Jayden Shiba

Someone knocked on my door and I had no interest what so ever to open. But, in the down side, I am the mentor and I need to respond when called upon. 

So, with a heavy heart, I opened the door. 

"Amigo!" I heard a familiar voice exclaim. "Why the long face?"

I looked up in a hurry to find Antonia standing there. What?

"A-Antonio!?" I said and hugged him. "Cruise over already?"

We broke the hug.

"Yes," he said, wiping away fake tears. "All great days must end. But..."

"But?"

"I'm going for another one soon enough. It's a shorter one this time, though," he explained. 

"Living the dream, I see?" I joked as I stepped aside to let him in, a silent gesture to welcome him. 

"I can't wait to cook all the new recipes I learned for you guys," he beamed as he made his way in. "We should have a get together or something." I closed the door. 

"Yeah," I said in a small voice. "A get together sounds nice."

He sat on my bed with a thud and looked up at me. A sudden awkward silence settled down. 

"So," he ventured, his voice strangely serious. "Are you going to tell me what happened out there?"

I sighed. Of course he noticed it. And of course he concludes that it has everything to do with me.

"A new nighlok group has risen," I told him and waited for his reaction. Nothing. I continued. 

"They are much more powerful than the ones we faced." This time he nodded, his face contemplative.

"And... my sister, somehow, thought it was a good idea to put herself as their target."

Antonio raised both his eyebrows. 

"wOw," he said. "I've nEver heard of thAt befOre." Sarcasm dripped from every word he uttered.

"Shut up," I muttered as I took a seat beside him. "That target was supposed to be meant on me, not her."

"You mean like how you stood as a placeholder for Lauren?" He ventured, his tone cautious. He knows he is touching sensitive subject.

"Ten times worse than that," I acknowledged, suddenly feeling the weight of her decision all over again. 

"Speaking of Lauren," Antonio started, his curious self peaking out again. "Where is she?"

My throat dried up. Words refused to leave my mouth. What am I supposed to say to him?

"She's... exploring the world," I said, trying to be as convincing as possible. 

"Exploring the world?" He asked, one eyebrow raised, judging me from every aspect. I nodded, humming a little. 

"I did think she would like to explore the world, but I thought she would like to do that with her family, considering how she was away from you guys almost all her life," he spoke in a flow. When did he start to observe Lauren like that?

"Well," I started, trying my best to come up with an excuse. "There are just few things she likes to get done first. Alone."

"Like what? Find love," he joked, wiggling his eyebrows. I shoved him, making him laugh in return. 

"Seriously though," he started again. "Did she atleast meet Bloom or talk to her?"

"Can we talk about something else?" I asked, a little too fast a little too eager.

"I'm taking that as a no," he muttered to himself. "Guess I'll have to talk to Lauren myself."

Talk to her? Am I missing something?

I sat silently, not wanting to make anything worse. It is already hard to keep secrets with Bloom, and I really don't want to talk about it with anyone. Including Antonio. I already feel guilty on how Bloom stopped asking about Lauren but still wishes to see her. It's hard to keep secrets, especially if it's your family that you are hiding from.

"Alright," he lifted his hands in mock surrender, startling me by the sudden reaction. "Let me get to the real reason why I am here."

I thought for a second, wondering what he was talking about, and then...

"The claw zord," he said. "I found him. I came by to return him. I've also found the Octozord and the light zord, though those two practically came back to me."

"That's great!" I exclaimed, getting a piece of my hope back. During our final battle, we lost many zords. Guardians have been in search of them for a long time. My team had also been instructed to look for it if they could. Now that Antonio is back with his zords...

"Three down," I said, but the reality crushed in. "Many to go."

________________

Rose 

"Please don't tell me no one cooked lunch," Jax whined as we all stood in the middle of the dining room, looking at the strangely untouched kitchen.

 Ji was nowhere to be found and Jayden hadn't come out of his room yet. No sign of Bloom either. Suddenly, it felt like the whole family was revolting against us. But they won't touch the subject of food, right? Besides, I don't think we did anything wrong. Did we?

"Does any one of you know where Ji is?" Cole asked, probably trying to find a sensible reason. 

"The last I saw him was during the meeting. He walked out right after but, didn't exactly see where," I replied, hoping whatever I saw was correct. 

"Yeah, I saw him get out too," Lia added and I left out a breath I didn't know I was holding. 

"Let him stay out or stay in! I. Need. My. Lunch!" Jax exclaimed, making us all grunt in frustration. Sometimes I feel like Jax acts a little too childish, not knowing how to read the situation and acting accordingly.

