The Rangers made it into the city and got as many people away from the Nighlok and the Moogers as they could. Emily, on her own, had done a good job of rounding people up and getting them to safety, though many of them were probably running away from the hyperactive Samurai with a sword.
When the streets were cleared, Jayden could finally look down the street and he saw the Nighlok threatening the city. He appeared to be nothing more than a big, open book with legs, arms, and a head with a crown on top. Jayden chuckled to himself and looked over to Mia.
"Storybook fairy tale?"
"He's not getting a happy ending, I can promise you that," Mia nodded her head.
"I can take him! I can take him!" Emily's hand shot up in the air as she continued to bounce. She was about to race off to prove she could handle this herself, but Mike grabbed her shoulder and held her back.
"Slow down, Energizer," he tapped the top of her helmet, "we can't just rush him. Steps need to be taken. Watch and learn."
Mike stepped in front of Emily and looked to the Nighlok, Spin Sword at the ready, "Hey, what the hell do you do?"
"Leave the talking to me, Mike," Jayden groaned, hitting his helmet with his hand.
Pages shot out from the book and flew right for the Rangers. They were sliced and knocked right off their feet before the Moogers charged. As they got back up, they found themselves surrounded while the Nighlok tried to run around the corner, searching for more victims.
Mike wiped out his forest spear, slicing the Moogers down and clearing a straight path for him and Emily, "Now, Road Runner!"
Emily sped off, launching her Earth Splicer in the process as she chased down the Nighlok and caught him before he reached the end of the street. Her Earth Splicer tore him down and came right back into her hand as she approached him and swiped at him.
"Ah, not fair!" the Nighlok cried out, defending himself with another assault of papers, knocking Emily down and leaving her blinded. Antonio was quick to jump in and sliced as many papers as he could in half, causing them to flutter to the ground harmlessly.
"I was never a big reader," he chuckled as he finished by swiping at the Nighlok. The Nighlok tumbled and rolled away from the yellow and Gold Rangers. As he got back to his feet, the Rangers regrouped. He shook his head, trying to find his bearings again. He was here on a mission: to cause terror and suffering. He couldn't leave without getting one person trapped in his fantasy world.
"You Rangers are ruining my plans!"
"Plot change, Nighlok," Jayden shouted, "You're about to get a different ending!"
"What exactly does this guy do?" Mia asked, looking to the other Rangers, "Most of the books I read had happy endings."
"Of course they did," Kevin smirked behind him helmet.
"I'm just saying that a happy ending isn't Xandred's usual cup of tea. What's the worst that can happen?"
"Why don't you come closer and find out?" the Nighlok taunted her and held his hands up to the side of his head, waved them around, stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry. Mike frowned.
"Okay, definitely a book from the kiddie section of the library."
"Why don't we just destroy the guy and get home?" Antonio suggested, "Normally when we find out what a Nighlok can do, we're in trouble."
"I give happy endings with a twist!" the Nighlok cried out happily as more pages came flying from his open book, showing and slicing the Rangers again, "the twist is, the happy ending isn't for you."
"Paper cuts hurts," Mike groaned, pushing himself back to his feet, "I think we're gotten our fair share. Sparky, you're on again."
Emily shook her head and doubled over, resting her hands on her knees, "I don't feel so good…"
"Seriously?" Mike asked her, "You're choosing now to crash."
"Don't throw up in your helmet," Mia advise the yellow Ranger and then looked to the boys, "We can finish him off, can't we?"
Jayden, Kevin, and Antonio nodded their heads and raced off with Mia while Mike stayed back with Emily.
"Too much candy?" he chuckled, keeping his eye on the fight in case the others needed them. Emily looked up at him.
"You think? I'm so stuffed this year's Thanksgiving Turkey's going to be jealous."
"You okay to fight?"
"Give me a minute," Emily held up a finger and took a few deep breathes, trying to shake the sugar crash quickly so she could help the others. She looked over at them and saw they were faring rather well against the overgrown book. Truth be told, the Nighlok didn't seem to pose a threat. She had more paper cuts on her from this one battle than she ever hoped to obtain in her lifetime, but there was no real danger.
Her eyes fell on Mia as it seemed like the pink Ranger was going to be the one to finish off the Nighlok. Mia raised her sword, ready to strike the Nighlok right in the center of the book, but as her sword touched the paper, more pages, this time bigger than any before, shot out, tearing through each of the Rangers' suits and skin as a bright light illuminated the street, blinding the Rangers who powered down and sunk to their feet.
