Ferrant Heights, CA – 2018

  Quarks was the place to be in Ferrant Heights for the teenaged crowd. Its campy space/science theme was throwback to another time, but it had a great atmosphere, the best food, and room for the occasional event. It was run by a quirky woman in her thirties with a mass of wild red curls, lots of freckles, and large square glasses that magnified her pale blue eyes. She preferred to be called Ms. Frisbey, though there were some who simply called her Ms. Frizz.

  Ms. Frizz was a woman of many talents, several degrees in the sciences, arts, and philosophy. Somehow, she ended up spending her days running Quarks and writing down whatever musings passed her thoughts.

  For the past year or she's also been the guardian of an independent nephew. Ms. Frizz had never been married, and never around kids as much. Suddenly having a teenaged boy staying with her took some getting used to. But she'd grown up with Grayson boys, and this one was not much different.

  The reason Brenden Grayson left Mariner Bay was because Ferrant Heights was the place that was testing a new program for junior firefighters and other rescue services. It was a bit like an ROTC program attached to the local school, but for emergency and rescue services rather than military. Ferrant Heights High was a top-notch school itself with high academic and athletic standards. It was one of the only reasons his parents allowed their then sixteen-year old to attend the school.

  Brenden did miss his family, and old friends, but he'd quickly made new ones. Aunt Frizz was a unique guardian. He never let himself believe she had no idea what he was doing despite her penchant for seeming scatterbrained.

  He was hanging out with his friends at Quarks on a day when everything changed. Galen Kulbart was the first friend he made when he moved in with Aunt Frizz. He lived two floors down in the apartment building they lived in. They also ended up in the same class.

  Galen was a cheerful friendly guy. His dad drove a dump truck for a local company, and his mother was a nurse at the hospital. He'd spent his early years in Stone Canyon, but his mom's new job brought him to Farrant Heights. He enjoyed dancing, rapping, mixing music, and karate.

  Misty Falk and her newly divorced mother moved into the building about six months after Brendon. Recently employed as a scientist at S.P.D., Mrs. Falk's expertise landed her a high paying research job with a local biochemical company. Misty was a year younger than they were, but she was highly intelligent and ended up in their class at school.

  As they sat at a table with a mobile of a galaxy class starship circling above their heads, eating French fries, and sipping milkshakes, they had no inkling what sort of day they were going to have. That somewhere in Ferrant Heights, a group of space-faring criminals had set-up a base of operations. That they were here to wake a great evil that was trapped below the city. That outside Ferrant Heights, a dimensional bubble was forming bringing with it a house and a family looking for a missing child.

  ? ? ?

  There wasn't a noise. No shimmer. No shake. No warning. Not far from the city of Ferrant Heights, a house and some landscape appeared. A woman with long dark hair poked her head out of window then dashed outside. "Did we end up in the right spot?" she asked, looking around. "I don't see Donny," she said. "What about Shing?"

  A tall man followed her outside. "Shing got stuck outside the perimeter," he said. Something jangled at his side. He pulled a device out of the pocket of the pants he was wearing. He pulled the high-tech device open to reveal a screen. The face a man with thick black glasses appeared on it. "Sorry I couldn't be there to greet you. Family emergency," he said. "Did the transfer go smoothly?" he asked.

  Dex Ro, Chieftain of the Ninjetti Clan of Shogunatta nodded. "We made it in one piece, except for Shing. One of the transmitters was malfunctioning. He was on the wrong side of it when it activated," he said. "Thank you for all your help," he said.

  Mai Li, his wife, pushed her face into the frame. "Yes, thank you, Donny," she said.

  "You're both welcome. Shame about Shing, but if anyone can figure out another way to get there, it's him. Good luck with finding Mika. If you need my help, you know how to contact me," he said and the screen went black. Dex closed the device.

  Mai Li rubbed the back of her neck. Dex saw the movement, brushed her hand away and took over casually. "Getting to Earth was the hard part," he assured her.

  She sighed and leaned against his chest. "I actually think that was the easy part. The hard part will be finding the Strange Clan, stopping them from awakening an ancient evil ninja spirit that was even banished from Youkai Mountain thousands of years ago, and getting our daughter back from them," she declared.

  Dex smiled somewhat sadly. His dauntless wife was verging on hysteria. The unshakable Mai Li Yeoh hadn't quite been the same since their daughter disappeared. Learning more about her abductors hadn't helped matters. He kissed her temple. "But that, my dear, is why we came prepared," he reminded her.

  She nodded and they went back inside the house. There was a workshop in the back of the house. That was their destination, but they got waylaid by two small entities barreling down a hallway. One was chasing the other. Dex scooped one up, a wiggling young girl of about eight. She squealed and giggled when he draped her over his shoulder.

  Mai Li snagged the other one, a boy around eleven. "What the hurry?" she asked.

  "Milo said that we're on Erf and that there are monsters here and that they were gonna eat me," the girl said.

  With dark hair falling in his face, Milo pouted. "Miru's exaggerating. I was just telling her about the monster we're here to stop," he said.

  "Are you exaggerating, puss?" Dex asked the girl as he set her on her feet.

  "Maybe a little," she said and gave an unabashed smile, which made a dimple pop out of one cheek very much like her mother's. "But we wanted to see Erf," she declared.

