A/N: So this chapter and the next couple at least are my own ideas, Evie needed a chance to use the Black Box, so I hope you enjoy what I've done with it.

Chapter 15

Mike walked out his room with a shudder.
"You okay?" asks Emily as she walks past.
"Yeah, except Kevin is on the phone to Alyssa, and I did not know that man had the ability to sound quite so romantic, and it was straying into making me feel uncomfortable areas" replies Mike.
"You saying you don't like romance?" asks Emily, "or are you just jealous?" she teases.
"Hey I can be romantic," protests Mike.
Emily smiles and loops her arms around his shoulders, "I'm sure you can, after all, being willing to turn Nighlok for me seems pretty romantic."
"Exactly."
"But flowers might be preferable."
"Flowers I can do" smiles Mike as he leans down and kisses her.
Emily giggles and kisses him back for a moment.

"I owe you another date" decides Mike.
"Do you?"
"Yep, today, you and me are going out on a date."
"Where are we going?" smiles Emily, very much liking the idea of her and Mike getting some time to themselves.
"Don't know yet, but somewhere."
Emily laughs, "well it could be anywhere and I'd be happy."
Mike smiles and kisses her nose before he walks into the kitchen, Emily continuing on down to living room.

Mike's gaze lands on Jayden and walks over leaning on the counter next to him.
"You remember how you said I could come and talk to you about Emily," says Mike.
"I do," nods Jayden not ceasing in eating his breakfast.
"I need an idea for a second date."
"For when?" asks Jayden.
"Today."
Jayden looks at him raising an eyebrow, "today?"
"Mhm, today."
Jayden puts down his spoon and thinks for a moment, "what sort of thing are you thinking?"
"I don't know, but it needs to be something on short notice."
Jayden bites his lip thinking it over.
"Take her on a picnic," answers Evie.

Both turn and see her leaning against the door.
"A what now?" asks Mike.
"A picnic, take her to a nice spot either in the park, or the beach or something. Just the two of you, easy atmosphere, food, privacy and the like. She loved doing them with her family when she was at home," explains Evie.
"And very easy to do quickly," adds Jayden.
"Tell Em, Jayden clear it with Ji, and I will oversee the food, tell Mia to help Emily pick an outfit," orders Evie as she shoos them out of the kitchen and gets to work.
"She'd make a very good drill sergeant" notes Mike.
Jayden just smiles and goes off to look for Ji while Mike walks into the main room and sees Emily and Mia sat together.

"Come to tell me where we're going on our date?" asks Emily.
"No, it's a surprise," replies Mike.
"Really?" asks Emily.
"Really, so if you want to change you have about half an hour. Or not because you look pretty in anything," smiles Mike.
"Smooth," nods Mia with a chuckle.
Emily smiles leans up kissing Mike's cheek before grabbing Mia's hand and the two disappear to her room.

Half an hour later Mike and Emily were walking out of the house hand in hand, Mike carrying a picnic basket. Once they get close, he turns to her, "close your eyes."
Emily shakes her head but does as she's told covering them for effect.
He leads her up to a spot on the cliffs overlooking the ocean and quickly sets everything up, silently sending a thank you to Evie when he sees a small bouquet of flowers inside.

Once it was all set up Mike turns to Emily, "okay, open your eyes."
She does so and her face breaks into a smile when she sees it, "Mike."
"You like?" he asks.
"I love," smiles Emily throwing her arms around him.
Mike sighs in relief and pulls out the flowers, "you said flowers."
Emily takes them and brings them to her nose and smiles at the scent, "Just like home," she murmurs in awe.

