Emily and Jayden managed to get the others home after the battle with little or no real incident. Although there were complaints of hunger, they were only too happy to sit comparatively quietly in the SUV as they came home. It was only as they got there that Emily realised the folly of the plan.
"Out of the way!" Kevin roared as he shoved her rather aggressively out of the SUV, landing face-first in the yard of the Shiba House. She huddled into a ball, avoiding the stampede as they all raced inside. Since there were now seven fully-grown adults in the Shiba House, there was indeed plenty of food there. Shopping for groceries day-to-day was nonsensical, and so there were extensive supplies in the larders, and the fridge freezer.
"OK, maybe this wasn't so smart right Jayden?" She asked. She got no answer. She looked around and asked weakly... "Jayden?"
It was then that she remembered. While his attack was not as severe as the others, Jayden had been hit by Grinataur's dirt too. He was not as bad as the others, something she was grateful for since he was driving, he had admitted to her that he was hungry too. Clearly even a weakened attack from Grinataur affected him badly.
She got inside, and found Jayden with a pack of chips in his hand already, but running around trying to separate the others from fighting each other for food. Mike and Mia were fighting over a lettuce of all things! She couldn't remember when Mike had ever shown a fondness for lettuce, but under this spell, clearly anything that could fit in his mouth was going to be acceptable.
"Jayden, we have to stop them!" Emily protested. She looked to Jayden, who was splitting his time between shovelling chips into his mouth and trying to stop Antonio slurping raw eggs. "JAYDEN!"
"What?" He mumbled through a mouthful of chips, spraying some shards on the floor. Emily rolled her eyes. Clearly, she was on her own.
She spent what felt like hours running around like a blue-arsed-fly, trying as much as possible to keep the Rangers from hurting each other, or themselves in their attempts to find something worth eating. She was also finding that the desperation to feed the spell inflicted on them seemed to very much redefine what they considered food.
"Mia, that pasta isn't even cooked!" Emily shrieked. "Jayden, you just had a whole pack of wieners, why would you...Mike that's FLOUR!"
She saw Mike and Kevin fighting over a pack of plain flour, and given the amount each of them had already spilled down themselves, clearly they had already eaten some. Growing up in a farming community, she knew the dangers flour could present. They could easily choke or suffocate if they consumed too much. Many people working in mills and bakeries had ended up with serious repertory disorders due to the small amount of flour in the air. As she tried to grab it off them, the bag split completely and caked her in the thick, white powder.
"I was going to eat that!" Mike whined, before noticing that Mia had found some animal crackers and running off to claim some. Emily just let out a hellish scream. She had heard her mom always tell her how hard it was to raise kids, now she was beginning to get the message, considering she now had five, all of whom were bigger and stronger than her. How would she be able to deal with this, and a Nighlock all by herself?
Just then, the doorbell rang. As reluctant as she was to answer it, she went to the door, dusting herself off as much as she could. She answered the door, finding Spike and Cody on the doorstep.
"Emily...is Mia here?" Spike asked her, showing her a wallet. "We found this stuff at the mall, we figured it was yours."
"Yeah...it is ours." Emily stammered, accepting the wallet as they came in with the bags. She tried to act like nothing was happening as there was a huge crash from another room. "Thanks."
"It sounds like there's something wrong." Cody remarked. "Can we help?"
"Uh...it's kind of..." Emily suddenly got an idea. She was right about one thing, she couldn't keep her friends safe AND defeat Grinataur single-handed, she needed help from somewhere. "This is a training exercise. You already passed the first part!"
"Uh...we did?" Spike asked. Both he and Cody looked doubtful. Cody moreso, since he actually knew who they were.
"Yeah, you found this stuff and returned it to its rightful owner." Emily stated, showing them in. "Honesty is a huge part of being a Samurai. Now, I have another test for you. It's kind of a game really."
"What kind of game?" Cody asked her, raising an eyebrow. Emily just looked to him.
"The others are running around the house, acting like they're going to eat anything in sight, kind of like the people that were hit by that monster in town." She told them, confident that in the age of I-phones, they would already have heard of the previous battle. "Your job is to keep them safe and keep them away from anything harmful. Go!"
Spike just let out a spluttering laugh as he heard this.
"Are you serious?" He asked her. "Em...you really had me going there for..."
Emily clenched her fists tightly and tensed up. Kieran's words were fresh in her mind. They didn't take her seriously; they didn't respect her, that was why Spike chose to question her word.
"Yes, I AM serious!" She blurted out in a voice so loud, both the younger boys staggered into the wall. They couldn't remember seeing Emily this way. "I am your sensei. Both of you want me to teach you what it means to be Samurai, are you questioning my experience?"
