The silver and red samurai rangers stood back to back, weapons raised. The red ranger held a mostly red Zanbatō, which consisted of a large, wide blade attached to an extended, pole-like hilt, his Fire Smasher. The silver ranger held a silver Kunai, but much larger than the traditional ones. It had a silver leaf-shaped blade and a handle with a ring on the pommel, her Wolf Kunai.
"You ready to do this, Red?" Brooke Wolfe, the eighteenth generation's silver ranger asked, her voice holding an almost teasing tone. The seventeen-year-old had wavy, shoulder-length black hair, and grey eyes. Her eyes were narrowed, flashing gold for a moment as the moogers that surrounded the two rangers inched closer. "It's technically endgame now. But don't go dying on me, you hear?" Brooke advised, the toes of her grey boots digging into the soil underneath the pair's feet as she tensed, getting ready to lunge.
The boy deemed "Red," Jayden Shiba, the eighteenth generation's red ranger, rolled his eyes, but still smiled faintly. "It's what we've been training for. Stay alive, Brooke," Jayden urged, the seventeen-year-old having brown hair and blue eyes, those blue eyes darting around the battlefield. "I love you." It was barely audible, but Brooke still picked up on it. While the two were never usually sappy on the battlefield, Jayden figured he could make an exception. Since it was endgame, as Brooke liked to call it.
Brooke grinned, revealing canines that were longer than normal humans'. "You're acting like this is the last we'll see each other," Brooke joked, but her teasing tone turned into a much more caring one. "I love you too, with all the stars and the moon. We'll make it out of this like we always do." She vowed, the moogers growing even closer.
Jayden laughed faintly. "Like we always do," He echoed in confirmation, and he got ready to lunge. "Go." He commanded, and Brooke and Jayden both took off in different direct
--
Centuries ago in Japan, nighlok monsters invaded, with the intent to overtake the world. Five samurai warriors, and one that wasn't truly human, rose to the challenge to take on the nighlok, using power symbols passed from parent to child. These six warriors called themselves the Samurai Power Rangers.
For the most part of the ten-year-old girl's life, it had been white, and pain. A terrible pain that spread throughout her body and settled into her bones. The girl had also heard the whispers and faint murmurs from voices she didn't know. She had always not known much about her life, or what her fate was. Not knowing something frustrated and scared her, such as now.
Ten-year-old Brooke Wolfe clutched her father's black blazer in a tight grip, grey eyes eying the older man warily. Brooke had long black hair that was usually styled in pigtails, and she seemed to have a sharper face than most children her age. She had strong cheekbones and grey eyes that portrayed the notion that she was older than her age let on. Her canines were sharper as well, longer than a normal human's. Most adults joked that she was "a ten year old with a woman's face".
Her father, Nate Wolfe, who was a man in his thirties and had the same hair and eye color as his daughter, looked down at the girl with a frown. "Sweetheart, Mentor Ji's a nice man, I promise," Nate vowed. He was dressed casually, with dark blue jeans, a dark grey shirt, and a black blazer and loafers, but dark circles and heavy bags framed his eyes, giving him the notion that he was far older than he was. "I'm sorry Ji, she's been like this since Jane died," Nate explained, running a hand over his face.
Ji, an older man in robes, smiled slightly at the scene. "It's quite alright, her caution is only natural, after all," Ji mused, taking notice of the way Brooke's eyes flashed gold for a moment, and then returned to their original grey. "She has Jane's gift as well, it seems?" He questioned, feigning shock. Of course, Ji had known that fact from the beginning- but he didn't tell Nate that.
Nate let out a heavy sigh and ran a hand over his face again. It was a tick, a nervous habit. "It's something, for lack of a better term. Luckily, Brooke's shifting doesn't truly start until she's thirteen." He explained, and Brooke looked up at her father, brows knit and eyes flashing once again.
"Daddy, he knew Mama?" Brooke asked, and Nate smiled fondly, kneeling down to his daughters' height.
"Remember when I told you that Mama was a part of a very important team, one that saved the world, like superheroes?" Nate asked his daughter, who nodded rapidly. "Well, this is the man who trained Mama and the team." He explained, and Brooke blinked at her father in confusion. Still, Brooke was a rather quiet girl, so she didn't ask questions.
As is on cue, a ten-year-old boy with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes walked into the room, instantly knitting his brows at Nate and Brooke. "Mentor... who's this?" The boy, who wore a red hoodie asked, looking up at Ji quizzically.
"This is the girl who's going to be staying with us for a year," Ji answered, and the boy beamed.
