Jordan finally got his side of the tent up after a little help from Jake and Troy. The Rangers officially had something to sleep under other than the stars. Though it would be romantic to share a sleeping bag and stare up at the stars with Emma all night, Jordan did like the feeling of safety the tent had to offer. He wasn't sure if the weather would stay nice all weekend.
To top it off, Emma had gotten a nice fire started and was making dinner for the team. Jordan could smell it and he was starving. He was sure the tent wouldn't fall over so he walked over to his girlfriend.
"Smells good. What are we having?"
"Toasted sandwiches," Emma answered as she flipped a sandwich over. "You're probably going to fill up on s'mores later, so I didn't really want to make too much."
"Yeah, I can't really deny that one," Jordan smirked as he turned to look at the bag of treats that Jake had brought along. His father had helped him pack for the camping trip, and it seemed Mr. Holling believed the kids needed to fill up on junk food. No one could argue with him.
"As soon as Noah and Gia get back, we can eat," Emma told her boyfriend. "Why don't you help the others get everything inside the tent?"
"It's not going to cave in on us tonight," Jordan said proudly. Emma chuckled at Jordan's pride. It wasn't misplaced. The tent did look very sturdy.
As Jordan walked to the van to help the boys unpack everything, he noticed something moving in the bushes. Noah and Gia emerged without the sticks they had promised to bring home.
"Hey guys, I thought you were getting firewood," Jordan said as he took out the sleeping bags from the trunk. Gia and Noah didn't say anything. Instead, Noah went to his laptop bag and Gia walked to the car. She searched the back seats for her bag.
"Did something happen?" Troy asked. Neither answered. Noah snatched up his bag and dug through it aggressively until he found what he wanted. Then he turned to the van. He saw Gia had found her bag, and as soon as she pulled out what she wanted, she turned to him and nodded her head.
"Guys, is everything okay?" Jake nervously approached Gia, sensing there was something about her that wasn't quite right. He reached out to touch her arm, but in a flash she was morphed with her Tiger Claw. She brought it up and smashed it into the side of Jake's head.
"Gia!" Emma cried. She left the sandwiches to focus on her best friend. Gia was tough, and had on occasion raised her fist when a boy tried to take things too far, but she would never hurt Jake. There was something wrong.
"Don't move," Noah said and Emma and the boys turned around to see he was also morphed with his Shark Bowgun pointed at the group.
"Keep them there," Gia instructed Noah as she knelt by Jake's fallen body and reached into his sweater. He only insisted on wearing the extra layer over the summer because it had a pocket that was just big enough to carry his morpher. She grabbed it off of him, and then looked up at Troy. She held her hand out.
"You know what I want."
"What happened?" Troy asked as he looked at Gia and Noah. Of everyone, he considered them to be the last two people to turn on the team. Though he trusted all the Rangers with his lives, he had had stress dreams were Emma was fed up with the way humans were treating the Earth and she sided with the mutants to wipe them all out. And he even had a few dreams where Jake would decide he wanted fame and power and broke away from the Rangers to work solo – which eventually led him down a dark path. Though the dreams were a little ridiculous when he woke up, they were, even just a little bit, plausible.
He had never had those dreams about Gia or Noah. Perhaps they were coming, but Troy knew his team well. Gia was his second in command and she took the role very seriously. Though Troy did worry she would one day snap on some man who decided to mess with her, he knew she would protect her team until her dying breath. Emma was her best friend, Jake had proven to be special to her, and Noah and Troy had both played a part in showing her that there were still good guys in the world. They meant something important to her. Something darkness couldn't touch.
Noah, on the other hand, was as loyal as he was smart. Though he was sometimes a little awkward socially, and couldn't understand how dating worked to save his life, he was a good person with good intentions. He always tried his very best to help his teammates and he had learned that being a hero didn't mean he needed to be strong. It was a difference between him and Jake that was likely why Troy had had betrayal dreams about Jake and not Noah. The blue Ranger knew he wasn't strong or powerful. He had lost in arm wrestling against Emma, and couldn't even beat her at the thumb wrestling tournament afterwards. It had disappointed him, but he had learned power wasn't everything, and it certainly wasn't for him. He was content being a team member. He was content with his face hidden and his identity concealed. Even if it meant he never got rewarded for his good deeds, all he wanted was to do good and help people. Darkness couldn't corrupt Noah.
