The next few days were rather silent and were met with only brief moments of consciousness from RJ, who woke up only for a glass of water.
By the end of the week, Fran spotted RJ stirring to wake up, and she dashed out to the kitchen. Camille and Casey looked up at her. "Guys! He's waking up!" She whispered as softly as she could. Camille's eyes widened and she camouflaged herself in the seat.
Fran then stuck her head outside and shouted out to Dai Shi, Lily, and Theo, who were sparring. "Hey, RJ's waking up!" Dai Shi let go of Theo's neck, letting the jaguar drop to the ground as Dai Shi picked his foot off of Lily's back. Lily brushed herself off and walked inside, and Theo popped his collar to hide any possible choke marks while Dai Shi walked in and hid in a room adjacent to the dining room.
RJ's eyes fluttered open as he slowly woke up. He took in his surroundings, which to him were extremely foreign. Somebody's living room, no doubt. But whose? Not his. Couldn't be any of his students'.
…Fran's. At least he hoped.
He shifted his shoulders, finding that not only them, but his entire body was once again fully mobile. He sighed deeply in relief, then slowly reached up to his neck. One, two, both were there. Perfect.
Had this all been an exhaustion-induced nightmare, somehow? Nothing seemed to be wrong at all. He looked at his watch and nearly jumped out of the chair.
Four days, ten hours, fifty-seven minutes, give or take a few minutes.
How could he lose so much time? He tapped a finger against his watch, making sure that it was correct. His heart skipped a beat once he realized that it was. He pulled the chair out of its reclining position and pushed the comforter off of him, tossing the pillow back on the couch.
Casey pushed Fran out of the dining room/kitchen area to where RJ could see her if he were to look down the hallway. Once he spotted her, she sheepishly waved. "Hey you. You're alive." She turned a soft shade of red.
He felt relieved that it was obviously Fran's place. There was nowhere he would've preferred to wake up, even more than at the loft for the sake of his students. He saw that the house looked completely in order, which calmed him even more.
"I'm feeling okay. A little…disoriented, I guess. Never woke up in somebody's living room before without either being sprawled out across the floor or in a pile of at least two peoples' clothes." He laughed off the awkward feeling. "So…how did I end up here?"
"Long story, but you've been here most of the week, just getting better. We've kind've been waiting for you." As if on cue, Casey, Lily, and Theo popped out from behind the doorframe and waved weakly at him. A sudden fear fell over him.
"Are you four okay?" RJ asked with a tone that barely hid his concern.
"Yeah, we're fine. Everybody's fine. You're fine, right?" Casey asked, trying to rush through the conversation.
"Yeah…" RJ walked towards and past them, to the refrigerator. "I'm sorry, but I'm starved. You guys've seen me when my blood sugar's low before. I'm all…unpleasant."
"Well, we won't get in your way if you're hungry!" Fran said nervously.
He grabbed a banana yogurt cup and proceeded to bee-line for the nearest chair, sitting down before the Rangers and Fran could stop him.
Camille screamed out in pain as RJ planted himself down on her lap, where she had been resting her broken wrist. He jumped up and started to take a fighting position, but the Rangers ran out between them.
"Foolish human! I think he broke it again!" Camille whimpered. Dai Shi walked out and RJ's eyes opened widely for a split second before he smiled widely, perfectly hiding his terror.
"Well, don't we just have a full house here! If someone'd said something, I would've brought the chips and salsa."
"They came here to make sure you were alright." Lily quickly spoke up.
"If they didn't come here, you would've…" Fran trailed off, unable to finish. RJ easily read her body language and didn't need her to finish.
"We can fill you in after you eat." Casey commented.
"No, that's fine." RJ replied, a distant, pensive look in his eyes as he sat down. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'd like a little time to myself."
The group seemed to understand, and everyone besides Fran quickly walked out.
"…If it makes you feel any better…it wasn't so bad. He…isn't so bad." RJ looked up at her as she nervously spoke. "He meant well, even if he didn't always seem to show it."
