PRT 413- “Preface to a Storm”
I sighed and closed my eyes, picking my next words carefully.
“Seven, were you even trying?” I asked. Probably not the best thing to ask a student but after the display I’d just seen from him I didn’t know what else to ask.
“Yes, but you paired me against Echo. What did you expect? I’m not going to hurt a girl.” Seven snapped back.
“Excuse me? I’m fully capable of handling myself.” Echo indignantly replied.
“She’s right. Don’t let the gender of your opponent change how to approach a battle. There are many formidable female warriors. Echo is one I do believe.” I replied.
“Why thank you Sensei Cam.” Echo replied with a smile.
“Sensei
Seven rolled his eyes, “I could take down Echo without breaking a sweat if I tried.”
“Oh really? Be my guest.” Echo said.
“I don’t want to get in trouble for hurting you.”
“I promise you will not get in trouble even if you do happen to hurt her as long as I see effort.” I said.
“Fine, you asked for it.” Seven said taking a fighting stance.
“Bring it on.” Echo replied as she took her own stance.
“Ok, and…go.” I said, starting the spar.
I watched as Seven and Echo started their spar. It was instantly clear that Seven was over confident and that his arrogance would be his downfall. And I was right. Less than 5 minutes into the spar Echo had him down and there was nothing Seven could do.
“No way.” Seven murmured from his place on the mat.
Echo smiled, “Now, you were saying?”
“Good job Echo.” Six said with a semi-smile…well…it was the closest I’d seen to a smile from her anyway.
“You can’t under estimate your opponent Seven.” I said.
Seven glared.
“Until you accept that the skill of a warrior is not in gender or size you will continue to lose.”
“Yes Sensei.” Seven mumbled.
“I think that should do it for today. Good job class. I’ll see you tomorrow. Dismissed.” I said as I bowed to the class, the bowed back, and headed out…except for Morgan, who headed in my direction.
“Sensei
“Yes Morgan?” I asked.
“Would it be ok if Chance and I hung back and did some extra training?”
“Sure. I’m done with my classes for today. Have at it.” I said.
“Are you serious?” Chance asked Morgan.
“Yes. Come on, we need the extra practice.” Morgan said pulling Chance with her.
I laughed to myself. Morgan was one of the most dedicated students I had and because of that Chance, being her best friend, normally got pulled along.
I turned and headed to my office. I sat at my desk and noticed I had voicemail. I dialed in to listen. 2 new messages.
“Cam, hey, it’s LeAnn. I need to talk to you about the ninja conference. You did such a great job of hosting it last year, I need some tips. Call me back.”
“Cam, hey, it’s Hunter. We really need to talk. I know you’re still upset, but hear me out. Please call me.”
I sighed. Hunter had been trying to get me to go on a date with him for a couple of months now. He insisted that it was because he wanted to try again with me and not only because Michelle rejected him. I was unconvinced. I did want to give him another chance. I just didn’t trust him. I didn’t know what to do.
Anytime I needed to know what to do my mother’s journals always had just the right advice for me. I headed to the Academy attic where my father kept my mothers things. I dug into the box with her journals and started looking through one. I read for awhile. Nothing that was helping me know what to do about Hunter, but reading Mom’s journals did make me feel connected to her.
I looked up and noticed a box in the corner. Dad had always told me growing up not to touch that particular box, but he never told me why. I went over to the box and opened it. Inside that box was another box and a scroll. I opened the second box and saw, what looked to be, a very old samurai sword. Maybe it was Mom’s old sword? I didn’t know but it was nice. I pulled the sword from the box and removed it from its sheath. The moment I did this black light radiated from the sword and a being materialized in front of me.
“At long last I have returned.” He said.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Kanaye Murakami and you, of the Tanaka Clan, have freed me at long last.”
“Of the what clan?”
“This is only the beginning, now that I’m free I will destroy you and then I will rule the Earth.”
“Oh, so you’re evil. I should have known. If you think I’ll just let you pop up and wipe out the planet you’ve got another thing coming.” I said taking a fighting stance.
Kanaye held out his hand, using some invisible force to pull the sword from my hand.
“So that’s how you want to play it?” I asked as I took a step back and reached for another sword I saw out of the corner of my eye. I took Kanaye on and we fought for some time. It was a stalemate battle.
“You are a more formidable opponent than I would have expected. I will let you live this time, but know that the next time we meet you will not live to tell about it.” Kanaye said as he vanished.
“What the hell?” I mumbled as I went to the box and pulled out the scroll. I tried to read it but it was in ancient Japanese and I could only understand some of it. I went to the one person I knew could read it…my father.
