A/N:
In addition to all the regular readers, I just wanted to give a quick shout out and thank you to the guest readers who have been reviewing and following along so far! You guys are awesome too!

The monstrous feline named Fury paced around an enormous tree stump deep in the woods outside Amber Beach. As he waited impatiently, he dragged his sharp claws along the old bark and growled. Before he could continue stalking the grounds, he sensed a slight trembling of the earth and turned in the direction it was coming from.

Fury crossed his arms and stood without showing any fear or surprise as the earth burst open before him and a large monster made of stone emerged.

"You're late Graveler! What took you so long?" Fury snarled as he strode forward to meet his subordinate.

Graveler lowered his head and cowered slightly before producing the Star of Fhirald, "I'm sorry boss. I couldn't help it. I ran into some Rangers along the way."

"And did you destroy them?" the feline asked grabbing the monster by the neck.

Graveler groaned slightly, "No… but I still got the Energem. Just like you wanted."

"Give me that!" Fury growled snatching the scepter away and tossing the monster aside into the nearby grass.

Bringing the scepter close to his nose, Fury began to take several deep sniffs of the bauble before turning on his minion, "You idiot! The Energem is not here!"

Graveler scrambled to his feet, continuing to cower before Fury, "That can't be! I took the artifact straight from the humans' hands. They fought me to protect it."

"Well, they must have tricked you," the monstrous cat replied, "I can smell a faint trace of the Emergem still left of this rod, but it's no longer here."

Graveler frowned, "But boss, shouldn't the Energem be inside the glass of that thing?"

Fury whipped the scepter around and smashed the cloudy glass head on a nearby rock. Inside the remains of the frosted glass bauble, there was nothing inside. It was completely hollow.

"Does it look like there's an Emergem in here?" he roared.

Graveler looked about nervously, "What do we do now boss?"

Fury tossed the scepter back to his minion and turned around in thought. Finally he said, "We've tracked an Energem this far, but one of those humans must have removed it first. I want you to go back to that museum and find it for me. Do whatever you have to and don't come back here until you do."

As Fury began stalking off to return to Sledge's ship, Graveler tucked the scepter away and ground his jaw, wondering what his next course of action would possibly be.

Meanwhile, Kendall, Chase, and Ivan returned to their own museum and made their way through the busy noontime crowd. As they passed the café, Shelby looked up from a table she had just served and gave a wave, "Oh hey Ms. Morgan! How did the art visit go…"

She trailed away as Kendall passed right by and headed toward her office with an irritable look on her face. Right at her heels was an exasperated looking Chase trying to talk to her, "Seriously Kendall, what's the deal? Are you really going to be like this?"

"Well… nice to see you guys too," Shelby called sarcastically while the two passed right by, "Everything's been going great here especially since we've been shorthanded… all morning!"

Turning back around, Shelby looked to see the weary and distraught face of Ivan as he stopped to join her. Leading him to an empty table to sit down, she said hesitantly, "Uh, hey Ivan… is everything ok?"

The Gold Ranger gave a contrite shake of the head, "Forgive me Lady Shelby. Twas a most unpleasant ride back in the mechanical coach and I fear Ms. Morgan and Sir Chase are now at odds."

The Pink Ranger glanced over her shoulder to make sure Kendall and Chase were gone before asking quietly, "Really? What happened?"

The Gold Ranger recounted the events of the morning and how a group of Vivix had broken into the art gallery to steal the Star of Fhirald. After driving off one of Sledge's monsters, he added that Kendall had been upset with the loss of the Energem. While she had grudgingly forgiven Chase for getting delayed to save Maddie in the battle, Kendall refused to speak to or look at him after leaving the gallery. Not surprisingly, it made for an incredibly tense and awkward car ride back.

"Wow," Shelby muttered in shock after the story, "That does sound like a bad morning. I'm kinda sorry I asked now."

"Tis not your fault Lady Shelby," Ivan sighed rising to his feet slowly. "I only pray our friends may work out their differences soon… whatever the cause of their strife may be. In the meantime, I think it best we remain industrious and return to our sworn restaurant duties. What say ye?"

The Pink Ranger did her best to feign enthusiasm giving a thumbs up while Ivan walked off to help in the kitchen. Giving one more thoughtful look down the hall toward Kendall's office, Shelby thought about going over there to find out more. That was until she found an empty soda cup thrust in her face from a rude customer nearby.

"Excuse me miss, I've been trying to wave you down for the last five minutes. Can I get a refill on this already?"

Taking the cup, Shelby forced a sickly sweet smile and headed back toward the kitchen, "Of course. Right away, sir."

