LEGAL: I do not own Power Rangers or the associated names, places, events, characters etc. Anything not covered by these rights is to be presumed to be the sole creation of the author.

Rating: T- may be some adult themes.

Things around the Shiba House were quiet...VERY quiet. Indeed, it was so quiet, the Rangers were starting to think of things as...dare they say...boring.

For a while, they had all used all the extra time they had to train. Their harsh, decisive, and some would say borderline embarrassing defeat at Xandred's hands was now some time ago, and they had all fully healed, all except Mia, who was still nursing the broken wrist Dekker had given her shortly afterwards. They had all had a little taste of the power that awaited them if Xandred were ever to come back to their world, and they were under no false illusions about how that had ended. They all knew that they were lucky to even leave with their lives, fortunate that Xandred had been forced to retreat or dry out completely. They had all agreed to train hard to increase their power to the next level.

Unfortunately, it was not just Xandred that had left them. Serrator was also in need of recovery time, and had not been seen in the mortal realm since he fled from Xandred. Dayu had been taken with Xandred back to the Netherworld, and Dekker...once he realised they weren't going to go anywhere alone, and had mastered a stronger security symbol that stopped even Half-Nighlock from entering their home and those of their allies, had given them one last battle, taking heavy damage in what he had referred to as a 'parting gift'. They still had no idea what that meant, or when he would be back, but what they were certain of is that at some point, he would be. He still craved his duel with Jayden, and without Xandred and his forces to distract the others, he was not going to get it.

Their good intentions had lasted some time, but over the last month or so, the attacks became less frequent. Indeed, in the last couple of weeks, they hadn't seen so much as a single Mooger. While they still trained as always, the motivation to push themselves had waned a little. It seemed like they were torturing themselves for nothing, and so things just kind of dropped off a little. They were using their time to catch up on some of their other pursuits. That had also presented some of its own problems. Mia had read through almost the entire library, and was starting on Ji's private collection. Kevin and Jayden practiced, but with only themselves for opponents, they had kind of hit a plateau, not really advancing in any real way. Even Mike had now spent so much time on his own pursuits that he was now bored with all his video games.

Jayden came into the Living Room, following another rather unproductive session with Kevin, finding Antonio by the computer. Although the monster attacks were less frequent, that information hadn't seemed to filter to the tourist industry, and so with the holidays well underway, the city had largely emptied. Normally when the citizens took their holidays, tourists flocked to Panorama City for the climate, but this year the Travel Agents seemingly couldn't GIVE the tickets away, and the usual tide of tourists hadn't come. The upshot was that a lot of businesses had noticed a large drop-off in trade, Antonio's included. Jayden had seen him at the computer more than a few times recently, since he didn't really have the same demands on his time with his business. What was the point in fishing for hours when there was no one to buy his stock?

"You know, it's pointless, Ji put a parental lock on the computer." Jayden chuckled, seeing the way Antonio was staring at the screen. Antonio took a moment to realise what Jayden was getting at, before finally realising that he was suggesting he was trying to look up porn. He just laughed.

"Do you really think I wouldn't be able to bypass that if I wanted to?" Antonio asked him. "No, I'm just messing around."

"Well, be careful what you're looking for." Jayden told him. "Last time Emily went just randomly looking for stuff, Mia found Spike's Facebook page."

"Yeah, I heard about that." Antonio chuckled. Jayden just went to his room to get showered and changed, leaving Antonio alone to his work on the computer. Checking Jayden wasn't around, he pulled the page he was looking at back up.

He sighed as he confirmed what he knew already.

"Prop 8." He sighed. "God Damn it!"

Panorama city was in California, a state unique among the others. He hadn't thought about it before, not much, indeed...he hadn't thought about it at all until Jayden, but California was unique for one special reason. For about six months in 2008, it was legal for two people of the same gender to marry.

It seemed silly to him at times, but as he watched Emily and Mike giggle and cuddle, or when he saw Mia bore Kevin with her seemingly endless collection of wedding albums, Antonio had thought about it more and more.

Back in High School, when he first discovered he was gay, he had a hard time dealing with it. In fact, he had once tried to take his own life once people started to realise he was different, that he wasn't looking at girls the same way other guys were. He had heard it referred to as a "choice". Yeah, some choice, he thought. Everyone at his old church, most of his old school, and even members of his own family had turned their backs on him. It wasn't a choice, it wasn't down to him that he wanted to be with other guys instead of girls. For a long time, he thought that would mean he would end up alone. No one wanted to be near him.

He had that attitude up until he got to the Shiba House. He had never really understood why he had kept his promise to Jayden. He never really knew why it was so vital to him that he came back to him, but as soon as he arrived back in Panorama City, he knew. The moment he saw Jayden, he knew that he was the only man he had ever loved.