I went into his office.
“Dad, we need to talk.” I said.
“What is it Cameron?” he asked.
“What does this scroll say?” I asked handing him the scroll.
Dad opened the scroll and looked it over. His eyes widened, “Cameron, please tell me you did not touch the sword that this scroll was stored with.”
“I…did.”
“Oh no. Did Kanaye get released?”
I nodded, “Yes. Where did he come from and why?”
“Cameron, that sword was cursed.”
“Cursed?”
“Yes…that’s what this scroll is explaining. The legend.”
“Ok, since I can’t read it all, care to fill me in…in English?”
“Of course. Thousands of years ago Kanaye Murakami was one of the world’s most fierce Samurai. He was rivaled only by Kisho Tanaka. The difference in Kanaye and Kisho was that Kanaye was extremely power hungry and used every shady trick he could to get around the Samurai code of honor. Kisho, on the other hand, was the most honorable Samurai known. Kanaye did not like sharing the title of ‘best’ and he challenged Kisho to a battle to the death. Kanaye tried to cheat to win but Kisho knew what Kanaye was capable of and won the battle. As he was dying Kanaye swore revenge and placed a curse on his sword so that should anyone in the Tanaka bloodline ever touch the sword he would be awakened and have the chance to get his retribution.” Dad explained.
“Let me guess, we’re of the Tanaka bloodline?” I asked.
“I’m not. Your mother was. She was descended from the Tanaka Clan, as are you.”
“So when I touched the sword I released massive evil into the world. Just great. Just what I needed today.” I sighed.
“Yes Cameron, you did…but now you have to be concerned with stopping him. I fear this will take more than simple Samurai skill.”
“More? Like what?”
“Like Power Rangers.”
“Ninja Storm?”
“No Cameron…this is not a battle for the ninjas. This is a battle for the Samurais.”
“You have a new team in mind?”
“I hoped these would never been needed, but saved them in case they were.” Dad said handing me a box.
I opened the box and saw six cell phone looking devices, “Let me guess, not cell phones… Morphers?”
“Yes. Samurai Storm Morphers.”
“Of course.”
“The time has come to activate them. You’re the Samurai Sector Sensei. I trust you’ll be the Green Ranger once more and be able to choose the rest of your team.”
“Hmm, six Morphers…Red, Green, Pink, Yellow, Blue….Purple…” I sighed, “Let me guess…bloodline locked?”
“You know how the Power of Purple works Cameron. She is the only one that can activate it.”
I took a breath, “She is a good Ranger and I guess I did bring this on myself.”
“I know I can trust you to do the right thing.” Dad said as we heard a loud noise outside.
We ran outside and saw an army of undead Samurai attacking the Samurai Sector.
“Sensei
“Oh no…it’s starting already. I need to get the students out of there.” I said as I ran into the battle. My students were getting slaughtered. They weren’t ready for a battle of this magnitude. I didn’t have time to pick a team, I had to get these Morphers to the first available students. I saw Echo holding her own. “Echo, catch!” I called as I threw a Morpher to her.
“What can we do?” Morgan asked. She and Chance followed me.
“Here, take these.” I said handing each of them a Morpher.
“What? This is not the time to review a cell phone plan.”
“It’s not a cell phone, just take it.” I looked in the distance and saw Seven. He was fighting hard but he couldn’t take much more. I looked around for Six but I didn’t see her. I had no choice, “Seven! Take this!” I yelled as I threw him the Morpher. “Guys! Call out ‘Samurai Storm, Ranger Form!”
“Samurai Storm, Ranger Form!” we all called. When we did we each Morphed into a Ranger. I was Green, Echo was Pink, Morgan was Yellow, Chance was Blue, and Seven was Red.
“Whoa…” Morgan said.
“Later…fight now.” I demanded.
Morgan nodded. The battle was long, but we actually did fairly well. The undead Samurai were clearly not expecting Power Rangers and they did retreat.
Once it was clear we helped the injured students to the infirmary. Some were captured and there was nothing we could do about them right now. Luckily none had been killed. Not yet anyway. After that was finished I ushered the 4 new Rangers to Ninja Ops…although I guess a more fitting name now would be Samurai Ops.
“OK, so did that really just happen?” Echo asked.
“A better question is what just happened?” Chance asked.
“I’m pretty sure we became Power Rangers and fought those creepy undead things.” Morgan said.
“Care to explain?” Seven asked me.
