Secret Ninja Warrior Shinobiman (Part 2)

When we last left our savior in the shadows, Shinobiman, he was hightailing it to the hidden Shinobi Shrine of Honor Ridge - literally, using his Shinobi Racoon power to fly to the shrine! But the Shinobi Scroll hidden there is being guarded by Lord Kroak's loathsome lackeys, Razor and Vampyra, as well as a squadron of demon soldiers! Meanwhile, Sensei and Doctor Wasabi have a plan to delay the awful amphibian and prevent him from twigging that his stolen scroll is under scruitiny...

"I just hope," mutters Doctor Wasabi, "that this crazy plan of yours works." He never was very good at driving a motorcycle to begin with, preferring the comfort of cars, but the knowledge of the scheme his companion is about to carry out makes steering all the more difficult.

"My crazy plans always work!" responds a cheerful Sensei from the sidecar. "All we have to do is find Kroakzilla and lead him away from the populated areas of the city!"

"Well, how hard can that be?" asks Wasabi. "He's over thirty stories tall, after all!"

The good doctor soon regrets his earlier question, as an awful growling noise - like a tractor and a lion having a spirited scuffle - cuts through the air. The frightened physician nearly stalls the cycle in his terror, but Sensei merely puts one hand to his ear, trying to divine the direction the sound is coming from. And, with his attuned skills, it doesn't take long for him to pinpoint the location of their target.

"That was him, alright," he confirms. "And he's in the restaurant district. Turn off here."

Wasabi does so, although with great reluctance.

And, true to his word, Kroakzilla is not that hard to hide. In fact, he is making no effort to be sneaky at all - instead, he has parked his bulbous bulk in the middle of a parking lot, helping himself to the contents of the various eating establishments he has plundered. As the dynamic duo pull up by one of his feet, the titanic toad finishes gulping down the innards of a pizza parlour's kitchen, before taking a long sip from a water tower he tore up earlier.

"Boy," he mutters with his mouth full. "Destroying a city really works up an appetite. I should have brought some of mom's home-made mud pies!"

"Well," whispers Wasabi to his much braver buddy, "We found Kroakzilla. What now?"

By way of answer, Sensei suddenly produces a megaphone from seemingly nowhere and holds it up to his mouth. Wasabi quickly gestures for him to put it away, but the martial-arts master ignores him and flicks it on. The whining noise of the device turning on was loud enough, but when Sensei shouts up at the monstrous marauder above them, the good doctor soon starts wishing he could remember the secret ninja ability to become invisible!

"Hey, Kroakzilla!" hollers Sensei from the sidecar. "Down here, you green-skinned good-for-nothing!" This gets the terrible tyrant's attention, his head swiveling down to notice the motorcycle and it's occupants a few meters from his feet.

"Well, well, well!" he growls, grinning. "If it isn't that sake-drinking sap and his scientist buddy!"

Sensei rises up from his seat in the sidecar, turning up the megaphone's volume for extra effect. "Leave this city right now," he orders, "or I shall be forced to take extreme measures!"

The effect is electric - Kroakzilla leaps to his feet as though stung, rage on his foul face! The tremors of his landing shake the street beneath the bike, nearly making poor Wasabi fall off his perch, but the good doctor's problems are still coming - and Sensei's are only just beginning!

"I don't take insults from pests like you!" bellows the beast, and he immediately raises one foot to squash the heroes! Thinking quickly, Wasabi immediately hits the gas, and he bike goes speeding away down the road, away from the vile villain's stomp! Growling in anger, Kroakzilla immediately gives chase, titanic treads shaking the earth with every step, and the scared scientist has to weave back and forth to avoid getting trodden underfoot by the rampaging toad demon!

"Now what?!" howls Wasabi, clearly wishing he was back home.

"To the abandoned skyscraper district!" shouts Sensei. "And step on it!"

