Chapter 2

When the Rangers arrived at the elementary school, a Nighlok was terrorizing the students and teachers with disruptive music. The monster was the strangest one they had seen so far. It had two large speakers for arms, amplifiers as a torso, and the head was a cross between an ogre and a wolf. It snarled its sharp teeth at the Samurai team, giving enough time for people to evacuate the area.

"Begone Nighlok," Kevin said in his Blue Ranger uniform.

Mike stared at his friend strangely but with the helmets, nobody could tell, "Begone? Seriously?" Kevin swatted him, "Ow!"

"Anyway," Kevin continued, "go back to the Netherworld or else."

"I can't go back just yet," the Nighlok raised its heavy arm and a swarm of Moogers appeared. The team had spread out and each got a group of Moogers to keep them busy. Mia and Antonio fought their way to a bunch of kids huddled at a corner. They herded them to safety before resuming Mooger battling.

"Air Wave!" Mia blew part of the Moogers away with her powerful winds.

Jayden and Mike were the ones nearest to the Nighlok but had to use their Spin Sword Attacks to get rid of some Moogers.

"Blazing Strike!"

"Forest Vortex," The attacks destroyed the Moogers, leaving the others Rangers free to attack the Nighlok. But as they charged at it, the Nighlok released a sonic boom from its amp and speaker body which blasted the Samurai Rangers against the wall.

"Did you hear that?" The Nighlok taunted, "That was the sound of failure. No Ranger has the power to defeat me, Deaferius!"

"We may be down but the fight isn't over," Jayden shakily stood back up with his team doing the same thing. They limped/ walked over to Deaferius. He heartily laughed and turned a dial on its shoulder.

"Want some more? I'll make sure to turn up the volume on this one," With that, the Nighlok let out a high pitch note this time which pierced all the Rangers' ears. Jayden's ears rang. The ringing had masked the calls of his teammates to a distant shout and finally to nothing at all.

The Nighlok had deafened his ears.

Deaferius spoke to them but Jayden couldn't make any sound out of it. With the Rangers' priority set on fixing their hearing, Deaferius powered up for another blast that would sure to put the Samurai Rangers out of business for good when the creature felt a laser bore into it back. It whipped around and there was no one in sight.

Deaferius readied its blast again when-ZING-same thing happened again but this time, but it was aimed for the head.

"Alright, who's doing that?"

"Look over here, ugly!"

Deaferius squinted to see three tiny figures at the playground. Probably a bunch of children. But as the three neared the monster, they revealed to be wearing brightly colored spandex similar to the Samurai. The Rangers couldn't help but stare in awe at the three.

There were two boys and one girl. One boy's helmet had the same symbol as Mike's but his weapon belt and suit color were like nothing the Rangers had ever seen. The taller boy was something Samurai had seen before though, a Gold Ranger. And the girl's suit was a dark pink that looked almost red, her helmet was a replica of Mia's. All of them had blasters in hand.

"Be careful Nighlok, you wouldn't want to be beaten by a bunch of pre-teens," The female Ranger warned before slashing at Deaferius, "Magenta Samurai Ranger!"

Another slash and the Mike-look-a-like wounded the Nighlok, "Turquoise Samurai Ranger!" The mini Gold Ranger copied the same movements his teammates had done before introducing himself, "Gold Samurai Ranger!"

"Rangers together, Samurai forever!" They all shouted.

"Wind Katana!" The Magenta ranger brought out a long sword and started twirling it like a baton. The twirls turned into powerful spins creating a fan. The winds blew Deaferius off its feet and whacked him into the jungle gym.

"Tree Saber!" Turquoise jammed a wooden staff topped with a green pine tree gem against the ground. The tan bark on the playground collected and swirled a vortex, trapping the Nighlokinside before creating a cage.

Deaferius roared and demolished the cage. It turned to the small Rangers and was about to repeat what he had done to the others. The amp fired up and freed a bellowing pitch, but Gold was ready for it. He used the Barracuda Blade to trace a circle around the team in such speed that nobody had noticed he even moved.

The circle made a barrier that rebounded the Niglock's attack. Deaferius was hit by his own blast and collapsed. Explosion occurred after it fell to the floor. By the time it recovered and stood back up, it was already drying out.

"I'll be back. You new rangers are going to be sorry!" With that it disappeared to the Netherworld through a crack in the school's wall.

