Chapter 2- Discipline and Dreams
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The rangers have been living together for a few days now and have been training together just as long but, the one thing Jayden noticed was that Mike seemed to have trouble sensing an attack. He put down his practice sword and went to stand by Ji who was monitoring the green and blue samurais during their workout.
"Mike, you must get into your opponents head to sense his next move. Close your eyes and focus on what is around you listen don't look and you will feel the attack coming." Jayden spoke calmly.
"Easy for you to say," Mike muttered. "Ow! Okay, I'll give it a try."
Mike closed his eyes and held his sword in position to strike at Kevin but before he got the chance Jayden got him from behind. "Hey, what gives?"
"You must be prepared for multiple attackers at all times." Ji spoke.
"I think I'm going to go for a walk to clear my head." Mike answered before going inside to change out of his training gear.
Jayden and the others looked at each other before heading inside themselves. A hour passed before Emily decided to go try to talk to Mike but couldn't find him anywhere. The rangers all searched the grounds for him but came up with nothing.
(Mike)
Mike walked through the city trying to get his head cleared; he just couldn't understand what was so difficult about getting into Kevin's head to avoid an attack. He knew if he could beat Kevin then maybe he would stand a chance against Jayden but at the rate he is going Emily and Mia could beat Jayden before Mike ever got the chance. Just as he walked passed the arcade he used to pretty much live in he heard some screams coming from the town square. The samurai in him rushed to find out what the problem was when he caught glimpse of a couple of his old friends being tossed around by a nighlok with extending arms.
"Let them go nighlok, your battle is with me." Mike shouted pulling out his samuraizer. "Go, go Samurai!"
The nighlok let out a great big laugh and let the two civilians go and pushed his arms through the ground towards Mike. "I am Rofer, and you are doomed. The fear of these people is filling the Sanzu River as we speak green ranger."
"Not for long!" Mike ran head on into the attack and was doing his best to get a hit on Rofer but it seemed like even he knew what Mike's next move was going to be before he made it. Great, I can't even sense the nighloks attack. Mike continued like this until the other rangers showed up and helped for a while before Rofer started to dry out and disappeared through a gap back to the netherworld.
Once back at the Shiba house the others were trying to understand what was going on in Mike's head. It wasn't safe to run head on into battle against something you know nothing about. Mike got tired of the questions and told the others he was going to bed. While the others stayed up for a while longer to do chores or train Mike was in his room thinking about the best way to stop this nighlok. Later that night when he knew everyone was asleep Mike snuck out and went down by the pier to do some meditating. He closed his eyes and sensed the air around him, he felt the movements of the earth, and he launched into a series of moves. He trained like this until he felt so tired he slept on the pier. However, nighlok attacks don't wait for rangers to get their beauty sleep and when Mike arrived the others had just been knocked back. He tricked Rofer into using his extendable arms to attack. Mike ran and eventually the nighloks arms couldn't reach him but he didn't account for the second arm and Jayden took the hit for him.
"Mike, keep him busy." Jayden said before he used the beetle disk to power up the 5 disc beetle cannon. Once Rofer is destroyed and goes mega the rangers call upon the zords to destroy him for the second time.
Once back at the Shiba house the rangers all gather in the dojo for a training talk. Jayden stands before his team with one of the practice swords by his side when he speaks, "Mike, taking off into the city like that today was dangerous. The reason we all live here is so that we keep our friends and families safe from the nighloks and Master Xandred. You must stay away from your friends until we destroy the enemy."
"I just don't understand why Jason can visit here but nobody else can? I mean even if it's just family for a day or something it would be better than nothing. I respect your decision about the friends but I don't agree with the no family contact Jayden." Mike replied in all seriousness.
"I agree with Mike, not talking to our families for who knows how long isn't going to make us better samurai it just means we will be worrying about our families because we don't know if they are ok or anything." Mia vouched.
"You guys, I can talk to Ji but I won't promise anything." Jayden told the others before going inside.
Emily and the others looked at Mike, "Mike, Jason is technically a Shiba therefore the rightful owner of this house should he choose to take it. Jayden has no other family and has grown up alone for a very long time."
