Chapter 13 – Sparkling Gem

The next morning when Phoenix woke up, she was filled with so much happiness that she skipped down the stairs, singing. Kelly gawked from her place at kitchen table, not used to seeing Phoenix so…hyper and happy.

"I'm going to guess that your date went well." Kelly spoke. She ate another bite of her cereal then looked at Phoenix again.

"Yep!" Phoenix sang, popping two pieces of bread into the toaster. She then proceeded to fetch the jelly and butter from the fridge.

"Are you coming down to the shop with me today?" Kelly questioned.

"Yep!" Phoenix replied. She was now buttering her bread and dancing around the kitchen.

"Can you please stop acting weird?" Kelly asked.

Phoenix stopped dancing and singing and continued buttering her bread in silence. The only thing that showed that Phoenix was still hyper was a smile the size of the toaster that stretched across her face.

"Yes, sorry Aunt Kelly."

Kelly laughed. "It was funny the first few seconds but after that it got a bit annoying."

Phoenix laughed along with Kelly.

After Phoenix had eaten, the two Olivers hoped in Kelly's jeep. Phoenix still had a big smile on her face. A few drivers looked at her funny when they saw her but Phoenix didn't really care.

As they pulled into Storm Charger and Phoenix hopped out of the car, her morpher beeped and she looked at her Aunt. Kelly was still walking into Storm Chargers.

"Hey, Aunt Kelly, I'm need at HQ!" she yelled before running off.

Kelly turned around as Phoenix ran away.

"You would think it would be less stressful now that I know where Phoenix is going but now that I know where she's going it's even more stressful because I know she's fighting monsters. Stupid super villains!" Kelly muttered as she walked into her shop.

Phoenix walked into Ninja Ops and found all the other rangers already there. Her breathing was heavy as she had run all the way here.

"Why are you out of breath?" Shane asked.

"I ran… all the ….way here!" Phoenix gasped, bending over and holding her stomach.

"You do know you can teleport here, right?" Hunter asked. "It's much easier."

"I need…to learn…how to do…that." Phoenix gasped again. "It would…help…so much."

"I'll teach you later." Shane helped Phoenix into a standing position. "We have something for you." He pulled out a black uniform exactly the same as his and the other rangers only this one was decorated in gold.

"I get my own ninja uniform? Awesome!" Phoenix said, grabbing the uniform and pulling Shane into a hug. She let go of Shane quickly and blushed.

"Sorry." She said. Shane blushed as well and the other rangers stifled laughs at how obvious each of them liked each other.

The other rangers quickly turned back to Cam as he started to talk. "Back to why we called to here, we found one of Zurgane's swords in the hills. After we found it, I located a satellite picture of the area." Cam fiddled with the computer and a video popped up. It showed a shark like monster, which Phoenix remembered being called Vexacus when she had been evil, slicing Zurgane, another monster she had met when she was evil, with his sword. Zurgane blew up and was destroyed.

"It's true rangers. Vexacus has destroyed Zurgane." The guinea pig said. Phoenix hadn't seen it earlier and wondered why he was talking and wearing clothes, seeing as normal guinea pigs didn't do those things. She wasn't really freaked out about it because some of the goons that Lothor had were weirder than a talking guinea pig but she was still confused.

Shane saw her looked of confusion and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"That's our sensei. He was turned into a guinea pig by Lothor. He's also Cam's father." Phoenix nodded in understanding and they went back to listening to Sensei.

"It's not like I'm going to miss Zurgane, but why would Vexacus do that?" Tori asked from her position in from of the computer.

"It appears a power struggle is in play at Lothor's lair." Sensei explained.

"Isn't that a good thing? Maybe they'll keep fighting each other until no one's left." Dustin questioned.

"That is possible, Dustin." Sensei replied. "I suspect that Lothor has an even more powerful plot in mind."

"So what are we going to do?" Phoenix asked.

"The time has come to face the enemy pro-actively." Sensei started "We must reinforce our ranks by rescuing all the captive ninjas. We must find a way to get on Lothor's ship."