At the other end of the museum, Kendall entered her office and quickly sat down in her chair. Looking up, she saw that Chase was still there, standing in front of her desk with his arms crossed.

"I can wait all day you know," he prompted earning a scowl from Kendall.

"You shouldn't be in here right now."

Chase gave a mildly sarcastic laugh, "Well look at that. She actually can talk."

"I'm warning you Chase," Kendall replied angrily narrowing her eyes, "Get out."

"Not until you tell me why you're so upset at me. I know we lost the Energem back at the gallery and I said I was sorry."

Kendall gave a huff and opened her laptop trying to ignore him, "Forget it Chase. It's not important."

"But it is," Chase insisted, "You said it yourself… that even if we lost the Energem, I was probably right for going to help Maddie first."

Kendall grimaced further as she continued to type on her laptop in annoyance, "That's not why I'm upset."

"Then tell me why."

Kendall quickly flipped her laptop closed and looked directly at him, "You disobeyed an order out there Chase. You completely disregarded what I had to say."

"Because it was wrong," Chase fired back indignantly, "You're telling me that now I shouldn't put the lives of other people first?"

Kendall shook her head, "I'm not saying that. I was wrong today and you were fortunate enough to help your friend. But what I worry about is what this could lead to in the future."

"What are you even talking about?" the Black Ranger sputtered in confusion.

"What if you get into the habit of disregarding my words… or completely ignoring what I have to say?" Kendall asked pointedly. "You know how important it is to listen to me during other battles, don't you?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Chase answered, "You know I wouldn't do that."

"Oh? And what if Madeline was involved? What if you let your feelings and emotions for her get in the way of your better judgment? Of our mission objectives?"

Chase gave her an incredulous look, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I remember how distracted and guilt ridden you were after Maddie's accident in New Zealand," Kendall began with a sigh, "You weren't even sure you wanted to come to terms with the situation, or become a Power Ranger in the first place. We have an important mission Chase. We have to be serious, focused, and not let our emotions get in the way of things. I just don't think it's a good idea for you to spend so much time with Maddie and get so close again. That's why I'm saying all this."

"No Kendall. I don't think you're being completely objective either," Chase fired back stepping forward and fixing her with a hard look, "Do you want to know what I think?"

Kendall crossed her arms and sat silently with a defiant expression, waiting for an answer.

"I think you feel threatened by Maddie."

Kendall gave a flustered huff and looked away indignantly "Me? Threatened by her? That's absurd."

"Is it? I don't think you like the idea of me giving a whole lot of extra time and attention to someone else... much less another girl. Now you're afraid I won't always be there at your beck and call. Then you wouldn't have someone to boss around or dump all your thankless work on. Am I getting close here?"

"I... Chase... that's not true," Kendall sputtered defensively.

"Listen Kendall, you can try to justify it any way you want," Chase said, "The truth is, I can't help but feel a little distracted or worried about Maddie's safety. She's always going to be important because there are deep feelings there. I loved her… maybe I still kinda do."

"Chase, I hate to say it, but regardless of how you feel, you know our mission always has to come first."

The Black Ranger shook his head, "Kendall, did you ever stop and consider that maybe I'm not you? That maybe I can't just switch my heart off and be so cold and emotionless as you are about these sorts of things?"

For a moment, Kendall frowned partially in confusion and partially in outrage, "So you think I don't have feelings? That I don't care at all?"

"This is about love Kendall... something I just don't think that you understand. There are times I wonder if you really do care about anyone else at all," Chase sighed looking away for a moment, "Sometimes it seems to me that the only things you do care about are the Energems and your work... that the rest of us are just your means to an end."

Kendall stopped and bit her lip for a moment, trying not to let on how hurt she felt by that statement, "Is that what you really think about me? Is that really how you feel?"

Chase remained silent as both friends stood staring each other down. Finally Chase broke the silence and said, "Listen, I should go, since apparently I can't do anything right by you."

"Going to goof off with Maddie then, I suppose?" Kendall muttered petulantly in reply.

"I think I'm going to use a couple sick days," the Black Ranger responded turning around toward the door.

"But you're not sick."

"I am sick," Chase corrected her slowly heading out the door of Kendall's office, "Sick of being taken for granted around here,"

As the Black Ranger left the office, Kendall slumped back down in her seat and took her glasses off. Rubbing her eyes, she wasn't sure if she was feeling more angry about Chase even saying some of those things, or angry at the fact that he may have been partially right too. Getting attacked by monsters, losing an Energem, and getting into a bad fight with a friend was not the way she wanted to start this week off at all.

To Be Continued...