The next morning they found themselves having breakfast with Sensei Laglia after morning meditation. Hunter thought Cam looked a lot better this morning, and Cam himself had said he was barely feeling a twinge in his chest. Those Ranger healing abilities had come through again. Word had come through from the Ice Academy that Sensei Palan was awake finally and after breakfast they, plus Sensei Laglia, would head over to the Ice Academy to see what plan they could come up with. Breakfast was a fairly somber affair, with no word coming through overnight from the roving patrols for any sight of Te'poua. Hopefully they would come up with a way to trap him again before he struck and caused an unmitigated disaster. Over breakfast Sensei Laglia had filled them in on some of the things that Te'poua had done when he was free all those hundreds of years before. The two of them had been suitably disturbed but not that shocked. After all, they had lived through constant attacks and disasters courtesy of Lothor last year, so nothing about the machinations of evil beings really shocked them that badly any more. Finishing breakfast, they streaked to the Ice Academy to get down to some serious planning.

Sensei Palan looked a little pale, but a lot better than he was yesterday. They were sitting around a table, drinking tea, and talking softly. For almost two hours they had thrown out ideas and plans only to have something with each one proved to be the wrong approach to take. They were currently discussing the possibility of trapping Te'poua when suddenly an Ice Ninja came bursting into the room.

"Sensei! He's been spotted at the deepening pools!" The two Senseis exchanged worried glances and Sensei Palan looked at the Ice Ninja.

"Exactly where near the pools?" The Ice Ninja was breathing hard and after a moment regained control of his breathing and his composure.

"Near the waterfall Sensei. He is currently being shadowed by two Fire Ninjas and two of our students." Sensei Palan gasped slightly and Sensei Laglia shook his head.

"He will certainly sense them following him. We need to distract him from finding the students." Cam and Hunter exchanged glances and Cam nodded slightly in agreement with what Hunter was thinking. Hunter leaned forward and got their attention.

"Senseis, Cam and I will go and fight him, see if we can't get his attention away from the students. In the mean time, you two come up with some ancient spell or scroll or trap or something that can stop him." Sensei Laglia frowned.

"But why will you two succeeded in fighting him when we had no luck yesterday?" Hunter gave him a secretive smile.

"We have a few tricks up our sleeves we didn't get a chance to do yesterday." Suddenly Sensei Palan clicked his fingers, Hunter's words having triggered a memory.

"The Scroll of Imprisonment. It's just come into my possession recently." Sensei Laglia looked at him.

"Why did you not share this the other day?" Sensei Palan looked at him.

"The same reason you did not share knowledge about the Scroll of Entrapment we tried using yesterday." The tension rose dramatically between the two men and Cam frowned.

"Excuse us, but that's not the point here. Sensei Palan, do we need anything special for this scroll to work?" Sensei Palan shook his head.

"No. It is a very powerful scroll; it does not require spell ingredients. But it does require a lot of energy to enact it. More than we were using yesterday." Sensei Laglia frowned.

"We may have to use the students."

"True but," Hunter shook his head and interrupted them both.

"That's fine, we'll use the students. For the moment though, we have to go and get those others out of the frying pan they may have gotten themselves in to." Hunter stood and Cam followed suit, impressed at his friend's take charge attitude. This was the head teacher of the Thunder Academy coming to the fore now. "Cam and I will go and distract Te'poua, letting your students get the heck out of there and back here to relative safety. We'll lead him around by the nose for a bit and then come back here. When we get back here, I expect the two of you to have come up with a workable plan, using every single student if we have to, to trap this guy using the Scroll of Imprisonment." The two Senseis stared at him, shocked at the forcefulness of his tone. Hunter stared them both down. "You asked for our help, we're giving it. Take the advice Senseis, because we know what we're talking about. Come on Sensei Watanabe." Hunter looked at the Ice Ninja. "Can you lead us to where he was sighted?"

"Yes Sensei."

"Good, let's go." Hunter followed him from the room and Cam paused a moment.

"Sensei Bradley is correct, we can't let him stay free any longer than we have to. When we come back, we have to act." Cam left and quickly caught up with Hunter, falling into step with him easily.

"Pretty hard on them weren't you?" Hunter shrugged as they made their way outside.

"Someone needed to stop them doing their I'm better than you crap act." Cam laughed softly as they reached the edge of the snow that was surrounding the buildings.

"Subtle as a sledgehammer, as always Hunter. That's one thing I admire about you, you know. You don't take anything from anyone." Hunter grinned as the student looked at them.

