Aisha was the first one to spot the runaway stroller. They could hear Mr. Anderson calling for his son, and they pretty quickly realized what had happened. At least they were on skates – they could move a lot faster that way. It was still pretty hard going, Adam even crashed into a ladder at one point, but he couldn't stop and check to see if the guy was all right. He could hear Mr. A's cries of "stop that baby!" coming from behind them, and he vowed that they would catch Jacob before anything happened.

They hadn't even realized that Angel Grove park had a cliff in it until it was too late and baby Jacob in his runaway stroller was heading right towards it. There was no time to even think – the three of them just acted. Rocky and Adam lifted Aisha up and tossed her straight at Jacob. There was no other way to make up the time, and they were still too far away.

Adam vaguely noticed another girl, a small flash of pink flying through the air at the same time that Aisha was. But he did manage to breathe a sigh of relief as the pink girl picked up Jacob and held him tight.

"I'm so glad he's all right," Aisha was saying as the other girl cuddled Jacob.

Two other guys, one in blue and one in green appeared. The taller guy clapped a hand on the girl's shoulder, and smiled at them. "Those were some pretty awesome moves, guys," he said.

Mr. Anderson finally made his way over to them, taking his son back, still calling his name, and asking how he could ever thank them.

"I'm just glad that we got there in time," the girl said, and Adam had to agree with her.

"Yeah, that was truly awesome," Rocky agreed.

"Hey, man, you guys were pretty awesome on those skates," the first guy replied, and then he introduced himself as Tommy, and the other two were Kimberly and Billy. The rest of the group exchanged introductions, and then all sat down at a picnic table. They all seemed to be really nice. Mr. Anderson left to take care of Jacob.

Adam pulled Aisha onto the picnic bench near him. While the group seemed nice enough, he still got really nervous around new people, and having his girlfriend there would certainly help. He wanted Rocky to be with him too, but these were new people, and Aisha would certainly be more socially acceptable. He smiled up at Rocky, who nodded back, understanding. They had, of course, dealt with these situations before.

"So how do you guys know Mr. Anderson?" Billy asked, as Kimberly arranged herself artfully on top of the picnic table, giving Adam a really nice view of her legs. Not that he was looking, of course, Rocky and Aisha were more than he could handle. But her legs were right there, and Aisha squeezed his hand playfully.

"He's a teacher at Stone Canyon High," Aisha supplied, taking the lead in this situation, as usual. "He's the best."

"Stone Canyon High?" Tommy asked in surprise. "Are you guys here to watch the Team Ninja Competition."

Adam grinned. They hadn't really advertised who they were. The ninja competition was masked, after all. There was no need to be as assholeish as the Angel Grove team was. "You could say that," he said playfully.

"Great!" Tommy said. "I guess we'll see you there."

The three friends agreed, and Adam and the others decided to remain in the park, making the most of their time before the actual competition.

The competition was being held in the Youth Center, which Adam remembered hearing was the center of life in Angel Grove. They changed into their gis without much playfulness – they had something to prove in this. There could be a celebration after. As the challengers, they were in all white.

As the competition began, they prepared to execute their plan. Aisha was the weakest of the three in terms of fighting ability, and they figured that she would go first. She was still an incredible fighter, but she just had so many other interests that she hadn't been able to devote herself to martial arts the way that Adam had. She still cut an impressive figure as she flipped around her opponent, and Adam had to fight off the urge to go help her the first time she took a hit. But she could take care of herself, and soon it was time to switch.

Rocky was up next. His fighting style was a bit more direct than Aisha's was, and his opponent was fighting pretty dirty. But Rocky resisted any urge to stoop to their level, throwing the opponent around the ring with ease.

Adam's opponent fought the dirtiest of the three from the Angel Grove team, and when his turn came, he had to concentrate harder to try and block their moves. When it came to the melee, the three of them mixed it up, taking out every trick they knew to defeat them. He heard the bell ring, and the match was over. It had been a good one – Adam had been in the zone for most of it. It had been just him and his team and the opponents, doing their best to fight.

He could hear their new friends cheering for them, and the three of them removed their masks, and Rocky wrapped an arm around his waist, giving him a quick squeeze. Adam couldn't stop grinning, even as Aisha raised the trophy over her head. This was how things were supposed to be. They had won. The three of them together.

~*~

They barely managed to make it back into the locker room before Rocky pushed Adam up against a locker.

