Here's the second chapter I wanted to update! You'll learn more about Joey's past in this chapter, as well as see more of Nat. It's already been established, as you know, that Nat is the recruit who will be brought in as the next chief, so I really want her to be a recurring character until that point. I hope you guys like this chapter!


- Flashback -

A ten year old Joey sat out on a curb, waiting for his mother to come out of her friend's house. He was wearing tattered clothing and was picking at a hole in his shoe that had grown there after too long of wearing. In fact, he had those shoes for so long that they were tight and practically didn't fit, similarly to much of the clothes he was wearing.

He watched other people on the streets looking down at him, some frowning in disgust and some frowning in sympathy. He didn't really understand the stares he got from strangers, though he was starting to notice that there was something different about him that people didn't like.

Joey looked up at the house in front of him. His mother had told him that not everyone had a home, and that it wasn't necessary, but even as a child, Joey had a feeling she was lying to him. He was a happy child, no doubts about that, but all he really wanted was a home and a family.

His mother was all he had. His father was gone and he didn't have a sibling, to his knowledge. Joey also didn't understand why his father was gone. He tried asking his mother about it, but she just told him that he lived far away in a large skyscraper like the ones in the middle of town - a place Joey was told that he didn't belong because it was a place for upscale people with upscale lives.

It was a place his mother refused to take him. She always seemed sad when he brought it up, or brought up his father, so he stopped doing it. He didn't like to hear his mother crying at night, but she always seemed to do so, regardless of how good the day was going. He didn't understand that either.

Actually, there were a lot of things he didn't understand. Like why the kids at school always teased him for his 'ugly' clothes. Or why his friends parent's wouldn't make eye contact or talk to him, even when he tried to introduce himself. Or why everyone else looked so clean and he looked so dirty.

Or why he and his mother didn't have a home.

Supposedly, it was because they were different from the rest, or so he was told. They didn't need a home to be great or happy or anything like that. Joey didn't know if he believed that.

From outside, he could hear his mother pleading with her friend to let them stay the night because it was dangerous for them to be out all the time.

He wondered why they didn't just find a place to stay if it was dangerous. He figured he just didn't understand, similarly to everything else about his situation.

Then again, maybe he wasn't supposed to understand.

Joey thought for a minute, before nodding his head in agreement with himself. He decided that he couldn't worry about things he didn't understand because it wouldn't make him understand anymore than he did, and it would just make his mother upset like it did every time he asked a question about their situation.

Looking back, he couldn't bear to think about the look in her eyes when he asked her why their house was smaller than everyone else's because they were living in a her car.

As he was thinking, he saw his mother come down the stairs from the house, her face wet from tears. She wiped it quickly, drying her hands on her tattered clothes, looking similar to, if not worse than, Joey's.

She walked over to him and knelt down beside him, mustering up a smile for his benefit. "Sweetie, we're gonna have to go back to our car, okay? I'm going to park it in a safe place and we're gonna have a good night - I'll read you a nice story before bedtime. How does that sound?"

Joey looked up at her. "It's okay, mom. I like our car - it's our home." He smiled up at her, genuinely. "I like being there with you, and I don't care about what anyone else thinks." Joey proclaimed as he stood up.

"Oh, sweetie," She chuckled, putting a hand on his face in affection. "I love you so much. You're my rock." She kissed him on the forehead and stood up with him, offering her hand down to him.

He took her hand, "I love you too, mom."

- End of Flashback -

- Cue Opening -

It was late at night, hardly any cars on the road with how late it was. The air was quiet and the stars shined bright in the sky, accenting the moon's light shining down to keep it from being too dark.

Under a large bridge that was raised for a road, there were various tents, boxes, and a few cars spread around everywhere. Some places there were just sleeping bags with people trying to keep as warm as possible in the cold of the night.

There were people living here in various states, ages, and sizes. Some were content with the life they lived and some were unhappy, mothers crying as they put their children to sleep out of fear of what would happen to them in the future.

