Land of the Rising Sun: Chapter Twelve

To Find the Scrolls

"Who's Daimamou?" Jason asked.

"The leader of the Youkai...and Juniya's father," Sandaya said. "That seal is the only thing keeping him out of our realm."

Juniya leapt down to the streets with his sword of bone slung over his shoulder.

"We have to stop him," Jason said as he readied his morpher.

The rangers charged forward to attack. "Shogun transform!" Energy swirled around them as they morphed into their Ranger forms.

Juniya extended his hand. The Youkai prince summoned the five Hana Rangers, each in their armor. The Hana Rangers returned the Ninja Rangers' charge.

Ninjared unsheathed his sword and leapt through the air. Hana Orange armed her blade and jumped towards the Red Ranger. Hana Orange and Ninjared passed each other while slashing across their armor, blades sparking on impact.

Hana Orange and Ninjared landed back-to-back.

Hana Orange turned and swung her blade down towards the Red Ranger's head. Ninjared parried the blow and slammed a sidekick against the Hana's chest, forcing her backward.

Ninjared pushed forward and swung his blade upward in a diagonal slash that sparked against Hana Orange's armor and whipped her body backward.

Meanwhile, Ninjablack clashed his sword against Hana Blue's blade. Ninjablack slapped the sword away while spinning forward with a roundhouse kick that slammed across the Hana's head.

Ninjablack pushed her back with a second spin kick to the head before swinging his saber horizontally and striking across her armor, blade sparking on impact.

The Black Ranger armed his Shinobi Knuckle weapon, a fist-mounted crossbow. "Shinobi Crossbow!" The crossbow fired darts of black energy that exploded against Hana Blue with bursts of spark.

Nearby, Ninjayellow battled against Hana Purple. Hana Purple snapped a roundkick that Ninjayellow blocked.

The Yellow Ranger pushed forward with a roundkick of his own that slammed against the Hana's head. Ninjayellow jump kicked the Hana upside the head and spun forward, slamming a reverse sidekick against her chest.

Ninjayellow armed his Shinobi Knuckle weapon, a fist-mounted grappler. "Shinobi Grappler!" The Yellow Ranger fired a grappling hook and line that wrapped around Hana Purple.

Ninjayellow used the line to snap Hana Purple off her feet and hurl her through the air.

Meanwhile, Hana Pink was trying to strike down the White Ranger. Hana Pink swung her blade towards Ninjawhite, but the White Ranger disappeared and reappeared behind the villain.

Hana Pink snapped around and swung her sword towards the White Ranger's neck, but the White Ranger vanished and reappeared behind the Hana again.

Hana Pink called upon a cloud of pollen that surrounded Ninjawhite and exploded across her armor with a burst of spark. Ninjawhite vanished beneath the sparks.

"Over here!" a voice called from behind Hana Pink. Hana Pink turned to see Ninjawhite standing on the ledge of a building.

Ninjawhite hovered in their air as a cloud of diamond-like energy appeared around her. "Ninpo shard attack!" The shards shot forward like a diamond storm and slashed across Hana Pink with a flurry of sparks.

Nearby, Ninjablue dueled with Hana Green. The Blue Ranger and Hana Green circled around each other while clashing swords, their blades sparking with each strike and block.

Hana Green lunged forward with her sword raised high, ready to chop down on the Blue Ranger's head. Ninjablue stepped aside as the Hana's blade swung past him, and she toppled forward.

"Shinobi Knuckle!" Ninjablue shouted. He slammed his fist against the Hana, his knuckle sparking on impact and bashing the villain backward.

Hana Green rolled across the ground as her teammates regrouped around her. The Hana used her sword for balance as she rose back to her feet.

Juniya shook his head with disappointment and extended his hand towards the air. Lightning struck the villain, causing his body to expand and grow giant.

The Rangers pulled out their coins. "Battlezords, power up!"

They 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.

Juniya raised his sword into the air. "Daimamou...give me your strength!"

Crimson energy shot down from the skies and surrounded Juniya's sword with power, crackling like lightning. Juniya swung his sword and hurled the energy at the Battlezords. The energy exploded against the zords with a blinding burst of spark, ripping across the zords' armor and knocking them backward.

Juniya laughed as he stalked towards the fallen zords.

Battle Ape rose to his feet. "Keep it together, guys..."

The other Battlezords rose to their feet.

Juniya extended his hand and fired a stream of violet/red energy that exploded against the zords, sending them crushing through buildings as explosions tore at their armor. The Rangers fell from the Battlezords and crashed against the ground.

"You grow more pathetic with every battle," Juniya said. The villain fired jagged optic blasts that exploded against the ground, tearing through buildings and ripping the streets apart.

Juniya's body rippled as he returned to normal size. The Youkai prince floated backward and returned to the skull building. "It is time..."

The circle of stone emitted a ring-shaped energy wave that carved through the earth, causing massive explosions and demolishing everything in its path. Everything within the ring started to rise.

A floating island was carved from Tokyo and hovered in midair far above the skyline. The skeleton building was at the center of the island.

The teens awoke in a large dark chamber with no visible ceiling or walls. They rose to their feet. Sandaya was near them.

"Sandaya," Trini said. "What happened?"

"Juniya is close to releasing his father..." Sandaya explained.

"Where the hell are we?" Jonathan asked.

"In the castle of the Three God Generals." Sandaya extended his arm towards a giant stone statue with three figures, each the size of a Megazord. "Muteki Shogun, the White Falcon Tsubasamaru, and Kakure Shogun."

"Kakure Shogun?" Trini asked.

Sandaya nodded. "The third of the great God Generals. If you are to defeat Juniya now...you will need his power."

"All right then," Jonathan said. "Sounds easy enough."

Sandaya shook his head. "No." He created a mystical hologram in front of the rangers. The hologram was of five scrolls "These are the five scrolls that will summon the Ninjazords that form Kakure Shogun. They were scattered after the original five Ninjaranger sacrificed their lives to seal the Youkai away. Time is of the essence." He pulled out a map. "This map shows the location of the scrolls. You must split up to find them. This will be the quickest way."

"All right then," Jason said.

The five rangers stood by the ocean shore as the sun set in the distance.

"I don't like the idea of splitting up," Richie said.

"Me either," Jason said. "But we have to."

"If Daimamou is released..." Trini shook her head. "I don't know if we'll be able to stop him."

"Then we'll just have to keep that from happening," Jason said. "We can do this, guys. Even when we're apart...we'll still be together in spirit. Draw on that strength."

The five rangers stood and watched the sunset. One by one, they walked off to find the scrolls.

To be continued...Chapter Thirteen