As Shane stepped across the threshold of the torii, he found himself in another room. The altar was no longer across the room as it should have been. Now, across the room was another gold door. What unsettled Shane though was that he was now alone.

“Guys? Where’d you go? Guys? Okay, so much for going at this together What happened to everyone?” Shane fought to keep the panic from rising within him. Looking around, he tried to get his bearings around his new surroundings The room was in the same style as the rest of the temple. No other exits or openings were anywhere in the room save for the gold door at the other end. “No other way out but through the obvious way I guess.” Walking to the gold door, Shane readied himself for what might lay on the other side. As he prepared to open the door, he found the door opened for him. Shane wasn’t at all prepared for what lay on the other side though.

The golden door opened onto a massive ornately decorated chamber. From the door, Shane could see a huge stone altar like from the previous room. Behind the altar hung a stone carving of his Air symbol. From the altar he could see a brilliant red light. “That has to be the Power.” Looking around the room first, Shane stepped through the doorway. As he stepped through, he looked to his right and saw something that stopped him cold. Lauthore. What disturbed him even more was who was with him. His brother, Porter. Lauthore held Porter in a tight grip in front of him.

“Lauthore! What are you doing here? Porter, are you okay?”

“What a wonderful family reunion, don’t you think so Air Ninja? Your brother simply couldn’t refuse to come with me. Oh, and don’t worry. He’s fine…for now.”

“Let him go, Lauthore! I’m the one you’re after. He has nothing to do with this.”

“Ah, but he does. Porter here, you see is what is called leverage. I use him to get what I want.” Lauthore smiled, gripping Porter tighter.

Porter spoke up, “Don’t worry about me, Shane. What you need is sitting right on the altar. I’m not your concern. Regaining your Powers is. I’ll be fine.”

“No. I’m not leaving you, Porter. The Powers can wait. Let him go now, Lauthore.”

“And what will you do if I don’t, young Ninja? I’ve been known to be somewhat heavy handed. I’m certain I could move the wrong way and snap your brother’s neck without even realizing it.”

Shane was incredibly angry now. He was not about to let Lauthore harm his brother. Concentrating, Shane formed a fireball that hovered over his shoulder. Lauthore held Porter closer, using him to shield himself. “Ah, ah, ah. You might want to be careful with that. You wouldn’t want to hit your brother with that special power of yours would you?” Lauthore laughed then. “You and I both know you’re not experienced enough to wield that kind of power against me. Put that away before you hurt yourself”

Shane tried to remain calm, but seeing his brother in danger wasn’t doing much to calm his nerves. He knew Lauthore was right. In their last battle with each other, Lauthore had cleaned the floor with him. He had to do something. He knew that if he could reach the Power just beyond Lauthore, he might stand a chance. Shane also knew that if he tried to go for it, Lauthore wouldn’t hesitate to kill Porter. The Power wasn’t worth losing his brother over. Now he had to think to find a way out of this. Shane had an idea.

“I’m not telling you again, let my brother go now.”

Lauthore laughed again. “Come now. Big words from a small child. If you want those Powers of yours badly enough, come get them. Just remember what the cost will be.”

Shane closed his eyes, concentrating deeply. He then opened them and threw out his hand, hurling the fireball out towards Lauthore. Lauthore saw the attack coming and held Porter out in front of him to protect himself from the attack. Shane at that moment, whipped his hands around, creating a wind tunnel that threw Lauthore off balance He then directed the fireball to change its course. The fireball flew around Porter and with blinding speed, hurled into Lauthore from behind forcing the dark ninja to lose his grip on Porter. Calling on his Air power once again, Shane created a rushing blast of wind that struck Lauthore full on, slamming him against the far wall. Shane rushed in to grab his brother. Once he had Porter, he moved him off to the side to safety. “Stay here. I’ll take care of him” His brother nodded his assent and watched as Shane went off to fight the dark ninja.

