Chapter 5 "Duets and Dilemmas"

Ryder enjoyed strolling around in someone else's body. One perk of being Spike Skullovitch (He found his cell phone) was his hair. Ryder's hair wasn't nearly as prickly as his Guise's. Spike's hair was just naturally...spiky, no need to apply gel. And second, his laugh. Spike had the silliest laugh Ryder had ever heard, and he gets to hear it every time he finds something quite humorous, which is pretty often since 2012 is obsolete compared to his time. And third of all, the cool things in his jacket pocket like a pack of gum ( illegal in 2031), some shades, and a bandana (again, illegal). The Guiser not only replicates a person's appearance but the objects they hold as well. But something about his Guise seems familiar, he might have heard the last name before.

But Ryder knew he should stay on task and tail Jayden and Emily as they head to their destination, probably back to the Shiba House. If he follows them, then they lead him to the action. Ryder couldn't get any more satisfaction from his hi-jinks and pranks against the law. It was the same process every single time he pulled a practical joke: get caught by the police, officer calls mom, and then get put into a cell.

It got boring. So when the time machine was finished and ready to be presented to the other Samurai, Ryder hatched a plan to go back in time to engage himself in the battle against the Nighlok. Fighting was basically his mission, just some excitement that would last him for a week. He had no idea why Lewis and Eve went back in time for.

Ryder just needed to wait before he could jump into action. Eve's rule about not affiliating with the older Rangers hadn't even crossed his mind. All he thought about was having an excuse to draw out a sword.

He was just about ready to turn left on Saban Ave. to go to the Shiba House when Jayden and Emily surprised him by taking a different route. He lagged behind them longer than expected. A few more turns later, Ryder's nose inhaled the brisk sea air. They were nearing the docks.

Why would they come here? Ryder was careful not to have the Samurai know he was stalking them. He lingered for a few moments to give some more distance between him and them but not enough for Ryder to miss the direction they were heading in. He pretended to be gazing at the water beside a young fisherman.

The fisherman was struggling with reeling in his catch. It seemed as if had been there for couldn't see his face since it was covered by a hood. His arms quaked like jello and were about ready to let go of his fishing rod.

"Antonio!" Ryder turned to see Jayden and Emily rushing forward to help the young fisherman. He whirled back to look at the fisherman. The pull of the fighting fish had the fisherman's hood shifted to reveal his father's 17 year old face.

My dad can fish? Since when?

Jayden tried to urge his friend to let go of the rod. Antonio, determined to reel, ignored his friend and continued to haul it in. This resulted into Jayden having to take hold of the upper part and heave. Ryder could see the force was causing the rod to curve even further than it should. Emily just watched the battle between men and fish, debating whether or not to stop it or join.

It was all over when the rod snapped like a twig. One half of the rod was dragged into the water by the fish. Antonio and Jayden tumbled onto the ground, landing on their backs. Ryder tried to look away and acted like he didn't witness anything but ended up helping Jayden to stand while Emily did the same to Antonio.

"Are you okay, Antonio?" Emily asked. She had found a towel on Antonio's fish cart and began to dab it on his forehead. Then, she took the towel and smacked his face, "Was that the same fish you tried to catch before we left?" she asked, upset at Antonio's actions.

Antonio was still catching his breath, "Yes...I was...trying to..."

It was Jayden's turn to ask,"It was just a fish. Why would it be worth your time and strength?"

"I need to catch it! It's not some fish...it's something else,"

"I think you need to rest Antonio," Emily said, "you probably can't think straight right now." She turned to Ryder, "Thank you for helping. We could take it from - wait. Aren't you Mia's friend?"

Ryder's eyes widened. It finally struck him where he had heard Skullovitch before. He was a gadget tester for S.P.D. He and his family are good friends with Eve's. After mentally slapped himself for picking a Guise the Rangers recognize, he formulated a reply,

"Um..yes..yeah! I am. " Nice going, Garcia, "I need to be going-"

"Wait," Emily cut in, "can you help steady my friend here," she referred to Antonio, who was wobbling from side to side, "while we get him some water? Only for just a second and we'll be on our way,"

"Sure. No problem," Ryder inwardly grimaced at the fact of helping his father but draped one of Antonio's arms over his shoulders. Jayden and Emily went off to find a place that sold water.

