Galaxy: Oh my gosh. I'm actually amazed at how much praise I'm getting for this story. Man, this was definitely the right way to go. So now it's "There Go the Brides" for the episode. I know everyone liked Mia and Jayden getting together, but I feel more leaning towards Mia and Kevin. No offense to all the Jayden/Mia shippers, of course. While this chapter's rolling, I'm going to be celebrating being 21 with a Fuzzy Navel drink. (sips a drink and pulls down the Disclaimers)

Disclaimers: I don't own Power Rangers or any other media, only my own OCs. All rights go to their respective owners.

~ Samurai ~

The sounds of a wedding march went off as Kazuma watched Talia walk down the aisle with Jayden, keeping a straight face. 'I really hope this works. We can't do this every time.' He thought about the latest mission they had, which was to stop whatever Nighlock was kidnapping brides.

Talia, donning the white dress, took a shuddering breath as the preacher spoke, forcing down a raging blush and trying to calm her pounding heart. She had been hoping that she would be in a wedding dress, but being this close to Jayden, even though she knew it was fake, it was pretty nerve wracking.

Mike looked at Kazuma. "At least this is fake. You and I both know that. The others... I'm not so sure about." He motioned to the rest of the team, who were either crying or hiding their tears with soft smiles.

Kazuma nodded to his Green Ranger ally. "Yeah, I know. But you also know I don't usually do weddings." The Indigo Thunder Ranger had revealed a little bit about himself, one of them being he wasn't much for attending weddings, even those in his own family.

Mike smiled. "Once this mission is over, I'll teach you how to ride a skateboard, man."

Kazuma nodded with a smile. "And I'll teach you how to surf. It's like skateboarding, but on water."

"Deal." Mike shook his teammate's hand, grinning widely.

Suddenly, Ji stood up in alarm as he was on his special Samuraizer. "They didn't take the bait?!"

Everyone looked at him. Looked like this was going to be trickier than they thought.

(Cue Samurai theme)

Back at the Shiba house, Talia returned to the group in her regular clothes, this time wearing a white and purple striped shirt, blue skinny jeans, and purple flats. She took a seat next to Kazuma, who had on a red leather jacket, a dark blue muscle t-shirt, black jeans, and blue and red sneakers.

"... the fourth wedding hit so far." Ji was explaining to the group. The team sat around the map as it showed the areas where the Moogers had attacked.

Mike noticed something unique. "Hey, the attacks form a pattern in the shape of a star." He traced the dots as he spoke.

"You're right." Kevin remarked, looking at the Green Ranger. "Have you studied patterns before?"

"Mm, kinda. I watch a lot of cop shows." Mike explained.

"At least I'm not the only one." Talia smiled at him.

Kazuma tilted his head and followed the pattern. "Okay, so if this is right, then the next attack should be at the very end of the star." He marked the place.

Ji grabbed a list of the weddings planned for the church there and showed it to the group.

Mia frowned upon seeing it. "That's a lot of weddings to work around."

Emily was sharing the same concern. "How are we going to get in the right one?"

Jayden had been thinking over the idea before he sat up and smiled. "I have an idea."

The plan was to postpone all the other weddings and make sure only one remained on schedule, so the group was ready this time around.

Talia paced around the training room nervously, trying to fight off jitters. She knew this was the only way to get the Nighlock in charge to take the bait, but she still couldn't shake the feeling of being so close to Jayden and potentially... actually kissing him on the lips.

She shuddered at the thought, her mind going through the possibilities. 'Come on, Talia! You only gave your leader a kiss once! If anyone can get through a fake wedding, it's you!'

The next day, Talia was back in the wedding dress, pumping herself up for the trap. "Okay, you got this. Just gotta keep your cool. Yeah. No sweat." She noticed Kevin and Mike helping the real bride and groom to safety. "Alright, phase one complete. Time to commence..." She gulped nervously. "... phase two."

The wedding started up as planned, Talia becoming more and more calm as she thought about who could be behind the kidnappings. She had been working with Mia on learning about the various Nighlocks the Samurai had to face and two of them had piqued her interest unlike the others, one mainly because he looked like someone she knew, but she couldn't remember. Her memories hadn't brought up anyone useful in the past week, so she had to rely on the plan.

All of a sudden, cracks started glowing as Moogers raced out and attacked everyone.

Jayden and Talia quickly played the parts of the frightened newlyweds as the Moogers advanced on them, took Jayden, and threw him aside.

