A/N: I've been thinking about doing this story for a while now. I guess it's finally up!

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers: Samurai, just the plot.

Note: There will be no real pairings in here, canon or not, just friendship and a bit of fluff. Yeah, it's one of those team-bonding stories. So, enjoy!

~PRS~PRS~PRS~PRS~

The Song of the Lonely Mountain

Chapter 1: Secret Intentions

No one could deny that it was a beautiful morning, much less a beautiful day itself, so all six of the Rangers are already in their training uniforms and they decide to train outside today. They are in the kitchen, eating breakfast, which Antonio has cooked himself. Tonight, he decides at this moment, he will make dinner for themas well. Jii pops his head in the kitchen door and calls for Emily. She leaves the room, Mentor Jii leading her outside, claiming that she has mail. Assuming it's just a letter from Serena, the others relax and continue their breakfast.

Jii returns without Emily, wanting to give the young Ranger some privacy as she opens her mail, and he overhears the Rangers talking about today's training exercises that Jayden wants to try. He sighs in exasperation, muttering "Balance is the key."

"Actually, instead of having you Rangers stay within the Shiba House boundaries all day," he speaks up, catching their attention, "I'm going to give you a day off."

Mike leaps up ten feet in the air with excitement. "Yes! What should we do guys?!"

"How about that state fair that's in town?" Mia suggests. The others agree to this idea, and Antonio turns to Mentor.

"Can we go right now?" He asks, being just as hyper as Mike.

Jii nods. "Of course. Have fun. Loosen up."

As the Rangers go back to their rooms to get dressed, Mike yells back, "Don't worry, Mentor! We'll bring you back a souvenir!"

~P~O~W~E~R~R~A~N~G~E~R~S~S~A~M~U~R~A~I~T~H~E~S~O~N~G~O~F~T~H~E~L~O~N~E~L~Y~M~O~U~N~T~A~I~N~

Emily finally comes in from reading her mail outside, and finding something that she didn't quite expect. She meets the others in the hallway, and they cross paths with her. Emily notices their civilian clothes, and she realizes with a pang of guilt in her heart that Jii has given them all a day off. But her mind is set. It cannot waver. It will not sway. Her mind cannot be changed.

She does not meet their eyes, not even passing them a word, her family's packet envelope clutched in her hand.

Kevin asks her, "Emily, aren't you coming to the State Park with us?" Judging by the smiles on their faces, they are all very excited and expecting to tag along.

But to their sad surprise, she turns around to face them and shakes her head. She prays that her fake smile is not so obvious. "No, sorry. Not this time."

"Why not?" Antonio asks, voicing all of their instant worry and curiosity.

"Sorry, guys," she apologizes once again and says, "Something just came up. Don't worry. I'm fine. I'll probably catch up with you guys later."

The others reluctant head out the door and Mike backs out into the foyer, asking, "You promise?"

Emily's smile widens at Mike's antics. Him using his back to open up the door was something he always. "Yes, Mike. I promise."

She turns and walks away, heavily suppressing the urge to turn around and join them in their fantastic day off.

But she can't. Not yet.

She raises the envelope in her hand to her eye level, and pulls out a smaller white envelope, already open. She pulls out the letter it contains and rereads her mother's beautiful, cursive writing. Beautiful, but slightly frantic...

Emily recalls the day when their father never came home from a community meeting, having been killed by a drunk driver on the way home. Her mother was devastated, as was Serena, and she herself had bawled like the three-year-old baby she was.

Now, judging by her mother's letter, it appears that Serena will be the next one to go, the next one to leave their tight-knit family...

She puts the letter back in the envelope and places it back in the packet. She reaches in and pulls out another small package. She opens it up for the first time, as she had not bothered to open it outside, and she can now see the beauty and its detail...

But how could a thing so beautiful be so deadly?

Emily reached back into the packet and pulled out a old, worn-down journal.

But this journal would help her...

~P~O~W~E~R~R~A~N~G~E~R~S~S~A~M~U~R~A~I~T~H~E~S~O~N~G~O~F~T~H~E~L~O~N~E~L~Y~M~O~U~N~T~A~I~N~

Jii had been watching her that morning when she revealed the contents of her mail. When it was time for lunch, he makes them both sandwiches and he brings them to the place where she indicated she would be at all day. He finds her at the secret training sight, the one that has the gravel ground underneath their feet, surrounded by thick, green trees, darn near impossible to find...