They settle on the blanket and Mike hands her a drink.
"Romantic enough?" asks Mike.
"Very romantic" nods Emily, "even if it wasn't all your work."
"That obvious?" he asks.
"No, but you went from having zero plan, to having everything set, there's only one woman I know who can apply military like precision to get something organised this quickly and still make it look effortless, and I know Mia had nothing to do with the food," answers Emily.
"Sorry," apologises Mike.
"No I don't mean it as a bad thing" assures Emily taking Mike's hand, "it's the thought that counts and being here with you, I don't care who made the sandwiches."
Mike smiles, "Evie mentioned you liked doing this with your family."
"Mhm, my parents used to take us out for picnics, it got rarer once Serena got sick. But when the call came that we were going to need to come here, my parents organised one. It was just in the field next to the house, but for a little while, it just felt normal. Serena was having a good day; she didn't even seem sick. It was perfect," reminisces Emily with a soft smile.
"You must miss her a lot."
"I do, while my mom was here, Serena took over, she filled in where mom would have. She was always my biggest supporter, my fiercest protector. She always seemed so invincible, and then one day it just, it changed. And suddenly my big sister wasn't invincible anymore," sighs Emily.
Mile wraps his arm around her pulling her into a hug, "I'm sorry," he says kissing the top of her head.
"I hope you get to meet her."
"Hey, I will. If your sister is even half as strong as you are, she'll be waiting for you when you get home."

Emily looks up at him, "you really think I'm strong?"
"I do" nods Mike looking down at her and brushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear.
Emily blushes, she'd never been the best at taking compliments.
"I mean it Em."
Emily bites her lip, "why me?"
"Why you what?" asks Mike.
"Why me over Mia or Evie, Evie especially she's a complete badass, she's beautiful, she's confident, even with everything that's happened to her. She's every guys dream girl; I've seen it when we're out. She's the one who draws the eyes, she could command an entire rooms attention if she wanted too, she does it even without trying. And I saw you checking her out a few times when we arrived."
"Okay ignoring the fact she was already very much with Jayden's so it would have led nowhere. You're right, Evie is beautiful, and a badass and it's amazing she's still a functioning person never mind being as open and as confident as she is with what her mom did. And Jayden is a lucky guy, and initially she did grab my attention, yes. But as we all got to know each other, you were the one who kept my attention. You are beautiful Em, it's a different kind of beauty from Evie's, but you are beautiful. You are warm and bright; you ooze happiness and when you laugh it is infectious. You can light up a room, you are loyal and smart and brave. You have different qualities to Evie, and it is those qualities that make you special Em, and I wouldn't change a thing about you," smiles Mike.
Emily looks at him, "really?"
"Really."

Emily smiles and leans up and kisses him.
Mike pulls her closer the arm resting around her sliding down to rest on her side, the other cupping her face.
Emily's hand tangled in his hair, the other resting on his shoulder as she deepens the kiss tentatively.
Mike returns it, gently laying her back on the blanket without breaking the kiss.
Emily's hold on him tightens as his lips trail along her jaw and down to her neck. A surprised gasp escaping her lips that quickly turned into a sigh as she tilted her head back, enjoying the feeling of his lips against her neck, heat travelling through her body at the new sensation.
Mike pulls back to look at her not wanting to push her, but Emily smiles and leans up reattaching their lips.
Mike's hand slide from her cheek in a light caress over her breast and down her side, his hand settling on her bare leg with an equally light caress along the back of her thigh stopping at the edge of her shorts.

Emily uses the moment to shift them so she was on top, much as she appreciated the different experience levels, Mike constantly checking was getting a little old.
"Well hi there," smiles Mike.
"I need you to stop acting like I'm fragile."
Mike looks at her in confusion, "huh?"
"If I want you to stop, I'll tell you, okay, you don't need to treat me like I'm fragile," clarifies Emily.
Mike sits up, "I don't want to push you Em."
Emily smiles and laces her hands with his, "I know you don't, and I love how patient you are being, especially since I know that wasn't the case with your ex's. And I'm not saying I'm ready to jump in the deep end as it were," admits Emily, "but I don't want you to keep checking up on me, kind of ruins the moment a little."
Mike nods, "okay, if that's what you want, then you hold the cards, and for the record Em, neither of my ex's meant even half what you do."
Emily smiles and loops her arms around his shoulders, "thank you."

