The laundry was done, the bed was made again and the bowl of soup had been washed and put away. Mike figured that was more than enough time for Emily to calm down so he began his quest to find her.

He checked the dojo. Jayden was training and assured Mike he hadn't seen Emily since she ran off.

He checked the kitchen. Kevin and Mia were baking cookies together and they told him they hadn't seen Emily for hours.

He checked outside. Emily wasn't training and Antonio, who was coming back with his fish cart in tow, said he hadn't seen Emily at all.

He checked the rest of the house and bumped into Mentor Ji. He had also said he hadn't seen Emily.

Mike paced back and forth in the back hallway, tapping his finger to his chin as he tried to think. Emily wasn't inside the house, and she wasn't out in the yard. Mike shook his head. That was impossible. He must have missed her. Even sick and stressed, Emily would never, ever, head out on her own without telling anyone where she was going.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. Mike headed into the common room and pulled up the map, hoping he could locate Emily. He found her signal but he was frustrated when it told him she was here on the Shiba grounds. He rolled his eyes, turned off the map, and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Do you need a cookie?" he heard Mia asking him and he looked up to see her holding out a plate of fresh baked cookies. She was smiling at him, completely oblivious to the fact that her little sister was really good at hide-and-seek. "I made them myself."

Mike gave the cookies a sceptical look so Mia slapped him on the back of the head.

"Kevin said they were good. Just try one."

Mike grabbed a cookie. Things couldn't get any worse, and if the cookies were truly good maybe they would cheer him up. He flashed Mia a small smile, letting her know she had done a good job.

"Yay," Mia bounced slightly. "Two for two. I was thinking, seeing as Emily's not the puking kind of sick, maybe this would cheer her up. What do you think?"

"Yeah, go for it," Mike nodded, letting the proud Mia go to his room to offer Emily a cookie. He knew she wouldn't find the yellow Ranger, so he waited for her to come back.

When she did, she didn't look impressed.

"Michael, where's Emily?"

"I didn't do anything," Mike frowned. Mia only used his full name when she wasn't happy with him, letting him believe she thought Emily's absence from her room was his fault. It wasn't; not as far as he knew. Emily had run off on her own. He hadn't said or done anything to upset her.

"What does that mean?" Mia asked. "Where is she?"

"I checked everywhere…"

"Michael…"

Mike pointed to the table where the map had been moments before, "Her Samuraizer says she's still here somewhere. Who knows, maybe she's hiding in a cupboard or a drawer. You know Emily."

Mia crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot on the ground. Mike knew he wasn't doing much to calm her down.

"Is she hiding in a cupboard or a drawer, Michael?" Mia asked him.

"I… doubt it," Mike lowered his head. "I'll find her, though. She can't be that hard to find, right?"

"She's small, fast and agile," Mia frowned, rolling her eyes, "but no, you're right Mike, we'll find her any minute now."

"No need for sarcasm," Mike said. He pointed down the hallway, "I'll check every inch of the house again. Maybe I just missed an obvious spot."

"I'll check outside," Mia looked to the backdoor. "If she's still on Shiba grounds we should be able to find her."

"If you find her, don't let her out of her sight," Mike told the pink Ranger.

"Oh, is that how this works? I thought I was supposed to let her go again," Mia rolled her eyes and yanked the door open, stepping outside as Scruffy raced outside with her. She ignored the dog, knowing he had been trained not to leave the yard unless he was on a leash. She scanned the yard quickly while muttering to herself, "At least my cookies were good."

She stepped off the front porch to do a walk around the yard. If she didn't find Emily, hopefully she would find a clue or something useful. She was just checking behind the garbage bins when in the corner of her eye she saw Scruffy digging in the dirt.

"Scruffy!" she scolded the dog and he turned to her with a startled look. He stayed like that for a moment before digging in the ground again, this time pressing his nose into the dirt as he did. Mia marched over to him and grabbed his collar. "No digging! You know how Mentor hates it!"

Scruffy whined while trying to escape. Mia sighed and looked down. She saw a hole but made nothing of it. She remembered it was the entrance to Emily's underground fort, the fort she had abandoned after Dekker had made it a temporary home.

"What's up with you?" Mia asked as Scruffy pulled. "It's like you've never heard of a squirrel or rabbit before. Here's a hint: there's plenty more on the surface to scare if that's what you really…"

Mia trailed off when she thought she heard a weird noise coming from down the hole. It sounded like a wounded animal or… could it be sobbing? She looked at Scruffy.

"There is something down there, isn't there?"

Scruffy whined and lowered himself to the ground. He continued to stare at the hole. Now Mia was really tempted to check it out. She told the dog to stay as she carefully lowered herself down.

"Once I'm done this, I'm closing up this stupid fort," she muttered while climbing down slowly. "Sorry, Emily, but this is just a pain in the butt."

Her feet hit the ground and she turned around to face the inside of the very dark cave. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear something, confirming her suspicions that there was something here. She pulled out her Samuraizer and traced the symbol for a flashlight. Within seconds one appeared in her hand and she turned it on. As soon as she did she saw something darting across the stream of light and she nearly jumped out of her skin. If it was just a squirrel or a rabbit, it was huge. Mia felt her heart beating in her chest and she took a few steps back so her back was pressed against the wall of the cave.

She waved her flashlight around trying to see if she could find whatever was hiding in the cave, which was now completely silent. Occasionally she would see something moving, but it was always so fast that it managed to escape the light before Mia could get a good look. Finally she heard something hitting the dirt and a pained whimper. She used the sound to locate whatever it was she was searching for. Her light fell on Emily who was lying face down in the dirt.

"Shut up!" she heard Emily scream and she rushed to the yellow Ranger's side. She placed her hand on Emily's back comfortingly.

