Aliyah paused as she entered the living room and found Mia and Kevin standing around Mike. The green Ranger sat on a stool with a hand on to his lower back. "I take it training didn't go exactly as planned?" she asked.

"Emily kicked butt," Kevin said. "Moreover, she kicked Mike's butt."

Mike scowled at his friend.

"You got floored by a chick?" Aliyah teased. "Way to go Emily."

Mike redirected his glare towards her. "We were training, and Emily got the upper hand," she defended.

"Uh-huh, sure," Aliyah nodded with a smirk.

"Here," said Emily, entering from the kitchen. She was carrying a bag of frozen peas.

"What's that for?" Mike asked.

"It will act like an ice pack," Emily answered. "I was accident prone has a kid, and it always healed me right up."

"Aren't you supposed to wrap it in a towel or something?" Aliyah asked. "You know, to save you from frostbite and burn."

"Burn?" Mike repeated.

Emily nodded. "But if he puts it on over his training clothes, then they'll act just like a towel does," she said. She smiled at Mike. "Here, let me."

"No thanks," said Mike, panicked. He jumped to his feet and slid away from the blonde.

"You really should," Emily said, darting after him.

Mike shook his head and run into the dojo.

Emily chased after him. "Come on, it'll make you feel better," she called.

Mike turned and headed back towards the others. Emily followed a few steps behind.

"Oh, Emily, watch out for the -" Aliyah called.

But it was too late, Emily's foot hit one of Penelope's ranger figures and hit the ground, landing on top of the frozen peas and causing the back to explode.

"Emily, are you okay?" Mia asked, jumping to her feet and rushing over to help her friend. Aliyah scooped up the figurine, tucking it into her pocket and kneeling beside the two girls.

Emily groaned as she looked around at the mess she'd made. "They're everywhere," she whined.

"Hey, don't worry about the peas," Aliyah said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Here -" she took out the morpher she'd used on Kevin the first time they'd met, and snapped it open. "Finishio." The peas immediately disappeared.

"Isn't using magic for everyday tasks personal gain?" Mike asked.

Aliyah looked up at him. "What? You wanted to clean that up?" she asked. "Because I can bring them back just as quick."

"No, no, I'm good," said Mike, holding up his hands and shaking his head.

"Thought so," said Aliyah. She stuffed her mystic morpher back into her pocket and turned to Emily.

"I'm such a disaster," Emily cried, running a hand over her face. It tingled from where the peas had been stuck.

"No, you're not, you were doing a nice thing," Mia said.

"I'm so sorry," Mike apologised.

"No, it's all my fault," Emily said, shaking her head. "I was being silly. You shouldn't have cleaned it up, Aliyah, I could've done it."

Aliyah shook her head. "That's okay, Emily," she said with a smile. "It's done now, and it's not like a broke a sweat or anything."

"I'm sorry you had to clean up my mess again."

"You don't always have to apologise for everything," said Aliyah. "Especially when you didn't do anything wrong. You were trying to help, besides, I should've been more careful when cleaning up after P, earlier. I must've dropped Connor," she pulled out the figurine. It was the red Dino Ranger, "when I was putting her toys away."

"Penelope names her figurines?" Kevin asked.

Aliyah shook her head. "No, Connor McKnight was the Red Dino Thunder Ranger in Reefside," she said.

"Wasn't you the Platinum Ranger on that team?" Mike asked.

"Yep."

"I remember them," said Emily. "My sister and I would always watch them on the news. She thought for sure the Red and Platinum Rangers were dating."

"She and thousands of other people," Aliyah said.

"So, were they dating?" Mia asked.

Aliyah shot her an 'are-you-serious-right-now' look.

"What?" Mia asked. "You were the Platinum Ranger, you can tell us if you were dating the Red Ranger, we won't judge."

"No, I wasn't dating Connor," Aliyah said. "He was my best friend if anything. Besides, I met Cam on my first team, and was already dating him by the time I was a Dino Ranger."

Mia sighed and shrugged. "You and Cam make a great pair," she said.

"That we do," Aliyah agreed. She stood and turned to help Emily back to her friend. "And you, little miss, Yellow," she added, brushing a curl behind Emily's ear. "Stop being so hard on yourself."

Emily smiled.

~*Lightning Samurai*~

Later that morning, Emily found Aliyah outside with Penelope, Cam, and Cookie. She stood watching as the two parents corrected Penelope's grip on her training sword and placed her in front of a training dummy.

"Hey, you feeling better?" Aliyah asked, looking over at the blonde.

