Dex Ro paced in front of his students. They were lined up, waiting for him to begin the day's training after their initial reps. He inhaled and exhaled slowly. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but didn't, shaking his head and pacing again. They watched him curiously.

  "Is there something wrong, Sensei?" Brenden ventured to asked.

  Dex stopped and looked at them. A wry grin formed. "No. No." He cleared his throat. "After careful consideration, I decided to let you all try Thunder Mode on your Storm Stars," he stated. That surprised them. "You're all coming along well. I trust you. But only under my supervision are you allowed to try it," he said.

  "Is that why Mai-Li and the kids aren't here?" Misty asked.

  Dex shook his head. "No. They went to a dentist," he answered. "Who wants to go first?" he asked.

  "I'll try it," Galen volunteered.

  Dex motioned for him to step forward. There was a lightning rod in the middle of their training field for safety. "Thunder mode is extremely volatile but also powerful. If you can't summon it at first, don't be discouraged," he said. He stepped aside and motioned for Galen to attempt it.

  Galen spun out his Storm Star and locked it to his Star Blade. "Storm Star! Thunder Technique!" He locked the Star into place and thrust the Blade toward the Lightning rod. There was a crackle of sparks along the blade. After a brief pause which made Galen think he hadn't managed to do anything, a static backfire blew him off his feet. Brenden and Van scurried to catch him before he hit the ground. He coughed as his clothes smoked from being singed.

  Dex smiled. "Not a bad first try," he declared. That made Galen feel a lot better. "Who's next?"

  Each of the teens took their turns, to varying degrees of success, though no one had actually managed to succeed when it came Van's turn. As he stepped forward, Dex and the others moved back several yards. He blinked when he saw that and pouted. "Nice vote of confidence. Thanks," he said. But, surprising even himself, the lightning he summoned wasn't overkill and it was safely grounded by the lightning rod. "See, I've been working on control," he said a little cockily.

  "Don't expect praise for doing what you should," Dex said, completely bursting his bubble. But, that was totally something that would come out of any master's mouth. He gave a brief bow and stepped aside.

  The rest of the session was spent working with the Storm Star. Galen just wasn't getting it and it frustrated him. Dex assured them that they would train more and that "You are absolutely forbidden to use it in battle until I say so. Using a technique, especially one as powerful as Thunder mode, that you can't control is dangerous for yourself and your teammates. Understood?" he said.

  "Yes, sensei!" they answered and bowed to him. He returned the bow and dismissed them.

  *****

  Juno looked at the bowls of fear, a frown on her face. "It's all Ryzo's fault," she declared sourly. She scrubbed a hand through her dark hair. She spun around, glared at her baby brother, and looked around for Gumi. She frowned. "Where is that mangy animal?" she grumbled. She stalked off to look for it.

  "Maybe you should stay out of Juno's way today," Gennus told his brother.

  Ryzo grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn't argue, however. He knew when he had pushed his big sister too far. "Fine, I will simply train until the next time I find that red kid," he said, stalking off to the chamber within the mines where he liked to train.

  Aradne scrunched her nose. "How admirable is it to defeat a teenager?" she wondered.

  Gennus sighed. "He's my baby brother but sometimes I wonder if he's all there," he said, tapping his temple. He turned his attention to the bowl tower. He wished Juno luck in hoping that she gathered a lot of fear.

  *****

  Galen was using what at some point in its life was most probably a dance studio. It was a big building with a specially made floor and a small stage meant for recitals. Aunt Frizz bought it along with the building she used for Quarks because they were on the same plot of land, but she hadn't done anything with the building. It'd been used for mostly storage.

  Brenden and Galen had cleaned up about half of it for training or practicing. That day he was rehearsing for his audition for Madam Hayes' play. It was going about as well as his attempts at using the Storm Star. He kept tripping over his own lyrics while attempting his choreography. He'd already submitted the lyrics and music to Madame and got it approved for the audition but nothing was working out.

