Legal: I do not own Power Rangers, or the associated names, places, events etc. Anything not covered by the above rights should be presumed to be purely the creation of the author.

Rating: T – there may be some mild adult themes.

Serena came home from the hospital, still feeling self-conscious about the visit with Peter. It was now getting to a point she couldn't even try to deny the fact she felt something for him, stronger than any crush she had ever felt before. The guy had quite literally risked his life to help her out on a couple of occasions, the last time almost ending up being cut in half by Dekker.

She hated seeing Peter laid up like that, but on the other hand, it was something of a blessing in disguise. His injury was so grievous that he was bound to be in hospital for weeks, and even then, he would likely need rehab or something. Unfortunately as a result of her own long-term illness, she was more than a little aware of the way things normally worked in hospitals. It would be months before he would be fit enough to fly back to Japan. She was sure that most likely he would be going back to the Tengen Gate when he was strong enough; his place was there with Daisuke operating his systems. She couldn't blame him, it wasn't as though he had anything to hang around for, and the only reason she wasn't going home to the farm was because of her promise to train Bulk and Spike Kendo.

As she got into the Shiba House, she hung up her coat.

"Emily, are you here?" Serena called out. "I really want to talk to you about..."

Her words tailed off as she got into the room and saw the scene before her. Antonio and Jayden were sitting with Mia, who was hugging one of Emily's soft toys tightly, and looked like she had been crying. Meanwhile, Emily was holding Mike, who was being checked over by Mentor Ji. The side of his jaw was swelling up, and he looked decidedly less than happy.

"...Grapes." Serena finally whispered. "Alright, what is it with this house? I go out for a couple of hours and an episode of Dallas breaks out in the living room?"

She looked around, noting one conspicuous absence in the room.

"Alright, this doesn't take a brain surgeon." She sighed. "Where's Kevin?"

"He stormed out." Jayden told her, throwing her the newspaper, folded to the appropriate page. Serena just looked to it, seeing the article about the Olympic tryouts.

"He missed the tryouts." Serena remarked. She knew how important swimming had been to the Blue Ranger. With the exception of his Samurai training, swimming had been the only thing in his life before he came to the Shiba House. It was his dream, one that they all knew was ambitious, around ninety plus percent of athletes would train for their whole lives and never qualify for their respective Olympic teams. "So...he just tries again next time."

"It's not that simple." Antonio told her. "Time's really against him on this. Most athletes retire in their mid twenties. He's already 22. By the time the next games come around..."

"But that's not always the case." Serena interrupted him. "Some people are good enough to keep going. What about those British rowers? Redgrave and Pincett, they dominated rowing for 20 years!"

The rest of the Samurai all stared at her in disbelief. Serena just rolled her eyes.

"I spent a lot of time unable to do anything but watch TV alright?" She protested.

"That's rowing, not swimming." Jayden told her. "You don't get a lot of thirty year old swimmers."

"So...that explains why he's not here." Serena stated. "So...what about the rest of it?"

"He kind of flipped when he saw the article." Mike explained. "He went to a jewellery store after lunch."

"Alright, now you've lost me." Serena sighed, sitting on the couch next to Mia. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"He proposed." Mia informed her. "He proposed when he got home..."

"Right after sucker-punching me for trying to stop him." Mike complained. Serena just turned back to Mia, who was holding the ring in her hand, trembling as she showed it to her.

"After everything that's been happening, The Dream World, Aaron...I just...I couldn't get my head around it all." She stated. "I turned him down..."

"And then he threw a hissy fit and left." Mike interrupted. Given the fact that Kevin had hit him, Serena could understand him being somewhat less sympathetic than the others. "Seriously, we've all given stuff up to be here..."

"Yeah, but we can all go back to what we wanted to do." Emily told him. "I have my diploma. I can go to college any time. Your video games will still be in the stores..."

"In fact, we may be onto the next generation of consoles." Antonio said with a little smile. Of all the Rangers, he was the one who enjoyed video games almost as much as Mike did. "The games will probably be better!"

"My home's right here." Jayden reminded him. "Mia can go home, but Kevin..."

"This might have been his only chance." Mia said sympathetically. "He must have asked me because..."

"Yeah, that dream's gone, so you're a consolation prize?" Mike asked her. "His dream might be over, so he marries you instead? Yeah, that's flattering."

"Mike!" Emily screamed at him, slapping him on the back of the head. It wasn't as though the others hadn't figured out that his motivation for the knee-jerk proposal was the fact he saw his world falling apart. Swimming was such a huge part of his life, that seeing it snatched away had to leave his life feeling empty. He was desperate to fill it somehow, and one of the few other things he could think of to fill it with was Mia. Of course, the way Mike had phrased it was far from diplomatic or complimentary.

"Ow, hey!" Mike complained. "I already got hit in the head once tonight. I'd prefer not to get a concussion."

"Well your jaw isn't fractured, mores' the pity." Mentor Ji said a little sternly. "Having you unable to complain would have been a blessing."

"Mia, are you alright?" Serena asked, stroking her back.

"I am." Mia said, nodding gently. "But Kevin isn't. We need to find him."

"His Samuraizer's still on." Antonio told them, checking his own morpher. "He's not answering calls, but it'll be easier to track him."

"Don't bother trying to call him again." Jayden instructed them. "He's obviously messed up. If he doesn't want to talk, then the last thing we need to do is give him the idea of turning his Samuraizer off."

"Alright, let's get going." Mike groaned, getting up.

"Not you." Jayden told him. "Sorry Mike, you have every reason to be angry, but we need someone to stay here in case he comes home."

