Dedications: Big thank you to the following: linkhaxor56 for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Very much appreciated.

Chapter Four: Something Fishy

I don't own Power Rangers Super Samurai. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.


Title: The Legend of the White Samurai

Summary: Follows The Little Samurai. In order to finish the battle against the evil Master Xandred, Ava must finally learn the secret that her family has kept from her for generations. Will she fully understand the true meaning behind her Samurai destiny before it is too late?


"Hey, has anyone seen Cheetah?" Ava asked, sticking her head into the kitchen. After her secret had been revealed to the whole team - who had admitted that they had heard the whole conversation between the white and yellow rangers the day Switchbeast had traded them with objects - Ava had started to slowly become her normal self again.

"Have you checked under your bed?" Emily asked. "You know how she likes to hide under there."

Mike grinned. "She's like a ninja," he joked. "One with the shadows."

"I checked," Ava said. "She's not there. Daddy, have you seen Cheetah?" she added as her father came in from the back garden.

"Not since last night," Mentor answered. "But I wouldn't worry. She'll come home when she's hungry."

Ava sighed and dropped down onto her stool at the kitchen table. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she nodded. "I just like to know where she is. I mean, I know she was once a stray, so she knows the streets and everything, but there's nothing stopping anyone else claiming ownership over her."

"Like you did?" Kevin asked.

"Exactly!" said Ava, smiling at Jayden as he set a cup of tea in front of her. "I don't want to find out that someone has adopted my cat!"

Mike and Emily exchanged looks.

"Tell you what," said Mia, leaning across the table to pat Ava's hand. "If Cheetah's not home by dark, we'll make flyers and put them up downtown. That way if anyone sees Cheetah they can call us and we can go pick her up, OK?"

Ava looked considerate, before nodding. "OK!" she said, just before the Gap sensor sounded, loudly.

~*Something Fishy*~

Meanwhile, over in the park, Antonio was having trouble coming to terms with the fact that he had nearly been eaten by a cat. He sat on his camping stool and stared out over the rippling waters of the lake. He wasn't in the mood to fish today; he had only told his friends that he was going fishing as he needed to get out of the house.

While he contemplated his fear of fish - any rational person would have said he was afraid of cats but he knew having a fear of cats wouldn't work while living with a cat so his fear had latched onto the next best thing which happened to the be the object he had turned into - his morpher beeped, alerting him to an incoming call.

He checked the LCD screen to see it was Jayden calling him; there must have been a Nighlok attack somewhere, why else would Jayden have been calling him? He sighed and raised the morpher to his ear. "Hello?"

"There's a Mooger attack in the city centre," said Jayden. "We're on our way. Meet us there."

Antonio lowered his head, but didn't reply.

"Antonio, did you hear me?"

"Yeah. Yeah, i'm on it," he confirmed. He hung up and stared at his morpher. "It's time to go to battle for the last time." He snapped the morpher shut and took off towards the city.

~*Something Fishy*~

"Blazing strike!"

Furious hot flames wrapped around the Moogers, turning them to dust. However, as several fell more appeared to replace them.

Ava groaned as she re-joined Jayden. She, Mia and Emily had been helping the innocent civilians in the city centre get to safety. "Is it is Mooger migration season or what?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it, Av," Mike smiled, patting her shoulder. "They're just Moogers."

"Then let's stop talking and start fighting," said Jayden.

Finally, Antonio arrived, his face was deathly pale and he was holding himself rigid. "Go, Go Samurai," he muttered, punching in his code on his morpher. "Gold power." There was a flash of gold and Antonio changed into his ranger form. "Barracuda Blade!" he said, summoning his primary weapon; he took one look at it, screamed and threw it away.

"Antonio, what's wrong?" Mia frowned.

Antonio struggled to his feet back shuffled backwards away from his weapon. "Urgh! I can't do it!" he cried, falling to his knees and burying his head in his hands.

Ava lowered her spin sword and hurried towards her brother; she dropped to her knees and tugged at Antonio's wrist as he demorphed.

"What's up with Antonio?" Mike asked, looking around at the others.

"We'll have to worry about him later," said Jayden. "Let's deal with these guys first. Ava, stay with him."

"Got it!" Ava nodded, relinquishing her morpher and trying to get Antonio to sit up. He was insistent to stay curled up in a ball, muttering over and over to himself.

When a screech caught her attention, Ava looked up to see three Moogers heading right for her and Antonio, she quickly punched in a code on her morpher, and summoned her Spin Sword to hand, and she swung it upwards and blocked the attack.

"Blazing strike!"

Ava coughed as the Moogers disintegrated, blowing ash all over her. She shook her head and looked up as Jayden landed in front of her. "A little heads up next time," she said, brushing the ash from her face, the bits that had landed on her clothes would have to fall off on its own or she'd run the risk of making the situation worse than it already was.

"Guys," Jayden called to the others. "Let's turn up the heat!"

The others nodded and regrouped in front of Ava and Antonio They fired up their spin swords and slashed at the Moogers. "Quintuple Slash!" they yelled. There was an almighty explosion, one that caused the Moogers to retreat, before the rangers raced over to Ava and Antonio.