"It's not going to be easy." Blake shook his head. "Trust us."

"Lothor's ship is protected by a powerful energy field. Without some way to break in, we'll never get through." Cam reasoned.

Hunter was looking thoughtful. "Leave that to me." He walked out of ninja ops leaving the rest of the rangers to wonder what he was going to do.

Phoenix and the other rangers were still in Ninja Ops, waiting for Hunter when the computer started beeping. All the rangers' heads snapped to the direction of the computer. An image of Hunter fully morphed and rolling down a hill appeared. A bird like monster ran after him.

"We've got trouble." Cam explained as Phoenix and the others gathered around him.

"It's Hunter." Tori leaned in to get a better look. Cam nodded.

"And my favorite fish." Shane added as an image of Vexacus appeared.

"I thought you liked Sushi." Dustin said.

"Enough with the fish jokes." Blake ordered. "Check out bird brain."

Hunter was now on his feet and fighting the bird creature.

"This is weird." Cam stated. "The radiation I was tracking earlier is back."

"That's not good." Phoenix reported.

"We better get out there." The rangers all turned around.

"Ready?" Shane asked.

"Ninja Storm!"

"Thunder Storm!"

"Samurai Storm!"

"Fire Storm!"

"Ranger Form!"

As they finished morphing, they all ran to the Mobile Command Center.

Arriving at the hills where Hunter was located, the rangers hopped onto their bikes, with Cam behind Shane and Phoenix behind Tori. They drove to the valley where Hunter was lying on the ground, and Shane shot a laser blast at the bird monster. They stopped the bikes next to Hunter and Cam and Phoenix hopped of the bikes.

"You okay?" Cam asked, helping Hunter up.

"Yeah." The bird monster started to run at the rangers and Hunter turned around. Before he could do anything, a bright light illuminated the valley and Motordrone appeared with a bunch of Kalzacks.

"Miss me!" Motordrone yelled.

"This is my battle!" Vexacus objected. Motordrone paid no attention to Vexacus and ordered the Kalzacks to attack. They ran at the rangers and the rangers that had bikes went full speed ahead. Cam and Hunter pulled out their swords while Phoenix pulled out her blaster.

Phoenix started fighting the Kalzacks along with Cam. She kicked the first one in the stomach and then did a flip, landing on the back of another one. He landed on his stomach and Phoenix continued fighting, shooting three Kalzacks in the chest and using her foot to knock another one away from her.

She saw the bird monster flying low and aiming at Cam.

"Cam, duck!" she yelled. Cam looked at her but didn't have time to duck. The monster sliced across his chest and Cam fell to the ground. Phoenix ran over to Cam and helped him up, then watched as Hunter made his Hurricane cycle appear. He hoped on it then made it transform so that is could fly. Phoenix and Cam were forced to go back to fighting when a Kalzacks launched itself at them.

After defeating at least 20 more Kalzack, Phoenix felt the earth shook and turned around to see a magenta mushroom cloud.

"Hunter!" Blake screamed and ran over to it. Phoenix realized that Hunter's bike had caused the mushroom cloud.

'Oh, no!' Phoenix thought worriedly. She didn't have much more time to worry because the Kalzacks fell back behind Motordrone. Phoenix ran to stand beside the other rangers.

"I didn't request backup!" Vexacus said in his slippery and angry voice.

"We will leave you this time! But beware! I'm watching you." Motordrone pointed his figure at Vexacus before disappearing in a flash of gold light.

"I don't think Vexacus and Motordrone like each other." Phoenix voiced.

"I'm with you there, Nix!" Shane agreed.

Vexacus spoke something to the bird creature and he flew up into the air.

"Where he's going." Phoenix yelled at Vexacus. "Is he a chicken?"

Vexacus chose not to reply to that. "Any last words?"

"Yeah!" Cam spoke. "Super Samurai mode." Cam let the gold part of his suit fall off and his helmet changed so that is was spiky. The rangers got into a fighting stance and started to run at Vexacus.

