Author's Note: I have decided that this story will be updated every Tuesdays, giving me a chance to update my other stories, but also focus on my University work too. Have fun.
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 thank you too: LittleZebra, DustinHunterPRNS and TheOnePerson1234 for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Appreciate it mates.
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.
Last Time on Power Rangers Samurai
"Red Ranger! Red Ranger!"
"Guys! They want Jayden!"
"I've never heard anything so evil!"
"That was Master Xandred!"
"Why the Moogers only after Jayden?"
"Only members of the Red Ranger Shiba family can use the seal!"
"We have to protect Jayden that's our number one mission."
"No!"
"This is my fight. I must do this my way!"
~*Little Samurai*~
"Ava," Ji called as he stepped outside. Mike had just told him that she had stepped out to call Luke in order to cancel their standing date that evening. "Ava, are you out here?"
There was no answer.
Ji sighed as he noticed the gates were open. "Ava, what have you done this time?" he murmured. He didn't want to think that Ava had left the Shiba house again, but he had a feeling that if she had been outside during the time that Jayden had been leaving, he knew that Ava would have gone after him.
Had the weight of leading the Samurai rangers become too heavy for Jayden to carry? If that was the case, then what could he possibly do to help him?
There was only so much that one could train a destined Samurai ranger, but to train him to be a leader and ask him to carry the weight of the world, not to mention put others in danger, was another thing all together. It was not something that was easy to ask of a child, even if that child was nineteen years old.
"She's lost her mother," said Damien. "Of course she is going to be feeling lost and alone, even if she isn't truly lost and alone."
"So what do I do?" asked Ji.
Damien sighed. "Evie and I felt exactly the same way when we lost our mother. But our dad just gave us some time alone, to deal with everything. Ava just needs a little bit of time," he nodded. "She'll come around, Ji; she's a strong kid, just like her mother."
"But she'll never be the same,"
"The feeling of losing someone important to you will never fade, Ji," Damien said, shaking his head. "But it will get easier. Ava will never forget Evie and neither will you; she will always be with you both, but holding onto her is not going to bring her back, she has gone, as hard as it is to accept, you must. She has gone, but she will never be forgotten!"
Ji heaved a heavy sigh and nodded. "Time..."
"... and space," Damien nodded, finishing his tea and standing. "If you need anything else, just give me a call."
He patted his brother-in-law on the shoulder, and left the Shiba house, only stopping to watch Jayden and Ava play quietly in the dojo before leaving completely.
Ji smiled, faintly. That was it. Time and space.
When Evelyn had died, Ava had become a different person. She had retreated within herself, became quiet, less trusting. She refused to speak to anyone, including himself, but she always remained faithful and true to Jayden; worried for his daughter, Ji had done the one thing he could thing of and that was to call Evelyn's older brother, Damien.
Damien had explained that Ava reminded him so much of his late sister, even down to the way she was acting now. When they had lost their mother, Ava's grandmother, and the White ranger before Evelyn, his father had given them time and space to come to terms with the abrupt removal from their family.
Was that what he needed to give Jayden? Time? Time to deal with everything that had happened over the past couple of months? If that were the case, and it would bring Jayden home, safely, then he was willing to step back, and allow his godson to take as much time as he needed, he just hoped his daughter understood that too.
~*Little Samurai*~
Ava groaned as the morning sun broke through the hazy darkness of her sleep, she rolled onto her side, and yelped as her bed disappeared from beneath her.
"Ow," she groaned, as she sat up and looked at her hands. But instead of seeing smooth skinned palms, she saw flashed of red. She had cut herself? But how - Ava's eyes widened as the stinging her palms brought her quickly to her senses, the only way she could have cut herself was if she hadn't fallen out of her bed and onto a soft carpet.
Quickly looking around, the White ranger's eyes widened as she realized that she wasn't in the safety of her bedroom, or her bed, for that matter. She was, however, sitting in front of a bench looking out to sea. She frowned; how the hell had she ended up out here? Then she remembered. She had fallen asleep while she had been keeping an eye on Jayden -
"Jayden!" Ava gasped jumping to her feet and looking around. There was no sign of the Red ranger. He must have moved on while she had been sleeping, but why hadn't he awoken her? He must have seen her, right? There was no way he could have not seen her, it wasn't like she was undercover or anything, she was completely exposed and out in the open.
