Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers: Samurai or any of its characters. I only own Thalia Jane. Any of the story line that seems familiar, I do not own.
Thalia Jane POV
The morning after we got settled at our new home, Ji had us training. We were painting symbols. Which, to be honest, I wasn't expecting. But I'm definitely glad that we're going over them.
"There's more to being a Power Ranger than mastering a sword. You must also learn to use your inherited Samurai symbols." Ji instructed.
Jayden finished his first, setting his page and paintbrush on fire.
Kevin was next, successfully spraying himself with water when the symbol was finished.
Emily finished after Kevin, though, her earth symbol created a rock which fell on Kevin's foot, causing him to cry out in pain. I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I had to hold in a snort. I've never been the most sympathetic person.
"Sorry! Are you okay?" Emily's face was creased with worry.
"Yeah. Fine." Kevin waved off her fussing.
I heard Ji laugh slightly and it made me feel a bit better about trying to not laugh.
Mia was next, blowing a breeze towards herself.
I held my breath slightly as it was my turn next. I finished my symbol then watched as the shadows crept up around me and turned everything dark for a moment before fading back again. Ji nodded his head at me and the other Rangers looked a bit concerned.
"The symbol for shadows," Ji commented.
Mike was the only one left. I was desperately hoping that he would finish quickly as I was quickly getting flustered with being stared at.
"Oh, that's not right." I heard Mike groan slightly. I turned my attention to him to hear, "Maybe it was this way?"
He finished and cried out, "That's it!"
He looked quite confused when nothing happened.
"The order of the strokes is wrong." Ji came over to view his work, "Mike you must practice more."
"Okay, I get it. Practice." Mike mumbled.
Mike raised his paintbrush to continue before turning around to Ji and placing his hand on his shoulder, "How about a lunch break? You'd be amazed at how well I practice after a few slices of pizza."
Ji just looked down at Mike's hand. I had to bite my lip this time to keep my sniggers in. I just watched Jayden shake his head and my fellow teammates watch on with sympathy.
Once we were done with symbol training, we all went to take a break in the house. I was in a room reading. It wasn't a bedroom so I didn't think I was intruding, but I wasn't one hundred percent certain where I was. I did know I was in the house so I guess that was enough. I heard the door slide open and I took note of my page before looking up. Mia was standing in the doorway looking concerned.
"I can't find Emily," Mia announced.
"And?" I raised an eyebrow.
"We need to find her."
"Emily's a big girl. She can take care of herself. But if you're really that worried I guess I'll help you look for her."
"Great! Let me go get the guys."
"I'll meet you in the front room I've got to put my book away."
After I met Mia, Mike, and Kevin in the front room, we took off to find Emily. I walked along the streets calling out her name.
"Emily!"
When she didn't turn up, I headed back to the meetup point. Mia was already there.
"Any sign of her?" Mia asked.
"No," I responded.
Kevin turned up next with the same answer. He asked Mia if she found her but her answer was the same as ours. Mike walked up carrying food.
"Did you find Emily?" Kevin asked.
"What?" Mike responded with his mouth full.
"Emily! Did you find Emily?"
"Oh. No."
"Were you even looking for her?"
"Yeah, but I got hungry."
I just stood there silently and observed.
"I'm sure she's okay. She probably just went out sightseeing or shopping or something."
"I don't know. She's a country girl, she wouldn't wander around the city by herself." Mia fretted.
I started to understand why she was worrying. I was also from the country, but Emily didn't seem so sure of herself.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kevin eyeing Mike and his food.
"Wanna bite?" Mike offered.
"No thanks. I don't snack in between meals while on Samurai training." Kevin responded.
I raised an eyebrow. That was quite intense. I couldn't ever see myself going to that extreme.
"When aren't you in training?" Mike snapped back.
"Never," Kevin replied.
"Well, that's a boring way to live." I piped up, tired of their fighting.
