Chapter 41

A few minutes after Master Xandred had departed; Jayden spotted some moogers a few feet away from them and struggled to stand up. Once on his knees the red ranger looked at his team, "You guys can stand right? Cause…We have to find a way to stop Master Xandred…"

Antonio struggled to sit up but simply waved off his pain, "I was just taking a little siesta…" Emily nodded and slowly stood, "Me too…" Mia stood up also, "Samurai rangers never give up!"

As the rest of the rangers were finally back on their feet Kevin said, "For generations our families have waited for this moment!"

"What we do today will be remember forever." Told Jayden

With that being said the rangers drew their spin swords once again and charged at the small army of moogers.

Meanwhile back at the Shiba household, Lauren was in the dojo preparing another power disk. Ji, Nariko and Takashi were there too and couldn't help but watch her in worry. Takashi went over to Lauren's side with Nariko and Ji following, "Lauren…Are you all right?"

"Jayden risked his life every day to protect the world, Takashi…They need another disk…I owe it to him to give every ounce of my sealing power…It may be their only hope…" once she finished writing the symbol, Lauren sent it into the power disk that is on a stand before her.

Though as the disk was completed Lauren collapsed right on the spot, Takashi quickly caught her "Lauren!" "I…I'm fine…" the female red ranger weakly looked to the samurai mentor, "Take the fire disk to my brother…Tell him I gave everything I had left…"

Ji walked over and removed the power disk from the stand, "And it has all your power…" "But the power can only be used once…Go!" the samurai mentor nodded and rushed out the household.

15 minutes passed when an alarm loudly went off in the household, Nariko and Takashi who was tending to Lauren in the living room looked at the blinking sensor. "Are more nighlok entering our world?" wondered Takashi

Nariko shook her head at this, "No…This is a different alarm…" she went to the table and pulled up the virtual. The Yamada princess stared at the blinking dots that were slowly approaching the household, "Something is approaching the house…"

A loud chilling roar sent chills down their spines, "Don't…Don't tell me that was…" said Takashi "Master Xandred." Finished Nariko

"What are we going to do? I mean you and I can't face Xandred, he's too strong for us. Not only that, Lauren is too weak to even defend herself."

The Yamada princess thought for a moment then slowly turned to her brother, "I'm going out there…" "What?! By yourself? Nariko it's too dangerous!" "Master Xandred is most likely here for one reason and that's me."

"So you're going to give yourself up to that monster?!"

"If it's to protect you and Lauren then yes…Besides it's about time I find out on why he wants me so much."

"Nariko…Please…Don't do this…"

"I have to Takashi…I firmly believe it is my duty to protect our clan and the people that I love from Xandred and his nighlok…Even if it means I have to sacrifice myself…"

"Nariko…"

The Yamada heir tightly embraced her older brother, "I love you so much Takashi…And if I don't come back…I want you to know that you're the best big brother I ever had and I'm glad I got to see you again…" Takashi was at a loss for words but he returned the embrace with all his might. He reluctantly let his younger sibling go as the sound of Xandred's roaring began to draw closer to the household.

"It's time…" said Nariko, she looked to her fiance's sister "Please look after Takashi for me, Lauren." "I will."

Thus the Yamada princess slowly departed from the household and stood outside the gates. It didn't take long for Master Xandred to arrive with a small army of moogers behind him. The nighlok king stopped a few feet away from Nariko, "Well, well, well…If it isn't the Yamada princess…You're just the person I was looking for…" "Well found me, so there's no reason for you to attack the Shiba house."

"Is that so?"

"I'll make a deal with you…I'll come willing with you without a fight if you promise not to attack the Shiba house."

"And how do I know you'll keep your word?"

Nariko pulled out her sais and threw the weapons onto the ground, "There's your proof…" "Hmm…For once I shall comply…I accept your deal."

"One thing before you take me away…What is your purpose for capturing me?"

"Simple…It's your family's power that I want…Long ago when I was human, I was betrothed to your Yamada ancestor in order to gain control of your weapons and lightening power for my own evil purposes…But that was all ruined no thanks to a samurai ranger who happened to be in love with your ancestor and discovered my evil intents…From there you know the rest of the story, I became nighlok king and raged battle against the samurai rangers with my intent to take over the world."