  "I'll take you both outside to see Earth in a little while," Mai Li said. "You two go to the court yard and do your morning drills," she ushered.

  They both gave disappointed groans, but did as they were asked. The house was a series of rooms arranged in a square around a central courtyard with a gate. The courtyard had many purposes. One of the main ones was ninja training.

  Mai Li sighed. "I get the feeling that Miru isn't wrong about the monsters," she said.

  "Not if the Strange Clan are planning to awaken Gengetsu Kibaoni. If what I've learned about them is true, they'll need to gather a lot of fear. Human fear. Since they also have the Ogre Summoning Hammer, there will be monsters," Dex said grimly.

  Upon entering the workshop, Mai Li skipped over to an ornate wooden box, and opened it. "Luckily my brilliant husband had the foresight to use the power of the Star Furies to create these," she said.

  He walked up behind her and looked down at the box. Five shuriken of varying colors and designs were settled into the padded interior of the case. There was a red one, a white one, a blue one, a pink one, and a yellow one. They about the size of the palm of a hand.

  Dex closed the case and took it out to the courtyard with Mai Li following behind them. The children stopped in their training and snuck closer, eventually attaching themselves to each side of their mother. Dex sat the case on the ground and opened it. He touched a device on the back of his hand. The shuriken floated out of the case and hovered around his hand in a circle. He flicked his hand forward and the shuriken shot into the sky over the fence, and disappeared in winks of color-coordinated lights.

  "I just hope we aren't already too late," he said. He turned toward his family. "We may have visitors soon," he said. "Who wants to help prepare a welcome for them?" he asked. If nothing else, that got the children's attention, who had many a farfetched idea for their first encounters with Earthlings.

  ? ? ?

  A new city, a new start for Bianca Florentine. She was pretty, blonde girl, a bit on the tall side. She looked airheaded, slightly vapid. She was the perfect example of why one shouldn't judge a book by its cover. She'd been acting since she was five, starting out in commercials. Around ten she began to play roles in more action-oriented programs. The younger versions of main characters usually. Eventually she landed a small role on an action program slated for younger children. It was cancelled.

  That led her to her breakout role when she was twelve, the female part of a trio of ninjas. The program lasted four years, and finally ended. During that time, she didn't just learn basic pantomimed moves of martial arts. No, the studio and network hired a professional stunt and fight coordinating company and the head of the company did not cut the young stars of the series any slack.

  The series ended when the intrepid ninjas defeated their worst enemy, graduated high school, and went off to live their lives in a peaceful world.

  Bianca decided to do something similar. She decided to take a year off, finish high school, train more, and then go on to be the female action star of Hollywood. Though she started her career in San Angeles, her hometown, she relocated to Ferrant Heights for some anonymity, and to finally process the death of her mom, for both her and her dad. He thought it'd be good for them to get away from the spotlight and the memories for a while, and she agreed wholeheartedly.

  She was headed toward what she'd recently learned was the place to be if you were a teenager in Ferrant Heights. It appeared to be a hokey diner with the best food. She looked down at her phone to make sure she was in the right place. "Across from the north entrance to Ironside Park," she murmured. She looked up and around. She saw the quaint sign proclaiming Ironside Park. Across the street, she saw the neon sign proclaiming Quarks.

  In the middle of the street she saw blue and black checkered creatures in wide pointy hats. Some carried spears, others carried flintlock-esque pistols. Some carried both. There appeared to be an entire squadron of them. Leading them was a more ornate creature without a pointy hat. Instead it seemed to wear a griffon's head as a helmet and had a more ornate spear.

  Other people noticed them now, and began to panic, to scream, to run, to call for help. Bianca froze.

  The leader of the cohort raised his spear and made an inarticulate sound that the others seemed to understand. Some got down on their knees and began firing ghostly balls of energy at people. Others fanned out to attack others.

  One of the creatures came toward her. She shrieked, and pulled can of mace out of her purse and hit him full in in the face with it. He led out a garbled sound of pain and outrage as he staggered back. Then, years of martial arts choreography kicked in. She turned in close, elbowed him in the chest, twisted his arm, pulled the spear from his hand in a nearly expert whirl, and jabbed him with it.

  Although he didn't exactly have a face, he seemed surprised as his looked down at the spear sticking out of his chest. He made a whine and then whooshed into a spectral figure that seemed to be sucked into an other-world. Bianca didn't have too much time to get over her shock of what had just happened, because now she'd become a target and needed to find somewhere to take cover.

  She hid behind a tree, just as a ghostly bullet hit the tree, she felt it shudder. She shuddered. As she caught her breath, she realized there was something stuck to her purse. It was a small white throwing star that seemed to have been clipped on to it. She didn't get a chance to wonder about it because another of the creatures found her hiding spot. She yelped and rolled, thrusting his captured spear upward just as his came down. She cried out when it hit her shoulder. It seemed to go through her, but not in the typical sense, as it didn't tear her flesh. But it was stuck in her regardless, and she was seeing stars as blackness edged her vision.

  ? ? ?

  Brenden, Galen, and Misty had finished their meals. They were heading outside when they saw the creatures appear. "You kids get back in here!" Aunt Frizz shouted, her magnified eyes going even wider behind her magnified specs.

