Mike woke up in unfamiliar surroundings. He knew he'd passed out in a forest, but as he sat up and glanced about himself, everything looked different. Had the nighloks dragged him somewhere? His eyes searched the area but found no traces of his enemies or traces of his friends. He must not have been gone long enough for them to notice. Thinking of his team made him realize he didn't know where his morpher was. In a flash, he was on his feet, more concerned with the loss of it than of not knowing where he was.
"Good to see you awake," a voice behind him said, pulling him around.
Without thinking, Mike settled into a fighting stance before he even saw who the voice belonged to. He relaxed a little when he saw that it was a girl around his own age. She was looking at him with an odd expression, something between curiosity and relief. As she approached, he dropped his hands, sensing no danger in the situation. "Where am I?" He asked when she was close enough that he didn't have to raise his voice.
"Not far from where you were." The girl had her hands behind her back and she was still looking at him like she'd never seen another person before. "I figured it'd be good to move you a little in case those monsters came back."
It surprised him that someone with such a slight form would be able to move him anywhere, but the second part of that response was what really got his attention. "Yeah, about those monsters, did they just run off or-?" Mike questioned, trying to remember if he possibly taken out enough of them to scare the rest away. Nighloks and their moogers didn't really scare, though, they just dried out.
The girl smiled, seeming to follow his train of thought. "Don't feel bad. You were trained to fight with a team, right?"
"Uh," Mike was taken aback by her comment. "What?" How could she possibly know that? Judging by the way she'd been looking at him just now, she had never seen him before, and yet she still knew about his training and his team?
Continuing on, the girl moved a little bit closer, seemingly unaware of Mike's inner confusion. "Speaking of your team, you should probably call them so they know you're alright. And that there's a new nighlok trying to turn people into trees."
"Turn people into trees?" Mike glanced around uneasily. Nothing looked unusual, so these trees were probably real.
"Defeating it will probably restore anyone who's been changed."
Mike was really confused. How did this girl know what a nighlock was? Had he said it out loud and she'd overheard him? That sounded like him. Regardless of what she knew or didn't, his protective instincts were still intact. "Look, you should probably stay away if those monsters do come back."
"I should," the girl said wistfully. "It's just hard, even after all this time. Anyway, here." She held out his morpher.
Mike accepted it, trying to figure out what she was thinking by watching her face. The girl wasn't giving anything away except that she seemed a little sad. "Are you okay?" He couldn't help asking.
The girl shook her head, smiling again. "It's nothing. You should go." With that, she turned and started to run away.
"Wait!" Mike called after her, but as he watched, she disappeared in between two trees. "What?" He stared at the space she'd just occupied for a long moment before remembering that he really did have to get back to his team. They probably wouldn't believe him about the girl. Maybe Emily would. Not Kevin, though.
Definitely not Kevin.
—
"Mike!" Emily saw him first and ran over to greet him as he entered Shiba house. "Why didn't you answer?"
"The gap sensor went off and we were fighting without you, where were you?" Kevin added, of course.
"Did something happen?" Mia wanted to know.
Mike wanted to roll his eyes. Everybody got so worked up anytime any of them went missing even for a couple of hours, but after being part of this team for a while, he understood why. While it was sometimes just a matter of missing each other by accident, no communication usually meant that one or more of them was in trouble. And in his case, it had been the latter. "Sorry guys, I ran into some moogers while training in the forest."
"Are you okay?" Emily put a hand on his shoulder, eyes full of concern. "You defeated them all on your own?"
Mike hesitated. It was tempting to just say that yeah, he defeated them by himself. Plus, it was always fun seeing the team's impressed reactions. With Emily looking at him so earnestly, though, he felt like he couldn't lie. Besides, he had a feeling that he'd be seeing that girl again soon enough and if he lied about her now, it would just hurt his relationships with his team members later on. "I'm fine. I got hit one too many times and I think I fell down a hill or something. Anyway, I lost consciousness and when I woke up, they were all gone."
"That's lucky." Kevin looked confused by this explanation. Mike didn't blame him in this instance. It did sound a little weird. He decided he'd just come out and tell them about the girl.