"Yeah, thanks," Emily nodded. She still felt somewhat self-conscious around Aliyah, if not a little intimidated. "You've already started training with her?"

Aliyah nodded and looked back at Penelope. "Both Cam and I started our training at a young age," she said. "We were both children of Sensei's, so it was only natural."

"You're the daughter of a Sensei?"

"Well, not technically," said Aliyah. "In my family, once you retire from the military you become a Sensei. My mother still had a couple of years to go before retirement. But my aunt and uncle were Sensei. They trained me."

"How old were you when you dropped out?"

"Eleven."

Emily nodded. "Can I ask why?" she asked, quietly.

Aliyah smiled and nodded. "Sure. Everyone thinks I dropped out because I couldn't cut it as a Ninja, but that's not true," she said. "I dropped out because I was tired of being compared to my sister all the time. 'Why can't you be more like Rebecca' 'Rebecca was able to master this technique her first time. Will you be just like her?' 'You're nothing compared to Rebecca.' It got tedious after a while, and I one day I decided enough was enough, and I left."

"Where did you go?"

"To live with my grandparents in Blue Bay Harbour," Aliyah replied. "They were retired Military Officials and Sensei. They occasionally did a class now and again at the academy, but they were more or less out of the game."

Emily looked thoughtful. "What made you go back?" she asked. "To the academy, I mean. You did graduate, didn't you?"

"Oh yeah," Aliyah nodded. "After I graduated Reefside Highschool, I went back to the Lightning Academy and trained to become a fully-fledged Lightning Master. Many of my teachers by then were aware that I had been the White Lightning Ranger and realised that I wasn't Rebecca and rather my own person, with her own fighting style. It made things along easier for me."

Emily smiled. "So, is Rebecca is your older sister?" she asked.

Aliyah smirked. "I know what you're thinking," she said, quickly. "Why am I here and not her? Because a Samurai title is passed to the oldest sibling first."

Emily blushed,

Aliyah chuckled. "It was never explained as to why I was asked to come here and not Rebecca," she said. "And I didn't think about asking. I did suggest that there would be better people out there than me, but they were rather insistent. If I had to venture a guess, I would say it's because of my late destiny."

"Late destiny?" Emily repeated.

"That's a long story," Aliyah said shaking her head. The gap sensor blared, causing both of them to look up, startled. "And we just ran out of time. Cam!"

"Go!" Cam called from the training deck.

Aliyah nodded and turned to Emily. "Come on!" she grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside the house.

~*Lightning Samurai*~

Arriving at the scene, Aliyah and Emily quickly found the others and the monster that was causing the problem.

"Who's the loudmouth?" Aliyah asked, drawing her sword.

"He's talking smack about people," Mike answered. "It's not cool."

Aliyah hesitated. "Well, I guess it depends on your definition of smack," she said. "I mean if he's just being honest."

"She's right," the monster agreed. "I was just saying all the wrong things right."

"It's still not cool!" said Mike, rolling his sword and running forward. Before he could take his shot, however, the monster stopped him dead.

"I know something about you," Loudmouth said, getting in Mike's face. "Your bike had training wheels until you were ten!"

Mike gasped and was then blown backwards.

Aliyah's eyes widened and she looked from the loudmouth to Mike. "This is not good," she murmured.

"And you, Blue Ranger," Loudmouth added, rounding on Kevin. "You're just boring!"

Kevin sparked and, just like Mike, was blasted backwards.

"Your turn!"

Aliyah looked around as Loudmouth stepped up towards Mia. "Lousy cook!" he sneered.

Just like the others, Mia sparked and blew backwards.

"Hey!" Aliyah shouted, swinging her sword at the monster. "It's one thing to be brutally honest, it's another when you're just trying to be mean!"

The monster laughed and caught her sword, forcing it down. "Why do you even bother?" he asked. "You know they're all going to leave you eventually!"

Aliyah gasped and then groaned as she hit the ground just short of Mia.

"Aliyah!"

"I don't understand what he's doing," Emily said. "All he's doing is saying mean things."

"Keep your guard up," Jayden said, holding up his sword. He loaded the Beetle disc onto the handle and pointed the point towards the monster. "This one's tricky."

"Come on, what tricks?" Loudmouth asked. "I'm just telling the truth. My motto is: 'if the truth hurts, excellent.'"

Jayden spun the Beetle disc.

But before he had a chance to attack, Loudmouth knocked the sword from his hands. "You're a Red-faced liar-liar, pants-on-fire!" he said. "You've got a secret!"

Jayden hit the wall behind Emily.

"Looks like we're down to you!" Loudmouth laughed, turning on Emily.

