Training alone
A few days later, at 8:10 am, Mentor Ji, Jayden, and Traci watch the Rangers train. Kevin accidentally hits Mike. Jayden reminds Mike that he always needs to keep his guard up. Mike fails to evade Jayden's attack. Jayden and Kevin demonstrate how to avoid the attack. After a flip, Kevin's pants fall, giving the group a clear view of his boxers.
"Nice boxers, Kevin," Traci giggles.
Kevin puts down his swords. He pulls up his pants and reties the string to ensure they would stay up before turning around to face her.
"Traci, why don't you show us some of your moves," Kevin says.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Traci says.
"Why?" Kevin asks.
"Because they aren't as good as yours," Traci says, walking down the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Kevin asks.
"Somewhere, I can practice by myself," Traci says.
"Why," Mia asks.
"From what I saw a few days ago and just now, you guys can handle a sword much better than I can. I'm not worthy enough to practice alongside you until I'm as good as the rest of you." Traci says.
She runs past the Rangers, so they can't ask her any more questions.
"Shouldn't someone go after her?" Mike says.
"I'll go find her," Jayden says.
Jayden leaves the group. He walks down the tring to the secret training spot behind the house. He stands behind a tree next to the end of the path and watches Traci train. Traci spins the leopard disk and uses her spin sword attack – ice storm. She slashes the attack across her body. The attack flies through the air and freezes the rock a few fbeforet of her. The kickback from the attack sends her flying back. She groans loudly when her back hits the ock, she slides down onto the ground. She gets up and shakes her head.
"Man, that's the third time. I'm never going to be as strong as my mom. I can't even handle the spin sword attack. I hope that I'm strong enough to handle my symbol power. I knew it was beginner's luck when I could control the zord the way I did." Traci says
She takes out her samuraizer, draws the hail storm symbol, and activates it. Jayden watches Traci slash the hailstones and try to dodge the oare too big to cut. Two medium and one big one fall towards Traci. She slashes the first stone in half. The second rock comes so fast that she has no time to block it with her sword, and it hits her right shoulder. She drops to the ground in pain. She looks up to see the massive stone about to hit her. She closes her eyes after she puts her sword up to shield herself.
Jayden takes out his samuraizer and draws a symbol. He activates it, and it floats over to Traci. The fires melt the hailstone, and the water splashes on her. Traci opens her eyes, gets to her feet, and wrings all the water out from her hair and clo can. She sees Jayden running over to her.
"Jayden, what are you doing here?" Traci asks.
"I was looking for you," Jayden asks.
"Thanks for your help and conce is I haven't been training as long as the rest of you. I've only been training for a year. " Traci says.
"That's why you want to train alone. You're afraid of what the others will say," Jayden says.
"Yeah, and I don't want them to find out that I'm.." Traci says.
"Dyslexic," Jayden says.
"Yes, Jayden, please don't them," Traci says.
"I wonBut but not everyone will treat you the same way those kids did in elementary school," Jayden says.
"I know, but I don't want to risk it," Traci says.
"Are you okay? You hit the rock pretty hard?" Jayden says, changing the subject.
"Yeah, I'm good," Traci says.
Traci picks up her sword, and they walk back to the house.
Jayden and Traci walk into the living room. Traci sits down on one of the chairs. Jayden stands behind her. He is about to roll up her right sleeve. When Ji walks and his eyes widen in shock seeing Traci soaking wet.
"Traci, what happened," Ji asks.
"I was practicing one of my symbols - hail. I made a huge stone, and it was falling towards me." Traci says.
"I was watching from a safe distance away. I used one of my symbols to melt it." Jayden adds.
"Traci, you sho go change before you catch a cold," Ji says.
"Yes, Sir," Traci says.
Traci gets up and goes to her room. She takes out a pair of berry stain high waist, skinny jeans, and a black Three-Quarter-Sleeve Graphic Tee that says "surround yourself with positive people" out of her dresser and is about to change when the gap sensor goes off - again. She tosses her dry clothes on the bed and heads back to the living room. The others run in and gather around the table.
