Kobayashi

INT. SHIBA HOUSE-DAY.

It's a rough day of training, and JAYDEN SHIBA enters the room to the applause of the LIVE AUDIENCE. He sits at the table, watching MIKE play his GAME BOY COLOR and Kevin study his SAMURAI HANDBOOK intently.

JAYDEN
Hey, Mike, what're you playing?

MIKE
It's this new game called Pac-Man. The graphics are out of sight.

A close up on Mike's Game Boy screen, which is black. His fingers press intensely anyway. He's clearly focused.

Back to Jayden, who smiles with no clear emotion.

JAYDEN
Great. Kevin, anything the old Shoguns have to say?

KEVIN
(distracted)
Yes. Lots of things.

Hidden within his book is a photograph of Mia. Suddenly, a cartoon DRAGON ORIGAMI ZORD appears to speak in a ridiculous voice only Kevin can hear.

DRAGON ORIGAMI ZORD
HEY HEY HEY, KEVIN! NOW'S YOUR CHANCE! AYUKKA! BURN THE DEVIL WOMAN, KEVIN! BREAK HER BODY AND RELEASE HER THETANS INTO THE NETHERREALM!

KEVIN
I will, father.

Kevin's head slowly lifts to look at Jayden, who is confused. Kevin smiles.

KEVIN
Just thinking about my dad. You know, Jayden, when I was training to be an Olympic swimmer all I could think about was making him proud.

JAYDEN
Well Kevin, I think being a samurai would make any father proud.

KEVIN
Yes.

Kevin's eyes drift toward Mia's picture yet again, where the Origami Dragon Zord has now taken to staring into Mia's eye.

DRAGON ORIGAMI ZORD
SHE CAN SEE YA KEVIN! SHE CAN SEE YA!

KEVIN
STOP LOOKING AT ME!

Kevin throws the book out the window.


EXT. ANGEL GROVE, JAPAN-DAY.

SPIKE SKULLOVITCH, doing a dance only fit for the abortive love child of a Great Old One and a donkey, is assaulted in the temple by the flying book. He falls to the ground and feels his pulse slowly dying.

SPIKE
It...it's not God who kills the children. Only us.

FARKUS "BULK" BULKMEIER steps out of the nearby convenience store. He opens a bag of potato chips, pulling one out and placing it behind Spike's ear like a delicate flower.

BULK
Only us.

SPIKE
Only us.

Bulk drops the bag and steps out onto the road. He sees transparencies of friends long gone: EUGENE "SKULL" SKULLOVITCH, ERNIE, LT. STONE, and MS. APPLEBY.

BULK
I live in a world of faces perpetuated by my own memories. If I simply shut the curtains, what will the mirror reflect?

One by one, the transparancies disappear until the only one left is Skull.

BULK
I know not this face. I know no men no longer.

Skull disappears. Bulk walks over to the now dead Spike.

BULK
I know no faces.

His facial features disappear until his face is a blank canvas.

BULK
I am no faces.


INT. SHIBA HOUSE-DAY.

The audience CHEERS when Mia walks into the room, cheerfully. She's holding dinner.

JAYDEN
Oh...hey Mia. Is that...food?

MIA
Of course it's food, silly! It's my speciality!

MIKE
I dunno how much Kevin will be able to take another dish of your Anal Tobbogan Garnish, Mia!

LAUGHTRACK.

MIA
Silly! That's not my speciality! That's amateur!

Mia sets down the plate, currently covered.

MIA
It's the best dish I've ever cooked.

Jayden reaches to uncover the plate, but Mia playfully knocks his hand away.

MIA
A-ah-ah! Not until Emily gets back!

EXT. ANGEL GROVE, JAPAN-DAY.

EMILY, as if feral, nibbles on Spike's carcus as Bulk's featureless face sings the song that ends the cosmos.

Around them, Angel Grove is desolate and abandoned.

INT. SHIBA HOUSE-DAY.

Jayden shrugs.

JAYDEN
I guess that's fair. It's Emily's duty as a samurai to get a well balanced dinner.

MIA
It's not just well balanced, it's gourmet!

Mia exits. Mike turns off his Game Boy, which suddenly shows a flash of light from the screen as he puts it in his pocket.

MIKE
I tell ya. Nothing beats a good video game to get your mind off of the Nighlok.

JAYDEN
I've never played a video game before. What's it like, Mike?

MIKE
Not as exciting as being a samurai!

LAUGHTRACK.

MIKE
Come on. The girls are taking too long. Let's eat.

JAYDEN
I guess it can't hurt to break the rules just once.

LAUGHTRACK, then "OOOOH!"

Jayden opens the plate.

JAYDEN
I wonder what it is.

On the plate is DEKER'S HEAD, eyes closed.

KEVIN
It's you, Jayden.

MIKE
It's always been you.

Jayden, in fear, hits the head away.

JAYDEN
No! NO!

He begins to howl like a wolf, struggling to peel off his own face.

JAYDEN
I AM NOT AN ANIMAL!

He throws his own face off to the side, and becomes consumed in a purple flame that spreads along the entire Shoobadoo House.

INT. SHIBA BATHROOM.

Mentor Ji, on the toilet reading a magazine, is suddenly destroyed by a torrent of purple flame errupting from the toilet.

EXT. ANGEL GROVE, JAPAN-DAY.

The entire Shoobadoo House is burnt to the ground, and a single humanoid body of purple flame stands in the ashes. Around him is nothing, just empty houses and empty dreams.

Bulk, who now has Jayden's face, steps in front of the purple flame being.

BULK
The world is waiting.

The purple fire forms and solidifies into Deker's NIGHLOK FORM.

DEKER
Then it is time, then.

The head disappears and is replaced by Bulk's face on Jayden's head.

