Despite Riley's hated for water, Mia found the little girl by a lake. Riley was tossing waters, breaking the surface of the water, creating ripples, and making large splashes, as the size of her rocks were rather big for skipping stones.

"What are you doing?" Mia asked as she came up beside Riley and knelt next to her.

"I hate the water," Riley shook her head. "I don't want to learn how to swim. I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!"

Riley tossed what could almost be called a boulder, then stomped her foot and stuck out her tongue as the water splashed up, "I hope that hurt, you stupid water! I hate you!"

"Why do you hate the water so much, Riles? It can be fun. You love bath time. Swimming is like taking a bath, but better…"

"NO!" Riley tossed another rock into the water, throwing it angrily as she screamed: "It's stupid! It's mean! I hate it! It's going to take me away too!"

"Riley," Mia tried to gently grab her arm, but Riley pulled away, found another rock and threw it into the water. She was closer to the edge now and the rock was huge. She couldn't toss it far, so when it splashed, some of the water came back on Riley, soaking her little body as Riley let out another scream, "NO!"

Mia took the girl in her arms and hugged her tightly. Riley squirmed and cried while reaching down to her leg to scratch it. Mia remembered the burn she had acquired when her brother saved her from the Sanzu Water, and she remembered the burn was gone. There was a faint trace of a scar, but nothing noticeable to anyone who didn't know it was there.

With her finger, Mia made a towel from Symbol Power and wrapped it around Riley, "This water isn't bad water, Riley. That water that burned you, it's never coming back. I promise, you're never going to have to worry about that water again."

Riley wrapped her arms around Mia's neck, "Sometimes, I still see him. He's downing."

"Drowning? Who?"

"Peter, and Muffin. In the scary water."

"In your nightmares?" the nightmares were less prevalent now that Riley knew she had a safe home with Mia and Kevin, but they did still come up. Riley shared them with Mia, sometimes spilling all the details and sometimes keeping her nightmares more reserved, but Mia knew there was a recurring theme: the death of her parents, her brother, and her cat. Though Riley was very resilient, and very brave, the war had left its mark on her forever. Mia hugged her daughter close and kissed her cheek, "It's never coming for you again, Riley. I promise. We're going to teach you how to swim so that the water can't get you like it did last time. You're not going to drown like Peter or Muffin."

"I miss my brother," Riley squeezed Mia and hid her face in her shoulder. "Sometimes he was mean, but he always taked care of me."

"I know," Mia nodded her head and started to head back to Ninja Ops. "We can talk about this a little more tomorrow. But I promise, Riley, I'm never going to let anything hurt you. Do you trust me?"

"Yeah. I never let anything hurt you either. Promise."

-Samurai-

Mike had gotten his well-deserved rest, and was in the main room of Ninja Ops playing a card game with Emily in the morning while they wanted for a wheelchair to be delivered by one of the Ninjas. Despite her initial protest, Serena had finally given in after talking about her fears with Emily, and she was no longer depriving her sister of mobility. Emily would no long need to wait for someone to agree to give her a piggy back before she could get around. Though the Wind Ninja Academy was not very accessible, it was still a huge step up from having to spend her days on the couch. At the very least, she could go to the bathroom and get herself something to eat from the fridge without relying on someone else.

Finally, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs and Emily dropped her cards, revealing her hand to Mike.

"You did have a six!"

"I just picked it up," Emily stuck out her tongue and smile brightly when she saw the chair coming down the stairs. "Yay! I can walk! Mike, carry me!"

"What?" Mike asked with a little laugh as he took Emily in his arms and lifted her up. Emily was already bouncing, excited to be able to move around on her own. She didn't even notice the ninja who came to deliver the chair.

Dustin lowered the chair to the ground, and as Mike placed Emily inside of it he lowered his head in shame and started to walk away. It had been a long time ago now, but Dustin still remembered the fateful day. Emily had trusted him to train and protect Serena while she learned to use Symbol Power without her Samuraizer. Serena's safety had been a huge concern of Emily's, and she had asked Dustin to train Serena to harness her power without tools so Serena always had an extra level of protection. Instead, Dustin had fallen for Dayu's plan, allowed the other ninjas to convince him Serena was responsible for Sensei Kanoi Watanabe's death, and his lack of trust, led to Serena being captured, tortured, almost killed, and paralyzed by Dayu. Emily had screamed loudly at him when she came to take her sister home, blaming him, as well as the others. Though he had received news that Serena had relearned to walk and was doing well, Dustin still couldn't get over his part in her pain.