"I'm calling the strings now!" Vexacus yelled, sending strands of lighting at the rangers, making them writher in pain. He lifted them into the air, shocking them and making them smack into each other. They fell to the ground, trying to stand and failing. Cam managed to stand and screamed at Vexacus.

"What do you want?" Vexacus sent a string of lightning at Cam. It wrapped around his and started pulling him towards Vexacus, all the while shocking him. As he reached Vexacus, Vexacus grabbed Cam's arm and slung him over his shoulder. Cam him the ground forcefully and then attempted to stand again. Vexacus grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

"Give him back!" Shane screamed as he and the other rangers stood up and got into position.

"Sure!" Vexacus replied, letting go of Cam who was flung to the side. He rolled in the dirt before coming to a stop. "I'll take you all!"

"Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say, Shane!" Phoenix yelled. "Perhaps 'Let go of him' would have been better…no, wait, he might have just flung him away anyway and then grabbed us."

Vexacus started to pull his sword out of its sheath. The rangers minus Phoenix pulled their swords out also. The rangers ran at Vexacus and Shane called "Ninja Shadow Battle!" Vexacus defeated them easily.

Blake ran at Vexacus with his Navy Antler. He stabbed it at Vexacus' middle, hoping to do some damage. The plan backfired when Vexacus grabbed Blake and twisted his arms.

Phoenix and Hunter shot at Vexacus.

"Let him go, you docile doofus!" Hunter screamed.

Vexacus threw Blake at Hunter and they both flew backwards, landing on the hard ground. Phoenix shot at Vexacus again, multiple times, but it didn't do anything but make him mad.

Vexacus yelled something and he disappeared. The ground started shaking and Hunter and Blake came up behind Phoenix.

Vexacus appeared on shark zord. He swung his sword onto his shoulder.

"Land Shark Attack!" Vexacus yelled and the shark glide through the ground straight at Phoenix, Shane, and Hunter. The three rangers twisted in the air and landed on their backs in the middle of the other rangers.

"Guys! Are you okay!" tori yelled, helping Blake up. Hunter was helped up by Cam and Phoenix by Shane. They turned around and Shane yelled.

"Where is he?"

Vexacus appeared out of nowhere. "You didn't think I'd leave without saying goodbye!" He pointed at them. "With or without the gem I will defeat you!"

With that he disappeared in a bubble of blue light. The rangers stood up and Hunter opened his visor along with the other rangers.

"What gem?" Tori asked "What did he mean Hunter?"

All the rangers turned to Hunter.

"Hunter?" Tori questioned.

"Let's go back to Ninja Ops." Phoenix suggested. "He can explain there."

Back at Ninja Ops, Hunter pulled out a brown tied pouch.

"The Gem of Souls." He said as if that explained everything.

"What is the Gem of Souls?" Phoenix asked.

"The Gem of Souls is a stone that can…well, I don't really know how to describe it but it was able to show Hunter and Blake their parents, who are...umm...deceased and it reflected an energy beam that Lothor sent at us." Shane then looked at Hunter.

"I threw it in the ocean after it broke." Cam added.

"Not all of it." Hunter untied the bundle and two pieces of the Gem of Souls was seen, glowing bright neon yellow.

"You should have told me, Hunter!" Blake said, angry.

"You didn't know about this?" Tori asked.

"No." Blake looked up at Tori then back at Hunter. "And we're going to have a long talk why, aren't we bro."

"I was going to tell you about it!" Hunter defended himself. "But the more time that passed the harder it got. I'm sorry."

"Those fragments must be the source of the radiation I was tracking." Cam looked accusingly at Hunter. "it had nothing to do with Zurgane's sword."

"After Lothor shattered the gem, I these two pieces out there. I go out there now and again to see if they could help me contact my parents."

"I understand that sometimes your lose is difficult to accept." Sensei sympathized. "But what's done is done. You can never go back in time."

"Not without a scroll or something." Dustin added.

