Have a Little Faith

Emily's POV

It's been a month since we lost our powers. A month. That means one month of Nighlock attacks we couldn't stop. One month of trying to figure out the black box. And one month of us moping around.

I think the part that made it so bad was that Mike wouldn't even look at me. He said that he didn't blame me for anything, but if he didn't then… Why was he ignoring me?

I tried everything to try and repair our friendship. I tried to pair up with him at training, but he always went off by himself. I sat by him at dinner and he would move. Video games didn't seem to help either.

Mia tells me to just give it time, but I don't think… I don't think I'll ever have my best friend back.

Sitting down by the creek was the only way for me to still feel like I had any kind of connection with him. It was sort of our place. We used it whenever we needed to get away from all the other rangers. We would talk about everything there. Our families, what our lives used to be like, everything.

So, I sat there, my knees pulled into my chest, trying to figure out how everything fell apart. I cried a little, but I didn't make any noise because I didn't want anyone to find me.

When Mike sat down beside me I wiped them away, but I knew he already saw them.

I knew that I probably should have headed back to dojo since it was getting dark, but this was the only contact I'd had with Mike in days. I could risk the mosquitoes.

"Hey," I said, but he was still ignoring me.

"I um… I'm sorry that I didn't tell you anything Mike. I'm sorry that I didn't let you know about prom. I was just scared that you would get upset and tell Master Ji so we wouldn't get to go and then Mia wouldn't get to dance with Jayden. Not that we went anyway, but… And I'm sorry that my recklessness almost cost us everything. And I'm sorry that Jayden and Mia are together because I know that you wanted to be with her-"

He scrunched his eyebrows, "Why would I want to be with Mia?"

They were the first words he'd said to me in so long, "Because you like her don't you?"

He looked up at the sky, "I don't like her," and then he finally looked at me, "And you can stop apologizing for everything. I'm not mad at you… I'm mad at myself."

Confused I asked, "Why?"

Mike shook his head, "You just don't get it do you? I'm mad at myself because I couldn't be the one you confided in about Prom. I wasn't the one you could trust through any of this. I made you feel like… Like I would hold everything you did against you. If I just would have been that guy, the one you could have talked to about this stuff, none of this would have ever happened. You wouldn't have felt like you were waiting to be judged, and you wouldn't have left the team.

It's my fault we lost our powers too, even if it was in an effort to protect the team and Jayden. And it was my fault that you missed Prom and just everything. Ugh. I can't do anything right.

I'm sorry Em…" He whispered looking down at the creek.

"But… You didn't do anything wrong. I should have trusted you," I said putting my hand on his shoulder and he smiled at me, but I knew there was something else going on in that head of his.

"Mike, promise me something…" I said, "Promise me that you'll stop blaming yourself for all of this. It just happened, okay."

He looked away and scratched the back of his head, "That's a little hard to promise Em."

Biting my lip, I struggled for the right words, "I know, but I know what it's like to think like that. It's not good for you. I know it wasn't good for me."

Mike looked in my eyes, "Could you promise me the same thing?"

Honestly, I didn't know if I could promise that either, I had been blaming myself for everything too.

He opened his mouth to say something, but his communicator went off.

Smiling, Mike got up, "We'll have to put that thought on hold for the moment, it's ready."

Curiously, I looked at him and his huge grin, and asked, "What's ready?'

"You'll see!" Mike exclaimed as he took my hand in his and led me through the dark out of the forest and into…

"Mike! It's amazing!" All around the training center there were flowers and lights, and there was music playing.

"I know you didn't exactly get to go your own Prom, so I—Do you want to dance?"

I smiled and grabbed his hand leading him onto the training/dance floor. How he'd come up with all of this I had no idea. But it was perfect.

"How did you?"

"Well… I kind of got everything and hid it in my room. Then all I had to do was stall while the others put everything together," then he stopped us for a moment a picked up a white Lily that was on a nearby table that had been decorated with flowers and balloons, and handed it to me.

"Mia said that these are your favorite," he explained and I smiled tucking it behind my ear.

Wrapping my arms around his neck I gave him a hug, "Thank you so much!"

That's when I heard the music venue change to something a little more dancy and I saw the others come out. It was the best night ever. I couldn't have asked for a better Prom.

Mike's POV

Emily was so happy. I honestly wouldn't have know what to do if she hadn't been. All I wanted to do was see her smile again, especially with how tough everything had been lately.

Plus, it was worth it to see the way Antonio did the funky chicken. That was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life and was definitely going up on youtube later. I'd have to remember to thank Kevin for video tapping that.

I yawned as the others made their way inside. Emily and I decided to stay behind and watch the sun come up.

I couldn't talk to Emily while I was planning this whole thing, because I didn't want her to know what was going on. So whenever she was around I avoided her. But I'd missed her so much. So, I really didn't care how many laps Master Ji would make me do for sleeping in because I stayed out late with her tonight.

"Thank you," she murmured as she held me.

Tightening my embrace, I let her rest her head on my shoulder as we sat together watching the light come up over the horizon hiding the stars and making it seem like the night had never happened.

