I was sitting in the Map Room thinking deep into my thoughts.
Was he going through to much, but I didn't seem to notice?
Has the weight of leading the Samurai Rangers become to heavy for him to bare?
Did he leave because he wanted to start a new life?
No. Jayden would never do that.
Did Jayden leave because of..me?
As more questions kept flowing through my head..more tears kept flowing down from my eyes. Jayden would never leave the Shiba house unless he's leaving with me.
I pressed both my hands together as if I was praying then I placed the bottom part of my face against my prayer hands. I closed my eyes as tears were streaming down my face.
I heard a couple of footsteps headed my way. My eyes instantly dart over my shoulder to see who it was.
Mike, Mia, Kevin, and Emily.
They were standing right there as I was sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce onto the couch-like seat.
"You.." I hesitated to speak out, "You guys should be resting.."
"We wanted to check up on you before going to bed." Emily told me.
"I'm fine." I answered looking away from the 4 other Rangers.
I heard footsteps approaching my way. Kevin sat by my left side then wrapped his right arm over my shoulders because his left one is broken. Mia sat on my right side, and wrapped both her arms around my torso while laying her head onto my right shoulder. Emily sat behind Mia and wrapped both her arms around my torso from behind while laying her head onto the top of mine. Mike sat behind Kevin and rubbed my upper-back since there was no room for him to hug me.
Kevin let me lay my head onto his shoulder while I silently cry. I haven't cried in a long time, but the fact that Jayden is no where to be found scares me.
I have tried calling him 7 times. He didn't answer, not once. If Jayden was running away then he would've woken me up at 12:00am and then force me to come with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Mia and I were sitting outside on the white bench.
The open-sliding door behind the white bench leads to the house infirmary. Emily was still sleeping while Kevin was doodling in his notebook. Mia and I were both eating cereal.
"You know, a young samurai once told me that breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Mike stated walking into the room with the rest of us while holding a bowl of what I think is cereal.
Kevin began to sit up, "I told you that."
"Uh huh." Mike agreed. Kevin was served a plate of 2 pieces of toast, a whole un-pealed banana and a glass cup of orange juice.
He hasn't even taken one bite out of any of it yet.
"I'll eat once I finish this." Kevin tells us. He flips his notebook around, showing us what he was drawing.
If you ask me it was just a whole drawing full of non-sense. I didn't understand anything.
"While I've been laid up, I've been thinking about the possibility of combining the Samurai battle wing and the Mega Zord." Kevin explained.
"Ohhh.. I thought all that was just non-sense and you just wanted to look smart for fun." I joked making Mike and Mia Laugh, "But no yeah, I think thats possible!"
"Really?" Kevin smiled.
"Yeah! I believe in you." I answered smiling back at the Smartest boy out of the rest of us.
"You know Last time I had a sick day..I played video games, drank Ginger ale, and ate Chicken soup." Mike told Kevin.
I giggled at that while Kevin shook his head and went back to writing down notes for the Samurai battle wing and the Mega Zord.
"What's up with you?" Mike asked Mia and I.
"Jaydens still not back." Mia answered with a frown.
My smile faded away after I heard his name.
"Hello everyone!" Ji came strolling in with a very much so fake-happy tone, "Hi Emily! I hope you're feeling better! Have you finished breakfast?"
As soon as Ji began his sentence with, "HELLO EVERYONE!" my face went from, 'upset' to 'creeped-the-fuck-out.'
"You can cut the Happy-happy act." Mike told him with the same, 'creeped-the-fuck-out' face I had, "We know something's up."
"We know Jayden's gone." Mia stood up in the middle of that sentence. My face grew more worried.
Ji sighed, "Don't worry. He'll be back. The rest of us just need to focus on our mission."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A little while later, I unbandaged Kevin's arm. Apparently it was only a sprain, nothing more nothing less.
Kevin started bending and stretching his left arm while Emily began stretching her left leg.
"Good to see you guys are at least feeling better." Mike said. He sat down beside me and Mia on the white bench. I was in the middle with Mia sitting beside me on my right. Mike sat down on my left, "I remember how messed up I felt when that Nighlok attacked my buddies just because they were hanging with me."
"Think about what Jayden's feeling." Mia said, "Knowing that we're willing to take hits for him."
The thought of that just makes me want to die. He could be anywhere by now. He can be here right now, but we just can't see him..