He had always wanted another friend. "I'm Jayden Shiba, nice to meet you!" Jayden introduced himself cheerfully, holding out a hand for Brooke to shake.
Brooke glanced down at Jayden's outstretched hand and then back up at Jayden, eyes flashing. She was taller than the boy, but Brooke was still hesitant. After a couple of moments, Brooke spoke in a small voice. "Brooke Wolfe. It-It's nice to meet you too." She stammered out, taking Jayden's outstretched hand with her own shaky one and shaking it.
Ji looked down at the pair, the faintest of smiles growing on his lips. "Jayden, why don't you go show Brooke around?" He asked, and Jayden nodded enthusiastically, leading Brooke around the Shiba House. Once the two were out of earshot, Ji's smile fell. "Nate, why are you keeping things from her? Brooke will have to fight the nighlok eventually, and she could stay here. Jayden could use the company, and she'll be safer here." He chided.
Nate ran a hand over his face again, letting out a sigh. "I know that, Ji. Frankly, I want that for her, but Jane had made her mind up a long time ago," Nate sounded defeated and exhausted, the dark circles and deep bags under his eyes prominent against his pale skin. "Jane left it in the will that James will have custody. Once Mary comes to pick her up from here- Brooke will, legally, not be my daughter anymore." He explained, resisting the urge to throw up. The whole thing stressed Nate out to no end, and he just wanted his daughter to be safe and happy. And that's not going to be with him.
Ji frowned slightly. "What about you? If Brooke's anything like her mother, she'll put up a fight." The older man asked, and Nate's voice cracked when he answered.
"She won't remember me. She won't remember learning about the samurai rangers, or the fact that she's the next silver ranger. They're erasing her memories, Ji. And I can't stop them."
--
A brown wolf watched the team of samurai rangers with interest, her tail wagging slowly and gold eyes shining with curiosity. They seemed to hold their own well, despite the powerful blasts that the nighlok was firing at the five- and she spoke too soon. The nighlok had charged up a blast and fired it, hitting the team and causing them to collapse, yelling out in pain and demorphing. If the wolf could sigh, she would've.
Standing from her hiding spot, the brown wolf padded to the edge of the woods. In a series of cracking noises, the brown wolf turned into the silver ranger. She wore the traditional suit of the samurai rangers. The suit was silver in color, proudly bearing her family's crest on the left side of her chest, the crest being a crescent moon with two stars adjacent to it. Her leggings and gloves were black, but her boots were the same color as her suit. The silver ranger walked calmly towards the nighlok, wearing a grin underneath her silver helmet, which displayed the kanji for wolf on the front of it.
"Ah, so you've come to join your little team on the ground!" The nighlok sneered, raising its left arm, which was a blaster of some sort. The end of the blaster glowed a brilliant light blue, and the monster fired.
The blast was headed straight towards the silver ranger, but she remained calm, drawing her blades- which were a pair of silver katanas, and deflected the blast with ease. "Not necessarily my team- but them dying doesn't sit well with me. Also, you're going to have to do better than that if you really want to knock me down." The silver ranger challenged, her grin under her silver helmet growing wider as she broke into a sprint, rushing the nighlok.
The others watched the silver ranger with a mix of shock and awe, staying quiet for a moment. That was until the green ranger, Mike broke the silence. "Jayden, who the hell is that?" Mike questioned his leader, his green eyes shining with curiosity.
Jayden didn't respond for a moment, keeping a steady gaze on the silver ranger. Something about her seemed familiar- he just didn't know what. "I... I don't know." Jayden reluctantly admitted, his brows furrowed, blue eyes unwavering from the silver ranger as she danced around the nighlok, avoiding his attacks and returning with her own.
Kevin, the blue ranger, had an even more confused look on his face. "There's nothing about a silver ranger in the archives," Kevin muttered in confusion. "She doesn't have a spin-sword as well." He added, shaking his head in disbelief.
Spin-swords were the traditional weapons of the samurai rangers, and they could use various power disks to strengthen their attacks- or change their swords into other weapons entirely. However, the silver ranger wielded dual katanas and didn't seem to use any power disks. It was extremely confusing for Jayden, the feeling of deja-vu adding to his confusion and making him somewhat annoyed.
The yellow ranger, Emily, watched the girl with awe. "It's like she's dancing," Emily remarked, and that was yet another thing Jayden was confused about
The silver rangers fighting style was incredibly different from Jayden's- bouncy and flighty, she never seemed to stay in one place for too long. Jayden watched as the silver ranger performed a handspring over the nighlok's blast, landing on her feet and instantly slashing at the nighlok, sparks flying from where her katanas made contact with the monster. She didn't seem to know the teachings of how to fight, but she knew gymnastics. A tension headache formed, and Jayden let out a quiet groan of annoyance, feeling his head starting to pound.
