People. There were a lot of people. Emily and Serena always talked about how small the town was, but when everyone gathered in the square the town felt very, very crowded.
Serena stopped the cart and jumped off first, taking Terran in her arms while the others climbed down and looked around in awe. It was basically just a big gathering of people, but the decorations, the lights, the smells, and all the delicious foods were amazing.
"Can we come here every year?" Mike asked.
"The festival hasn't even started," Serena chuckled.
Ji gave Jayden a little nudge. The red Ranger nodded and behind his back he traced a couple of symbols. They flew out, surrounded the festival grounds and created a little shield. It was nothing as powerful as what they had around the house, or even the Shiba House, but it would work to keep monsters from ruining their night off.
"We are safe here," Ji announced, "Rangers, go have fun."
Mike grabbed Emily's arm and yanked him excitedly away from the others, "There's so many games to play! I want to see if I can win something!"
Kevin was tugging Mia along, "Whoa, Mia, look at that! The watermelon is HUGE! There's no way that thing is real. And look at that eggplant! If we had produce this big, we could feed the house for months!"
James saw there was a petting zoo and took Terran to meet all the other kinds of animals there were on farms: sheep, donkeys, llamas, turkeys, and rabbits. He wanted his little cowboy to learn his animals, and there was no better way than learning firsthand. James, every morning, would take Terran out to play with and touch the animals on his own farm. Terran loved feeling the different types of furs, and the feathers, and was amazed there were animals that were bigger than his father.
"I think James loves the animals more than Terran," Serena said to Ji, Jayden, and Antonio as she started to follow James, "the kid is just an excuse for James to unleash his inner kid."
Serena left to make sure James wouldn't accidentally piss off the gentle animals. Antonio looked to Jayden, "Pie eating contest."
"Think they have one here?"
"They've got to," Antonio nodded, "We have to find it. I starved myself all day so I could win that first place ribbon."
"There's my night," Jayden chuckled and then looked over to Ji, "Are you coming?"
"Yeah, Ji, you can stay with us," Antonio smiled, "No one should be alone tonight."
"Thank you for the offer, boys," Ji shook his head to politely decline, "but I have made other arrangements. I will see you at the end of the night."
"If you're sure," Jayden answered a little hesitantly. He would enjoy alone time with Antonio, but he didn't want Ji to be by himself the entire night.
"Positive. Go have fun. Eat a pie for me."
"You heard the man," Antonio nodded and grabbed Jayden's arm, "C'mon, I'm starving!"
-Samurai-
"There's no way," Kevin whispered as he kept his eyes glued to the giant crops sitting before him, all organized according to type. There was also a large scale on the ground, ready and waiting to reveal the weight of the massive produce.
"Are we going to spend the entire night with you trying to figure out how born and raised farmers can make big crops? They know what they're doing…"
"Mia, this watermelon is impossibly big," Kevin gestured to the watermelon that seemed to be about the size of his body and likely the weight of Emily – it had yet to be determined. "This has to be a trick or an illusion or…"
"It's not a magic show," Mia shook her head.
"I grew a tomato last year. Remember that?"
"One tomato," Mia giggled. "One teeny, tiny…"
"If I can figure out how every year they grow crops this big, we can add a garden to our perfect home, and we'll save thousands on produce every year."
"Thousands?"
"We'll save a lot of money."
"Or, we can save ourselves the stress and buy produce from these hardworking farmers trying to feed their families…"
"They have giant produce. They're well fed," Kevin said and saw a man tending to the giant eggplant sitting on the table, easily the biggest one Kevin had ever seen, "Excuse me, would you mind telling me the secret to…"
"No."
"But I just want to…"
"No."
Mia grabbed Kevin by the arm and started to pull him away, "Excuse him. He's new and he's kind of hit his head one time too many. Good luck in the contest."
She pulled Kevin back into the crowd and shook his head, "This is a competition, Kevin. An annual competition. These farmers have secrets and they all want that prize. They won't tell you, a tourist, the magic behind their life's work. You're not going to tell him the secret to Symbol Powers, are you?"
"That's different."
"Let's just watch the weigh-in and be fascinated. That sounds like… fun."
"You want to do something else?"
"Kind of," Mia smirked, "We arrived in a carriage. We're at a festival. The lights, the stars, the night… I kind of wanted a bit of a more… romantic night."
"Romantic how?"
Mia pointed to a closed down shop. Because of the festival, everything in town was closed for the night and everyone was in the square for the fun.
"We could get a little privacy. I mean, Mike and Emily did give up everything for us to be together. It would be a shame if we didn't take advantage of that right here, right now."
