The Ranger's Initiative

by Lawliet Veneziano

After many years of being protectors now the Rangers are being hunted, and the only ones who can save them are a mismatched and unlikely group. But with the public against them, the military after them, and even their own wanting them taken in, can a group of mismatched ex-Rangers really save the world and their friends? Or will they fail even to save themselves?

10. Darkness Hidden in Man, Shown in Light

"Fuck."

"Language!"

"Did you want me to say it in French or something?"

"Shut up both of you, you'll get us seen!"

This wasn't how this was supposed to go. Three months had passed since the arrival of Trent and Anton aboard the Megaship and things had been reached a point of seeming more calm for once; the ship was gradually being restored, bit by bit, day by day, encouraged by the activities of all who were able. And in the moments of silence, when everyone who could gathered together, it had become all to clear that the current events had instilled a strong comraderie; Kira found a guitar during a mission down to the earth and had taken to sitting in the dining area, perched on a table during meal times when she'd play some song and Tsuki would sing along with her. They'd all sing along, to varying levels of ability, but there was something precious in it, the terrible off key singing of some, the melodious sweet tones of others; Kira thought it a better sound than anything she'd heard before.

Of course there had been messages, and Andros had taken to keeping the radio tuned to the mysterious channel on which they had heard the rumor of Trent's location; upon letting the ex-white listen to it as well the mystery of who it was continued, Trent having no clue who it was. Anton of course had ideas, theories that he shared with the others whenever the subject came up but the truth felt like it was as far from them as it was that first time they heard the voice. And in the end the identity wasn't as important as the information they shared: stories of the continuing raids, sporadic reports of Rangers being found and taken away, more rumors about where others were. The Renegades drew straws to see who would go investigate the latter, going as always in groups to do so. Unfortunately most had proven fruitless, simply rumors that unlike the one about Trent led them nowhere; on the other hand they had yet to see more government agents but it was a dull sort of success when the reason they had been turned out to be nothing but idle gossip. Still they kept listening, they kept trying; there had to be others out there after all, Tyler often glued to the radio when not helping out or out on a mission in anticipation of hearing some news of his mother and Tommy and Billy kept going through the lists they had, the directory of Power Rangers they knew of, checking it against the information they got, keeping a tally of who they knew had been taken and who still was out there. And every name they deleted from the list,those who the channel told them put up too much of a resistance, who tried to stand up too much, broke the hearts of them all.

But in the end, even with all the dead ends, when they picked up the newest rumor, they were ready and willing. As always they made their group, choosing to have four of them go down this time around; they found a smaller group tended to do well when they went out while the larger ones tended to have problems. Tsuki volunteered, needing a reprieve from climbing around inside the electrical wiring of the ship in hopes of reconnecting things, and while Billy jumped at the chance to assist in this mission, perhaps feeling as if he didn't do nearly enough despite all the voices that argued against that idea, it ended up being Andros and Anton who rounded up the final spots. The ex-red had finally been allowed to leave the ship again, his physical state recovered enough that neither Tsuki nor Billy could find real cause to say no, and it seemed as if he was more than excited to be allowed to adventure out; maybe it was cabin fever, though Tsuki didn't really believe that one. She thought it was more that he felt bad, hearing about Rangers over the radio, hearing them as they came back with the news of it being too late or a false claim; he had a good heart, a large one and she knew it had to worry him, especially with everything he had gone through to sit back on the Megaship as others went out to try and help.

Andros was in many ways understandable but Anton had been the strange addition in her opinion and his snide remark as Andros reprimanded him for swearing did bring a small smile to her face though more so she simply stared at the older man. He was not a Ranger, and barely could be called an ally; of course she knew him better than either of their other teammates on this adventure, and Billy had pulled her aside to see what she thought of the man coming with them, if she truly trusted him. It was hard to give an answer to that she found and though in the end she had tried to reassure him, tell Billy that Anton was good now and could be trusted to have their backs if needed, she still couldn't help but look over at him on occasion as they made their way through the strangely quiet city. Which is probably part of why she allowed them to walk right down the wrong street, leading them to have to retreat quickly and as silently as possible down the nearest alleyway, a small collection of armed military types hot on their trail. Tsuki and Andros flipped themselves up onto a fire escape and with outstretched hands and some ingenuity managed to get both of the other scientists up and out of the alley before the soldiers came charging down the pathway.

After Tsuki had hissed her warning at the two men, causing Andros to put a hand over his mouth and Anton to look at her much like one might a troublesome child, Billy leaned over to her, whispering low, "This certainly will not make further egress simplistic. We need a new plan of attack."

She nodded in agreement and looked around; the blinds were drew on the apartment right beside them and honestly with the four of them on the landing, it was more than a little stuffy. The swordsgirl turned her gaze upward and smiled a bit taking note of the flimsy but effective wire staircase going up; with a few silent gestures she directed them to start following them and Anton led the way, climbing slowly and carefully as possible. The steps creaked under them and Billy yelped as one, almost completely rusted, fell out under his foot before slapping a hand over his mouth; both he and Tsuki glanced down but the soldiers, having run to the other end in search of them and out of the alley, seemed to have gotten too far to hear anything. A small blessing them supposed and they continued to climb.

