Ji made his way towards Brenda's place, but it was taking a lot longer than normal. He had tried riding his bike, but with the injury to his ribs, he couldn't even make it out the yard before he ended up giving up on that idea. Between the time taken to walk into town, and the theoretical-at-best public transport timetables, he had taken a lot more time to get there than he intended.
He hated leaving Jayden, but right now, he knew that the others would care for him. He hadn't seen Brenda in a couple of days, and was starting to become concerned for her. Even though he had called and explained his absence, he knew her condition would make it hard for her to be alone for too long.
As he got to her door and knocked, she opened the door after checking the peep hole he had installed for her peace of mind. She smiled to see him and hugged him tightly, inadvertently aggravating his ribs. He let out a slight hiss, but put a brave face on it.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there." He told her sincerely as he kissed her. "How was the surgery?"
She had been through a minor cosmetic procedure to tidy up and conceal the scarring left behind by the shooting. Her therapist had figured out that the scarring was a reminder of the incident that was seriously affecting her psychological recovery, and had recommended she see about it. Since it was a minor procedure, she didn't really need to stay in the clinic, and so she had been allowed to go home once they were satisfied there was no risk of secondary infection.
"The surgeon said he's really happy with the results." Brenda told him with a smile. "It'll be a couple of days until he can take off the dressings and let me see, but so far I'm feeling alright."
She took him inside and gestured to the couch for him to sit down. She noticed that he hissed again as he did.
"What about the therapist?" He asked her. He knew that her therapist had said she would visit the clinic once she was out of surgery for her session.
"She seems happy with my progress." Brenda continued. "She actually talked about me going back to work once this heals up."
"How would you feel about that?" He asked her.
"Nervous." She admitted honestly as she took a deep breath. "My boss said they'd be happy for me to do a couple of half-days a week until I was ready to come back full time."
"Well, that's great news." He told her, smiling weakly. "I am sure you will be fine."
She knew about the battle, and could tell that Ji was trying to hide it from her. He had been very protective since her attack, telling her as little as possible about the bad side of the Ranger battles. He wanted to ensure she didn't have any more stress than was necessary while she recovered from her trauma, but the fact was he couldn't keep her from everything. She still had a television, which meant she still got the news.
"I saw the news footage of that last battle." She told him. "It looked pretty brutal."
"It was certainly not one of the better outings." He assured her.
"That new guy, the big red one..."
As her words tailed off, she could see that Ji was becoming upset. He had done so much for her; the last thing she wanted was to see him hurting. She took his hand softly.
"It was bad wasn't it?" She asked him. He just nodded.
"We were beaten." He informed her. "We were beaten very badly. It is a miracle none of us were killed."
"How are the others?" She asked him.
"They're all very shaken up." He informed her. "Jayden..."
As he started to tear up, she could see that it was obviously serious. She pulled him closer, holding him tightly. She knew how much Jayden meant to him. She had heard the way he talked about him and knew he considered Jayden to be a son to him. It was only natural to see how much it hurt him that Jayden was injured.
"He'll be fine." She said reassuringly. "I might not know much about this whole thing, but I know Jayden and he's strong. He'll make it through this."
"I don't know what I'd do if I lost him." Ji told her. "He was everything to me for so long."
"Is it really that bad?" She asked him. He just nodded.
"It's been two days, and he still hasn't regained consciousness." He informed her. "Every hour that passes makes it less likely he will."
"You can't think like this." She whispered. "Jayden needs you to be strong."
She pulled him in closer, kissing him softly.
"You don't have to be strong with me." She assured him.
"It's so hard." Ji admitted. "The others need me..."
"And you'll be there for them." Brenda assured him. "But when you're with me, take that as the time you have someone to lean on."
Ji just kissed her passionately, before looking her in the face. She was never more beautiful to him than in that moment.
"I don't know what I could have done to deserve you." He told her. "I love you."
"I love you too." She replied, holding him in her arms. "I love you too."
Back at the Shiba House, the Rangers had been training all morning. Although they really didn't feel much like it, they had taken Ji's stern words to heart, and had gone full-tilt. Despite everything, they all had to admit, it really did make them all feel quite a bit better when they were done. Feeling like they were doing something useful, however little it meant, actually felt like they might progress to the level they would need to.
Mia took Kevin aside to bore him with wedding magazines. She had opted for the "cheer herself up" approach, and had decided to talk with him about all the ideas they could come up with for what they might want for their wedding. Kevin was completely bored out of his mind within seconds, but he just humoured her and went with it. As a distraction from the battle, it was not a particularly bad one.
Mike had taken Emily out to Rainbow's End funfair, opting for the "treat themselves" way of lifting their mood. It had been a long time since they had a day out, and it had been even longer since they had gone to the funfair. Emily was only too happy for something to get her mind off everything, and the very thought of a happy Emily and more ice-cream than the human body was ever meant to consume was enough to get Mike into high spirits.