Coming out of a tent was a young woman, around the age of 25 or so, with short brown hair, dark skin, and a small frame. She stumbled around tiredly, yawing and rubbing her face as if she had just woken up.

"Lori?" She whispered around, trying not to wake anyone sleeping. "Lori? Where'd you go?"

She continued to walk around for a few moments, before deciding to move over towards the wall of the tunnel, tapping her hand on the shoulder of another woman who she knew. "Addy. Come on, wake up." She whispered, waking her. Addy was a pale woman, looking to be around her 30's, with stringy blonde hair and dark eyes.

Addy looked up at the young woman standing over her and frowned. "Leona? What's wrong?"

Leona leaned down to speak quietly, "Lori's missing. I can't find her, and I've looked everywhere. Can you help me look?"

"Yeah, sure." Addy pushed her sleeping bag back and climbed out of it, rubbing her face to get rid of her tiredness. "I'll go this way, and you go that way, alright?"

"Okay." Leona nodded, moving to walk the opposite way of Addy. She walked for a while down the one way before coming to the end of the tunnel and seeing nothing. She sighed and walked back the other way, getting over to where Addy was supposed to be. "Addy? Did you find her?"

Hearing nothing, Leona frowned and continued walking until she was out of the tunnel. "Addy?" She called again, uncertainly.

She walked around the side of the tunnel and gasped, frozen in spot by what she saw in front of her. On the ground was Addy, covered in blood and not moving. Looking past her, Leona could see another body laying in the darkness a few feet away.

Leona moved forward to see it, before falling to her knees in horror when she saw that it was Lori. She screamed in despair.

- PRER -

The next morning, Joey walked into the chief base, drinking a cup of coffee from the cafe down the street from ER. He was initially gonna wait until he got in to grab a cup from the cafeteria like usual, but since he woke up early, he decided it would be nice to stop on the way to work.

He walked through the door to see Tori, Sean, and Taz all standing at the large table in the middle of the ground, typing away at their monitors or looking through case files.

Joey smiled and sat down in his usual seat next to Taz, looking around at his teammates. "Good morning guys. How you doing?"

"Great," Sean muttered distractedly. He was finally cleared for duty this week, and so he was itching to catch up on everything that had been going on while he was resigned to staying home or desk duty.

Tori didn't respond besides a simple nod, but Taz looked up and smiled back at him. "Good, how are you?"

"I'm fine." He looked at the other two chiefs before looking back to her. "Nice to see that some people are pleasant in the morning."

"You want pleasantries, call your parents," Tori commented without looking up at him. "They might be able to keep up with your small talk every morning."

"Well, you're in a good mood." Joey rolled his eyes. "Then again, aren't you always?"

She scoffed, "Maybe I like to get my work done, unlike some people." Tori finally turned her eyes up at him, giving him a pointed look. "For someone that likes to get things done as soon as possible, you sure do take your time on work."

Joey opened his mouth to respond when Masters dropped a case file in the center of their table, attracting all of their attentions. "Look alive, we got a case." He announced, allowing Tori to take the file. "Last night, three bodies were found under the bridge near the train tracks. All three were homeless women - one of our other field forensics officers said that two women died the night they were found, and one has been dead for a few days. The bodies have been transferred to the lab, but it has been confirmed that they were murdered. Taz..."

"I'm on it." She stood up, pulling her lab coat off of the back of her chair and slipping it on over her clothes, before exiting the room towards the lab.

"Do we know anything else so far?" Tori asked, opening the file.

"The women were named Sally Lo, Addison Mathews, and Lori Knox," Masters told her, causing Joey to look up in shock. "Is there a problem, Joey?"

He was about to respond that there was, before deciding against it and shaking his head. "No, there isn't a problem. I'm sorry, continue."