The rooftop of the building was as bare as the sidewalks but Andros took a breath and Tsuki stretched a bit.

"Well at least that worked out well," Anton spoke and Tsuki rubbed her head.

"I did not expect them to be so close by," she said.

"What are they doing here anyway?" Andros asked with a frown, "Do you think they heard the rumors too?"

"Considering we still don't know anything about the person behind those radio broadcasts or where they are getting their info, then we can only assume that they did," Anton chimed in, to which Billy nodded in agreement, the ex-blue's arms crossed over his chest.

Tsuki couldn't really find much to argue against there; walking over to the edge of the roof and looking out over the city from their placement she could see blue skies high above and crystal clear ocean water past the city's buildings, the sun shimmering in the waves. It looked peaceful and there was no reason in her mind that this place would have a need for military personnel to be walking around the streets with their weapons, unless they had reason to think they needed it. And the army right now only really seemed to have one reason to be on guard.

As she stared out over the strange city Billy came up to her side, examining her expression carefully before speaking, "Tsuki? We should keep going."

She blinked and turned to look at him, smiling softly as she smiled. "Sorry, I guess..."

"I know," he said smiling weakly as well and offering her his hand to take, which she did, "It feels as if it has been an eternity since we had a moment of peace such as this."

"Yet the city feels as silent as Angel Grove did that day," she said in a low voice and followed him back to the others; Andros was looking over his wrist communicator, tapping the tiny buttons before a small hologram.

It looked to be a map of the city, with two tiny lights blinking on it, not far from each other. He pointed to one, "This is where we are and according the rumor this was where apparently a strange mechanical animal was seen; there is not much data of course but we can safely assume that a metal tiger is not common sight in a city like this one."

"A metal jungle cat is not normal to see in any city," Anton said, "Not unless they have a Ranger infestation."

"The current team is the Samurai Rangers though correct," Billy said and adjusted his glasses with a frown, "As far as our intel says all the other teams are currently inactive, with their connection to the Morphing Grid disabled for the time being. Or at the very least dormant. With Jayden and his team currently in custody I am tempted to question what that mechanical animal has to be when all other Zords but theirs should either be destroyed or gone for the time being."

"We can't know until we investigate I suppose," Andros replied.

"I'm curious too honestly but Anton and Andros are right; metal cats aren't normal and Occam's Razor," Tsuki told him and bumped her shoulder lightly against Billy's.

" 'One should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything'," he responded, smiling weakly again, "The simplest explanation for this phenomena would be that the animal is a Zord or similar and thus connected to a Power Ranger with still active abilities."

"Assuming it's not a hoax." With that one last comment from Anton the group started off again, making their way across the roof.

As none of them were entirely comfortable with the idea of going back to the ground, and risk finding themselves once more possibly caught by the army, they decided by majority rules to take the rooftops; for Andros and Billy, ex-Rangers, and Tsuki, a trained swordsman and old ally to Rangers, doing so was as easy as walking. Anton though seemed to have some difficulty with the necessary leaps from one to another and Tsuki took to assisting him, helping the older man across. This left them with some time alone and as Billy and Andros scouted ahead, Anton spoke, "It really has been a while, hasn't it Tsuki. I was glad to see you and Tommy didn't seem to hate me."

"Tommy didn't push you away because he hated you, Anton," Tsuki said sighing, "It just-"

"I know," he cut her off and frowned with a groan as he managed to land on his feet after jumping the ten foot gap between buildings;; he stumbled a bit and turned his gaze to her, "Tommy is infamous; the Green Ranger, the famous Tommy Oliver who has been a Ranger five times. Anyone close to him would have been in danger the moment this whole ordeal started to snowball."

She nodded and he continued. "Then why didn't he send you away? I'd think my safety would mean nothing to him compared to the safety of his beloved."

"I was never going to be safe," she told him smiling ruefully, "I've been pretty active myself when it comes to our little crime fighting community even if I've never been a Ranger myself; even if I wasn't known to many ex-rangers who have had connect with Tommy, I never would have been able to leave Tommy and every to their fates. They're my family and I can't abandon them, any more than you could abandon Trent."

He was silent for a moment and they tried to catch up to the other, walking side by side. Finally after what felt like an eternity he piped up again, "I was never going to be safe either, none of us ever were going to be. Not as long as they have Ranger traitors on their sides."

His words cut deep though were far from a surprise to her. She knew he was right, though even admitting that to herself hurt her in ways she hated; part of her wanted to argue, say he was wrong and that there were those who were safe, those who would never be found, but the words refused to come out and they reached the others without another word.

What she noticed first was the look on the faces of the other two members of their group, a mixture of concern, anger and frustration. What came second was the yelling; Tsuki frowned and turned her attention towards where they were staring. Her gaze fell over the streets below where a crowd seemed to have collected; part of the collective seemed all too clearly to be some of the same kind of people who had almost caught them, dressed similarly with similar weapons clenched in their hands. The other part seemed to be people, normal people, and it occurred to her how young they seemed to be even from a distance, yet there was a defiance to their stance as they walked up to the armed forces and she could barely make out the words being yelled. Things like "stand down" "stop that" "go back inside" came from the soldiers; the kid yelled back, angry, frustrated and it took her a moment to make out their words.