"So you're planning to force me to marry then?"

Master Xandred evilly chuckled at this, "That's for me to know and for you to find out…Enough talking…Moogers!"

Two moogers made their way over to Nariko and tightly took a hold of her arms, Xandred turned around and began walking away "Bring the Yamada princess, it's time that I finish off this pathetic city and those pesky rangers."

Back with the rangers they had finished off the moogers when Ji arrived on his motorcycle. The samurai mentor parked his bike and rushed over to his students, "Is everyone all right?" "We're fine." Told Kevin

"Don't worry Mentor." Said Emily, "You and Nariko told us to never give up. We'll beat Master Xanded if it's the last thing we do."

"And after that you're going to teach me something new." Said Mike

"And what is that?" questioned Ji

"To ride your motorcycle."

"Now that scares me more than any nighlok." Ji then approached Jayden and handed him the power disk, "This is for you…" "Another Shiba fire disk? But how could she?" "Lauren gave it everything she had…But I'm afraid it can only be used one time."

"One time…" Jayden safely placed the disk in his pocket, "I'll be sure not to waste it."

Ji pulled out another power disk but this one happened to be white, "This disk…Belonged to your Father before his last battle…He asked me to save it for a moment like this…Use it to double your power."

Jayden took the white disk and studied it for a moment then looked at his mentor, "Everything rides on this last battle…" "I have faith in you."

Meanwhile in the city, the citizens ran away in fear as moogers were running around causing havoc. Master Xandred evilly laughed as he walked through an abandoned construction site, watching the humans fearfully run away. "Master Xandred! It's time to finish this!"

The nighlok king stopped in his tracks and turned around to find Jayden and the others standing a few feet away, "Huh? I thought I told you pathetic pests to wait!" "Sorry we became impatient." Said Mike

"You will fall and this world will be protected." Told Jayden

"Unfortunately for you red ranger you failed to protect the one person that mattered to you most." Said Xandred

"Huh?"

"Moogers! Bring her to me!"

From within the confines of an abandon building, two moogers dragged a struggling Nariko out and have her stood by their master's side. "Nariko!" exclaimed Jayden, the Yamada princess ceased her struggling and looked at her fiance "Jayden!"

Master Xandred evilly chuckled, "Surprised red ranger? By the look on your face you clearly are." The moogers let the princess go just as their master gripped her throat, "My first intent was to capture the Yamada princess and marry her in order to gain control of her family's powers but now I found a simpler way…"

Nariko tried to pull Xandred's hand off her throat but it proved to be no use. She grunted in pain as the nighlok king tightened his grip on her throat, "Be still! This won't take long…" Xandred held his other hand over Nariko's face, his hand began to glow dark red and the princess began crying out in pain.

Her cries soon ceased and her eyes slowly closed as Xandred removed Nariko's soul from her body. The nighlok king dropped the princess' body and studied the white soul sphere in his hand, "Such a pretty soul…" much to the rangers' horror they witness Xandred swallow the soul whole "And a delicious one at that."

"NARIKO!" yelled Jayden, he along the other rangers drew their swords and charged at the oncoming moogers.

The group quickly disposed Xandred's minions and morphed before charging at the nighlok king. He easily dodged their attacks and as they stumbled a few feet back, Xandred said "I've had enough of these games!"

The nighlok leader attacked once more but the rangers stood their ground and blocked the attack. Acting quickly Kevin, Mia, Antonio, Mike and Emily wrote out a symbol "Symbol power: Capture!"

Xandred tried to deflect the symbols but they successfully immobilized him, the nighlok growled in frustration "You think your symbol powers can hold me for long?!"

Jayden immediately equipped his father's power disk to his fire smasher which in turn gave the red ranger two fire smashers. He charged at Master Xandred and attacked his white patch with three powerful blows, the nighlok leader broke free of the symbol power and roared once more "Think again!"