Ryder had never felt so tense in his days of being a Ranger. He didn't think he would get the chance to speak to his dad during this trip...or his entire life for that matter. Panic took hold of his senses and before Antonio said a word to him, Ryder snatched out his Morpher and drew out some symbol power:

眠る

Sleep

Antonio's eyes shut closed and his weight doubled against Ryder's shoulders. His breathing slowed and his body collapsed onto the ground.

Jayden and Emily arrived with a water bottle not long after. They dashed over to Antonio's side and quickly haul his unconscious body up, "What happened to him?"

"I think it's heatstroke," Ryder blurted out, feeling fifty shades of guilt. A loud snore emitted from Antonio, "Um...probably a nasal condition. Nothing out of the ordinary,"

Jayden examined Antonio for any apparent injuries "He's been under the sun for a while now. We've got to get him back. Thank you again...?"

"Spike,"

"Thank you, Spike!" Emily draped Antonio's arm over his shoulder for support, Jayden did the same and they scampered into the direction of the Shiba House.

Did he deserve that? Ryder was at war with himself. His dad was never really there for him. Ever since his music career was launched, his ego grew and Ryder was the last thing on his mind. It drove Ryder to the point of performing immature, illegal acts to get a reaction from him before realizing his father wouldn't return from his world tour anytime soon just to hang out with his son or even scold him.

Ryder came to the conclusion that his father's condition didn't matter at the moment, though he was going to be alright. Instead, he was concerned about the feeling he got while watching his dad attempting to reel in the fish. The one thing he finally agreed with his father about is the fact that the he wasn't trying to catch a fish. It was something else.

Eve had Guised herself as Ms. Koepenn (she found her driver's license) before trekking further into the woods. Weird finding an 80 year lady with a recent hip replacement hiking through the uneven path to her campsite, isn't it? Her aged lungs made it almost impossible for her to carry on, but she maintained her strength long enough to reach the familiar blue tent. The tent cloaked the one thing Eve would die in protecting. She nearly had a heart attack when her dad almost reached inside the tent the night before.

Ever since that night at the beach, the strange device called to her. It would light up her room before curfew, trying to tell her something. Ryder had deciphered the message with it being the instructions to build a Time Force machine. Secretive meetings followed to construct this time machine, hoping it could be useful to the team. The other Samurai were curious, but the three were too cautious to get caught and got away with it.

At first, it was supposed to be a surprise gift to the team, but curiosity soon took hold of the three, so they decided to travel back to the year 2012 for their own personal reasons unbeknownst to each other. Eve didn't plan on telling the boys what her mission was and vice versa. She just needed to find someone and observed this person's actions, hoping to learn something.

'Ms. Koepenn' placed the bags beside the dormant fire pit. Her instincts fired up as she sensed something wrong with the atmosphere. Moogers surrounded the clearing's perimeter. She had been followed!

"You don't want to hurt an old lady, now do you," Eve ducked in time to avoid a Mooger sword and blocked another attack with her purse, "Or maybe you do."

Lewis searched for the perfect kid to impersonate. It was better than squatting behind a bush and think about the biggest screwup that would sure to haunt him later. Ambling through the playground, he studied the kids that pass by. He didn't want to look too different in his new Guise (height wise and gender wise). He needed to be comfortable with this Guise.

After a while, Lewis found the perfect candidate sitting under a tree and doodling on a notepad near a picnic table. He was probably the same age and was concentrated on his drawing. Lewis fired up the Guiser and casually rolled pass the boy, discreetly having the gadget examine the being.

He hurried over to the other side of the tree. Having the Guiser beam faced towards himself, Lewis turned into the doodle boy. Wondering if there were any differences, his hands flew to his hair, it wasn't the same curly mess but turned into a brushed and neat. Then he touched his nose, it wasn't as pointy as it was before.

"Hello," he tested out his voice. It hadn't hit puberty yet, thank goodness. He wants to preserve his youth, "Salutations,"

Then a man shuffled over to where he was at, "Cody," it was directed to him.

"Um, yeah?" Lewis said. It was probably his dad.