Defense of the Rangers; it seemed odd to her now, after the last few months of their lives, since the attack on Tommy's house that jettisoned her and the others onto a path that ultimately led them there, but there it was. The kid was shouting about the Power Rangers but it was hatred or fear, but respect; the people behind him yelled as well and it became a cacophony of noise and voices, yet there seemed to be a general attitude.

"Are they...?" Billy started but seemed unsure of the words that he really wanted to go with.

"I've seen this a few times, before Trent and I went to go excavating in the mountains," Anton said watching as well, "Turns out the entire United States aren't just mindless sheep and a good number still do believe in you."

"The Power Rangers have saved countless lives, protected countless people, kept this planet safe more times than anyone could count; of course there would be people who understand the truth," Tsuki said continuing to watch with awe and then terror as one of the armed individuals lifted up his weapon, pointing it at the boy, "Oh god..."

"That's not the worse of it." She was about to ask what he meant but he pointed and she followed with her eyes.

There were monsters on the horizon, not far from the group; she could make out some points about them, like that they seemed to have large mouths that covered most of their faces with sharp teeth and no visible eyes. And that they were no creatures she'd dealt with before, not any mook from the past she knew of, but at that moment that was far less important to her than the fact that there was a large collection of them and they were about to descend upon the crowd.

She paled and turned to Billy who looked just as concerned. "We have to help them."

"The only weapon we have with us is your sword, Tsuki," Andros said trying to sound calm, trying to play the leader at the moment, "And neither I nor Billy have our Ranger powers anymore; we're simply normal people again."

"On top of that there's the problem of those military guys," Anton grumbled, arms crossed and she looked over at him, "You guys could try to fight back the monsters but there's nothing to stop those guys from taking the chance to try and capture us or just shoot us outright."

"Logically though that would be..." Billy drifted off and made a face; Tsuki didn't comment. As much as she wanted to believe they wouldn't do that, after everything she had seen, after the attack on her house, the events at the Ninja Academy and what she had witnessed there, it was harder for her to believe that they would be thankful and let them go this once than it was to believe that while they did everything in their power to save their and the civilians lives that they would shoot them in the back as easily as breathe.

"But..." At this point the strange monsters had advanced upon the people and gunshots and screaming took the place of yelling; people started to run and soldiers tried to fight but it was quickly evident that it was a fool's errand on their part. There were too many monsters, and their weapons were nowhere near capable of doing much more than temporarily inconvenience the creatures before they took their swords and spears and started mowing down the soldiers. She thought of the Putties, and the Tyrannodrones, the Cogs and the other mooks she had come across in her life with Tommy; even the simplest one often was too much for normal humans, needing the power of a Ranger to handle.

"We can't just turn our eyes away from this," she said finally, unable to look away, "We have a duty...we have to help them. We went over this, right Andros? Billy? When we got aboard the Megaship, after the stuff at the NASADA building; we agreed that we had to stay around, we can't abandon earth."

"I know," Andros said, "But..."

"But what?" she turned to him, looking him in the eye, "We all agreed, Andros; we don't abandon them, especially not when they didn't abandon us."

She gestured to the civilians, the young people who ran in fear, chased by the strange unknown footsoldiers; a girl, probably not far into her own teenage years, fell and struggled to get up as one such creature advanced, brandishing it's sword threatening. Tsuki glanced over and cursed under her breath before disappearing, teleporting away from the group before any of them would speak; she reappeared on the ground, her sword drawn and catching the monster's right before it could come down on the girl. Her crimson eyes glowed with a fire and she growled back at her while still facing the monster, "Go, now!"

The girl said nothing and pulled herself up, running off; Tsuki pushed back, easily managing to overpower the creature and as it stood in confusion she moved again, slicing it in two with her sword. It's comrades as it were seemed to not notice at first but once they did a number of them rushed at her as well, ready to attack her; she adjusted her stance, holding her blade with both hands and taking a deep breath as she made her way at them too. She didn't plan on waiting around, and though she had faith in her friends, neither did she want to wait to see if they would make a move too; Tsuki refused to let innocents get hurt in front of her, not when she could do something, anything.

"This was reckless!" Still hearing Anton's voice so close was strange and she turned after slicing through another monster to see Anton smack a third with what looked to be a metal pipe; not far from them Billy was fighting back more of them and Andros was trying it seemed to corral as many of the pedestrians as possible towards safety. She could hear all sorts of sound around her, guns, yelling, screams, things being broken, people being hurt; a soldier screamed as one monster cut him cleanly in half with it's sword and another let out guttal gurgle as she was pierced through the abdomen by a spear.

"So was bringing a pipe to a swordfight," she retorted and parried an attack before shoving her sword through the monster's throat and cutting it open, watching it fall.

Yet there were more; there was almost more she thought and though she kept fighting, Andros joining the fight fully once enough of the innocents were safely away, there seemed to be an ndless supply of them. As the Renegades did their best to fight back, a soldier yelled out "Rangers!" and suddenly it became harder still as Anton's words came true; quickly it turned to a combination of forces against the four and Tsuki felt her back press against someone else's, turning her head to see Billy standing there. He looked at her and tried to smile but it was forced; she bit her lip and steadied herself best she could.

