Kevin and Mia were up early the next morning, training in the dojo while Emily was sitting on a stool that had been moved from the common room into the dojo, watching them. She wasn't ready to train, but Mia and Kevin knew it was still their responsibility to keep an eye on her while everyone else was still sleeping. Jayden's symbols were protecting the house, but no one felt completely safe yet.

In the middle of their training session, Antonio walked into the dojo. He was still in his pyjamas and he wasn't ready to train, but he couldn't fall back to sleep and he thought he had heard someone in the dojo.

He furrowed his brow as he watched Mia and Kevin put their hearts into the lesson. It was good that they were trying, but he didn't see the point. Master Xandred was getting stronger, and they were falling apart. There was no sense in fighting a losing battle. If he only had a little time left, he was going to spend it doing something he loved.

He wouldn't interrupt Kevin and Mia though. He walked over to Emily and took a seat on the floor next to her stool. He looked up at her.

"What are they doing?"

"Hitting each other with sticks," Emily giggled.

Antonio rolled his eyes, "How are you feeling?"

"My side hurts," she replied. Antonio noticed her hand was lightly pressing against her injured sighed and he let out a deep breath before smiling at her, "You'll have a cool scar, huh?"

"It's bandaged, I haven't seen it yet," Emily told him.

"When does it need to be changed?"

"Soon."

"I'll be back," Antonio lifted himself up off the ground and walked out of the dojo. Emily didn't know where he was going he didn't question it as she turned her attention back to Mia and Kevin. She watched them and was taking notes in her head on what she could work on once she was back to fighting form.

Antonio walked back into the room with a first aid kit in his hands. He knelt down beside Emily and asked her to lift her shirt.

"You know what you're doing?" Emily asked him, showing him the bandaged scar. Antonio nodded his head.

"You remember when I first came here and I got my hook stuck in my pants?" he asked and the memory caused Emily to giggle. "Remember how I said it had happened before? Well, it didn't always get hooked on clothing. Once, it hooked my skin and I had no idea until I pulled and torn my skin. Needed eight stitches and changed the bandage myself every day."

"Were you okay?"

"Peachy," Antonio nodded, "I just couldn't sit down for a little while."

"It was…"

"There."

Emily giggled again. She couldn't help but laugh. She figured it must have been painful, but his injury was funny.

"Don't laugh," Antonio smiled, teasing his younger Samurai, "or I'll tell Serena it looked a little too red and I'll have her worry about you until the scar goes away completely."

"Scars don't go… sorry," Emily tried to stop giggling, "It's not funny."

Antonio cleaned the stitches and placed a fresh, clean bandage over them. He smiled up at Emily.

"Good as new," he told her. "By the way, you'll have an awesome scar if it's really visible. Hopefully Mike likes scars."

"He's probably just happy I'm alive," Emily said. "I know I am."

Antonio nodded and packed away the first aid kit before pushing it aside and leaning back against the wall to watch Mia and Kevin train. There was silence for a moment before he looked to Emily.

"So, seriously, what are they doing?"

"Antonio, they're training. Did you hit your head this morning? Maybe I should get Serena to worry about you."

"No, it's not that it's just…" Antonio lowered his gaze for a moment and then shifted it up to Emily, "What's the point, you know?"

"To get better and defeat Xandred."

"But we can't win. He gets stronger and we're hiding in this house like cowards. Chickens."

"Chickens are scary sometimes," Emily frowned. She looked down at Antonio, "Are you giving up too?"

"What's the point?"

"Stopping Xandred."

"Do you think we can?"

"So far we haven't can't."

"What?" Antonio shot Emily a very confused look. She giggled again.

"He hasn't stopped us yet, which means we still have a fighting chance."

"Fighting chance?" Antonio frowned. He pointed to Emily's side, "I wouldn't let you fight a newborn kitten right now."

"Do I have to take your morpher away?" Emily asked. "Antonio, we haven't beaten Xandred, but he hasn't beaten us yet either. If we give up, this world is doomed. As long as we're still fighting, there's a chance we win."

"But…"

"No butts," Emily shook her head, "besides, you don't want to use your too much, you might pull the stitches."

"I should never have told you that story," Antonio rolled his eyes.

Emily held out her hand, "Either get up and train with them, or give me your Samuraizer and forget about your golden moment. If we're going to fight, we don't need quitters on our team."

Antonio sighed loudly, "I'll get changed."