"It is also unlikely he will come home if someone finds him that yells at him." Emily reminded him.

"I'll stay here too." Mia told them. "He'll need me here."

"Alright, the rest of us will go." Jayden told them. "Come on, it's getting late."

In another part of town, Kevin was sitting in a bar, drinking alone. In one night, he had seen almost everything he cared about going up in smoke. Losing his opportunity at the Olympics had hurt him dreadfully, but then he had almost started to accept that it was only a matter of time before he had to face losing that. He had always pegged his hopes on the 2012 games. He had missed the 2008 games by a narrow margin, at that time he had shirked a lot of his training. He resented how much it cut into his life, and had started acting out. By the time the tryouts had come, he lost out on a spot. He had thrown his own dream away on that occasion.

He had kind of thought that if he did compete in 2012, then he would talk to his coach about taking up a coaching job. That he would help get future generations of athletes to where they needed to be to compete. Now though, that wasn't looking likely. Because he had run out on his last swim meet, his coach didn't know what to think. He had been forbidden from contacting anyone to keep them safe, so his coach didn't even have an explanation for why he had run out and disappeared from training. How could he possibly explain it, even if he could contact him? His coach would never hire someone he couldn't rely on to stick around when things got hard.

He regretted yelling at Mia, a part of him understood why she had turned him down. If he thought about it coldly, logically as he generally thought about everything, he would have to admit that it hardly seemed like an ideal time to ask so much of her. Her own life had been thrown into turmoil as of late, and he wanted to do anything he could to make her life better. It had seemed to make sense at the time, but when she turned him down; he had felt like the last thing in his life was kicking him when he was down.

He still couldn't believe that he had accused her of turning him down for Aaron. He had been hurt when she had turned him down, but even he couldn't justify that faux pas.

"Same again." He stated to the barman, sliding across his glass. The barman just took a look at the Blue Ranger, seeing him looking a little glassy-eyed.

"I think you've had enough." He stated. Kevin had only had a couple, but he was so disciplined in his training that it didn't take much to affect him. He really wasn't much of a drinker. "I'm cutting you off. You can have water but that's it."

Kevin just snorted at that line.

"Water. Yeah, thanks for that, I'll pass." Kevin replied, making his way out of the bar. The barman saw a couple of guys in the corner watching him leave, before getting up and following him. He figured that something was going to happen, and he gestured to one of the other barmen that he was going to check on something.

When he was outside, Kevin was making his way through the parking lot, when he heard a voice behind him calling out. He turned to see three men approaching him.

"Hey kid, can you spare some change?" He asked.

"No." Kevin put down flatly. As he continued to walk, the other guy gestured to his friends, who quickly surrounded him.

"Alright, give us your wallet and your watch." He stated to the Blue Ranger. "Now!"

Kevin just sniggered and shook his head in disbelief.

"Great, now I'm being mugged?" Kevin stated. "Well that's just the cherry on the top of the crap sundae that is my life!"

"I'm not joking man, give us the money!" The mugger told him. Kevin by now had enough. He pulled out his wallet, holding it up for them to see.

"You want it?" Kevin asked him. "Come and take it!"

"So not smart!" One of the others called out, making a lunge for the Blue Ranger, only to find himself launched face-first into a car window, smashing it. He collapsed to the ground, rolling around as blood poured from his face.

The second one pulled a knife, taking wild swings for Kevin, but even drunk as he was, his training took over. He caught the man's wrist, twisting it sharply, forcing him to drop the knife. Spinning sharply, he kicked the man in the ribs, sending him flying into a dumpster, where he just rolled around in pain.

He turned to the last man, holding up his wallet and waving it between his thumb and forefinger enticingly as he started to approach him. The would-be mugger just started to back up, terrified having seen how easily Kevin had dispensed with his friends.

"Come on, I thought you wanted this." Kevin taunted him. The man turned and ran away as his two friends got up, and also took to heel, running off to lick their wounds. Kevin just got a little self-satisfied smirk on his face as he watched them go. Although he knew he had violated at least a dozen rules of the Samurai code, he had to admit that it felt pretty good right now. He had found something in his life he was still in control of.

"Whoa, kid, that was...that was amazing!" The barman called out, coming over to where Kevin was standing in the parking lot. "Seriously, I've never seen anything like it!"

"They were losers." Kevin snorted. "They just ran into someone stronger than they anticipated."

"Stronger? Kid, that is an understatement!" The barman told him. "They just got their asses handed to them!"

"Yeah, I doubt they'll be back." Kevin told him as he started to walk away. The barman ran after him, grabbing his arm.

"Hey kid, hold up." The barman told him. "Look, would you like another drink or something?"

"I thought you were cutting me off." Kevin commented.

"That's before I saw this." The barman told him. "You have some serious moves."

"Uh...I'm straight." Kevin stated. The barman just laughed.

"Not what I was thinking of kid." He replied. "You have a real talent there. You could make some real money from that."

"Money?" Kevin asked him.

"Listen, there's kind of a club I go to at times." He started to explain. "It's a lot like MMA, but unlicensed. Seeing the way you wrecked those guys, I think you'd fit in just perfectly."

Kevin knew that this was wrong in so many ways. It was pretty much the exact opposite of everything he had ever been taught. He knew he wasn't meant to fight for personal glory, or for personal gain, but as he looked to the blood running down the door of the car with the smashed window, remembering that rush he felt when the fight was over, Kevin just turned back towards the bar.

"So, when can you arrange it?" Kevin asked him. The barman just smiled.

"Kid, just give me an hour to cover my shift." He told him. "You'll not regret it, I promise."