Noah flinched as his bokken vibrated against Jayden's.
"You know you don't have to hit so hard," Emma said from the chair.
The three of them sat in Kimberly's basement, which had been heavily renovated into a personal gym.
Jayden swung his bokken again, and Noah fell backward trying to dodge the brown blur.
"Jayden!" Emma screamed as Noah hit the ground.
"What?" He asked.
"Be more careful," she scolded.
"No," Noah said, picking himself up. "I got it. If I want to get better I need to push myself." He raised the bokken again. "Let's keep going."
Lyra pulled the synthesized food out of the synthesizer and put it out at the table.
Her eyes lingered on the insectoid with disbelief.
Things had sailed past weird.
"You know what," Creepox said. "You have a very delicious looking servant."
"I'm not a servant," she muttered.
"Then why are you serving me?"
Lyra took a breath and tried to restrain her anger. She could feel it boiling as if at any second it could spill.
Then Creepox's drink mysterious tipped.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, "that's Triforian vodka!"
"Relax," Baron said. "Probably just turbulence shaking the ship. Besides, how were you going to lift the glass?"
Creepox grumbled in response, and Lyra was left looking down at her own hands.
She had done it again.
But what did it mean?
Noctis stood where Master Xandred once did. He closed his eyes, feeling the power radiate from the ancient floorboards.
"Master Noctis, I have something for you," Octoroo said, carrying a ceramic urn in his hands. "Something important to view."
"What the hell is it?" Noctis said, taking it into one hand and tossing it between them.
"Be careful with that! It's important!"
Noctis paused, feeling something radiating from inside of it.
"Inside rests a tiny bit of Master Xandred," Octoroo explained, "With enough sorrow, he will spread."
Noctis grinned and looked over at a member of his twisted entourage, Chinomanako.
His general nodded, "I know who to get sir," And walked off.
He returned moments later with a creature that had a giant shelled body that opened up to reveal a skinned human hanging by strings.
"This is Kugutsukai," He explained, "And I think he'd be perfect for getting misery."
People screamed and attempted to run as the red Nighlok extended strings from its body that wrapped around them and took control of their bodies.
"This is messed up," Jake, already morphed said. "What does he get out of doing that?"
"That's how the Nighlok are," Jayden muttered, holding his sword tightly. "They just want misery."
"Well we can't just stand here and watch," Noah said, "Let's go save them."
The five Rangers rushed into the scene and were met head-on by a group of Moogers.
Jayden handled them easily, cutting through them like paper. Their weapons weren't nearly as effective as his former teams, but he was skilled enough to compensate.
The other Rangers weren't as lucky, but they had teamwork on their side.
"Comprethunder!" Jayden shouted and ejected a bolt of lightning from his morpher that hit the Nighlok before it could entrap another person.
It turned towards Jayden and grunted out, "I should have expected the Shiba boy to return."
Strings shot for the Ranger but he activated his Defenstorm card and summoned a wall of air that protected him.
He charged forward, slashing the enemy with a burst of sparks.
"You're just as weak as the other Nighlok," He said, "And I've already killed them all."
Suddenly the sidewalk began to glow that familiar red hue, and another Nighlok jumped out.
This one was covered in vines and eyes. It swung its giant arms into Jayden, pulling sparks from his armor with each brutish swing.
"You're nothing but a weakling," The new Nighlok spat. "An impostor using the lineage of much greater warriors."
This monster was something to worry about, Jayden realized as he got the snot knocked out of him. He was on par with Dekker, maybe even stronger.
Jake flanked the creature from behind, cutting into its back with his giant ax.
The monster picked Jake up and tossed him away, causing his body to skid across the road like a skipping stone.
"Maybe we should call Kimberly and get some Armored Ranger- or Gosei Guardian or whatever," Jake muttered.
"We don't need her," Gia said and kicked back a Mooger before summoning her claw weapon and slashing into the Nighlok after Jayden.
The creature easily caught her weapon and held it firmly in his grip.
"Roplant!" Jake called and summoned vines around the monster's feet.
Jayden took the opportunity to stab into the Nighlok's body. Metal pierced skin, and he saw the tip of his weapon out of the enemy's back.
The Nighlok growled and raised its arm and launched an orb of red energy.
But instead of the Rangers, it hit the other Nighlok, causing its body to explode into sparks.
He then descended back into the sidewalk crack, as the other Nighlok began to grow.
"He killed the other Nighlok just to awaken its second life," Jayden said, "What a spineless maneuver."
"Remember those Zords?" Jake asked, "Now would be a good time for those."
Jayden nodded, and they slid the cards into their morphers.
The Nighlok was massive, towering over the Rangers as their giant machines came to the scene.
Jayden and the other Rangers teleported inside when Kimberly's voice spoke through their comms. "You're gonna need some Megazord action."
"Uh, we've never done that before," Jake replied nervously. "How hard is it?"