I nodded, “Yes. Kanaye Murakami, an evil Samurai…undead Samurai, has been unleashed on Earth. He is determined to rule…or destroy the planet. I’m not sure which yet. Either way, the point is we have to stop him and…yes, you are the new Power Rangers. Together we have to stop Kanaye before he destroys our whole planet.”
“O…K…” Chance said.
“Um, this is just a little trippy.” Echo said.
“A little?” Morgan added.
“I know it’s sudden and a lot to take it. It’s not like we intended on this happening.” I said.
“So this is my team?” Seven asked.
“Your team?” Morgan asked.
“Um, yeah. I’m clearly the Red Ranger and Red is always leader. Everyone knows that.”
“You expect us to follow you? For real?”
“As a matter of fact I do Yellow.”
“OK, enough. Yes, Red is leader, but if you can’t handle it Seven I will gladly appoint a different leader.” I said.
“You should be leader Sensei Cam.” Echo said.
“Yeah, totally.” Morgan agreed.
“Thank you, but I need to focus on managing Ops and training you guys. Making me leader would be a bit much. Besides, this really is a team effort. Leader is simply a title.” I said.
“Sensei, there’s another Morpher in that box over there…who’s the other Ranger?” Echo asked.
“That is the Purple Samurai Morpher. There is only one person who can use it and I’m not sure if she’d be willing…although I guess I should find out. I need to make a call. Any questions before I leave you guys?”
“None right now.” Seven said.
“Ok, then know these 3 rules. 1) Maintain your secret identity…this goes without saying since the Academy is a secret unto itself, 2) DO NOT use your powers for personal gain, and 3) Do not seek out a battle or escalate it unless forced. We’re defenders, not attackers.” I said.
“Understood.” Echo said.
Everyone else nodded.
“Great. Now I have work to do.” I said as I headed to the back part of Ops. I had to call Michelle and I was not looking forward to it.
I picked up the phone and dialed Michelle’s cell phone number. It rang three times then…
“Hello?” a familiar voice said.
“Michelle, hi, it’s
There was a pause.
“Michelle?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m here. Sorry. I’m just surprised to hear from you.”
“I know. Believe me, I didn’t expect to have to call you.”
“Ok, well you obviously did for a reason so what’s up?”
I sighed, “Big trouble…” I went on to explain the whole situation.
“Whoa, so let me get this straight…you unleashed an undead samurai on the Earth and now you need me to train a new Ranger team?” she asked after I finished explaining.
“Um…yes actually. That’s about it in a nutshell.”
“Hmm…let me think…help bail your ass out of trouble or stay
in
“Please Michelle. This isn’t easy for me to ask but I need your help. I know I fucked up.”
“That’s putting it mildly. Kinda makes all the things you insulted me for seem minor.”
I took a deep breath. She was testing my patience but I had to hold it together, “You’re right. I have no right to say anything about you after the fuck up I made.”
“Damn right you don’t. But be that as it may…I’m still not helping you. I’m retired and I’m enjoying being on tour with Jonny.”
“Isn’t there some way you can help me out and still be on tour?”
Michelle sighed, “Well, the next few dates are in or around
“You have to know how hard it is for me to ask for your help but I’m begging you…please…these Rangers know I released Kanaye and I need them to have someone to look up to other than myself. Besides, I think it would be good for Echo and Morgan to see a seasoned female Ranger.”
“Echo?” Michelle asked, “That’s an unusual name. My sister-in-law Kim has a sister named Echo.”
“Really? What’s her last name?”
“Her maiden name is Hart.”
“Are you serious? Echo’s last name is Hart.”
“Oh my god…Echo is one of your Rangers?! Pink by chance?”
“Yes.”
“That’s wild! Kim was the original Pink Ranger. Man, Kim would kill me if I let anything happen to Echo. Ok, you win. I’ll help…but on my terms. Don’t expect me to be as involved with this team as I was with Ninja Storm. I’m still on tour. I’ll make time to train the team between dates. And not one word about me Ninja streaking across country to get everything done.”
“Fine. Your terms. Got it.”
“OK, then I’ll be in
“Thank you.”
“It’s not for you…it’s for Echo. She’s family.”
“Still. Thanks. See you in the morning.”
“Yeah. See ya.” She said hanging up.
I sighed as I hung up the phone. Swallowing…nay…choking on my pride was not something I planned on doing today but I’d made my bed and now it was time to lie in it. It was going to be hard to work with Michelle again but she was a great Ranger and I needed her expertise if I wanted to stop Kanaye. I had a feeling it was going to be a long year.