Jayden wrapped his arm around Ava as she leaned back into him; she had managed to get Antonio into a sitting position, but he was now rocking back and forth, his arms wrapped around his knees which he hugged to his chest and his face buried in his thighs. He refused to look at any of them.

"Hey, it's OK, buddy," said Mike, shaking his friend.

"Antonio, are you OK?" Mia asked. She wrapped her arm around the gold Ranger, who groaned as if he was in pain.

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked.

Antonio sighed and looked up. "I'm sorry, you guys," he said, as he stopped rocking.

"You don't want to forget this," said Emily, holding up the Barracuda blade.

"No! No!" Antonio yelled, pushing the weapon away from him and crawling a short distance away. The others pulled back in surprise. "Get it away from me! I can't touch my barracuda blade. It reminds me of - of - fish!"

Ava frowned and glanced up at Jayden. "Fish?" she repeated.

"Let's get home," Jayden suggested. "Maybe we'll get more out of him there."

~*Something Fishy*~

Once they had returned home, Ava hurried off to see if Cheetah had returned home, while Antonio sat on the steps leading out of the common room; the others all sat on their respective stools behind him and Emily was getting him a glass of water from the kitchen. He had managed to explain, with much forcing, that he was afraid of fish because he had nearly been eaten by Cheetah, no one found it to be a laughing matter, although if the situation hadn't been so serious, it probably would have been.

"But Antonio grew up in a fish shop," said Mentor as he paced behind his rangers. "He fishes every day, and what, now he's afraid of fish? You guys are kidding me right?"

"This is no joke, Ji," said Jayden.

Mike sighed and shook his head.

"Well, when that Nighlok switched our souls with objects," said Kevin, "Antonio did get turned into a fish."

"Cheetah came really close to eating him," added Mia. "Now he isn't even able to touch fish."

"Seriously?"

"Mm-hmm," Mia nodded. "The logical explanation would be that he should fear cats," she added, "but he knows that he can't force Ava to give Cheetah up, so his sub-conscious has latched onto the next best thing and that happens to be the only source that was around at the time his fear developed, and that's fish.

"I'm through," Antonio sighed. "The golden age of Antonio is officially at an end."

"The golden age of Antonio?" Kevin repeated, shaking his head in disbelief. "All right. Look, you didn't get eaten, so pull yourself together."

"He's right, dude," Mike agreed. "Come on. You taught yourself how to be a Samurai. You can beat this."

Emily nodded. "Yeah, anyone who figured out how to program the Black Box can teach themselves how to deal with their fears." She smiled, encouragingly.

"You don't get it," said Antonio, turning around. "I almost got eaten by a cat."

"Calm down," said Mia, as she sat on the otherside of Antonio. She wrapped her arms around him reassuringly. "It's OK."

Kevin shook his head and leaned in closer to Jayden. "It is not OK," he said. "He's officially lost it."

Ava hurried back into the common room. Her appearance startled the others, who had completely forgotten that she was even in the house. She wasn't carrying Cheetah which meant that the feline had yet to return. "Is everything OK?" she asked.

"How much did you hear?" Jayden asked.

"Not much," Ava answered. "Why, did I miss anything important?"

"After his little run in with Cheetah," said Kevin, "Antonio has developed a fear of fish."

Ava nodded slowly. "And that's a problem?" she asked.

"He's a fisherman who's afraid of fish," said Mike, pointing out the obvious.

"So?" Ava shrugged. "You're afraid of enclosed spaces and Jayden's afraid of spiders; that doesn't make you any less of a ranger."

"You don't get it, Av," Jayden said. "He can't touch his barracuda blade, much less use it. He can't be a ranger without it."

Ava looked thoughtful. "Well, that just means we'll have to help him overcome his fear," she said, looking up at her best friend.

"How are we going to do that?" Kevin asked.

"Because fear is more complex than just forgetting or deleting memories, an active and successful approach involves a person repeatedly confronting their fears." Ava said.

Mia frowned. "That sounds dangerous," she said.

"It worked for me," said Ava. "After my mom died, I'd wake in the middle of the night screaming for her. Daddy, you took me to see Dr. Gerald because my nightmares weren't ordinary nightmares, remember he said that I had developed a fear of Xandred through losing mom? He suggested that I undergo therapy in order to help me deal with my fear, remember?"

Ji nodded. He remembered the days clearly. Ava's fear over Xandred had been partly the reason that he had wanted to halt her training to become a Samurai, because he knew that she would have to face him one day.

"During my sessions with my therapist, she worked for Dr. Gerald so she knew all about my fears and nightmares, would have me imagine a situation where I was afraid, and since I was afraid of Xandred and knew that I would one day face when I became a Samurai, imagining being in a scary situation with him wasn't that hard." Ava continued. "My therapist would then walk me through the different procedures of how to overcome the feeling of anxiety. She said it was exposure therapy. Sometimes it didn't work, and I'd start panicking, but my next session we'd do it again... and again... and again until the feeling of fear and anxiety went away, and I was able to sleep in my own bed without waking up half way through the night screaming my head off. I was curious has to how she did it, so one day, after my session, while I waited for Daddy to pick me up, I asked how she managed to cure me; she just laughed and said that I was completely cured, I was just able to suppress the fear-triggering memory."