  Drenched in sweat, losing daylight, still getting stuck in the same spot, and tripping not only on his words but his own feet, he fell over. He stayed on the floor. He covered his eyes with his arm and attempted to settle his breathing. He suddenly sprang up, rolling into a crouch. Dex was sitting beside him cross-legged. "You let me get too close," he chided.

  Galen looked around. "Sensei? How did you get here? Why? How long? Is it a test?"

  "Do you think I have time to randomly pop in and test my students?"

  "Yes?"

  "Maybe," Dex conceded. "But that's not why I'm here. Mai-Li wants to rent this place and offer karate lessons in exchange for money," he said. "I came to look it over. I was here for a while. Maybe I should start random testing," he mused.

  "I wasn't offering ideas," Galen said. He'd settled down into a cross-legged position as well.

  Dex smiled slightly. "I admit that I don't know much about that lyrical sing-song style of music, but from what I noticed, you were rushing," he said, getting to his feet. "It's very similar to your trouble using the Storm Star," he added.

  Galen groaned and got to his feet to get his phone and the portable speaker he was using to rehearse. "This where I'd lay some Mr. Miyagi reference in a sarcastic tone, but I doubt it would land," he commented.

  "This isn't wax on, wax off. This is someone older and more experienced pointing out a problem," Dex said.

  "Well, I am surprised and impressed," Galen admitted with a grin. He wiped some sweat off his face.

  "Using the same technology that transported Mai-Li and her team between Earth and Shogunatta, I was eventually able to open communications between the two planets, and later managed to access other communications and media. I have seen all five of those movies," Dex explained.

  "You're just a big ol' nerd masquerading as a super mysterious ninja master, huh?"

  "I never claimed to be mysterious," Dex pointed out. "We're losing light," he said, the windows that provided light in the electricity-free building showed the sun was going to set soon. "The best thing to do right now is to take a moment. Don't think about the performing or the Storm Stars," he suggested.

  "So, basically, the teacher is telling me not to do my homework?"

  Dex shook his head and they walked out the of the building. Dex locked up behind them.

  "I couldn't help but notice you didn't seem to thrilled about opening a dojo," Galen said. The older man eyed him. "What? You said don't think about the other things for a while, yeah?" Dex shook his head again.

  *****

  "Object devoid of a will of your own, let the Youkaiza give you purpose." A glowing star stuck to a refrigerator that had been set outside of a building being remodeled. The fridge glowed and contorted, turning a spider monster with black and yellow legs, some tipped with ice skates, with a refrigerator for a thorax.

  When people saw it, they began running and screaming, trying to get away from it.

  *****

  Dex began beeping. He pulled his communicator out of a pocket and pulled it open. There was a map displayed with a beeping dot on it. "That's near here," he said. Galen nodded, he began running, leaving Dex behind as he took a beat to contact the other Rangers, then he was behind Galen in a flash.

  *****

  The youkaiza chased after the people running from him. Galen, in black garb, ran up and skidded to a halt. Dex, also black-clad, appeared nearby. Tangle web suddenly spit spider webbing at the people and wrapped them up in spider silk and sticking them to a large web. Galen spun out his Power Star. "Shinobi Start! Ninja Fury Power!"

  He began running even as he morphed. When his Blade appeared he slashed through the spider web, freeing the occupants, even though they were still wrapped up and continued toward the youkaiza. "How dare you! Frigerantula's webs are something you aren't allowed to touch. Guess you don't know much. So come at me, bruh. Frigerantula gonna get ya," he said as he side-stepped the Yellow Ranger's attack. Yellow compensated and slashed at it's back.

  That was the trap. The legs tipped in skate blades could be used behind him. One slashed at the Ranger, making him cry out. Two others pulled him against the creature's body, and while two above him repeatedly struck him as he struggled to get free.

