe grumbled a low laugh. "Did you not tell your friend, little prince, about your mission to spy on the surface world?"

"Leave him out of this," Bryce said. "This is between you and me."

"I know. You will come back with me, and you will pay for the betrayal of your people."

Cy-Axe extended his hand and fired a tendril of energy that wrapped around Bryce and snapped him off his feet.

"No!" Teddy shouted and dashed forward.

Cy-Axe swung his blade and fired a stream of energy that exploded around Teddy and sent him flying through the air. He crashed against a tree, slid to the ground, and lost consciousness.

When his vision finally blurred back into focus, Bryce, Cy-Axe and the Anglars were gone.

Teddy immediately went to the Hayate Way dojo to speak with his older brother, who he met at Ops along with Ashley. He told them what had happened but left out the part he couldn't wrap his head around; that Bryce was somehow connected to the villains, as if he were one of them.

Tommy recognized the description of the villains.

"The Vorlock," Tommy said. "At least I think so…"

"You knew about these things?" Teddy practically shouted. "Why didn’t you ever say anything?"

"I don't even know if it's them," Tommy said. "But the way you described the grunts…they sound familiar. Maya learned about them during her research in Demon City. As far as she could tell, they were never really a threat. They were never bad, just misunderstood."

"Well they're bad now," Teddy said. "They've taken Bryce, and we have to stop them. Where are Simon and the Rangers?"

"We haven't seen Simon, or Hunter, since the Sabbath. Kou's still in Demon City...that leaves Justin, Rachel, and Blake," Tommy said. "Between the Marauders, the Hellfire Club, the Hand, and the Dark Shaper, the Rangers won’t be able to help if the Vorlock are starting some kind of attack. They're outnumbered and stretched too thin already."

"You forgot to mention Xanathor," Ashley said.

"See," Tommy said to his brother. "I can’t even keep track of all the bad guys we have now."

"So what then?" Teddy asked. "We just let the Vorlock take whoever they want? Do whatever they want?"

"Of course not…" Tommy turned and walked towards a book case near the rear of the room. "Come here, let me show you something."

Teddy sighed impatiently. "Tommy, we’ve got to move. There’s no telling what they’ll do to Bryce. We have to-"

"Just come here, little brother." Tommy walked to the book case and pulled a decorative box from one of the shelves. "Like I said, the Power Rangers are broken. I was meditating a few weeks back and had a vision about a way to even things up a bit."

Teddy looked to the box and instantly knew what was inside. "Is that what I think it is?"

Tommy opened the box and showed his brother a handheld device shaped like a slender cell phone. "A morpher.For the Red Samurai Ranger. The other four are almost done; I just have a few more strands of The Power to weave to make the armor and weapons. This one's complete."

Teddy stared silently at the morpher. He reached out, and then hesitated. "So what are you saying?"

"I’m saying, be a Ranger again," Tommy said. "If you want. Take this morpher. Find out who took your friend. Once you know, the other Samurai Rangers will be ready, and you can all work together to get him back."

"Who are they? The other Rangers, I mean," Teddy asked.

"I’m not exactly sure yet," Tommy said. "We were going to wait a few more weeks to recruit. I have a few people in mind. They're students here at the school."   

"Okay," Teddy said. He took a deep breath and lifted the morpher from the case. "Sounds like a plan."

"I meant what I said, though," Tommy told his brother. "The five of you will work togetherto get your friend back. Don't go fighting an army all by yourself. Just poke around, see if you can track down the Vorlock, and let us know what you find. Only fight if you have to."

"Where do I even start looking?" Teddy asked.

"I remember a tunnel Maya mentioned, just outside the city," Tommy said. "That's as good a place as any."

"Okay…so how does this work?" Teddy asked as he traced his fingers along the edges of the morpher. "Is it a Mind, Body, Spirit, or Soul boost?"

"Spirit," Tommy said. "But in a different way than what you remember. The Samurai morpher will let you use spells to channel the elemental power of fire. That power will mix with your own Life Force."

"Did you have to make it complicated?" Teddy asked.

Tommy smiled. "Don’t be a smartass," he said. "It’s actually based on a technique called mojikara,used by a Ranger team ages ago on a world called Unosuke. They used symbols and words to harness elemental forces and morph. That's basically what you’ll be doing. You’ll be using Japanese kanji symbols, though, instead of words from an alien language. To Ranger up, you’ll use your morpher to write the kanji symbol for 'fire.'"

Teddy sighed. "Simon gets to morph by swiping his hand across his wrist."