"Down!" The next voice was not one she recognized but something told her to listen and she threw herself to the ground, grabbing onto Billy's arm to pull him down too.

The sight that followed was one she was certain would stick with her for quite a while. Two shimmering spirit-like forms, one a large violet wolf, ran right into a grouping of the monsters, easily destroying them before crashing into more enemies, her eyes unable to help but watch it as it moved about. The second was bright pink and looked to be more like a jackal in form, launching itself at the soldiers as they tried to advance upon Tsuki and her group, knocking them back and a strange man with piercing blue-grey eyes in a black and purple outfit offered her a hand.

"Come on," he told her and she took it without hesitation, slipping her sword back into it's scabbard on her back before letting him help her to her feet and he dragged her off away from the fray; Billy quickly followed, obviously not about to let Tsuki go off with a stranger. As they ran by she took note of another stranger in a similar outfit, hers being pink instead, helping Anton and Andros fight back some more of the mooks before she too seemed to retreat in the same direction as the rest of them. The two spectral animals stayed around for a bit longer, distracting the monsters and army types alike before they disappeared. But by then the group of six were long gone.

Tsuki felt like they had been running for a long time, occasionally taking a sharp turn then again and again before continuing forward; as they went the man and woman were both silent. Finally they stopped, pushing open the doors on what looked at first to be a restaurant before beckoning them inside; Tsuki rushed in, followed by her friends and the woman locked the door.

The inside was dark and definitely looked to be a restaurant, if not one that hadn't seen business for a while; chairs were stacked on tables with cobwebs on their legs and there was a deep silence that sent shivers down her back. This was broken by a far more familiar voice calling out "Andros!" and the blonde form of ex- Galaxy Pink Power Ranger Karone came running over, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tight.

"Karone!" Andros exclaimed, surprised by the appearance of his younger sister, eyes wide as he stared at her before encasing her in a tight hug, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be on Mirinoi!"

She hugged him for a second longer before pulling away and slapping him; it was a deafening noise and everyone else in the room for a moment had an expression on their face as if it had been them who had been hit. She pursed her lips. "You idiot, like I could stay there knowing that you were going to be in danger!"

"But how..."

"Don't underestimate the information network of an ex-Queen of Darkness," Karone said crossing her arms, "I came as fast as I could when I heard what was going on; Leo and the others wanted to come too but I told them I would handle things on my own. And then when they insisted and tried to stop me from coming alone, I knocked them on their butts best as I could and flew here in a ship as fast as possible. When I got here though I ended up here in Ocean Bluffs right in the middle of things; the army chased after me but then RJ and Annie here found me and helped me out."

"RJ Finn," the man said with a genuine and good natured smile, waving, "Couldn't rightfully just leave a friend in danger."

"You know my sister too?" Andros asked furrowing his brow.

RJ laughed and shook his head. "Nope, never met her before~"

"RJ thinks of most everyone as his friend," the woman in pink said half smiling herself; she offered a hand to shake, "Annie Creed; we stumbled upon your friend here during a patrol and we figured the right thing to do would be to help her out. So we brought her back to Jungle Karma, that's our pizzeria that you're standing in right now. Then when we heard all the commotion and decided to investigate, that's how we came across you lot."

"We're glad you did," Anton said nodding, "It could have turned out badly for us if you didn't."

"You two are Power Rangers aren't you?" Tsuki asked looking at both RJ and Annie; the other woman frowned and looked at RJ who kept smiling.

"What makes you say that?" he asked not accusatory, not angry; it was more curiosity, a lightness to his tone that made his words seem friendly.

"Those two animals, obviously you created them," she said, "I've met many interesting individuals with interesting abilities but almost all of them were somehow connected to the Rangers and Morphing Grid in some way or another. There's also the fact that you didn't seem too shocked by the mooks unlike someone who isn't used to dealing with such things, and you brought us here where another known Ranger is; that means you're either allies or Rangers yourself. And of course there's the final clues."

"Which are?" Tsuki didn't answer immediately, instead walking closer and grabbing his arm, pulling it out so that his wrist was showing. Or more specifically the strange device strapped there, black and silver and purple in color much like his outfit; the device itself was strange similar to something else she'd seen, one other person's and she smiled in a knowing way.

"I've seen something that looks a lot like this one, a morpher that belongs to a friend of mine, Merrick Baliton, the former Lunar Wolf Ranger of the Wild Force team. And I'd be willing to bet that yours is a morpher too, making you a ranger too, a Wolf Ranger. And I'd also bet going off that, if that violet wolf came from you, then that pink jackal came from your friend which would mean if you're a Wolf Ranger, then she must be a Jackal Ranger."

"How wonderfully perceptive," RJ said cheerfully and he reached up with his other hand to ruffle her hair, making her make a face, "I saw you fighting out there; you're quite talented with your sword. I would love a chance to train with you sometime, perhaps help you to better your skills."

She blinked, unsure how to respond to that or if there even was a proper response. Anton raised an eyebrow and tried to clear his throat, hoping to get their attention to no effect; Billy walked over and gently pulled Tsuki back, looking at the other wolf ranger who smiled at him too.

