Most of the the trip to Animaria was quiet. The Samurai rangers were lost in thought. Since the coordinates were already programmed into Kimberly's Crane Zord, all Jayden had to do was put it in autopilot and enjoy the ride. As he sat there, his mind began to wander. He started thinking about the new team of Power Rangers. The ones who called themselves MegaForce Rangers. He wondered what they were like. Their entries haven't been added to the Power Ranger encyclopedia that Jason and Kimberly gave them. Do they know how many rangers came before them? Do they even know there are other ranger teams out there? He asked himself. He kept his thoughts to himself because before Jason, Kimberly, Rocky and Aisha showed up, he thought the only rangers that were out there were his and his current teammates families. And then his mind drifted to the upcoming battle they were called back into duty for. Is it really going to be that bad that all the rangers, past and present, were called back to work together to defeat whatever evil was headed this way? Jayden shook his head, trying to get such morbid thoughts out of his head.
He looked over at his teammates and wondered what they were thinking about. Were they thinking about the same thing he was? Or were they preoccupying their minds with something a little more pleasant? Mia was staring at the cockpit window, drumming her fingers on her lap and humming softly. Kevin had his sketchbook in his lap, pencil in hand but Jayden noticed he wasn't doing anything. The pencil just hovered over the paper. Antonio was occupying his time by playing with Clawzord. Jayden turned his attention back to his Samuraizer, wondering what Mike and Emily were doing on their mission.
"Oh WOW!" Mia exclaimed, breaking the silence. This seemed to bring everyone out of their private thoughts and back to the task at hand. Mia was still staring out of the cockpit window but was sitting on the edge of her seat, trying to get a better view. Curious, the other rangers leaned over to look out as well. What they saw astonished them.
"Animaria is a floating island?" Kevin asked, amazed. When Jason and Kimberly told them where they were going, they left out that tiny detail. Now they knew why they had to take the Crane Zord.
Mia laughed. "If Emily were here, she wouldn't be surprised. Ever since we got the encyclopedia, she's be absorbing as much information as possible. She would have known it was a floating island. It's absolutely beautiful though."
The others had to agree. They didn't think they've ever seen anything more amazing than what they were seeing now. Lush, green forests, wide open plains, cliffs, a crystal clear lake with water shining as bright as a diamond. This place could have been one of the eighth wonders of the world.
Suddenly the Crane Zord began their descent. Jayden noticed Antonio was the only one who didn't comment on the island. Or talk about anything at all for that matter. "Antonio, is everything okay?" Jayden asked his friend and teammate.
"Am I the only one nervous about meeting the Wild Force Rangers?" He asked his fellow companions.
"What's there to be nervous about?" Mia asked sweetly. She rested a hand on Antonio's shoulder for comfort. "These rangers are our allies. They've already done what we do. We can learn from them."
"Mia's right." Jayden stated. "There are so many different techniques that we could learn to make us better fighters."
"I guess you're right." Antonio conceeded. "I guess I'm just nervous because you guys trained your whole lives for this and I didn't. I just don't want them to think of me as a fraud."
Kevin surprised everyone by what he said next. "You're no fraud. You're right, you were't trained for this. This is something you volunteered for. That right there shows courage. You trained hard, proving your worth and you helped us defeat Master Xandred. Many things can be said about you, Antonio, but fraud isn't one of them." Antonio flashed his teammate an appreciative smile.
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"Hey handsome," Alyssa nudged her husband as he came to sit beside her. Cole flashed his wife a smile that made her melt every time."Are you ready to meet the Samurai Rangers?"
"I'm excited. I've been dying to meet other Ranger teams since we've met Wes and Jen and the rest of the Time Force team." Cole answered her. In the distance, Princess Shayla and her husband, Merrick, were playing in a stream, laughing and splashing each other.
"I'm so happy that we're all back together and happy. I was so sad for Merrick when we first defeated Master Org and Princess Shayla took the Animarium back into the sky alone. Every one knew they belonged together." Alyssa sighed, remembering when she had gotten the call from Taylor. When she returned to the air force, she still flew with her yellow eagle zord. When the animals zords noticed how unhappy Princess Shayla was without Merrick, they brought Merrick to the Animarium and reunited the two. When Taylor had discovered this, she immediately called Alyssa.
"So do we." Cole stated. He laughed at her puzzled look. She was staring off into space. "Huh?" She asked. He laughed again. "You said that everyone knew Merrick and Shayla belonged together, and I said, so do we. Belong together I mean." He took her hand in his. Now it was his turn to think back. After they defeated Master Org, Alyssa finished her teaching degree and got a job while he went off and traveled the world, on a journey of self discovery. The entire time, he couldn't stop thinking about the white tiger ranger. He headed back to Turtle Cove, and waited until school was over. When she saw him, a smile broke out on her face, the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. She ran up to him, gave him a hug. Without thinking, he had asked her to marry him and to his surprise, she said yes.
"Hey guys," Taylor said, breaking his thought. "The Eagle Zord says they're approaching."
Princess Shayla got out of the stream. "That's my cue." She kissed Merrick "Be back soon." She told them all. She needed to be there to great the Samurai Rangers and lead them to the temple.
