Power Rangers 1. It All Falls Down

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers: (Super) Samurai. This is purely fan-made.

Mike finally had an advantage.

He had gotten bored and decided to have a look around the house. After almost two years of living at the Shiba House, he had never really searched the deep dark corners. When he stumbled upon a roll of bubble wrap, he turned into the little boy he had never really outgrown and he started to pop it. He carried it around the house and popped it in everyone's ears; scaring them if they were too focused, annoying them if they tried to ignore him, or not letting them have a piece when they wanted to join him.

Bubble wrap was fun.

It was also Storm's worst enemy.

The dog had cautiously approached Mike after hearing the sound of bubbles pooping for a while. She was curious about what strange new thing had entered her home, and whether it was a threat to her or the humans. When she saw Mike playing with it, she growled. She could not understand it at all.

So, Mike set some on the floor and then stepped on it. All the bubbles under his feet popped at once, which made Storm jump, whine, and then run away. Mike grabbed the role of bubble wrap and went after her. He was winning.

He got her in a corner and laid down several sheets of bubble wrap in her path. Now she couldn't leave without stepping on the bubbles and popping them. Mike pushed some of the bubbles closer to her. Storm whined in fear, but gave Mike a look that told him she would kill him if he weren't protected by the loud bubbles.

"Ha-ha, I win," Mike stuck his tongue out at the dog and started to dance around, "If you don't want me to spend the rest of the day with Emily, just come here and bite my hand."

He held his hand out and Storm was very tempted. She looked at the sea of bubble wrap before her and decided she would try to jump over it. She had to. Not trying meant she would give up and she never let Mike win.

But her jump was too short and all four paws landed on the bubble wrap. She cried, and yelped, and jumped, and whined, and popped all the bubbles as she ran across them to safety. Mike grabbed his sides and fell over, laughing hysterically.

When Storm made it on solid ground, she was shaking from fear. Suddenly, she didn't care about getting revenge on Mike. Her heart was pounding. She hated bubbles. Mike was still laughing. She hated Mike.

As the panic started to wear off, Storm felt something else creeping up on her. Something that wasn't Mike's fault at all. It was dangerous. She spun around, trying to figure out what it was, and then backed herself into Mike. If the bubbles hadn't gotten her worked up before, whatever was coming next was.

"Storm?" when Mike felt the dog lean into him for comfort, he knew there was something wrong. Had he maybe gone too far? Was Storm really that scared? Had she gotten hurt?

Suddenly, cracks started to appear in the floor and the ground trembled. It started off slow, but got faster and faster in a matter of seconds. Mike scooped the dog up in his arms and started to run. He wasn't sure where he was standing was safe and he needed to go somewhere else. He needed to seek cover.

As he was about to leave the hallway, a giant boulder fell through the roof, blocking his path and nearly crushing him and Storm. Mike turned around to run the other way, but another boulder, this time bigger, fell, cutting him off again. He couldn't understand where these were coming from. Serena and Emily were a possibility, but though they had caused some damage before, they never let their powers get this out of control.

Storm's whining snapped him from his thoughts. Right now wasn't the time to wonder what was happening. Right now was the time to find a way out. He turned back and slipped himself and Storm between the boulder and the wall and he ran as quickly as he could. If he could leave the house, he thought he would be safe. The ground started to fall apart under his feet. The hardwood floor was first to go, and suddenly, everything else went with it, including Mike. Using his body, he shielded Storm as rubble, rocks, and whatever else the sky had to throw at him pounded on his back while he hit the ground with a loud thud. Before he could even think to call for the others, he was out.

What felt like seconds later, but was truly hours, he woke up to someone nibbling on his ear. He pulled away, but his whole body was sore and he regretted it instantly. The movement also made the rubble above him start to cave in further, squishing him more and more between dirt and rocks. He was surrounded by earth; literally caught between a rock and a hard place. Realizing this, he began to hyperventilate. Small spaces were not his friend.

The nibbling on his ear continued and he remembered he had Storm tucked in his arms. Somehow, she had managed to reach to the side of the face to bite gently on his ear. She had woken him up, letting him know he was still alive, but at the same time, letting him know he was trapped.

Then, when he thought things couldn't get any worse, Storm started to bark. They weren't her usual barks either, where she would hold back so as not to drive everyone crazy. She didn't hold back. Every breath of air she stored in her lungs was pushed out as she cried out for someone to hear her. Mike couldn't bear it. The small space, feeling trapped, and the loud noise were all too much for him. As he was about to smother the dog to make her stop, he heard rocks shifting and someone called his name.

Emily. The voice belonged to Emily. She was calling for him, and thanks to Storm, she was getting closer. Her cries shifted from his name to the dog's. Mike was a little jealous, but Emily had no way of knowing they were together.

Then, he heard the most amazing sound in the world. As weight was lifted from his back, the sound of rocks hitting each other reached his ears. Emily was digging him out. He would be saved.

"MIKE!" she screamed when she saw his back and moved the last few rocks. Mike uncurled himself, despite the pain, and sat up. He was thrown onto his back as Emily jumped into his arms, pulling him into a passionate kiss while at the same time she started to cry.

"What happened?" he asked her, only to realize he had a mouthful, and likely a lungful of dust in his mouth. He started to cough it out, and couldn't stop himself. Emily moved away, her eyes wide in horror, but her hands moved quickly as she reached out and grabbed a water bottle.

"I found this. Drink it."

Mike took the bottle from her hand and chugged it. He had to spit out the first half, as the dust and water mixed into mud in his mouth, but the second half went down smoothly. He could breathe a bit better, so he asked her again, "What happened?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, "I… I don't know. I… I was…"

"Shh," Mike could see she was distraught. He wasn't getting an answer from her. He never should have asked it anyways. He finally got a good look at her and saw there were blood stains in her hair and on her clothes, as well as streaks of blood dripping down her face, smearing along her cheeks and her arms from the many cuts on her body. Mike was sure his back was in no better condition. It had taken most of the attack, and was likely completely black and blue all over. Thinking about it now, he was surprised he could move at all. Just to be sure, he wiggled his toes and breathed a sigh of relief. It hurt, but he could do it.

Just as he was about to pull her into his arms to comfort her, Emily's eyes widened again in horror and she let out an ear-piercing scream as she called out Mia's name. Faster than Mike could see, Emily had run from him. He breathed another sigh of relief. It seemed all her injuries were superficial – which was a good thing. He doubted he could do much.

Then he looked down, feeling a weight on his lap. Storm was curled up into a little ball, trembling in fear. He hugged the dog to his chest and slowly picked himself up on the ground. He made it a few steps and then fell over again. He wouldn't be moving around anytime soon.

Remembering Emily had run from him in a panic, Mike looked over to see what had grabbed her attention but he couldn't see her.

"Emily?" he called her name but there was no answer. He called a few more times with still no answer. Just when he started to worry, he saw a few rocks moving and suddenly, Emily's blonde and red hair poked out from under a pile of rocks. She had somehow dug herself under the rubble and was coming back up.

When she was out of her tunnel, she turned around and reached for whatever she had inside. As she pulled it out, Mike saw it was Mia. He tried to get up again to help, but his body hurt too much. All he could do was watch. Emily pulled Mia out as far as she could, and then started to dig again, trying to make the tunnel wider.

"Emily?"

"Her foot's stuck!" Emily shouted to Mike, "I have to get her out. I have to…"

"Em…"

"I'm fine! Call for her! Try to wake her up!" Emily shouted and then climbed back into the rubble. Mike was terrified it was all going to cave in on her but there was nothing he could do except what she had asked him. He called Mia's name, hoping to bring her back. He thought he saw her stir, but there was no answer from her at all.

While Emily was still under the rubble, the rocks shifted slightly, giving Mike a heart attack. He was sure he was going to lose her. He closed his eyes and looked away, hugging Storm a little closer. After a moment, he felt someone touch his shoulder and suddenly he was pulled up to his feet.

"Lay off the pizza."

He opened his eyes and looked down. It was Emily. She was out safe and sound and helping him walk. They both stumbled several times and each took a few hard hits, but eventually they made it to the yard, where no rubble had fallen. There, Emily set Mike down. Mike noticed he was sitting close to Mia, who lay on the ground and she looked… he didn't even want to think it.

"Lie on your stomach," Emily whispered to him.

"What about Mia?"

"I did what I could."

Mike looked over and saw Mia had been taken care of. Torn pieces of Emily's clothes were wrapped around her head and her knee, and other pieces were covered in blood and left on the ground. Mia wasn't healed, but she had been looked after. Given their lack of supplies, this was the best Emily could do. Mia would have to do the rest on her own.

Mike gulped and lay down on his stomach. Emily pulled his shirt up. He heard her hiss and then felt something wet hit his back. He tried looking over his shoulder but Emily gently lowered his head.

"The freezer was crushed. I can't get you ice."

"I'll be fine," Mike insisted. "Let me look at you."

Emily rubbed her hands against her face, trying to wipe off the blood, but only smearing it around. She wasn't bleeding heavily, but she was still bleeding.

"I can go to the river," Emily got up, "I'll bring you back some water. That might help."

"Em…"

"Here," Emily's Samuraizer was in her pocket. She pulled it out and created a symbol. A blanket appeared where the symbol had been drawn. Emily caught it and draped it over Mike, tucking him in. Then, as Storm tried to get up to go with her, Emily commanded for the dog to stay. Mike would need someone to keep him company.

Though Mike protested, Emily left him, running as fast as she could from the Shiba House to the lake. Mike dropped his head back on the ground.

A thought occurred to him in that moment. Emily hadn't even tried looking for the others. She hadn't brought them up. He couldn't figure out why. Either she had her hands full already with him and Mia and the others hadn't even crossed her mind yet, or she had already searched for them and came up with nothing. She had been very relieved when she found him. It was also very unlike she forget about her sister.

Mike turned his head and looked over to the rubble, where the Shiba House once stood as a safe house for the Rangers.

Another thought crossed his mind. He furrowed his brows and turned to Storm, who was making her way down along his side, as if inspecting his back for herself. When he moved, Storm looked over at him.

"What the fuck just happened?"


	2. An Ally

Emily stumbled as she reached the river and fell face first in the water. It was cool, and it felt good. A huge part of her didn't want to get up. The Shiba House was in ruins, five out of seven of her friends were still missing, one looked like she was waiting for death, and her fiancé couldn't take care of himself. There was really nothing to go back for.

But she pulled herself from the water and washed up. She wiped the blood from her face, her arms, her legs, and her hands and then took huge gulps of the water. After quenching her thirst, she stared into the river and sighed. She had no idea what she was going to do. She couldn't go into town and ask for help. She had no idea what had happened, and most people had no idea the Shiba House even existed. On top of that, she had no idea who was behind this. Neither Serena nor her were responsible for the earthquake or the boulders and stones falling from the sky. It was obviously someone with a lot of power, and getting a civilian involved was out of the question when the risk they get caught in a war was present.

She was on her own.

"Dammit," she splashed some water. She had promised to bring some to Mike and wanted to get some for Mia as well, but she had nothing to carry it in. Cups, bowls, pots, containers, everything they owned that could hold water had all been smashed. Everything was still back at the house. If it hadn't been destroyed, it had been completely buried. There was no way she was getting it.

She needed to think fast. She couldn't stay at the river for too long, just in case Mike or Mia needed her, or one of the others crawled out from the rubble and needed her help getting out. She also couldn't stay by the river because it was open. Serrator, Dayu, Dekker, and Xandred were all still recovering from their last encounter, but there were more Nighlok out there who would love the chance to defeat the Rangers.

She decided she would take off what was left of her shirt and use the fabric to soak up as much water as she could. She would take that back to Mike and lay it on his back to use as a cold compress. She hoped it would stay cool. She hoped it would be enough.

As she drenched the shirt, wishing she were a little bigger or taller or both because it meant there would be more fabric, she wiped the tears from her eyes. She hated when the others babied her, but she also hated when she had to be the only strong one. It was a lot of pressure. She would do what she could to bring the others back up, but without their support, there was only so much she could do

"Emily!"

Hearing a voice, she spun around. James was running over to her, understandably alarmed as he noticed her condition. He lifted her up, out of the water, and carried her back to the bank. He set her down gently and then took off his shirt so she could wear it and cover herself up – and for his own sake. This was his future little sister.

"What are you doing out here by yourself? What happened to you?" though he had been away from the Samurai life for a while, he knew something was wrong when one Samurai was all alone. Unless it was an emergency, they never left the house without a partner. Given that Emily looked like she had just been in a fight, James had a right to be worried.

"Where's Terran?"

"With a friend. I needed a day to myself," James explained and then he pulled Emily into his arms for a hug, "Are you okay?"

"The house fell."

James pulled away just a bit, "What?"

Emily didn't answer. Judging from the smell of his shirt, the shorts he was wearing, and bottle clipped to his shorts, Emily could tell he had jogged. Jogging meant he was exercising. Exercising meant he would be dehydrated. Dehydration meant he needed to rehydrate. Rehydration required water. Water needed to be carried.

Emily's eyes were fixed on the water bottle. She needed the water bottle. She needed to take water back to Mike. James followed her gaze and assumed she was thirsty. He held out the bottle and Emily snatched it from him. She ran back into the river, filled it up to the top, and then she started running back to the Shiba House.

James was very alarmed by this and followed her back. When he got past the gates, he saw exactly what she meant when she said the house had fallen.

"What happened here?"

"You tell me."

James looked down and saw Mike lying on the ground on his stomach. Emily was putting her wet shirt over his very bruised back and then soaking it with more water. She left a little in the bottle and insisted Mike drink it. Mike offered to let her take it, thinking she needed it after running to the river and back, but Emily told him she had drunk straight from the river.

James could only hope she wasn't lying. She was a lot like her sister. When it came to people she loved, she forgot about her own needs. She wouldn't deliberately try to hurt herself, but she would.

While Mike drank his water, and Emily continued to tend to his back, James had a look around. Mia lay unconscious just beside Mike and Emily, but there was no one else around. His heart sunk as he turned to what was left of the house and he realized where they could be.

"The others…"

Emily looked to him for a moment and nodded her head. She finally finished with Mike's back and moved over to Mia.

James walked over to the rubble. As he was about to step into it, though, Mike grabbed his ankle.

"I'm sure she already tried."

"They wouldn't give up on you," James pulled his foot free and he started to dig. He had no idea where to look and no idea if he was looking in the right spot, but he had to try something. He dug deeper and deeper until he heard a sob. He looked over and saw Emily beating into Mia's chest. She was fighting back tears. With a sigh, he gave up his search for now and lifted Emily off Mia. He wasn't sure of Mia's condition, but surely beating her up further wouldn't be any help.

James carried an obviously tired and frustrated Emily over to the bench and sat her down. He inspected her cuts and at the same time asked her for the full story. He wanted to know what had happened. Emily told him about the sudden earthquake, how it grew stronger and strong until she had been thrown off-balance by it. Then she talked about rocks, stones, and boulders falling from the sky and the ground tore itself apart.

Then James asked Emily if she knew where everyone was before the strange event. Emily shook her head.

"W-what if… what if the ground swallowed them up?"

"Emily…"

"It almost did with me and Storm," Mike announced.

"You guys rest," James assured her and gently lay her down on the bench, "Get some sleep. You're no good when you're tired like this. "I'm going to go home, get some supplies and when I get back, we'll start looking for them, okay?"

"But…"

"Both of you sleep," James softly pushed Emily back down on the bench after she tried to get it. He held her there until her exhaustion finally started to set in and her eyes closed. James then turned to Mike and saw the green Ranger was doing the same. When they were both out, he set out for the jog home. As he ran, he made a list of things to do in his head:

Find the others.

Nurse them back to health.

Figure out what really happened.

Find the bastard who made it happen.

Kick his ass.

Sometimes, being the ally was more work than being the hero.


	3. Search And Need To Rescue

James clutched the steering wheel tightly as he drove back to the Shiba House. He had packed everything he would need to help the Rangers. From a tent for shelter, food and water, a first aid kit, to a shovel to dig the others out. He refused to leave Serena and the boys buried under all the rubble. Even if it took him days, he was going to find them, and if they needed to be buried, he would do it properly. It was the least they deserved.

His thoughts strayed to Serena and tears stung his eyes. He had to wipe them away. Since walking out and taking Terran with him, he and Serena had patched things up. She still had his ring and he trusted that once the war was over she would come back to him. He didn't know what it was like for her, but the war was taking way too long. He missed her, and though he knew he wasn't wrong to get mad at her, he hated the way he had treated her. He hated that he had been the one to put the thought in her mind that Terran wasn't safe at the Shiba House, and that he was basically responsible for the separation between mother and son. Though it worked out for the best now, with Terran surely never surviving whatever accident or attack had just happened, James still felt guilty.

He still loved her. He still wanted her. He couldn't imagine never seeing her again. The thought of losing her kept him awake at night.

And nearly caused an accident. With his eyes clouded in tears, he barely saw he had gone off the path and was about to hit a tree. He hit the brakes just in time and the car stopped right in front of the tree. He put the car in park and then got out. The others were waiting for him, but he would be no good to them if he smashed his car.

As he dried his tears and tried to recompose himself, he thought he hear voices. He was too far from the Shiba House for the voices to belong to the Rangers, so he had to wonder who had come out this far. No one ever ventured this deep into the forest. Emily had been lucky when he decided to take a jog. He had missed Serena and because of that, he decided to get as close to the Shiba House as he could without putting himself or the Samurai in danger.

James ducked under a bush. He didn't want to be spotted by whoever was nearby, and he could hear enough of their conversation to tell if they were trouble or not.

"They're still digging themselves out!"

"You did great, but there's still three of them left."

"One's pretty much dead. Another can barely walk."

"Are they breathing?"

"Yeah."

"Then there's still three left. We need a way to make sure the ones still buried are dead, and the remaining three die."

"Slow and painful! Slow and painful! I want to watch them suffer!"

"We'll come up with something."

James heard enough. Quietly, he jumped out of the bush and into his car. He started it as quickly as he could, got himself back on the path, and sped home.

The attack was no accident.

James just had one question: how had they managed it?

