Author's Note: I have decided that I will be changing the order sequence of the episode in this chapter. Next chapter is "Forest of the Trees" after that I will be making changes in order to fit this story.

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended in the making of this series. I simply own my OCs and anything that is not recognizable from the show. Power Rangers belongs to Saban.

Shout Outs: Big shout out too: Crystalmaiden62 and xxxAvalonGeorgexxx for adding this story or me to any of their alerts. Appreciate it mate.

Warning: Be nice. Constructive Criticism is welcome. Flamers are not. To me haters are nothing more than jealous little people that wish they were as good as others; jealousy is not a good trait for anyone. If you hate, do remember that you are only adding to my reviews, your words will not hurt me.


Title: The Little Samurai

Summary: A Samurai's life was dangerous; he knew that better than anyone. But with his best friend thrown into the mix, Jayden will do everything he can to protect her.


Cheetah mewed as she wove her way between her human's legs, brushing her ginger fur softly against the exposed skin. She was vaguely aware of the clashes of metal coming from the training pad, and while she was used to the constant training activities, still didn't mean she wasn't afraid of being hit. Whenever the Samurai had training, Cheetah always took refuge in her human's protective embrace.

"What's the matter, peanut," Ava smiled scooping up the feline. "Jayden and Kevin sparring again, huh?"

Cheetah pawed at the White ranger's face, batting aside her fringe which had falling into her eyes.

Ava giggled and hugged the cat close to her, aside from Emily and Jayden, Cheetah was her new best friend. "They won't hurt you," she whispered, causing the cat's ears to flicker away. "I won't let them! That's a promise."

Meanwhile, Jayden and Kevin, who were still sparring, were oblivious to everything that was happening around them. They were more focused on the training exercise that had been set.

"He's got mad skills," Mike grinned. "I'm impressed!"

"Yes, Jayden is one of the bests there has ever been," Ji nodded in approval.

Mike frowned and turned to Mentor. "I was talking about Kevin," he pointed out, earning a look from Ji and a giggle from Ava. "He's right up there with Jayden." he added quickly.

"He's so graceful with a sword," Emily sighed in admiration.

"Yes," Mentor nodded with a smile. "Jayden always had that quality, even has a child."

"I meant Kevin," Emily replied.

Mentor frowned at her and Ava had to bit her lip to keep from laughing for a second time.

"Kevin's technique is better," Mia nodded.

"Daddy, I think you're being a little bias because you raised Jayden," Ava said, as Cheetah nuzzled closer to her, much to the annoyance of her Penguin Foldingzord, which had just come zooming around the backyard towards the White ranger, and was batted away by the feline's paw.

"They are both excellent swordsman," Mentor defended. "But practice sparring is one thing, but true skill shown in battle is what really counts."

"I'd hate to see what would really happen if they had to battle each other," said Mike.

Mia shook her head. "That would never happen," she said. "Nothing could make Kevin fight against a fellow ranger."

"He's true blue," Emily grinned.

~*Little Samurai*~

Emily smiled as she stepped into the kitchen to find Ava playing with her Penguin Foldingzord. Cheetah, who was lying lazily on the worktop, purred as the White ranger scratched behind her ears. "I see you found time to play with both," the Yellow ranger nodded, taking a seat opposite her best friend.

"Yeah," Ava nodded. "It was either this or split myself in two,"

"That would have hurt,"

Ava giggled and watched as her Penguin glided gracefully around the kitchen, weaving around grocery bags that Mia had set on the kitchen table, over the top of the fridge, around Cheetah, and back towards the White ranger.

"How was your date with Luke?" Emily asked.

"It was OK," Ava smiled. "He took me to see The Last Samurai..."

Emily giggled as her eyes widened.

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Yes," Ava nodded. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to sit through a Samurai film and not criticize the fighting technique? It was pure torture! They are nothing like us!"

Emily let loose another giggle as Mike entered the kitchen from the dojo.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Luke took Ava to see The Last Samurai last Friday," Emily answered.

Ava nodded. "Yeah, and I was just telling Emily that the actors had no idea how to act like a Samurai," she said. "You know, they should take Samurai lessons from Kevin."

Mike chuckled. "We'll mention it at Dinner," he nodded, patting her shoulder.

