Greetings and Salutations to the world of fanfiction! Sorry it took me a while to update; my computer broke down on me, erasing what I had already typed. It took a while to get it fixed, but when I finally did I had to start from scratch. It's still a bit wonky, so I might not be able to update fast. Again, apologies for that, but I'm just glad I can write stories again. Oh, and the action packed chapter's going to have to wait until the next chapter or the next next chapter. Or maybe the latter half of the next chapter and the first half of the next next chapter.

Did anyone happen to catch the premier of the new Power Rangers Megaforce? I was kinda hoping for a new theme, like Super Sentai, but meh, whatever. Either way, the 20th and latest installation is supposed to have elements from both Tensou Sentai Goseiger and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. Shoot, I was hoping for an entire season about pirates, but again, whatever. I do wonder if they're going to do the 'Ranger Keys' thing that allows them to morph into past Ranger incarnations?

Disclaimer: Do I really have to do a disclaimer? It should be pretty obvious that I do not own Power Rangers in any way, shape, or form. Oh, wait... Nope, still don't own it. Rats.

Chapter 4 – Premonitions and Late Nights

Emily groaned. What just happened? Calm down, she told herself, think. Try to remember. She, Jayden, and Antonio were suddenly ambushed by a black-clad figure, we fought, we had him against the ropes, and then he called these strange birds… that… exploded…

With no small effort, she lifted her head and took a quick glance around the battlefield. It was as she feared. She and Antonio were down and demorphed, with Antonio seemingly out for the count. Jayden was trying his best to fend off both their mysterious assailant with his Spin Sword on one side and blasting the birds with the Bullzooka while defending his friends, but he wasn't faring so well. If he focused too much on the fight with their attacker, one of the birds would swoop down and detonate. If he tried to concentrate on shooting down the feathery bombs, the enemy would get in a strike past his defenses.

Her eyes widened as she saw a small flock quickly ascend above her Jayden, out of his range of vision. They made a descended rapidly towards an unassuming Jayden. That was the same technique that took out her and Antonio! Just one of those irritating pests could do a lot of damage. That many, and against Jayden's already exhausted state, might annihilate him!

She desperately tried to call out, to move, to do something! But she couldn't. All she could do was watch helplessly as the birds almost completed their suicide dive towards their fearless leader, heavily intent on taking him out with them. In her peripheral vision, she could see Antonio shakily rising to his feet, but he was in no condition to do anything. She managed to bring herself to a crawling position, but it was too late. The mysterious foe had leapt back, out of the range of the explosion. Jayden quickly looked up, and Emily could tell that his eyes had widened from underneath his helmet.

With renewed strength surging from an unknown source, Emily leapt to her feet and began running towards her… her Jayden, just a second too late.

BOOM!

"JAYDEN!"

"Emily! Wake up!"

"Huh?" Thud! "Ow!"

Emily gingerly rubbed her sore rear before looking around, fearing the worst. But her worry was all for naught. They were still at the Shiba house, pouring over a mess of tomes and notes looking for a clue towards remaking the Shinkenmaru. There was no fight, it was just a dream.

She sighed in relief, before picking herself up and returning to the chair she presumably fell off of. Across the table, Jayden stared at her with concern apparent in his gaze.

"Are you alright? You fell asleep while going over Jii's notes. It sounded like you were having some dream," he explained. He purposely left out the fact that she had called his name shortly before awakening. He would burn that bridge when the time comes, but not before then.

"More like a nightmare," Emily muttered. She tried to remember what exactly she was dreaming about earlier, but soon found that she could not remember a single detail aside from the fact that it featured Jayden in some way.

I really hope I didn't talk in my sleep, she thought to herself. A glance outside the window revealed that it was well past dark, which came as a shock to her since the last she checked, it was still light out. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Three, four hours probably," Jayden shrugged as he returned to a really, really thick book. Emily suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Had he been reading through all of the books and reports by himself?

Her stomach let out a small growl, but it still enough for Jayden to notice. As he turned to her again, Emily was quickly feeling her guilt being overrun by embarrassment. He raised an eyebrow and she felt her face become aflame with redness.

Jayden tactfully put down the book and led her to the kitchen, where there was a covered plate with her name on it. "Antonio made us some seafood curry with rice. It should still be warm, but I can heat it up for you if you'd like."

"No, it's fine!" Emily sat down and uncovered the dish. The aroma was absolutely tantalizing and quickly made her mouth water. She took a bite, and was overwhelmed with flavor. "This is delicious!" she exclaimed, quickly taking another bite. She could practically taste the exotic fish Antonio used to make it. Speaking of which… Emily gulped down a mouthful of the tasty curry before asking, "Where is Antonio?"

"He was a bit tired from his special training, so he decided to turn in early," replied Jayden. "Though he still managed to make dinner for all of us. He figured you would be hungry after waking up."

Emily was busy with swallowing another mouthful of curry. "With food like this, who wouldn't be?"

"There's more in the pot if you want," Jayden gestured to the countertop, where a medium-sized pot was currently resting. "I'll just go back to reading. Try to get some sleep when you're done, okay?" She nodded and he went back to his book. He still had a lot to finish reading.

[Scene Change]

Somewhere around the outskirts of the city, a certain crow materialized in a flurry of feathers. He scratched the back of head in confusion. "I was trying to get inside the city, not just outside it. This teleporting thing is really frustrating sometimes."

A sudden beeping emanating from his belt made him jump. He retrieved some kind of phone from one his pockets, pausing momentarily to consider the strangeness of an ancient monster using modern technology (he was actually one of the few in Akuma who didn't mind using it). The constant beeping snapped him right out of his thoughts and prompted him to answer.

"Yo, Crow here. Hello? Yes sir, I can hear you. For the seven hundredth twenty eighth time, this isn't magic, it's called technology, more specifically a 'cell phone'. No, I can't see you right now. How am I supposed to know how many talons you have behind your back? Ugh, I don't know, three? Hello? Hello? Sir, if you want me to hear you, you need to speak into the mike. No, not Mike, I meant the microphone!" Crow rubbed his temples in frustration. Why were only a handful of people in Akuma capable of making a simple phone call? And why did it seem that he had to explain how phones work to every, single person who calls him?

Crow let out a dejected sigh. Suddenly, he perked up at something he heard on the other end. "Well, hellloooooo nurse!" he exclaimed happily. "Yes, I know you aren't a nurse. And don't call cartoons stupid! Yep, I finished my messenger job. I know, she was shocked about it too. Oh yeah, Yuki said she wanted to be stationed here. Apparently she's ticked off about something again. Alrighty then, I guess she'll be pretty pleased then.

"Hmm? No, I'm not doing anything I shouldn't; just passing some time. Scout's honor!" Though technically I'm not a scout, since I'm a courier. "Huh? Wow, that's kind of creepy, how you can read minds like that. Yeah, I'll be back in a couple of days. I dunno, give or take a week. I know, teleporting is kind of irritating. I was just… you read my mind again, didn't you? Stop doing that! Bye!" Crow abruptly hung up his phone and returned it to his pocket.

Well, technically he wasn't doing anything against their orders, since they never said that he couldn't. Crow sighed before running his hand through his hair. Time to do things the old-fashioned way, he says to himself as he starts walking. It was a good thing he had an excellent sense of direction (lie).

[Scene Change]

"The Shinkenmaru and Spin Swords are exactly alike except for one key difference that isn't noticeable to anybody but the user. The difference is that the Shinkenmaru are capable of channeling Mojikara, or Symbol Power, more efficiently to increase strength and effectiveness while lessening the strain on the user. This allows the user to employ more powerful symbols and last longer," Jayden read aloud. He was sore and very tired, his eyes were bloodshot, and not to mention he's resisting the very strong urge to just fall asleep right then and there. But he couldn't stop. He was almost there, he can feel it. He yawned before continuing, "The configuration of the two swords is structurally the same, so converting a Spin Sword into a Shinkenmaru is actually a simple process. All that is required is to…"

"Jayden!" the arrival of two new voices made him wearily turn to the entrance, where he saw two people rushing towards him. Who were they again? They were his friends… the fisherman and the nice girl.

"Jayden, don't tell me you were up all night reading?" the nice girl scolded him, not-so-nicely. She had an odd expression, like she was feeling bad or something.

"Amigo! You really should get some sleep lo antes posible!" the fisherman said. What did he say? He needs some sleep so ants possible? But he just found out what he needed to do!

"Hey guys… listen," if he were fully awake, he would've winced at the way he slurred his speech. "About the swords, all you need to do is…"

"Shh!" the nice girl kneeled down next to him(apparently he had fallen off his chair and onto the oh-so comfortable floor while he was talking) and carefully lifted his head from the floor and moved it to her lap. "Just sleep for now. The swords can wait a couple of hours. Focus on resting, okay?"

Her voice was so soothing to him, that he gave up the struggle to stay awake and began nestling in the nice girl's lap, ignoring her squeaking and tensing up. The last thing he said before completely fell under the enchanting spell of sleep was, "You smell nice, nice girl."

…

Antonio was trying his best, honest, to hold in his laughter. Though he was really doing a poor job. He just couldn't help it! Emily's expression was hilarious! She was so red, she could do a good job masquerading as either Jayden or Lauren in their Ranger forms.

He was about to open his mouth and make some sort of remark about the situation, but Emily quickly shot him a glare that threatened pain in the very near future if he so much as said a single word about this situation. How she managed to look so terrifying while blushing so heavily was beyond him, but he wisely chose to keep his comments to himself.

Not so nice from the 'nice girl', he thought. Clearing his throat, he said, "That's… one way to handle Jayden, I suppose. I've never seen him give in so willingly before."

"Yeah, well, he must've been a whole lot more tired than we thought," she retorted a bit too loudly before covering her mouth with her hands. She checked just to make sure, and sure enough, Jayden was O-U-T. He didn't even stir. She sighed in relief before turning back to Antonio, who had gone into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. She was about to get up to help, but then she realized that she overlooked one very important fact.

"Antonio?" she called out nervously. He returned in a flash, smirking. "I'm kind of stuck."

He knew it. He couldn't suppress the chuckle that made its way past his defenses, not that he was trying. He just patted her head and told her, "Don't worry about it, I've got breakfast covered. Tener alegria…" And with that, he walked back into the kitchen.

He wasn't coming back, was he? "Antonio?" Nope. "Antonio? ANTONIO!"

Thanks for reading everybody! I humbly beseech thee to leaveth a review-eth.