-Samurai-

"Push, Emily!"

With a little help from symbol power, and using all the muscles in her body, Emily pushed on a giant boulder. She had been pulled from her sleep by Antonio's screams, and followed the sound of his voice to a crack in the ground. Jayden and Antonio had both fallen into the crack just before one of the boulders fell from the sky and landed where they had stood. Had the crack not opened up, or if it had opened up too wide, Jayden and Antonio would have been crushed.

But, for now, they were just buried, trapped in a hole in the ground under a giant rock, with only a small crack open for light and air.

Emily's body shook but she couldn't let go. She pushed and pushed as Antonio, then Jayden, climbed out under the boulder. She needed to hold it. She couldn't let it drop while the boys were under it. She refused to let anyone else get hurt.

"It's okay," Antonio told her once Jayden was out and then he touched her shoulder. The yellow glow around the boulder faded and Emily pushed herself away. Her vision went dark for a minute as she swayed on her feet. Antonio and Jayden both grabbed her and walked her back to the yard. The spots faded from her eyes as they lay her down.

"Are you okay?" she asked them. They both nodded their heads and smiled.

"Just a bit banged up," Jayden told her, "How long were we out for?"

"A few hours," Emily whispered. Antonio gave her a little smile and then looked around. Including himself, Jayden, and Emily, only five people were in sight. Mike was on his stomach, and judging from the snores he was asleep, and Mia was on her back. She had her eyes closed, but something told Antonio she wasn't sleeping like Mike.

"Where are the others?" he looked down at Emily. Tears formed in her eyes and she shot up. She wrapped her arms tightly around Antonio's neck and cried into his shoulder. Antonio held her warmly and then turned to Jayden in time to receive a very light tap on the cheek.

"It's like you don't know her at all," Jayden rolled his eyes. Antonio nodded his head. It had been a stupid question.

"Jayden? Antonio?"

The boys turned when they heard their name. James pulled up in his car and as soon as he had it shut off he raced out. Antonio and Jayden stood to greet him, and were surprised when he pulled them in for a big hug.

What surprised them even more was that he was at the Shiba House – or what had been the Shiba House.

"What are you doing here?" Jayden asked when he was finally released from the big hug. James looked down at him and then over to Emily.

"I was out jogging when I ran into her," he answered. "You're lucky too. I just went back home and brought my first aid kit. It's in the back of the car."

Jayden nodded and didn't need to be told twice. He hurried over to the car, limping slightly as he did. For the most part he was unharmed, but he had still be somewhat crushed by falling rocks. He was a little sore.

James put his hand on Antonio's shoulder, "I also brought a tent. Do you think you can help set it up and we can move inside? We'll need a shelter."

Antonio followed the older man to the trunk of the car and pulled out the bag for the tent. As they looked around for a spot to set it up, Emily looked to the debris. Ji, Kevin, and Serena were still missing and likely fighting for their lives. Antonio and Jayden understandably needed a few minutes at least after being dug out, and James was busy helping them and keeping his eye on Mike and Mia. He wouldn't be able to focus on digging anyone out for a while.

But every second counted. Lightly, Emily hopped back onto the pile of debris and tried to make sense of it all. She had the layout of the house in her head and thought back to where her friends could have been before the freak accident. What had they been doing?

It finally occurred to her that Kevin and Ji were playing chess, and the chessboard was in the kitchen. Treading lightly on the rocks and rubble, so as not to break them in and possibly hurt her friends, she hurried over to where the kitchen ones stood and started moving rocks. Every muscle ached and screamed for her to rest. They insisted she couldn't work anymore and they needed some time, but Emily couldn't afford them that time.

Emily eventually dug up a chess piece: the king. She held it in her hands and knew she was close. She put it in her pocket – she wasn't sure why – and then continued to dig. She stopped, jumped, and screamed when she dug up a hand. Then it occurred to her that hand was attached to a body. She found someone.

Careful not to cause the rocks to slip, she started to dig Ji out. She recognized his hand, and then as she dug out the rest of his arm, recognized his kimono. Eventually, she got his upper body out from under all the rubble.

Jayden and James were instantly by her side and helped get the rest of Ji out. As they lifted him from the rubble, they uncovered Kevin. It seemed Ji had thrown himself on top of the blue Ranger to protect him, and he had done a good job. Kevin looked up when Ji was pulled away from him, and though he seemed dazed, he recognized Emily pretty quickly. She used all the strength she had to pull him up and support his weight as she walked him back to the others. Then she lay him down on the grass and pulled off his shirt to inspect him for injuries. She smiled just a bit when she saw he was still wearing his gold medal around his neck. He hadn't taken it off since winning it. Judging by the dents and scratches, it had acted as a bit of a shield. Not enough to really keep him safe – Ji was to thank for that – but it had served a purpose.

"What happened?" he asked. Emily shook her head as Jayden tossed her an icepack. She placed it over Kevin's forehead.

"We don't know."

"Mia…"

"I got her out a while ago," Emily promised. "She's resting."

She stopped there because she didn't want to worry Kevin. Right now he needed to focus on his own recovery. Though he had very few cuts and bruises on his body, it seemed his head had taken a hit. As hard as he tried, he couldn't focus on Emily. He could barely focus at all.

"Who was winning the game, Kevin?" Emily asked as she lifted the icepack slightly to look at the bruises and cuts on his head.

"A game?"

"You and Ji were playing chess," Emily told him. She got up and picked up two rocks, and then two cloths. She set the rocks down on either side of his head, and then the cloths between his head and the rocks, "Try not to move, okay? Call if you need anything."

She got up and looked around. Ji was laying on the ground and seemed to be in a similar state as Kevin. Antonio and Jayden stuck by his side while James finished putting up the tent. Now all they needed was a way to move the injured Samurai inside without hurting them further.

Well, that and finding their missing Samurai. Emily turned back to the debris and sighed. Then she felt a hand touch the small of her back.

"I brought food and water," it was James. He obviously wanted to take care of her. Emily shook her head.

"Not until…"

"Serena would want you to look after yourself."

"I want to look for her," Emily argued. "I don't care if it hurts me."

"I want to find her too, but right now we need…"

Emily shook her head and moved away from him. She jumped up onto the pile of debris and started running across, trying to be as light as she could be. She had to think like Serena, and she had to figure out where Serena had been, and what she would have done once the earthquakes started and the rocks fell from the sky.

When she figured it out, she stopped, spun around and ran into the other direction. James was climbing up onto the rubble, trying to call her back before she hurt herself. She ignored him, pushed a rock out of the way and climbed down into a hole. James could see the rocks shifting as she wormed her way deeper and deeper underground. He reached for her foot before she got too far, but it slipped right out of his grasp.

"Emily! You're going to get hurt!"

"SHH!" she called back.

Knowing there was nothing he could do, James pushed himself up. The rocks and rubble under him couldn't support the extra weight and suddenly caved in down Emily's tunnel. James' eyes widened as he watched it all close up.

"SHIT! … That's not good…"


	4. The Boulder Rocket

James watched it happen in slow motion. As he pushed himself up, the rocks beneath him tumbled down into Emily's hole. James wasn't sure where she was, or how far down she had gotten, but falling rocks was never good. That hole was Emily's, and maybe Serena's only way out.

"SHIT!" he started to dig, but that only moved the rocks around more as they caved deeper and deeper into the hole Emily had created, "That can't be good," he slowly got up and backed away, moving as carefully as possible. His weight continued to shift the rocks, but the further he got from the hole, the less of an effect it had.

He stepped down and away from the rubble and stood on solid ground. His heart was pounding in his chest.

"What happened?" Mike was awake from his rest and looked over to James. The coach gulped and shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really know what to say.

-Samurai-

Emily had to dig for a little while as she pushed past rocks and stones to get further and further underground, but eventually the ground opened up. She tried to carefully lower herself into the hole, but slipped and fell. She hit the ground hard, and then heard rocks pounding against more rocks. Something was coming down behind her. Too winded to get up and run, Emily covered her head with her hands, curled up into a little ball and hoped she could avoid too much of a beating.

Rocks of all sizes fell around and on top of her. Most of the bigger ones landed around her, while the smaller ones hit her back. Just when she thought it was all over, a sea of dirt fell from the top of… Emily wasn't sure where she was anymore. The dirt hit her, covering her up in a thick layer. For a few minutes she stayed curled in a ball. Then, when she was sure the rockslide was over and the dust had settled, she uncurled herself and got up.

She couldn't see anything. Wherever she was, was black. There was no light to help her see at all.

With no idea where to go, or if there was even solid ground under her feet, Emily stayed stock still. Then she remembered the chess piece in her pocket. She pulled it out and gently tossed it forward. Odds were that she would lose it the moment it left her hands, but she had to know if there was something in front of her. Hopefully, she would hear it hit the ground and she could know it was safe to take a few steps.

She tossed it and it came right back to her, hitting her in the leg. At this point, she didn't need light to know she had bruised that spot of her leg pretty badly on the climb down. The gentle bounce of the king off her leg was enough to bring her to her knees while she nursed her calf.

Then it dawned on her. The king wasn't a boomerang. If she had thrown it away, it could have only come back to hurt her if it had bounced off something first. She reached around, trying to find the king again. She did, then put it in her pocket and reached out in front of her. She felt a stony wall before her. She reached up, trying to find a way to climb it, but then realized it stopped just a few inches above her head. It wasn't a wall, it was one of the stones that had fallen from the roof. She shuttered as she realized how close she had come to having the big, heavy boulder land right on her head.

Ignoring the pain, she jumped up and grabbed the boulder. She lifted herself up and sat on top of it. Then she pulled the king out and dropped it, hoping to hear it hit the ground so she could know there was something to land on.

Instead of hearing the king hit the ground, she heard more stones smashing together, this time continuously until she suddenly saw a spark. Somehow, a fire was starting. Before Emily could believe it, one ignited before her eyes and lit up her sister's face. With light now in what Emily could see was a cave, she knew there was solid ground on the other side of the rock and jumped off. She landed very ungracefully on her feet and fell to her knees. By now her skin had been so torn apart, she wasn't sure how it was holding together. Serena heard her hit the ground and looked over.

"You didn't think mom wouldn't teach me how to start a fire with nothing but stones and symbol power."

"You're okay?" Emily asked and crawled closer to the fire. Serena nodded her head.

"I tried to find you, but once planets started falling from the sky, I knew I needed to hide. I made this cave and closed it up so the rocks wouldn't crush me, but then…"

Serena gestured down to her leg and Emily saw it was caught in a crevasse that had opened up and now had a hold of her sister. Serena tried to pull but nothing happened, proving to Emily she was stuck.

"I'm pretty sure it's broken."

"Duh," Emily nodded her head. She crawled around the fire to her sister and pulled out her Samuraizer. Together, the girls had enough symbol power to open up the crevasse and pull her leg out. When Serena was freed, they closed it up again. Emily fell onto her stomach, panting loudly. She was exhausted and she felt sick. Serena nursed her leg with one arm, while the other reached out and gently touched Emily's back.

"Are you okay?"

Emily shook her head and then forced herself up on all fours. When she was steady, she got up to her feet. Then she reached down and helped Serena stand. The white Ranger could put absolutely no weight on her injured leg foot, but she had incredible balance on her right.

Emily carefully walked Serena to the furthest point in the cave and then sat her down. She whispered for Serena to stay where she was and to protect her head.

"Where are you going?"

"We need a way out," Emily got herself back over to the boulder she had climbed and then looked up. She hoped no one was standing directly above her.

-Samurai-

James was helping Antonio and Jayden carry Mia, Mike, Kevin, and Ji into the tent. They laid the four Samurai down on sleeping bags and had another look at them. Kevin still seemed very dazed and lost, and same with Ji. Mike was in a lot of pain, but was doing his best to joke around and lighten the mood. Storm was keeping him company.

Mia was still out cold. No one had seen her move at all.

When the four injured Samurai had been tended to, James took Antonio and Jayden outside the tent to get a better look at them. Though he tried to focus on the task at hand, hid mind was elsewhere. His thoughts were with Serena and where she could be and if she was okay. He was worried about Emily, and scared that he had just crushed and killed her. He was worried for his friends in the tent, for Antonio and Jayden, and finally, he was worried of what he had heard on the way here. Voices, more than one, talking about what had happened at the Shiba House, and making plans on causing more destruction.

"HOLY SHIT!" Antonio suddenly screamed and threw himself to the ground. Jayden did the same and pulled James down with him as a boulder shot straight up, seemingly from out of nowhere, and flew high into the sky.

What goes up must come down. The boulder reached its peak and then started its descent. When it landed, it hit the ground with a loud boom, shaking the earth. The debris where it had landed flew out on all sides, some of it falling on Jayden, Antonio, and James, but the pieces were so crushed, it was basically all dirt.

Then the boys heard it: a loud, piercing, blood curdling, possibly the most terrifying scream any of them would ever hear in their lives. James knew, before the echoes stopped, who the scream belonged to and raced to where the boulder had shot out. He looked down the hole it had made and could see nothing but a faint dancing light, likely from a fire. He dropped to his knees and called down into the hole.

"SERENA!"

"HELP!" her voice screamed back. James was relieved, but terrified at the same time. The flying stone, the scream, Serena, the hole; he had no idea what to do. "HELP!" she cried again and he nodded. That was a good idea.

"James, what else did you bring?" Jayden was already running to the car, hoping there was something there that would help.

"I don't know."

Jayden opened the back seat of the car while Antonio dug through the trunk. He managed to pull out a roadside survival kit and figured it would have to work. He lifted it to show Jayden and the boys quickly ran over to James and the hole. Antonio tore the kit open and found a rope handy. He pulled it out and then looked between himself, Jayden, and James. Jayden was the lightest of the three of them, while still strong enough to lift Serena out of the hole. Antonio started to tie the rope around Jayden and made sure it was safe. He didn't want it snapping. They couldn't afford to lose any Rangers.

"Are you ready for this?" Antonio asked his boyfriend and pulled him into a kiss after Jayden nodded his head. Then, slowly, they lowered him down into the hole. Jayden climbed down the tunnel, sticking close to the wall. When his feet touched the ground he tugged slightly on the rope. Then he saw a light coming right for him. He reached out and caught it. Antonio and James had sent him down a flashlight. He held it up to look around. He was instantly drawn to the fire. He looked around that area.

"Serena?" the light hit her. She was on the ground crawling and looked to be in serious pain. "Serena!" he called and stepped forward to run to her.

Only when he stepped forward his foot hit something. He looked down to see what it was and finally understood the scream and the flying boulder.

"Shit!" he dropped his flashlight and fell to his knees. Emily's cuts had all opened up and were bleeding, she was barely breathing, and she was completely unresponsive to everything. To get the boulder to fly straight up and rip through the ground must have taken a lot of Symbol Power she didn't have, depleting her not just mentally, but physically as well. The power had taken its toll on her mind and body and now she was paying the price. Very, very carefully, he took her in his arms and then tugged frantically on the rope. He was lifted from his feet and all the way back up the tunnel.

As he surfaced, Emily was pulled from his arms by James while Antonio started to check on Jayden. The red Ranger pushed him away and started to climb down again. He had one more rescue to make. Faster than the first time he made it down and ran over to Serena. He helped her walk under the tunnel and then held her tight as they were again lifted up. When they surfaced, Serena was pulled to safety first by James, and then Jayden was pulled out. James then helped Serena back to solid ground while Jayden and Antonio carried Emily. They set her in the grass and started to work on waking her up. Serena crawled to the first aid kit, pulled out the roll of bandages and the antiseptic and crawled back to her sister.

"Don't you dare," she whispered as she worked on treating Emily's injuries, which had all come open as power burst out of her. "You idiot. You big, stupid, idiot!"

"There we go," Antonio said gently as Emily's eyes fluttered open. Jayden was relieved and tucked away his Samuraizer. He wouldn't tell anyone, but he had put the pieces together on what had happened. Emily had used too much symbol power and had no energy left for herself, so he had transferred some of his own back to her. It was a risky move, and it would take him a while to bounce back, but he had no other choice. He fell onto his butt, drained, exhausted, tired, fatigued, and any other word he could think of that meant he was pooped. He laid on his back and looked up at the skies, listening as Serena showered her little sister's face with kisses, as Antonio fussed over the obvious break at Serena's ankle, and as James paced back and forth, completely panicked and trying to recompose himself.

The worst part of all this was he still had no idea what was going on.


	5. It's Family Business

Night had fallen. No progress had been made. Well, nothing that felt like real progress. Mia was still unconscious, Ji and Kevin, before falling asleep, were still very out of it, Mike was too sore to move more than a few inches without help. Emily's bleeding had finally stopped and she was resting up, nestled in Serena's arms. Serena had a makeshift cast on her leg that would keep her from moving it around and hurting herself further. The cast was made out of wood and bandages from Mike's symbol power and James' first aid kit.

Jayden was tired from giving some of his energy to Emily, and had fallen asleep in Antonio's arms. Antonio was a little sore, but mostly just relieved.

James was trying to settle his heart. He wasn't sore or hurt, he hadn't experienced the attack and hadn't been buried under rubble, and yet he felt like he was the one who needed help. He shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts. He needed to be the strong one. He pulled Serena and Emily into his arms, and he kissed Serena's cheek, drawing her attention away from Emily for a moment.

"I should have come for you sooner…"

"I was fine," Serena insisted, "You did what you needed to do for the others. It takes more than rocks and dirt to knock out an earth Samurai."

"It takes exactly that," James looked down at her ankle, and then down to Emily, "You really scared me Serena, but…"

"Don't but," Serena shook her head, "Trust me, you can't focus on what you should have done better. Just work on what's happening now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Serena looked around the tent. The others were all… sleeping. She turned back to James and whispered softly, "I did something stupid the other day."

"Like?"

"A little while back the Rangers were all turned into kids, except Mia and me. Seeing Emily so young and innocent made me… miss that. It got complicated and I felt guilty for all the bad stuff I've ever done to her, and used a symbol to undo it all. I found myself in a world where I never got sick. I was the family Samurai and Emily stayed home."

"She was safe?"