Masters nodded like he didn't believe him, but continued anyway. "They were killed from stab wounds to the chest and neck area, but there isn't really much to connect them to. Sally Lo and Addison Mathews were said to not have much family, with no one being confirmed, and Lori Knox only had a sister, who was the one who found the bodies."

"Well, we'll go check it out, Masters." Joey claimed, standing up quickly. "Do you want all three of us to go?"

Masters gave him a look. "No. Tori, go with Joey. Sean, you stay here and see what you can put together from Taz's evidence."

Sean frowned. "As much as I would love to spend time with my girlfriend, I did get cleared for field duty earlier this week, Masters. I should be able to go with them to the scene."

"Well, I don't need all three of you going out there when we may need you for something else, should something come up," Masters responded. "Besides, just because you were cleared for duty, doesn't mean you should jump back into it at full force."

"I'm fine!" Sean said exasperatedly. "Why does everyone keep acting like I'm not?"

"When you stop continuously justifying yourself, maybe no one will think anything is wrong." Masters suggested. "Alright, Tori, Joey, get out there. If you need back up, call it in."

Tori nodded, standing up and putting her coat on. "We got it." She said, joining Joey as they walked out of the building.

- PRER -

"You're alright," Nat assured a young girl as she finished bandaging up a nasty cut for her while Autumn stood by. The two had been called in to respond to concerned parents after their three year old daughter and slipped and fell, cutting her arm open in a rather large gash. They were worried she may need stitches, but luckily, Nat and Autumn had determined that she was likely going to be fine without it.

Autumn turned to the parents, who waited anxiously by. "Your daughter is fine. The cut may be sore, but it's not deep enough to require stitches and she seems fine besides the gash. My partner has already cleaned the wound, but you may do so yourself with some hydrogen peroxide if you feel the need to. Otherwise, it should heal up nicely, baring that this doesn't happen again."

"Trust us, it won't," The mother responded. "We'll be making sure that she's more careful next time."

"Good," Autumn smiled, turning to Nat, who had stood up and picked up her medical bag. "I think we're done here."

The father gave them a grateful look. "Thank you so much."

Nat waved it off. "Don't worry about it. We're just doing our job."

Autumn and Nat walked down the steps of the house and got into the ambulance, putting their things away and settling in, Autumn behind the driver's seat. She began to drive when she noticed that Nat was glancing at her in like she wanted to say something. "You okay?" She asked after a while of silence.

"Yeah, why?" Nat responded quickly, before sighing. "I just wanted to ask, how did you become a ranger? Like, did someone have to recommend you or did Lia or Masters just watch over you a lot?"

"I..." Autumn chuckled lightly. "Well, I always thought that it was more of a spur of the moment thing, but it turns out that I had a recommendation from someone, and had Lia keeping an eye on me for a few months until I became one." She glanced over for a moment before turning back to the road. "I actually got a recommendation from Tori, if you'll believe that."

Nat raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Wow, I didn't know you two were close."

"Well, we're not. I don't really recall the first time we met all too well, probably because it was so hectic, but I guess I must've made an impression on her." Autumn said, a hint of admiration in her tone. "She's a lot more caring than she acts - she just doesn't like her feelings to get in the way of her job."

"I see," Nat smirked at her. "So, what's that tone for?"

"Nothing in particular," Autumn shrugged. "There's nothing going on between Tori and I, if you were wondering. We work together and I'd consider her a friend. If anything, the tone is because I really do admire the person she is. She's great at her job, and if you really get to know her, she one of the most caring people you'll meet."

Nat nodded. "Yeah, I got it. She seems like a nice person, but I've never met her."

"You'd like her." Autumn told her. "She can be a bit cold, but you'll get used to it..." She trailed off. "Wait, why did you ask how I became a ranger? You looking to ask Masters about something like that?"

She scoffed. "I would never ask him about it - he'd probably turn me down." Nat chuckled. "You can't just ask for a position like that; you have to earn it, and I'm willing to do that. I was just asking because I feel like he's been watching my colleagues and me, so I was wondering if you knew what I could do to get his attention."

