A/N: To my lovely anon reviewer, thank you so much for the feedback. Sometimes, it feels like my story isn't really landing on anyone but reading your reviews and knowing you're reading always makes it much easier for me to write. I am staying safe and hope you are too :)

It had been two weeks since the loss of Gia's mother, and that loss was felt greatly by the whole team. The death had hit Gia and Emma the hardest, but the boys felt horribly since they knew how close Gia and Mrs. Moran had been.

However, after having gone to Jake for comfort on the day of the crash, Gia had been spending much more time with him. The girls had made up and were back to being best friends, but there was occasionally the underlying hint of tension still. After all, Emma had abandoned Gia on the worst day of her life, and in return, Gia had wished it had been Emma in the crash and not her mother.

It was hard to just get over that.

Out of the surviving family of four from the crash, only three made it out of the hospital. The eight-year old girl had passed away in the ER shortly after Gia's mother. Together with Mr. Moran, they were pressing charges against the drunk driver, trying to get justice for their loved ones. All of the court appointments and meetings with the lawyers were keeping him busy, so Gia was left mostly to her own devices.

Most days, the loss slowly became less and less painful for her, but at times, the guilt and the hurt would come back and wash over her in waves. It would hit her so hard that she was unable to move, and all she could feel was intense and agonizing pain. But with the help of her father and the other rangers, Gia was slowly getting better.

On a particularly good day for her, Jake had invited her out to the Brainfreeze. They got their usual orders from Emma, gave her a big tip, and talked about his upcoming soccer game.

"Hey Gia, I have a quarterfinals game tomorrow. If we win this, that brings us one step closer to becoming champions. Do you maybe want to come? I wouldn't mind getting an extra ticket for you, and I'm sure Coach wouldn't mind. I'd love to have you in the stands cheering me on."

Gia smiled. "Of course, I'll be there. But if you have this big game tomorrow, is it really the best idea to be having a shake right now?"

The black ranger laughed. "Nope. But I'm doing it anyways. I'll just make up for it with a little extra practice on the grass later today. I'm just going to be by myself, the rest of the team wants to rest up. Wanna come?"

She nodded without hesitation. Jake had been exceptionally good to her throughout the events of the last couple weeks, and was taking it upon himself to take care of her and look after her. Recently, Jake had consistently displayed a new level of mature, and time spent with Jake flew by. Often times, it distracted her from her feelings of pain and loss. Everything with him was just natural and easy.

They waved goodbye to Ernie and Emma, then headed out. On their way to the park, they took a secluded route through some of the forest that Emma usually frequented. Sometimes, time alone was all anyone needed to get their heads cleared. They were completely away from civilization, taking the long way towards the soccer field.

Jake and Gia stopped in a clearing to admire the wonderful view. There was a small stream that was running through this part of the forest, and the greens were bursting around it. Usually, Gia just sat back when she came to the forest while Emma took pictures of nature's beauty, but today, she was entranced.

Jake turned to see Gia admiring everything around them, and found her so beautiful in that moment. Everything had felt right between the two. They had been growing closer after becoming rangers together and having the same element, but the past couple weeks, their relationship had grown significantly.

His voice came out as a whisper. "You look so beautiful when you smile." Gia turned to look at him and he couldn't help himself. He leaned in to kiss her.

Gia did not protest and kissed him back. Maybe some things in her life were bound to suck, but Jake was not going to be one of them. He was a great guy, and he showed it by how much he cared for his teammates. He often took Gavin to his appointments too, since he had a car and Emma was usually busy. Gia admired how Jake always gave everything he could to the people he cared about.

It would have been an amazing and romantic moment, if it weren't for Vrak interrupting them. He blasted the couple, and they rolled to a stop a distance away. Gia dusted herself off as she stood and pulled out her morpher.

"How did you find us here? There's no one within miles of us."

Vrak just laughed. "You rangers have always underestimated me. I would have been grateful for that if it wasn't so insulting. Your morphers give off an energy since they are consistently connected to the morphing grid. Nowhere is safe from me. I've found a way to track those signals and triangulate positions from them. I can't know exactly where you are, but I can find the general vicinity. It's only a matter of a little searching and patience from there."

Jake felt an inward sense of panic. Vrak had found a way to locate them as long as they had their morphers on them... and they always had their morphers on them. Before he could ponder the potential repercussions of this new development, Vrak tried his hand and blasted at them again. Jake and Gia morphed and jumped into action.

The worked cohesively as they battled him, and successfully drove him back. Before anything could happen, Vrak teleported away. Gia moaned in frustration. "Everytime we start getting the better of him, he tucks his tail between his legs and runs. How are we ever going to beat him if he's too cowardly to fight?"

Jake sighed. "I don't know. But we need to call the others. Now."

As soon as the rangers had all been teleported to the Command Center, Jake and Gia relayed the story of their encounter with Vrak, minus the kiss of course. They didn't need to know about that yet. Troy worriedly turned to Gosei.

"If he can track us when our morphers are on us, then what's to stop him from finding the Command Center?"

Gosei's eyes lit up to respond. "No need to worry about the Command Center. It's completely cloaked, and the signal from your morphers cannot be detected when you are within these walls. However, I must caution you that when you are outside of the Command Center, it appears you're fair game. Vrak can see you when the signal isn't cloaked."

Noah glanced at the rest of the team. "We're going to have to be on extremely high alert starting now. And we should try to stick together as often as possible. That way, Vrak won't be able to pick us off."

Gia frowned. "If he were trying to pick us off, and I mean this in the most positive way, why didn't he? Jake and I were completely alone and secluded. If he had come down with an insect and some extra Loogies, I think we might have been finished. And we know he has those kinds of numbers at his disposal. Jake and I would have been too far away for you guys to help in time."

Troy nodded in agreement. "Gia's right. He could have easily picked you off, but didn't. I think he's planning something big, and it's suspicious he didn't take his shot when he had the chance. We need to be extra cautious and aware starting now. We can't pull what you guys did and go out of range of help. If we are going anywhere by ourselves or with one other team member, we need to remember to stay within a reasonable distance of the others in case he decides to make an appearance."

Emma shifted nervously. "So you're saying nowhere aside from the Command Center is safe? What even is the point of telling us that he can see us at all times and not doing anything to capitalize on it?"

Everyone's eyes turned to the blue ranger as he spoke. "The encounter with Jake and Gia was all an attempt to get inside our heads. And so far, it's working."