"I'd rather have her fighting Xandred," Serena shook her head. "In the span on only a few days, I watched her die, almost saw her fall to her death, and had to save her from drowning. Life's better here. Life's better when you learn from your mistakes instead of regret them."

"I think I've learned from my mistakes," James sighed. "Emily wanted to look for you. I told her to rest up and wait. She's too much like you, you know."

"I learned that too," Serena chuckled. James gave her a funny look. She pointed to Emily's knee, "Spider Mike, infected cut… you've missed a lot."

"I've learned a lot too," James looked around the tent, "Face it, the team's down. Your strongest now is Antonio, with Jayden a far second."

"What about me?"

"Stand up."

"Easy."

"On both feet."

"Screw you."

James hugged her closer, "On my way here, I heard the people who did this."

"You know who did this?"

"I heard them. Just their voices. They're planning another attack. They want you all dead."

Serena looked up at him curiously, "Nighlok can't…"

"They didn't sound like Nighlok. They sounded human."

"Human? The same humans we're protecting somehow, magically, for no reason, made boulders the size of _HUGE_ fall from the sky and crush our home? And you think I'm the one with the concussion?"

"I heard what I heard, Serena. I'm not saying I'm right, but someone's behind this, and they're planning a round two."

Serena looked down at her sister sadly. The others wouldn't survive a round two. Some of them, if they didn't get proper help soon, weren't likely to survive round one.

James kissed the side of her head, "I won't let it happen. You're forgetting who my sensei is."

"James…"

"I know I don't have years of formal training. I know I'm not a master Samurai, but Mako's really been pushing me hard. She doesn't want anything happening to Terran and she's making sure nothing ever will. I've gotten myself to the point where she trusts me to keep him safe, and you clearly trust me. Now you need to trust me here."

"You have no idea who you're facing, James. They could be human, but they probably aren't."

"The enemy is the enemy, no matter what shape they take," James shook his head. "They don't scare me. I faced my biggest fear already, and I'm still standing. You're still here."

"I was fine…"

"I had no way of knowing that. For all I knew, you were buried under a freaking house and boulders the size of huge," James gently cuddled Serena. "For all I knew, you were dead. Then I lost your sister. Then I heard your scream…"

"Without you and Terran around, she's all I have," Serena whispered. James chuckled slightly and nodded his head.

"I noticed. You know, the cuts are superficial. You can set her down. She'll be okay."

"She's strong. She'll be fine," Serena agreed, "but this is for me. I'm scared, James."

"Give me a few minutes and I won't be anymore," James promised her. He took her Samuraizer from her pocket, "Let me be a Samurai. It's what I've trained for."

"We're running out of colours," Serena whispered, "Besides, you may have trained like a Samurai, but you're not a real Samurai."

"That didn't stop Antonio."

"What colour do you want? Purple? Orange? James, this is a huge responsibility, and I need you to be a father to our son."

"I was thinking about this," James held up the Samuraizer. Serena shook her head.

"There's no way…"

"I'm sure Antonio can figure something out."

"It's an old Samuraizer, but it's still connected to the earth clan. You're not…"

"I am," James nodded his head, "We have a son together."

"I hate to play this card, but he's not biologically yours."

"Mia's grandmother has a lot of Samurai history books. When a Samurai fails to or cannot produce an offspring, adoption works just as well. According to Mako, a few of your ancestors were adopted."

"I am _not_ adopting you…"

"Terran's adopted me. He's earth."

"But, James…"

"I'm his dada."

"He…"

"Not yet," James assured Serena with a kiss on the forehead, "You haven't missed his first words. It's in his eyes. He knows I'm his father. He knows I'm his family. He's adopted me."

"Do you think it'll work?"

"We have to try," James nodded his head. "I'll take the risk."

He pulled his arms away from Serena and crawled over to where Antonio and Jayden were sleeping. Gently, he shook the gold Ranger awake. Antonio's eyes opened slowly and he rubbed them, giving them a couple of seconds to adjust to the night. James, meanwhile, held the Samuraizer over his head.

"Can you fix this so it'll protect me?"

"You want to be a Ranger?" Antonio took the Samuraizer from James' hand and shot him a curious look, "Seriously? I'm running out of colours."

"Not a different colour," James shook his head, "I can't be a Ranger. Who'll look after Terran? But I need to step in. I don't know if you've noticed, but the team's kind of down now. You're the best they've got."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Antonio muttered sarcastically as he shifted out from under Jayden, trying not to wake the tired Red. "Maybe next time, you can make it sound like I'm _not_ the worst Samurai that's every existed."

"You know what I meant. Look, I don't need flashy powers or anything fancy. I just need something to protect me. The people who caused this are obviously strong, and they want a round two."

"How do you know?"

"I heard them talking."

"James…"

"Please, Antonio. I know the risks and I'm willing to take them even without the spandex. Might as well try to keep me safe, right?"

Antonio nodded his head, "I don't have my stuff with me," he looked at the Samuraizer, "but I guess if I can turn myself into a gold Ranger using nothing but a broken phone and a talking squid, I can make a Samuraizer work for you."

"Just do your best," James said. He crawled back to his and Serena's sleeping bag and lay down with her and Emily. Serena let go of her sister and rolled over. She nestled into James' chest for comfort.

"I missed you," she whispered.

James smiled and hugged her close, "I missed you too."


	6. The Wave Of Panic

While the others tried to salvage what they could from the ruins of the Shiba House, Emily stood over the injured. Mike was taking another nap, finding there was nothing better to do while he was stuck on his stomach. Kevin and Ji were also asleep, which was for the best for them. They weren't making much sense. Emily was sure they had taken a hard hit to the head. Kevin and Ji did seem to remember who everyone was, and what had happened to the Shiba House was slowly coming back to them, but they were completely unaware of what was going on. For the most part, when they were awake, they would stare up at the roof of the tent and wonder why the sky was green. Kevin was convinced Mike had changed the colour of the sky.

Jayden helped Serena, James, and Antonio with the wreck. He was tired and could barely walk, having used up quite a bit of his own energy to save Emily, but he wouldn't let that knock him down. Like every other time he had been weakened, he planned on powering through it. He was good at doing so now, especially because he was more open to taking advice from the others. While they did the heavy lifting, he sat on the sidelines and told them where the more important items or documents could be buried.

Serena also couldn't do too much heavy lifting, but the rubble was mostly dirt and stones so she used symbol power where it was needed. Occasionally, she would get up and hop around on one leg to bring James and Antonio some water. It was getting really, really hot out, and those boys were really their only hope in case of another attack. Serena, James, and Antonio hadn't yet shared the news of a possible second attack, though. They had no idea when it was coming, if it was really coming, or what to expect. All they could do was make sure the team was strong enough to handle it.

Though everyone else showed signs that they were okay, or would be okay, Mia's condition hadn't changed. She lay completely still, barely breathing, just like when Emily had found her.

"At least Ji and Kevin remember who we are, what colour the sky should be, and what green looks like," Emily muttered as she looked over to the sleeping men. She turned her attention back to Mia and took the pink Ranger's hand gently, "C'mon, Mia, wake up. You're stronger than this. You can't die just because rocks magically started to fall from the sky."

Storm came over and crawled up on Emily's lap, seeing her mistress was upset. Emily gave the dog a hug and then gently put her on Mia's stomach. Storm started to whimper. She missed Mia too.

"You're making the dog cry. It's not nice to make cute things cry, Mia. People go aww and want to kill the things that make the cute ones cry."

There was no response from Mia. Emily pulled her legs into her chest and rested her chin on her knees. She hated this. She really hated this. She had already been forced to watch one sister slowly slip away. She couldn't do this again.

"Kevin would be here, you know," she whispered, "but he's kind of loopy right now. This morning, Antonio brought back some fish, and instead of eating it he studied it until he came up with a snack idea: Goldfish crackers. He was heartbroken when I told him that had already been invented. Then he came up with Cheesy Trout Chips. The idea just wasn't as appealing. He remembers you though, and he's always asking for you. We tell him you just fell asleep. If he was that upset over the goldfish idea, I don't want to know what'll happen if he finds out you won't wake up."

Emily sat in the silence and waited for a response that wouldn't come. Then she sighed loudly.

"This is the part where you wake up and tell me Cheesy Trout Chips actually sounds good."

Emily waited for an answer still, and was disappointed to get nothing. Her chin started to quiver. She sat up on her knees and leaned over Mia's body. She opened Mia's eye with her finger, hoping it would wake her up. It didn't do anything. She tried opening both of them. She plugged Mia's nose, hoping to get her body to instinctively start flailing, but nothing happened fast enough. Emily didn't want Mia to suffocate, so she let the pink Ranger breathe again and tried something else. She took Mia's hand, her index finger specifically, and put it up one nostril.

"Ew, Mia, don't be so disgusting."

Mia still didn't say or do anything. She allowed Emily to mess around.

Mike was awake from his nap and watched as Emily tried in vain to wake her pink Ranger sister. Had it not been so serious, he would have laughed at Emily's childish antics. He remembered trying something similar with his dad one day when he was just a boy.

But childish antics and tears were not a good combination for Emily. It was her screaming for help. The more Emily started to act like a child, the more vulnerable she was feeling and the more protection and comfort she needed. Mike wanted to get up, and managed to get onto his hands and knees, but his back still hurt too much. He fell back onto his stomach and started to call for Serena.

Emily was ignoring everything around her except for Mia. The world could have been burning around her and she wouldn't notice. She grabbed Mia's chin and pulled her lips apart, trying to make her talk.

"I'll wake up in a minute, Em. I'm enjoying my nap. You know how I like to sleep."

Mia still didn't move. Emily decided to stop with the face and moved down her body to her stomach. She poked Mia's belly button. Mia hated when people poked her belly button.

"Pillsbury!" she poked over and over again but there was nothing. She sang the theme to jaws and then dropped her head into Mia's stomach. Mia was afraid of sharks.

She made ribbit noises and pressed her two fingers against Mia's lips, telling her she was kissing a frog. She pretended to chew gum loudly in Mia's ear.

Nothing worked. Nothing woke her up. By now Emily was in tears.

Serena heard Mike's calls and noticed her sister desperately trying to wake Mia, but with the broken ankle she couldn't do anything. Instead, she turned to James and called his name. She pointed him in Emily's direction. James sighed and knew what he had to do.

"Leave her alone, Emily," he grabbed Emily's arm gently and pulled her up to her feet. Emily whined for him to let go but he didn't. She decided to play jelly baby and let herself go. James grabbed her with both hands, lifting her up. "Terran plays this game too when I take him away from his toys. Don't think you've got me."

"Don't touch me!" Emily gave up playing jelly baby and started to fight against James' grasp. She tried to pull his hands away and then when that didn't work she started to punch the back of his hand and his wrist. That still didn't work.

"OW!" she started to cry out. "OW! You're hurting me!"

"She's fine," Serena insisted. She knew James would never hurt Emily. He had no reason to do so. She figured Emily maybe felt a little pain because of her cuts and bruises, but it wasn't enough to really hurt her.

James finally lifted Emily off the ground and walked her over to the bench where Serena was sitting. He put her down next to her sister, thinking it was what Emily needed, but as soon as he let go, and before Serena could grab her, Emily got up and ran back over to Mia.

"This game's not funny anymore!" Emily screamed loudly and raised her fist to punch Mia in the chest. James raced over and caught her arm in time to stop the punch. This time he pulled her away from Mia roughly and dragged her back to the bench. Halfway there, Emily did something that made him stop. She pulled his arm to her mouth and bit him. Even Storm, who had been watching fearfully, knew that was bad.

"EMILY!" James shouted and ripped his arm away from Emily. He thought she would run back to Mia as he nursed his hand, but she flopped onto the ground, on her stomach, and just lay there.

"James," Mike called and when James looked over he gestured to the blanket that was draped over him. James nodded his head, wiped his hand on his pants (fortunately the skin hadn't broken) and took the blanket from Mike. He wrapped it around Emily and promised everything would be okay. Then he picked her up and carried her over to Serena. He set her down in her sister's lap. Then he went back to work, joining Antonio on the ruins of the Shiba House. Antonio pointed to his hand.

"That'll leave a pretty bad bruise."

James shrugged, "It's what you have to put up with when your little sister is nicknamed Monster."

"She has a point, though," Antonio looked over to the tent, where he could see Mia was still… sleeping, "She was rescued before us and she's still not awake."

"She'll wake up when she wakes up," James insisted.

"She'll die when she dies."

"Antonio…"

"You know it's possible," Antonio muttered. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the Samuraizer, "Whatever. I did what I could with it. You might be able to get the spandex on, but I can't promise it'll adjust to you perfectly."

"What does that mean?"

"You might have a skirt."

"Seriously?"

"At least the helmet will work just fine," Antonio chuckled and put the Samuraizer in James's hand, "No one will know you're actually a man."

James breathed out a sigh, "Well, I guess it could be worse. I could be stuck with the skirt and I could be dating Mia."

"If that had happened, I would have kept the skirt on purpose," Antonio chuckled. James rolled his eyes but laughed with him. He needed a laugh. He needed a little fun. Staying strong wasn't easy.

Suddenly, the laughter stopped completely for Antonio. From over the edge of the gate, Antonio could see a massive tidal wave headed straight for the house. His laughter and the fear in his eyes alerted James that there was something wrong. The coach turned around and saw the tidal wave. Before it crashed down, he had time to get out one question.

"Isn't the ocean in the other direction?"


	7. The Sea And Tree

James did his best to avoid drowning and losing consciousness as the tidal wave swept him up and tossed him around. As the water began to calm, filling only the space between the gates, James rose to the surface and gasped in a deep breath of air. Then he looked around for the others. Antonio was next to surface with his arm wrapped around Jayden's waist, pulling him up as well. Then Emily and Serena came up, with Serena struggling to keep Emily above the water. In her state, she didn't have the instinct to keep her head up.

Some of the lighter debris, such as wooden beams and floorboards, floated at the surface. James grabbed them and pushed them over to the other Samurai, giving them something to hold onto. Swimming was a very tiring sport, and the Samurai were already exhausted from the last _(un)_natural disaster, as James saw it. When they all had something to hold onto, James dove under the water and swam to the tent. The injured Samurai were inside.

As he swam down, he saw Mike managed to get himself out of the tent and was swimming up. Because he was weightless in the water, there was less of a demand on his back. Though he was still in pain from moving, he could get himself to the surface no problem. He gave James a thumbs up as reassurance, though. While he went up, James went down. He swam into the tent and saw Mia, Kevin, and Ji's bodies floating. They were caught by the roof of the tent and couldn't go any higher than that. They would drown if they didn't reach the surface in time.

The tent was a very expensive tent and a very good tent too. It had survived storms, wicked winds, and was still standing just as tall and strong as went he had first bought it. It was a shame to see it go, but James didn't hesitate for a moment as he pulled out a pocket knife, which he kept with him after bandaging up Serena's leg, and he ripped the tent open. Kevin, Mia, and Ji all started to float up to the top, but to James, it wasn't fast enough. He grabbed onto an arm, a leg, or their shirt and pulled them up with him.

He wasn't the strongest swimmer, and struggled quite a bit, cursing Kevin under his breathe for being semi unconscious, but he made it to floating debris and managed to get Kevin and Ji to hang on. The water had woken them up enough for them to keep their heads up on their own.

Mia was still out of it, though, so James had to swim with her to make sure her mouth and nose stayed out of the water so she could breathe. Fortunately, her body had done its job to keep her from drowning and James had reached her in time. She was still breathing as he held her up.

Serena, meanwhile, knew this solution wouldn't last. She took Emily's Samuraizer from her pocket and after almost dropping it, managed to trace a symbol. A section of the ground rose up, spilling some water over the top of the fence until it was eventually high enough to create an island. The conscious Samurai swam over, pulling those who needed help with them.

When they were all on land, they worked on drying themselves off. Though hypothermia wasn't a problem with the summer heat, the wet clothes and wet bandages were uncomfortable.

As James helped Serena to dry off, and removed her now wet cast, he locked eyes with her and sighed. Though the wave had taken them by surprise, neither could say they hadn't seen it coming. James had overheard a conversation that had discussed the first attack, and that those responsible for it had planned a second attack.

"They want us dead, right?" Serena asked and James nodded his head. She fought back tears, "If they knew we didn't die the first time, they probably know we're not dead this time. What if there's a third attack?"

James kissed her forehead, "This would be a lot easier if you didn't panic."

"Someone destroyed our home and is trying to kill our family, and you don't want me to panic?" she cried and pushed him back. She pointed to her cast, "I can't walk, jackass. I can't protect them. All I can do is sit here on my ass, helpless. All I can do is panic!"

"You learned to fight in a wheelchair…"

"Do you see a wheelchair around here? Unless you feel like jumping over the fence and stealing one from a hospital, then climbing back up the fence and swimming with the wheelchair back to our little island, I'm not getting a fucking wheelchair."

"Serena, calm down."

"No! Fuck you, James! We don't even know who's doing this. We're powerless against them. We're trapped on this goddamn island just waiting for another wave of whatever to finally fucking kill us all."

James wrapped her up in his arms and rocked her gently. She had just survived two very traumatic disasters. Her rage and fear was understandable. James was shaking a little from terror, but he knew he had to be strong. Mako had taught him that. No matter what, he had to push through. He was Terran's only line of defence, and if he gave up, it was all over. That was really sinking in for him now. He seemed to be the only one on the little island who still had hope. If he gave up, it was all over.

He cupped Serena's face in his hands and forced her to look at him. He smiled, "You know the good thing about hitting rock bottom and having nothing to lose?"

"You don't care if you die in a fucking hurricane? Or whatever's next?"

James shook his head, "You have nowhere to go but up, and everything to gain. You're scared, Serena, and you're allowed to be, but you need to stay strong with me. It's the only way we stand a chance of getting out of here."

"James…"

"We're alive. There is a chance we're getting out of here."

"We're on an island."

"There is a chance."

"Half the team is useless."

"There is a chance."

"Shut up," Serena leaned into him and let him hug her. He kissed the top of her head.

"C'mon, Serena. You're allowed to be scared. You're allowed to worry, but please don't give up. This fight's not even started yet."

"That's not motivating at all."

