Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Samurai

Author's Note: I decided to do this separately from my other story, simply because it's the origin of the Samurai Rangers and it's its own story and deserves its own space. I will try to balance this with Way of the Samurai: The Battle Continues. For now, enjoy this story!

A young boy, about six or seven years old, was being carried from the pool to the car by his father. He clung on tightly to his father's neck, hugging him warmly. He was exhausted after his long day at the pool and very happy to see his father was finally home after being away for nearly a year. His mother had told him that his father needed to leave to protect the world, but that didn't interest the young boy. He was just happy to have his father home and with him.

"Are you going to train me, daddy?" the young boy looked up at his father before resting his head on his father's shoulder and letting out a big yawn.

"Yes," the older man nodded his head and hugged his son. "Tomorrow we start your training."

"Mama thinks I'll be good enough to make it to the 'lympics," little Kevin told his father. "I want to be the fastest swimmer there ever was and mama said you could train me."

"You will amount to greatness, son," the man promised the young boy. Kevin smiled as he drifted off to sleep, letting his exhaust finally overpower him.

A woman approached the man and the boy, a slightly troubled look on her face.

"Tomorrow?" she asked the man as she placed a hand on the boy's back. "You're going to start training tomorrow? But you just got back."

"Our red Ranger died in battle," the man told his wife. "The Nighlok are going to be even stronger in a few years and I want to make sure Kevin gets the best training possible before we are forced to send him away."

The woman nodded her head sadly before wrapping her arms around her husband's waist to hug him. It had been so long since she had seen or heard from him and every day she had been worried he would never come home. Now that she had him back, she had hoped she could live a normal life for a few years before her husband began training her son for his future.

As she hugged her husband she looked at her sleeping son in his arms. She smiled at him and kissed his cheek.

"You'll be an amazing Samurai, Kevin," she whispered. "Just like your father."

-Samurai-

"Michael, come on!"

A young boy was mad at his father and refused to do as the older man said. He stood defiantly with his arms crossed over his chest, his cheeks puffed and a hateful glare in his eyes.

"You promised you wouldn't miss my birthday, daddy," the young boy said.

"Michael, I'm sorry," the man sighed and held out an empty roll of wrapping paper so he could train his son. Michael was far from ready to train with a sword, or even a wooden katana, so the man opted to use something a little less dangerous while the young boy learned to practice his stance and techniques. "I told you about the mean Master Xandred and his army of Nighlok monsters. It's their fault I missed your birthday."

Michael glared at his father before he was suddenly lifted from behind as a woman picked him up and held him in his arms. Michael smiled at his mother and hugged her.

"Michael," his mother chuckled, "If daddy could have been home on time he would have. He got you a big present to make up for it, though."

Suddenly there was a light in Michael's eyes, "He did?"

His mother nodded and set him down, "It's in the living room, sweetie. Go find it."

Michael dropped his roll of wrapping paper and bolted inside the house to find his birthday present from his father while his parents watched him run off.

"He needs to train," his father told his mother as she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "He needs to train. He needs to learn how to fight."

"I remember a young man once telling me he would train five days a week, from dawn to dusk an on weekends he would practice his symbol powers. Do you know what happened to that young man?"

"What?"

The woman poked her husband in the ribs, "Monday morning he would give up and roughhouse with his son in the backyard. And instead of practicing his symbol power, he would sit with his son all weekend and make up silly little comic books."

And because I goofed off, I nearly killed my team several times in our fight against Master X," Michael's father sighed. "I won't let my son be a screw up like me. He's not going to let his team down and maybe, next time, they'll all come out alive."

"He's only five. You still have years to train him."

-Samurai-

Mia hugged her grandmother's legs as she looked up at her parents, a mixture of fear and hatred in her eyes.

"Mia, sweetheart," her mother knelt down before her, "We're home, baby. You can come home with us."

"No!" Mia shouted, shaking her head from side to side before burying her face in her grandmother's legs. "I hate you for leaving!"

"Mia…"

"I tried to explain it to her," her grandmother said as she lifted Mia into her arms and hugged her, "She hasn't changed her mind. She's been like this since the day you both left."

"Mia, we're sorry," her father tried to take her from her grandmother but Mia bit his hand. He pulled away and tried not to get angry.

"Mia, you need to come with us," her mother said. "Now it's my turn to train you, just like your grandmother trained me. It's your destiny to be the pink Ranger."

"No!" Mia shouted. "You're not going to train me! Sobo will train me!"

"Mia…"

"No!"

"Maybe if you give her another day," Mia's grandmother suggested to the parents. "She's still pretty upset about the two of you leaving. Moving back home will be another big change for her and I don't think she's ready."