"You mentioned one wolf but you neglected to mention this one has the spirit of a wolf too," RJ mused easily and Billy was thrown, looking at the others for help.

Annie chuckled. "Don't mind him, RJ has this knack for being able to see a person's inner self."

"I'm startled by the fact that he could so correctly guess at my last Ranger form though," Billy said with a bit of a frown.

"It comes off you in waves, sir, just like it comes off of her; you both have the same sort of brave spirit about you, the soul of someone who will stand even when they would be thrown, who loves those who they call friend and family more than anything and would fight through hell to protect them," RJ said, speaking as if reciting from the very lines of their souls; his eyes went to Andros and to Karone, smiling as they moved over to Anton, "I see it as easily on you as I see the strength of a lioness within Karone or the lion within Andros. And as for your rather grumpy looking friend, he seems a lot like a milk snake."

Anton turned red and Billy and Tsuki barely could hold in their laughter for the moment. Andros didn't seem to get it as easily or quickly as the two Earth geniuses though and looked to his sister. "What is a milk snake and why is it funny?"

She shrugged. "Don't ask me; I don't understand it either."

"Milk snakes look almost identical to a highly venomous type of snake called a corral snake. Unlike it though they are pretty much completely harmless," Annie explained with a smile, "So basically like the milk snake, your friend tries to look and act tough and dangerous but he's actually deep down not really half as bad as he seems."

"Why are there soldiers out on the streets?" Anton asked violently changing the subject and the others looked at each other. Yet no one made a move to try to change it back.

Annie again answered, looking far more sheepish now than she had seconds before. "That's because..."

"The metal tiger right?" Tsuki spoke up and both Annie and RJ turned to her, "That's why we're here after all; they're probably here because of that too. We were under the assumption that it had to be a Zord but seeing your animal spirits at work..."

"Technically speaking that wouldn't be incorrect," RJ said; his smile remained but there was something sad, broken there and it hurt her chest, "That would be the animal spirit of my ex-student and teammate Casey Rhodes; he taught over at the school of Pai Zhua, Order of the Claw, that's the order I and Annie belong to, that all of the Rangers of our team do. A few years ago there was an incident, an ancient evil got out and in order to fight it I created the Jungle Fury morphers to allow the group of us, Casey, his fellow students Lily and Theo, and Annie, as well as one for my friend Dominic, to fight and protect the world."

"Then when you defeated the ancient evil you stopped being Rangers right?" she asked and he nodded.

"Our animal spirits are not a Ranger ability, though we could use them to create our megazords as needed, but we rested our morphers and uniforms once Dai Shi was defeated," he continued, stroking the wolf head absentmindedly, "We thought it would be the last of monsters we'd see in this area but we were wrong; not long after the Ranger's Initiative was put into place, those creatures appeared. I believe they're called Moogers, they were the ones the Samurai Rangers fought before they were taken. They came after people here in Ocean Bluff."

"We did everything we could to keep them at bay," Annie said, "Lily and Theo had stuck around to help here at JKP and for a while the four of us were enough but then things started getting out of hand. That's when we called Casey and Dom; they came an we managed to get an advantage again. Then Casey unleashed his tiger spirit and things got...crazy. Suddenly the military was all over us; I can't help but feel like there was a part of it that was a trap," her expression darkened and she clenched her fists, "Those assholes, they used the monsters to lure us out, to try and find us; they put innocents in danger, let them get hurt and worse...just to find us!"

There was a flaring of energy around her, angry and hurt and RJ moved to her side, putting a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her. "Annie, it's okay, don't let yourself give into anger."

"It might not give you much solace but we do understand your anger," Billy said stepping forward, "We too have been witness to the extent to which the government is willing to go to track down and apprehend us Rangers. Myself and Tsuki almost became encased in a cave collapse when the army decimated our associate Tommy's home."

"They captured my team, my ship and locked me in a cell after beating me up quite a bit," Andros admitted.

"My son and I had to go on the run after they tried to take him away for being a Ranger," Anton chimed in with a nod.

"And some of our group including Billy and I were there at the attack on the Wind Ninja Academy; we witnessed the ordeal, including the...death of Blake Bradley along with countless other students and most of the rest of the Ninja Storm team."

RJ's eyes widened and he looked startled; he stepped towards Tsuki, "Wait, the Ninja Academy was attacked too?" She nodded and he furrowed his brow, 'Did Sensei Watanabe and Cam..."

She didn't answer and the wolf ranger looked away. "I see... I knew them. When I was still a student myself, I had occasion to come across the Ninja Academy and learn from Sensei Watanabe; even though I was not a ninja and had no intention to become a real student of the school, he still gave me a lot of guidance and allowed me to learn while I was there. I always thought of him as an incredibly kind and wise man, and when I was given the instruction from another old master of mine that I would be training my cubs Casey, Lily and Theo, I went to him for instruction on how to be a good mentor. Cam even helped me with making the morphers for my team; he was brilliant, an incredible mind as well as a capable fighter. Without them..."

"RJ," Annie said gently and he tried to smile again.

"I'm sad to know they're gone," he said, "And I'm terribly sorry that any of you would have to go through such things as you have; no one should have to watch a fellow Ranger die."