"We'll need something to avoid Mia's cooking," Ava nodded, looking down as Cheetah nudged the Penguin zord with her head. The flightless bird had turned immobile and was lying on the worktop and Ava's fingertips. The feline sniffed it, and then licked the metal surface, mewing at her human in disgust.

How could her human be so in love with a tasteless bird?

Exchanging looks, Mike, Emily and Ava laughed at the feline, who hissed and streaked away as the Gap sensor sounded loudly from different parts of the house.

"Let's go," Jayden yelled sprinting passed the kitchen with Mia and Kevin.

~*Little Samurai*~

"Hold it right there, Nighlok!" Jayden yelled as he and the others finally reached the scene. "We're going to whip you into shape!"

"Do you really want to tango with me?" The Nighlok laughed.

Mike and Ava exchanged looks.

"I don't about you," the Green ranger whispered. "But I was never good at Tango..."

"It's never been one of my strong points either," Ava agreed. "It's too fast!"

"Who is this clown?" Kevin wondered loudly.

"I'm Madimot," the Nighlok answered. "The baddest of the bad from the Sanzu! I'm a bad, bad man!"

"Let's see if you can back up all that talk," Mike said, shouldering his sword.

Madimot made a small agreeing sound as he hit the ground with his whip. "Having back up is a good idea," he agreed, he tugged his whip through the air and slashed it into the ground, as chunks of dirt exploded into the air behind a nestle of trees, and the ground shook as if an earthquake was in passing.

"Oh, no!" Ava gasped as a familiar Zord drilled its way out of the ground. "Jayden, it's the Tiger zord!"

"Surprised?" Madimot smirked delightfully. "When the Earth cracked open and you sealed Master Xandred in the Netherworld, your Tigerzord fell in the crevice too. I saved him, and made him my pet Kitty! Or should I say pet Tiggy!"

Ava shook her head. "No, let him go!" she shouted, stepping out of line. "You can't have him!"

"Jayden, we have to get it back!" Kevin said as Mike caught Ava's shoulder, stopping her from taking any more steps towards the Nighlok.

"My spell on him is too powerful," Madimot explained. "He's mine!"

His face shimmered a faint blueish purple, before he blasted an orb of energy at the rangers. Jayden grabbed Mia and Emily, forcing them to the floor as Kevin run at Mike and Ava, knocking them aside; he, however, was unfortunate, and the beam hit him dead in the chest.

With a cry of pain, Kevin grabbed his head and dropped to his knees.

"Kevin!" Mike and Ava yelled as they recovered from the surprise attack. Scrambling to his feet, Mike rushed to his friend side and grabbed his forearms, but Kevin growled, and threw him backwards into Ava, who had managed to barely make it back to her feet.

"What was that all about?" Mike asked.

"I don't know," Ava answered, shaking her head.

"Kevin?" Emily asked, nervously.

The Blue ranger didn't answer her, he merely snarled and straightened up.

"He's in a trance," Jayden deducted.

"I've tamed a new pet," Madimot smirked. "I call him Blue. Now, sick 'em!" he commanded, slashing his whip onto the ground again.

Kevin drew his sword and run at Ava and Mike. The two dived aside, rolling away from another and drawing their own swords. Mike's sword clashed against Kevin's as Ava run in from behind. The Blue ranger spun around, slashed at Ava's stomach, but missed as she jumped backwards, raising her sword to avoid another deadly blow as Kevin slashed down at her.

"Kevin!" Mike yelled, jumping up and grabbing his roommate from behind. "What's wrong, buddy?"

Kevin didn't answer, merely shrugged Mike off, spun around and slashed at him with his sword. The two locked blades, as Mike attempted to break through the spell once more.

"Kev, snap out of it!" he yelled.

The Blue threw Mike off and turned, stabbing his sword at Ava, who ducked under the blade, and looped her arm around Kevin's upper forearm. "You're under mind control! Whoa!" she yelled, as Kevin spun her around and slashed across her shoulder and chest with the tip of his blade.

"Hey, stop it!" Emily yelled as Ava hit the forest floor.

Kevin turned in her direction, spun his blade in his hand and started towards her, Jayden and Mia.

