Dogs, there were dogs everywhere. Big dogs, small dogs, young dogs, old dogs, black dogs, white dogs… going through the list in his head, Jayden felt like he was in a Dr. Seuss book.

But all the dogs were cute, he would admit to that.

Jayden had taken his Samurai to the dog shelter, where all the dogs that didn't have a home were taken to be looked after and eventually adopted. Of course, because of all the monster attacks, people lost their dogs all the time and it seemed they never came back for them.

"As you can see," the worker said to Jayden, "We have a wide selection for you today. All these dogs in this room are ready to be adopted."

"Aw, look at this one," Mia smiled as she pointed to a small dog, a mixed breed as far as Jayden could tell. Mia stuck her finger through the cage and started playing with the small dog.

"Small?" Mike asked, shaking his head. He stood beside a very large English mastiff, "No, we're not going small. I like this one!"

Emily's eyes grew wide as she stared at Mike's choice, "That dog will knock me over!"

"Your own feet knock you over, Em," Antonio chuckled, patting her shoulder.

"What about this one?" Serena pointed to a border collie mix.

"We're not on a farm," Emily said, "Stop looking at working dogs."

"It's cute," Serena wrapped her arms around the dog's neck, "My vote goes here."

"We're not judging cute," Antonio shook his head, "We want an awesome dog, right boys?"

"Like this English mastiff!"

"No!" Emily shook her head, "I'm fine with another big dog, but nothing that's bigger than me when it stands up!"

"That is a big dog," Mia agreed.

Though Kevin was excited about getting another dog back in the Shiba House, being in the shelter was reminding him of how big a mess dogs could make. He kept looking around at the dogs, hoping he would find one that already knew the definition of the word clean.

Then his eyes fell on a very small, red coloured dog in a cage. This dog was grooming himself – or herself, Kevin didn't want to check, it felt rude. The little dog was licking its paws and cleaning itself up just like a cat. Its cage was also neater than most. The worker saw Kevin's eyes were fixed on the dog and smiled, "That's a Shiba Inu."

"Shiba?" Mike asked, leaving the mastiff's side to look at the dog with the same name as Jayden, "Oh, that is awesome!"

"Imagine," Antonio whispered to Jayden, "We work for the Shiba Clan, in the Shiba House, with a red Shiba Inu."

"Are you an active home?" the worker asked the Rangers. "This dog requires a lot of exercise.

"We're pretty active," Serena smiled. Activity level was not an issue for the Samurai.

"She's a proud dog, too," the worker unlocked the cage, seeing most of the Samurai were gathered around to look at the dog. He knelt down beside the dog and started to play with the dog, "From what we've seen, she's pretty clean."

"Proud, clean?" Mike smirked and looked to Kevin, "She's got Jayden's last name, but this dog is like the dog version of you."

Kevin smiled. Mike was right. Already he could tell he and this dog would get along.

"Word of advice, though," the worker said, "If you are considering getting this dog, when you take her outside, never let her off the leash. She's a hunter. She'll go after small prey and it'll be next to impossible to call her back. She might wander out into the streets or just get lost."

"Can we take a minute to think about it?" Serena asked. The worker nodded and set the dog up in a little kennel where the Rangers could interact with it.

Kevin was already madly in love with this dog.

Jayden was shaking his head, "We can't just pick a dog because it's called Shiba. This dog has to be right for us."

Mia picked the dog up and held her out for Jayden, "She's adorable!"

"I switch my vote," Serena nodded. "I used to have a friend who had a Shiba. The dog was great once it was properly trained. I think we can make it work, especially since she's still a dog."

"You had me at Shiba," Antonio grinned, taking the dog from Mia. He played with her for a few seconds before passing her over to Emily.

Everyone held their breaths, waiting for her reaction. Though she had fallen in love with many dogs at the shelter they knew it was different being only one step away from actually adopting this dog and taking her home.