RJ laughed softly, then silently got to eating the yogurt in front of him, giving Fran the cold shoulder. She frowned and walked out to the living room with the others.
Before the Rangers could put together a plan for the day, their morphers chirped at them. Everyone, including Fran and Camille, looked over at Dai Shi, who seemed as surprised as they were.
"What was that?" Dai Shi asked.
"That's our alert. Someone's attacking the city." Casey rudely replied, as if implying that something was up.
"I gave no such…" He looked away. "Someone is trying to usurp me. Camille, stay here with my master. I shall go and see what is going on." Dai Shi grabbed his cloak and marched out angrily.
"Oh great. Babysitting an amnesiatic master and his little human friend. Just what I've always wanted to do." Camille muttered sarcastically.
"Well, it looks like it's just you two with RJ." Lily commented. "We got a monster to fight."
"Well, he just wants to be alone, so it shouldn't be too hard." Fran replied.
"Let's hope." Camille added.
The Rangers rushed out to the town's commercial district, where Spindarella was out spraying people with her webbing. "Master Carnisoar will be so proud!" She shouted.
"Not if you don't make it back to him!" Casey taunted, the three of them morphed and ready to fight.
"Good! You humans have arrived!" She cheerily commented.
"We don't have time for this!" Casey shouted. "I'll free the people. You two fight her."
"Right!"
Meanwhile…
"…So I did this?" RJ asked Camille, looking over her wrist.
"Yes, you did."
"Well, I didn't want to. I guess the one thing I vaguely remember wasn't a dream, then." He frowned in self-disappointment. "You need a steadier splint than this. I could throw one together with stuff from the loft."
"So we're going to the loft?" Fran asked, poking her head in.
"I'm fine. Just…don't sit on my wrist again." Her venomous glare broke ever so quickly, giving a momentary humored smile.
"Can do." He grinned. "You're not a very soft cushion, anyways. You could use a good meal, put a little weight on you. No wonder I snapped your wrist, I could probably break anything on you. Arm, rib, hip, yeah." He sat her down in a chair. "Hope you don't mind me making her something. I'll pay you back."
"That's okay. You've already done so a bit anyways."
"I did?" RJ gave Fran a look. "…Bill me."
"No problem. We need to go shopping here anyways." Fran smiled nervously.
"…Okay."
As RJ scoured the freezer, Camille looked over at him. "Why are you doing this?"
RJ turned back with an ice pack and set it on her wrist. "Because I've deduced that you and Dai Shi are not trying to kill us, and me, right now. I might as well share the hospitality, right?"
"I suppose." Camille replied, adjusting the ice pack. "This was all his idea. You used to be his master, so he thought to repay you once for your useful training."
RJ stood still, facing away from her. His voice dropped to one more serious, yet not quite like the way the Iron Wolf deepened it. "He's not my former student."
"…What?"
"I had a student once, true. But he is not your leader. My student is lost to us at the moment."
"At the moment?" Camille scoffed. "Where else would he be?"
"He's being held against his will somewhere deep inside himself. But we'll find him someday."
"What makes you so confident that he will…be found?"
"Because if there's one thing I taught him right, it was to survive above all." RJ smiled warmly. "Obviously it was one of my better lessons." He turned around, showing his cheery smile. "Besides, somebody around here has to be positive. You're all so morbid today!" He walked over to the pan rack. "Maybe everybody just needs one of my home cooked meals. Are you a vegetarian?" He asked Camille while pointing the frying pan at her.
Back in the town center…
Casey used his tiger spirit to burn away the webs while Theo and Lily deflected Spindarella's attacks from her rejuvenated belt straps.
"Not these again! Lily!" Theo shouted.
"No need to call for me! I'm on it!"
Lily prepared to tie up Spindarella's belts again, but the arachnid expected it. She laid low, waiting for Lily to go through the motions.
