"It's not a very big ring," Rebecca said as she handed the piece back to Gia. The yellow Ranger frowned.

"It's not the size that matters," Gia turned to Jake and kissed his cheek. "I love it."

"I could only afford so much," Jake shrugged. "Being a Ranger doesn't exactly pay well."

"It's the thought that counts," Gia smiled.

"So, you're really engaged?" Noah looked to his best friend curiously. It was a huge shock to him. Jake had kept his plan to propose to Gia under wraps, which was understandable to Noah. However, now he had to live with the idea that his best friend from childhood was engaged to be married. "This is really happening?"

"We talked about a long engagement," Gia assured Noah, but said it mostly for her mother's sake. While Vanessa had given Jake her blessing to marry her daughter, they were still young. Beyond being Rangers, neither had any real plan for what they were going to do with their lives. "Jake wants to see how far soccer can take him, and I'm not really sure what I want to do yet."

"We're going to figure out where life takes us before we settle down," Jake smiled. "All I know is I don't want to be anywhere without Gia."

"You guys are sick," Jordan muttered from the love seat as he shovelled in another mouthful of Jake and Gia's engagement cake. Emma swat his arm gently.

"Don't be bitter."

"You said it was the best kiss of your life," Jordan glared at Gia. The yellow Ranger shook her head.

"Hey, don't look at me. I thought I was kissing Jake."

"I thought I was kissing Jake," Jordan repeated in a mocking tone. "I'll bet you loved it."

"I... whatever," Gia rolled her eyes and then couldn't help but get another glance at her ring. Her mother noticed the look and got up from her chair. She grabbed Claire's plate and then started picking up the dishes from the coffee and side tables.

"Gia, why don't you help me with the dishes?" she asked. She wanted a moment to talk to her daughter. Since the engagement had been announced, everyone had been swarming Jake and Gia. As the two got up, Jordan sighed loudly again.

"I'm just saying, it's hard not to feel threatened when your fiancée enjoyed being kissed by her best friend!"

Gia rolled her eyes as she followed her mother to the kitchen. She set the dirty plates in the sink and was about to turn the water on to let them soak when she felt the need to turn around. She did and saw her mother looking to her with admiration. She sighed.

"What?"

"I'm just... so happy for you," Vanessa said. She walked up to her daughter and brushed her hair behind her shoulders. "I've always dreamed of this for you, but for the last little while..."

"I've been difficult?"

"I had trouble really believing it would happen," Vanessa said. "Now Cliff's gone for good, Vrak's gone, the Armada's out of the way and you're home..."

"We're not done yet, mom," Gia said. "Something's still coming. Something bigger."

"But without your morpher..."

"It's just... it's not over yet, mom," Gia answered and looked down at her hands. In their battle against the Prince, the Rangers had used up all their power to destroy his Megazord. Unfortunately for them, Vekar had one last surprise. His Megazord had a self destruct, and the only way to stop him taking out the entire city was for the Megazord to take the brunt of the explosion. It cost the Rangers their Zords, their keys and their morphers, as Tensou's systems had all but been blown to pieces. Tensou was out in the wreckage working on salvaging what he could, but if he couldn't get the Ranger keys to work, the Rangers would have to resort to their old Megaforce Powers. Powers Gia no longer had because she had tossed her old morpher into the ocean, where it had gotten lost to even Tensou's most advanced tracking systems.

"But you're staying with me. With Claire, Rebecca, Ryan..."

"Mom..."

"Gia, you promised."

"They're my friends."

"Giana Moran!"

"Please don't full name me," Gia winced and pulled away from her mother. Vanessa grabbed her arm.

"Your friends have fought long and hard to see you get better."

"Mom, it's the fate of the world..."

"And if they can't handle what's coming with their powers, what makes you think you can? Alone?"

"I just... I don't like sitting on the side lines when they're in trouble. I can't lose them."

"What did Jake tell you?" Vanessa asked her daughter. "When you two talked..."

"Mom..."

"What did he say?"

"If something happens to them, mom," Gia stated. "Look, as long as they seem to have things under control I swear, I'll stay with you, Claire, and the girls. But if they look like they need help, or worse..."

"Don't even think that way..."

"You'd jump in for me," Gia looked her mother in the eyes. "You wouldn't think twice about it. Why can't I do the same for them?"

"We've invested a lot in you, Gia."

"So I'm an investment now?" Gia asked and then smirked. Vanessa sighed and rolled her eyes.

"You know what I'm saying."

"I'm smart now, mom. But my friends, my fiancé, mean something to me. You can't expect me not to break a few necks if these new aliens hurt them."

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

"Breaking necks? Only when people deserve it."

"Calling him your fiancé. I saw that sparkle."

Gia blushed and turned away from her mother to focus on the dishes. Vanessa approached her teasingly then wrapped her arms around her daughter. She kissed her cheek.

"I'm very, very happy for you, Gia. And I want to continue being happy for you for years and years to come. We all do. Make sure that happens, got it?"

"I promise, mom," Gia answered just before the exterior wall of the kitchen was blown to pieces. Gia and Vanessa were both thrown against the opposite wall and left feeling rattled as Imperial Guards stormed into the home.

"The Emperor has commanded we arrest the one responsible for the death of his beloved son!" one guard announced. "Find her and kill the others."

"Her?" Vanessa muttered and turned to her daughter. Gia was rubbing her head painfully, almost as if she was unaware of what had just happened. It had only been days since she had taken the brutal beating from Vrak and nearly died from it. Especially without her powers, she was in no condition to fight.

