Land of the Rising Sun: Chapter Eleven
Help from the Skies
Juniya played the piano within his dark chambers. His hands danced as his fingers pounded on the keys. He channeled his emotions into every stroke. As he played, he heard a strange voice whisper his name. The whispering seemed to come from within his own mind.
Juniya stopped playing. "What..." he said quietly as he shook his head.
The prince saw a silhouette of evil through his mind's eye. A being concealed by shadow spoke before a blood-red background. "Juniya...I am ready to walk this world again...my time is coming..."
Juniya stood, knocking the piano bench over. "Father..."
Nekomaru was parked near a city plaza within Tokyo. The teens set up a card table outside, and a round cake was on the table. The cake had 17 candles on it. It was Trini's birthday.
The four guys finished singing. "Happy birthday dear Trini, Happy birthday to you!"
Trini smiled and rolled her eyes. She had told them she didn't want her birthday to be a big deal. Her rules were simple: no cake, no singing happy birthday, and no going out. So far the guys had broken two rules, and she suspected they had plans to break the third rule later.
"Thank you," she said. Her face turned slightly red.
"So," Jonathan said as he slid the cake closer to Trini. "You know you have to blow these out, right?"
Trini arced an eyebrow at him.
Suddenly, they heard children scream nearby. They looked towards the center of the plaza and saw two young children running side by side. It was a brother and sister.
A blur of motion streaked down from the air and grabbed the boy. He screamed while being lifted towards the rooftop of a skyscraper nearby.
Jason narrowed his eyes. "Let's go!"
The rangers used their Ninpo to streak forward and hop upside the building in a blur of motion. They landed on the rooftop in crouched fighting stances and looked up. But no Youkai was in sight.
The boy had been dropped to the rooftop. The child rose to his feet as energy shimmered around him. His body turned to stone before the rangers could act.
"Oh man," Zack said.
"Look!" Riche said. The same monster that had taken the boy was streaking across Tokyo's skyline, snatching children from the streets, and dropping them onto skyscrapers. Each child turned to stone.
"What's he doing?" Zack asked.
The kids were not placed at random. They formed a ring around a certain section of Tokyo. Crimson lighting suddenly shot down from the skies and struck each of the stone-encased children. Energy from each stone formed a ring around a section of the city.
The stones' energy pulsed towards the center, and the crimson lightning struck a building in the center of the ring. A skull-shaped structure materialized and capped off the top quarter of the building. A large golden medallion with demonic writing was beneath the skull.
Juniya stood in the eye socket of the skull and looked out upon the city. "It's time!" His voice echoed across the streets.
Then the streak of motion that had captured the children landed on the same rooftop as the teens. The creature, a fat monster resembling a mutated blowfish, smiled viscously at the rangers while arming a fin blade along his back. The monster's name was Umibozu.
"Turn the kids back!" Jason yelled as he and the others snapped into fighting stances.
The Youkai laughed. The monster kinetically charged fins on his arms and threw them forward like cards. The fins exploded around the teens as they dove for cover and armed their morphers.
"Shogun transform, Ninja Power!" Energy swirled around them as they morphed into their Ranger forms.
Ninjablue and Ninjablack snapped a volley of throwing stars that bounced harmlessly off of the monster's bulk.
The Youkai armed an anchor-shaped blade and hurled it forward like a boomerang. The blade slashed across the Rangers' armor, sparking on impact and slamming the Rangers backward.
Ninjared rolled to his feet. "Two can play at that game," he said as he armed his x-shaped blade. "Red Slider!"
The Red Ranger hurled his weapon forward. The blade shot across the monster, slashing it through the side with a burst of spark.
The monster kept his balance and placed a hand over the minor wound. "You are almost a worthy opponent," the monster said.
"You haven't seen anything yet!" Ninjared shouted. The Red Ranger unsheathed his sword and pounced forward.
Ninjared swung his sword towards the monster's head. The Youkai used an arm fin to block the blow and slashed its second arm fin across the Red Ranger's chest with a burst of spark on impact.