Emily rolled back and forth with the chair, but stopped and turned around to look at Dustin when she noticed he was leaving.

"Thank you," she smiled and Dustin could hear it in her voice. It only hurt him more. He tried not to turn around, but now that he had been seen he couldn't just leave, especially when he knew the chair was needed because of Emily's broken leg. When they had met over a year ago, the two earths had bonded. Dustin saw himself in Emily, with the goofy, child-like attitude, the warm smile, and the kind, open heart. He cared for her. He didn't want to hurt her, or see her hurt.

"Emily, I…"

"Come here," Emily waved him over and signaled for him to bend down. Dustin did so, but closed his eyes, fearing he would be smacked in the face for what he had done. Instead, Emily wrapped her arms around him tightly. Dustin jumped, a little startled, and almost lifted Emily from her seat. She giggled into his ear. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blamed you for what happened."

"But I…"

"It's okay," Emily shook her head. "My sister's okay and, I guess when it really mattered, you did believe in her. Besides, she learned to kick butt in the wheelchair, and it gave James the push he needed to ask her to marry him. Serena's a stronger and better person now so… I guess, thank you."

"Still, Emily, I'm really sorry. I'll apologize to Serena, too. We all will, and we're going to make it up to her, to you, and to your whole team…"

"There's no need. You're forgiven. Unless there's cake."

"Cake, cookies, ice-cream…"

"Oh no," Mike rolled his eyes while Emily's lit up.

"Apology not accepted, and you're not forgiven until I get some cake, ice-cream, and cookies! In that order!"

Dustin chuckled and put his hand on Emily's shoulder, "You'll get some either way. We all saw how you guys kicked Nighlok butt. I think we're going to have a celebration one night."

"You better," Emily smiled. "I'm looking forward to it, so don't disappoint me. You won't like it when I'm sugar-free and disappointed."

Dustin shook his head and then pointed to the brace on Emily's leg, "So, Leanne kind of told me what happened. You broke your fib… thing."

"I got shot!" Emily cried excitedly. Mike, who was putting away the cards, rolled his eyes. Unlike the other times, Emily was rather proud of this injury. She did complain when it needed to be cleaned and the bandages needed to be changed, and the thought of being shot did scare her a little, but telling other people she got hurt by getting shot seemed to be a fun story for her to tell.

That, or she liked the reaction of others when they heard little Emily had been in a gunfight and came out with nothing more than a broken fibula and a wounded muscle from where the bullet had torn through her calf. She would walk again, that was guaranteed.

"You were shot! By who?" Dustin's reaction was one of panic. His eyes shot open in shock when he heard, and he looked down at Emily's leg, and then up at her, and then down at her leg again. "How did that happen? Who do I have to kill?"

Emily smiled and shook her head, "No one. I'm okay. Or, I will be. I just need to stay off it for a while. Thus, the chair. Think you can teach me to pop a wheelie? My friend Antonio loves to mess around and show off in wheelchairs, and I wanna show him up."

"If you two are done flirting," Mike teased after finishing with the cards he went to the computer. He had heard it was childproofed, but hoped Cam had left it capable of playing video games, "can one of you tell me how to turn this thing on?"

"Dude, you might not want to mess with that. It's Cam's baby, and it you break it, you die," Dustin shook his head and grabbed Mike by the arm to pull him away from the computer, "I'm serious."

"Wait? Really? There's this giant computer here and I'm not supposed to play games with it?"

"It sucks, huh?"

"Dustin, don't you motocross?" Emily asked. The earth Ninja turned to her and nodded his head. Emily gave him a smile and then looked to Mike, "Why don't you get some lessons with Dustin? It sounds fun."

"It really does," Mike nodded his head, and Dustin was quick to agree. Before they left, both men looked to Emily, "Em, you'll be okay here until the others get up?"

"Yeah. I can walk now," Emily rolled the chair back and forth with a smile, "Go, have fun."

"Have you ever ridden before?" Dustin asked as he led Mike away, and the green Ranger shook his head.

"No, but I've played a few motocross video games. Is it anything like…?"

"Nope," Dustin shook his head. "It's way better. I think Tori's got a few spare helmets in her van. We'll get your geared up and then on the track. The one I built here is sick."