Chapter 8
Today at the household everyone was in the living room having an important meeting. There upon the table laid the Swordfish, Tiger and Beetle disks, Mentor Ji went over to the bookcase and pulled out a journal, walking back to the rangers and Nariko who surrounded the table. "Now that we've recovered 3 of the lost disks we have a new power at our disposal." said Ji "Beetle…Swordfish…Tiger…Together these 3 disks allow us to form the Samurai Battle wing." told Jayden, Ji opened the journal and showed the group what the battle wing looked like. "Wow that looks like one powerful bird." declared Mike, Nariko nodded "Yes…Thanks to these disks…Which is why one has to go to the person we believe who's truly ready to help pilot the battle wing?" "I'll keep the Tiger zord." said Jayden, Nariko picked up the Swordfish disk and handed it to the blue ranger "The Swordfish…Goes to Kevin, who caught it and therefore has a connection with it." Kevin smiled and took the disk, as Nariko picked up the Beetle disk Mentor Ji said "We've decided that the Beetle…" "Should go to Mia." finished Jayden, the pink ranger was surprised as Nariko handed her the disk "Me?" "We trust your control and your symbol power the most and we know you'll do the difficult work that's needed to master this disk." explained Ji "We're counting on you." told Jayden, Mia then took the disk from Nariko's hands "Thank you…I won't let you down." the princess soon noticed the look on Mike's face and how tightly he was clenching his hands. She lightly placed her hand over his "Mike?" the green ranger looked at her and Nariko said softly "Are you all right?" "Yeah…I'm fine Nariko…" not believing him one bit, she pulled her hand away and leave him be for now.
3 hours later everyone was now in the kitchen having their lunch except for Mike who was intensely training outside. Kevin grabbed some sushi that Nariko had prepared from the serving dish and onto his plate "Wow…What's come over Mike? I'm not used to seeing him train so hard…" Emily poured herself a glass of water before joining Kevin and Mia at the table "He's actually been training really hard on his symbol power lately I think he wanted that disk bad…" "I know…I felt kind of bad taking it instead of him…" admitted Mia "Don't feel bad, you're hard work is one of the reasons we've chosen you I've told Mike he needs to just as work as hard." said Ji "But he's been trying!" defended Emily, the samurai mentor nodded "Yes…And I believe he has it in him but until he learns to listen he isn't ready." Nariko who happened to be washing some dishes at the time couldn't help by not like what she had just heard, the princess closed her eyes and lightly sighed soon continuing on with her washing.
30 minutes passed and Jayden was searching the household for his fiancé only to find her in her room. He leaned against the doorway and simply watched Nariko lay upon her bed on her back, playing with her soft long hair. She soon sighed causing Jayden to ask "Something bothering you?" Nariko quickly looked to the door and was a bit surprised to see Jayden standing there "How long have you been there?" "About a minute or two…Are you going to tell me what's causing you to sigh so much today?" "I wasn't sighing a lot." Jayden then walked over and laid on the bed joining Nariko "Like I'm gonna believe that…Come on Nariko tell me…" she sighed once more and turned to the red ranger, laying her head upon his chest "It's just that…About Mike…" "I kind of figure this was about him…" "Jayden don't you think that Ji is a bit hard on him?" "What makes you think that?" "My gut." "Your gut?" "You know I always go with what my gut is telling me." "Yes…Including your heart…But don't be too concern about this at least not right now and if it makes you feel better I'll have a talk to Ji about this how does that sound?" "Fine…I'll leave it to you…" Jayden wrapped his arm around Nariko and held her close to him soon laying his head upon hers. The couple stayed like that, enjoying the moment they had together when the Gap sensor went off. "I don't believe it…Just when I was starting to get comfortable." grumbled Nariko, Jayden chuckled and kissed her forehead "I agree but I'll be back." "Take care." the red ranger gave his fiancé a sweet kiss before quickly taking his leave from her room to deal with problem.
