For once, Mia was happy her little brother loved to pretend to be a master spy, and chuckled as he, Antonio, and James prepared for their next mission: locating Ji's new girlfriend.
They didn't have much to go on. They had only seen the back of her head, from a distance, in the dark, but they had been assured that there were no secrets in town. If something went down, everyone knew about it. It was only a matter of time before they found the girl.
"Girls talk," Mia informed the Samurai spies, "Mystery woman is going to share her night with her friends. From there, it's going to turn into rumours. Someone's going to hear something and spread it around. People are going to overhear something else and spread that. It's up to the three of you to put the pieces together, in the right order."
"And then, when you've got her, you invite her over," Serena nodded, "If our Ji found himself a lady friend, we need to make sure she can handle all this craziness."
"We're not crazy," Antonio shook his head.
"You and Mike combined are probably the craziest," Serena chuckled and then ripped the ski mask from Antonio's head, "Seriously, take that off. If someone sees you wearing that they'll call the sheriff."
"But I'm undercover," Antonio whined. He tried to take the mask back but Serena tossed it over her shoulder and out of his reach.
"You freak me out with it. I'm not bailing you out of jail if you get arrested for being creepy, got it?"
"Fine," Antonio sulked and started for the door. Mike and James followed him, "Let's go find this mystery lady."
Serena and Mia looked to each other with a shake of their heads, "Boys."
Emily was looking out the window. It had been an hour since their training had ended, and because Ji was taking care of the farm work for the day (Emily insisted it was his punishment for not calling to say he wouldn't be home), the Samurai had the rest of the day off. While they were taking it to go and find Ji's lady, Jayden seemed to spend it immersing himself in training. Kevin, loyal as ever, joined in, hoping he could prevent the red Ranger from over-exerting himself, or getting hurt.
"Jayden's really not in a good mood today," Emily said as she watched him hit the ground again, "This isn't like him."
"He's pissed about something," Mia nodded, "And he's not focused. That means there is something bothering him."
"Do you think it's got anything to do with mystery lady?" Emily asked, "He didn't seem to like the idea of Mentor spending time with the girl when we saw them, and that was before she kept him out all night."
"He's twenty-three," Serena sighed, "He's not about to throw a fit because daddy's spending time with someone else."
"Is he?" Mia looked to the eldest Samurai, "I'm still not exactly thrilled my father's getting married, and my parents split years ago."
"Yeah, but that's different," Emily said, "Your dad announced he had a new girlfriend in a letter, and you learned about your soon-to-be step-mom from your half-brother, who you didn't even know existed until right before that. I'd be pretty pissed off too."
"Well, what's your excuse for giving James a hard time?" Mia asked, "Face it, the man was husband material right from the start. Perfect for Serena."
Emily pouted, "That's different too. Serena's a poor judge of character."
"Am not!"
"Dekker?"
"Doesn't count," Serena shook her head. She looked out the window as well, "but I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to him. Our families are the most screwed up. It might help him to know… something."
"That talk will go great," Emily rolled her eyes, "Hey, Jayden, we're not exactly sure what's bothering you, but we think it's got something to do with the girl we've never met who is making out with the man who raised you. We're not sure what's going on there, nor can we speak for Mentor, but we do promise everything will work out."
Emily stuck her tongue out at her sister, "That's got about as much chance of calming him down as our horse Pegasus actually turning into a Pegasus. If you want to try that, be my guest. I'll watch you get your butt kicked from the safety of the house. Just warn me beforehand. I want popcorn."
"Alright, so we'll need more information," Serena sighed, "But we can't let him stew over this."
"I know something that always works," Mia said as she got up and headed outside. Serena and Emily crowded around the window and watched as she approached Kevin and Jayden.
Emily sighed. Serena looked to her sister, "What?"
"I'm worried."
"Mia's tough. She'll be fine."
"I know that," Emily nodded, "I'm just worried if I leave to make popcorn, I'll miss the smack down."
-Samurai-
Jayden rubbed his shoulder as he got back up. He was tired both from the lack of sleep and his morning of training, but he had nothing better to do. Holding his training sword up, he looked at Kevin, asking the blue Ranger to come at him again. Kevin shook his head. Jayden could see he thought he had had enough. He threw down his sword and shoved the blue Ranger.
"I am leader. If you want to…"
"Jay, maybe it's time you get some sleep," Mia called calmly as she approached the boys. When Jayden turned to her she held her arms up, indicating she didn't want to join the lesson. "You're exhausted. You're not thinking straight."