"Yeah, it must be so hard to know you're the only Ranger with the ceiling power." Mike said.
"It's very hard." I agreed. I took in a deep breath before speaking, "You guys don't think..part of the reason why he left was because of me, right?"
It hurts just saying that.
"What? No..Of course not." Mia said placing her hand onto my knee as a sign of comfort, "Why would you think that?"
"Because.." I tried explaining, "I don't know, That thought has been stuck in my head all night."
"Well get that thought out of your head." Mike told me, "The guy loves you. He wouldn't leave you like this without a reason."
The guy loves you.
That rung inside my head like a village bell.
"He didn't leave her. He left us, because he's scared we'd die just for him." Mia corrected Mike. I felt Mia's eyes move to mine. Although I didn't have the strength to even look at her, "He didn't leave because of you, Tawny. But he does love you."
I nodded my head very slightly, "Yeah.." I whispered, "He does, doesn't he?"
"Imagine if you held the whole world's fate in your hands." Mia said, "It's a lot."
"He'll come back. He just needs some time alone." Mike assured me.
I sighed, "I know."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POV CHANGE****Jayden
I stood by the docks where the fisherman catch fish. I dazed at the beautiful view of the ocean and the city. I flipped open my Samuraizer and stared at the 12 voicemails, 12 missing phone calls, and 36 unread text messages from Tawny. I've listened to every single voicemail she sent me.
She cried throughout every single one.
It hurts me to leave her like that.
I've been in love with that woman since we were 10 years old. Of course, I could've never confessed to her because of the whole training and Nighlok battling thing.
Well to be completely honest, how can you not love her? She's incredible. She gorgeous. And she's a badass.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Gap sensor went off. We ran to the Map room, "We heard the Gap sensor!" Kevin told Ji.
"Are you really up for this?" Ji asked us.
"We have to be up for it." Kevin answered.
"Yeah, we all wish Jayden was here with us. But there's a Nighlok out there." Emily added.
"You should know, that Jayden truly struggles with putting any of you at risk." Ji said, "He resisted calling upon you when Master Xandred first awakened. He wanted to take on this fight alone. Which is why he walks alone now."
"Forgive me Mentor, but thats wrong." Kevin said, "Jayden will never be alone again!"
"He'll always have us." Mia agreed, "We're a team till the end."
"Let's move out, we have a Nighlok to take down." Mike said.
We all ran out of the house.
When we arrived, Jayden was on the ground.
"Jayden!" Kevin yelled.
They jumped into action then fought off the Moogers as I helped the Red Ranger back up to his feet, "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"
"Look I know-" Jayden tried explaining himself.
"You have a team for a reason!" I reprimanded the stupid idiot as I pointed out at the team who were fighting off the Moogers for me. Before we arrived here I told the team that I'll give Jayden a good old talking too. So I asked them if they could hold off the Moogers for me as I do so.
"AND I LEFT YOU 12 MISSING PHONE CALLS PLUS ANOTHER 12 VOICEMAILS PLUS ANOTHER 36 UNREAD TEXT MESSAGES! AND YOU COULD'VE AT LEAST TEXTED ME 2 WORDS SAYING YOU'RE ALRIGHT JUST SO I KNOW YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!"
"Yes, and I'm sorr-" He tried apologizing, but I interrupted him again.
"No! You listen to me! I shouldn't be yelling at you like this right now because I am NOT your mom! But who else is gonna take charge of you, huh?!" I lectured, "You will NEVER run out on your team like that EVER again! Do you hear me?! They are going to protect us no matter what we say, so please for the sake of the world..just cooperate!"
A smirk pulled up to the Red Rangers face, "Okay" was all he said.
I tried my hardest to pull down my smile and hold back my blush, but I failed miserably.
As my smile was pulling up, I immediately pulled out my sword then turned my back towards Jayden at a fast speed. I blocked a sword attack from one of the Moogers.
I pushed the Mooger back then fought them all off.
I yell at him. That was the first thing I did after the man was missing for hours.
Instead of sucking the life out of him with a tight hug, I freaking REPRIMAND him.
I lecture him like a mother!
Then what does he do?
He smirks....or he smiled. I don't even know if it was a smirk or a smile.
And I actually don't care!
What I really care about is, what the hell is this feeling in my stomach?