"So, what do we do?" Mike asked. He was completely confused on what Ava had just said to him, all he understood was that she used to suffer with fears and nightmares of Xandred and one day, after a few visits to a therapist she was cured.

"By confronting his fears - in a safe manner - Antonio will be able to suppress the fear-triggering memory, which would be the point where Cheetah nearly ate him." Ava answered. "All we have to do is encourage him by facing our own fears, and since I already faced mine when I was a little girl, you guys get to be my guinea pigs."

The other rangers groaned.

Ava giggled and looked around. "Don't worry," she smiled. "I only need three. Mike, Jayden, I know you're fears, so you're guinea pigs 1 and 2..." the red and green Rangers exchanged looks as Ava looked around at the other's, "Em, you can stay with Antonio, and Kevin can help me, so, Mia, that makes you guinea pig number 3."

"Great," Mia groaned, looking across at Jayden and Mike, neither of them looked happy to have been chosen as the test subjects.

~*Something Fishy*~

Emily hesitated as she put down the phone and turned to her best friend. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked. "You know how Jayden feels."

"Do you have any better ideas?" Ava asked. "Other than going out and hunting down a frog and spider ourselves, Luke is the next best thing."

"Yeah, but he's your ex-boyfriend, Ava," said Emily. "He may have mutually agreed to break up with you because of the whole Power Ranger destiny, but inviting him back into your life eight months after breaking up isn't a very good idea."

Ava sighed and glanced down the hall towards the common room. "It's for Antonio," she said. "He accepted Luke straight off the bat, and after I explain to Luke what's going on, he'll understand that this isn't me wanting him back; besides, he knows how I feel about Jayden, and he even said himself that Jayden was the one for me."

"If you're sure," Emily said, hesitantly.

The doorbell rang throughout the house.

"I'll get it." Jayden shouted.

Ava's eyes widened and she quickly raced Jayden towards the door. "It's OK," she said catching his arm and turning him around. "I got it. You go and check on Antonio or Mike, make sure neither of them make a break for it."

"Are you OK?" Jayden asked, looking dubious.

"I'm fine," Ava smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You seem anxious."

"You're the one who should be anxious," said Ava, "seeing as in a few minutes you're gonna be facing your fears."

The doorbell rang again.

"I thought you were going to answer that." Jayden teased.

"Yeah, after you've gone to check on the others for me," Ava said, pushing him down the hall. "Please?"

Jayden eyed her curiously. "You're hiding something," he said, "but I'll humor you for now. Don't be long, who knows when a Nighlok will show up."

Ava nodded and watched as Jayden disappeared into the common room, she prayed that Emily would have the sense to help her out a bit and keep him occupied while she answered the door.

~*Something Fishy*~

"Yuck," Ava shuddered as Luke held up the plastic tumbler with a brown spider inside. The spindly thing was pressed against the side. "How did you get it so fast?" she asked.

"My uncle collects them," said Luke, "he said I could borrow him for a few hours. You're not planning on killing it, are you?"

Ava shook her head. "No, we run into a situation," she said. "We're trying to help Antonio overcome his fear of fish. I haven't got time to explain, but I need the spider because Jayden is terrified of them. Do you have the frog?"

"I caught this yesterday," said Luke, holding up the slimy green frog. "Lucy, my sister loves them, but my mum'd kill her if she brought it home. It's been living in the garden shed in a bowl of water, I had to get rid of it before mum or dad saw it."

"Is that your way of saying I can kill it?"

Luke rolled his eyes. He knew Ava well enough to know that she wouldn't kill the frog, the spider, maybe, but never the frog. "I'll pick the spider up tonight, yeah?" he asked.

Ava nodded. "Yup. I'll have him ready and waiting for you," she promised.

"Thanks," Luke smiled. "Uh... well... I better get going."

"Are you working tonight?" Ava asked.

"7 till 11," Luke nodded. "See you later."

Ava waved and waited until he had drove out of sight, before she released the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding; that encounter had gone a lot smoother and easier than she had expected.

Holding up the spider container, Ava shivered as the spider dropped from the side and scurried across the small bottom. She almost dropped it as she imagined it running across her hand; she hated spiders, not as much as Jayden, but still enough to cringe when she was near one.

"Let's get this over with," she muttered, hurrying back inside.

~*Something Fishy*~

"Are you ready, Antonio?" Emily asked the gold Ranger. "Look, Jayden's overcoming his fear of spiders."

She nodded at the red Ranger, who held out his arm for Mia, who, in return, held up the plastic tumbler that Ava had given her. Mia unscrewed the lid and watched as an eight-legged brown spider scuttled out onto Jayden's arm.

"Yeah," Jayden said, his voice strained. "I'm fine with them. The Samurai can overcome any fear."

The spider continued to crawl up Jayden's arm.

"Whatever you do," said Ava, "don't kill the spider."

"Why not?" Jayden asked.

"Because it's not mine." Ava answered. "And I promised the owner that I'd get it back to him by tonight."

Mia narrowed her eyes at the white Ranger. Ava shook her head once and cast her gaze down, avoiding Jayden's eyes.

Kevin cleared his throat and patted Mike on the shoulder. "Mike's afraid of enclosed spaces," he told Antonio. "Come on." He hooked the green Ranger under the arm and led him to the supply closet.