"Family lunch is over, time to come back to school," Cody's dad put a hand on Lewis' shoulder, guiding him over to the car parked near the playground.

"School?" he gulped.

Shutting off her Guise, Eve, in regular form, performed a backflip. She swiftly deflected the Moogers' attack with her Spin Sword. She turned and blocked another attack. Moogers kicked her out of balance, having her butt land ungraciously on the dirt. She was heavily outnumbered. Then Eve summoned her powers over the air to lift her above the Moogers. Spreading her arms out, she sent a gust of wind to blow the Moogers out of the camp's range.

She continued the fight there, dropping down to feet level and swiping with her sword. It didn't produce any permanent damage, These creatures were tough with their crustacean armor. Eve realized her knowledge of swordplay were limited; she ran out of moves. She abandoned the sword and tried to go with more unorthodox way of fighting. Punching and jumping on Moogers' backs whenever possible wasn't effective either. Luckily, they were drying out and were warped back to the Sanzu river.

The Magenta Ranger made her way back to the clearing, threw the tent flap open, and checked on the miniscule time traveling machine. It was still intact and had 88% of its original power, and by that point Eve wanted to hitch a ride back to the future and forget why she was 2012. But no, she had to face a huge problem. She needed to learn how to fight.

With the Netherworld activity, Eve had to defend herself. She had skipped so many training sessions to help assemble the machine and was out of who would teach her? She couldn't simply enroll in a class, she only had a week. If she asked Ryder to help, he would just laugh incredulously, The fearless leader had no combat skill? The shame.

Eve placed the groceries next to the time machine in the tent. She sat inside, trying to think of more solutions to her problem. Without combat skills, she wouldn't be able to protect her team. If anything happened to them, Eve would wouldn't think of any better alternative than to return to 2031.

Antonio woke up in the Shiba House infirmary, feeling drowsy. Did I sleep at the docks?
He rubbed his eyes to get a clearer vision and saw the whole team present in the room. They jumped from their seats once seeing the Gold Ranger was alright and awake.

"Antonio, how are you feeling?" Mentor asked while removing an ice pack from his head.

"Now I see why Emily and Jayden had to go with you," Mike said. He was upset about missing out on skating at the park at first, but when Emily and Jayden brought Antonio through the double doors, he became worried.

"Antonio sat up on his cot, "All I remembered was trying to reel in that fish, seeing that Spike guy, and then passing out...or sleep?"

"Wait, you were sleeping? But Spike thought you were unconscious," Emily said, "We couldn't bring your fish cart, but we could get it later."

"You met Spike?" Mia asked, "How is he?" For some reason, Jayden didn't like how Mia wanted to know what Spike was doing and felt wary to like this guy.

"That fish sure was strong," Antonio hopped onto his feet and shakily made his way to the door, "I need to catch it!"

His friends immediately grasped his arms to keep him from leaving, "That's crazy talk," Kevin remarked as he aided the others in setting Antonio back on his cot, "You were nearly drained on trying to catch this fish. No use to tire yourself out when they are plenty of fish in the sea. No pun intended,"

"But this one is important!" Antonio argued.

"How?"

"Um..I don't know yet!" The Gold Ranger finished lamely.

"Antonio," Mia said gently, "You're still sore. Just give yourself time and you'll catch it, okay?"
He nodded before hesitantly lying back on the cot.

Jayden wondered how Mia does it, have a motherly presence that could calm people down in an instant. He was thinking about her again. Thinking about Mia had been occurring lately and he had no idea how to stop, he couldn't help it.

The team talked to Antonio for a few more minutes until they dispersed to do their own thing. Emily and Kevin went out to take out the trash while Mike headed out back to perfect his symbol power, and Mia had to go into her room for something.

Jayden wasn't occupied at the moment, thinking about whether or not to tell the rest of the team about their children. Knowing Antonio, he would faint. And Mia...oh, he couldn't bear to even think how she would react to having a daughter and being Mrs. Shiba. She might avoid him, this could bring a rift in the team. But Jayden then wondered if that wasn't the only reason why he didn't want to tell.

He was strolling around the Shiba House as he contemplated, but his thoughts were put on hold when he heard music. It sounded like a keyboard. Someone was playing the keyboard. Jayden's head swiveled to find the source, only to stumble near Mia's room.