"Rocky!" Adam started to protest, but as Rocky's lips met his he found that any objections he might have had vanished almost instantly. It was too bad that Aisha was changing in the other room.

"God," Rocky said. "I just." He pulled away briefly and gave his best smirk. "You know how it is after a fight."

"Shut up and kiss me," Adam demanded. He wondered if he let it slip to Aisha how worked up Rocky got after sparring they could maneuver a way to get all three of them together. She'd noticed a bit during their practices, anyway, but she wasn't here right now and Rocky was, and Rocky had started kissing his way down Adam's neck to bite at his collarbone, and Adam became way more concerned with trying to get Rocky's gi undone. The outfits were loose, which Adam was thankful for at this exact moment, but they tied in way too many places, and Adam really didn't want to separate from Rocky long enough to remove it. Instead he pulled Rocky tight against him, and the only thing that was really holding him up was the pressure of Rocky up against him and the wall that was supporting him.

He could feel Rocky right up against him, and just as things were getting decidedly more interesting, he heard Aisha's voice from outside the door.

"Will you two hurry up?" she shouted. "Seriously, people are waiting. Kimberly and the others want to say hi."

Rocky was suddenly halfway across the room, not that either of them would have particularly minded Aisha seeing them like that, but if there were other people around, it was best to keep up appearances.

"We'll be out in a minute," Adam called weakly, and Adam could practically see Aisha rolling her eyes at them. He just hoped she wasn't making her normal comments like she usually did when this type of thing happened.

When Rocky and Adam did manage to make their way out of the locker room, they were both completely presentable, and if you didn't know them you wouldn't have suspected that anything had happened. Tommy and the others were waiting for them, helping them get all of their things to the car. After a promise to make plans to hang out again and teach each other some moves.

They were just about to get into the car when a big gold monkey with wings and glowing red eyes appeared out of nowhere. Adam couldn't even think of a better way to describe it. He had seen it before on the television. Its name was Goldar, he thought.

Aisha screamed, and he really couldn't blame her. The thing was creepy looking. Its eyes were the kind of satanic red that he'd only seen before in really bad Halloween props.

It didn't matter that they had just won a competition, that all three of them were really great fighters, before they even knew what was going on the gold winged monkey had them wrapped up in some sort of glowing gold rope, and they were struggling to break free. Goldar was laughing maniacally. Adam could barely even move. He barely managed to note that Mr. Anderson had been caught along with them, but suddenly they were no longer in front of the Youth Center and were instead in some sort of cave, being chained to a rock.

Weird plants were growing all around them, and gray things that Adam thought were called putties or something like that were wandering around, babbling wordlessly.

"You three darlings have been personally chosen by Lord Zedd," the monkey intoned from his spot on a rock.

"Lord who?" Rocky asked, and Adam could see Aisha rolling her eyes.

"The emperor of evil," the monkey went on to say, along with a bunch of other titles. "It is quite an honor."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Aisha said.

"We'll never use our talents for evil!" Adam added, testing the chains around his wrists. This was not going to be easy. He knew that he'd wanted to see something exciting while he was in Angel Grove, but getting kidnapped had not been on the top of his list.

"You have not been given that choice! Think wisely, you do not have much time." With that pronouncement, the monkey vanished in a flame.

"Never use our talents for evil?" Rocky muttered, and Adam was pretty sure that he was rolling his eyes.

"What?" Adam protested. "Isn't that the sort of thing you're supposed to say in these situations?"

Adam could hear Rocky asking Mr. A if he was okay, and he dimly realized that Jacob wasn't with them, but he was mostly just trying to figure out a way to escape. There was always a way out. There had to be. He just wondered what Goldar meant by not much time.

Adam tried to take in their surroundings. Even though the monster was gone, there were still all the putties. Adam thought that the three of them could take them, but Mr. A wasn't a martial artists. He didn't have the skills.

"Aisha," Rocky whispered. "Try picking the lock."

"Okay," Aisha answered. "Tell me when the coast is clear."

Adam silently thanked the fact that Aisha always had bobby pins in her hair. This could be the start of a way out. Once Aisha had managed to get the locks off, they should be able to make their way out. He just had to hope that it happened before Goldar got back.

"I almost have it," Aisha said.

"Don't do that," Mr. Anderson said. "You're just going to make them angry."

