Chapter 53: Jayden's Secret
The rangers struggled from Fiera's attacks as their Zords went into their inactive states. The Nighlok cackled maniacally as she bombarded the rangers with her blasts.
"What do we do?" Mike asked, struggling to grab into the cockpit.
The Blue ranger glanced around, seeing the rangers wincing in fear. "I-I don't know," Kevin muttered helplessly.
Suddenly the Lion Zord roared, causing the rangers to witness the Lion Zord running towards Fiera. He slammed his head into her, sending her flying backwards. Fiera skidded the ground and rolled to her feet, her eyes wide in shock. "No! That can't be!"
"Jayden?" Emily whispered.
"That can't be Jayden," Antonio pointed out. "He was too injured to stand, right?" The Blue ranger looked out his Zord's window, finding Maria with Jayden leaning against her. "Jayden is still down there."
"Then who's in the Lion Zord?" Mia questioned, looking at the Lion Zord.
"I believe that's enough, Nighlok," the Red female Samurai Ranger declared. She drove the Lion Zord back towards Fiera, hitting her abdomen. "I'm going to make you pay for hurting Jayden."
Fiera cackled at her declaration and stated, "You wanna bet on that?" She fired at the Lion Zord, who easily dodged her attacks. "I've already bet on you losing," the blonde haired woman answered. "It's time for you to die."
The Lion Zord opened his mouth, sending a fire attack at the Nighlok. The fire enveloped Fiera and warped around her, tying her arms down. Fiera yelled out in agony, the fire preventing her from moving and burned through her skin. "I can't move!"
The Red ranger took out her Spinsword from the Lion Zord's cockpit, waving it in front of her. "Mega Blade activate! Pentagonal Fury!" The Lion Zord roared, jumping in the air, flames surrounding the Zord and zoomed right into Fiera, cutting her in half. The Nighlok's mouth opened in a soundless yell as she fell into the ground, exploding.
"Whoa," Mike declared, his eyes wide in shock.
"What did I just witness?" Antonio stated, glancing at the rangers. "Was that another person piloting the Lion Zord?"
"We can deal with that later," Emily pointed out. "We need to take Jayden to Mentor now!" She disappeared from her Ape Zord, with the other rangers nodding.
The rangers rushed towards the Purple ranger, finding her on top of her Wolf Zord with Jayden.
"How is he?" Mia asked her, noticing the Red ranger leaning against Maria. "Not good," Maria told her. "He still has residue of the Nether flames. Mentor probably can whip up something to get rid of them."
"Right," Mia nodded. "Mind if I ride along?" Antonio asked, frowning in concern. "Not at all," the Purple ranger told him, making Wolf Zord bent down so the Gold ranger could get on.
"Don't kiss along the way," Mike teased, earning a blush from both rangers.
"Stop," came a voice.
Antonio paused mid climb while the other rangers got their guard up.
They all turned around to find a female Red Samurai ranger standing behind them.
The rangers summoned their Spinswords, getting in front of the Wolf Zord. "Who are you?" Emily asked, narrowing her eyes. "Are you the one who piloted the Lion Zord?" Mike growled.
The Red Samurai ranger demorphed, revealing a young blonde haired woman with green eyes. She gave them a gentle smile, surprising them. "My name is Lauren Shiba, the real Red Samurai ranger and Jayden's older sister."
"What?!" the rangers exclaimed confused.
Lauren gave them a small smile and declared, "I know right now you must be very confused. But I will explain when we get to the Shiba House."
The rangers made their weapons disappear, exchanging glances. "I didn't know Jayden had an older sister," Mike murmured, watching Lauren approach the Wolf Zord.
Lauren saw her brother's condition and glanced at the rangers. "What happened to my brother?"
The Purple ranger shook her head, trying to get rid of her shock. "Fire flashers," Maria answered. "He's in bad shape." Antonio noticed Maria tense at Lauren's approach and he narrowed his eyes. Why is she bringing her guard up?
The Red ranger touched Jayden's face, noticing the burns covering his body. "These were meant for me," she whispered, her green eyes watering. "Now he's hurt." Lauren closed her eyes, a few tears slipping down her face. "I'm sorry Jayden."
"We should take him to the Shiba House," Maria declared, turning the Wolf Zord away from her. "Right!" the others nodded. The Wolf Zord took on full speed, leaving the Red ranger and the others behind.
Lauren narrowed her eyes at the Purple ranger, who disappeared from sight.
The rest of the rangers smiled at Lauren. "Lauren, I want to welcome you to the Samurai Rangers," Kevin told her, extending his hand at her.
"Thank you," Lauren replied, shaking his hand. "I can't wait to know each and everyone of you."
Serena was sipping tea as she read a book in the Common Room. She heard a noise outside, making the White ranger set her tea and book down. She headed outside to find the Wolf Zord with the Purple and Gold rangers.
