Heart of Fire || Hunter Bradley

01. Prelude to a Storm

"Hey!" Jaylyn looked up at Kelly's call and she was looking over at her. "Are you going to be okay on your own for a little while? I need to help Dustin." Kelly said.

"Yeah, go ahead." Jaylyn replied and then she was quickly getting out from under the bike that she had been fixing up. "Give me two minutes, I'll be right out." Kelly nodded at the words before Jaylyn was wiping the back of her arm against her forehead to clear the sweat.

Only to feel the familiar oil and grease on her face, since she had been working with the bike in the back. "Aw, crap." Jaylyn muttered and then she was swiftly washing up as best as she could.

Jaylyn dried off her hands and her face in the bathroom, quickly tossing off her greasy clothes into a plastic bag and tying it up for later. The only thing that she kept on from her previous outfit was her faded old blue jeans and quickly, she was pulling a hoodie on over her head to cover the tank top that she wore.

Jaylyn caught the shop keys that Kelly quickly tossed over to her in both hands as Kelly and Dustin took off, headed towards the course. While Jaylyn was happy to be running the whole place on her own again. But Jaylyn didn't mind the manual work, it made her feel like she was actually doing something.

"Hey! Quit that!" Jaylyn called out loudly as she jumped over the counter, catching the big helmet that three young boys had been throwing in a game of catch across the store. "All of you, out." She ordered and the three boys were glaring at her. "Out, now." Jaylyn ordered and the boys reluctantly left the store, before she was shaking her head at the behavior.

Jaylyn had been working at Storm Chargers for three weeks now and she still wasn't used to Dustin Brooks constantly disappearing from the store and from the course without any warning although she had her own suspicions as to why.

Neither was she used to Kelly coming back into the store with Dustin's bike, looking all sweaty, dust-covered and exhausted from pushing it back from the course. "Oh, Christ." Jaylyn muttered as she was walking over to Kelly and she was grabbing the bike. "Well, that didn't take long. He disappeared again?" Jaylyn asked.

"Yeah, he did. He said something about being busted," Kelly blew her own hair out of her eyes as she walked back into the store. "And then, he just disappeared. He just ran off, saying that he would call me later."

"Well, at least you can count on me. I basically sleep here." Jaylyn was only partially joking about that last part, since behind one of the shelves full of tools, helmets and bike parts, there was indeed a bunch of blankets and an air mattress that she slept on.

Not that anybody knew that, especially not Kelly. Although Jaylyn was sure that she would be understanding about it, she didn't want anybody to know about her current situation as she was carefully leaning Dustin's bike against the wall.

Kelly had gone back out to the front after Jaylyn had returned her keys and Jaylyn stopped in place, her senses suddenly on overdrive. Jaylyn spun around and kicked hard at the person who was immediately behind her.

The two of them fought back and forth at an unbelievable speed quickly, before Jaylyn got the upper hand, swept out his legs and her elbow was pressed against his trachea. "Who the hell are you?!" She asked coldly and he was coughing, wheezing as he tried to get in air. Jaylyn lessened the pressure slightly, before he was shaking his head.

"Sensei Hi sent me!" Once the strangled words were audible, Jaylyn immediately was letting him up at the words. She held out a hand to him, before he was accepting it and she pulled him up onto his feet again. "Next time, I'll suggest that he send a whole team after you!" It was Lincoln Thomas, who was rubbing his throat from her fierce attack.

Jaylyn sighed at the sight of him, before she was nodding slowly. "What are you doing here, Lincoln?" Jaylyn asked bluntly as she was stopping, before she looked down at what he was holding out to her. Jaylyn caught the object and she was looking down at it, a disc with a dragon on it and she sighed. "In case something happens?" She asked and Lincoln nodded swiftly.

"Just in case something happens." Lincoln said and Jaylyn sighed quietly at the words, slightly worried by the ominous potential meaning of the words before she was tucking the disc into her pocket and nodded.

"Granted, there was only the two of us and his kid at the school to begin with. So really, there isn't even enough of us students at the Fire Academy to send a team after me." Jaylyn pointed out as she was pacing back and forth with her brain as usual, thinking about 10 subjects at the same time.

"Then Sensei would have probably called the other Ninja Academies to give more support and reinforcements. So, how in the hell did you get so fast, anyways?" Lincoln asked as they were working on the bikes that needed to be fixed in the back, while Kelly ran the store up front.

Or to be more correct about it, Lincoln was handing Jaylyn tools, while she was fixing the bikes that were in the back. "Remember, I was raised by Sensei Omino at the Thunder Ninja Academy until I was 9 years old, when I was sent to the Fire Academy." Jaylyn pointed out calmly, as she was adjusting something on the underside of the bike. "I trained to be faster than anybody else until I moved to the Fire Academy for my specialized element training." Jaylyn got out from under the bike and she was checking the tire pressure.

"Were you ever officially adopted by Omino? Or were you just a foster kid?" Lincoln hesitantly asked and Jaylyn looked over at him, her eyes briefly flashing with irritation at the questions, before she wheeled the bike over to where it had been resting against a wall before.

"He never officially adopted me and I never changed my name, but we're each other's family either way." Jaylyn replied carefully and Lincoln recognized the subtle "stop this subject matter of questioning" warning in her voice, as he nodded slightly at the words. "But, what's your next question Lincoln?" She asked.

"How did you..." Jaylyn stared at him, before Lincoln was nodding. "Have you ever considered reaching out to see if your biological family wants to connect with you?" He asked and Jaylyn looked at him, before she sighed.

"I have one older half-brother and two younger siblings." Jaylyn said with a sigh. "But I don't know where they are or if they even want to connect with me, connect with a sibling that they probably didn't even know that they had." She muttered.

"Well, you won't know unless you try right?" Lincoln asked and Jaylyn stared at him. "Sorry, I am too optimistic for my own good right now."

"Yeah, no kidding. Now get out." Jaylyn said and Lincoln sighed, before he disappeared in a familiar Ninja streak and Jaylyn nodded. "Right... Now I need to ask Kelly if I can use her laptop for that." Jaylyn muttered as she was walking into the front of the store.

After Kelly had locked up and gone home, Jaylyn was sneaking back into Storm Chargers and she was looking down at the mess of blankets on top of the air mattress and she sighed, before she lay down on the mattress and stared up at the ceiling.

Jaylyn was running out to turn her head up and look at the sky, when she saw the weird weather and her eyes narrowed suspiciously at the sight, before she sighed and ran back into Storm Chargers.

Jaylyn went back into the garage quickly to see that there was a familiar glow coming out from her orange and black backpack.

Jaylyn looked around quickly before she was pulling out the morpher and the power disc, both of which connected and she was looking at it. Jaylyn slipped it snugly over her wrist and she looked down at it, which she wore on her right hand as she sighed.

Jaylyn was observing the Wind Rangers as they defeated Blue Face and she was slightly nodding, before she was disappearing away from the fight.