Shane called on another fireball and hurled it at Lauthore striking him as he was still dazed from the last attack. Deciding to try something, Shane focused on the raging fire and concentrated on making it bigger, stronger. He allowed the fire to rage, to burn out of control. As he did, he watched as the fire began to engulf Lauthore, burning higher and hotter, fueled by his own rage. As the fire continued, it completely engulfed the dark ninja. Shane continued to let the fire burn until there was nothing left. Shane’s thoughts returned to his brother. As he calmed, the fire slowly began to die down getting smaller and smaller until it completely went out. Turning to Porter, Shane reached out to hug his brother. “Man, am I glad to see you. Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”

“I’m fine, Shane. Thank you. You’ve really come a long way. I’m incredibly proud of you, little brother. I think you’ve earned what you came here for.” Nodding his head in the direction of the shining altar, Porter continued. “Go on. It’s waiting for you. Go claim your Powers.”

“Thanks, Bro.” Giving his brother a genuine smile and another hug Shane walked over to the altar. Looking down at the altar, he saw a gold and black box Opening the box, Shane was overtaken by a blinding white light. As he shielded his eyes, all he could see was white.

Tori emerged on the other side of the portico and found herself standing alone in a dark alcove of the temple. “Where did everyone else go?” Movement off to her right side caught her eye. Expecting potential danger, Tori dropped into a guarded posture as she slowly made her way through the alcove. She slowly came up around the corner and saw movement again as something dashed between the high pillars in the room. Quietly, she made her way around the pillars. A sudden burst of movement from the right side of the room caught her attention. She moved in to strike and came face to face with Blake.

“Blake! There you are. Where is everyone? It’s like they just disappeared”

“I don’t know, Tor. I just arrived here by myself too. That is until I found you.”

“You really shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”

“Hey, I’m a ninja. It’s what I do. Listen, I think I may have found the place where our Powers could be. There’s this huge door. I was going to go check it out and that’s when I found you.”

Tori’s interest was peaked. “Where is it?”

“C’mon, I’ll show you.” Together the two of them made their way through the temple, Tori following behind Blake. The two ninjas finally reached a huge gold door. “Here’s where I think it is.” As Tori and Blake made their way toward the door, it opened on its own for them. Across the threshold, Tori and Blake saw another room lined with black and gold pillars. Along the walls were statues of dragons, their mouths open, roaring silently. At the back of the room, the two ninjas saw an altar which held a box emitting a bright blue glow.

“I think that might be it, Tor. C’mon, let’s go check it out.”

Blake began to step across the threshold into the room, but something didn’t seem right to Tori. Her instincts were telling her that something was off.

“Blake, hold up for sec,” she called, but it was too late. Blake had crossed part of the way through the room when a huge explosion rocked the entire foundation A blinding flash of light lit up the entire room as fire erupted from the mouths of the dragon statues along the wall. Tori watched in horror as Blake was engulfed in a wall of flames from the many dragons.

“Blake! Blake!” Tori called in a panic. Looking through the flames, she could still see Blake crouched down, untouched, but still dangerously close to the flames. “Blake, get out of there!” she called over the roaring flames.

Blake moved in vain to try and maneuver around the raging flames, but there was no way around them. Looking behind him for a way out, he noticed the flames were beginning to engulf the box. “Tori! The altar! The box with the power will be destroyed You have to grab it!”

“No way! The Powers will still be there. I’m getting you out of there!”

“Forget about me, I’ll be fine! Get the box! Now!”

“I said I’m getting you out of there! Now get down!” With a good bit of relief, Tori saw Blake duck down as far as possible to avoid the flames. The Water Ninja brought her hands together and closed her eyes in concentration. Bringing her arms straight out in front of her, Tori created a powerful blast of water that collided with the fire. Spreading her arms out to her sides, the plume of water separated into three streams, blasting the fire at its source, the dragon statues. She held her concentration, focusing all her power in overpowering the flames issuing from the dragons. Pooling all of her strength, Tori increased the force of the water blast to engulf the entire room in, completely drowning out the flame-throwing dragons.

Tori dropped her arms in exhaustion. Looking up she saw Blake crouched down between the pillars, soaking wet, but fine. Shaking himself like a dog to try and dry himself off, Blake looked up and smiled at her. “You were awesome, Tor. That was some control you showed back there. Thanks. I definitely wouldn’t have made it without you.”

“Thanks. That took a lot out of me. I almost can’t believe I did that. I’ve never created so much force from my water attacks.”

“It just shows you’re getting stronger and gaining even more control. Speaking of getting stronger, I believe that box up there has our names written all over it.”