"The strange thing is, when I woke up, there was a girl there with me," he said as he sat down, everyone else following suit.
Antonio, who'd been quiet up to this point, asked, "A girl?"
Mike nodded. "Yeah. I was wondering what happened and she came up behind me. She knew I was trained to fight with a team and what a nighlock was." Mike looked around at his friends. "You said the sensor went off. Was the nighlok you were fighting turning people into trees?"
"Yeah," Jayden confirmed. "How did you know?"
"That's what the girl said."
Mia and Emily exchanged glances. Everybody was confused by this situation. While people knew monsters and Samurai Rangers were a thing, they didn't really know anything beyond that. It was weird that this one girl seemed to know such specifics. Mike looked to Mentor Ji to see what his reaction was, but the older man wasn't showing any emotion.
"She probably saw you when you demorphed," Jayden suggested. Mike figured that, but it didn't mean he wasn't curious to know more about her. Not to mention that he didn't remember morphing in the first place.
"There's one more thing," Mike said. "She disappeared, and I mean actually disappeared. Like, she suddenly turned invisible or something."
Ji had been pacing but he stopped when Mike said that. "There is a spot in the forest that is protected by strong symbols. If you don't know about it, you'd walk right past it. The symbols keep out evil and deter anyone who doesn't know about our ways. If she had gone past the symbols, that would explain why she disappeared."
"How come we didn't know about this?" Kevin asked, and they all looked to Ji in askance.
Their mentor shrugged. "This house is also protected, so it wasn't necessary to inform you of that place's existence."
"Do you have any idea who this girl could be?" Jayden asked next.
"Maybe." Ji said it thoughtfully. "What did she look like?"
Mike leaned his elbows on his knees. "She had long hair in a braid. It was dark brown. She was the same size as Emily," Mike nudged the girl beside him with a smile, "and she was wearing a dark green outfit, similar to what we wear when we're training, actually. But there was nothing unusual about her, only that she had my morpher and gave it back to me like she knew how important it was."
"She might've just thought it was your phone." Mia pointed out.
That was logical, Mike had to agree. But there wasn't much point in thinking too hard about it when he couldn't know anything further until he met her again.
"Did you catch her name?"
Mike looked at Jayden, surprised. "No," he admitted. "We never got to names."
"I'll look into it," Ji promised. "In the meantime, you should prepare to fight that nighlock. He'll no doubt be back."
—
Kevin replaced his practice sword on the rack and faced Mike with a skeptical expression. Mike groaned, knowing exactly where this was going. He swung his own sword at Kevin's head half-heartedly, knowing that the Blue ranger would easily duck.
"So, are you sure that girl wasn't just a hallucination?"
Mike scowled and put his sword away, not wanting to stick around to be teased anymore. It was a few days after the incident and they'd defeated the Treengling and everybody who'd been turned into trees had been restored. Mike had been sure that the girl would show up again if they were in the forest, but they hadn't seen her. She might have been watching, but neither he nor any of his team had seen any sign of her. He was pretty disappointed, not least of all because it would make Kevin and Mia stop doubting the girl's existence, but mostly because he needed to know if she was okay.
Ji had said that she might have been taking shelter in a protected place, but none of them had had the time to check it out. Mike glanced back at Kevin, considering. Kevin caught the look.
"What? What you are scheming?"
"I'm not scheming anything," Mike said, affronted. "I'm thinking."
"That's the same thing with you," Kevin insisted, but he said it without spite. "What are you thinking?"
Mike paused, looking over to where Emily and Mia were practicing. "We should check out that symbol place that Ji talked about."
"If Ji wanted us to check it out, he would have asked us to."
"Can't we check it out anyway?" Mike said, exasperated. Kevin had gotten a lot less rigid during his time with the team, but he was still so strict in many ways. "I bet the girls would be interested too."
"The girls would be interested in what?" Emily came over, face bright with a smile while Mia followed curiously.
"I want to go see that place in the forest that has symbol protection."
"Is that a good idea?" Mia asked. "Ji hasn't said anything about it."
"What about Jayden? Is he coming?" Emily was on board with the idea, it seemed.
"Yeah, he's coming."
