A/N: After reading this chapter, please refer to the bottom A/N. Also, I dot have internet but I do have a phone with data. And I just figured out how to upload with my phone! Yay! Read On!

"He didn't understand the love a father can have for his child." - Susie Salmon

"Aidan? Are you up, honey?" Mrs. Marshall opened the door to her son's room and peaked inside. Her son was under his covers, not moving a muscle. However, the steady rise and fall of his chest indicated he was still asleep.

Smiling to herself, Mrs. Marshall closed the door with a gentle touch. "It's been almost two years," she whispered. On the other side, Sage lay in his bed, actually awake, and sighed. "Aaron… Where are you?" His thoughts were interrupted by the glow of his gem.

~Battlefield~

"Earth Style!" Tony and Erica commanded, sending seismic waves through the ground to destroy a group of Maligs. The Rangers responded to an emergency call that came from one of the Summer campgrounds. While the campers were hidden away with their supervisors, the Rangers dispersed to make quick work of the Foot Soldiers.

"Water Style!" Sage and Parker called out, willing the waves of the lake behind them to transform into whips to destroy their targets. Ren slashed at the last few and loaded her Element Star.

"Fire Style!" A quick slash of flames destroyed the remaining Maligs.

The Teens left the site quickly to find a place to demorph. When they did, they hurried their way off the campground, so as not to be seen.

~The Cave~

"That's the third camp," Parker pointed out. He waved his hands along holographic screens showing a map of the city. "The third camp that unfortunately lost a few campers to Malig invasion."

Erica said, "Which makes finding them a priority."

"But how?" Sage asked. "The Maligs could've taken the kids anywhere!"

Ren said, "Still, we have to work fast. Who knows what could be happening?"

Tony stood in silence thinking about a possible plan. "My best idea is for three of us to scour the area. We need to search any possible place the kids could be hiding. The last two should alternate between different camps in case there're extra attacks."

~Wayland's Fleet~

"Sir, I do not understand the relevance of this plan," Kortan informed Wayland. The young boy looked rather annoyed with his advisor.

"Kortan, you have to learn to be more creative! Think about it! A human's light is always at its strongest when they are a child. However, Karprex told me something quite awesome. Karprex?"

Ignoring Kortan's disdain at his use of the word 'awesome,' Wayland motioned his hand at his best friend who sat on a horizontal beam up above. The mysterious warrior said, "The closer one is to the light, the larger their shadow becomes."

"Exactly!" Wayland laughed. "We can exploit that weakness if we traumatize these human children! Just you watch, Kortan. This plan will be our sure fire ticket to victory!"

~Parker, Erica, Ren~

After short deliberation, it was decided that Tony and Sage would watch over the remaining campgrounds in case the Erebians made another move.

The three stood on a high building looking out over the city.

"This seems impossible," Erica pointed out. "The city's a big place."

"I might be able to pick up a trail," Parker informed.

"How?" Ren asked.

"With a little magic," Parker winked and pulled his wand out of his back pocket. He pointed the wand into the air and chanted, "Focus!" The tip began to glow and conjured a disc of water to float above the three. The water began to glow and flash with faint colors and impressions.

Parker tightened his eyebrows in focus, trying to pick up a clue or hint.

"What're you seeing?" Ren pressed, gingerly placing her hands on Parker's quivering shoulders.

"I see someone in blue… that's it… I'm trying to look past it, but I can't."

Suddenly, Erica felt her phone vibrate in her pocket as soon as her gem began to blink. A text from Alan told her that Tony and Sage were under attack.

~Tony and Sage~

"Back off!" Tony growled, kicking a Hollow into the side of a cabin. The Hollow looked like some sort of dark priestess, with a dress and a tiara. However, her face was a pale blue and her eyes glowed with a blood red shade. "I must protect the children!" She yelled at Tony.

"Yeah, 'protect.' Okay then. Fire Style!" The Red Ranger slashed at the Hollow to keep her busy while Sage tried to block the Maligs from the children he was defending. Unfortunately, the sheer number of them was overwhelming and a few kids were taken away.

