|
Episode 22: "Wings and Ninjas"
[Continued from Episode 21]
The answer Yousuke gave was wrong and a red X appearing on the tv screen. Yousuke leaps to his feet but the floor drops
farther and he falls. Everyone slides down and Ikkou keeps his grip on Nanami's hand. Isshu is the one who ends up with long
legs dangling furthest towards the lava below. Kouta, who'll go in head-first
if that happens, grabs tight to Isshu's wrist. "I won't let you fall!" When Isshu protests, Kouta smiles painfully
back. "I know, it's hot. You're one of us." The Satorakura responds, "Yes, that's right, it's hot." He looks down at
his table for the next riddle. Our heroes have
end up in a ring, them facing towards the center with hands spread for balance, where not clinging to
either the wall or one of
the others. Ikkou utters breathless encouragement to the group, suggesting they change, but Yousuke is
afraid they'll get
blown up if they try. Ikkou whispers that they don't really seem to have a choice. Nanami and Kouta say it is
about timing, and that at least one of them has to make it.
Ikkou's face is battered, he tells them, "We can do it." Yousuke stares at him, then
says, "We're one group," causing Ikkou to meet his gaze intently, then nod affirmly. They all exchange nods.
Satorakura has
chosen the next question, but before he can ask it, all five roll onto their backs and hit their changers.
A furious
Satorakura acts quickly to set off the destruction of the box, it bursts intp a brilliant light. Oboro, who was watching,
drops Mugensai and covers her mouth in horror as the air turns to fire. At last the flames are gone and
where the box stood is only a crater. Satorakura comes to see the results of his wicked plan.
He drops his sign, banner, and then he shouts for the five, as they present that they are still all very much alive.
They surroundi him with all their gadgets out and aim for his head. He seems a bit astounded, holding his hands
way above his head, then touching each of their barrels with amazed surprise. Finally he pushes Yousuke's aside and says,
"Yeah, but I'm not the obstinate one." Yousuke: "Huh?" And he tells them there is something in their bodies.
He shrinks and bounces off of Ikkou's right shoulder and then Nanami's and Kouta's heads before taking off for the sky,
laughing. His face fills the sky above, tongue out mockingly before the image bursts and fades away, the startled group
staring up. Yousuke decides this is something to celebrate. Nanami shakes him to stop him, but the Goraijer are looking
at their own bodies with puzzled concern. Yousuke snaps, "You know he's lying, right?" But then Oboro signals them
and calls them in, adding urgently that they should bring the Goraijer. All five are quite startled. "Us?!" gasps Ikkou.
"Go to the Hayate's place?" Oboro,
frustrated and worried, shouts frantically. At the base, she slamms her hands on the table in front of her
keyboard and says "Hurry up and come back!" This alarms Mugensai who is very nearly hit.
Back on the Centipede, Satorakura is laughing his head off. He bounds over to a stiff and formal Manmaruba,
ignoring the disapproving stances of the others. Satorakura expects praise, but all he gets is being shoved angrily away.
Furabijou is curious and comes to ask for explanation. Manmaruba informs her that he stuck Kabuto Raijer with the scorpion.
This delights Wendinu, who hadn't really known about it. Manmaruba explains how four offspring had spread into the bodies
of the others. Sargain is impressed. Manmaruba points out that the five are as good as dead and laughs.
The Hurricanger have brought the Goraijer the base with them, the brothers are taking off their jackets and shirts.
Oboro examines Ikkou. "Sit down," she says worriedly and he obeys, in the chair in front of her.
She pulls out her scanning device. Green light comes from the front and she passes it rapidly down his torso.
Suddenly a red scorpion image appears on his skin and the green light goes out. Isshu is terrified, Oboro and him share
concern. Then she sets the scanner aside and tells him she'll have a look at this picture. All five are infected. Ikkou moves away and
puts his shirt back on, while she reads the data appearing on her screen.
Nanami asks what they can do, but as yet there is no answer. She tells them it'll move.
"But what happens when it moves?" asks Yousuke worriedly. Ikkou answer him quietly, "We die."
They jump and come to the Goraijer quickly. "That's what it is, right?" he asks Oboro over Nanami's head.
The Hurricanger turn frantically, hoping she'll deny it. When she doesn't answer right away, Nanami says her name.
Oboro stands and says she doesn't have a sure answer for them, but after all that's probably what will happen.
Mugensai cuts in softly to ask what they can do. Oboro turns to tell them she can't think of anything,
and this is terribly hard.