-------

Swooping swiftly through the skies, it doesn't take Shinobiman very long to find the shrine Doctor Wasabi spoke of. It's nestled in the heart of the forest, a few miles from the edge of Honor Ridge, and stands out as a beacon of jade tiling and vine-covered walls amongst the tons of trees. Upon setting his sights on it, the noble ninja quickly swoops down, using controlled movements of his tail to alight himself in the branches of the trees that surround the shrine. He moves as quietly as he can, so as to not disturb any of the demons dwelling in the depths below him, thus allowing him to get a better view of the scene below.

What he sees nearly makes his blood run cold.

"Holy Ramen-oley," he mutters under his breath. "That's a lot of demons!"

His words are not far from the truth. The shrine is surrounded with a host of horrible beasts - demonic Oni warriors, molded from clay by the dark magic of Lord Kroak himself! With clubs in hand and evil eyes glinting with malicious intent, they stand fixedly at their designated posts, peering into the darkness of the surrounding forest in search of intruders to bash. As the footsoldiers of the demon army, they're mostly just cannon fodder to our hidden hero - but never before has Shinobiman seen them in such great numbers - more than twenty at once, by his count!

And they are not alone, for our hero's enhanced hearing soon catches voices from within the sacred shrine itself. Adjusting his perch to get a better view, Shinobiman soon catches sight of those responsible for the talk - the awful offspring of Lord Kroak! Razor, the sickle-clawed Weasel Demon, is pacing back and forth within the shrine, a irritated impatience to his step, whilst leaning against the wall is the white-furred Cat Demon Vampyra, Kroak's only daughter. Even from a distance, our hero reckons they look ugly enough to clear out an entire forest on their own!

And, as usual, the two are bickering.

"This is not right!" snarls Razor, throwing up his lethal limbs in frustration. "I should be the one leading the attack on Honor Ridge! Not stuck here doing this dreary grunt work, as if I was some mere footsoldier!"

"You heard what Daddy said," Vamypra retorts as she swishes her tail, not amused by her brother's ranting. "That dumb do-gooder Shinobiman might come to take the scroll, and we can't have that happening! That's why he told us to stay here in the first place!"

"Yes, whilst he reaps all the benefit of using it!" Razor flexes his claws, the sharp sickles hissing ominously through the air. "Why should we be denied the power of the Shinobi Scroll?! We are just as capable of using it as our father!"

An incredulous laugh escapes from Vampyra at this. "We? I'm sorry, but did you forget what happened last time, when you tried to use the Shinobi Dino Scroll? The power was so great, it drove you feral until that no-good ninja kicked your butt and took it from you!"

"Oh, and you think you could have done better?!" snaps the irritated weasel.

"I know I could!" hisses the cat. "I'm not so dumb as you are!"

Shinobiman grins to himself at this - the belligerent bickering between the siblings never seems to get boring to him. And with them distracted, it would give him the perfect opportunity to try out a new trick he had been practicing - under Sensei's watchful, eye of course. With any luck, this one would clear the area of those clay-brained creatures around the shrine and thus give him less trouble from aggressive adversaries surrounding him, leaving only Ugly and Uglier to deal with. And having fought them countless times before, our benign boy knows just what to do there!

Placing his hands together, Shinobiman now begins to put his ploy into motion. Channeling the powerful ninja magic from within himself, the warrior of legends mutters out the incantation learned from one of the ancient Shinobi Scrolls themselves:

"Secret Ninja Technique: Shinobi Illusion!"

One one side of the shrine, one group of the marauding monsters is taken off-guard as a blur suddenly shoots out from the bushes besides them! Moving too fast for human eyes to track, it streaks through the surprised soldiers, weaving back and forth through them like a living wind and knocking them down like nine-pins in a bowling alley! On the other side, a second shape drops from the tree-tops, firing off a storm of sharp shuriken that sends another group of Oni leaping back as their feet nearly get impaled!

"Shinobiman!" howl the horrors as they catch sight of their attacker. What they can't know, being as dumb as bricks, is that there are two of them - clones, created from ninja magic to distract enemies whilst the real Shinobiman waits for an opening. But because they are on opposite sides of the shrine, the Oni don't realize there's a trap involved, seeing only their enemy in front of them! And as the illusions dash back into the trees, the fooled footsoldiers give chase, brandishing their bludgeons and roaring awful war-cries. The noise catches the attention of the other two demons, who rush out of the shrine to watch their own troops running away in two separate directions at once!