"We can handle it, Mr. A," Rocky promised. "And we can't just stay here. We need to do something."

"Don't worry," Adam added. "We'll get out of here, and you'll have a new story to tell Jacob."

"All right," Mr. Anderson said. "If you feel you can do it."

The group was quiet for a moment as Aisha worked the lock.

"Almost done," she said, and there was a click as the lock finally gave, and her hands were freed. The other two quickly followed, and the three of them began to fight the putties in earnest. The things were tough, but they were making their way through. They might actually be able to get out of here.

"What's going on here?" Goldar's voice boomed, and the three of them were suddenly stunned again, and they were chained back up. It wasn't fair. They should have won.

"Join the evil side!" the monkey intoned.

"Never!" Adam said.

"It won't matter much," Goldar replied. A wooden snake suddenly appeared in his hand. "In exactly one hour this wooden snake will complete its transformation into a living slithering creature. Surrender now and you will become leaders in the army of evil. Wait for it to bite you, and you will become filled with its evil venom, becoming hideous evil drones."

"This is too weird," Rocky said from his place between Rocky and Aisha. "I hate snakes."

"They can't actually make someone evil, can they?" Adam asked.

"I don't know," Aisha said. "I mean, they said that was what happened with the Green Ranger."

They could only watch as the snake turned into flesh and blood, and began to inch its way toward them. The worst part was just sitting there and waiting. He wanted to be able to hold onto Rocky and Aisha, they were right there. Of course, if he could do that, he would also be able to get out of there.

"It's getting closer," Aisha said.

"Stay calm, Aisha," Adam promised. "We'll find our way out of this somehow."

"We gotta figure some way out of here," Aisha repeated as the snake made its way down the rock.

"We don't have much time left," Adam said nervously.

"I guess I never thought I'd be using my abilities for evil," Rocky said forlornly.

Adam tried not to laugh. That was even cornier than his line had been.

"Come on you guys," Mr. Anderson said from his spot on the original rock. "We can't give up now."

"He's right," Aisha said. "Who knows, maybe the Power Rangers will save us."

Rocky rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, like the Power Rangers even know who we are."

"Pretty doubtful if you ask me," Adam added. He didn't mean to be pessimistic, but the idea that some people as incredible as the Power Rangers would notice him… them, maybe. But even the Power Rangers couldn't be everywhere.

"It could happen," Aisha said firmly. That was one of the things Adam loved about her. She was always the optimist. If there was a way out of this, she would see it. "We've just got to keep it together and keep believing in ourselves."

Adam tested the shackles again. He would try. For her.

Goldar reappeared. "You're about to be infused with the venom of evil. Surrender now, it will be much easier on you."

"We'll take our chances," Adam said firmly.

"Very well," the monkey said. "Either way you will soon serve Lord Zedd."

"Don't make any sudden movements," Mr. Anderson suggested.

"It had better not mess with me," Aisha said. She was shaking slightly, and Rocky scooted over slightly to try and comfort her. Adam could barely see her from his position, but he wished he could help.

The snake made its way out of his view, and from the increased sound of her breathing, Adam could guess that it was on or near her.

"Stay calm, Aisha," Rocky said comfortingly. "Don't move."

"It'll be all right," Adam added. "You're right. The Power Rangers will come." He hadn't heard of anyone who hadn't been saved by the Rangers. Someone would come.

"There they are!" he heard a voice say.

"The Power Rangers! I told you!" Aisha said. She was probably glowing. She loved being right. And rescuing was good.

"All right!" Rocky cheered.

"Just in time," Adam added. "Thank goodness," he added quietly.

The Blue Ranger ran in front of them. "Stay calm," he advised them, and Adam saw that he'd grabbed the snake from off of Aisha, and he silently breathed a sigh of relief. She was going to be okay. They all were. The Power Rangers were there.

"Everybody, just hold very still," the Yellow Ranger added, and she fired her pistol at them. Their chains vanished, and Adam and his friends made their way for the exit. He could hear the Yellow Ranger take care of Mr. Anderson from behind them.

Making their way out of the cave, Adam saw the Pink and White Rangers in battle with more of those putties. There had to be dozens of them.

"Aim for the Z!" the Pink Ranger said. Aisha did as she was told, and one of the putties broke up.