There was a crack to his voice as he said that last word and Tsuki's heart sunk; she glanced at the others but more over around the room they were in, and again it struck her how quiet it seemed, unused for the most part, as if no one had come in recently. And there was only them, the seven of them standing in a quiet restaurant, and there was no other voices. And the implication hurt her even more, especially as Billy forced out the question her mind was asking, his voice slow and calculated. "What happened?"

Neither RJ or Annie answered immediately and the silence was deafening; it felt almost like the entire world had stopped and Tsuki started to wish they'd just talk, say something, say anything. She could practically hear her blood in her veins and she opened her mouth to say something.

But RJ beat her to it. "We couldn't hurt them; we can fight monsters, we can even occasionally fight each other, but...no matter what weapons they may hold, no matter their intent, they were still humans and we swore to protect humanity. And Lily, sweet good kind Lily, she was the first to fall; she tried to talk to them but they didn't want to listen. When she hit the ground and we saw the pool of blood, Casey and Theo lost it; they loved her so much, Casey as a brother does their sister, and Theo...I remember them running at the soldiers, and I remember calling out to them, trying to stop them, trying to remind them, but it was too late. It was all too late. And I remember how much it hurt, so very much, like I'd been the one shot in the chest. My cubs, my friends, they..."

His voice trailed off and it came evident there were tears in his eyes and on his face was an expression of pure heartbreak. Yet still he was trying to smile and it didn't feel like it was for his benefit but for theirs; Annie said not a word, her face turned away through soft crying could still be heard and no one spoke for a moment.

Tsuki moved and wrapped her arms around RJ, pulling him tight to her and felt him melt into the hug almost immediately; he was taller than her, a bigger man but to her he felt more like a child than anything else. His body shook and he clung, fingers digging into her back as he tried so hard to hold himself together, to smile still. Until finally she spoke, a gentle tone befitting the older woman speaking to the ultimately still just a young man, "It's okay, RJ, you don't have to keep smiling if it hurts. I know how much it hurts to see someone you care about die, I know how much it hurts to survive when others don't, so please...don't keep trying to hold back the sadness, just let it out. We understand and we aren't going to think lesser of you for crying."

"Thank you...whoever you are." That honestly made her smile just the smallest bit and she chuckled lightly.

"Tsuki, my name is Tsuki."

"Tsuki..."

Anton's expression darkened and he tried to relax his body though it was hard to with the anger that was building inside him. His words came out bitter, angry and he didn't try to control them. "Murdering Power Rangers who don't resist. Killing ones that do. Using civilians and monsters as bait. Hunting people who are trying to live their lives, go on with their lives, simply because...because of what they were once. Some justice this is, some righteous crap; If they came after me that's one thing..."

"Or me," Karone said and he looked at her; she shrugged, "I used to known as Astronema, Princes of Darkness, Queen of Evil? I was my big brother's enemy once."

"Us then. We'd be one thing but what did that Lily girl ever do to them? This whole thing reeks of corruption," he continued, "And yet all we can do is run around like little bugs and try to make a tiny little colony to protect ourselves; pathetic."

"We don't want to fight the government," Annie said frowning, sniffling and wiping away her tears with her sleeve, "And we sure as hell don't want to fight other Rangers..."

"You know about them then?" Billy asked her and she nodded.

"Yeah; you're not the only one who has been listening in," she said, gesturing behind her and for the first time Billy and the others took note of the small analog radio sitting on what was probably the order counter, "Our proper communications have been down for a while but we've been able to hear plenty through the radio, including about the tiger rumor and about the Rangers who have joined the government. Though nothing about the Ninja Academy attack..."

"We heard about you guys though," RJ said, finally dislodging himself from Tsuki and she let him, though she kept an eye on him nevertheless; he tried again to smile, a gentle sort of thing even if it was weak, "A group of renegades running around, trying to save as many Rangers and allies as possible to take to safety, led by the legend himself Tommy Oliver."

"If you'd let us, we'd like it if you came with us," Tsuki told him, looking from him to Annie and to Karone, "We haven't really had much luck recently and the Megaship is still in repair and we're really a very mismatched group of misfits and bits and pieces of teams but we'd be happy to have you and it's safe up there."

"Leave JKP and Ocean Bluff though?" Annie said with apprehension, "But those monsters will probably come back..."

"We'll try our best to monitor the city from the ship; we're not about to just leave a city to the clenches of evil after all," Andros said, "We're Rangers after all; we don't run."

"Says the guy who said we are just normal people again," Tsuki said with a slight smirk and he frowned at her.

"I never said we should run before; I simply wanted us to think before running headfirst into battle with your sword swinging," he admonished and she stuck her tongue out at him.

RJ chuckled slightly and Annie shook her head; Karone smiled and put an arm around her brother. "Hey aren't you the idiot who decided to try and infiltrate an United Alliance of Evil party to get intel and almost got himself killed, dear brother?"

"You're the one who almost killed me, dear sister," he responded, to which RJ started to actually laugh.

The sound of it made Tsuki feel better honestly and she even chuckled some herself; Billy started to fiddle with his communicator, looking down at it. "Okay, if everything is settled then, I will send the communication to the Megaship to have us teleported back aboard with Karone, RJ and Annie."