Lyall laid on the ground so both ranger's could get off with the Red ranger between their arms. Serena covered her mouth in shock and immediately headed towards them, asking them what had happened.
"A Nighlok attacked him with fire flashers," Antonio explained as they headed towards the infirmary. "It's a Nighlok spell that was burning Jayden inside out," Maria added. "I can't heal him."
"Your Symbol Power being a sub element of fire enhances it," Serena nodded in understanding. They laid the Red ranger in bed while Serena quickly grabbed some items from the shelves. "One of you tell Mentor that he's in here."
Antonio glanced at Maria, giving her a nod. The Purple ranger watched the Gold ranger leave the infirmary while Serena grabbed some bandages. The White ranger set them beside the Red ranger and noticed the Purple ranger's face.
"What's wrong?" she asked her.
"My best friend is alive," Maria answered, looking at Serena. "Lauren is here."
The other ranger's arrived later, bombarding their Mentor with questions that Ji promised to answer.
"It's fine Ji," Lauren interrupted them. "I'll explain everything to them. You can go check on my brother."
Mentor Ji gave her a bow and left the Common Room, the other rangers taking seats. Antonio joined them as well, taking a seat beside Emily.
Lauren took a seat where Jayden usually sat and looked at the rangers, who seemed weary of her. "I know that you all must be upset that Mentor Ji and Jayden kept from you. But do know that this was best for my brother and I."
"Why were you kept apart?" Emily asked. The Red ranger noticed the sadness in her brown eyes and Lauren sighed.
"The Nighlok and you never knew I existed, because it was part of my father's secret plan. In the last invasion, Master Xandred's forces were waging an intense battle. They were overwhelming the Samurai Rangers. My father put all his faith in us." Lauren clenched her fists tightly. "I was sent off and put into hiding so I could fully master the Sealing Power. While I practiced the Sealing Symbol, someone had to continue to fight off the Nighlok."
"That's where Jayden came in," Kevin nodded in understanding. "But Jayden was only a small child back then," Mia noted.
"My father feared he himself hadn't mastered the Sealing Power, but he was determined to try," Lauren explained. "He hoped that an imperfect seal would be strong enough to at least send Master Xandred to the bottom of the Sanzu River. Long enough to allow me to truly master the symbol myself and for Jayden to grow strong enough to protect the world until I did."
"To deceive the Nighlok, my brother had to keep me a secret, even from you."
There was a silence before Antonio got to his feet angrily. "Jayden must have felt his whole life was a lie because of this! All these years training for nothing and now you show up out of nowhere!"
The rangers looked at the Gold ranger in surprise but understood where he was coming from.
The Red ranger glanced at the Gold ranger, curling her lips. "You out of everyone here, shouldn't be questioning my father's motives!" The Gold ranger flinched back and curled his lip upwards. "You shouldn't even be here. You're not of the clans. You pitied your sword against the Samurai rangers. You should've been kicked out!"
"Hey!" Mike began but Kevin pulled him back. The Green ranger looked at his friend questioningly when he felt Kevin's trembling grip.
"You should be glad Jayden was in charge, because if it was me, I would have exiled you a long time ago," Lauren continued, getting to her feet. "Sorry, but Jayden's in charge, not you!" Antonio spat back.
"Not anymore," Lauren declared. "From today on, I'm your new leader. I'm ready to seal the Nighlok away!" "You're not my leader," Antonio pointed out. "I didn't swore to you. I swore to Jayden to protect him at all costs!"
"You shouldn't be questioning your brother's motives," Maria stated, appearing behind Lauren.
The Red ranger glanced over her shoulder in surprise, finding the Purple ranger appearing out of thin air. "If Jayden felt that Antonio should've stayed, you should respect that. Besides, everyone here has already forgiven him."
"In fact, fire princess, you appear out of thin air and you think you can already boss us around. You should really learn your place. You cannot expect them to trust you when you're already causing problems."
Lauren narrowed her eyes at the Purple ranger, knowing she was right and sighed. She turned to the rangers and nodded, "I apologize. I didn't want to sound rude."
"It's fine," Antonio answered. "But you should be more considerate about other's feelings." The Gold ranger took a few steps back and left the Common Room. The other rangers watched him leave with the Purple ranger after him but Lauren called her back.
"Why are you here, Purple ranger?"
The rest of the rangers glanced at the Red ranger surprised at her demand.
"You were banished from the clans a long time ago," Lauren continued. "Did my brother soften up to you and let you in as well?"
"She's here to protect us," Emily began, getting to her feet.
Lauren glanced at the Yellow ranger, shaking her head. "You misunderstand, Yellow ranger. A Purple ranger's duty isn't to protect, is to destroy timelines to keep order….in time….." The Red ranger's eyes went wide and turned to Maria. The rangers glanced at Maria, who had her back towards the rangers.
"You're not from here," Lauren commented quietly. "Are you?"