Nodding in agreement, Tori walked up to the alter and went to open the black and gold box. A blinding white light engulfed the chamber. As Tori looked back towards Blake, the last thing she noticed before her vision was completely overtaken by the light was that Blake was nowhere to be seen.

Dustin found himself in a huge chamber. The room continued upward until the ceiling was completely covered in darkness. Where there was a cold marble floor before, there was now solid earth beneath his feet. In the distance, he could see a large, narrow rope suspension bridge stretching across a huge chasm. He could see that someone was walking across the bridge and from the looks of it, they were holding a light of some kind. Getting closer, Dustin watched as the figure with the light moved closer and closer.

As Dustin got closer, he could see the figure a little more clearly. It was a woman wearing a ninja uniform. A Wind Academy uniform to be exact. Dustin ran up to the edge of the bridge. “Marah! What are you doing here? How’d you get here?”

Waving excitedly, Marah called out to him. “Dustin! You made it! I found the Powers you need to stop Lauthore.” Marah held up the gold and black box she carried in her hands. I know I said I’d stay around Ninja Ops, but I couldn’t let you guys go at this alone.”

“I’m definitely glad to see you at least. That’s awesome that you found them.”

“Yeah, now if we can find everyone else, we can get out of here.” As Marah continued moving along the bridge toward Dustin, the rope bridge started shaking precariously.

“Hey, Marah. Be careful out there okay? That thing doesn’t look too stable” Dustin warned.

“I’ll be fine.” Marah held onto the rope with one hand and the box with the other. What Marah didn’t notice was the rope at the other end of the chasm slowly beginning to unravel. Years of neglect and the ravages of time had severely worn the rope away and Marah’s weight on the bridge now was causing it to come undone after centuries of not being used.

The bridge began to shake a little harder this time. Marah reached her hand out to steady herself and wait it out while the bridge’s movement stopped. Dustin reached his hand out to her to prompt her on her way across.

“You’re almost there.” Then it happened. The rope at the other end finally unraveled completely and snapped sending the bridge lurching. Marah lost her grip on the rope some and began to fall. She quickly regained herself and grabbed onto the side with one hand, still holding the box.

“Marah! Are you okay?” Dustin called out.

“Yeah. But I think I’d better get off this thing as quick as possible.”

“No arguments here. C’mon.”

But a chain reaction was already in progress. With the first rope breaking, the boards along the far end of the bridge began to fall and the tension placed on the other ropes caused the rope on Dustin’s end to fray as well. Finally, the rope snapped Dustin could swear it all happened in slow motion. The entire side of the bridge collapsed, sending Marah toppling off the side.

“Marah!” Dustin called as he reached his hand out to her to hopefully catch her. He couldn’t reach her at the distance she was at. Thankfully, Marah was quick and had managed to grab a hold of the remaining side of the rope bridge Marah held on for dear life as she swung with the weight of the bridge. She still clutched the box to her side as she held on with one hand.

“Marah, drop the box and give me your hand!”

“I can’t. If I do, you lose the Powers. I can’t do that to you guys.”

“I don’t care about the Powers! Just give me your hand! We’ll find another way. I won’t lose you.”

Marah seemed to understand. She dropped the box and reached up with her other hand, but the weight across the straining ropes was too much. The rope snapped, sending Marah hurdling into the chasm below.

“No!” As if on instinct, Dustin knelt down and slammed his fist into the ground. In a technique that surprised even him, the ground shook, creating cracks and fissures in the earth. He continued pounding the ground, creating breaks and ledges in the earth within the chasm. It was as if he could will the earth to shape and change. Marah’s descent was stopped as she landed on one of the newly created ledges. Regaining her senses some, Marah looked around her and where she was, then looked back up to Dustin.

“Did you do this?”

“Uh…I think I did. I’d be more impressed if I knew how I did it”

“Dustin, the box.” Marah drew his attention to a ledge further below her where the box had fallen. It lay on the edge, threatening to fall into the darkness of the chasm. “I think I can reach it.”

“No! Screw the box. You’re more important. I’m getting you out of here now.” Dustin refused to expose Marah to anymore danger and was intent on getting her out of there immediately. “Can you teleport up?”