"Come back, bricks-for-brains!" shrieks Vampyra, shaking a furious fist at the retreating backs of their guards. "It's a stupid ninja trick!"

"And your idiot soldiers fell for it!" comes a voice from the treetops - the deeper pantomime voice that the demons know all too well. As Razor and Vampyra turn towards the source of it, the real Shinobiman drops from the trees, landing gracefully in front of them and Shadow Sword drawn! The costumed crime-fighter immediately rises to his feet, preparing himself for battle against the terrible twosome in front of the shrine!

"Finally!" roars Razor, clashing his claws together. "Some excitement to be had! RAZOR WIND!" And with that awful shout, the wicked weasel leaps at his opponent, spinning like a whirlwind of bladed claws at a speed hard enough to kick up a miniature tornado! In most situations, our noble ninja would have been caught off-guard by this devastating attack, but on this occasion the devious demon has decided to use it at the wrong moment!

"Bad move, blade-brains!" yells Shinobiman as he sees the attack coming. "SHINOBI FIRE!" The command comes as the warrior forms the correct finger motions to concentrate his ninja magic, blowing a plume of flame at his oncoming adversary! The whirling windstorm sucks up the flames as they billow outwards, and before Razor can comprehend what has happened, he has turned himself into a blazing tornado of flame, scorching himself all over!

"OWOWOWOW!" hollers the clawed creature as he spirals out of control across the glade. "TOO HOT! TOO HOT FOR ME!"

"Don't come this way, you mangy moron!" cries Vampyra, throwing up her hands.

But it is too late, for Razor now longer has control over his own attack! Within moments, the spiral of fire has moved to where the Cat Demon stands, the force of the wind generated by Razor's spinning yanking her off her feet! With a shriek, Vampyra is sucked into the whirling firestorm, and now both demons are howling in pain as they are singed by Shinobiman's attack! And to add insult to injury, the hero already has another attack lined up to take care of them!

"SHINOBI WIND!" comes the call, as Shinobiman pushes out a giagantic gale from his hands. The force of the wind is enough to send the flaming tornado the opposite direction, away from the clearing and the shrine itself! Without stopping, it quickly carries the offspring of Lord Kroak into the forest and away from the site of the battle, the two kicking and shouting all the way as they are taken far away from their objective.

"Well," laughs Shinobiman as he watches the duo depart, "that takes care of them! Now, let's see what this scroll is about!" And without pausing, he turns and runs into the shrine, eager to see what the Shinobi Scroll is that had been so jealously guarded all this time. The scroll itself sits upon a pedestal in the center of the shrine, the light reflecting off it's surface as the shinobi savior approaches it, and in one quick motion he snatches it up into one hand. With the other, he takes the tab on the side of the cylindrical casing and pulls it out, reading the words written upon the parchment that extends from within.

Shinobi Giant, the scroll begins.

"So," muses our hero, now in K.K.'s regular voice. "This is what that creepy Kroak used to get so big! Of course, he's still big - must be a side-effect of a demon using it!" And he continues reading eagerly.

This is a technique, the words continue, that only the warrior of legends can truly master, for it requires courage above all things. When a ninja master recites the incantation, he becomes an armored giant of many cubits in height, his strength also immensely increasing. Such is the power required to maintain this form, however, that even the most attuned masters can only hold it for approximately ten minutes, after which they must return to their regular size. The form can also be dispelled with the correct incantation, which is cast with the uttered command "Shinobi Shr-"

Just then, the sounds of collapsing building reaches K.K.'s ears, alerting him to potential danger. Dashing out of the shrine, our intrepid hero is shocked to find an exceptionally tall skyscraper in the city toppling over like a domino, spewing dust and debris as it collapses! Although he is relieved to know that it was in the abandoned skyscraper district of Honor Ridge, he knows of only one terrible toad who could cause such destruction, and what it might mean.

"Jumping jutsus!" he cries aloud. "Sensei might be in trouble! I gotta get in there and help!"