"I know my parents are gone." Hunter stated. "But I still miss them. And those students up on Lothor's ship…someone misses them too. But it's not too late for them." He handed the gem shards to Cam. "Let's bring them back."

"With the Gem shards, I should be able to get through Lothor's energy field." Cam explained. He was morphed but had his helmet under his arm. "Once I've done that, you should be able to teleport right onto the ship."

"And I still don't know how to teleport!" Phoenix exclaimed. Shane pulled her aside and started to explain to her how to teleport.

"We'll be standing by." Hunter said.

"Be careful, Cam." Tori suggested.

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" Cam complained. A panel slid up, revealing a passageway and Cam walked into it.

"Good Luck!" Phoenix yelled as he walked away.

The rangers were gathered in front of Cam's computer, watching as he flew out of the waterfall and into the air.

"That's awesome!" Dustin admired Cam's Dragon Force Vehicle. The other rangers agreed.

Cam continued flying into space. All was going well until Lothor started shooting laser beams at him. Cam was hit and it was obvious that he wasn't doing very well.

"Oh, no!" Phoenix murmured.

"Cam!" Shane screamed. When he didn't reply, Shane screamed again. "Cam, come in."

"I'm okay!" Cam voice came through the screen. "I'm hit, but I'm okay. The bigger problem is, if I don't get closer, I'll never be able to break through the energy field."

Suddenly, the screen changed to an image of the bird like creature, who Hunter had explained was named Condortron on the way back to Ninja Ops.

"Uh, oh." Blake said. "The big bird is back."

Shane looked reluctant. "We have to call the zords."

"We can't leave Cam out there." Hunter protested.

"Cyber Cam and I will monitor my son." Sensei said. "You must take the zords and face Condortron."

"Let's go." Tori ordered. They ran to morph and get into their zords.

Both the Thunderzord and the Storm megazord were online. Phoenix's dragon, Smoky, had morphed to become the Flamezord.

The zords lined up in front of Condortron.

"Three against one." Phoenix stated. "It doesn't seem fair."

"Let's do this." Shane declared.

"Right with you, Shane." Hunter supported.

"On it!" Phoenix yelled.

All three of the megaords started blasting Condortron with their blasters. The Flamezord had a blaster exactly like Phoenix's only larger.

The blasts hit Condortron but didn't do anything but make him angry. He ran at the three megazords, slicing the Storm megazord across the chest, then the Thunderzord, and finally the Flamezord.

Condortron backed up and shot feathers at the megazords, creating sparks and severely damaging the zords.

"Ow!" Phoenix yelled. "I don't know how much longer my zord can take!"

Condortron flew at the megazords again, knocking into them and hitting them repeatedly.

"We can beat this bird!" Hunter yelled.

"Concentrate!" Tori replied.

"Okay!" Dustin responded.

"Focus!" Blake ordered.

"We can do this!" Shane said.

"You guys are way too positive!" Phoenix insisted. "But I'm ready!"

They grabbed Condortron and flung him away. He landed on his back and prepared to attack again.

Suddenly, Cam appeared in his zords and stabbed at Condortron.

"You're my savior, Cam!" Phoenix yelled. Cam slashed at Condortron and the other rangers screamed their thanks and gladness that Cam had arrived.

"Heard you needed some help!" Cam replied, slashing again at Condortron.

As Condortron fell back, the four zords lined up. Each of the megazords received a power coin.

"It's time for Tsunami Megazord time." Cam popped his coin in the slot and let it drop downward. Phoenix, Hunter, and Shane did the same.

The Thunderzord became the legs while the Storm megazord became the arms. The Samurai Star megazord became the chest and the Flamezord was the head, the hands and the feet.

"Tsunami Megazord!" All the rangers screamed. "Tsunami blast!"

A wall of water swooped down on Condortron, making him fall back. He erupted into a bunch of tiny little silver pieces.

"Awesome!" Dustin screamed.

"That was really…" Phoenix thought for a moment. "Exciting! I wanna do that again!"

Shane and all the rangers laughed at Phoenix before powering down and going back to Ninja Ops.