The power from his roar pushed Jayden back and he tumbled to the ground, the red ranger quickly got on his knees while gripping his chest in pain "Now!" "Now what?!" snapped Xandred

Much to his surprise Mia, Emily, Mike and Antonio attacked Xandred with their swords and held them there in order for Kevin to equip the Shiba fire disk to his sword. The blue ranger charged at Xandred as he push the other rangers away from him "Unhand me!"

Though before the nighlok leader could block the attack, Kevin successfully struck his white patch. Xandred growled in pain and fell to one knee, holding his chest. "Finish him Jayden!" told Kevin

"Thanks to Lauren's Shiba disk I'm hoping to do just that!" said the red ranger, he equipped another power disk to his sword and activated it "Shogun mode, power of the ancestors!"

"What's this?!" exclaimed Xandred

"It's the end of the line for you!"

Jayden charged at the nighlok king and continued to attack the white patch on the creature's chest, "In order for this to work I've got to keep hitting that spot!" he attacked Xandred's white patch one last time which greatly affected the nighlok, "T-This can't be! Im-Impossible!"

The red ranger quickly stepped away from Xandred as he gave one last roar, "You haven't seen the last of me!" and thus the nighlok was gone right before their eyes in a fiery explosion.

"Yes…We did it…" panted Jayden, "He's really gone…I can't believe Lauren's disk had enough power to unlock Shogun mode…" he looked at his team, "Well done rangers." The red ranger then looked at fallen form of his fiance, "Nariko!"

He rushed over to the Yamada princess with the rangers following, Jayden pulled his loved one into his arms, "Nariko! Can you hear me?!" "Is she all right Jay?" asked Antonio "I…I don't know…"

Suddenly the rangers heard a loud rumbling sound, they looked and much to their shock found a gigantic Xandred standing before them. "Samurai Rangers! Now your world will end!" roared the nighlok king, "Time to face my wrath!"

"No Master Xandred it's time to face the wrath of the samurai!" told Kevin

Jayden gently set Nariko back down and ran his finger down her cheek, "I'm still keeping my promise…I'll come back to you and I'll save your soul from Master Xandred…He'll pay for what he did to you."

Thus the rangers prepared themselves for their last megazord battle by assembling their Samurai Gigazord. As they began their charge at the nighlok king, Xandred said "I hate you rangers! I'll take you down if it's the last thing I do and I'll accomplish it by using your precious princess' lightening powers!"

He thrust out his hand and bolts of lightning shot from it, hitting the rangers' gigazord dead on. The rangers were knocked away from their controls due to the powerful impact from the lightning. "Xandred is more powerful than ever now that he's using Nariko's powers!" said Emily, "What do we do now?!"

"At this rate…We won't last long!" said Mia

Kevin stood up and returned to his controls, he pulled out his samuraizer "I'll buy us sometime!" though before the blue ranger could anything, Jayden held out his arm in front of him "Wait! Don't use symbol power yet!"

"Why not?"

"We can't use it in small amounts…He'll win that way…" told Jayden, he then powered down "We have to demorph and combine every last ounce of our symbol power into one grand strike."

"What?" said Antonio

"We can only beat him as a team."

The rangers immediately followed their leader's order, "With one attack?" asked Mike, "What if we miss?" questioned Mia

"We have to get so close that we can't miss." Told Jayden

"We have to do it." Said Emily, "To save the world!"

"It sounds risky…And dangerous…Let's do it!" said Emily

"Remember…No matter what happens we cannot retreat, we have to keep going at all costs…Even if we have one zord left…Everything is riding on this one attack." Told Jayden

"Right!" said the rangers

"Ok then…Attack!"

As the samurai gigazord began moving forward, Xandred said "So…You're coming back for more…Take this!" the nighlok king attacked with his sword which made the rangers lose three zords though they kept on going.

Xandred kept attacking until it was only the megazord that was left, as they drew very close to the nighlok Jayden looked to his team "Ok guys…This is it…I just want to say…That no red ranger has led a better team of samurai…"

"Jayden…" said Mia

"I'm honored to have fought beside you and to call you my friends."

"I think…No I know we all feel the same way!" said Kevin

"It all comes down to this…" said Jayden, "Now! Use all the symbol power you have left!"

