Legal: I do not own Power Rangers or the associated names, places, events etc. Anything not covered by these rights is to be assumed to be purely the creation of the author.
Rating: T – There will be adult themes and language.
A/N: As of a recent review, I have since found out that the translation package I have been using for Antonio's speech in Spanish is not up to par. It was also pointed out that I have neglected to translate what he was MEANT to say for those that do not read Spanish. So, officially...oops! I apologise to anyone who DOES speak and read the language for any confusion and/or offence caused. Since I do not speak, read or write Spanish, I have opted for the policy that from now on, if Antonio is speaking English with a simple word or phrase in Spanish (like he does regularly in the show), I will write it as such. However, from now on, if I want him to say a whole sentence or phrase in Spanish, it will be written in italics.
Jayden was sitting on a bench just on the porch of the Shiba House, watching as the others trained. Normally he would have been right there with them, but at the moment, that just wasn't an option. After his duel with Dekker, he still needed time to recover to be back to full strength and able to train at full capacity. Even the Red Samurai Ranger couldn't bounce back right away from being impaled by a sword.
At the moment, Emily and Kevin were sparring, while Mia and Antonio were paired off against one another with their respective weapons. Mentor Ji was once again taking a more active role in training; back in his training uniform taking the place Jayden normally would working with Mike on his sword work.
Now that he had been sidelined, Jayden had noticed that Mike was spending a lot more time with Mentor Ji. Indeed, thinking about it, Mike had been spending a lot more time with Mentor Ji ever since they had been hit with that spell that made them age backwards, reverting Mentor Ji to what he was like as a young man. It wasn't a bad thing, Ji was a fantastic swordsman in his own right, and his knowledge of symbol power was more extensive than most of the others. However, as Mike spent time with him, working on both unarmed and armed combat, and in the evenings spending extra time on his symbol power, Jayden couldn't help noticing that there was a kind of nervousness about Mike, like he really wanted to talk to Ji privately about something.
As he adjusted the straps on his sling, moving his arm into a more comfortable position, Antonio suddenly stopped fighting and looked over to him.
"Jayden, are you...OW!" He called over, paying the price for his sudden stop as Mia's shinai caught him across the ribs. "Hey!"
"Antonio, I'm sorry!" Mia stated.
"Don't be. Antonio, I'll be fine." Jayden assured him with a smile. "I was just itchy, but you know better than to take your eyes off an opponent."
"You're right." Antonio sighed, turning back towards Mia and readying his wooden tanto for action. "It's alright Mia, I'm fine."
As they got back into action, Serena's kit bag flopped down at Jayden's feet, and she slumped down onto the seat next to him, resting the back of her head against the wall, letting out a huge groan. Jayden just sniggered as he saw her.
"So is teaching going well?" He asked her.
"They can have the damn sword back." She commented. "Honestly, I don't know how those two can find so many ways to screw up the simplest things. It's maddening!"
As part of her mission to attain Kasamune, Serena had to convince Bulk and Spike to hand over the ancient sword. It was a little harder than she had expected to convince them to give up a sword they couldn't even remove from the scabbard. She had been unable to buy it, given the fact that when they offered more than the fifty dollars Bulk had paid for it, they started to wonder what it was really worth. The only way she could distract them from that thought and convince them to part with their 'piece of junk' was to offer to train them in the Samurai arts like they wanted. To say they were not ideal students would have been like saying she was only waiting on a phone call to confirm her Nobel Prize.
"You know, a certain Yellow Ranger told me that someone not too far from here didn't always have mad skills." Jayden told her. "In fact, I remember her saying something about it taking three weeks to learn a basic sword kata, and she also mentioned almost braining herself with a bokken during her first grading test..."
"I am so going to murder my sister." Serena replied as a little smile crossed her face. It was a little annoying to hear some of the embarrassing things she had done in her early days training, but she understood the point Jayden was making. All of them were beginners at one point. From what little he knew about Bulk and Spike, they had been 'training' themselves, but that their knowledge of the Samurai ways basically came from what they had seen on movies and in Anime. Without someone who genuinely knew what they were doing to guide them, it was no surprise their efforts were somewhat more enthusiastic than productive. "I get your point, it's just so frustrating."
"Are they really that bad?" Jayden asked her. Serena just looked at him.
"Jayden, their shinai were made out of garden canes and tennis balls." She told him flatly. "They can just about hold them, but as soon as they start waving them, they're more dangerous to themselves than me."
"Well, I guess I can help one thing at least." Jayden said, pointing to a weapon's rack next to him. "You can take two of those with you tomorrow. At least then you'll know they're using the right tools for the job."
