Chapter 3 'Jayden, Antonio, and the Bear'

"You said what?" The boys had arrived back at camp and just finished telling Eve what happened at the market. It took the rest of the day to return to Eve since they apparently ran too fast and too far, ending up on the other side of Panorama City.

Lewis was sheepish and couldn't meet Eve's eyes, "I'm sorry, you know how I always greet him that when I come over. It's just natural to me. I'm so sorry Eve,"

Eve sighed. She knew Lewis had a hard time fitting in already and just being furious with him won't help. She could never stay mad at Lewis. "I know you are. It's just that if he found out, then we're going have to go back to 2031."

"He almost blew it for us, but it's a good thing that we outran them earlier," Ryder said while picking at the fire they made. The three decided to make a camp in the forest to avoid being seen by civilians. It was dangerous but they could take care of themselves.

They conjured up a tent with an old camping kit they found in the Zen House attic, it took a while to set it up considering that it was indeed old and it wasn't automatic.

"And thank you guys for getting the food. I love the Freezee Lewis, but I prefer blueberry,"

"Ha!" Ryder shouted at Lewis, regarding the conversation they had at the register, "Blueberry!"

"Shh!" Lewis and Eve hushed their Gold friend.

"Oh right, sorry guys. But I just don't understand how we went to buy groceries when we could have used our symb-"

"-No. That requires our Samuraizers and if we turn them on, the other Rangers would be able to track us down. We can't risk it," Eve sat near the opening of the tent, "I'll be on watch duty first okay?"

"No, I could do it," Lewis stated.

Eve rebutted, "You and Ryder had a hectic day. I take the first shift, no exceptions,"

Lewis yawned and went inside the camp to rest. He just wanted to help, but he felt like more of a screw up rather than an asset to the team. And seeing Ryder being the tough bad boy and Eve as the fierce leader, he wondered what his use to the team was.

"Lewis?" Eve whispered to him, her back facing him. She would do this at times to avoid her emotions from being seen, which happens often.

"What is it Eve?"

"What did he look like?" Lewis was well aware she meant her dad.

"Well, he wore red."

She laughed, "No, I meant, what was he like? What could you tell from just looking at him?"

"He seemed reserved even though he must have been with the Rangers for months now. He's not open. I'm guessing he hadn't spilled the beans yet,"

"The secret," Eve spoke the word as if it were poison in her mouth, "He's been keeping alot of those lately."

Lewis was too tired to ask what she was talking about, so he bid her a goodnight and snuggled into his sleeping bag.

Ryder heard the entire conversation from his place near the fire, and smiled despite of the tension.

"Those two couldn't be anymore perfect for each other," he murmured to himself. Then he noticed the light of the fire was dimming. He needed to keep the fire going but wasn't much of a nature boy. The future didn't have much greenery. His fingers reached for his Samuraizers in his pocket then remembered Eve's lecture.

"Come on, just this once,' Ryder made sure Eve's attention was elsewhere before typing a few symbols and pointing his Gold Morpher at the fire. The flame rose intensely to a point where it could have burned part of the tree's branches.

"What did you do?" Eve angrily marched towards Ryder, making him step back in fear. Even though he towered above her by just a few inches, the tiny girl was sure to give him a hard beatdown. If things got too ugly, she might have used her Wind Katana to slash him into bits.

Ryder gulped, "Well..." he held up his Gold Morpher, turned on and fully functioning.

Jayden stayed up in the room he shared with Antonio until he made sure everybody was fast asleep, even Kevin. It was 12:15. It wasn't the first time he sneaked out of his room before, so he was sure to be careful when entering the living room. He brought out a map of the city the way Ji always have. But instead of being on the lookout for any Nighlock activity, he was searching for any Samuraizers.

The other Rangers had already tried to track the Samuraizers of the Rangers who saved them the day before, only coming up with nothing. Jayden had the same results when he first turned on the tracker. After a few minutes though, the map got a reading, a Samuraizer was just activated. The current location was somewhere in the forest. Jayden hurried into his room to grab a jacket and sneaked out the door. What he didn't know though was Antonio heard his roommate retrieve the jacket.

