Ji still didn't know who's story he was in, or what he was meant to be doing. He knew only two things. Given the fact he had woken up in an office in a police station, wearing a suit, he was a ranking officer with the local police department, and the name plate on his desk confirmed it, also giving him his name. He was Commissioner William Lewis.

He had gone out onto the floor a few times, checking what people were working on, hoping that at least one of them would give him an idea what he was there, or who's story he was in. So far, all he had confirmed was that it wasn't any of the girls. Serena was a Sergeant, Emily was the girl who delivered his lunch, and Mia was his receptionist. All of them looked at him like he was barmy when he addressed them by their real names, then politely carried on with their part in the story.

He sat in his office, starting to get bored, waiting for his part to begin. Eventually, a man burst into his office. He snapped up as he saw it was Kevin.

"He's struck again." He blurted out. "The Skull has left another victim."

"Kevin?" Ji asked. Kevin just looked confused.

"Uh...sir, it's me, Donnelly." He reminded him. "Should...I send a report or...?"

"I'll go down to the scene myself." He stated. "I want to see what 'The Skull' has been up to."

He got up, taking a coat off the stand, and made his way to the door.

"You can drive." He ordered. Kevin just looked at him.

"Sir?" He asked.

"You know the way." Ji stated. "You can drive."

Back in Kevin's movie, Mike struggled to keep himself composed as he worked to help with the sails. The shape in the distance had been just a speck, but now it was noticeably a ship, and it was fast approaching, leaving him under no false impressions that Kevin was right, the first battle was coming soon.

He looked around to Kevin.

"Look, we've done everything we can, they keep gaining!" Mike snapped at him. "Who's the captain?"

Meanwhile, on The Reaper, Serrator snapped shut his telescope. He was wearing a British Navy uniform of the period, and a cutlass and brace of pistols hung from his belt. He looked back across the ship.

"We've nearly got them boys!" He called out. He looked to a deck-hand, here played by Octoroo. "Go and get the Captain! Tell him we're fast approaching!"

Octoroo ran...well...more kind of waddled, to the back of the ship, past the bustling deck of Nighlock sailors. He was bounced around a few times as they ran back and forth, working furiously with lines, and some heading below deck to man oars.

He got to the cabin and burst through the door, but quailed in fear as a pistol shot lodged in the beam next to his head, sending splinters flying.

"This better be good Gibbs." The Captain announced from the shadows.

"Sir, Lieutenant Wilson told me to tell you that The Inferno is in our sights!" He stammered in terror.

"Tell the men to prepare the guns." The Captain replied. "Come for me when we're ready for the first volley. Tell the Midshipman to prepare one of his little...surprises...for them."

"Sir, yes sir!" Octoroo replied, saluting frantically and scurrying away. The Captain reached for a golden goblet and took a sip of wine.

"Soon, you'll be hanging from my yardarm Blaze." He commented. "You can count on that."

Back in whatever story he had ended up in, Ji arrived at the crime scene. He came into the street, finding a body lying on the ground, with a sheet covering it. A cordon had been set up to keep the press away, and there were numerous officers milling around, looking for clues.

He came across to the corpse, looking down on it. Looking at the height and build, it looked to be a healthy, adult male. He reached for the sheet, and pulled it back, recoiling as he saw what lay beneath.

"Mike." He muttered, seeing the identity of the victim. He looked around, seeing that no one had seen this reaction, before replacing the sheet. He started looking around, hoping to catch sight of any indication of anyone else he knew. So far, he could write off Kevin, Mike and Emily as the architects of this story, since Kevin and Emily didn't know who he was, and Mike was a murder victim. Serena and Mia hadn't been trapped by the curse, so he already knew it wasn't them. That meant he still had Terry, Jayden and Antonio to consider as suspects.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked around, seeing a man in a white coat. It was Terry. He was wearing a badge, marking himself as forensics.

"Terry?" He asked. He shook his head and looked bemused.

"No, I'm Kenny." He said rather off-hand, like he was saying something that Ji ought to know. "It's the same MO as the others, poisoning, with a severe reaction..."

"The same MO as what?" Ji asked him. Terry...or...Kenny, just looked confused. "Pretend I don't know and take it back to the start. Tell me what's been happening. Maybe we missed something."

"There have been four deaths in the last four days." He informed him. "Poisoning, which caused convulsions so severe, the muscle spasms of the victims turned their bones into powder..."

"What?" Ji asked.

"Um...I think I should leave now." Kenny told him.

"Why?" Ji asked him.

"He's here." He replied. "He wants to talk."

Ji just followed Terry's hand as he pointed down a dark alley, but he could find nothing. He just looked back, preparing to ask, but Terry just disappeared. He decided to follow the only path he knew of, and headed into the alley.

It was deserted, and cut off. There was trash littered everywhere, and Ji had no idea what he was looking for, until he saw something on the ground. It was the size and shape of a credit card, and had a large GS embossed into it.

