House of Rangers

Chapter 3: Origins

Part II

A/N: Last time, in the first chapter, Nina had to leave school to head back home, where she was called to perform her duties as the orange samurai ranger. She got to see her older brother, who she hadn't seen since she was three. She also learned that Eddie knew her secret, and that his cousin is one of her teammates. So, what'll happen now? Will Nina reconnect with her brother?

Also, if I don't include fight scenes, I apologize.

Disclaimer: I only own things not originally in either show.

It was the next morning, and Ji wanted to test them on what they knew. Shortly after getting back from the fight the previous day and after getting settled in, Nina found herself going to bed early, trying to get used to the time difference. None of them knew exactly why she went to bed early, or how it was a time difference for her, but they didn't question it. The blonde found herself now sharing her old room with Mia and Emily. She knew her brother had his own room, and Mike and Kevin were sharing the other. As of this moment, however, all of them were in the yard, easels set with paper and paint before them. Ji had wanted them to practice a symbol in their element to see where they stood.

"There is more to being a power ranger than mastering a sword," Ji spoke as he walked down the line. "You must also learn to use your inherited samurai symbols." He stopped behind Jayden and Nina. "Aha, fire symbols." Both their symbols burned off the paper when they finished.

Ji moved to look at Kevin's. "Yes, water." He stepped back when the symbol sprayed Kevin with water. Nina found herself biting her lip to keep from laughing.

Ji looked to Emily's symbol. "Good, earth symbol." When Emily finished, a giant rock fell off the page, and just so happened to hit Kevin's foot. He began hopping around in pain as Emily quickly went to help him.

"Oh!" she gasped, trying to help. "Sorry! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine," Kevin coughed.

Mia chuckled lightly as she completed her symbol. Ji took note of it as it blew wind across her. "Ah, the symbol for wind. Very good."

However, when he moved on to Mike, the boy seemed to be struggling. "That's not right," Mike muttered. "Was it this way?" he tried again. "That's it!" Nothing happened.

"The order of the strokes is wrong," Ji stated. "Mike, you must practice more." By now, everyone was looking their way.

"Okay, I get it," he nodded. "Practice." He moved to make it look like he was going to try again. "How about a lunch break? You'd be amazed at how well I practice after a few slices of pizza."

Ji did not seem amused.

After the morning training session, everyone went off doing their own thing. For Nina, that meant sitting in her room and staring at the most recent picture of the residents at Anubis House. It had been taken in the living room, all of them in casual wear. It was the day after the visit from everyone's parents and relatives. In the center of the couch sat Nina and Fabian, the latter's arm wrapped around his girlfriend's shoulders as her head rested on his shoulders. Patricia sat next to Nina, Eddie on the arm rest beside her. Alfie sat next to Fabian, Amber on the other armrest. Behind Nina, Patricia, and Eddie stood Jerome with his arms wrapped around Mara's shoulders. Joy and Mick stood smiling on the other side, standing behind Fabian, Alfie, and Amber. Everyone was smiling as Trudy snapped the picture, and you could tell all the smiles were genuine.

She heard a knock on her door and quickly hid the picture under the pillow on her bed, but it was no use. "What was that?" Jayden asked as he entered, having seen it.

"It was nothing," Nina replied. Both of them knew this felt awkward, considering it had been years since they last saw each other. She was going to be turning seventeen come summer, and he was already nineteen. They had both definitely grown up, and they both knew it was awkward. Sure they had kept in touch, but it wasn't like they actually saw each other. Unlike him, she got to live a normal life, go to regular school, and make friends.

"That was not nothing," he moved for the pillow, managing to grab it and the picture before she could argue. He sat down on the bed next to her. "Who are these people?"

"My friends," she bit her lip.

"The ones from the fancy boarding school Gran sent you to?" he frowned. Then he noticed how Nina and Fabian were. "Who's the guy next to you?"

Nina looked down and blushed a bit. She knew her brother, no matter the strain on their relationship, was going to be overprotective. "My boyfriend. Well, I guess now he's my ex…"

"If he hurt you, I'll go…"

"No no," Nina shook her head. She didn't need Jayden going to beat up Fabian. After all, Fabian didn't even know she had an older brother. "I broke up with him because I got the call to come here. Long distance won't work, especially with the no contact rule Ji puts into place."

Jayden looked at her and noticed she had a couple tears starting to roll down her face. "You were really close with them, weren't you?"