"Crap!" Sage called out. "Wood Style!" He struck the ground, causing large bamboo stalks to shoot up and impale the Maligs that surrounded him. "Almost there," he told himself. He sprinted for another group of campers when he saw that a squadron of Maligs were attacking an adult man. The man had short brown hair, dark eyes, and a strong build. He wore a blue shirt, jeans, and brown boots.

"You're not taking him!" He growled at the Foot Soldiers. He bowled through them trying to reach a young boy who appeared to be no older than five. However, a Malig grabbed him and he began to scream.

"Daddy!"

"Jaxon, no!" The man called out in desperation.

"I've got to do something," Sage told himself. He was too far away to take out the Malig without harming the child, so he did something else. He focused his Heart Energy into his left palm and created a yellow chip of the energy. He threw it with great precision, and managed to attach the chip to the boy's shoe just before the Malig vanished into thin air.

When they disappeared, so did the remaining Erebian forces, just as the other Rangers arrived.

"Sage…" Tony muttered, limping to his cousin. "How many?"

"We lost three more." Sage whispered in disdain. The two approached the man who was on his knees, crying. "Excuse me?"

"They took him… they took my son." The way the man's eyes watered, the way his voice quivered, the atmosphere of despair that such a tough man could give off struck a chord within the Yellow Ranger.

"We can get him back," Sage motioned to himself and Tony, not caring that he had just told a civilian that he was a Power Ranger.

"You can?"

"Come by this address later today. Tell us what you know." Sage handed the man the address for Chip's before walking off.

~Chip's~

The Rangers sat down with the young man, who preferred to be called J, and his wife,Katie, at Chip's after hours. His wife was a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. However, the brightness seemed to have faded with the loss of her son. She wore a green shirt and black sweatpants that accommodated her round belly, which indicated that she was pregnant.

"Please, tell us everything you know. You can trust us," Erica gingerly stated.

The couple nodded at each other and the man spoke up. "For days now, our son Jaxon had always told us about these monsters he'd been seeing at camp."

Katie added, "We just thought the monsters were a part of a game he and his friends made up. But, J wanted to check in anyway."

J continued, "I saw those creatures attack and kidnap the children. I heard one saying something about 'Nature's Darkness' before I jumped in to.. try to save my son." At that, he held his wife's hand. He sensed that Katie was about to let fresh tears fall.

The five came together with Alan, away from the couple, to discuss.

"Nature's darkness?" Parker asked. "What does that mean?"

"I hate riddles…" Ren commented, crossing her arms.

"We might be able to find the kids," Sage informed, causing everyone to stare at him.

"How?" Alan asked.

"Before Jaxon was taken away, I tagged him with a piece of my Heart Energy. If Parker can cast a locater spell, we might be able to find him and the others."

"It's worth a shot," Parker nodded. "But my locater spell is only approximate. I can only tell the general area."

"And it'll still take a long time to find them," Tony said.

For some reason, Sage felt a rush of anger burst forth. "I don't care!" At this point, everyone, even J and Katie, stared at the Yellow Ranger in shock. Sage looked away from his peers and found himself eying Katie. He noticed how her hand was unconsciously rubbing her impregnated stomach.

Seeing this, a fire lit inside of Sage. He pushed past his friends and said, "I'm gonna keep looking. Let me know when we find this area. J, Katie… I swear we'll find your son." With that, Sage dashed off into the evening.

~Down Below~

"What's gotten into him?" Ren asked. "He never yells."

Parker poured his concentration into his spell while he listened to his friends speak.

"Tony," Erica beckoned. "Do you know anything about this?"

Tony sighed and sat down on a coach. "It's been two years."

"Two years?" Erica asked. "Since?"

"Since he lost his older brother."

Alan stood in the background, just as interested as the other Rangers.

"Aaron? How?" Ren asked. "And why don't we know that happened?"

