On Fire (Power Rangers Samurai)

24 - Harmonium / Ambush 🔺

    Dayu laughed.

    "You rangers never know when to give up." Dayu revealed her musical weapon, the harmonium. "I'll entertain your persistence."

    Before Mia knew it, Dayu was right in front of her, swinging her harmonium. Mia quickly dodged, tumbling backward.

    Dayu stayed on the offense, which had Mia dodging and deflecting blows left and right.

    When Mia was about to strike Dayu with her sky fan, Dayu swiftly knocked the weapon out of her hand and left Mia completely open.

    Dayu took this opportunity to slash the pink ranger across her chest, tainting her harmonium with blood.

    Mia de-morphed and fell to her knees.

    "How can you be so weak?" Dayu could tell that she wasn't fighting the pink ranger at her full power.

This question was all too familiar to Mia. This was the question she had been asking since Jayden had harassed her.

    Mia coughed a few times. The pain she felt from her wound was immense. Her clothing quickly and gradually turned dark red.

    Dayu pressed her harmonium blade against her neck, piercing her skin.

    Am I going to die like this?

    Mia clenched her eyes shut as she quaked with fear.

Memories of Terry rushed through her mind. She remembered how she used to sing as Terry played his guitar. She even wondered, would he step up as the pink ranger if she was killed?

She reminisces upon all of the rangers, who had become her family. How her relationship with each one of them was different but still filled with love.

The love they shared became difficult to remember. Ripping through exhaustion and fear consistently ate away at the young rangers.

Mia finally thought of Antonio, who she had just held and promised to visit every day...

    "You know what." Dayu removed her harmonium from her neck. "I'll keep you alive."

    Dayu picked up the pink ranger and slung her over her shoulder.

    "Let's go." Dayu and the moogers made their escape to the other world.

~~~

    Together, the rangers had bested Exterrex, causing her to make her escape to the other world.

    "I'm calling Mia." Jayden told the other rangers, who were catching their breath at the empty concert venue.

    Jayden rang her a few times but he didn't get an answer.

    "It was only a small fight, she would be done before us." Kevin said, wondering why Mia wasn't picking up.

    Allows picking up your samuraizer was a rule, believe it or not.

    Jayden couldn't be sure that something bad had happened. Heck, Mia could've been sleeping at home. But he didn't want to take his chances.

~~~

    A little over an hour passed and the rangers had yet to find Mia. They all met up at Antonio's hospital room.

    Antonio was awake, as he had been startled by Mike and Emily bursting into his room earlier and asking about Mia's whereabouts.

    "Mia must have been ambushed." Jayden's voice was deadly serious, leaving all of the rangers silent. "We have to carry on assuming that she was either captured or killed."

    All of the rangers sat in silence for a long time. One by one, their eyes had become teary.

    "I sent a new letter to Gi after I learned that the last one was intercepted." Jayden interrupted the silence. "If he wrote back, we should've received that letter a few days ago..."

    "Communicating through letters hasn't really helped us so much. I think we should visit him in the temples." Jayden suggested.

    "But we were forbidden from going there." Mike reminded everyone, suddenly caring about the rules.

    "We were told that our appearance could attract Nighloks to the temple. We would jeopardize their goal." Kevin surprisingly agreed with Mike.

    Gi was at the temple to help the monks carry out a ritual that regulated the rising of the Sansu River. Leading the Nighlok to this area could halt or destroy the process.

    "I think we need to do this without Mentor." Emily said. "If we told him about Mia, he wouldn't focus on his duties. And I hate to say it... but... this is what being a ranger means."

It was strange for Emily to be the one to remind them. But now, Emily had been reminded twice that rangers are prone to encountering death.

    "I understand. I guess we'll do this on our own." Jayden frowned. He was often reliant on Gi's guidance as he grew up with it.

    "Hey guys. Can you break me out of this hospital?" Antonio butted in.

What?

    "Antonio, you can't fight." Emily told him, recognizing his crush on Mia.

    "No, I need to try something with the octopus zord." Antonio told them. "By the way, I'm sick of this smelly room and my nagging doctor."

~~~

    The water of the Sansu River was poisonous to humans. Dayu had to hold Mia above the water so that it wouldn't infect her wound and kill her.

    Dayu was furious as she trudged through the water with Mia's body slung on her shoulder.

    Dayu envied Mia from her full, pink lips to her 10 separate toes. She wished that she could rip out each of her paintable nails and plaster them onto her own witchy hands.

    Not to mention that she hated Mia's long, silky hair that could be braided or curled... her young eyes and active body.

    If only Dayu could drop her in the water and watch her melt away, her blood dispersing into the cursed water.

    "What is this Dayu?!" Octoroo gasped as she tossed Mia's unconscious body onboard. "That is not the red ranger!"

"Shut up squid face. You have no idea how hard it was to cross the water." Dayu dragged her body inside the boat.

"Oo ah oo! Why have you brought her here?" Octoroo cried, observing the injured woman.

"My plan to lure the red ranger was a stretch. The pink ranger came alone." Dayu sat down in her corner, cleansing Mia's blood off of her harmonium. "Using the pink ranger's dead body to lure out the red ranger, however, isn't a stretch."