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Chapter Six: Reunion pt. 1

A/N: Hello guys! its reunion time! I juts finished watching Lightspeed Reacue, so yay number 2! Anywyas, time for chapter! Enjoy!

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on." -Robert Frost

Antonio was brushing his hair when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in."

Lauren came in and smiled when she saw him. "Well don't you look handsome."

Antonio turned around and grinned. "Not an unusual observation about me. Don't worry," he took her in his arms. "You still look better than me."

Lauren laughed and kissed him. "You're such a romantic."

"You don't know the half of it, mì amor."

"Well, you'd better keep that charm turned on, because it's almost time for the reunion."

"Ah...yeah. Of course. I'm always such a charmer."

"I know you are." She kissed him again. "Don't be long, ok?"

"I won't. I'd hate to keep you waiting." Lauren smiled as she left. Antonio waited until the door was closed before he let his smile fall and sat down on his bed. Ever since the hearing he'd been feeling a little depressed. None the less, he knew today was an important day. He knew Jayden and Lauren were excited to introduce him to the samurai families.

"Because that will go well," he said getting up. He left his room and headed, with some dread, for the yard. He ran into Tiara in the living room and stopped to admire her.

The younger girl was dressed in regular jeans and a red t-shirt, but she stood with such confidence and grace. She saw Antonio and smiled. "You look a little pale."

"If you were in my position you'd be pale too."

"I kind of am. It's my first time meeting the families too."

"Yeah, but you're a member of the Shiba Clan. They have to like you. You don't exactly have anything to prove."

"And nether do you. Antonio you've proved yourself a dutiful samurai ten times over."

"Thanks, Amiga. But we both know that's not quite true."

Tiara sighed. "Don't listen to those pompous morons. You're a real samurai whether they want to admit it or not."

"You know, I used to think that too. And I had myself fooled for a while. But let's face it, I come form a family of fishermen. To people whose lives I didn't save on a weekly basis, I'm no samurai."

"You'll be fine," Tiara said. She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "I know you. Just be yourself."

"I did that last time and we see how well that worked."

"Then do it again. You wanna talk about proving yourself? I've lived in five different countries. You think all of them were happy I was there? If it's one thing I learned being the ambassador's daughter, it's you have to be confident when you meet new people."

Antonio nodded. "Fake it until you make it."

"Exactly," Tiara nodded. Part of her thought Antonio was right though. The meeting had gone so horribly, today's outcome could go wrong just as easily.

"Tiara! Antonio!" Jayden called. "People are here! Let's go!"

Tiara gave Antonio and other smile. "Ready?"

Antonio took a deep breath and nodded with conviction. "Ready."

Two of them walked into the yard and saw Jayden and Mike shaking hands. The former green ranger gave Lauren a hug. He looked up and saw Antonio and Tiara and grinned. "Hey!"

"Ahola," Antonio greeted, hugging his friend. He stood beside Lauren, who held his hand gently. Tiara stood between Jayden and Lauren.

"Jayden, Lauren, this is my dad. Dad, you know Jayden. I don't know if you know Lauren."

"I do remember Jayden," Gregory Lander smiled. "Although last time I saw you, you could barley hold a practice katana. Clearly not the case anymore though."

"Not really," Jayden smiled shaking his hand. "Good to see you."

Greg turned his attention to Lauren. "Now you...I'm really surprised to see. You're...Lauren, right?"

"Yes."

"Wow. Sorry, it's just...Your father told us you were dead." The three Shibas and Antonio glanced at each other. Mike but his lip. He could feel awkwardness of the situation. "But, I'm very glad to see you're very much alive."

"Thank you."

"Boy are the others in for a surprise. Speaking of which, where are they?"

"You're the first ones here," Jayden said.

Mike smiled. "Surprise, surprise. The green rangers were first."

"First, but not as polite," Mia said form behind him. Mike and his dad turned around to see the Wannatabe family standing in the gate. Mia smiled when she saw her friends. Her family entered the yard, her dad trailing a little behind. Mia hugged all her friends. "Hi."

"Hey," Mike responded.

"Hi Mia," Tiara said.

"Ahola, chica," Antonio greeted, returning her hug with joy.

"Good to see you," Lauren smiled.

"Hi Mia," Jayden said.

"Mom, Dad, I want you guys to meet Jayden and Lauren-"

"Lauren?" Sophia Wannatabe asked uncertainly. "Lauren Shiba?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Oh my god. You're alive!"

"Yes, apparently so," Greg said.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," Jayden said. "We'll have a full explanation when the others arrive."