Lily caught her moment and let loose the spiraling Jungle Mace ball, and Spindarella cackled. Her belt limbs spread out like a budding flower, then snapped back around the heavy iron ball, clamping it tightly and holding it in place. With a little bit of effort and a great deal of her strength focused into her legs, she stopped the mace's momentum and began to counter.
The belts twisted and began to twirl the chain around both Lily's hand and the mace's handle, preventing her from escaping the arachnid's wrath.
"Once bitten, twice shy, little girl! There was no way you could fool me with that old trick again!" Spindarella taunted as she yanked Lily towards her.
"Lily!" Theo shouted, charging at Spindarella's belts with his fans. She fired off a quick web and ensnared him, smiling as he hit the ground and writhed about. "Casey, help!"
"Guys! Hold on!" Casey shouted.
Back at Dai Shi's palace…
"I should have known you would try to overthrow me." Dai Shi growled at Carnisoar, whom he found sitting on his throne.
"You've been consorting with the enemy! I've had Rinshi watching you the whole week, and you've grown weak!"
"I've been sparring with them, learning their weaknesses, finding out how to destroy them from the inside out."
"Then why haven't you done so yet?" Carnisoar stood up angrily. "I go to create a little relaxing carnage and return to find you having dinner with the enemy!"
"You may be my master, but that is still my throne and this is still my palace and the Rinshi are my servants. Why did you send out Spindarella?"
"She was just standing here, waiting for you, when she should be out fighting the Rangers!"
"I have decided upon one thing at the moment, and I shall finish it." Dai Shi turned and walked out. "I will return briefly." His voice echoed in from the halls.
"Pathetic child…" Carnisoar sneered, sitting back down on Dai Shi's throne.
Back in town…
"Not today, child!" Spindarella shouted, firing a web at Casey and cementing him in the concrete.
"No!" Casey shouted, trying to get free.
Spindarella cackled at their misfortune as she roughly yanked Lily's Jungle Mace, dropping her to the ground. She looked up at the sky and cheerily screamed. "You see me, Stingarella? This's for you!"
A thunderous roar filled the air, and a plasma-like black lion surged through the air, burning away the webs and smashing the meteor hammer's ball out of her grasp. Dai Shi walked out in his Lion Armor as his animal spirit sent Spindarella flying through the air and kissing the pavement thirty yards away. The Rangers looked over at him in awe.
Meanwhile…
"Everybody settled in?" RJ asked as the girls began to dig into the egg and hash brown mixture.
"I am fine." Camille replied. Fran nodded and smiled with closed lips while she chewed.
"Good. Then I can go. Enjoy!" RJ went to leave, which made Camille panic a little.
"You can't go!" Camille ordered.
"Why?"
"Well, not without me." She stood up. "Dai Shi wants you to be monitored by me for the time being, and I'm already on his bad side for trying to kill you as it is."
Fran's eyes widened. "Well, I'm going with you too!"
"I don't need your help!" Camille scoffed.
"Well, I…I still don't trust you alone with him. Even if you haven't attacked any of us, you're still…you're still you."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Ladies, ladies…" RJ tried breaking the two up.
"It means that you're backstabbing and sneaky!"
"C'mon now, just have breakfast and you both can come with me back to the loft."
"Shut up!" Camille growled at him.
"Don't you tell him to shut up!"
Camille's eyes widened and she appeared be dry heaving. "Serves you right…" Fran muttered. Suddenly, Camille lurched forward, launching a rather large housefly in suspenders at the table out of her mouth. The creature's wings twitched, and it got to its feet rather quickly. "Whoa, did I hear a fight going on out here?"
"Beat it, Flit!" Camille backhanded the fly with her good hand, sending it hurdling towards RJ. He caught the large fly and winced as the saliva-coated egg hash the poor thing was covered in oozed in the crevices in his hand.
"Thank you, thank you! Just please don't kill me, great Pai Zhuq Master! I'm too young to die!"
