Chapter 13 'Octoroo's Final Step'

Eve didn't say anything at first, staring open mouthed at her mother tied on the other side of the wooden pike.

"What's your name?" Mia asked again.

"Eve," her own name escaped her mouth before she could stop. She cursed silently to herself.

Eve knew mother's eyes were on her. She couldn't believe how they had gotten into this situation. Her own mother was held prisoner with her too.

The Pink Ranger was surprised. Any other kid would panic at the sight of even one Mooger. She was a pretty brave, she gave her that. She wondered where she got that from,"I'm Mia."

"What are we doing here?" She looked at the seventy-something number of Moogers surrounding them. Mia worried that it was too much for her friends to handle. She pushed against the metal chains, only to be stopped by a yelp from Eve. If one of them tried to escape, the other would face the pain from the attempt.

Mia apologized and sighed, "I don't know. But we will get out of here, I promise. My friends are coming to get us."

"My friends are on their way too," Eve said, deciding not to tell Mia who she really was. It was not the time or place to reveal that. Maybe she could tell her one piece of information, "But the Moogers would sure put up a good fight."

"Moogers? Those crab looking things?" Mia asked, pretending not to know. Had I said Moogers out loud? she thought.

Eve appreciated the effort, but anybody could tell she was acting. Why lie?

That was when Eve had an epiphany. Why lie at all? Lies and secrets were her agenda for the past few months, if not kept from her father then they were kept from her own friends. The lies had piled up and she was drowning in deceit. It was not fair for her or for the ones she loved.

This all started with a search for a person, for some answers.

She figured secrets ran in the family. Her father was keeping something from her. There was no one to talk to. Her mother left all of the sudden. Amidst of the confusion, she sought for an explanation. All of the clues led to this mysterious girl that hadn't been heard from in a long time.

It was time to stop. She was done with lying.

"I know you know who they are," she revealed, breathing deeply. She never knew how difficult it was to tell the truth after months filled with lies.

"From the Sanzu River, Moogers are the henchmen of the Master Xandred. You and the Samurai Rangers are here to stop the waters of the Sanzu from flowing into the world,"

Mia's eyes grew big, "How do you know all of this?" Her thoughts immediately went to Cody, the son of the Samurai Guardians. Was she a part of the Guardians?

"Oh yes!" A new voice decided to break into the conversation. Eve saw from the corner of her eye, Octoroo stepping onto the scene. Although his appearance of the goofy squid head assistant to Xandred, Eve knew instantly that it was him who took her and her mom hostage. This was not Octoroo's regular style.

He waddled up to Eve, leaning down to look her square in the eye. He wanted the secret to come out just as badly as Eve, though she had the decency to pace herself upon revealing that piece of information to Mia. "Tell her,"

"Tell me what? Honestly Octoroo, you don't need to drag this poor girl into all of this,"

Eve began a stoic silence. She kept her eyes at bay, not looking at Octoroo or Mia. She wanted to tell her mother in a more appropriate setting. Octoroo kept urging on.

"This poor girl? Doesn't she look familiar to you at all? Eve, I believe you need to give her an explanation. Answer your mother,"

Eve broke from her facade as Mia denied, "What? No. She can't be my daughter,"

"She is,"

"I am," Eve admitted dejectedly. What's the use of sprouting any more lies, "I would morph to prove it too... I'm the Magenta Ranger."

Mia thought this girl was insane for thinking she was her daughter. It was not possible. Eve was only a few years younger than her. For Eve to be her child was highly illogical. Though, from another look at her, Mia could actually find the resemblance.

"Wait? What?" she whispered once realizing that Octoroo could be right, "How?"

"Time Travel,"

"Oh God,"

"It's true," Eve protested, "'ll tell you more about it later, after this whole thing is done and over with," She threw a glare in Octoroo's direction, "And it will be done and over with. The other Rangers are coming to get us," Eve had hit rock bottom. The chances of escaping was slim and her only hope laid in her father's hands. She wished she paid more attention to her surroundings, then she wouldn't be the bait in Octoroo's plan.

"I know," The squid headed Nighlok snapped his slimy fingers. About 10 of the the 70 Moogers broke off from the swarm to unchain Mia and Eve.

With the chains off, the two couldn't escape. The Moogers had also tied their wrists together while they were unconscious. The Pink and Magenta Rangers were ushered to walk towards the cliffside.

Mia gulped. Peering over to what lay before the cliff, a great hundred foot drop into the ocean awaited.

"I'm not a strong swimmer," her daughter said.

"Neither am I. Didn't think my aquaphobia was hereditary though," I should have taken Kevin on that offer for swimming lessons...