Mike just kisses her before pulling back, "food?" he asks.
Emily laughs, "of course it comes back to food," she says shaking her head.
They settled next to each other and tuck in to the picnic.
"What were they like, your ex's?" asks Emily.
"Well my first girlfriend Tanya, we were 16 and well what can I say. I was a guy and she was really pretty and not at all shy about what she wanted or was feeling. It was kind of whirlwind, and it burnt out just as fast. Then there was Arianna, she was gorgeous and she knew how to play the game. It was a bit of a headache by the end to be honest, and looking back we didn't have any deeper connection beyond base attraction. It was mostly physical," admits Mike rubbing the back of his neck.
Emily nods, "okay."

They settle into a comfortable silence as they eat, Emily unable to hold back her laugh at the gusto Mike ate with.
"What do you want to do once we've beaten Master Xandred?" asks Emily looking at Mike.
"I'm not sure really, my mom hoped I'd at least do college, not sure what I'd do though."
"What about video game design?"
"You got to be able to do more than play them Em, not sure how my grades would hold up."
"Not much for school?"
"I had trouble concentrating, I was always better with physical stuff you know. Reading was never something I was great with for long periods of time."
"Maybe you just need a different way of learning?" offers Emily.
"Maybe," nods Mike, "what about you?"

"I don't know, I didn't really think about it much. But I know I want to look after Serena, she looked after me when I was little, and I want to do the same for her. For as long as I can," answers Emily.
Mike wraps his arm around her, "then she couldn't be in better hands" smiles Mike, "as long as she doesn't need peas," he adds with a chuckle.
Emily laughs and shakes her head, "how you ever started being interested in me when you'd seen me with peas stuck to my face."
"I happen to think green is a very good colour on you."
"Huh, good to know," smiles Emily thinking back to what Evie told her about male rangers and their attachments to their colours, especially when worn by their girlfriends.

They finish eating and Emily drops back on the blanket, "what do you think Deker being back means?" she asks.
Mike sighs and lies next to her, "I don't know. Jayden beat him once and now there's the shark disk and the black box. Not to mention the fact I doubt Evie is going to just let Jayden go off to fight Deker on his own again."
"Jayden can beat him, and he'll have all of us."
"He will," agrees Mike lacing his hand with Emily's.
"I hope for his sake though his ego doesn't piss Evie off again, cause last time she actually kicked him out of the bed," giggles Emily.
Mike lets out a bark of laughter, "I can so see Evie doing that," he admits. "Scary big sister I never had."
"Now you do" replies Emily.
They finish up the drinks, before packing everything up and heading back.
"This was perfect, thank you," smiles Emily.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," replies Mike kissing the top of Emily's head as they walk back.

They've just walked through the gate when the sound of the gap sensor goes off.
"Well at least they waited until our date was over," says Mike.
"True enough," nods Emily.
The other five run out of the house, "good timing," says Evie as she sees them.
"Where we at?" asks Mike.
"The Plaza" answers Jayden.
They turn and run back out of the gate, soon reaching the plaza but don't see any Nighloks. Instead there were various people sat, standing or lying around, each one appeared catatonic.
"What the hell is going on here?" asks Antonio.
"And where's the Nighlok?" asks Kevin.
"Behind you," cackles a voice and they turn but before they can react their all hit by a blast from the Nighlok.
The seven of them drop to the floor, de-morphing and entering the same catatonic state as the others.
"Haha, the samurai rangers are now as helpless as everyone else, trapped inside their own minds as they relive their worst and most painful moments, over and over, until it breaks them," cackles the Nighlok.

