Chapter 4

17 years ago

Antonio and Mia had been following the map for a couple of weeks already. They were getting close to where the map was leading them. They were also trying to make sure that they covered their tracks so Octoroo wouldn't find them. They hadn't seen him at all for the last two weeks and weren't sure if that was good or bad. All they knew was that they couldn't allow Master Xandred to come back.

"I think we're here," Antonio said after they had been walking for a while. He handed Mia the map so she could look it over.

"This looks like the place," Mia said.

The two of them were standing in front of a cave. They looked at each other and nodded befo walking in. This was it. This was what they had been looking for and they had to make sure that it would never get in Octoroo's hands. When they entered the cave, they saw a red, glowing rock on a pedestal. Antonio started to reach out to grab it when Mia pulled his hand back.

"What?!" Antonio asked Mia shocked.

"What if it's dangerous to touch?" Mia asked.

"We can't leave it here! If we leave it here, Octoroo will find it!"

"Ok. Just please be careful."

Antonio nodded and reached out to grab it again. When he grabbed it, nothing happened.

"Ooh-ah-ooh. Looks like I caught the two of you." Antonio and Mia turned around and were faced with Octoroo. "Had me the rock and you two can go free."

"Not gonna happen," Antonio said.

"Ooh-ah-ooh. Looks like I will have to take it from you."

A bunch of moogers came into the cave. Antonio took out his baracuda blade and Mia took out her spinsword and they started fighting the moogers. The two of them worked together to take out all the moogers and then turned to Octoroo.

"Now, it's your turn," Mia said. "Samuraizer!"

"Samurai Morpher!" Antonio joined in.

"Go go samurai!"

"Gold power!"

The two of them morphed and began fighting Octoroo. They pushed him out of the cave and were doing pretty good fighting him until he started using his tentacles on the two. They were actually more powerful than either of them rememberand they both got knocked down.

"Ooh-ah-ooh. Do you like my new power, rangers?" Octoroo asked them.

"He's stronger than before," Antonio said. "How are we going to beat him?"

"Maybe we don't need to," Mia said. "We just need to get away."

The two of them used their symbol power to create a smoke screen that allowed them to escape.

When the smoke cleared, Octoroo saw that the two rangers were gone, and they took the rock that would allow him to bring back Master Xandred. "Ooh-ah-ooh. I will find you!"

Present

"Antonio and Mia had found out that Octoroo wanted to bring back Master Xandred," Mentor Ji started to explain to Kevin, Lauren, Mike, Emily, and Jayden. The kids were all talking in the kitchen while Mentor Ji was explaining everything.

"How could it be possible to bring Master Xandred back?" Mike asked.

"There's a special Nighlok rock. I thought that it was a legend until Antonio and Mia called me about it. They told me that Octoroo was after it, but they didn't want to get any of you involved."

"Why not?" Kevin asked. "We could've done it as a team."

"All of you were trying to build your own lives and getting ready to start your own families. They didn't want to take you away from that."

"How long ago was this anyway?" Lauren asked.

Mentor Ji sighed. "17 years ago."

"But that was a year before their kids were born!" Emily stated.

"Let me finish. They manage to find the map that would lead them to the rock before Octoroo found it, but unfortunately, he discovered that they were trying to stop him. I suggested to them that we should get all of you involved, but they insisted that they could handle it themselves. They eventually found the rock and barely managed to escape Octoroo's grasp. We decided that it would be best to hide it and since Antonio and Mia knew where it was hidden, they went into hiding too."

"That explains a lot, but it doesn't explain how those two ended up together or anything about their kids," Mike pointed out.

"They went on tour together with Mia's brother's band. One night, everyone else had plans, so the two of them ended up having a night just the two of them. They told me that they weren't expecting that night to turn into a date by the end of it." Mentor Ji pulled out a couple of pictures that he had stashed away. Antonio and Mia had sent those to him to inform him that they were doing well, and he showed the other rangers a couple of pictures of those two being happy together. "They told me that they were worried about how the rest of you would react to them being together, so they didn't want to tell anyone. I was the only person they told. After what happened with Octoroo, they wanted to elope before going into hiding. At that point, Mia had already found out that she was pregnant. They invited me to come so they would have a witness there." He showed them a picture of Antonio and Mia at their wedding.

"Wow," Emily said while looking at the picture. "Mia always wanted to be a bride after that one fight with Dayu."

"Looks like she got her wish, but didn't tell any of us about it," Lauren said.

"After they went into hiding, they sent me letters every once in a while, that included pictures of their family," Mentor Ji said and showed them pictures of Antonio and Mia with their kids throughout the years. "They kept strict rules on their kids in order to keep them safe."

Jayden, who hadn't spoken at all throughout this conversation, finally spoke up. "How could you keep this from us?" he asked.

"They asked me to. I just respected their wishes, but right now, we have to find Antonio and Mia. I think it's time for the kids to become the samurai rangers."

Everyone nodded except Jayden. "We know what our kids can do, but we don't know what Matthew and Gianna can do," Jayden said.

"What are you thinking about?" Lauren asked.

Meanwhile, the kids were all talking in the kitchen. They were told to go in there so Mentor Ji could talk to their parents.

"So, you guys have known your whole life that you're going to become samurai rangers?" Matthew asked.

"Yes," Benjamin said. "Welcome to the ranger club."

Matthew continued talking to Juliet, Benjamin, and Rosie while Adrian went over to Gianna who hadn't really said a word. "You ok?" he asked.

"It's just a lot to take in," Gianna said. "My parents were rangers and never said anything. Their own friends didn't even know about us."

"It's ok. I'm sure they had their reasons."

"Were they embarrassed by us? Did they not want us?"

Adrian grabbed Gianna's hand. "Don't ever think that! I'm sure they had their reasons and care about you just like I do." Gianna and Adrian had admitted their feelings for each other a while back, but with the strict rules that Gianna's parents had, it made it hard to date. They settled for trying to get as many moments alone together at school as possible. Matthew also doesn't know about their relationship. Actually, nobody does.

The parents walked into the kitchen and saw all the kids. Adrian let go of Gianna hand quickly so nobody would see. "Everyone, please come outside," Jayden said. The kids all followed the parents and Mentor Ji outside. "Pick up a training sword." All seven kids looked at each other and then did as they were told. "Make a circle around Matthew and Gianna." Now they were all really confused, but still did as they were told. "We've been training our kids their whole lives and know how skilled they are. We know they are ready to become rangers, but we need to know if you two are," Jayden told Matthew and Gianna. "We want you two to go against the others." Matthew and Gianna looked at the others around them. "Begin."

Matthew and Gianna began to fight the others with skill and precision. It was clear that they were better fighters than the others and the others were pretty good. It didn't take them long to knock everyone down, which impressed the former samurai rangers.

"Looks like Antonio and Mia kept up with their training," Mike said.

"I think they're ready," Lauren added.

"They're definitely ready," Kevin said.

"Matthew. Gianna. Take us to your house," Jayden said. "We'll start looking for your parents there."

A/N: Sorry, this took so long to update. I hope you enjoyed!