Not a second after he says this, then the bushes part and the Oni packs return. Frustrated at being duped by the doubles, their tempers are up and their blood is boiling, so when they see the real Shinobiman in front of them, they waste no time and charge at once, roaring and gnashing their teeth! Within a second they have him surrounded, and no matter which way he turns there is a demonic denzin right in front of him, more than ready to smash his skull with a well-aimed club!

"Whoops!" cries our hero, sheepishly. "Forgot about you lot. Better change things up, quick!"

Thinking quickly, Shinobiman yanks the Shinobi Racoon scroll from the Shinobi Sword, then inserts his newly-found scroll in it's place, all whilst giving the call:

"Secret Ninja Technique: SHINOBI GIANT!"

The resulting flash of light startles the Oni, halting them in their tracks, but their fearsome foe has only begun his newest, unique transformation! His form rapidly grows in size, quickly towering about the trees that surround him, whilst bright fire surrounds his body in glowing incandescence! From the fire emerges steel plating and mechanical enhancements, which lock around his body like the armor of a samurai or knight and give our gutsy giant a strange, almost robotic appearance! A helmet even materializes about his skull, a faceplate folding down over his own. And finally, the Shadow Sword grows several times it's original size too, becoming a titanic blade that he bravely grasps in one steel hand!

"Shinobiman Giant, ready!"

The transformation complete, Shinobiman finds himself towering about the Oni, their fiendish forms looking like ants to him! The shocked soldiers take one look at the metallic monster looming over them, glance amongst each other, and come to the unanimous conclusion that this game isn't worth the candle anymore. With howls of fright, they all turn around and run in a body back out of the forest, no longer caring about the malign mission they were sent on, until they disappear from sight!

Shinobiman, for his part, is fascinated by the titanic transformation that has come about him.

"Woah!" he cries, looking himself over. "This is Ninja-mazing! I must be over thirty stories tall now - just big enough to take on that mud-swimming mook Kroakzilla!" And with that idea in mind, our huge hero begins sprinting across the forest towards the city, covering miles in mere strides ehanced by both his stupendous size and enhanced ninja speed! And as he races towards the scene of carnage, he can only hope that Sensei has managed to stay out of trouble...

-------

"I thought you said your crazy plans always worked!" cries Wasabi.

"Well," admits a sheepish Sensei, "they do, sometimes!"

This plan, however, hasn't quite worked out. In their haste to escape the rampaging Kroakzilla, the two masters of martial arts inadvertently took a wrong turn at a major junction somewhere. This costly error managed to entrap them within a dead-end, fenced off by part of the city wall - too high for them to scale swiftly enough and too tough to simply break through! And now, they're backed into a bad situation, unable to run or hide as the terrible toad looms over them, licking his greedy chops!

"Too bad, ya tempura tasting twerps!" laughs Lord Kroak with evil glee. "I got ya where I want ya now!"

"That's what you think, you slimy fiend!" shouts Sensei, defiantly. "Trampling this city was the worst mistake you've made so far! You won't be able to get away with this one!"

"Oh?" Kroakzilla sneers, snorting through his sizable snout. "And who's gonna stop me?"

"I am, you awful amphibian!"

With a cry of surprise, Kroakzilla turns to confront the source of the shout, wondering who on earth could be around at this place. And who should come vaulting over a skyscraper, hot on the heels of his hated foe, but the tremendous titan Shinobiman himself! Landing with amazing dexterity in the street despite his newfound super-size, the mystery masked warrior rises to his feet once more and strikes a defiant ninja pose, ready to do battle with Kroakzilla once and for all!

"Shinobiman!" cries Wasabi with joy.

"So," muses Sensei with pride and relief in equal measure. "He mastered the Shinobi Giant technique..."

"Blasted bogs!" snaps the infuriated Kroakzilla, shaking a putrid paw at his enemy. "It's that no-good ninja Shinobiman! And he's as big as me!"

"That's right, Kroakzilla!" retorts Shinobiman, drawing his sword. "And I'm ready for some colossal kaiju combat!"