They all turned around to see Jayden walking out of the house with something tucked under his arm and Antonio by his side. He gestured for them to group around a bench as he unfolded a map. "I asked Ji about that place but he said I didn't need to worry about it, so I searched through the history scrolls myself and found this. We should be able to get to that place and back long before dark. Ji will call if there's an attack. I want to know why he won't talk about this place." Jayden looked at each of them. "But I don't want any of you thinking that he's keeping secrets from us."
"Of course not," Emily responded immediately, though Mike was thinking that exact thing. "He has our best interests at heart. There must be so much that we don't know yet. We can't know it all at once."
"Okay. You guys get changed and we'll head out soon." Jayden refolded the map. "Let's hope no nighlock attacks today."
—
Mike approached the two trees with uncertainty. "This is the place?"
"You tell us. You were the one here before." Kevin folded his arms and failed to look annoyed. Curiosity was on all of his friends' faces today.
Mike rolled his eyes and turned back to the small grove within the greater forest to study the trees. "It looks familiar, but I didn't exactly stick around. I just came home because I figured somebody would be wondering where I was. And I was right."
Mia came up beside him and put a hand on his arm. "Hey, when you disappear, you're always in trouble."
"Am not!" Mike knew it was true and just ducked out of the way of Mia's hand trying slap his shoulder. He stumbled backward and got his balance. When he looked at Mia's face, she'd dropped her jaw and was staring at him, or past him, really. Mike spun around, thinking that something was behind him but nothing was there. When he turned around again, Mia had been joined by Emily and Antonio. They were all staring, well, through him in a way. Mike realized belatedly that he must've gone through the boundary of the protected area. Could just anybody get through? That would completely defeat the purpose of it being protected. "It must just keep out monsters," he said out loud.
Emily jumped, no doubt startled to hear his voice coming out of thin air. "Mike!"
"I'm right here, just walk forward." Mike reached out a hand as Emily took a couple of steps in his direction. When her face lit up he knew that she could see him again. Within the next minute, all of the rangers had joined Mike inside the perimeter.
"That was freaky," Mia commented as she looked around. "You just disappeared."
"That's exactly what I said that girl did," Mike reminded them, but they were all too busy scoping out the area.
Jayden glanced between the map and the protected zone. "We should check for symbols to figure out how this place is protected. Maybe we can figure out who sealed it off in the first place."
"Uh, guys?" Antonio spoke up quickly, pointing in a direction further into the glade. "I just saw something move."
"It's probably her!" Emily looked excited. If it had been a bear she would've looked excited. Mike smiled at the thought. Emily was just easily excitable and it kept the team's spirits up when they really needed it. Also, the yellow ranger was brave and compassionate and Mike put a hand on her shoulder as if he could absorb some of her energy.
"Let's go see."
Emily nodded and everybody followed after her in the direction Antonio indicated. They headed north, further into the glade and up several short hills, turning sharply when the trees seemed to crowd them together. Mike saw Jayden taking careful notice of their surroundings, and he realized that the forest was only getting denser as they went on. Above their heads, the trees bent over a little, forming a green tunnel beneath their branches. It became clear that they weren't just in some random glade, but that the trees themselves seemed to be creating a path forward. Faint symbols faded in and out of sight, blending in with the bark so he could only see them out of the corner of his eye. Mike got the feeling that this forest had been protected for a very long time.
"There!" Emily exclaimed, starting to run. "Wait! We just want to talk!"
Mike couldn't see who she could be yelling at, but he trusted Emily if she thought she'd seen someone. He and the others started to run to keep up with her.
"Where did you see her go, Em?" Mia asked when they slowed down after not seeing anything else.
"I don't know." Emily put her hands on her hips, frustrated. "I know I saw a person!"
"We believe you," Jayden assured her. "But maybe we're scaring her off, chasing after her like this. And if she knows this place well, she could easily hide from us. I don't think just running around is going to help anything."
Kevin was looking at the map after Jayden passed it to him. "This place is either really big or the map is just not to scale."
"Or we've gone in a circle." Antonio also had his hands on his hips. He and Emily looked like disappointed parents, Mike thought. He couldn't help smiling. "I feel like we've gone in a circle."