"You're later than usual Commissioner." He heard a deep voice behind him say. Ji just stood up, cocking his head. He had very sharp senses, his hearing included. No one should have been able to sneak up on him so easily. He swung around, only to find his blow blocked.

He continued to attack, ducking and diving around for a moment until both men spun away from each other, facing each other in a guard. Ji just looked to the man in front of him. He was dressed, head-to-foot, in blue and gold spandex, with golden boots and gloves. It was capped off with a cowl and hood, also gold, concealing most of his face.

"When did you learn...?"

"Antonio?" Ji asked. The masked man relaxed his stance and looked aghast. For a moment, Ji wondered if he was going to face another round, before...

"Ji?" He asked. "Is that...is that you?"

JI just rolled his eyes, before slapping Antonio upside the head. Antonio just rubbed his head as he groaned in annoyance.

"Alright, it's you." He grumbled. "How...?"

"How doesn't matter." Ji put down flatly. "You are trapped in a movie of your own design. The Shogun trapped you all until you could prove you were worthy of their power. You need to see your story through to a good end."

Ji looked him up and down, before scoffing.

"Really?" He asked.

"I like comic books alright?" Antonio whined. "Look, all I know is I'm the Golden Sentinel. I guard this city by night, and I'm after a serial killer called 'The Skull'."

"How much progress have you made?" Ji asked him. Antonio just shrugged.

"All I know is the last four times I've lived this story haven't worked out." He stated. "One time I thought I was close..."

"Where is your lair?" Ji asked him. Antonio just looked to him.

"What do you mean...?"

Ji just smacked him again.

"I'm not THAT old!" He stated. "Batman was first published in the forties. I am aware of the paradigm of the super-hero's secret lair."

"It's under the manor house on the cliff." Antonio said sheepishly, pointing to a mansion overlooking the city. He hated to admit that his fantasy was more than a little bit close to copyright infringement. "There's an opening half-way down the cliff on the east face."

"I'll be there in an hour." Ji assured him. "By the way...how do you get out of here unseen when you're wearing that? It is pretty conspicuous."

"You'd be surprised." Antonio chuckled. "I guess people in these stories are just chronically unobservant."

With that, he pulled out a grappling gun, and launched it, shooting up to the rooftops. Ji just sighed and shook his head, before heading back to his car.

In the Shiba House, Terry was sitting with his sister, as Emily paced back and forth by the door to her sister's room. All of them felt exhausted given the vast amounts of power that had raced through them between going into, and coming back from their cursed worlds. Terry couldn't help glancing at Serena's door as he took another drink of medicinal tea.

He didn't know what the hell was going on with her. He knew that he had turned her completely against him with his prank on Emily. Almost killing the Yellow Ranger with a chocolate peanut, he couldn't really blame her. It was only his medical knowledge, and the fact Serena knew she had an Epi-pen that saved Emily from suffering anything more serious than a terror-inducing, panic-ridden shock. She had left him under no false impressions how she felt about that, kneeing him in the nuts and warning him she would kill him if he did anything that stupid again.

His sister had been the one to explain it to him, to make him understand. Serena meant the world to Emily, and Emily was the heart of the team. If he was going to win the others over and become one of them, then he had to win over Serena, and prove that what happened was exactly what it had been, just a stupid, poorly-thought-out joke that went very wrong. His first attempt at reconciling with her had ended...well...less than brilliantly. He had found a DVD in her collection, and offered to have a movie night, just to get to know each other better. He still couldn't remember her hitting him, only waking up a moment or so later on the ground with a very sore jaw, and Mike and Emily explaining his mistake. He had managed to choose the film she had been watching with Stephen when he told her he loved her. He understood that she still had to be raw over his death. He knew that

During their time doing punishment drills together, he took a different tack. He stopped feeling sorry for her. It wasn't that he was unsympathetic, truly, he couldn't imagine anything worse than what she was going through. He had been within a hairs' breadth of losing his whole family over one stupid misunderstanding, and so he knew what it was like to risk losing those he loved. Actually knowing they were gone, that they would never come back, was another. However, he noticed something subtle about the way people were around Serena. They handled her with kid gloves. Even she hadn't seemed to notice apparently, but so far, nobody called her on some of her behaviour. She was occasionally thoughtless, selfish...sometimes she just presumed everyone else would rally around her, and for the most part they did. It was a good thing in some ways, she needed someone there for her. Unfortunately, it had another consequence. With no one to call her on her behaviour, she was only stewing in her own anger and hatred, something he would help her through the only way he knew how.

He knew he pissed her off. Indeed, he actively tried to, just to get her to let out some of her emotions. He was quickly beginning to lose count of the number of times she had threatened him with violence, but he had another tool in his arsenal. While he was behind her in training, he wasn't in conditioning. Running a little faster, doing his push-ups a little faster, doing his chin-ups a little faster...very quickly she was so much more focussed on beating him than she was with being angry, focussing all her rage into shoving his arrogance down his throat.