Emily is training. Standing behind a boulder, he watches as she spins a disk hooked up to her Spin Sword, a Disk he's never seen before, and he observes as her Spin Sword is engulfed in flames.

Fire is not her element, he carefully ponders. Earth is, so why is she playing with fire?

He gazes at her, observing her, as she attempts to conceal and control the flames, the same as Jayden had done when he was training with the Beetle Disk. He gets a good look at her face, which is scrunched up with pain and worry, her hazel eyes filled with sadness and a troubled spirit, yet burning with determination. He winces as the fire bites back, hard, and she is flown back through the air by the shockwave the Disk releases and she hits the large boulder behind her. She cries out in pain as her back takes the brunt of the hit.

Placing the tray of sandwiches on a nearby flat-surfaced rock, he kneels next to her Sword in order to get a better look at the Disk she is using. It is black with five distinguished shapes on it: a red pentagon with fire within it, a blue hexagon housing water, a pink circle containing wind, a green square with leaves within it, and finally, completing the circle the five shapes create, is a yellow triangle housing the element of earth. He recalls something he read from the archives once, his secret stash, the one the Rangers are forbidden to touch. Picking up the Sword, he looks hardly at Emily, who struggles to back on her feet.

"This is a dangerous Disk you are trying to master here, Emily," Jii informs her.

She coughs before replying, "I know." Finally able to raise herself in a sitting position, he continues.

"But, as I told Jayden before, you need to be careful when attempting to control any element, because, right now, you are literally playing with fire."

Emily gets up on her knees. "I-I know that...but I'm always one step behind the others. I need to be the best for Serena and keep getting better."

He had noticed her solemn face when she reread the letter. "What's going on with Serena, Emily?"

Emily hesitates, but she gets up on her feet, finally, and slowly ambles to where Jii is standing, "Mom wrote me a letter today, and she says that Serena's only getting worse. She's in critical condition...she may not make it," she finishes in a low, soft voice, almost a whisper.

"How long does she have?" Jii asks, knowing that this could be a problem with her confidence and her focus.

Emily goes on in the same low voice, "Not sure. The doctors don't know yet...but Mentor? Don't tell the others yet, please. This is my burden. I'll tell them when I'm ready."

Jii nods in understanding. "But we do need to talk about this Disk." Emily's focus was brought back on why she was still here at the House, and not at the state fair with the others. She grabbed her sword back from Mentor, as he went on, "This Disk is the legendary Five-Element Combination Disk. Once mastered, it allows control over all five elements, giving you the ability to create any elemental combination possible. It also grants you solo control over the Megazord, something that the Black Box can also give you, if Antonio manages to program it correctly. Yet, training for this Disk...are you prepared to face the risks of attempting to fully master this disk?"

She answers right away. "Yes."

"But, Emily...you could die. I mean, to even have a chance of mastering this Disk, you must have five times the amount of symbol power you have now...you're not ready..."

"Stop it, Mentor," Emily whimpers, holding her Sword out steadily in front of her. "My mind is set. You cannot change it. I know of the risks. My mother told me in her letter. This Disk is what I received from her in the mail today. She told me that I was ready. That alone is enough for me, because she has faith in me. She believes that I can do it. Otherwise, she wouldn't have given it to me. Besides..."she took a deep breath, "would you have said that to anyone else on this team? That they 'weren't ready' to master this Disk? That they were too weak to even try?" She stares at him hard in the eyes. "I know I'm the youngest, Mentor, but don't treat me like a child. Stop trying to shelter me from the world, like you're afraid to let me go. You let the others learn from their mistakes. So what makes me so different?" And with this, she turns back around and centers her focus again.

"Emily..." he has no idea what to say. He had no idea they were all treating her like this. But technically, she still was a kid. She was at age 17, a year younger than Mike and Mia, with Jayden and Kevin one year their seniors.

"Besides," she says, getting his attention, without turning her head to face him, "I think it's because I'm a child that...I don't believe in giving up..."

Jii, from that point on, realizes that her mind really could not be swayed.

For now, he can just stay on the sidelines and pray that she doesn't get wiped out completely because of this Disk...

~PRS~PRS~PRS~PRS~

A/N: Well? What do you think of it, so far? Review please. If you have any questions, any one confused, don't hesitate. I will respond in the best way I can.