The Dark Side of the Moon

Origins, Part II

"There is more to being a Samurai than just mastering a sword," said Ji. He was pacing up and down behind the new team of Rangers, watching paint their inherited symbol powers. He stopped behind Jayden, knowing already that the young lad would succeed in his attempt. "Ahh, fire symbol," he smiled, as a small fireball appeared at the tip of Jayden's paint brush.

Beside Jayden, Kevin hesitated for a slight second, before adding the finishing touches to his own symbol. Ji nodded as the symbol disappeared and a spout of water hit Kevin in the face causing him to cough and splutter. With an amused chuckle, Ji turned to Emily, who was focusing hard on her canvas.

"Good, Earth symbol," Ji said, nodding. He winced as the symbol turned into a boulder and landed on Kevin's foot causing him to howl in pain, and Emily to apologise profusely. He turned his attention next to Mia, patting her shoulder in praise as a gust of wind blew her hair behind her. "Well done," he complimented.

Pinching her brush between her fingers, Rune swirled it around the black paint and then pressed it to the paper canvas. She drew the symbol that she had practised drawing for years, to the point where she could easily have done it blindfolded, until a blanket of darkness covered the sky and a weak silverly light to cut through it.

"An unconventional way of moon powers, but very good," said Ji.

Rune smiled as the darkness disappeared. "I was taught to be creative," she said.

"Ugh. That's not right," Mike complained from the end of the light. He shrugged his shoulders and pressed his paintbrush back to the canvas. "Was it this way?" He drew another line, but still his symbol remained on the page.

Stepping up beside his student, Ji looked from the canvas to Mike, and then back again. "The order of the strokes is wrong. Mike, you must practice more."

"Okay, I get it," said Mike, nodding absentmindedly. "Practice." He raised his paint brush, poised against the new clean sheet of paper, and then turned to Mentor with a grin. "How about a lunch break? You'd be amazed at how well I practice after a few slices of pizza."

Mentor glanced at Mike's hand and then back at him. Mike's grin dropped and so did his hand.

Rune bit the inside her lip to keep from laughing.

~X~

Later that morning, after symbol training, Rune sat in the garden of the Shiba house with her Nintendo 3DS playing Legend of Zelda when her phone chimed from inside her training gear. She glanced around, careful to not be seen by Ji or even Jayden and Kevin, and pulled the small device out.

It was a text message from Kali.

K: Hey, Kid. Your mother has updated us on the situation in Panorama City. You doing, okay?

R: I guess. Being a Ranger is nothing like I expected it to be. But I didn't really know what to expected anyway.

K: What you doing?

R: Same as I always do. Train. Play games. Train some more. We had symbol power training today, I did what you taught me, and Mentor said that it was an unconventional way of using the Moon symbol.

K: You're not a conventional student. Not every Samurai gets to train under the Hellhound, you know?

R: I know, and I'm glad that you did. I'm just curious if it's going to put me at odds with the others.

K: If it does, let me know. I'll be there in a hot second.

Rune smiled at Kali's protectiveness. Not only had they become close friends, but the big sister/little sister programme had made it so they could connect on a much deeper level. Kali already had two younger siblings, and during their time spent together in the Mystic Realm, she had made it known that Rune was a third little sister; and if anyone wanted to mess with the youngster, they had to go through her.