What if he had seen her, but walked straight past her?
Ava felt a stab of betrayal pierce her heart. Would he have done that? For real?
The White ranger shook her head, clearing it of any unwanted thoughts. Jayden wouldn't have done that to her, if he had left the general area he would have seen her, he would have seen her and awoken her from her sleep, he would have asked her what she was doing there, and then he would have ordered her to go back home. She was sure of it.
As she sat contemplating on where to look next for Jayden, Ava heard a small sob from over her shoulder. She frowned, paused, and looked around. There was a small boy, no older than six or seven; he was sitting alone on a bench just inside the park; an older brunette woman stood a few feet away, she kept throwing glances over at the boy, possibly checking to make sure that he was still there.
Probably is mom Ava thought, before she saw the older woman look back to the children that were playing around her. Or teacher she added as an afterthought. She couldn't help but wonder what was making the little boy so upset, he should have been laughing and playing with his fellow classmates, not sitting by himself and crying. Was he hurt? He didn't look hurt.
Deciding that she wanted to be sure that this little boy was alright, at least before she left to continue her search for Jayden, Ava jumped up and turned to climb over the small wall that separated the park from the beach; she stopped, however, as Jayden moved into her line of sight and knelt beside the kid.
She sighed; at least Jayden hadn't gone too far.
"What's wrong, buddy?" Jayden asked, kneeling in front of the little boy.
"My daddy went away for a job," the boy answered through his tears. "And I miss him!"
Ava couldn't help but smile sadly. Both she and Jayden knew exactly how the kid felt, they both had lost someone close to them, the kids father may have still been alive, he still couldn't see him; just how she couldn't see her mother, and Jayden couldn't see his father.
Granted Jayden still had a mother, who was protecting his older sister, but that was beside the point. Jayden hadn't seen his mother since he was six years old.
"You want to see a trick?" Jayden asked, breaking Ava from her thoughts. The White ranger looked up to see him remove his samuraizer from his pocket and open it. She couldn't see what he was doing from where she was, but she could only assume that she as tracing a symbol on the bench.
Next second, Jayden leaned back and held up a red paper airplane.
Ava smiled as she remembered how Jayden's father would always make them paper airplanes to play with when they were small. As the paper airplane soared through the air, the White ranger giggled as the little boy smiled through his tears, watching as it swooped over his playmates and teacher.
Jumping down from the bench, the little boy run off, leaving Jayden to laugh quietly at his energetic nature. If he hadn't just cheered the boy up, he wouldn't have believed that he had been crying. Hearing a rustle in the bushes behind him, the Red ranger tensed, before relaxing as Ava popped up beside him.
"How'd you sleep?"
"You knew?"
"Of course I knew!"
"Then why couldn't you have let me know that you knew!"
"I was hoping you'd give up and go back home!"
"If you weren't my best friend, I would have!" Ava snapped, angrily crossing her arms and looking away from him. "I hate you!" she added, spitefully.
Jayden chuckled and, despite how rocky their friendship had become, he couldn't help wrapping his arm around her and hugging her to him. "If you hated me so much, you wouldn't have followed me all night." he said. "So, how did you sleep?"
"If you had let on to the fact that I was following you, I would have slept fine!" Ava answered her eyes still on the little kids.
"How do you work that one out?"
"I could have slept against you," Ava answered. "Rather than on a bench! But no, you had to be mean, and ignore me! Some best friend you turned out to be!"
Jayden rolled his eyes. "I apologize," he said, "and I'll make it up to you!"
"Yeah, you will," Ava nodded, determined to make him suffer more for his actions, but she felt her hate slipping as he continued to hug her, promising her things that he would do to make it up to her. He had already promised her cookies, ice cream and half a dozen other stuff that she knew she was not allowed.
They were silent for a few minutes, each just holding the other, and watching the children playing and having fun.