Jayden opens his eyes and he looks around in confusion, he was stood in the house, but it was dark, the garden was on fire, the gate hanging open, the walls knocked down and the porch had been caved in.
He goes to call for his team when he sees the others limp through the gates all, clearly battle weary.
But before he can run to them, they de-morph and he realises it isn't his team. But their parents and a sick feeling settles in his stomach as he recognises where he knew this from.

Ji walks out of the house, holding onto a younger Jayden's hand.
"Where's daddy?" asks younger Jayden as he scans the group.
"Where's Nathan?" asks Ji as he looks at the group of rangers.
"He, he's gone," answers Daniel, Kevin's dad.
"What, how?" asks Ji.
"The sealing symbol, he used it, he saved us, saved us all," answers Alice, Emily's mom, who was leaning heavily on Rafael, Mike's dad.
"And died in the process," finishes Nia with a sigh.
"Where's daddy?" repeats younger Jayden.
Melinda, Mia's mom kneels down in front of him, "I'm so sorry Jayden, but your daddy isn't coming back," she explains gently.
"No, no he promised he'd come back, he can't be gone," cries younger Jayden as he rushes past them desperately calling for his dad.

Jayden sinks to the floor, the grief washing over him as fresh as it had been that day.

Kevin looks around him, he was stood in a park, a park he recognised and bile rose in his throat as he realised where he was.
"No, no, please no," he begs quietly.
A shout behind him drew his attention and he turned knowing what he would see.
A younger Kevin was stood underneath a tree.
"Luke we're not supposed to climb trees," warns younger Kevin.
"It's not going to do any harm," answers Luke as he continues climbing.
"We're not supposed too. Our parents told us it's not safe," argues younger Kevin.
"Do you always do as your told Kevin?" taunts Luke.
"No," argues younger Kevin.
"Then come up here, it's not going to kill you, come on its fun," urges Luke, "unless of course you're chicken."
"I'm not chicken!" shouts younger Kevin.
"Then prove it" retorts Luke.
"Fine" answers younger Kevin as he starts climbing.
"Bet you can't get as high as me though," laughs Luke.
"Bet I can get higher," replies younger Kevin.
"Not happening," laughs Luke.

"No, stop, stop it!" shouts Kevin running over, but it was like they couldn't hear him.

"I'm catching you" warns younger Kevin.
"No you're not" retorts Luke as he climbs higher.
Younger Kevin continues to climb when a snap his heard above him, followed by a yell as Luke falls from the top of tree.
"Luke!" cries both versions of Kevin as he slams into the ground with a sickening thud.
Younger Kevin climbs down quickly and drops next to Luke, shaking him, "Luke, Luke wake up" he begs, "Help" he screams looking around before continuing to try and wake Luke up.

Kevin slumps against the tree sliding down it, Luke had eventually woken up, but the fall had left him paralysed from the waist down. And Kevin hid his face in his hands trying to drown out the sound of his own voice.

Mike looked around the skate park, unsure how in the hell he ended up here.
"Is this a prank?" he asks.
Suddenly someone zooms past him on a skateboard and his eyes widen when he recognises himself a few years younger.
Younger Mike stopped next to someone else and Mike instantly recognises him.
"Come on dude no, not this," he murmurs shaking his head but finds he's rooted to the spot.
"Come on Chad, show us," urges younger Mike.
"Yeah you got to show us," agrees Shaun with a nod.
"Unless of course, you're just bluffing and you can't actually do it," taunts younger Mike.
"And if you're bullshitting us, well then that's just pathetic," nods Shaun.
"Fine, if that's what it'll take," huffs Chad as he moves towards the largest ramp.
"Don't choke," laughs Shaun.
Younger Mike laughs and the two of them lean against the fence, "twenty bucks he face plants," he smirks.
"You're on," nods Shaun.
As Chad starts his trick it seems to be going well, as he reaches the top of the other ramp but as he tries to come back down he mistimes it, and the back of his board catches on the edge.
Chad is thrown forwards sharply and he falls from the skateboard, his forwards momentum causes him to rotate and with a sickening thud his neck and then his back smash into the ramp and he slumps lip to the ground.
"Chad!" yells younger Mike as he rushes over, Shaun hot on his heels.
"What do we do, what do we do?" asks Shaun.
"Call 911, Chad, come on, wake up," pleads younger Mike.
"Don't touch him, don't move him," orders an older guy as he lightly checks for a pulse.