Jayden, still weakened from the fight, made his way to the three, "Who are you guys?" he asked despite not being able to hear any answer. He could see their bodies freeze at the sight of him. Turquoise and Gold made a mad dash out of the area but Magenta lingered for a moment, seeming mesmerized by the Red Ranger. She shook her head before joining the two.

"There's something about those three,' Jayden said in his mind

Fortunately, the deafness was only temporary. As soon as Ji examined the Rangers and waited for a while for the special ear drops to kick in, their hearing was as good as new. Now they were able to talk about what happened with the new Rangers.

"Did you see how they took on that Nighlok? It was like they knew exactly which attacks to use," Kevin commented as the team gathered in the living room, "but they relied on their weapons and less of their combat skills. When I see their swordplay, then I'll call them Samurai."

Mia arrived with some snacks that would probably be left untouched, "They had the same helmet as me, Mike, and Antonio. Why's that?"

"Is that how we look like in our uniforms?" Antonio asked Mike who shrugged, "They didn't look exactly like us. But that Gold guy did have the same weapons as me. Although, I didn't know my Barracuda Blade could do that."

"Do any of you guys have any siblings that we should be aware of?" Jayden asked the three with the doppelgangers.

"Besides Terry, no other siblings. I would have remembered if I have a sister," Mia replied while Mike and Antonio shook their heads.

"Samurai is a position passed down within family members, with the exception of Antonio,"

"They're aliens, tops," Everyone looked weirdly at Mike's theory, "What? You know how they clone people and stuff."

Emily placed a hand on his shoulder, "You play too much video games Mike,"

"Whoever these Rangers are, they must be related to you guys in a way," Jayden stood up, "I think we all need some rest and figure this out later. But someone needs to wash the dishes before bed. Whose turn is it?"

The Rangers smiled as they looked at each other before saying, "You,"

"I already washed them a few nights ago,"

"But, you lost the fight. So you're going to have to do my chores. Sorry, Jayden," Mia said.

The rest of the Rangers went to their rooms. Jayden sighed and walked towards the kitchen. He heard Ji following him.

"What happened in that practice fight?" Jayden stared at his mentor and father figure curiously. He knew he watched the fight from inside the Shiba house.

"You saw it for yourself, Mia took a chance to attack me while I got distracted,"

"And why were you distracted? You are usually focused Jayden,"

They both reached the kitchen. "Ji, there are a lot of dishes to was-"

"Okay, I understand that you're not ready to tell me yet. But being a samurai, requires following the Seven Virtues, one of them being the rule of honesty,"

"Of course Ji. But it's just that...I don't understand what happened myself actually, When I do, I'll tell you,"

Ji nodded, "Goodnight Jayden,"

"Goodnight,"

Jayden pondered on why he stopped in mid-fight. He and Mia were good friends but during that practice, he felt funny. Training all his life left him no interaction with anybody outside of the Shiba House and Ji so he wasn't able to describe the feeling. It was if once he sees Mia, his doesn't concentrate as much as he usual. Sometimes that would happen with Emily while she spars with Mike.

Mia had told him once that Emily likes Mike and sometimes she's too nice when it comes to fighting him in a worry of him getting hurt. Was it the same with him? Did he hesitate because he didn't want to hurt Mia? Did he like her?

Jayden shook his head of such thoughts. He needed to be focused on protecting the city from Nighlok and sealing Xandred in the Netherland for good. He also needed to focus on the dishes, apparently he spent too much thinking while the water streamed from the faucet. He nearly overflowed the sink but luckily turned it off in time.

He sighed. "I have to concentrate,'

Jayden woke up the next morning, his fingers still aching from washing dishes the night before. If was difficult since Mia cooked that night and his fellow Rangers were kind enough to leave large portions of her taffy, orange and cabbage soup in the dish load. No type of training prepared him for facing such rancid odor. If it smelt that bad, he wouldn't dare to think of how it tasted.

He stepped into the kitchen for breakfast and sat with the others at the table. Before he could get a bite to eat, Mia sat next to him, "Sorry, you still have to do my chores."

"It's alright. You've won fair and square,"

"Are you sur-?"

"-I'll do it. Don't worry about it," Jayden was surprised at his own eagerness. Mia smiled her signature smile of hers and hugged him, "Thank you, Jayden. I was supposed to be in charge of grocery shopping today so I'm going to go and make a list of things we need here to help you out. Maybe some ingredients for my next meal I'm planning for you guys,"

"Thanks, Mia," She walked out of the kitchen. Mike, Kevin, and Antonio smirked at me, even starting to laugh a bit too.