  However, it was too late. The attacking creatures turned their attention to the building full of scared young people. Brenden slammed the doors behind him. "You guys run for it. I'm not letting these things in this building," he declared, his protective, rescuer instincts kicking into gear. He dodged a blast of the ghostly energy the musketeers fired.

  Galen and Misty went in opposite directions to take cover.

  Brenden rolled to his feet, landed a spinning back kick to one of the creatures with the spears. It sent him flying into a line of musketeers, disrupting their targeting skills. Another spearman came at him, and he ducked, jabbed the creature under the arm, effectively disrupting his ability to use the spear. Unfortunately for Brenden, the creature also had hand to hand combat skills as well. A knee to his head sent him crashing to the ground and made his ears, ring.

  "I'm rustier than I realized," he complained. He got to one knee. He shook his head to clear the ringing and saw a strange key-chain sized throwing star clipped to one of his high-top sneakers. He didn't have time to investigate. He got to his feet and bounced on his toes lightly. "Let's see if this still works," he said. He blew out a breath, gathered his thoughts, and energy. He focused his Ki and thrust out a hand toward a creature coming at him. The creature jerked back, shook himself and kept coming. "A whole lot rustier than I realized," Brenden muttered. "Basics it is," he said and launched himself at the creature. The more he fought, the more past training came back to him, but he was still pretty rusty.

  Misty dodged behind a piece of shrubbery. The firing stopped when Brenden amazingly threw one of the creatures at the others. Still, there were a lot of the creatures. She saw a couple of younger kids being chased out of the park by a couple of the spear wielding ones. Without thinking, she ran toward them. She hadn't had a chance to tell anyone, but she'd undergone an extensive training regimen for the inaugural "Junior S.P.D." program. She tended to be a bit competitive and always had to be the best at whatever she tried. She finished the program at the top.

  She got between the kids and the creature. "Go to Quarks. Hurry," she shouted at them. Despite her compact frame, she rammed her shoulder into the creature's chest, grunting from the pain of it. She grabbed its wrist, hook her foot behind its ankle and threw him over her shoulder. She grabbed the spear and jabbed him with it. He disappeared in a whooshing flash, startling her so much she almost lost the plot. But she didn’t. She moved on because there were more of the creatures and more people in danger.

  She missed another jab. The creature grabbed her spear, jerked her forward, and knocked her on her rear. Groaning, she climbed to her feet. She dusted off her bottom and found a pink star clipped to her belt loop. With no time to spare, she ran at her enemy, now wielding two spears. She jumped, using the spears as a landing zone. Stunned the creature found himself balancing her. She jumped again, hooking her legs around his neck, grabbing the spears. She used her momentum to throw him, but kept the spears.

  Galen poked his head around the plastic trash can he'd hidden behind when the shooting stopped. Several Spearman were coming toward him. He may have been a free styling b-boy to most people, but he'd spent years as a pupil at the Stone Canyon Scott Dojo. Combining his two skill sets was sometimes pretty impressive.

  Using his wrists, Galen spun himself, kicking the trash can into the spearmen. He whirled to his feet. He bounced, kicking out at one creature, punching another in the throat all while midair. His body spun horizontally midair before he landed, going to one knee. When he straightened the cap he wore, he realized a strange yellow thing was clipped to it.

  He bent backwards, avoiding a spear swipe. He placed his hands on the ground behind him, twisted, spinning his body in a display of physics defying skill. As he whirled in circles, he kicked many of the creatures off their feet. When he came to his feet, Misty tossed him a spear. He grinned. “You guys are in for it now. I actually know how to use this thing,” he warned them, giving the spear a well-executed whirl.

  Having acquired a spear of his own, Brenden joined his joined his friends. They all finally noticed the blonde girl get attacked, but between them and her were still nearly a dozen of the creatures. They looked at each other, and seemed to understand that they needed to help her.

  Bianca rather wished someone would help. She wasn’t sure what the spear was doing to her, but it seemed to be draining something out of her. A flash of blue light made her wince. She found herself peering up at a pretty young man with the most ridiculously unnatural blonde hair that even a K-pop idol would steer away from.

  Somehow, he didn’t even seem phased to suddenly be appearing in a war zone. If anything, he seemed rather annoyed. He threw his hands up. “Of course!” he complained. He cracked his knuckles, then kicked Bianca’s surprised tormenter, sending him crashing several yards away.

  He adjusted the backpack he wore. “Let me help with that,” he said. He knelt and put a hand on her shoulder near where the spear was stuck. She groaned. He grimaced apologetically. “Sorry,” he said. “Good news. It may hurt, but it won’t kill you. It’s just sucking up your fear that it’ll kill you,” he stated. He got to his feet. He gripped the spear. “Brace yourself. Ready?”

  Bianca sucked in a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and nodded. He pulled on the spear. It came out easily enough, but it did not feel great at all. He tossed it aside and helped her to her feet. “Thank you,” she said.

  “No sweat,” he said. “You should get somewhere safe,” he said. “I’ll help those industrious heroes,” he said, meaning the outnumbered trio valiantly fighting off the creatures.