Mike looks away, if he hadn't egged Chad on, if he'd just left it alone.
He knew what came next, Chad had broken his back and very nearly is neck, it had almost paralysed him, never mind how close he came to snapping his neck. He'd spent months in rehab but had been told he'd likely never regain the ability to do anything he'd done before sports wise. And that he'd need to be careful for the rest of his life.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" murmurs Mike crouching down and locking his hands behind his head as he tries to make the scene go away, but finds he's trapped by it. He'd nearly killed his friend over a stupid skateboarding trick.

Emily's face creased in confusion as she found herself stood in her back garden.
The sound of the flute make her turn and she sees Serena sat on the steps playing a tune, while a younger Emily sat next to her.
Emily smiles at the scene, she'd missed her sister, then Serena's playing began to falter and Emily's smile fell, her eyes widening as she recognises the scene.
Serena pulls the flute away from her mouth, her coughing getting worse and she drops to the side.
"Serena? Serena what's wrong?" asks little Emily, her voice scared.
Serena tries to reach for her but continues to cough, blood appearing on her lips.
"Mommy, daddy!" screams little Emily as she grabs her sisters hand, terror on her face as her parents emerged from the house.
"James call 911!" cries Alice as she drops next to Serena.
James runs back into the house grabbing the phone.
"Mommy what's happening? Mommy?" asks little Emily tears falling down her cheeks.
"Serena sweetheart stay with me, the ambulance is on its way, you'll be fine, okay. Emily tell your sister she's going to be fine," urges Alice.
"You'll be okay, you have to be okay" sobs little Emily as her tears continue to fall, hugging her sisters arm.

Emily wraps her arms around herself, her hand covering her mouth as tears slid down her cheeks while Serena continued to cough on the ground, it starting to affect her breathing.
"Make it stop!" pleads Emily shutting her eyes but she couldn't drown out the sounds, nor what came next. The moment her vibrant, invincible big sister became bed ridden and sick.

Mia finds herself stood next to a road and looks around in confusion.
"Guys?" she calls looking around. "Where am I?"
Suddenly she sees a car drive past and her heart stops, she remembered this day.
In the next moment she's sat inside the car her parents in the front, a younger Mia sat in the back seat next to her.

"Look out, look out, look out," pleads Mia, but a moment later another car slams into them from the side.

Younger Mia screaming next to her as the car spins across the road, glass shatters over her. Her mom is jerked forwards with a cry of pain, her dads head slamming into the steering wheel just before the airbags deployed.
Mia shuts her eyes, she remembered the terror, the fear, neither one of her parents conscious, her screaming in the back. The week spent waiting to see if her dad would ever wake up. Mia tries to get away, to get out of the car but she finds she can't, everywhere she looks she sees it.
She covers her ears and screws her eyes tight.

Antonio's eyes widen as he realises, he's stood in his living room, the smell of baking coming from the kitchen, and a Spanish song playing from the radio.
He smiles and starts for the kitchen when a younger version of him runs past, a toy fishing rod and plastic fish in his hand.
Antonio goes after him and stops in the door of the kitchen when he sees who's stood inside.

"Mommy?" he asks quietly.
She looked exactly how she did in the picture he kept in his room.
His gaze falls on the calendar then and he feels bile rise in his throat as he realises what day it is.
"Please no, no, no I don't want to see this" pleads Antonio trying to back away, but he finds he can't.
As his mom turns to him with a smile at the pretend fish, he caught Antonio fights back a sob because he knows what comes next.