"We can still win."

"But James…"

"Please, Serena."

She nodded her head, giving into James, "There is still a chance."

James gave her a little comforting squeeze. He could be strong, but he didn't want to do it on his own. Knowing Serena would fight with him, even if it was just on an emotional level, was encouragement enough to keep fighting.

Then, like Serena's optimism was the cure that broke the spell, Mia started to stir. James and Serena looked over, eyes wide in shock. Mike tried pushing himself up, but could only make it onto his forearms and was forced to do nothing but watch. Jayden and Antonio were too surprised to move, and were keeping their eye on Kevin and Ji. They were still pretty out of it. Ji was insisting Antonio take the day off to go finishing, seeing as he thought they were at the beach because of the water, and Kevin wanted to jump in for a swim.

But Emily shot over to Mia's side like a rocket, and was right there when her eyes opened.

"Emily?"

"You're not dead!" Emily threw her arms around Mia in a tight hug. Relieved couldn't even begin to describe how she felt. Mia pushed a little against Emily, trying to make some room to breathe.

"Oxygen is probably really important for me right now," she muttered. Emily loosened her grip, but never let go of her sister. Mia wrapped her arms around Emily as the younger girl started to cry, "Emily, what's wrong? What happened? Why are you wet? Why am I wet?"

"Don't ever die," Emily whispered.

Mia furrowed her brow, "Well, I'll die one day. But not soon, I promise."

"No," Emily shook her head, "Never die. Please never die."

"Okay, okay," Mia said just to calm Emily down. The yellow Ranger trembled quite a bit and obviously very terrified. Mia wasn't sure Emily was ever going to let her go, "I'll make myself immortal."

"Do you remember what happened?"

Mia looked over and saw Mike lying on the ground by the shore. She was very confused about where she was and how she had gotten there, and gave herself a pinch to make sure it was all real. When she realized it was, she shook her head.

"Not a clue."

"Don't feel too bad," Mike shrugged his shoulders, "Those of us who do remember have no idea what happened. You're on an island after a freak wave cleaned up the debris from the freak stone storm we all barely lived through."

"What?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously, what? A stone storm?"

"I have no idea, Mia. You're as caught up as you can be."

"Mike…"

"Just, take it easy for now," Mike instructed her. "We have no idea what's in store for us next, and you were out of it for a long time."

"How long?"

Mike gestured over to Storm, who was licking herself clean and trying to avoid getting mud all over her fur. Being wet on an island made of earth made that task nearly impossible.

"Let's just say that Storm and I are friends now."

It was Mia's turn to be surprised, "Wow."

"Yep."

"So, like, decades?"

Mike chuckled a bit, "Feels like it."

Mia sighed and then remembered she had a very clingy Emily around her neck. She gave the younger girl a loving squeeze and then tried to gently push her away, needing her space. Emily wouldn't let go. It was like she had been fused onto Mia.

"Emy…"

"Don't die," Emily whispered, "Don't die. Don't die. Don't die."

"Emily…"

"Don't die. Don't die. Don't die."

"I'm fine, Emily."

"Don't die. Don't…"

"Sweetie, you're scaring me."

"Don't die. Don't die."

Mia gave Emily another squeeze while she had another look around. She could barely recognize the Shiba House, thought she couldn't see it anymore. Somehow, it was gone. Their home was gone. Their safe place was gone. It was no wonder Emily was in a panic. It was no wonder the others were all too shocked to move. They had nowhere to go. They had nowhere to feel safe.

She breathed out a heavy sigh and ran her hand through her hair. Emily was still muttering what was now her mantra. Mia was very worried.

"Mike," she turned to her little brother, "Can you grow a tree to shelter us?"

"Like a tree house?"

"Yeah. Do you have enough energy?"

"What else will I waste it on?" Mike nodded his head. He got his Samuraizer out and traced a symbol into the ground. A little baby tree sprouted from the earth and before everyone's eyes it grew into a strong and tall tree, with many of the branches extending up and out. Others defied gravity and grew towards the ground, intertwining together to make walls and even a roof. By the time Mike passed out from exhaustion, the tree had surrounded the island with its branches, creating a little home. A safe house.

Now shielded by the tree, Serena felt safe enough to pull away from James and she gave him a firm nod.

"There's still a chance," she repeated to him, this time with even more confidence.

Antonio and Jayden gave each other a little smile and then watched as Ji and Kevin snapped out of their daze. They were still confused, but a lot more aware of their surroundings. Ji threw his arms around Jayden, relieved to see he was okay. Kevin got up on shaky legs and ran over to Mia. He pulled her in for a hug, but there was only one thing in his way.

Emily still hadn't let go of Mia. She had stopped with the mantra, but continued to cling on for dear life. Kevin and Mia made the hug and kiss work before they looked down at Emily. She gently stroked her little sister's back.

"You know, Emy, when I imagined someone literally coming between me and Kevin, I always pictured my stomach being a lot bigger, and the person a lot smaller. You're safe now, Emily. The tree's protecting us."

Emily still refused to let go. Mia sighed and leaned into Kevin with Emily still hanging around her neck.


	8. Eavesdropping

The Samurai had been on the island for a day. With nothing happening, they were finally starting to settle. It was nothing like home, but home had been crushed and flooded. This was the best they had.

Kevin and Ji were complaining of headaches. This was normal, given how out of it they had been before the tree shelter. But Ji had assured the others that if they were given the chance to rest, they're body would heal on its own.

Jayden was still very wiped from saving Emily, but he wasn't worried about his lack of energy. It came with using the symbol, which made it a high risk symbol. The only reason he had used it, aside from the obvious, which was that he couldn't watch a teammate die, was because he knew he had a team that would take care of him while he recovered. They were in a tight situation, and a very dangerous one, but Jayden's refusal to give up the fight, and the team's refusal to let anything happen to him was what kept him going.

Mike's back was feeling better and he was able to sit up. Walking was still a bit of a challenge, and he only did so when needed. In the first disaster, he had had no idea of what had gone on, and when rocks started to fall from the sky he was forced to drop and duck for cover. He had also been with Storm and couldn't let anything happen to the little dog, so he had used his body as a shield, letting his back take all the hits that would have surely killed the dog. Storm hadn't missed his protecting her and had now forgiven him for the Spider Mike incident. In fact, she was spending more time with Mike than she was with Emily. While the bruises on Mike's back recovered, Storm stuck by him and helped him out the most.

It had taken the house being destroyed and all the Rangers almost dying, but he had finally earned Storm's trust and respect.

Thanks to Mike, Storm was uninjured. She was shaken and would tremble in fear when she stood or sat still, but she had no cuts and very few bruises.

Serena's ankle was obvious broken, having been caught in a crevasse when she had created an underground cave to protect herself from falling rocks. She couldn't put any weight on it, and so she couldn't walk around, but her injury wasn't keeping her down. With James' help she managed to keep a clear mind. This, in turned, helped the Rangers' mental and emotional recovery. Seeing Serena and James stay strong kept them strong.

Mia still had a bit of a headache, and found herself unusually forgetful at times, but for the most part she knew what she was doing and she knew what had happened. Mike had filled her in. Though she wasn't quite up to par mentally because of her headache and because of her forgetfulness, her body had taken very little damage. She had cuts and bruises, but like Emily's, they were all superficial and if they held her back, it was only slightly.

Emily was finally opening up again, and was moving herself away from Mia, but she always kept someone nearby. Aside from having collected cuts and bruises all over her body from when he had gone and rescued her friends from the rubble, she was physically okay. She could walk around, and James was even starting to think that if she had to, she could put up a fight and defend herself. The only problem was she hadn't recovered emotionally. He wasn't surprised. From what he had gathered from a few talks with her, she had watched the disasters happen. She had found herself a safe place to hide during the stone storm, and then had dug herself out from under all the rubble once it had passed. Then she spent a little over an hour (but to her it felt like days) searching for any sign of her friends. The first person she found, Mike, had only been discovered after nearly an hour and a half of searching.

From the moment she pulled herself out of the rubble, up until the moment she had found Serena, she had forced herself to stay strong. She knew she needed to find her friends, to care for her friends, and to be strong for her friends. She had been high on strength, but just like every high, there was always a crash.

James knew she would be okay, though. Emily always found a way to bounce back, especially with her team encouraging her.

Out of everyone, James and Antonio were the two strongest both physically and mentally. Antonio had been hurt in the stone storm, but not enough to hold him down. James had only had to survive the flood, and though water was deadly, it wasn't enough to cause severe physical damage. If anything, had he not been worried for his life and the life of the Samurai, it would have been a fun ride.

So, while the others were sleeping, trying to help their bodies recover and to let their minds rest from all the panic, James and Antonio left the safety of the tree and swam to the fence. They pulled themselves up onto the ledge and jumped down onto the other side.

"Where did you hear the voices?" Antonio whispered. James had told him about his run-in with the people who were behind the attacks. He had explained how he had nearly crashed his car, and when he got out to inspect for damage he had overheard a conversation. The people behind the attacks wanted to kill the Samurai, for whatever reason, and had known after the stone storm that they had survived. It was very likely that they had figured out that their tidal wave had failed to kill and were working on a second plan. Both James and Antonio wanted to see if they could hear what it would be.

"Just off the path," James led Antonio along the path he had driven, and when they reached the spot where he had almost crashed, James strayed and ducked down behind a bush. Antonio ducked with him. Both were silent. Then they heard the voices.

"Wait a minute? You mean to tell me that the wave that was supposed to wash them all away did _nothing?_"

"Apparently they all know how to swim."

"Is that your excuse? They didn't drown because they know how to swim? We crippled them!"

"Uh… about that…"

"They have magic healing powers?"

"The little one dug up the missing ones, and they somehow all managed to survive."

"So both our attacks failed to do anything?"

"Morale is low…"

"Well, it's being risen. Maybe we should attack them again?"

"Incompetence. You are all incompetent."

"HEY! Some of us haven't been given the chance to wipe them out!"

"Yeah. Don't lump us in with them just because they failed."

"Oh, really? And what exactly are you two going to do? Blow a little wind? Give them paper cuts with leaves? These bastards survived falling rocks, earthquakes, and a mother fucking tidal wave! Octoroo will not be happy."

"Yeah. He'll waddle after us."

In their bush, Antonio and James looked to each other with a bit of a smile. They hadn't heard any good news, but they did hear something important. Whoever these people were, they were working for Octoroo.

"That explains what's going on," Antonio whispered. "Octoroo isn't a physical threat, but he is dangerous. He won't fight us, but he'll come up with plans to stop us."

"Octoroo's the fat little octopus that serves Xandred, right?"

"He's actually more of a squid."

"Why is he called Octoroo?"

"Identity crisis? Doesn't matter. Unless I'm hearing them all wrong, the natural disasters are over."

"I'm getting the same impression," James nodded his head, "but they aren't done with us. They want us dead."

"Yeah, I heard that," Antonio nodded his head. "But they work for Octoroo. Does that really surprise you."

"Do you think we can beat them? I counted six different voices. With Mike, Serena, Kevin, and Jayden unable to fight, we're outnumbered."

"Mia and Emily might not be able to last too long in a fight either," Antonio shook his head. "One blow to the head for Mia, and she'll never wake up."

"I can coach Emily back up," James promised. "I used to do it with discouraged kids all the time on the football field. I just need her to remember the fight's not over."

"You seriously think you can do it?"

"I did it with Serena."

"I guess it's worth a shot. You focus on Emily, I'll focus on Jayden."

"Why Jayden? He's exhausted?"

"Jayden one of the only ones who wasn't smacked in the head with a rock. The others may feel stronger, but I'm not risking permanent brain damage."

"So at best we're looking at six on four?"

"I'm okay with six on three if you're having second thoughts," Antonio looked to James sympathetically. "You're not trained for this. You're not a Samurai Ranger. You don't need to do this."

"I am trained for this," James nodded his head. "I'm working with Mia's grandmother…"

"Yeah, for the last couple months. It took me years to train and I still had a lot of catching up to do."

"I'm trained to protect Terran," James insisted, "Protect him means keeping his family safe. I won't stay by and watch as six punks wipe them all out."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then. Six on four. Odds won't be with us."

"You're fighting thousands of evil monsters from the Netherworld who'll do anything it takes to watch you all suffer a painful death. When are the odds on your side?"

Antonio smiled, "Excellent point. Shall we head back?"

James chuckled and nodded, "After you."


	9. Trust and Doubles

Getting Jayden ready for a fight wasn't a tough job for Antonio. Once he and James got back from eavesdropping on their enemies, they went to their respective teammates to bring them back up to Samurai level. Hearing six different voices in the woods meant they were likely going to face six opponents. Unfortunately, too many of the Samurai were too seriously hurt to form a full team. Of the seven official Samurai Rangers on the team, four of them had concussions. Of those same four, one of them had a broken foot, one of them had just come out of a small coma, one of them was still figuring up from down, and the last was so badly bruised he could barely move, never mind fight.

They were not in any condition to fight six strong opponents.

Ji also wasn't ready for a fight. He was much older; he was also concussed and was recovering. Antonio wouldn't risk him getting hurt.

That left him and two other Samurai ready to fight. Jayden just needed to catch his breath and wake up. Jayden's default setting was Samurai. No matter his state, as long as his blood coursed through his veins, he would fight. When Antonio filled him in on the plan, he was on board.

Then he took a nap. He would need all the energy he could get if he was going to face his opponents. Napping was the best thing he could do.

Antonio napped with him. After all the drama, he needed a moment to close his eyes and drift off to another world; preferably one that didn't leave him surrounded by rocks and water.

James, however, was having a bit of a hard time convincing Emily to team up with him, Antonio, and Jayden for a six on four fight against opponents they had never seen, but who had already wiped them out. Though she trusted her team immensely, James was getting the impression that Emily did not want to go into battle without Mia, Mike, or Serena. In fact, James wasn't sure Emily had ever been in a fight without one of them somewhere to back her up. He was positive this was the first time Emily found herself in a situation where no matter what, she couldn't expect Mike, Mia, or Serena to swoop in and save her.

So James knew he needed to build his trust with Emily. If she couldn't have her sisters and her fiancé to lean on, he needed her to lean on him. She was strongest when she believed in herself, and that could only be achieved if she felt safe. She only felt safe around those she trusted most. James needed to be one of those people.

He gently held her chin and forced her to look up at him, "I love you."

Emily pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes. Then she gazed back at James, "You do?"

"Of course I do. Why else do you think I put up with you?"

"Serena?"

"Well, yeah," James nodded his head, "but you know it's more than that. You're my sister now, Em. Even when Serena and I broke up, you were still my sister. I don't ever want to see anything happen to you. If you fight alongside me and Jayden and Antonio, I'll make sure you're safe. We can be a team."

"Do you really think we can win?"

"Whoever these guys are, they're underestimating us. If we attack them, and get them by surprise, we might be able to pull off something amazing."

"And we're a team?"

"Jayden and Antonio have each other's backs, obviously. They stick together, we stick together. Nothing can stop us that way," he got up and held out his hand. Gently he pulled Emily up to her feet and started to walk her to the edge of the island, "We should train together. We'll need to know how we work together, and turn it into something powerful and flawless."

James jumped into the water and started swimming to the fence. He pulled himself up and noticed Emily was still on the island. He called out to her, "We won't go far."

She gave him a little nod and swam over to him. He helped her up onto the fence and then he jumped down first. Again, Emily hesitated. James could see why. She was afraid of heights, and the jump from the top of the fence to the ground was much higher for her than it was for him. He held out his hands.

"I'll catch you."

She shook her head, "You'll drop me."

"No, I won't. The fall's not that high. Just close your eyes and trust me."

Emily did as she was told. She covered her eyes with her hands and then slowly leaned over the side of the fence. She let out a scream when she felt herself fall, but before anything could happen strong arms grabbed her and stopped her from a hard encounter with the ground.

James gently lowered her onto her feet and then started to chuckle, "You can open your eyes now."

Emily stomped her feet on the ground, checking to make sure it was solid, and that she was actually on the ground, not just imagining it. When she was sure, she pulled her hands away and opened her eyes one at a time.

James waited patiently through the process until Emily looked up at him and he rolled his eyes, "It's like a nine foot drop."

"Your point?"

"Even if I did let you fall, it wouldn't have killed you."

"It's not dying I'm afraid of," Emily crossed her arms over her chest, "It's the agonizing pain that comes right before it. Pain that comes from jumping off a high ledge and then having your bones shatter, or tear through your skin, or when you land flat like a pancake…"

"You're watching too many cartoons."

"Am not," Emily huffed and then walked off to find a suitable place to train. James shook his head, chuckled, and then followed her out.

-Samurai-

"Two. One. Six."

Mia cocked an eyebrow, "Six?"

"I see the other hand," Kevin smirked. Mia gave him a smile and then pulled him in for a hug. He was definitely on the road to recovering. He would have a headache for a little while still, like most of the team, but from what she could tell with the little medical knowledge she had, there was no permanent damage. Kevin was also assuring her that he was feeling better and better as the hours went by.

Mia pulled away and looked Kevin in the eyes. She could tell he was still a little out of it, but during the entire exercise he hadn't spaced out. Kevin gazed back at her and then sighed. He had learned that the others had kept her condition from him. While she had been unconscious, they told him she just sleeping, and that she would wake up when he was asleep. He understood why they had done it, knowing that if he had been told the truth, he would have panicked and it could have set his recovery back, but he still didn't like it. He wished he could have been there for her.

"I'm sorry…"

"You have nothing to apologize for," Mia pulled him in for a kiss. "We're both fine. They did a good job."

"A really good job," Mike said as he crawled over to join the conversation, having nothing else to do. "We're all pretty lucky."

"I have one question," Ji limped pretty badly as he walked over, and grunted and groaned as he set himself down. His state of mind was quite like Kevin's, but he had a few painful bruises and bumps to add to the list. "Who survived first?"

"What do you mean?" Mia asked and then she started to inspect his head, just to be sure he was as good as he was letting on. She wouldn't be surprised if Ji was hiding something so the Samurai wouldn't worry.

"I was completely buried, as I'm sure the rest of you were. Getting out from under all that rubble was impossible."