"Good," Sophia nodded. She looked at Antonio and Tiara who were talking to Mia, with curiosity.

"In the mean time," Mia said, hopping to steer the conversation away from the awkwardness. "This is my dad, Travis. And you know Terry."

Terry waved a little. "You know I could be studying for my finals right now?"

"That's really unfortunate," Mia answered.

"Now, now, children, behave," Sophia said.

"Mom, we're not kids anymore," Terry complained.

"Son," Travis said putting his hand on Terry's shoulder. "This is a good place to stop."

"Where's Ji?" Mia asked.

"Tengen Gate," Jayden said. He glanced at Lauren and Antonio. "He's um...we'll explain later."

"Ok," she said, not missing the way the four of them seemed to get a little tense.

Meanwhile, Emily smiled proudly as she climbed out of the car. "See? I told you we'd get her in one piece."

"Pure luck," Robert Cruizek said.

"No," Angela Cruizek argued, putting her arm around her daughter. "You did fine."

"Yeah Dad," Serena said. "Give Em a little credit. After all, if Justin let her drive his truck, how bad can she be?"

"Thank you. Now, come on," she pulled her sister along. "I can't wait for you to meet everyone!"

"Whoa!" Serena laughed as she was pulled through the gate of the Shiba House.

"Mia!"

"Em!"

The two girls ran to each other and hugged. "It's so good to so see you."

"You two. Mia, this is Serena. Serena, this is Mia Wannatabe. Pink ranger."

"Nice to meet you," Serena smiled.

"You two. Emily's told me so much about you."

"I could say the same about you."

Emily's parents finally caught up with their daughters, Rob hanging back a bit. "Sophia!"

"Angela!" The two women smiled when they saw each other and hugged. "It's been too long. How are you?"

"Oh you know, raising two daughters."

"Always."

"And Greg," Angela said seeing the former green ranger.

"Angela."

"Same fashion sense as usual I see," she said, commenting on his green leather jacket and black fedora with green stripes.

"Why mess with a classic?"

"Sophia, Greg, this is my husband, Rob."

"Hi," Rob said nervously. He was feeling like an outcast amongst all the samurai.

"Nice to meet you," Travis said shaking his hand. "I'm Mike's dad by the way."

"Ah...I see." On cue the group looked over at their kids. Serena and Emily had migrated their way closer to the Shibas.

"Serena, this is Lauren and Jayden Shiba. The red rangers. And Tiara. And Antonio."

"Nice to finally meet you," Jayden said shaking her hand.

"You too." Serena glanced at Emily and saw she and Mike were staring at each other.

"Emily," Mike said indifferently.

"Mike."

"I feel like I'm missing something here," Terry said to Mia.

"We all are," she assured her little brother.

"So!" Greg said clapping his hands together and rubbing them. He didn't think letting those two talk directly to each other for too long was a good idea. "Where's Lewis?"

"He and Kevin are hopefully on their way," Lauren said. She saw Angela notice her for the first time and give Sophia and Greg a questioning look. They better get here soon. I think some explanation is long overdue.

"We're here!" Kevin said.

"And ironically enough, you're last," Mike smiled.

Kevin shook his head as he hugged Mia and Emily. "I know, it's shameful."

"Lewie!" Greg exclaimed. "Good to see you!"

"Greg, I've told you a million and one times, don't call me Lewie," Lewis said.

"Still haven't lost your sense if humor I see. Good to see you."

"You too, believe it or not."

"Oh you two," Angela smiled. "It's almost like nothing's changed."

"So glad," Lewis said, rolling his eyes He watched as Kevin went over to his friends and greeted them all. The group of young of adults laughed and ran together for a group hug. Jayden felt a little claustrophobic with all his friends crowding him.

Ji walked through the gate and shook his head. "I leave for ten minutes and this house is full of people."

"Ji!" Sophia exclaimed.

"Oh, let's see here. Sophia and Angela, looking as young and beautiful as ever. Lewis and Greg...still wearing that stupid hat."

"Something like this can never go out of style, Ji. But as long as you're here, would you mind explaining how and why Lauren is here."

Ji sighed. "Hey don't we all sit? We have much to discuss."

Everyone sat down at the picnic table by the grill, looking at Ji expectantly. "I'm sure all the parents here remember their final battle with Xandred." There was some collective nodding.

"Remember it? I've relived it at night often enough," Lewis muttered.

"Well, I'm sure you'll remember how the nighlocks burnt out our protection symbols and tried to get into the Shiba House." More nodding.

