Ninja's Pit (Patreon)

Ninja, ninja, ninja!

Warriors of the ancient tradition. Secret guardians of mankind against sealed evil. The Kakurangers team may start as a group of misfits that let themselves into unfortunate situations connected to yokai demons, but the five spandex-clad ninjas have grown into something to be reckoned with.

As the team received news of missing students, they did what heroes do. Those darn yokai will get their spanking today, that’s for sure!

But perhaps not all evil in the world is caused by Japanese demons, but something even darker…

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“Super Henge!”

Bright flashes of kaleidoscopic sparks peeked through the dense bushes. Between the heavy trunks and foliage of the eerie forest tree line, figures moved with agility and speed. They were divine pigments of hope in the midst of gloomy ambiance. They were the energy of heroism. They were the Kakuranger warriors.

Five multicolored–Blue, black, yellow, white, and red–young individuals in special spandex costumes dashed like the ninjas they were. The piling dry leaves around them barely moved even when the superheroes suddenly stopped their pursuit. “Any luck, Minna?” asked Tsuruhime as NinjaWhite.

“Hey, I thought I’m the team leader!” rejected Sasuke as NinjaRed.

Tsuruhime clicked her tongue. “We’ve already discussed this detail, Sasuke-kun. I am more experienced being a ninja than you are. More precisely, more than anyone in the team.”

Jiraya the NinjaRed crossed his arms on the chest. “Not this story again. We got it, Tsuruhime should be protected and the yokai should be eradicated.” He then snorted. “Okay, then, Miss Boss. Can you explain to us what we’re doing in this scary forest?”

NinjaRed scratched the back of his helmet. “Yeah, I rather eat ramen at home.”

“You know the drill. A bunch of school students have gone missing. It’s a textbook yokai appearance. Find the demon, find the students.”

Saizou the NinjaBlue shrugged. “Are you sure that this is not just a case of teenagers playing pranks? Or that they just got lost somehow?”

Tsuruhime put his hands on the waists. “Okay, lazy boys. Seven students from seven schools have gone missing. Do you really want to categorize this as coincidence or prank?”

That statement made the ninja boys think. “Now that you’ve mentioned it, it’s kinda odd.”

NinjaWhite felt frustrated at how dense her teammates were. “It is! Besides, all of the school’s locations have one thing in common: they are close to this supposedly-haunted forest.”

“What’s with the ghost story anyway?” asked Saizou.

“According to the folklore, there was a huge battle here during the Sengoku times. From its destruction, a tree demon arose to feed on the soldiers’ blood. From then on, this Jubokka tree allegedly has continued to lure innocent people into the inescapable forest and devour them.”

Seikai the NinjaYellow shivered. “Thanks, guys. I’m gonna stuck here with you forever!”

Tsuruhime waved her hands. “But don’t worry. The Jubokka tree legend here is nothing more than that, a legend. It’s not like the reliable yokai records.”

“Okay, then. So if it’s not the tree we’re after, what is it?” asked NinjaRed as he tapped the mouthguard of his helmet.

“Most probably a yokai that takes advantage of the legend to hide. Needless to say, we gotta keep our eyes peeled.”

The four ninjas agreed with their female team captain. They continued their search as darting blurry figures too fast for normal human eyes to see. Far behind them, some of the trees trembled.

“Hey, what’s that?” called out NinjaYellow as he spotted something that was out of place in the distance.

The team stopped at the nearby giant tree. They observed the details of the far-away structure. Tsuruhime tilted her helmet in confusion. “Is that… A school?”

“More like a factory. The building’s just too dreary to be the place where future generations are created,” replied Jiraiya sarcastically.

“Whatever that is, we gotta check it. Let’s go, team!”

The darting flashes of color teleported to the building’s front side. The place was weird in addition to its eerie abandonment. No wonder that NinjaBlack considered it more suitable to be a factory since the architecture consisted mainly of big blocks with minimal windows. For all things considered, the structure could have been a prison.

But the painting of cute animals on its western side wall created a paradox. “Perhaps they used the place as a school after the factory was closed?” commented NinjaYellow.

NinjaRed explored the front hallway. There were sounds of crunching glass as his boots stepped on broken window. Other than that, there was only silence. Only the occasional howl of wind that went through the corridor broke the dead air.

Not wanting to be caught by yokai off guard, the Kakuranger team brought out their swords. The dangerously-sharp blades glimmered under the dimming light of the smashed-up window. The long corridor finally delivered them to a huge atrium.