"If you ask nicely, maybe you two can switch," Tommy said.

Teddy rolled his eyes. "Now who’s being a smartass."

Tommy directed Teddy towards the woods father east of the Hayate Way, just outside of Angel Grove. The thick woods swatted Teddy's face with leaves and branches at every step, but he didn't break his pace or slow down. He had to find Bryce. He just had to.

The forest suddenly ended and looked out upon a clearing of jagged rock and stone. This was where Maya had found an entrance to the Vorlock tunnels, according to Tommy. But there was no entrance to be seen.

"Great," Teddy cursed beneath his breath. "Tommy must be losing his memory in his old age…"

Teddy stepped out onto the rock. The stone gave out beneath his weight and collapsed, sending him tumbling downward into a dark cavern.

Emperor Kraigen sensed the intruder in his empire. He felt the teen through his connection with the dirt and stone of his underground kingdom. His energy flowed through the earth, and the earth's energy flowed back into him.

Humans rarely happened upon the Vorlock. His predecessors had always hidden when humans stumbled along, hoping they would pass-and they almost always did. But Kraigen viewed each intruder as an aggressor, and each intrusion as an act of war. 

"Anglars," he spoke with a voice like gravel. "We have company. Please great our guest..."

Teddy pushed himself to his feet on the cavern floor. "Wonderful..." he muttered to himself. "Real smooth..."

Teddy had never been much of a hero on his own. He held the Kiba Ranger powers after Kou died, acting as a sixth ranger, and only briefly held the Zeored powers during the Second Countdown to Destruction.

I've never been particularly good at this...

The teen walked deeper into the dark caverns, which seemed to have a faint, dim light shining from the walls. The tunnels reminded him of being below ground on the planet Eltar.  

Suddenly, he heard footsteps scurry from the tunnel ahead. A group of Anglars rounded the corner and charged at Teddy with short staffs and swords of polished stone.

"So much for a subtle recon," he whispered as he pulled his morpher from his pocket.

Teddy flipped his morpher closed, so that the device resembled a thick brush. "Samurai scribe!" He painted the symbol for fire in midair, and the word glowed with power. "Ha!"

He swung his morpher through the character, spinning the word until it latched around his head. Red energy covered his body as he morphed into his Ranger form. 

He unsheathed his sword and snapped back into a fighting stance. "Blade of the Flame!Samurai Red!"

He felt the fiery energy of the One Power flow through his veins.

The grunts charged at Samurai Red, and the Red Ranger returned the charge.

Samurai Red dashed past two grunts while parrying their swords, then turned and cut them down with bursts of spark. He spun to his side and bashed a sidekick against a grunt, then slashed upward with a burst of spark.

The Red Ranger charged through the enemy ranks, parrying and blocking their blows, and slashing them down with his sword. He swung the blade through quick and fluid patterns, hacking through their limbs, bodies and weapons.

The Anglars tried to surround the Red Ranger. But he twisted and turned through the group while swinging his sword and slashing through the grunts left and right.

A group of about five Anglars pounced towards Samurai Red from ahead. The Red Ranger charged forward and cut a grunt down with each step, blade flashing through the dark tunnel.

Samurai Red spun while swinging his sword through a wide arc that slashed through three grunts, whipping them back with bursts of spark.

The Red Ranger hopped forward and chopped his sword through a creature's chest, the blow driving the grunt to the ground with a burst of spark that splattered black ichor across the cavern.

The Red Ranger flipped open his belt buckle and pulled out a red disc. He flipped the disc upward, held his sword upside down, and the disc slid onto the sword's handle, landing at the hilt.

He held his sword upright and swiped his hand across the hilt to spin the disc. "Fire Disc!"

The disc spun tendrils of flame that wrapped around the Red Ranger's blade.

Samurai Red spun forward and swung his fiery blade through a wide arc that slashed through three grunts with bursts of flame. He pressed forward and swung his sword downward diagonally, blade slashing through a group of grunts.

The Red Ranger spun forward and swung upward, slashing through another trio of grunts that exploded as the flaming sword cut through their bodies.

The last of the grunts charged at him from three sides. He swung the blade three ways in three directions, horizontally, downward vertically, and upward vertically, fiery blade hacking through the creatures with bursts of spark.

The last of Anglars fell and exploded with bursts of flame that lit up the dark cavern.

Emperor Kraigen narrowed his eyes as he watched the battle through his viewscreen. "A Ranger...here...in my kingdom."