"Really?" Emily dropped her arms and walked over to look at the map as well.
"It's hard to say." Kevin looked back and forth between the map and their location. "The map just shows the entrance, not how far back it goes."
"No map could show it," a new voice said, startling all of them into a fighting stance.
Mike relaxed when he saw the girl they'd been chasing emerge from behind a tree, a calm smile on her face. "It changes over time. The entrance is always in the same place, though, that's why it's on the map. I'm surprised you even have one with it marked. But I guess it hasn't been that long since, well, never mind." As she approached the group, Mike gestured for everyone to drop their defensive poses, which they did, even Kevin.
The girl was wearing the same dark green outfit as before, in the same style as their training uniforms. When she was close enough, Mike saw that her eyes were green too, and there was something sad about them. She stopped a few feet in front of them and adopted a resting stance, hands clasped in front of her. "Why are you looking for me?"
Jayden stepped forward and the rest of them stayed put, letting him speak as the leader. "Thank you for saving Mike before," he said first, holding out his right hand.
The girl considered for a moment before accepting it, but grasping onto Jayden's forearm instead. Their leader just went with it, releasing her after a few seconds. "It was nothing."
"It wasn't nothing," Emily spoke up warmly. "Most people would run if they saw those monsters."
"I'm not most people," the girl smiled wryly, "as I'm sure you've figured out."
Mike decided it was a good enough time to ask as any. "What's your name?"
Her smile grew until she dropped her head, not meeting their eyes as she answered. "I'm Thalia."
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Emily."
"Mia.
"Antonio."
The group finished introducing when Mike said, "Again, thanks for saving me. I don't even know what hit me."
"You were thrown into a tree before you could morph," Thalia said quickly, almost apologetically. "Blows like will always hurt you more when you're normal."
"Hang on," Kevin said. Of course it would be Kevin, but Mike was curious about this too. "What do you mean? Who are you, anyway?"
Thalia got that sad look in her eyes again and Mike couldn't help feeling sorry for her. She seemed to be remembering things that only brought her sadness and he wanted to say that they should just drop the subject, but at the same time, they all kept their Samurai Ranger powers secret from everyone to keep them as safe as possible. If Thalia knew things, they should probably find out how. The group didn't say anything while Thalia collected her thoughts. She wasn't trying to run away and Mike didn't feel suspicious that she would. So when she didn't answer and instead just turned to walk away, he moved forward and grabbed her arm.
In another second, he was on his back on the ground with his friend rushing to his side. Thalia held up her hands. "I'm sorry! It was instinct. I haven't actually touched another human in a long time."
"Are you out here all by yourself?" Mike asked as he was helped up by Antonio, more concerned about her than himself.
"I am," Thalia began, clenching one hand into a fist, "I am alone." She finished without saying whatever else was on her mind, Mike could tell. The others, especially Jayden and Kevin, who were exchanging glances, seemed to all feel uneasy about this like he did.
"You should come back with us," Emily said suddenly. Mia nodded beside her. "You shouldn't be by yourself."
"I doubt your mentor would be glad to see me," Thalia said with some amount of bitterness. "I'm better off out here. I'm safe."
"Why would Mentor be unhappy to see her?" Mia whispered to Jayden, who shook his head.
"Look." Jayden said it kindly enough. "We have questions and you could probably use some rest in a real bed instead of whatever you have out here. Whatever Mentor Ji feels, he wouldn't turn away someone who needs help."
"I don't need help," Thalia said immediately, her voice quiet and sad. "And the answers to your questions are better left buried like I was."
"Buried?" Antonio said at the same time that Mia said, "You what?"
Mike didn't like the sound of that at all. Even if Thalia meant it in a metaphorical sense, she was clearly sad being alone and he didn't want to leave her that way. "Please come back with us. You don't have to answer everything," he added, ignoring the way Kevin glared at him. "But you shouldn't be out here alone, even if you can take care of yourself. Please."