  Something happened before she object, or he could do anything. A dark hooded figure appeared. Seeming to wink in and out of existence, he tacked wards onto the creatures. He stood off to the side as the creatures explode.

  Spectral blue energy obscured everything on the street. When it cleared, if anyone remembered seeing five teenagers and a hooded man, they weren’t there now. They’d vanished along with the creatures and left everyone in Ferrant Heights wondering what exactly just happened.

  ? ? ?

  Ferrant Heights, back in the early 19th Century, used to mine for iron ore. There were a number of abandoned mines, and even an old mining shack or two. It as a dangerous area that neither the city nor the state knew what to do with. It was so far away from the city, that even bored hooligans didn’t bother to go there.

  It was also rumored to be haunted.

  In a way it was. Mining shut down for reason. It was if they were beginning to dig out something ancient. Something evil. The locals at the time believed it was ancient Native American burial places.

  The Chinese laborers who also worked the mines thought it was the spirit of an ancient mogwai. They’d often burn paper money to appease it before beginning work. In the end, the mine shut down when it no longer produced enough ore to be profitable. Or so says the official account. Its rumored that they were no longer able to hire enough people to work there.

  This was exactly the right place for a troupe of no goodnick space ninjas to set up a base of operations. Because there was a mogwai deep, deep into the mines and beyond this world. And these no goodnick space ninjas intended to wake it up.

  The Strange Clan were a brutal, widespread group. Their criminal activities were well known in certain parts of the galaxy. They were human, but where they originated was something lost to the ethers of history. Not that they were a backwards gazing bunch.

  No. They were focused solely on their future and their power. At least the current patriarch was. Laird Gennus Strange was a big, burly man with a face almost as red as the long braid that fell from the top of a head that was bald otherwise. Blazing blue eyes were sharp, and something of a family trait.

  Accompanying on this venture was his brother Ryzo. Ryzo was the baby of the Clan’s elder siblings. He had a shock of white-blonde hair, the only man of the Clan whose head wasn’t mostly shaved. He also had two different colored eyes. The right was blue, the left was gold. He wasn’t very bright, but he was fiercest, most loyal warrior in the clan.

  Juno Strange was the sister just younger than Gennus. She was his right hand. As shrewd as she was skillful, he often followed her advice when given. They also fought like cats and dogs over trivial matters like most siblings. She was the only brunette in the elder clan, her hair something akin to a pixie cut, but much shorter on the sides and in back. She tended to talk down to Ryzo. She also highly disapproved of one member of their little quartet.

  Gennus had married a young, pretty, conniving little gold-digger. At least that’s how Juno saw her. Aradne was a skilled thief and con-artist. Gennus fell for her and had to have her as soon as they met. Tall, slender, warm skinned with oval brown, nearly black eyes, she looked like a Persian princess. Her black hair was long and stylish. She was highly pregnant, but Gennus didn’t want to wait to reach his goals.

  They’d converted one of the old mines into something of a home, with rooms, a kitchen, and study of sorts. It was where they gathered to make their plan and keep an eye on their progress. It was also where an alter had been set up to gather human fear. There was a series of cascading bowls. When the bottom, largest bowl began to overflow, that meant they’d succeeded in awakening the ancient spirit of a being so powerful, so terrifying, that the Youkai Royal Family of Shogunatta had banished it to the furthest depths of reality.

  Gennus had learned with enough human fear, the entity would begin to awaken. Then he’d just have to crack open the fabric of reality to finally free it. He’d spent a long time finding everything he needed to fulfill his destiny.

  One of Juno’s skills was summoning onizaks, restless spirits of disgraced, fallen warriors, and controlling them. She’d finally sent them out to the nearest human population. For a while, fear had poured into the into the alter. Then it stopped.

  “What happened?” Gennus demanded.

  Juno was also able to see what any of the onizaks could. She’d been watching through the eyes of the daionizak, the cohort commander. “Some of the Earthlings fought back, but that’s wasn’t the problem,” she said grimly. “There was a man. Dressed in black. He used some wards to banish the onizaks,” she said.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  “You should have let me go,” Ryzo stated.

  “It sounds to me like you need something a bit stronger than an onizak,” Aradne said with a serene smile. She ignored Juno’s glare with grace.

  The final member of their group joined them. A small fox-demon with nine-tails. It was compact and thin. It wore a leather and fur vest, baggy pants, and a fox-demon mask. It had a long greenish-black braid. It also carried a hammer that seemed ridiculously large for it.

  “Gumi!” Aradne cooed, and waddled over to the creatures. “How’s my fuzzy-wuzzy little smooshums?” she said and scratched the demon’s soft furry ears.

  Gumi snarled and flattened its ears back. “Stop doing that!” it said in a young but low voice. “I was scouting the area. We may have a problem, laird,” said the demon.

  “I was just learning about a hooded man who knew how to vanquish onizaks,” Gennus said in a deceptively conversational tone.

  “I don’t know anything about that. I ran into something that called itself a Goldsmith,” Gumi reported. “It was...impressive.”

  Ryzo scoffed. “Anything that can give this scrawny little bag of fur trouble isn’t worth paying attention to,” he declared. “Let me go to the city and force these weaklings to fear me!” he asked.