Elsewhere in a dark bay, a giant mecha stands covered in green light.
Someone sits in the cockpit that is covered with cobwebs. "Teach me what?" he asks in English,
waving his arms at someone unseen. Mumbling in Japanese to himself, he starts cleaning off the thick webbing aside and
wiping panels with a towel.
Meanwhile, the Jakanja monster Jingiron is busy as well, he has set up a the case containing the people turned into exclamation points to
explode, and there is golden liquid on the floor.
Back at the base, Ikkou breaks the miserable silence. "Would... would you lend me your computer?" he asks tentatively.
Startled by the question, everyone stares at him. Oboro stutters weakly, "Y-yes, but..?" "I remember something," he tells
them as he heads for the computer. Something about the weight and size of the Jakanja they faced. He sits in Oboro's chair.
Yousuke anxiously leans close to see what he's going to do, while the others all gather to look over his shoulder.
He types in the information, leading to locating the Jakanja. "Well, what do you know?" Yousuke nods slightly and stands up.
"Let's go everyone," he says firmly. Ikkou, who never once thought of
hesitating, is on his feet and he and Yousuke lead the race out of the underground cave. Oboro calls quickly,
"Yousuke, guys wait!" Pausing in their rush, Isshu holding his jacket, they look at her and she tells them they
mustn't do this. The more active they are, they will die. But Ikkou tells her sternly, "We have to go now. Protect the Earth."
"That's right!" Yousuke agrees urgently. Voice slightly hoarse he says, "It's our lives, and we'll use them to protect."
"Yousuke," Oboro starts painfully. But then he tells her with a grin that he has faith she'll find a solution and save them.
And once again he dashes off, the others following him enthusiastically. Oboro watches them go, finding no words until
she turns in angry protest to her father. But there is nothing he can say either, except that he believes in them all.
In the city, Jingiron starts the fuse burning on his bomb. He laughs. Then a blur flashes by and the bomb is gone.
The blur turns out to be Yousuke, who pulls the fuse away. Jingiron clutches his face in dismay. He then finds
he is facing five heroes who transform into their battle armor to fight. The Goraijer, then Hurricanger
presemts themselves and leap into battle against Jingiron, who targets Yousuke because he's still carrying the bomb.
Mugensai calls through the communicator with a warning about the danger it represents. He's gotta get that bomb to safety.
Jingiron wants it back, and when Yousuke refuses, traps him in a black dimension with mist roiling around his feet.
Yousuke is not disoriented. When his enemy rushes at him, he brings out his blade to strike. Only when he strikes
what falls are the Goraijer. Horrified, he comes to them to make sure they're all right and tell them why he'd struck them.
They are recovering from his hit and say that he must be careful, but now he finds he is under attack from Kouta and Nanami.
Kouta fires gun-mode at him. Yousuke avoids the shots. The Goraijer scramble back to their feet. "Why are you doing this?"
he cries. Kouta only snarls and attacks, gets past him to strike at the Goraijer. Nanami's hitting Yousuke,
who tries to protect the bomb. And she shouts something which proves she thinks he's the Jakanja. "No, no! Open your eyes!"
he cries back. Finally he has to strike her down, even as a furious Ikkou strikes Kouta down. The pair land heavily
in the mist, but when they look up the spell's been broken, and they see the three images of Jingiron
warp and become their three companions, shouting at them to wake up. "Guys!" gasps Kouta. "Wh-why were we-" starts Nanami.
She is cut off by Jingiron's cackle. As he approaches, they gather together. They do not intend to be fooled again.
Unfortunately, that's not so easy. Jingiron disappears with a mocking remark. As Yousuke watches,
the other four's bodies warp. All he can see is the enemy. He gasps in horror, knowing he'll not be able to tell
when the real one comes. Then he is attacked viciously. "Is it the real one?" he begs himself, blade out to defend.
He is being rushed, and risks a swing only to find he's hit Kouta. He realizes that he can't fight.
And then a strange voice reaches him.
"Hey boy," it says cheerfully in English, then switches to Japanese.
"You gotta close your eyes if you want to see your enemy." "Who are you?!" Yousuke pleads.
There is only the darkness around him. The voice sounds male. "Close your eyes, you'll see your enemy.
Listen to me, boy." In English, the voice finishes off with "Good luck, my boy." Disoriented but not panicked anymore,
Yousuke considers the advice and is happy to go with it. He opens his face-plate and closes his eyes. "If I see only
with my heart, I won't be forced to attack my friends." He stands still and brave, he waits in the mist and darkness.