Running forward, Jayden jumped over Kevin, who swung his blade at him. When he landed he run at Madimot leaving the others to deal with the mind-controlled Blue Ranger, Madimot laughed at the Red ranger, casting another energy orb at him, but Jayden deflected the attack using his symbol power.

"Hey, no one beats me!" the Nighlok growled. "Chew him up, Tiggy!" he commanded the White tiger.

The zord growled in response, opened its jaws and blasting Jayden with white smoke. Jayden grunted as someone collided with him, knocking him aside. "Wha - Ava?" he frowned, as the White ranger landed on her stomach beside him.

"You should have seen that one coming," Ava said, pushing herself up returning to Mia, Emily and Mike, all of whom were taking a beating. "Emily!" she yelled, falling to her knees beside her best friend after Kevin had attacked her.

"I can't fight Kevin," Emily said, shaking her head.

Kevin, still under mind control, prepared his spin sword with his power disk. "Spin sword! Dragon splash!" he said, slicing through the air.

The attack hit the four rangers, knocking them backwards and out of their morphed states.

Madimot laughed in approval. "Oh, yes, yes, yes," he nodded. "Good move, Blue!"

"No!" Jayden yelled as he witnessed Kevin raise his sword for the final strike. He pushed Madimot away from him, and run back towards his friends. "We better blaze a trail out of here," he said, preparing his own spin sword with the fire power disk. He slashed the sword towards the ground, and five out of six rangers disappeared in a blaze of flames.

~*Little Samurai*~

Ava flinched as her father touched the wound on her shoulder, it was the same shoulder that Kevin had hit earlier with his spin blade, it wasn't very deep, but Ji was just thankful that she had been morphed, or it could have been a lot worse.

"Keep this on," Ji instructed wrapping a bandage around her shoulder and upper chest.

"But it's itchy!" Ava whined.

"I know," Ji nodded. "But it will help with the pain."

Ava pouted but pulled her t-shirt on over her head after her father had tied the last of her bandages behind her back; he had learned, long ago, that tying them in the front was making it easier for Ava to remove them before she had finished healing.

"Are you OK?" Jayden asked.

"Yeah," Ava nodded, slipping her fingers beneath the collar of her shirt.

"Remember the last time you did that?"

Ava pouted. "But it's irritating!" she moaned rolling her shoulders to try and rid herself of the itchy feeling. "Feels like a thousand ants are crawling over me!"

Jayden chuckled. "C'mere," he said, turning her around and lifting her shirt up around her shoulders. Ava bowed her head and blushed as he adjusted her bandages so that they were flat against her skin. "Better?"

"Yeah," Ava whispered as she struggled to keep her voice as even as possible. "What are we going to do about Kevin?" she asked. "It's going to be very hard to break the monsters spell!"

"I know," Jayden nodded. "We need a plan."

"You're not going to fight Kevin, are you?" Ava asked pulling her shirt back down and turning to face him.

Jayden hesitated.

"Jayden, you can't," Ava protested. "You can't hurt him! He's one of us!"

Jayden sighed and tugged a curl behind her left ear, causing Ava to tremble slightly at the close contact. "I have to be prepared to make tough choices, Av," he told her. "Even if we don't like them!"

Ava swallowed. "Well, hopefully we can break the Nighlok's spell before it comes to that," she nodded, before averting her gaze and walking away, her heart was beating a mile a minute and the side of her face tingled from where he had touched her.

~*Little Samurai*~

The Gap Sensor sounded loudly, bringing four out of six rangers running into the living room from the bedrooms. They found Mentor standing over the map in the centre of the table, but Jayden was nowhere to be found.

"Mentor," said Mike, "where's Jayden?"

"He's already gone to battle the Nighlok," Ji answered.

"Are you kidding me?" Mike asked in disbelief. "What about Kevin? The Nighlok will make him fight Jayden."

"Hopefully that won't happen," Ji said.

"Hopefully?" Ava repeated. "But Daddy -"

"Remember what your mother said before she left for her final battle, Ava," Ji interrupted. "We must keep fighting, as it is our duty to protect the innocent."

"Yes, but not another Ranger!" Ava protested. "Mommy would never have gone against Uncle Charlie, and he would never have raised a sword to any of his team-mates. There has to be another way!"