"We'll come back tomorrow, okay Mia?" her father promised but Mia didn't answer. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek before her mother did the same. As they grabbed their things to head back home after being away for almost a full year, Mia's mother turned back to her daughter and her own mother and held out the Turtle Folding Zord.

"It's yours now, Mia," she said. Mia took the circular device and stared at it.

"Sobo trains me now," she glared at her mother. "You left!"

Her mother didn't know what to say. She kissed her daughter again before leaving with her husband, promising they would be back to see Mia again the next day.

Mia looked up at her grandmother once her parents were gone. She held the turtle Zord in her hands.

"You can train me, right?" she asked. Her grandmother sighed.

"It really should be your mother…"

"I want it to be you," Mia insisted. "I want to stay with you, Sobo."

Her grandmother nodded her head, "I will train you today."

Mia smiled and looked down at the Folding Zord, "How do you open this thing?"

"It will open for you when it's ready to have you as its mistress," her grandmother promised. "For now, we'll start with the basics."

-Samurai-

"Wena, that mama?"

Serena nodded to her little sister Emily as she helped the two year old get into her pyjamas and ready for bed. Their mother had only just gotten home in the late afternoon after being away for nearly a year to complete her duties as a Samurai Ranger.

"Yeah, that's mom," she said. "You remember all the stories daddy and I told you?" Emily had been very young with their mother had to leave and their mother risked being forgotten about by her youngest daughter due to Emily's age and limited memory. In order to make sure Emily would never forget her mother, Serena and Jack told Emily as many stories as they could about her mother to let her know that one day she would be coming back and that way she wouldn't be a total stranger to Emily when she finally did come home.

"She come back?" Emily asked.

"Yeah," Serena smiled. "She's come back, and she's staying for good."

"What that?" Emily pointed to the Ape Folding Zord around Serena's neck. Serena looked down, a slight grin on her face. She was happy the Ape Zord was back in her possession. She hadn't been able to train with it while her mother was away, but that that it was back, she could finally work on getting it to open up and accept her as its Mistress.

Serena held the Zord in her hand to show Emily, "This is now my Ape," she said. "The Ape really liked you. It would always open for you. You used to play with it all the time when you were a baby."

"Before mama gone?"

"Yeah, before mama left," Serena said. "Now she's giving it to me."

"Why?"

"Because one day I'm going to use it to save the world just like mommy."

"You leave?"

"Not for a very long time," Serena promised. "You'll be so big by then, you'll have forgotten all about me."

"Never!" Emily shook her head and threw herself into her sister's arms. "Love you."

"I love you too," Serena lifted Emily up and carried her to her bed. As she laid her sister down, Emily reached for the Folding Zord and grabbed it to get a closer look. Serena laughed as she pulled. "Emily, let go."

"Me see!" Emily smiled and tried to remove the Zord from around her sister's neck. Serena chuckled and helped her little sister. She took off the Zord and placed it in Emily's hand. Just then, the Ape burst to life, transforming right in front of their eyes. Serena huffed. The Ape had always preferred Emily over her. It never seemed to want to open up for Serena, but would just right into its active state for Emily. Even back when her mother was still the Ape's mistress, it seemed to react best to Emily's touch.

Serena left the Ape with her little sister and kissed her forehead before letting her go to sleep. She closed the door and took a few steps down the hallway before nearly running into her mother.

"How is she?" her mother asked.

"She was easy tonight," Serena answered. "Normally she's bouncing off the walls and it takes both me and daddy to wrestle her into bed."

Her mother smiled and then looked at Serena. She pulled her eldest daughter into a big hug.

"I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Serena said. As they pulled apart, her mother noticed she wasn't wearing the Ape Zord.

"Where's the Ape?" she asked. "You'll need it for when we start training tomorrow. Now that I'll officially be passing on my powers to you, you might finally be able to activate it."

Serena looked at the bedroom door and gulped before turning back to her mother and nodding her head slowly.

"Mom, I…"

"I know I just got back, but those Nighlok are scary creatures. Powerful too. I'm sure you'll be able to handle them when the times comes, but you'll need to be very well prepared. The sooner we start training, the better off you'll be."

"Were they really that dangerous?" Serena asked her mother.

"I'm not going to lie to you, sweetheart," her mother placed her hands on her shoulder, "The Nighlok are dangerous. Master Xandred's even worse. But by the time your training's done, you'll be ready to handle them. And you'll have a team waiting to help you. Your leader, the red Ranger, is already promising to be a great Samurai."

"We better get started then," Serena quickly glanced at the bedroom door and then smiled up at her mother. "I'll figure out a way to activate that Ape."

"You're going to have to," her mother chuckled. "It'll take time, but you'll get there."