A/N: Welcome to the main event of the Project Phoenix series. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here). Before reading this, you should read The Crane's Destructive Path and its accompanying one shot, Granted Wishes.
A/N 2: This is the story of when Jayden leads Rangers old and new into a fight for Earth's survival...with his corrupted mother. I'll warn you readers, some potentially dark times are ahead for our heroes, beginning in this chapter. Very few warm and fuzzies in this chapter.
A/N 3: Couples featured are Jayden/Mia, Memily, Lantonio, Jason/Kat, Adam/Tanya and a slew of other old-school pairings. You'll have to read on to see if there is Tommy/Kim at the end...hehe.
A/N 4: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.
Chapter 15: The Dissension
Sept. 18, 2012
The Rangers Chamber of Command
Angel Grove, CA
"Mom, you cannot be serious!" Mia Watanabe said as she pleaded with her mother over the phone, trying to get her to see reason.
Unfortunately, Mia's pleas were falling on deaf ears. She knew she'd made the right decision to move into the new Chamber of Command, and knew that in here, she was the safest she could ever be, but she wasn't getting her mother to see reason.
Unfortunately, she knew it would come down to this eventually.
Not long after the incident on Jayden's birthday, she had indeed moved out of the Shiba house...they ALL had, with the exception of Lauren and Mentor, who were trying to hold on to some sense of nostalgia.
And unfortunately for the Samurai Power Rangers, soon after news had gotten through the grapevine about everything that had happened, their parents with the exception of possibly Emily's parents, who understood how fast things could change, were staunchly against everything the Rangers had done in this new war.
And they were staunchly against how Jayden's teammates had rallied around him and his cause. The Rangers' parents remembered the deceased Michael and Michelle Shiba, loved them both, and believed Jayden was ungrateful towards the role his deceased adopted parents had played in his life.
And being Jayden's girlfriend, Mia had it the worst. Her parents and in particular her mother felt the strongest about both these opinions. She knew she had it the worst because she'd been given an ultimatum: Either retire your Samuraizer immediately, or at least, stop dating Jayden, or forget about any sort of support in the future, be it moral or financial.
"I hate that it's come to this, mother, but I choose what's right. And what you're proposing is not right. I choose to fight for our world by any means necessary, and I choose Jayden," Mia said, tears in her eyes. "I guess...this means goodbye at least for now."
Not long after that, Mia came into the mess hall with tears in her eyes. Normally, she loved this place, even though she didn't cook anymore. The mess hall had pretty much anything one could want to eat, including the galaxy-wide famous Synthetron which could produce meals in an instant.
All the Rangers gathered there knew what happened the second Mia walked in.
"You couldn't convince her, could you?" Hunter Bradley asked, looking at her sympathetically. He could relate; when he started dating Tori, Mr. and Mrs. Hanson were vehemently against it. They pleaded for Tori to wait for Blake to come back home, but he never did.
"No, unfortunately not," Mia said in a broken voice. "Unfortunately, I don't think anyone or anything will be able to convince her."
"Unfortunately, as her brother, I know Makiko all too well," Kanoi said. "She is stubborn, just as she was when she held that Samuraizer, and will not back down from her opinion. She is wrong, but it will take a while for her to realize that."
"Which, unfortunately, is time we don't have," Rocky DeSantos said. "This is all we need, our own flesh and blood driving a wedge between us."
"Tommy knows how it feels too," Elizabeth Oliver said. "When he started dating Kimberly, he received tremendous backlash. Her mother had a tremendous amount of animosity towards Tommy; her father hated Tommy, too but her mother absolutely loathed him. It was pathetic."
"We all need to stay together somehow, but unfortunately it's going to be very difficult with this hanging over our heads," Billy said. Trini nodded as she slipped an arm around him, which no one missed. "They're going to attack at some point while this is over our heads."
"Yeah and that's the last thing we need," Andros said.
"Don't worry about the financial part, Mia," Trini said. "I'm the Ranger Lawyer for a reason. You'll get all the financial support you need while you're with us, and that's going to be a long time."
"Fortunately I still have my car, but my mother knows my bank account information," Mia said. "I just know she's going to try to pull money from my account just to make an example."
"She has no right to do that and if she tries that you have every right to sue her in court. And I'll kick her ass," Trini vowed.
Mia felt a lot better about things, but she couldn't lie, it hurt to not have her mother's support. She'd always looked to her mother for guidance and now, at the most critical time in her life, she couldn't count on that.
No one saw Jayden come in the room and no one realized he was there until he suddenly wrapped his arms around Mia and held her tight. Eyes all around the room misted over.
They could all see the chemistry between the two; it was palpable. Much like a certain...duo...of the past, the love between the two was obvious for all to see.
And Mia needed the mora support now more than ever.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, in the coming days, their problems were about to get worse.
