The Rangers did their best to ignore the rumbling, the crashing and the sandstorms outside while they all trained in the dojo inside the Shiba House. For reasons Mentor wouldn't say, he didn't want the Rangers to train outside with Emily, nor did he want them to encourage her while she trained. He insisted this was something she needed to do on her own.
"Worried?" Jayden asked as he swung him katana at Mike while the green Ranger glanced towards the window. It was covered with so much dirt and sand that he couldn't see outside. Mike was hit in the side of the head and knocked clean off his feet. He felt the world spinning, though that could have been an earthquake, before his vision cleared and he saw Jayden's hand helping him up.
"Dude, if you know I'm distracted, don't hit me," Mike muttered. "This is training, not real life."
"Sorry," Jayden chuckled. He looked over at the window as well and then back to Mike, "We're not just doing this so Emily can open the box. We've all been making a lot of progress, but we have reached a standstill. You and Emily make an excellent team, but she can only learn so much from you and vice-versa. If you want to improve, and if you want her to improve, you both need to be challenged."
"Are you calling her weak?" Mike growled. Jayden could say whatever he wanted about Mike, but he had no right to talk about Emily and her strength. Jayden shook his head.
"I'm just saying. I'll benefit from this just as much as you will. Emily will learn a lot from Mentor Ji, and Kevin and Antonio are also teaching each other a thing or two. In the end, we'll all come out stronger."
"Except Mia," Antonio chuckled and turned to the pink Ranger who was sitting on the bench. While he was distracted, Kevin hit him in the chest. He groaned in pain and rubbed his sore spot, "Ow… sorry."
"Do I need to remind you what I'll be doing from the sidelines?" Mia said to Antonio. She held up her notebook to show off the many different symbols she had been tracing since the beginning of training. "I may be a little rusty with a sword when this stupid cast comes off, but at least I'll have stronger symbols."
"Like I said," Jayden nodded, "We'll all come out stronger."
"So, how is this Ranger thing going to work now that Mia's laid up?" Mike asked, making sure he was focused while he and Jayden sparred. "I mean, we can handle ourselves without her for a few weeks but if the monsters go mega, we'll have to rely on the Battlewing and the Clawzord."
"And the lonely little Ape trying to fit in with the big Megazords," Antonio chuckled. "Emily's probably not going to sit back and watch the battles while we have all the fun."
"Emily and I need our own Megazord," Mia huffed. "I should have kept that beetle disk."
"Then we wouldn't be able to form the Battlewing," Mike smirked. He was then hit in the head by Jayden.
"Focus, Mike."
"She's distracting… OW!"
Jayden rolled his eyes and sighed, "Mike, pay attention."
"You know what you can learn from me, Jayden," Mike smirked, this time stepping back just in time to avoid another blow to the head. Jayden furrowed his brow for a moment.
"What's that?"
"Expect the unexpected," Mike flipped over Jayden's katana, landed on his feet and dropped to his knees before swinging his own sword out and sweeping Jayden right off his feet. Before Jayden could get up, Mike held his training sword to his throat. He smirked, "I win."
"You see what happens when you focus," Jayden said. Mike pulled his sword away and helped Jayden to his feet. Jayden smiled at him, "Good job, Mike."
On the other side of the room, Kevin had Antonio pinned onto the mat, but Antonio wasn't ready to give up just yet. The battle wasn't over. Just as he was about to turn the tables he heard glass shattering and a loud thump against the wall next to where Mia was sitting. All eyes turned to Mia just in time to see a rock no bigger than a fist land on her notebook after colliding with the wall right above her and leaving a dent. They turned back to the window, where the rock had broken through, and saw sand pouring inside the dojo from the hole.
"Why do I get the feeling we're going to have a lot of repairs to make before we get either Box open?" Kevin asked the rest of his team. He pulled Antonio up and walked over to Mia, "Are you okay?"
"Didn't hit me," Mia nodded her head. She looked down at her notebook, "But now my notes are covered in dirt and dust."
As the sand stopped pouring in through the hole in the window, Antonio tried to peek outside to see what exactly had happened. He couldn't make out much, but it definitely looked like both Mentor and Emily had reached their limit. The youngest Ranger seemed exhausted and Mentor appeared to be very frustrated.
Antonio looked over his shoulder, "Jay, maybe you should go out there before one kills the other," he told the red Ranger. "I think they've both had enough."
"I'll see what I can do," Jayden nodded. He set his katana down and headed outside.