Tony explained, "Well, we all know that Aaron worked for the CIA and worked overseas. Well, two years ago, our family learned that he was missing and had been missing for 6 months up to that point. You don't understand; Aaron was Sage's hero. This completely broke him."

~Sage~

Sage hurried along the streets searching high and low. He just couldn't wait for Parker to finish his spell. After minutes of searching, he found himself outside the community center, where the campers would be returned to their parents. However, at that time, numerous parents of the stolen children crowded the front doors pleading to the supervisors and managers.

"Where are our children?!" A mother demanded in fear.

"Please! Tell us!" A father pleaded.

"Where'd they take them?"

"We've got to know!"

"I want my baby back!"

The head manager tried to calm the parents down. "Please, everyone. Remain calm. We, and the police department, are working with everything we have to find your children. We don't know where they are, but please, have faith!"

"That can't be!" A mother shrieked through tears.

Sage, witnessing this, squeezed his fists harder and harder. He saw other children there, those who either older or younger than the kidnapped kids crying out.

~Other Rangers~

"You know, that explains why he was so different Sophomore year," Erica pointed out, remembering how cold and distant he was.

"It took him the entire year to turn things around," Tony added. "And that turmoil… it affected me so much too. I can't imagine what Sage had to go through."

"So, why his sudden erratic behavior?" Erica asked on.

"I watched him. He noticed that Katie was pregnant and will probably give birth. Seeing Jaxon get taken, and knowing that if we fail, then the couple's second kid will grow up without an older brother… I guess Sage made it a personal mission for him to rescue all those kidnapped kids. He doesn't want anyone else to go through what he did."

"Oh, Sage…" Erica whispered softly.

Ren stayed silent and tightly gripped her pants at the knees.

Parker, despite listening to it all, was able to detect Sage's trace. "Found it. Call Sage right now."

The four departed soon enough and as they did, Alan looked on after them with a certain sense of reflection in his eyes.

~Sage~

Sage easily found where the kids were taken; Parker's locator spell had led them in the area of Old Arcadia Hills, a place where the first settlers of the city lived. It was an old forested area now with ancient relic buildings that still stood. Logically, the only place large enough to hold many children was the farm house.

The boy crouched outside a window and peered in. Priestess Hollow, with about 20 Maligs, skulked around the children who were all sitting down, unharmed. They cried and wailed as they stacked twigs and sticks to make their own little towers.

Priestess was not alone; Baron stood next to her questioning her motives. Seeing the knight made Sage's heart beat faster. It took everything in him to not rush in to fight. Instead, he listened closely to Priestess's answer.

"I promise the children that if they can stack those sticks up high, I'll let them go and reunite them with their parents. However, my Maligs will kick the stacks over. The trauma will surely awaken the raw darkness inside them. I just want to protect them, you see. By doing this, they will be better prepared for the harsh realities of the world."

"It does seem like a viable plan."

"Doesn't it? Now, I must go collect more children. Please, watch over them." With that, Priestess disappeared. Baron took the Hollow's place to supervise, but he did not notice that a child was eyeing the exit. Sage sent a quick text to his team when that child bolted for the doors. Seeing this, Sage sprang into action. The little girl made it out into the forest, but a Malig grabbed her. Sage jumped forward and slashed the soldier in the back with his sword. He led the little girl away. "Stay behind me!"

More Maligs flooded out of the barn and charged at him. The Yellow Ranger kicked a Malig away and slashed another. He blocked a few swipes, and jumped into the air to spin kick three more away. He was surrounded and was only able to take out a few. This added to the fact that there was a child behind him made fighting all the more difficult.

"Water Style!" Multiple geysers of water burst from the ground and dispersed the Maligs. The other Rangers arrived in time to help Sage. J actually came with them.

"They're in there!" Sage pointed. However, Baron stepped out of the front with a few more Maligs.

"You're not getting these kids back." At that moment, Priestess appeared out of thin air.

"Thank you for calling, Baron."

Sage stepped forward and pointed his sword at the Erebians. "We are getting those kids back! What kind of monster would do this?!"