  "You can hit or kick me. You can't get free. So what's it gonna be?"

  Yellow headbutted the creature in the back, surprising the monster enough to get himself free. He staggered back. "I don't know what hurt worse. That hit or those rhymes," he complained, rubbing his helmet.

  "Did you just disrespect me, bruh?" Frigerantula didn't like his rhymes being dissed. Just as the other the four Rangers appeared, the youkaiza changed before they could join the fight. He spun around, dark energy formed as he was sucked into the sky. A black portal behind him, only his head seen as he began pulling in everything it could.

  "Hang on to something! Don't let anyone get taken!" Red shouted, trying to keep himself and a woman tangled up in the silk from being caught in the vacuum. The other Rangers followed suit, but Yellow was too close to the vortex and his grip on a concrete trashcan holder was slipping.

  "Galen!" Dex tried to get to him just as he lost his grip, but they were both sucked into the vortex.

  The monster returned to its true form. "Ah, that was yum-yum yummy in my tum-tum-tummy," he said, patting his fridge door belly.

  The Rangers used their Blades and freed the people still wrapped in webbing. "Did that monster just eat Dex and Galen?" White demanded.

  "Probably just sent them to a pocket dimension, but still, not good," Blue answered.

  "Definitely not good," Pink agreed.

  *****

  Once inside the youkaiza, Galen lost his morph. He got to his feet. He was in a weird nowhere space that seemed to glow vaguely red. There was a junk covered in cobwebs. Not all of it was from today. He could hear a faint trickle of water. He followed it to a broken fountain of a weird demonic looking head that was barely trickling water from its mouth which caused a little pool. He reached out, but Dex caught his hand. "Don't touch it," he warned.

  "Why?" Galen asked, jerking his arm back.

  "If that's what I think it is, it'll turn you into a demon called a gedoushu if you drink it," he said.

  "Don't drink the demon water. Good call," Galen said. "Where are we?" he asked.

  "A remnant. A place where lost things collect. Somehow the youkaiza wrapped itself around a piece of the Sanzu River that survived when it was destroyed." Galen wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but it didn't sound like a good thing.

  *****

  The Rangers attacked Frigerantula, but his bladed legs fended them off. He slashed at them, throwing up sparks and sending them rolling.

  "Ugh. He's tough," Blue complained, getting to his feet.

  "Any ideas?" White asked.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "If we hold down his arms, maybe I can use Fire mode," Red suggested.

  "You're welcome to try but your friends are gonna fry," Frigerantula declared gleefully.

  "We have to be careful if Dex and Galen are still in there," Pink said.

  The monster laughed again. "Well, if you're not going to try, guess you'll all just have to fly!" His legs extended growing larger and crashed into the Rangers before they could move out of the way. They did fly, losing their morphs as they landed.

  "We need to regroup and think of a plan," Van said and the four of them poofed away.

  *****

  Dex and Galen glanced around the place they found themselves. "I don't think it's infinite. In fact, it seems rather small, trying to appear large. Let's find the edge," Dex stated.

  "Getting away from the demon water is probably a good idea," Galen said. They picked a direction at random and began walking. "So," he said after a minute or so of silence. "What's wrong with opening a dojo? It was one of my major cons about Ferrant Heights that there wasn't one," he said.

  Dex sighed through his nose. "I've only ever trained for war. The thought of training for sport or recreation is strange to me," he answered. "I'd feel like I was training children for war again. This time for compensation," he said.

  "You train your kids," Galen said.

  "Yes. There may be peace now, but the Youkaitto Tribe will one day try to rise to power again," he answered. "It's their responsibility as the future leaders of the Ninjetti to protect our Tribe," he answered.

  Galen nodded. "Aside from fighting, there are other things you learn from martial arts. Non-violence was a big one my old sensei was always pushing. He said he's teaching us to fight in hopes we never have to."