"It's so pretty, but I'm sad…"

"Yeah, beautiful," I agreed thinking about the beauty of the girl in my arms rather than the sunrise, "What's wrong?"

"It's over," she frowned.

"I know, I don't want it to be over either," I admitted, but I knew it wasn't because the night was over, but because I knew when the sun finally rose I was going to have to let go of Emily. Meaning I would have to go back to pretending that I wasn't in love with her.

Her breathing started to slow and I knew that she'd fallen asleep. So, I waited there with her just a little longer. Because I knew I wasn't going to get another chance like this.

Finally, when I knew that it was almost time for Master Ji to get up I carried her to her room and laid her down on her bed.

Mia was still asleep so I let my hand graze Emily's face and I kissed her forehead before I left her completely. Shutting the door I felt it hit me. The need to see her again, to see her smile, to be around her, anything, but I resisted. As always. Things were going to go back to the way they were. They had to.

"You're going to have to tell her eventually," Master Ji interrupted and I all but jumped out my skin. I hadn't expected him to be up an hour before he usually is. He looked even more tired than I was. Guess he hadn't been getting much sleep lately.

"Now go get some sleep before I make you run laps," he snapped.

I nodded, happy and a little scared at the same time.

Me tell Emily… Yeah… I didn't know if I could ever tell her. But I did know that Master Ji was right… I was going to run out of time eventually; she would convince her Romeo to woo her, or her sister really would come back.

I would have to tell Emily, even if she didn't feel the same way.

Emily's POV

The gap sensor went off, waking me up, and everyone rushed to the living room where we sat, and waited for orders. We hadn't been able to stop a single nighlock attack, but that didn't mean we had stopped trying. It was our duty to save the world.

When Master Ji entered no one looked up, we kept our heads down, each one of us trying to figure out how we were going to help without any tools.

That was when Master Ji drew up a power symbol and we saw… Other rangers doing our job.

"This isn't right…" Jayden sighed.

"No duh, they're cleaning up our mess!" Mike snapped.

He really was taking it harder than the rest of us.

"But what can we do?" Mia asked.

"We're useless without our powers," Kevin agreed.

But accepting our fate, going back to living a normal life wasn't enough for me. Not anymore.

"No! We did all that training, and we were the ones chosen to be rangers. We should be the ones fighting. Bulk and Spike may not be rangers, but they still train to be Samurai and do their best to have courage against the Nighlok. So we should too. It wasn't our powers that made us Samurai. It was who we are," I said.

Everyone looked surprised and confused, everyone except Antonio.

He agreed with me, "That's right. I was never supposed to be a ranger at all, and I still found a way. Maybe there's another way to fight off these Nighlok."

Master Ji spoke up, "Without your powers it's much too dangerous out there."

"That doesn't stop Bulk and Spike," I crossed my arms.

Still confused Kevin asked, "Who are Bulk and Spike?"

"You know those goofy guys we always see around the moogers? The ones who try to pretend their Samurai too?" Mia asked and the others nodded, "them."

"Yeah, but don't we always end up saving the day and keeping them from getting toasted?" Kevin was confused again.

"Ugh," I rolled my eyes, "The point is we might not have our powers right now, but that doesn't mean we should just give up."

Having my back, Jayden spoke up, "Emily's right you guys. We are the Power Rangers. Maybe we can still get back our powers. Master Ji still has his, Antonio try adding his symbol power to the black box, see if maybe he can get it to unlock."

Without a second thought, Antonio went to work. The rest of us had nothing to do, but wait. And waiting made us a little crazy.

I followed Mike outside as the others went back to their daily chores.

"You okay?"

He shook his head, "You and I both know what he's planning won't work. Nothing is going to unlock that box."

"Hm… Well, maybe Antonio can make us all new symbol powers or something. Or who knows, there are other rangers, maybe we can get new powers by asking them-"

"You don't get it do you? We aren't getting new powers or whatever. This is it. Game over," he shrugged.

"Well, with Game Over's don't you usually restart the Game?" I asked.

He sat down on the bench outside and shook his head, "You don't get restarts in real life."

Smiling, I sat down next to him, "Yeah, but we do get to stick around and figure out how to make it without a restart. Have a little faith. I'm sure everything is going to work out."

"I sure hope you're right Em…"

Bulk's POV

"Alright Spike. The Samurai Ranger's are gone. It's our time to step and become real Samurai!" I exclaimed pounding my fist in the air.

"Uh… Uncle Bulk, if the rangers are gone who are they?" Spike scratched his head and pointed towards… More Rangers?

Their helmets were different, but they were certainly rangers.

Great. Now I'll never get a chance to prove how tough I really am.

"Are you those guys from the fashion show?" a little boy asked.

Spike and I looked at each other unsure of what to say, but we both nodded.

That little boy laughed as hard as he could and then asked us for our autographs?

"You guys we're so funny. No one else would have the guts to do that," the boy said.

It was strange having this young boy ask for my autograph and for a moment I was almost happy.

That is, until I heard his mother yell, "Stay away from my Son!" and she whipped out some pepper spray.

"It's time to run again, isn't it Uncle Bulk?" Spike asked from my side.

"Yes Spike, I think it is," and with that Spike and I took off towards home once again.

Some things just never change.