[color=silver][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/w7XBj9H.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/e56rAPQ.gif[/img] [img]https://media.tenor.com/pdEn5tVxMEEAAAAM/judo-takedown.gif[/img]
[color=black][b]LOCATION[/b][/color] — Angel Grove Hiking Trail
[@Akayaofthemoon][@Theyra][/center][hr]

[indent][indent]Jade still had to calm herself internally. The ghosts of her past, the same ghosts that claimed her sanity for almost a decade, they were  clinging to her like they still controlled her the day she lost Parker...the day they [i]all[/i] lost Parker. The day that Sam lost a brother and the day the team was never the same again. She tried to reclaim herself as much as she could but being back here, in this town, and hearing footsteps behind her, the memory was too great. Even though it ended up being nobody but a very pretty girl with dark curls, a camera, and the relieved look that Jade didn't clock her into kingdom come, she still was...afraid.

What if she wasn't healed? What if all this time away hadn't done anything but even more afraid? She promised she would never fight willingly again. But maybe that's who she was born to be.

[color=green] "Jade?"[/color]

The voice made her entire body tense up. [color=black][i]Not here, of all places. I'm not ready.[/i][/color]

David. Jade looked at her old friend and former ranger teammate. He's gotten bigger. Not in the height sense because she remembered he was always tall, even back then, but the weight he put on — mostly muscle, from the looks of it — it looked good on him. Like it fit him like a glove. Like he was born to look the way he does. 

Seeing David here, she had to wonder if Charlie was still around. 

[color=black]"I didn't think I would either." [/color]She admitted. The real answer somewhere in the half-conviction, half-pained dim gleam in her eyes. [color=black]"Figure I should make it for at least one of my uncle's birthdays."[/color] And in, truth, that [i]was[/i] one of the reasons she did decide to come back. She wished she could openly talk about why she really came back, but despite all the pain that came being with it, at one point she was a ranger. The first rule of being a ranger was never reveal your identity and since they were here next to someone who wasn't—

[color=red]—If I'm interrupting something...I can just get out of here?—"[/color]

[color=black]"no, don't leave."[/color] There was a sense of urgency in her voice. Maybe she didn't want to be alone with David, but the simple answer was that what right did she have to interrupt someone's hobby because she ran into someone she wasn't ready to talk to yet? She turned to David. [color=black]"Sorry, just...wasn't ready for this yet. I didn't even set foot back into Angel Grove yet. I was hoping to take my time before—"[/color]

And as if on cue with the theme of things that Jade wasn't ready to deal with, a firm reminder of her past came back to haunt her, javelin in hand and all. [color=black][sub]"No no no no no no....[/sub][/color] Jade's breathing became labored and shortened. Her heart was being faster and faster and it was like the world around her was growing dizzy. She could feel herself grow weak. Whether it was from the sight of those...[i]things[/i] again or if it was the memory their forms came with, she couldn't ground herself. Seeing them, at some part of her mind, she knew she had to do something or prepare herself for it, but all she could think of was—

[color=pink][i]You're not seriously going to lose it now are you?[/i][/color] A voice echoed in her mind. 

She knew it. She knew it but it wasn't real. That voice was...

[color=pink][i]I know I trained you better. Those things are back but you are the black ranger, Jade Taylor. David is here he won't let you down but more importantly, there is someone who doesn't know how to fight that needs you.[/i][/color]

Jade shook her head. Parker was right. Even if this was just her subconscious trying to kick her ass back into shape or something mystical...maybe the Morphing Grid? Ah, who cares at this point. Jade doesn't care if it was some ghost of her past, some lingering energy in the air that triggered her subconscious to speak in Parker's voice. Jade knew what she needed to do. She and David were the experienced ones here. The cute photographer needed them.

[color=black]"David!"[/color] Jade called to him. [color=black]"Just like how we used to do it."[/color] There was an instinct of Jade's where she reached behind her back...where her morpher would be. Where she kept the power crystal she used to have. Right. Not there. Oh well. 

Jade took a fighting pose but different than how the photographer saw. Jade felt herself sink back into her old ways. Her breathing had slowed and gone back to normal, but it was the way she took a stance. Her body was on her side, left arm at her center and bent, right arm curved in a diagonal over her heart and her eyes glared with a pride she hadn't felt in a decade.

[color=black]"I come back after a decade hoping to repair the bridges that were burnt and you decide to ruin that for me?"[/color] Jade sighed, almost angrily. [color=black]"Well here's a shocker for you! We defeated you pile of nuts and bolts before and we'll do it again."[/color] Jade, ever the reckless one, didn't wait for them to strike first. She always believed that these things needed to be dealt with quickly, so Jade took to a run and slid on the ground. As she neared the one on the far left, Jade lept forward, balancing off her hands and twisting, locking her legs onto the head of one and slammed it on the ground pile driver side, then twisted again landing on her knee. [color=black]"David! Like before!"[/color][/indent][/indent][/color]