-Samurai-
"Mentor!" Serena called as she slammed her fists on the table. She could see on the map that the Rangers were no longer morphed and when the Nighlok's signal was still present that was never a good sign.
"Go," Mentor nodded to her as he rose to his feet, "I will stay here and get everything ready."
"Can't we just have one easy Nighlok?" she grumbled as she raced out of the house. "I won't be able to do this when I'm waddling around!"
In record time, Serena made it to the scene of the battle and she spotted the Rangers lying on the ground, clutching their wounds in pain. The Nighlok seemed to be gone, having likely dried up after his powerful attack. She fell to her knees by her sister and looked over at the boys.
"Are you guys okay?"
"Do you know what a paper cut feels like?" Mike groaned as he tried to push himself back up but fell, "Try getting hundreds of them at once."
"I'll get you guys home," Serena promised. "It seems like the Nighlok's gone for now. You've got a few hours to recover."
"I might need more than…" Emily suddenly rolled over and expelled most of the candy she had eaten in the last twenty-four hours, causing Serena to jump back slightly and stare at the vomit, disgusted.
"Rainbow coloured. Fantastic," she picked up Emily's Samuraizer, "Mentor… I might need some help. These guys can barely walk."
"I'll be there as soon as I can," Mentor promised her, "just make sure they are okay."
"They are more or less okay," Serena nodded as she checked each and every Ranger. They were all moving around and complaining, which was a good sign in her eyes, until she realised that there was one missing. Her eyes scanned the street for Mia, "Where's pinky?" she asked Kevin.
He finally managed to sit up and looked around, "I… I don't know."
Serena checked Emily's Samuraizer for a signal from the pink Ranger, but there was nothing. It was as if she had been wiped off the face of the planet completely.
-Samurai-
Hours later, when Mia finally woke up, she found herself starting at a pink canopy hanging over her bed rather than just a ceiling. Something cool touched her face, causing Mia to look around the room and her eyes fell on Emily, gently dabbing a cool, wet cloth to her face. The younger Samurai smiled brightly when she saw Mia was awake.
"What happened?" Mia sat up as Emily set the cloth in a bowl and put it aside.
"You do not remember?" Emily asked with a frown as she turned back to Mia. The pink Ranger shook her head.
"No, I…"
"Your father will not be pleased to hear that."
"My father?"
Emily looked nervously to Mia, "It is worse than I thought… the King is not going to be happy. Serena will not be happy…"
"Emily," Mia took Emily's arms gently and looked the younger girl in the eyes, "What the hell is going on? Tell me what happened."
"You remember my name and yet you don't remember your own father?"
"Emy, if this is Mike's revenge you can quit it."
"Mike? Do you mean Michael?"
"Of course I…" Mia shook her head in defeat. She was getting nowhere with Emily, "Look, Emy, thanks for your help, but can you go get Kevin?"
"You know better than to invite him into your bedchamber during daylight," Emily frowned. "If your father were to see you two…"
"Emily, my father's on the other side of the country, remember? And stop talking like that!"
"But I must! The King…"
"Well, around me you don't have to."
Emily looked to Mia and bit her lower lip nervously, "Are you sure?"
"As long as you tell me what happened, you can talk however you want," Mia nodded her head, "Just tell me where we are, how I wound up here and if we killed the storybook Nighlok."
"Nighlok?" Emily frowned. "Killing? Mia, you don't kill. We were out in the gardens picking fruits for tonight when you suddenly fainted."
"Suddenly…" Mia shook her head, "Emily, the Nighlok. What happened to the Nighlok?"
"I…"
Mia's door opened suddenly and the two girls turned to see who was coming into Mia's room. Serena was walking in backwards, seemingly trying to keep someone else from entering the room.
"I assure you, King, your daughter will be well cared for in my sister's hands. She must rest. You will see her…"
"When I please," to Mia, the voice sounded strangely like Mentor Ji's, and when the King pushed his way past Serena, she saw that it was, in fact, Mentor Ji. Her jaw dropped as Mentor hurried to her bedside and wrapped his arms around her. She remembered very few occasions where Mentor had ever hugged her, but not enough to make this a normal thing. She squirmed out of his arms.
"Okay, now I'm freaking out," she pushed him away, "Mentor, what…"
"Mentor?" Emily whispered into Mia's ear, "He is not your mentor, he is your father."
"My what…?"
Ji turned to Serena and frowned, "Who is this mentor?"