That left Antonio to keep an eye on Jayden. He had pretty much volunteered for the duty anyway, not being in a mood to do anything else, and with Ji away tending to Brenda, he wanted to be there to keep the bedside vigil.
He was sitting beside him, reading to him. He had heard that people in comas could hear what people were saying, and that it could help them to recover. He felt like he had been talking for days, and had long since exhausted everything he could think of, so he had moved onto reading to him from whatever he could find. Two comics and a glossy celebrity magazine later, he had finally moved onto the newspaper. He skipped the front couple of pages, since they were dedicated to Panorama City's "Dark Day". He didn't think that reading about that would particularly encourage Jayden to come back to him.
"So this woman's cat can ride a skateboard apparently." He told him, reading one of the fluffier articles. "God, they put anything in newspapers these days."
He waited, almost like he was waiting for Jayden to reply. He just sighed and went back to the newspaper. If he was awake, he knew that Jayden would probably be no more talkative. Although he loved him with all his heart, the one thing he hated about Jayden was that when he felt like he had let others down, he always drew into himself. He was always going off by himself. The coma almost seemed like the perfect example. In there, Jayden didn't have to face the others.
"Well, the crooks are still active." Antonio told him. He then sniggered. "But they aren't getting any smarter. You won't believe this. Some guy tried to rob a bank, only to get caught because...get this...he took a shine to one of the tellers."
He read the article, chuckling a little.
"It says here, he started chatting her up while his accomplices filled bags with the money. Before they left, he gave her his phone number!" He concluded the story as he continued to laugh, trying to imagine it. "God, it makes you wish all scumbags were that thick."
He heard a small mumble, and looked around. He could see Jayden starting to twitch slightly, and was immediately by his side.
"Jayden?" He asked him. "Jayden!"
The Red Ranger's eyes started to open. Antonio quickly ran to the door.
"Mia! He's waking up!" He called through. He was back by Jayden's side, holding his hand as Jayden's eyes fully opened, and he groaned a little, starting to look around. "Jayden, we're all here."
Mia came in, and grabbed a light off the sideboard, beginning to shine it into his eyes to check for a reaction.
"Jayden, are you alright?" Mia asked him. "Are you in pain? Speak to me!"
Jayden just looked to her.
"I'll be fine once you stop trying to blind me with that torch." He joked weakly. He looked to Antonio and smiled. "Seriously? He asked for her phone number?"
Antonio just laughed a little, realising he was talking about the story about the bank robbery he had been reading to him.
"She passed it along to the police." He told him. "The cops said they couldn't believe how much of an idiot he had to be not to realise he'd be caught. Who'd want to date the guy that held them at gunpoint?"
"Stranger things have happened." Mia replied, but looking between Jayden and Antonio, she could see that they weren't paying any attention to her. "Alright, I can tell when I'm surplus to requirements. I'll be back in a little while to check on you."
With that, she left them alone. Antonio just looked to Jayden.
"You gave us quite a scare." Antonio told him. "You gave me a pretty good scare."
"How long...?"
"It's been two days." Antonio answered him.
"Help me get up." Jayden told him.
"Jayden..."
"I think I've been in bed long enough." Jayden insisted. "Help me..."
"At least let Mia check you out first." Antonio pleaded with him. "You have been out for a couple of days, and in case you haven't noticed, Xandred did kind of leave you a little extra crispy."
"I thought I smelled burnt bacon." He remarked, looking to some of the burns on his body. "Alright, fine, let the nurse in."
"That's all I ask." Antonio answered as he went back outside to fetch Mia. Jayden just lay back in the bed, waiting for the examination to come. He could remember every detail of the battle vividly, not only from the battle itself, but because for the entire time he had been out, he had replayed it in his mind, over and over, trying to see what he did wrong, hoping to find some way they could change the result if he ever came back. Mia came back in, and took a seat next to him.
"Just relax, this shouldn't take long." She assured him.
Over at Central High School, Jimmy, Vicky, Melanie and Spike were sitting having lunch. Vicky was a little quiet, and could barely look at Spike. After the earthquake, she really couldn't straighten out what was going on in her head, and having Spike near her was not helping at all. Melanie was just looking around edgily.
"Have any of you seen Mal?" She asked. Spike just nodded.
"He went out for lunch." He told her. "He said he had something to take care of in the town."
"What?" Jimmy asked him. Spike just shrugged.
"He didn't say." Spike answered. "It's probably got to do with all those times he disappears after school."
Melanie didn't say anything. Mal had already told her what he did in the evenings, but he also told her he hadn't told his friends for fear that he would be teased. He had been giving dance lessons in the evenings as a way to get some extra money.
Just then, they all jumped as Cody flipped off the wall and landed right in front of them. Melanie let out a shriek and held a hand over her heart as it threatened to beat straight out of her chest.