"Seriously?" Mike asked, looking at the cramped space. "Uh, can't I do the imaginary thing, like Ava did?"

"Ava had to do it all mentally, Mike," said Kevin, "she couldn't face Xandred as a kid. She'll do it for real when he grows strong enough to leave the Sanzu River, then she'll really have to face her fears."

"Thanks for you vote of confidence, Kev," Ava called from the common room. She was watching as the spider crawled up to Jayden's shoulder, and further up to his arm. She shuddered as a shiver run down her spine.

"Help!" Mike shouted, before Ji and Kevin returned. The green Ranger had put up a bit of a struggle, but they had managed to get him into the closest.

"Watch this," said Emily. "Mia has her own fears to overcome." She picked up the silver covered plate from the table and held it in front of the pink Ranger; she removed the lid to reveal a croaking frog underneath. Mia gasped in fear.

"Frogs make Mia's skin crawl." Ava said.

"But maybe a kiss will turn him into prince charming," Mia said, nervously edging closer to the slimy green amphibian. She kissed its lips and recoiled, wiping her lips on the back of her hand. "Oh, yuck!"

Ava and Kevin exchanged looks from across the room.

Antonio looked unconvinced. He knew that his friends were only trying to help, but they didn't seem to understand that all fears were different. Just because Mike could overcome his fear of enclosed spaces, or Jayden could deal with a spider crawling all over him, didn't mean that he could deal with fish.

"This better work," said Kevin as he passed Ava on his way to the kitchen.

The white Ranger frowned and watched him go. Didn't he realize that she wanted Antonio to suppress his fear more than anyone? She didn't want to lose her twin brother again, she knew that if Antonio wasn't a Power Ranger then he might have left Paranoma City, she didn't want that to happen, which is why she had suggested this therapy idea.

Kevin returned from the kitchen with a fish on a plate; he set it down in front of Antonio, who recoiled in fear. "Antonio," he sighed, "you've touched thousands of fish before this. All you have to do is put your hand on this one."

Antonio held his breath and glanced at the fish, terrified that it was suddenly gonna jump off the plate and bite him. He looked to Kevin and shook his head.

"All right," Kevin sighed, nudging his friend. "You want to talk scary? Mia cooked this..." he held up a bowl of sludge. "Now, I'll even take a bite of this -" he gagged at the idea of putting the sludge in his mouth, "if you touch the fish."

Antonio looked surprised. Mia wasn't the best cook in the world, and for Kevin to even suggest that he'd eat something she had made, just to help him overcome his fear, showed how much the blue Ranger was willing to help.

"Rangers together, right?" Kevin asked.

Antonio nodded and prepared himself. He looked to Kevin who had started counting backwards. "Three... "

Mia and Emily exchanged looks.

"... Two..."

Ava pushed herself away from the wall, and leaned closer to watch. She wanted to see if her idea had worked.

"... One!"

Kevin shoved a mouthful of sludge into his mouth as Antonio recoiled from the fish. "I can't do it," he cried, just as the Gap sensor went off and Kevin shot him a look of betrayal.

Jayden shoved the spider off of his shoulder; it scuttled away the second it hit the floor. Ava opened her Samuraizer, drew a symbol and pushed it towards the insect. A tumbler appeared over the runaway insect, and, with a little more help from her symbol power, Ava was able to secure it within the plastic tumbler ready to give back to Luke.

With the spider taken care of, Ava returned to the others as Mike shot out of the closet. "The edge of the city," said Ji, "near the western woods."

"Let's go," said Jayden. He grabbed Ava's hand and pulled her towards the door, whispering, "We'll talk about Luke when we get home," into her ear.

Ava smiled, sheepishly up at him.

Kevin blasted past his friends, only he was going in the opposite direction. He slipped back into the common room and spat the sludge out of his mouth and back into the bowl. "This is really bad!" he told Antonio, before chasing after his friends once again.

Antonio sighed as they left. He then looked up at Ji. "It's done. I'm over. I'm sorry, Mentor, I can't go with them," he shrugged, "I just can't."

"Maybe so," Mentor nodded, looking thoughtful. "But there is something you can do in the meantime."

"What?" Antonio asked.

Ji left the room for a brief second and then returned. "I gave you the Clawzord, and you brought it back to life," he said, setting a red and blue lantern down on the table, "This is the Lightzord. An ancient zord that no Samurai has been able to unlock for centuries and your symbol power is light and you could be the first."

Antonio looked intrigued. "OK," he nodded. "I'll try."

~*Something Fishy*~

People screamed as they scampered away from the burning fireballs that rained down upon their city. They had no idea where they were coming from, but they did have the sense to get the hell out of the way before they were burned.

Meanwhile two Spitfangs stood on the edge of the forest, overlooking the city; they were the ones responsible for the fire bombs.

"Hey, Spitfangs," Jayden shouted as he and the others arrived. "Time to shut your mouths!"

The Spitfangs turned, growling at the six rangers.

"Samuraizer!"

"Go, Go Samurai!"

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Jayden. He swung his sword through the air and held it up, threateningly at the Spitfangs.

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Kevin, holding his own spin sword up by the side of his head, the point sticking straight up into the air."

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Mia, holding her sword vertically over her body, the point aimed towards the floor and the hilt at shoulder level.