Around him are the four laughing images of the enemy. They mock him, but he does not move. Then his eyes
snap open and he spins and fires on one of them. "It's you!" And the blackness lifts.
The Jakanja is indeed the one he'd hit, rolling away on the hard cement ground to vanish from sight.
The rest of the team, still staggering from getting hit, assembles around him Nanami saying his name. Kouta adds,
"There was this really weird voice!" "Oh, you heard it too?" Nanami answers, "Yes, I heard it." "Who was it?"
And then Yousuke utters a strangled gasp of pain. He drops his blade and falls to his knees, clinging to the bomb.
Nanami reaches to help him, but now they are all affected, the other two falling in helpless agony. The Goraijer are
last to fall, fighting it. There is a skittering, frying sound filling the room.
"My chest!" gasps Ikkou. The Scorpions are reaching their hearts.
Of course on the Centipede, all this is being witnessed by Manmaruba, Wendinu, and Furabijou.
Satorakura, on the other hand, doesn't seem so pleased. He's still waiting to see what happens. Mist
forms above the five fallen heroes. It merges into an image of Jingiron, and he shoots down
lightning on the helpless group. They fall again and he appears, walking smugly towards them. Yousuke still
clings to the bomb. The group gets back to their feet, and they assemble the Victory Gadget.
Amused, their enemy puts out a dozen of so images of himself. This doesn't faze them and they shoot.
All the images are destroyed, and the real Jingiron falls and explodes. The staggered group
watches in relief. And then the bomb Yousuke holds pops open, shining multi-colored
lights flash out and fly into the sky. The exclamation marks head back to
become humans once again. Mugensai sings their praises then turns to Oboro,
who has been programming and researching wildly. But she has no answers yet. "It's too freaky!"
she cries, slamming a fist onto the table.
Satorakura is laughing his head off, tongue hanging out. Wendinu tells him to shut it,
Furabijou joining her in glaring at him. "Well here, use this!" he tells Wendinu, and swings to her a large boomerang-like
mask. "You want me to use this?!" "Please?" he asks her. With a snarl of fury, she throws it
like an enormous boomerang. It whirls out from the Centipede. It reaches the destroyed Jakanja,
pulling its remains up and recreating a giant skeleton.
Covering the eyes of the skull, it becomes Jindiron. Our heroes are tired bu they call their Shinobi Machines.
They face off against him, and he hits them badly. Worries, Oboro sends out a new Karakuri Ball #09, the
Karakuri Manto.
A red scarf that when next the enemy throws a bolt at them, can be used as a deflective shield like a matador
uses a red cape against a bull. Then they throw the cape and it swings around Jingiron's head,
blinding and electrocuting it before returning to their hands. They swoop it around the robot's head
and vanish. He is not impressed and hits the area sending up flames.
They reappear, shaken and blasted, and are exploded from their cockpits to land under
the brilliant blue skies. They hit the ground in the underbrush, and their bodies crackle with
lightning until their armor fades away. This pleases their enemy that they are vulnerable.
Oboro and Mugensai are afraid, Oboro frantically calls them.
Satorakura is pleased he's helped make this happen, and Furabijou is delighted
that she'll be able to mark off both the Hurricanger and the Goraijer today. But our heroes are still alive.
Yousuke makes it to his feet, clutching at his chest, and then falls rolling onto his back. "It's over," he says. Their enemy blocks the bright
sunlight to look down at them. He is reaching down, probably to squash their fragile bodies,
when the atmosphere around turns red. Startled, he looks up and around. Suddenly the air
is filled with whirling sounds, leaves and debris are tossed by strong winds. And helicopter-like machine whips
the air with its huge blades. Yousuke wonders, "What's that light?"
And then a mighty machine lifts up, between them and the beautiful setting sun. Perhaps a dozen more
just like it rise up and fly in formation. Jingiron doesn't know what to make of it, and neither does
Yousuke who finds the strength to roll over and stare up. They begin firing. Jingiron staggers back as he is hit badly.
The five heroes start getting up to watch. Back at base Oboro asks, "Father, who is that?" Mugensai narrows
his eyes and says calmly, "I don't know." And on the Centipede, Furabijo gasps while the others
stare in surprise. Tao Zanto growls in a quiet fury.
The helicopter machines approach, and the sky returns to normal. The primary machine is green with
a bird's yellow beak and claws. Its pilot steps out the door and stands on a ledge.
Hauling out his microphone-like weapon he says cheerfully in English, "And now, ladies and gentlemen!"