"Think you can get in?"
Mia nodded and pulled a pin out from her hair, "I planned for it already."
-Samurai-
Antonio brought Jayden over to the table for the pie eating contest, so happy he had found one ready to go. They got their bibs and were waiting patiently for the pies to be placed before them. The game was simple. First to lick their plates clean, without using hands in anyway, would be crowned winner. Antonio licked his lips in anticipation. Jayden looked a little nervous.
"Explain again what we have to do?"
"Eat and enjoy," Antonio smirked, "Just stuff you face right in there, open wide, and take in all the yumminess. With me around, you're not going to win anyways."
"This goes against everything I was taught as a kid," Jayden said and looked down as a pie was placed before him, "No hands?"
"No hands," Antonio nodded. Jayden was a little hesitant, and when the bell rang for the competition to begin, he wasn't sure what to do. He looked around and saw Antonio, as well as other men, women, and even young boys and girls, digging into their desserts and devouring them like they hadn't see food in years, and didn't expect to see it again for another few years.
He decided to loosen up, join the fun and smashed his face into the pie. The others had a head start, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from claiming a prize. The pies were huge and he would feel sick afterwards, but it would be worth it if a ribbon was presented to him.
-Samurai-
Serena chuckled as she watched James give Terran a safe and fun ride on the back of a donkey, and Terran, her little cowboy, loved every minute of it. The donkey fascinated him, like no other animal had ever fascinated him before. Serena could see the excitement in her son's eyes, and the joy in James' eyes. It brought tears to hers. She had given up hope on having a perfect family. Years ago it was due to her illness. She was certain she would be dead long before she found the perfect man, and longer before she would ever have a child to call her own. Recently, it was because of her mixed up family. She had a Nighlok's son, she was a part of the Samurai, and the only man she was sure would ever be accepting of that had walked away from her.
But they were back, she was healed, and she could finally see a future working out.
"S-Serena?"
She turned around, hearing a voice call her name, and she saw former classmates of hers, from years ago, all staring at her with their jaws in the dirt. Quickly realizing they still believed she was deathly ill, or worse, she knew how strange this was for them.
"Hey, guys."
Her very best friend growing up, Erin, threw her arms around her in a passionate hug. Erin had stuck it out during Serena's illness until the future looked too bleak, and then she and Serena mutually agreed to end the relationship. To Serena, it was bad enough watching her family suffer through the grief, she couldn't force her friends to wait around for her either. For Erin, it was too difficult seeing her best friend completely helpless and knocking on death's door, and every day she would arrive with tears, and leave with rivers pouring down her face. Thinking they would be forced to say goodbye anyways, they decided to take matters into their own hands.
But Serena wasn't dead. She was alive and well, and by the looks of things, she was better than Erin had ever seen her.
"You never called?" Erin suddenly shoved Serena and glared at her hatefully, "How long have you been better? How long have you been back? Your parents said you were taken to the city because there was nothing more that could be done for you here. I thought you were dead!"
"Sorry, Erin. Things came up," Serena shrugged somewhat nervously, "There's been a lot going on with Emily and I've been trying to get my life started…"
"But you're better now? This isn't like… a fake recovery or anything. You're actually…"
"Fully recovered," Serena nodded. She was strangled again in her best friend's arms. By now, the rest of Serena's former classmates had dispersed. They cared for her, the entire town cared for her, but they couldn't all crowd around her, and there was so much more to do at the summer festival. No one wanted to waste their time.
"Wave to mommy!"
Serena turned her head slightly to see Terran and James walking by on the donkey, smiling happily. When she looked back to Erin, she saw her best friend's jaw was on the ground again. Serena chuckled and grabbed Erin by the arm, "We have a lot to catch up on."
"Obviously!"
-Samurai-
"You really didn't have to."
"I wanted to. Show those punks they were the losers."
"I know I'm not a loser," Emily giggled and hugged her giant teddy bear. Every year there was one giant bear to be won playing games at the festival, and growing up, every year Emily wanted to win it. She always tried and tried, but the other kids were always better than she was, and if she didn't finish dead last, she only managed to score high enough to earn herself a dinky prize. Serena used to try competing for her, and would win the bigger stuffed prizes, but never the big bear.
No one, ever, won the big bear.
This year, Emily tried again, hoping her time away would be just the kick she needed to outsmart and outplay her opponents – her former tormentors, but she still didn't have it in her, and hearing them whisper about how much of a loser she still was started to get to her.