  Dex paused and looked at his pupil. "Your sensei was wise. But don't call him as if he's no longer your teacher. A teacher for a day is a teacher for a lifetime," he said.

  "See, that's what I'm talking about. That's the kinda thing you learn through martial arts. It's not all war and fighting to the death. That's not all your master taught you is it?" he asked.

  Dex smiled wryly. "My master was a lazy old hack, but I suppose he imparted some wisdom when he wasn't paying attention," he said. "Ah, here we are," he said when the junk suddenly ended. It still seemed as if there was infinite space, but tossing a piece of wood in front of them confirmed there was a barrier before them.

  "Now what?" Galen asked.

  "Now we give it an upset stomach."

  *****

  The Rangers crouched behind a wall where they'd appeared. "Oh, Rangers! It's a lovely day, let's go play!" Frigerantula called out.

  "We can't hide forever," Brenden said.

  "Can you use magic and teleport inside?" Bianca asked Van.

  Van shook his head. "I need to know where I'm going," he said, wishing it was different.

  "We could make him swallow a noodle," Misty said. They all glanced at her. "What? Am the only one who's ever swallowed part of a noodle before?" she asked. "It's kinda gross if you don't know what I'm talking about," she said.

  "I know what you're talking about," Van said. "Question is, who's the noodle?" he asked.

  "Me," Brenden said. "We'll make him swallow me. You can use Wood Mode to wrap my legs with vines. I'll definitely need Van on the outside to pull us out," he said.

  "That's really dangerous sounding," Bianca said. "But we don't have any other choice," she stated. "Let's try Operation: Noodle," she declared. They agreed, though reluctantly.

  *****

  "Fire Technique!" Galen locked the Elemental Star into place on his Star Blade and slashed at the barrier, throwing a large fireball at it. Nothing happened. He tried a few more times. Breathing hard, he stepped back. "This isn't working," he said.

  "I see that. The one time I didn't carry a Blade or a Star with me, I get eaten by a youkaiza," Dex complained.

  "You didn't learn any fire-jutsu from Mai-Li in 15 years?" Galen asked.

  Dex rubbed the back of his neck. "I never had much of an affinity for fire," he admitted. "But, I'll try," he said. He placed his fingers together in front of him, closed his eyes and concentrated. He finally managed to create a small flame.

  He opened his eyes and nodded at Galen. "Fire Technique!"

  They released their flames at the same time. They hit the barrier, a much larger conflagration, but again, nothing seemed to change.

  Galen sighed and sat down. "Let's take a minute. Your advice," he suggested.

  Dex sat down as well, and they sat in silence.

  *****

  Blue and Pink Shinobi fired at the youkai as they chased it down an alleyway. It skirted at of the way and ducked behind a bend. White Shinobi dropped a concealment cloth and slashed at him. He sparked and staggered out into the open, where Red appeared and slashed him as well. He tried to strike with his ice blades, but Red slashed him twice more and kicked him, sending him flying.

  The youkaiza crashed into the ground.

  *****

  "There's no choice. You'll have to use the Storm Star in Thunder Mode," Dex finally concluded.

  Galen nodded. "Yep. What about you? There's no lightning rod in here to protect you," he said.

  "I know a little thunder-jutsu. I should be able to make sure I don't get struck," Dex answered.

  "Should?"

  "You can do this, Galen. The only thing stopping you is you."

  Galen nodded. He got to his feet and spun out the Storm Star. He replaced it on his Blade. "Storm Star! Thunder Technique!" He locked it into place. He took several deep breathes and let them out just as slowly. Static began to crackle along the Blade. He let it build more and concentrated his energy deliberately. He took one last deep breath.

  He slashed forward as he released it, an electrical storm swirled all around them, sparking the barriers, arcing from metal surface to metal surface. His and Dex's hair defied gravity. The barrier exploded.

  *****

  The monster suddenly staggered and sparked, it grew into the dark vortex, the Rangers ran forward. "This is it!" Red said, gathering his courage and rushing forward.