Ji shook his head. "There is no other way," he answered. "Jayden knows what he has to do, he has no choice."

"There's always a choice!" Mike argued. "This is bogus!"

"Have faith in your leader, Mike," Ji said, walking around the green ranger and staring up at the gap sensors.

Ava shook her head. "This is wrong," she murmured. "There has to be another way! C'mon guys, we have to help Jayden!"

"And hope Kevin comes to his senses," Mia added.

Emily nodded, and tugging at Mike's hand, pulled him off after her sisters.

~*Little Samurai*~

"It's about time, Red ranger," Madimot said as Jayden finally arrived at the construction site. Behind the Nighlok, fully morphed and ready for another battle, was Kevin.

"Kevin, please wake up," Jayden pleaded not wanting to harm his friend any more than others wanted him too, but he knew that if push came to shove, then he would have to battle Kevin like he did any other Nighlok.

Kevin, however, didn't respond.

"That's not going to happen, Red," said Madimot. "Make this fight count! Or I'll make Blue turn his sword on himself!"

Over his shoulder, Jayden was vaguely aware that he was no longer alone. The others had arrived, but he couldn't let them in on this battle, they had been injured during their last fight with Kevin, and he knew that neither of them wanted to fight Kevin. He didn't want too, but he knew that he had too.

"Jayden," Mike called, readying his Samuraizer. "We're here to help!"

"No," Jayden ordered them. "I can't put anyone else at risk!"

"But -" Mia started.

Jayden shook his head and turned back to Madimot. "You want a show? I'll give you the show of your life, Nighlok," he said, raising his Samuraizer.

"Jayden!" Emily protested.

"Now I wish I had some popcorn," Madimot said, leaping out of the construction site to view the fight from a higher vantage point. "Blue, attack!"

Drawing his sword, Kevin turned it to face Jayden, as the others watched with bated breaths.

"Samuraizer!" Jayden yelled, "Go, go Samurai!"

"He won't hurt Kevin," Ava said, tearfully.

"I hope you're right," Mia nodded.

"I can't believe this is happening," Mike said, shaking his head as he watched Jayden and Kevin circle one another, each one waiting for the other to attack. Then, without warning, both rangers rushed at one another, swords clashed and sparks flew, but neither landed a direct hit.

"Jayden!" Ava yelled.

"What are you thinking?" Mike shouted. "That's Kevin!"

But Jayden ignored them, focusing all of his concentration and energy on stopping Kevin. The two made a mad dash away from the four other rangers, all of whom were still shouting at the two of them.

"Wake up, Kev!" Emily yelled, tearfully.

"You're fighting Jayden!" Mia shouted. "You can't do this!"

Ava teetered nervously on the balls of her toes; her hands covered her face as she drew them down around her mouth. Tears sparked her hazel eyes as she shook her head at the clash of metal on metal; she knew that she should have been used to the sounds of fighting, but when the fight pitted brother against brother, she knew that it was no longer an ordinary fight.

"Oh, man," Mike complained. "This is so not cool!"

"Spin sword, Dragon splash!" Kevin commanded.

"NO!" Ava screamed as the ground all around Jayden exploded. "Kevin, stop!"

"Shut your pie hole," Madimot yelled, blasting the four unmorphed rangers with his shield. Already injured from their fight with Kevin; Mia, Ava, Emily and Mike clutched their stomachs and chests as they hit the ground hard, after the explosion. "No talking during the show!"

Coughing and spluttering the four rangers made it back to their feet, just as a stranger approached them.

"It looks like we have a winner," he said, stopping in front of the rangers and surveying Jayden and Kevin who were still fighting.

"Who are you?" Mike asked.

"It doesn't matter who I am," the stranger answered. "All that matters is the man who is winning, and it's not the man in blue."

"How can you tell?" Mia asked.

"Because he is fighting as if he is trying to win a training point rather than a real duel," the stranger answered. "It is a lot different when you are fighting for survival. You fight with instinct. You have to watch your target like a hawk, it is easy to get tired in a long battle when there is no one to say stop."

Ava's breath caught as Kevin's sword sliced through the chain which held a cluster of scaffolding suspended in mid-air. The entire rack fell towards the ground, separating Kevin from Jayden. "That was close," she whispered, her eyes wide. "Too close!"

