A/N: This is the story of the how the 10 longest serving Rangers (and Justin Stewart) became one team. It is also the story of how the Rangers first learnt the lesson "Once a Ranger, always a Ranger."

This story is my attempt to explain where these particular Rangers were in "Countdown to Destruction" and why they didn't team up with the Space Rangers to fight Astronema's army.

P.S. for those of you wondering; I am still going to continue my S.P.D. story! I'm just going to write them both simultaneously!

Chapter 1: Is this love?

The now former Power Rangers left the Power Chamber for the last time. They were teleported into the city, in an alley just outside a local coffee shop, the bright sunlight a stark change from the artificial light of the Power Chamber. Tommy felt, well he didn't know quite what he felt. Here he was. His career as a superhero was over, and that part was depressing. The other part, the part where he was about to start the next chapter of his life? That was exciting. But he didn't know if anything would ever amount to being a Ranger.

"Everything okay, man?" Adam asked, giving him a small smile.

"Yeah, I just don't know how anything will ever compare to being a Ranger." Tommy replied.

"None of us do, but now we've got an opportunity to find out if anything will." Tanya said, trying to make the best of the situation.

Only Kat remained quiet. Of the four, Kat was the only one not attending the University of Angel Grove. Tommy would be studying science, Adam would be studying business (as would Rocky) so that they could open a Martial Arts dojo together; and Tanya would be studying music. Kat on the other hand would be moving to London, in order to study ballet. Here she was again, 18 years old and moving away from her friends for the second time in her life.

"At least the three of you and Rocky will be together. You'll have friends to help you guys through it." Kat told them with an encouraging smile. On the inside though, her heart cracked knowing that she wouldn't be there with them. Just knowing that she'd have to be alone was something she wished she'd never have to do.

They continued to walk along the asphalt, pretending to look at the graffiti on the walls of the alley. "We'll stay in touch Kat, you'll never be alone. No matter how far apart we are from each other, we'll always be part of the Power Ranger family." Adam assured her, whilst Tommy and Tanya gave her a small nod.

Kat sighed, knowing the others meant well, but also knowing that despite their intentions, it would never be the same. It was time to grow up and move on. High School was over and it was time to start the next chapter of their lives.

Jason woke up groggily to the sound of the alarm clock. He'd been living in Florida ever since his break up with Emily. He'd moved there to try and figure out what he wanted to do with his life. After his break up with Emily he'd travelled the country for a while, until finally settling in Florida, where Kimberly was. He needed a familiar face. Zack and Trini had stayed at the peace conference until just after the defeat of the Machine Empire. However, they were often out of the country on ambassador business, trying to keep peace throughout the world.

Jason turned off the alarm clock and sat up, kicking off the covers of his bed while dumping his feet onto the floor and staring into his hands. Since reconnecting with Kim, he found out the real reason she'd dumped Tommy, and he began thinking back to that conversation.

The two former Rangers sat in the café, protected from the sun by the black umbrella which rose from the wooden table, not unlike the Dragonzord rising from the sea. "So Kim, I heard about you and Tommy," Jason began, "Who's this new guy? He must be pretty special to make you leave Tommy."

Kimberly sighed and her eyes conveyed a mixture of pain, sadness and regret. "There's no guy Jase."

Jason did a double take. "What do you mean?" He choked. "Then why'd you break up with Tommy?" Jason felt that there had to be something more at play. It wasn't like Kim to do something like that.

"You know Queen Machina?" Jason nodded, so she continued. "Well, she had this plan. She threatened to kill my mom, if didn't I break up with Tommy." Kim's eyes began to water. "She thought that if I broke up with Tommy, he'd become too depressed to properly lead the Rangers."

Kimberly started to cry, so Jason reached across the table and covered her hand with his. "Kim, the Machine Empire is gone. You can go back to Tommy and tell him the truth. Even though he's with Kat now, I'm sure that the truth would go a long way. At the very least it will help him make sense of the break up."

Kimberly shook her head sadly, looking down at her feet. "The Machine Empire may be gone. But the monster she left to watch my mom is still around."

Jason was angry. Nobody could threaten his friends or their families and get away with it. He was going to finish this once and for all. He was just thankful that he'd done some travelling in the Desert of Despair before moving to Florida. The newly restored Power Coins were going to come in handy.

"Leave it to me Kim." He told her seriously. "I'll destroy the bastard who's threatening your mother."

