Spike woke up the following morning, and sighed as he looked out the window, seeing that it was an unseasonably pleasant day. It was still the middle of winter, so it was a while before it would be back to the really warm weather, but the first pleasant day in the year, and he found himself stuck inside, grounded.

He had never been grounded by his uncle before. It was not a good feeling to know he had disappointed him. His uncle loved him, and he was always finding ways to make Spike's time with him fun, and helping him keep his mind off how much he missed his dad and his step-mom.

As he got up, and made his way to the mirror, he just muttered something under his breath, seeing the cuts and bruises on his body. It wasn't as painful anymore. He was still sore, but for the most part it was what it represented that bothered him. He had only been trying to help, to get the other kids to leave him and his friends alone, but in the end all he had ended up doing was making things worse. He had disappointed Serena and his uncle, he had angered all the bullies by putting the football team's season in jeopardy, and in the end, he was sure that once he got back to school, that would only spill over into the way they took their frustrations out on the other kids.

He took his shower and got dressed, heading downstairs to where his uncle was preparing their breakfast. He took his seat quietly as he cast a glance in Bulk's direction, trying to gauge his mood. It was new territory for Bulk too, he didn't have kids of his own, and so he had never really been in the position to have to take care of discipline. That had always been down to Skull and Kim to deal with. Normally all Bulk had to worry about was keeping Spike happy any time he was over. He laid a plate of toast down on the table, sitting down opposite him.

"I'm heading to the market in a little while." Bulk told him. "Is there anything you'd like me to pick up?"

Spike just shook his head. Taking some toast, he couldn't help feeling the atmosphere becoming a little awkward. It was pretty uncharted territory for both of them.

"Have you...?" He finally managed to stammer out. "Have you called my parents?"

Bulk just looked at Spike. That was pretty much the last thing he needed to hear. He knew that it was his responsibility to look after Spike, and part of that responsibility was to tell his parents what was happening in Spike's life. Unfortunately it also put him in a very difficult position.

It was his idea that Spike go back to school. When he found out that Spike wanted to go back, so that he could be around kids his own age, he wanted to help him. It had taken him a very long phone conversation to finally convince his parents that he believed Spike could handle it. He had stuck his neck out for the kid, assuring his parents that he would be alright, and now this had happened.

"Don't you think I should?" Bulk asked him. Spike just looked a little alarmed.

"But they'd make me quit for sure!" Spike called out. "Please, you can't..."

"So now you want me to lie to your mom and dad?" Bulk asked him. Spike was about to say something, but he stopped himself before he could. Bulk wasn't really his uncle, not by blood anyway, but he always had that role in his life because he was so close to his dad. He knew that it wouldn't be right to ask his uncle to risk a friendship that had lasted for most of their lives. He just shook his head.

"No." Spike muttered. Bulk just nodded.

"I'll call them later." He told him. "They'll probably want to talk to you, so you might want to think about what you want to say."

"I guess." Spike answered. "I'll just work out for a bit after breakfast, and then do some homework."

"Alright." Bulk replied. He put a hand on Spike's shoulder. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine Uncle Bulk." He answered quietly. As his uncle left to clear up, he just started on his breakfast. It was bad enough talking to Serena and his uncle, but talking to his parents was not a conversation he was looking forward to.

Back at the Shiba House, Mia was finishing putting breakfast together after morning training. Serena was coming into the room after her shower. The others were all getting washed up and changed. Serena took a seat by the counter and looked to Mia.

"You don't look like you had much sleep." Mia commented. "The way Emily was talking your ear off last night; I guess she caught you up on everything in Corinth."

"I feel like I could become a tour guide." Serena chuckled. "It sounds like you all had a pretty wild time."

"Did she tell you...?"

"That she and Mike are married there?" Serena asked her. "Only about fifty times. She was making a huge deal about how even across realities they were made for each other."

"I guess you can't blame her." Mia responded with a little sigh. "Not all of us are so lucky. Turns out there, I'm some kind of assassin."