"The Red warrior has a good stance," the Stranger continued, leading the others towards the edge of the ledge to watch the final remnants of the battle between Kevin and Jayden. "It reduces arm fatigue, he'll stay strong! When the Blue goes for the point, Red will see his opening and go for the strike, he's just looking for a decisive blow. That's the difference between these two!"

Kevin cried out as he raised his sword, and darted towards Jayden.

"Come back to us, Kevin," Jayden grunted as he raised his sword and deflected Kevin's blow. Pushing his team-mates sword down, he activated the white power disk, engulfing his sword with a burst of flames. "This should break the spell!" he said, throwing Kevin's sword off of his own, and slashing his friend across the stomach with his blade.

Ava drew a ragged breath as she watched Kevin fall to his knees, his suit rippling with electrified red energy. Dark energy flooded into the air, as Madimot screamed in anger and frustration.

"Blue, my puppet!" he yelled.

Demorphing, Kevin hit the ground on his stomach.

"Kevin!" Mia shouted, as she, Mike, Emily and Ava made a dash for their friend.

"Kevin," Emily said, shaking the Blue ranger. "Kevin! Wake up, Kevin!"

"He probably needs some air, guys," Mia said as Kevin started to come too. He blinked and looked around at his friends, his head resting on Mike's legs as the three girls sighed in relief.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Right now," said Ava, "we have work to do!"

Mike nodded and helped his best friend back to his feet.

"Red ranger," Madimot shouted at Jayden. "You had this planned all along!"

"When we fought in the forest, my resist symbol power protected me against your mind control ray," Jayden explained. "We weren't sure if the resist disks power would work on Kevin too, but I had to try. I had no other choice."

"You could have at least told us!" Ava asked, appearing beside him.

"You would have tried to stop me," Jayden answered, squeezing her shoulder. "I'm sorry for having to fight you, Kevin, but I had to get into a close enough position to use the disk."

"Fighting me?" Kevin frowned.

Mia nodded as he looked her way.

"Because you're such a good fighter," Jayden explained, "it took me a lot longer to get close enough to use it."

"Luckily it worked," Ava sighed, before punching Jayden in shoulder. "That's for scaring us and making us think that you were pitted against Kevin!" she said, as he cringed.

"What about him?" Jayden whined, rubbing his shoulder.

"Kevin's been under a Nighlok's control all day," Ava defended. "I think he's suffered enough!"

Jayden grumbled under his breath, as Ava smirked and turned back to the Blue ranger, who had just suggested that they fight someone that wasn't on their own team, someone like Madimot.

"Yeah," the others agreed, and Ava hurried across the construction site to morph with her friends.

"Samuraizers," the five yelled out. "Go, Go Samurai! Samurai ranger, ready!" they said as they drew their spin swords.

"Tiger zord!" Madimot commanded. "Crush them!"

The White tiger burst out of the ground over-looking the construction site, while the rangers regrouped beneath it.

"You guys take care of the Nighlok," Jayden said. "I'll handle the Tiger zord!"

Mike nodded. "We're on it!"

"Let's go!" Emily agreed, running off after the others.

"Go get him, Lion Zord," Ava smiled as the red lion folded into his animal form in Jayden's palm. "Show him whose king of this jungle!"

The Lion growled in approval, earning a giggle from Ava, before she run off after the others.

~*Little Samurai*~

"Spin sword, Ice Storm!" Ava yelled as she pushed off of Kevin's shoulder and slashed downwards with her Spin sword. The Nighlok spun in a semi-circle before hitting the ground as his shield and body sparked dangerously.

Landing, Ava returned her spin sword to her hip, and stepped back away from the Nighlok, as the Tigerzord roared overhead.

"Look," Emily shouted, pointing at the great cat. "The Tigerzord is back!"

"Jayden, you rock!" Mike cheered.

"What?" Madimot yelled. "Now they've turned Tiggy against me too!"

"Shows over, Nighlok!" Kevin said, adding his power disk to his spin sword.

"Not so fast," Madimot growled, firing an energy blast from his shield at them. The ground exploded all around the rangers and a giant cloud of flames engulfed them.