"Emily found somewhere safe," Mike explained, "Then she dug us all out. Me, Mia, Jayden, Antonio, you, Kevin, then Serena. Why?"

"Just a question," Ji said and then he looked around, "Where is she, by the way?"

"She left with James. Antonio and Jayden are napping. Lower your voices, they need it," Serena hopped over on one foot, and then using a branch that was hanging low she gently brought herself to the ground. She had brought sticks and vines that she had torn off the big tree and started to get to work putting them all together.

"Why do they need it?" Kevin asked.

"I overheard them talking while I was getting this stuff," she gestured to her project. "Antonio and James went out to find the people who did this and want to challenge them. You know, like they would a Nighlok."

"A Nighlok did this?" Mia looked a little confused. Serena chuckled.

"There's no doubt in my mind you hit your head," she leaned in to the pink Ranger and gave her a gentle pat on the back, "Sweetie, in this world, rocks don't fall from the sky and tsunamis can only come from a source of water. They don't go _to_ them."

"I know that," Mia rolled her eyes, "I'm just saying, I thought we knocked out the Nighlok dispensers for now. You know, Xandred, Serrator, and Dayu. Don't tell me one of them is back already."

"I don't know. I kind of focused on this;" Serena gestured to her project again, "All I can tell you is they think it'll be a six on four battle. Six of them against the four of us."

"Four of us?" Ji asked.

Serena nodded her head, "I gave James my Samuraizer. Antonio thinks he programmed it for James. He won't have symbol power, obviously, but the suit should keep him safe, if Antonio programmed it right."

"If he didn't?"

"Then I hope it's six on three," Serena bit her lip and then put her focus on her project. Mike gave her a curious look.

"It took a lot of symbol power to make this tree shelter," he said, "Why are you ripping it apart?"

"If I can make crutches, I can fight."

"With a broken foot?"

"I'd rather lose my foot than my friends, my sister, or my fiancé. If I can help, I will."

"But your foot…"

"I kicked your ass without legs," Serena reminded him, "I can stop a Nighlok with crutches."

"Maybe we should do like Jayden and Antonio," Kevin looked over to where the boys were napping, "If we are the injured Samurai, we need more rest than they do. We can recover faster, and maybe we can help them in a fight."

Mike gave a little nod. He would never object to nap time. Everyone started to get settled except for Serena, who continued to work on her crutches. Mike ripped the sticks out of her hand.

"Fighting with a broken foot is not a smart move. Let it heal."

"But…"

"You can work on it later."

Serena grumbled and lay down to sleep.

-Samurai-

"Your mom didn't seriously make you do this, did she?" James shifted his weight around, trying to give his arms a little break, but that seemed impossible given the way he was hanging. Emily had convinced him to grab onto a branch of a tree and hold on for as long as he could, insisting it would help him in the fight ahead.

"You're a good fighter," Emily nodded from the ground, and there was a little smirk on her face. James knew she was enjoying watching him hang. "But the mind has a tendency to give up before the body. If you drop now, it's because you gave up, not because you couldn't hold on any longer. Just keep a firm hold on the branch and I'll bet you can make it past the half hour mark, at least. Endurance."

"And how is this going to help us?" James shifted a little more. There had to be a way to get comfortable.

"I hate to say it, but I've been in your position before. You have the least experience of all of us, and my life kind of depends on you. Being in a fight is exhausting physically and mentally. I can't have you giving up before we get to the hard part. Your muscles are going to burn. Your arms are going to want to fall off. Your legs are going to try and give in. Your brain needs to pull them all back together and tell them the fight's not over."

"And…"

"And watching you hang is funny. Your face is all red. Try breathing; that's when you inhale and exhale."

"I know how to breathe," James rolled his eyes, "It's hard."

"It's hard when your lungs are on fire too. That'll happen in the fight too. But you've got to focus."

"You know, this was easier for you than it was for me," James grunted, feeling a bit of a pull in his arms, which forced him to shift positions again, "You have less weight to hold up."

"You're not going to be any lighter between now and the fight," Emily shrugged, "Maybe you shouldn't have eaten all your vegetables growing up."

"Regretting that now," James nodded. He looked up at the branch and then down at Emily, "You trust me as your partner yet? I wouldn't be hanging from a tree like an idiot for just anyone."

"I trust you'll do your best," Emily gave him a smile and then gave his leg a pat, "I'm going to get water from the creek. Hang in there, okay?"

"Don't worry. I won't fall until your under me so I can squish you."

"I'll be back," Emily gave him another smirk. James knew she was going to purposely take her time just so he would be forced to hang on longer. He shifted so he was a little more comfortable and focused on hanging on. His arms were starting to feel like noodles, but as long as he kept his fingers wrapped tightly around the branch, he wouldn't drop.

Emily made her was over to the river, keeping her eyes peeled for anything unusual. She had no idea where her opponents were hiding, but they were somewhere in this forest. She wouldn't be surprised if they were watching her now.

She made it to the river and knelt by the water. She scooped some up in her hands and started to drink. There was plenty of water back home, considering home was now an island surrounded by water, but without indoor plumbing, business needed to be done… Well, Emily didn't want to think of what was floating around in the water. The creek was a much cleaner option.

"I'm strong enough to fight, you know."

Emily turned around at the sound of Mike's voice and looked up to see him standing over her. He looked a little angry, and there was something about his eyes that wasn't quite right. She figured somehow word had spread about what she, James, Antonio, and Jayden were planning and he wasn't happy letting her go into battle by herself.

"You're walking. That's good," Emily pushed herself up onto her feet and smiled at Mike, "but your back is still badly bruised. You're not at your best."

"You let me be the judge of that."

"If the roles were reversed, you would insist I rest while you went out to fight."

"I can't let you do this by yourself, Emily," Mike shook his head and reached out to take her hand, "You have no idea what you're facing. What if you get hurt?"

"I'll have James, Jayden, and Antonio watching my back. I want to fight with you, Mike, I really do. I trust you a lot more than James. But you're hurt. If you're out there with me, I'll be too focused on you."

"Then spar with me."

"What?"

"Spare with me. I'll show you I can do this."

"I'm sure you can, Mike. I know you can. It's just…"

Mike swung at Emily, cutting her off and taking her by surprise with a punch to the jaw. She hit the ground, completely dazed. She shook off the cobwebs and looked up, spotting feet. She continued to look up, traveling along the legs, up the stomach, beyond the chest, until she saw a face.

"Mia? HEY!" Emily looked over her shoulder and felt someone sitting on her back. She saw it was Mike and now she was really confused. He had punched her. Why would he punch her? Why didn't he hold back? Why didn't Mia have anything to say about the fact that he punched her?

Her arms were pulled behind her back and she felt something clamp shut around her wrists. She tried to pull herself free, but her wrists were locked together.

"She's seen enough," Mia said and Emily struggled as a bag was pulled over her head and then something was fastened around her neck. Then Mike got off her and she was pulled up to her feet.

"Yo, Yellow."

"Yeah."

Emily's eyes widened. That was her voice, but she hadn't said a word. Someone else had answered. Someone had stolen her voice.

"She came out with someone. Find him and stay close to him."

"Got it."

Emily got a chill. That was her voice. That was her answering, but it wasn't her. Maybe Mike had hit her even harder than she thought. Confused didn't even begin to describe how she felt. Before she could start thinking of possible reasons for her voice to be coming from someone else's mouth, she was pulled roughly by the arm and forced to walk in whatever direction Mike and Mia wanted her to go.

-Samurai-

James was sure Emily was doing this on purpose. Or time had slowed down. Either way, his arms were ready to give up, and it wasn't just his brain trying to give up. His body had had enough. But he wanted to last until she got back. He wanted to show her that he would do all he could for her. In their little team, he was the weaker Samurai, and asking her to put her trust in him was asking a lot, especially when she was used to working with Mike, Mia, or Serena. In their own way, they were all amazing.

Finally, he heard some twigs snapping. He turned his head and saw Emily coming back from the river. She looked up at him and let out a little laugh, "Hanging out?"

"I'm dropping," James uncurled his fingers from around the branch and dropped. He lowered his arms and let the blood pump back through them, restoring some of the feeling with a sharp, painful tingling sensation. "That was hard."

"How do your arms feel?"

"Don't ask," James shook his head.

"You hung up there for a while, huh?"

James dropped onto his back and nodded his head. He closed his eyes, "I don't want to move anymore."

Emily watched as James took a breather on the ground. His eyes were closed; he was ready to pass out. He was vulnerable now. Completely vulnerable. It was amazing how much he trusted the Samurai. As she approached him, he didn't even flinch or open his eyes. She got right beside him, lifted her knee, and then dropped her foot into his stomach. As he gasped loudly, trying to draw in a breath and recover from the surprise kick, Emily jumped on top of him. She sat on his chest and wrapped her hands around his neck.

James looked up his horror as Emily strangled him. He couldn't believe it. He had been fooled. There was no way this was Emily. Desperate to save his own life, and to figure out what the hell was going on, he grabbed Emily's arms in an iron grip, his strength multiplied by his need to survive. He dug his thumbs into her forearms and before his lack of breath could zap him of his energy, Emily was forced to let go. Positive this wasn't the Emily he knew; he shoved her roughly and then smashed his fist into her nose. Despite her Samurai training, James was still bigger and stronger. He rolled over, on top of Emily and now he had her pinned down.

"What the hell?" he shouted.

Emily instantly started tearing up, "I'm sorry!" she cried, "I had to!"

"What happened?" James softened slightly. It wasn't enough to give Emily wiggle room – he didn't want to be fooled again – but it was enough to let her know he was going to listen.

"At the river. Something happened at the river."

"What?"

"I was threatened."

"By who?"

Emily struggled to free herself. James wrestled to keep her pinned down. He wasn't trying to hurt her, but he wasn't ready to trust her just yet. She had just tried to strangle him.

Then he noticed something about her arm. He moved his hand away slightly, while still keeping her down. Her arm was bare. Her whole body was bare. There were not cuts or bruises.

She was Emily. There were always cuts and bruises.

With a powerful blow, he smashed his fist into the side of her face, knocking her out cold. Then he lifted her limp body and threw her over his shoulder.

"If these guys are trying to confuse us, they're doing an amazing job."


	10. The Greatest Opponents

James got to the fence around the Shiba yard and wondered how he was going to climb it. He was still carrying the person who looked and acted a lot like Emily on his shoulder, and he prayed he was right about her. He knew the Nighlok were cunning. This could have been an elaborate trick, and he run the risk of being wrong. If he was, then climbing this fence was the last thing he would ever do.

He approached the fence and then was instantly blown back. When he landed on the ground, with the Emily look-a- like sprawled a few feet away from him, he knew for sure he wasn't wrong. Despite all the attacks, the protective symbols were around the house, and they were working overtime to make sure nothing Nighlok related could get close to the Rangers. Rocks, earthquakes and floods: yes. Nighlok: no.

"Guys!" he cried out, hoping to get the others' attention as he recomposed himself and hurried over to the Emily look-a-like. Fortunately, and not surprisingly, she was still out cold. He rolled her onto her stomach, and then with his belt he tied her hands behind her back.

Mia's symbol power helped the Samurai fly across the water and jump the fence without too much work, and they were by James' side just as he finished tying her wrists. Serena, seeing what she could only assume was her fiancé hurting her baby sister, jumped in to defend Emily. Ignoring the agonizing pain in her foot, she charged James and knocked him into the ground.

James was not having a good day.

"That's not Emily!" he cried and moved his head in time to avoid a punch to the face by Serena. After that, she was lifted from James by Antonio and Jayden, and restrained by all the boys and Ji.

Mia walked over to the unconscious Emily. After hearing James' cries, she wanted to know if it was true, though she had to admit, she doubted it was. Whoever James thought she was, she looked a lot, exactly, like Emily.

"She's not hurt," James said to Mia and rubbed the back of his head, which had been slammed against the ground when Serena shoved him. "Emily was torn up from searching through the rubble for you guys. And she's got no bruises. She's always got bruises."

"So you're saying I have a sister I don't know about?" Serena spat at James, "I think I would know if Emily was a twin. I was there when she was born!"

James got up to his feet and pointed to Emily, "Then why couldn't I get her past the shield?"

"Because you're a fucking idiot."

James groaned and shook his head, "You know, if the roles were reversed, I hope you would protect me like that."

Serena tried to pull herself away from the boys but a hand on her shoulder stopped her struggles and she turned to see Mia. The pink Ranger shook her head.

"The shield did catch something. I saw it. And James is right, this Emily is too clean."

"So what happened then?" Serena asked James. "How was it possible for my sister to be switched while in your care?"

"She wasn't in my care," James shook his head but didn't press the issue further. He knew what she meant. "I was hanging from a tree when she left me for the river. She came back and attacked me. The switch must have happened at the river."

Jayden turned to his team, "Antonio, James and I will go investigate the river. We'll see what's up and if we can find any clues to where Emily is. The rest of you stay here with this Emily, just in case ours comes back."

-Samurai-

Blind from the hood, and with her hands bound behind her back, Emily couldn't escape Mike and Mia.

She couldn't believe she was trying to escape Mike and Mia. She had no idea what was going on. All she knew was that she needed to find somewhere safe to hide. Tied up and blindfolded, even with Mike and Mia nearby was not safe.

Eventually, they announced she was leaving, and ensured her they had tied her cuffs to a tree so she couldn't run off. When they were gone, Emily tested the statement and found it to be true. She had been tied to something. There was a rope tied to her cuffs and she couldn't get away from it.

For the first time, she thanked her childhood bullies for stuffing her into closets, lockers, suitcases, and anything small that they could find. Her Samurai training had helped with her flexibility, but nothing could top being forced to bend and twist to fit into awkwardly small and weirdly shaped coffins. She had always called them coffins. She managed to fold herself in half and pulled the hood out from under the collar and off her head with her knees and her feet.

"For my next trick," she muttered as she looked around, blinking slightly as the sun's harsh rays stung her eyes. She managed to find a rock with a sharp enough edge to cut the rope. It wasn't easy with her hands behind her back and with cuffs on her wrist. After a struggle, the rope broke and Emily was free to run. She dropped the rock and got up to her feet. She had no idea which way she was supposed to run to get home, but she knew she had to get the hell away from Mike and Mia.

Hearing their voices head off in one direction, Emily decided to go the other. Even if it wouldn't lead her home, it would lead her as far away from Mike and Mia as she could get. She stumbled through the forest, doing her best to avoid tripping over roots. Unfortunately, she was Emily. There was no way she was getting through the forest without tripping over or running into something. A root snagged her foot and threw her to the ground. Without her hands to stop her she had no choice but to use her face to break her fall. She groaned loudly. She was sure her nose was broken.

"Emily!"

She heard her name. It sounded like Antonio. She turned to his voice and saw him running towards her with Jayden and James. At first she was happy to see them, thinking she was safe, but then she remembered how Mike and Mia had deceived her. Unsure if she could trust them, Emily got to her feet and ran off.

Antonio, Jayden, and James slowed to a stop when they saw Emily running away from them. They couldn't understand why.

"Another double?" Jayden asked.

James shook his head, "That was Em. The bruising was right. If the last double didn't pay attention to detail, why would this one?"

"To throw us off?" Antonio suggested and then he pointed down the path, "Regardless, we need to find her. We'll figure out who she is once we have her. James, follow the path. Jayden, follow her. I'll see if I can figure out where she's headed and cut her off that way."

"You want to surround her?" James asked. Antonio nodded.

"Do you have a better plan?"

"Let's just grab her," Jayden gently shoved the boys apart and started to run after Emily. James sighed and ran as fast as he could down the path, hoping to cut her off that way. Antonio raced off as well. He needed to find a way to beat her to her destination, wherever that was.

Emily ran as fast as her legs would carry her, but she was getting tired. Still, she wouldn't give up, especially after giving James a lesson on pushing beyond the point where the mind wants to give up. Running was one foot in front of the other. She just had to focus and believe she could keep going.

Until her foot got caught in another root and she took another fall. This time, she managed to catch herself in time and broke the fall with her shoulder instead of her face. It still hurt like hell as she crashed into the ground, but her face had taken enough of a beating.

She panted loudly as she tried to get up, but this branch had a firm hold of her ankle and without her hands to help, Emily couldn't get free. She wiggled and pulled, but it wasn't enough.

Then, James, Jayden, and Antonio all appeared from different directions and walked carefully towards her – like they were the ones with something to worry about.

"Emily?"

Emily pulled harder. The root wouldn't let go.

"Don't hurt me," she whispered to the boys.

Jayden lifted his hand, signalling for James and Antonio to stop. Then he slowly approached Emily and knelt at her feet. Emily watched him cautiously. She was trapped, so she couldn't run away if he did turn on her, but she wanted to. If he let her go, the first thing she would do was run.

Jayden saw this in her eyes and decided to leave the root around her ankle for now. If this was the real Emily, it was clear she didn't trust him and he wanted to know why. He also didn't want her running away again. If this wasn't the real Emily, the keeping her trapped was his best move.

"What happened to your face?" he asked. There was blood pouring from her nose, which also looked swollen, there seemed to be the start of bruising around the eyes, and Emily looked to be in a lot of pain. She was panting heavily, breathing through her mouth, and when she closed her mouth to try and wet it with saliva as it dried up, she seemed to stop breathing, indicating she was having trouble breathing from her nose. Very slowly he reached out to her face, "It looks like it might be broken, Em. Does it hurt?"

Emily was trembling. She was scared of something, possibly him. Jayden needed to say something that would confirm what they were both hoping was true. As he tried to rack his brain for something, Emily's eyes strayed down to his arm. The weather was hot, excruciatingly hot, forcing everyone to dress lightly to avoid heat stroke. Jayden was therefore wearing a short sleeved shirt that exposed his arms.

On his one arm, Emily saw the faint outline of a scar she would never forget. Permanently written into his skin because of a torturous kidnapping by Takeshi was the word fire. Emily had a similar scar on her arm that read earth. Takeshi has carved it into them to remember who they were. Mike, Kevin, and Antonio also all had scars with their element written on their arms.

"Jay," she looked into his eyes, "Help me."