Butterflies?
Exploding Kittens?
And why are my cheeks burning up?!
Why am I even thinking about this right now? I'm in the middle of a battle!
Soon enough we formed a line, "Samuraizer! Go go Samurai!" We all chanted, "Rangers together! Samurai forever!"
"Good! I can destroy you all together!" The Nighlok said, "Might as well go out as a team! Attack!"
"Spin Sword! Sextuplet slash!" We all chanted.
Every single Mooger exploded in front of our own eyes.
"Following me here wasn't wise!" The Nighlok said before taking us all on.
Jayden struck him so hard that he flew back against a cement pole.
"He'll start with a shock wave then watch for his slash attack." Jayden warned us, "Defend against those then we'll be fine. I've got a surprise of my own. Ready?!"
"Sure!"
"Ready!"
Mia and Emily blocked The Nighlok's shock wave then Mike and Kevin blocked his Slash attack.
"Okay! You 2 take it from here!" Mike said signaling to me and Jayden.
Mike and Kevin were blasted back finally presenting My, '1 disc Moth Bazooka' and Jayden's, '6 disc Tiger Cannon.'
"Lend me your disc's!" Jayden told the other Rangers.
We placed our disc's onto the cannon. Me and Jayden pulled the trigger of our weapons both at the same time, "Strike!"
The Nighlok was blasted back, and exploded.
"Jayden! That was brilliant!" Kevin complimented.
"Thanks. Everyone okay?" Jayden asked.
"Never better, bro!" Mike answered in a happy-bro tone
The Nighlok grew into a Mega Monster. We found ourselves inside of the Mega Zord.
"You think I'm scared of you now?! Flying Moogers!" The Nighlok called.
Moogers with butterfly wings came flying out of cracks between buildings.
"Are you kidding me?" I muttered.
"They fly now too?!" Mike exclaimed.
We hid behind a tall building to catch our breath, "Oh! The Samurai battle wing would take out these flying rats!" Mike told us.
"Oh! I have an even better idea! We should combine the Samurai battle wing with the Mega Zord!" Kevin said.
"Is that possible?" Emily asked.
"I think so." Kevin answered.
"Kev! Your sketch book!" Mia reminded him.
Kevin took out a few packets of paper from behind his back then started passing it around.
"You just carry this around everywhere you go?" I joked as I took a few packets of paper from Jayden and passed the rest to Mike and Mia.
"Ha! I guess what you were doing was better than playing video games!" Mike joked.
"Wow! I really think this'll work!" Mia said positively.
"Okay Kevin, why don't you take the lead on this?" Jayden suggested scanning the papers.
"Thanks Jayden! I got it!" Kevin said, "First we need the Samurai Battle wing! Swordfish Zord!"
"Tiger Zord!"
"Beetle Zord!"
"Moth Zord!"
"Zord's combine!"
We flipped to the next page of the steps to put together the Samurai battle wing and the Mega Zords.
"It's an air strike combination!" Jayden said. We all copied the symbol that was painted onto the paper.
"Battle wing Mega Zord! We are united!" We all chanted in union.
"Wow! WE DID IT! WE DID IT!" Kevin jumped up, happily.
"Wow! I'm impressed!" Jayden complimented as the blue and red Ranger bro-hugged tight before getting back to what we're doing right now.
We flew across the sky as we defeated those flying Moogers. We defeated the Nighlok a few minutes later.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We came jogging in through the gates to the Shiba house, "Jayden!" Ji called in relief.
"Hey Ji. I'm sorry I left." Jayden apologized as they shook hands.
"It doesn't matter. As long as you're back." Ji assured.
"I'm back where I need to be. I'm back with my team." Jayden stated.
"I think you all deserve some fun! Anything you want!" Ji rewarded us with another day off.
"Let's try something new!" Kevin said happily.
"Let's go to the movies." Mike said running towards the front doors.
"Yeah that sounds good!" Emily agreed as we all followed Mike inside.
"How bouta romantic comedy!" Mia suggested.
"Fat chance!" Mike and I answered at the same time.
"Unless it has Zombies in it!" Mike stated.
"Zombies?! We might as well watch, 'The Walking dead!'" I told the Green Ranger.
"But thats a show! TV shows aren't in the Theaters!" Mike reminded me.
"Well no duh!" I stated the obvious.