Watching the others though, he was starting to find something else growing in him. He didn't really blame them for planning for lives after Xandred was gone one way or another. He had thoughts about it himself. However, seeing the way Mike would remind Emily that they belonged together, or the excitement Mia showed any time she talked to Kevin about yet another idea she'd had for what he was sure would be an event that would put Will and Kate to shame if she had her way, it brought something to his attention, something he now found upsetting him deeply. As a result of proposition 8, at present, he would never be able to legally marry the man he loved.

He knew that many people had left the country, and he also knew that more than a few had held ceremonies that meant just as much to those involved, but legally speaking meant nothing. Before now, it hadn't bothered him, but now, now it seemed to get to him.

He had never spoken to Jayden about it. He was afraid to, the whole concept of being in a relationship with another man was relatively new to him. It was one thing to accept he was also gay, but marriage was another thing entirely, something that he wasn't sure he should bring up with him just yet. He just sighed and closed down the computer altogether. He wasn't like he wanted to marry tomorrow, but now that he knew that it wasn't an option at present, it seemed to bother him all the more.

Just then, a Gap Sensor sounded. It was a sound that was quickly becoming alien to the Rangers. They hadn't heard it in a couple of weeks, so they had almost forgotten why they were even here. They all rushed into the room, staring at the map.

"Moogers?" Mike asked. Kevin shook his head, but a ghost of a smile crossed his lips.

"It's bigger than that." He stated. "It's a Nighlock!"

"A Nighlock?" Emily asked. "So they're...?"

"I don't think so." Jayden interrupted her. "The energy signature's not huge, so I'm guessing it's an independent taking advantage of the quiet time to advance its own power."

"Whatever, it's more action than a punching bag!" Mike exclaimed, running for the door. "Let's go!"

Ji stayed behind, monitoring the map as he watched them go.

The Rangers arrived by an old movie theatre, finding several people running scared. They gestured them out of the area, before running inside to find out what was bothering them. They eventually found some moogers and a Nighlock in the foyer waiting for them.

The Nighlock was a bizarre creature. It had only one eye, which looked fixed, and unblinking, and its head was shaped somewhat like a large, old-fashioned...

"Is that a projector?" Mike asked. The Nighlock looked up from the concessions stand, where it was feeding on film reels instead of popcorn.

"Well, you're here!" It declared. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd come!"

"Your energy signature was so small we only just found it." Kevin explained.

"Well, I guess now is where I'm offered the chance to step outside." The Nighlock stated. "Although, I think I prefer inside."

"Is anyone else bored?" Terry asked. "I say we take this guy NOW!"

He ran at the Nighlock, at which a blast came out of its one eye, and he disappeared in a flash of light. They all just looked at it in horror.

"Terry!" Emily screamed. "You son of a..."

Her words dissipated as she too was hit with a blast and disappeared. Mike leapt aside and rolled away as it fired out a beam, taking out Antonio, Jayden and Kevin. He alone remained, and right now he was pinned behind the ticket booth in fear of being vapourised too.

As he prepared himself to move, he noticed a mirrored pillar, likely there for security reasons, and he noticed that where Emily had been standing, there was now a film reel. Looking a little way off, he saw another. He finally realised that they weren't gone, they had somehow been turned into film reels. He had no idea how he would turn them back, but it was a relief to hi to believe there was even a chance they weren't really gone.

He saw a glow from his Samuraizer, and he grabbed it. He found it vibrating in his grip, mildly at first, but the vibrations steadily grew, grew until they were painful, and then to the point that he could no longer hold it. The Samuraizer flew out his hand, and started to float in mid-air, before turning into a translucent form of the Green Shogun he had once seen in his dreams. He knew that the first Samurai Rangers had attained a level of power that none had ever matched, a level they had offered to the others when Jayden tamed the Bull Zord.

"So, a new toy!" The Nighlock taunted the new arrival. "Well, I'll just take that too."

Its blast was swatted away by the spirit with the disdain it would have swatted aside an insect. Mike watched as the Red, Blue, Pink and Yellow Shogun appeared beside it, and started to advance on the Nighlock.

"I think not." The Red Shogun, the Grand Shogun, stated. Mike shielded his eyes as the room was bathed in light. As he was finally able to re-open them, he saw the five standing in the foyer, at which the Green Shogun gestured him out.

"You!" He stated. "You are my ancestor?"

Ike didn't know what to say. He just nodded reluctantly.

"Stand when I speak to you BOY!" He roared. Mike snapped to his feet, and came out of hiding, looking to them. The five Shogun just glared at him judgementally.

"You?" The Grand Shogun asked. "YOU are the ones we pass our power to?"

"Uh...I guess..."

