Asuka and Mahoro: a couple torn by war and a cursed armor

As seen in the previous posts, a lot of the Abaranger's enemies are closely related to Asuka. Therefore, before writing more about Abaranger's villains, I'm going to first talk about one of the most important plots of Abaranger: the storyline between Asuka and Mahoro, with an important focus on the Legendary armor, who caused devastating effects in their story.

Asuka, and siblings Mizuho and Mahoro knew each other since they were children. Having to endure the hardships of a constant war against the Evolian, they suffered a lot, and Asuka often played the harmonica to cheer up Mizuho and Mahoro during the most difficult times. As they grew up, they fought together the Evolian, and Asuka and Mahoro ended up falling in love with each other, and eventually marrying. However, the day after their wedding night, Mizuho and Mahoro were sent in a big expedition against the Evolian in order to attack their headquarters and help the Ryujin win the war. Unfortunately, Mizuho and Mahoro didn't come back (it was later revealed that they had been captured by the Evolian, and brainwashed into fighting with them), and the Evolian launched a big counterattack. It was at that time that Asuka, desperate to save Mizuho and Mahoro, decided to use the forbidden power, the Legendary armor, to give himself enough power to be able to win against the enemy and save his wife and his friend.

However, Asuka didn't know at that time that he had released a weapon of mass destruction. Indeed the Legendary armor was cursed, and turned its owner into a mindless killing machine. The armor owner was unable to get rid of it, unless he was defeated, and then, the armor was passed on to the victor. After wielding the armor, he completely lost control and was overwhelmed by the armor's evil power. killing many of his fellow Ryujin comrades, until he has been defeated and left unconscious, without any memories of his time inside the armor.
Soon after being freed of the armor, Asuka became Abareblack and fought the Evolian when they began their invasion against Another Earth. However, during that fight, he became unable to transform into Abareblack anymore, and, when he came to Another Earth, had to seek warriors who had enough "Dino Guts" to become partners with the Bakuryuu and fight with the Abare suits.
It was soon revealed that the armor was in the possession of the Evolian, with the Messenger of darkness Geilton wielding it, and then passing it to Destruction Messenger Jeanne. At first, Jeanne fought Asuka using the armor, but at the time, Asuka didn't know the identity of the wielder of the armor. However, at the beginning, the armor didn't have enough power, and Asuka realized that the wielder of the armor was a woman, and soon, that this woman could be his beloved Mahoro. However, Jeanne denied being Mahoro, even making Asuka believe that she had killed Mahoro and taken up her body. As a result, Asuka's heart was filled by feelings of hate and revenge, that made him weaker against his enemies, and didn't allow him to use fully his powers as Abareblack. Even if he eventually had his deep desire for justice overcome his hate in his heart, he was deeply affected whenever he had to confront Jeanne, because he deeply hated her.

However, very soon, a mysterious girl began making contact with Asuka and Jeanne, and reminded them of their past, first reminding Jeanne of her love of Asuka as Mahoro. At the time, Jeanne was deeply confused by those memories, and responded to them with denial. The Mysterious girl soon made Asuka remember his past, notably his past as the wielder of the evil armor and its devastating consequences. A few weeks later, when Asuka was trying to get a new power to fight the Evolian (which was revealed to be the AbareMax power), Asuka met again the little girl, who made him fully confront his past and realize that he was the one who released the cursed armor and killed many of his friends, while completely controlled by it. Deeply consumed with remorse, Asuka decided to do his best to bring the new weapon to his comrades, while trying to find a way to defeat Jeanne and seal once and for all the evil armor. However, in his decisive fight against Jeanne, he realized at last that she was indeed his beloved Mahoro. Indeed, the mysterious girl knew that beneath Jeanne's hate and rage, there was a lot of pain, and she tried to help Jeanne overcome her pain by reminding her of her past. At last, Jeanne realized that Asuka never betrayed her, still loved her, and, as a result, she was able to become Mahoro again. However, she was still possessed by the armor, which filled her with rage and destructive impulses, and Asuka had no choice than to defeat her and receive again the evil armor. After the Anomalocaris's explosion, Asuka was stuck into the evil armor, trying to control its power, but unfortunately, often ended being possessed by it, and soon began to fight indiscriminately friend or foe, unable to free himself from the armor.

When Mahoro got her memory back, she went to meet Asuka, but soon realized that even if she was able to make him realize her presence, he was unable to control the destructive power of the armor. However, thanks to Styracosaurus, she realized that the armor could be destroyed if the wielder of the armor was defeated by two people at the same time, and decided to become back Jeanne and use Mikoto Nakadai's lust for power to lure him into helping her defeat Asuka,  and destroy the armor. However since she was pretending to be an Evolian agin, she was forced to fight her beloved husband, while at the same time,  using her Ryujin claws to make him know that she was still on his side, but had no choice but becoming Jeanne again, and return to the Evolian. After that time, she did everything she could to help the heroes in their fight. She managed to tell them through Yatsudenwani what was happening to Mikoto, and how to expell Dezumozorya from Lijewel's body. However, soon, Dezumozorya learned of her treachery. After being able to save her daughter from the evil god, she was taken captive by him on the Evolian headquarters. During  the final fight, Mahoro told Asuka that to finish defeating Dezumozorya, he had to destroy the Evolian fortress, and quickly, otherwise, Earth would be destroyed. At the time Mahoro was consumed by guilt, and didn't feel she deserved to live after all the evil she's done, killing her brother, mercilessly fighting Asuka and trying to destroy Earth. However, Asuka was unable to leave her, and went into the fortress to save her.

 However Dezumozorya's hate made him took the appearance of the Evil armor, that both lovers feared so much. During the fight, the evil god almost managed to defeat the two lovers, taking advantage of their huge feelings of guilt over the evil deeds they've done. However, Ranru/ Abareyellow, who wished with all her heart to see Asuka and Mahoro being together again, couldn't stand seeing them leaving themselves to die, and reminded them that they had a child that they couldn't abandon because of their remorse, and that they had to fight for her. Learning that, and seeing Ranru's deep feelings, Asuka and Mahoro found the strength to survive and defeat the evil power, and, at last, managed to get out and the fortress. After Dezumozorya has been defeated once and for all, Asuka and Mahoro returned with the Bakuryuu in Dino Earth, to rebuild the devastated planet and bring a better future for their child that they've called Mikoto (in honor of Mikoto Nakadai/ Abarekiller). Three years later, Asuka and Mahoro still live together in Dino Earth and they've had a second child together.