Troy, Noah, and Emma had been waiting inside Ernie's BrainFreeze for over an hour. Noah already called Jake twice, and Emma gave Gia several calls/texts. None of them could figure out why they weren't answering their phones, and why they weren't Ernie's yet. After all, they have been talking about this all day.

"Do you think they're okay?" asked a visibly worried Emma.

"I'm sure they're fine." said Troy. "Maybe they just lost track of time."

"But Gia promised that she would meet us here. We never break our promises, we take them pretty seriously."

"Plus, that wouldn't explain why they didn't pick up their phones or respond to a simple text." Noah pointed out.

"Maybe they wanted some alone time." Troy shrugged his shoulders. "They have been spending a lot more time together, maybe they hooked up or something."

Emma glared at Troy and slapped his arm.

"Ow." Troy rubbed his arm sadly. "I was just saying…"

"First of all, Gia isn't even looking for a relationship right now. She wants her first boyfriend to be the one, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, and Jake knows that Gia doesn't want to date. He wouldn't be pushy about it, he's not like that." added Noah.

Emma looked around to make sure no one listening and whispered, "What if something happened to them on their way here? I mean, we do live in a city where aliens are practically invading it. Their main targets would be us because we're pretty much Harwood's only defense."

"That's ridiculous. If there was an alien attack, then Gosei would've alerted us." Just then, their morphers went off. Troy groaned, "I guess I stand corrected."

Noah and Emma gulped; worried that something may have happened to their respective best friends.

"Let's go." Troy got up andsignaled for the others to follow him. They were able to find a small alley right outside the store and checked around to make sure no one was watching.

"Coast is clear." said Noah.

The three remaining rangers took out their morphers and teleported to the command center. Once they were there, they took a step forward and looked to Gosei for an answer.

"Gosei, do you know where Jake and Gia are?" asked a hopeful Noah

"I'm sorry rangers." Tensou rolled over to them and gave the most apologetic look a robot could ever give. "I'm afraid that we're not sure either. We haven't picked up on any sights of a major monster attack."

"So then why did you call us here?" Troy asked.

"We didn't notice any monster attacks, but we did notice the sudden disappearance of the yellow and black ranger's signals. We tried to pinpoint their location, but our attempts weren't successful." Gosei said. "We were hoping that you would know why they dissapeared, but it appears that you aren't quite sure either."

"When did their signals go missing?"

"About thirty minutes ago." The little robot responded.

"Why are we just hearing this now then?" said a frustrated Emma who was clearly upset.

"We weren't sure what was happening either. One moment they're there, and then the next moment, they're completely gone."

"Tensou, where exactly is there?" By now, Troy was already pacing nervously around the room.

"It's about twenty minutes away from your high school. I can teleport you to the same coordinates where the yellow and black ranger went missing if you'd like."

"That'd be great. You guys coming?" Troy paused and looked to Emma who seemed eager to come.

"I'll stay here with Tensou and Gosei." said Noah who was already getting to work on the command center's computers. "I think I'll be more of a help here. I can help them track down wherever Jake and Gia are."

"I guess it's just you and me then. You ready?" Emma gave him a quick nod.

"Okay Tensou, we're ready." A flash of pink and red then exited the command to wherever Tensou had sent them.

-Unexpected Enemies-

When Jake came to, he was immediately confused to where the heck he was at. He then remembered the whole battle, and started to explore the area. It was a dark and rocky area, perhaps a cave. The first thing he spotted was an semi-conscious Gia on the ground a few feet away from him.

"Gia!" He tried to run over to her, but was suddenly pulled back. It was only then that he noticed that there were chains restraining him on his arms and legs. He looked back to Gia and noticed that she was in the same exact situation.

"Well, look who's awake already." Jake turned around and saw Vrak staring down at him and immediately glared back.

"What do you want?" Jake spitted.

"Isn't it obvious?" Vrak gave off a sly grin. "I want you and your ranger team. You pesky rangers have been meddling with my plans for far too long."

"And we'll keep doing it for as long as we have to." Gia retorted back.

"Gia! You're okay!"

"Great, now both of you can be prepped."

"Prepped?" Jake questioned with a confused look.

"Why of course. I can't have you rangers messing with all of my plans."

"Just because you have us in here doesn't mean our friends will stop fighting for us."

"Oh, they won't be fighting for you…" Vrak smirked evilly. "They'll be fighting against you."

"What makes you think that we would fight against our friends?" Gia growled.

"You won't have a choice." Vrak pulled something from behind his back. It was barely noticeable, but Gia and Jake could see a small, silver, chip.

"Once this is on you," Vrak extended his arm to reveal the tiny chip." You'll be completely under my control and my control only."

Jake and Gia looked at each other nervously, not sure how to handle this tight situation. Vrak laughed maniacally when he saw their reactions. "Don't worry, you won't be able to control your actions or words one bit. You won't remember what you'll do as you do it, but you'll remember it as soon as I release you from the control."

Suddenly, Vrak's face got serious. He walked up to Gia and put his face to her face closely. "You pathetic rangers will pay for everything you've done. You'll suffer knowing that your friends will be killed by you. I can't wait to hear the screams of a certain pink ranger." In return, Gia let out the biggest spitball she could manage.

"Don't you dare touch my friends!" Gia yelled as she head butted Vrak.

Vrak let out a frustrated scream and wiped his face. "You'll be tamed soon enough. Loogies!" Vrak called. "Hold them still!

In a matter of seconds, a group of loogies appeared and restrained their arms.

"You'll never get away with this!" Gia screamed as she fought to escape.

"I just did." Vrak grabbed Gia's hair and placed the chip on the back of her neck, making sure that it was hidden well. Gia tried to fight the control, but she could feel it etching in her mind already. Before she knew it, she had a weird feeling to actually listen to Vrak. It was almost as if she wanted to obey him.

Vrak smiled as he saw the chip taking effect as Gia stopped struggling. Jake's eyes widened as he witnessed what had happened.

"Gia, you need to fight it!" said Jake as he struggled more against the loogies. Minutes later, Jake managed to knock down his pair of loogies. Vrak saw and he snapped his fingers.

Vrak bent over and unlocked her cuffs. "Yellow, grab the boy and hold him still." Gia looked up, her eyes empty and void of any emotion. She slowly got up and walked over to Jake.

"Please Gia, you need to fight it!" Jake pleaded.

"It's no use." Vrak laughed. "There's nothing you can do."

Gia grabbed Jake and pinned him down to keep him still. "Gia, stop it!" Jake tried to pry her off, but the chains holding him were proving to be a challenge.

"It'll all be over soon enough black ranger." Vrak chuckled and placed the second chip on the back of Jake's neck.

Announcement: Unfortunately, I'll be out of town to visit some family for a week. I won't have access to a computer, therefore I won't have the opportunity to update. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I'll try to update as soon as I come back. Thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed my story. Please leave a review! They motivate me to continue writing, and I just love reading them. :)