Not long after the rangers had returned once the Nighlok: Desperaino escaped from their fight. Turns out Mike tried to use the Beetle disk when Mia was about to which happened to be the cause of letting the Nighlok escape. Currently in the household everyone was gathered in the living room and Mentor Ji was lecturing Mike, clearly upset at what happened "Mike I'm so disappointed in you! Putting yourself before the needs of the team places all of you in serious danger! Here I thought you were…Finally listening to me and training hard to strengthen the team! I can't believe it's come to this but you've become a risk to the others…I'll have to ask you to turn over your samuraizer." the green ranger looked at the samurai mentor in shock "What? You're benching me?" "It pains me to say it…But I don't think you're truly ready to be a samurai." Mike stood up from his seat "I'm tired of your lectures, you know nothing about me…And if I'm not ready…How can I do this?" he pulled out his samuraizer and wrote a symbol in mid air, it glowed and suddenly the plant behind Natsumi came to life making her turn toward it. The plant stretched its leaf and wrapped itself around Ji's stick, the samurai mentor tried to get it free but it was no use. He looked at Mike and sternly said "Stop this." Mia stood up from her seat and went over to the green ranger "Mike! Stop!" Jayden stood at his side and firmly said "Ok that's enough." Ji once again tried to get his stick free but once giving a hard pull, he made the plant fell from its stand and made it come crashing down. Nariko immediately took a step back just as the plant fell, making Jayden come to her side in an instant "Nariko are you all right?" "Yes…" Mike put his samuraizer down on the seat "None of you understand, I'm out of here!" the green ranger then stormed out of the place with everyone watching him. Emily soon turned to Ji "Mentor are you ok?" "I'm fine…"
20 minutes have passed and only Jayden, Nariko and Ji were in the living room while Mia, Kevin and Emily were somewhere else in the house. Nariko sat by her fiancé and simply watch him play a bit with his lion folding zord. Once his folding zord jumped into his hand Jayden looked at Ji "You've been pushing Mike pretty hard lately." the samurai mentor fixed the fallen stand "It's my responsibility to train him to be a worthy samurai." "Yes…But pushing doors that are meant to be pulled will never open…You taught Nariko and me that…" "Yes…I just wish he listened like the two of you." Nariko stood up from her seat "That's because he's not us…You taught Jayden and me that everyone is different just like their symbol powers, right now you and Mike both want the same thing…" "And that's for him to be the best he can be…But you just don't agree on the path to get him there." said Jayden "Perhaps you're right Nariko, Jayden…A strong wind can kindle a fire but it can also uproot a tree…You are very wise red ranger, princess." Jayden smiled and grabbed Nariko's hand taking her away "Hey you taught us well."
2 hours passed and currently Nariko was standing in a beautiful forest after Mentor Ji had asked her to meet him there. She was standing under a huge tree taking in its size when she heard from a voice approaching behind "Where are we going? Wait you didn't just bring me out here to yell at me?" the princess turned around to see Ji approaching her with Mike following "Well now I was wondering why you ask me to come out here." "Nariko? What are you doing here?" asked the green ranger "Ji asked me to meet him here and I think I know why he did." "And to answer your question…No Mike I wanted to talk to you about your inherited symbol power." said Ji, the two stopped in front of Nariko and Mike nodded "Oh yeah my symbol is the forest I get it." the samurai mentor sighed and turned to him "You must think deeper Mike, your powers spring from the essence of the forest, its deepest meaning. If you understand that meaning and you find it within yourself too then you can give your symbol even greater power than it already has." "Mike look inside yourself and connect with what the forest means to you." instructed Nariko who placed her hand upon the bark of the tree, Mike look up at the huge giant and gazed at it for awhile in silence. Then Mentor Ji pulled at Mike's samuraizer and handed it to him "Here." the green ranger looked at his samuraizer then at Ji "Seriously?" he took back his samuraizer "Thanks Mentor." "It was my mistake not to teach you this from the start and even though I said you weren't listening I clearly wasn't listening to you either and I'm sorry." "No it was my bad dude." Ji gave him a confused look, causing Mike to correct himself "I mean I'm sorry too." the samurai mentor held out his hand for Mike to shake, instead the green ranger put out his fist to which Ji shook. Mike smiled and shook his head "No…Here like a fist." Ji put his hand into a fist and bumped fists with Mike, the action brought a smile to Nariko's face. Then the green ranger's samuraizer beeped and he quickly answered to find it was Jayden calling for his aid since Desperaino showed up again. Mike looked to Ji and Nariko who nodded, giving him the signal to go. Once he left the area, Nariko turned to the samurai mentor "Well…You didn't need much of my help Ji." "I was a bit uncertain that if I didn't had you come here then Mike would have never actually listen to me." "But he did Ji." "Yes and that makes me glad…Come lets head back to the household and wait for the rangers return."
Later back at the household, the rangers had safely returned once defeating Desperaino with the Samurai Battle Wing and now Mike possesses the Beetle Disk. Jayden, Nariko and Emily led Mentor Ji into the living room to find Mike waiting there with Mia and Kevin. "What's this?" wondered Ji "A little something to say thanks to let you know I'll be listening." said Mike, from behind his back he pulled out a small plant holding it out to Ji who took it "As will I…Oh uh…Dude!" "Oh and check this out!" Mike pulled out his samuraizer and wrote a symbol, then the plant's leafs began to move. Thinking it was going to be the same incident with the other plant Mia said "Mike what are you doing?" "Not again!" groaned Kevin, Mike looked at the two a bit confused "What? Oh! No I was doing this!" everyone watched as the leafs soon began to turn it to a mini hand then a fist to which Ji bumped fists with it. The sight made everyone smile and laugh, they soon followed after Ji who was going to place Mike's gift in a good place to be looked at for everyone to enjoy.