"Thanks." She answered with a little smile. "I guess it is kind of exciting having students. I was sure it'd be years before I was teaching anyone."
"I guess most of you are only really planning on training your kids." Jayden commented with a shrug. "So, are you going to see Peter?"
"I just want to get changed first." She answered. "I've been training all morning. I feel really gross."
"You want to look good for him I suppose." Jayden said with a little smirk. Serena gave him a really dark look.
"Alright, now I'm planning where I'm burying her." She said, her embarrassment showing in her tone. Jayden just smirked.
"Come on, it's been kind of obvious." He told her. "When you've not been here or training Bulk and Spike, you've been at the hospital. Last night you got kicked out at the end of visiting hours."
"He's all alone in there." Serena protested. "Besides, he did take a pretty big hit for us. It's a miracle Dekker didn't cut him in half."
"If he wanted to he would have." Jayden said, earning himself a smack in the chest from Serena. "Alright, not the point I know."
"He's been really brave through all of this." She told him. "If it wasn't for him I'd never have gotten home. I just wish he didn't get hurt so much."
She just sniggered as a thought came to her. Jayden just furrowed his brows curiously.
"What?" He asked her.
"I just remembered something that happened on our mission." She told him. "He tried to use a Desert Eagle."
"So?" Jayden asked her. Just like Serena, he knew enough to know it was a gun, but he had never really studied guns in his training as a Samurai. He could rattle off the origin and classification of pretty much any type of Japanese blade ever created, but to him a gun was a gun.
"It's the most powerful handgun in the world." She informed him. "When he fired it, he ended up smacking himself in the face with it."
"And...that's funny?" Jayden asked her.
"It wasn't at the time; I was worried about him hurting himself." She admitted. "Thinking back though, it was kind of funny, and it was strangely cute."
"So he smacks himself in the face and you think that's cute?" He asked her. "I guess after being carved up like a thanksgiving turkey he's looking pretty adorable."
"I don't know, it's just...it was a little dorky, but it's just one of the things...oh, I can't explain it." She continued.
"He's like Emily." Jayden remarked. "Accident prone, clumsy and dorky..."
"Alright, now you've made it a little creepy." Serena interrupted him, thinking about it. With the exception of the obsession with computers, she had to admit there were a few parallels between them. Emily had always been brave to a fault, or as at least one well-meaning relative had put it, had the foresight of a lemming and never fully thought things through before she did them. Most of the times Peter had done something clumsy around her, it was when his attempts to help her over-reached his limited abilities.
"All I meant is he's brave to a fault." Jayden concluded. "I'm the Red Ranger and I was afraid to face Dekker. How many people do you think would have jumped him like that?"
"I guess you're right." Serena conceded. "I suppose it always did impress me the way he never ran from any of this. I know I wouldn't have blamed him."
She looked to Jayden as he cast his gaze back to the others, noticing the smile on his face.
"So, what are you thinking about?" She asked him. "Would it be a certain fisherman by any chance?"
While everyone now knew that Jayden was gay, to the best of her knowledge, Serena was the only one he had told that he had feelings for Antonio. He just shook his head.
"It's not just that." He told her.
"Then what?" She asked him. "I don't think I've ever seen you this happy sitting on the sidelines. I was expecting you to tear that sling off and join them."
"Sitting here, watching them train, it takes me back you know?" He said as he gestured to the group. "It's like when I was a kid and I used to watch the last team..."
"Your dad's team." Serena interjected as Jayden's words tailed off. She could understand what he was saying; he had always lived at the Shiba House. His dad had fallen in battle the last time the Nighlock threatened the world, a fact that was still painful to him, but he was there throughout that war. He had actually been there when their parents' team was active.
"It's kind of spooky in a way." He admitted. "They're so much like their parents..."
"I always thought mom was more like me." Serena said with a little pout. Jayden just laughed.
"She had her moments." He told her. "She was very like you, quite strong and confident, but she cost us more in repairs than any other Ranger."
Serena just burst out laughing hearing this.
"Yeah, mom never told me that part." Serena answered, patting him on the shoulder, before getting up and leaving. It was just as she was going that the other Rangers started to file towards the house. "Anyway, I'll just get washed up."
"Good work out there today guys." Jayden complimented them. "By the time I'm back to training, I'll be playing catch up."
"Yeah, whatever dude." Mike said with a little laugh. Emily just looked through Serena's bag, causing Jayden to look at her a little oddly.
"Emily, that's not yours." He reminded her.
"It's my sister's, it doesn't count." She said with a shrug. She found what she was looking for and let out a little squeal of excitement, pulling out a brown paper bag. She opened it and pulled out a grape, popping it into her mouth.
"Emily!" Mia chastised her.