But not even that could stop them.

"Spin swords! Five element strike!" the five friends yelled, jumping through the flames and attacking the Nighlok with their five element combination.

"That's not fair," Madimot pouted. "You teamed up on me!"

"That's why they call it team work!" Ava nodded, as Madimot exploded, before returning as a Mega monster.

~*Little Samurai*~

"Now you've got a big problem," Madimot said facing Jayden. "Bad Kitty!" he added to the Tiger zord.

"Welcome home, Tiger zord," Jayden said as he pushed the Zord forward, avoiding the blasts that Madimot sent his way. "Unfortunately for you, this cat has claws! Sometimes when you play in the dirt, you end up losing ground!" he said, as the Tigerzord sliced through the earth surrounding Madimot, he wheeled away and the ground disappeared beneath the Nighlok's feet.

"You're bad, alright," Ava nodded as she swooped over Madimot in her Penguin zord. "A bad loser! C'mon guys!" she added as the rest of her friends appeared in their zords behind. "Jayden, let's combine!"

Jayden nodded. "You got it!" he agreed, drawing the combining symbol and activating it.

"Samurai Megazord, we are united!"

"Samurai artillery," Jayden commanded, activating the Tiger spin disk.

"Tiger drill Megazord!" the six rangers yelled once the combination was complete. "Armed for battle!"

"You're nothing but a hairball!" Madimot insulted, as he pulled himself free from the crevice the Red ranger had created. He raised his shield and blocked the attack from the Samurai Megazords sword. "Your Megazord is useless; my shield is the real deal!"

"Not for long," Ava said, as Mia and Emily pushed the shield and Nighlok away from them. "Jayden, we can break his shield with the tiger drill!"

Jayden nodded. "Good idea. Mega blade, activate!" he said.

"Mega blade, activate!" the others said, following his lead.

"Tiger drill!" Ava yelled.

"Charge!" Jayden commanded, as the Megazord leaned forward, and drilled through Madimot and his shield.

The shield hit the ground and shattered, leaving Madimot to spark, curse and explode.

"Yeah,"

"Alright!"

"We did it!"

"Samurai Rangers, victory is ours!"

~*Little Samurai*~

"So the Tigerzord was a part of your family?" Mia asked as she set up the snake and ladders board game, while Emily, Mike and Ava lounged around her.

"Yep," Ava nodded. "I know what you're thinking," she added. "How did a family of flightless birds end up with a cat, right?"

Mia smiled sheepishly.

"It's a mystery even to me," Ava smiled. "But since the Tigerzord was able to control snow when it was combined with the Samurai Megazord, it was always related back to my family, since snow is my families' element. Daddy used to tell me stories about how my mom was fiercely protective of the tiger zord, and how upset she was when they lost it in battle, he never thought he'd see it back in a Brook's possession!"

"Until now," Emily pointed out.

Ava grinned. "Yeah, until now," she nodded. "And besides, the Tigerzord is White; it would look out of place in the Shiba family."

Mike, Mia and Emily laughed, before starting their game.

They were mid-way through it when Mike threw a five. "Whoo, let's go!" the green ranger cheered, patting his bear zord and watched as it waddled across the board, down two arrows, before sliding down a snake. "No, no, no, oh!" Mike complained as the girls laughed at him.

"Too bad," Mia said, picking up the dice. "My turn! Double sixes, yeah, Whoo!" she cheered, as Jayden and Kevin, who were sitting on the step behind them, smiled and turned back to their own conversation.

"After what happened today," Kevin sighed, "I don't feel much like playing!"

"It wasn't your fault," Jayden said, shaking his head. "That Nighlok was the one playing games and using us as the pieces. Tiger is one of our toughest allies, and even he couldn't resist that Nighlok's spell."

"But I raised my sword against you," Kevin protested.

"And I raised mine against you," Jayden argued. "Sometimes we can't risk putting each other at risk."

"But we have to do what is best for the greater good," Kevin nodded.

"You sound like Mentor," Jayden said nudging him.

Kevin smiled.

"Daddy, Jayden and Kevin are talking about you!" Ava yelled, giggling at the glares she received from the blue and red rangers.

"Only nice things, I hope," Ji shouted back.