"DO NOT GUESS!" The Green Shogun blasted out in a voice so powerful it bowled Mike completely off his feet. He looked up in shock. "I cannot believe my blood would ever produce one so weak!"

"All of us have overestimated our blood." The Pink Shogun stated. "My descendent has even wielded my power, and I could tell then she had no comprehension of its true extent."

"As I felt with my descendent." The Blue Shogun agreed. The Grand Shogun just shook his head.

"You...all of you...you are not worthy of our power." He stated.

"Your power?" Mike asked. "Well...you obviously have a lot! I mean look at it! You wiped out that Nighlock and the Moogers without..."

"I could have defeated a thousand times their number single-handed at the height of my power." The Grand Shogun boasted.

"Look, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but what about my team?" He asked. "Normally when we blow up the Nighlock, any spells they cast end. All my friends are still film reels."

"That is our doing." The Grand Shogun told him. "You have all grown soft."

"Weak." The Blue Shogun added.

"Vulnerable!" The Green Shogun concluded.

"Well, I hate to bring it up, but you're kind of running out of descendents." Mike stated bitterly, hating being chastised by ghosts of centuries dead ancestors this way. "We're kind of your only shot!"

"If you think that, you are as dense as you are soft!" the Grand Shogun snapped. "We gave the war to our children and our descendents because we believed they would exceed us, not become a bunch of whining children."

"Look, my friends...my fiancée is a reel of 8mm cine roll right now!" Mike stated, tears of anger and anguish running down his face. "Tell me what I have to do to get them back!"

The Spirit Shogun Rangers all turned towards each other, and discussed things for a moment. Eventually, they turned back to him.

"The Nighlock had a unique curse, one we think will provide us with a test of your worth." The Grand Shogun told him. "Your friends are all trapped in stories of their own creation."

"What?" Mike asked for clarification.

"Everyone loves different fiction." The Yellow Shogun answered. "If they can bring their story to a satisfactory conclusion, they can go free, and will have proved themselves worthy of the power we have gifted them."

"If they cannot." The Blue Shogun added, stepping forward. "We take that power back, and we finish the war."

"What about me?" Mike asked them. The Green Shogun just levelled his sword his way.

"You had to ask." He replied. Everything faded to black.

He woke up, lying face down in a puddle in the gutter of a street. It seemed to be very late, because he couldn't discern any form of colour. He started to haul himself to his feet, before feeling a hand on his arm, hauling him up.

"Are you alright Jenson?" The stranger asked. Mike looked around, seeing that the guy helping him up was Spike.

"What did you just call me?" Mike asked him.

"Uh...I called you Jenson." He answered. "Do you want me to call you detective?"

"Detective?" Mike asked again. As he stood up, he noticed he was dressed in a three-piece suit, with a long trench-coat over the top. Spike handed him a Fedora, so he presumed it was his.

"Thanks Spike." He state.

"Ernie." He corrected him. "But you know what? Spike sounds...yeah, you can call me Spike if you like."

"Um...sorry, I'm kind of fuzzy here." Mike stated, adjusting his clothing. "Why am I here again?"

"I think it might have something to do with her." Spike replied, pointing to a corpse on the middle of the street. "You started to look around, then you just kind of...fell down."

Mike moved closer, and turned the body over, only to find that it was the body of Serena. She wasn't breathing, and she was wearing...

"What year is it?" Mike asked.

"What?" Spike asked.

"She's dressed like a flapper girl..."

"She IS a flapper girl, she was gunned down by Switchblade Kyle's boys as she left the club." Spike informed him.

"What year is it?" Mike asked him again.

"Uh...1948." Spike replied. Mike went into the club, finding a number of other cops milling around, and customers...but something was seriously off. All of them were in black and white. He turned to a pillar, finding it mirrored, in full light, and noticed that he too was in black and white.

It was only then that he remembered what the Shoguns had told him. They were trapped in stories, just like if the film-Nighlock had trapped them. He checked out his clothing, and the clothing of the other 'cast members' quickly, before coming to his conclusion.

"Holy shit!" He explained. "I'm in a Noir movie!"

"You're not in a movie Jenson." He heard a familiar voice say. He turned around to see Ji standing behind him in a pin-stripe suit, casually smoking a cigar. "Now, if you wouldn't mind doing the job we're paying you for instead of rolling around in puddles, that would be appreciated."

"Ji?" Mike asked.

"That's Commander Bowson to you!" Ji roared. "Now there's a dead girl out there, and I want the man who shot her! Is that too much to ask?"

"No sir." Mike answered as he turned and left, trying to figure this out. The Shogun had said that he needed to take the story to a satisfactory conclusion. If he was going to get out, he needed to find out who shot Serena...or at least...this version of her.