Chapter 17 'Epilogue'

Lewis hit the ground hard, the end of a shinai pressing his nose. His attacker raised the weapon to finish him off. He flinched and waited for the final blow.

"Easy there, Lew," Eve said, withdrawing her shinai, "I'm not going to kill you."

The fair haired boy propped himself up on his elbows and muttered sarcastically, "But after that beating, I might as well get into my coffin now," Eve helped him stand.

The two Rangers in training were currently sparring in the courtyard of the Zen House. Few weeks passed by since Eve, Lewis, and Ryder were found in the beach unconscious suffering from an odd case of amnesia. Mentor Shiba, Eve's father, couldn't find the answer to this. Though constantly plagued by this accident, the three young Rangers carried on their normal lives...but with a few changes.

Ryder found a Zord in his pocket, which Mentor Shiba identified as the Koi Zord. The most elusive Zord in Ranger history. And of course, how it came to his possession was beyond his memory. He would spend nights piloting the slightly rogue Zord, maybe tame the beast.

Lewis found himself drawn to Eve. He knew there was a special connection between him and his best friend from the start of life. But he was beginning to recognize it now as a crush. Whenever he would pass her on the way to his room, he couldn't help but give a nervous smile.

Eve found her new fighting skills. She woke up the morning after the accident with an increased knowledge of Samurai swordplay. Stepping into the training area, she put this knowledge to use. She surprised her fellow Rangers in training, her father, and even herself.

"She's not that good," A new voice decided to cut into the conversation. Eve and Lewis turned to see a guy in his late teens stride towards them. He donned a tight V-neck to display his rippling muscles and seemed utterly confident with each step he took.

Lewis scoffed at that comment, "Come on Allen. She is better than you now."

The guy, Allen, was Lewis's older brother. Mike and Emily had identical twins before having Lewis. He was seventeen and the polar opposite of Lewis. While his little brother would run and hide when faced with a new situation, Allen struts in with no fear. Before the accident, he was the best warrior of the Zen House. Now Eve threatened that title.

He swiped the shinai from Lewis and faced Eve. The girl raised an eyebrow and fell into her starting position, "We'll see about that, Lew."

"Oof!" Allen was knocked down in the last moments of the fight. He was sure he heard his shoulder crack as it met the ground. Eve crouched to her final stance before helping Allen back to his feet. The older Henderson whistled and stared at Eve with a new respect once upright.

"Shiba, Are you on steroids? No one could get that good that fast,"

"Don't be such a spoiled sport," Lewis cut in, "Can't you just accept a defeat. Eve beat you fair and square," His brother gave a sideways glare at Lewis before shaking Eve's hand in good sportsmanship conduct.

"But seriously, you must have been getting more training from your dad. That's a bit unfair,"

Eve scoffed and thought back to her father inside in the Zen House. He was troubled. There was something on his mind. The last thing he needed to do was to spend late hours tutoring his hopeless case of a daughter. Not so hopeless now. she thought to herself smiling. She had gotten better. She remembered waking up one morning, feeling different. Stronger.

"Allen, you know that Mentor is too busy to train me. I assure you he hasn't given me any special training,"

Ryder watched this from his window on the second floor on the East Wing. He was making sure that no one would notice him sneaking out of the house. He made plans with a couple of his juvie buddies to "check out" the mall. He marched downstairs, not caring if he got caught. At the bottom of the stairs, Bernie, Lewis' older sister and Allen's identical twin, blocked his path to the door.

She was the combination of her two brothers. She had the confidence of Allen and the intelligence of Lewis, but with a hint of tomboy in the mix. She was the only girl he knew that can beat him in Samurai Zombie Slayers I-V. Maybe the fact her father created the video game might have had something to do with it.

She must have been running in the woods, as her daily routine suggested. But she wasn't due until a few hours from now. Her hair was matted and was heavily breathing. Light pink flushed her cheeks. It was clear to see she rushed back to the Zen House.

"Bernie, I'm heading out. Do you need anything?" Bernie was cool. She wouldn't rat Ryder out, which he was grateful for. But that didn't mean she approved of his criminal actions.

"No, I don't want anything you're going to steal," she said tartly. She led Ryder out of the foyer and into the corridor leading to the West Wing, "I have to tell you something,"

This must be important, judging by Bernie's straightforwardness, "Shoot."

"Something's up today. This morning I was going to breakfast and I passed by Mentor Shiba's room. I overheard him talking about "making preparations" in the Zen House. And while I was jogging, there were a mass of people were coming this way,"

"How many?" This sparked Ryder's interest. The mall was far from his mind at the moment.

"Like a hundred. I couldn't get a closer look but I did see my parents and...Eve's mother,"

Now this was news, "I gotta tell the others, especially Eve."

"But..." Bernie had more to say though Ryder was already running to the backyard.

"...Your dad's here too," she said quietly.

Jayden, otherwise known as Mentor Shiba, made his way downstairs. He had heard grave news and he must notify the children what exactly was going on. It was to tell them everything.

He arrived at the courtyard in time to see Ryder finish speaking with Allen, Eve, and Lewis. Bernie quietly emerged from behind him to join the group.