Then, somewhere along the lines, he couldn't tell where, something changed. She softened a little. Maybe she was just too exhausted to be angry with him anymore. Maybe she was just bored of the contest, but somewhere along the line, she actually talked to him like a human being, and not with that bestial snarl that would have made any Nighlock jealous. He could remember some of the times he laughed with her, some of the times he would just goof around and let up a little, and even though they earned themselves another couple of days' punishment, it ended up with a real change in the way they interacted.

The time he inadvertently barged in on her changing, he was mortified, and retreated, but unlike before, where he was sure that she would have put him in the hospital, she seemed to be just as embarrassed as he was.

Then, there was the times they touched. Not the times they were sparring, but other times. Twice now, he had found himself goofing around with her. One time, their sparring had ended up becoming a little too goofy and playful. He had ended up wrestling with her on the floor, pinning her down. She had been laughing and joking just like he was. Then, there was some silence between them. Before he knew what was happening though, they were aware that others were there, and she kicked him off her and accused him of copping a feel, before storming off, leaving him hurt, offended and confused.

The second time was only a few minutes ago. She had arrived back in the Shiba House in his arms. He could remember something about her, something about the way she looked at him, before she realised that Emily and Mia were there, before once again she kicked him away and pretty much fled as quickly as dignity would allow.

"She'll be fine." Mia assured him. He just looked to her.

"I'm sure she will." He answered her. "Now, maybe some more tea will put us back into this thing quicker? We're still missing a Gold, Blue and Red Ranger."

"Whatever you say." Mia answered, getting up. She rested a hand on his shoulder, before leaving.

Back in Kevin's dream, the crew of The Inferno were doing all they could to gain speed, but The Reaper was gaining fast. It was only a couple of hundred feet away when Mike came staggering up to the deck, carrying a canvas sack, which hung heavily over his shoulder.

"Alright lads, it looks like outrunning them is no longer an option!" Captain Blaze...or Jayden as they knew him...stated. "Prepare the guns!"

"WAIT!" Mike called out. Jayden and the others, Kevin included, all looked around at him.

"What is this? Are you a coward Mr. Pigeon?" Blaze spat. Mike shook his head.

"No, I just have an idea." He told them. He dumped the contents of the sack on the deck, showing them small cannon balls, linked by chain. "I found these below deck. They're Mast Breakers!"

"What?" Kevin asked. "How...?"

"I broke into that store your lot couldn't get into." Mike informed them. "It has some of the Enforcer's former arsenal."

"What else is there?" Blaze asked. Mike just shrugged.

"Just some rum." He replied, causing some excited looks from the crew. Blaze just looked around, picking up one of the shots.

"Alright lads, load these in and wait for the order to fire!" Blaze ordered.

On the Reaper, they were beginning to load up the cannon. Serrator stopped a crewman from loading a cannon ball and handed him a canister.

"Why cripple the ship when you can cripple the crew?" He asked evilly. "Load the grape shot. Aim at the deck!"

Back on the Inferno, Blaze, on the recommendation of his First Mate, had ordered most of his men into cover. Kevin had played this out enough times to know that the first volley would be grape shot, and that hiding was for the best. They had already loaded the cannon. As the two craft drifted alongside each other, the crew of The Reaper looked out.

"Cowering away are you Blaze?" A voice roared out. Kevin knew it sounded familiar. "Why, I heard you were fearless!"

"Fearless but not stupid!" Mike answered. "FIRE!"

The cannon roared, and chain-shot flew out, spinning through the air, tearing through several of the crew, and the masts. With a loud creak, the main masts of The Reaper started to fall.

More cannon roared, and marble-sized shot ripped through the deck, levelling many of the crew. Mike was grateful that he, Jayden and Kevin hadn't seemed to be hit, despite a hole the size of a soft-ball in the side a little way from his face. Captain Blaze just grabbed a splinter and pulled it out his leg, revealing it to be almost the length of a pen.

"Alright lads, they're dead in the water!" He roared. "Let's give them..."

Just then, the boarding party came. Hooks from The Reaper came flying across, and men started to swing over. Planks came down, and men in Navy uniforms poured over. Kevin heard a loud cry, at which Octoroo swung over on a rope, landing on top of him, and bearing him through the deck. Mike was kicked away as someone leapt aboard, rolling to his feet. He looked up and pulled out a cutlass.

"Serrator!" He spat.

"Who?" Serrator asked, confused since he was still playing his part. Mike just smiled.

"Just stay that way!" He responded, running to the attack. He locked swords with him, finding Serrator was far less powerful here than in the real world. He was an equal here. As he locked with him, struggling for position, he cast a look over to Blaze.

That left Captain Blaze. He could only stand, watching as his crew was assaulted. He turned as he heard a rope creaking, indicating someone swinging across. He pulled a pistol, as did the other man, and both levelled them at each others' heads, pulling the trigger, only to find them fizzing uselessly.

"I guess we both bought out powder from the same dealer in Tortuga." Blaze commented.

"I guess so." Curtis replied. He pulled off his hat and his wig, revealing his face as he drew his cutlass. It was Dekker. "I guess we have to do this the old fashioned way."

"I guess we do!" Blaze growled, drawing his cutlass.