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Mike, he held his sword above his head with both hands, moving it to rest across his shoulders.

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Emily, holding her sword vertically across her chest, the point aimed into the air, just over her right shoulder.

"Samurai Ranger, ready," said Ava, pulling her sword over her shoulders, before gripping it tightly with both hands.

"Rangers together!" the six rangers called out. "Samurai Forever!"

The Spitfangs roared and charged forward; the rangers raised their spin swords and rushed to meet them, but were knocked back as burning bright lightning hit the ground between them. There was a blast of energy and the rangers were knocked off their feet as the Spitfangs were destroyed.

"What was that?" Mia asked, pushing herself up onto her knees.

"A sneak attack," Mike answered, looking around. "It even took out their own guys!"

Jayden nodded and glanced around at his team. Mike and Mia were on their knees, while Kevin and Emily struggled to push themselves up, and Ava lay on her stomach beside him, her attention was focused on the empty field across from them.

"There!" Ava suddenly shouted as a black shape fell from the skies. It laughed as it grew closer and the rangers were able to see it was more than just an unidentified object. It was a Nighlok.

"So, you're the current Samurai Power Rangers," the Nighlok said. "How illuminating."

"Illuminating?" Ava repeated.

"It's another word for 'interesting'," said Kevin.

Ava shot him a look, but because of their helmets, he didn't see it.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the Nighlok continued. "My name is Serrator, and I recently became the newest passenger aboard Master Xandred's ship. The last time I walked in this pitiful realm was so long ago. I've returned to shake the very foundation of your world. But for now, shall we test how though you really are?"

The rangers tightened the grips on their spin blades as they rose back to their feet.

"This is no ordinary bad guy," said Kevin, pointing out the obvious. If the last time he had been on Earth was a long, long time ago, then it must have been around the time of their great-great-great-great grandparents, maybe even longer.

"Everybody be at the top of your game," Jayden warned.

Ava swallowed. The top of her game meant relying on her symbol power, her fighting skills still had room for improvement, not that the others didn't either, but they were moving so fast through each level of their fighting skills that she had been left behind. Her training lessons with Jayden had increased to almost every night, and every night he annihilated her without even trying.

"I'm toast!" she muttered.

~*Something Fishy*~

Antonio sighed as he pulled his fishing cart towards the lake. He was back at the park, in a small secluded area so that he was away from the prying eyes of the public.

I may not be able to fight, he thought. But I won't fail Mentor or the team.

He set up his campstool and set the Lightzord down on top of it.

I will unlock the power of the Lightzord... if it's the last thing I do.

Antonio stepped back, moved his fishing cart aside, and knelt in the ground playing with his samurai morpher. This should have been easier than trying to unlock the Black Box, but he was sure it was still going to take a great deal of energy from him.

Thankfully enough he and Ava had been working on their symbol power together and during one of their afternoon sessions Ava had explained to him how she managed to recover her energy so quickly. Since she was hyperactive and always on the go, she had excess energy to spare, which is what she tapped into when she was using her symbol power.

According to Ava, aside from her, there were only two other people on the team that shared the same excess energy. Himself and Mike.

Closing his eyes, Antonio focused all of his concentration onto the excess energy that he had building up inside him, all those years of chasing Ava around the Shiba house, growing up and racing around his school after he had moved, he had created new friends in his new school but none of them compared to Jayden and Ava; none of them were as cool as his Samurai friends.

Antonio smiled and punched in a three-digit code on his morpher. "Let there be LIGHT!" he said, as several strands of light symbols emitted from his LCD screen. They floated through the air and disappeared into the Lightzord.

~*Something Fishy*~

"Time for the test!" Serrator announced. He threw out his hand; four sharp talons flew at the rangers. Five of them blocked the attack with their spin swords, while Jayden jumped into the air, slashing down at Serrator with his spin sword. Serrator blocked with his free hand, he pushed the spin blade away and retracted his claws, before slashing across Jayden with both hands.

"Jayden!" Ava cried, as Mia, Mike, Kevin and Emily rushed into deal with Serrator. She was nervous about attacking him, as she knew that he'd knock her around like a ragdoll. Ava felt her hands tremble as she gripped her spin sword, she was terrified, but she couldn't show that in battle, the Nighlok would rip her apart if they knew she doubted her own fighting skills.

"It's been a long time since I've had a good fight," said Serrator, as he made quick work of the other rangers. "It feels glorious!"

Serrator grabbed Mia by the head and threw her back towards the edge of the forest.

Kevin felt his hands tighten around his spin blade. He waited for Mia to move before going in for the attack on Serrator. He was more than angry at the Nighlok for attacking Mia. "Bring it!" he shouted, jumping into the air and slashing down.

"Well, let me take a jab at this!" said Serrator. His claws extended and jabbed rapidly into the blue Ranger. Kevin groaned as he was blasted backwards into a stone wall.

Emily cried out as she rushed in for a second time. Serrator laughed as he kicked her feet out from under her, and aimed a kick for her stomach. Emily saw the attack coming and rolled away, leaving enough space for Mike to rush in and cover her.

"Emily!" the green Ranger shouted, swinging his sword at Serrator.