"…Why would I do that?" He asked the twitching insect as he grabbed a towel to wipe him down. "I don't even know who…or what…you are." RJ wiped him down, then did the same for his hand.
"His name is Flit, and he's a pest." Camille replied coldly. "But I could make use of him today…" She sighed. "Flit. Go find Dai Shi and inform him that the three of us are going to the pizza parlor." Fran gave her a look of victory, and she scowled back.
"On my way, Camille!" Flit fluttered his wings to remove the small specks of spit left, then flew out the open window.
"Alright then…" RJ shut the window while feeling entirely confused with his current situation, but he was in charge of everyone's actions, to a large extent. Now, to go home and meditate. "I'll take Fran with me. We'll meet you there?"
"If you insist. We must take the same route, though."
"Just follow my lead." RJ replied cheerfully. "To the front yard."
On the sidewalk in front of the house, RJ turned his back on Fran and got down on one knee. "I'll give you a piggyback ride."
"Are you sure that your back's fit for carrying people?" Fran cautiously asked.
"My back's fine. I actually feel a lot better than I did before all this…negative vibe venting. So c'mon. No time to waste."
She gently climbed up and he stood up with ease as she secured her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He sighed deeply and she could feel his body throwing off a much greater amount of heat. RJ then looked over at Camille and gave a nod before he grabbed Fran's arms and started on a sprint.
Camille's eyes widened. He was going almost as fast as he had several days ago. "Hm…" Camille mused as she began her rooftop sprint to catch up with him.
Back downtown, Spindarella stood up slowly as the Rangers rallied around Dai Shi.
"Thanks." Lily commented. Dai Shi turned his head at her, and she could feel a glare piercing out from behind his helmet.
"Master Dai Shi…why?! We're so close to destroying them!"
"I told you to stay put. Carnisoar is not your master, I am." He sneered.
"You…" She clenched her fists from the extreme malice. "You've let your host corrupt you!"
The Rangers spared no time summoning and charging the Claw Cannon as Dai Shi leapt into the air. "Fire!"
As the ball of energy from the Claw Cannon approached Spindarella, Dai Shi quickly approached her from the skies with a powerful claw attack ready to crush her. "I will not end like this!" She shouted, launching her belts up at Dai Shi. He tore them to shreds with a flurry of sharp swipes just in time to let the Claw Cannon's shot sail through the remains, crashing into her and causing severe damage. Dai Shi then came down with a sharp slash and shattered her carapace.
"Nooo!" She cried out as she flew back. "Stingarella, I was so close!" The rest of her body began to crack and crumble into granite as she smashed into the blacktop, her remains scattering into hunks and disintegrating.
"Hmph…" Dai Shi huffed. "Next time we meet, I will show no mercy." He warned the Rangers before disappearing in a darkly hued gold light.
The Rangers began to run back to Fran's house, but were interrupted by a call from the loft.
"Hey guys, I'm back home. Come meet me there." RJ's voice sounded oddly…empty.
"We're on our way!" Lily cheerily replied, hoping her enthusiasm would spread to him and drown his emptiness by the time they arrived.
They arrived to find Dai Shi, Fran, and Camille sitting at an empty table, a closed sign on the front door of the pizza shop. Fran fidgeted around with a deep purple envelope in her lap, her face turning slightly red.
"About time you arrived." Camille snipped. "He got tired of waiting, so he set things on the counter for you." Fran got up and promptly left as she heard RJ descending the staircase.
"Oh good, fashionably late." RJ replied, looking freshly showered and clothed. "Had a feeling you'd be." He picked the three envelopes up that were sitting on the counter and handed them to the trio. They looked similar to the envelope that Fran had walked out with. "Here, take these. Normally I'd ask people to open their gifts when I'm not around, but I have things to tell you after you open them anyways, so I might as well not leave the area."
The rangers looked at him oddly, then broke the wax seal on the envelopes and opened them up. To their surprise, wads of money equal to their paychecks sat inside. They looked up at him, confused.