"They were my first real friends," Nina nodded, sitting up. She looked at the picture and let a small smile grace her face. "Amber was my roommate there, and my best friend. Fabian is my best friend, Alfie's like the annoying little brother I don't have, Patricia and I are best friends, even if we got off to a rough start my first year there. I'm not as close with the others, but I'm all their friends." She left out the fact Eddie knew about them.

"I think I remember you writing about some of them in some of your letters Gran forwarded to me," Jayden recalled. "It must hurt to have to leave them like that."

"It does in a way you can't imagine," she sighed. "As much as I wish I was still there, I know I have a job here to do that takes priority." She wiped the tears away. For some reason, whenever she cried now, she remembered the clues of the mysterious that dealt with tears: the tears of glass and the tears of gold. "It hurts even more knowing that they're my friends, and none of them know the real me. They don't know how mom and dad really died, they don't know I'm destined to do this, they don't know Martin isn't my real last name, nothing. I'm trying to keep the two worlds from colliding until the right time. But enough about me. What've you been up to?"

Jayden hugged her briefly and comfortingly before pulling away and answering. "Ji has been having me train a lot since that day. I did manage to make one friend, Antonio. He moved away after a few years, and I haven't seen him since. To be honest, I really don't know much about the real world as you probably do. After all, you're the one who got to live the normal life."

"Not my fault Gran thought that was best," Nina joked. She knew that her brother and sister wouldn't have the same opportunities as she would, but she had a weight bigger than just the sealing symbol on her shoulders.

"No, can't blame that on you," he chuckled. "Did you manage to find time to practice symbols and training while you were away?"

"Let's just say I feel like I'm pretty good at sneaking around now," she smirked. "And I managed to pick up a few tricks on pranking people…"

"You?" Jayden raised an eyebrow. "Pranking people?"

"I'm not the little three year old girl you remember, Jay," she smiled. "Being friends with a couple of my Anubis housemates will do that to you, though."

Before another word could be said, Mia came into room. "Hey, have either of you seen Emily?"

"No," Nina shook her head. "Isn't she here?"

"I don't know," Mia shrugged. "I've been trying to find her."

"I'll go with you," Nina offered, getting up. Every time she heard someone couldn't find someone, it brought back memories of when Rufus had kidnapped Patricia or any one of them. She and Mia walked down the hallway in silence, hoping to find Kevin or Mike and see if either of them knew where Emily was. Nina knew that Jayden would probably stay behind just in case of emergency. The two girls walked around, finally finding Mike and Kevin in the dojo. They saw Mike had Kevin in a headlock.

"Hey, guys," Mia got their attention. "We can't find Emily."

Mike and Kevin froze in their actions.

After searching the area for Emily, none of them had any luck. They had decided to meet up in the bus station. Mia and Nina were the first ones there, having no luck at all. They saw Kevin running toward them and Mike walking in, the latter eating something he must've picked up during his search. "Any sign of Emily?" Mia asked.

"No," Kevin shook his head.

"Mike, how about you?" Nina looked to the green ranger.

"How about what?" he frowned.

"About Emily," Kevin said. "Were you even looking for her?"

Mike shrugged. "Yeah, but I got hungry. Emily probably went out sightseeing or shopping or something. I'm sure she's okay."

"I don't know," Nina bit her lip. "She's a country girl. She wouldn't wander around the city by herself." Kevin just looked at Mike as he ate the food he had. Mike noticed this and held out the one he was about to eat.

"Wanna bite?" he offered.

"No, thanks," the blue ranger denied. "I never snack between meals while in samurai training."

"When aren't you in training?" Mike questioned.

"Never."

Mia decided to speak up. "Wow. You're really serious about the samurai lifestyle."

"Of course," he replied. "Aren't you?"

"Yes," Mia agreed. "But I'd also want to have a normal life. You know, find my prince charming someday. I'm getting used to the idea that now I'm a samurai, but it's a little scary."

"Well, it's a big adjustment," Kevin stated. "You'll get used to it."

"What about you?" Mia went on. "I heard you left your dreams of swimming in the Olympics to be here, Kevin. Don't you miss it?"

Kevin shook his head. "No. When a samurai decides to serve, he is committed. Forever."

"Wow," Mike blinked. "Forever? That's a long time to go without a snack." Nina looked out the windows and noticed something.

"Hey, there she is," she pointed.