Autumn smiled. "So, you're definitely interested, then?"

"Definitely." Nat smiled back.

The red lieutenant nodded. "Alright, well, just be as good at your job as you possibly can and try to be diligent. If you do that, I think he'll notice you."

Nat put a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you. It means a lot that you're trying to help me. I hope I get it."

Autumn glanced at her quickly before looking back at the road. "You will, don't worry about it."

- PRER -

Tori and Joey made it to the tunnel, with Joey rubbing his arm nervously and Tori putting her hands on her hips. "This is where they found the bodies, huh?" She looked around. "I'm not surprised. Places like this are dangerous at night, especially since there are a lot of criminals that'll just pick on the homeless because they think they're easy targets."

"Yeah," Joey nodded, a determined look on his face. "Well, we're here to set them straight about that. It doesn't matter where they live, they're still people."

"I agree." Tori said. "No one deserves to be picked off because of something as simple as they're living conditions." She turned to him. "So, where do you want to start?"

Joey looked around. "Well, how about you look at the crime scene and I'll talk to the witnesses? I'm pretty good with.. people."

"Alright, I'll be right here if you need back-up." Tori gestured to the other officers who were taking pictures and looking into the evidence.

He nodded distractedly as he walked forward into the tunnel, feeling so many memories flooding into his mind as he did so. Joey continued to walk forward until he saw who he was looking for. He moved up to her. "Leona Knox?" He asked, attracting her attention.

Leona looked at him, and he was stunned. She was only a year or so older than him, but the difference in their lives shocked him. He remembered her being his mother's friend's daughter, who, along with her sister Lori, were homeless like himself and his mother.

Joey and his mother had gotten out of that life when he was almost 17, after he got a job to help support his mother, allowing the two of them enough money to finally afford a place to live. Leona and Lori had not. He felt horrible that she, 7 years later, was still struggling while he and his mother were doing well.

While he would never apologize for making it through his struggles in a stroke of luck, he still felt bad that people he knew, and plenty he didn't know, were still struggling so badly.

"Hey..." Leona stepped down from the place she was standing and looked up at him in shock. "Joey? Is that you?"

"Yes, it is. I'm chief Joseph Dixon," He held up his badge, trying not to feel guilty since he had to follow protocol. "I have to ask you some questions about your sister's death."

Leona stepped back, as if she was deeply offended. "You're really going to stand there and question me as if you didn't know me? Is that how it is, Joey?"

"I'm just following protocol, Ms. Knox." Joey sighed. "I'm sorry, I really am."

"No, you're not." Leona shook her head. "You don't care about us. You're not one of us anymore. You rejected us the minute you went to live in your fancy city house."

"My house is nothing close to fancy," Joey responded. "I'm not like that, and you know it. I'm not going to apologize for getting my mom and I out of that situation. I may not regret being in it in the first place, because it taught me a lot and made me who I am, but I'm not going to stand here and act like it was good for us."

Leona swung her hand at him to slap him when someone held her back and pulled her away. He watched them walk away, but was pulled out of his stupor when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see a man he recognized well. "Noah?"

"Joey," He smiled and pulled the younger man in for a hug. "It's so nice to see you. I'm proud of you and your mother for doing so well."

Joey made a face. "It seems that not everyone would agree with you on that."

Noah put a hand on his shoulder. "She just lost her sister, give her some time. She'll come around. She knows you're right, just as well as almost everyone here. It's not good to be in this situation, and some people get upset when others get out of it because they are unable to do it themselves. It's not personal."

The yellow chief smiled. "I hope you're right." He looked around. "You don't happen to know anything about what happened, do you? Me and my partner, Victoria, are investigating to catch this guy."

"The only thing I can think of was that there was a man lurking around here for a bit a few days ago." Noah said. "I didn't think he was doing any harm, but he's the only one who was out of the ordinary."

