Antonio needed one thing. Solitude.

He couldn't go home. Not this time. The Nighlok knew him too well at this point. He was too closely connected to the Rangers that he was still a danger. Going home to his father, without his Samurai Morpher, was too risky. So Antonio needed a place to live and a job to afford that place, without running into too many people. Not until he could blend into the city and leave Xandred and the Nighlok to forget there ever was a gold Ranger. After all, with so many centuries of history between the Samurai and the Nighlok, his stay would barely leave a mark.

He found an old part of town where no one went. Not even the Nighlok liked the venture down here because there was no one to terrorize. He would be safe here.

His stomach rumbled. Had he brought his cart with him, he would have had some fish to eat for a couple of days, but his fear of fish prevented him from eating it so he was left with nothing. He barely had any money left over anymore. It had been hard to work in the winter and what little money he did have had been stolen at the flea market. Mike and Emily forgot to take his little safe with the money he had collected with them. It wasn't their fault, but he really wished they hadn't forgotten.

Feeling like a homeless man on the streets, Antonio gathered up what he could find to make a shelter. Despite the sign that prohibited dumping, the city seemed to leave all their unwanted items here and no one cared. No one came to this part of town to complain, and the police had other things to deal with.

He made his shelter and crawled inside. Curled up in a ball, he realized he wasn't used to being alone. He had never been alone in his life before. Even after leaving his father to travel and find the Samurai, he had Octozord with him. Octozord had been his best friend before he met the Rangers. Octozord had always been by his side. But Octozord was a squid and squids scared Antonio just as much as fish.

A tear slipped down his cheek. He was scared, he was alone, he had no idea where to go, or what would happen.

"Stupid Rangers," he muttered, "Stupid Nighlok… stupid fish."

-Samurai-

Serena got home from work looking like she was ready to kill. She needed to have a serious talk with her sister about Frankie's behaviour. She knew it wasn't Emily's fault, but the first step to keeping her sister away from Frankie was to get Emily to understand she needed to keep her distance from strangers. The talk wouldn't be too hard, just really awkward.

But the house was empty. The only sound Serena heard was Mentor Ji making strange farm noises (he was playing with Terran) and grunts and screams from the dojo. No video game sound effects, no talking or laughing or running or fighting.

Where was everyone? They weren't all training, were they?

She walked into the dojo and saw Jayden was beating up a punching bag. No sword training, no weapons at all, just Jayden's fists flying.

"Jayden," Serena called his name but Jayden was somewhere else entirely. He was so focused on the bag he had no idea she was home. He beat and beat into it until it finally broke. Jayden ripped it down and started beating it up on the ground.

Something was wrong, Serena noted, as she raced over and pulled Jayden off the bag.

"Jay…"

Jayden grabbed her and pinned her to the ground. He was so focused on beating up the punching bag that he was about to drive his fist right into her face. Fortunately, he stopped inches from her nose. He got up off her and walked to his water bottle. Serena approached him carefully.

"Jayden, what happened? Where is everyone?"

"Antonio's gone."

"What?"

"He left in the middle of the night," Jayden said and clutched his water bottle tightly. Serena could hear the plastic crunching and the water was flowing over the top. "He quit."

Serena shook her head. It took a moment for the words to hit her.

"He… he quit?"

"The others are looking for him," Jayden nodded, "They've been out all day but they won't find him."

Jayden took a seat on the bench. He dropped the water bottle and held his head in his hands. Serena heard him sobbing and her heart broke. She sat down beside Jayden and wrapped her arms around him. She didn't ask another question or say another word. She just let him cry on her shoulder.

-Samurai-

"Antonio!" Emily shouted, hoping he would answer and come out of hiding, but no such luck. She had been out for hours with the others looking for their gold Ranger but was coming up short. If it was possible, it seemed like Antonio had been wiped off the face of the planet. Calls were being sent right through to voicemail, there was no way to track him because his morpher was at home, and no one had seen him.

Mia and Kevin thought it best to check his usual hang outs, thinking he would go there. Emily knew better but decided to let them try. They had to check everywhere after all. But she knew Antonio was scared of fish and everything fish related. He wouldn't go near the water or anywhere he set up his cart to sell fish. He wouldn't go to the harbour, he would find a lake or river, she knew he wouldn't be there.

Mike had come with her at first, but the city was so big, they eventually had to split up. They had their Samuraizers with them and turned on so they could keep in constant communication, but now they were on their own. Emily was sure that by now Mia and Kevin had done the same. There was no way two groups could cover even half of the city in one day.

Emily decided to take a break on a park bench and quickly called Mike's Samuraizer to check in with him so she knew he was okay and he knew she was okay. She spoke with him for a minute, disappointed but not surprised that he hadn't even found a clue of where Antonio was or had been. Then she hung up and took a quick breather.

"Emily," she heard someone say her name and her head wiped around, hoping for Antonio.

Frankie couldn't believe his luck. Fate wanted him and Emily together despite what Serena believed. This was fate giving him the go ahead.

There she was, the love of his life, sitting alone on a park bench just waiting for him to turn up. Like he had promised himself, after school, every day, he would walk around and search for her. Eventually he knew he would find her and eventually he would learn her routine. What she did, where she went, and how often she went to those places.

He took a seat next to her and showed her his wrist, "You were right. It is a sprain."

"Sorry," Emily muttered. She was apologetic, but she was too worried about Antonio to really get that tone to Frankie. She just sighed, "How is it now?"