Before Kevin could reprimand me, Mia spoke up, "Wow. You're really serious about this Samurai lifestyle."
"Of course. Aren't you?" Kevin turned to Mia.
"Yes, but I'd also want to have a normal life. You know, find my prince charming someday. I'm getting used to the idea now I'm a Samurai, but it's a little scary."
"Well, it's a big adjustment. You'll get used to it."
"What about you? I heard that you left your dream of swimming in the Olympics to be here Kevin."
I hadn't realized that he left so much for this. My eyes widened a bit at the realization that he left behind so much for this. I couldn't help but wonder if I was the only one who left my family life with joy to become a Ranger.
"Don't you miss it?"
"No." Kevin responded, "When a Samurai decides to serve, he is committed. Forever."
"Wow. Forever? That's a long time to go without a snack." Mike shot in.
Before Kevin could retaliate, Mia spoke up, "Look! There she is!"
Mia jogged over to the window and we followed suit. She was training on the grass outside of the building.
"Emily!" Mia called.
Emily paused and turned to face us.
"Were you training all by yourself?" Mike asked.
"Yes! The dedication of a Samurai!" Kevin approved.
One of these days my eyes are going to fall out of my head from rolling them so much.
"It's not just that," Emily shot down, "I promised my big sister to work hard. So that I can be as good of a fighter as the rest of you."
I tilted my head slightly. Big sister? The eldest of Samurai families are supposed to come and serve as Samurai.
"You're big sister?" Kevin was just as confused as I was.
Emily pulled a wooden flute out of her back pocket with a sad look on her face, "My big sister was supposed to become the yellow ranger. But she got sick. I had to take her place."
"Wow. That's a lot to ask of you." Mike commented.
"It's been tougher to see her go through her illness. And anyway, I wasn't a superstar at school."
"Don't sell yourself short." Mia cut in.
"Oh, I do have talents! I'm really good at playing the flute and I can definitely handle a sword. So becoming a Power Ranger is a new start for me."
"Did you hear that?" Kevin started, "She has the heart of a true Samurai warrior."
"You've been training hard. I think you deserve this more than I do." Mike offered his last kabob of food, "Here."
After Mike handed Emily the kabob, we headed back to our home. We weren't there for long before a siren-like noise went off.
"What's that?" Mike asked.
Ji walked in like a freaking wizard, "It's the gap sensor. It goes off the moment a Nighlock comes through a gap from the netherworld."
Ji then put a hand on the coffee table in the middle of the room it rippled before turning into a map with a blinking light where the Nighlock was.
"Sweet." Mike wowed.
"Where are they?" Emily questioned.
"City hall," Ji responded.
I opened my mouth to say something but Jayden sauntered in and looked at the map before saying, "Samurai we have a battle to fight."
"Well don't just stand there, follow him!" Ji urged to us standing and watching him leave.
Jayden then rushed off with the rest of the team following him. I sighed then trailed after them, ignoring the look Ji gave me.
Jayden had let his Lion folding zord go to attack the main Nighlock. He swatted at it before it returned to Jayden. The four others ran up to him and I walked over, a bit annoyed with the obvious leadership. I have a hard time dealing with authority. My dad didn't really help with that while I lived with him.
"Who's this?" the scorpion looking Nighlock asked.
At the same time, the six of us took out our Samuraizers and said, "Samuraizer! Go, go, Samurai!."
After we all finished our morphing sequence, we all called out, "Samurai Ranger, ready. Rangers together, Samurai forever!"
Ugh. It's so cheesy. I get that we're the good guys, but I could do without the intense attack of cheesiness.
"Attack!" the scorpion commanded the moogers.
"Let's roll!" Jayden rebounded, leading us into battle.
Gradually all of us started to get out our special weapons.
"Hate to fire smash and dash," Jayden commented before turning to the explosion behind him.