Joey nodded. "Alright. Can you tell me what he looked like?"

"Yeah, he was a heavy-set guy, pale skin, small eyes." Noah thought for a moment. "Maybe around your height. He had a beard and brown hair."

"Any scars? Tattoos?" Joey asked. "Anything in particular that could help me identify him?"

Noah shrugged. "A scar on his neck, I think. That's it."

"Thank you for time." He responded, giving him a grateful smile. "We'll catch this guy." Joey assured Noah before walking towards Tori, who was watching him with her arms crossed. "What?"

Tori gave him a hard look. "You know these people, Joey?" At his look of shock, she continued. "Before you think about lying to me, understand that I can read your mind and will know if you are."

Joey sighed. "So what? I don't understand what the big deal is."

She glared at him. "The big deal is that Masters can fire you for lying about not being close to a case. It's a strict rule that you can't work on cases you're close to - you could tamper the evidence for all we know. Your emotions will get in the way. Did you even think about this before you lied to Masters about not knowing anything about this?"

"Not really," He admitted. "But so what? I had to take the risk of getting caught to take care of these people, and, before you say anything, I should tell you that I don't know anything about the criminal behind this. If anything, I want to catch him more because of what he did to the people I know."

Tori frowned. "How do you even know these people? Some of them have been homeless for generations."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know. I used to live here," Joey revealed, watching her expression become softer as he said this. "Me and my mom were living on the streets more often than not until I was about 17. I don't know how we got there, but I have a feeling it had something to do with my dad leaving us."

"I'm sorry." Tori said. Her expression was still stoic, but her voice portrayed that she did feel for him.

Joey shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Are you gonna tell Masters?"

Tori uncrossed her arms and sighed. "I don't want you to get fired over this."

He chuckled lightly. "Me neither. Just let me do this and I'll deal with whatever comes when it does."

"If it does." Tori pointed out a bit grudgingly. "I'm not gonna say anything, but if it comes out, I can't deny that it's true."

Joey smiled widely. "Really?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I'm gonna head back to ER to see if Sean or Taz has found anything. Keep watch over here and call me as soon as anything happens, alright?"

"Of course, I got it." Joey agreed.

- PRER -

Jason and Nikki were sitting together in the cafeteria as they ate their lunch, Jason gesturing to the side as Owen walked in and walked over to them after grabbing a sandwich for himself.

Owen sat down heavily, rubbing a hand exhaustedly over his face, even though he seemed to be in a very delightful mood.

"Okay, what's going on?" Nikki asked, leaning forward across the table. "You're gonna give me whiplash with these conflicting emotions I'm sensing. I mean, you look like you haven't slept in weeks but you've never looked happier?"

He let out a laugh. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a lot has been happening." Owen replied.

Jason frowned. "Have you not been sleeping well or something?"

"No, I've been sleeping fine." Owen said. "I've been dealing with a lot of family issues. You know how my brother was in that accident two years ago and he was paralyzed? Well, he was always cynical about physical therapy to relearn how to walk, even in the slightest way. Now that we caught the guy responsible, he's suddenly decided that all he wants to do is get through his PT so he can walk."

Nikki smiled. "That's awesome!" She exclaimed loudly, not even noticing the attention she gain from doing so.

Owen nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's amazing. Luckily, it wasn't a complete injury that he had so it is possible for him to walk with crutches and leg braces, but unfortunately, it's painful to learn and his physical therapist was telling me all of these things about how there can still be complications with his injury this long after it happened and that's stressful to hear because I couldn't see something like that happen to him again."

Jason gave him a sympathetic look. "Unfortunately, you can never be sure that there won't be."

"I know." Owen sighed. "And then, my sister's just being a pain about this whole thing and wants me to help her with her own problems, but with work and everything else I have to do, I just don't know if I have time."