"I'm hungry!" Emily told them. "Besides, Serena's been buying grapes for Peter every day; somehow I don't think he's going to miss a couple."
"Em, we're going for lunch." Mia reminded her. She just shrugged as she pulled off more grapes and put the bag back in Serena's things.
"Well, I'm REALLY hungry." She told her. Mia just shoved her into the house as they filed in, while Mike slowly wandered around the yard, picking up training equipment, but still occasionally casting a little glance in Mentor Ji's direction. Antonio came to Jayden's side.
"So, are we on mi amigo?" Antonio asked him. "You said you'd help me with the lunch rush."
"Yeah, I'm ready to go." Jayden said, taking Antonio's hand to help him up to his feet. "You get washed up. I'll get the cart ready."
As they all left to get ready, Mentor Ji just stopped Mike as he was racking up some shinai.
"Oh, I was just..."
"You can catch up to the others later." He stated. Mike was meant to be going into the city with Emily, Mia and Kevin. They had planned to go shopping, and then to get lunch before coming home. Mike just nodded and went with Mentor Ji towards the dojo.
They arrived in the dojo, at which Mentor Ji gestured to him to take a seat. Mike did as he was instructed, at which Mentor Ji sat opposite him, clasping his hands under his chin.
"Ask me." Mentor Ji declared. Mike just looked at him.
"Mentor?" He asked in response, not sure what he meant. Mentor Ji just sighed.
"It has been clear for a while now that you want to talk to me about something." Mentor Ji answered. "We are not going to be disturbed here, feel free to ask me anything. What troubles you?"
Mike shifted a little uncomfortably as he heard Mentor Ji say this. He did indeed want to talk to him, he had for a while. They had become a bit closer and had a better understanding when Ji had admitted to him that he had not always been the best student and saw a lot of himself in Mike. Unfortunately now that created a problem for Mike. Since Mentor Ji had been hit by the Nighlock's spell, he had seen what Mentor Ji was actually like as a younger man, and it was far from what he expected. The main thing that troubled him was that he said he saw a lot of himself in Mike. That had put a worrying thought in his head. Was that really what Ji thought of him?
"You remember when you told me that I reminded you of yourself as a kid?" Mike asked him. "What did you mean by that?"
Mentor Ji just sighed and held his face in his hands. He knew he would have to face this sooner or later. The Rangers had all been very restrained all things considered when they saw what he had been like as a younger man. It was something of a revelation, and yet they had all just gotten on with things and left it alone, respecting his right to leave his past behind him.
"I am sorry Michael." Mentor Ji stated. "When I said that, I wasn't being fair to you. You know I have always let my fear of history repeating itself rule the way I have treated you all, especially you. I fear I have been unfairly hard in the way I have viewed you."
"I can't say it wasn't a shock seeing what you were like, especially hearing what you did to those guys at the amusement park." Mike admitted. He looked to Mentor Ji, with a slight trepidation, and also hurt in his eyes. "I guess what I'm asking is...is that really how you see me?"
"No Michael." Mentor Ji told him, shaking his head. "Of all of you, Jayden included, you are perhaps the one I am most proud of. No one has done more to improve than you. You amaze me more and more every day. I allowed my fears to get the better of me."
"But you said..."
"I said we were similar, but at the same time, we are also different. I did not fear the man you are, I merely feared for the man you could become." Mentor Ji interrupted him. He leaned in closer. "What I am about to tell you, even Jayden does not know. I trust you will keep it to yourself."
Mike just nodded. Although he was still troubled, he couldn't deny the enormity of what Mentor Ji had just said. He knew that Ji had raised Jayden since his father fell in battle when Jayden was only six years old. He was, to all intents and purposes Jayden's father, having raised, trained, comforted and disciplined him throughout the entirety of his life. It was no small thing that he was admitting there was something he was keeping from Jayden.
"I was a little like you. I was rebellious, I was stubborn, and I was headstrong." He began. "However, there was something else entirely. I was also a very angry and bitter young man. I allowed that anger to consume me, and I allowed it to control me. I was afraid for you Mike. Not because I was worried about you, but because I did not want you to become the man I was."
"What were you angry about?" Mike asked him. Mentor Ji took out some paperclips, sprinkling them on the floor, before pulling out what looked like a paint brush. Ji traced a little symbol, as Mike had only seen him do when he trained the Rangers, and cast it at the paperclips. They shook a little, before bending and twisting, taking on the shape of little metal men. They all formed a line, standing shoulder-to-shoulder and started a kick-line dance. Mike just smiled as he saw it.
"If you want to know, I will tell you." Mentor Ji told him. "I only pray you do not judge me as I tell you what I feared you could become without guidance."