On Fire (Power Rangers Samurai)

47 - Blame / Discovery

Mike hissed in pain as Kevin cleansed his burn.

Jayden sat in the medical room with them, stressing over his decision to not tell the rangers of the nighloks' intentions.

"Be more gently." Mia came into the room and salvaged Mike from Kevin's shaky hands. "It's a second degree burn Mike. Just treat it right and you'll be fine."

"I was doing a good job!" Kevin exclaimed, causing Mia and Mike to shoot a dirty glance at him.

"That nighlok was really trying to kill me." Mike recalled the fight.

"The nighlok are really trying to separate us in battle. I didn't know that many moogers existed." Kevin remarked. "Jayden."

Jayden was brought back into reality by Kevin's voice.

"Is something going on?" Kevin asked. "Do you know something about this?"

Everyone in the room looked to Jayden.

"I don't know," Jayden tried to dismiss Kevin's questions as he thought heavily on the rangers next steps. "I need some time to think."

"You're lying." Kevin shook his head. "What are you not saying? That those nighlok are trying to kill us instead of racing to flood our world? They aimed for no human bystanders."

"Jayden?" Mia was confused. If something was up, she felt that Jayden would tell them straight away.

Jayden remained silent.

"How long were you planning to keep this? Until one of us died?" As the one who was targeted, Mike felt fear for his life.

Jayden still remained silent.

"Why Jayden?" Mia asked.

"I didn't tell you all becau-"

"Because what?" Mike interrupted.

"I didn't want you all to be afraid. I didn't want you guys to back down or hesitate in battle either. I'm so sorry. It wasn't right to keep it from you all." Jayden was sincere.

He wished he told them the truth. Even if it meant that the rangers would be in fear, they deserved nothing less.

"Remember the first day we met you. We promised you that we'd follow you into battle, even though there was no turning back!" Kevin couldn't believe Jayden's decision.

On the other hand, Mike's confidence wavered. His resolve wasn't as strong as Kevin's, especially with his life being more at risk than it ever was.

For that second, he considered quitting from fear.

The role of being a samurai ranger had shifted from being a defender to fighting for your fucking life.

"I knew too." Lauren entered the chat, hoping to relieve Jayden from some of the blame. "Achoo! I kept it from you guys as well."

Jayden wished she had never involved herself with the conversation.

Lauren was still new and earning the rangers' trust. Jayden didn't want his mistake to hinder her ability to connect with the rangers.

"This is my fault. Not Lauren's. I'm sorry for breaking your trust."

"Of course you twins keep your secrets!" Mike scoffed.

"Guys, there's no time for this. We have killer nighlok on our hands." Mia was calm. "Lets just take a break and regroup later to discuss."

~~~

"Antonio, what do you think about Lauren?" Emily asked out of the blue.

"I guess she seems difficult to talk to. I don't even see her that much if I'm being honest." Antonio replied.

"Yeah she's always in her room." Emily agreed. "Have you seen her room by the way? It's bigger than ours."

"Well I guess it's perfect for spending all of her time there." A light bulb lit in Antonio's head. "Hey, I'm sure the archives talk about the black ranger, you want to read it?"

Emily and Antonio, two curious personalities, searched through the old scriptures in search of information.

"Here!" Emily pointed at her discovery and began to read so that only Antonio could hear. "As the nighlok relentlessly sought to end the black samurai ranger, his demise was met earlier on. Since this tragedy, the black morpher and tiger zord remained lost. This put an end to the traditional and inherent cycle of the black ranger's duty."

"But why did the nighlok want to get rid of the black ranger so badly?" Antonio wondered why they didn't do the same to any other ranger, especially red.

"Yeah, they really must have gone through some serious drastic measures." Emily shook her head, feeling awful for the late ranger.

"They did." A sudden voice sent chills down their spines.

Both of the rangers flinched once they turned around, Emily dropping the book. The voice belonged to Lauren.

"And now they want to kill us all." Lauren picked the book off of the floor and slipped it into its rightful place on the shelf. "But it won't happen. We've been depleting their population for generations."

As Lauren turned away to leave, she sneezed a few times.

As the sound of Lauren's sneezes vibrated in his eardrums, Antonio's eyes shot wide open in staggering realization. His face flushed bright red from his cheeks to the tips of his ears.

His sickness was contagious and Mia didn't wear black sweaters.

And he held Lauren really tight.