Both of them nodded nervously. Cody, knowing who she was, still thought of her as kind of a soft touch, but right now, he was terrified of her. She looked like she was more than ready to tear into them.
"Um..."
"This is part of your training. Do it right, and I might go easy on you next time!" Emily warned them. "Now, find them and do as I ask!"
As they both scurried off, Emily couldn't help getting a satisfied smirk on her face. She could be tough when she needed to be, just like Mia had tried to tell her. As she heard her Samuraizer bleep, she went to the Living Room, checking the map, before running off to do battle once more.
Meanwhile, in an area not far from the Naval Base, Dayu, Toxica and Jindrax spilled onto the ground. Jindrax was the first to recover, and grabbed Dayu, holding her and turning her onto him in such a way it helped her breathing.
"Toxica, she's hurt bad!" He reminded her. "Do something!"
"Like what?" She asked. "My healing knowledge is based on Orgs. I don't know if it'll work on Nighlock."
"Well, it can't make her any worse can it?" Jindrax replied. "Go!"
Toxica ran off to look for herbs to help her heal her as Jindrax held her.
"Just hang on, we'll do what we..."
"Dayu, Dayu, Dayu!" He heard a high-pitched voice screaming desperately. He looked around, seeing the furry wort she had taken as a pet screaming for her. Clearly it knew she was in danger. He beckoned it out, at which it rolled towards him from its hiding place, before holding it where Dayu could see it.
"Dekker wants you." He told her. She gave a weak smile as he lowered it to her, allowing her to take Dekker in her hands. He had no idea how badly she was hurt, but given her lack of function, he wasn't confident she would live through the night. "Dayu..."
"Urumasa will not let us take it." Dayu groaned weakly. "It knows we intend to destroy it."
Toxica came back with some herbs, falling to her knees by their side. She started to work to strip the leaves from the plants.
"Hold on." Toxica told her. "We'll do what we can."
As she started to work, humming some enchantments, Toxica kept looking to Dayu. Only her Nighlock state had stopped her wounds being instantly fatal. Even now, she had no idea if she could be saved. Dayu clutched little Dekker to her.
"Urumasa knows we intend to destroy it." She told them. "Now, I cannot handle it."
"Don't talk." Jindrax beckoned her. "Please, keep your strength..."
"Without Dekker, my Dekker, there is no point going on." She told them.
"But...you can't even touch Urumasa." Jindrax reminded her as Toxica continued to work on her healing ointment. "How...?"
"We need that sword somewhere we can get access to it." Dayu wheezed as she struggled to breathe. "I guess we need to give it what it wants."
"You mean..." Jindrax recoiled in shock. "Dayu, that's insane! You can't possibly mean..."
"If it will only trust one, then let's give it what it wants." She replied, trying and failing to shift away from him. "I will understand if you can't stand with me. There is only one way, I will tell Dekker where it is."
"But he said he'd destroy you!" Toxica reminded her as she was pounding out a paste with a pestle and mortar.
"If he can be released it will be worth it." She replied. "You can help me or not, it's your choice."
"Alright, I don't know how this will work on Nighlock physiology, but it helped a few Orgs in my time." Toxica sighed, looking to Jindrax. "You may want to think of something pleasant."
As she rubbed the ointment into her wounds, Dayu let out a frightful scream that echoed for miles around.
As Grinataur paced impatiently in a quarry, Emily arrived, drawing her Spin Sword. She tried to recall every one of the movies Mike had made her watch to remember all the tough girls she had seen, trying to think of intimidating gestures. All she could think of was tapping the tip of her blade on a few rocks.
"You hurt my friends." She told him. "You're going to pay for that!"
"Oh yeah, the cute little bunny is going to really make me hurt!" Grinataur taunted her with a faked shudder. "Ooh...I'm SO scared!"
"You should be!" Emily screamed, running at him, slashing with the passion of the possessed. Grinataur was staggered and took many hard shots before he finally caught her by the throat. He got up, seeing her struggling at his grip and laughed.
"Oh, the pretty little Yellow Ranger's caught in my grasp!" He teased her. "Let's play...batter up!"
He threw her into the air, but as he took his swing, expecting her to come down to be dashed into the cliffs, he was surprised. He barely noticed a flash of light. He felt his blade heavier than normal, and looked along it, seeing Emily crouched on it, wearing the white overcoat indicating her power-up into Super Samurai Mode.
"This is for poisoning my friends!" She screamed, beginning to spin rapidly, before burring towards him along his own sword. Grinataur didn't even have time to scream.
Back in the Shiba House, Mike felt a couple of small fists pounding on his chest, and could see a box of chocolate chip cookies in his hand. He had no idea how he had gotten back to the Shiba House, the last thing he could remember was fighting a Nighlock in the mall. He saw Cody standing before him.