"What?"

"Nothing," The guys dispersed, leaving Jayden to finish his breakfast. A few hours later after training, he was on his way out after taking Mia's list when suddenly Emily caught up with him.
"Hey could I come with? I need to get some stuff from the store too,"

"Sure," And the two headed off for the market.

"Are you sure you got the right currency, Lewis?" Ryder asked his friend as they made their way to the register after getting some much needed supplies. Thankfully they still recognized some of the products, some things just never went out of style. The clothes he wore were something he needed to get used to: skinny jeans, leather jacket, and a white t-shirt with some gold designs on it.

"I'm pretty sure. Can you believe that they use paper? This is a strange time," Lewis commented, carrying the basket. He too had on some clothes that would be considered out of style in their time: a long-sleeved yellow shirt with a green T-shirt overlapping and baggy jeans.
They made sure they got enough food to last them their entire trip. It was important that they were rarely seen. Simple rules of time travel- don't be seen and don't do anything to change the future.

While the cashier checked out their grocery items, Lewis sipped nonchalantly on a blueberry Freezee, "Do you think Eve will like this strawberry Freezee I got her?"

Ryder raised an eyebrow at his friend, "Seriously? Just because she's," he lowered his voice, "the Magenta Ranger, it doesn't mean she likes everything pink and red. I mean, I wear gold sometimes, sometimes,"

"Are you still worked up about what I said on the first day at the Zen House?"

"Yes because I happen to take offense to that,"

"Just think about it, have you ever seen our parents wearing something other than their Ranger color?"

"I barely see my dad,"

"And the times that you do...?"

Ryder racked his brain for the latest memory of his dad, which was the day when he got dropped off for training. He was about to go on tour with his band and had on the most ridiculous get-up Ryder had ever seen. A gold headband with black and silver clothing and a lot of eyeliner.

"Now that I think about it, he's never had an outfit that didn't have a speck of gold on it,"

"Ha!" Then the two paid for their purchases and tried to dart out the store. But on their way out, they accidentally collided with Jayden and Emily, who were just about to begin their search for the items on Mia's grocery list.

Ryder and Lewis dropped their bags on the impact and could only stare wide-eyed at the two older Samurai.

Emily was the first to say something, "I'm sorry,"

The two boys scrambled to pick up their bags and tried their best to avoid conversation. Jayden, however, noticed something about the kids seemed familiar to him, "Have we met before?"

"No, no I haven't seen you two before in my life Mentor," Ryder slapped Lewis upside the head for letting it slip. Lewis mouthed 'sorry' before taking off. Ryder groaned then followed him.

Emily looked questioningly at Jayden, "Who are those kids?"

"Let's go find out," Jayden and Emily immediately forgotten about grocery shopping and started after Lewis and Ryder.

They had been running for who knows how long and still no sign of the kids. Jayden was starting to wonder if he would ever find out their identities. They returned to the market to resume their grocery trip. And by the time they got back to the Shiba House, the rest of the team were about to set out a search party of their own. They were relieved to see them.

"Where did you guys go?" Kevin asked, "We thought something happened to you.'

Jayden and Emily had debated on whether or not to tell the others on their strange encounter with the two boys. Emily sworn that one of them looked kind of like her and Jayden tried to think on who they might be. Could it be one of Cody's friends? Why did that one kid call him Mentor?

"Well, some of the ingredients Mia had on the list were difficult to find," Emily said while putting the groceries away.

"Yeah, we had to go to a few different stores," Jayden backed the story up. Mike and Kevin apparently bought it and went to do some other activities, saying stuff like "Call us next time," or "You could have been in danger," Ji and Mia saw through the lie though.

"Mia, what did you put on the list," He asked her. The two were peeking into the kitchen, watching Jayden and Emily organize the food into the cabinets and fridge.

"Pasta, avocado, hot sauce, you know, the works. I could find the items on the list with ease at market. Never in my time shopping that I need to have to go to another market,"

"Something's not right," Ji muttered before leaving Mia at the kitchen door. She continued to stare at her two friends with a growing suspicion.

A/N: I'm open for any suggestions for how you want this story to go. I wish I've updated sooner but school has been a pain in the neck.

*~Phoebee~*