The rangers placed all their symbol powers into their sword and landed a powerful strike upon Master Xandred. The nighlok king was completely shocked by this, "Im-Impossible!" he held onto the ranger's megazord, "Samurai rangers hear me now! You have won this battle but our quest to rule your world will never end! You may have defeated me but the nighlok will rise again!" with that being said Master Xandred went away in a large fiery explosion that rangers were caught up in.

It didn't take long for Ji to arrive in the city and stumbled upon the soulless body of the Yamada princess, "Nariko!" he rushed over to her and gently cupped her cheek, "Nariko! Nariko it's me Ji! Come on Nariko wake up!" unfortunately she remained still and unresponsive to his calls.

The samurai mentor then looked up and much to his relief found Jayden and the other rangers all right, "Jayden, rangers you did it! You've saved the world, the nighlok are defeated!" the news brought a smile to their faces but it soon faded once they laid eyes upon Nariko's unmoving form.

Jayden rushed over to his mentor who immediately handed Nariko over, the red ranger held her close and cupped her cheek "Nariko…Nariko wake up! Come on wake up! We did it…The rangers and I did it…We defeated Master Xandred! Come on you need to wake up! Nariko! Nariko!"

Unfortunately the princess gave no response and remained still, "But we defeated Master Xandred! Her soul should've been released!" said Kevin

"You…You don't think…That when Xandred absorbed her soul that…" said Antonio

Mia abruptly turned to him with tears in her eyes, "D-Don't say that! It can't be true, Nariko's soul isn't lost!"

Emily couldn't help but start to cry at this causing Mike to pull her into an embrace and began comforting her. Jayden held back his tears as he continued to stare at his loved one's sleeping face, he stroke her cheek with his finger "I kept my promise to you…I came back…A-And now all I want from you is to come back also…Please wake up Nariko…After all we've been through, I don't want to lose you here…I-I can't imagine the rest of my life without you, so please…Come back to me…"

Tears ran down Jayden's face as he kissed Nariko's lips, the red ranger slowly pulled away and whispered "Please come back to me…I love you so much, you hear me? Nariko I love you…"

Everyone else remained silent as they began to mourn, though Antonio's attention was soon caught by something in the sky. He studied it for a moment before shaking his best friend's shoulder "Jayden look!" the red ranger along with the others looked up to find a white spirit orb flying down towards them.

"Is…Is that what I think it is?" asked Mike

Everyone watched as the spirit orb fly down and floated before their eyes for a few seconds. The orb then hovered over Nariko's chest for a second before slowly disappearing into her body. Seconds ticked by when they heard a soft groan from Nariko's body, much to everyone's relief the princess slowly opened her eyes.

"N-Nariko!?" said the red ranger, she looked at her fiance and give him a tired smile "Ja…Jayden…" the princess then looked at the others, "Hey guys…"

The rangers and Ji gave out a loud cry of happiness while Jayden tightly hugged Nariko, with tears running down his face. "I really thought I completely lost you there…" told Jayden, Nariko kissed his cheek returned the embrace "But you didn't…And thank you for saving me…"

Once everyone had given each other pats on the back and a hug to Nariko, Antonio turned to his best friend "Just say it one more time." Jayden grinned at this, "Let's say it together." All of them placed their hands over each other and together they loudly proclaimed "Samurai rangers victory is ours!"

A few days after the victory over Xandred, Kevin and the others prepared their things to depart from the household and return to their normal lives. Currently in the living room Jayden and Nariko were saying good bye to their older siblings. "We couldn't have done it without you sis and your support Takashi…I wish you two could stay…" Said Jayden after hugging his sister

Lauren smiled at her little brother, "Jayden…We're a family again…You're going to see us plenty." As she walked over to grabbed her things, Ji placed his hand on her suitcase "Here let me help you with those."

Though before the older siblings left, Nariko asked "Takashi…Aren't you and Lauren going to say good bye to the others?" Takashi and Lauren looked at each other then back at Nariko, "Lauren and I…Are not good at saying good byes or hellos…We just…" said Takashi

"Don't worry…We'll take care of it." Told Jayden

"Hey don't forget to tell us when you two are having your wedding." Said Lauren

Nariko giggled and wrapped her arms around Jayden's waist "We won't…You two take care now." Takashi smiled and kissed his sister on the forehead and patted Jayden on the shoulder before departing the household with Lauren and Ji.