"This is how it should be," Jayden said, breaking the silence. "No monsters. No threat -"
"Just kids having fun?"
Jayden nodded.
Ava smiled. "What world is that?" she asked, looking up at him.
Now that she was closer, and looking at him fully, Jayden could see that her eyes were rimmed red, a clear sign that she hadn't slept well the previous evening and was fighting the tiredness that threatened to envelope her now; he couldn't help but feel a tad guilty, if he hadn't left then she wouldn't have followed him and, therefore, she wouldn't have looked like she was ready to pass out from exhaustion.
"What do you mean?" he asked, brushing a stray curl from her face.
"I want to live in a world where there are no monsters," Ava answered. "Where there is no threat..." she looked away from him, and back out across the playing to where the children were still laughing and playing without a care in the world. "I want to live in a world where we can be free; free to do what we want, and be who we want to be!"
"That's a perfect world!"
Ava smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I want to live in a perfect world!" she said. "Too bad that world only exists in the form of dreams and movies."
Jayden squeezed her tightly, kissing the top of her head, before looking up as the sound of screaming echoed from beyond the playground.
"Speaking of monsters..." he muttered, spotting the Moogers.
"Aw you had to say it!" Ava complained, snapping open her samuraizer and tracing a symbol through the air. She slashed it and her spin sword appeared in her hand. "I think I'm gonna hibernate after this," she muttered, as she run towards the fish-faced foot soldiers.
Ducking under a sword, Ava swung her own around and cut down as many Moogers as she could, whilst Jayden fought alongside her.
"The kids!" he said, spotting more Moogers running towards the screaming youngsters.
"Go!" Ava yelled, noticing his hesitation. She knew he was worried about her. Cutting down more Moogers, Ava turned to her best friend and touched his shoulder. "I'll be fine, Jayden, go help them!" she promised.
Jayden hesitated, before nodding and taking off.
Ava smiled, faintly and shook her head, turning back to the ambushing Moogers. "When will you guys quit?!" she snapped, jumping into the air and double kicking two Moogers away from her, and cutting down three more.
"My airplane!"
"Huh?" Ava frowned, recognizing the tiny voice. She spun around and gasped as the little boy that Jayden had been talking to her earlier, stood in front of Robtish. The Nighlok extended his claw towards the little boy. "Hey! Back off!" she yelled, jumping over more Moogers and slashing down Robtish with her spin sword. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not nice to pick on little kids?"
"No," the Nighlok laughed. "I'll show you what she taught me you annoying little Samurai!"
"Jayden, get him out of here!"
Jayden nodded, run towards the kid and picked him up around the waist, and carried him to safety, as Ava battled Robtish. She was in civilian form, so he knew that she wasn't truly battling him, mostly trying to keep out of his reach as not to get hurt.
"Double slash!" Robtish yelled.
"No!" Jayden yelled rushing towards his best friend. He remembered what that attack did to Antonio, Emily and Kevin yesterday, it had knocked them completely out of their morphed state. He didn't even want to think of the damage it could have done to Ava while she didn't have her suit to protect her. "Ava, look out!"
"Huh - what?" Ava frowned, as Jayden collided with her, knocking her out of the way of Robtish's attacking. Jayden hit the ground first, his arms wrapped tightly around Ava, as he clutched her to him. "Um... this is a little awkward!" she said, once she had realized their position, a dull blush rose in her cheeks and she hoped that Jayden didn't notice.
Jayden laughed lightly. "I just saved your life and that's all you can say?" he asked.
"My brains a little rattled," Ava shrugged, getting off of him. "Sue me!"
"Isn't that sweet," Robtish drawled as he appeared behind them. "Dayu warned me about you two! But she failed to mention how sickening it was to watch you flirt helplessly with one another."
Ava rolled her eyes. "I am so over you!" she snapped, grabbing her spin sword from the floor. She had dropped it when Jayden had collided with her.
"Such brave words for a little Samurai," Robtish laughed. "But it is not you I am after, it is the Red ranger I want!"
"You're gonna have to go through me first, Nighlok!" Ava said, bravely stepping in front of her best friend.