Yousuke stares shockily. Then he speaks Japanese, his voice soft and gentle, "Sorry for taking so long!"
Back to English. "I am ninja of the ninja!" He continues in Japanese explaining that he is the Green Tenkujima,
Shurikenger! And he comes in with his giant helicopter. Far below the five watch him.
Jingiron comments on what a slowpoke the newcomer is, to which Shurikenjer replies in English unauthentically,
"Oh, sorry."
He holsters his microphone in his cockpit. He starts firing, staggering the enemy who fires back,
but cannot hit the weaving helicopter. "Let's go!" cries Shurikenjer in English and barrels in.
He turns his mecha on its side. The blades of his mecha dig into the ground, sending up a bunch of soil,
and he pulls up just short of collision with the startled enemy, who spins to follow the mecha.
White light shines, the ground breaks and pulls apart, the place where Jingiron is standing sinks.
The ground shakes sand quakes, our five stagger. Shurikenger is pretty pleased with himself, "Oh, good!
Let's go!" and brings out a green orb. This causing a reconfiguration of his machine into a warrior form,
the Karakuri Tenkuujin. The Goraijer and Hurricanger are suitably impressed. The Jakanja has recovered
and stares up at the hovering green mecha. "Tenkujin, suisan!" Shurikenjer says with a gleeful salute.
Mugensai says he has no idea what's going on. Oboro nods and says, "So we've got one more," and she
calls to him to go into battle. He answers her with a confident "Okay!" and pulls out a Shinobi medal. He has a Karakuri ball, to Oboro's shock. Ball #10 and contained within is the Bee (Hachi). It is yellow, silly-looking, with a cord to pull and send it spinning at the enemy. It hits and the resulting explosion destroys the Jakanja. Yousuke sinks to his knees in relief. Ikkou sets his hands on his hips looking slightly put out. Everyone else is busy sighing in relief. Oboro sinks into her chair, for the win does not cancel out the very real danger their kids are in. Tenkujin lands, and Shurikenjer leaps from his cockpit to come to Yousuke, who has managed to get most of the way back up by this time. Yousuke starts to move towards him, when the newcomer moves with slow grace to pull his weapon from its scabbard. This sets the frightened youngster back, for obvious reasons. He brings the wapon to bear on the group and stalks towards them, concentrating on the Hurricanger. They're in no shape to do more than stumble back, but they face him, Yousuke trying to spread his slight form to protect the others.
Now Shurikenger stops, the blade held sideways. He calls a command, "Reitouken, please!" And he slashes out
with the freeze blade. It sends a beam of blue-white light which soaks into the five startled people,
who try to leap back. Of course they are unable to move. They stand, bodies covered in ice, hands
frozen protectively covering their faces. Shurikenger takes on Yousuke's still form first.
He slices it until the scorpion falls steaming to the ground.
He then does the same to the other four. Cheerfully he says "Sorry for surprising you! But
now the poison won't spread anymore! Now, Haitoken, please! (burning blade)" and
he takes another swipe in their direction. He is behind them now, so when they are released and
fall they look frantically around at him. "Hey everybody. Eyes open again?" he asks cheerfully.
They are still quite in shock. It takes them a moment to realize the pain is gone and they exchange
startled glances. He thumbs up them with a soft, "Good!" Oboro sighs and slumps happily on her desk.
"He helped them!" Mugensai says, "Yes, but who is this green ninja?" Shurikenger bids his farewells
and starts to head off. Yousuke quickly leaps forward. "Hey wait! Thanks for helping us, but...
what are you?" Seeming perplexed by the question, he turns around and hooks his thumb at his chest.
"Me?" he asks in English. "Well, I'm the Shurikenger." Nanami joins Yousuke quickly.
"No, not that. Who are you really?" Mixing English and Japanese he asks back, "My identity?"
He gives this a brief thought. "Well, I..." and then he takes off at high speeds, laughing merrily.
He is gone in his helicopter and calls back, "That's the fun for next time!" Then in English,
"Coming soon! See you again!" They watch him fly off, the last words echoing. "What is that guy?"
A sentiment echoed by the severely annoyed Jakanja on the Centipede. Satorakura is quite pissed,
perhaps because Shurikenger is funnier than he is. "I never heard of this sixth one! Ah,
whatever. This means it'll only be more interesting!" and he pats Manmaruba on the
shoulder in passing. Manmaruba is less upset for... "There is still a god of death around Kabuto Raijer...."
|
|