"What's wrong?" A small voice echoed from behind us. Turning around, we saw Bloom standing at the entrance, her one hand firmly holding the frame, as if debating whether to stay or leave. 

"Ji didn't cook dinner," Cole responded, his tone monotonous. 

"Oh," Bloom said, a little too casual, and walked in heading straight towards the kitchen. Once in, she started peeking into all the utensils placed there, as if the food will magically appear in one of them. Wait... can we use symbol power to conjure up food? Nope! I better not try. 

"Did you guys check if there's anything in the fridge?" She asked as she passed us to head there herself. 

"I didn't think we were allowed to do that," Lia replied coldly from beside me. Bloom's head whisped in tremendous speed. She looked genuinely concerned. 

"Why would you think that?" Bloom asked, her voice hollow and full of guilt. "You guys are allowed to do anything you want here."

Lia didn't reply. She didn't even glance at her. But Bloom's complete focus was on her, the opened fridge forgotten. Time seemed to stretch. 

"Did you find anything in the fridge?" Jax asked, breaking the silence. "I'm starving."

Bloom jolted, turning her attention back on the task at hand. 

"There's pancake batter from morning," she drawled out, still skimming the contents. Some milk. Some juice. Few vegetables—"

"But nothing cooked?" Jax cut in. 

"No," Bloom replied, turning her face back to us. Suddenly, the colour of her eyes pulled me back into everything that happened today morning. It feels like eternity has passed since then. The way she accepted that she has powers. And how she could manipulate people and read their minds. An uncontrolled shiver ran through my body. 

"I'm sure we can cook something ourselves, though," she ventured, pulling me back from the trance. 

"And... who here knows how to cook?" Cole asked, his tone challenging as his eyes swept across our faces. 

"I know how to make pancakes," Bloom spoke hesitantly. "And I'm sure that there is eggs by the counter that we could use for scrambled eggs"

"Breakfast for lunch?" Cole asked with a raised eyebrow. By now, Lia sat herself at the counter, her head in her hand. All of our attention momentarily fell on her, but Jax was quick to divert it towards himself. 

"Sounds good to me," he said. "What do you have against breakfast for lunch?"

"Nothing," Cole replied a little too quickly. "I'm just... not sure if it's appropriate, you know, with the training regiments and all."

"Training regiments? That's what you're worried about?" Jax asked with a smirk. Cole seemed to be at a loss of words. And when Jax started heading towards the cupboards, everyone of us were stunned on what he was trying to do.

"Red ranger! You're our leader," he suddenly exclaimed as he opened a cabinet. Bloom jolted visibly, clearly not expecting his sudden outburst or the words he spoke. And to be honest, I was shocked on his acceptance too. Never once had he accepted her to be the leader.

"Tell me. Is breakfast for lunch harmful for the training regiment?"

Bloom blinked. "Some food is better than no food, right?"

"See! She gets it." Jax shot a grin at Cole. Turning back towards Bloom he asked, "is there mac-n-cheese? I can make that."

"Top shelf to the right," she said in a daze. Jax didn't seem to mind as he quickly reached the spot and pulled out the mac-n-cheese box.

Cole seemed quite, a little grumpy even. He was clearly putting up with something he didn't like. 

"Bloom, you said there were vegetables, right?" I asked her, jolting her attention to me.

"Yeah," she breathed. 

Turning towards Cole, I said, "I know how to make salad. Maybe you can have that if you are uncomfortable with all this."

A look of shock crossed his face. "No, that won't be necessary," he protested, though there were no intention behind it to hurt me. "You don't have to pull out extra work just for me."

"We are sharing, Cole," Lia spoke from her seat, surprising me by her sudden involvement. "All of us will have some, if you feel weird eating it alone, or you can eat it alone too, if that's what you really want. No one is telling you otherwise."

"Alright," Cole accepted after deep thought. "Is there bread?" 

"Um... yeah," Bloom said after checking the fridge.

"Guess I'll make sandwiches then," he volunteered. 

"And I'll get in on the scrambled eggs," Lia added.

It suddenly felt like a lot of food to me. But there are five of us and Jayden and Ji. Oh, and Antonio too. So, I'm guessing it will be sufficient? Though, I really do like the change in the environment, everyone chiming in and working as a team. It is kinda sweet. 

Maybe this team still has some hope left.

____________

Hey guys! Managed another chapter.

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The next chapter involves a bit of bonding moments plus some heated ones. And action too. (I'm not done writing it, though😝)

Stay tuned! Don't loose hope for me... I'll certainly return with a new chapter when time permits.

The break still stands.