  Gennus was quiet a moment. “Juno, I want you and Gumi to supervise the youkaiza,” he said. Ryzo made a discontented sound, but a glare from Gennus shut him up quickly.

  Juno paled slightly. “I haven’t ever summoned a youkaiza,” she said.

  “Isn’t that part of why we obtained the Ogre Summoning Hammer?” Aradne said helpfully.

  Juno sighed through her nose and got to her feet. “Gumi. Let’s go,” she said. Bouncing gleefully, Ryzo headed out behind his big sister. Gumi skulked out behind them, not looking forward to whatever they had planned.

  ? ? ?

  The five teenagers appeared in the central courtyard of a gated, walled, eastern influenced house. There was a banner strung from the overhanging roof of the central room that read “Welcome Heroes of Erf!” with a big smiley face painted as the dot of the exclamation mark.

  A young girl threw a handful of glitter confetti into the air, and a little boy pulled a party popper which showered them with multi-colored paper strings.

  The hooded man chuckled. “Nice sign,” he said. Pulling back his hood, Dex grinned at the expressions on the faces of the teens. “Where’s your mother?” he asked his children.

  “Getting the cake,” Mai Li announced as she appeared from the kitchen was a cake that had the five multicolored throwing stars adorning it in icing. “Oh, you poor dears. We didn’t expect things to happen to so quickly. We’d hoped to be able to explain things before the Strange Clan made its move,” she said, setting the cake down on a picnic table.

  “Things happen when they’re meant to,” Dex said.

  “Explaining things would be nice,” Brenden said, finally finding his voice.

  The blonde guy crept over to the cake. “Indoctrinate those guys. I know the spiel already. I’ll have cake,” he said.

  Mai Li slapped his hand before he could get a taste of icing. “Oh, no, mister. You listen, too. It’s very important,” she scolded him.

  He rubbed his hand. “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

  Misty and Bianca couldn’t suppress giggles at his expense but Brenden frowned sternly.

  Dex hid his amusement. “First of all, I am Dex Ro, Chieftain of the Ninjetti Tribe. This is my wife Mai Li. My son, Milo. My daughter Miru. We've come a long way. Since the Shinobi Power Stars found you, that means you can help us,” he said seriously.

  “We gotta beat up a monster and find my sister,” Miru declared.

  “There's a bit more than that, puss,” Dex said.

  “Tell us over cake,” the blonde boy said.

  Brenden looked at him with a bemused frown. “How can you keep harping--”

  “A great idea,” Mai Li said. She ushered everyone to sit at the table. She fussed over them, made sure they weren't hurt badly or too uncomfortable. She made sure they all had cake and milk. When they were settled, whether they wanted cake or not, Dex told them why they were there.

  Then he explained that the Star Furies were a crystalline energy source found on one of Shogunatta’s moons. They began using them to power homes and other technologies. The most abundant source was furium. The Star Furies themselves were rarer. Small, highly concentrated crystalline deposits that naturally resembled stars. They were meant to be used for defense purposes.

  When the Ogre Summoning Hammer disappeared, the Star Furies were utilized for new Morphing technology. “The Stars were designed to seek out and locate compatible partners. You five were chosen.”

  Misty studied her pink star. “AI?” she asked, wide-eyed.

  “Eh, not really. There was technical stuff about bio scans, mentality, and physicality,” Mai Li said.

  “Whoa,” Misty said.

  “So, what are your names?” Miru asked, wanting to stop dwelling on the boring stuff.

  “Brenden Grayson.”

  “Misty Falk.”

  “Galen Kulbart.”

  “Bianca Florentine.”

  “Van Goldsmith.”

  Before anyone could marvel over Bianca, as both Misty and Galen were fans, a strange sound erupted from one of the rooms. Dex to his feet and ran into the dojo. Brenden and Van weren't far behind him. There was a map at the back of the dojo. He tapped on a blinking red dot and the map changed to a video image of a creature rampaging in Ferrant Heights.

  “Looks like we'll learn about our new powers on the fly,” Van said.

  “Tap the back of your hands three times. Clicking the left button will take to a source of disturbance or back here. The right button is a communicator. To morph, connect the Stars and the Starter together. Good luck,” Dex said.

  Tapping on their hands revealed a device they hadn't even realized had been implanted there.

  “We really doing this?” Galen asked.

  “You bet your buttons. I feel like this is what Master Park whipped me into shape for,” Bianca declared.

  “You can't outrun destiny, no matter how much you might want to,” Van declared.

  “I'd hate to think I finished top my class in the SPD junior program was for nothing,” Misty said.

  Brenden nodded. “My whole life has been about doing the right thing. I won't stop now,” he said.

  Galen nodded. “Let's go then.”

  “Right,” they said together. They clicked the left button of the Shinobi Starters and disappeared in puffs of ninja smoke.

  Mai Li blew out a breath. "They're younger than I thought they'd be,” she said.

  Dex draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side. He gave her a slight squeeze. “They'll be fine. They wouldn't have been chosen if they weren't ready,” he assured her. She nodded and rested her head against him as they watched to see how things would unfold.

  ? ? ?

  The Ironside Mall was busy on a Saturday. Events earlier that day seemed far removed from people going about their business. Some shopped. Some sat around an open-air food court and sipped coffee or got a snack. They never expected an Onizak attack.