"You're Em?" he asked, still a little cautious. She nodded her head and he reached for the root trapping her foot. James cleared his throat.

"She fooled me that way last time. Careful, Jay."

"It's me," Emily turned to James and seemed very confused, "I didn't… I'm not fooling anyone! Mike and Mia fooled me! They did this to me!"

Jayden moved away from Emily and looked up at Antonio and James. They were just as lost as he was. He turned back to Emily.

"I was with Mike and Mia."

"Why would I lie?" Emily screamed frantically. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She wrestled with her cuffs and tried to pull her foot free, but nothing was giving in. She knew this was Jayden, but he didn't trust her. Why wouldn't he trust her? Why didn't James trust her? Had they turned against her? Did that mean Mike and Mia had turned against her?

"For goodness sakes," Antonio stomped over to Emily and removed her foot from the root. He carefully helped her up and pulled her into his arms. He could understand Jayden's and James' hesitation, but it was obvious to him this was the real Emily. The bruises and the cuts were a perfect match, and she had new bruises, and was likely terrified and shaken by whatever had caused those bruises, just like the Emily he knew would be.

Once he got her to calm down enough to talk, he held her arms and gently pushed her away. He looked right in her eyes, "What happened, Em? Who did this?"

"Mike," Emily whispered and lowered her gaze to her feet, "I went to the river and he showed up. He insisted he was good to fight with us. When I told him I wouldn't let him because he was hurt, he punched me."

Antonio looked over to Jayden and James. Emily's story wasn't possible. He had just been with Mike on the island. There was no way he had punched Emily from there. But Emily gestured with her shoulder to the bruise on her jaw. Someone had put it there, and Emily wouldn't blame Mike for the sake of blaming him.

Antonio had a headache. It only got worse as Emily continued her story.

"I fell, obviously because Mike's stronger than me, and when I looked up, Mia was standing over me. Then Mike jumped on top of me, but these cuffs on, and Mia ordered him to put the hood over my head. That's why I'm wearing the collar!"

Antonio nodded. Emily did have a collar on. Her story made sense, except for the characters. Mike hadn't left the island. Mia hadn't left the either. Neither of them would do anything to hurt Emily.

But Emily wasn't a liar, and would never, for no reason, lie about Mike and Mia hurting her when the truth was they hadn't. Antonio knew it for a fact. He knew Mike and Mia were innocent like he knew he was Antonio. He couldn't believe Emily's story, but he couldn't deny it either.

"Let's get the cuffs and collar off you," he said and spun her around. He started to work on the lock on the cuffs, finding it had a keypad and required a code to unlock. Antonio didn't know the code, but that didn't stop him from messing around with the keypad until it did what he wanted. The cuffs dropped to the ground and as Emily massaged her wrists, Antonio worked on her collar. When that was off, he gave her a warm hug and suggested they go home. He pointed Emily in the right direction and she started her walk.

Antonio trailed slightly behind with Jayden and James. He sighed.

"Her story makes half sense," he whispered, "I believe someone hurt her, but Mike and Mia?"

"Mia didn't know she had a brother. Is it possible they have twins?" Jayden shrugged his shoulders.

"There's another Emily back home," James pointed out. "Maybe there are two Mikes and two Mias too."

"Ow, my head," Antonio rubbed his forehead. "You know what I need? My bed. I want my bed back, in my bedroom. I want to be home, snuggled up in my bed, and I just want to sleep and have this be a bad dream… OW!"

"Not a dream," Jayden sighed after pinching Antonio. "Our home is gone."

"The Shiba House is gone, there are still five Nighlok on the loose and they might look exactly like us, and we can't trust Emily," James shook his head, "Emily, of all people, we can't trust Emily!"

"We need to stick together," Jayden insisted. "We go home, we walk through the shield. We'll know we're who we say we are once we're back on the right side. Then we figure out what the hell's going on."

Emily, who was in the lead on the walk home, could hear the boys talking. She looked down at her hands and sighed. She knew her story was unbelievable. She didn't believe it herself. But she knew what she saw. She knew what had happened. Mike and Mia attacked her. Maybe it wasn't the Mike and Mia she knew and loved, but it had been Mike and Mia.

As she approached the house, the gate was in sight. She could see her friends sitting around, waiting for her, Jayden, Antonio, and James to come home. Her heart froze in terror as she set her eyes on Mia and Mike. She had no idea what to do.

Then Antonio came and put his hands on her shoulders, "They've been here the entire time. I don't know who attacked you, but Mike and Mia are still on your side."

Emily nodded hesitantly and stepped out of the forest, with the boys behind her. The waiting Samurai heard them coming over and looked to see if they had found Emily. Mia was up on her feet the moment her eyes fell on her little sister and she raced over to give her a hug. Mike looked down at Emily's twin, and then over to Emily in Mia's arms, scratched his head, and then decided to believe his Emily was home. He forced himself up, despite the pain in his back, and wrapped her in his arms.

"You punched me," Emily whispered in his ear. He shook his head.

"What are you talking about?"

Emily pulled away from him and looked nervous. Then she spotted herself unconscious on the ground. If she hadn't already had a headache, she would have had one now. Aside from the lack of bruising, it was like looking into a mirror.

"Something is obviously up," Serena was next to pull Emily into a hug and she cradled her sister close to her chest.

"What was your first clue?" Kevin said and rolled his eyes, "Mine was when the rocks were coming down."

Antonio stared at Emily, and then at her double. Seeing them both in the same place at the same time confirmed what he was worried about. Both stories in his head were true. Mike and Mia had been on the Shiba Island and they had attacked Emily.

"Our opponents are our doubles," he said. "We're being defeated by ourselves."


	11. The Counterattacks

"At least we have one advantage," Jayden muttered as he and Antonio stood by the edge of the island, trying to think of what they could do to possibly bring an end to this… nonsense. They were finally getting an idea of who their opponents were. While eavesdropping on them, Antonio and James had heard one of them mention Octoroo, and when they put that together with Emily's double, and her story of who hurt her, they were lead to believe that Octoroo had made copies, or clones, of each of them.

Clones that seemed to possess the same powers as their real counterparts, which explained the freak stone storm and the tidal wave that sailed to, not from, the ocean. Taking a guess, Antonio and Jayden assumed Emily and Kevin's counterparts were responsible for those.

"What advantage?" Antonio asked.

"The shields are still up," Jayden gestured around the water, pointing out the symbols, "We're safe in here."

"We're trapped in here," Antonio shook his head, "Jay, I don't feel safe just sitting here. They can't come in, but their attacks can. What if they decided to throw another freak storm our way? What if your counterpart decides to just light us all on fire? The symbols can't stop that.

"We're on an island," Jayden pointed to the water, "Jump in and put yourself out."

"We need to fight them. We need to challenge them now."

"With what team?"

Antonio's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe it. He was sure he wasn't hearing Jayden right. He had just called to challenge the enemy and Jayden was losing faith. Jayden didn't want to jump up and fight.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"It's just the two of us and the stand in," Jayden flicked his thumb over his shoulder and pointed to James, who was tending to Serena and listening to her apologize over and over for what she had said and done when she thought he had hurt Emily. Then Jayden pointed to Emily, "She's going to be no help anymore. She clearly can't…"

Antonio pushed Jayden into the water and watched him sink for a few seconds before Jayden managed to swim back up and break the surface of the water. He spit out water from his mouth and glared at his boyfriend, "Antonio!"

Antonio didn't say anything. He turned his back to Jayden and walked over to James. Jayden watched as he whispered something in the older man's ear, which brought James up to his feet. Then the two of them walked over to Emily. She was getting her nose checked out by Ji, and seemed to be in pain as he gently moved his fingers around her face to examine it. Jayden was already sure it was broken. Antonio touched Emily's shoulder and when she looked up at him, he wrapped his arms around her. The hug lasted a while, but when it was over, Antonio let her go, gave her a kiss on the forehead and sent her off. Emily jumped into the water and started to swim for the fence.

Jayden pulled himself back up onto the island and started to dry off as Antonio returned to him with James. The gold Ranger didn't seem very happy, "I thought you knew your team, Jay."

"The team is too hurt…"

"At this point, if we just sit here, we're dead meat," Antonio said and he pointed to Mia, Kevin, Mike, Serena, and Ji, who watched Emily jump over the fence and leave them curiously. "They don't need to take any unnecessary risks, you're right about that, but if it comes down to it, they can and should fight. You, me, and James are all strong enough to challenge our Nighlok copies, and we should use that to our advantage. Instead of waiting for them to attack us, we should challenge them. Emily's going to make sure we get that chance."

"I don't know what you have planned, Garcia," Serena announced as she came over to Antonio on her makeshift crutches and with the rest of the team, "but if I never see her alive again, I'm killing you."

Antonio gave her a little nod, "Emily's going to see where they are. Her Samuraizer's in her pocket. Once they grab her, we'll be able to track them and they can't take us by surprise anymore."

"Unless they spew fire or send down a hurricane…"

"We fight back," Antonio interrupted Mike. "Emily and Serena were the only two who managed to make a shelter in the stone storm, which makes sense. They know their own attacks."

"Knowing Emily, that's probably not the first time she and Serena had to avoid falling rocks," Mia chuckled softly.

"And Kevin," Antonio turned to the blue Ranger, "You could have matched that tidal wave if you hadn't off been out of it, right?"

"I'd like to think I could have done something. Maybe not stop it completely, but I could have held it off long enough for us to find cover."

Antonio nodded his head and then looked to the team, Jayden in particular, "We're fighting ourselves. These are our clones. We know how they work. We know what they do. We can use that. Surely, we can."

"How?" Jayden asked.

Antonio wanted to shake him, "By fighting back! If they set our home on fire, we burn theirs."

"Fight fire with fire?"

"Or better," Kevin smirked, "We put out their fire."

James suddenly seemed to have an idea, and grabbed Antonio's arm to get his attention, "Six voices. There were only six voices. There are seven Rangers, but only six of them."

"So?"

"So, Kevin's right. We counter their attacks with something stronger. If they try to burn us with fire, Kevin puts out the flames. If they think they can blow us away, Serena makes a shelter."

"We've already got Nighlok Emily," Mike nodded his head and gestured to the tree on the other side of the fence where they had tied up Emily and left her alone. No one wanted to sit with her. She looked exactly like Emily, and could act just like her as well. If she played her cards right, everyone was sure she could manipulate them into letting her go. Without supervision, the Rangers ran the risk of her getting herself loose, but that seemed to be the best option they had. "We know they can't do anything crazy like stone storm without her."

"Or maybe she can," Ji waved for the team to follow him as he jumped into the water. They all swam out to the water except for Mia and Serena. Serena wasn't the best swimmer with her broken leg, and didn't want to risk hurting herself further. Nor did she want to get her makeshift cast wet. Mia used symbol power to carry them over the water and then down to the other side of the fence.

There, Ji approached Nighlok Emily. She was awake now and assumed the team still had no idea she was a copy. She hoped she could play her cards right and get them to believe it was James who had turned on her. Serena and Mike were forced to look away and give Octoroo credit. He was good.

Ji searched through Emily's pockets until he found the only thing about her that wasn't perfect. She too had a Samuraizer, but it looked nothing like the one the real Rangers carried.

"Do you mind?" he asked her as he dropped it in the dirt and then stomped on it, smashing it to pieces. The Nighlok Emily's eyes widened and Ji knew he had done something right. Clearly it was important to her.

When Nighlok Emily saw she was getting nowhere with the Rangers who could look at her and listen to her pleas, she focused on Mike and Serena, hoping she could get them to cave and helped her.

"Mike, please!" she called to him as the tears streamed down her face, "It's me! They did something, Mike! Serena? Let me go. I'm scared. I…"

She was shut up after Mia smashed her fist into the top of Emily's head and smirked. Nighlok Emily was now out cold, and would be for a while.

"Secretly, I've always wanted to push her snooze button," Mia whispered as the boys and Serena looked to her in shock. Though they knew it wasn't real, she had just punched Emily.

Then Kevin's eyes lit up and his hand shot up, "I want to destroy Mike!"

"DUDE!"

"The Nighlok version of you," Kevin assured him. "It'll be my one and only chance to actually smack some sense into you. I never thought this day would come."

"Yeah, I know that," Mike muttered, "You just didn't have to volunteer so quickly."


	12. A Painful Thought

Emily didn't like her predicament one bit, but if it was going to help the other Samurai finally defeat the Nighlok and get their lives back to something a little more normal, she was more than willing to take one for the team. The cuffs were back on her wrists, and there was another set on her ankles. Mike's and Mike's look-a-likes had made it clear that after her first escape, they couldn't trust her. Emily didn't blame them at all, but she did wish they would clue in that she had come back to be a hostage willingly and wouldn't leave. The ankle cuffs were uncomfortable. They were big, they were heavy, and they were inconvenient.

The only good thing about the way the plan was going was that it was going well. She had her Samuraizer in her pocket, so her friends could track her signal, and she was surrounded by all the look-a-likes that Octoroo had created except her own, who was back with her friends. The Nighlok Rangers had no idea they were being fooled, and as they sat around the campfire eating, they laughed as they discussed what they had done to try and kill off the Samurai.

Then, the conversation was very uncomfortable for Emily, as the Nighlok Rangers began to discuss what they had in store for their next attack. Her stomach twisted and turned as they came up with various ways of not only catching the Rangers, like they had done with Emily, but of how they were going to kill them off. Some ideas, mostly from Mike's look-a-like, sounded like they involved a lot of blood. Others, mainly from Jayden's and Kevin's involved a pretty quick death, but a lot of pain. Antonio's look-a-like insisted they have a little fun with their victims.

Mia's look-a-like was the only one who suggested they drop the games and just kill the Rangers on the spot. The boys didn't listen. Instead, they focused on a way to combine all their ideas into one bloody, painful, torturously long, but inescapably quick death.

Though Emily was hungry, she was glad they weren't feeding her.

"What do we do with that one, then?" Mia suddenly pointed to Emily, pulling the yellow Ranger's attention back into the conversation.

"Depends on whether Yellow did her job," Jayden said. He looked at Emily, "Do you think your friends have any idea you're missing?"

"Someone must have helped her," Mike said, "It's impossible to get yourself out of those cuffs. I'd say it's pretty obvious she made it back home."

"Then what are you doing here?" Kevin looked to her curiously. Emily gulped.

"I d-didn't know… I thought they… I have n-no idea what's going on."

"You trust the ones who help you," Mike ruffled her hair, messing it up. Emily didn't care. She knew she looked like a mess.

"If they know about her and Yellow, then it's safe to say they know she's missing," Jayden announced, "I guess we keep her around. She'll draw the Rangers in. There's no way those saps will leave on of their own to die."

Emily breathed a sigh of relief. That was one bullet dodged. At the very least, they would keep her alive until the others turned up. This plan would have been a complete disaster if the Nighlok decide to just kill her and move on.

As the Nighlok worked on a plan to draw the Rangers out quickly, Emily heard something moving in the bushes.

"Plotting without me?"

Emily's eyes widened. She knew that voice well. Serena emerged from the bushes, carrying a bundle in her arms. Just by looking at the body language of this Serena, Emily knew it wasn't her sister. It was another trick. Another double.

"Finally back," the Nighlok shifted over a bit to give Serena room to sit around the fire. Serena sat down and dropped the bundle on the ground. It started to cry and Emily's stomach turned. Octoroo really wasn't holding back. He had the full Samurai team copied, and even threw in a little Terran, just to mess with their heads. If the Samurai hesitated to hurt her look-a-like, she couldn't imagine what coming face to face with Terran would do.

Then, Serena locked eyes with her and started to laugh, "Have you defeated the Samurai already? Now you're just having fun with each other?"

"We lost Yellow," Mike said and then wrapped his arm tightly around Emily, squeezing her more than he needed to, "this is our bait."

"You mean I spent all that time searching this damn city for that whining shit machine, and you guys decide you're going to use one of the Samurai as bait to draw the rest of them out?" Serena threw her hands up in the air in frustration, "You could have saved me a few dirty diapers if you had thought of that sooner! Now what do I do with the nuisance?"

"Twice the bait," Kevin suggested.

Emily couldn't breathe. She wanted to say something. She wanted to rip everyone's throats out. Terran wasn't Octoroo's creation. Terran was real! Nighlok Serena actually went into the city and found her human counterpart's son.

Emily's nephew.

Adrenaline kicked in and Emily shoved Mike to the ground and then lifted her legs. The big cuffs were now good for something as she brought them down on his head, hard enough to knock him silly. As the other Nighlok got up to restrain her, she swung her legs around again. She only wished she could do the same with her arms, but behind back they were almost useless.

She got a few more of the Nighlok in various places. Kevin got a kick to the knee, which seemed to take him out very quickly. Mia's arm was knocked away, and then Antonio suffered a kick to the nuts.

Jayden, however, grabbed Emily's legs before she could hurt him and he spun her around to her stomach and then bent her knees so her feet were touching her bum. He pulled her arms back and then locked both sets of cuffs together, leaving Emily in a hog-tie. Jayden then put out the fire and ordered his team to bed. The Samurai nursed their wounds and headed up into trees or off behind bushes to find a safe and comfortable place to sleep.

Before he left, Antonio flipped Emily on her side and gave her a kick to the stomach. Then he left, walking as well as he could given how sore he still was.

Emily rested her head in the dirt. At least she wasn't dead. Then she looked over and spotted Terran. He was still crying a little from being dropped, but he had managed to get himself out of the blankets his Nighlok mother had carried him in. Now he was looking around, trying to find somewhere or someone safe.

"Terran," she whispered and hoped he would recognize her voice. She hadn't seen him in so long, and from what she could tell now, he had grown so much. She would be disappointed, but not surprised, if he had no clue who she was. "Terran, sweetie, come to Auntie Emy."

Terran heard her voice and turned his head in her direction. He saw her on the ground and in her tie she looked a little funny to him. He smiled and clapped his hands. Then he threw himself forward, got up on his hands and knees and crawled over to her. Emily would have been proud if the circumstances had been different.

He started to babble as he approached her, and then he grabbed her hair and pulled.

"Ow, yes, I'm real. No need to… ow! Terran, stop it."