"Ready Senseis?"

"Ready, lead the way."

The Ice Ninja, whose name was Mike, pointed down to a point below them. They were currently lying on their stomachs at the top of a cliff.

"The waterfall is down there, the Ninjas should be in the trees." Hunter and Cam looked hard for a few minutes and then spotted them.

"Got them below us, in the willow tree." Cam stared and looked over at Hunter.

"I'll take your word for it." Cam had left his glasses in his room. "So, do you have a plan Hunter?" Hunter grinned over at him, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

"Same as always." Cam returned his grin with one of his own. He knew that tone from times gone by.

"Well, we're in trouble then." The two friend's laughed softly and then glanced back down, sobering. Cam thought a moment and then nodded to himself. "Okay, this is what we'll do then. Mike, while we're distracting him, find the others and get them out of here. What's over that way?" Cam pointed to a passage through some rocks, it looked dark and dank.

"That leads to a maze of caves set back into the mountain." Cam nodded thoughtfully, thinking fast. After a moment he had come up with a workable plan.

"Okay, Hunter, you and I will lead him into those caves, we'll find somewhere that's a dead end, lure him in and then seal it up. It should then hold him for long enough for us to come up with something to destroy him or seal him away permanently. Sound like a plan to you?"

"Sounds like a plan. Okay Mike, wait here until we've got him out of the way, and then get those kids out of here." The Ice Ninja nodded in agreement.

"Yes Sensei Bradley." Cam and Hunter sprang to their feet and quickly, carefully, made there way down to the bottom of the canyon. Hunter threw a grin in Cam's direction as they went further down into the canyon.

"This has the unfortunate feel of something that we've done before."

"Something this insane and stupid? Gee, I wonder when we did that." Hunter laughed softly as they reached the bottom of the canyon.

"At least Zurgane and a bunch of Kelzaks aren't here to make our lives a hassle." Cam just smiled slightly as they reached the bottom.

"There is that." Cam glanced around, getting orientated. "Okay, shall we get down to this?"

"Let's. The sooner we get this done, the happier I'll be."

"I hear that." The two of them crept along carefully until they reached a bend in the small river. They knelt down and looked around, spotting Te'poua where he was kneeling by the water, drinking. Cam looked at Hunter and raised an eyebrow. Cam and Hunter watched from the shadows for a few moments, readying themselves. They took a step forward, ready to jump Te'poua, when suddenly a Fire Ninja fell from a tree and landed badly on the opposite side of the small stream where Te'poua was drinking. The Fire Ninja scrambled to his feet, but it wasn't quick enough. Te'poua was across the water in an instant, picking the Ninja up by the scruff of the neck and throwing him back across the river, landing near Cam and Hunter. Laughing manically, Te'poua seemed to float across the water and the Fire Ninja tried to scramble away, fear in his eyes. Cam and Hunter exchanged looks and with a swift nod at each other they came out of the shadows and as one, launched flying kicks at Te'poua. Momentarily taken by surprise, Te'poua stumbled slightly as their kicks landed on his chest. Cam and Hunter back flipped away from him, landing in front of the Fire Ninja.

"Get out of here! Now!" Hunter growled at the Fire Ninja who scrambled to his feet and streaked away. Te'poua looked at them both, studying them intently for a few moments. Cam and Hunter returned his gaze, never straying from their fighting stances, eyes never leaving Te'poua. Finally, after a few tense moments, he spoke. His voice was deep, strong but there was something inherently evil in it.

"So, they sent a Thunder Ninja and a Samurai after me. Fire and Ice are obviously not good enough these days. So, you're going to be the ones to try and destroy me?" Hunter and Cam exchanged wary glances and then looked back at him. Cam finally broke their silence, his own voice wary.

"How do you know what we are?" Te'poua laughed and it wasn't a pleasant sound. They held their ground, but the tension in the air rose even further.