Robtish laughed again.
"Ava, what are you doing?" Jayden demanded, trying to move her. She wouldn't budge. "Ava, he'll destroy you!"
"I'd rather him destroy me than you!" Ava argued. "You're the one that's more valuable right now! Jayden, you can't treat me like one of the others! I know the truth about the sealing symbol," she added in a low whisper, so that only Jayden could hear, "I know about Lauren... you're her baby brother, and my best friend! So please, let me help you!"
Jayden sighed. "But I -" he started.
"Need me," Ava finished for him. "Good. I'm glad we're on the same page!" she nodded and turning back to Robtish. She heard Jayden sigh and glanced back to see him shaking his head. "Or, you could just stand here and I'll destroy him myself!"
"Who are you, and what have you done with Ava?" Jayden asked, surprised at her change of attitude. The Ava he knew was not this brave or outspoken. What had happened to her?
Ava flashed him a smile. "Sorry, the Ava you know is not here right now," she answered. "She's formulating a plan on how to save her best friend, because he's doing what he does best, and that's being stubborn! Leave your message at the -" she cut off as Robtish, angered by their bantering, stormed forward, grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air.
"Her voice was starting to annoy me," Robtish said. "I prefer them silent!"
"Silent but deadly!"
Jayden looked up as Mike and Kevin jumped over the Moogers, wielding their spin blades. They were unmorphed, but looked furious. Their blades connected with Robtish's back, and the Nighlok dropped Ava. She hit the ground, but her legs buckled under her weight and she landed on her hands and knees, clutching her throat and coughing.
"Ava, are you OK?" Emily asked as she and Mia rushed in from the sides. They knelt beside Ava, checking her over, as Antonio rushed in, using his superspeed, and attacking Robtish with his Barracuda blade.
Jayden smiled at their team-work. This was his team; they stood together and protected one another; that is what Ava was trying to tell him.
"Alright, Av," he nodded, picking up her spin sword and handing it to her, as Mia and Emily continued to fuss over her. "I don't like putting any of you in danger, but someone has to stop the Nighlok, and I'm glad it us!"
Ava blinked and then took her spin sword. "Rangers together..." she grinned. "Samurai forever!"
Jayden nodded and fell into formation as the others regrouped.
"Samuraizers!" the seven of them yelled out. "Go, Go Samurai!"
"Samurai ranger, ready!"
"Good," Robtish snarled. "I can destroy you all together! May as well go out as a team!"
~*Little Samurai*~
After destroying the Moogers, and following Robtish into the cities underground car park. The rangers regrouped with Jayden, ready to end Robtish's miserable existence like they did every other Nighlok.
"Together, our team can handle anything you throw at us," Jayden said.
"Prove it!" Robtish challenged.
Ava smirked and looked up at Jayden. He nodded once and stepped back as Robtish attacked, clashing blades with Emily and Mia, who pushed him away; moving aside, the Pink and Yellow rangers made room for Kevin and Mike to move in, leaving Ava and Antonio to protect Jayden, before he could move in for the final strike.
"See how your team deals with this!" Robtish growled as he picked himself up from the ground.
"He'll start with a shock wave," Jayden told his team. "Then watch for his slash attack; defend against those and we'll be fine. Ava, you ready?"
Ava nodded. "The sooner he's gone," she said, "the sooner I can hibernate!"
"Hibernate?" Mike frowned.
"Jayden owes me a nap time," Ava pointed out. "Oh, and cookies and ice cream."
"You're dad's not going to like that," Emily said.
Ava shrugged. "It's Jayden's fault for making me follow him all night!" she said, removing herself from the battle front. From where she now stood, behind Jayden, she watched as Emily and Mia handled Robtish's shockwave, Kevin and Mike dealt with the double slash attack, Antonio caught Robtish of guard with his Barracuda Blade, before coming face-to-face with Jayden's fire smasher.
"What?" Robtish growled.
"Ready?" Jayden asked as Ava attached her Tiger disk to the side of the fire smasher, and clapped her hands, excitedly as he transformed it into his secondary weapon. "Seven disk tiger cannon!" The plan had been for her to destroy Robtish, just like she had wanted to do in the park, and since she had followed him all night, Jayden was more than happy to let her finish what she had started.