"Wow," Nikki looked him over. "You know, this is the most.. mature I've seen you get since we've met."

Owen frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you've always just had a.. childish side to you?" She shook her head. "I don't think that's the right way to describe it. Either way, it's not a bad thing, it's just surprising to see you like this. All 'head of the household' kind of thing."

He chuckled. "I've been the head of the household for the past two years. My mom and dad are hardly around, Wade's dealing with his problems, and Mallory's younger than me. I'm still the same as I've always been, I've just had a long few weeks."

Nikki smiled comfortingly. "It'll get easier, and even if it doesn't, life will still continue on and you'll get through it eventually."

"Thanks," He smiled back at her. "Means a lot that I've got you guys to support me."

Jason watched the continue to interact and frowned a bit. He had noticed that the two were starting to grow closer over the last while, and wasn't sure how he felt about that considering that he now had Logan around.

He looked over and saw Nikki smile. "We'll be there for you as long as you need, right Jason?"

"Oh, yeah." Jason fumbled over his words. "Of course."

- PRER -

Joey was walking around the tunnel back and forth, waiting to see if anything of suspicion happened. He had been getting some dirty looks from some of the people he used to be friends with, while he was getting proud looks from others.

He wasn't sure which one he felt better about, considering that it always made him reminisce about hard times when he was around this area, and Joey agreed with both prospects on a certain level.

On one hand, he was extremely proud of himself and his mother for getting a stable life, but on the other hand, he always felt bad for his friends that couldn't for whatever reason there was.

As he was walking around, he started to hear a struggle coming from the other end of the tunnel. He ran down there as fast as his legs would take him and crouched behind a wall, peeking his head around to see what was happening.

When he did, he saw Leona struggling against a man with a similar look to the one Noah had described, who had a knife in his hand and a scar on his neck.

Joey pulled out his gun out of it's holster and turned the corner, holding it up towards the man. "Drop your weapon now!" He demanded, attracting the man's attention. "I said now!"

The man immediately pulled Leona into a choke hold, using her as a shield, and put his knife against her throat. "Try me, chief."

Leona shook from fear in his grasp. "Who are you?" She gasped out.

"Steven," He responded promptly, staring at Joey. "Steven Allen. Feel free to right that down, chief."

"Okay, Steven," Joey held his hands up, lowering to the ground as he watched Steven intently. "My name is Joseph Dixon. I won't hurt you, just let Leona go and we can talk about this."

Steven scoffed. "What's there to talk about?" He shook his head. "I'm surprised I got caught so fast. I mean, I figured, who the hell even cares about homeless people, right? But, I guess I was wrong."

"I guess you were." Joey nodded, kneeling to the ground and putting his gun there. He didn't let go of it though, as Steven immediately took the knife and threw it at Joey. With his ability, however, Joey reacted instantaneously and ducked out of the way, grabbing his gun from the floor and shooting Steven in the foot, making him let go of Leona.

Leona ran back to get to safety while Joey rose his morpher to his lips. "Chiefs, this is Joey, we have a situation in progress - I repeat, a situation in progress. I am in a fight with suspect Steven Allen."

"On it," Tori's voice came through the morpher. "We're on our way."

Steven began chuckling to himself, shaking his head. "You really think you can just call your other chiefs up and have them get here in time? By the time they get here, you'll be dead and I'll be long gone."

Joey got off the floor and pull handcuffs out from his belt. "I doubt that."

"We'll see." Steven muttered. When Joey walked over to him, Steven tripped him and immediately tried to pin him to the ground. Unfortunately, since Joey saw him before this occurred, the yellow chief was able to bring his foot up and kick Steven off of him before he could get the upper hand.

In the minor scuffle, Joey dropped his gun and handcuffs and was scrambling to get them when Steven kicked him in the ribs, making him fall to the ground with a groan as he heard the crack Steven's kick caused.