Just as they left Kevin, Mia, Antonio, Mike and Emily came walking down the hall with their things. As the former samurai rangers stopped in front of the couple, Antonio helped up a cruise magazine to his best friends "Hey Jayden, Nariko! I've scored the golden ticket! Around the world fishing expedition, this is the trip of a life time! I'm going to catch fish nobody has never even heard of!"

"Sounds fishy…In a good way." Said Mia

"How about you Mia?" asked Nariko

"I'm going to the culinary academy."

Mike looked up at the ceiling and softly said, "Thank you…" Mia happed to hear this and look at him "No comments please." "I-I didn't say anything!" "Well I can take a hint but…I'm gonna study hard so when Antonio comes back with his rare and exotic fish I'll turn it into a gourmet cuisine."

"Kevin are you going back to the swim team?" asked Jayden

"Well I just caught up with my coach the other day and I just barely have enough time to train for the Olympic qualifying tournament! It's definitely going to be hard work but I…"

Emily placed her hand on Kevin's arm, "But if anyone could do it you can!" everyone nodded and voiced their agreement. Kevin smiled at this, "Thanks guys…What about you Emily?"

"Oh no major plans I'm just excited I get to go home and take care of my sister. There's no other place I'd rather be than at home with family."

Mia then pushed Mike a little bit towards Jayden and Nariko, "Mike…Tell them where you're going." "I…I kind of thought I would go with Emily…" the former yellow ranger smiled at Mike who returned it with one of his own. The two then held each other's hand which brought a smile to everyone's face.

Noticing the looks that they were giving them, Mike said "Uh…You know…In case she needs moving her stuff…"

Everyone lightly laughed at this, "Sounds fun." Said Jayden "Right…The moving man…Whatever you say." Said Kevin

"Well come on…Mentor is waiting." Told Nariko

Thus they departed the household and joined Ji outside who had witnessed Takashi and Lauren leave. "So…What are you guys going to do?" asked Mike "We haven't really thought about it…" admitted Jayden "I mean…For the first time in my life…I'm done with my samurai duties…For now anyway…"

"My place is here…The Shiba house must be always ready for the next nighlok attack…Even if it never comes…" told Ji

"Well…I was thinking about starting on planning for our wedding…Since we now have the free time to do whatever we want." Said Nariko

"Oh you've got to tell us when you're having it!" said Emily

"Yeah!" agreed Mia

Nariko lightly giggled and nodded, "Don't worry Jayden and I will let you know ahead of time."

"Well…If there's any trouble you have my number." Told Antonio, he then took out his cell phone and held it up high "Rangers together!" everyone smiled and joined in, "Samurai forever!"

And just like that Kevin, Antonio, Mia, Emily and Mike departed from the household bidding good bye to Jayden, Nariko and Ji. Once they were gone Nariko let out a sad sigh, "They're gone…" Jayden wrapped his arm around her and kissed her head, "Don't worry…We'll see them again."

The former red ranger then looked at the samurai mentor, "So…What do we do now?" "Well…The bamboo needs pruning…And I do need to restock the practice dummy…"

Ji then walked over and pulled out a red electric guitar from behind the column, "But I got you a little victory gift." Jayden and Nariko lightly laughed at this and walked over to Ji. The samurai mentor handed the guitar to Jayden, "Now that the world has been saved I can teach you to have some fun." "I like the color."

Jayden then sat down on the chair with Nariko by his side, Ji joined too with his own guitar in hand "Go on give it a try." Nariko smiled as she listened to her fiance play a catchy tune "Wow…You're pretty good Jayden." "Thanks…If I start playing more will you sing for me?" "Maybe…" Jayden chuckled and kissed his fiance before continuing to play the guitar with Ji. The trio shared laughs as they continued their day by having fun and the rest of their lives in peace without any worries at all, since world is now at peace all thanks to the samurai rangers.