Terran let go of her hair on command, but he wasn't done exploring. He put his hands on her side and pushed himself up. With her help, he was standing on his feet. Again, Emily would have been proud if the circumstances were any different.

"Just stay close to me, okay?" she told him but Terran wasn't listening. He was somewhere new and exciting, and now that he knew he was safe with Emily, he was brave enough to explore.

His first mission was to figure out what the red blinking light was. He fell down on his butt and then crawled around back. Emily's cuffs had a keypad, which she had discovered when Antonio set her free the first time. So the Nighlok knew the cuffs were locked, the keypad had a blinking red light. This light drew Terran in and when he was close enough he reached out to touch it. Seeing it was safe, he tried to put it in his mouth.

"EW! Terran, don't put that in your mouth!" Emily whined as she felt him drooling on her hands. Then, suddenly, the pull was gone. Her wrists and ankles were separated. With his tongue, Terran must have done something to break them. The cuffs were still working individually, but at least Emily wasn't tied to herself. She sat herself up and looked down at Terran. His eyes were wide, it was like magic. The person before him, who had been twisted and folded, was now magically longer.

So he wanted to try again. He saw the blinking light by her wrists and he started to play with it. Emily decided to let him go, hoping the time he had spent with Antonio meant some of the gold Ranger's tricks with technology had rubbed off on him.

When the cuffs dropped from around her wrists, she couldn't believe it. She pulled her hands free and held them out to her sides. Then she turned around and scooped Terran up in her arms and showered him with kisses. The little boy giggled happily. He had done something right.

Then he noticed the blinking light around her ankles. He looked up at her and then pointed, letting her know he wanted to play with that light. Emily shook her head. Her job was to stay with the Nighlok, to make them think they were way ahead of the Samurai and in charge of whatever game they were playing.

So instead she kept the ankle cuffs on, hugged her nephew, and distracted him with silly faces and barnyard noises until he fell asleep. Then she lay down and curled up with him tightly in her arms. She couldn't leave the Nighlok, but she would be damned if she let anything happen to Terran.

-Samurai-

On the island, the Samurai were enjoying a late dinner. They had figured out the plan on what they were going to do when they came face to face with the Nighlok and were now taking time to rest. One of the advantages the Nighlok had was that they weren't as beaten down and tired.

But the Rangers knew how to bounce back quickly. After a good meal, caught by Antonio, and a good night's sleep, they would be ready to go on the hunt.

Mike continuously looked down at his Samuraizer. Emily had pushed the panic button, which meant the Nighlok had gotten her and the plan was going just like Antonio had wanted it to, but he couldn't help but worry. But he kept his head up. This was do or die, and though it was a big risk, there was really no other option.

He reached to his back and gently massaged his shoulder. His whole back was still really sore, but he was getting better. He could stand up and walk around now, and if it meant keeping Emily safe and getting the team back home, he could fight.

Home. The word echoed in his head. The Samurai didn't really have a home now. It had been crushed and washed away by the Nighlok look-a-like.

Suddenly, the weight of what had happened came crashing down on him. His eyes started to tear up but he pushed them back, trying not to show the others he was hurting. His video games were gone, his bedroom was destroyed, all the books, the food in the kitchen, the dojo. All he had left were clothes on his back and whatever was still in his pockets.

That was all everyone had left.

He closed his eyes and did a mental walk around the house. He pretended to lie in his bed one last time. He pretended he was sparing in the dojo (and defeating Jayden in an amazing upset). He crashed on the couch for a nap, and then played video games in the common room until his thumbs were virtually sore. Then he looked around and remembered all the fun, and all the pain that had happened in that common room. His eyes landed on the bookshelf, which held so many of the Samurai secrets. It was the Rangers' history collection. All their journeys and experiences marked down so if future generations needed help, they had something to look back on.

Then Mike's eyes fell on something he had forgotten about until this very moment. The bookshelf also had something else that was very important. The first even non-human Samurai: Scruffy. His ashes rested in an urn, on the bookshelf, with the comic books Mike had written about his life as a Samurai dog.

The urn was not indestructible. It had likely been shattered, and then washed away. Scruffy was gone.

Everything. Gone.

"Mike?" by now the others noticed his tears and were worried there was something wrong. Serena pulled him into her arms and held him warmly.

"Emily will be fine. You have to believe in her."

Mike shook his head. He did. That wasn't the problem.

"What do we do after we win?" he asked, choking on his tears, "Normally we go home and celebrate. Where will we go this time?"

Ji shook his head sadly as it dawned on him and the rest of the team, "I don't know, Mike."


	13. The Hunt And The Sealing Symbol

Emily was pulled from her sleep by something playing with her lips. She furrowed her brow and tried to move away, but whatever it was that was messing with her mouth wouldn't leave her alone. Finally, events from the day before came to mind and she remembered she had fallen asleep with Terran in her arms. She opened her eyes and saw it was her nephew playing with her lips. She smiled as he flicked them up and down with his hands, trying to get her to make more funny noises with her breathing. Emily couldn't believe how big he was getting already. She gave him a little hug and then sat up.

Today was the day. Hopefully the Samurai were rested and ready. They would come for her, taking out the Nighlok by surprise. Antonio had promised he wouldn't take too long, and she would be back with her team before the end of the day.

As Emily sat up, and put Terran onto her lap, she looked around and noticed the Nighlok Rangers were awake, and they already had another fire going as they cooked breakfast and discussed their plans for the day. Emily listened in and was happy to hear it was a day to train and prepare for the next attack. They weren't expecting anything, and they didn't want to go after the Samurai just yet.

She looked at Serena, who seemed to be in charge of supervising her and Terran, as well as cooking the food for breakfast while the other Samurai hung out together. Serena's eyes met hers and she scowled. Emily hugged Terran a little closer. Nighlok Serena did not look happy.

"I don't know how you did it," Serena said, "but you got out of the cuffs."

Emily looked down at her ankles. They were still bound, just as she had left them, "Most of them."

"If it weren't for the kid, I'd have you tied up into a little ball, but someone needs to babysit the little shit-head, and I don't want to do it," Serena tossed Emily a piece of meat. Emily couldn't name what it was, but it didn't look good at all, even on an empty stomach.

"It won't kill you," Serena told her, "We don't want you dead yet. What's the point of rescuing someone who is already dead?"

"I'm not hungry," Emily lied and her stomach quickly came out with the truth as it rumbled. Serena could hear it from where she was sitting, and Terran could hear and feel it, and it reminded him of his empty stomach. He hadn't had breakfast yet.

"Oh great," Serena rolled her eyes as he started to cry, "Not this again. Shut him up, Ranger."

"He's hungry."

Serena grumbled and got up. She walked to the blanket that she had carried Terran in and pulled out a bag. She unzipped it and reached in. Emily saw her grab a bag of Cheerios. She caught it as Serena tossed it over.

Emily dumped a handful in her palm and held them out for Terran to eat, stealing a few to help calm her growling stomach.

-Samurai-

Mike woke up that morning feeling just as lousy as the day before, but he knew he had to get himself together and carry on. He decided to take a quick dip in the water to collect his thoughts and wash up a bit. Without showers, or even indoor plumbing, he was sure he smelt foul. He knew the others did. Sweat, blood, and body odour had not been put on hold while the Rangers fought for survival.

"You'll need soap for a real bath," Serena told him as she walked over to the water's edge, using crutches she had crafted out of sticks to help her with her broken foot. "Soap is the colourful, pleasant smelling brick you see in the shower that gets smaller in water."

"Ha-ha," Mike pulled himself out of the water and sat down next to Serena. Without a towel he had to let the water drip off his body naturally. "You don't smell like roses either, you know."

"James and I talked a bit last night about… what you brought up," Serena whispered, "He's more than happy to take us in for a few days while we figure out other arrangements. Obviously we can't stay there permanently."

"Right in the middle of the city? It would be too dangerous," Mike nodded his head. With the Shiba House smashed and flooded, the Rangers had no home to go to, and Mike had brought up that point the night before. None of them were sure what they would do once they defeated the Nighlok. It almost felt pointless to try. Everything they owned and loved had been taken from them.

"I can't fight today," Serena whispered and reached forward to touch her foot, wincing slightly as she adjusted it into a more comfortable position, "James and I can't both have a Samuraizer, and with my broken foot he says he's the better choice."

"He's probably right," Mike nodded his head and managed a little laugh, "He can fight as White Ranger, and you can be the crazy, injured psycho who runs in mid-battle, pissed off with the world, and who defeats everyone with her wooden crutches."

"Psycho?"

"You're scarier without the mask," Mike smirked. "When you're protecting someone, your eyes turn into sharp daggers. Daggers like… miniature versions of Urumasa that don't even need to touch stone to cut it. You're deadlier without the spandex. In my opinion."

"You have to be scared of me," Serena chuckled and nudged Mike gently; "You're marrying my little sister."

"I'd be scared of you even if I wasn't."

"Bring her home."

"Emily?"

Serena nodded, "No matter what happens, bring her home. I'm counting on you, Mike.

Mike wrapped his arm around Serena, "I won't let you down."

"Mike, you coming?" Antonio called and Mike turned around to see the Samurai were waiting for him. He nodded his head and pushed himself up to his feet. When he joined them, Antonio gave each and every one of them a serious look.

"Are you guys sure you can do this?"

"We're dead if we don't," Kevin nodded. "It's a risk we have to take."

"Besides, you gave them Emily," Mia added, "We've kind of got to get her back."

Jayden was looking at his Samuraizer, "Her signal hasn't moved from last night. We'll take that as a sign that she hasn't moved either. We've got a lot of ground to cover before we find her, so we better head out now."

The team agreed with Jayden and they jumped into the water to start their search for Emily and their Nighlok look-a-likes. When they were gone, Ji told Serena he would go keep his eye on Emily's Nighlok; just to be sure there were no tricks that would throw the Rangers off their game. They needed all the help they could get.

Serena sat in the dirt. Storm took a seat beside her. Neither of them had anything to do, but they were both very worried. This was it.

-Samurai-

Emily was uneasy as Nighlok Jayden stood over her and Terran. He had been circling her and keeping her within reach for a while now, and she was scared he had something planned. The Nighlok wanted her alive for when they used her as bait, but alive and uninjured, unfortunately, were not synonyms.

She hugged Terran a little closer and gulped. Jayden then gestured for her to put Terran down.

"Nothing will happen to him, I promise."

"I don't trust you," Emily shook her head.

Jayden grabbed her by the arm and lifted her up to her feet. Then he dragged her over to the others and pushed her to the ground. Trying to keep Terran from breaking the fall, Emily quickly spun herself around in midair and landed on her back. Terran started screaming, terrified for a good reason. Then he was pulled from his aunt's arms, and when Emily tried to get him back, she was punched in the stomach.

Before she could catch her breath, Jayden and Mike made her sit up and pointed to the rocks.

"The sealing symbol your red Ranger tried to use," Jayden said, "Show us what it is."

"I can't," Emily shook her head. Jayden only ever practice the symbol on his own. She had maybe caught a few glances at in in the last two years, but she hadn't seen it enough to memorize it. No one knew what the symbol looked like but Jayden and Ji.

"We do have enough bait to draw the Rangers in," Jayden grabbed the back of her neck, "I'm sure your nephew will be more than enough incentive for the Rangers to come to us and make the mistake of challenging us."

"Don't hurt him," Emily growled.

"I won't. I promised his safety."

"You said you needed me alive."

"I can change my mind. What's the point of keeping both of you around? Unless you show us the symbol Octoroo is looking for, you're really not worth our time and resources."

"But I don't know it. I'm the yellow Ranger…"

"You're a Samurai. Show us!"

"But…" All Emily felt was pain before she could utter her next words. She had no idea where she had been hit, what had been hit, or what had even happened. Her entire body was wracked with pain. She rolled up into the fetal position, waiting for the pain to cease while she heard the Nighlok walking away from her, leaving her to suffer by herself. They would be back. She was suffering, not dying, so she knew they were coming back in hopes that she had learned her lesson and would suddenly remember the sealing symbol.

But the pain didn't stop. She expected it to get worse before it got better, but it continued to get stronger and stronger.

Help. She needed help. Fighting just to control her muscles, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her Samuraizer. She hit the panic button again and again, as many times as she could.

Finally, the Samuraizer started to ring.

-Samurai-

Smoke. It didn't take the fire Samurai to know smoke meant fire.

Mike lowered himself from the trees. Mia came down from the skies. Both had seen smoke from their aerial view, and felt very lucky to have thought of getting a bird's eye view now that they were in the zone covered by Emily's Samuraizer.

"There's a fire nearby. Not enough smoke to be a forest fire," Mia told Jayden, "I think it's a campfire."

"Either Emily's on her own, or these Nighlok are getting a little too comfortable," Mike was grinning from ear to ear.

"We'll check it out," Jayden nodded as he started to lead the team off into the forest. A few paces in he was forced to stop as his Samuraizer went off. He looked over his shoulder. Everyone's Samuraizers were going off. Eyes were wide in panic. Hearts were frozen.

Mia was the first to bounce back and checked her screen. To her horror it was Emily. She called the yellow Ranger and waited for an answer.

Mike was next to snap out of his thoughts of worry and he lunged for Antonio. It was Antonio who sent Emily out as bait. It was Antonio's idea to turn her over to the other side. If he had never suggested it, Emily would still be safe. Kevin grabbed Mike before he could hurt Antonio. He was worried, but he couldn't risk the team hurting themselves before getting into a fight with what were obviously strong opponents. With James' help, they held Mike back as he screamed profanities at Antonio, swearing the gold Ranger would already be dead if he could get his hands on him.

"Mike," Mia's voice brought him back and he turned to her. He took a few deep breathes and calmed himself down. She was giving him a look, and that look told him everything he needed to hear. Fighting Antonio wouldn't help Emily. Then Mia gestured to his Samuraizer. He flipped it open and connected his call to Mia and Emily's, just as Mia hung up.

"Emily…?"

"Are you guys coming?"

Mike gulped and nodded his head. She sounded hurt.

"Yeah, we saw smoke. Are you near a campfire?"

"No, but they are."

Mike was relieved. Now, with the smoke rising above the trees, he knew exactly where to find the Nighlok who had hurt him, his team, and his fiancée so badly.

"Mike… hurry."

"I'm coming, Em. Just hang on, okay? You're amazing."

"Mike."

"Yeah?"

"They…"

"Em?"

"Be ready"

Mike gave a little nod, "We will be. We're coming, Em. We're coming to kick butt, and then we're going to go to James' house and we'll sleep in a real bed again. We'll eat real food. We'll see Terran."

Mike looked to James as he said that. The older man nodded his head. After everything they had been through, the least he could do to help them recover was let them see their beloved nephew.

"Mike… Terran…"

"Em, just rest up, okay. Stay as safe as possible."

"Serena's here. Be ready for six."

"Thanks, Em. I love you," he whispered as he put away his Samuraizer and then he looked up at the others, "Slight hitch. Serena's got a double too."

"I'll take her," Jayden said. The team had already discussed who they were going to match themselves up with and considering there had been more of them then there were Nighlok, Jayden had teamed himself up with Mike, who was most physically hurt and would need the most help.

But now Mike seemed determined to fight. It seemed his bruising couldn't hold him back anymore Jayden felt comfortable letting him take on Nighlok Kevin by himself while he challenged Nighlok Serena.

"We should really get going," Kevin said, "The faster we get there, the faster we get this all over with."

"I'll catch up," Mike told them as they started to run ahead. They looked a little hesitant, but he assured them he was fine. When they were far enough away, Mike pulled out his Samuraizer and traced a symbol on the ground.

One thing he loved about the forest and the earth was just how closely connected they were. The forest was basically just an extension of the earth.

As the symbol sunk into the ground, Mike put his Samuraizer away and ran off after the others. He needed to get to that campfire fast, so he could get to Emily.

-Samurai-

The pain was finally starting to die down now that she knew her friends were on their way, but Emily felt no better. She tried rolling around just a bit to get comfortable, but it was hard, especially with the cuffs still around her ankles. They were heavy and she could hardly move her legs with them on.

Suddenly, a symbol appeared from the ground. A green symbol; Emily smiled. From it, a leaf grew up from the grass until it was big enough to wrap itself around her gently and warmly. It kept her safe

From another spot in the grass, a sunflower grew up and started to bloom. Emily smiled a little more. They were her favourite.

She curled up into the leaf, hiding as much as she could until she remembered there was someone with her. She reached her arms out.

"Terran, wanna cuddle with Auntie Emy?"

Terran crawled over to her and she pulled him into her arms, under the leaf. She made sure he was hidden completely and then hummed him softly to sleep. She drifted off minutes after he did.


	14. Conquer

The Samurai could smell the fire burning as they knelt behind the bushes, and they could hear their counterparts laughing as they joked around with each other, having what looked to be a good time.

"This is freaky," Mia commented as she watched her double like a hawk. Knowing she had a clone was one thing. Actually seeing it was another. She pinched herself. Surely this had to be a dream.

"Find your opponent, keep your eyes on him at all times," James said, "It'll be the only way we can tell each other apart."

"Basically, that means we're in the fight for ourselves," Mike's eyes were following Kevin's double. He couldn't wait to give the blue Nighlok the beating he deserved. Somewhere nearby, Emily was waiting for him to show up, and the blue Nighlok was the only thing standing in his way."

"James, this is your last chance to pull out," Jayden looked at the older man, "No one would blame you if…"

"I'd blame myself," James shook his head, "I promised Emily earlier that I would keep her safe. If I walk away now, and you guys lose…"

"Not going to happen," Kevin said. He flicked his Samuraizer out to give James a quick tutorial on how it worked, "You'll have to morph as you go, do you understand how the symbol is drawn?"

"Mako taught me," he nodded.

"Shout go, go Samurai, trace the symbol, draw your sword, and fight like you've got everything in the world to lose," Kevin gave James a pat on the back, "and pray for a miracle. Jayden's tough."

