Disclaimer: I do not own anything

As per Mentor Ji's order's, Kevin stuck close to Antonio as the gold Ranger worked on programming the Water Stone into the Black Box. So far, everything was going well. There was a strange feeling bubbling inside Kevin, but it was a good feeling. As Antonio worked on the Black Box, he noticed the dragon Zord seemed more alive and active as ever. Antonio didn't know as much as Kevin about the facts of the Samurai, but he did promise Kevin that a happy Zord was a good thing, and Kevin believed him.

"I'm almost there," Antonio promised Kevin as the beam from his Samurai Morpher to the Black Box grew bigger and brighter. "Five minutes tops then I'll have your Stone programmed."

"No hurry," Kevin assured the gold Ranger with a smile. He meant what he said. He would rather be trapped in this room watching Antonio programme a box than have anything bad happen because Antonio felt rushed and was careless in the programming. Antonio smiled at the blue Ranger and focused all his energy on the box.

Two minutes went by without any problems. Kevin was feeling better than ever. The connection the Stone gave him to his Zord and even his element made him feel strong and powerful, like he was unbeatable.

Then it hit him. Before Kevin could say anything he felt a sharp pain in his head. He dropped to his knees, behind Antonio's back. For a couple of seconds, Antonio was clueless to Kevin's suffering. But when he turned around to tell the older Samurai he would be done with the Stone in a minute he saw Kevin withering in pain on the floor. He jumped out of his seat, breaking his connection between the Stone, his Samuraizer and the Black Box as he dropped by Kevin's side.

"Kev! Kevin! Are you okay?" he called to the blue Ranger. Kevin's only response was an ear piercing and heart shattering scream as he clutched his head tightly between both hands and rolled on the ground in pain. Antonio had no idea what to do and sat, frozen in fear.

The other Rangers and Mentor Ji burst into the common room after having heard Kevin's screams. There was no good reason for anyone to be screaming in the Shiba House, especially such a pain filled scream. They all appeared worried, but Mia most of all.

"Kevin!" she shouted, dropping to her knees next to her fiancé. She placed her hand on his back, hoping her touch would help him calm down. Kevin couldn't feel her, though. He couldn't feel anything but pain in his entire body, especially his head. His eyes were screwed shut, so he had no idea who was around him, and there was a loud ringing in his ear that kept him from hearing Mia's, or anyone else's cries.

Kevin rolled around in pain, screaming cries of agony that sent tears streaming down Mia's cheeks. She had no idea what was wrong with the man she loved, and it seemed like there was no way to stop his pain. She grabbed his arm with her good one, trying to reassure him that she was with him, but Kevin's flailed at her touch and swung his arms and legs out to protect himself. Mia was hit in the left arm, right above where her cast ended, and was stuck hard enough to knock her to the side. Just before her right arm hit the ground she felt someone catching her and looked up to see Mike. He sat her back upright on her knees and signalled for Emily to come over and comfort Mia. He was going to take care of Kevin.

As Kevin lashed out once again, Mike grabbed his arm by the wrist, stopping another strike. He held it firmly and leaned over his best friend.

"Kevin, dude, I know it hurts but you've got to calm down! We'll take care of you!"

"Keep him still, Mike," Jayden ordered as he pulled out his Samuraizer. Mia really started to panic.

"Don't hurt him!" she screamed and lunged forward. The only thing stopping her from ripping the Samuraizer from Jayden's hand was Emily.

"Mia, he's going to help," Emily wrapped her arms around Mia's shoulders and held her close. Both girls, Mentor Ji and Antonio watched helplessly as Mike struggled to keep Antonio still and Jayden traced a symbol in the air. It struck Kevin and suddenly the blue Ranger laid still. His breathing evened out, his face untwisted from a look of pain and his muscles began to relax.

"Help me take him to his room," Jayden asked Mike and the two boys lifted Kevin up and dragged him out of the room. Mia wanted to follow, but Mentor held out a hand.

"Kevin will need his rest."

"But…"

"As soon as we figured out what happened we'll let you know," Mentor promised Mia before turning away and following the boys.