She turns back to the oven to get the cookies out when she suddenly lets out a cry of pain and clutches her head.
"Mommy?" asks younger Antonio in concern.
She tries to reassure him but cries out again before suddenly falling forwards her head hitting the counter as she dropped to the floor. Her entire body jerking uncontrollably as she started to have a fit.
"Mommy!" screams younger Antonio dropping next to her and clinging to her, "mommy stop, mommy what's wrong?" pleads younger Antonio tears streaming down his face.
She continues fitting in front of him, her head slowly trickling blood from the cut.
"Daddy!" screams Antonio.

Antonio sinks to the floor covering his ears as tears slide down his cheeks. He knew she'd never wake up; he'd never hear her voice again, never see her dance again. The last image of him mom burned into his brain.

As Evie opens her eyes, she finds herself stood in the driveway of the Shiba House, and it takes her only a fraction of a second to recognise what she was about to see.
A moment later her mother came marching out of the house, Ji hurrying after her and Evie feels the familiar pit in her stomach as she watches the scene unfold.

"Nia please, don't do this," pleads Ji.
"I never wanted this life, it was never meant to be mine and I am done putting my life on hold for some ancient crappy obligation I never asked for. So, if you want another black samurai, you have one, train her, raise her, do what the hell you want with her because I'm done!" snaps Nia.
"She's your child, she's all you have left of your husband," reminds Ji.
Nia rounds on him and slaps him sharply, "don't you dare bring Markus into this, we were meant to have a wonderful life together and you know what Evie wasn't meant to be part of it. She was an accident and a mistake and not one I intend to keep around, Markus is gone, and you know what I never wanted her in the first place. My parents made me keep her to continue this cursed family line, so congratulations one black samurai ranger for you!" yells Nia.
"Mommy," calls a small voice and Ji turns to see Evie stood on the porch, tears forming in her eyes. Jayden just behind her.
"She's all yours, enjoy, and guess what when the time comes, she can pop out the next one too, hell maybe you can save yourself some effort and just pair her and Jayden up," says Nia turning and walking down the drive.
"Mommy!" cries Evie running after her mother and grabbing her hand, "mommy don't go, I'll be better, I'll stop asking," pleads Evie.
Nia looks down at her, "you were a mistake Evelyn, one I never wanted, you wanted to be a samurai well here you go. Enjoy the life, and I'll enjoy mine, without you in it. You're an anchor to this life dragging me down, and I am done with it and you," hisses Nia as she pulls her hand away with enough force to knock Evie onto the floor before turning and walking away.
"Mommy," calls Evie, "mommy don't go," she begs pulling herself to her feet. "Mommy!" she screams with such desperation and terror lacing her voice, but Nia kept walking without even looking back.

But unlike the others she doesn't sink to the floor or try and shut it out, instead her hands ball into fists and she squares her shoulders. This wasn't new to her, this was familiar territory, variations on a theme she'd relived a thousand times or more over the last 12 years. In her dreams and in her waking hours, and she had long since found ways to stop it breaking her. This was a Nighlok trick, and not one she was going to fall for.
As it begins again Evie looks around, ignoring it, "where are you Nighlok?" she shouts, "your mind games don't work on me," she calls throwing her arms out.
Getting no response she thinks back over the various Nighloks she's studied.
She assumed this wasn't another dimension, which meant the likely conclusion was the same as she remembered Tori telling her about, when one of Lother's aliens made them see their worst fears in their mind.
"We're in my mind" she realises and then an idea comes to her, "and if we're in my mind then I've got more power than he does," she smirks, "just got to break this mindscape somehow."
She starts to pace thinking over ideas, ignoring the scene behind her, she could recite it word for word, it was ingrained in her, part of her at her core. Like Deker had said, the shadow she carried with her, always.
"The brain is technically just a giant computer, and to break a computer you can overload it," she realises.
Reaching into her pocket she pulls out her samuraiser, and she draws the symbol for release. It disappears but nothing happens.
"Not enough power, like when Cody tried to cast one in the Bullzord," she murmurs.