"Jayden? What's he up to?" He murmured to himself. The rest of the team had told him Jayden ran away from the Shiba house before. And to make sure history couldn't repeat itself, Antonio pulled on some shoes, changed into clothes fit for his mission, and sneaked out the front door, not that far behind of Jayden.

Lewis rolled over in an attempt to indulge himself in a deep slumber when he heard bickering from outside of the tent. He rubbed his eyes and poked his head out of the tent opening. Eve and Ryder were in a heated argument.

"What's going on?" he piped up, still drowsy.

His two friends turned to face him, "Mr. Gold and Bold here turned on his Morpher when I specifically told him not to," Eve was pacing, trying to think of the best fitted punishment for him.

"It was only for just a itty,bitty, tiny bit of a millisecond. No harm done," Ryder didn't see what the big deal was. The Samurai Rangers shouldn't be able to track them since they weren't up this late.

"No harm?" Eve raised her voice that would have matched Defearius blast volumes, "You disobeyed my direct order. I specifically told you that you can't use your Morpher for anything. You always try to find the easy way out of everything,"

"How so?"

"Let's count up all the visits Mentor had to make to Juvenile Hall to pick you up, shall we?"

"Why do you always have to bring up juvy?

"Just stop it!" Lewis yelled from the tent, "As long as he turned it off in time, we're safe. Eve, I know he didn't follow your order but it won't happen again, right Ryder?"

Ryder nodded while Eve just groaned and sat on a log, "If anything happens, you would be sorry you ever disobeyed."

"Nothing is going to happen in the forest-what did you guys hear that?" A rustle of leaves came from nearby. The trio tensed up and instinctively took a fighting stance.

"Hello? Anybody there?" Ryder shouted into the forest.

Jayden treaded onward, nearing the location where the Samuraizer was detected. A loud roar echoed into the forest he was about to enter. He stopped.

"Antonio, did you hear that?"

"Yeah Jayden I do-wait a minute," Antonio popped out of the shadows and clapped his best friend's back, grinning, "I may be a Samurai but I would not make a very good Ninja. This is the second time this happened."

"I'm just making sure you're still following me. And in case you're wondering, I'm not running away. But it's a good thing you're here though, I may need some help," Jayden pointed to the mass of trees, "Somewhere in these woods, the mystery Rangers are hiding," Both him and Antonio had been in the wooded area of the city many times for battles. And Nighlocks weren't the only things hiding in the bushes and trees.

"Are you sure it's safe to go here at this hour?" Jayden took Antonio's words to thought but
a girlish scream emitted. It came from where Jayden knew the Samuraizer was at. He shared a look with Antonio before rushing into the woods.

"Lewis, stop screaming," Eve soft voice tried to soothe her blonde friend's fear at what just came bustling on to the campsite. A black bear had probably sniffed out the food Lewis and Ryder had brought in and wanted to have some. On it hind legs, it stood to be 10 feet tall and had its eyes on the food supply.

"B-Big bear," he pointed to the animal stuffing his head inside a paper bag full of groceries. He growled in approval and even devoured a part of the bag. He, Eve, and Ryder were taking shelter by the tent, shielding it and what's inside. Their experience was limited and they had never seen a bear before.

"I thought aliens were our biggest worries, not bears," Lewis was, for once, clueless on what to do. There weren't any bears where they came from, "What do we do? I don't want to hurt it,"

"How about we tell it to leave?" Ryder suggested,

"Could it even talk?" Eva asked.

"Hey, in our time, dogs could talk," Ryder then crawled out of the tent with his friends whispering pleas to have him stay.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bear?" He began. He inched a bit towards the bear, "My friends and I already set this place as our own so if you don't mind-"

The bear roared at Ryder's face causing him to flee back to the tent, "Or stay for a while, that's okay too!" Suddenly, a slight weight had been lifted from his shirt and Ryder's hands immediately flew toward his pocket. He must have dropped his Gold Morpher on the way back to the tent.

"I think this is where the scream came from," Antonio pointed to a clearing that was lit up by a fire. Both he and Jayden hiked into the forest to find out who was in trouble. They swatted away branches to see the black bear turn their way. It growled and Antonio hid behind Jayden.