Mia, Emily and Mike chuckled as they cleared the bored for a new game. Mia had won the last one, and neither of the other three was prepared to let her beat them.

"Hey, we're starting a new game," Mia said, calling the last two remaining rangers over. "C'mon!"

"Alright," Kevin nodded. "But i'm Blue..."

"Aw, no fair," Ava pouted, playfully. "I wanted to be Blue. Blue's cool!"

"But Yellow's cooler," Emily smiled.

"Sorry, Em, I have to disagree," Jayden said. "Red is way cooler,"

"Nuh-uh," Ava said, shaking her head, as the doorbell rang. "Red's hot - I'll get it!" she added, rolling off of her seat, seeing as she had been on her stomach, and disappeared from the living room. Leaving the others to exchange looks, as Jayden grinned after her.

Exchanging a look with Mia, Emily nodded.

"You know, Jayden," the Pink ranger said as she placed both his and Kevin's Foldingzords on the board. "It's not too late to give up. You can still fight..."

"Fight?" Kevin asked, looking between Jayden and Mia. "For what?"

"To be number one," Emily smiled.

"Does this have something to do with that secret Ava asked you not to mention?" Mike asked, also confused.

Mia nodded. "Yeah, but after today," she said. "It's not that hard to see where Ava belongs."

"Ava -" Kevin started.

"- belongs?" Mike finished, as he glanced at the Blue ranger. "What's with the riddles? Why can't you just tell us?"

"It's not our place to say," Emily answered. "Ava told us in confidence,"

"Jayden only knows," Mia added, quickly. "Is because he is part of the reason..."

"What reason?" Mike frowned, becoming frustrated with the riddles and secrets between his friends. They were supposed to be a team! And being a team meant no secrets between them. "What are you hiding?" he asked.

"Hey, you guys," Ava shouted as she rushed back into the room, pulling someone behind her. "We got room for one more?"

Everyone looked up and a few mouths nearly hit the floor. Luke, smiling and laughing at his over-excited girlfriend, was behind her.

Instantly, the other rangers made a grab for their Foldingzords, hiding them from view of the civillian in the room.

"You guys remember Luke, I trust," Ava smiled, cuddling closer to her boyfriend as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "He wanted to surprise me, but I've already started a game with you, at least this way, I can please you all!"

Luke smiled and kissed the top of her head, causing Jayden to look at away.

Mia sighed quietly and exchanged a look with Emily; this was not what they had planned when they had told Jayden to continue to fight for Ava, but what could they do? If they turned Luke away now, Ava would surely go with him.

"Of course there's room," Mia smiled.

Emily nodded. "Yeah, c'mon, Luke can be the tiger!" she grinned turning towards Jayden, hoping that he'd use a little hocus pocus symbol power on the Tiger disk, only enough to transform it into an animated tiger for Luke to use during their new game.

Jayden sighed and under the table, away from prying eyes, he drew a symbol with his Samuraizer, transforming the white and gold disk in his hand, into a small Tiger toy.

"Here," he said, holding it out to Luke.

Both boys considered the other for a split second, as Kevin frowned as the tension levels within the room seemed to spike and raise rapidly. Taking the animated toy from the Red ranger, Luke looked down at it, and the tiger roared back at him.

"Cool," Luke grinned. "White Tiger! He's awesome!"

"He's the best!" Ava giggled. "But not as awesome as the Penguin!" she added, scooping up her own Foldingzord.

Mike shook his head and turned back to Luke.

"Welcome to the team, dude!" he said.

"Thanks," Luke said, turning to Kevin who was the fourth to greet him.

"Me first!" Ava grinned as she dropped down onto her stool, and curled her feet underneath him.

She pulled Luke down beside her, smiling as he wrapped his arm around her waist; before leaning forward and taking a card from the top of the pile, she handed one to Luke and another to Jayden, before taking one for herself. "C'mon! Lucky six!" she whispered, before throwing the dice, and clapping her hands excitedly as she got her wish.

Jayden, meanwhile, was scowling at Luke from the corner of his eye, as the delivery boy wrapped an arm around Ava and pulled her onto his lap for the remainder of the game.


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Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx

Chapter updated Monday, October 15, 2012 at 03:48am