Her gaze lands on Jayden stood at on the porch looking scared and upset, Jayden loved her, Ji loved her, her strange little family loved her. She just needed more power.
Closing her eyes she draws the symbol again, but this time she pictures the faces of her family, moments with them that meant so much more than she'd ever been able to say.

Her dad spinning her around as she completed the obstacle course he'd set up.
Him standing up, clapping and cheering as she finished her first ballet performance, pure pride on his face both time.
Jayden crawling into bed with her as she cried after another nightmare, and telling her she had him and that he'd never leave her.
Ji and Jayden both cheering as she finished another dance recital.
Ji telling her he was proud of her.
The first time Jayden had kissed her and the moment he'd said he loved her.
Kat spending hours helping her practice her fouettés for her role as the black swan.
Tommy teaching her how to drive and then showing her how to do it like a race car driver.
Mike and her playing video games, and bonding as she told him about her dad., or realising how similar they were after the incident with the beetle disk.
Emily hugging her and telling her that it was her mom's loss when she left.
Emily climbing into bed with her when she had a nightmare, trusting her enough to feel safe with her.
Dancing in the kitchen with Antonio.
Sharing stories with Kevin, and then lying outside cloud watching because he knew it was something she enjoyed.
Mia grilling her on Jayden, and then trusting her enough to confess how badly she wanted it, and her smile when Evie had assured her she would.

Letting those images and the how much they meant fill her she finished the symbol and opened her eyes she spun it, "shatter!" she shouts and this time the symbol slams into the image and it breaks like a mirror.

And the next thing Evie is aware of she's back in her body lying on the ground, the Nighlok nowhere to be seen.
"Not this time ugly," she mutters as she pulls herself up.
She looks at the others but knows she won't be able to help them.
Flipping open her samuraiser she calls Ji.
"Evie, what happened everyone just went offline?" asks Ji in concern.
"Nighlok got us, but I managed to get out of it. He hit us with a blast and I think he made us see our worst and most painful moments, the others are still out. But I don't know how to help them," admits Evie.
"The same way as always should work, destroy the Nighlok and his spell will be broken," advises Ji.
"But this isn't going to be something they just recover from, what about his second life?" asks Evie.

"Use the black box, you can call the zords with it," replies Ji.
"Alone?" ask Evie.
"Evie you are one of the strongest samurai I have ever known. Your symbol power is possibly even stronger than Jayden's, and your team needs you. Your family needs you to protect them. You can do anything you put your mind too Evie, I believe in you and the others do as well. If anyone could do this, it would be you," assures Ji.

Evie looks at her team, each trapped in the worst moments of their lives and her resolve hardens, "I can do this, I have to do this, for them," she says.
"Good, now go and show this Nighlok why no one messes with the badass in black" smiles Ji.
Evie nods and then morphs, she grabbed the black box and drew her sword.
"Where's he at?" she asks.
"Still in the city, not far from you heading towards the shopping district," replies Ji.

Evie flicks her samuraiser shut and races off in the direction, she soon hears screams and sees the Nighlok chasing people.
"Hey ugly!" she shouts.
He turns and his eyes widen, "what, samurai ranger, no you're under my spell, you can't be here!" he cries.
"Too bad Nighlok, your tricks won't work on me. Because I see that moment over and over, I've relived it time and time again. And it doesn't make me weak, it's made me strong. Bad news for you Nighlok, because I rose like a goddamn phoenix. Now you've got one chance to release everyone you've spelled or I'm sending you back to the Netherworld permanently," warns Evie pointing her sword at him.
"You can't beat me black ranger, and everyone will continue to suffer, including your team" cackles the Nighlok.
"I was hoping you'd pick the hard way," replies Evie as her eyes narrow and with a yell she launches her attack.