Adam grinned. This was going to be fun. He could see Rocky and Aisha out of the corner of his eyes, both of them were doing well. That just let him worry about himself, and he threw himself into the battle without worry. He could hear the familiar sounds of battle, as Rocky, Aisha and the Rangers punched and kicked their way through the swarm of putties. They were free. Everything was going to be fine.

As the last of the Putties were destroyed, the five of them went after the Blue Ranger, who was still in the cave fighting the snake.

"Billy!" the Pink Ranger called, and Adam started. "Stay here," she said firmly, as the two Rangers made their way over to help their companion.

"Look at that!" Adam said in surprise.

"Oh no," Billy said, and it was the same Billy they had met earlier.

"Billy?" Rocky asked hesitantly.

"Then you must be…" Aisha started to say. The Pink Ranger shook her head. "I cannot believe this," she muttered as she took off her helmet.

"Kimberly," Adam continued.

"Tommy!" Rocky said in surprise as the White Ranger removed his helmet.

"You guys are the Power Rangers?" Aisha asked incredulously. "Unbelievable!"

"I guess we owe you an explanation," Billy said.

"We aren't going to tell anyone," Adam assured them quickly.

"Yeah, who would believe us anyway?" Rocky asked.

"We probably aren't the best ones to explain," Tommy said, glancing over at Kimberly. "We should probably take you to Zordon."

"We don't really have anything against you guys knowing," Kimberly said quickly. "It's just that nobody has ever really found out before. And when we got our powers we were told that our identities had to remain secret."

"We wouldn't want you to lose your powers," Rocky said, glancing over. "I mean, are you going to erase our memories or something?"

"No!" Kimberly assured them. "We just… don't really know how to handle this."

"Rangers," a voice boomed from the vicinity of Tommy's wrist.

Tommy held his gauntleted hand up to his mouth. "We read you Zordon."

"Please bring our new friends to the Command Center at once."

"Guess you three are coming with us then," Tommy said with a smile. Each of the Rangers walked up to one of them. "Hold on," Tommy said from his place beside Adam. There was a flash of light, and suddenly Adam found himself in the strangest place he'd ever seen. It was like something out of a science fiction movie. And there was a giant floating head in a tube that the six Rangers seemed to be regarding with something of awe. This had to be the Zordon they'd mentioned.

"I am very glad that you have all made it back safe and sound," the floating head was saying. "And I'd like to extend a warm welcome to our new friends."

"This is amazing," Rocky whispered to Aisha.

"Shh!" she said. "Let the man talk. I think he's a man," she added after.

Adam ignored their bickering, as usual, but then the head addressed them directly.

"You three are the only ones to know the true identity of the Power Rangers. It is imperative that this information remains a secret. Alpha has conducted an analysis of your background and determined that you are model citizens. You have shown yourself to be loyal, fair, and most important trustworthy. Therefore, we ask that you take a solemn vow never to reveal the secret of the Power Rangers identities."

Adam didn't even hesitate. "We'll take that vow."

"Count on it," Aisha added.

"And we'll never betray you."

The three of them stood there and dutifully promised to keep the secret. They were part of something now, something bigger than themselves. And there was no turning back now.

"Did you hear that?" Adam asked the other two after they were teleported to the park.

"Which part?" Aisha asked.

"The part where they said they investigated our backgrounds.

"Yeah, that robot thing."

"And they didn't think there was anything wrong with us." Adam was still marveling in that.

Aisha punched him in the arm. "Quit being so melodramatic," she told him forcefully. "Of course there's nothing wrong with us. It's us. Forever."

"Now let's go get our stuff and go home," Rocky said. "I'm hungry."

"You think we'll see them again?" Adam asked.

"Considering we know all about them, I'm sure of it."

~*~

When the three of them finally made it home, their parents were waiting for them. The five adults were all standing outside the Park house, with identical stern expressions. The three teens could do no more than thank Mr. Anderson and get their stuff out of the car before they were ushered inside of Adam's house.

"Sit down," Adam's father said, and Adam exchanged a glance with the other two. There was no way that their families could have found out, was there? The three of them weren't really that obvious about it, they did their best to hide it.

Maybe this was about the whole getting kidnapped thing. Mr. Anderson could have called home while they were at the Command Center. Maybe they were going to be banned from going to Angel Grove again. Or maybe they were going to make them stop taking karate. Or they were going to sue the school because of the kidnapping.