J watched as Sage's, as well as Tony's, passion grew the more he stepped forward.

"There're families who you're tearing apart for your own means! I'll be damned if you get away with this and leave so many kids without their siblings! I'm taking you both down right here right now!"

Tony stepped up, "You'll never win this war as long as we're here! Understand?! Let's go guys!"

"Right!"

"Skyward Force, Ascend!"

~Morphing Sequence~

"Heart of Hope: Skyward Force Yellow!"

"Heart of Courage: Skyward Force Red!"

"Heart of Balance: Skyward Force Blue!"

"Heart of Strength: Skyward Force Pink!"

"Heart of Faith: Skyward Force White!"

"Hearts of Light, Shine On! Power Rangers: Skyward Force!"

The Five Rangers stormed forth, easily striking through the Maligs. Within seconds, the Foot Soldiers were gone, leaving Baron and Priestess. The group clashed with the two Erebians, who skillfully evaded all their advances.

Ren and Erica aggressively struck at Priestess, who whipped her cloak sleeves forward, blocking the attacks. She blasted the girls with invisible force waves and laughed in sadistic glee. She charged forth to further clash with the ladies.

Sage kicked Baron's arm and knocked him back a bit. Tony and Parker jumped over their friend and slashed down with their swords, only to be blocked. Sage then came around, ducked under a sword swipe, and placed his palm on Baron's chest. Making a fist, Sage charged it with Heart Energy and struck. The force of the Pai Zhua-style punch sent Baron flying into a beam.

"You've improved," Baron commented.

"I'm just getting started."

As these two fights were going on, J snuck in and escorted the children out, carrying his own son as he did.

"No!" Priestess shouted in anger. At the same time, Baron was forced back toward the Hollow by the boys.

"Let's finish them," Sage commanded.

"Right!"

The Five loaded their Power Stars, spun them, and called out, "Skyward Storm Strike!" They jumped into the air and spun together to form one huge, multi-colored tornado. Like a flying drill, the twister flew above the Erebians and grinded into them. The mass forced them through the back doors of the barn and brought them into the air. Finally, the tornado exploded, sending the two flying upward.

The Rangers landed down below, but Sage was not done. He spun his star again and jumped up. "Skyward Fury Slashes!" With a bright yellow aura, the boy zipped forth and struck Priestess again and again until she exploded. Baron landed by himself, out of breath.

"Now it's your turn!" Sage threatened. "This time is for sure. I'll know right here, right now." For the third time, Sage spun his star and took a stance. "I'll use the stance Aaron taught me." The boy spun his arm in a slow circle, letting his sword fill with energy. He then let the energy fly as two slashes, which combined to form an X, that struck Baron. However, the knight dispelled the attack with his own sword.

"Pathetic."

"What?!" Sage demanded.

"I don't know how you learned my original move, but it is nothing compared to mine." Baron let his own fly, and this not only knocked Sage back, but his team as well.

~Flashback~

An 11 year old Sage hopped around his backyard in excitement. After years of watching Aaron practice his sword techniques, he was finally about to learn. Aaron, who was 16 at the time, showed his younger brother the proper stance to a powerful swinging motion that would disarm any opponent no matter how they blocked. Sage didn't get it at first, but Aaron said, "Don't worry, buddy. You'll get it with time."

~End Flashback~

"Aaron!" The Yellow Ranger whispered.

"I do not have time for this anymore. Priestess has failed. It is time for me to go."

"No!" Sage reached forward, but Baron teleported away.

~Later On, outside of Chip's~

"Thank you all so much," Katie smiled with tears of joy. "Thank you for getting our son back."

After the tearful reunion of all their children and adults, the couple stayed behind.

"Your secret is also safe with us," Katie continued.

"Thank you so much," Erica sighed in relief.

"Good luck with your family," Parker smiled.

"Thank you," Katie nodded, rubbing her stomach. "I'm glad to know that my second son will be born into a world with people like you in it."

Ren pointed out, "He'll be born into a world even better, you'll see."