The Nighlok manages to block it and the two began to trade blows.
"I'll just have to put you back under," snarls the Nighlok as he sends a blast at her.
Evie flips out of the way and turns pulling out the black box and activating it, " super-samurai mode," and a moment later she felt the extra power filling her.
"And damn if I don't make this look so good," smirks Evie.
"You're still no match for me," snaps the Nighlok.
"You're right, I'm so much more," she answers as she launches another attack, spinning as she slashes her sword across the Nighlok and the switching to her whip at the last second she wraps it around his leg and throws him across the ground.
He rolls across it but pulls himself back up, "you're getting on my nerves, time to double dose you," he snaps as he sends another stronger blast at her.
Evie switches back to her sword and cuts through them both with ease, "wrong choice, like I said, that only made me stronger," she answers as she pulls out her disk.

"Fox disk, super metallic strike!" she shouts as she launches her advanced attack, the sword swiping clean across him like a hot knife through butter and the Nighlok explodes into nothing.
Evie nods before running back to her team.
They were sat up, but Evie could see they were still feeling the effects.

"I love you all, but right now I don't think you're going to do me much good in battle. Time to do the impossible," she decides and with that she turns and pulls out the black box disk and calls the megazord just as the Nighlok grows into its second life.
"Let's see how you like me now rangers," laughs the Nighlok.
"Even less than before," retorts Evie as she appears in the cockpit, it felt strange as hell to be in it alone, but it only hardened her resolve further.
"This if for my family," she says as sends her first attack and initially it seems to be enough but the Nighlok soon counters and she nearly knocked from her console by the force of it.

"Alright then you wanna play hard ball?" she demands, "then get ready for a world of hurt," she says as she slides the black box disk, "super samurai combination" she activates and the megazord reforms with the claw zord as part of it, "zords combine."
"And now just to double the pain" she adds, "super samurai artillery" she actives and the cannon forms in front of her. "And lastly, just to really ruin your day, Shogun mode," calls Evie sliding the disk into her belt.
She smiles as the power floods through her, "power of the ancestors," says Evie as she takes hold of her sword.
"Eat this asshole, no one messes with my family," she smirks as she unleashes the power of the cannon and the full power of the zords.
They smash into the Nighlok who explodes with a cry of pain.
"Samurai rangers, victory is ours," she smiles before a wave of dizziness hit her and she clung to the console for support, the urge to vomit rising in her throat.
"Okay, not something ever meant to be done alone," she mutters as she waits for the room to stop spinning, and the high pitched sound to leave her ears, even with shogun mode.

Evie powers down and then shrinks the zords back down as she looks at the black box, she was completely exhausted, piloting the megazord alone was definitely not an easy feat, add that to the headache she could feel coming on she really just wanted a bath and her bed.
Pushing past it though she walks back over to where she finds the others all seeming to have recovered a bit more.

"Where's the Nighlok?" asks Jayden standing up.
"Gone, I sent him packing," replies Evie.
"Well then we can help you with his megamonster," says Kevin.
"Dealt with as well," answers Evie. "Got to say, I would never, ever advise piloting the megazord alone, not even with the black box and shogun mode."
"You took him down, by yourself?" clarifies Antonio.
"Twice?" adds Mia.
"He wasn't planning on waiting around," shrugs Evie, "how are you all feeling?"
"Like I need to watch something where nothing bad happens" admits Emily with a shiver.
"Absolutely," agrees Mike wrapping his arms around Emily who leans against him.
"I'm sure we can arrange that," nods Evie and she instantly regrets it as the ground starts to spin in front of her and she brings her hand to her head as she sways.
Mia and Jayden both steady her.
"Let's go home," she suggests.
The others nod and they walk back in silence. Jayden keeping his arm around Evie, partly to steady her and partly because right now her steadying presence was helping to keep his mind in the present.
Ji greets them all at the house with a smile and cups of hot chocolate, the other six still feeling the effects of what the Nighlok had done. And Evie could use the sugar.