"None of your business," Gia said to Troy and stepped a little closer, "Hand it over."
"You want my morpher, you have to go through me," Troy backed up until he was close to his bag and then he took the device out. He morphed to level the playing ground between himself and Gia. The yellow Ranger was tough, he knew that, but he was still the better fighter. The odds were in his favour.
Until Gia lunged at him, and Troy felt his body freeze up. He didn't want to fight a friend. He didn't want to hurt Gia. He wasn't sure what had happened to her or to Noah and he couldn't put them in harm's way until he found out. He defended himself, but that was all he could do.
Jordan ran and ducked behind the trees. He wasn't stupid. The Rangers had turned on each other, and without any means of protection, he was completely vulnerable. Though he wanted to keep Emma safe, it was best for everyone if he stepped aside and let the Rangers handle the problem. Best case scenario was that Emma and Troy could pull off a win. Worse come to worse, Jordan hoped Noah and Gia would forget about him after they beat up the pink and red Rangers bad enough to get what they wanted, and Jordan would stick around to help after they left.
He watched as Troy and Gia battled, but not for too long. Noah decided to take the fight into his own hands and had attacked Emma. Jordan's stomach turned when he saw Emma had the same reservations about fighting as Troy. She didn't want to hurt her teammate.
She jumped up into the trees to avoid being hit by a blast from his Bowgun, and then took a shot herself, firing at the blue Ranger's feet with her Phoenix shot.
"Noah, stop this!" she cried and then turned to the battle between Gia and Troy, worried for her best friend. She took her eyes off Noah for a second too long. He shot at the branch she was standing on which caused her to fall to the ground hard. Noah walked to her and kicked her in the ribs. When she powered down, he collected her morpher.
"Too easy," he scoffed. He looked over at Gia. She had the red Ranger on his back and her foot on his stomach. Troy refused to give up so easily. Unfortunately, that meant he had to try.
"I'm sorry," he said as he summoned his sword. He swung at Gia and hit her in the leg. She fell over and he jumped on top of her. Just as he pinned her down, he was shot in the back. He powered down and fell on Gia. She pushed him off and grabbed his morpher before getting up.
"Two," she said to Noah.
"One," he held up Emma's morpher. "That's all of them. We should get back. Octoroo said he didn't want to wait long."
Gia nodded and Jordan watched as the Rangers disappeared into the woods. When they were gone, he rushed out of his hiding place and over to Emma. He helped her sit up and she coughed.
"What could have happened?"
"I don't know," he held her warmly as Troy walked over. The red Ranger sat in the dirt, groaning because of his back.
"I tried, but I couldn't hurt her," Troy looked apologetically at Jordan and Emma, although he wasn't really sure what he was apologizing for – having to raise his sword against Gia or having not fought back which allowed her and Noah to get away.
"Octoroo," Jordan said, "Noah mentioned Octoroo. Does that mean anything?"
"Octoroo?" Troy nodded his head, "Octoroo was one of the monsters in Panorama. I lived there for a while when the Samurai Rangers were active."
"Serena?" Emma asked. All she knew was the identity of the white Ranger. Troy nodded his head.
"Octoroo wasn't seen much," Troy nodded, "And if my dreams are right, he was mostly a behind the scenes kind of guy. He came up with plans and then had monsters fight for him. He was the brains behind a lot of very dangerous plots."
"Didn't the Samurai defeat him, though?" Emma asked. "I mean, they must have if they saved the world. They wouldn't have left one guy walking around?"
"From what I've seen," Troy said, "the Rangers defeated their big bad Xandred and used a seal to keep the other monsters from reappearing into their world. It should have worked.
"Should have?"
"That's kind of the key word," another voice said. Troy, Emma, and Jordan looked up as a group of adults stepped into view. Troy was surprised to see he knew them all. Serena stepped forward.
