Heart of Fire || Hunter Bradley

09. Nowhere to Grow

It had been weeks since the Bradley's had left and to everybody's surprise, Jaylyn had been unusually quiet ever since.

Jaylyn still came to Ninja Ops for whatever and whenever they needed her. Jaylyn was also prone to running off and nobody quite knew where she was going, not that they should really care.

Jaylyn walked into the coffee shop nearby and she found the familiar face that she was looking for. "Hey." Jaylyn said as she was sitting across from Jackson, who was drinking a huge mug of coffee. "You have enough caffeine there?"

"I'm tired, I have had a long week." Jackson said and Jaylyn was nodding quickly, before she was getting herself some coffee as well and he sighed. "So, you called me here. So, what's the problem?" Jackson asked and she was sighing.

"I wanted to know, if you had heard from our other siblings." Jaylyn admitted and he was looking at her, before she sighed. "I know that it's rough right now, but I just want to know if I can help."

"Look, it isn't anything like that." Jackson said and he sighed. "Our family is split up across the United States right now." He said and she was looking at him.

"I just want to help you guys, Jackson. I do not know anything about our family except for our name and now, I found you. But you refuse to tell me anything, no matter what I'm asking you." Jaylyn said and he was looking at her across the table, before he sighed heavily.

"Our mother is in rehab for her serious spinal injuries from a car accident and our younger siblings are living with our maternal uncle. I don't have any information for you, Jaylyn. Because this isn't something that I can just drag you to see." Jackson said and Jaylyn sighed. "Look, maybe I can bring the twins over one day. It won't be any time soon though, they have enough to deal with, without me springing a previously unknown sibling into their lives."

"You haven't even told them about me?" She asked as then Jackson quietly sighed, before he slowly shook his head. "Well, that answers the only question that really matters to me at the moment." Jaylyn muttered as she took the coffee from the waitress.

"You have seemed much more distant the past couple of times that we've met up, Jay. What's wrong?" Jackson asked.

"I don't have a place." Jaylyn muttered and Jackson raised his eyebrows at her. "I don't really have a proper place amongst the Wind Rangers, the Thunder Rangers have left and you're in your own little world with the rest of our family." She said and he was looking at her. "I just want to find a family that accepts me, which is hard enough without knowing that most of my biological family doesn't have a clue about me." She said and Jackson sighed, before he nodded at the words.

"If I thought that the entire family would come running when they saw you, then I would have brought them here a lot sooner." Jackson said and he was shaking his head. "But they aren't really talking to me at the moment either." He said and she narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Jaylyn asked.

"It's complicated." Jackson's tone made it clear that it wasn't up for discussion and he was looking at her, before he put his money down on the table. "I've got to go, I have a gym to run." He said and she sighed.

"All right." Jaylyn said and he was swiftly walking out of the coffee shop and she was looking at her coffee silently, before her morpher was beeping. "What's going on now?" She asked, her tone coming off as much more snappish, than she had ever meant to be.

"Tori and Dustin are in trouble! It's a plant monster, that you missed last night doing god knows what!" Cam snapped and she sighed, before she was taking off, as she morphed along the way.

"Fire Storm, Ranger Form!" She shouted as she charged at the plant monster. After she tried and failed to make a dent in the plant with any blades or anything, her eyes flashed and she was summoning the power of fire to aid her.

"Storm of Fire!" Jaylyn shouted and the plant, it was screeching with pain as the flames were burning all along it and she was directing it, being sure that Tori and Dustin weren't in the line of fire. Literally.

They were dropped from the plant and it was Shane, who was destroying the entire main source and they were all looking at one another.

Jaylyn was shaking her head quickly at wordless communication, before they were all calling the zords.

Jaylyn separated the Salamander zord from the rest and then she was blasting fire at the plant from behind, causing the plant to scream and screech with pain. Jaylyn was dousing the plant in fire, before she was suddenly being crushed by the plant.

A burst of orange light came out of nowhere, just enough to distract the monstrous-looking plant so that the others could perform their final attack.

Jaylyn glanced over at a nearby rooftop to see that Jackson was standing there with a slow nod of acknowledgement.

Jaylyn was nodding in silent agreement, before he was disappearing down and into the city streets again.

They were back at Ninja Ops and Jaylyn silently stood in the corner, watching as all of them protested the 10-mile jog that they all had to do.

"Jaylyn?!" She knew that it was coming after what had happened today, but it still didn't make it any easier when it finally did show up. Jaylyn turned back around to look at Sensei, who was silently watching her. "I would like to know, what you believe to be more important than helping this team with a monster attack." Sensei Watanabe stated calmly.

"I found my biological older brother and well, we have been talking." Jaylyn admitted and Sensei looked surprised. That is, if a guinea pig could actually show surprise.

"While I do admire your wish to be accepted into your biological family and to find your place, you have a family here. You are a Power Rangers and we have a mission, a serious mission that people have died for. You must be present, here and now. Your biological family connections must wait for this to be over." Sensei said and then Jaylyn looked over at him, before she was swiftly shaking her head.

"You don't have any right to tell me about what I can or can't do." Jaylyn said coldly as she looked at him, before she was walking out of Ninja Ops and then, she was streaking back to her place.