Eve saw them from the tent flap and let out a gasp. They weren't supposed to find them. She reminded herself to kill Ryder later.

Jayden carefully walked in front of the campfire and stood his ground, trying to tell the bear wasn't welcomed. The black bear, however, didn't catch the message and swiped at Jayden, scratching his arm. Mike had gone camping a lot to be one with his element and had informed the other Samurai about some tips. Jayden remembered something and decided to try it out.

He spun around and lightly kicked the bear square on the nose, emphasis on lightly. It was barely a tap. The bear whimpered and held its paws that probably meant 'okay, okay, I'll leave,'. It dropped back to a crawling position before retreating. The kids witnessed the whole thing and were surprised on how easy it was to shoo off the animal.

"Hello?" Antonio said as he neared the tent. His foot stepped on something. He picked it up to see it was a Gold Morpher, just like his. He beckoned Jayden over and showed it to him.

Lewis peeked out of the flap and stepped out of the tent. Eve and Ryder followed in suit, knowing they couldn't hide anymore.

"Thank you for getting rid of the bear," Lewis said shakily.

"Who are you kids?" Jayden immediately asked the three. Antonio had placed the Morpher on a log before going over to the mess and picking up the remains of the food supply. He couldn't help but find the situation peculiar, Samurai Rangers in the woods with no parental supervision.

Running away was his first theory but knowing Mentor, they would have been found by somebody by now. And with the many bags and resources they had, they planned to stay for a while. Plus, the way kids were reluctant to leave the tent after the bear had gone off was a something to think about. He returned the food to it original place and walked over to where Jayden and the kids stood.

"Where are your parents?" Ryder stifled an ironic laugh which didn't go by unnoticed. Eve clubbed him in the stomach for it and then replied to Jayden, "Our parents are nearby,"

"Nearer than you think," Ryder's words got him glared by Lewis.

Jayden didn't buy the excuse, "I find it hard to believe your parents are in the area. Considering hearing the bear and we arrived just in time even though we were only outside the woods. Your parents could have gotten here sooner than us."

"It's best to tell us the truth," Antonio suggested.

Eve's eyes flickered from Jayden to her friends and then to the tent. Jayden caught the gaze and crept closer to the tent. His hand went for the opening,

"Stop!" Lewis interjected, giving in, "We'll tell you everything," Jayden stepped away from the tent and Lewis gave a huge sigh.

Jayden and Antonio waited for the explanation.

Ryder stepped up, "The truth is, we're-"

Eve held up a finger to shush him, "Excuse us for one quick moment," Then she called for a huddle away from the older Rangers. "Should we tell them who we are? It could jeopardize future events."

"It was going to happen eventually. But I'm not too keen on talking to him,"

Lewis agreed to it too, "I think they can help us with our missions. But it's your call Eve,"

"Thank you Lewis," Eve took a glance back at Jayden and Antonio before finalizing her decision. The huddle dispersed after the choice was made.

"Alright, we will tell you. But not today, tomorrow. Now, we need to rest,"

Jayden nodded before trekking into the woods with Antonio trailing behind, "These Samurai are a bit too young, don'tcha think?" he asked the Red Ranger.

"Yes, they are. But age doesn't matter. It's never too early to be a Samurai,"

Jayden spoke from experience. He was trained in the Samurai lifestyle ever since he was five and he probably could beat Ji when he was 10. Age didn't affect the way the new Samurai Rangers fought. Even Emily, the youngest one of the team, was a true warrior. He wondered why were they called to the Samurai lifestyle so early. They seemed capable of taking care of themselves but they still have weaknesses.

A/N: Should I reveal their identities or not?

Originally, I planned for them to meet and confess the next day. But reviews say that I need to keep up this mystery. It's up to you guys. (And maybe plans for a sequel?) That talking dog referred to Commander Kruger from S.P.D.

Does anybody know when season 2 will air? My hopes were falsely raised for the past few weeks.

Thanks for tuning in. R&R

*~Bluefire510~*