The door was left ajar and Jayden peeked inside. He saw Mia pressing on the keys of a keyboard and humming the melody. She stopped playing abruptly and Jayden tensed up. But instead of turning around to tell him to leave her room, Mia rose from her bench and chose a notebook from a shelf of many. She scribbled a few things down before proceeding to play.

Jayden turned to leave but the wooden floors creaked under the pressure of his foot. Mia dropped her notebook in surprise and turned to see Jayden by her door.

"Oh sorry, was I being too loud?"

Jayden quickly recovered from his slip-up to answer calmly, "No, not at all. When did you get this?" He gestured to the keyboard.

"It was a gift from Terry. He left town since he finished volunteering at the children's hospital. I've been meaning to turn it on but I've been so busy lately,"

Jayden walked over to the notebook and picked it up, "I Won't Let You Go,"he read from the top of the page. Mia snatched the notebook before he could read on.

"Umm...it's a song I'm writing."

"You fight, sing, play piano andwrite songs?"

"Don't forget cook," Mia pointed out.

"Yeah, that too," Jayden sat next to Mia on the piano bench, "Let's hear it."

"The song?" Mia stood up abruptly and nearly knocked a few items off her desk, "But it's not finished," Mia wasn't sure if she could share this song with anybody. It was super personal

"Okay," Her eyes then lit up with an idea, "I'll play the song, but you have to sing it with me."

Jayden eyes widened. He regretted coming into Mia's room. Singing was never his specialty. The freshest memory he had of singing was when he was five. Turned out, The Bear Went Over The Mountain was the only song he knew by heart.

"I don't know," Jayden shifted his body towards the door.

"Please, Jayden," Mia pleaded softly. The sound of her voice had him turn back to the keyboard.

"Alright, but until you had enough of my voice," They both laughed before Mia propped her notebook on her music stand and played the delicate notes of her song.

(Mia-Italic, Jayden-Bold, Both- Bold Italic,)

When it's black,
Take a little time to hold yourself,
Take a little time to feel around,
Before it's gone,

Mia pointed to the next few lines and mouthed, "your part" to Jayden. The Red Ranger cleared his throat and sang,

You won't let go,
But you still keep on falling down,
Remember how you saved me now,
From all of my wrongs yeah,

"Alright," Mia kept on playing the same notes, not ready to go into the chorus yet, "Now this next part, we sing together. Ready?" Jayden nodded and leaned forward to read the lyrics.

If there's love just feel it,
If there's life we'll see it,
This is no time to be alone, alone, yeah,
I, won't let you go,

Sometime during the chorus, Jayden and Mia made eye contact, which nearly had Mia fumble on a few keys. As Mia finished off the final chords, Jayden could hear his heart pounding faster than any beat a metronome could make.

"Wow," Jayden muttered, "I totally ruined it."

"What are you talking about? Jayden, you were amazing!"

"No, I must have been as bad as...Defearius," as he said the Nighlok's name, he replayed the music session he just had and realized something, "Mia! I know how to stop Defearius. Let's get the team in the living room and I'll explain the plan."

Jayden darted out of the room while Mia took her time in returning her notebook to its proper place and turning off her keyboard, "If only he knew," she sighed to herself. Then, the Pink Ranger closed the door to her room and stepping towards the living room.

A.N: Poor Mia.

I hope everybody is enjoying Thanksgiving break. The song was 'I Won't Let You Go' by James Morrison. I was thinking about putting 'Two is Better Than One' or 'Enchanted' as the songs, but it wouldn't be a true songfic.

Here's a sneak peek for a future chapter:

Each Ranger was equipped with some form of musical instrument or object that produces distinct noises. Mike had a large timpani drum he borrowed, Kevin was armed with a violin, Emily was ready with her flute and Mia had her keyboard. Jayden gripped his blow horn in anticipation. If his plan didn't work, they would all be doomed.

"What is this?" Defearius laughed, "A rainbow orchestra? I bet none of your instruments would defeat me. But let's see how you'll deal with the Moogers first. Attack!"

I hope I'm doing well with this story. I would love to make a sequel, but that's up to you.