"Cody?" He asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Spike!" Kevin wheezed as he limped in, grabbing his crotch. "What the hell?"
"Emily told us to stop you!" He responded. "It was all I could think of..."
As their Samuraizers bleeped, they all looked to the map, and then ran out to deal with the problem. Spike just looked to Cody and threw up his hands.
"You have some pretty screwed up friends!" He shrieked.
"You have no idea." Cody groaned as he took Spike by the hand. "Come on, we can let them clean up this mess."
Emily was already in the Gigazord, fighting for all she was worth. She knew how draining a Megazord battle was, but without the others with her, she had no choice but to risk it. So far, she had been faring well, not landing any significant damage on Grinataur, but then not being taken out either. Of course, every blow took its toll. She was already struggling to stay on her feet, using every ounce of symbol power she had to power the Zord. Eventually, the others arrived, appearing next to her.
"Emily, you did great!" Kevin complimented her.
"Yeah, you rock!" Antonio concurred.
"We're all here for power now." Jayden commented. "You can punch out..."
"No, I want this guy!" She told them. "Jayden, I have an idea, give me the Bull Disk!"
"But..."
"Do it!" Mia agreed. Jayden took it out, handing it to Emily. The Yellow Ranger took it, and jammed it into her belt buckle, morphing into Shogun Mode.
Without a word, she disappeared from the cockpit. Energised by the power of Shogun Mode, she had a third wind, and had gone into the Ape Zord, which leapt from its position on the Gigazord's left side, onto Grinataur's face, clawing at its eyes and distracting it.
"Do it now!" Emily called through her communicator. Mike just smiled.
"Way to go Emily." He said in an impressed tone. The Gigazord launched into the air, powering up its katana strike, before cleaving Grinataur in two just as the Ape Zord leapt off its face. The Rangers all watched him fall and explode in defeat.
"Samurai Rangers, Victory is ours." Jayden declared. "Good job Emily."
After the battle, Emily had gone pretty much straight to bed. She was so wiped, that by the time all was said and done, she had only just made morning training the next morning.
As evening came, and Cody's dad was waiting in the yard for Spike, Bulk and Cody to come home, he saw Emily arriving, this time alone. He was also surprised to see that this time, she had a much larger bag with her, and there was even a very different appearance about her. She wasn't all bouncy and childish, and her appearance...
She came to him, dumping her bags on the ground. Her hair was straight, and held back in a pony tail, held with a simple tie. She was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt, and a pair of simple jogging pants. He looked to her regretfully.
"Emily..."
"I'm still taking these training sessions." She put down flatly.
"It's not that." Kieran replied. "Look, I know I went off the deep end, you train differently than I do..."
"You were trying to help." Emily stated.
"That doesn't mean I needed to be an asshole about it." He interrupted her. He held up a hand. "I know I was."
"Look, you care about Cody, I get it. You want to know he'll be trained properly." Emily told him. "I'm not a ball buster like you. That won't ever change. I believe more good can come from propping people up for their successes than breaking them down for their failures."
She approached him and gestured to her clothes.
"I did accept part of what you said though. I changed up the image a little." She told him. "I may still have a predilection to cute clothing in my time, but come training time, I can make sure people know it's time to get down to business."
"Emily...I felt really shitty about what I said to you. I never meant to question who you are." Kieran told her. "If you think I'm a ball buster, you should have met my dad. I'd run three miles, done three hundred push ups and chopped a whole tree before breakfast!"
"Wow!" Emily gasped.
"I guess, my vision of things was coloured by that." He told her. "I know your methods are different..."
"I will be tougher on them." Emily assured him. "But I'll leave the ball busting to you. I know they need to learn, but I think a little fun is a good thing."
"I only wanted you to find what works for you." Kieran said with a smile. "Sorry if I hurt you."
"Oh, and one more thing...I still have the Hello Kitty stuff." Emily told him as she saw Spike, Bulk and Cody arriving. "I'll wear it in my own time. If you don't like that, you can kiss my ass."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." He remarked as Emily went off to take her students in the first of her new training sessions. He breathed a little sigh and went to his house to go back to his woodwork with more than just guilt on his mind. He knew he had hurt Emily, and he had regretted it, but he had another thing too. He had now received a call from Mia, one that was rather less than friendly. She had left him under no false impressions that he had overstepped his place, not that she was pulling rank on him. She had warned him in no uncertain terms what would happen if her 'sister' came to her that upset again.
"You are tough." He conceded. "I guess the toughest thing you can do is be threatening in a Hello Kitty T-shirt."