"I would love to stay and watch you fall to your doom, but I have errands to attend to," Octoroo said before escaping through a GAP.

"Oh I can't go any further! Kevin would you mind giving me a lift?" Antonio panted.

The Samurai Rangers, including Lewis, were near the cliff where Eve and Mia were being held. They would have made it quite some time ago. It had taken them half an hour and their energy had dropped since they started. It began to take a toll on the Rangers.

Halfway through the hike, Emily sprained her ankle. She didn't expect to trek through the woods on her date in her high heels. Mike had to give her a piggyback ride for the rest of the way. Both didn't mind one bit. Mentor Ji's age was betraying him and was the main reason for the delay. An old knee injury affected his speed.

Jayden wanted to pull out his Samuraizer and transport them to the cliffside in a matter of seconds. He didn't care about wasting all the symbol power he had. It was not what mattered, only his family's lives mattered to him. (It felt right to refer to them as that)

But using the symbol power was exactly what Octoroo wanted them to do. His only choice was to follow Octoroo's instructions.

"About 10 more minutes," Lewis stated, checking his watch. Jayden knew that the only other person with a vendetta as big as his was Lewis. He strongly cared for Eve and was determined to get her back. He had suffered a mini asthma attack a while ago but continued walking despite his parents' protests. All he could say was 'I n-need...to save...Eve.' Lewis took the liberty of taking Eve's backpack along with his own. He figured that she would need her Samuraizer soon.

"We need to run the rest of the way. It's the only way to get to them in time," Kevin stated after refusing to carry Antonio.

"No, it's gonna take alot more than that. With Ji's knee, we can't," Jayden said, guilty to pin the blame on Ji. No matter how true it was.

Ji weakly smiled. He was hunched over a rock with a hand on his knee, "Then leave me behind."

"No Ji, it's dangerous to stay out here alone,"

"We'll stay too," Mike volunteered him and Emily, "Besides, Emily's foot needs attention. We can catch up with you guys later,"

"Same with me," Antonio said. He walked over to Ji and helped him sit down on the rock. Mike did the same with Emily,"Now hurry."

"Be careful!" Emily called after Lewis. He was a smart boy, but when it came to Eve he could be as reckless as Ryder.

"I will, mom!" Lewis, Kevin, and Jayden ran ahead.

Ryder made a choice. Whether it was the right one or not, he would have to find that out later. He was going to go and save his friends.

Since the location was already inputted, it was locked in. The only way to restart the settings was to power down the time machine. Though at this battery level, there was no chance for it to turn on again. He figured he had to get more power.

In the future, Newtech City, was marketing off of clean energy. There was a race to find a rare form of energy that couldn't cause pollution. In the end, Spectrix was created. It absorbed energy from the sun but released light instead of harmful smoke, which proved to be very useful to the environment.

Spectrix hadn't been invented yet. So he had to resort to using all the devices he had brought from the future. Ryder ran back to the storage room and grabbed as many of future gadgets he could possibly find. He nabbed Eve's Xel, as well as his own. He also found some electric nose hair clippers and a music player.

Ryder brought the gadgets to the central power unit of the machine. He pried off the metal boards to access the wires he needed to cut. Once opening the hatch, he saw what seemed to be an intricate and complicated system of wires, each one snaking into many conduits operating various items on the time machine.

This is going to take a while.

Octoroo appeared out of a GAP near the Future Rangers' campsite. His many days of surveillance were about to pay off. The main reason he couldn't enter the little clearing in the forest was because of the protection enchantments. They weren't impenetrable, but it still kept the Nighlok out. Octoroo had the perfect counter spell to destroy the enchantments, though he had to wait until they were weak enough to implicate the spell.

About to use his magic, Octoroo stopped when he heard somebody in the tent. He hid behind a tree but still had vision of the tent. Ryder emerged from the tent with a tiny metal object in his hands. Octoroo watched as the tiny metal pod grew in size until it was the size of a satellite. Once the other Gold Ranger entered the time machine, Octoroo began to recite the spell.

He muttered a few words to himself and held his arms out towards the campsite. Purple smoke appeared from his hands and swirled around the campsite. Red sparks erupted from the shield and the enchantment was destroyed. The campsite was unprotected. Octoroo was able to walk right inside.

The time machine was still stationed in the center of the campsite. Octoroo marveled at the technology in amazement. Being able to contain a large complex within a small capsule was beyond anything he had ever seen before. It was too advanced for any Nighlok to operate to 1550, Feudal Japan.

But his plan sought to fix that.