Kim looked up, shocked by what she was hearing. Jason couldn't go toe-to-toe with that machine without his Ranger powers. But she saw the seriousness, the determination in his chocolate coloured eyes and she knew that he had a plan.

"How?" She asked.

Jason produced the Tyrannosaurus Power Coin from his jacket, undamaged. "I took the damaged Power Coins to the temple of Ninjor and I asked him to fix them, in case the world ever needed the original Power Rangers back. He restored them to the powers of the dinosaurs... the original five and Tommy's white tiger coin."

"When?"

"Just after the defeat of the Machine Empire. I thought that they might come in handy one day. I was right."

"Does anyone else know?" Kim asked him, the piercing look in her hazel eyes giving away her next question.

"No. Just the two of us. And I'd like to keep it that way."

Kim thought hard for a moment.

"Do I get mine back?" she asked seriously.

"Kim, after leaving the Ninjor's temple, on my way to Florida; I…" his voice cracked. Jason was ashamed of what he'd done. He looked at the ground. "There were a group who looked like they had acquired some Zord technology. I don't know how, but they had it. On my way to Florida, I saw them practising in the desert with mechanised suits, not unlike the Zords. They looked smaller, about eight feet tall."

Kim saw the tears that welled up in Jason's eyes. She knew this must be bad. Jason was rarely this emotional.

"I overheard them talking about how they could conquer the world in them. So I morphed and attacked. They had power, but I had more." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I killed them Kim."

Jason let a tear roll down his cheek, off the side of his face and hit the table. He put his head in his hands and cried silently. Kimberly was shocked. She'd never seen Jason cry. Here was her friend. The hot-headed, compassionate, loving and fearless leader of the original Power Rangers, crying. She wasn't even sure why. They'd all killed individuals who had posed harm to the Earth. She cupped his cheeks in her hands and spoke to him.

"Jason, they were going to kill innocent people, you did the right thing. You used your powers for good."

Jason merely shook his head. "No Kim, I didn't. I disabled their suits. They were no longer a threat; and then I killed them." Jason felt sick in his stomach. He was a monster. "I'm not a hero anymore Kim. I'm just as bad as them. Worse, even."

Kim was shocked to say the least. However, in her mind, Jason had made a mistake. That did not undo all the good he had done. On top of that he was remorseful. And in truth, if anyone deserved to die like that, it was genocidal maniacs.

She took his hands in hers and spoke to him again. "Jason, listen to me." She told him firmly. They stared into each other's' eyes. "You made a mistake, we all do it. That does not undo all the good you have done. I still believe in you."

Jason smiled at her. "I don't want you to make the mistake I did. Let me deal with this machine threatening your mom and then I'll put the Power Coins away until a day when we actually need them."

Kim smiled at him. She didn't know why she was feeling the way she currently was about Jason. She'd never thought of her relationship with him as anything other than platonic. Yet here he was. Another broken soul, just like her. She didn't know why, but she kissed him.

To her surprise, he kissed back. The kiss was passionate but slow, her stomach flipped when their lips melted into each other as one.

That was about six months ago. Shortly after, they'd ventured to Angel Grove to surprise their friends. Instead they'd had the crazy "Turbo Adventure" as Jason referred to it. However, ever since returning back to Florida, Jason had felt different. The first month with Kim was great. But returning from Angel Grove, he'd realised that Tommy and Kim still loved each other. He'd surprised himself by being okay with it. A part of him always knew that Tommy and Kim were meant to be. That was why today he would break up with Kim. He would convince her to go back to Angel Grove and rekindle her relationship with Tommy, especially after Tommy had phoned him to inform him of his break up with Kat.

Yes, he and Kim loved each other. But not in the way he wished they loved each other. They loved each other as dear friends. They had both needed someone who could understand each other's pain. In some ways, Tommy and Kat were similar. Kat was going through the hurt of leaving her life in Australia behind, while Tommy was dealing with his own hurt from Kimberly dumping him.

Jason looked out the window of his modest apartment's bedroom; at the street below. Beach goers were already outside in their flip-flops, shorts and unbuttoned t-shirts at nine a.m. on a Saturday morning. Jason wished he could be so happy and carefree, but that wasn't him. He and Kimberly weren't meant to be, he thought to himself again. They both knew it; and today was the day he would send her back to the man she was meant to be with.

Kat stood in the airport with Tommy, Tanya, Adam, Rocky and her parents, the sound of the hundreds of other passengers becoming nothing more than background noise due to the various echoes caused by the footsteps, conversations and so on.

