div style="font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" The moment Lauren had found out the truth, the house was filled with screams of despair and heart wrenching sobs. Despite the fact that Jayden's mother had not been Lauren's actual mother, they had a bond like she had been. To lose her was to lose not just a mother, but a second mother at that. /div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" Jayden sat silently next to Lauren as all this happened, struggling to swallow the large lump that had formed in his throat. He never let out a peep nor shed a single tear throughout the day. It wasn't until the sun was setting once more that Ji had caught him alone outside with everyone else somewhere else on the land that he finally let his emotions show through. Ji held him tight as he cried, his cries muffled in the comforting robes his caretaker wore. They both stayed there, unmoving as the sadness ran its course. Finally, the sound of a door opening brought them back to reality. They both turned to see Jayden's father standing in the door way with a small frown on his face. He silent knelt down and held his arms open for his son, who quickly ran into his grasp and held onto him tight. Standing up with his child cradled in his arms, his father turned to Ji and gave his silent thanks before informing them that dinner was ready./div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" It was two days later that Jayden found himself outside practicing with a wooden sword, when the door to the house slid open. Giving a quick glance to see who it was, he was met by the sight of the stranger standing there with an blank look on his face. The adults decided it would be best for him to stay for a while to avoid trouble from the nighloks for his part in fighting the nighlok. After his arrival to the home, the man avoided the others, never joining them for meals and avoided any contact the best he could. Jayden has only caught short glimpses of the man over the course of his stay. So, to see him now completely was a pleasant surprise for the boy. After waited a moment to see if the man would do anything else, the boy turned back to continue his practice./div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Training to take over your father's mantle of red ranger when you're old enough?" the man's voice drifted through the air. Jayden paused once more to consider the question before returning to his training./div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "No, that's Lauren's job, she's older," Jayden answered. The man gave a hum in return. "I still need to train though, even if i'm not going to be the red ranger, I still need to be strong enough to help defend everyone from the nighlok." /div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "I see," the man said. Jayden heard him finally take a step out of the doorway and onto the porch. The boy stopped in order to see what the man was going to do. The man simply sat down and pulled out a long staff look object that was wrapped in a cloth and tied at two ends of the object. He made quick work of untie and then unwrapped the unknown object. Jayden tilted his head in curiosity before gasping when he saw that the object was in fact a white katana. The man flicked his eyes away from the sword and towards the boy to watch his reaction, chuckling at the child's surprise. He returned his attention to the sword as he pulled it free of it's sheath and begin to clean it./div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Are you a samurai?" Jayden whispered, his curiosity sparked at the new discovery./div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Not exactly, samurai of sorts in a way," The man replied with a frown. The answer, though, did not spur the child's excitement away though, instead, it seemed to cause even more excitement. /div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Will you have a duel with me?" The child asked with a grin. The man froze at the question, halting in his cleaning. Taking a moment to consider the question, his looked to the young boy before him./div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Perhaps when you're older we can have a duel, and if you keep training as much as you do," he answered. The boy deflated at the answer./div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "But if its when I'm older, how are you going to recognized me if i change?" Jayden inquired. The man gave the question a thought before deciding on what to do. He set the sword and cleaning cloth down before lifting his hand to his neck, where he took off one of his many necklaces. This one in perticular was old looking japanese coin tied onto a thick leather cord. Holding the necklace out to the boy, he hung it onto the boy's neck before sitting back. Jayden held the coin between his fingers, studying the object for a moment before looking up at the man in confusion./div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "When we meet again, show me that necklace and i will know who exactly you are. Then we can have that duel, if you're still interested," the man gave the boy a smirk before turning back to his sword. /div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Promise?" the boy asked. The man's smirk became a full smile at the innocent inquiry./div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "I promise," he said. Jayden smiled at the promise before returning to his sword training. The man watched the boy, smiling and shaking his head at the pure innocence of the boy's joy, before resuming his cleaning. /div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" At the end of the week, the man disappeared from the residence. He in fact left during the night while everyone was asleep. In the morning, when Jayden and Lauren were informed of this revelation, the children were both saddened, both missing the presence of their acquaintance already. Jayden especially when he realized he had never asked the man his name. /div
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" Though, the realization at soon forgotten, because it was not even a day later when the Shiba residence was attacked by nighlok. The nighlok had somehow managed to destroy the protection symbols around the house before invading the residence. Soon, Jayden found himself all by himself with only Ji as his companion: his father dead, his sister sent off somewhere secret, and the other rangers disbanded with the temporary defeat of the nighlok, returning home to thier own families. The boy soon let himself get lost in his training in preparation of Master Xandred return. The memories of the man and their promise forgotten./div
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div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" Jayden jolted awake from his sleep. His hand flew to the necklace he wore around his neck as his memories from over a decade ago returned. Shock filled his form as he finally realized the identity of the man who had save him so many years ago. A single hand appeared in front of himself, careful slipping the necklace from his hand, drawing Jayden's attention away from his memories. His eyes widened at the person who knelt infront, who held the coin up in between them. /div
div style="font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" "I do believe that i promise you a duel, my dear red ranger," Deker said with a smug smirk upon his face./div