"Lend us your disks," Ava called to the others.
They nodded, tossing their disks through the air and slotting them, as if they were magnetic, into the cannon.
"Strike!" Ava said, firing the weapon.
The blast hit Robtish and he exploded.
"Ava, you did it!" Antonio congratulated, as he lifted Ava off of her feet and spun her around, much to the White ranger's own enjoyment. Hey, it was better than being tossed into any body of water that he could find.
"That was awesome!" Ava giggled, hugging the Gold ranger.
"Unfortunately, he's not done." Jayden said, breaking them apart.
Ava huffed and folded her arms, childishly. "He sucks!" she pouted.
"Majorly," Mike agreed, patting her shoulder.
Ava smiled. "Ah well, no rest for the wicked!" she shrugged. "C'mon, Pingu!" she said, taking her Foldingzord from her pocket. "We got a job to finish! Penguin Foldingzord! Mega Mode power!"
While Ava took to the skies in her Penguin Zord, Antonio turned to Jayden. "You haven't, by any chance, given her sugar today?" he asked.
"No," Jayden said, shaking his head. "I think she's just really tired!" he explained, before following Ava's lead and taking to his Lion Foldingzord.
~*Little Samurai*~
Once the six core rangers had created the Samurai Megazord, Antonio morphed into Mega mode and combined the Octozord to create Octo-spear Megazord.
"Oh, do you really think I'm afraid of you now?" Robtish asked, as he stood opposite the rangers. "Flying Moogers!"
Glancing out at the city, to any available crack that they could see, the rangers gasped as a swarm of Moogers appeared, only this time they weren't normal giant Moogers, these lot had -
"Wings?" Emily squeaked.
"That's not fair!" Ava whined.
"They fly now too?" Mike complained.
The flying Moogers swooped down over the rangers, firing their lasers at them and causing sparks to explode all over the Megazord. While trying to maintain their balance from the aerial attack, the rangers seemingly forgot that they had a Nighlok to also battle with, that was at least until he caught them with his blade.
"We're caught between them!" Mia exclaimed.
"We've got to get this Megazord stable," Jayden grunted, as he forced the Megazord down behind a tall building.
"Having a little trouble over there?" Robtish called.
Mike gasped. "Oh! The Samurai Battlewing will take out these flying rats!"
"Wait! I have an even better idea!" Kevin added. "We should combine the Samurai Battlewing with the Megazord."
Ava frowned. "We can do that?" she asked.
"I think so," Kevin nodded.
"Kev, your sketch book," Mia prompted.
The Blue ranger nodded and pulled out several paper plans, he handed them out to his friends, all of whom crowded around the other to read them.
"I guess what you were doing was better than playing Video games," Mike laughed.
"Wow," Antonio nodded. "I really think this will work!"
"OK, Kevin," Jayden nodded. "Why don't you take the lead on this?"
"Thanks, Jayden," Kevin said. "I got it!"
Forcing the Megazord to its feet, Kevin turned it to face Robtish, who was surprised to see the sudden reappearance of it.
"First we need the Samurai Battlewing!" Kevin said, holding up his blue disk.
"Right!" Mike and Ava nodded, following his lead.
"Swordfish Zord!"
"Tiger Zord!"
"Beetle Zord!"
"Zords combine!"
The Samurai Battlewing screeched as it formed the powerful bird that the rangers knew it was. The second the crown on its head formed, the bird fired several energy blasts at Robtish, who growled at agony, shaking the city has he was thrown backwards and landing with a hard crunch.
"It's an air strike combination," Jayden said, turning the page of the plans.
Tracing the symbol in the air, the six core rangers formed it into one. Antonio disappeared from the cockpit as the Octozord detached itself, and the Samurai Battlewing reattached itself to the Samurai Megazord instead.
"Battlewing Megazord! We are united!"
Ava laughed as she looked around. Her console had changed, slightly, instead the head of a penguin; it now had the head of a tiger. "It worked!" she exclaimed. "Way to go, Kev!"
