"So, in theory, that's why it's entirely possible that the man from Tauren might have been more than a lunatic after all."

Gia's voice had fallen into a lazy drone, pure background music to the world around her.

"So what do you think?"

"Its… uh… great."

"You weren't listening," Gia said with a frown. "If you were listening you'd have something to say."

"No," Emma said, trying to hide her embarrassment, "I just think it's fine."

"You're Emma Goodall," Gia retorted, "You always have something to say."

"I'm just out of it today," she admitted.

"I think it sounded good," Noah said from the other end of the cafeteria table.

The blonde only flashed him a small glare, but it was more than enough to scare him into silence.

"So spill the beans," Gia said, "what's on your mind?"

Emma was silent for a few moments. She looked over at Noah, sitting quietly. At Gia, looking largely irritated. Then to Jake, who had been weirdly withdrawn since the fight with Jayden.

Jayden…

"It's just… the past two weeks have been quiet."

"So what?" Gia asked, "We earned this."

"Not to mention the whole Loogie metamorphosis was supposedly Vrak's master plan." Noah added, "Where can an evil warlord go after his master plan is foiled?"

Emma shrugged, she supposed that made sense. After all, half the city had been brainwashed Loogies. There wasn't a whole lot that could follow that up.

Still, that did little to reassure her inner anxiety.

Because that wasn't really what she was worried about…

The sound of wooden clanks bounced across the stone walls of the Command Center. Under the main control room was a large cavern that functioned as a training area. One that Jayden was keen to start using.

Lyra blocked the attack with grace and precision. Her movements were familiar but equally alien. She carried the spirit of a swordsman, but that spirit was locked into an entirely different cage.

"Why did you stop teaching the others?" She asked, almost flanking Jayden with her weapon.

"It was causing unrest," He replied simply.

"So?" She asked, jumped back as the bokken swooped past her face. "They're young, eventually they'd get used to the discipline."

"I'm not their mentor," Jayden replied, gritting his teeth as their weapons connected hard enough to numb his arms, "I'm just the Red Ranger."

"You're the leader," She replied, "Therefore it's your responsibility to ensure their successes."

"We can't be successful if we're at each other's throats."

Jayden swung down his bokken, but Lyra caught it and ripped it from his grip.

"That shows me how much foresight you lack," She said bitterly, throwing both weapons to the ground and walked off.

Jayden watched her go, a scowl spread across his face.

He didn't know what was worse to him, how alien she really was.

Or how familiar.

"Jayden," Tensou said and rolled over to the boy. "Gosei says that there's trouble."

Jayden couldn't help but crack a grin, at least trouble would clear his mind a little bit.

"Alright, I'm on it."

Emma landed on the soft grass and felt a bit out of place. The wind hit against her face, and the refreshing country air filled her nose.

"This is the first time we haven't had to protect a residential district," Noah observed. "That's interesting…"

"Coligan's," Emma read the wooden sign posted by the road. "That's only half a mile out of town."

"Stay alert," Jayden barked, "I see the hostiles." He pointed his sword forward, "Right there!"

True to his word a small posse of insect creatures were all crowding around a large red steer. The creatures were brownish with mantis-like appendages and folded wings. There were no Loogies, but there were at least seven of the new creatures.

Jayden led the charge, swinging into the first insect he could reach.

Interestingly it took the other creatures a few seconds to decide to counter-attack.

Actually, she suddenly realized, it was strange that they didn't attack before Jayden had.

"These guys are tougher than the Loogies," Noah said as he unleashed a few blue volleys, noticing how they absorbed the blasts fairly well.

"But not quite as tough as the standard insectoid," Emma added. She then cast an eye towards Jake, who was fighting under a cloak of silence. He hadn't been very chatty as of late, and that was worrying. It was like the helmet over his head was somehow suppressing his personality. Turning him from an annoying chatterbox into a machine.

"Watch out for those bugs," Lyra said over the comm-link. "They're known as Stingwingers. They can be pretty nasty…"

Emma then noticed a Stingwinger veering off from the attack, it moved swiftly and a silently as its shuffling body would allow, right towards the steer.

"I thought it was a stereotype," Emma said as she leaped into the air, "But I guess aliens really do have a thing for cows."