Thalia looked at each of them in turn, her expression clouded and unreadable. "I'll walk you back to the entrance," she said finally. "But I have to stay here." Her tone brooked no arguments. Emily seemed to want to anyway, but Mike just took her hand and shook his head. He was already planning on coming back the next day or so to persuade her, but he could tell that nothing was going to convince Thalia to come with them today.
The walk back to the entrance was short, supporting Antonio's argument for them going around in circles at first. Thalia's hand dragged along the trees they passed like she was saying hello and goodbye at the same time. Mike had so many questions that he couldn't think of them all at once. He kept his mouth shut and Emily didn't say anything else either.
"Here." Thalia stopped in between two large trees. "Get home safely," she said as they filed through. Mike wanted to put a hand on her shoulder or something to make her stop looking so sad, but he didn't want to startle her again, so he did nothing, just nodded at her gratefully, hoping that she got his meaning.
When they'd all gone through, each of them glancing back and shaking their heads when they couldn't see Thalia anymore, they stopped to regroup.
"We can't just leave her there," Emily said, distraught. "She's all alone!"
"We can come back," Mia comforted her. "Right?"
Jayden didn't say anything, apparently undecided on the subject. Well, whatever their leader thought, Mike wasn't going to give up so easily. There was something about Thalia that bothered him and he knew he wouldn't be able to shake the feeling until he had answers.
"Right," he heard Antonio saying, smiling in that way of his that could make anyone smile and Emily was no exception.
"What's right? I'm all wrong!" A sing-song voice shouted from the trees as they were suddenly surrounded by a bunch of moogers. "Hey, say, who have we got here? Looks like a great place for a party!" A brightly-colored nighlok burst out of the forest, shaking ashy confetti wherever he walked, his footprints leaving burnt areas of scorched grass. "You ready for a party game? It's gonna be a ball!" A fireball shot from the staff the nighlock was holding, causing the rangers to split and dive to either side. "Come on now, that's no way to play. Let's try that again!"
"Guys, you know what to do!" Jayden pulled out his samuraizer and the rest of them followed suit. As Mike morphed alongside his team, part of his mind couldn't help wandering to Thalia and whether she was watching. Hopefully she stayed in the protected area. When she had saved him a few days ago, there had only been a handful of moogers, but now there were at least a few dozen, plus the party nighlok. Without the ability to morph, Thalia would be no match for these monsters.
"Come on, guys, let's get 'em!" Emily enthusiastically started to defeat moogers next to Kevin. Mike joined Mia in dodging fireballs while attacking their own group. He didn't like how the fireballs were starting to hurt the trees around him. They had to stop this nighlok before he burned down the forest.
—
Second wave, most of the moogers were dead, but the nighlok had now grown and was starting to really set things on fire. Kevin was busy putting out trees and Mia had his back. Emily and Antonio were taking down the rest of the moogers and Mike and Jayden were focusing on attacking the nighlok himself. It was hard, especially since they were a split force due to all the fireballs. When enough of the fires had been put out, the others joined to help Jayden create a cannon with their disks. It was almost enough, but the nighlok wasn't gone yet. Mike and the others had been thrown backward due to the combination of the blast combining with the nighlok's fireballs. He looked up to check on the others. Everyone seemed a little dazed but okay.
When he got up, however, he saw the nighlok had created the hugest fireball yet. "Guys, watch out!" Everybody scrambled to get out of the way, but they weren't fast enough. When Mike opened his eyes again, the forest around him was blurry, probably partly because of the smoke in the air. Still, when he tried to get up, his body wasn't cooperating and he fell over again. This felt like that time a few days ago, more so because when he blinked some of the smoke out of his eyes he saw a figure in front of him.
This was just like a few days ago. Here he was, unable to get up, and this girl comes in to save him. He gathered his strength and pushed himself up onto his knees, just then noticing that the blast had been enough to demorph him and his team. As he crawled over to check on Emily and Antonio, he saw Thalia with a staff in her hand settle into a fighting stance.
"Thalia, no! Get out of here!" He yelled as loud as he could with the smoke still in the air. "It's too dangerous!"
He saw Jayden scrambling for his samuraizer to help her, but he was struggling the same way Mike was.