James gave his head a little nod. Choosing Jayden's Nighlok probably wasn't the best idea, but he did have a bit of a score to settle with the red Ranger. He had learned about Jayden's secret, and that had been what had pushed him to break up with Serena and move out of the Shiba House. Though he knew it was for the best, and though he had forgiven Jayden and Ji for lying, he was still a little upset. He had grown to care deeply for Serena's family, and knowing they were being lied to hurt him deeply. Getting the chance to pound Jayden into the ground, without costing the team, was the chance of a lifetime. James couldn't pass it up.

"Ready?" Jayden whispered and the team nodded. With a cry, they jumped out of the bushes and morphed, ambushing the Nighlok who were surprised to see the Rangers had come so early.

But surprised didn't mean they were going to lose. The Rangers got a few good blows early on, but the Nighlok were stronger. They weren't beaten down by natural disasters and they wouldn't hold anything back. The Rangers wouldn't give up, however.

Kevin fought like he had a score to settle with Mike. In a way, he always kind of did. He thought back to their first few days together and how pissed off the green Ranger had made him. Mike had been lazy, reckless, careless, stupid, everything Kevin hated, Mike embodied. He remembered wanting to punch the green Ranger's head through a wall, kick his ass over the fence, slap him until he knocked the Samurai into him. And every time Nighlok Kevin knocked him down, Kevin had more and more reasons to fight back and win.

Mike was the same with Kevin. He had always wanted to best the blue Ranger, show him he was the stronger Samurai in his own way, and today he was getting that chance. It did help a lot knowing that after this fight he could go find Emily and hold her close, and take her to a home where they would both feel safe. Though Nighlok Kevin was stronger than Mike, he was nowhere near as determined to win. Mike barely spent any time on his ass, despite being knocked down every thirty seconds. He would always get right back up and right back into the fight.

Mia didn't really hold any grudge against the real Antonio, but this fake one was pissing her off with that cocky smile and the arrogance that surrounded him. It was obvious in the way she fought that she was not at her best, and Nighlok Antonio seemed to take that as a guaranteed win. Mia wanted to make that his downfall. More and more she played the weak card, waiting for Nighlok Antonio to let his guard down.

Antonio didn't want to hurt Mia and was having a bit of a hard time landing a single blow. This Mia was just like the real one. She was a strong physical threat, but the real danger was how quickly she picked up on her opponent's attacks and how well she could counter them. Her fight was smart, and Antonio was starting to understand he was going to have to find a way to outsmart her. Just like Mia, she moved gracefully, leaving Antonio in awe half the time right before she punched him in the jaw, the ribs, the back of the knee, or anywhere. As Antonio hit the ground again, he finally knew what he needed to do. Style was nice, but in this case, winning was where the points were. It didn't matter how he did it.

Jayden struggled with Serena, who seemed to rely mostly on words to take him down, but she had the skills to hold him off when he tried to fight her.

"Your father was pathetic," she told him as he tried to push himself off the ground, "He spent all his life training and practicing for the day when Master Xandred turned up – and not only does he almost get everyone on his team killed, he dies and he can't even manage to seal Xandred away properly? And now here you are, trying to be half the man he is? You Rangers are pathetic. You're pathetic."

Jayden jumped to his feet and tried to take her out. She ripped his sword right out of his hands and kicked him in the chest.

"You can't even keep your team safe. They're all counting on you as the red Ranger, and you're the weakest of them all. Even the man in the skirt is doing better than you."

Jayden turned his head. It was true. The Rangers were all holding their own against their opponents. Some were even starting to win. Nighlok Antonio was blown back into a tree and was pinned there by the winds as Mia ran over to him and put her sword through his heart.

"Sorry, Antonio!" she called out as the Nighlok slumped over, dead.

Jayden then turned in the other direction and saw James was clearly the strongest in his fight with Jayden's Nighlok. The skirt seemed to help, as Jayden's Nighlok couldn't hold back a grin and was distracted by it, but James as the underdog seemed to be the sure win now. Nighlok Jayden had strongly underestimated him and was paying the price.

Serena shook her head and kicked Jayden back to the ground, "Even your counterpart is weak. Octoroo made us, and in the Netherworld, you're regarded as a weak, spineless little boy who is just angry because daddy never came home."

"Shut up," Jayden growled.

"Apparently, Octoroo doesn't see you as a threat. He had planned for us to take on our counterparts. Jayden's weak, because Octoroo though you would be the easiest to take out."

"Lies!" Mia cried as she came to Jayden's rescue, attacking Nighlok Serena from behind and slicing her head right off her shoulders. With Nighlok Antonio out of the way, Mia had the chance to help out one of her teammates. Though she had a pretty good idea of who was and wasn't on her team, she didn't want to take any chances. She had also noticed Jayden seemed to be struggling the most. Considering there was only one Serena, and Jayden needed the most help, it was obvious where Mia was needed next.

Mia pulled Jayden up to his feet, "If you believe a single word she said, I'll gladly see if I can do that all again using your head."

"I'm fine," Jayden gave her a little nod and took a moment to breathe. That was two Nighlok down, and still five to go. Fortunately, one of the five was Emily, who was back at home with Ji and Serena. She wasn't a threat at all.

"What the hell are you doing?" was Nighlok Mia's last words as Antonio jumped around like a maniac, confusing her and giving Antonio a chance to land his last blow. As she dropped dead, Antonio doubled over to catch his breath and then smiled at Mia.

"Looks like we're even."

"I've still got to apologize to Serena," Mia pointed to the Nighlok Serena's head, "She won't be happy to know I decapitated her."

"Guys!" Mike and Kevin ran over to the others, both having strayed from the campground a bit. They both ran back with smiles on their faces. It looked like they had both won.

"You beat them?" Antonio asked.

"There was a bit of a mix-up," Kevin wrapped his arm around Mike's shoulder, "but it seems we know each other better than we thought."

"Thank you bruises," Mike turned slightly and showed his bruised back to the others. In the mix up between both teams, Mike had found himself at Kevin's mercy. When Kevin refused to believe he wasn't the Nighlok, Mike had turned around and showed him the bruises, reminding him he only had them because of the attack, and that Nighlok Mike wouldn't. Having found each other, they worked together to take out their opponents. Mike pulled his shirt back down and smiled brightly, "You should have seen it; I had Nighlok Kevin on his knees, trying to convince me he was the real one."

"So I took him out. No one knows me better than me," Kevin said.

"The reunion is cute, guys," James called from where he was still fighting with Jayden, struggling a bit from exhaust, finally giving the Nighlok a bit of an advantage. "But I'm not exactly experienced in this. Can I get a hand?"

"You're doing great," Mia applauded and the boys followed her lead. They would help James if they thought he needed it, but none of them had failed to notice he was strong enough to win. All he needed now was a little encouragement and faith.

"Not what I meant!" James cried as he was knocked off his feet, "Seriously, guys! I'm tired!"

"So are we," Mike called back teasingly, "Dude, I just beat Kevin!"

"You're the real Rangers!" James stumbled to his feet and started to run, hoping to put enough distance between himself and Nighlok Jayden so he could catch his breath and get a little energy back. When he looked over his shoulder to see where the Nighlok was, he didn't see he was approaching a tree and ran right into it.

The Rangers all groaned and winced as they watched. Even Nighlok Jayden stopped for a moment and he had to laugh. The man in the skirt had just run right into a tree. It was funny.

James saw stars for a moment as he lay on the ground, but his vision returned to normal pretty quickly and he found himself looking up a branch.

"_Being in a fight is exhausting physically and mentally. I can't have you giving up before we get to the hard part. Your muscles are going to burn. Your arms are going to want to fall off. Your legs are going to try and give in. Your brain needs to pull them all back together and tell them the fight's not over."_

"Monster knows what she's talking about," James whispered to himself. He was tired. He did want to quit, but there was no way he was ready to throw in the towel and let a Nighlok get the better of him. He jumped to his feet, picked up his sword, and while Nighlok Jayden was still laughing, James plunged the sword through his stomach. His eyes widened as he pulled his sword out of the Nighlok's stomach and Jayden dropped dead. "Holy shit… that's crazy!"

"You get used to it," Antonio announced as the team came over to congratulate James on his first kill. James powered down and the looked to Jayden a little apologetically.

"Uh, sorry. No hard feelings?"

"Congratulations," Jayden nodded.

"The Skirted Man dominates Big Bad Red. I so wish we didn't have secret identities," Antonio was bouncing slightly in excitement. Jayden gave him a hurt look.

"You're supposed to be on my side."

"I love you," Antonio mustered up an innocent look and then gave Jayden a kiss.

Mike saw the kiss and was reminded of something important. He shoved his way past Kevin and ran from the others. He had somewhere else he needed to be and was following his instincts to get there.

"Right, Emily," Mia suddenly realized and took off after Mike with Jayden, James, and Antonio right behind her. Kevin stayed back. Antonio noticed and stopped running.

"Kev, you coming?"

"Uh, yeah," Kevin nodded his head, "I'll join you. There's got to be real food or something around this camp that'll help her. Knowing the Nighlok, they probably didn't take care of her."

"Good thinking," Antonio started to walk back, "I'll help you look…"

"No, go find her. I'll meet up with you guys there."

"Are you sure."

"Yeah. It's a one person job," Kevin insisted and he waved Antonio off. Antonio gave a little nod and ran after the others.

Kevin waited until he was gone and then picked a few berries from a bush. Then he started into the forest, in a different direction from where the others had run off. He walked to the site where he and Mike had fought the Nighlok and he looked around. He smiled when he saw Octoroo waiting for him.

"It's not a total loss."

Octoroo nodded and handed Kevin his Samuraizer, "I took this from the Ranger. You're going to need it to blend in. Don't do anything to give yourself away. He'll be a tough one to crack."

"How are you going to make sure he can survive in the Netherworld?" Kevin pointed to his identical body, which lay on the ground unconscious. It was the only one that hadn't been killed and hadn't won the fight. Though he looked lifeless, he had been spared.

"Don't question me," Octoroo snapped, "I've been working on this plan for a while. I know what I'm doing. You better not screw this up. If the Rangers find out about you, they'll come looking for him. And keep your eye on the pink Ranger."

"Shouldn't be hard to do," Kevin nodded his head, "From what I've seen, it seems she and I are pretty close."

"She took out two of your teammates, and Dayu considers her a threat. Maybe we should heed her warnings. And you noticed right. Pink and Blue are close. If anyone is going to figure you out, it's her."

"She won't," Kevin promised. He pocketed the Samuraizer and headed off to find the Samurai. He knew exactly where they would be. They were looking for Emily, and Kevin remembered exactly where he and his teammates had left her.

"Oh, and Blue," Octoroo called and Kevin stopped to listen to his creator, "Have fun."

"I will."


	15. Going NotHome

Mike finally found the spot he was looking for and saw nothing but a giant leaf and a sunflower. He ran over to them, panting heavily as he did. He was so worn down, so completely exhausted, but the day wasn't over yet.

"Emily," he gently tore through the leaf and found his fiancé sleeping inside. Now that some time passed, the bruises and the scars on her face had really started coming out and he could barely recognize her anymore. He continued to tear through the leaf, seeing more bruises and cuts along the rest of her body.

And something else that surprised him. She was cradling a baby to her chest. It took Mike a couple of seconds, but he finally recognized him as Terran. Before he could say anything, James had already arrived and seeing his son in his sister in-law's arms, his heart stopped. He pulled the little boy out and hugged him tight. Terran was safe now, and seemed unharmed, but a thousand possibilities raced through James' head.

Separating Terran and Emily woke them both up. Terran smiled when he saw he was back with his father, and began to babble, likely all about his adventures. It seemed abduction hadn't fazed him one bit.

Emily was panicked when she noticed Terran wasn't in her arms and then she looked up and saw her team standing over her. She knew her friends were coming, but she couldn't be sure she was safe. For all she knew, these were the Nighlok.

"Mike?"

"Yeah," Mike nodded and he lifted her out of the leaf. It hurt his back, but he didn't care. He hugged her tight, happy to have her back.

"You guys won?"

"Of course we did," Mia smiled and it was her turn to give Emily a hug. "You led us right to them, and it's obvious they weren't expecting us so soon."

"How did Terran get here?" James asked Emily. She turned to him and huffed.

"I'm a little sore, but fine. How are you?"

"Sorry, Em," James gave her a quick hug, "Are you okay?"

Emily gave James a weak smile, "Serena had a double too. She brought Terran here. They let me take care of him, though. Nothing happened to him."

"I'm glad," James smiled and kissed his son's cheek.

Antonio knelt by Emily's feet and worked on the cuffs around her ankles. They had a padlock and he had managed to figure them out the last time they had been on Emily, but he struggled a little this time. Emily watched him work and laughed weakly.

"Terran figured it out faster than you."

"I've almost got it," as he said it, the cuffs came open. Antonio pulled them away from Emily's feet and then gently helped Mike get her up. Emily was very wobbly and still very sore from the attack the Nighlok had done after she refused to show them the Sealing Symbol. Though her body was no longer in pain, it was still a little numb, and she was feeling weak. She almost fell over when Antonio tried to let her go, but he caught her and then lifted her onto his back. Mike, with his sore back, wouldn't be able to carry her for long.

"By the way, I kicked you in the nuts," Emily whispered in Antonio's ear, "Sorry about that."

"I told you to let five Nighlok kidnap you," Antonio shrugged and lifted her a little higher onto his back, "We'll call it even."

Emily smiled and put her head on Antonio's shoulder. She looked out at Mike and smiled before closing her eyes. She was so tired. They all were.

Mike put his hand on her back, "Don't worry, Em, we're going… back."

He didn't want to say home. He couldn't say home. Home was crushed. Home was gone. It wouldn't be right.

-Samurai-

"Stop with the act, please," Serena growled to her Nighlok sister. All she could do as she waited for the others to come home was sit and keep her eyes on Nighlok Emily. It put her mind at ease, knowing Nighlok Emily couldn't help her team defeat the Samurai.

But just like the real Emily, Nighlok Emily knew how to play with Serena's emotions to get what she wanted. She was tied to a tree and couldn't get out, but she was working really hard to convince Serena to let her go. She did everything she could to act like the real Emily, and it was almost working.

Almost. Serena knew better than to let the Nighlok go.

"It's not an act. Please, Serena. It's me. It hurts. I'm scared. Serena…"

"I'm not listening," Serena turned her back to the Nighlok.

"Help, Serena. Please, let me go!"

"Stop it."

"Serena! Please! You can't do this to me. I'm your baby sister! I need you."

"SHUT UP!" Serena screamed and turned around just in time to watch Jayden take the head off Nighlok Emily with his sword. Then he smiled, "There, I killed one."

Serena gasped loudly. It wasn't real, but it was still horrifying. She would have nightmares for years replaying those few seconds, "JAYDEN!"

"Does this make up for it?" Jayden stepped aside and James walked past him, with Terran in his arms. Serena's eyes lit up: it was the perfect surprise. She pulled James in for a kiss, happy to see he had made it back, and then she took her son from his arms and seemed to forget the world existed. She didn't even think to question why he was there.

"We also brought back the cookie monster," Antonio chuckled and Serena heard just enough to draw her attention away from Terran and over to Emily. She saw her sister was sleeping for now so she continued to play with Terran.

"We should go home," Jayden stated as he looked around. "We've had a rough few days."

"Home?" Mike asked and looked to the red Ranger sadly, "Alright, sure, let me just climb the fence, jump into the lake, and swim to our island…"

"My house," James said, "We'll go back to my house."

He took Terran from Serena's arms so she could support herself on her crutches and walk back with the team. Antonio shifted Emily's weight slightly so he could continue to carry her, knowing there was no other way she would get to James' house. Mike and Jayden stuck by him the entire way.

Though Serena didn't have Terran in her arms anymore, she was still lost in her own little world as she kept her eyes on her son. Mia took advantage of this, slipping her hand out of Kevin's; she went to walk side by side with Serena.

"Hey, just thought I'd let you know now that Jayden wasn't strong enough to take you out, so I came up from behind and decapitated you without a second thought. Sorry about that."

"Yeah, yeah," Serena waved her off after obviously ignoring her, "That's great. Thank you. I love you too."

Mia smirked and looked at Kevin, "Can't say I didn't tell her or apologize."

Kevin gave her a little nod and then pulled her in close, refusing to let her get too far away.

"Oh," Jayden suddenly remembered Ji was on the island, and not at the Shiba House. He turned around and called for the older man, "Ji, it's safe to come out now!"

"Bring the dog!" Mike added. James gave him a dirty look.

"I hate dogs."

"You liked Scruffy."

"You had to get another one?"

"If you hadn't of moved out, you would have had a vote," Mike stuck his tongue out.

"I would have still be outnumbered."

"Sometimes, life sucks," Mike grinned, "Emily loves Storm. When she wakes up, the dog needs to be there."

"Wouldn't you be enough? Can't we set Storm up in a doggie hotel or…?"

"I've learned my place," Mike shook his head, "I'm Emily's rock when she's scared or hurt, but once she's feeling safe and needs to bounce back, Storm's her best friend."

James turned to Serena, "We're never getting a dog."

"Yeah, yeah," she was still ignoring everyone but Terran, despite the fact that he was sleeping, "That's great. Thank you. I love you too."

Mia wrapped her arms around Kevin's waist, leaning into him slightly as they walked. For some reason, Kevin was walking slower than everyone else on the team, but Mia just assumed he had hurt his leg or foot while fighting Mike's Nighlok and didn't pay much attention to it.

"Was it weird?" she asked. Kevin looked down at her.

"Was what weird?"

"Killing yourself. You mentioned your Nighlok made a desperate attempt to convince Mike he was really you, so you killed him. Was that weird?"

"I did what needed to be done," Kevin shrugged his shoulders.

Mia gave him a bit of a funny look, "It must have felt a little strange. I killed Antonio and Serena, and I feel really weird. Watching yourself be destroyed by your own hand…"

"Alright," he smiled at her, deciding it was just easier to give in, "It was a little weird. I don't really want to talk about it though. Can we just go to skirt-boy's house and relax?"

"Yeah," Mia nodded and reached up, kissing his cheek.

_This is going to be fun,_ Kevin smirked wickedly and gave Mia a loving squeeze.


End file.

Power Rangers, Drama, Suspense