"I don't know," Serena shrugged her shoulders. "I told you she needed rest. Let Emily tend to her while we…"
Ji turned away from Serena and sat on the edge of Mia's bed. He gently took her hand, "Are you okay?"
"A little freaked out," Mia pulled her hand away from Ji's and turned to Emily and Serena before looking back at Mentor, "I… I think I need more sleep."
"Then you shall get it," Ji rose from the bed and walked straight to the door. "Come, Serena."
Serena quickly glanced to Emily, "We will talk about this later," she whispered before, to Mia's surprise, sprouting wings and flying off after Mentor Ji. Mia watched in absolute shock while Emily went to the door and closed it.
"Now I'm in trouble."
"Why does your sister have wings?"
"We all have wings," Emily shrugged her shoulders. Mia looked over her shoulder.
"We do?"
"Uh, no," Emily shook her head, "You do not, but all fairies…"
"Fairies?"
"Yes," Emily nodded, "All fairies have wings. After the age of five, of course. They do need a little time to grow."
Mia stared blankly at Emily who, at this pout, was speaking nonsense. After a couple of blinks and a long, deep, inward breath, she decided to play along.
"So, Serena's a fairy, then? What does that make you?"
"A fairy," wings appeared from Emily's back and Mia jumped slightly. "You really hurt yourself, didn't you? I should have been paying closer attention. I don't think I can do this fairy thing…"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean, what do I mean?"
"What's the fairy thing?"
"You know… the fairies?" Emily pointed to her wings, "We live to serve the King and his family."
"Serve?" Mia frowned, "Mentor's making you and Serena…"
"Mentor?"
"Ji, my father, whatever, he's making you serve him?" Mia threw the blankets off and jumped out of bed, "No way in hell am I letting him…"
Emily rushed to Mia's side and grabbed her arm gently, "Mia, only Serena serves the King."
"But…"
"I serve you."
"No. Emy…"
"It's not as bad as it sounds," Emily assured Mia as she guided her back to bed, "We guide you. We help you make the right decisions when faced with challenges and we, well just help you in general. Most Kings would abuse that, but you and your father respect us and our powers."
"What powers?"
"Only Serena has powers," Emily lowered her head, "But once you are Queen, Serena will retire and I…"
Mia pulled Emily down onto the bed, grabbed her arms and looked her square in the eye, "Okay, okay, before we go into magical power talk and fairy princesses."
"Exactly," Emily smiled and wrapped her arms around Mia, "You do remember!"
"Mentor Ji or King Ji or whatever you want to call him, he's my father?"
"Yes!"
"Serena's his fairy princess?"
Emily nodded. "She's his fairy godmother."
"What? Mentor's got…"
"The King."
"He's got a fairy godmother?"
"They aren't just for princesses, you know," Emily frowned. "Serena keeps his moral compass pointed north. Thanks to her, he's ended wars and settled feud that have been raging for centuries."
"And yet we're still fighting the Nighlok."
"I beg your pardon?"
Mia shook her head, "Nothing. So, wait, if Mentor…"
"King."
"Is my father," Mia frowned, "that means I'm…?"
"The princess," Emily nodded with a smile, "soon to be Queen. Your father plans to marry you soon to the Prince of the neighbouring land. The final step to ending a decade long feud for land."
"He wants to marry me off? To who?"
"You do not remember?" Emily asked. Mia shook her head.
"Of course not! I just learned you were a… Kevin?"
"A Kevin?"
"No, Kevin."
"Sir Kevin?"
"Yeah, sure. Is it him?"
"Of course not," Emily shook her head, "Sir Kevin is charming, and he has made a suitable lover for you until now, but he is no Prince."
"What?"
"Your father has arranged for you to marry Prince Jayden."
"Jayden?"
"You have always known that?"
"Obviously not," Mia rolled her eyes, "if Kevin is my lover…"
"Your father knows not of the romance between you and Sir Kevin," Emily explained. "If he did…"
Emily looked down sadly, "Unfortunately, you must end the romance before the Prince arrives."
"Jayden? You expect me to marry Jayden? Emily, you know I love Kevin."
"But this marriage…"
"I don't care about land! I love Kevin."
"I will take you to him tonight," Emily promised, "but you must end it."
"No," Mia shook her head defiantly, "No, I love Kevin."
"I know, but…"
"Where is Kevin?" Mia asked. "Emily, take me to Kevin."
"But…"
"Now."
"Yes, Princess," Emily bowed her head and got to her feet. Mia followed her path as they snuck out of the room.
