After the battle, the Rangers decided to make a small detour to the beach on their way back to the academy. They had all congratulated Kevin and thanked him for arriving with the Swordfish Zord in time to save the day. He had healed them all with the Swordfish Zord, allowing them to regain their full strength in battle. He knew that as a Samurai, strictly speaking it wasn't all about credit, and that simply doing his duty was where he should derive his pride, but in the end, even he had to admit that it felt good to get the praise for destroying the Nighlock.

He couldn't help staring at the cyan Swordfish Disk proudly. It had been a hard task to acquire it, but in the end, he couldn't help feeling like so far this was the greatest accomplishment of his life.

"Ahhh...the sweet smell of success!" Mike declared out loud, throwing his arms out wide. Emily looked to Mia, remembering their careless words earlier. Mia's sense of duty was strong enough that she had put aside her inquiry into their comment about being sick last night, but now that they no longer had the Nighlock to worry about, she hoped that she would have forgotten about it. She nudged Mia and gestured to Mike, and then to the ocean. Mia gave her a little smile and the two rushed him, grabbing his arms and dragging him into the water where they all started splashing around playfully.

Kevin couldn't help watching Mia. She was a bit more subdued than the others, but she was smiling, and seemed happy the battle was over. Gripping the Swordfish Disk, he was happy to think that he wouldn't have to talk to her. Jayden came over to him, smiling.

"How does it feel to see all that training pay off?" He asked him. Kevin just looked back to Mia and nodded as his smile grew a little wider. Today was a great day for him. He had passed his greatest test, and proven that his training had all been worth it. He had acquired a powerful weapon that had been lost for years, and he had acquired the means to preserve the feelings of one of his best friends by allowing her to remain ignorant of one of her few weaknesses.

"It feels great." Kevin answered him sagely. "But it wasn't just my training. All the practice and dedication in the world doesn't mean anything if you don't truly believe in yourself too."

"Hey!" Mia yelled over from the water's edge, attracting their attention. By now, she was dripping wet as a result of the impromptu water fight Emily and Mike had dragged her into, but they were far worse. By now, they were wrestling each other into the water, completely soaking each other. "The next time we have a day off we should spend the whole day at the beach!"

"Only if you promise to bring some sunscreen." He replied. "Man, I got fried out here!"

Mia laughed, lifting everyone's spirits and turned to rejoin the water fight, making Jayden glad that by habit, they normally kept towels, spare clothes and blankets in the jeep since they never knew what to expect in the field. As Kevin was about to join them, Jayden stopped him, looking down to the disk in his hand.

"You know, that might be helpful in the future if it can heal ailments." He commented. "If I was to hazard a guess, I'd say it might even be used to cure, say, an upset stomach caused by some questionable cooking?"

"I guess so." Kevin answered, a little curious as to where Jayden was going with this. Jayden just shook his head.

"In fact, if I was in your shoes, with that other mission I charged you with, then I might be tempted to just use it to side-step an unpleasant conversation." He continued to press on. "No one likes to tell someone something bad, especially someone they care about."

Kevin just sighed and looked back to the disk in response. Jayden had obviously had some of the same thoughts he had.

"Mia..."

"We can't just use the Swordfish Zord as a cure-all panacea just because you don't want to talk to her." Jayden explained. "What if it doesn't have the power it needs in battle because it's using too much of it healing us?"

"I hadn't thought..."

"What about Mia?" He asked him. "How do you think she'd feel if she finds us using it? How do you think she'd feel if she found out later that we had been lying to her?"

Kevin couldn't answer. He hated the thought of having to say something to her, of risking hurting her feelings but Jayden had a point. She had deluded herself for this long, having her delusions shattered by finding out herself.

"She once suggested she might think about opening a restaurant once this is over." Jayden told him. "Food critics don't care about people's feelings, and repo men don't either. Do you really think you'd be doing her any kind of favour letting her go on and expose herself to something like that?"

"I guess not." Kevin whispered sadly. Jayden put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's admirable that you don't want to hurt her feelings, but sometimes the saying about being cruel to be kind is true." Jayden told him. "Just like this morning, I didn't randomly choose you for this task. This is one of the hardest things I could ask any of you to do, but I know you can do it."