As Princess Shayla left, Cole flashed Alyssa an eager smile.
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As the Crane Zord continued to land, the rangers were still looking out the cockpit window, trying to take everything in. "Look at all these animals!" Kevin exclaimed. Sure enough, all over the island were all different animal species.
"I think those are the wild zords." Antonio stated, looking through the Power Ranger Encyclopedia that was given to each of the Samuaria Rangers.
"They're magnificant." Mia admired. Jayden had to agree with her. He turned to her to say something but suddenly stopped. Has Mia always been this beautiful? He asked himself. He studied her face. The look of wonder on her face and the smile she was displaying made her glow. How have I not noticed it before?
Jayden turned him attention back to the mission, embarassed for thinking such thoughts about his teammate. "Alright, guys, remember we're here on a mission. We'll have plenty of time to sight see and have fun after." Jayden reminded them as they landed. The others looked at him and nodded, indicating they understood. Unable to help himself, he stole another glance at Mia. She seemed so excited with the smile on her face and the way she looked around, trying to commit everything to memory. Jayden couldn't help but smile.
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Once they landed and exited the Crane Zord, They looked around at each other, each asking the silent question, what do they do now? "Welcome Samurai Rangers." A voice greeted them. They turned towards the direction of the voice and saw a woman wearing a long white dress with a crown of flowers in her long brown hair walk out of the forest. "I am Princess Shayla and this is the Animarium."
"You have a beautiful home." Mia said to the Princess.
Princess Shayla smiled. "Thank you. You are welcome here anytime. If you guys would follow me, I'll introduce you to my team of rangers." She turned and walked back into the forest, with the Samurai Rangers following close behind.
They walked towards the temple in silence at first. After a few minutes, Jayden asked her the question that was on his team's minds. "Thank you for having us, Princess Shayla, and not that we're not happy to be here, but why are we here? We know you need our help with something but we weren't given details before we left."
"Please call me Shayla." The Princess smiled briefly before getting a serious look on her face. "Turtle Cove has been living in peace for several years, ever since the Wild Force Rangers defeated Master Org..." Seeing the puzzled looks on their faces, she explained. "Orgs are pollution oriented monsters determined to take over the world. But we haven't had any Org activity since their master was defeated. A few days ago, an Org surfaced and began to wreak havoc on Turtle Cove."
"But how can the Orgs return if the Rangers defeated them?" Mia asked.
"As long as there is pollution in the world, there will always be Orgs. We just thought that the next generation of Rangers would be here before the Orgs started to rise up again." Princess Shayla sighed.
"If the Wild Force Rangers defeated them before, what do you need us for?" Antonio asked. "Not that we're not happy to help, of course. Just out of curiousity."
"This Org is stronger than the Orgs the Rangers have faced in the past. At first I feared that a new Master Org had surfaced but on further inspection, it's not a new Master, but just an ordinary Org." Shayla answered.
"Do you think that maybe these new Orgs are stronger because of the coming invasion?" Kevin asked.
"We've thought about that, and unfortuntely, if that is the case, This upcoming battle is going to be unlike one we haven't seen before." Silence fell over the group as they continued to the temple, each pondering the possible outcomes of the battle to come. After a few minutes, Princess Shayla spoke. "We're here."
Standing all around the temple were a group of people, Jayden assumed were the Wild Force Rangers. Jayden cleared his throat and spoke first. "Hi, I'm Jayden, Red Samurai Ranger."
The other rangers took their cue from their leader. "I'm Mia, Pink Samurai Ranger." She smiled at them.
"I'm Kevin, Blue Samurai Ranger." He threw a casual wave at them.
"I'm Antonio, Gold Samurai Ranger."
"It's nice to meet you." Said a talk, dark skinned man. "I'm Danny, The Black Wild Force Ranger." He walked up and shook their hands.
"Sup guys? I'm Max, Blue Wild Force Ranger." Max flashed a peace sign at them.
"Taylor here. Yellow Wild Force Ranger." Taylor gave a nod to awknowledge them.
"I'm Alyssa Evans, White Wild Force Ranger." Alyssa introduced herself. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"This is my husband, Merrick." Princess Shayla introduced a man who walked up beside her. "He's the Lunar Wolf Ranger." Merrick flashed them a smile. "Thanks for coming."
"And this is my husband, and our leader..." Alyssa started. but when Cole stepped forward, the Samurai Rangers jumped back. "Deker." Jayden shouted and in a blink of an eye, the Samurai Rangers had their spin swords out.
"Wha..." Cole began but was cut off as Jayden charged at him. Cole dove out of the way. The Wild Force were standing there in shock. Why was the Red Samurai Ranger attacking Cole?
Danny stepped forward to help his teammate but was intercepted by Kevin. "I don't think so." Kevin huffed, spin sword in mid swing. All of a sudden, Kevin's sword froze in mid-air.
"Okay, there has clearly been a mistake here." Princess Shayla stated, holding her hands out. She used powers from her necklace to freeze everyone where they were. She walked up to Jayden. "If I let you go, would you kindly put your weapons away?" Jayden gave a slight nod of his head. Princess Shayla released them. "Now, tell me about this Deker."