Adam's mind went through dozens of other possibilities, but the one that it kept coming back to was that somehow their parents had found out about them all. He wasn't sure which one his parents would hate more – that he and Rocky were both dating Aisha, or that he and Rocky were dating. He couldn't stop fidgeting, and he hoped they said what they knew soon.

If they banned the three of them from seeing each other, he didn't know what he would do. He couldn't imagine being without them. Not now. Not after everything.

"What's going on?" Aisha asked, as she led the other two to the couch. Adam wanted nothing more than to grab onto both of them, but that would only be confirming their parents' suspicions. Thank God for Aisha. She was taking charge again. At least they wouldn't have to wait too long for an answer.

"We're moving," Maria DeSantos said abruptly.

Adam's jaw dropped. Rocky couldn't be moving. He started to reach for Rocky, to yell that they couldn't do this, but he restrained himself. Unless this was Mrs. DeSantos' response to finding out about the three of them.

"We're what?" Rocky said as he got up off the couch. "No, Mom, you can't do that."

"Not just you," Aisha's father assured them all quickly. "All of us. All three of our families." He smiled weakly at them. "Sorry for worrying you about that. "

At least it didn't sound like the adults were mad at them.

"What do you mean?" Aisha asked her dad.

"They're opening a new branch up in Angel Grove," Adam's mom explained. "The three of us will be going to help manage it. Insurance is a pretty lucrative industry, after all."

"All of us?" Adam said in surprise. He hadn't thought that his dad would ever want to leave Stone Canyon.

"We'll be moving in two weeks," his dad acknowledged. "It's a pretty big promotion, and we cannot turn it down. So you need to start packing. You'll be transferring to Angel Grove." He paused for a minute to let it sink in. "Did you meet anyone interesting while you were there?"

Twenty four hours ago, Adam would probably have freaked out about moving and starting his whole life over, but now he was oddly okay with it. They were moving to Angel Grove, home of the Power Rangers, their new friends. And he wouldn't be leaving Rocky and Aisha behind.

"Actually," Adam said with a secretive smile that he exchanged with his two partners. "We did."

~*~

That night, the three of them met up in the park by their house. Aisha lay between the two guys, the three of them just holding each other. It had been a pretty hard day, they had to admit. Between the competition, and being kidnapped by monsters, and then finding out who the Power Rangers were, and then finding out that they were moving to Angel Grove where they now had a pretty big chance of being kidnapped by monsters again, they all really just needed the chance to try and recover from it.

"C'mere," Aisha said, as she tugged Rocky down, kissing him quickly. Adam watched happily, pleased that his partners were working it out. He stroked Aisha's hair, waiting for the two of them to finish, before Aisha turned to him as well, and he momentarily lost himself in her.

"This is a good way to end today," Aisha said when the broke apart. "I mean, considering everything."

The three of them laughed.

"I can't believe we're all moving!" Rocky said, bouncing up as though someone had given him a Jolt.

"It is pretty weird," Adam admitted. "Did your family say anything to you before this?"

Aisha shook her head. "It seemed like this was news to them as well."

"You don't think that Zordon could have manipulated things so that we'd be moving closer to them, do you?"

"You and conspiracy theories," Rocky teased. "Besides, if he did, then we seriously owe him."

"Stone Canyon isn't that bad," Aisha pointed out. "But Angel Grove is a lot more exciting."

"You think things will change when we get to Angel Grove?" Adam asked.

"Quit worrying," Rocky said. "Seriously, how much can things change? We've got each other, we've got new friends in the Power Rangers, and we're the martial arts champions of Angel Grove! And you know how that city is about that."

"I know," Adam said, turning away slightly. "I just… what do you think they'll all think of us? Of this?"

"I don't think the Power Rangers are really into judging people," Aisha pointed out. "And you know, if they are, then they don't deserve us as friends."

"Aisha!" Rocky said in surprise.

Aisha brushed him off. "I'm not saying we would out them – we gave our word after all. And we don't have to tell them, not right away anyway. Besides, we don't really know Jason, Zack and Trini at all yet."

"Seriously, they barely said two words to us," Rocky complained.

"Well, we'll get to know them better," Adam said. "At least we'll have some friends when we get to Angel Grove."

"Well, you'd have had friends anyway," Aisha pointed out, kissing him again. "Us. Always."

Rocky squeezed his hand. "Yeah, stop worrying about it," he said, more seriously than Adam could recall seeing Rocky in a while. "You aren't getting rid of us any time soon."