The yard looked like a giant sandpit with rocks and boulders lying around everywhere. Jayden also had to be careful to watch his step as he walked. With all the earthquakes he felt, he was sure there was a fissure somewhere in the yard. When he was finally within Mentor and Emily's earshot he spoke up.
"Go shower, Em, we're all going to head out to a restaurant for dinner."
Emily didn't argue. She didn't look like she wanted to, nor did she have the energy to do anything but agree. While Emily walked off, Mentor Ji approached the red Ranger.
"She frustrates easily," he said, "It's keeping her from progressing."
"To be fair, we all get a little irritable when we're working off three broken-up hours of sleep," Jayden said. "Emily's full of energy, even on her slowest of days, but don't you think this is pushing it?"
"She can overcome the physical exhaustion," Mentor sighed, "It's the pressure she's putting on herself that's tiring her out. She's pushing herself to work too fast. I've tried to tell her she needs to take things slow."
"We'll talk to her at dinner. We'll let her know there's no rush."
"Except the fate of the world," Mentor reminded Jayden. "Without the Earth Stone Antonio cannot finish programming the Black Box, and without the Box we won't be able to stop Master Xandred. The fate of the world rests in Emily's hands until she opens the box."
"Have you tried open sesame?" Jayden suggested with a slight chuckle. Mentor Ji simply shot him a look that told him he wasn't in the mood for jokes. Jayden sighed, "I'll find a way to take the pressure off Emily. You just try and figure out which symbol she needs to learn to open that box. One task to focus on is easier to complete. And the open sesame symbol might not involve so many earthquakes and we can all get a goodnight's sleep. Mia especially."
"Has she threatened you since this morning?" Mentor finally chuckled. He had heard the story of Mia's sleep deprived rant and threats to Jayden and found them rather amusing. He knew the pink Ranger was not a morning person and needed at least eight hours of sleep in order to be pleasant during the day.
"Not yet, but something tells me it'll be more than threats if Emily keeps her awake for another night. Mike and Kevin might be coming after you as well."
"Enjoy your dinner," Mentor patted Jayden on the shoulder, "Let Emily and the other know she has the rest of the night off. Training will resume tomorrow morning."
Jayden continued to look at Mentor until the older man sighed.
"Late tomorrow morning."
"I'll be sure to tell them," Jayden smirked.
-Samurai-
"Don't eat the buns!" Emily cried as Kevin tried to reach for the basket of bread that the waiter had set down at their table while they waited for the food. Thinking something was wrong with the buns, Kevin quickly pulled his hand away.
"Why? What's wrong with them?"
"Nothing," Emily shook her head and pulled the basket closer towards her, "they just look soft and I'm tired."
Mike pulled the bread basket away as Emily leaned forward to rest her head on the soft buns. He chuckled and redirected her head to land on his shoulder. Emily, who had her eyes closed, frowned when the side of her head hit something harder than bread. She opened her eyes and saw Mike's shoulder. She glared at it and poked it with her finger.
"You need to fatten up, Mike. You're not soft."
"Is this permission from my girlfriend to sit in front of the TV all day eating pizza?"
"Yes," Emily nodded her head. She rested her head back on Mike's shoulder, "Until then, I'll have to settle for this."
"Most girls could only dream of dating a guy as fit as Mike," Antonio smirked and glanced to a table not too far from the Rangers, where a group of girls occasionally glanced over at the Ranger boys to admire them. Every once in a while, Antonio would catch the girls giving Mia and Emily threatening looks. Antonio turned back to Emily, "You've got a girl's dream guy and you want to fatten him up?"
"Bigger guys are definitely good to cuddle with," Mia nodded in agreement with Emily. She looked at Kevin apologetically, "Sorry, but it's the truth. You've never heard a girlfriend call her stick of a boyfriend a teddy bear."
"Point taken," Kevin chuckled. He finally reached for the bread and took a bun. He ripped it open and reached for the packet of butter. He was about to butter the bread when, in the corner of his eye, he noticed Mia struggling to cut her own bun in half. "I told you to just ask," he said, taking the bread from her and easily cutting it open.
"Show off," Mia muttered as Kevin put the butter on her bread and handed it back to her.
"You really don't like relying on other people, do you?" Mike chuckled to Mia. She shook her head.
Jayden cleared his throat and kicked Antonio under the table. On the way to the restaurant he had filled in Antonio on his plan to take some of the pressure off of Emily. From his conversation with Mentor Ji, it was clear the youngest Samurai was trying to push herself way too hard and it was holding her back in her training. All Emily ever wanted to do was make her team proud and prove to them, and herself, that she was just as good as the rest of them. It was in her nature to put so much pressure on herself to do just as well as they would.