"I will." Kevin replied. "I'll do it tonight after dinner."

"I'll have Master Ji call in a JKP." Jayden told him, jerking his head in the direction of the ocean. "Until then, what do you say we join them?"

"I guess there's no point letting them have all the fun." Kevin answered as they both sprinted off to join their friends, ploughing into the ocean, laughing and joking. Kevin grabbed Mia, throwing her over into the water, completely drenching her, at which she came up laughing. It cheered him up a little. It was good that she was having such a good time now, especially given the talk he needed to have with her tonight.

A while later, back at the academy, they were all kneeling around the table, a few pizza boxes lying around. A couple of them were already empty, but there was still one left. Mike reached for it, opening it up and taking a deep sniff.

"Seafood spectacular!" He announced. "Calamari, crabsticks, anchovies and swordf..."

"Um...should we really be eating that?" Emily asked. "I mean, a swordfish did save our hides earlier."

"You shouldn't deny yourselves just because the Zord takes on its likeness." Mentor Ji told them as he took a slice and taking a bite. "Besides, it's great pizza."

"I think I'm actually kind of full." Mia replied, looking away. "I'm just going out for some fresh air."

Kevin looked to Jayden and nodded in understanding. This was the opportunity he has been waiting for. As he was about to get up though, he caught a glance of her plate. It only had a slice of ham and pineapple on it, the very first pizza they had opened, and more than that, it had barely been touched. He got up from the table and left, following Mia out into the garden. There, he saw her sitting on a bench, huddled over.

As he got closer, he heard a distinctive sound, and placed a hand on her shoulder. As she looked up to him, he could see that she had been crying.

"You hardly touched your pizza." He commented. "The one with the bananas was a bit odd, but they were pretty good."

"I could have cooked like every other night." She commented. "Why did you order in pizza?"

"We just thought you'd appreciate a night off." Kevin told her. "I mean, after the day we had, and that rank Nighlock..."

"This morning, none of you wanted my omelette." She sniffed as he sat down next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders gently. "Mike said last night you had all been sick."

Kevin made a mental note to kick Mike's ass later. Clearly she was upset because she had figured out what was going on. She just looked to him with sparkling eyes. "Is my cooking really that bad?"

He had been placed in a terrible situation by that question. He didn't want to have this conversation in the first place, but at least when Jayden had convinced him he needed to, he hoped to approach it a little more gently. He just took a deep breath.

"It isn't the best." He admitted. "We just didn't want to hurt your feelings."

She just nodded as she looked back to the ground, wiping her eyes.

"So Jayden hasn't been losing weight because my cooking's healthy." She muttered. "He's been losing weight because he'd rather starve than eat it."

"It isn't that bad." He assured her. "I'm pretty hopeless in the kitchen too. Whenever my parents were out of town, I lived on muesli."

"Mom and dad always told me it was good." She told him. "I guess now I can see they were just humouring me."

"Parents always look out for their kids." He told her. "Look, cooking might not be one of your major talents, but then we were never good at anything at the beginning. When I first tried to swim without my parents watching I almost drowned."

She just looked at him, a little surprised to hear that. He had told her all about his training and his dreams of competing in the Olympics.

"Dad had been teaching me a lot, so I thought I was ready to try by myself. I went into the pool without them knowing." He told her. "I was lucky dad came out to chlorinate the pool. He jumped right in and pulled me out. He was a much better teacher than I was."

"I was a self-taught cook." She admitted. "I guess I didn't have a great teacher."

"Maybe that's something you can change." He suggested. "I mean, we're all here to learn right?"

"I guess." She responded with a shrug. "I can't believe I made you all sick."

"Well I'll give you one lesson for free. When the fajita recipe calls for a tsp of chilli powder? That's short for teaspoon, not tablespoon."

"Was it really that bad?" She asked him. He just nodded as he held her tightly.

"It was definitely an experience I'd prefer not to repeat." He admitted. "You're a great person Mia. You're kind, thoughtful, you're an amazing fighter. You always know just what to say..."

He tailed off as he looked at her, and he just shook his head gently.

"I wouldn't worry about the fact cooking isn't your strong point." He told her. She just leaned in, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you." She replied. Kevin smiled as he held her in his arms tightly.

"Any time." He assured her.

Fin.