"We came as soon as we could," she knelt beside the Megaforce Rangers, seeing they looked hurt. Mia and Kevin were with Jake already, tending to the unconscious boy to see if he needed a hospital or would be fine after a little rest.
"Wait, if Serena's here, then that means…" Emma looked at the rest of the team, "Mike? Emily? You're…"
Mike nodded his head, "It was best if identities were kept secret."
"Our Gap Sensor went off," Lauren announced. Troy held his head. All his friends from Panorama – all the senseis at the Shiba's Dojo were the Samurai Rangers. He felt stupid for having not seen it before. It was so obvious to him now.
"Lauren?"
"Sorry, Troy, but it's like Mike said, it was best if identities were kept secret."
"Did you know about me? I… I told you my dreams…"
"Back then, we were just as weirded out as you," Jayden said. "But once the Megaforce Rangers did appear, in the city you lived in no less, Lauren and I kind of had our suspicions."
"You didn't tell any of us about him, though," Antonio pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. Jayden shoved his fiancé lightly.
"So, what are you guys doing here?" Troy asked.
"Our Gap Sensor went off," Lauren explained. "We saw Sanzu Water readings and a Nighlok reading coming up on the map here in Harwood. This is our mess, so we thought we'd help you come and clean it up."
"So, these guys are Samurai Rangers?" Jordan whispered in Emma's ear. She nodded her head. It seemed that was a part of his memory Jordan hadn't yet retrieved. He should have known about Serena. When Jordan got his answer he looked up, "Sweet."
"So then Octoroo…?" Troy asked the Samurai as he tried to get up to his feet. He was still sore from when Noah had shot him in the back. "It's true?"
"What's true?" Jayden asked. Troy shrugged his shoulders.
"Something's happened to two of our friends. They did this. They stole our morphers. Jordan says they mentioned an Octoroo…"
"We kind of never destroyed Octoroo," Emily looked up at Jayden, "I always kind of assumed he went down with the ship."
"It makes sense he would find a way back," Mia announced as she and Kevin joined the group while they dragged a sore, but awake Jake. "Octoroo's smart."
"We should find somewhere else to hide," Lauren announced before she saw the bushes move. At first she worried the rest of the Megaforce Team would come back to finish off what they started, but then she thought it was too soon. She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned, "Alyson Parker, I thought I told you to stay home."
Ally stuck her head out from the bush, "Sorry?"
"Mama!" Terran suddenly ran out from the bush and he jumped into Serena's arms. The white Ranger took her son and then glared at the bush.
"James…"
The former coach poked his head out. Serena saw he was also holding their newborn daughter. James saw her glare darken and shrugged, "I couldn't leave her at home."
"Wait, I asked you to babysit my twins!" Emily cried. James turned to Ally with a guilty look. She sighed. Suddenly, Storm jumped out from the bushes. If Storm was here, then so were the twins. Emily caught her dog's leash and then glared angrily at her brother in-law, "I'm going to kill you in your sleep."
"You were babysitting Riley," Kevin said to Ally. She sighed again.
"Riles, you can come out now."
"Why did you do that?" Riley stood up in the bushes and threw her hands in the air, "I could have won!"
"We aren't playing hide and seek."
"You're playing a dangerous game," Mia growled at her daughter, and then at the two people who were supposed to be looking after the extended Samurai family.
"To be fair, neither of us could sit back while you guys returned to action," James tried to defend his choice. "We both know the risk, and we'll keep the kids safe. We just want to be close… in case."
"You couldn't have left the kids with Ji and Kate?" Antonio asked. Finally, and Antonio hoped this was it for surprises, Ji and Kate popped out from the bushes.
"If it's any consolation, I know a guy," Ji said. "We could find a place to stay for the night. If your teammates have already attacked you here, then it's not safe."
"Glad we tagged along now?" Ally asked as she looked at Lauren, "We know a guy."
"We're talking later," Lauren shook her head. Ally pouted.
"I love you?"
"That's the problem…"