"Ah!" Talia couldn't stop a yelp from escaping her mouth. Seeing Jayden get tossed like that was horrifying, but she had no time to worry about that, because she was scooped up and placed in an open carriage, screaming in fright.

Jayden managed to get up with Kazuma's help and they raced after the carriage, staying a few yards behind them before seeing them disappearing.

Kazuma smiled at Jayden. "They fell for it."

Jayden nodded. "And now we wait." On the inside, he was concerned about Talia. She sounded really frightened. He couldn't help but imagine the worst that might happen to her.

Meanwhile, Talia was deposited on the ground in a cabin somewhere in the woods as a female voice spoke up. "Well, welcome to the party, my dear."

She snuck a small glance up and saw one of the Nighlocks who had caught her interest. 'That must be Dayu, one of the Nighlocks from the story I read yesterday.'

"Now... what should we do about you...?" Dayu paced across the floor.

"Please... you have to let me go..." Talia played the crying bride. "I'll do anything you want..."

Dayu stopped. "Well, that's good...new Ranger Rookie!" She suddenly turned as she spoke.

Talia's heart stopped. Busted! She struggled against the Moogers as they restrained her.

"You honestly thought we would fall for your trap? Now we have you and the real bride!" Dayu showed her the Moogers carrying a struggling girl and tossing her in the cake.

"No, but we hid her!" Talia was confused and surprised. Suddenly, she grunted as her head was tilted up.

"Now you're going to call your little friends and tell them to go to the docks, Warehouse 34, or those brides aren't going to see their loved ones again." Dayu proposed to her.

Talia made a face, knowing she had to do it, so she nodded and let Dayu call Jayden. She took a breath as she heard his voice on the other end of the line "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I found the brides. They're being held at the docks. Warehouse 34. And Jayden, please hurry." She told him.

"Okay. We're on our way." He responded.

"Good girl." Dayu told her, stroking her hair gently.

Talia looked up at the Nighlock, blinking slightly. "So what's your deal with the humans? Why do you hate them?"

Dayu scoffs lightly. "You don't know the half of my story."

"Well, I'd like to know." Talia countered.

Dayu thought it over and looked at her. "Well, since you asked so politely, I'll let you know. I used to be a human myself, but one day I had that taken away from me. I don't know who did it or why, but whoever they were, they turned me into a Nighlock. It was on my wedding day too."

Talia nodded. "So that's why you kidnapped all the brides. You wanted to use their tears to recreate your dress."

"Indeed I did. And by now, the Rangers will have found my little surprise and... kaboom!" Dayu chuckled.

Talia couldn't hold back her tears from escaping. "That bomb better not have hurt Jayden, you sick monster."

"Why? Do you have feelings for the brave Red Ranger?" Dayu tilted her head curiously.

Talia could only force back a choked sob, which Dayu noticed. "You do, don't you? That is very precious! But you know, he's not as innocent as he seems. You see, he holds a secret that can be a destroying key to Nighlock kind. Do you want to know what it is?" She asked the Purple Ranger sweetly.

Talia blinked in confusion. "I... I guess."

Dayu knelt by her side. "I'll reveal a dark little secret about you as well if you keep silent about it and your crush's secret."

Talia nodded in agreement to that, to which Dayu leaned in close and whispered softly and inaudibly in her ear, which made Talia wide-eyed in shock before she heard about her secret, which made her pale. "That can't be true about me..."

Dayu moved back and chuckled. "Oh, it is, dear. Just as the fact that your friends aren't coming!" Suddenly, the Nighlock general got attacked and knocked back by the Rhino Zord.

Jayden and the others ran in as Kazuma caught his Zord.

"What?! That can't be!" Dayu was in alarm.

Talia got up and stood by the cake. "Looks like I'm not the only false bride you kidnapped."

Slashes were made in the cake and it was destroyed as Emily stood there with her Spin Sword. "Two Samurai Ranger brides are twice as nice, don't you think?"

"How can this be?!" Dayu was confused.

Emily explained everything: "Pretty easy, actually. When Talia went undercover, we made sure she had a backup just in case she was found out."

"But the warehouse! Who went there?" Dayu looked at the others, to which Jayden replied: "Our doubles."

The brides were ushered out by Talia and Emily before the girls rejoined their friends as Mia spoke. "Looks like your honeymoon is over."

"I don't think so!" Dayu shot a fireball at the group.