I couldn't hold in the snort at his comment. I continued my fight with my Shadow Whip against the moogers as Jayden ran over to deal with the Nighlock. I watched Emily throw her Earth Splicer towards Jayden and the Nighlock on accident while she was dealing with the moogers. Jayden dodged before being thrown against the side of a building.
"Oh no!" Emily cried, running over to him.
I realized her mistake a second after she left the attack.
"Bye bye Ranger!" the Nighlock snickered.
"Jayden! I'll cover you!" Emily insisted.
I bolted over when I heard her say that with my Whip. I got in front of her and managed to take the brunt of the attack. The rest of the team had run over behind me. Mike, Mia, Emily, Kevin, and I were forced to demorph. I groaned in pain.
Great. Our second battle and I'm already decently injured. I thought, assessing the damage. I'm so going to be bruised and hurting tomorrow.
Jayden was the only one of us who wasn't forced to demorph because he was behind us when the attack hit. I painfully watched from my spot as Jayden got up.
"We must stand and be strong. Either we defeat the Nighlock or we will be defeated." Jayden ordered.
"Easy for you to say." I grunted, rolling over to my stomach so I could push myself into a standing position.
"Understood!" Kevin responded, trying to stand up quickly, only to kneel back to the ground.
"Yeah yeah. I know." Mike mumbled next.
I had successfully brought myself up to a standing position with a hand on my left shoulder where I had taken the brunt of the fall.
Emily was having some trouble moving, "Emily! Are you okay?" Mia put her hand on Emily's back.
"Mia, stay with her and TJ. There's a girl left behind. I must save her." Jayden announced.
"You know you don't have to be the hero all of the time. I'm fine, thank you. Your job is to make sure your team is okay. I'll get her." I spoke up before he could take a step forward.
I bit back the pain and took a few steps forward before I felt my ground.
"You don't give the orders." Jayden bit back.
"I'm not trying to order you, you insolent man! I'm trying to help you. It's obvious that neither I nor Emily can morph any time soon. You're the only one who isn't badly knocked about. You go take care of the Nighlock. I'll get the girl." I argued back.
Jayden didn't say anything else to me as I walked forward to the little girl. He only turned to attack the Nighlock. As I was carefully making my way to the little girl, I vaguely heard Emily saying that Mike, Kevin, and Mia needed to help Jayden. My thoughts were only focused on the small girl. I painfully made my way over and crouched down beside her.
"Are you hurt?" I asked.
The little girl squeaked and turned around.
"No no no! It's okay! I won't hurt you sweetie. Are you okay?"
The girl relaxed slightly before nodding her head. From our position behind a large leftover slab of concrete, we watched Jayden fight the Nighlock. Jayden managed to fight off the Nighlock before coming over to the two of us.
"Don't worry. I'm going to protect you." Jayden said to the little girl.
She hesitantly scooted over closer to me. I saw movement out of my peripheral and saw a woman run over.
"Hannah!" she cried.
"Mommy!" the girl yelled back.
I looked up at Jayden before looking at the girl.
"I'll help her over. Can you cover us?" I was trying to avoid blowing Jayden's cover.
He nodded and I stood with the little girl while pushing my pain aside. There were more important things to worry about than my pain. I grabbed the little girls hand and started speed walking with her towards her mom. Her mom ran over to us.
"There." Jayden sighed as we got the girl to her mother.
Her mother nodded at us before running away with her daughter.
"Why you!" the Nighlock stood up and got ready to fight Jayden.
"You said it yourself. You can't morph. Go over to the others." Jayden ordered me.
As much as I wanted to argue with him, I knew he was right. I nodded and made my way over to them.
"Wow. You gotta admit, that dude has style." Mike commented as I limped up.
"Don't tell him that," I muttered.
"He's able to stay so focused on defeating evil," Emily continued, "I only hope I'm up to the challenge."
Wordlessly, the five of us stood together so we could morph again. We stopped the Nighlock's attack before he could hurt Jayden.