"Yeah! We did it!" Kevin bounced happily and excitedly. "We did it!"
"I'm impressed!" Jayden nodded, just as Robtish got back to his feet.
"What is that thing?" Robtish asked.
"Hey, here's something new!" Kevin said, as the Samurai Megazord took to the skies, blasting the Flying Moogers into dust.
"Bye-bye Birdies!" Ava and Emily giggled, before they returned to finish Robtish.
"I thought you'd flown the coop," the Nighlok said as he turned to face the Rangers again.
"Looks like we've saved the worst for last," said Jayden preparing the Megazord for the final attack.
Robtish growled. "Fine! I'll finish this myself!" he said, rushing forward and raising his sword. The blade clashed against the Megazords, before the Rangers forced it into the air, and used their own to slice through Robtish's armor.
"Let's fly up so we can take him down!" Kevin said, pushing forward on his controls.
The others copied his actions and the Megazord took to the skies again.
"Follow my lead," said Jayden, removing his Mega blade from the console.
"Mega blade, activate!" the others said, mimicking his actions.
"Katana power!" Ava said.
"Flying slash!" the rangers commanded, as their sword powered up to its fullest. "Mega spin! Katana strike! Final strike!"
The Katana sword cut straight through Robtish, leaving the rangers to cheer as he keeled over and exploded.
"Samurai rangers, victory is ours!"
"Yes!" Antonio cheered from the ground. Since the Samurai Battlewing had combined with the Megazord, he and Octozord and surveyed the battle from the ground. Maybe next time, he could convince Kevin to include his Zord in the battle, that way he wouldn't be left out, but nonetheless, he was glad Robtish was finally gone.
~*Little Samurai*~
Ji paced the porch as he awaited the return of his rangers; he silently wished that Ava and Jayden would be with them. He was no longer mad that Ava had left, he just wished that she had told him, rather than go off by herself, but he also realized that she didn't have much time to come tell him, that and he probably would have stopped her from going after Jayden anyway.
The gates to the Shiba house opened, causing him to pause and look up. He felt his heart hammering, rather painfully inside his rib cage, as he waited with bated breath to see who had returned, a long, low sigh escaped him, as a smile came to his face when he saw all seven rangers running towards him.
"Jayden!" he called. "Ava!"
"Daddy!" Ava squealed running ahead of the others and straight into her father's waiting arms. "I'm sorry I left again without telling you!"
Ji smiled and kissed her forehead. "I know," he nodded. "I'm just glad you're OK."
"Tired," Ava nodded, "and I got a few new bruises!"
"But fine nonetheless," Jayden said.
Ava smiled across at him, but didn't remove herself from her father's embrace.
"And I'm sorry too," Jayden nodded, shaking hands with his godfather. "I shouldn't have left, at least not for the reason that I did."
"It doesn't matter," Ji told him. "As long as your back."
"I'm back where I need to be," Jayden said, smiling at his friends. "I'm back with my team!"
"Yeah, and if he tries to leave again, Antonio promised that he'd help tie him up." Ava giggled.
Antonio looked startled. "Huh - what - when did I promise this?" he asked, turning to his best friend.
"Technically, you haven't agreed yet," Ava smiled. "But can you really say no to me?" she asked, offering him her best puppy dog eyes.
Antonio groaned and looked away.
Mike chuckled and patted the Gold ranger's shoulder. "She's got you there, mate," he said.
"I think you all deserve some fun," Ji decided. "Go ahead, whatever you want... but -" he added quickly, pointing at Ava, "no cookies!"
Ava gaped at her father. "But Jayden promised!" she whined. But her father's stern look was unmoving. "Fine!" she caved. "But I still get ice cream, right? Please!" she begged, clutching her father's arm and jumping up and down.
Ji sighed. "Fine. The ice cream in the freezer!" he said.
"Yes!" said Ava, disappearing into the house, as the others followed, discussing which movie they were going to see later that evening.
Copyrighted ©
A/N: See you next Tuesday.
Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx
Chapter updated Monday, November 12, 2012 at 05:06pm