Much worse.
As Jayden hugged Mia, the significance of this day, and what had happened on this day nearly 20 years ago, was not lost on him.
Nearly 20 years ago today, his father had fought his Uncle Jason at the Youth Center in town (Jayden had been told not long ago that its old owner Ernie had retaken control of the place a few years ago), and that was where the relationship between his parents had started.
Now, 19 years later, the Samurai Ranger family was coming apart at the seams, and even when this was all over, the healing would be slow to take place.
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012
6:45 p.m local time
1492 Valencia Drive
Reefside, CA
Jayden was working a heavy load on GED testing preparation. He was finally, hopefully he thought, getting better at the one thing thing that was giving him trouble: math. Sometimes, even though he was spending most of his days at the Chamber, he came back to Reefside and his father's residence to get some peace and quiet, away from the hubbub.
Fortunately, he had great help with the math. Most of his aunts and uncles, and his father, were very good at math. They'd taught him well, and even though it still gave him problems and it was taking sometimes hours per day to get him better, he was making progress.
He needed a break, but he wasn't going to get the type of break he hoped for as he heard a knock at the door.
He opened it, and saw his father and his Aunt Hayley standing before him.
"I hate to interrupt, but we have trouble over at the Chamber of Command. We need everyone there now," Hayley said.
"OK, I'll be right there," Jayden said.
Moments later, he found himself in the main room, and worry filled his face. There, being held up by several of the Samurai Rangers, was a frazzled and worried-looking Mentor Ji.
"Mentor," Jayden said. "What happened?"
"You were right, Jayden. The Shiba House is not safe to be at anymore," Ji said. "I barely escaped today and was able to take the Samurai car here."
"Did it get compromised again?" Jayden asked with alarm.
"I fear so and worse yet, I fear your sister has been corrupted," Ji said. "And it may have happened last night while we were sleeping."
"That's an awfully bold accusation," Kevin said, which Conner nodded at. If there was one person who had learned not to make accusations too quickly from his Ranger days, it was Conner.
"Yeah, what makes you think that?" Cam asked.
"I think that because yesterday, throughout the day, she was her usual self. She was loving, kind, her usual sweetheart self," Ji said. "This morning when I woke up, she was irritable, grouchy and blew me off at breakfast."
"And I have one more piece of evidence to show you," Ji said. "Jayden, I hated to invade your privacy like this but I recorded this on your Samuraizer."
"Oh heavens, thank you for going and getting that, Ji," Jayden said, as he reached for his Samuraizer. "Let me see that."
He pressed play as Ji already had the recording up on his phone. Second by second, his heart broke.
His adopted sister, the one who had always been there for him, was talking with Draco. And wasn't fighting him.
Then, he saw Lauren's eyes flash a deep shade of red. Jayden couldn't take any more.
He turned his Samuraizer off and collapsed to the floor as tears rained from his eyes.
One of his worst nightmares had become reality. All those days in the Shiba House that he'd spent trying to live up to the standard his adopted sister, and deceased parents, had set, were now going to be put to the test. He always worried that no matter how much he tried, he was always going to be in the shadow of his big sister.
He was actually going to have to face Lauren in combat soon...and be successful.
All of a sudden, Jayden didn't feel like the mighty Phoenix anymore, the guy who had talked a big game. He felt more vulnerable than ever. Now, he was going to have to deal with a problem with the one remaining member of his adopted family.
It was a family feud that could potentially drag the Rangers to their knees. And even more than that, Lauren could now be successful in turning the Samurai Rangers' parents against them. Mia had already lost her parents support, and soon, the rest of them feared the same fate also.
But in that moment, every single Ranger associated with Zordon converged on Jayden...his father, and his aunts and uncles.
"You're still doing a great job, and doing everything we ask of you," Katherine Scott said. "It's not easy having to fight a sister, especially with what you've gone through having to live up to the standard she set."
"It's awesome that you had a sister you could look up to; not every one of us had that privilege," Justin said. "I was orphaned at a young age. Andros lost his sister to Dark Specter at a young age too. Not everyone had what you had at least in your early years. Be grateful for what you had. We'll get her back."
"I swear when this is all over, if Mom survives and we get her back I'm going to chew her ass out for pitting Lauren against me," Jayden said. "This reinforces every fear I've ever had."
"We're gonna get Lauren back for you, Jay," Tommy said. "We just need the right moment and it will happen."
"I have a question for you," Jayden whispered, so that only his father could hear him, "On my journey I saw the confrontation that you had with Mom in the Youth Center near the end of your evil Green Ranger days. Were you ever forced to face Mom one on one at any point?"
"No, fortunately not," Tommy answered. "I will say we all are very fortunate that Rita did not give me the orders to strangle Kim right there because she had me under such tight control that if she would have ordered it, I would have done it."