The dog was still young and very playful. She squirmed in Emily's arms, trying to swipe at the necklace she wore. In this sense, she reminded Emily a lot of Scruffy when she had first seen him. He had been a curious but very playful little dog and he had grown attached to her pretty quickly. This little dog didn't seem to mind her very much and even looked like she wanted Emily to play with her.

But one thing she had loved about Scruffy was being able to take him to the park, let him off the leash and throw around a ball. He would bring it right back all the time and would always come back to her when she called him.

"You're never going to find another Scruffy, Emily," Serena reminded her. "If this is too much, we're okay letting her go to another family. It won't be fair for us or her if we adopt her and you're not ready."

Suddenly, Emily was very aware of all the dogs running around, barking and playing in their cages. She could hear just how happy and excited they were at the thought of maybe being adopted. The little Shiba in her hand in particular seemed very happy Emily was around.

But that wasn't a good thing. Emily thought of Scruffy and how he had died. She couldn't do that to another dog. She couldn't bring an innocent dog into her life while she was still fighting Nighlok. What if she got hurt? What if the dog did like Scruffy did because it thought it had to protect its owner. Emily couldn't bear the thought of putting another dog in danger. Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked up at her big sister. She handed the dog back, "I can't hurt her," she whispered and then ran out of the building.

Serena set the dog down and went after her sister, stepping out of the shelter.

Emily had run out pretty quickly and she could have been anywhere by now. Serena looked left and right, hoping Emily hadn't gone too far. Then she looked straight ahead. The shelter was right in front of the park. Hoping Emily had gone there; Serena crossed the seat and looked around.

"Emily!"

She saw her sister curled up on a park bench with her knees pulled to her chest and her head buried in her arms. Serena sighed and slowly made her way over. She sat down beside Emily and wrapped her arms around her.

"If you're not ready, it's okay."

"I know why you gave up Terran now," Emily whispered. "It's too dangerous for him."

"Emily…"

"Scruffy took that hit for you!" Emily cried. "I can't let another dog do that! No shelter would let us adopt a dog if they knew we fought Nighlok!"

"We fight Nighlok, Em," Serena reminded her sister, "That little dog in there won't ever have too. You heard the man; we can't let her off her leash. You'll still be able to play with her, but inside the yard, inside the gates, where she'll be safe from Nighlok."

"I can't do it…" Emily said. "How… how did you do it for so long with Terran?"

"Not just Terran," Serena tucked a strand of Emily's hair behind her ear, "It's not easy. You love something so much but you know there's danger around every corner. You can't bear the thought of something happening. I live with that every day, Emily. For Terran, for you, for everyone I care about. Do you know how damn hard it was passing the yellow Ranger powers down to you? Even now, you're an amazing Samurai and I still worry about you. I worry about Nighlok, I worry about strangers. Anything, anywhere can happen to you."

"You're not helping," Emily sobbed. Serena smiled and pulled her sister into her chest.

"But I know mom trained you well. I know I've trained you well. I've taught you everything I could possibly teach you. I've done everything I could to make sure you can take care of yourself. I can't make this world safe for you, Em, but I can make you safe for the world."

"What about the dog?"

"We'll train her," Serena smiled, "just like we trained Scruffy. We'll give her a loving home, we'll make sure that home is safe for her, and we'll protect her, just like we protected Scruffy."

"But Scruffy…"

"Made his own decision. You didn't doom that dog, Emily."

"I don't know," Emily pulled away from her sister. "I miss him. I miss having a dog but… but…"

"What if I talk to the shelter about maybe reserving her for us over night? We'll take some time to think about it, do a little research on her, and we'll dog proof the house so there's no way the Nighlok will get near her. If you still can't bear the thought of something happening, or if you don't feel ready, we'll let another loving family take her, okay?"

"Okay."

"You do what the Shiba, right?" Serena chuckled. "You know that's the dog I'm talking about."

"I want the Shiba," Emily said. She got up and walked beside her sister. Serena pulled her in for a one-armed hug as they headed back to the shelter.

"I can't wait to see the look on Ji's face when we tell him we're thinking of getting a Shiba."

"A red one," Emily added.