"Yeah, Emily said something about that." Serena told her. "So how did that happen?"

"I really don't know." She said with a shrug. "She really wasn't that talkative. I guess in some ways, its better I don't know what happened."

"Well it looks like a few things happened for the better out there." Serena said as she put on the coffee machine. "I couldn't help noticing that Jayden and Antonio seem a lot happier."

"I think the trip really helped them out." Mia continued. "It was good to get away. Being somewhere else, even just for a little while, it really let all of us see things differently, try new things."

"New things?" Serena asked. "It sounds like there's a story there."

"I thought Emily would have told you." Mia responded, furrowing her brows a little. She looked around; making sure Mentor Ji wasn't in the room. "You won't say anything to Mentor will you?"

"What is it?" She asked, getting a little smile on her face.

"Kevin and I...took the next step." She told her. Serena heard this and continued to smile.

"You mean...?" Mia just nodded.

"I can't believe how lucky I am." The Pink Ranger told her.

As she continued to relay her story, Serena kind of drowned it out, smiling and nodding politely, but inside she was feeling something else entirely. It had only been a couple of days since she and Ji had talked about her relationship with Stephen, and he had asked her not to flaunt it in front of the others and respect the rules of the house. She and Mia had become great friends, with Mia being much closer in age to her than Emily, but she couldn't help an uncomfortable anger starting to build in her. She was reining things in for their sake, and yet Mia and Kevin had already violated the very rules she had told Stephen they had to respect.

"Serena, are you even listening?" She asked. Serena was about to try to find an answer, despite not really knowing what Mia had said. Fortunately, they were interrupted as Mike and Emily came in, bounding over to the table. Serena was suddenly overcome with a mental image. She reached across, grabbing Emily and pulling her over.

"Hey!" Emily shrieked.

"Come on sis, why don't you come with me when I head to Spike's place."

"But..."

"I could a hand with the lesson I had planned for today." Serena told her. Emily just looked to Mike.

"But, we were going to..."

"Emily, you just spent a whole week with him. I think you can both live without each other for a day." Serena told her. "Come on, please? I want to spend time with my baby sister."

"Fine, I'll just get some gear after breakfast." She sighed, looking to Mike apologetically. Mia noticed the odd exchange and was starting to wonder about it. Serena seemed to be acting oddly, and since it happened straight after their conversation, she was starting to worry that it was something she said.

In another room, Jayden, Ji and Antonio were sitting with a number of scrolls and books. Antonio had now become even more obsessed than ever with unlocking the secrets of the Black Box, ever since they had seen the power it would give them. Antonio jumped up as the thought of something.

Although he had been working hard on it before they left, but without success. Even with all the symbol powers uploaded, he was finding it difficult to calibrate it. He just couldn't quite get it to operate.

"Ji, didn't you say that your ancestor created the Black Box?" He asked him. Ji just nodded.

"Yes, indeed he did." Ji answered. "Diajiro was the one who made it. Hirohito came up with the concept, but he entrusted it to Daijiro to create it."

"Well, I think we've been overlooking one very important thing." Antonio told him. "What have we done?"

"We've uploaded all of our power disks onto it." Jayden answered. Antonio held up a hand.

"Try thinking about that for a moment." He told them.

"Me, Kevin, Mike, Mia and Emily uploaded our disks." Jayden responded. It was then that he just face-palmed. "When the box was created there were..."

"Six samurai." Mentor Ji concluded. Antonio nodded.

"We've only uploaded five symbol powers onto it." Antonio reminded them, pulling out his Samuraizer. "I think if we upload your power, then I use my expertise and power to calibrate it, we should be able to..."

"Say no more Antonio." Mentor Ji responded, pulling out his Power Disk. "Let's get to work."

Antonio placed the Black Box on the table, and pulled out his Samuraizer. He pointed it at the Power Disk and pressed a few buttons, connecting a beam to it as he began.

Fin.