However, Jayden shoved that aside as the silver ranger landed the final blow on the nighlok, the monster dying with an explosion. He quickly stood as the silver ranger sheathed her katanas in the holster on her back. The other rangers followed his lead, and when the silver ranger walked forward, they tensed, her noticing the way that the team, sans Jayden, reached for their samuraizers.
The silver ranger raised her hands slightly, signaling that she wasn't a threat. "Relax, if I wanted you dead I would've let the nighlok finish the job. Speaking of," The silver ranger spun on her heels, the nighlok having grown in size, throwing out threats. "I'm going to leave that to you guys." She motioned towards the nighlok with her thumb, starting to walk towards the woods.
"Wait!" The pink ranger, Mia called, and the silver ranger stopped in her tracks, tilting her head to the side slightly. "Aren't you going to help us? You have a zord, right?" Mia asked, and the silver ranger snorted.
"Do I have a zord? That's a fantastic question," The silver ranger mocked with a teasing tone, holding up a zord. The zord was folded into a parallelogram, its body silver, with the symbol 狼, the symbol translating to wolf, in silver. "As to help you, I feel like you can handle it. I'm not one to steal kills." The ranger replied, putting her zord back into its holder, which was on the side of the black belt of her ranger suit.
"Wolf?" Kevin blurted in disbelief. "That's not an element, and the samurai rangers-"
The silver ranger cut him off. "Usually use elements, yes, I know. I don't know why wolf is the one they chose, but it is what it is," She shrugged her shoulders, spinning on her heel and starting to walk through the woods. "Go fight." She urged, and just like that, she was gone.
Jayden snapped out of his thoughts, letting out a sigh. He would have to ask Ji, his mentor and somewhat of a father figure, about the silver ranger- because he had no idea. "She's right, let's handle the nighlok." He commanded, flipping open his samuraizer and drawing his own symbol- the kanji for fire hanging in front of him in a brilliant red. Activating the symbol, the familiar suit appeared on Jayden's body, the red ranger getting ready to finish the battle the silver ranger did for him.
The nighlok was defeated quickly, and Jayden trailed behind the rest of his teammates as they theorized about the silver ranger. Jayden was the eighteenth generation's red ranger. Which was a stressful role in itself, but leading a team of samurai rangers, all a mix of different personalities, proved to add to the stress.
Not that Jayden didn't dislike his team, they were all nice, it was just strange. Other than Brooke and Antonio, his only two friends when he was a child, who both left suddenly, he grew up alone, the training of the samurai drilled into him so much that he could probably recite the samurai code in his sleep. Him having four new people in his life when he was alone for years on end was a foreign concept, and his brain couldn't really decide whether that was a good or bad thing.
Jayden was snapped out of his thoughts when he accidentally bumped into a girl his age, the girl having shoulder-length wavy black hair and grey eyes that Jayden found pretty, wearing ripped blue jeans, and a light grey t-shirt underneath a leather jacket, dark grey boots adorned on her feet. "I'm sorry-" Jayden started, but the black-haired girl shook her head with a smile, showing canines that were too long, too sharp to be considered normal.
"Don't apologize, things happen," The black-haired girl reassured Jayden, her gaze landing on Jayden's samuraizer, which had fallen out of his pocket and landed by the girl's booted feet, and she reached down and picked the device up. "Don't wanna be losing this." The girl held out the device towards Jayden, grinning.
It might've been his brain playing tricks on him, but Jayden was sure her eyes had flashed gold. "Thanks." He thanked, taking his samuraizer out of the girl's hand and shoving it back into his pocket. Jayden noticed that she didn't ask questions about the device, which he was grateful for. Of course, he assumed that the samuraizers just looked like chunky flip phones to pedestrians.
The girl knew exactly what the device was, it was a samuraizer. That meant the person in front of her, a boy with light brown hair and blue eyes, was a samurai ranger- and judging by his red t-shirt, he was the red ranger. Not that she judged, her main color was silver, so she just decided on different shades of grey. "It's no problem," The girl replied with a grin, turning on her heels. "I'll see you around, Red." She called over her shoulder, raising her hand in a farewell as she walked down the street.
Jayden froze at the nickname, his eyes widening ever so slightly. He remembered the nickname well- Brooke had given it to him when they were kids, she had used it more than his actual name. But it couldn't be, because Jayden was told she had moved far away, and he was sure she would've remembered him. So, he summed it up to the girl just deciding on the nickname due to the color of his t-shirt. With a heavy sigh, he turned and started to join the others, who were all waiting for him with looks of confusion.