Serrator's raked his claws over Mike's body. The green Ranger groaned as he was tossed away like a rag doll, and Serrator turned on Ava, who had seemingly frozen. He laughed and stalked towards her. "Now it's time to take a swipe at you!" he hissed.

"Ava!" Mike shouted, recovering quickly. "Move!"

Ava trembled in fear as Serrator stalked towards her. She knew that she had to move and defend herself, but her insecurities over her fighting skills were enough to keep her in place; she remembered the fight against Switchbeast, and the cruelties of her own mind hissed at her, reminding her that she wouldn't have been able to defeat him had it not been for the Black Box.

"Ava, snap out of it!" Mia shouted, as Ava remained frozen.

Thankfully, having recovered from his initial attack, Jayden jumped over Ava and slashed down at Serrator. The Nighlok disappeared in a flash and reappeared behind Jayden.

"Missing someone, young Ranger?" he sneered, slashing at Jayden with his fan. The red Ranger managed to put up a bit more of a fight, seeing as he was fighting more to protect Ava than anything else.

Terror ripped through Ava as Jayden's yell of pain echoed into the air; she looked up just in time to see him being thrown aside as Serrator attacked him with a serrated-edged fan that he had summoned from nowhere.

Serrator turned back to the white Ranger; with the others out of the way he had a clear path to her, and, by the look of things, she was the only one brave enough to admit defeat seeing as she had refused to fight him. "How unexpected," he said. "I thought you'd all be tougher. Some of you," he sneered at Ava, "can't even defend themselves... how do expect to protect the Earth if you can't protect yourself?"

Ava let the words cut her deep. Serrator's words couldn't hurt her as much as her own could. She already knew that she didn't deserve the destiny her mother had left her. She was a Power Ranger that couldn't find her insecurities were stronger than her abilities to hold her own in battle; what kind of Power Ranger depended on their team-mates to protect them? What kind of Power Ranger swore to protect humanity when they couldn't even defend themselves?

She wasn't a Power Ranger... she was nothing but a burden.

~*Something Fishy*~

"Symbol Power! Light!" Antonio said again. He pointed his morpher at the Lightzord and emptied more and more of his energy into it; his friends needed his help, he couldn't fight, but he could give them a new zord. He smiled as a symbol appeared on the exterior of the zord, he was half way there.

Suddenly his symbols died as did his concentration.

His morpher beeped, alerting him to an incoming call. He accepted it and put the morpher to his ear. "Hello?"

"Antonio, the team is in trouble," Mentor said, down the line. "They are down a ranger!"

"What do you mean?" Antonio asked.

"Ava's frozen," Mentor answered. "She hasn't moved since the initial attack. You need to join them."

Antonio hesitated. He wanted to go help Jayden and the others, he had a strong inkling as to what was wrong with Ava, but he never expected it to happen in the middle of a battle, he knew how dangerous that was; but he also knew that he couldn't handle the fight himself as he still wasn't over his fear of fish.

"I can't," he said. "I'm still not cured of my fear."

Just the mere thought of using his Barracuda Blade was enough to end shivers down his spine.

~*Something Fishy*~

"Maybe you'll all rise to the occasion," said Serrator, clapping his hands. His eyes were still on Ava, for some reason he felt drawn to her. Like there was something about her that made her a prime target for his attacks, his only problem was a) she refused to fight him, and b) the other rangers were very protective of her; he needed to eliminate them if he was ever to get his shot at her.

He smirked as the perfect idea popped to mind. An idea that would keep the other rangers occupied and give him a clear shot at the white Ranger; he'd get her to fight. He'd threaten, taunt, and generally persuade her until she was angry enough to fight back. He just needed to know the right buttons to push.

"In a few moments we shall see if you're really cut out for this," said Serrator, as he held up a piece of A4 paper and started snipping away with his hands. After a few minutes he held up a cutout of a creature, which he attached to a black cardboard with a thin film of clear plastic. He then threw the picture into the air where it materialized as a 30ft creature.

"The Pyrox," Serrator explained. "My own creation. Obeys my thoughts. Follows my every command. He cut and he destroys. Consider this your new test. Either you pass or you fail."

The Pyrox looked down at the rangers and fired several energy blasts at them. The ground exploded and each of the rangers, including Ava, were blasted through the air.

"If this Nighlok wants to give us a bigger challenge," said Jayden, getting back to his feet. "It's time we give him one right back. Super Samurai Mode!" there was a flash of white as Jayden powered up to the next level of defence. "You guys handle Serrator, keep him away from Ava, I don't know what's wrong with her, but she is attracting a lot of attention from him. I'll take on this overgrown snowflake."

"Right!" the others nodded, helping one another to their feet.

Jayden glanced over at Ava. She had managed to crawl back to her knees, but her thoughts and insecurities seemed to be stronger than her. He knew that he'd have to talk to her about believing in herself, that's all it really took to achieve the things you wanted. Ava believed in a lot of things. She had believed in her mother and his father, she had believed in her father, and she believed in him and the other Rangers, but not once, in her whole life, had she ever believed in herself.

"Airstrike combination!" Jayden commanded, powering up the Black Box with the combination disk. "Battlewing Megazord armed for battle!"

~*Something Fishy*~

Mentor Ji was a man on a mission.