Antonio got the message after catching a signal from Jayden that pointed to Emily. He nodded to the red Ranger and looked at the yellow, "Speaking of help, Em, I really appreciate the effort you're putting in to open up your box."
"I'll try to get it open soon," Emily responded without opening her eyes.
"Don't hurry," Antonio assured her. "I've still got to finish programming Kevin's, and then I've still got Mia's, Mike's and Jayden's, which will probably be the toughest to programme, as usual. You've got time to take it easy."
"But what if the Nighlok show up and they're too strong? What if we need the Black Box and I can't get my Stone?"
"Whether the Earth Stone is programmed or not won't matter if I don't have all the other Stones in first," Antonio told her. "Just relax. It'll come to you when you're ready."
"What if I take too long? If I don't get it on time that'll push you back a few days…"
"Emily, the pressure's on both of us," Antonio said. "If you do fall behind I'm more than ready to help you."
"We'll all help you," Jayden added with a smile. He looked around the table and saw the other Rangers nodding their heads in support.
"Mentor won't let you help," Emily muttered just as the waiter arrived to their table with their food. The plates were set down and the waiter wished them a bon appétit before leaving them alone once again. Emily poked her lasagna with her fork and sighed, "You guys couldn't help me if you wanted."
"I've got nothing better to do," Mia shrugged her shoulders, "How about you and I go over a few symbols in my notebook when we get home. Surely Mentor won't object to a little tutoring."
"But you don't know the Earth Symbols," Emily said.
"Em, I can read the Japanese Kanji," Mia chuckled, "That's basically what they are. As long as you tell me the word I can tell you if you're tracing the symbol properly. The more accurate the symbol the stronger the power. Once you've mastered that it's only a matter of focusing your energy into the symbol and harnessing your power. That's universal for all Samurai. I can help you with that, no problem."
"I've mastered earthquake, rock slide and sandstorm…"
"We know," the Rangers all chuckled.
Emily smirked, "I've had those since I was about twelve. But mom never really had time to teach me any of the other ones. My training was kind of rushed and I haven't been able to get much personal help here. I know the yellow Ranger used a special seal on the box, and once Mentor figures out which one exactly he'll know how to open it… but I'm not sure I'll be able to master it fast enough."
"You're a quick learner, Em," Kevin smiled at her. "We're all sure you'll get it."
"No pressure…"
"There is no pressure, Emily," Antonio said. "Seriously, Amiga, take your time. I know I will."
Emily looked up at her teammates and smiled, "Thank you," she whispered.
"Now eat up," Mike told her and gestured to her lasagna, "I hear Jayden's paying for ice-cream after dinner."
"Me?" Jayden frowned. He turned to Antonio, "I promised you ice-cream, not the entire team."
"Oops? Did I misunderstand you?" Antonio teased. "I guess the burning hot lava must have melted the part of my brain that processes hearing. Sorry, Jay."
"You heard the ice-cream part just fine."
"Selective hearing," Antonio looked to the rest of the team, "It's a blessing."
"I'm going to be broke by the time you all leave," Jayden muttered as he checked his wallet to make sure he had enough money with him to pay for ice cream for the table.
"Next time, you'll think twice before your ancestor decides to hide a rock in a volcano," Antonio said.
Jayden sighed. He rubbed his temples and turned to Mia, "Want to trade missions? I'll gladly fall off a cliff if you deal with this."
Mia looked down at her cast and then over to Antonio. She chuckled and shook her head.
"I think I'll stick with my mission, thanks Jay."
"Your mission was too easy," Mike waved his hand at Jayden, "You've got to have some kind of trouble. Kevin… okay, well his Stone just kind of turned up, but Mia fell off a cliff, I wrestled and adopted a pet bear and Emily… uh…"
Mike hesitated, unsure of how to cover up the truth of how Emily discovered her box. She and Mike had agreed not to tell the Rangers they ran into her parents.
"Emily's got to work her ass off to open a box," Kevin said, quickly coming up with an answer and unknowingly helped Mike lie to everyone else on the team.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Your challenge is Antonio and his constant whining about how hot the volcano was."
"It was hot," Antonio said with a smirk.
"I'll ship you off to Antarctica," Jayden mumbled and took a bite from the sandwich he ordered. "You won't complain about the heat once you're there."