Thalia ignored them, her staff starting to, to glow? Mike had to blink hard to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Her staff was glowing and as he watched, Thalia swung it around and around, finally bringing it down straight at the nighlok with a shout. The light from the staff shot out and sliced through the nighlok, destroying it completely.
"Woah," he heard himself say. Kevin and Mia appeared to be okay as they got up and crouched next to Emily and Antonio who had definitely gotten the worst of the blast. They were still unconscious. Jayden finally stood and Mike let him pull him up as well as they made their way over to where Thalia was standing, or swaying, actually. Her staff had disappeared after the strike and it appeared to have taken a lot out of her.
"Are you okay?" Jayden asked as they approached her.
Thalia turned, blinking slowly. "I'm, I'll be alright," she said faintly, taking one step forward before collapsing.
Mike and Jayden both caught her before she hit the ground. She looked up at the both of them confusedly, like she couldn't remember who they were. "It's strange," she said.
"What is?" Jayden asked, checking her over for injuries.
"Seeing, seeing you," she started to say when her eyes slid shut.
"Thalia?" Mike pat her cheek a couple of times. She didn't respond. He sat back a little, still holding her as Jayden let go to check on the others. Mike sighed, surveying the damage to the forest as well as to his team before letting his gaze drop back to the girl in his arms. "I guess you're coming back with us after all."
—
Mike volunteered to carry Thalia back, but was immediately overruled Kevin, who told him to carry Emily instead. "What difference does it make?" He was already maneuvering around to pull Thalia's arms over his shoulders and Jayden turned to Kevin.
"I'll take Emily, you take Antonio. Mia, help him balance."
"You got it." Mia glanced at Emily worriedly once before helping Kevin get Antonio on his back.
"Mia, just go on ahead and help Mentor Ji get ready for us."
"Jayden?"
"If Kevin's okay, go ahead," Jayden answered.
Mike shook his head a little at yet another example of their ridiculous habit of always referring to Jayden about everything. Kevin hated to accept help, but of course Mia wouldn't be sure about who to follow. Even though working as a team and following their leader was important in a battle, Mike thought they could each think for themselves a little more. It didn't help that Mentor Ji encouraged them to to rely on Jayden while pretending they were all valuable. He shook himself again to get rid of those useless thoughts. Now was not the time to bother about those things. As their team trained and got to knew each other better, they could work these things out. Hopefully.
Thalia moved a little, causing Mike to shift her a little higher on his back, making sure she was secure. "Are you awake?" He asked quietly, but received no answer. Instead of thinking about team dynamics, Mike recalled how swiftly Thalia had appeared and how powerful the blast from her staff had been. It had been even more shocking since she hadn't been in any kind of morph form. He remembered how she seemed certain that Mentor Ji would not want her around and kept saying that it had been a long time since…well, something. Even though she appeared youthful, Mike wondered if perhaps she was older than she looked, and what the heck she'd meant by her being 'buried'.
This was going to be hard for her, Mike realized. She was going to wake up surrounded by people she didn't know and someone she clearly had history - bad history - with and was going to have to explain things to those people that might be painful for her to recall. It wasn't fair to Thalia, that she would be pushed into the spotlight when she clearly wanted to be left alone. Mike was determined to make sure everyone was thankful that she'd saved them and not insist she tell them everything they wanted to know if she wasn't ready.
He'd been pushed into joining this team by necessity and hadn't like it for a long time. His teammates had taken a while to warm up to each other and especially him, but they were going to do better this time. Mike readjusted his grip again and walked a little faster to catch up with Jayden and Kevin, having lagged behind while deep in thought. "Guys," he said, getting their attention, "Don't make Thalia feel uncomfortable. Kevin, don't make that skeptical face and Jayden, don't let Mentor Ji say anything harsh. She just saved our lives. We owe her."
Kevin had been about to make a retort, Mike could tell, but ultimately just nodded when Jayden answered affirmatively.
They walked the rest of the way in silence.
—
Mike paced back and forth in front of the screen separating him from where Thalia was resting. The girls sat on the cushioned benches in the living area, chatting quietly about something while Mia held an ice pack to her friend's head. From the kitchen came the familiar sounds of Antonio making dinner. There was always a rhythm to his methods, which made sense, since he considered his cooking to be a bit of an art. His way of recovering from being knocked out was always to make himself useful, like he needed to prove that he wasn't dead weight to the team. Mike knew that he and the others were long past thinking of him as an intruder and it was only Mentor Ji who had any leftover reservations.