Joey held a hand in front of his ribs and instantly moved to trip the criminal when he walked towards him. Joey jumped to his feet, wincing in pain, and immediately pinned Steven on his back.

"Superhuman strength, huh?" Joey concluded from the pain just one kick caused.

Steven growled, "Superhuman agility, huh? I hardly think that's a match for me."

Once more, Steven kicked his foot, but this time at Joey's back from behind, causing the chief to be thrown forward and land face down on the floor. He didn't move past that.

The criminal stood up with a smirk and began to advance on Joey when another voice caused him to stop. "Freeze!" He turned to see Tori, Sean, and Taz morphed and pointing their guns at him. "Stop right there and put your hands on your head!"

Turned around, Steven couldn't see Joey get up from behind him, grabbing his handcuffs off the ground. Immediately, Joey tackled him to the ground and shoved the handcuffs on his wrist. "You can't break them, as I should mention." Joey informed him. "They negate your ability."

Joey pulled him to his feet and handed him off to Sean and Taz as Tori walked over to him. "You okay?"

"I'll live." Joey nodded. "I'm just glad I caught the guy."

Tori put a hand on his shoulder. "Your mother will be proud."

Joey smiled. "Yeah, I know."

- Flashback -

A sixteen year old Joey ran through the tunnel to find his mother at their car. She had just gotten off from one of her jobs and was getting ready for an interview at a second one. He paused for a moment, fixing his hair and clothes, before walking over to her.

"Mom," He tapped her shoulder lightly, prompting her to turn to face him. She was dressed cleanly, but had bags under her eyes from the stress. "I have something to tell you."

She smiled and touched his face, "Joey, I'm very busy. I have to get this job if we're gonna be able to afford that house that we want." She said, though he heard what she meant - she needed that job to get the cheapest house they could find, as long as they had a house.

"But, you don't have to worry about that, mom." Joey insisted. "Just hear..."

"Joey, please." His mother sighed tiredly. "You know I love you to death and I love hearing everything you have to say, but not now." She turned back around and was rummaging through the car to find the shoes she needed, but Joey tapped her shoulder again.

"This is very important." Joey told her. "This will help us out."

She turned around once more, looking impatient until he held up a piece of paper. She took it from him, after recognizing what it was. "Is this...?"

"Yeah." Joey nodded excitedly. "I got a job to help us out. I know you've been saying that I don't have to but I really wanted to because..." He trailed off when his mother engulfed him in a tight hug. "Mom?"

"I'm so proud of you." She whispered to him. "Thank you so much. I love you."

He hugged her back, just as tightly. "I love you too, mom."


Next time on Power Rangers Emergency Responders: Masters and Lia decide to pair up one of the chiefs with one of the lieutenants for a day to help the rangers gain some understanding of one another, as well as hopefully pick up some tips from each other. However, when Nikki is pair with Tori, things go awry.

Next Chapter Title: Test

I really enjoyed writing this chapter! I really liked getting in depth with Joey's backstory and having a bit of growth for him and Tori's relationship, since they haven't really interacted too much on their own at this point.

Besides the subplots I mentioned last time, no new ones have arisen, only previous ones moving forward. The very minor subplot with Nikki and Tori's problem will be the main focus of the next chapter, though, but I'm not sure if any others will be added next time either. Rest assured that more will pop up throughout the rest of this story.

Anyways, I have a poll in my bio for your favorite character from my old story Power Rangers: Data Surge this time for a team-up that I'll be having on August 4 with one ranger from all of my teams! If you read that story, please put a vote in!

Here's the lineup for the next five chapters!

Ep 13: Kidnapping Reds - Tori and Autumn focused chapter. Possibly a two-parter.

Ep 14: Purple Lieutenant - New ranger appears!

Ep 15: Nutrition - Taz focused chapter.

Ep 16: How You Love - Jason focused chapter.

Ep 17: Pink Chief - Nat focused chapter.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you guys back with the next one!

© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley