Connecting Destinies

Kevin, Mike and Mia looked at Ji in surprise, then their eyes wandered back to the blond girl in front of them who avoided their gazes and kept her eyes fixed on Ji. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence Mike was the one to speak:
"She's the Yellow Samurai Ranger?"

His mentor just nodded causing Kevin to ask:
"But how is this possible?! You just told us she's been the Yellow Ranger of – how were they called?"
"Wild Force", Mia added quietly.

"Yeah, whatever. How can she be part of two separated Power Ranger teams?"
But before Ji was able to respond, the newcomer defended herself:
"If you don't want me here, just say it, then I'll leave!"
Kevin jumped back in surprise.

"No, I wasn't gonna say that. I'm just wondering if -"

"Stop searching for excuses! If you can't handle someone way more experienced than you being on the team, go and find yourself a more suitable Yellow Ranger."

And before anybody was able to hold her back, she turned and stormed off.
"Taylor, wait!", cried Mia, but it was no use.

Mike turned to Kevin:

"Pretty good work! Great way of welcoming a new member to our team!"

Then he began to run after Taylor who was already out of sight.

Mia shot Kevin a short glare and followed the other two.

Kevin turned to Ji as the older man lay his hand on his shoulder:
"I understand your concern, but do not let it control your actions too much! You did not even allow me to finish my explanations concerning Taylor."

A puzzled look crossed Kevin's face.

"What are you talking about?"

"You asked me if she was the Yellow Samurai Ranger, am I right?"

Kevin slowly nodded and his teacher continued to speak:
"She is. But only for now."

With that he walked back into his mansion leaving the student behind with even more questions than before.

"Taylor, please, we need to talk about this!", Mike shouted while running at high speed and slowly decreasing the distance between him and the girl.

He was quite surprised that she actually slowed down and started walking rather than keep running in order for him to catch up with her. As soon as he was by her side, she asked:

"What do you want?"

"I want you to come back with us. We'll need you in our future fights!"

Taylor even refused to look at him:

"No interest. Thanks for asking."

With a heavy sigh, he grabbed her arm and forced her to stop:
"I know you're upset, I understand that. But Kevin didn't mean to insult you, he was just surprised. There's a big difference between being told about other Power Rangers who have already fought to protect our world and seeing one in person who's gonna join the team."
Finally, Taylor met his gaze, a small smile on her face after receiving the compliment.

"Well, I tend to overreact sometimes, I'm afraid."

Further decreasing the space between them, Mike leaned in a bit while raising an eyebrow:
"Only sometimes?"

For a moment there was no reaction, then both of them began to laugh.

Only seconds later, Mia reached the two of them:

"There you are. Please, Taylor, come back with us. We'll need you!"

Taylor smiled at her while Mike added:

"And you still need to listen to Kevin's apology."

"Alright, I'm coming with you. But he should better do some really good apologizing or I'll leave again."

Though she managed to make a serious face, her voice betrayed her and made the statement sound more like a joke. Mia and Mike grinned at her and walking side by side, the three of them made their way back to Mentor Ji's mansion.

It was midday and therefore the city was way too noisy for his taste. Deker closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the strange feeling that had led him here, but it was so crowded that he needed all of his self control to stay calm. His Nighlok instincts wanted nothing more than to rip someone's head off and leave this awful place, but for once his weaker human side allied with his sword Uramasa , because both of them weren't able to shake off the feeling that they had to search for something – or someone.

Deker kept going and after crossing a side street, he felt how Uramasa seemed to become even more restless, so he stopped immediately and tried to make out the source of it. But just seconds later a familiar scent awoke his Nighlok side once again: The sweet and deep smell of blood. He spun around with inhuman speed and had turned into his monster form before being able to hold it back. Ignoring the panicked screams of the humans around him as they tried to get away as fast as possible, he followed the scent around the corner of a big skyscraper and then he stopped.

Three men stood there building a circle which surrounded a fourth figure, who lay on the ground and was trying to stand up. Deker had to struggle to remain hidden the moment he noticed this was the bleeding human.

Obviously, there had been some fight going on, which hadn't been too good for him when looking at his bleeding nose and the little portions of blood he was spitting out. One of the men, who seemed to be their leader, spoke while barely hiding his grin:
"So, Jayden, still convinced we shouldn't – how did you call it? Bully everyone around?"

To everyone's surprise, Jayden managed to stand up and reply quite clearly for someone who had blood filling his mouth:
"Ya got that right!"

And before anyone could have stopped him, he punched his opponent straight into the face.

Deker was sure to hear a cracking sound and a pained scream, then the other two jumped forward and grabbed Jayden, who struggled to get free from the tight grip.

Deker took this as a sign that he had been waiting long enough and stepped out of the shadows.

The leader, who had just succeeded in getting back on his feet while holding his nose, shot him a warning glare:
"Back off and you won't get in trouble!"

"How about this: Leave him alone or I will cut your head off!"

The three men stared at him in surprise obviously trying to understand a hidden joke which wasn't there. Demonstratively, Deker swung his Uramasa in his hand which caused them to look at it in horror before turning around and leaving him alone with Jayden.

He waited until they were out of sight, then he took in the new scene: Jayden was a young man in his early twenties with slightly longer brown hair. Immediately, Deker noticed the determined look in Jayden's light blue eyes which made him smirk.

As Jayden began speaking, Deker noticed that his body was trembling from the pain:
"What are you gonna do to me?"

Deker didn't answer right away but watched as more blood was trickling down his bottom lip.

"You need to see a doctor, I believe."

He took a few steps forward and while clasping Jayden's waist with his left hand to stabilize him, he swung the younger man's arm over his neck and dragged him out of the side street.

"Do you have anyone whom you can call for help?"
Jayden grinned:

"You mean other than 911? Well, I could call a good friend of mine, he lives nearby."

"Call him!"

Deker waited until Jayden had finished the call before asking:

"How do you feel? Is anything broken?"
"Hm. No, I guess. I've been beaten up worse."

Deker smiled when hearing that.

"So you are sort of the fighting type, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess, you could say that."

Deker didn't answer or break the eye contact. Jayden didn't look away either and Deker couldn't fight the feeling that there was something special about this young man. There was something in his eyes that made Deker feel respect for him although he was just a human. After a few moments, he decided to give in to that feeling:

"That was very brave, you know. Taking the three of them on in order to protect your friends."

Jayden blinked in surprise:

"You think so?"

"Yeah, quite brave. And stupid."

Jayden rolled his eyes, but couldn't respond in any other way, because he recognized his friend Kevin rushing towards him:

"Jayden, how are you?"

Kevin didn't even give him the chance to answer but pulled him into an awkward hug.

"Come on, let's go!"

Jayden turned to thank his savior, but he was already gone.

Kevin looked at him in confusion:
"Jayden, stop staring into nothing and let's get you to a doctor!"

Jayden nodded and followed him, all the way thinking of the stranger.

Deker watched from the rooftop of a nearby museum how Jayden left with one of the men he had been watching two days ago. Then his thoughts were interrupted by Uramasa that seemed to feel uncomfortable.

That moment Deker remembered why he had come here in the first place. He tried to concentrate again, but the feeling seemed to be gone and it wasn't helping at all that his thoughts kept returning to Jayden. This man had something in his eyes he had never seen before. Courage and a true warrior spirit. The moment he thought of this, Uramasa seemed to tense and Deker could feel its own fighting spirit awakening – just like his.

"Patience, Uramasa, patience. Indeed, he is the opponent we have been searching for all this time, but he is not ready yet."

His sword didn't calm down at these swords, so he added:

"Do not worry, we will fight him soon enough."