DEKER
All is well.

-----


INT. SHIBA TEMPLE-DAY.

We open on SHIBA TAKERU sitting and meditating. Around him are CHIAKI, playing his WONDERSWAN COLOR, and RYUNOSUKE intensely studying his ANCIENT SAMURAI TEXTS.

Takeru opens his eyes and turns to Chiaki.

TAKERU
Chiaki. What are you doing?

CHIAKI
Playing this new game called Space Invaders. It is a vivid battle that will surely help me defeat the Gedoushu and eventually you, Takeru.

TAKERU
Hn. I'm not sure I could wish you the amount of luck you'll need for that. Ryunosuke?

Ryunosuke looks up.

TAKERU
What have you learned from the ancient Shinkenger?

RYUNOSUKE
Ways to truly hone my Mojikara. The Gedoushu will not defeat me, my Lord.

Ryunosuke looks back down at the book. The RYU ORIGAMI, his trusty personal mecha, is sketched into the book's pages and possesses sentience.

RYU ORIGAMI
Ryunosuke. As an actor, you are fully aware that man can hide his face. There are secrets I can no longer teach you. Your Lord, however...

RYUNOSUKE
You would never lie to me.

Ryunosuke looks up at the confused Takeru.

RYUNOSUKE
Sometimes I think back to my old life in the theatre, my Lord.

TAKERU
Do you regret holding the title of ShinkenBlue?

RYUNOSUKE
Of course not, my Lord. I was like a professional liar. But I have felt nothing but honesty since becoming a Shinkenger.

Takeru, briefly, winces. This is interrupted by MAKO and KOTOHA entering the room happily.

KOTOHA
We're back fro-

She's interrupted as their Mentor, KUSAKABE, enters the room.

KUSAKABE
The Gedoushu are growing stronger and it is time we did, as well. The Gedou Seal has finally been mastered.

We see the feet of a Caucasian woman walking in.

The Shinkenger all wide their eyes in surprise at what they see. The only one who isn't shocked is Takeru, who instead is stoic.

KUSAKABE (OFF-SCREEN)
The Lord you've known and served is not the true heir to the Shinkenger, nor is he the master of the Gedou Seal.

Focus on Kusakabe and the true heir: LAUREN SHIBA, who is keeping herself strong.

LAUREN
I hope to protect and serve all of you against Master Xandred and the Nighlok.

She looks, somewhat wistfully, at Takeru.

LAUREN
Especially you, little brother...


EXT. ANGEL GROVE, JAPAN-DAY.

A barely living husk of a human being, the faceless RICHARD BROWN, crawls along the abandoned streets of ANGEL GROVE, JAPAN. He stumbles several times, but presses ever forward.

He finally finds his target, a large Caucasian man. He flips it over to reveal FARKUS "BULK" BULKMEIER. He coughs, though he has no mouth to cough with.

RICHARD BROWN
Ippitsu...Sojo...

Richard Brown pries at Bulk's face, trying to pull it right off of his head with great strain. He pants, in frustration. The noises coming from him would be accompanied with tears if he could produce them.

RICHARD BROWN
Sh-Shinken...Brown...

He pulls hard and rips the face clean off. He stares at it.

A DECAYING HAND grabs onto Richard Brown's ankle.

Richard turns and finds EUGENE "SKULL" SKULLOVITCH, whose flesh is barely put together. Skull's weak hand can't pull Richard.

Richard ignores Skull and presses Bulk's face onto where his should be. As the face cements on, he is suddenly reborn and starving. Bulk dives face first into the grass and attempts to find food within the dirt.

Skull watches him spit out the dirt in disgust. His stomach rumbles and he winces in pain. He turns his head to Skull and tugs the man to him. Bulk bites into Skull's shoulder, tackling him onto the ground and consuming his flesh.

Bulk lifts himself up, gathering his breath after the first meal of his life. He looks down at all that's left from Skull's remains. The remains, a terrified and confused SPIKE SKULLOVITCH, whimper wordlessly.

Bulk takes Spike by the hand and the two stand up. As Angel Grove begins rebuilding itself in a torrent of purple flame, the two walk.


INT. SHIBA TEMPLE-DAY.

Cries fill the room as Mako sits in the corner, back to the camera. We can't see the damage, but she seems to be carving her face while sobbing with her SHINKENMARU sword.

MAKO
I can't get it right...I can't get it right...I can't get it right...

Kotoha is curled up in the corner, shaking her head repeatedly.

Chiaki is thrown to the wall, breathing hard and holding a small portion of what seems to be Takeru's FACE.

Takeru, now having a strand of JAYDEN'S BLONDE HAIR and his RIGHT EYE, still looks stoic.

TAKERU
I am not the true ShinkenRed.

His facial skin falls off, revealing the face of JAYDEN SHOOBADOO.

JAYDEN
I was just a distraction for Master Xandred.

MIA WATANABE has crawled over to the sniffling Kotoha. She begins carving Kotoha's face with her SPIN SWORD.

MIA
I can do it...I promise. It's my speciality...

Kusakabe, slowly morphing into MENTOR JI, seems at a complete loss for words. Lauren watches him before turning to Jayden, who's walking out of the room.

LAUREN
Are you okay?

JAYDEN
Better than okay, Lauren. The Samurai Rangers are yours now. Like they've always been intended to be.

LAUREN
Jayden!

Jayden stops.

LAUREN
I...I don't want you to leave. Please.

JAYDEN
This is your team now. They'll serve you loyally, as they were always meant to. Won't you?

Jayden turns his head to Ryunosuke, who is knelt with his head down. His face falls off, becoming KEVIN, and he looks up at Jayden.

KEVIN
Of course Jayden. I'll do anything for you.