  So when the creatures began appearing, seemingly clawing their way out of the ground, the ghastly creatures achieved maximum fear mongering. Afraid and panicked people began trying to get away from them.

  Meanwhile, on the roof of one of the buildings that made up the Mall, Juno and Gumi were engaged in something else. Juno held a slip of paper between two fingers and was chanting something lowly under her breath. The paper began to glow, slipped away from Juno, and began to form a ball of ghastly light. "It's ready," Juno said.

  Gumi nodded and hit the ball of light with the Hammer. The light seemed to solidify, then crack. The glowing shell seem to fade away revealing a throwing star. "That's it?" Gumi snarled?

  Juno smirked. She took the star and tossed it.

  The five teens appeared in the courtyard of the mall. "These guys again," Brenden complained.

  "Get back!" Van said suddenly, flinging and arm out before anyone could step forward. A streak of something flew past them.

  "That guy again," Gumi snarled.

  The youkaiza summoning star cut through anything in its way and then bonded to a chainsaw that someone had just purchased from a hardware store, but had been left behind when the onizaks attacked.

  "Object devoid of will of your own, let the Youkaiza give you purpose," Juno incantated.

  Dark energy exploded outward from the saw and it began to move, to change shape. It grew into a monster that resembled a weasel in a hockey mask, but with sickle shaped chain saw blade growing from it. "Aaah! This is nice," he declared. She spun in a circle and threw energy from his blades that cut off the tops of trees. He threw another at a van. It exploded on impact.

  "Hey!" Brenden shouted. It was time to put a stop to this nonsense.

  The youkaiza whirled toward them, throwing more energy blades. The quintet lunged out of the way. Bianca barely made it. Part of her brand-new skirt didn't make it. She gasped and sputtered. First her shoulder, now her skirt.

  Weasel Sickle laughed. "Fear the blade. Be afraid. Be very afraid," he said, and ignoring them, started to attack more people.

  "I think it's time," Brenden said, as he started to get to his feet.

  "It's way past time," Bianca agreed, and got up in a huff.

  "If you guys are sure about this," Galen said from where he sat. That thing was very scary.

  Van put a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be a cake walk," he said.

  "I think you just want another piece of cake," Misty declared as she stood.

  "That's true," Van said as hopped to his feet. He held a hand down to Galen. The other boy grabbed his hand after a brief hesitation. Van effortlessly helped him to his feet.

  "Then we're agreed?" Brenden asked without looking behind him.

  Van pulled out his Power Star and clicked it. It grew larger, and an image of a helmeted figure appeared on it. "We are agreed," he said.

  The others did the same.

  Brenden nodded and pulled his out. He held his hand fisted in front of him. "Shinobi Start!" He placed the Star against the Starter. It hovered slightly and his flicked it, it began spinning

  As one the other four repeated the actions. "Ninja Fury Power!" they called in unison.

  The Stars flew forward, attacking several of the onizaks before flying back to them. In multicolored streaks, the Stars flew around them, producing nearly solid colored powersuits on the boys, with white boots, black arms, colored gauntlets and black gloves. The girls formed skirted powersuits with the legs being black with faux thigh high white boots, and white booties. Black sashes with colored shuriken motifs forms, then golden belts, frog themed sidearms, and finally yellow and silver bladed swords strapped to their backs.

  The last things to form was the helmets. The Stars spun front of their faces as the helmets began to appear.

  A mostly flat topped yellow helmet formed to match the main color of Galen's suit. A star with for rectangular points appeared as his visor. "The shimmering calm, Yellow Shinobi Ranger!"

  A slightly more pointed pink helmet formed to match the main color of Misty's suit. A star with slightly rounded triangles as the points appeared as her visor. "The wavering haze, Pink Shinobi Ranger!"

  A slightly flatter topped blue helmet formed to match the main color of Van's suit. A star with long sharp triangles for the points appeared as the visor. "The soaring clouds, Blue Shinobi Ranger!"

  Another more pointed white helmet formed match the match the main color of Bianca's suit. A star with slightly rounded pentagons appeared as her visor with an outline of gray around it to match the gray bordering her sash. "The flower in the wind, White Shinobi Ranger!"

  A pointed red helmet formed to match the main color of Brenden's suit. A shuriken in motion appeared as his visor. "The roaring brilliance, Red Shinobi Ranger!"

  Sickle Weasel stumbled back in surprise. "What? What's this?" he demanded.

  Juno clenched her fists. "That's a good question," she said. Gumi crouched, watching. The fox-demon snarled. It knew that Goldsmith thing was bad news.

  "We are what's going to put an end to you today. We're Power Rangers," Red Shinobi stated.

  Sickle Weasel and the Onizaks tilted their heads. "Power Rangers?"

  Red drew his Star Blade. "Prepare to feel the fury," he said, and jumped. He flipped in the air, and came down in front of Sickle Weasel. The youkaiza threw one of its blades up to block the sword's slash. The began to trade blows, all the while he was also fending off onizaks with spears.