"We never said we would go with you," Annie said hesitantly before RJ walked over and put an arm around her shoulders.

"It'll be okay, Annie, I trust them; if they say we can keep an eye on things from aboard their ship then that's all I really need," he told her and Tsuki grabbed onto his other arm again, sending out the message from her communicator as well, "It is better to live ones life for possiblity of something good that may happen next rather than let oneself become stagnant in the muck of negativity and worry."

"That made about half sense," she told him and she too was smiling now as they all got teleported aboard the Megaship, "But that's better than nothing I guess."

Again the landing was rough and Tsuki was about to say something about being reminded to talk to Hayley about fixing that quirk with the teleporter. But her thoughts were derailed by the earsplitting shrieking overhead; an alarm and Andros turned pale before running out of the room, Karone in hot pursuit. Tsuki didn't stop to think more or to say a word, rushing after them with Anton and Billy, and after a glance at each other, and RJ's hands placed over his ears to block out a small amount of the noise, the two Pai Zhua followed as well.

The control room was in chaos, though it was in the way of members of the Renegades running around at stations, yelling at each over over the alarm, and not the control room being on fire or something. Andros went to his usual position, the captain's chair of sorts and spoke loudly, "What is going on?!"

"We have a major problem, Andros!" Merrick yelled back at him, nearly crashing into Tommy as both men tried to pass each other to get to another station and was only saved by Lana grabbing her brother's shirt sleeve and pulling him out of the way and to her side, asking him about something to do with the machinery no doubt.

Tsuki frowned and stepped forward. "What kind of problem?"

"The Megaship shouldn't be having any trouble that is too drastic at this point," Billy said pushing up his glasses, "I thought we fixed the engine problems yesterday!"

"It's not the ship," Hayley replied, pressing at buttons and pulling levers at one station, "It's this!"

She pushed one more and the projector screen buzzed into life; considering the state of the ship and the distance from Earth, it took more than a while for whatever it was supposed to be showing to appear and by then they finally got the alarm off, just in time for a woman to appear on the screen. She looked to be your average reporter, holding a microphone in her hands, her hair perfectly done, her smile a little too fake.

"The trial of the millenia is set to begin," the woman started, her voice weirdly cheery, sending chills through Tsuki's spine and her eyes felt glued to the screen as the reporter continued, "As in 24 hours the criminals who call themselves the Power Ranger Samurai team will be brought before a judge here at this courthouse for sentencing over their part in the death in young Joshua Germil's death as well as the deaths and injuries of countless others and the property damage inflicted in their tenure as Power Rangers. This reporter hopes..."

"No," Billy said eyes wide and Annie grabbed hold of RJ's arm to try and steady herself, the wolf master once more wrapping an arm around her to hold her close; the blue ranger shook his head slowly, "No, they...they can't..."

"They are though," Anton said.

"Those fucking bastards," Tsuki said in a low voice.

"Words out of my mouth," Tommy commented, coming up to stand beside her.

She looked at him incredulous. "Tommy... We can't let them do this, we can't."

"Those charges are ridiculous," Laura said, hand over her mouth and looking over at where Hunter was standing over a console, "I mean, it's not their fault; Jayden's team never meant for anyone to hurt, none of us ever tried to get anyone hurt. They can't-"

"But they will," Trent interrupted shortly, arms crossed over his chest, "They're going to put them on trial."

"But they can't really be deemed truly guilty can they?" Lana asked brow furrowed, "Anyone with a brain would know that all the damage, all the injuries, they weren't purposeful. They can't really call the Samurai Rangers guilty when it was all on accident right?"

"There is such thing as manslaughter," Tori said in a low voice, and the reporter woman continued to talk above their heads.

"And they managed to get that law passed that has allowed them to hunt us, Ileana," Merrick said, "I have no doubts they will find a way to twist things to make it the Rangers faults and then..."

No one said it for a moment. But Tommy did, his voice venomous. "Then they'll execute them."

'Execute?!" Lana exclaimed and turned to Merrick, "Wait, no, they can't do that!"

"Aren't you being a bit overdramatic?" Kira asked carefully, "I mean I know Jason killed Ethan-"

"And Taylor shot Blake," Tsuki interjected.

"The soldiers in Ocean Bluffs apparently shot RJ and Annie's teammates without a second thought," Karone continued.

"They blew up my house," Tommy said deadpan, "Destroyed the Ninja Academy, have done who knows what else that we don't currently know about; they think of us as incredibly dangerous even though most of us haven't fought in years, even though the Academy was full of kids, even though often they put innocent bystanders in danger too with their actions. I wouldn't put it past them to go ahead and find a way to say that the only way to properly punish those 'criminals' we call our fellow Rangers is to kill them. And considering how this whole debacle is unraveling, I wouldn't put it past them either to make it be a public execution."

"That's horrible," Annie whispered and RJ nodded his agreement.

"So don't let them," Tsuki said and bit her lip; her hand clenched tight, almost tight enough to draw blood, "We don't let them sentence the Samurai Rangers and we don't let them keep them; we know where they're going to have them in less than 24 hours, we could go get them."