Bringing out the Chalice of Deviation from underneath his cloak, he ventured into the time machine. He navigated through the passageways with ease, following the dirt tracks Ryder had left behind. (He knew not to follow the ones that went in circles.) By the time Ryder was in the engine room, Octoroo found the storage room where the bags were being kept.

He slithered into the room. It was filled with crates and plastic bags. He found the Samurai's luggage placed near the door. Octoroo unzipped and fished through one bag's contents. Nothing of use in there. Repeating the same process with two other bags, the same result occurred.

His lavender colored fingers curled around the handles of the last bag. He peered inside. With glee, Octoroo could see the shiny surface of the metallic water bottles the Rangers used throughout their visit.

Octoroo jumped back into place, hastily taking the water bottles out and placing them in front of him. He had been watching the Rangers very closely. He knew of the initials on the bottle caps.

His hand reached out to grab the one marked with an 'E' when the footsteps came again. Worried about getting caught, his eyes were kept on the door. His hand shook and moved onto the water bottle next to the 'E' one. Octoroo twisted the cap off and transferred the Sanzu River water from the Chalice to the bottle.

In a rush to exit, Octoroo waddled out of the room and eventually out of the time machine. He giddily congratulated himself for completing the final stage of the plan. But unknown to Octoroo, he had used the wrong water bottle.

Mia lolled her head to the side to check her watch. The 10 minutes were nearly over. The Moogers could sense it without a watch. They grunted in anticipation to witness the fall of the Rangers. Her trust that her friends would come to her aid had shriveled up into one last shred. Though that last shred could disappear in a the next few seconds. The hike from the city to the mountains was grueling and time consuming, consuming time that she and Eve certainly didn't have.

She couldn't face the fact that her were not coming. Mia scolded herself for having any doubt. Her friends were Samurai and Samurai never gave up, especially on each other.

Her thoughts now went to her daughter, the daughter from the future. It still rattled her brain that she was going to be a mother. She had always hoped to be a mother one day, and now she could witness what she had done so far in parenting.

Her daughter was beautiful and headstrong. She couldn't ask for anything more. She already loved Eve and her motherly instincts did take over whenever the Moogers were shoving her towards the cliffside.

Now, she had asked Eve who the father was. After all, she wondered who would be the love of her life in the future.

She understood that she shouldn't know since life was supposed unfold itself. But now, she needed to take her mind off of the 100 foot plunge.

"Eve, let's play a little game," she suggested. From her time volunteering with children, Mia knew that the most effective way to make any situation less scary was to make it into a game. She had dealt with kids too scared to cross the monkey bars or too scared to roller skate.

Eve nodded, "Yeah sure. What game?"

"A guessing game. To help me figure out who your father is,"

"A guessing game?" she repeated to herself. "How much time do we have?"

"Not much,"

"Then let's start,"

"Well...my dad is tough. Though he has a soft spot for you, me, and puppies. He's always wanted a dog like the Hendersons',"

"Aww," Mia loved puppies too and she knew that Emily was a total sucker for dogs. No wonder she and Mike have one in the future, "What breed?"

"I thought we're talking about dad here," Eve tried to return to the primary subject of conversation "By the way it's a Jack Russell terrier."

"Right, sorry,"

"Does he know about the Samurai?" Mia had heard stories that a few of her ancestors hadn't told their spouses about being a Samurai. Luckily, all of her teammates' parents were aware of their bloodlines apart from Antonio.

"Yes," Then a low rumbling reached her ears. Mia and Eve turned to see the Moogers were joining in a haunting chant of incoherent grunts and growls. It was the Netherworld way of saying 'Kill them! Kill them!'. Their time was almost up.

"Maybe we can just forget the whole guessing. I don't have to know. Can you please tell me about what it's like in the future?"

Eve was curious on why they were playing a game to begin with. She would very much like to relish in the oxygen-filled world while she was still above the water, "Mom, why are we doing this?"

Mia bit her lip and thought about it before coming to a conclusion, "Hope," She stated with a tiny smile on her face, "There are good things waiting for me in the future. Good things waiting for us, our family. Telling me about just...reassures me that we are not going to die today."

Mia could hug Eve if she wasn't tied up. Eve felt the love radiating from her mom. They were both scared that the Rangers weren't coming soon. But they were going to fight and do their best to survive. With her heart in her throat, as well as tears in her eyes, Eve obliged into telling her mother the amazing things about their family, their big and wonderful Samurai Family.

"Dad is a Kenjutsu and Karate instructor at Panorama and you're a kindergarten teacher at Panorama Central Elementary. The Hendersons, Mike and Emily, live a bit far out of the city. Mr. Henderson is the CEO of a successful video game company and Mrs. Henderson stays at home to take care of Lewis, the turquoise Ranger., and Bernie, and Allen."