"I don't doubt it… now where's my husband? It's time for us to leave, I think."

Over off in the distance, J was speaking to Tony and Sage.

"It's no big deal," Sage sheepishly replied to J's gratitude.

"No, really. I have to repay you," J insisted.

"It's what we do, don't worry," Tony replied. "It's fine, J."

J laughed and said, "Modest as always. Every Ranger I've met is like that."

The two boys gasped and said, "You know other Rangers?"

"Of course I do! Especially because I used to be one." At that moment, a ghostly image of the Blue Turbo Ranger overlapped with J, better known as Justin Stewart. "And just call me Justin, now."

"Well… Justin. We just didn't want your second son to grow up without an older brother."

"Your heart is kind and strong, Sage. That's why you deserve what I'm about to give you." Justin closed his eyes and focused. When he did, Tony and Sage, as well as the other Rangers in the distance, felt a warm feeling flow through them. It was like bright sunlight bathing them at the beach in a perfect way. The feeling only lasted a few moments, and when it subsided, the Five felt more complete, though none could actually explain it.

"Until next time," Justin told the Rangers as he, Katie, and Jaxon drove away.

"Until next time," Sage nodded. His friends walked away, but Sage only stared into the sky once more. "It is Aaron… but I don't want the others to know."

Sage pulled his yellow gem out from under his shirt.

~Flashback~

"I don't want you to go," Sage told his brother. At thirteen years old, Sage was forced to see his brother leave him.

"This is just a mission, Sage. You know that. This special program won't wait for me."

"I know, but I just want you to stay with me."

Aaron laughed and patted his brother on the head. "Here, take this." The boy held up a silver chain that held two dog tags and a yellow gem on it. "You wear this everyday. These tags and this crystal belonged to our Grandfather. He wore them when he fought in World War II. Cool, huh? He gave them to me when I was about your age, now I'm giving them to you. That way, I'll always be with you until I get back."

"Alright!"

"Attaboy, buddy."

~End Flashback~

"It's you, Aaron. I know it's you… but why? Why are you with the Erebians? Whatever happened Aaron… I miss you."

Next Time: The Rangers finally meet Wayland in person for the first time. However, when a Hollow attacks the Prince and the Rangers are forced to save him, a domino effect begins to take place! Not only that, when Ren notices a change in Parker, the two are confronted by a mysterious warrior in green. All the while, the unsettling blackness within our Blue Ranger begins to take form when his friends are later taken captive by the wild Hollow. Will the green stranger be able to help Parker? Find out next time!

Epic 9: Slight Unbalance

Important A/N: So recently, I was notified via email that someone went onto my Legend Wiki and vandalized it. I and few friends have already fixed it. However, here's the thing. At first, I was angry and felt violated. However, I stopped to think. Who would be petty enough to go onto someone else's site and sabotage their work? Well, being an ace psychology student, I used logic.

I feel that whoever did this is not only petty and pathetic, but immature and jealous of me due to the nature of their vandalizing edits. I'm not one to point fingers, but because I'm the better person and writer, I'd never bring this person into the light. They also probably don't have a life because this is Fanfiction and if you're going out of your way to ruin someone else on a site like this, then you really need to reevaluate yourself.

However as I write this, I'm not angry. Rather, I feel sorry for them! I mean, going onto someone else's site and saying rude things is an example of "projection." It's when someone takes their own insecurities and throws it onto someone else in order to feel good. So, whoever you are, I'm sorry you feel this way and I'm sorry that something drove you to do this. If you step forward now, I'll most definitely forgive you, as will all my other friends and readers. If not, that's cool too. But I'm letting you know that I have tons of friends now watching my wiki so future edits won't see the light of day with them on watch... That and the safety shield so don't attempt.

Things like this won't get me down. I love writing and love spinning stories that people really enjoy. Next chapter, I'll be giving special shoutouts to all my reviewers because I love you so much! I'll try to make it a weekly thing to show that although I'm busy now, I'm not leaving you hanging! Write on!