“I tried. I could teleport here, but something is preventing me from teleporting within the temple.”

“Alright. I’ll solve this then. Hold on tight.” Dustin once again knelt down and pounded the ground. The earth changed and moved once again The ledge Marah stood on began to move through the earth, completely under Dustin’s control. He willed the earth to move Marah up to the edge where she stepped off in front of Dustin. Laughing, Dustin pulled her in for a hug.

“Geez, don’t ever do that again. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for saving me too. That was a little scarier than I would have liked to admit.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

“Hey, we can still get the…” but Marah’s words were cut off. “The box! It’s gone. It must have fallen. Dustin, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t…”

Dustin cut her off. “No way. You have nothing to be sorry about. This wasn’t your fault. You found them for us. You couldn’t have known this was going to happen. I should be thanking you for finding them in the first place”

“But now they’re gone.”

“It’s alright. We’ll find another way, Marah. The important thing is that you’re okay.” Dustin then noticed a strange light from behind him. As he turned, he saw a bright white light engulfing the cavern. Soon it reached him. He turned towards Marah to see if she was alright, but she was nowhere to be found. Soon, the white light overtook his vision completely.

Blake looked around. At the moment he was trying to figure out when in that split second he had managed to lose his five teammates. What made it even worse was that wherever he was, it was almost pitch dark. Allowing his eyes to adjust to the dark, Blake had the opportunity to get a feel for his surroundings. As he listened for any signs of where he could be, Blake could swear he could hear the sounds of a battle going on. He couldn’t figure out where exactly it was coming from. He tried following the sound, but thought better of it since he had no idea where he was and could end up walking off the edge of a cliff or ending up in some other disastrous situation. He continued to allow his eyes to adjust and as they did, he noticed a small sliver of light coming from what looked like underneath a door

Once his eyes had fully adjusted, Blake could clearly see that the light was indeed coming from the space under a door. He made his way slowly to it and continued listening There was definitely a fight going on. Thinking it might be the others, Blake geared himself up for a battle. He was prepared to make his way through, when the door flew open on its own. Taking the time for his eyes to adjust to the glaring light, he saw a large group of black clad, masked ninjas attacking. Through the sea of black, he could see their target dressed in blue, fending off as many as they could.

It’s Tori. I gotta get in there to help.

“Tori! Over here!” Tori looked up and saw Blake.

“Glad you could make it. I guess Shane had something when he mentioned armies of ninjas.”

Making his way towards Tori, Blake dodged and fought his way through. “Are you alright? Where’d these guys come from?”

“No idea. They just appeared out of nowhere.”

Tori and Blake stood back to back, standing on the defensive against their mysterious foes “I think I may know what these guys are protecting. Over your right shoulder, at three o’clock.” Blake did a quick scan in the direction that Tori said and noticed a small alcove in the wall, housing a dark blue glow

“Is that what I think it is?” Blake asked.

“I believe it is. That would explain why these guys are here.” Tori answered

“So what do you say we get rid of these guys then?” Nodding her assent, Tori launched into an attack against the nearest enemy. She threw a punch followed up by an elbow strike, knocking the ninja back. Turning around, she brought around a leg sweep, knocking another ninja off it’s feet. With him on his back, she slammed her fist into his chest, making sure to incapacitate him.

Blake brought out a roundhouse kick to his assailant, connecting and sending him flying into the nearest wall. Another ninja rushed Blake. He grabbed the ninja by the shoulder and moved his other hand to the ninja’s midsection. Focusing, Blake sent a shock of thunder into the enemy sending him flying through the air and crashing back down to the ground. As he and Tori continued to fight, they found they were making pretty short work of the group of black clad ninjas. Tori had a thought “Blake. Go and grab the box from the alcove. I’ll hold off these guys. When you get the Powers, we’ll be able to morph and get rid of these guys.”

“I’m not loving that idea, Tor.”

“Go on! I’ll be fine! Go get them. Everyone is depending on us. Hurry!”

Seeing that he was definitely going to be overruled in this decision, Blake nodded and made a break for the alcove. The glowing blue light was incredibly close. Looking behind him he could see Tori handling the ninjas pretty well. Rushing through and throwing a ninja aside along the way, Blake made it to the alcove. He quickly grabbed the box in triumph. Turning, he went back to show Tori his success, but saw she was quickly becoming outnumbered by the fifteen or so ninjas that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. There were definitely not this many before How could that have happened?