Lewis had a brother and sister. Mia had figured that it was only him, as it was only Eve and Ryder in their families. Mia wouldn't mind having another child, it did seem a bit of an empty household .

There were 3 minutes left. The Moogers had came closer, refusing to allow any wide space between each other for the fear of the two prisoners escaping.

"Wow," Mia breathed. It sounded pretty good so far. She was happy that she would still be able to work with children in her later life. Mike and Emily were doing alright, their life just seemed perfect.

But she couldn't help but wonder again the identity of her future husband. Telling by the fact that her husband teaches Kenjutsu and Karate, narrowed down her guesses to either Kevin, Jayden, or somebody else she had yet to meet.

On any other day, she would have been blushing at the thought of Jayden being her future husband. However, she was mad at him. The secrets and lies he would tell- she couldn't trust him anymore if this kept going. Mia really liked Jayden but if this was how being in a relationship with him is going to be, then she had no interest in being with him.

"And Antonio and Kevin?"

"Mr. Garcia is off on a tour with his band. He's a musician now, very famous. And Mr. Bishop-he never really visits. The last time I saw him was when I was really little. He had made it into the Olympics though."

"Did Kevin ever marry? have kids?" Mia felt sorry if Kevin had never found anybody. She wondered why he never visited.

"I don't know. Like I said, he doesn't visit,"

"What about Jayden?" Mia said his name with slight bitterness.

"He's..." Eve debated whether or not to tell her. She was obviously still angry. Mia had told her about the words exchanged before she was kidnapped. And also, she wondered what to say. Her father still had secrets, the very reason Mia broke things off with him. Eve was astonished at how easily she followed in his footsteps. She had thought that by keeping the truth from everybody would protect them.

Hm...she never took in account that her father might have the same reason. What if it was? He was being a father, protecting his family. And if that security leads to sprouting a few lies and holding back details, then he would do it. Eve realized that everything her father did was all for her. It was all for family.

"He's...been alright. He has a great family," Mia tried to swallow her jealousy at that. But with Eve, it reminded her that she had a great family too.

"How about your father and I? What are we like together?"

Eve recalled many instances where her parents displayed their affection to each other. They have so much love, pouring even more love towards her. It was a shame to see her parents fight and even when they do, they quickly make up. Oh what she would give to be home again,

"Dad loves you very much. Whenever you go off to work, he wants nothing more than for you to stay with him. He would worry about us all the time,"

"Even if it seems he's angry at us, he's just insanely concerned," Mia chuckled at that. It reminded her of somebody...somebody that she was mad at, "Dad calls us his 'songbirds' and plays his guitar to the songs we sing in the kitchen, no matter how badly tuned his guitar was. He insists on that you and he read me the same bedtime story every night," Eve didn't realize she had been crying until then. She wished for those times so badly. She may never get the chance to have them ever again.

"When we go to the park he would hold our hands a bit tighter than needed. He's afraid of losing us. And," Eve paused. Mia was smiling, despite the tears trailing down her cheek. The Pink Ranger couldn't imagine a better future. It was all too much for her.

"And...he keeps us safe. No matter what," choked Eve. She rested her head against her mother's shoulder, "We'll be okay, mom. He's coming," Mia kissed her forehead. They stayed like that until they were broken apart by the Moogers.

A loud ring reverberated. A gong was sounded, raising more grunts from the Moogers. The chant was at its peak in volume. Eve and Mia held a panicked gaze.

Time was up.

A/N: Alright like promised, I updated on Thursday.

Sorry to have Kevin distant from the Samurai family, but it plays a huge part in the end. And for 'cross element symbol power', I made up the name. I thought this could be possible once I saw the 'There Goes The Brides' episode. When Mike, Kevin, and Jayden created their doubles, it seemed as if Mike created Emily's double too. There was the yellow kanji symbol, but Emily wasn't present.

I could have made this chapter sooo much better, but I wanted to get this done by Wednesday or Thursday. Expect the next chapter in a couple of weeks. The next chapter finally reveals who Eve was looking for and the story behind it. It also reveals Octoroo's big plan for Eve...well at least it was meant for Eve. Now, it's either Ryder or Lewis who would have to face the results of Octoroo's mistake. His plan still progresses in the sequel.

It turns out this story will have 4 more chapters. Chapter 17 will be the epilogue/ the ending of Future is in the Past. It's hard to pack the ending in a few chapters.

Thanks for all you have read this story from beginning and to its will be end.

R&R

*~Phoebee~*