  Blue drew his Blade. He began flipping through a series of onizaks. He rolled and came to his feet in front of a confused creature and revealed that he's used a wire from the base of the blade to string a line of them together. He drew his side-arm. "Surprise!" he fired on the creatures and they disappeared in ghostly blue puffs.

  Yellow was fighting onizaks that had spilled out into a parking area. He jumped on cars, and kicked out at them before moving on. Suddenly he jerked back. There was one of the musketeers on the mall's tall sign sniping at him. He back flipped from one car onto another, then flung two copies of his Star at the side with wires attached to him. They worked like both grabbling hook and wenches. They pulled him up to the sign where he threw the onizak off. He pulled out his Shooter and fired, disintegrating him on the way down, and took out a few more that were after him.

  Red lost the youkaiza while he was fighting the onizaks. He's ended up on another building of the mall complex. Onizaks were after him. He slashed at them with his sword and jumped onto a shorter, building. Onizak musketeers were shooting at him, but he flipped through a crowd of them, and unleashed several red stars, that lodged in the concrete beneath the creatures that were above and around him. He dove off the building just as the stars exploded.

  With her blade in hand, Pink was fending for herself, but there were still plenty of onizaks after her. She let out a deep breath and jumped, gracefully sailing backwards in the air before flipping and landing. She stood and waited. The onizaks came after her. As they came forward, the concrete opened beneath them. "Pitfall Technique!" Even if the ones in front wanted to stop, the momentum of the ones behind send them all tumbling into the hole. She drew her side-arm and fired on them. When she turned, the concrete reappeared as if there'd never been a hole.

  White found herself on a catwalk connecting two construction sites nearby where they seemed to be expanding the mall. A couple of onizaks had followed her up. She slashed at one with her blade, whirled on one foot and kicked the other off. Onizaks on the ground were firing at her and she used the blade to deflect the shots. "When are you guys going to realize I'm more than just a pretty face?"

  She jumped down from the catwalk. She landed on one the onizaks and rolled to her feet. She kicked out at some, used her blade on others. One of the spearmen got a lucky shot at her sore shoulder, which threw off another spin-kick. She toppled to one knee and the Onizaks tried to take advantage.

  Red came along, and handled them. "Are you, okay?" he asked, blocking her from any other attackers that may try to get to her.

  "Ego's a bit bruised. Master Park would have my hide for that screw up," she declared sourly as she got to her feet.

  "We won't tell," Blue assured her as he, Pink, and Yellow converged on them.

  Sickle Weasel found them. "Yo, ninja wannabes," he called out. "I'll make you all cower in fear!" he said was shaking in rage at their defiance of his fearmongering.

  Red stepped forward. "You'll have to do a lot better than that to frighten me," he said. He didn't mean to sound cocky, but his training had prepared him for fear.

  "What! How's this?!" Sickle Weasel used his bladed to throw slashes of dark energy at the Red Ranger.

  Red held up his sword. The energy met it, and he used the blade with a deft wrist movement to hurl the energy back at the youkaiza. "And this is just the start!" He lashed forward with his sword again as the youkaiza brought up his blades to defend himself.

  "Transtarter Bow!" White and Pink each summoned a large star-shaped weapon which they used as a bow, and pulled back on it.

  Red swirled around and jumped out of the way as energy formed in the center of the bow. The girls released and the energy blasts flew into the creature. He cried out when he stumbled back. He growled and his bladed arms began to glow.

  "Boo!" Yellow appeared beside him. He also held a star shaped device, but his had a small dagger like blade on it. "Transtarter Blade!" He stabbed at the youkaiza and sent it rolling.

  Before the creature could even properly get to its feet, Blue jumped from the catwalk. "Transtarter Claw!" he fell into the creature with a star weapon with two blades. Electrify arced and Blue pulled away. The explosion sent Sickle Weasel flying backwards, and crashing into the ground.

  Red attached his Power Star to his Star Blade and pressed a button neat the hilt. "Ninja Fury Power!" he spun the Star on his blade and red energy emanated from it. He ran forward at a great speed. His slashed streaks of red. He jumped up a great height and came down hard. "Furious Ninja Slash!" A final slash of energy had the monster arcing like crazy.

  "You shinobi need to chill out a bit," he said weakly. Red jumped free just as the energy exploded.

  He landed and whirled around with the others coming up behind him. "We don't chill when it comes to saving people from monsters," he declared.

  The heap that was the monster began to smoke purple as the energy that created him began to dissipate. Just then a nine-tailed fox demon landed out of nowhere.

  "You again!" Blue sputtered.

  Gumi ignored him. The fox demon put a star on the hammer and twisted it. Without saying anything, the creature hit the air above the youkaiza. It jumped free when energy exploded out from the creature and it grew to enormous proportions. The explosion knocked the unprepared Rangers off their feet.

  "Now you should be afraid. All your fear are belong to me!" he crowed He began using his blades to tear up the buildings he could get to.

  "Now what?" White huffed.

  "Did Dex's speech cover summoning Zords?" Blue asked.

  As if on cue, five more Stars were thrown from the top of catwalk, the man in black. They landed in the concrete near them.

  "Didn't think he'd let us down, did you?" Pink asked as she took her pink star.

  "Nah. Guy's a pro," Blue said, taking his. The others took theirs as they got to their feet.