"And what? Attack a federal courthouse which will probably be full of soldiers and government types?" Anton asked eyebrow raised, "Walk right into a powder keg? What if it's a trap, huh; it seems a bit odd that they would just announce this like this. This could be like what happened in Ocean Bluff when they got the other Jungle Fury Rangers; they're trying to lure us in because they know you all will run right in to save Rangers. This could very well be a trap."

"But if we don't do anything, they very well may kill Jayden and his team," Karone responded, "We can't leave them to their fates either."

"So we're in a conundrum," Billy spoke pushing up his glasses again, "On one hand we could be allowing ourselves to fall to a potentially disasterous quagmire by simply rushing into the situation, but on the other the consequence of inactivity on the part of assisting the imprisoned Jayden Shiba and company has a high probability of being their termination from this mortal coil. Thus the only option that is open to us is careful calculation of our own."

"We are not leaving those kids behind," Tsuki said sternly, looking Tommy in the eye, "Rangers do not leave each behind and powers are not-"

"I don't need you lecturing me on what a Ranger does, Tsukkuyomi; I think of the two of us, of all of us, I would be the one who understands what it means to be a Ranger the most," Tommy finally spoke and she blinked for a moment before he reached out and ruffled her hair, making her huff and puff; he chuckled and leaned down to kiss her forehead, "You know I would never let Jayden or Antonio or Mia or Mike or Kevin or Emily be killed, not when there's breath in this old man's body."

"If you are old then Lana and I are dust," Merrick said, getting a smack in the arm from his sister for his troubles.

Andros opened his mouth but Karone stopped him. "You say anything I will give you another slap."

"We're going to get them then?" Laura asked hesitantly, arms wrapped around herself.

Tommy nodded. "We'll need a plan, and we'll need one quick, but we're definitely doing this. Anton is right-"

"Ha, made you say it."

"Shut up, Mercer. Anyway, I really don't doubt this is supposed to be some trap but that doesn't mean they won't actually do it either and this might be our best bet at getting a big advantage," Tommy said, "We get the Samurai Rangers out of there safely, they can get back to work fighting the evil that no doubt has been rampant while they've been locked up and the government has been hunting the rest of us. That will do a lot to protect the earth and hopefully show people that we're not their enemies, that we have always been their friends and always will be. But to do this we are going to need to be careful as possible, no making stupid mistakes like pushing buttons we shouldn't," Billy turned bright red and coughed a bit, "and we are going to need to be as on point as possible. And it will likely take as many of us as possible to pull it off."

"Including us?" Tommy and Tsuki turned their attention to the doors where the youngest of their group stood; Zack for once actually looked serious and Tyler walked over to them, standing up straight.

Andros stood up with a frown, approaching him in return. "Tyler, I don't think-"

"That wasn't really a request man," Zack spoke up and came over as well, "We're helping out."

"Zack, Tyler, this is going to be dangerous, far too dangerous for us to be pulling either of you into," Tommy said frowning as well.

"We're already into it," Tyler said, "I've been a part of it since the day the army came and raided my house right after my mom disappeared. I've been a part of it since you guys saved me from dying at the Academy; I know I might not be a Ranger and I don't know how to fight with a sword like Tsuki or mess around with computers like Hayley and I know you think I'm just a kid but come on, you have to give me a chance to help, to do something other than go on the kiddie missions."

"Tyler," Tommy said but was interrupted next by Zack.

"If you're going to need as much help as possible, you might as well make use of us; I mean the alternative is leaving us here and what do you think is going to happen to us if you guys all go and get yourselves captured or killed? You think we'll really be safer up here while you are off rescuing the other Rangers?" Zack's words cut and no one seemed able to respond properly, letting the sound of the tv broadcast fill the space; he crossed his arms, "No, we won't be. We'll be better off with you guys so let us help or we'll just follow you anyway."

"He's right you know," Tsuki said side eyeing Tommy and the man sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Yet he was smiling as he spoke three simple words: "Teenagers with attitude."

Zack and Tyler grinned and he shook his head before turning back to the others.

"Right, as I was saying, as many of us," he said and emphasized the word "us" this time, "as possible. Which means Tsuki, Billy, Hayley, Anton, you guys will need to figure out a quick way to set up the Megaship to be protected while we're gone and make sure at the very least Dustin's cryopod stays active even if we have to turn off all other power to make sure they can't do anything to the ship. Laura, Hunter, Tori, you're our infiltration experts; me and Andros will try and get the city plans for that courthouse but we'll need your expertise to figure out the best ways in. Everyone needs to ready themselves for battle, including, um," he turned to RJ and Annie, "I don't believe I know your names."

"Robert James Finn, RJ," RJ said smiling and he squeezed Annie, making her blush, "And this is my best friend Annie. It's great to meet you Tommy; any Ranger or mentor who knows anything knows about you~"

"Nice to meet you too, RJ, Annie," he responded smiling some himself, "I'd love to hear about your own ideas on what we can do going in; I hope you'll agree to help us?"

"Of course; we never leave a friend in danger after all," RJ answered.

Tommy nodded. "Glad to hear that because I meant what I was saying; we're going to need as much as help as possible if we're going to pull this off."