Mike was the first to speak. "What was that about? You looked a little shocked." The green ranger commented when Jayden caught up with the team.
Jayden frowned slightly. "Just someone I thought I knew." He replied nonchalantly, glancing behind him. The girl was long gone, having disappeared down the streets of Panorama.
--
Seventeen-year-old Brooke Wolfe took the creaky stairs that led up to where she lived two at a time, a feeling of excitement blooming in her chest. She had found the others. Well, she didn't introduce herself, but she had faces to go off of. "I found the other rangers," Brooke announced, bursting open the door to the apartment.
The apartment was Mary Wolfe's, who also owned the coffee shop below it, the shop proudly displaying the name of Little Cloaks in red calligraphy on the large wooden sign that was on the front of the building. It was where Brooke, her brother Maxx, and Mary lived.
Mary, a woman in her forties who had greying light brown hair and light green eyes, raised her eyebrows at her niece as Brooke walked into the room. Mary was Maxx and Brooke's aunt, as the two were... refugees, in a sense. The two had run away from home when James Wolfe, a man with blond hair and blue eyes, who was Maxx and Brooke's father, grew violent. Brooke was fifteen at the time, Maxx being thirteen. Once Brooke had gotten settled in- Mary had explained to Brooke who she truly was. The eighteenth generation's silver samurai ranger, who held the symbol power of the wolf.
The holders of the wolf symbol power also had special abilities. They were called shifters, the silver rangers having the ability to turn into a wolf at will with enough training and mental state. Before Brooke got told she just found it strange and shrugged it off. Shifters usually had sharper facial features than people who were fully human- including enlarged canines and claws. These features usually only revealed themselves when a shifter was about to turn into a wolf, but since the limbic system, the part of the brain that controlled emotions also controlled the ability to shift- it had its moments.
Emotions such as anger, curiosity, or fear caused a shifter to somewhat shift subconsciously. Usually, the shifting was minor- eyes flashing gold, and claws and canines growing in slightly. With extreme bursts of emotion, it was different, as the shifter could fully shift without meaning to. It was like a fight or flight response, in a sense.
Brooke was a shifter herself, and she realized that being a shifter was awfully sugarcoated. She couldn't remember the last time she went to a doctor, because Brooke knew hell would break loose if they had to do blood tests or something. The public usually wasn't open to the idea that someone was different from the norm, so Brooke kept it under wraps to the best of her abilities.
"You found the rangers?" Mary asked, setting down her pen from where she was doing bills at the dining room table. Also sitting at the table was Maxx Wolfe, Brooke's little brother who had the same light hair and green eyes combo as Mary, looked up from his phone and at his sister in disbelief.
"Then why aren't you doing a samurai ranger inauguration or some bullshit?" Maxx questioned as Brooke took a seat, shooting her brother a playful glare, who snickered in response. "I'm just saying, they probably would be pretty interested- given you're a shifter and all." The fifteen-year-old chalked on, shutting off his phone and setting it on the table. He wasn't a shifter himself, but Maxx didn't really mind. He knew what Brooke had to deal with, and didn't want to touch it with a ten-foot pole, so he left the supernatural stuff to his sister.
Brooke drummed her fingertips on the table, her nails growing into claws slightly. "When I met the whole team, I was morphed, and just killed a nighlok and fucked off, in all honesty. I only stepped in because they got their asses kicked." She explained, and Maxx let out a snort, leaning back in his chair slightly.
However, Mary knit her brows. "When you met the whole team," The older woman echoed, looking at Brooke with a curious expression. "Did you meet one of them another time?" She asked.
Brooke nodded with a grin. "The red ranger bumped into me, and his samuraizer fell out of his pocket." The silver ranger pulled out her own samuraizer for emphasis. It was one of the older models, which was shown by the brush on the tip of the device, the samuraizer being split vertically down the middle. Other than that, it just looked like a bulky flip phone, in all honesty. It also worked as a phone- but Brooke also had a phone, because she used to be in school, and the samuraizer was difficult to explain.
Mary felt her stomach twist in a knot. She knew damn well her sister and Maxx and Brooke's mother, Jane Wolfe, was rolling in her grave right now, but pushed that aside. "Did you introduce yourself?" The older woman asked Brooke, who shook her head in response, which caused Mary to let out a small sigh of relief.
Maxx, however, found Mary's question funny, grinning. "No offense Mary, but "nice samuraizer, I have one too" would most likely cause shit to hit the fan pretty quickly." He snickered, and Brooke rolled her eyes, playfully shoving her brother's shoulder.