Blake made his way back with the box in hand and joined in the fight once again, but the ninjas seemed more powerful; faster and stronger than just a moment ago. He tried to block an oncoming attack, but the ninja quickly countered with a jab to the gut and an overly painful shot to the face that he definitely did not see coming. Blake looked over and saw Tori was quickly being overpowered. He tried to fight his way over to her, but the ninjas were blocking his way. Something was not right. These guys were way too strong now. It seemed as if they were trying to separate he and Tori.

Blake looked on in horror as he saw Tori take a devastating shot to the back of the neck that sent her crashing to the ground. “Tori!” Blake looked on as the surrounding ninjas grabbed her and held her in place. He tried fighting his way to her, but there were way too many of the enemy holding him back. The ninjas stopped their advance as one of them spoke up.

“Stand down, Thunder Ninja. You will not be allowed to leave here. Either give back the box or the Water Ninja shall die.” Blake knew these guys meant business. The ninja holding Tori had a vicious hold on her neck that Blake knew could do some serious damage.

“Blake, take the Powers back to the others. I’ll be fine. Once you guys have your Powers back, you can come back for me.”

“I won’t leave you here like that, Tori. It’s not gonna happen”

“Blake, what are you doing? Get going. The guys need you. They wouldn’t dare harm me.” As almost in answer to her statement, the ninja holding her ratcheted her arm back creating a sickening cracking sound that sent a fiery jolt of pain through Tori’s arm. Tori let out a stifled yell as she tried to remain standing under the pain.

“No! Fine! You can take the Powers!”

“Blake, no! We need that. We can’t win without those!”

“We’ll find another way then. I’m not losing you, Tori. That’s not an option.” With those words, Blake threw the box at the ninja’s feet. “Take it, now let her go.” As one of the dark ninja picked up the box, the assailant holding Tori let her go. One by one the black clad ninjas began disappearing until only Tori and Blake remained.

“What just happened here?” Blake asked confused. “Are you okay? Let me see.” Blake said as he reached out to check Tori’s broken arm.

“I’ll be alright once we get back to Ninja Ops, but look.” Tori was pointing to the small alcove. A bright blue light shone from the tiny spot

“But, that can’t be. They took it.” Blake said.

“I think we might have been given a second chance. Let’s see what it is”

Blake and Tori made their way over to the alcove. Blake reached in and grabbed the small black and gold box that was emitting the radiant glow. “I still can’t believe it, Tor.” As Blake opened the box, a bright white light shone from the box, filling the entire room

“Believe it, Blake. You did well in caring for your friends over the Power.”

“Tor?” The last thing Blake saw before the light overtook him was Tori waving to him with her injured arm.

Hunter was fighting a hard battle. He was fighting not only for his survival but for the survival of another. He had found Cam already engaged in battle and was now doing his best to ward off the enemy. The thing that Cam was fighting against looked like something out of an old samurai movie. The man was massively huge, wearing ancient samurai armor and wielding a larger than average samurai sword. If he weren’t so taken aback, Hunter would have thought it oddly appropriate The samurai came forward with a kick, which Cam blocked. Cam countered by turning and throwing a back fist that connected to the warrior. As the samurai staggered, Hunter came in throwing a right cross combined with an elbow strike causing the samurai to fall to his knees in pain. Hunter made his way to Cam to close the distance between the two of them.

“Glad to see you. You haven’t by any chance seen anyone else around, have you?” Hunter asked.

“Just you. Thanks by the way.”

“Not a problem. It can never be easy can it?”

“Obviously not. Watch it!” Cam called as the samurai swung his sword. Cam and Hunter rolled to either side of the room to avoid the blade which hit the wall behind them. Rolling up onto his knee, Hunter focused his power and threw a thunder charge that the armored warrior dodged. Hunter followed the warrior in his line of sight and threw another charge. The samurai vaulted over the shot, his feet planting on the side wall and launching himself toward Hunter. Hunter barely had enough time to get out of the way as the samurai charged him. The samurai swung in a flurry of flawless sword strikes, forcing Hunter’s back against the wall. Hunter tried blocking as fast as possible, but the warrior was much too quick. He landed a blow to Hunter’s side causing a burning pain in his ribs.