“That strange…,” commented Saizou.

“What?” asked Sasuke.

“This big assembly room doesn’t feel like a school hall. It’s more like the storage space for heavy machinery.”

Yet, what the Kakurangers found were wooden floors, ripped-out hanging school banners and the main podium that were adorned with theatrical curtains. Even the chairs that were set up in rows matched those used for exams. Some of them were not empty.

“Hey, we got some students here!” called out Seikai as he impulsively rushed to the nearby sitting figure.

He was right. That was a girl in a school uniform. She was unconscious, but still alive. “Yo, are you alright?” asked Saizou as the blue spandex warrior shook her shoulder.

The shaking woke her up. The girl slowly opened her eyes and grunted. “Where… Where am I?”

“You don’t know how you got here?” asked Tsuruhime with the same level of concern. She saw the girl shake her head in oblivion. “What is the last thing you remember?”

“I was… Ah!” Her sudden stand startled Saizou and Seikai. “I just came home from school practice. I lost my training kit!”

“Training kit!”

“It must be here somewhere!” the panicking girl looked around and checked the empty chairs around her. “It’s not here!”

“Wait, what training kit?” asked Sasuke.

“My kyudo kit. Bows and arrows and all!” The girl was visibly distressed. “Oh no, mama will kill me if I can’t find it!”

“That’s not gonna happen, Miss. We’ll find your kit!” said Saizou cockily. Seikai next to him also nodded with the same spirit.

The girl held their hands tight. “You will? It will save me!”

NinjaBlue and Yellow tried to relish the moment, but the schoolgirl simply ran to the closes corridor. “Hey, come back! It’s too dangerous!”

“We gotta follow her!” exclaimed NinjaBlue as he dashed to get the girl. NinjaYellow was right behind him.

“Hey, wait you two!” called Tsuruhime. “We gotta stick together!”

The door closed behind the two Kakurangers. When Sasuke reopened it, NinjaBlue and Yellow was nowhere to be seen. Only the darkened corridor that extended as his eyes could see inside the ninja helmet. “Guys!”

“Saizou-kun, Seikai-kun!” called out NinjaWhite.

“Blue! Yellow! Come back here!” yelled NinjaBlack, somewhat annoyed. Those two idiots will surely get the team in trouble.

Whatever their motivation in getting their teammates back, neither Tsuruhime or Jiraiya got an answer. It was as if Blue and Yellow had been swallowed by the earth. Not even their boot steps were left.

“Team, I don’t like this. Get ready,” ordered Sasuke as the leader as he brandished his sword.

The trio treaded carefully across the dilapidated school hallway. On either side, rows of lockers had seen better days. Metal doors were rusty, broken, or simply non-existent. The upper part of the walls had indoor windows that enabled the ninja superheroes to peek into the classrooms.

The three Kakurangers were alarmed with a suspicious ringing sound from further down the corridor. They dashed toward the source before slowing down into taking cautious just outside of the door.

Jiraiya peeked and saw no one. Only broken chairs and tables that had been carved with bad words all over. But the ringing didn’t stop. “Is that… a tune?” asked Sasuke.

Now that he had mentioned it, the sound seemed to be a tune from an automatic music box. The three explored the classroom to find it.

“Ah, here it is!” announced NinjaBlack as he reached for a ballerina box from behind one of the toppled chairs.

As soon as Jiraiya picked it up, the strange veins that had connected the box to the floor spewed black liquid. The music stopped playing and the ballerina suddenly stopped turning. Then miniature figurine then bloated horribly into something like a mushroom.

It then exploded.

Jiraiya screamed as the eruption burst into disgusting goo all over his spandex suit, especially his visor. Tried as hard as he might, NinjaBlack couldn’t wipe the sludge off his visor.

“Jiraiya!” Sasuke tried to assist, but then the whole room trembled violently. Cracks quickly opened up and swallowed the chairs and tables.

The two Kakurangers realized the danger and hastily used their hooks to stab the ceiling. Their preparation was in time as NinjaRed and White suddenly found themselves hanging, suspended by the wires from their equipment.

The same thing couldn’t be said for NinjaBlack. The disoriented superheroes fell into the gaping dark hole shrilling. His fading sound was replaced by visceral moving noises.