"Emily, what are you doing down here?"

"They'll find out! They'll notice and they'll know it was me!"

Mia frowned, "What? Emily, what's going on? What did you do?"

"You can't make me do it!"

Mia was starting to get the idea that Emily wasn't talking to her, but that didn't make sense. Emily wasn't one to talk to herself, especially like this. She set the flashlight down and grabbed Emily gently, lifting her out of the dirt.

"Emily, talk to me," she said. "Look at me and tell me what's going on."

Emily's teary eyes met Mia's and she threw herself into the pink Ranger's arms.

"I have to kill Jayden," Emily whispered in Mia's ear. Mia's eyes widened and she pulled away from Emily.

"What?"

"It'll make the voice stop," Emily said.

"What voice? Emily, it's just you and me down here. You can't possibly be thinking about killing Jayden!"

Mia was sure this was just a dream. Emily talking about killing Jayden? Emily yelling at herself? It didn't make sense.

Suddenly her Samuraizer went off. Mia grabbed it and answered it.

"Go for Mia."

"Have you found her yet?" Mike asked on the other end. Mia looked at Emily and was about to answer yes, but Emily shook her head. Apparently she could hear Mike and for some reason she didn't want to be found.

Mia sighed, "No, not yet. Have you?"

"No, but we have a visitor. Jayden wants us all in the common room A.S.A.P for a meeting."

"I'll be there in two minutes," Mia promised as she hung up and looked at Emily. "You heard him."

"I can't," Emily shook her head and tried to crawl away from Mia. The pink Ranger was quick. She grabbed Emily around the waist and pulled her back in.

"I'm not leaving you alone like this," she said. "We can talk inside, okay. I won't tell anyone what you said to me. We'll get this sorted."

"I don't have a choice! I can't go back there… NO! SHUT UP!"

"Emily…"

"I won't do it!"

"Emily!" Mia grabbed her little sister by the arms and shook her until Emily looked up at her. She stared into the yellow Ranger's eyes and saw fear and hurt. She let out a deep breath, "Okay… look just… don't move. I'll go up there, do the meeting and I'll be back here soon. Just stay here, promise?"

"You can't tell them…"

"I won't say a word," Mia nodded. She gave the yellow Ranger a loving squeeze before making her way back to the tunnel and climbing out. She brushed off the dirt from her clothes so the boys wouldn't get suspicious and headed inside. Her mind was racing because of what Emily had said, and she was worried there was something seriously wrong with her little sister. She wanted to tell the entire team what Emily had told her, knowing they would only want to help, but that wouldn't do any good. Emily wouldn't open up if they all ganged up on her.

As she walked into the common room she saw Dekker was the visitor Mike had referred to on the Samuraizer. She thought this was rather odd but assumed he was here for something important. When she took a seat the meeting started.

"I'm trying my best to change," Dekker started off with that so the Rangers knew he wasn't trying anything sneaky. He was here to help. "I've been tempted many times to do things I know you and Serena would disapprove of, but I haven't done them."

"Good for you," Kevin had a very small smile. He was proud of the warrior, but he knew Dekker still had a long way to go.

"I think of Serena when things are tough," Dekker said. "I always ask myself what she would do in my shoes. It helps. It helps a lot. Especially when Urumasa was calling for me."

"You don't have to worry about Urumasa anymore," Jayden told him. "We got the sword from the ocean. It's here, with us, safe and sound."

"Are you sure?" Dekker asked with slight confusion on his face. "Safe and sound?"

"Uh, yeah," Jayden nodded. "It's locked away. It's completely secured. No one will ever get their hands on Urumasa again."

"Someone has," Dekker said with certainty. The Rangers all looked at him, mouths open, eyes wide and frozen in shock. Then the questions started.

"Who?"

"How is that possible?"

"There's no way that's true!"

"How do you know?"

"Are you sure?"

"Urumasa spoke to me," Dekker said. "He spoke all the time, telling me what I needed to do, leading me to the places I needed to be… even after Serena tossed him into the water, he continued to call me… until recently."

"Maybe it's given up," Mike shrugged. "Maybe…"

"Urumasa has been searching for centuries for a worthy opponent so he could spill his blood. He wouldn't give up, especially after so little time. There's only one reason he would silence himself. He has found a new master."

"Someone else to talk to?" Mia asked, a lump forming in her throat. Dekker nodded his head.

"I would assume so," he said. "I craved a challenge, Urumasa craved blood. Because the red Ranger is still alive, I can only guess Urumasa hasn't ended his quest for a worthy opponent's blood."

"But we're safe, right?" Antonio asked, turning to Jayden and the rest of the Rangers. "It doesn't matter who Urumasa chose to be its new Master because we have it here and none of us are going to set it free or give it up."

"No way," Mike shook his head. "You, Kevin and Emily almost died so we could keep it safe. We're not just going to hand it over so someone else can kill Jayden."

"The new master," Mia shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she spoke to Dekker, "it would have to be someone really powerful, right? Urumasa wouldn't settle for some… let's say middle of the road fighter, right? It would choose someone big and strong and fierce."

"I don't remember how I wound up with Urumasa," Dekker replied. "However, I know it is thanks to Urumasa that I am the way I am today physically. He gave me strength and power… but it came at a price. Urumasa helped me; I needed to return the favour."

"By doing what?" Mia asked.

"Urumasa wanted blood," Dekker shrugged. "He is powerful, but he cannot wield himself. That is why he needed me."

Mia gulped. She knew she was starting to sweat. Her hands were shaky, her heart was pumping, the lump in her throat doubled in size. Her stomach was doing flips, making her feel like she was going to throw up, and her face started to burn.

She jumped up from her chair, racing off to the backyard.