"James came running out saying that they'd killed Lauren and that you and Jayden were hiding," Angela said. "He said some of the moogers had slipped past us."

"That wasn't quite true. That night, James put his plan into action. He'd always feared he wouldn't be strong enough to seal Xandred completely. He knew he wouldn't be able to. The best he could do was buy time. So, he created a plan in which Lauren was put into hiding and Jayden would act as the red ranger. With Lauren safe she could focus on the sealing symbol and, obviously this plan depended on as few people knowing about Lauren as possible, especially the next generation of rangers. So he decided when the time came that he would tell people she was dead."

There was a stunned silence while the people new to this information took it in. They looked at Lauren one at a time. Lauren expected them too look confused, or even mad about her father lying to them. Instead, they looked almost relieved. She frowned in confusion, then her eyes widened. Dad told them moogers had slipped past them. They've probably spent all theses years feeling like my death was on their heads. She knew her dad hadn't meant to make them feel guilty, but there was nothing that could be done about that now.

"James and his crazy plans," Sophia smiled. She shook her head in amazement. "I'm just glad you're alive and well."

"Yeah," Greg agreed. "I feel better knowing you're actually alive."

"Same here," Lewis agreed.

"And that you and Jayden are finally together again," Angela smiled. "But I have to ask, who exactly are those two?" She pointed to Tiara and Antonio.

Jayden sighed and looked at Lauren. The moment of truth. "This young lady is Tiara Jasmine Sterling Shiba. Mine and Lauren's younger sister."

"Sister? Another one?" Greg asked in disbelief. "Were you hiding her too?"

"Not intentionally," Ji said. "Well, a little. You see, I'm sure you remember the day Lauren and Jayden's mother died." There was some collective nodding again.

"He told us he found her dead," Sophia said. "I'm guessing that's not actually how it went."

"No. It's not. She told James that at the time she left him, she was pregnant. She'd taken Tiara away form the Shiba House to keep her out of the samurai life. But ended up putting her up for adoption when the nighlocks started looking for her."

"So where have you been this whole time?" Lewis asked Tiara. "I mean, the Shiba Clan has more allies and connections than the US government."

"I was adopted by Ambassador Isaiah Sterling," Tiara answered. "I was three when I was adopted, and then when I was five he and his wife got a divorce. After that he took a job as an ambassador and the two do us lived abroad in Asia for the next ten years. All that moving around and the tight security surrounding my adoptive dad made it harder for the people looking for me to track me down. They only managed it when I moved back to the states."

"So the people looking for you just, found you and returned you to the Shiba House?" Angela asked.

"Not exactly." One cue all the rangers started laughing and smiling in a it's-an-inside-joke kind of way.

"One of the guardians at the Tengen Gate who was helping to find Tiara gave her away to the nighlocks," Jayden explained. "Luckily he didn't give them too much information. He told them where she was, but not who. We noticed the nighlock's unusual interest in the school she was attending and placed ourselves inside, posing as normal teenagers, to figure out what was going on."

"Now that's sounds more like a plan," Greg approved. "Gotta say though, I never got to go undercover. I feel like I've missed out."

"It wasn't that great," Kevin told him.

"Well that's answers one question," Lewis said. "I'm glad you've finally returned to where you belong, Tiara. It's wonderful to meet you."

"Thank you."

"And now I'll ask what were all thinking right now, who exactly is Lauren holding hands with?"

Jayden and Lauren looked at Antonio. Lauren gave his hand an encouraging squeeze. The former gold ranger faced the adults watching him closely. "Hi," he waved a little. "I'm Antonio. Antonio Garcia. I'm the gold ranger."

"So you're the gold ranger," Serena smiled. "I figured as much."

There was a very mixed reaction amongst the oldest former rangers. They all seemed a little curious, but a few were apprehensive as well. "Can I ask how exactly you came across your samurai powers?" Lewis asked him.

"I was Jayden's childhood friend. We met when we little, and used to play in the yard, and he taught me all about samurai. But then I moved away, so Jayden gave me the Octozord, and I promised to come back and become a samurai someday. So that's kind of what I did. I kept training based off what Jayden had taught me and built myself a morpher with the Octozord's help."

"You built a morpher?!" Greg asked in disbelief. "Like you just built one and it actually worked?!"

"Yeah. From an old, discarded cell phone I found."

"That's impressive," Sophia said. "My nephew knows a thing or two about technology and always said it was a complicated web of information."

"He also fixed the clawzord, lightzord, and the black box," Kevin said, directing most of his words at his father.