As the ninjas’ helmet vision adapted to the darkness, they got the shock of their lives. It turned out that NinjaBlack had fallen onto a giant mushroom with an expansive cap. That would be fine if only the canopy wasn’t slowly devouring the heroes. His right hand, his left ankle, his stomach, and more of his body were pulled into the massive abomination.

“JIraiya!” called out Tsuruhime. All she got was muffled resisting yelp from NinjaBlack as he desperately tried to remove himself from the mushroom top. Small yet fat tendrils reached him and sunk him deeper. Now both of his legs were no longer visible up to the knees. “We gotta get him!”

Before NinjaRed could find a way to rescue his teammate, the classroom shook again. The floor began to reform from the edges. “We’re going to lose him! Hang on, Jiraiya!”

Sasuke pulled his wire and landed on the floor. His ninja steps were fast but weren’t fast enough. He launched himself into the last of the hole. Eventually, only his arm could reach into the disappearing space. “Argh! Take my hand!”

“Sasuke!” cried out NinjaWhite who caught up with him.

Then, a glimmer of hope. “I got him! Pull me!”

“Okay!” Tsuruhime used all of her strength to haul NinjaRed back up. She used one of her legs as a foundation to focus all of her muscle power.

“Argh! The hole is closing in on my arm! Pull, Tsuruhime!”

“I am trying!”

NinjaRed and White tumbled backward. Sasuke’s arm was freed. Knowing that he failed to bring back his friend, the team captain looked at the blob that stuck on his hand.

It was a similar mushroom albeit in a smaller size. Like the big one, its canopy opened a round maw filled with tentacles that were ready to attack Sasuke’s helmet.

The mini monster screeched, then dropped dead. A fatal blow by Tsuruhime’s sword cleanly sliced the horror.

Tsuruhime looked at her trembling hand that barely held the sword. All of this was too much even for a yokai hunter like her. She gasped as Sasuke hugged her tight. “We’re gonna get them back. That’s a promise!”

NinjaWhite stutteringly nodded. But the two superheroes got no time for respite as the building shuddered again. Dust and small rubbles rained down on them violently, prompting the two to get out of the classroom and back to the hall.

“Watch out!” called out Sasuke as he pushed Tsuruhime just in time before a large concrete pillar could crush them. The wooden floor crackled as if the world’s biggest earthquake just hit. The banners on either side somehow caught flames.

They tried to go to the entrance, but huge doors slammed shut. “You gotta be kidding me!” shouted NinjaRed furiously.

“We’re trapped!” shouted NinjaWhite as the two retreated to the hall.

Then, Sasuke saw something that could save their lives. “Not quite. Tsuruhime, give me the ball!”

NinjaWhite nodded and put an American football-type item on the floor. It changed color into red matching Sasuke. Like punters, Tsuruhime stabilized the ball until Sasuke kicked it at the weirdly-glowing school logo on the podium wall. Confirming their suspicion, the wall just exploded in contact.

Sunlight beamed in, nearly hurting the Kakurangers’ eyes. The superheroes jumped into the gaping hole just in time before the structure collapsed around them. They rolled down the grassy area beyond.

The ninjas definitely had bitten more than they could chew. Their adversary wasn’t a random weak yokai demon. It was something else entirely.

At the structure’s heart was an expansive green area. In the middle of it all, stood a tree. Unlike other trees that displayed life and lushness, this one just reeked wretchedness. Its trunk bulbous with bark growth. Its canopy sport black leaves and the constantly-crackling branches. Its thick roots slithered down the edges of the floating earth it resided on.

Between the Kakurangers and the tree, there was a yawning chasm. The heroes’ heart was filled with dread as they hesitantly peeked in. Down below, inside the bubbling lake of black liquid, countless human figures squirmed and twisted. The details of their clothing showed the identities of school students. “No…” gasped Tsuruhime at the horrifying discovery.

“Who are you?! What do you want with these kids?!” demanded Sasuke.

The tree didn’t answer. It wasn’t a wacky and whimsical yokai. It was something else.

But it responded nonetheless. Its thick and protuberant trunk split open to reveal a strange fruit shaped like a giant peach. Inside, there were details of a struggling person. The hands and fingers desperately tried to get out of the pulsating cocoon even as the root tendrils and glowing liquid flooded the interior and sucked the life out of him.

Sasuke and Tsuruhime gasped as they figured out who that was. That was NinjaBlack! Muffled struggles of Jiraiya were visible, including his pushing ninja helmet. It was also clear that his strength in continuing the fight was waning.