But she wasn't the only one who heard the whispers. Mike did, and he didn't like it. So he sat down at the booth, took the water gun in his hands and kicked everyone's asses, as well as earned enough points, in one try, to win the giant teddy bear. The girls watching were amazed, and Emily heard most of their comments about how gorgeous Mike was and why they hadn't ever noticed him before, and some planned on flirting with him (which had distracted her and was the reason she had fallen dead last). The guys were all in awe, and had crowded around Mike to ask him how he had managed to win.
Mike ignored them all as he accepted his prize – the big, giant teddy bear. They asked him questions, some girls even tried to hit on him. But he set his sights on Emily, handed her the bear, and gave her a kiss, in front of everybody. Jaws hit the ground.
"Emily… you're his girlfriend?"
Mike shook his head. He wrapped his arms around Emily, gave her cheek a kiss, and smiled lovingly at her.
"I'm her fiancé."
"Emily's fiancé? You want to marry her?"
"I'm lucky enough to be marrying her," Mike said proudly, "C'mon, beautiful, let's show everyone the new bear I won just for you."
As he whisked her and the bear away, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Emily's tormentors were in complete shock, unable to believe their so-called town loser had him for a fiancé. She had definitely come out a winner.
"Beautiful?" Emily asked when they were out of earshot. Mike nodded his head.
"Alright, I had to rub it in just a little more. But I wasn't lying. You are beautiful."
"With the broken nose, the bruises, and…"
"Beautiful," he kissed her again, "So where is everyone…"
"FIRST PLACE!" Jayden cried as he walked over, with Antonio, holding up a bright blue ribbon.
"His pie was smaller," Antonio pouted and stuffed what looked like a participant's ribbon into his pocket, "That's the only logical explanation."
"Pie eating contest?" Mike asked as he had a look at the ribbon, "Dude, you won a pie eating contest?"
"I got hungry," Jayden smirked, "and the pies were good," he gestured to their fifth guest, "What's up with the teddy bear?"
"Mike won it!" Emily threw her arms around the bear's neck, just barely making it all the way around. "Eighteen years, I've been staring at the bear waiting to win it! Finally, it's mine!"
"Games," Mike smirked, cracking his knuckles, "Easy win. These country folk have no idea who they were messing with."
"It's bigger than Emily," Antonio chuckled.
"What isn't?"
"Whoa, big bear alert!" James announced as he came over, holding a very tired Terran in his arms. The little boy was clinging tightly onto a stuffed donkey toy that was nothing in size compared to the massive bear in Emily's arms… or, rather, the massive bear holding Emily in its arms. "Where did you get that?"
"I won it," Mike said proudly and then gestured to Terran's donkey, "Where'd you get the ass?"
"Terran loved riding the donkey so much, I thought I'd get him a souvenir."
"Terran also loves hitting things with spoons," Antonio laughed, "What's the difference?"
"I'm his father," James shifted the little boy in his arms slightly so Terran could fall asleep, "I know the difference."
Serena returned to join to Samurai at the end of their night, followed by a woman no one recognized, though Emily did get the feeling she had met the woman before, and likely had.
"Guys, meet my best friend growing up, Erin," Serena was smiling brightly as she introduced her friend to the team, "Erin, this is Jayden, Antonio, Mike, and my fiancé James, my son Terran, and you remember Emily."
"You weren't kidding when you said your family expanded," Erin said as she shook everyone's hands. When she got to Emily, she gave the youngest Samurai a big hug, "Wow, you've grown a lot."
"She has?" all the boys asked teasingly. Emily stood the bear up and had it growl.
"Emy, remember Erin? She used to come over almost every day."
"A little bit," Emily admitted, "but a lot of people used to come over every day. Every day, every night, every…"
"I get it," Serena nodded. She pointed to the bear, "You finally won it?"
"Mike did!" Emily bounced excitedly, "He won it and showed off to everyone! They're all jealous of me, now! You should have seen it! Their jaws dropped, their eyes were huge, and I didn't even have to do anything special!"
"You gave her candy, didn't you?" James whispered to Mike. The green Ranger nodded his head.
"A little bit. It's mostly just from the fun night."
Mia and Kevin finally returned to the group, looking a little dishevelled from their night, but the look on their faces said it all. They had fun.
"Did you guys win any prizes?" Emily asked and stuffed her bear in Mia's face, "This is what Mike won for me."
"No prizes," Mia smiled and pushed the bear away from her face, "but we did have a good night."
"Now we just need to find Ji," Jayden announced and had a look around while Erin said goodbye to Serena. Jayden looked through the crowd as best he could, but he couldn't see Ji anywhere, "Does anyone know where he went?"
