“Fish! Get your fresh fish here!" A black-haired Latino man shouted, hoping to attract some customers. However, the people around him just passed by, causing the man named Antonio to sigh in disappointment. "Expected more people to buy fish here, given they're always going on their boats."

"Antonio!" The man turned to where he heard his name being called and his mood instantly changed.

"Jayden, what's up? Had enough training for once, bud?" Antonio joked, causing Jayden to shake his head but chuckle and shrug.

"I just wanted to catch up. Haven't seen one another since we were kids," Jayden said, but Antonio could hear the sadness in his friend's voice as he watched the Red Ranger lean against the pier. "Well..."

"Well, I mean, different lives, separate destinies. But now we have the same goal, so I'm definitely not going anywhere, amigo," Antonio assured, but Jayden kept quiet, looking at his reflection in the water.

"Easier said than done. Things have changed since we were kids. How do I know our friendship hasn't as well?" Jayden pointed out, leaving Antonio speechless, wondering where the doubt came from.

"Where exactly is this coming from, bud?" Antonio asked, and the Red Ranger slightly stiffened, unsure of whether to bring his recent dreams to light or not.

"Uh, never mind. Forget I said anything," Jayden urged, standing up and about to leave. But he was halted in his tracks as Antonio grabbed hold of his friend's arm.

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me exactly what's going on with you. Otherwise, I might as well have a fishing companion," Antonio said, causing Jayden to smile as warm memories flooded through his mind.

"Well, then you better teach me how to fish..."

Flashback:

"Another point for me," a young child said, and the Latino on the ground panted, trying to catch his breath before looking up.

"Yeah, sure, whatever, Jay. I'll beat you next round," the Latino said as Jayden chuckled and helped him up.

"I still don't understand why you made a dagger, Antonio. We have swords, not daggers," Jayden said, watching as his friend looked confused. "From what I've learned about the monsters we're going to be fighting, I can at least name five things wrong with our weapon."

Antonio rolled his eyes as he sheathed his weapon before looking back towards the future Red Ranger, and they both laughed, taking a ready stance once more as they restarted their sparring match.

As they sparred, Jayden's heart raced as something inside him began to surface as everything around him slowed down.

Pausing in their fight the Latino boy noticing Jayden’s slow moves decided to ask “perhaps we should stop.”

“No let keep going I’m fine.” Jayden said but the Latino boy shook his head causing slight disappointment in the future red rangers face “what’s the matter afraid you’ll lose again?”

Despite the knowledge that Jayden was just teasing him, his friend really knew how to get under his skin as Antonio chuckled “oh you’re so on bud.”

Their sparring session continued as Jayden saw that the Latino was getting the upper hand, not willing to give up Jayden decided to strike high but when they locked swords that’s when stuff really got bewildered.

A flash of red began to glow from Jaydens pupils, shocking the Latino man before Antonio noticed Jaydens brown hair turn red. Breaking from their locks Antonio back away and simply stared at what he was seeing.

In his place stood a fierce monster fire aura around him, as it’s. razor sharp teeth were bared, as it raised it bare claws as Antonio swallowed hard ”a…mi…go?”

The monster sneered, its grip on his body tightening, with a surge of power, it launched himself at Antonio, his movements fueled by a force far stronger than his own.

The impact sent Antonio flying, crashing into a stack of crates nearby leaving him slightly dizzy, but the moment the Latino brushed out off Antonio saw the creature coming towards him once again.

“Ja…jay…sto..p…its… me Antonio your friend.” Antonio said dodging the creatures attacks while trying to reason with Jyaden but it didn’t seem to have any effect but the creatures with its sharp claws slashed the boys arm deep within.

“How can i bring Jayden back?” Antonio thought stumbling back as he clutched his injured arm but then an idea came to mind “Jay please, remember who you are, you’re the red ranger!”

Just as the words were spoken the creature stopped mid air as he lowered his claws as Antonio looked sad “but your more then that to me your my friend, the only person i can tell anything to.”

Tears began to form in the Latino’s eyes in fear but soon Antonio saw the creatures eyes and fur blink between brown and red as the Latino smiled as he saw the creature back away”whatever this is, we’ll both get through it together.”

The monster form began to flicker in and out of existence, roaring while gripping his head as smoke enveloped him, the creatures influence began to wane, allowing Jayden to regain control of his body once more.

Antonio watched but when the smoke disappeared and soon the Latino saw his friend on his knees as he seemed to be fine but the Latino couldn’t imagine what was going through his mind.

“Ja..” Antonio began but coughed a bit as smoke got in his mouth “Jayden are you alright?”

“St..sta…stay away!” The small brown haired boy shouted in fear crawling away from Antonio in fear of hurting his friend again.

“Jay Jay listen to me it’s okay.” Antonio said as he stopped in his tracks helplessly watched his friend panic.

Jayden's eyes widened as he looked down to his hands, his breathing was hard and hitched as sobs began to be heard “I…I..I…I'm….so….sorry I don’t know what happened.,"

Antonio could see the battle of emotion in the poor boys eyes as he tried to approach once more. When the future red ranger made no motion to move, Antonio sighed as he kneeled next to his friend "hey... don't beat yourself up, buddy. It alright don’t worry.."

Tears welled up in Jayden's eyes as Antonio hugged his friend allowed the future red ranger to cry in his shoulder while Antonio soothed his friend "….don't….even know what happened.”

Antonio reached out, placing a hand on Jayden's shoulder, knowing it was best to keep the truth from Jayden. "Don’t worry I’ll be by your side,. Together. We'll defeat the Nighlok.."

Jayden smiled slightly when they broke away but then re embraced when tears began to show once again, Antonio lost in his thoughts made a silent vow never wanting to see his friend in such a state again.

‘I wont let it happen again

Jayden you have my word’