  When the spider opened its mandibles, electricity erupted and Galen and Dex came flying out as the monster retched. Galen crashed into Red and they both hit the ground, but Dex landed almost gracefully.

  "Galen! You're okay!" Red said in relief.

  A grin split his face. "Yeah. And I didn't electrocute Dex," he said, hopping to his feet, pumped. In the spur of the moment, he broke into his rap and did the pivot move he kept screwing up in practice. "Yes!" he said.

  The Rangers clapped and cheered.

  "Let's not get too cocky," Dex said. "There is still a youkaiza," he reminded them.

  The monster had moved away, hurling other bits and pieces from the inside of him. "Oh snap, the demon water," Galen said.

  "That won't come out, but you still need to finish him," Dex said.

  "Right," the Rangers agreed and ran off to catch up with it.

  "Hey, eight-eyes!" Galen shouted to get the monsters attention. "How's your stomach?" he asked as he spun out his Power Star.

  "Onizaks! Get them! Spare no attacks!" Frigerantula shouted.

  Onizaks appeared and began to attack the Rangers as Yellow morphed. He jumped into the fray, slashing with his Blade. "You can't handle this, I'm electric," he said as he jumped and kicked at an onizak and slashed again.

  Pink slashed several of the creatures. She jumped, and kicked off of Yellow's shoulder, coming down in a spin, taking out a few more of the creatures.

  White and Blue teamed up. He tossed her around like a baton in a well-coordinated attack, that allowed her to slash and kick at onizaks at they encroached. She was slightly dizzy after a spin and he set her on her feet. "Now that's teamwork," she declared. He gave her thumbs up.

  Red slashed his way through onizaks and the quintet regrouped and faced the youkaiza. "You're the only one left," he said.

  Frigerantula stumbled back. "Impossible. I'm invincible!"

  "Yeah, not really," Pink said and put her Elemental star on her Blade. "Wate Technique!" she locked the Star into place and slashed her sword, creating a cloud of mist around the monster.

  Frigerantula waved his arms around trying to clear his vision. "You may have my eyes clouded, but my skills will still be lauded," he called.

  "Transtarter Bow!"

  Frigerantula pivoted toward the voice and avoided an energy bolt lobbied at him. "There you are!" he headed toward the source of the attack, but when he got there, there was no one. "There you aren't?"

  Yellow flipped through the mist cloud and slashed him from behind. He jerked around but there was nothing. White and Blue jumped from behind with their Transtarter Blades. He sparked and went crashing out of the cloud of mist. He rolled to his feet.

  "This is over," Yellow stated as the Rangers prepared their weapons, placing their Power Stars into their Transtarters and locking them into place.

  "Transtarter Bow!" White and Pink shot energy bolts toward him.

  "Transtarter Blade!" Blue and Yellow Slashed and produced energy that joined with the bolts.

  "Transtarter Claw!" Red gathered the energy with his weapon and jumped, the multi-color energy swirling in front of him. It coalesced into star shape that he flung at the youkaiza.

  "I don't care whacha say, this will still be my day!" he exclaimed as he exploded.

  "Not if I have anything to say about it," Yellow said.

  The youkaiza exploded into his large size. "Zord time," Red said, spinning out his Zord Star.

  "Hidden Shinobi Zord!"

  "Hidden Wolf Zord!"

  "Hidden Drago Zord!"

  "Hidden Express Zord!"

  "Hidden Dumper Zord!"

  The Rangers jumped onto their Zords as they appeared. Drago swooped low and blew fire on the giant youkaiza. Dumper threw grenades and Express Zord threw shurikens at him as they sped past. Wolf Zord howled and jumped, crashing into it's back and then slashing with the knife in its mouth as it landed in the back of Dumper Zord.

  Shinobi Zord attacked, kicking and jumping, hanging onto it's back and flipping away.