"Jayden! What now?" Kevin asked.
"Our spin swords will turn him into dust," Jayden responded while putting his disk onto his sword.
The rest of us followed suit.
"Spin swords, sextuplet slash."
The six of us destroyed the Nighlock.
"Yeah! That was excellent!" Kevin commented.
"We're not done yet. Hold on guys, here's the mega-monster." Jayden informed.
After the last word had left his mouth, the Nighlock grew to a size that towered over the buildings. The six of us pressed a button on our Samuraizers and we drew our symbols over our folding zords to enlarge them to the Nighlock's height so we could even the battle odds.
"Lion Folding Zord!"
"Dragon Folding Zord!"
"Bear Folding Zord!"
"Ape Folding Zord!"
"Turtle Folding Zord!"
"Panther Folding Zord!"
We all got into our folding zords. Alone, we weren't able to take on the attack.
"We have to combine forces," Jayden instructed.
"A zord combination!" Kevin awed.
Kevin did the instructions for the megazord combination but succeeded in leaving Jayden out so we were just a tall totem pole of folding zords. The Nighlock hit Mike's folding zord as he was on the bottom and made our pole tumble.
"This time, I'll start it," Jayden announced.
We agreed and followed his lead. Jayden's zord was the torso and head of the zord, Emily and Mia were the arms, Kevin and Mike were the legs, and my folding zord attached on as an extra weapon on the back.
"Samurai megazord, we are united!"
"Now that's a megazord," Mike commented happily.
We pulled out our katana and fought with the Nighlock. He eventually got fed up and summoned giant moogers. After struggling with the moogers, we worked together to defeat them. Then, we turned our attention on the Nighlock. With one final simultaneous sword strike, he was gone once and for all.
After the battle, we walked back to the house. Jayden and Kevin were leading, Kevin furiously talking about the megazord configurations. As per usual, I was trailing behind in the background. I couldn't help but wonder if my father told me to observe from the background as a way to learn more, or as a way to avoid the interaction. We're both introverts. We're very similar, it's why we fought so often.
"Well done! All of you!" Ji commented, walking up to us.
"Thanks Ji." Jayden replied.
I noticed that Emily was looking uncomfortable from my side.
"Hey, Emily. What's up?" So Mike noticed too.
"Well, I almost let you all down today. If it wasn't for TJ, I don't know what would've happened."
I blinked, stunned into silence. I wasn't expecting her to bring me into it. Or bring up what happened at all.
"You did great Emily," Jayden reassured, "You were really strong."
"Your big sister will be really proud of you," Mia added.
Alright cool. Back in the background. I couldn't help but think.
Mia gave Emily a side hug and I gave her a small smile when she looked my way.
"Hey guys," Mike piped up, "I have a surprise for you. I've learned a new symbol."
"Really?" Ji's eyebrows raised in surprise as he turned to glance at Jayden.
Mike walked over to the front of the training room and made a symbol. It caused confetti to erupt all over the room.
"Yeah! Par-tay!" Mike whooped.
We all watched, Mia and Emily laughing a bit as he danced in his confetti.
After a bit, we all dispersed. I decided to head to my room to check on my bruises and to grab a book to read. Wincing once I saw the already purple splotches, I picked up my book and made my way to the room I had found earlier. I was walking and reading, not paying attention to my surroundings. I heard a noise and looked up, seeing Jayden in the room I was about to enter.
"Oh sorry." I mumbled, "I'm just looking for a place to read."
"I'm just looking for some quiet. I don't mind if you read in here."
I bit my lip, a nervous habit I was never able to get over, before going over to a chair and curling up to read. Before I could get very far, Jayden started talking again.
"How are you feeling?"
"Huh?"
"After the battle. You were obviously injured."
"Oh. It's just a few bruises. Nothing I can't handle. Why?"
"Like you said earlier, I need to check on my team."
I just looked down and smiled lightly before going back to my page.
Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.