After making sure his teammates were okay, Kevin had immediately departed for a run, which meant he was stewing over something and Mike wasn't going to waste brainpower on wondering what had upset him now. That left just Jayden who was still in the study with their mentor, discussing gravely important matters that of course couldn't be shared with the rest of them. It irked Mike to no end how little their mentor seemed to trust them at times, yet he knew that Jayden would share more information with them afterward. The leader could be reserved at times and not always volunteer that information, but after some pestering or rather, reassurance, usually from Kevin or Emily, he would relent and include them. Mike had to remind himself that Jayden had fought by himself for years and while he was raised to be a leader, it was another matter entirely to actually put his training into practice.
The same was true of all of them. They were still a dysfunctional team at times, though Mike was at least confident that he could trust each of them to have his back and hoped they felt the same about him. That thought brought him right back around to Thalia and how she'd been the one to have their backs this time. While they couldn't know if it that fight in the forest would've been just a temporary setback or a more serious defeat, Mike was grateful that no further injuries had been inflicted on his team. At the same time, he was a bit angry with himself for not protecting them better, but as soon as Emily had woken she'd given them all the "don't blame yourselves or I'll insist Mia cooks dinner" speech and he'd tried to acquiesce.
"I'm fine now, Mia," Emily said a bit louder, breaking into Mike's thoughts. "Why don't we check on Thalia? She might be nervous waking up in a strange house all alone."
"I don't think it's a strange house to her." Antonio's voice carried around the corner as he appeared in the doorway. "She knew about Ji and that we were Power Rangers. It would make sense that she knew about Shiba House as well."
"Still, she's been alone for what seems like a very long time."
Mia added, "We were all nervous about meeting each other. Em's right. We should give her a familiar face. Mike, you should sit with her."
"What?" Mike was surprised. He'd figured it would be better if Emily and Mia were there, since they were both girls. "Why me?"
"You met her first," Mia pointed out. "She would recognize you the most easily."
"And I get the feeling that she'd just try to run away if it were anyone else or no one."
"I agree with Antonio and Mia." Emily smiled at Mike in that way where it was so very hard to refuse her. "You should go in."
Mike still felt it was weird for him to just watch her sleep, but his teammates words did make sense. So, "Okay, I'll sit with her."
"Call us if she wakes up."
Mike rolled his eyes. "I bet she still tries to run even if it's me, but sure, Em. I'll call."
—
His assumptions were proved correct when the first thing Thalia did upon opening her eyes was to spring up out of bed like she'd woken from a nightmare. Although, judging by her expression, it was more like she'd woken into a nightmare. Mike stood quickly and held out his hands in an instinctual gesture to show she was safe.
"I shouldn't be here."
Before he could say anything, Thalia had curled into herself and backed up against the wall, eyes glancing all around like she was searching for an exit. Mike didn't respond immediately, taking the time to find the right thing to say, except he couldn't figure out what that should be. Thalia wasn't looking at him and her breathing was erratic, like someone on the verge of a panic attack.
"Maybe you should sit down. Catch your breath." Mike didn't move any closer to her, giving her space to breathe. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"I shouldn't be here." She repeated her earlier statement like she hadn't heard a single word he'd said.
"Why not?" He was genuinely curious. "This is a safe place."
"I don't belong here."
Mike considered this, but without anything else to go on, he still had no idea what she was thinking. "Thalia, please sit down." The sound of her name was what seemed to jolt her out of her trance and she finally look at him with recognition.
"What happened?"
"You destroyed the nighlok and passed out. You also said it was strange seeing us, which I thought was weird. You'd just seen us before the fight. And what were you thinking jumping in like that? That staff had a lot of power but it clearly drained you to use it. Do you know how dangerous that was?"
"I knew exactly how dangerous it was," she snapped at him, startling them both.
In the awkward silence that followed, the door behind Mike slid open and Emily and Mia both slipped into the room.