"He's come for the prince," Zabbu said. "Cye-Axe says they were...lovers...my emperor."

"A perversion..." Kraigen grumbled. "To mate with a topsider? There is no greater taboo."

The villain looked to his minion. "This Ranger wants to see his precious prince? Then by all means...show him the prince. Keep him distracted in our tunnels for as long as possible."

The villain kept his eyes on the viewscreen of heat. He watched the Red Ranger run through the dark caverns.

"Cye-Axe!" he shouted.

The armored warrior walked into the dark throne room and kneeled.

"Yes, my emperor," he said.

Kraigen paused. He had waited his whole life to give the next command. His people had waited their entire existence to hear it spoken: "Strike."

Anglars poured through the underground caverns and erupted into the subway tunnels of Angel Grove North. They surged into the stations and attacked everyone in their path as they made their way towards the surface.

Cye-Axe led the charge. He smiled wickedly at the sight of the topsiders running for their lives.

The alarms blared in Ops. Ashley pulled up an image on her computer monitor. She immediately saw the Anglars pouring onto the streets. Tommy stood behind her and narrowed his eyes at the sight.

"Where are Justin, Blake, and Rachel?" Tommy asked.

"Looking for Hunter," she said. "I can't reach them..."

Tommy cursed beneath his breath. "Looks like now's a good time to recruit."

Samurai Red dashed through the tunnels. He felt like he was running in circles. But he had to keep going.

Suddenly, he heard a scream come from up ahead. He recognized the voice immediately.

"Bryce!" Samurai Red shouted as he ran towards the voice.

He ran into a wide cavern lined with heated stones for illumination. He looked to see Bryce, now frozen in a block of ice in the center of the room.

"No..." Samurai Red whispered. "No, no, no!"

He ran towards the block of ice and placed his hands on its surface. "I'm going to get you out of there..."

The Red Ranger considered using his fire power to melt the ice but didn't want to risk hurting Bryce. Instead, he thought of somehow dragging the ice through the caverns. But that didn't seem practical or reasonable.

"What the hell do I do...I suck at this!" He slammed his fist against the ice. "Bryce!"

He heard laughter come from behind. Samurai Red turned to see a woman dressed in dark robes standing in the shadows. Her name was Lal.

The Red Ranger unsheathed his sword. "Let him go..."

"No..." she said as she stepped into the light. "No, I don't think I will. What is your name, Ranger? I want to hear the name of the boy who seduced my brother."

"Your...your brother?" Samurai Red took a step back. "You did this to your own brother?"

"He betrayed his people," she said. "He was sent as a spy. Instead, he mated with a topsider. He deserves his fate."

"I'll tell you one last time," Samurai Red said. "Let him go. Now."

"And I will tell you one last time," she said. "No."

She slapped her palm against a panel on the wall. The floor slid open, and the block of ice fell through.

"No!" Samurai Red shouted as the floor slammed shut.

"Now..." Lal said. "You have two options. You can search these tunnels endlessly until you die from starvation or something far worse-which is what Emperor Kraigen would prefer. Or you can leave this place and help save your city."

She placed her hand against the wall again. The far wall sizzled with heat and formed a blurred view of the city. The Red Ranger saw the Anglars spill into Angel Grove North.

He rolled his hands into fists.

"That's what I thought," Lal said with an evil grin. She slid her hand further down the wall, and an opening appeared, leading to a corridor that extended upward. "Take this passageway back to the surface."

"I'll be back for him," the Red Ranger said.

"I know," Lal said. "But you will find nothing. We've hid from mankind since the discovery of fire. We're not found until we wish to be. Now go..."

Samurai Red hesitated and looked down at the ground. He looked back up at Lal, glared from beneath his helmet, and fled into the corridor.   

The Anglars charged across the streets of Angel Grove for the first time in their history. They slashed through cars and storefronts with staffs and swords of polished stone. They cut down anyone who got in their way.

Four teens ran onto the streets nearby. They wore the uniforms of the Hayate Way: two wore the yellow-trimmed Earth-style uniforms, one wore the red-trimmed Air-Style uniform, and one wore the blue-trimmed Water-style uniform.

"I was really hoping this was some kind of a prank," said the boy in yellow. His name was Bradin McAllister.

"It's no prank," said the boy in blue, Ryan Phillips. "This is what we've been training for."

"Speak for yourself," Bradin said.

"This is really happening," said the girl in red, Anna Tears. "The more we stand here talking about it...the more people will get hurt."

The girl in yellow, Kirsten Watson, shook her head. "What are we getting ourselves into...?"