With a thunderous roar of rage, Kroakzilla charges for his ninja nemesis, ripping out the remains of a telegraph tower as he goes to use as a makeshift bludgeon. His footsteps crack the concrete beneath him and nearly make Sensei and Wasabi fall over, but they stay on their feet long enough to witness the green-skinned giant swing his weapon right at Shinobiman's head! Fortunately, the much-more agile warrior rolls out of the way, letting the bludgeon bash a building instead, before slicing his own sword down in a manner that takes Kroakzilla considerable power to block! The two shove and heave against each other's weapons, trying to force an opening in order to strike back!

"Tell me," grunts Shinobiman, "where did you get that hideous bog breath?!"

"Years of practice!" is the response, and the demonic despot manages a sinister shove that takes Shinobiman backwards. Pressing his advantage, and with a snarl of triumph to boot, Kroakzilla lifts his weapon above his head for a powerful pummel that would take down any ordinary foe in a trice! But Shinobiman is no ordinary foe, and his quick reflexes let him bring up the Shadow Sword in a swift strike that parries the incoming tower, knocking the dark one off balance! And then, with a defiant cry, the huge hero leaps into the air and plants a two-footed drop kick that knocks the terrible toad backwards, crashing into a skyscraper in a plume of dust!

"That ought ta teach you to mess with Shinobiman!" hollers the shinobi saviour.

"Sorry," snarls Kroakzilla as he rises from the rubble, "but I'm a slow learner!" And in a trice, the Lord of the Demons charges forward again to do battle! Shinobiman quickly lashes out with a sizable swing of his blade, but the slimy swamp-swimmer ducks underneath the blow and begins lashing out with a series of punches that make our plucky protagonist stagger backwards! And before he can recover, Kroakzilla grabs hold of his midsection in both paws, lifts him into the air and twirls him around before tossing him towards an abandoned factory building!

From where they stand, Sensei and Wasabi wince in sympathy as their soaring student smashes into the structure. Quite painfully, it must be said.

"This is awful," wails the professor, a little too melodramatically.

"Don't worry," comes Sensei's reassuring reply. "That mattress factory broke his fall, see?"

"That's not the point!" snaps his old friend, now losing patience. "Shinobiman might save the city, but what if there's no city left afterwards?!"

"Then we'll just have to shrink that creepy Kroakzilla back down to size!"

With that remark, Sensei immediately makes his move, bounding forward in long leaps that one would barely expect of a man his age! Wasabi hesitates at first, torn between his loyalty to his comrade and the inherent stupidity of running out into the middle of a giant monster battle, but eventually groans in frustration and follows his friend. The two reach the dazed Shinobiman as he pulls himself from the wreckage of the factory, and in one kaiju-sized bound Sensei alights on his student's super-sized shoulder.

"Are you alright, Grasshopper?" asks the elderly warrior, concern clear on his face.

"My head," complains Shinobiman, "feels like a cracked kendama. Good thing that mattress factory broke my fall, though!"

"Listen, Grasshopper," hisses Sensei, impatiently. "Lord Kroak, as you know, is able to use the Shinobi Giant technique indefinitely because he's a demon! But there is a counter-spell that should revert that treacherous toad back to his normal size again! Did the Shinobi Scroll say what it was?!"

"I think so," Shinobiman whispers back. "But I'm not sure if I can remember it, I was distracted halfway through reading it!"

"You must try," insists Sensei. "It is our only hope of stopping Kroakzilla now!"

Just then, a shadow falls over the duo as Kroakzilla looms over the prone protagonist, teeth bared.

"What are you whispering about, wusses?" he growls. "Speak up, or I'll pound ya into the pavement!"

"Be careful what you wish for, boils-for-brains!" With an effort, and encouraged by his master's words, Shinobiman leaps back to his feet, startling Kroakzilla into taking several steps backwards. But our hero is not yet finished with his final attack - he lifts his sword up in the air, the blade glowing with magical might as he performs the ancient ninja kata required to unlock the power within it! And before Kroakzilla can make a move to stop him, the Secret Ninja Warrior calls out the spell as well as he remembers it:

"Ninja Finish: SHINOBI SHRINKER!"