"Samuraizer! Ha!" Jayden made a single stroke that caused them to vanish.

Dayu grabbed her harmonium and ran outside. "Show yourselves!"

Jayden stepped out from behind a tree. "Red Ranger, ready."

Kevin twirled his Sword as he came up behind Dayu. "Blue Ranger, ready."

Mia walked on a tree branch. "Pink Ranger, ready."

Kazuma walked up a hill. "Thunder Ranger, ready."

Talia sat on the roof of the cabin before she got up. "Spirit Ranger, ready."

Mike stretched out and got up, turning around. "Green Ranger, ready."

Emily walked out from behind the door. "Yellow Ranger, ready."

Mia and Talia jumped down, the Pink Ranger speaking once more. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here for one thing."

"Rangers together, Samurai Forever!" The group called out as they took their positions.

"And I have but one thing to say: Moogers, attack!" Dayu shouted as the Moogers charged forward.

"Bad choice!" Jayden retorted as the Rangers moved in and started to fight their enemies.

Kevin teamed up with Kazuma as they took down various amounts of Moogers.

Kevin looked at his indigo clad teammate. "Double storm attack!"

Kazuma nodded and spun his Rhino Disc. "Spin Sword: Lightning Storm!" He launched lightning bolts at the Moogers as Kevin shot a splash of water at them, both attacks destroying their group.

Mike had paired off with Jayden and they worked around each other's techniques to take down the Moogers.

"Yo, Jayden! Mooger going up!" Mike launched a Mooger towards Jayden.

"And Moogers going down!" Jayden responded as he knocked the tossed one into the group and destroyed them.

The girls battled Dayu, pushing her into a quarry as they fought together.

"You think that ruining your dress is bad, you got another thing coming!" Emily shouted at Dayu.

"No one should be sad on their wedding day!" Mia slashed the Nighlock.

Talia jumped back and nodded to the girls. "Together!"

They spun their respective Discs. "Spin Sword: Triple Slash!" They launched a wave of attacks at Dayu and knocked her back.

As the group reunited, Jayden called on the Beetle Cannon as Talia and Kazuma readied their attacks and all of them fired at Dayu.

Suddenly, another Nighlock jumped in and destroyed the combined attacks.

"Nandatto?! (What the hell?!)" Kazuma was stunned.

The new Nighlock looked at Talia. "Spirit Ranger, I recognize your talents. You have strength that would be a good battle for Uramasa. We will fight soon, I promise you that. Until then." He helped Dayu up and started walking off.

Talia blinked slightly, something scratching at the back of her mind. 'I recognize his voice, but where from?'

"You're running away?" Kevin was in surprise.

"Cowards!" Mia shouted angrily.

Deker turned around. "Giant Moogers!"

As he had called, the massive minions came out.

Jayden stepped forward. "Let's get our Zords ready!"

Everyone nodded in agreement with Jayden, all except Talia who was still stunned.

Kazuma shook her shoulder. "Talia?"

She snapped out of her surprise. "Oh right. Let's do this!"

Kazuma knelt down and drew a symbol for the Mega Mode. "Rhino Folding Zord!" He stood up and gained his extra armor. "Mega Mode Power!" He took a karate stance and jumped up, grabbing the Mega Blade and landing in the cockpit, twisting his Blade right and setting it in before putting his Disc on the base.

Talia swirled her hands around in a sequence of moves. "Kitsune Spirit Zord!" She launched the Spirit out as a lilac fox with the nine tails and it bounded about, changing into a solid form before she spun around and gained her extra armor. "Mega Mode Power!" She struck a tiger style pose before jumping into her Zord and appearing in the cockpit, setting her Mega Blade inside and her Kitsune Disc on the base.

The Megazords formed and charged into the fray, taking down the Giant Moogers easily with some quick moves and teamwork.

Later, the team went out to get snacks, Talia still thinking about where she had heard Deker's voice from. 'He sounded so familiar to me. But... who was that guy? '

Jayden slowed down to catch up to her. "You okay?"

She looks at him and nods. "I'm fine. Just thinking about that other Nighlock, why he sounded so familiar."

He nodded and held her hand. "Maybe it'll mean nothing. Come on, let's get a treat."

She thought it over and nodded. "Why not? As long as it's not wedding cake."

He chuckled and walked with her as they went to the bakery.

~ Samurai ~

Galaxy: Wow. That one actually turned out pretty good. I'll catch y'all on the flipside! (finishes the drink and passes out)