Cam came up from behind and landed a solid blow to the samurai in the back. He decided their best chance against him would be to take his feet out from under him. Cam lowered his center of gravity and performed a leg sweep, knocking him hard onto the ground As the samurai got back on his feet to attack again, Hunter came and grabbed him by the shoulder and brought his knee up into samurai’s stomach. To finish the job, Hunter held the warrior’s shoulder and focused all his energy to create a charge in his fist. Hunter struck the samurai, causing a surge of thunder to rip straight through the samurai’s body. The force of the thunder attack lifted the samurai and threw him across the room into the wall. Cam, fairly impressed, rushed over to Hunter and noticed Hunter holding his side where the strike to the ribs had hit.

“Let me see.” Cam said. He gently moved Hunter’s hand and saw blood seeping through his uniform.

“We have to get this taken care of.” Cam said.

“I’ll be fine. It’s just a flesh wound. He could have done a lot worse, that’s for sure. I’ll feel better once we’re out of here though.”

“Yeah, well I’ll feel better when we get you checked out and patched up.”

Cam leaned down to help Hunter up and allowed the Thunder Ninja to lean on him as they made their way around the other side of the room to look for a way out. Hunter appreciated having Cam there. They worked well together and he knew Cam would always look out for him. He wanted desperately to hold on to him even longer, but knew it wouldn’t be the right thing to do now. He didn’t want to force Cam into something he wasn’t ready for yet. He respected Cam too much for that.

“So, see any way out of this place?” Hunter asked.

“Wish I did. I tried looking around before the big guy over there showed up. But I can’t seem to find a way out. It’s like that gate dropped us off in the middle of nowhere with no way out.”

“Well, maybe that’s part of the test. We have to find our way out of here to reach the Power.” Hunter offered.

“Could be. Help me check the walls. There could be a special switch or mechanism that could show us a way out of here.”

Nodding, Hunter went around the room checking for any small sign of an exit. He continued to watch the samurai lying on the other side of the room to ensure that he was out cold.

“Hey, I think I may have found something!” he heard Cam call back to him Moving over as quickly as his aching side would allow, Hunter reached his location to see what Cam had found.

“What do you have?”

“It may be nothing, but does this section of wall look a little odd to you?”

Hunter took a closer look, leaning in dangerously close to Cam. Okay, definitely the time to focus here. Last thing Cam needs right now is me fawning all over him. “I don’t really see…” He paused as he examined it even more closely. “It looks like a small hole there. Kind of an odd shape for a random hole too.” The hole in the wall was the shape of a triangle, with a smaller upside-down triangle inside of it.

“Exactly. Something around here might actually fit there to open the way.” Cam ventured.

“So I guess we may be actually looking for a key now. I guess it’s a good thing we’re already in search mode.”

“Look for anything that might resemble that hole.”

Hunter and Cam both whipped around to the sound of movement behind them. The massive samurai had awakened and was holding a small gold triangular key in it’s large hand, almost taunting them with it.

“You mean like that?” Hunter said.

“Yeah, something like that. It really never is easy.” Cam said. Hunter began to advance on the warrior. “Where do you think you’re going? You can’t fight like that. You’ve got a massive laceration in your side.”

“It’s not a massive laceration. It’s a flesh wound. And I’m not letting you take on that thing by yourself.”

“I’m not giving you a choice. Stay behind me. I’ve got this. Besides, samurai are my specialty.” Cam smiled to him.

“Fine, but I’m sticking right behind you. Got me?” Hunter said with finality.

“Fine.” Cam moved in on the samurai as he looked at the key in it’s outstretched hand. Cam launched forward, striking the samurai and coming up with another strike which the samurai blocked. Blocking his move, the samurai slammed his palm into Cam’s midsection, stunning him. He then back fisted him, sending him staggering a few feet away. As Cam shook his head to try and clear the fog, he heard Hunter yell.