"Your words won't faze me," Emily snapped. "Jayden's got nothing to hide! You're just a mean-mouthed monster spouting nothing but nonsense!" She raised her sword and attacked.

"Nonsense?" Loudmouth asked, ducking and avoiding her attacks. "If my words weren't true, they wouldn't hurt like they do. Here's a word that will send you flying - Airhead!"

Emily slashed down, landing an attack and knocking Loudmouth back.

"Maybe I didn't say it loud enough - you're a clumsy fool!" Loudmouth shot back.

Again, Emily landed an attack.

"Impossible!" Loudmouth gasped. "Klutz!"

Emily landed a third attack.

"Dimwit!"

And a fourth.

"Whiner!"

"Why can't he hurt her?" Mike asked, amazed by Emily's resilience.

Aliyah shook her head and carefully made her way back to her feet. "I don't know," she said, her eyes trained on Emily.

"Here's one that will do the trick," said Loudmouth. "Everyone loves to tease you!"

But Emily was ready for him, again. "Earth Slicer!" she called, summoning her primary weapon. "Take that!" she threw the boomerang-like weapon and cut Loudmouth down, causing him to land with a crunch near a gap-opening.

"This isn't over, Yellow!" Loudmouth warned, disappearing through a crack.

~*Lightning Samurai*~

Aliyah cracked her neck muscles as she stood in the living room of the Shiba house. Penelope sat at her feet, playing with Cookie. "I'm all for being brutally honest," she said with a groan, "but Loudmouth was just being mean."

"How is being brutally honest not being mean?" Kevin asked. "The truth hurts no matter how you look at it."

"But it's easier to be hurt with the truth than it is by lying to someone," Aliyah defended. "Would you rather I tell you something is off, or someone else? Which would be more humiliating for you?"

"Aliyah, not helping," said Cam, returning to the room carrying a book.

Aliyah rolled her eyes.

"The monster's name is Negatron," said Cam, placing the book in his hands on the table. "He likes to hurt people's feelings. He channels mental pain and turns it into physical pain. But he can only do that if what he says is true, and it's only true if you, yourselves, believe it is true."

"He caught me off guard," Mia defended. "It won't happen again."

Aliyah shook her head. "So, you don't believe you're a lousy cook?" she asked.

"Of course not!" Mia shrieked. "Why, do you?"

"I wouldn't go as far as to say you're lousy, but there is definitely room for improvement," said Aliyah.

Mike scoffed. "Well, I may have had training wheels but I didn't need them," he said.

"For what it is worth," said Aliyah. "I can't ride a bike now."

"You can't?" Mike asked, amazed.

"Nope, I hate bikes."

Suddenly, Mike felt better.

"Am I boring to you guys?" Kevin asked.

"You're extremely disciplined and orderly, Kevin," said Jayden, quickly. "It's a great quality for a Samurai."

Aliyah rolled her eyes.

"What about you?" Kevin asked, suddenly. His gaze trained on Aliyah.

Aliyah blinked and looked up. "What about me?" she asked.

"What did the monster say to you?"

"Nothing of importance," said Aliyah.

"It was obviously important to you as you went down, just like the rest of us," said Kevin. "Didn't he say something about being alone?"

Aliyah growled and narrowed her eyes. "What he said to me is none of your concern!" she snapped. "Just because you feel the desire to have a heart-to-heart in order to reassure yourself that what he said wasn't the truth, doesn't mean I do."

Despite being startled, Kevin glared right back. "Keeping secrets is never a good sign," he said. "Isn't that what you always say?"

"But I'm not keeping a secret," Aliyah replied. She caught Jayden's gaze from the corner of her eye. He looked away immediately. "I just don't need any reassurance as I know what he said is true, it will happen, eventually."

Cam frowned at his wife. While he was used to Aliyah's temper and attitude by now, he hadn't seen her lose control in a long time. He didn't know exactly what the monster had said to her in battle, but given her retaliation now, he had a fairly good idea.

"Emily was the only one unaffected," said Mike, steering the conversation out of dangerous waters. "That Nighlok knew exactly how to hurt us. But why couldn't he hurt her?"

"Maybe Emily has a special power of her own," said Ji.

Emily shook her head. "It's nothing great like that," she said. "I was teased and called names as a kid. It made me sad. But my sister told me just to pretend like the person teasing me hadn't said anything at all, and it really worked. So, when the Nighlok said those things to me, it was like he didn't even say them."

"Then why are you always putting yourself down?" Mike asked. "It makes no sense. Unless that's what you really think about yourself."