Antonio let out a heavy sigh and fell onto his back. He ran his hands through his hair as guilt washed over him. He had no idea what happened to Kevin but he felt responsible for it. He had been working on Kevin's Stone when the blue Ranger dropped. He worried he had done something wrong. It wasn't like he had instructions on how to programme the box.

He looked over at Mia and Emily. Both the girls looked horrified for obvious reasons. Mia had just witnessed her fiancé being attacked from the inside out for no apparent reason and situations like this always scared Emily, who did nothing but worry about her friends when they were injured or ill. Still, Emily was putting on a brave face and trying to stay strong for Mia. Antonio interrupted the yellow Ranger's comforting words to Mia in order to apologize.

"I'm so sorry, Mia… I have no idea… I was just… and he…"

"What happened?" Mia shouted to Antonio. She was so worried and panicked she couldn't control herself. It was so upsetting to her to watch someone she loved so deeply hurting so much and she couldn't do anything to help.

"I don't know," Antonio lowered his head. "I… I don't know…"

"Mia, it's not his fault," Emily tried to be Mia's voice of reason. She grabbed the older Samurai by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "It's got to be the Stone. Mentor said they were powerful, right? Remember yesterday? Remember what I went through just to get to my Stone?"

"I have to see him," Mia tried to leap up but Emily grabbed her right arm and pulled her down.

"No, you can't!" she cried. "You won't do him any good, Mia!"

"He needs me!"

"He needs you to be calm," Emily said. She wrapped her arms around Mia's neck and pulled her into a hug. "He's sleeping now. Jayden, Mike and Mentor will take care of him, I promise. You have to calm down before you can see him."

"No…" Mia shook her head as a fresh wave of tears filled her eyes and flooded down her cheeks. She clung onto Emily as if her life depended on it.

"I know it's hard, but you know it's what's best," Emily whispered into Mia's ear.

Antonio still held his head low in shame, "I'm so sorry, Mia…"

"She knows it's not your fault," Emily said when Mia wouldn't answer Antonio. She shifted slightly in Mia's arms so she could have a look at Antonio and she took his hand. "You didn't know this was going to happen. If you did, you would have stopped."

-Samurai-

Mike chewed nervously on his fingernails as he looked down at his sleeping friend. He still had no idea what Jayden had done to calm Kevin down, but he knew it had worked. The blue Ranger was sleeping peacefully. In fact, if Mike didn't know any better, he would have thought Kevin was just laying down for a midday nap.

But he did know better. He had seen Kevin on the ground in pain. He had heard the screams and felt the panic. He had to restrain the blue Ranger to keep him from hurting himself or the other Rangers and he watched as Jayden put Kevin to sleep.

"He'll be fine," Jayden promised Mike from a corner of the room. He had been sitting in complete silence since they brought Kevin in. He only decided to speak now to help calm Mike down. "He's sleeping. He doesn't feel any pain right now and he's not going to wake up until he's completely pain free."

"The symbol…"

"It's a painless symbol," Jayden promised. "Nothing's going to happen to Kevin while he's asleep, but if we want him to wake up we have to figure out what happened."

"Mentor, now would be a really good time for you to have some answers," Mike turned to the oldest man in the room. Mentor shook his head.

"All I can tell you is the Stones are powerful. Because they've been hidden for so long, not much else is known about them."

"Something must have happened," Mike said. "There's no way the red Ranger would make a Stone that would try to kill another Samurai. Surely whatever's in that Black Box isn't so powerful we can afford to lose one member."

"Or all of us," Jayden looked to Mike, "We don't know if this is just a problem with Kevin's Stone or if the Stones are too powerful for us to handle."

"We can't keep doing this, then," Mike looked to Kevin, "We have to find a way around this; especially before we get to you. None of us know what symbol you used on Kevin."

"We'll figure this out, Mike," Jayden promised. "Kevin's going to be fine. We'll get the box programmed. We'll stop the Nighlok. No one else is going to have to suffer like Kevin did."

"They better not," Mike sighed.