Hunter saw Cam practically thrown aside by the giant. He prepared to launch into the fight himself, wounded or not. At that moment, it was as if everything went in slow motion for Hunter. Cam was dazed after that vicious back fist. The samurai ran up, closing the distance on Cam. He raised his sword ready to strike. Instinct kicked in for Hunter. He would not let anything happen to Cam. He ran up, pushing Cam to the side. Knowing what his actions would mean for him, he waited for the horrible feeling of the blade, but it never came. When he opened his eyes, all he saw was empty space where the samurai once stood. Cam stood beside him, smiling

“What just happened? Where’d the samurai go and why am I not cut to shreds?”

Cam continued smiling. “Hey, are you alright?” Hunter was rather confused at the moment.

“More than alright. You passed.”

Hunter was really confused now. He couldn’t figure out what had just happened or why Cam had just said what he did. Before he could process it anymore, a bright white light began to glow from behind Cam until it became too bright to look at Hunter shielded his eyes, but he could swear it only got brighter.

“This can’t be good.” Cam said as he walked around what appeared to be a dungeon of the temple. Cages and chains lined the walls of the room.

“Cameron.”

Cam turned towards the sound of the voice and saw someone he definitely didn’t expect to see there.

“Dad! What are you doing here? How’d you get here?”

“I’ll field that one. I’m afraid that was my doing.” Things just got stranger from there for Cam.

“Lothor!? How did you even make it into this place? It’s supposed to be guarded.”

“Well I guess it’s not that well guarded then, eh Nephew? It’s been a bit of while hasn’t it? I never got the chance to thank you for the last time we met. So I decided to pass the sentiments along to you through my dear brother here.”

“Let him go now, Lothor!”

“Or what? I know you no longer have your Powers. That’s what brought you here in the first place. Your weak and Powerless now. You have no chance of stopping me.”

“Still as short-sighted and arrogant as always.” Cam said.

“Oh, pulling out the big words now, eh Nephew? All talk and no action. Why couldn’t you be more like your two friends, the Thunders? They knew how to wreak havoc. Then you had to come along and take them away from me. Oh, I had high hopes for them. Especially Hunter. He was an angry young man. I do hope he’s gotten some help for that since then.”

“Shut it already!” Strangely, Cam took quite a bit of offense to Lothor’s comment about Hunter. Hunter wasn’t angry. He was just passionate about whatever he did and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. It was what Cam liked and admired about Hunter.

“I guess I should get to the point of my little meeting here. I have what you’re looking for,” Lothor said.

“And what would that be?”

“I think you know, but just to prove it, I’ll show you.” Lothor walked over to a table and produced a small black and gold box. He approached Cam and opened it. Inside, glowing brightly, was the green Samurai disc. Cam was in shock. “Surprised are you? So much for the Ancients keeping this safe. Their security system could use some beefing up.”

“You want the amulet then, don’t you?

“That’s my nephew. Once again proving that genius runs in the family. Yes, now be a good boy and hand your uncle over the Amulet.”

“Sorry, I can’t. I don’t have it with me.”

“You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?”

“It doesn’t matter if you believe me or not, I don’t have it with me. The Amulet was powerless without the Samurai Powers so its back at Ninja Ops” He knew it was a blatant lie, but he couldn’t allow Lothor to get his hands on the Samurai Amulet. Especially if the disc he held was the real thing.

“Well, that’s a shame then. The Amulet was the only thing keeping your father alive. Since you don’t have it…” Lothor lifted his arm and began firing a wave of energy into Kanoi’s cage.

“Dad! No!” With a surprising speed, Cam hurled himself in front of the cage, taking on the brunt of the energy blast. When the blast subsided, Cam slid to the floor in pain.

“Well, that was heroic, but stupid.”

“Cameron, are you alright?” Kanoi asked his son.

Cam looked behind him with some difficulty. “I’m okay, dad. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine Son, but please do not do this.”

“Alright, enough of this. Once again, are you sure you don’t have the Amulet? Think carefully now.”

“If I did have it, I wouldn’t give it to you, that’s for sure.”

“Defiant to the end. I like that.” With that, he shot another blast at the cage, hitting Cam. The pain was even worse this time. Cam was struggling to keep from passing out.

“Cameron, give him the Amulet.” Kanoi whispered. “I know you have it with you. Please Son.”