Mike looked down slightly upset that he didn't think about that before making a big deal about their families not being able to come here. They all went inside to part ways and work on their own stuff but stopped when they heard Jayden on the phone with someone.
(Jayden's Phone Call)
Jason: Jayden? Is everything alright?
Jayden: Yeah, listen; the other rangers are having a really hard time with this whole being away from their family's thing. Is there anything we can do?
Jason: I'm going to assume that Mike is the one who brought this up right? He didn't look too impressed to see that you were allowed family but the others weren't.
Jayden: Yeah. I don't want them distracted but I also don't want them to be worried about their family that they can't focus on their duties. You know?"
Jason: I do. Let me see what I can do with the council and we will try to get ahold of Ji sometime to work something out.
Jayden: Thanks, but who is the council?
Jason: You'll find out in due time. I'll call you later this week to set something up ok?
Jayden: No problem.
(End Call)
Over the next couple of days the rangers continued to train both as a team and individually, Emily was excellent with hand to hand but still needed some work with the swords, while Kevin and Mia were the opposite, Mike still needed his work with power symbol and Jayden was more than happy to work with each ranger individually.
It's been a week since Mike's insecurities were faced and the rangers decided to take an afternoon and go to the park. The girls were laughing and having a good time until Kevin pointed out a nighlok talking to a little boy. The rangers immediately morphed and rushed to the kid's aid.
"Leave that kid alone nighlok!" Mia called out.
"Stay out of my business rangers. The kid and I were just talking."
Emily and Mia got to the kid and told him to run while the guys fought the nighlok. Once the nighlok was gone due to drying out Jayden, Emily, and Mike returned to the Shiba house to figure out which nighlok it was. Kevin and Mia decide to stake out the boys house to keep a watch out for the nighlok while the others were doing research on it. Kevin's samuraizer started flashing red so he knew it was Jayden calling.
(Kevin/Jayden call)
Kevin: Yeah?
Jayden: Emily found the nighlok, his name is Doubletone, and his special ability is to get people to give up their dreams. That's probably why he went after that kid.
Kevin: Of course, kids have no doubts that their dreams are ever possible while adults have already realized some may not come true.
Jayden: Exactly. Listen you and Mia stay there tonight and keep an eye out. If Doubletone has already succeed in getting that child to give up then he'll be back to gloat about it.
(End call)
Kevin told Mia what Jayden had said and sent her back to the house to get some supplies for their overnight stake out.
(Shiba House)
Mike, Jayden, and Emily were gathered outside the kitchen door peeking in to find out where all the smoke was coming from only to see Mia standing amongst the cloud.
"What is she doing?" Jayden asked thoroughly confused.
"She's cooking a home cooked meal for Kevin. He's really determined to help this kid not lose his dream.
(Kevin)
Kevin was sitting there waiting for Mia when he saw her walking towards the bench they were currently camping on with a container of sorts.
"What's in the container?"
"Open it and see." Mia offered the blue container to him.
Kevin opened it to see a bunch of burnt food. He looked at Mia and smiled. The two sat there and talked for hours. Mia told him she was really impressed with how he was looking out for Ryan and Kevin decided to explain why this mattered so much to him. He told her about his training for the Olympic try outs and how it's all he ever wanted to do. He told her how he thought he would get the chance to complete his dream before being called to be a samurai and how the thought of knowing he wouldn't be trying out for the Olympic team this year still bugged him. Mia told him he was sweet for wanting to protect Ryan and his dreams but that he shouldn't give up on his own either. Just because they were samurai now doesn't mean they always be samurai.
The next morning the pink and blue rangers watched with sad expressions as Ryan threw away his baseball gear and called Doubletone to ensure he kept his end of the deal. Doubletone laughed in Ryan's face and told him that he had never planned to keep his end of the deal and that his sorrow and heartbreak would help the Sanzu River rise. Kevin gets angry at this and the rangers destroy Doubletone in both forms before they go to Ryan's baseball game where the coach returns the gear to him. Jayden pulled out his samuraizer and drew a symbol causing Ryan's dream to come true for a brief moment when he was able to see his dad.