"Stay safe, Kat." Rocky told her as they hugged.

"I will," she smiled back. "Try to find a nice girl to settle down with, okay? I don't want a phone call in a week to hear about how the latest one broke your heart." They both chuckled at the joke.

"I'll see you soon." Adam told her as they embraced. She looked at him questioningly. "I've found a semester exchange program in London. Tanya and I are both gonna come and visit."

"I look forward to it." Kat grinned, excited that she might be able to see her friends sooner than she thought.

"I'm gonna miss you, Kat." Tanya sniffed. She'd been silently crying all morning. "You're my best friend."

"You're mine too." Kat sighed. "Hopefully we'll get to see each other on that exchange trip?"

"Yeah, that's the plan."

Kat said her goodbyes to her parents and finally turned to Tommy. This was the moment she'd been dreading.

"Goodbye Kat. I'll – I'll see you soon." He said.

"Tommy, before I go, we need to discuss us." Tommy looked at her as if he knew what was coming. Her heart pounded, making her ribcage rattle as she began the next part of her speech. "Tommy… I… you're going off to college and I'm going to be halfway across the world."

Kat took a deep breath, her bright blue eyes glistening with ears. "I don't want one of us to meet someone and have to send a 'Dear John' letter to the other. That's not fair. We're not meant to be, Tommy. We both know who your true love is, even if she hurt you deeply. I will always care about you, Tommy, I promise. But I don't love you… not the way I should."

Tommy was glad she felt the same way. He'd been planning to do the same. He'd tried to love Kat the way he had Kimberly, but he just couldn't. Kat had supported him and helped him through the time after Kim had dumped him. But in his heart, he still loved Kimberly. He always would. You don't fight a war with someone, fall in love and have those feelings go away.

"I understand, Kat. I think it's for the best too." He smiled at her. "But if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask. We're still friends and there's nothing I wouldn't do for a friend."

"I know."

Jason parked his car at the café. It was the same café he and Kim had begun their relationship in. It only seemed fitting that they resume their friendship here too. This was how Jason was choosing to look at it. He just hoped Kim was ready to accept the truth.

Jason walked up the stone-grey concrete steps, dragging his feet, the heat of the Miami sun weighing down on him. He saw Kim sitting at their usual table. She was wearing a pink and white floral sundress; and a smile on her face. Jason sat down and ordered a coffee for each of them, letting general small-talk fill the time until they'd both finished their coffees.

"Listen, Kim. We need to talk." Jason said, not wishing to delay it any further.

"Okay, Mr. Serious." Kim joked. Instead of laughing, Jason looked down and sighed. He knew he might hurt Kim, but it would be worth it if it made her go back to Tommy.

"Kim, you know I would only ever do something that's in your best interests, right?"

She smiled at him. "Of course." She noticed the pained look in his eyes and was suddenly a little worried. "Jason, what's wrong?"

"We need to break up." Kim looked shocked, but deep down, she knew why. "Kim, these last few months have been great, but in reality, you belong with Tommy and I can't deny that every time we kiss, it should be him that you're kissing.

Kim didn't want to hear it. She was scared of trying to rekindle her relationship with Tommy. She had hurt him and she wouldn't blame Tommy if he didn't even want to try.

"Jason, I…" Jason cut her off.

"Kim, you and Tommy, you're meant to be. You both still love each other, I know it. What we have, it's easy. We're both hurting, because of things we've done. We're just too scared to admit it. We're better as friends Kim. We always were."

Kim nodded. "I know." she sighed, casting her eyes down to her lap. She played with the hem of her dress while she talked. "I'm just scared that if I move back to Angel Grove and he wants nothing to do with me, I'll be alone. I don't want to lose you both."

"Kim, I'll always be here for you, I'll always be your friend. But Tommy is your soulmate. Go to him."

"Okay." She acquiesced. "What are you gonna do?" Kim asked.

Jason shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "Well, Zack and Trini are still doing their ambassador thing, so I'll probably join them." They locked eyes, "Do something meaningful with my life, you know?" Kim nodded.

They sat in silence. Jason was lying. Kim didn't know it, but he did. Zack and Trini were currently on Edenoi, fighting an uprising of Count Dregon's forces; having had their Ranger powers restored. He'd met with them briefly in Miami to give them back their Power Coins and Morphers, before reconnecting with Kim. If he couldn't find love himself, he'd fight evil so that others could.

A/N: The entire story won't be entirely focused on the romance plot, but it will be a large part of it. Please R&R!