Emma hit the ground right in front of the enemy, but the uneven earth sunk below her, and her body tumbled downward.

She hit the dirt, and the Stingwinger jumped forward.

Emma then raised her Phoenix Shot, channeling its pink energy and blasting the creature in the chest.

"Comprethunder!" She screamed and a bolt of lightning hit the Stingwinger mid-air and exploded it into dust.

"Good move," Jayden commented.

Yeah, Emma thought, better than I am.

Her brain flashed back to the idea of becoming a machine. She had moved automatically as if there were gears in her veins.

Maybe the comparison was more realistic then she thought.

After a few well-placed attacks and some decent synchronization, the remaining Stingwingers took to the sky and quickly flew off.

Emma considered shooting them down, but even if she really wanted to she couldn't, because Tensou hadn't even fixed her blaster yet.

"Well that was certainly unusual," Noah commented, watching as they disappeared from sight.

"I think I've just about got it all figured out…" Noah said, fidgeting with the exposed wires stern out of the ship's control panel.

"How much longer?" Lyra asked, as anxious as ever.

Noah looked up at the girl, a hard expression on his face. She was certainly getting more and more restless as the days went by. It seemed to be connected to getting the transmitter working… whatever it was for.

Sparks erupted from the machine, and rolling smoke followed.

"What was that?" Lyra asked, rubbing her hands together. "It didn't look good."

"No," Noah grunted, "It certainly wasn't." He examined the device some more, looking at the soldering of the motherboard. "But maybe it did some good…"

"What do you mean?"

Noah looked things over in silence, chewing his lip and thinking.

"That mechanism that blew, I think that was what's been giving you so much trouble."

"Ah-okay."

"That's great!" Noah exclaimed, "Because now I know what needs to be replaced."

"Replaced? How are you supposed to replace it?"

"It doesn't look that complicated," Noah said, "They might sell something here that I can modify to work."

Lyra nodded, but she certainly didn't seem very confident.

The sound of pop music drifted calmly through the Juice Bar as Gia enjoyed the solemn moment with Emma.

Ever since they had all been dragged into the Ranger duties Emma had been practically glued to Jayden's side. Always trying to train, always trying to cheer his grumpy ass up.

Honestly, it was nauseating.

"So where is our humble leader?" Gia asked, not because she wanted to know, but because their other conversations had been horribly dry.

"Last I heard he was sparring with Lyra," Emma replied.

"Huh," Gia replied, "and that doesn't make you jealous?"

"Jealous? I'm just glad I get a day off. Ever since Jayden and Jake had their big fight he's been super hard on himself. I try to keep up but he's totally relentless."

She leaned back, already exhausted of the conversation. She secretly hated the way Emma's eyes lit up when she talked about Jayden. It almost seemed like she worshiped him sometimes.

Emma was always someone who liked a project. She was drawn to people who didn't exactly fit the grooves of society. Noah, Jake, hell even her.

But they were all justs kids, with simple young adult problems. Jayden was a child soldier, trained to kill.

Gia groaned, she was starting to think like Jake...

At that was when Gia noticed Brad sitting in the far corner of the juice bar. He was chatting with the boy that had called her to the gymnasium.

This wouldn't seem that out of the ordinary, he was a pretty popular guy around the high school, but what really threw her off was his smile.

He hadn't had that look in his eyes in years.

She watched, fixated, lost in time. The two talked, she assumed they were throwing jokes back and forth. For a second he almost looked like the young boy scattered around his Pokemon cards, sorting through his favorites.

And then he kissed the boy in front of him. Leaving Gia open mouth, looking as if she had seen the ghost of William Shakespeare himself quoting a soliloquy.

Brad quickly ran off, pulling his backpack over his shoulder as he slipped away.

"Where are you going?" Emma asked as Gia shot up.

"I don't know," She spat out as she broke into a run.

After a broken laptop, and a few hours of hard work, Noah was closer than ever to finish the repairs.

"I have to admit," Noah said, "I wasn't quite expecting the broken piece to be a lithium battery."

Lyra just shrugged, but her eyes didn't waver from the young boy. It reminded Noah of when a teacher lingered over his shoulder during a test.

It bothered him then, and it bothered him now.

