Ji's pov

Mike was dead. He had been for three days now. We still couldn't believe it. All the rangers knew the risks when they accepted the morpher, but they were a lot more real now. Mike had taken a fatal blow at the previous battle, and we couldn't even bury him. The nighlocks had taken his body. The Shiba house was a lot quieter now. I should have enjoyed it. I didn't.

I no longer heard Mike's jokes. In fact, I heard no jokes at all. The rangers were barely functioning now. With Mike gone, they just weren't the same. Jayden had withdrawn into himself, Kevin's temper had been let loose, Mia never stopped crying, and Emily, she was bent on revenge. I hadn't seen her away from the training yard since... then.

They'd fought one battle since Mike passed away. It was a miracle they came out of it alive.

They weren't working together. At all.

They had defeated the nighlock, but only by chance. Xandred must have been having a bad day, because the nighlock he sent wasn't nearly as strong as he'd sent before. I hated the idea that we had to do it, but it was our only choice.

Without someone of the forest bloodline, the rangers couldn't form the megazord.

They had used their zords separately to defeat the previous nighlock. That wasn't going to work forever. I knew what I needed to do. But I wasn't sure if I could. It was still too fresh for the rangers and I. I knew I would try to behave myself, but I wasn't sure how the rangers would react. Especially with how violent Kevin has been acting lately. He nearly got into a fight because Jayden accidentally stepped on his toe.

Even so, it- it was our only option.

(Next day)

I heard the door bell ring and I knew exactly who it was. Jayden was sitting in a chair near the door, but didn't act as if he heard it. He probably didn't. Mia didn't care enough to answer. I walked to the door and opened it.

A young boy stood there. I was shocked. I had expected the boy to be a little older, instead, he looked no more than fourteen. He had the same skin tone, hair color, and build as Mike, similar bone structure even. For a moment, but only a moment, I thought it was actually Mike. That he had some how come back from the dead. Then I saw his eyes. They were dark. Nearly black. It was a striking difference from his brother's leafy green ones. When I looked closer however, I saw they had a green tint to them.

"Jacob." I said, "Thank you for coming."

I invited him in.

Jacob's pov

'Be strong.' I thought, 'Mike would want me to continue his work. This is what I have to do.'

I looked around the Shiba house. It was hard, but for the time being, I forced myself to believe this was my destiny. My duty. I could feel the tension in the air and I knew that things were bad. I would do what I could to fix it. It was hard enough for Ji to act as usual with his own grief. Adding the other rangers' was too much, and I would share that burden with him to the full extent of my ability. 'For the sake of duty,' I thought, 'I am going to pretend that I don't know the previous green ranger personally. I have only heard of him.' I repeated this in my mind as I walked into the room. I felt the rangers' eyes drilling holes in me. 'Focus. I can do this.' I thought, 'For- for Mike.'

"I am Jacob Richardson." I said, "Mike's brother." The blue ranger walked up to me, Kevin, I think. He stood over me, trying to intimidate me. I had to admit, it was working.

"He is not dead!" He said, "We don't need you! Go away shrimp! He's coming back! There's no need for a replacement!" Those words stung. I forced myself to ignore them.

"I realize you feel that way." I said, after taking a deep breath to calm my nerves. "But Mike would want us to continue the mission." I said, "He would want us to keep fighting until every last nighlock is gone."

"Don't you get it!?" Kevin said, "He's not gone! He's coming back!" I wasn't sure how to answer that. Kevin had no idea how badly I wanted that. For Mike to come walking through the door telling us he was fine. That the nighlock had simply put him in a cell for a few days. I felt my emotions acting up. I pushed them away. There was nothing that would convince the blue ranger that Mike was dead so I tried a different approach.

"I am here as a temporary replacement. I will do my best to fill in his shoes until he returns." I said.

"We don't want you." Kevin muttered. The right words flowed out of my mouth.

"No, you don't," I responded, "but you need me." I turned around and walked away, leaving him standing there. There was nothing more to say.

A/N: I know Kevin and the rest are quite OOC, but keep in mind they're grieving for Mike, and they're also coming to terms with just how dangerous their job actually is. I'd love any and all reviews.