“I thought you’d never get off the phone,” Motodrone said as he stalked onto the open field from a large stand of trees.

Hunter jumped up from his back to his feet but stayed crouched. Blake was still recovering from the full blast while Hunter had managed to let some of it bleed off him. “Motodrone,” he growled.

“Learned a new trick, Thunder Ninja?” The golden construct stopped about thirty feet away and tilted his head. “I’d measured that blast to keep you down a few seconds longer.” Another blast of bright red lightning leapt from his eyes toward Hunter.

Hunter resisted the instinct to dodge because Blake, just now scrambling to his feet, would have gotten nailed instead. So he took the hit and directed as much of the lightning energy as possible around his body and into the ground. “Nnnghh.”

“You’ve been practicing. You kept part of the energy from actually entering you,” Motodrone said. “Impressive.”

“I’ll say,” Blake said under his breath as he hit an aggressive fighting stance. “When did you start practicing that?”

“When I realized that he used a form of lightning as his attack,” Hunter said quietly, never taking his attention off their enemy. “I knew he’d be back so I started thinking up new tactics.”

“Of course, I do have more weapons at my disposal.” With that, Motodrone shot energy beams from his hands toward the Thunders and then promptly roared as they easily dodged out of the way.

“So much for your new trick, bro,” Blake said. He swallowed down cold fear. What if he just takes Hunter again? It happened so fast last time.

“Did the job,” Hunter grunted. “We’re back up and ready to go on the offensive. Ready?”

“Ready,” Blake agreed as he joined Hunter in the movements he knew as well as breathing. Perfectly synchronized, they morphed.

A mechanized, guttural noise came from Motodrone’s mouth mesh. It was heavy with annoyance and anger as the two Thunder Rangers attacked him in steaks of crimson and navy.

Kapri pulled up the proper program, linking to the satellites. She was halfway through writing her query when a message came in.

A high priority message. On the secure Ranger communications line.

This couldn’t be good.

Query and scans forgotten, she minimized the program. She hit the button to answer the comm, and CyberCam’s voice filled Ops as his face filled the monitor.

“Yo! Shimazu is on the attack and his dogs are really putting the bite on us! Help would be mucho appreciated!”

CyberCam sounded the same as usual, but the seriousness of the situation was obvious. The scene unfolding behind him spoke for itself. Wolfblades bigger than any Kapri had seen before were laying into the Samurai. And despite a valiant effort, it looked like the majority of the damage was being done to the good guys.

She heard Dustin respond that help was on the way. Shane chimed in right after him, that he was coming. Kapri didn’t expect a call from Tori since she was in a major test. The Thunders’ silence however was unexpected.

She yelped as she saw Mei Lien go down, CyberCam rushing to her side. Anything to prevent the Blade from finishing her off.

Kapri slapped the comm, “CyberCam, I’ll keep trying for the Thunders!” She’d keep up the all-call so CyberCam could concentrate all his processors on the battle. There was a barely perceptible nod from the replicant as he threw himself at the Blade that had attacked Mei Lien.

She pulled up another screen beside the current one. She looped the recording of CyberCam’s distress call, and sent it to the Thunders’ morphers.

Mere seconds had passed since the all-call had sounded, and things so weren’t looking good. She turned as she heard running on the steps behind her.

He didn’t want to leave her.

Streaking across campus, unless it was part of a streaking class, was generally frowned upon. But that didn’t stop Dustin or Marah as they raced to Ninja Ops. The Earth Ninja class had just ended, and Dustin had gotten the emergency all-call. The Samurai were in trouble. Time to move out.

All morning he’d had a horrible feeling something bad was going to happen. And now it had. It was just different than what he had expected. So he was kinda relieved. Only you know, he’d never wish ill will on his friends. But if something bad had to happen, he was kinda glad it wasn’t Marah’s parents arriving.

He didn’t think he could deal with Shimazu and the parent thing at the same time. But right now it looked like he only had to deal with one and worry about the other. Villains had lousy timing.

He didn’t want to leave her. If her parents came, he had promised he’d be there. Standing beside her. Fighting beside her.

They ran down the steps into Ops. Kapri was seated at the mainframe, and she turned when she heard them. Her expression told them how serious the situation really was.

Dustin glanced at the monitor behind her. Cam and CyberCam stood over the fallen Hiro and Mei Lien. They were trying to protect them, but they were seriously outnumbered.

After Kapri had seen it was them, she had turned back to the monitor. That left Dustin and Marah standing at the back of Ninja Ops.

He reached for her hand. And when she turned, he kissed her quickly and whispered, “I’ll be back. Promise.” She nodded, and stepped away as he dropped her hand to morph.

“Ninja Storm, Ranger Form! Ha!”

And he was gone. The last thing he saw before he streaked from Ops, was Marah turning to the monitor to watch for his arrival beside the Samurai.

Streaking through the forest at blinding speed, Shane’s thoughts turned to the situation at hand. This has got to be bad. Shimazu has been gunning for Cam for a while now. I just hope I’m not too late.

Suddenly, a loud blast, followed by a scream, echoed through the forest.

What in the world? Shane stopped and scanned the area, looking for the source of the disturbance. That sounded close by. I better check this out. Quickly, he darted in the direction of the noise. I just hope the others can hold on a bit longer.

Shane’s instincts proved correct, as he quickly came across the source of the disturbance. What he found made his blood run cold.

An unconscious Kapri was being dragged away by a group of Kelzak Furies. “Kapri!” Shane shouted, leaping forward to cut off the Furies “Let her go, freaks!”

The Furies quickly released Kapri and charged Shane. Braced for battle, Shane launched an attack of his own, knocking the nearest Kelzak to the ground with a punch to the gut. Quickly, he spun around, blocking an oncoming blade from slicing his head off. This is no good. There is far too many of them! I have to get Kapri out of here.

Blocking a kick to the face, Shane grabbed the Kelzak’s ankle, throwing it to the ground while landing a side kick to another of his attackers. In the fray, he saw Kapri’s unconscious form. This has to end now! Leaping backwards into the air, the Wind Ninja fired a blast of wind at the Kelzaks, sending them flying in different directions. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shane rushed forward, ready to grab Kapri and streak to safety.

Suddenly, a sword came swinging at Shane’s face, barely giving the Wind Ninja a chance to block. “Leaving so soon, Red Ranger?”

Turning, Shane came face to face with Vexacus, sword drawn and poised for battle. “I thought I smelled something, fish face.”

“I don’t have time for games, Ranger. Give me the Karmanian power!” “Not a chance.” Shane replied.

Vexacus lunged forward with his sword. Side stepping his advance, Shane countered with a kick to the stomach. Vexacus quickly swung his sword at Shane’s head, ducking; Shane knocked Vexacus to the ground with a sweep to his legs.

I have to protect Kapri. Rolling backwards, Shane placed himself between Vexacus and the unconscious girl. “What do you want with her, Vexacus?”

“Silly human. It was never about her.” Vexacus laughed, pointing his sword at Shane. “I want you!”

Shane glared as he raised his morpher clad wrist. “Then bring it on, freak.” His other arm quickly shot into the air. “Ninja Storm! Ranger...ARRGGHH!!”

A blast of electricity from behind sent thousands of volts pulsing through Shane’s body, leaving the ninja in intense pain and sending him to his knees. Struggling to stay awake, Shane turned and saw Kapri standing over him, a taser gun in her hand.

“Wha…Why?” Shane barely managed to whisper. He watched in horror as Kapri just smiled. Spinning, Kapri magically vanished, leaving Madtropolis standing in her place. Vexacus joined him, laughing as Shane finally lost consciousness.