“That’s it! This monstrosity ends now! Are you with me, Tsuruhime?”

NinjaRed’s teammate nodded. Both of them brandished their energized swords. They took a dash to essentially fly across the hellish cliff and landed on the floating island.

“Hang in there, Jiraiya!” called out NinjaWhite. The two ninjas swung their weapons and struck the meaty membrane.

Then, they shrieked.

They should have known. It was a trap all along. The burst of spore immediately covered the two in a thick layer of dust. “It’s everywhere! It burns!” cried out Sasuke as he desperately tried to wipe the dust off his spandex costume and the obstructed helmet visor. There was simply too much of it. The more he tried to get rid of it, the more of its piling up.

NinjaWhite could feel her hands get overwhelmed by a burning sensation. The spore is digging into the layers of her costume. The sting became pain as small flowers sprung out from all over her white spandex. The roots pierced her skin and pumped corruption directly into her bloodstream.

The stupefaction left NinjaWhite losing her grip on herself. Her body weakened, her muscles lost their strength, her feet lost their stand. Sasuke heard the most gut-wrenching scream in his life as Tsuruhime fell into the chasm. With himself only partially able to see his surroundings, the hero could save his female friend. “Tsuruhime!” screamed NinjaRed in desperation as her body disappeared.

Inside the fruit, there was no NinjaBlack. There was only a demonic figure that slowly rose to observe its newest victim. The once-agile and formidable NinjaRed was now forced to use his knees to keep himself from collapsing. The monster grabbed his helmet and tore it apart.

Sasuke respired as his secret identity was exposed. But he should worry about the bigger threats, such as the storm of spore that rapidly attack him.

The Sentai warrior was made to inhale the spores. The corruption covered his mouth, throat, and all of his digestive and respiratory systems. His eyes became watery from the effects and Sasuke’s own realization that he got no more hope to fight the demon. There was only pain from thereon.

The demon discarded the superhero’s helmet onto the grass and small flowers and bloated throbbing fruits began to invade it. He then controlled NinjaRed like a meat puppet to walk backward closer and closer to the cliff’s edge. By this phase, Sasuke’s was merely a prisoner inside his own body. His eyes rapidly moved as if desperate to free himself from the grip.

But there was never freedom. Just ask his teammates who had waited for him. From the chasm, withered roots and veins rose. In their snare were the fallen Kakurangers.

They battered and utterly defeated. With their helmets gone, the extent of tree corruption they suffered in was clearly visible. Seikai, Saizou, and Jiraiya’s mouths were choked by a thick black root tentacle that oozed goop onto their blank face. It wasn’t their faces that showed no emotions, it was their faces that had disappeared, gone into indistinguishable curves on the front side of their heads.

As if that wasn’t hellish enough, the Kakuranger suit colors of blue, yellow, and black were cocooned by suffocating slave suits resembling school uniforms. Tsuruhime’s short skirt and knee-high fake socks exposed her true NinjaWhite costume beneath. It didn’t matter since the ribbon tie on her chest continuously tormented her mind with its mind-numbing odor.

The girl warrior was still early in her perversion stage, but she already showed similar gruesome symptoms. For one, she could no longer let out audible sounds of protest. Understandable, since there was a big meaty beige fruit that gagged her.

Whatever torment the Kakurangers was made to experience, now they had one goal in their depraved mind: to get their team captain to join. Their arms reached for the controlled NinjaRed and pulled him in. soon, all of the ninja superheroes joined the unfortunate school students as nothing more than squirming faceless student figures at the bottom of the demonic tree. The remnants of their costume’s once-heroic colors served only as richness in the master’s collection.

Above, new fruits bulged out and ballooned out from the sides of the tree, now fully transformed into a massive mushroom. Inside, copies of the fallen Kakurangers grew into maturity until they were ready as heralds with the same powers and abilities as the originals. They had the costumes, they had the swords, but none of the humanity.

Their birth was witnessed by the real Kakurangers in the main hall. Sasuke and his former teammates sat on the student chairs while clapping alongside the girl Saizou and Seikai met before. That was Momo Maruo, former OhPink, who had been corrupted into a similar school student even before the Kakurangers’ arrival. All of their skins were as purple as eggplants, their eyes were as blank as dolls. Their mouths let out serpentine tongues akin to the tree’s roots.