On Fire (Power Rangers Samurai)

49 - Switch / Scrutiny

"Give it up nighlok!" Jayden called out as he and the rangers arrived at the scene.

"I've already won!" The flannel and cowboy hat wearing nighlok chortled before coming at them.

The nighlok's arms where silvery laser guns. From the shoulder, the entire right arm appeared as a thick rifle. The left arm's laser gun was slightly smaller as it started from his elbow.

With his left gun, the nighlok shot at the rangers, causing them to split up and bump into moogers.

"I'm only here for one target!" The nighlok fired shots at the pink ranger.

She deflected two of the shots with her fan, but the impact knocked her off her feet and straight into a brick building.

Kevin and Jayden both pushed past the moogers and jumped towards the nighlok, deflecting shots from his left gun.

As the blue and red ranger were about to counter attack, the nighlok whipped out his right gun and hit both of them with a larger blast.

As Jayden got up from the floor, he noticed something strange. In his hands was Kevin's hydro bow and beside him was the red ranger.

Kevin quickly got up and noticed that he wasn't in his blue suit, but rather a red one.

"Jayden?" Kevin asked the blue ranger before him.

"Kevin?" Jayden gasped. "Did we switch bodies?"

Antonio, not noticing the body swap rushed to slice the nighlok with his barracuda blades.

Kevin and Jayden both saw that Antonio was about to get hit head on by the nighlok's gun.

Jayden aimed Kevin's hydro bow and fired an arrow, but nothing happened. "What?"

Kevin (who was in Jayden's body) dashed to tackle Antonio out of the way.

It seemed as though they invaded the attack, however the blast caught both of their feet.

All of a sudden they swapped again. Kevin was in Antonio's body and Antonio was in Jayden's.

"Huh?" Antonio looked down at his new red suit and up at the gold ranger next to him.

As the nighlok burst into laughter, Mia caught him by surprise with her sky fan, hitting him with all of her strength. The attack caused him to begin drying.

"Dammit!" He shoved away the pink ranger with his right gun. He aimed his left gun at her, about to shoot.

"Die!" The nighlok's thick country accent was heavily prevalent.

Mike charged with his forest spear, only for the nighlok to aim at him instead.

The nighlok shot Mike directly on his burn from the previous battle, causing him to demorph and roll from the pain.

Mia took the opportunity to hit the nighlok again with her sky fan. Finally, Emily was about to deliver the next fatal blow.

"This ain't any good!" As quick as a rabbit, the nighlok desperately fleed into the other world. "You better believe I'm coming back!"

"What just happened..."

~~~

"Ow!" Mike cried as Kevin (who was in Antonio's body) cleansed his burn again.

"Kevin, let me do it." Mia offered, saving Mike's skin from Kevin's shaky hands once more.

"The name of the nighlok is Konservativ." Lauren had flipped through the archive pages.

"Scary name." Mike joked before wincing in pain.

"So let me get this straight." Emily pointed at the three boys. "Jayden is Kevin. Kevin is Antonio. Antonio is Jayden."

"Holy crap I'm blonde!" Antonio looked in the mirror at his new face, Jayden's face. "So this is what it's like to be white."

"Trippy..." Antonio lifted his shirt to check Jayden's abs.

"Stop that!" Jayden (Kevin's body) pulled Antonio's shirt down so he would stop flashing his body to the whole world. "That nighlok wants to kill Mia."

"Nothing we haven't all seen before." Antonio muttered.

"What do we even do?" Kevin (Antonio's body) threw up his hands. "Mike is out of commission, and the 3 of us are a mess!"

"I've never held barracuda blades in my life. Jayden can't use my hydro bow. Also Jayden's fire smasher is too heavy and slow for Antonio's style, not to mention the fact that he can't use it either. We're practically useless." Kevin ranted in Antonio.

The rangers sat in defeated silence.

"Remember how Mentor had that zord?" Emily's face lit up in realization. "The light zord!"

"You're right Emily, Gi had that zord for a long time. But I think he took it with him to try activating it." Jayden (Kevin's body) recalled. "If we travel to get it, it may take a few days."

"It's probably not safe around the temples though." Mia told them. "The nighlok have been trying to find the temples in the northern woods for ages. We could end up leading them to it."

"I can go retrieve it." Lauren offered. "The nighlok don't know about me."

"But if you encounter them, you'd be forced to show them who you are." Jayden strongly opposed Lauren leaving. "Your legs are still wobbling by the way."

Lauren hated Jayden's scrutiny.

"I'll go get it." Mike said. "Might as well."

"But if you go alone, you'd face attacks by yourself." Lauren told him. "You can barely fight."

"You're needed here." Mike knew that he'd be a hinderance with his burn and laser situation. Plus Lauren was much more of a valuable asset to have on standby. "So I'll get it."

The rangers didn't really like the sound of it. Not only was Mike injured, but he was planning to set off towards the temples.

"Mia, why don't you go with him?" Kevin (Antonio's body) suggested. "Konservativ is trying to kill you."

"If I leave, then Conservatine would simply switch targets." Mia reasoned. "I will face this nighlok on my own. I can take him on."

Mia knew that Konservativ depended on fumbling his opponents by swapping their bodies. The only offense he had was his guns.

"Emily, go with Mike. Together, you can retrieve the zord much faster. We need it's power." Mia told them.

"Mia, are you sure you can do this?" Jayden (Kevin's body) asked.

"If it was you, Kevin, or Antonio soloing a nighlok, no questions would be asked. I can handle myself." Mia spoke and left with a calm demeanor.