The rangers reached the small area of the park across the street, where they found Emily practicing her sword work. They all walked over to her together, the yellow ranger not seeing them at all. It was like she was lost in her own world as she practiced. "Emily," Mia called, gaining her attention. The blonde stopped and stood, facing them.

"You've been training all by yourself?" Mike raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Kevin grinned. "The dedication of a samurai."

"It's not just that," Emily chuckled. "I promised my big sister to work so that I can be as good a fighter as the rest of you."

"Your big sister?" Nina frowned. As far as she knew, she and Jayden were the only ones on the team with siblings. Emily dug out a wooden flute from her back pocket.

Emily looked at it as she explained. "My big sister was supposed to become the yellow ranger, but she got sick. I had to take her place."

"Wow," Mike commented. "That's a lot to ask of you."

"It's been tougher to see her go through her illness," Emily shrugged. "And anyways, I wasn't a superstar at school."

"Don't sell yourself short," Mia advised. Aside from Nina, Emily was the youngest one on the team. The others were all older, closer to Jayden's age, so it wasn't unusual that they wanted to protect the younger two.

"Oh, I do have talents," Emily faced them. "I'm really good at playing the flute, and I can definitely handle a sword. So becoming a power ranger is a fresh start for me."

Kevin was grinning. "Did you hear that? She has the heart of a true samurai warrior."

"You've been training hard," Mika nodded. He took a piece of food from the carton in his hands and held it out to her. "You need this more than I do. Here."

Once again, the rangers had been caught in a battle. It hadn't gone as well as they hoped it would, but it got the job done. They had all fought off the scorpion Nighlok, who did quite a bit of damage to the city. Most of them had struggled at some point during the fight, and it wasn't pleasant. When the Nighlok grew into its second life, they tried forming the megazord. The first time they did, they accidentally left Jayden out. The second time they tried, they got it right, and all of them had to admit it was pretty cool.

Now, they were all back at the house, having returned from the fight. Dinner was waiting for them when they got there, and all of them were hungry. Nina wasn't all that talkative during the meal, unlike the others. Ji and Jayden were the only two to notice this, but neither questioned it. Once dinner was over, Mia and Emily dragged Nina to their room, wanting to have a girl's night to bond. They didn't know what the guys planned on doing, and they didn't particularly care about that at the moment.

"So, Nina," Emily began as the three sat in a circle on the floor. To the orange ranger, the way they were sitting made it feel like she was back in the attic with Amber and Fabian having a Sibuna meeting. "You seemed awfully quiet during dinner."

"Are you okay?" Mia finished.

Nina sighed. She really didn't want to explain a lot. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little more homesick than I thought."

"I thought you grew up in Panorama City?" Emily frowned.

"I did," Nina nodded."But it just doesn't feel like home anymore. Even though I've practically been living a lie at school, I can't help but feel its home now."

"You lived at school?" Mia asked.

"It was a boarding school in England I got a scholarship to," Nina explained. "I was there for a couple years, and then I had to come here. I had to leave in the middle of the night without saying goodbye to any of my friends and housemates just to make it back here. I even had to break up with a guy I just got back together with."

Mia bit her lip. "That must really suck." Nina nodded. "Do you have a picture of your friends?" Nina grabbed her pillow and pulled the picture of all the house members out from earlier. She showed it to her roommates.

"The guy with his arm wrapped around me is Fabian, the one I had to break up with," Nina explained. "The girl next to me is Patricia, and she's tough but a good friend. Next to Fabian is Alfie, a goofball who loves aliens, behind him is Joy, and next to her is Mick, the athlete. Next to Alfie is Amber, my former pink loving, fashion and relationship guru roommate. Very into anything to do with romance and the color pink. Behind me is Mara, the bookworm of the group, and the guy with his arm around her is Jerome, the king of pranks."

"What about the boy on the armrest?" Mia wondered.

Emily, however, beat her to the answer. "You know Eddie?"

"Who's Eddie?" Mia frowned as Nina nodded.

"He's my cousin," Emily stated. "He used to live with us until his mom sent him to the boarding school so he could get to know his dad better."

"He's the only one there who knows about us," Nina continued. "And I'm hoping he'll be able to explain things without giving too much away. By the way, Emily, he's sitting next to Patricia because he's dating her. When I left, the only ones who weren't in a relationship were Mick and Joy. What about you two? What were your lives like before coming here?"

Mia and Emily took turns telling her about themselves, bringing the three girls closer.

A/N: Not the best chapter I've ever written, but oh well. Up next is another HOA chapter. What'll happen in that one?