"Our destiny," Ryan said.

Bradin rolled his eyes. "Let's get this over with."

They pulled out their morphers.

"Samurai scribe!" They wrote their kanji symbols, which glowed with power. "Ha!"

They swung their morphers through the characters, which spun and latched around their heads as they morphed into their Ranger forms. Bradin became Samurai Green, Ryan morphed into Samurai Blue, Kirsten became Samurai Yellow, and Anna morphed into Samurai Pink.

The Rangers unsheathed their swords and dashed forward.

They charged through the Anglars with swords swinging. Their blades cut through swords and staffs of stone and slashed through limbs and bodies with bursts of spark.

Samurai Blue moved with fluidity. He swung his sword through intricate patterns that hacked through Anglars and cut them to the ground.

The Green Samurai Ranger attacked with quick strikes that slashed through grunts with savagery and deadly force. His moves lacked form and talent, but what he lacked in form, he made up for with strength.

Samurai Pink twirled her sword with the grace of a dancer as she slashed through the Anglars and their weapons.

The Yellow Samurai Ranger swung quick precision strikes with powerful force and deadly efficiency.

Cye-Axe charged from the ranks of the Anglars. The villain chopped his blade against Samurai Green's chest with a burst of spark, smashing him to the ground.

The villain whipped around while swinging his sword through a wide arc that sparked across Samurai Pink and Samurai Yellow, whipping them to the ground.

Samurai Blue pounced at the villain and swung his sword upward. Cye-Axe blocked the blow and chopped his sword across the Ranger's armor with a burst of spark.

The villain stepped on the fallen Ranger's chest and snarled with delight. "We should have done this years ago..."

Cye-Axe lifted his sword to chop against the Blue Ranger's helmet.

Before he could strike, the Red Ranger leapt through the air as if from nowhere and bashed a flying sidekick against the villain. The blow hurled Cye-Axe off his feet, and he crashed against the pavement.

Samurai Red extended his hand and helped Samurai Blue to his feet.

"You must be Teddy..." Samurai Blue said. "It's an honor to meet you."

"Yes, we're all thrilled," Samurai Green said sarcastically. "Can we introduce ourselves later, please?"

Cye-Axe climbed back to his feet as the Anglars regrouped around him.

Samurai Red wanted to give orders and direct the Rangers into battle. That's what they expected. But he wasn't sure what to tell them. So he decided to lead with action.

"It's time to take care of business..."

Samurai Red spun the disc on his sword hilt. "Fire Smasher!"

His sword glowed with red power and transformed into a long, zanbato-type saber. The sword was as long as the Ranger was tall.

Samurai Red charged forward and swung the blade through a wide arc that smashed through the Anglars, hurling them through the air. The Red Ranger twisted his grip and swung again, slashing through grunts with enough force to knock them through nearby buildings.

The other four Rangers followed his lead.

Samurai Blue spun the disc on his sword hilt. "Water Arrow!"

The sword glowed with blue energy and transformed into a bow.

The Blue Ranger fired arrows of water energy that punctured through Anglars with bursts of spark, whipping them backward.

Samurai Pink spun the disc on her sword hilt. "Wind Fan!"

The sword glowed with pink energy and transformed into a fan.

Samurai Pink twirled the fan, emitting waves of pink wind energy that slashed across the Anglars, hurling them off their feet.

Samurai Yellow spun the disc on her sword. "Land Slicer!"

The sword glowed with yellow energy and transformed into a three-pronged blade.

The Yellow Ranger hurled the weapon like a boomerang. The blade sliced through a group of Anglars with bursts of spark, knocking them off their feet.

Samurai Green started to spin the disc on his sword. But an Anglar sliced the sword from his hand. "Son of a bitch..."

The Green Ranger bashed a sidekick against the grunt, rolled across the ground, and grabbed his sword.

Samurai Green spun the disc on his sword hilt. "Wood Spear!"

The sword glowed with green energy and transformed into a spear.

The Green Ranger spun the weapon around his body, blade slashed through streaks of green energy that slashed through Anglars with bursts of spark, whipping them off their feet.

Samurai Red cut through the last of the Anglars. He powered down his weapon to sword mode as the other Rangers regrouped around him. They turned to face Cye-Axe, and Samurai Red held his blade forward in an offensive stance.

The villain took a step back with fear. "Dogra!"

A Vorlock monster burst from beneath the street with a cloud of debris and concrete. The creature resembled an iguana to some extent, with three blue eyes on rust-colored, leathery skin.