The Red Ranger crashed against the ground and rolled backward. He rose back to his feet as the others gathered around him.
Ninjared placed his hands in front of his chest in a ninja pose. "Ninpo Fire Attack!" Comets of fire curved from around the Red Ranger's back and shot forward. The comets exploded against the Youkai, knocking the villain backward.
The monster rose to its feet and extended its hand into the air. It summoned a bolt of lightning and used the lightning power to expand. The creature grew giant in a matter of seconds.
The Rangers readied their scrolls.
"Shogunzords awaken!" The five zords rose from the earth as energy surged around them. The Rangers hovered backward and merged into their zords with pulses of light.
"Shogunzord fusion!" Red Ape shouted.
The five zords stampeded forward. Each zord flashed with energy and started to reconfigure. The zords merged together, armor meshing and energy crackling with booming thunder. A flash of golden light erupted from the zords as they formed the ShogunMegazord.
"ShogunMegazord!" the Rangers shouted.
The monster kinetically charged two fins and tossed them forward like cards. The fins exploded against the Megazord's armor, forcing the ShogunMegazord back a few steps.
The Youkai armed his anchor-shaped blade and charged forward. The villain spun past the zord while slashing across armor, sparks exploding on impact.
The Megazord armed its golden blade.
"ShogunMegazord Saber, Ignite!" the Rangers shouted. The saber radiated with fiery energy and swung down towards the Youkai. The monster caught the blade.
"Your weapons are no match for me!" the creature shouted. The Youkai swung the saber aside and fired crimson optic blasts that exploded against the Megazord.
ShogunMegazord crashed against the streets and skid backward, ripping pavement apart.
The Rangers fell and crashed against the ground. Their armor flashed and powered down on impact, returning them to their civilian forms.
"This is too easy," the monster said as he tried to step on the teens.
The teens struggled to rise back onto their feet. But they could not. They were too injured. The shadow of the monster's heel cast over them.
A falcon's cry suddenly cut through the air. The rangers looked up to see a giant falcon swoop down from the skies. The white-armored beast swooped downward and aimed its wings forward.
The White Falcon fired blasts of energy from its wingtips, each blast exploding against the monster. The White Falcon continued to pour fury from its wings as the monster crashed backward.
The White Falcon spread its wings and circled around the battle area as the monster returned to its feet.
Below, the teens returned to their feet and watched the falcon soar over the rooftops.
Sandaya then appeared behind the rangers. "Greetings, Ninjaranger."
"Sandaya," Jason said, his eyes fixated on the White Falcon. "That bird..."
"That is the White Falconzord," Sandaya said. "The second of the three God Generals."
"Whoa," Zack said.
ShogunMegazord rose back to its feet out of its own will power. The armored giant turned and faced the falcon in the distance. White Falcon could see its own reflection in the Megazord's red eyes as it flew forward.
"What's he doing?" Richie asked.
"The Super Shogunzord fusion," Sandaya said.
The falcon extended its wings forward. ShogunMegazord separated his arms from his body. The wings folded across the Megazord's chest and pointed outward as the arms snapped back into place.
ShogunMegazord turned to face the Youkai monster. Lances of energy fired from the falcon's wingtips, and the blasts of crimson destruction ripped through the monster with massive explosions, vaporizing the Youkai into nothingness with a final explosion of fire and energy.
In the skull building, Juniya narrowed his brow. The prince leapt from the eye socket and landed on a nearby building while looking down at the rangers below. "Not even your new pet will be able to protect you from what's coming...tell them, Sandaya."
Sandaya wrinkled his brow.
"You two know each other?" Trini asked.
Sandaya nodded. "He is the prince of the Youkai...he murdered my family..."
"They made it so easy," Juniya said. He transformed into his skeleton form and laughed mockingly at Sandaya and the rangers. The villain pointed back towards the skull building. The medallion on the building shimmered with dark power.
"No..." Sandaya said. "The seal..."
"That seal is the only thing keeping my father from your realm," Juniya cursed. "When it opens, the world will belong to Daimamou!"
To be continued...Chapter Twelve