"Children, go into the living room and stay there until I say so,"

The Samurai children did as they were told and went to the living room on the second floor, right across from the main staircase. They sat on the leather couch. In a matter of minutes they heard voices. It sounded like a crowd of people barging into the house.

Eve, dying to know, opened the door just a crack. There was a balcony on the 2nd floor, looking down at the foyer. She saw tops of people's heads. About 50 people in her eyesight. Lewis wanted to witness it himself and in the process of peering over Eve's head he subconsciously placed a hand on her shoulder. She blushed before gradually standing up and brushing Lewis's hand off gently. She gestured for the others to follow her lead.

They were all being kept in the dark. They have been whisked away from their normal lives to some strange house on a cliff where they were told to train for long hours each day. They decided it was time to find out what they were being kept from.

Ryder slid open the door, and as a group, they slowly crept forward. The conversations below silenced at the sight of the Samurai children. The people bowed in their presence. From the better view, Eve recognized most of these people as Guardians. She knew them personally, friends of the Samurai family. She spotted Cody Laswell, with his wife and children, then strangely enough the Hendersons and, strangely enough, the Garcias. Mr. Garcia and his wife Becca were present.

But whose presence shocked her the most was the woman near the front door. There, staring back at Eve with teary eyes, was Mia Shiba.

"Mom!" Without so much of a regard for the guests, Eve rushed down the stairs and hugged her mother.

"Eve!" The emotions she had pent up since her mother left flowed out of her. She buried her face into Mia's shoulder and cried. Her family was whole again. The questions of 'Where did you go?' and 'Why did you leave me?' couldn't escape her lips, too busy relishing the feel of her mother's hand caressing her face.

"Ooh," Mia let out a small grunt of pain, breaking the hug, "Be a bit more gentle Eve. You could hurt the baby."

"The baby?" She stepped back to look at her mother properly. At first it was the haircut that made a notable difference. Though as her eyes traveled further to scan her full appearance, she saw her belly was swollen with life. Her mother was pregnant.

"Eve, please understand that I wanted to stay with you. But when we found out I was pregnant, your father thought I need to be sent away to safety while you train. I never wanted to leave you,"

"Does this have to do with the prophecy?" By this time, Mentor Shiba emerged from the 2nd floor. He opened his mouth to scold the children for not obeying him until Mia caught his eye. He rushed towards her and kissed his lovely wife. Eve had never seen her father so happy, not since the Shiba House had been blown up. She realized that she wasn't the only one who missed her mother so badly.

After he pulled away, he remembered company. Eve watched as his father reverted back to his authoritative position.

"Guardians, the people of Tengen Gate," he turned to address the crowd, "I am deeply sorry about what happened today,"

"Why? What happened today?" Lewis asked.

"Moogers,"

"Here?"

"They attacked Tengen and burned everything," Emily explained, "Your father and I were able to hold them off, but we wouldn't have made it if it weren't for some extra help."

The crowd of people near the door parted and a tense silence befell over the crowd. Four people walked through the door, donning all black stealth suit from head to toe. The two at the very front went to remove their masks, revealing themselves.

Mentor Shiba's eyes widened, "Lauren? Kev?"

A collective gasp rippled through the foyer as the head of the Shiba clan had now returned after years of hiding, "Hello, brother-" Eve watched her father enveloped his sister in a hug. She couldn't imagine what tonight would be like for him. All these reunions. He did the same with Kevin.

He looked at them, confused, "Where have you been all this time?"

Lauren glanced down, appearing guilty, "It was all a contingency plan… we didn't want to risk it. I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For doing it again. Going away. Leaving you,"

Master Shiba pulled her in for another hug, "But knowing you it was for a good reason."

"It was," Kevin confirmed before he gestured for the two still masked figures to step forward in front of him and Lauren. He had them unmask themselves.

The first one to do so turned out to be a young boy, looked to be around Eve's age. He had light brown, curly hair and light eyes. The second was a girl, she appeared slightly older- from the way she carried herself and was nearly identical to the boy.

"Everybody, these are our kids. Kyle and Stephanie."

Whispers scattered across the crowd:

"More Samurai children?"

"How could this be?"

Eve was hearing all kinds of questions being tossed around, some of them she wanted answered for herself. She and the other Samurai kids crept closer, trying to wrap their heads around having more kids in the house.

"Were you protecting them?" Master Shiba asked.

"Yes…," Lauren gave a warm smile at her two children. She grasped onto Stephanie's shoulders, "Because well, you see…," she took a breath,

"Stephanie...is the one of the prophecy. She is the Chosen One."

Eve's eyes widened and she shared a look with her father as all but the former Samurai and their children bent down in a bow, in reverence of this young girl who is to be the one to save them all.

"What?"

A/N: Sorry. I know it has been such a long time. Still unsure whether or not I should continue with the sequel. But I wanted to include this in here because I thought I had posted it but turns out I haven't. Wouldn't feel right to leave it incomplete.

Thank you for all the love you have shown to this story years since it I finished writing it. I'm juggling alot of things at the moment and school is just about to start for me. Hope this brightens your day.

*~Phoebee~*