“I can’t do that, Dad. I’m sorry.” Cam said weakly. Lothor fired another blast from both hands that slammed Cam into the side of the cage. It was becoming too much for him. He wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. Finally he spoke up weakly.

“Alright, Lothor. You win. I have it. It’s yours.” Cam produced the Samurai Amulet in his hand, holding it before Lothor.

“I knew a bit of gentle persuasion would work. Now hand it over.” Lothor said.

Cam reached his hand out to give it to him, but instead he threw it up in the air, just over Lothor’s head. As he expected, Lothor’s sight went up to follow the airborne Amulet. Cam saw his chance. He got up as quickly as his battered body would allow and ran at Lothor, pushing his shoulder into the dark ninja. He rammed Lothor to the far end of the room causing him to drop the box containing the Power Disc. Cam quickly grabbed it and ducked down to perform a leg sweep on Lothor, knocking him off his feet. With Lothor floored and at enough of a distance, Cam reached for and grabbed the Samurai Amulet. With the Amulet and the Power Disc in hand, Cam went over to get his father. When he turned, Kanoi was no longer there. Looking around in panic, he scanned the area for his father.

“Cameron.” He heard from behind him. Cam looked to find his father standing directly behind him, smiling broadly.

“Dad. How did you…?”

“It’s alright, Cameron. You did very well. I’m proud of you. You have proven yourself worthy of the Powers you seek.

“But I…” Before Cam could voice his question, a strange white light overtook everything. The strange thing was, he could swear he felt the Samurai Amulet become warm in his hands.

As the bright light finally faded away, Cam blinked his eyes to try and allow them to readjust As they did, he looked around and saw everyone standing with him. They all looked as confused as he felt.

“Tori! Hey, your arm is okay.” Blake said.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?” Tori asked confused.

Hunter checked his side. There were no signs of a cut there at all. Not even a rip in his uniform Weird.

Cam looked down at himself. He felt fine now. No pain or anything. Whatever had just happened must not have been real. Except for he still held the Samurai Amulet in his hand

“Is everyone alright? We’re all here?” Shane asked of everyone.

Dustin spoke up. “Yeah, we’re all here. But how did we get here? I wasn’t here a minute ago. It was just this really, incredibly bright light and…”

“Hey, you saw that too? It just about blinded me.” Blake said.

“So I take it we pretty much all saw just about the same thing. Bright light and then we’re back here.” Cam said.

“Pretty much. Wherever here is, at least we’re all together again.” Hunter said.

Looking up, Shane saw the same gold door he saw before. “Hey guys, check that out” He pointed to the door up ahead. “I think we might have to go there next.” Everyone nodded in agreement feeling Shane was right. Together, the six of them made their way toward the gold door. Each one preparing themselves for what lay beyond it. As they stepped closer, the door opened for them. The room that lay before them was brightly lit with hundreds of candles. The walls were adorned with dragon statues and paintings of past battles that had to be centuries old including battles containing six armor clad warriors in familiar colors. At the end of the room, in the center, was a stone altar that held the same symbol they had seen when they first entered the temple. The six ninja and samurai symbols all within a circle. And on the altar sat a familiar black and gold box. Only this box was larger than what they remembered from before. It held a faint white glow.

“I think this may be it, guys.” Shane said. Together the six walked up to the altar. As they approached even closer, the white glow became brighter and brighter. Shane looked to his five companions. They all nodded their consent that he would be the one to open the box. Shane reached out to open it. When he did, the familiar bright white light returned, but quickly dissipated to reveal six gold Power Discs. The symbols of Air, Water, Earth, Thunder, and the Samurai were engraved on them. “We did it guys. This is it. The Power.” Shane couldn’t help smiling. It was like regaining a piece of himself As each them gathered around, one by one, they all began to take their respective discs. As soon as they touched them, they could each feel the Power coursing through them once again. When all six held their discs safely in hand, they felt a surge of Power flow through them. They were Power Rangers once again.

“It’s almost too much to believe, huh? We’re back guys.” Dustin said with a huge smile on his face.

“So does anyone have any idea how we get out of here?” Blake asked. As if in answer, the white light returned, shining around them. Once it faded, they were once again standing outside near the entrance of the temple.

“Quick service.” Blake commented. “What do you say we get home and show off these new Powers of ours?”