"No one's handing me their morpher?" Emily crossed her arms over her chest, "That sucks."

From where she was training with Kevin, Mia saw Emily was pouting and stopped training for a quick moment.

"You okay, Emy?"

"Any other quitters in this house?" Emily asked Mia and Kevin, "I want to see if I can start a morpher collection."

"Mike seemed pretty down yesterday," Kevin said. "You could make sure he's still willing to fight Xandred."

"Mike?" Emily groaned. "Even he's being stupid?"

"Don't get up," Kevin told Emily. He didn't want her moving around too much; worried she might pull the stitches. He handed his sword to Mia and walked over to Emily, "Honk your horn."

"Beep, beep," Emily giggled as Kevin placed his hands on her stool and started pushing her and the stool down the hall and to her bedroom so she could talk with Mike. When he could push her into the room he gave the stool a big shove (after telling Emily to hold on tight). Emily soared into her bedroom, laughing, and Kevin went back to the dojo.

Mike and Serena (who didn't want to be alone the night before and opted out of sleeping in her own room), sat up in bed when they heard giggling in their room. Emily, on her stool, came to a stop in the middle of the room. Serena and Mike exchanged curious looks.

"Where did you come from?" Serena asked while Mike got out of bed to check up on his fiancée. Emily was still giggling.

"Stools are fun."

"Are you okay?" Mike asked, kneeling down to her level, "It doesn't hurt too much, does it?"

"Not too much," Emily shook her head, "Besides, Kevin tells me you're a quitter."

"Kevin spreads lies."

"Are you giving up on defeating Xandred."

"Kevin might be onto something," Mike lowered his head. Emily held out her hand.

"Samuraizer, then."

"Emily…"

"If you're giving up, you don't need it."

"Em…"

"We can still fight."

"Emily, look at you," Serena said, "There is no fight left."

"You're giving up too?" Emily groaned again and buried her face in her hands, "You both suck!"

"Emily, you don't get it…"

"You don't get it," Emily shook her head. "As long as I'm alive, I'm going to keep fighting. I'm going to protect the people who can't protect themselves and I'm going to make sure Xandred doesn't win, or I'm going to die trying. There's everything to lose and everything to gain."

"Emy…"

"What about the baby?" Emily asked her sister. "Don't you want it to grow up in a world where it doesn't have to worry about serving a master? Don't you him to be happy and free to do what he wants. Don't you want her to grow up strong and proud of the person she might be? Not some slave to a cruel Nighlok who only won because mommy gave up."

Serena lowered her head. Emily turned to Mike.

"I'm fighting, whether you are or not."

"Emily, you can't…"

"Why not?"

"You'll get hurt."

"If I don't fight and Xandred wins, I'll hurt a lot more. Death is better than letting some stupid Nighlok flood the earth."

Mike took Emily's hand, "I want you safe."

"Then fight with me," Emily held out her hand again, "if you don't want to, turn your Samuraizer over."

Mike looked over to his night table where he had placed his Samuraizer before bed the night before. He took it and turned back to Emily. Instead of giving it over, he traced a symbol and a white rose fell into her hand. Emily smiled at Mike as he pulled her in for a kiss.

When they broke, Emily looked over her shoulder to Serena. The eldest Earth Samurai shrugged.

"What? I can't let you fight alone, can I?" she asked. "What kind of big sister would I be if I let my baby sis run into danger by herself?"

"Did you have breakfast?" Mike asked the smiling Emily. The yellow Ranger shook her head.

"Not yet."

"Hold on tight, then," Mike gripped the sides of the stool and pushed Emily out of the room, racing as fast (and safely) as he could down the halls to the kitchen, Serena a few steps behind.

They raced past Mentor and Jayden, who had just gotten out of bed.

"Beep, beep!"

"You'll scratch the floors," Mentor called to his youngest Rangers but they didn't hear him. He groaned and turned to Jayden. The red Ranger shrugged.

"Hey, if you had listened to me from the start, they wouldn't be here scratching up your floors. You brought this on yourself."

"I guess I did," Mentor sighed. "After all, this house was a lot quieter before they showed up."

Scruffy suddenly came racing down the halls, nearly knocking Mentor Ji over had Jayden not been quick to steady him.

"There wouldn't have been a lot less dog, too," Jayden chuckled. "I'm going to go train for a few hours before breakfast."

"I'm going back to bed," Mentor held his head in his hand and sighed. "I think my aspirins need to be restocked."