Vanessa then noticed the Rangers were making their way into the kitchen. They were swarmed by Guards and were having a tough time getting used to being back in their old, less powerful suits. Vanessa wasn't sure she had long, especially when one Guard made his way around the island and spotted them.

"Gia, let's go," she said and pulled Gia up to her feet. She could see Claire ushering Jordan and Rebecca upstairs and knew to follow them. She kept Gia close, kicked the Guard in the stomach and then started to run.

"Thanks for the karate lessons, Mack," she muttered. She was just about to reach the stairs when Troy landed on them and Guards surrounded him. Vanessa stopped and wrapped her arms around her daughter. One Guard pointed his blaster at Troy's chest.

"I did it!" Troy shouted. "I killed the Prince!"

"Troy!" Vanessa shouted at him. Troy grabbed his own blaster, shot the Guard down and made some room on the stairs.

"I've got my powers. I'm better off. Besides I did kill Vekar."

"Don't be stupid!" Vanessa scolding him as she started to take Gia up the stairs.

"Move, Red," one Guard shoved Troy aside. "It's not you we're after!"

"Wait... what?" Troy frowned deeply. "But I... I killed Vekar. I killed the Prince. I enjoyed doing it!"

"Prince Vekar was a waste of life!" one Guard announced. He raised his blaster and shot it at Vanessa's feet. It didn't hit her, but it did blow apart the steps she was trying to climb. Vanessa tripped from the blast and tumbled down the stairs. Gia, before her fall, managed to grab hold of the railing. "We're after the one who killed the Emperor's favourite son. Prince Vrak!"

"Hey! You overgrown Loogies!" Jake taunted as he rushed over with a frying pan and smashed one of the Guards across the face. "Red is so cliché. Why not try facing the black Ranger. I bet you can't beat me."

"Kill him," one Guard ordered and then shoved his way past Troy to get to the stairs. Just as he was about to start climbing, Vanessa grabbed his legs and held on tight to trip him. He fell into what was left of the stairs and looked down to see what had trapped his legs. He raised his blaster. He had commands to kill everyone but the person responsible for killing Prince Vrak.

He always followed orders.

"Out of my way, slave," he was just about to pull the trigger when Gia jumped from the top of the stairs and landed on his back. She grabbed his head and twisted it, breaking his neck before he even knew what hit him. As he collapsed to the floor, she helped her mother up and turned to Jake. She pointed to his weapon of choice: the frying pan.

"Where the hell is your Snake Axe?"

"I lost it."

"How do you lose a Snake Axe?"

"How do you lose a morpher in the ocean?" Jake frowned behind his helmet. "Now seriously, get out of here! We've got this!"

"Jake..."

"Go!" Jake shouted. He raised his pan and struck another Guard in the face before it got too close to Gia.

"You!" a Guard pointed to Gia. "You're the one!"

"Uh, Troy here's the one who killed your precious prince," Jake said and pointed to the red Ranger. Troy threw his arms up.

"Oh, hey, thanks a lot."

"Sorry," Jake shrugged. "Pick on him for a change!"

"We managed to recover some of Vrak's notes from his ruined palace," a Guard explained as his army redirected their attention over to the stairs. "You, Gia Moran, are under arrest for the death of the Prince."

"Oh shit," Gia muttered. She grabbed her mother and jumped to the top of the steps. She made sure Vanessa had landed safely. "You good?"

"I'm good. Come on, let's..."

"There's nowhere for me to hide," Gia shook her head. "Not in here. Not without putting you, Claire and the girls in danger."

"Gia..."

"Mom, please," Gia begged. Vanessa sighed, but didn't get a chance to answer before Tiger slipped past She leaped down the stairs and landed on the face of the closest Guard. She bit and scratched as much as she could before he forcefully removed her and launched her across the room to the front door.

"Come home," Vanessa whispered. Gia nodded her head, shoved her mother down the hallway and then jumped down the stairs again. She landed on a Guard and crushed him, then stole his blaster and shot herself a clear path to the front door. She kept the blaster in her hand as she scooped down to pick up her cub.

"Anything happens to me, you run, got it," she told Tiger as she took off running down the street. She could hear her friends fighting back home but knew her safest bet was to keep going. They had weapons and powers. All she had was a blaster she barely knew how to use and a tiger cub.

But before she could make it far down the street, a space ship flew over head and more Guards appeared before her. She tried to turn around, but they had her surrounded.

"Gia Moran, yellow Ranger, defender of the planet Earth. You are under arrest for the death of Prince Vrak!"

"You know," Gia said as she tried to find a way out. Unfortunately, there were too many Imperial Guards around her for her to see anything. "You're far from being the first alien I've ever pissed off. But what if we changed the story a bit? We sit down, have a nice cup of tea..."

She ducked as someone fired at her.

"Maybe you need something stronger. Just name your poison. I'm game. As long as we can talk about this peacefully."

A Guard approached her from behind and shoved her to the ground. Before Gia could say anything, a heavy set of cuffs was locked to her wrists.

"Tiger! Get help!" she shouted and Tiger tried to run, but an Imperial Guard shot the cub. "NO!"

"Bring the mutant," a Guard commanded and two more scooped up Tiger's limp body while the first Guard placed a blindfold on Gia. Gia started to squirm.

"No! Let her go! She's just a cub! Tiger!"

"Emperor Mavro will have fun destroying you," an Imperial Guard announced. "Killing his favourite son will be your biggest mistake."