Riley didn't mean for anything to happen. She had just wanted to avoid being taken to the orphanage where, as she believed, kids were dying.

She didn't know how or why, but while trying to convince the bad guys not to rob a bank, Emily had turned up. Riley didn't know Emily very well, but she did remember meeting her and they had fun together. Riley had tried to convince her she was being a hero when suddenly the bad guys pulled out guns.

The little girl was young, but she wasn't stupid. Emily's leg was bleeding, and the first shot to be fired was the reason why. Emily had been in the leg, but it didn't keep her down for too long. Riley couldn't explain how, but Emily had found a rock inside the bank and she hit one of the robbers right in the face with it before she had to wrestle with his partner Matt while Riley took on the first guy. She managed to hit him in the nose and that gave her enough time to get away from him and help Emily, who was pinned under Matt and had a gun pointed to her chest.

She still wore her pink Ranger costume, and with the mask she felt brave. She ran towards Matt and Emily, screaming for him not to hurt her aunt when another shot was fire. Riley let out a cry and dropped to the ground, but aside from a bruised knee and a couple of scrapes, she wasn't hurt.

"Dave! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Dave shouted as Matt got up off Emily to apologize to his partner for shooting at him. The bullet had missed Riley. Matt hadn't had time to aim properly. Instead of hitting her, it grazed the side of Dave's arm, leaving only a scrape, a very pissed off Dave, and a hole in the wall behind him.

Emily rolled over, grabbed Riley who was curled up in a ball on the floor and pulled her into her arms. She wrapped herself around the little girl, made herself as small as possible and traced another Symbol on the floor with her finger. Suddenly, rocks and earth came up from the ground, breaking through the floor and surrounded Emily and Riley in a small, but very impenetrable cave.

Matt and Dave saw this and their jaws dropped.

"Kid's a fucking Power Ranger!" Dave cried out as Matt helped him up to his feet.

"A Ranger who let my daughter die," when Dave was steady on his feet, Matt let him go and tried to shoot his gun again, but the bullet wouldn't break through the rocks. He wanted to try again, but he could hear sirens going off and knew the police were on their way. The city was still quiet, but by now someone must have heard the shots and called the cops. The men tried to run, but found themselves falling into a hole that filled itself up with sand. They couldn't climb out.

Inside the rocks, Emily held Riley tightly and hushed her to keep quiet. The rocks would muffle some of the sounds she made, but not all. Promising Riley they would be safe, and adding that Mia would come and find them soon made Riley quiet down just enough for Emily to listen to what was happening outside the rock. She heard sirens and cars stopping. Footsteps and shouts from the police, and cries for help from Matt and Dave.

"In the rock! In the rock!" either Matt or Dave shouted as they tried to convince the cops they had been attacked by a Samurai Ranger – claiming truthfully that they had seen Emily using magic powers which had created the stone that broke Dave's nose, the sand traps inside the bank, and the rock that protected her and Riley. Suddenly, the rock was pushed over, and Emily had to bite her tongue to keep herself from screaming and scaring Riley.

"I don't know what you guys are trying to pull," one of the cop's voices said, "but there's no way there's anyone in this rock. The Samurai Rangers abandoned the city weeks ago."

"But… but…"

"Is this your bag?" another officer asked. "It's the stolen money from those stores, chief. Look at that, we did find the scum who've been robbing the grocery stores."

"Take them away," Emily figured it was the chief's voice, and he sounded stressed which was very understandable. Given what had happened, there was really no way to explain the sand traps, the stolen money, and the rocks inside what had once been a very nice bank.

"Riley," Emily whispered and put her mouth near Riley's ear, "I have enough energy to do one more Symbol. It's going to take us to the Shiba House. That's where Lauren, Mentor Ji, and Kate live. When they ask what happened, you tell them my leg hurts, and you tell them where you hurt, okay?"

"W-what ab-bout M-Mia?" Riley asked.

"She's going to find us, I promise. What do you tell Lauren, Mentor Ji, and Kate?"

"Your leg hurts."

"Good girl. Close your eyes."

"I can't see."

"Just close them."

-Samurai-

Lauren watched as Kate and Ji were taking down some of the Christmas decorations. It had been nearly a week since the holiday had come and gone, and the Christmas tree and all the other Santa related decorations were going to have to come down at some point. Kate had mentioned they were cleaning up for New Year's.

Lauren knew about the New Year. She knew that New Year's Eve was the last day of the year, and everyone had a big party to celebrate the first moments of the coming year. Though she hadn't celebrated it herself while training, she had always liked New Years. It was the very start of a year full of opportunities, and it put another year behind her, bringing her closer to the day she was reunited with her brother.

Now, it was the start of her life with her brother and her new family, and she was excited to put her past behind her. 2013 was going to be a great year, and Lauren planned on having an excellent time celebrating New Year's Eve the following day with all the Samurai.

"I'll explain some of the New Year's traditions to you later," Kate said as she and Ji worked on getting the Christmas tree outside.

Lauren watched from the couch with a smile. Considering Christmas had turned out so great, she expected New Year's to be amazing as well. Much better, even, considering this wasn't a new holiday for her. As she tried to come up with some ideas for games for the party, a light started to glow in the common room. It got brighter and brighter until suddenly a rock appeared over the table. Gravity had its way and the rock came crashing down, smashing the table underneath it as it landed with a loud, heavy thud.

"What the…?" Lauren got up from couch to inspect the rock and knocked on it.

"Auntie Lauren! HELP!"

"Riley?" Lauren could recognize the muffled voice anywhere, but had to take a moment to process where Riley's voice was coming from, "Where are… Are you inside the rock?"