"So," He said, trying to make lessen his anxiety with a little conversation. "What do you think about the Warstar attack today?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it was weird…" Noah explained, "They didn't seem to be doing anything other than trying to get those cows. I wonder what they want them for."

"Who knows," Lyra muttered.

Though Lyra couldn't see it Noah actually raised an eyebrow. After all, she had once said it was her job to study the Warstar.

Still, Noah kept his mouth shut and kept working.

Back home Gia found Brad sitting on the couch, his Xbox controller firmly in hand. She really hadn't been looking for him at first, just wondering around and trying to collect her own thoughts, but now that she saw him her heart began to twist.

"Hey…" She said, feeling her stomach creep up her throat.

"Hey," He said nonchalantly.

"Busy day?"

"Not really."

"Anything exciting happen to you today?"

He shrugged, "Nothing I can think of off the top of my head."

"Cool."

She chewed her lip, watching her brother's calm and relaxed face.

"Okay…" She said and began to walk towards her room. As she passed she couldn't help but stare, the fresh memories splashing around her head.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, stopping his game and flashing a worried expression.

"Yeah…" she said and turned back around.

She paused and looked back at her brother. "Do you remember when we were little and you accidentally killed my pet Gerbil and told me you accidentally let outside instead?"

"I don't think you'll ever let me forget. You and Emma practically got pneumonia looking for him. "

"Well, do remember after I found out? And I cried for like four hours?"

"Yeah?"

"And you promised you wouldn't lie to me ever again?"

"What's this about?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing," Gia muttered out in a panic before running to her bedroom.

She slammed the door behind herself and jumped face first into her pillow.

And she resisted the urge to scream her lungs out.

"Alright!" Noah exclaimed as the terminal exploded with color. "That should be it!"

Lyra watched with anxious excitement, "Does that mean it'll work now?"

"It should," Noah replied, beaming with pride and accomplishment. Deep down she had to admit that the boy was actually rather impressive. He was resourceful and intelligent; and if not for the limitations of the planet he could have become a revolutionary scientist.

It was almost a tragedy that he was stuck on such a remote mudball. He could have been cultivated and put to work, advancing the entire universe.

"Uh, you okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah," She replied, not entirely sure how long she had been standing in silence.

"Alright…" He replied, "Well, do you want to test it out?"

"Yeah," She said, "I can do that as soon as you leave."

A look of concern crossed his face. "Don't you think I should stick around, just in case something needs adjustments?"

"It'll be fine," Lyra snapped, "If something goes wrong I'll get you to fix it tomorrow."

A pang of anxiety punched her insides for a moment. She became worried that her outburst would blossom curiosity in the young boy, and lead to questions that might put her position in danger.

"I'm sorry…" she said, trying to sound sympathetic. "It's just personal."

"No, no," Noah muttered out awkwardly. "I totally get it."

With that he turned around and stepped towards the door. "I'll see you later," he said and slid outside.

Lyra waited a few minutes until she was completely sure he left, before moving to the keyboard attached to the terminal and punched a few keys into it.

"Damn," a voice said through the small speaker. "I was starting to wonder if you even survived the landing."

"Takes a little more than some turbulence to take me out."

"Well, you've got me there."

"Anyway," she said into the microphone. "I've secured the trust of Gosei and his Rangers."

"That's great!" The voice exclaimed. "So when can I expect you to retrieve the G.M?"

Lyra felt her insides temporarily invert. "I'm-uh- still working on it."

"Still working on it?" The voice asked. "How hard can it really be?"

Lyra paused, feeling something strange crawling up her insides. "Gosei is more clever than I had initially assumed."

"Right…" he replied. "Just try to get it soon. I don't want to come down there and take it myself."

"Okay," she replied. "I'll get back to you as soon as I make some progress."

There was a groan from the other end of the device. "Fine, but I'll be waiting."

Lyra abruptly broke the communication and jumped down onto her bed. The feeling had grown, causing her to feel dirty and sticky under her own skin.

Somehow, despite everything she had been through, she was now having doubts.

A/N: This is the start to a new arc of sorts, I had considering posting it an entirely different story but I feel like it has enough themes to this to keep it under the same title.

But if I had to add a subtitle it would be this: Connecting to the legends of the past.

Consider that a hint (;