"Well… no… but…" Emily said, shaking her head. She stared at Mike, hurt evident on her face.

"Mike!" Kevin sighed.

"I'm sorry," Emily whispered before leaving the room.

Aliyah scoffed and pushed off the wall. "Here was me thinking that Loudmouth was the problem!" she said, running after Emily.

~*Lightning Samurai*~

With the return of the Nighlok, the Rangers steeled themselves for some heavy truths and headed downtown.

"Hey, Loudmouth!"

The Nighlok looked up and sighed as the Rangers stood over him. "You again?" he asked.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a bully?" Mia asked.

"Yep. Nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," Loudmouth nodded.

"Samuraizer! Go, Go, Samurai!" the team shouted, snapping open their morphers and tracing their symbols in mid-air.

"Rangers Together, Samurai Forever!"

Aliyah rolled her eyes. "Yeah, still not saying that," she said, shaking her head.

"More like heartbroken forever," Loudmouth chuckled. "Fortunately for you, I know the truth about each and every one of you, and this time you're really going to have it!"

"The truth?" Aliyah asked. "You can't handle the truth! Ha!" she jumped into the air, flipped over and slashed down with her sword, landing a hit against the Nighlok's stomach. "That crap you spewed about me last time? Not cool!"

Loudmouth laughed and punched Aliyah in the chest. She blocked his attack with her sword and kicked him in the stomach, knocking him back.

"Your friends don't care about you," Loudmouth retaliated. "They merely pity you!"

"Your words only hurt if we let them, Nighlok!" said Aliyah, diving aside. "Spin sword! Lightning Fury!" She swung her sword around, casting the lightning bolt at the Nighlok and knocking him away from her.

Loudmouth groaned as he landed in a heap nearby.

Emily grinned and run over to Aliyah. "You did it," she said. "How'd you do it?"

"I thought I'd take a leaf out of your book," said Aliyah. "Besides, his words only hurt if we believe they are true."

Stumbling back to his feet, Loudmouth pointed at the two Rangers. "You!" he spat, his gaze on Emily. "This your fault! My business with you isn't finished. Call off your guard dog and face me one-on-one!"

"Who do you think you are calling Aliyah a guard dog?" Emily yelled. "She's better than ten of you put together!"

Loudmouth laughed and pointed at Emily. "You must really be a crybaby if you need someone to always look out for you," he said.

"Watch what you say, Nighlok!" Aliyah warned. "The next words out of your mouth could very well be your last."

"I highly doubt that," Loudmouth replied. "This airhead couldn't hit a fly."

Aliyah growled and the grip on her spin sword tightened.

"No, I got this," said Emily, placing her hand on Aliyah's arm.

"Are you sure?"

Emily nodded. "Sticks and stones," she said, reminding Aliyah of the old nursery rhyme her aunt Phoebe used to tell her. Its words had never resonated with Aliyah, who had always preferred to punch her way out of a situation that was bothering her.

"All right," said Aliyah, stepping back.

"Don't worry, white Ranger," Loudmouth called. "My little puppets will keep you and your friends busy - MOOGERS!"

Aliyah rolled her eyes and spun her spin disc once more. "Lightning Bayard!" she called. She twirled her hand around and then slammed the end of her bayard into her empty palm, the tip glowed white and, with a simple flick of her wrist, Aliyah unleashed a crackling whip, wrapping it around the Moogers.

"Sky Fan!"

"Hydro Bow!"

"Fire Smasher!"

Jayden, Mia, and Kevin jumped over the round-up Moogers and unleashed their own individual attack on them, causing them to explode.

"Watch out, Emily!" Mike called. While the others dealt with the soldiers, he had run off to help Emily with the general. "I've got a point to make! Forest Spear, leaf storm!"

A blizzard of leaves bombarded Loudmouth.

"Those leaves were a bush-league move, you split pea punk!" Loudmouth snorted.

Landing behind Loudmouth, Mike caught him in a headlock and looked up at Emily. "Quick!" he called.

"With pleasure!" Emily nodded. She held up her morpher and drew a symbol mid-air. "Symbol Power - Rocks!" she slashed through the symbol and hurled several stones at Loudmouth, plugging his mouth.

Mike laughed and run back over to his friend. "Now we're rockin'!" he said, high-fiving her.

"Yeah!"

Struggling to speak, Loudmouth watched as Emily strode towards him. "I've got nothing nice to say to you," she said, waving her sword. "So let's call it a day - Spin Sword, Earth Symbol Strike!"

Loudmouth cried out as the symbol hit him, overpowering him and causing him to explode.