"I nearly obliterated the Rangers with the Dragonzord that day, which wasn't fun," Tommy added. That gave Jayden a sudden epiphany.
"That reminds me," Jayden said. "Aunt Hayley, Rhiannon, please make damn sure that the Red Lion Samurai Zord can be used only be remote. We need the Lion Zord on our side."
"On it," Hayley said. After a few moments she hugged Jayden and said, "We're good. Lauren can't access the Lion Zord."
Jayden breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to Mentor Ji.
"Ji," Jayden said, hugging his mentor next, "you did the right thing. I told you that I feared it could happen. I just wish I could have been there to stop it but it was the middle of the night."
"Yeah, there was nothing you could have done," Ji said. "I hate this. Our family is going to be torn apart by this feud."
"Yeah, but unfortunately, there's nothing we can do," Jayden said. "It's going to happen, it's inevitable. I'm telling all of you who may face her, don't mistake Lauren's kindness for weakness. She is not to be underestimated just because she's a girl."
"Understood," Trey said. He was getting better thanks to the medical treatment he'd been receiving and would be able to join the Rangers in the next fight.
Which was good, because they'd need all the help they could get.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
2:30 p.m
The Rangers Chamber of Command
Angel Grove, CA
As Jayden hustled into the main room while the sirens blared, signaling an attack, he thanked his lucky stars that he'd been so proactive the second he found out about Lauren going to the dark side.
This was still going to be bad, but at least the Samurai team could form some of the Megazords. If Lauren had been able to control Red Lion while on the side of evil, it would have been disastrous.
Still, he knew it was going to be bad. And he was right.
It was a full frontal attack, and not just in the usual places either.
Angel Grove, Reefside, and Panorama City were being attacked as usual, but also several cities around the United States such as Miami, Dallas, Texas, Kansas City, Phoenix, Arizona, and San Diego were also under attack.
And then, Jayden gulped. One of the generals leading the attack, on Angel Grove, was his sister Lauren. If the intent was to hit Jayden right in the feels, she'd done it successfully.
"They're trying to spread our forces thin aren't they?" Jayden heard Zack say.
"I think they're targeting me," Jayden said. "They're trying to get me isolated. Unfortunately, if I and we don't spring this trap, millions of people are going to die."
"And they're hitting places that have meaning to us," Billy said. "Tommy grew up in Phoenix before he moved here. Kimberly trained in Miami and Chad and Kelsey lived there. I was born in Kansas City and lived there till I was five. Aisha was born in Dallas, Rocky was born in San Diego."
"I'm just surprised they haven't hit South Korea yet," Adam added.
"Don't give them any ideas," Tanya hissed.
"We better get out there," Jayden said. "I have but one request. I'll personally go with the Ninjetti teams to Angel Grove."
"That's falling right in their trap, Jayden," Mia protested.
"On that, you're right, Mia," Jayden said. "Unfortunately until this whole thing is settled, I'm going to have to give them what they want. This whole thing with Lauren, as much as we love each other, has been eating at me for years. This is a personal deal, and this is unfortunately how it's going to have to end."
"And I still need to keep watch over Aunt Kat, to make sure Flammia herself doesn't try anything. If I'm there she has to fight me to get to Kat," Jayden added. "Which means that plays into my hands too."
Mia accepted that answer, even though she didn't like it.
"Let's get out there guys," Jayden said. "It's Morphin Time."
"Crimson Ranger Power," Jayden said.
"White Ranger Power," Tommy said.
"Black Ranger Power," Adam said.
"Blue Ranger Power," Billy said.
"Yellow Ranger Power," Aisha said.
"Red Ranger Power," Rocky said.
"Silver Ranger Power," Zack said.
"Orange Ranger Power," Kat said.
"Purple Ranger Power," Tanya said.
"Navy Ranger Power," Trini said.
"Green Ranger Power," Jason said.
"Triforian Ranger Power," Trey said, morphing into the Gold Zeo Ranger. He was really pumped up to be back in the fight after everything that happened to his planet.
"Let's Rocket."
"Lightspeed Rescue."
"Titanium Power."
"Time for Time Force."
"Quantum Power."
"Wild Access."
"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form, Ha."
"Thunder Storm, Ranger Form, Ha."
"Samurai Storm, Ranger Form, Ha."
"Dino Thunder Power Up, Ha."
"White Ranger Dino Power."
"Magical Source, Mystic Force."
"Overdrive, Accelerate."
"Jungle Beast, Spirits Unleashed."
"Go, go Samurai."
"Samurai, gold power."
The morphs complete, they all teleported to the various destinations.
Rhiannon sighed and watched them go. She couldn't shake the bad feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
Mentor Ji hugged her and prayed right along with her that the Rangers would survive the attack, but he too had a bad feeling in his gut about the fight to come.
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