"I may have been trapped for the last few centuries Samurai, but I'm not stupid. I can sense what you are, and I know how dangerous you both can be. But do you honestly think that you have a chance against me?" He laughed again and Hunter tensed, waiting for the attack he knew was coming. He could see out of the corner of his eye Cam do the same and they weren't disappointed. Te'poua flung his hand out at them both and a wave of black light surged towards them. As one, they leapt either side of the attack, rolling and springing to their feet, launching attacks of their own. Running towards him, they both at the last moment, leapt into the air and hit him with flying side kicks, back flipping away. They then moved in close, throwing blow after blow, kick after kick, in such well timed and co-coordinated attacks that if you had been watching from afar you would think they were almost one person. But it was to no avail. Their first few attacks managed to drive him back a few steps, but now he was blocking their attacks, not easily, but still, nothing more was getting through. Finally, after about ten intense punch and kick filled minutes, Hunter and Cam were flung backwards, crashing into the rocks behind them. Te'poua began to stalk towards them as they struggled to their feet. Hunter helped Cam to his feet and jerked his head towards the path they saw earlier. Cam nodded and they began backing away towards it, Hunter helping him for the first few feet as Cam was breathing hard, his previously injured ribs not helping matters. Te'poua followed them and they went deeper into the ravine, finally reaching the entrance to the caves that the Ice Ninja had told them about. Cam looked at Hunter a moment, his eyes asking the question, to which Hunter nodded and he gave Cam a small smile. He squeezed Cam's arm a moment and then faded into another passageway. Cam turned and made sure Te'poua saw him and then took off at a run deep into the caves. Without words the two of them knew that they had to spilt up, each going one way, Te'poua hopefully following one of them. And it was Cam that he followed.

Cam ran blindly around the corners, but not too fast as to cause himself further injury. Te'poua was close behind him, he could hear him. Cam just hoped that Hunter would be ready. Te'poua stalked after him, finally cornering him in a cavern deep inside the caves. It was dark, dank, damp and musty. Cam wrinkled his nose at the smell, feeling his way along the wall, barely able to see two feet in front of him. Cam reached the back wall, quickly discovering that there was no way out from this particular cave. Suddenly, there was a noise behind him and he spun, trying to see in the darkness but not having a lot of luck. Just then light flared in front of him and he threw his hand up to cover his eyes. He blinked a few times, tensing automatically, and backed up against the stone wall. A few moments passed as his eyes became used to the light and he lowered his hand. Standing just inside the entrance to the cave was Te'poua. He was holding his hand up, a ball of light sitting on it and staring at Cam.

"So Samurai, you're the one that I get to destroy first." Cam took up a fighting stance.

"You're going to try you mean." Te'poua laughed and began moving towards Cam. Cam began circling around, away from him, keeping his distance as best he could.

"I haven't encountered a Samurai before. I wonder if you're a better fighter than those Ninja." Cam managed to keep his voice level as they circled around one another.

"I like to think I embody both the Ninja and Samurai. It gives me a rather unique fighting style." Te'poua gave him a mirthless smile as he too kept circling. But by now, he was at the back of the cave and Cam was near the entrance. Cam was hoping that by talking to him, distracting him, that Hunter would be in position.

"I look forward to testing that theory." Cam snorted slightly, his eyes never leaving Te'poua's.

"Well we're going to have to see about that." Cam could feel the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise and he knew that it was time, he just hoped Hunter had this timed just right.

"Cam! Now!" Cam threw himself backwards at Hunter's shout, micro seconds before the lightning from the Thunder Ninjas hands hit the roof of the cave with such explosive force that the roof of the cave began to collapse. Hunter helped Cam scramble to his feet and the two of them took off at a run, barely keeping ahead of the falling rocks. Seconds later they managed to get to the main entrance and just run out before the entrance collapsed behind them. Reaching the stream they finally stopped, breathing hard. Cam bent over, his hands on his knees, for a few moments and then straightened up, looking at Hunter.

"Nice timing." Hunter grinned at him.

"Thanks. You okay?"

"Yeah. Think the students got out of here okay?" Hunter looked around and then shrugged.

"They should have done if they knew what was good for them. But you know some students," Hunter shrugged,"I can't sense them here anymore anyways." Hunter looked back at the cave entrance, his face concerned. The entrance and quite a bit into the ravine where they had entered the caves were now blocked by fallen rocks. "Think that'll hold him for a little while?" Cam studied it and then shrugged.

"I have no idea. But it should hold him long enough for us to get this done and put him away again."

"I hope so. So, back to the Academy?"

"Yes." Cam turned and caught Hunter looking at him. "What?" Hunter's expression was inscrutable.

"Would you have really fought him unmorphed?" Cam shrugged again.

"I don't know to be honest. Most likely if I didn't have a choice. But, considering how strong he is and how fast, next time we come face to face, I think we should definatley morph." Hunter nodded as they began to trudge along the river bank, heading for the path they had come down earlier.

"That's a good idea. I don't think us keeping the Ranger Powers a secret anymore is going to help, not now."

