"Today, I've prepared an apple and grilled cheese dish!" The pink power ranger said excitedly. Looks of worry passed between those sitting at the table discreetly.
Mia took her tongs and placed one monstrosity of a sandwich on each of their plates. Every ranger took their share hesitantly with a fake smile plastered on their faces.
"This looks really good, Mia," Emily, the yellow ranger, offered. Mia smiled warmly and clapped her hands together in glee.
"Oh, I'm so glad! I wasn't sure about it at first, but now I'm definitely making this again!" Quiet groans erupted from the table so low that Mia couldn't hear.
Suddenly an alarm sounded throughout the house. Immediately, all six rangers stood up and ran towards the main room. Jayden, their leader, tapped on the coffee table to reveal a map with a glowing dot right in the center of town.
"There's a nighlock attack near city hall," he announced after carefully studying the map. His deep voice echoed through the room. All of the rangers nodded and started hurrying towards the set location.
After arriving at the scene, all six rangers transformed into their uniforms. They hadn't even gotten a look at the nighlock they were dealing with before swarms of moogers surrounded them. The Rangers wasted no time in calling on their spin swords to eradicate the problem. Within the minute, all the moogers had been reduced to nothingness.
"All right, Nightlock, show yourself!" Jayden yelled. His demanding tone sent an unfamiliar shiver down Emily's spine for some reason. She tried to ignore it.
Finally, a pair of slime-covered feet landed roughly on the ground in front of them. This nighlock reeked of sewage. His sickening smile made Emily want to cower behind one of her fellow rangers, preferably Jayden. However, she refocused her attention and gripped her sword tighter as to not seem weak.
"Ah, hello Rangers! I've waited so long to meet you!" The nighlock said with sadistic glee. He then focused his attention on Emily.
"Especially you, Yellow Ranger. You remember my brother, Negatron, right?" Emily took a surprised step back. Her shocked expression was thankfully hidden by her helmet.
"Negatron? You mean that ugly nighlock who did nothing but talk trash?" Mike yelled.
"So you do remember him! Good! Because of your darling little yellow ranger over there, he's now dead." He spoke angrily. He turned his hateful gaze to Emily.
"So now, you will be too," he growled before drawing his katana made of teeth and charged towards the rangers. They all dodged within seconds.
"You leave her alone, Nighlock!" Jayden yelled before slicing the nighlock multiple time with his sword. The attack did little to harm the monster, instead, he spat a gross, green substance towards Jayden. The red ranger leaped out of the way before the acidic spit could reach him.
Kevin was close to attacking the nighlock when suddenly, his skin started cracking and turning grey.
"Uh oh, looks like I'm drying out!" He said before training his glare onto Emily. "Next time, you won't be so lucky, Yellow Ranger." He then finally jumped and disappeared into a crack in the pavement. Emily immediately unmorphed and sunk onto her knees. She didn't know what to do except stare at the ground. She felt hands rest on her shoulder and looked up into the worried eyes of Mia. Unshed tears blurred her vision. She quickly stood up and wiped her eyes, not wanting to look weak.
"Sorry guys. I don't know why I'm crying. Pretty weak, huh?" She attempted a joke lamely.
"Not at all, Emily. It's not normal for a nighlock to target a specific ranger. Your reaction is normal," Mia told her. Jayden nodded in agreement.
"She's right, Em," the nickname sent butterflies into her stomach. "Don't ever think of yourself as weak again." His eyes met hers in a somber gaze.
"Besides, if that creep does come back, I'll knock him right back to where he came from!" Mike said. Emily laughed at his attempt to lighten the mood.
Antonio reached out his hand to help her up, she took it gratefully and started her trek back to the Shiba House with the other rangers in tow. Unknowingly, Jayden hung behind for a few seconds with a deep frown etched on his face.
It was after dinner and the moon hung high up in the sky. The rangers had, thankfully, come up with an excuse to get out of eating the leftovers that Mia had prepared. All the rangers were in their rooms, except for one.
Jayden had begun training the very second they had arrived back to the Shiba House. He had been working tirelessly for hours. Sweat poured down his face and down his training uniform. He was beginning to become exhausted. However, he refused to quit.
He was in the middle of re-training himself to master his fire smasher when a quiet voice emerged from behind him. He turned around and saw Emily, clad in her own training uniform, with a wooden Bo Staff in her hands.
"Wanna spar?" She had asked simply. Her now straightened hair became uneven as she tilted her head to the side in question.
"You should be asleep." He told her. He swung the fire smasher around his head and aimed it away from her. She merely sighed at his response.
"So should you, Jayden. It's almost midnight. You need sleep," she tried to reason. He swung the weapon around his head once more.
"I'll be fine. Someone needs to be awake to keep an eye out for that nighlock," he said. New beads of sweat poured down his face.
Emily grabbed a towel from the nearby bench and approached him. She put a gentle hand on his fire smasher and lowered it to the ground so she could reach him. She stood on her tiptoes and wiped the sweat from his face. She then folded the towel over and re-wiped his face. She saw him gaze at her with an unfamiliar expression.
"So that's what this is about," she hummed. "Jayden, you already know that nighlock cannot enter here. And if he does return, the gap sensor will go off." She said softly.
He grabbed the towel from her and threw it over his shoulder.
"I'm not taking any chances, Em. That nighlock was set on killing you. I'm not about to even give him an inch to do so." He said before returning his fire smasher to the disk.
"Jayden, you can't protect anyone if you're sleep-deprived. You need sleep. You're keeping me up with worry the longer you're out here. You're already the best fighter out of all of us, you deserve a break." She said before grabbing his forearm and turning him so he'd look at her. His gaze traveled down to where she held him. Emily noticed this and immediately let go.
"Sorry," she mummbled. She then looked up at him.
"Please, Jayden. I need you to get some sleep." He dragged a hand through his already unruly hair and let out a deep sigh.
"Fine. Lemme take a shower and then I'll retire for the night." She did a little jump of glee and then grabbed his shoulders to lower him to her level. She then placed a small kiss onto his cheek. Sparks erupted from where their skin had made contact.
"Thank you," she whispered, before turning away to return her bo staff and retire herself. He couldn't help but gaze longingly after her retreating figure.
So I know that this fandom is deader than dead, but I've been revisiting the show lately and I couldn't resist. Sorry, I just love them together so much.