The monster began attacking the city. It punched into a skyscraper and flung concrete and metal as its integrity shook.
"I have," Jayden said and flew his Zord into the heat of things. He unleashed missiles that exploded against the Nighlok and knocked it back. "I'll lead the way."
His Zord folded together to form the torso.
Emma and Noah fell into place, forming the arms individually.
With so much weight on his Zord, Jayden had to put almost all of his auxiliary power into staying airborne. Then, as if sensing that, the Nighlok attacked them.
Noah and Emma caught the attack, holding the enemy's arms mid swing.
"We can't hold this much longer," Jayden said.
"We're working on it," Jake said, his Snake Zord racing across the ground. "Can you hold that guy still? I can't get past if he's stomping around."
Gia scoffed, "This is why I'm the licensed one. Just follow me." The two swerved past the Nighlok and met the other Rangers.
They each became a leg, and the Rangers were all moved to the same cockpit.
"Now this is cool," Jake said as he looked around the silver interior.
The Megazord punched the Nighlok in the giant humanoid head, knocking the creature back as sparks rained down on the city.
The Nighlok growled and summoned strings that flew towards the Megazord.
But Jayden summoned a sword that was made from the tail of his Zord and easily sliced the strings.
"Let's end this," Jayden said, and the sword began to glow with red energy.
"Mega Strike!" They yelled in unison as the blade connected with the monster, creating a gaping wound in its midsection as sparks and secondary explosions rained down.
The creature fell and exploded.
She watched the carnage from afar, fascination across her face.
Still… she'd need more information to know if these Rangers could be trusted…
Jayden took a deep breath as he approached Emma, who sat alone at the booth in Ernie's Brain Freeze.
"Hey…" He said nervously, trying to remember the words he'd rehearsed.
"What's up," She asked with a smile.
Jayden froze, he hadn't calculated how much of a presence she had…
"I um… I was thinking," He started.
"Yeah?" She asked when Jayden paused again.
"Well…" He said, "I'm realizing that I'm not exactly good with the personal stuff."
"You're just realizing that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I-uh-no," He muttered.
"Relax," She said, "I'm kidding. Keep going."
"Well, you are," He said, "You're amazing at it."
"Thank you," She said, "My mom always said that it's important to be in tune with other people's feelings."
"Well, I'm not. In tune, I mean," He shook his head and tried to straighten his thoughts. "How about I lead the monster killing, and you keep everyone in sync?"
"Are you asking me to be our team counselor?" She asked with a smirk.
"I'm asking for you to be the co-leader," He said.
Emma suddenly beamed and jumped up, wrapping her arms around Jayden. "I think that's a great idea!"
Jayden pulled her in, not just because that's what he thought she wanted.
But because he wanted it as well.
"So what do you think?" Kimberly asked from the other end of Brain Freeze. "Do you ship it?"
"Do I what?" Karone asked, sipping her drink.
"Sorry," She said with a shake of her head, "I've been talking to my kids too much. Do you think they'd work out?"
"I don't know," Karone said, "I think if anyone would know a thing or two about dysfunctional, emotionally awkward, leaders it'd be you."
Kimberly snorted, "You're brutal sometimes."
Noctis smiled as he felt the urn. Despite how brief the Nighlok's attack was he could feel more energy from inside the black ceramic.
He traced the gold edges, feeling the tiny pulse of Xandred.
Behind him, his clan wept for the death of one of their own, but Noctis couldn't be bothered.
Not with such a bright future ahead.
"I hope you're satisfied with its quality," The Edenite said to Baron, "Because it might be the second most impressive thing I've ever constructed."
"Amazing…" Baron said and held the device up. It was identical to the one he'd had stolen from him.
If he had known it'd be that easy he wouldn't have bothered with Gosei, he would have just used the data he'd stolen from the Galactic Alliance alone.
Kimberly looked at her cell phone and swallowed hard. The crumpled loose-leaf paper Zack had given her months ago rested in her other hand.
And she dialed the number.
Her legs grew numb as the dial tone beeped.
She couldn't believe it was happening, that she'd finally got the guts to do it.
The phone rang for several seconds...and then.
"Hey-" At that moment her heart stopped, "You've reached Thomas Oliver… probably Dr.O if you're one of my students…"
Goddammit… voicemail.
"If you're one of my students just wait till the next class period… or just use google."
Kimberly couldn't help but chuckle. She'd heard he was a teacher, but she hadn't believed it.
"If you're someone else… leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
It was almost surreal to hear how much older he sounded…
Her thought ended with a beep.
"Hey…" she said, almost at a loss for words. "It's me, I mean, it's Kimberly… I know it's been years… But some stuff came up, and it made me think of you…" She cringed, realizing how that sounded. "Just call me when you get the chance, okay?" She bit her lip. "Okay, bye."
And she set down her phone, feeling empty in a way she hadn't felt since she wrote that letter.
