On Fire (Power Rangers Samurai)

114 - Gone

~~ flashback continuation ~~

Lauren staggered behind Terry, knowing that trying to catch him was hopeless.

Regardless, Lauren summoned her night chains, swirling them like a lasso.

Aiming and patiently waiting for the wind to give her a sign, she hurled her night chains at him.

If only he wasn't so fast.

Her usually organized thoughts felt scattered. At the pace he was going, he was already much out of the reach of her night chains.

Her breaths became heavier and her steps began to lose direction. Suddenly, the path before her became unclear.

She could no longer run and braced against a tree.

Approaching, Kevin and Daisuke watched her fall to the floor.

"Lauren," Kevin kneeled by her. He noticed her skin more pale than usual.

"Daisuke san, she's not well. I don't have much left in me either..." Kevin brought Lauren's head to his chest.

"This was a mistake. How could we have fought each other." Kevin couldn't even recall why he was upset in the first place.

"Things like this happen. All you both can do is go at it again." Daisuke patted his shoulder. "Use whatever you have left to stop Terry."

"..." Kevin knew he was right. Somehow, he needed to find more energy within himself.

"Also, you're not alone." Daisuke assured him.

"I don't think this is a job for anyone who's not a ranger." Kevin didn't want to put anyone else in dangers way.

"What about the dragon folding zord?" Daisuke inquired. "Let her support you."

Kevin pulled his folding zord out of his pocket, which had the symbol for water on it. "Okay."

"And we'll take Lauren off your hands." Daisuke reassured Kevin as the students arrived to the scene.

~~~

Kevin found himself at the Watanabe house.

Why would Terry head to the place where he would likely be captured?

Everything seemed normal, and there was no sight of Terry.

Kevin wondered if he should head back into the forest... but something told him to enter the Watanabe House.

As he made his way through the gardens, he realized the front door was open

~~~

Kevin walked around, praying that Terry wasn't out for Mia's family or the servants.

He wasn't morphed. The only weapon he had was his dragon zord floating on his hand. Even she seemed to be low on energy.

Still, she was extremely useful in that she acted like a compass. Kevin trusted his zord's instincts as she would point he head towards where to go.

Kevin was lead toward the closet areas where important relics and archives where stored.

He saw that someone was there looking for something... and that someone had white hair...

Kevin grabbed a random sword off the floor and pointed it toward Terry.

Terry, of course, responded by twisted himself around and trying to scratch Kevin with his elongated white claws.

Kevin leaned out of the way as Terry went by him. He then looked over to see what Terry was rummaging through.

Before he could get a good look, Terry once again slashed at him, launching his entire body at him.

Caught off guard, Kevin held his sword before him, blocking the sharp claws. However, his stance wasn't strong enough, causing him to be pushed to the floor.

Once Terry pinned him to the floor, he jumped off and continued his search.

Kevin got up as quickly as possible.

"Go!" Kevin let his dragon zord at Terry. She bashed into Terry's back, causing him to lose his balance.

Kevin then kicked Terry's back with all of his strength, causing him to crash into a wall. It was rough enough to crack the wall, leading up to the ceiling.

Kevin stood over him, breathing roughly. But Terry was still full of energy, and tripped Kevin.

As Kevin dropped to the floor, Terry prepared to sink his claws into him.

His claws pricked Kevin's back until the dragon  zord pushed away Terry.

The dragon folding zord then shot a water blast at Terry, plastering a purifying water symbol on him. Something Kevin had never seen his zord do.

The purifying symbol made Terry pause and pulse, like something was being ripped out of him.

And for only a split second, his hair and eyes turned to its original color. Too short for Kevin to notice.

Kevin stood up and watched, unsure of what to do. He knew that his back was bleeding, but not badly thanks to his zord.

Though within the same minute, Terry overcame the symbol. Jumping back onto his feet and refocusing on rummaging through the closet.

Kevin tried to interject with his sword, but was caught by Terry's claws.

Kevin jumped back from the clash, his weary zord also following him.

As Kevin put his zord back in his pocket, Terry picked up the case he had been looking for.

Kevin finally understood what was happening.

"Put that down!" Kevin pulled out his samuraizer and painted his water symbol to morph.... but nothing happened.

Terry charged forward, prompting Kevin to prepare with his sword. But Terry instead flew right by him.

Kevin dashed after him, not getting any closer.

Kevin followed Terry up the stairs, noticing that Terry was running his claws against the walls as he traveled up.

"Stop!" Kevin noticed the cracks in the walls beginning to spread.

When Terry spotted a wall with a window, all he saw was a way out. He sliced through the wall and window, using his claws to climb up to the roof of the house.

From the roof, he got a nice vantage point, assessing where he wanted to go.

He then pushed his feet against the roof to launch himself forward, shattering the roof he stood upon in the process.

Feeling the house rumble, Kevin hopped out of the opening Terry sliced, and grabbed onto a tree.

As that part of the house came down, Kevin looked around, his heart pounding with utter dread and paranoia.

Terry was gone.