"Ji was…"
"He's home now," Mia gestured out to the barn, where Ji was grooming one of the horses, "He's home safe and sound, and he didn't bring the mystery girl home with him. Think you can sleep now."
"I don't care about mystery girl."
"Okay," Mia nodded and decided it was best for now to agree with him. She didn't believe him, but she agreed with him, "I'll wake you up in a couple of hours, how about that?"
"I don't need sleep."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"You know, when I first saw my dad dating a girl other than my mom, I flipped out too. Sobo nearly called the hospital to get me checked out."
"Ji isn't dating…"
"I'm not saying he is. I'm just telling you a story I think you might relate to. I know things with your family is a little… different from normal, and you have a right to be angry, or upset, or however you feel. It's okay."
"You have no idea…"
"I know," Mia nodded, "I also know we have no idea what Ji was doing either. Don't you think, before you wear yourself out, you should figure out what exactly is going on? Who that girl was? Why we saw her kiss Mentor?"
"I think it's pretty obvious…"
"Still, if you care at all about Mentor, you'll wait to hear his side of the story before you flip your lid. And if things don't go your way, I'm more than happy to let you vent. You're allowed to feel angry, or confused, or worried, or even happy. You might feel happy."
"He's a Samurai mentor. He shouldn't…"
"Why don't we talk about this after you lie down for a bit?" Mia offered and carefully approached Jayden and took his hand, "I promise I'll wake you up in a couple of hours and then we'll sit down and talk with Mentor. I'll make sure you speak, as long as you promise to let him speak."
"Fine," Jayden took a deep breath and realized he was way too tired to argue with anyone at this point. He let Mia guide him back into the house. Kevin followed, keeping close behind. After Mia put Jayden to bed, and set his alarm to wake him up in a couple hours, she returned back downstairs to Kevin, Serena, and Emily.
"That was lame," Emily muttered.
"She means, that was good," Kevin smiled, "I thought I was going to have to knock him out before he decided it was time to rest."
"You would be surprised what a calming voice can accomplish," Mia grinned as Kevin pulled her into his arms. She looked up at him, "I think it helped that you really tired him out though. He kinda looked defeated."
"Hopefully he'll be a bit more level-headed in a few hours," Serena said.
Mia nodded, "Hopefully. But first, we'll need to know what exactly is going on between Ji and mystery girl," Mia pulled a walkie-talkie from her pocket, "Alright, what's the status?"
"There are definitely rumours going around about last night," James voice came through the speaker, "Some good, like Emily's hot new boyfriend, and Serena being alive and well… as well as a lot of guys completely oblivious that she's engaged. They're making bets on who can get her in bed first. It's completely…"
"Focus, Romeo," Serena took the walkie-talkie from James, "They're all going to lose their bets anyways, so that's not a problem. What are the other rumours?"
"Tourists breaking into a shop and getting it on."
Mia took the walkie-talkie back, "I doubt that's him. Don't bother with that one.
She looked up at Kevin worriedly. Serena and Emily looked between the two of them.
"What did you two get up to last night?" Serena asked and then quickly shook her head, "Never mind. James, any other rumours?"
"One," James nodded, "Know a girl named Kate?"
"Sheriff's sister," Serena answered, "Why?"
"Apparently, she was the only person who didn't show up to the festival last night. According to the rumours around the bar, that's not like her."
"It's not," Serena said, "She attends every year to help the sheriff keep the peace. You don't want to know what can happen if you let a couple dozen men drink to their hearts content, unsupervised."
"Or a minor and her friends," Emily giggled. Serena covered her mouth.
"Emily and I will stop by Kate's house later. She was good friends with mom. She'll believe us if we say we're just stopping by to say hi," Serena said, "You boys can come back now."
"But we're in the middle of a game," Antonio whined, "Early morning drunk men are funny, and they have a lot of secrets. Serena, I had no idea you went through a…"
"COME HOME!" Serena cried and turned off the walkie-talkie.
"You went through a…?" Mia teased, "Boy, your teenage years were cut short, but you sure did take advantage of the little time you had."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Serena shook her head and kept her hand on Emily's mouth, pulling her away, "C'mon, squirt, why don't we go help Ji finish up the chores?"
Emily tried to peel her sister's hand away, "It was a…"
"Silence is golden," Serena said, clasping her hand back over Emily's mouth. Then she leaned forward and whispered, "duct tape is silver."
