Mike's Pov

One second I'm fighting and the next thing I know I'm being pulled though a gap into the Nether World. I had to admit I was terrified. From what I had been told, the very air in the Nether World was poisonous.

I spent a surprisingly long time in the gap. I hadn't thought about the fact that it might take time for nighlock to travel from place to place. I had always assumed that the gaps were like teleporters. Huh.

After a few minutes in the gap, I gradually lost my fear and got bored. I decided to explore a little ways. Being careful to note where I was in relation to where I was going, I walked a little ways.

I saw a red portal in front of me. I cautiously stuck a hand through, then pulled it back out. Well, it didn't hurt. I decided to take a chance, and I stuck my head through. I looked around to find that I was in the middle of town. I pulled my head back in.

"So the gap isn't a teleportation device." I mused, "It's more like a hallway, an underground tunnel."

"I'm proud of you Michael." A voice said, "You are more intelligent than most realize."

I froze. That voice. I knew that voice. I dug into those memories in the back of my brain, the ones I barely remember, but I still couldn't figure out who owned that voice.

I slowly turned around. I looked up to see a man that looked disturbingly similar to me. The hair, the size, the skin tone, the facial expressions, but most of all- the eyes. Forest green. The exact same shade as mine. The man was older than me though; it was almost like looking into a mirror of the future.

Jayden's pov

I just told Ji what happened.

"That is strange..." Ji mused, "They must have taken him to the Nether World. As bait, maybe."

"If it's bait, they didn't think it out very well." I said, "We don't know how to get into the Nether world, and another hour and he'd be dead because of the air anyway."

"True, but we have no idea what the nighlock are doing to him." Emily said, "They could be torturing him."

"Em's got a point, but could be dead already." Mia said.

"In fact, he could be really, really dead, if you know what I mean."

"Or he could be alive and captured." Emily combated, "Maybe in some sort of a holding cell."

"So there's two ways he could be alive." I said, "He's been captured and they're holding him, or he's changed sides. There are two ways he's dead. Tortured, or by the poisonous air."

After several minutes of bitter argument, the rangers had taken sides. Kevin and Mia considered it too great a risk to go in after him. We could easily lose more rangers in the process of attempting to rescue him, putting ourselves in an even worse situation.

Emily thought, and I had a tendency to agree, that we couldn't just leave Mike down there when he could be suffering to a degree beyond our imaginations. I also saw Kevin and Mia's point though, and had to validate it whether I liked it or not. We couldn't just go in there blindly, especially when there was no guarantee Mike would still be alive, and that's exactly what we'd be doing if we went in now.

I realized it all came down to which we valued more: Mike, or the mission. The argument quickly escalated, getting louder and louder until I couldn't tell whose voice was whose. Finally, I snapped. I then came up with what was quite possibly the worst idea I'd ever had. But it was the only solution I could think of that didn't result on the rangers permanently turning on each other. The only way to keep that from happening was leaving it to fate.

Flipping a coin.

Mystery man's pov

I saw a tinge of bitterness in Michael's eyes when I showed him select parts of what the other rangers were doing to decide whether or not to look for him. Thankfully, he had no way of knowing what the rangers were thinking, and he hadn't seen their fighting before hand. I smirked. My plan was working.

Mike's pov

I wasn't surprised at how the other rangers were acting, but I was surprised the man knew.

"So, what exactly are you? A half nighlock, like Dekker?"I asked. Usually, I wouldn't sit down and chat with someone who had technically kidnapped me, but he wasn't tying me up or anything like that. It was weird.

"No, I am full nighlock." The man said, "I gave up my human life completely."

"But... you look human." I said, "Full nighlock plus human body doesn't add up."

"Oh, right. Rare case actually." He said, "I have both a nighlock and human body, even though I am now full nighlock."

A moment of silence passed, but oddly enough it was a comfortable silence. I didn't feel threatened by this nighlock, and that in and of itself was creeping me out a little. The man/nighlock reached out, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Relax. I mean you no harm." The familiarity of it was almost making my head explode. It was like deja vu, but not. I knew his voice, his touch. I knew this guy, I knew him in his human form.

"So you do remember..." the nighlock said.

If I hadn't known any better, I would have said I saw a twinge of pride in the nighlock's eyes.

"Wait..." my breath locked in my through. "D-Dad?!"

A/N: Wow, wasn't that a bombshell for a first chapter? Hadn't meant to let that slip out that early, but you know what? Still fits, doesn't it? It's all good. Not sure what I think of nighlock dad though. Kind of creepy still.