"Traci, I told you to change out of those wet clothes." Ji scolds.
"I will after the fight, I promise, so where is the nighlok this time," Traci asks.
Ji shakes his head before he taps the table, and the map appears. A big red dot flashes over the arcade. The Rangers run out of the room to fight the nighlok. They arrive to see Rofer causing havoc by punching holes in the walls closest to him. The team morphs. The Rangers face off against the Nighlok and the group of Moogers. One by one, the Rangers summon the powers of their Spin Swords to take out the Moogers.
"Here goes nothing, spin sword – ice storm," Traci says.
Traci swings her sword across her body. She waits for the kickback after it hits the moogers. Her attack lands, but she is sent flying backward again. She bites her lip to stop herself from screaming in pain when her right shoulder hits the wall. Her sword clatters when it hits the ground after it falls out of her hand.
The silver ranger looks up and sees the two huge fists coming at her. She reaches over to pick up her sword to use it to block them from hitting her, but her shoulder argues against any movement. She puts her arm back at her side and tries to get to her feet. She decides to jump to the left to dodge them. She didn't have time her jump correctly and got hit. This time, she hits the wall so hard that she demorphs. She moans quietly as her body hits the ground.
Meanwhile, Rofer starts to dry out, so he returns to the Sanzu River. The team demorphs and runs over to Traci. Mia helps Traci to her feet.
"Traci, are you okay?" Mia asks.
"I think so. I'm sorry I let you all down again," Traci says.
Traci had that feeling that she was about to sneeze. She puts her right arm up so she can sneeze into her elbow. She winces in pain slightly when she lifts her arm she puts it back down.
"Let's go home," Jayden says.
Home, I never thought I would hear that word again. Traci thinks.
They start their walk back to the house. They're a few blocks away when Traci feels everything begin to spin around her. She le up against one of the nearby walls to wait for the dizzy spell to pass, but it continues till she faints. The team turns around when they hear a loud thump. Jayden and Mia run over to her. Mia turns her over onto her back. They see her shiver slightly as a bit more of the water from Traci's wet clothes evaporates. Jayden takes off her jacket and wraps it around her.
"Mia put her on my back, and We need to get her home fast," Jayden says.
Mia nods. She carefully places her on the red ranger's back. They head back to the house as fast as they can. At the Shiba House, Ji is sitting in the living room. He hears a loud thump when the front doors bang against the wall. The samurai mentor gets out of his chair and walks into the hallway. He sees Jayden carrying the unconscious Traci on his back.
"What happened," Ji asks.
They hear a low moan as Traci starts to wake up. Jayden looks down and sees her slowly open. Now her throat is sore, and she starts coughing. After the silver ranger stops coughing, she lifts her head enough so she can talk.
"I'm sorry that I failed all of you. The nighlok beat me to a pulp. I deserved it. JI, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you when you told me to change my clothes before I got sick. " Traci says.
"Traci, don't try to talk. Save your strength," Jayden says.
Ji steps closer and uses his right hand to brush her hair away from her eyes. She saw a look in his eyes that she had never seen before. It told her she didn't deserve the injuries she sustained in the battle and that he wasn't mad at her because she didn't listen to him. He was just upset and nothing more.
"Traci, that's not true. No matter how strong a fighter any of you are, you will get hurt in battle eventually," Ji says.
Traci tries to stay awake a little bit longer. Her body overpowered her will, and she drifted off to sleep.
"Jayden, take her to the recovery room," Ji says.
Jayden nods and walks toward the recovery room. Mia and JI follow close behind him. The boys walk into the room. The pink ranger takes Traci off of Jayden's back. She places her down on the bed. Ji comes in with the first aid kit. He sets it down on the end table and pulls the chair in front of the desk next to the bed.
"I wonder why she thought she deserved what happened to her today," Mike says.