"The black box? Like as in...THE black box?" Lewis asked.

Antonio nodded. "It wasn't easy, but I enjoyed a good challenge."

"I'll admit I'm impressed." Kevin gave Antonio a nod. If his dad was impressed, then this was going pretty well.

"Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say welcome to the samurai life," Sophia smiled. "It's not easy, and you're absolutely insane for choosing to join in-"

"But the more the merrier!" Greg cheered. "Right Lewie?"

"It's Lewis. And yes. Kevin has told me an awful lot about you, Antonio. It seems you're a worthy samurai indeed."

"Muchas gracias," Antonio said, wishing his meeting last week had gone this well.

"So, is that all the formal stuff?" Angela asked. "Because I think the four of us have to make a long overdue trip."

"Where? We're supposed to be bar-b-queuing with our children," Greg said.

"Well as far as I can tell there's no food yet."

"I'll start cooking right away, Señora," Antonio said. "It'll be another hour though."

"Good. Then we can make our trip."

"Come on boys," Sohpia said. "You know better than to argue with her."

"Where exactly as we going?" Lewis asked.

"Aw, come on Lewie, where's your sense of adventure?" Greg asked, putting his arm around his old teammate.

"I raised a son on my own, that's not adventure enough for you?"

"Oh come on, I did that. If I can raise a kid, anyone can!"

"We'll be back!" Angela called. The group left the yard, and soon after they did their kids started laughing.

"Mike, you're so much like your dad," Kevin said.

"Yeah," Mike nodded proudly. "I see you are too."

"Oh yeah."

"Dad," Mia said. "You don't have to hide in the corner."

"I'm not hiding in the corner, I'm making nice with this man," Travis said, nodding his head at Rob.

Emily saw that Terry was walking Serena and nodded in satisfaction. The four of them were the only people where who hadn't been rangers, and don't know everything about them.

"I can't believe you guys didn't give your parents the whole story about the battles," Jayden said.

"Jayden, I was so pumped on after-ranger-paranoia I slept with my morpher under my pillow because I thought monsters would attack me at my house," Mia said.

"Same here," Mike said. "I wasn't exactly up for giving them all the details about what had happened."

"Well you guys better start talking because the Kīpā want to interview you for official records to be placed in the archives," Jayden said.

"Those are the guys who handle all the comings and goings of our families right?" Emily asked, sitting so she wasn't even looking at Mike.

"Right."

"How about that, Buddy?" Mike asked, putting an arm around Antonio. "You'll officially go down in history as the first gold ranger. What?" he asked when he saw the look on the Shibas' and Antonio's faces.

Lauren's sighed. "Last week we had a meeting with the Kīpā to make Antonio an official samurai and have his family name made a vassal family of the Shiba Clan."

"Cool," Mia said. She smiled at Antonio. "You must be so excited."

"Not quite," Tiara said.

"Why?" Kevin asked. "What happened?"

"They refused to give Antonio the title and rights," Lauren said. "They-"

"They said he didn't have a noble enough bloodline," Jayden interrupted. "They called him a peasant."

"They did what?!" Kevin and Mike yelled in unison, standing up. They managed to get the attention of the whole yard, before everyone went back to their earlier conversations.

"They didn't," Emily said.

"They wouldn't say that," Mia said. She looked at Antonio, who looked at the ground.

"They did," Antonio told them quietly. Kevin and Mike sat back down. "They did indeed. They don't think I'm worthy of being a samurai."

"They can't do that!" Mike objected. "How can they do that?"

"He's not a samurai descendant," Jayden said. "It's easy for them to-"

"To act like, like," Mike couldn't find the word.

"Asses?" Tiara supplied.

"Thank you. What she said."

"We're doing everything we can to change this," Lauren said. "There has to be a loophole or a way to convince them somehow."

"I hope so," Kevin said. He nodded to Antonio. "Hang in there. We'll do everything we can to help."

"Yeah," Emily agreed. "Nobody hurts our friend and gets away with it."

"Thanks Amigos," Antonio smiled, feeling the happiest he had in a week. "Now, I'd better start grilling up some fish."

"Finally!" Mike sighed. "I've been waiting for ever to have some of your food!"

Antonio laughed as they stood up. Everyone was about to disperse around the yard and catch up when the gate opened. They looked on in curiosity and reached involuntarily for their morphers. A tall, well-built man with dark down hair, and dark blue eyes walked into the yard. He had on tan slacks and a light blue polo shirt. He smiled when he looked in their direction.

Tiara walked towards him cautiously. "Dad?!"