It was still twilight on the roof of SCRTCH headquarters, and Retsu was there before the sun. He had already been up there for two hours practicing his forms, but had only just warmed up. Normally he would not have been up quite this early; this, however, was not a normal day. Two major events shared the day's date. One: The dawning of Retsu's eighteenth year of life. Two: The fourth anniversary of the day his beloved older brother Tetsu, died in battle by the hand of Rin Jyu Den. Sadly, his body had never been recovered; he didn't even have a gravesite to visit. Jyuuken was Retsu's last connection to him.

Retsu put his heart into his every technique as he did the forms his brother had known by heart. Somehow, he felt as though Tetsu was with him in every motion; in every single pulsing flow of their shared Geki.

For you, Tetsu, he thought. For you I also became a disciple of Geki Jyuuken, and we will do this together every day, until the day I join you.

As the dawn broke, Ran silently approached him on the rooftop. She waited until Retsu had finished his last form.

"Hey. I thought I'd find you here," she said. "That's just like you, Retsu. You can't even take a break from training on your birthday."

He turned to face her. "Hi, Ran," he said. Retsu went over to her. "This is no mere training. It is a celebration of life. To be honest, I don't really think of it as my birthday anymore."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Four years ago today, my brother, Tetsu, died in a fierce battle against Rin Jyu Den."

Ran's face reddened. "Oh, Retsu . . ." she said. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked . . ."

He cut her off. "No, it's fine," he told her. "I want to talk about Tetsu. I love remembering him; what an amazing brother and martial artist he was." Retsu sighed and sat down. "Whenever I do Jyuuken, I fell like he's still here."

Ran looked at him, unsure of what to say. In spite of what he had just said, she could see that he missed his brother a lot.

Suddenly, the morning peace was shattered by a loud cry from somewhere in the lower levels of SCRTCH. "ZowaZowa!"

"Let's go," Ran said. Retsu nodded and they took off.

The three Rangers arrived at the scene of the attack, in full morph. The area was swarmed by Rinshi, led by Mele and her latest undead monster.

"Mele!" Jan cried. "What are you up to now?"

"Gekiranger," she oozed. "Today you will learn the true nature of the Geki Jyuuken that you all hold so dear. You will discover the gravity of the weakness to which you have subscribed. Sabakudeshinu! Step forth and defeat the Gekirangers!"

The monster, which resembled some sort of beetle, stepped forward. "I will fully exact upon you the superiority of Rin Jyu Den!"

Mele cried "Rinshi! Attack!"

"Jan, Ran!" Retsu said. "You handle the Rinshi. I'll handle Sabakudeshinu."

"Right!" they exclaimed in unison, and the battle began. Ran and Jan ran into the middle of the swarm of Rinshi, Geki Sabers and Geki Hammer drawn.

"It looks like it's just you and me!" Sabakudeshinu told Retsu, running toward him.

"Geki Fan!" Retsu exclaimed. His fan came to him just in time to block a punch. Sabakudeshinu threw one loopy strike after another, all expertly deflected by Retsu's Geki Fan. Retsu carefully watched his movement and quickly found an opening. He adeptly slashed Sabakudeshinu several times, then caught him in the stomach with a side kick that sent him flying. He landed at Mele's feet, and in her disgust for his failure she drove her heel into his back.

"You call yourself a warrior?" She said to his pathetic form. "You are not worthy of fighting under Rio-sama. Now, unless you want me to re-kill you myself, you will get up and complete your simple task!"

He crawled just out of her reach and then turned to face Retsu once again. "You'll pay for that, Ranger. Scarab Ken Ringi! Desert Illusion!" Sabakudeshinu drew his twin claws together, drawing his dark power. Then he unleashed it, in the form of a spiraling dirt devil that completely enveloped Retsu.

As each one of the grains of sand in the dirt devil hit Retsu's body, his Geki suit shot sparks. He tried to block them with his Geki fan, but the powerful wind knocked it out of his hand. Finally, he could take no more. Retsu painfully demorphed, and as he did, he screamed.

Ran and Jan looked to their suffering teammate. "RETSU!" Jan cried.

"Jan . . . Ran . . ." Retsu gasped out wearily as he fell to his knees. Then, before their eyes, he faded into oblivion.

"NO!" Ran screamed.

Mele smiled upon the triumph over her enemy. "Sabakudeshinu, that's good for now. Let's go." And with that, Mele, Sabakudeshinu and all of the Rinshi disappeared.

Ran ran over to were Retsu had been before he faded away. She reverently picked up his fallen fan, and as she did, her morph shattered.

"Retsu," she said weakly. A single tear fell and splattered onto Retsu's fan.