Thalia looked more uncomfortable but less like she was going to pass out again. Mike decided he'd take it.
"Mike, you said you'd call us," Emily reprimanded him gently, putting a hand on his arm. "Is she alright?"
"She's right there. You can ask her yourself," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
"How about we all go sit in the living room?" Mia suggested.
Thalia nodded stiffly after a moment and moved forward when the three rangers moved back. They allowed her ample space to enter the living area and sit without being crowded.
"Are you alright?" Emily asked as soon as they were all seated, Antonio joining them from the kitchen.
"I am well," Thalia answered, looking like she'd like to disappear right there. "I should leave."
"Not just yet." Mentor Ji's voice caused them all to look up, minus Thalia, who studiously kept her gaze down. "I'd like to ask you some questions."
"I might not have the answers you want."
Mike turned back to her, confused by the sudden firmness in her tone.
"Be that as it may, I'd still like to ask." Ji took a seat as well, Jayden following beside him. "Who are you?"
"I'm Thalia."
Mike stifled a grin when Ji's face showed disapproval at her evasive answer.
"Jayden told me you defeated the nighlok with the use of a staff. How did you come to possess such a weapon?"
"It's mine."
Ji sighed, clearly frustrated. Jayden took over the conversation.
"We're fighting a strong enemy and if there's someone else able to fight on our side, of course we'd be curious about it. How come you've never shown up before?"
Thalia continued to stare at the floor. "I was asleep."
Ji sucked in a breath but Mike beat it to it. "Wait, I remember you saying you'd been buried? Is this a Snow White situation?" He tried to make his voice light but couldn't help the concern that bled through.
A small, bitter laugh escaped Thalia. "Snow White gets to be awoken by true love's kiss. I was awoken by Sanzu river water seeping back into the world. Kind of a big difference."
Everyone seemed to be rolling that idea around in their heads for a moment. The silence was thick with tension.
And then Thalia seemed to break. "You're thinking of the Indigo Warrior, aren't you? The strange ally to the previous generation of Samurai Rangers? The one who disappeared right when they needed her the most? She coincidentally also had a staff like mine." She raised her head and looked at Ji straight on.
Mike felt like everyone in the room was holding their breath. Ji nodded curtly.
Thalia laughed again, a sad, sour sound. "The Indigo Warrior wasn't a ranger, but possessed a weapon like mine. She was a loyal friend to the rangers and promised to stand with them to the end. And then she was gone, right when Xandred was at his most powerful, requiring the red ranger to sacrifice himself to seal him away."
"Was she your mother?" Mia blurted out, but Mike figured they were all thinking it.
Thalia's eyes wandered around the room, meeting each of their gazes in turn. When she finally ended back on Ji and her lips curved up in a sardonic smile, Mike had a sudden thought.
"Wait-"
Ji held up his hand. His eyes were angry, even if his expression was carefully calm. "She wasn't your mother."
"No." Thalia lifted her chin, unafraid of his ire.
"It's you." Jayden didn't seem aware that he'd said it out loud until a few seconds after those two, little words had hung painfully in the air.
"You," Ji began, fists clenching in his first, outward sign of animosity.
Thalia didn't give him time to finish. "Think what you like of me. I don't care. I should never had shown myself to you."
Even as they all stood to stop her, Thalia rose and dashed past them all, impossibly fast.
"Stop!" Ji called after her as they all ran out.
They exited the house but there was no sign of Thalia, just like when she'd disappeared in the forest. Mike kicked at a pebble in frustration. Emily grabbed his hand to calm him, but he was already turning away from the gates. "I said to not make her uncomfortable or ask her anything harsh. She saved us and we didn't even thank her. What was that?!"
Jayden didn't answer. Mia gave him a look. Antonio put a hand on Jayden's shoulder. Kevin came jogging through the gates and stopped in front of them. "I think that girl just ran past me."
"Yeah." Mike didn't want to stick around to explain things to the blue ranger. "I'm going into town for a while."
"What happened?" He heard Kevin ask as he walked away.
Mike shook his head, taking long strides away from the house. "We messed up," he mumbled to himself. "We messed up."