Emily grinned as Mike cheered beside her.

"Hey, little miss," Aliyah called, running over. "Remind me to never get on your bad side."

Emily chuckled.

~*Lightning Samurai*~

Emily smiled as she watched Cookie attempt to catch butterflies in the backyard. The cat would stand on its back legs and pounce, trying to catch the winged bug in her front paws. More often than not, she'd miss, but on the times that she did catch a butterfly, she'd release it straight away.

"Watching Cookie was always a favourite past time for me, too," said Aliyah, stepping of the kitchen doors and finding Emily on the porch. "Especially after a long day of fighting monsters."

"She's not like most cats," Emily said, looking up. "Where I am from, the cats eat the butterflies they catch."

Aliyah sat down beside her. "Cookie's weird in more ways that one," she admitted. "You know how most cats will play with a spider?"

"Yeah,"

"Cookie won't. She'll run in the opposite direction."

Emily laughed.

Out in the yard, Cookie looked around. She purred and, butterflies forgotten, bounded across to the two humans. She stopped beside Emily, climbed into her lap and nudged her head with her head.

"If you value your freedom, don't pet her," said Aliyah. "All it takes is one, and you'll forever be trapped. Trust me."

Emily chuckled and decided to ignore the advice, and pet Cookie anyway.

Aliyah shrugged. "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you," she said.

"I've always wanted a pet," Emily said.

"Didn't you grow up on a farm?"

Emily nodded. "Yeah, but farm animals don't really count as pets," she said. "I mean, most of them were sold to slaughterhouses, like the pigs and cows."

Aliyah shivered. "Those poor piggies," she said.

"Sorry, I forget you're a vegetarian," Emily apologised.

Chuckling, Aliyah shook her head. "Is there nothing that you apologise for?" she asked.

Emily blushed.

"You do realise you should only apologise if you do something wrong, right?" Aliyah asked.

"Does that include you, too?"

Aliyah shrugged. "If I know what I have said is wrong, and my words have deeply hurt someone, then yes, I will apologise," she explained. "But if I think I am right then you'll have a better chance getting blood from a stone."

Looking down at Cookie, Emily scratched her behind the ears.

"Why don't you ask me that question that you've been dying to ask me all day," said Aliyah. "I promise, I'll try and give you an honest answer."

Emily furrowed her brow and looked up. "I don't -" she started.

"Come on, now, Em," said Aliyah. "I know you have a burning question inside that head of yours. You've all had it since the first attack this morning. Kevin was the only one brave - but foolish - enough to try and voice it."

Emily sighed and nodded. "What did Loudmouth mean when he said 'everyone leaves you'?" she asked.

Aliyah forced a smile and, hugging her knees against her chest, looked down into her lap. "Ever since I was a kid people close to me have always left," she answered. "My parents, my aunt and uncle, my grandparents, my cousin, my sister, even friends. After a while, it became such a normal routine that I just stopped letting people in..."

"But you always speak about your friends," said Emily, confused. "Just this morning you told us about your best friend, Connor, and you've been a Ranger five times, surely you have other friends, too?"

"Oh, I do," said Aliyah, nodding, "and it was hard to let them in. I mean, there are a few that I still have a rough time with, even now, but those that I am close with proved to me that they were willing to tear down my walls."

"Like Cam?"

Aliyah smiled and nodded. "Yeah, like Cam," she agreed. "He is my one true special friend. The one person I love more than anything, the only person that has made it further than anyone else in terms of tearing down my walls. Sometimes I question why-why does he bother? Everyone else learns the truth about me, realise that they can't handle it, and then they leave." She shook her head. "But not Cam."

Emily smiled and lay her head against Aliyah's shoulder. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," she said.

Aliyah chuckled and rested her head atop of Emily's. "I guess the student has become the master, huh?" she asked.

"I know all about being insecure," Emily said. "I just never expected someone as confident as you to feel the same."

"We all have a mask that we hide behind, Emily," said Aliyah. "You're the only person I know that's not afraid to wear her true face. You know, we could learn a lot from you, especially me."

"You think so?"

Aliyah nodded. "Maybe being confident isn't always a good thing," she said. "Maybe being confident is the reason people always left. Even I'll admit that my confidence is hard to handle sometime."

"Maybe you're right," Emily said. "Being confident all the time can be intimidating. It's alright to show a little uncertainty sometimes."

Aliyah looked down at the blonde. "Thanks, Em," she said.

Emily smiled.

Who would've thought that Emily was the one to get Aliyah to open up? I think Aliyah just found a new friend.