  The youkaiza gave a frustrated roar. "Enough of your shenanigans. It's time for me to win again," he shouted and blew spider silk at them. Drago Zord managed to get above the stream but the other Zords weren't so lucky.

  "Ick! What now?" Pink demanded, trying to get free of the webs.

  "Brace yourselves," Blue warned them. He swooped low and unleashed another blast of dragon fire that burnt the webs, being careful not to burn his teammates to a crisp in the process.

  "I've had enough of this," Red declared. He gave his Zord Star another spin. "Shinobi Star Megazord!" The Zords came together to form the Megazord, and the Rangers appeared in a cockpit and put their swords in consoles before them.

  "Let's finish this once and for all!" Yellow said with determination.

  The Megazord swung the DragoSword crashing into the Youkaiza. In swift succession it had delegged him, leaving on the basic two to stand on.

  "AAHH! How am I supposed to a spider like this? This is one heck of a diss," he complained.

  "Time to drop the mic," Yellow said and seemed to take the lead and drew his Blade. The others drew their Blades. "Splendid Slash!"

  The Drago Blade began to glow. The Rangers slashed their Blades. The Megazord slashed the monster with an explosion of multiple colors as it slid by him. It came to a stop as he exploded behind him, nothing left but the youkaiza shuriken that cracked and disintegrated as the sun began to set behind them.

  *****

  Gennus watched the trick of the bowls stopped and blew out a frustrated breath. "This is going to take forever," he complained.

  "Now, now sweet knees. Nothing worthwhile was ever. Just imagine the power you'll have to hand down to our widdle princey-wincy," Aradne said and patted her belly fondly.

  Gennus managed a smile. "Of course, my dear. Even if it takes months, it'll all be worth it," he agreed. She beamed at him.

  Juno dragged the fox demon into the lair and threw it against a wall. "This was your fault, mangy demon," she stated.

  Gumi snarled and bared its teeth.

  Aradne gasped and went over to the demon. "Now, now. That's way to treat our sweet little fuzzy wuzzy," she said and talked in a low voice to calm the demon down. Gumi barely let itself be calm, but it glared daggers at Juno.

  "Yeah, Juno. You should stop blaming others for your own faults," Ryzo jabbed, unable to resist getting on his sister's nerves.

  "Enough!" Gennus shouted, making all of them wince. "Juno, go calm down. Ryzo, don't agitate Juno. Please, you're all enough to give me a headache," he declared. "We did enough for today. We'll do better next time," he said calmly.

  Ryzo, Gumi, and Juno all glared at each other but listened to their Laird. Ryzo went to train. Juno went to meditate, and Gumi slunk off to play its video game. Aradne got up to pamper her husband.

  *****

  Dex officially decided to follow his wife's plan and open the dojo. So they signed a contract with Ms. Frizz, turned on the power, and started cleaning up the building. He, Mai-Li, the kids, Van, Misty, Galen, and Bianca were helping when Galen burst into the building. "Who has two thumbs and is playing the evil fairy in Madame Hayes' production of Sleeping Beauty?" he said. He held up his thumbs and pointed at himself. "This guy," he declared.

  Misty snorted. "You're so corny," she declared and went back to spraying windows and wiping them off.

  "Was there really ever a question?" Brenden asked.

  "I guess that means Bianca is definitely going make me join," Van groaned.

  "Was that ever a question?" she said.

  "Congratulations, sweetie," Mai-Li said and then put some boxes in his arms. "Now take these to the dumpster," she ordered.

  "Yes, ma'am," he said and walked out of the building again. He didn't mind. He was in a good place at the moment. So, too, it seemed, was Dex as he looked forward the immediate future. He wanted to see what it would be like to not have to train children for war, but for enjoyment. Even if a battle still loomed, for now, for the moment, there was a calm. He'd do whatever it took to protect that calm. So would the Power Rangers.

  *****

  End 04

  *****