"No it isn't. Besides, the extra boost we'll get from the Ranger powers will be what I think we'll need energy wise to seal him away permanently." They reached the top of the small hill they were climbing and Hunter looked at Cam, a tiny smile on his face.

"Well, it'll be interesting to say the least. Shall we?" Cam laughed softly and shook his head.

"Hunter, you'll never cease to amaze me. Let's go." Laughing, the two friend's streaked away, heading back towards the Ice Academy.

They reached the Academy in record time, naturally, and made their way to the meeting room. They found the Senseis - Sensei Palan and Sensei Laglia - waiting for them.

"Ah, Sensei Bradley, Sensei Watanabe. Thank you for rescuing our students, it is much appreciated."

"It was our pleasure Sensei Palan. Did everyone make it back okay?"

"Yes. What of Te'poua?" Hunter gave them a rather feral grin.

"Currently buried under a couple of tons of rock. We think it may take him a few hours to get free, so it's bought us a little time."

"That is good, as we have come up with a plan." Cam raised his eyebrow.

"And that would be?" Sensei Palan led them over to the table and showed them a map of the South Island. He pointed to a very remote looking location right near the top of the island.

"Here is where the greatest concentration of natural power resides on both islands, it's called Castle Point. It is this location that will provide us with a power boost to help with the energy required to enact the Scroll of Imprisonment." Cam and Hunter studied the map a moment and Cam looked at Sensei Palan.

"Where are the deepening pools located?" Sensei Palan pointed to an area about a few hundred kilometers from Castle Point.

"They are here Sensei Watanabe." Cam thought a moment and shared a look with Hunter. Hunter raised his eyebrow in answer to Cam's unspoken question and then gave him a nod of agreement. Cam looked back at Sensei Palan.

"Someone is going to have to draw him out from here and get him to Castle Point." Sensei Palan gave a soft sigh and Sensei Laglia didn't say anything.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Cam felt that sometimes even the extremely obvious needed stating but in this case, Hunter beat him to it.

"So, you want someone to out there, deliberately face him down, and lure him to Castle Point." The tension in the air was now so thick that Cam thought he could cut it with a knife. Sensei Laglia bit the bullet and answered Hunter, regret lacing his tone.

"Yes. And considering the circumstances." Cam looked at Hunter as he spoke, his voice flat and dry.

"You want Hunter and I to go and be the bait." Hunter returned his gaze and then nodded; he'd follow Cam's call. Cam looked back at the Senseis. "Don't you?" To their credit, the Senseis did manage to look ashamed. Finally, Sensei Laglia answered Cam's question.

"Yes, we do. Because frankly, we think that you're the best qualified to do this. We are going to need at least one hour to prepare the students and the spell. When you draw him to this spot, he will need to be forced into the centre of a triangle that we will have drawn on the ground. Once he is there, the spell will activate almost immediately. He will be encased in a type of force shield that will allow things in, but not out again. After a minute, the shield will become solid, not even allowing anything in. It will then force him into spirit form and trap his spirit behind a new seal. But this time, it'll just be one seal, at that spot, which will never be breached."

"Never say never" Hunter muttered and got a dark look from Sensei Palan for his trouble. Cam privately agreed with him and then looked at Sensei Laglia. The silence stretched out a moment before Cam finally spoke.

"Okay, we'll do it, but only because not one of your students has the skills, or the powers we have at our command, to handle such a dangerous task." Cam's expression became hard as he continued. "But keep in mind, if anything happens to either Hunter or me, this might not work because you're going to need all the energy you can get to pull this off, including ours. And if anything does happen to either of us, I can guarantee that there'll be hell to pay from our Academies." There was nothing that could really be said to that, so Sensei Laglia just nodded. Hunter broke the silence then.

"So, when do you want us to go and do this?"

"It will take three hours for us to prepare and move the students and teachers we need to perform this spell to Castle Point. Time that you have graciously bought us and that we desperately needed." Hunter nodded, unfolding his arms from where he had crossed them earlier when it had become apparent what was to be asked of them.

"All right then, Cam and I will have him there in just over three hour's time. You'd better be ready. Coming Cam?" Cam stood up straight from where he had been looking over the map one last time. Hunter's tone was one he knew of old, Hunter was mad but not showing it. And truth be told, so was he. He felt like he'd been put in an untenable position.

"Sure. Senseis." The two of them turned and left, the silence they left behind them was nigh on deafening.