His daughter had completely frozen in the middle of a big battle, and he wasn't sure why. He had his theories, but he didn't want to believe that her fears were that strong. Ava had a lot of fears, Xandred was one of them, losing her friends was another and her insecurities was the biggest of them all.

Many people, Jayden included, didn't realize that Ava's insecurities about her fighting abilities affect most of Ava's life. Her training suffered because she always compared herself to the others on the team, her battles suffered because she was afraid of being a burden to the other Rangers, she hated herself for being the 'damsel in distress' and always got angry when someone teased her about always needed saving.

But even so, Mentor couldn't help but blame himself for her insecurities. Ava had the ability to be as good a fighter as Jayden, if only he had allowed her to train like Jayden had done. But she was his daughter, he didn't want her to be a Power Ranger, but Ava and Jayden were a force to be reckoned with when they were teamed together.

Both Jayden and Ava had argued with him day in, day out to let Ava being the Power Ranger that she rightfully was; but he had been determined to not let her near the battles that had cost him his wife. He had no control over Jayden, he had a reason to be the red Ranger, he had sole custody over Ava and could dictate her life until she was eighteen, but he had always spoilt his daughter and given in to her every whim and need, she always got what she wanted.

Now it seemed that he had made the wrong choice.

1) He had agreed to let her become a ranger. If he had stuck to his final decision of her not taking on the destiny his late wife had left, and letting it die with Evelyn then Ava would be at home safe and out of the way of danger.

2) He had delayed Ava's ability to sword fight until she was in her teens. If she had practiced from her toddler years, like Jayden had done, then she'd be just as strong and good a fighter as Kevin and Jayden. She wouldn't be at the bottom of the Samurai food chain, she wouldn't doubt her abilities, and she'd know that she was a good enough fighter for anyone.

All in all it was his fault. He knew that now. But he couldn't go back in time and prevent his past self from treating past Ava exactly has he had done; Ava needed to believe in herself, and realize that it was never too late to learn how to become a better and stronger fighter, he would teach her himself, if she'd let him... but first he had to deal with Antonio.

A fear was an emotion... and an emotion could be dealt with.

Time to end his fear, he thought as he approached the Gold ranger, who had no idea he was even there, once and for all.

~*Something Fishy*~

"Now just be the good rangers that you are and stay down!" Serrator shouted as the pink, green, yellow and blue Rangers hit the ground again. They were more annoying than ants at a picnic, neither one of them knew when to admit defeat. "Giving up and admitting defeat comes so natural to some," he said. "Take a page out of you white Ranger's book and surrender to me now. It'll be much less painful."

"We'll never surrender to the Nighlok!" Kevin said. "You may be able to scare one of us into submission... but you can't scare us all. Ava may have her problems, but she's a strong Ranger! We'll figure out what you've done to her and we will help her overcome it. You will not beat us by going through her!"

Serrator growled at him. "Let us see you help her when there is nothing left to help," he said, extending his claws. He took aim at Ava. The steel-tipped talons were less than a meter away from the white Ranger when a blur slashed down at them. Serrator retracted his claws and growled at the intruder.

"Not so fast Serrator!" said Antonio as he jumped in front of Ava.

"Huh?!"

"What?"

Ava blinked and lifted her head. "Antonio?" she murmured, surprised to see her friend standing in front of her.

"Gold is back with a new toy!" Antonio grinned, holding up the Lightzord. "Did you guys miss me?"

"I knew you could do it!" Mia grinned, happy to see their seventh ranger back in action.

Antonio nodded and turned back to Serrator. "You want Ava?" he challenged. "You're gonna have to go through me!"

"So be it!" Serrator said.

"You think i'm scared of you?" Antonio scoffed. "Nothing can stop me or my new pal," he held up the gadget in his hand. "Lightzord! And don't let appearances fool you, this Zord kicks butt."

"Interesting," said Serrator, clearly unaware on who Antonio was. Since he wasn't a true Samurai, like his friends, none of the Nighlok's had any clue as to the type of threat he possessed to them. "What a strange little creature. Too bad I couldn't care less about you. Get a kick out of this!" he dropped a Nighlok-looking soccer ball to the ground and kicked it at Antonio.

The gold Ranger slashed through it with ease.

"What?" Serrator growled.

"Lightzord battle disk," Antonio commanded. "Scatter shot!"

Several power disks shot out of the Lightzord, distracting Serrator long enough for Antonio to go in for the attack. Jumping into the air, Antonio slashed down with his blade. "My turn to go on the offense!" he shouted, taking Serrator by surprise.

"Now, this is the thrashing I expected from Master Xandred," Serrator hissed. Antonio's attack hurting more than he expected. "I underestimated you."

"Underestimated his right!" Antonio nodded.

"Very well," Serrator said, throwing out his hand. "You passed the test for now. Fare thee well, Rangers, and white Ranger, the next time we meet, you won't be so lucky!"

Ava sighed as Serrator disappeared through a gap. Shakily she pushed herself to her feet and stumbled back from the battlefield as Antonio checked over the others, and Jayden was still get thrashed about by the Pyrox; she wanted to help, and now that Serrator was gone she found that she was no longer afraid, but she had the gut wrenching feeling that no one wanted her help now, and who could blame them?