"What the hell?" She asked. She found it curious that none of the others seemed to be bothered once they saw him. "Who is this?"
"It's just our friend Cody." Spike told her. "He's the kid the football team tried to jump at the comic book store. Cody, this is Melanie."
"Oh." Cody replied a little abruptly. He just seemed to stare at her for a few moments, not saying anything. He recognised her name from what Vicky had told her, and he knew about the suicide attempt. Even though Emily had explained a few things, and he now understood the subject a little better, she still really didn't know what to say to her. It was one thing when it was just a name, but coming face-to-face with her, knowing what she had done, it was quite another.
"What?" Melanie asked him.
"Oh...uh...nothing." Cody replied nervously, pointing to Vicky. "I just came to speak to Vicky."
"You know, you really should find a different way to make an entrance. Vicky chuckled. Cody offered her a hand and helped her to her feet. He smiled as he looked to her.
"I've got my outfit for the dance." He told her. Vicky forced herself to smile hearing this. Having both Spike and Cody so close, if anything, only made her more confused. "I can't wait."
"Yeah, it should be a good night." She answered.
"Dad's really happy to see me go to my first dance." He told her. "He's making a huge fuss. You'd think I was going to college or something the way he's going on."
"I don't think it's the dance he's so excited about." Jimmy sniggered. "I think it's the fact you have a date."
Vicky smiled a little hearing this. It was still confusing, and no matter what she did, she couldn't imagine a way to decide what her feelings for Spike and Cody were, but her brother, albeit in his own annoying way, had hit on something. She was going on a date with Cody. She was sure that the dance would be just what she needed to straighten it out in her mind. Spike was her first crush, and she had agreed to go out with Cody when she resigned herself to the fact it wasn't going to happen, but Cody was a sweet guy and the dance was always a romantic evening...at least...from what she had seen when she and her friends sat in the corner watching the couples dancing at previous dances. No doubt, the dance would clear it up once and for all. She was with Cody, he was the one.
"Well, if you're nervous, it'll be my first date too." She told him. Just then, one of the teachers, who was just passing by looked at them a little curiously.
"Hey!" She called out. "You there, who are you?"
"Uh...time I was going I think." Cody replied, running up the wall and pulling himself onto it, before sprinting across the rooftops before she could arrive. Since he wasn't a student there, strictly speaking he had no right to be on the premises. The teacher resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't going to catch him and just left.
"Well, that's a pretty novel way of getting around." Melanie commented.
"Yeah, it's kind of Cody's thing." Spike told her. "You get used to it."
"I'll bet." Melanie mumbled as she went back to her sandwiches. It was strange to her to think that mere weeks before, she thought of them all as freaks, and wouldn't have given them the time of day, but now that she had gotten to know them, she was finding that the things that made them unique, the very things that made them objects of scorn were some of the things that she liked about them. She couldn't help smiling as she took a sip from her juice.
Back at the Shiba House, Ji arrived after coming home from Brenda's apartment. As he came into the house, he found the others assembled in the Living Room.
"How is she?" Emily asked him.
"Brenda is coping well." He told them. "She is going back to work soon on a trial basis."
He then looked around, noticing they were all in uniform.
"What is happening?" He asked them. "Why are you all assembled in uniform?"
"Because their shogun told them to." He heard Jayden's voice behind him. He turned around, elated to see Jayden standing in the doorway to his room, also in uniform. He still carried his burns and his other injuries, but he stood with authority before him.
"Jayden!" Ji called out, elated to see that he was back on his feet. "But...you should be in bed, you should..."
"I'm fine Ji, I promise you." He told him. "Now, fall into line."
Ji did as he was told, taking up his place beside the others. Jayden looked out over his Rangers.
"We were beaten. The last battle was easily the most decisive defeat we've ever suffered." He announced as he started to pace. "That's it; it's over and finished with. It's in the past."
He looked around them, buoyed by the determination in their faces as he spoke.
"We're down, but we're not out." Jayden told them. "We now know what we're up against, which means we now know why it's so important that we succeed. If Xandred could do that to us, the rest of the world doesn't stand a chance."
He turned to face them directly.
"I know every one of you is hurting. I am too." He continued. "But we know that even if Xandred's going to take time to recover, he won't let up. From now on, training intensifies. We see this to the end, no matter what. Is that clear?"
They all nodded in response.
"Alright, Ji, get changed, everyone on the training yard in ten minutes." He instructed them. As they all went to prepare, Ji came to Jayden. "I told you Ji, I'm fine. I'm not going to..."
"I have raised you since you were six; I know it would be pointless to argue now you've made up your mind." He told him, hugging him tightly. "I'm just happy you're back."
"Thanks Ji." Jayden replied with a smile. "Now, go and get changed. We all have a lot of work to do."