"I'm not sure, Mike, but I can sense she has put so many walls around her that it's hard for her to let others into her life. I think you and the others may have to break them down and earn her trust before becoming her friend." Ji says.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Mia asks.
"We'll have to take it one step at a time," Jayden says.
Jayden and Mia leave the room to let Ji get to work patching Traci's injuries. They walk into the living room and sit down in the empty chairs.
"Is she going to be okay?" Emily asks.
"I think so," Jayden says.
"Why does she keep apologizing and putting herself down whenever she makes a mistake or gets hurt?" Mike asks.
"I'm not sure, but Ji said that he could sense that Traci has put up a bunch of walls around her," Jayden says.
"Why did she do that," Kevin asks.
"I think that something bad must have happened to her in the past," Jayden says.
"Like what, exactly," Mike says.
"I don't know," Jayden lies.
In the recovery room, Ji ties the sling around Traci's neck. He lays her back down carefully, takes the Braun Forehead thermometer out of the kit, places it above her eyebrow, hits the button, and swipes to the temple and back. When it beeps, looking down at the screen, which reads 101.2. He sets it down and looks over at her.
You'll need to take it easy for a few days, Ji thinks.
He takes the rag out of the other bowl to the kit's left. He wrings out the excess water before placing it on Traci's forehead. Then he gets up to go out the first aid kit away. He walks into the kitchen to see the team drinking some tea and tries to devise a strategy to beat Rofer when he returns. Emily sets her cup down in front of her and swallows what is in her mouth before saying anything.
"How is Traci doing, JI?" Emily says.
"Her shoulder is bruised, so she'll have to take it easy for a few days. She also has a fever of 101." Ji says.
An hour later, the Gap Sensor goes off again. Ji presses the button on the wall to silence the buzzing sound of the alarm.
"Can you keep it like this forever?" Mike asks.
"No, Mike," Ji says.
The team goes to the living room to check the map and see that Rofer is back at the arcade again. They leave the house quickly but quietly so that Traci can rest. They arrive morphed. Mike tells them that he wants to take him on alone.
"Mike, let us help. It's too dangerous," Kevin says.
As Rofer begins the attack, Mike starts running and evading the arms. He reaches a dead end, so Jayden leaps in front of him to block an arm. After Jayden pushes it back, Rofer tries to reel his arms back in. He notices that he cannot since they got tangled up around the support beam in the parking garage. Mike summons the Forest Vortex attack to defeat Rofer. The Rangers congratulate Mike for defeating the Nighlok. Rofer grows into his giant form. He summons the Bear Zord and transforms into Mega Mode. The Rangers watch the short battle between the Bear Zord and Rofer. After Kevin whines that Mike shouldn't be doing this alone, they summon their Folding Zords to join the fight. They form the Megazord. Rofer continues his ground fist attacks against the Megazord. At the right moment, the Samurai Megazord evades the attack and follows up with a slash. The Rangers draw the Mega Katanas and perform the Samurai Megazord's final attack. The Rangers enjoy their victory.
After dinner, the team heads to the recovery room to see how Traci is doing. They walk in to see that Traci is awake and sitting in bed. They stand beside it, except for Mike. He is standing at the end.
"Hey guys," Traci says.
"How are you feeling?" Mia asks.
"Like I got hit by a truck that was hauling two huge crates full of bricks, and my shoulder is throbbing like crazy," Traci says.
"Aww, poor baby," Mike says in a sarcastic tone.
Traci could hear the sarcasm in Mike's voice. She picks up the extra pillow Ji brought her to prop herself up more when she slept so her shoulder wouldn't bother her so much with her good arm. She tosses it as hard as she can toward Mike. It hits him in the face before falling to the floor. Emily picks it up and puts it back where it belongs on the bed. Then she walks back over to the others.
"Wow, you throw like a girl," Mike says.
"That's because I am one, Mike. One more thing, you need to work on your bedside manners," Traci says as she takes a deep breath to stop herself from yawning.
"Come on, guys. It's been a long day. Let's leave to get some rest ourselves." Jayden says.
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