"You mean he wasn't with any of us tonight?" Kevin asked, "What did he do by himself? Can you even have fun by yourself?"
Mia waved her Samuraizer gently, "He's not answering, but his signal is coming from around here. Maybe we should start looking."
"Great, this is just what we need," Serena rolled her eyes, "More drama."
"Hopefully he's not in trouble," Emily lifted the bear up onto her back so it could travel with her and the group, but it was so big Mike had to take it off her hands, and he and Kevin carried the oversized prize.
"Uh… guys…" James waved the team over and the peeked around the side of a shop, sneaking a look around the corner, "You're not going to believe this."
One by one, the Samurai's heads poked around the corner until they were all spying on the man sitting at the beach with what looked to be his girlfriend. Realizing who they were looking at, they all gasped. Emily reached down and covered her bear's eyes.
"Way to go, mentor Ji," Antonio smirked and was slapped on the back of the head by Jayden, "OW!"
"How did he manage to get a girlfriend in one night?" Mike asked.
"Dad kind of let it slip that the Samurai had contacts us here to keep our family safe," Serena whispered, "Maybe this isn't just a one night thing…"
"Kiss!" Kevin called out, in a whisper so Ji wouldn't hear.
"Aw," Mia smiled, genuinely happy for her mentor, "That's really cute."
"Cute? I think my pie is coming back up."
"Not on our heads," Mike, Serena, Mia, and Emily looked up at Jayden and then pulled away from the corner before his body rejected the pie.
"So… do we break it up?" Kevin asked, "Or do we head home and pretend like nothing happened tomorrow?"
"I say we let him be," James put in his vote, "He works hard all the time. I think he deserves a little fun, even if it's just a one night thing."
"You don't get a vote," Jayden shook his head, "He's not your Samurai mentor."
"I agree with James," Mia smiled, "Mentor's done a lot for…"
"You don't get a vote either," Jayden frowned.
"C'mon, dude," Mike put his hand on his leader's shoulder, "The man's dedicated his entire life to you. Give him a break once in a while. If he wants to play tonsil hockey with a girl, let him play."
Jayden let out a heavy sigh, "Alright… but just for tonight. Tomorrow, everything goes back to normal."
"Deal," the others agreed and set off to find their ride. As the boys raced off, teasing and messing around with Emily and her new giant bear, and James tried to get them to calm down so they didn't wake up Terran, Mia hung back with Serena, smiling from ear to ear. Serena caught her grin and nudged her.
"What?"
"Tonight was a good idea. We haven't had fun like that in a while. I haven't seen all of them so happy in a while."
"We've been through hell," Serena nodded, "but we made it out."
"For now," Mia flipped open her Samuraizer, "While looking for Ji's signal, I noticed this."
"Sanzu Water?"
"Traces of it everywhere on the map," Mia nodded, "All around the Shiba House, maybe even all around the city. I don't think we have long to wait before Serrator, Dayu, Dekker, and even Xandred start coming after us again. It's been a while, if you think about it."
"The Summer festival does mark the end of summer. No more carefree bliss, no more bright, sunny relaxing days. It's back to work, back to school... stress, frustrations, and bad days all around."
"And the weather's not as hot. The Nighlok won't dry up as quickly," Mia said, "Fall's the worst season for the Nighlok attack. They come back after a long rest, and they come back with a vengeance."
"We're ready for them."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive," Serena nodded, "We'll press our luck and enjoy the time we have left before they do come back. We'll be more than ready to kick their asses when they do come. And besides, if they do get the better of us, I'll have a much bigger and better room to recover in. With my own bathroom."
Mia groaned. Before leaving for the festival, Emily had talked to her and Kevin about switching rooms with Serena, insisting it would be easier for Serena, James, Terran, Mike, and Emily to have rooms close together. Still feeling guilty over the sacrifice Mike and Emily made for them, Kevin and Mia felt they had no choice but to give the yellow Ranger what she wanted and had given up their room for Serena, and James and Terran if they decided to move in.
"That wasn't fair, or nice."
"I don't care," Serena stuck out her tongue, "I win. Emily loves me more than you."
"Really? All she did was give you a bedroom in a house we're going to hopefully move out of soon. She gave me a lifetime of happiness with the man I love," Mia decided it was appropriate to stick out her tongue, "Aw, Serena, how does it feel to know your baby sister loves me more than you? And I've only known her for what… two years? Not even…"
"Shut up," Serena crossed her arms over her chest and walked away, "I hope you know, Watanabe, this means war!"