"I think so! HELP!"

"You get yourself stuck in the weirdest places," Lauren muttered and picked up the box that had been sitting on the table before the rock had smashed it. Ji had collected a few of the Samuraizers but hadn't put them away just yet. Lauren used a Symbol to crack open the rock. It broke open, revealing itself to be hallow inside, but instead of Riley, Emily came out of it.

"What the…?" Lauren asked again before Emily started to move and Riley crawled out from under her, covered in blood. Lauren never felt her stomach jump so quickly up into her throat, nor had her heart ever stopped so suddenly. She grabbed the young girl and carried her over to the couch.

"What happened? Are you okay? Where are Mia and Kevin? Who did this to you? How did this happen? Where does it hurt, Riley?"

Riley, who was already crying, pointed to her knee and then showed Lauren her elbow. Neither had more than a couple of bruises and a few scrapes. They weren't enough to cover Riley in blood.

"And Emily's leg hurts."

Lauren looked over her shoulder. Emily did look very pale, and her legs and hands were covered in blood. She wasn't conscious, which didn't bode well, but Lauren knew Ji had her Samuraizer, and there was only one way Emily and Riley could have gotten inside a rock. Symbol Power without the Samuraizer could be very draining.

"I'll get you cleaned up," Lauren promised Riley and then covered her ears and screamed loudly. Ji and Kate were already on their way back inside when they heard the scream and they came racing into the common room.

Lauren took Riley in her arms and hurried her off to her bathroom to wash her up and make sure the scrapes were the worst of Riley's injuries. She passed by Kate and Ji, who just saw the mess in the common room.

"I would explain, but I can't and there's no time," Lauren said quickly as she raced off. She carried the still crying Riley into her bathroom, closed the door and set the little girl down on the toilet while she started to fill the tub with warm water. Riley hugged her knees to her chest.

"I wanted to stop the bad guys, but they no listened."

"They don't normally," Lauren shook her head and muttered. As the tub filled with water she turned around and gently took the mask off Riley's head, "What happened, Riles?"

"I don't want to die."

"You're not going to… where are Mia and Kevin?"

"A lady came and asked me a lot of questions. Then I heard her talking to Mia and meanie Kevin about taking me to an opha… opana… a place where kids die!"

"And orphanage?" Lauren asked and Riley nodded her head.

"Then Mia and Kevin talked about me being trouble and no one want me. So I left."

"What do you mean, no one wants you?" Lauren helped Riley get undressed and was relieved to see the scrapes were the worst of her injuries, but at the same time she was worried about the amount of blood that stained Riley's costume and was on Emily. She pushed that to the back of her mind for now, positive Ji and Kate would take care of it. She lifted Riley into the tub and grabbed a cloth to clean her off. "Riles, Mia loves you to pieces, and I know you and Kevin don't get along, but he cares about you too."

"No he don't. He telled Mia no one wants me."

"I promise you, they do," Lauren rubbed the blood of Riley and then pulled her out of the tub. She then cleaned out her scrapes and grabbed a box of bandages from the cabinet under her sink. They were Power Ranger bandages. Lauren couldn't resist when she had seen them on the shelf.

"Let me guess, you want… red Ranger?"

"Pink," Riley let herself smile a little bit as Lauren covered her scrapes with the bandages, and then she did something else. She kissed the bandage. Lauren couldn't explain it, but she did remember her mother doing that for her when she had gotten hurt, and for some reason it always made the pain go away.

"I have a shirt you can borrow," Lauren stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed a shirt for Riley to use as a nightgown until Mia and Kevin could take her home and dress her up in her own pyjamas. She slipped the shirt over Riley's head and then pulled her in for a hug, "I was really scared too when my parents died. I wish I had been as lucky as you, though."

"I'm not lucky. They don't want me."

"I'm sure they do," Lauren nodded her head. "And you know what, even if they don't, I do. No one's going to take you away. No one's going to hurt you, and you're not going to die in an orphanage. I don't know what you heard, Riley, but I think you heard wrong. Now, while we wait for Mia and Kevin, who I'm sure are worried sick about you, why don't we read a story?"

"Okay," Riley took Lauren's hand and walked with her to the bed. Lauren lifted her up, set her down on the mattress and then went to her bookshelf to find something appropriate to read to Riley, positive books about Samurai history and war would bore or terrify her.

"Here: The Ugly Duckling. I read this to Terran once. It's really cute."

"Auntie Lauren."

"Yeah."

"I like pink."

Lauren looked to Riley curiously, "I know you do."

"This shirt is red," Riley tugged on the collar of the shirt Lauren had given her and had a look of distaste. Lauren turned to her dresser and sighed.

"Sorry, kid, I don't have any pink."

"No pink?" Riley gasped. Lauren shook her head and then remembered something. Jayden had moved out, and he had taken almost everything with him, but Lauren had found something of his that he had forgotten. She pulled out a shirt from her closet and Riley smiled when she saw it was pink.

"It's Jayden's."

Riley looked up curiously at Lauren as they changed her shirt, "But he's a boy."

"Who didn't know how to do his own laundry, apparently," Lauren chuckled. "Even I know how to do that."

"Why does he have a pink shirt? How come you don't have one?"

"I like red."

"Ew."

"What do you mean, ew? Without red, there would be no pink."

"Red is stupid. Pink is best."

"I don't think…" Lauren was interrupted when Riley blew a raspberry. She tried to speak again, but Riley interrupted again. So Lauren decided to fight fire with fire and blew a raspberry at Riley.