"She's from the year 2020," Mike told Lauren. "She's here to prevent out deaths from the future."
"I see," Lauren nodded in understanding. "That's why there's ripples in time…" "What?" Kevin stated, his eyes going wide. "You need to go back to your own time," Lauren demanded. "Why?" Mia asked confused. "What's going on?"
"She needs to go back to her time in order to stop all this destruction to this timeline," Lauren declared. "She's the one who caused the Yellow ranger to die and the cause of the corruption of the Gold ranger." The Red ranger looked at the Purple ranger. "You need to go home. If you avoided whatever thing you did, the future must have changed."
Maria sighed, a nervous chuckle emitting from her.
"I knew they would notice sooner or later."
"What do you mean?" Mike questioned, looking back and forth from the Red and Purple ranger's. Maria turned to the rangers with a saddened glance. "I might have come from the future, but I come from a different timeline. One that my Red ranger destroyed the moment I left. I can't go back home. The Purple ranger from this timeline, must have noticed that someone has been changing all of your fates and wants me to leave."
"You can't!" Emily began, grabbing Maria's arm. "You can't leave!"
"I'm not sure if that's my choice anymore," Maria told her. "If Lauren is right and they've noticed, I might not have much time left before they hunt me down."
"Then we'll fight off whoever they are," Mike declared, making the other ranger's nod. Maria looked at her friends, knowing it was futile fight and looked at Lauren, who shared the same look of concern.
She knew who the Purple ranger was.
"Dammit!" Octoroo yelled, swinging his arm around, knocking off several items from the shelf. "The rangers played us for fools!" He turned to glare at Dayu, who was busy petting a Furry wart. "He was an imposter all along! That's why he never used the Sealing Power and why those fire flashers didn't work on him! I'm such a fool!"
Dayu watched the other Nighlok fume in anger and glanced out the window of Xandred's ship. "If Master Xandred were here, his rage alone might flood the Sanzu River."
Mike found the Gold ranger practicing by himself with his Barracuda Blade. He could tell he was frustrated and angry with the way he was hitting the poor dummy.
"Ant, you okay bro?" Mike asked, making the Gold ranger turn towards the Green ranger. Antonio let out a breath, giving him a nod before hitting the dummy. The Green ranger sighed and walked towards the Gold ranger. "Look, what Lauren told you…"
"I'm not letting her words affect me," Antonio answered, hitting the dummy harder. "She's a Red ranger and I need to respect her, but she'll never be Jayden." "I know," Mike replied, nodding. "But you got to admit, what she told you wasn't cool. She was being a bitch."
Antonio sighed, wiping the sweat off his face. "I know. I just hope she isn't like that or else we'll be in trouble." Mike cracked a smile and stated, "Mind if I join you?" The Gold ranger smiled and nodded at him.
"Go for it."
The Purple ranger watched the Red ranger sleep in the infirmary bed. He had been bandaged for all the burns he had sustained from the fire flashers.
Serena put away the medical supplies, noticing how silent and thoughtful Maria was. She walked towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder, making her jump. "Your healing does wonders now that the Nether Spell got quenched. He should wake in the next few hours."
Maria sighed in relief, nodding. "I'm glad. For a moment, I thought he wouldn't make it."
"Me too," Serena answered, giving Jayden a small smile. "But he's strong. He'll pull through, he's always have." She noticed that the Purple ranger had gotten lost in her thoughts once more and squeezed her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"No," Maria replied. "I just had a conversation with the new Red ranger. It seems I don't have much time left."
Serena looked at her confused and crossed her arms across her chest. "Don't tell me you're going to vanish into thin air and reincarnate or something again." Maria glanced at her confused and shook her head. "What, no. It's just…" The Purple ranger sighed. "The Purple ranger from this timeline will probably hunt me down for changing the timeline so much. Lauren just warned me about it and I think she knows who the Purple ranger is."
"What makes you think that?" Serena asked, sitting across from the Purple ranger.
"The rangers told me they would try to defend me from her," Maria explained. "But when I glanced at Lauren, I could see the fear in her eyes. I think she knows more than what she's letting on and that worries me."
Serena frowned, clasping her hands together, getting thoughtful. "That does sound worrying."
There was a knock before the doors slid open, revealing Lauren, walking in. "Oh, sorry," Lauren began, noticing that the two women were talking. "I can just come back later…"
"It's fine," Maria answered, getting to her feet. "I was about to leave." The Purple ranger gave Jayden's hand a squeeze before giving Lauren a worried look. The Red ranger gave her one back and Maria left the infirmary.
Lauren glanced at Serena and asked, "How is he?"
"He's doing great," Serena told her, leading her towards the bed Jayden lay in. "He's still in bad shape, but he'll wake soon."
"That's good to hear," Lauren sighed in relief. "You can stay here if you want," Serena suggested. "I'll stay here in keep watch his health."
"That'll be great, thank you."