A blaze of burning brightness bursts from the blade, and Shinobiman slashes downards, sending a blast of shining energy right at the titantic toad monster in front of him! Kroakzilla raises his hands to defend himself too late - the attack hits him dead on, engulfing him in light for a brief moment before it fades away. At first, it seems the attack has done nothing to the despicable demon, and Kroak opens his eyes to see what on earth has happened, if anything at all. But as he does so, he notices something unusual happening to his slimy self.

"Hey!" he cries. "The city's getting bigger!

"...No!" he roars, a second later. "I'm shrinking!"

And so it is! Before the entire city, Kroakzilla is shrinking rapidly down, the magic of Shinobiman's Ninja Finish canceling out the dark magic that put the vile villain at kaiju size. Within mere seconds, the awful amphibian has lost his prodigious proportions, now back to the regular-sized Lord Kroak once more. The terrible toad, not at all happy about this turn of events, glares up at the still-giant Shinobiman as he looms over his fallen foe and shakes one putrid paw up at him.

"You two-bit tofu taster!" he roars. "You've foiled my plans again!"

"That's right, Kroak!" Shinobiman folds his arms and glares back, unimpressed with the miniscule menace before him. "I've cut you down to size for good!"

Lord Kroak gnashes his toad teeth in fury, knowing for a fact he's been beaten good and proper. "Then," he growls, "it's time I hopped on out of here!" And with that remark, he reaches into the folds of his robe and pulls out his magical wand, waving it around his head in a storm of sparkles. Within a moment, a swirling portal has appeared in front of him, black as night and crackling with evil energy, and a wicked wind blows out of it that's strong enough to make even or prodigious protagonist step back in surprise!

"I'll get you for this, Shinobiman!" hollers Lord Kroak as he hops into the portal. "Just you wait!"

With a slurping, sucking sound like a foot being removed from mud, the portal closes shut, leaving nothing but the empty road in it's place. But everyone present is glad to see it gone, for it means that the loathsome Lord Kroak has been bested once again, and will spend a long while licking his wounds before he dares to show his ugly face. With the practiced ease of a master, Sensei leaps down from Shinobiman's shoulder and to the ground without harm, joining Doctor Wasabi as the relieved scientist runs up. At the same time, the legendary warrior removes the Shinobi Scroll from his sword, shrinking down and transforming back into our familiar hero K.K. again.

"You did it!" hollers the good doctor, jumping for joy. "You've driven that dastardly demon out of Honor Ridge!"

"Yes," smiles Sensei as he dusts himself down. "And if he knows what is good for him, he will not return for a very long time. On top of this," he adds, turning to his regular-sized student, "we now have another Shinobi Scroll to add to our collection. We grow one step closer to defeating Lord Kroak for good, thanks to you,  Grasshopper!"

"Hey, it was nothing!" K.K. begins to say, trying to be his usual modest self. But before he can finish that sentence, he is cut off by a low, gurgling growl that seems to come from everywhere at once. Sensei doesn't flinch a bit, seemingly unfazed by the noise, but the nervous wreck that is Wasabi leaps about a foot into the air from fear alone!

"What was that?!" he cries aloud. "Has Kroakzilla come back already?!" Sensei, however, says nothing, but directs a look at his pupil, one eyebrow raised. K.K., knowing what that look means, gives a sheepish grin as he places both hands on an impatiently-growling stomach, a reminder that he hasn't eaten a thing all day, not even during the battle with his fearsome foe.

"It seems," he quips, "that fighting Lord Kroak's given me a monster of an appetite! Where's the nearest Burger Bear's?"

Sensei gives a jovial laugh at this. "That's my student!"

THE END!

NEXT TIME ON SHINOBIMAN!

"I am... darkness!"

Can this be true? Has Lord Kroak finally found the one opponent Shinobiman can't beat?

"I am... death!"

Will the world finally fall under the shadow of evil? Is Sleepy Bay doomed to destruction?

"I am... KNIGHTMARE!"

Find out next week in an epic two-part Shinobi Special - The Rise of Knightmare! Coming soon to ZFTV!