"Do you want to meet them? Join the team?" Mary asked Brooke, ignoring Maxx's comment.
Brooke shrugged, twirling a strand of her black hair. "'Dunno yet. But fucking with them? That's pretty fun. so I'll just continue that for now." The silver ranger replied with a grin.
--
At the Shiba House, which was the place where the samurai rangers trained, things weren't so lighthearted. "That was fast." Ji greeted, and Jayden shot his mentor a somewhat frazzled look, which caused the older man to knit his brows in confusion.
"It ends up being pretty quick when someone fights our battles for us," Mike muttered bitterly, taking a seat.
All of the rangers sat in what they called the "meeting room", which was where multiple cushioned seats were set up around a coffee table. It almost looked like a modern war council. Which made sense, since the rangers were technically fighting a war. It just wasn't a traditional war. Jayden sat at the head, like he normally did, an empty seat next to him.
"There was another ranger," Jayden explained to Ji as he did after every battle. It was one of his many responsibilities as the red ranger. "She was the silver ranger and helped us when we got knocked down. But she left when we went into megamode power." And is god knows where.
Kevin picked up the conversation. The blue ranger was Jayden's second-in-command and held that title proudly. "She also held a different symbol power than us-"
"The symbol power of the wolf, I'm assuming?" Ji finished, and Kevin nodded slightly. Letting out a quiet sigh, Ji started his explanation. "While the five core rangers hold elemental symbol powers, the original silver ranger tried to harness symbol power from something different. And that was a wolf, and the silver ranger did succeed, after many failed attempts. However, these failed attempts caused the silver ranger to develop a new power, the power to shift into a wolf at will." The older man explained, and the team looked at Ji in disbelief.
"Like... a werewolf?" Emily asked hesitantly, the blonde girl having confusion etched on her face.
Ji nodded. "You could put it that way, yes," He agreed and then continued. "Those who hold the power of the silver rangers call themselves shifters. They usually do a good job at blending in with humans, only certain features, such as enlarged canines reveal the truth." With that fact, Jayden felt his eyes widen slightly.
Mia's voice was skeptical as she spoke. "But if she's here, why wasn't she summoned like we were?" The pink ranger asked, and Ji grimaced slightly.
"Last time I talked to her family, she was in hiding," Ji lied. He knew that Brooke was supposed to be with James, and thought she was. Keyword: thought. "I had no idea she came back to Panorama." That part was the truth, at least.
After Ji had answered a couple more questions and explained the things he could, the meeting ended, the team, other than Jayden, dispersed. The red ranger let out a heavy sigh, feeling his head pound in rhythm to his heart. "I had met her," Jayden blurted, and when Ji raised his eyebrows, Jayden continued. "I had bumped into her, and my samuraizer fell out of my pocket, and she had grabbed it. But she didn't say anything about it- she just gave it back to me and walked away. But why?" He asked nobody in particular, and Ji made a snap decision.
"You had met her before," Ji replied, wearing a small smile. Jayden made a noise of confusion, looking at his mentor skeptically. "Brooke." The older man explained, and Jayden's eyes widened.
The red ranger stood on his feet quickly, a strange sense of happiness filling his chest. "Brooke as in Brooke Wolfe, right?" Jayden blurted, and when Ji nodded, he felt his happiness die out. "She didn't say anything." He muttered, his lips twitching into a frown.
"She wouldn't remember you, Jayden," Ji spoke softly, and Jayden looked almost heartbroken, any enthusiasm he had leaving his body. "It's not her fault, her family did something with her memories- I don't know why." It was another lie, but he didn't want to break Jayden's spirit more.
The two ten-year-olds were always glued at the hip, and it was easy to tell that Jayden grew attached to Brooke. When Brooke had to leave- he had cried his eyes out, holding onto his friend's hand like a lifeline. Ji noticed that those feelings had never left Jayden, even seven years later. It was endearing and rather saddening.
Jayden shook away his negative emotions. It was still Brooke, and Jayden could find a way to get her memories back. As to how he wasn't really sure yet, but still. It could happen. "Still, we have to find Brooke. For the team," He urged, trying to tell himself that it was for the team. That it wasn't because he wanted one of his best friends back. "She can hold her own well, and it would be nice to have the power advantage." Jayden chalked on, and Ji saw right through Jayden's excuse.
Jayden's excitement had returned, increasing tenfold and starting a strong fire in his heart. It was a fire that was going to end up burning him if he wasn't careful, and Ji knew that. Still, he'd never seen Jayden look this excited since he was little. So, the older man let Jayden Shiba burn on.