Instead, as Antonio showed off the amazing abilities and powers of his new Zord, Ava stepped under the cover of the trees and demorphed. She hated herself for letting the team down, and couldn't bear to see the disappointment on their faces when they finally returned to her. Instead she turned her back on the fighting and headed for home; she'd take their frustration later, right now she needed to clear her head and figure out herself exactly what had just happened.

~*Something Fishy*~

After a long battle, and an even longer discussion on why Ava had frozen and then just left the battle without telling anyone, the rangers, excluding their loveable ball of pent up energy, sat around the table in the back garden. Ji was in the house trying to coax Ava to come out of her room and join them but the white Ranger was more than happy to just hide away under her bed.

"So you've clearly gotten over your fear of fish," said Mike, as Antonio presented him and the others with a plate of fish.

"Yup," Antonio nodded. "Not only am I cured, but now we also have the Lightzord on our team."

"And one very scared seventeen-year-old," said Kevin, with a heavy sigh. He, out of the whole group, was finding it the hardest to wrap his head around the fact that Ava had allowed her insecurities to hold her back today.

Antonio smiled. "Hey, Ava's strong," he defended. "She'll bounce back... she always does."

Jayden nodded in agreement. "I'll talk to her later and let her know that neither of us are angry with her," he said, "I think that's why she's afraid to leave her room."

"Antonio, you have to tell us," said Mia, nodding at Jayden's idea. She wasn't angry with Ava, she found it impossible to be mad at her, she just wished that Ava had come to them with her problems rather than kept them bottled up inside. "How did you get over your fear?"

Antonio smiled at the fond memory of Mentor stuffing a piece of sushi into his mouth at the park, before turning back to Mia. "Let's just say that Mentor taught me how to follow my gut," he said, earning a chuckle from the rest. "Fish?" he asked, holding up the plate.

"No, thanks," Mike said, while the others smiled and nodded.

Suddenly Antonio jumped as something brushed past his leg. He looked down and sighed, disappearing beneath the table before re-emerging with a ginger feline in his arms. "Anyone lose a cat?" he asked, looking pointedly at Emily.

"Cheetah!" Emily cried, ecstatic. She reached across the table and took the feline from the gold Ranger. "Where've you been? Ava's been going crazy!"

Cheetah meowed and purred as her humans made a fuss of her, although she couldn't help but wonder where the sixth and most important human was hiding.

~*Something Fishy*~

Later that evening, after the sun had set and the moon was high in the sky. Ava had wandered into the front garden to clear her head. She could hear her friends in the common room, they were laughing together as they played one of their favourite board games. She wanted to join them, but she still wasn't ready to face their disappointment, so until then she deserved to be alone.

Hearing the front door opening and closing, Jayden, who had been in the kitchen with Antonio getting snacks, left his friend to go investigate. He knew that it had to have been Ava, Ji was in his room researching Serrator in the archives and the other rangers were in the common room; and so with everyone separated now seemed like perfect time to talk to Ava.

"Hey," Jayden said, as he stepped outside the front door. Ava was sitting with her back to him on the front porch; she was hugging her knees and watching Cheetah chase the fireflies through the bushes. "You OK?"

Ava hesitated before shaking her head. "No," she answered, finding that she couldn't lie to him. What was the point? She had lied about her insecurities and her fears, and look where that had got her. "I screwed up."

"You didn't screw up," Jayden reassured her.

"I froze!" Ava argued. "If you and the others hadn't been there..." she shook her head, and looked away, tears welling her eyes at her own stupidity, "I would've been killed! I'm useless!"

Jayden sighed and tried to wrap his arm around her. Ava shrugged him off and jumped to her feet, but she didn't get very far as Jayden caught her wrist to stop her from running away from him. "You're not useless," he said, straightening up.

"If I'm not useless then what am I?" Ava asked. "I'm not brave... I'm not courageous..." she sighed, heavily. "Serrator was right about one thing, I don't deserve to be a Power Ranger."

"Since when do we listen to Nighlok's?"

"Since they tell the truth!"

"Ava, bravery and courage don't make you a ranger," Jayden said.

"Then what does?"

"It takes heart and soul to win a battle," said Jayden, "even when you think that you have no fight left in you. You're the heart and soul of this entire team, Ava; we'd be lost without you!"

Ava looked away. "It doesn't change anything," she said. "I'm still a screw up. I fought long and hard with daddy to get him to agree to let me be a Power Ranger... I should have just listened to him and stayed out of the way! I'd be much less of a burden if I just stayed on the sidelines like I was -"

She broke off as Jayden leaned in and touched his lips to hers. Ava sighed into but didn't attempt to pull away, even has Jayden held her shoulder to stop her if she tried.

"You're not a burden," said Jayden, when they finally broke apart. "So enough with the self-doubt. You're a great ranger; you just have to believe in yourself, because I believe in you."

"Really?"

Jayden kissed her again.

"Really."


Copyrighted ©

A/N: Before you all shout at once. Yes, the pairing just became officially Jayva or Java, whichever you prefer. Also, I know, Ava was a bit of a wuss in this chapter, but I wanted to get her insecurities out of the way, so that she can start the transformation into a 'super samurai' (excuse the pun). Reviews would be nice. [And yes, that was a PRDT quote at the end.]

Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx

Chapter updated Tuesday, April 02, 2013 at 07:09am