"Better," Frankie smiled. He saw she wasn't smiling and he wanted to know why. Had someone hurt her? Was it her boyfriend? Her boyfriend was no good for her anyways. She was better off with him. She must have known it. Why else would she be alone where he could find her? "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Emily was a horrible liar. She was good with lies when they involved keeping someone's secrets but when she had to lie about who ate the last cookie, why she didn't do her homework, or how she was feeling, people genuinely saw right through her.

"No you're not," Frankie moved in a little closer. Emily didn't move away. She didn't even notice. Frankie thought she didn't mind that he was getting closer. He thought she liked it. "You can tell me."

"It's nothing," Emily shook her head, "Besides, I've bothered you enough. I'm really, really sorry about the sprain…"

"Don't worry about it," Frankie shrugged it off like it was nothing. He had been laughed at in school but he was always being laughed at. Even without the sprain, the other kids would have found something else about him to make fun of, "I know you're sorry about it. Most people would have just apologized from far and called their dog back, not even bothering to see how I was. You cared enough to make sure I was okay. I feel like I owe you."

He wanted to earn her trust. He wanted to make her feel special because, well, she was. She was everything to him.

"If you just want someone to rant to," Frankie said, "you can rant to me."

"Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Frankie shook his head. Emily sighed.

"You know my friend from the park? He won't answer his calls and… well he kind of ran away."

"What do you mean?" Frankie frowned. A little part of him was disappointed this had nothing to do with her boyfriend. But, then again, maybe it did. Frankie started to assume Emily was using friend as a code for boyfriend. Maybe she was having troubles with her relationship. Maybe he wasn't treating her like the goddess she was and he could rescue her.

"He ran away and we're looking for him," Emily shrugged. She couldn't be any clearer. Then a thought occurred to her, "Wait, do you remember what he looks like?"

Of course he remembered. Her friend from the park had been the jerk who had so rudely separated them.

"Vaguely," he said, "Black hair, a little taller than me, rudely interrupts conversations?"

Emily chuckled slightly, "Yeah that was him," she sighed again and looked down at her shoes, "I'm really worried about him. Have you seen him around anywhere? Even just walking by."

Frankie shook his head and he saw Emily's face fall even more. He couldn't bear to see her hurting. He wanted to make it all better. So he said what he thought he could say to cheer her up.

"Look, I shouldn't be telling you this, but…"

"But?" Emily looked up, her interest at a high. "Frankie, what?"

"He made me promise I wouldn't tell you…"

"You saw him?" Emily shrieked, "What? Where? When? How?"

"I recognized him and wanted to ask him if he could tell you I was okay," Frankie knew he was an amazing liar. Growing up he had to be. He had lied to his teachers, his parents, babysitters, total strangers. It was a way of life for him; a way to get by. "I noticed he seemed kind of upset, I'm good at reading that kind of thing on people, and he told me. He's at my place for the night."

Emily threw her arms around Frankie, "You're a hero!"

Frankie's heart was pounding in his chest as he took it all in. The feel of Emily's arms around his neck, the smell of her shampoo in her hair (strawberries), the way she was bouncing slightly from excitement and thanking him over and over again. He couldn't get enough.

But it ended too early and Emily pulled away. He saw her reaching into her pocket for her phone (a strange looking one at that) and he put his hand on hers.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling my friends…"

He shook his head, "We have to go now," he grabbed her hand and pulled her up, "if you call the others and tell them where to go, they might get there before we do and he might run off."

As Frankie pulled Emily away, she dropped her Samuraizer. She tried stopping Frankie so she could pick it up, but he wouldn't let go of her arm and he kept pulling her further and further away.

"Mentor and Serena are going to kill me," she muttered and remembered when Antonio lost his Samuraizer. "I'm in so much trouble…"

-Samurai-

The sun was starting to set and Antonio could feel the cold was setting in. His shelter was good for protection against the wind, but it did nothing to keep him warm. He thought about starting a fire, but that would just alert people that he was around. The police could show up and kick him out, or Antonio could get a visit from some unfriendly people.

He decided against starting a fire and hugged his knees a little closer to his chest. He wrapped his scarf around his head to keep warm and let his thoughts stray to anywhere but this cold, isolated place.

He thought about the Shiba House and how the others were probably at home, warm, and enjoying an amazing dinner. If Mike had his way, they would be eating pizzas. Antonio could almost taste the pepperoni, the cheese, and the sauce on his tongue.

Perhaps they hadn't taken his note seriously. Perhaps they were giving him a little time to change his mind and come back. Was it possible they weren't even worried about him? After all, in the note he did tell them he was no good to them anymore, and if they believed him why would they waste their time looking for him.

He heard clanging from outside his shelter and poked his head out to see what it was. He saw a soda can rolling by, occasionally bouncing off the pavement and he picked it up and brought it back inside his shelter. Maybe he could use it for something.

"Like what?" he asked himself, "It's a freaking soda can."

He looked at the can and examined it. It was empty, out on the streets and slightly damaged. He had heard that during the Nighlok attacks, some people had been turned into soda cans. Was this maybe one of the cans that someone had been transformed into it? It was just a can now, but Antonio couldn't help but wonder.

"That Nighlok really screwed us up, huh?" Antonio said to the can and he set it down on the ground beside him. "I'll find something for you to do. Until then, you can stick around."