"I'm giving you your pay early this week, because I will miss out on paying you when I should."
"Why? Where're you going?" Lily asked.
"Ah, the question is less where I'll be, and more where you'll be." RJ replied. "I'm locking you out of the loft for the next few days."
"What?" They shouted in unison, nearly dropping the envelopes.
"It's not a very big deal, really. Dai Shi and I have come to an agreement; in exchange to a promise for a one-on-one fight in three days, he won't send a single Rinshi into the city. So you guys don't even need me or the loft!" RJ smiled brightly.
"But we live here!" Casey protested.
"I'm gonna give you ten minutes to pack up enough stuff for three days. The hotel three blocks away is really nice and really cheap, or you guys could go camping for three days. I'll even chip in a bag of marshmallows if you'd like to do that."
"You can't go through with this!" Theo whined.
"But I already have made my decision, and to clarify, this's my home, not yours. I merely let you stay here because you're my students. I could have you all sleeping on the roof, or paying rent, or even living outside in the alleyway by the dumpster. But I'm a nice and caring master, so I let you stay here." He smiled softly, then let it drop into a mild scowl. "Just be happy I've never had you sleep on a beach during high tide and forced you to fish out all your belongings in the morning while swimming to shore against the current while I sit all dry and toasty in a row boat. Because I could if you wanted me to."
The trio gave varying looks of terror. "I think we'll pass on that last one." Lily replied.
"Good. So, go upstairs and collect your things. You've got ten minutes starting…now." He started the stopwatch function on his watch and the trio raced upstairs.
"That last one sounded rather specific…" Dai Shi replied, grinning.
"Every morning for ten years straight. Eventually let myself float out to sea, ended up twenty miles off-shore before he realized I wasn't going to do it anymore." RJ's voice sounded distant and cold. He slammed his hands on the counter, then looked up at Dai Shi and Camille. "I'd like to be alone, please. Go."
"Why is RJ doing this to us? What did we do to him?" Casey whined as he shoved his civilian clothes into his bookbag. "Shouldn't we be staying here, helping him train?"
"We should be, but he's being really stubborn. Does he really think he's better off without us around?" Lily mused aloud. "Ugh. I say that we just stay, even if he doesn't want us to."
"Well as much as I want to agree with you Lil, he's our master, and if he wants us to leave then we should leave." Theo replied, walking over towards the basketball stand to grab a ball for recreation. It was then that he narrowly avoided stepping on a cyan envelope that looked similar to the purple envelopes RJ had given them. "Hm…" Theo bent over to pick up the envelope.
"Don't." RJ's voice called out roughly, startling the young jaguar. He looked up to see RJ leaning against the wall. "You've got thirty seconds."
"We want to stay here and help you get ready for this fight." Lily stepped forward and stated.
"Twenty-four. Better make sure you have everything. Twenty."
"RJ, please? You're always helping us out with our training and-"
"Ten…nine…eight…" RJ counted louder than Casey was speaking, drowning him out with ease.
"Do you want us to be there when you fight?"
"Five…four…three…"
Lily sat down on the floor, cross-legged. If she could force Master Phant to teach her, getting RJ to let her stay would be no effort.
"Time's up. Now go." RJ crossed his arms and watched as Casey and Theo begrudgingly marched out. RJ looked at Lily and sighed. "You too."
"I'm going to stay and help you train."
"I train by myself."
"You can't-"
"I know what I can do, and as your master, I do recommend that you refrain from questioning my personal training methods. I know you'll get over my temporary abandonment. So go."
Lily stayed put, and RJ sighed. "Lily, sometimes you just have to give up. I want to be alone right now, and I shouldn't have to beg you to go. Lily…" RJ never thought he'd hear this scolding tone leave his mouth, and frankly, he wanted her to just go so he could stop. He sighed deeply and began walking towards her, making her back up slightly. "Get up." Lily stood up and left, leaving RJ to his own devices.