  "Zord time," Red said, replacing his Power Star with his Zord Star. He pressed another button on his Blade. "Hidden Shinobi Zord!" he summoned, spinning the Star. As if appearing from nowhere, a red and silver humanoid Zord came running through the city.

  Pink spun her Zord Star. "Hidden Express Zord!"

  White spun her Zord Star. "Hidden Wolf Zord!"

  A shimmer in the sky preceded the appearance of a pink and black bullet train. A white wolf Zord with a black head and golden throwing knife in its mouth jumped out of the back compartment with a howl.

  Blue spun his Zord Star. "Hidden Drago Zord!" A blue dragon glowed into existence with a proud spread of its wings and an arrogant roar.

  Yellow spun his Zord Star. "Hidden Dumper Zord!" A large yellow dump truck shimmered into existence and rolled down the street.

  The Rangers watched as the Zords approached. "Wow. That's some collection," Blue whistled.

  "They're awesome!" Pink declared excitedly.

  "How did--how did they know my dad drove a dump truck?" Yellow asked.

  "Mine's adorable," White declared.

  "Come on. No time for gawking," Red said and the Rangers jumped onto their Zords.

  Sickle Weasel turned, saw the Shinobi Zord coming at him. He slung energy blades, but the agile Zord jumped and spun, avoiding the blast. Sickle Weasel tried several times to strike at it, but the dodge dodged, even at one point leaping over the giant youkaiza. "Take this!" he threw several throwing knives at the Zord, but it jumped back, seeming to pull up a slab of street which the knives hit instead.

  When concrete slab settled back into place, the Dumper Zord was on top of it. It drove toward the weasel, and launched several star shaped grenades that exploded around the monster's feet.

  The Express Zord seemed as if it could use anything as a track, zoomed along and launched several throwing stars at the monster. The Wolf Zord attacked with throwing knife in its mouth then landed in the Express Zord's empty car.

  With the youkaiza distracted, Shinobi Zord appeared with a piece of metal scaffolding and hit the monster. But as he pressed the advantage, it tripped, and went down.

  "Ha! You're open!" Sickle Weasel said and went in for the attack.

  Drago Zord swooped in and with a might roar, blew flames on the furry chainsaw. The creature flew back and crashed. "No, it was me who was open," he complained.

  "Zord lessons are probably in the offing," Blue commented.

  "I hope so," Red said. His Zord Star began glowing. "Time to bring them together," he declared and gave it another spin. "Shinobi Star Megazord!" The Zords began to transform and come together to create a giant robot with Shinobi Zord using Dumper Zord like a throne holding a sword made of Drago's tail. The Rangers appeared in a shared cockpit where they all stood in front of podiums that they inserted their swords into.

  Red stood at the central podium. "Wow. This is kind of epic," he declared.

  "Sweet," Yellow declared.

  "Come on guys, get your heads in the game," Blue warned them.

  "Oh, come on. We aren't all as strangely calm as you are," Pink declared.

  "I don't think he's as jaded as he pretends to be," White stated.

  "Okay, everyone, he's right. Let's go!" Red said and pushed his Blade forward.

  The Megazord lunged forward, swinging the Drago Blade. Sickle Weasel blocked with his arm blade. They traded blows while the Rangers struggled to maintain control. Red pulled his Sword and left the main cockpit and appeared in the Shinobi Zord and it jumped off the Megazord. It ran around the youkaiza, who whirled around trying to get a swipe in.

  "Too fast," the monster complained, wobbling dizzily.

  Shinobi Zord jumped back onto the Megazord and Red reappeared in the cockpit. "Now the finisher," he declared.

  "Right!" the others agreed. They 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 landed in the concrete roof where Juno and Gumi were watching. It cracked and disintegrated as they watched.

  Juno pursed her lips sourly. "Come, Gumi. Let's go see what our Laird wants to do about this," she said. She turned and jumped off the building. Gumi glowered at the heroes for a moment before joining her.

  ? ? ?

  Ms. Frizz shrieked when her nephew walked into Quarks. She ran to him and clutched him close. "Are you okay? Never do that again, you rotten boy? What would I tell your father if something happened to you?" she demanded, hovering between hugging him and smacking him on the arm.

  Brenden winced, hugged her back, and had the decency to look chagrined. "I texted you that I was helping with the clean-up," he reminded her.

  The other teens came into the building, and behind them were the Ro family. "This is such a cute place," Mai Li declared, looking around at all the decorations.

  Forgetting her troublemaking nephew, Ms. Frizz beamed. "Thank you. I decorated it myself. I don't believe I've seen you around. Welcome to Quarks," she said.

  "This is Dex and Mai Li Ro," Brenden said. "They're new in town and were volunteering at the clean up as well. That's where I also met Bianca Florentine and Van Goldsmith," he said.

  "And I'm Miru and this is my brother Milo. He doesn't talk much," the little girl declared, and kept staring at Ms. Frizz's hair.

  "Well. Welcome to Ferrant Heights," Ms. Frizz said. With that she bustled off to see about feeding everyone. Ferrant Heights might never be the same again, but that didn't mean she'd let anyone feel unwelcome. This was her town after all and she'd do whatever she could to protect it.

  ? ? ?

  End

  ? ? ?