"Are we sure we're in the right place?" Kira turned her head when she heard the voice, listing an eyebrow as she regarded the speaker. Tori stared back at her, frowning slightly, readjusting the backpack she had decided to sling onto her back after they left; then again the ninja ranger hadn't really been seen smiling in quite a while now. On the good side her pallor seemed to have become less ill, more rosy and dare the other woman say it, healthy but even in that moment her eyes seemed to drift somewhere else far away for a moment before finally returning. No one really wanted to ask the obvious question that hung about from that, nor did they wish to hear the far more obvious answer.
The ex-ptera Ranger sighed some and turned her head away, gazing up at the tall rocky cliffs, spottily touched by evergreen trees and patches of other green life; she nodded. "Billy and Dr.O...Tommy said so, so yeah, it has to be right."
Kira refused to think it wasn't, that they could be wrong, and Tori didn't respond, allowing the musician to take that as acceptance of the fact. She started walking once more, not wishing to fall and hurt herself on the rocky unmarked trail they were taking, and it took her another minute before she remembered the other members of their little group. They'd been strangely quiet and Kira looked over her shoulder carefully to check on the other three with them. One was Merrick, far calmer than he had been lately. He had one of his arms wrapped around the fourth member of their group, helping them along the trail, and the only other person Kira really knew: Tyler Navarro.
She remembered when he's woken up, however many days that had really been after the massacre at the Ninja Academy. Kira had been there to assist in tending to the injured; Andros had woken as well, unfortunately in the opinions of some members of the group especially Billy who had been the acting doctor, and after an initial irritation over being given the injection that forced him to rest in the first place, he had agreed to stay in the infirmary for a while longer, at least until he had recovered enough to walk unassisted. Billy at that time hadn't been in the infirmary, dragged off as he was by Tommy to discuss something or other, the teacher having taken to some secrecy at times that did worry Kira at times though she didn't comment. Tsuki, secondary in helping in the infirmary as well as working as cook in the deautomated kitchen, had had to leave to help Hayley with repairs as was necessary at times; they had almost gotten DECA's AI systems to recover up to roughly 50%, allowing the AI to speak more clearly but still without most of their memory aspects, but even with Billy's help it seemed to be a long battle in trying to restore the Megaship to even an eighth of it's usual functions. As it was then Kira trying to be helpful had taken to volunteering to keep an eye on the injured and slumbering, make sure Dustin's life support machines kept going, make sure Andros didn't try to escape the room, and check up on the mysterious boy and Tyler as the two boys slept. Actually the way Kira remembered it she had still been working on keeping Andros from getting up, trying to get him to sit back down in bed and rest when she had heard it; Tyler screamed, loud, panicked, and both adults had found their attention turned to him suddenly. He was sitting up, eyes wide, coated with sweat and Kira had rushed to his side, Andros deciding finally to just stay in bed for the time being. Tyler had tried to shake Kira off, yelling about his mom, frantic and scared and hard to understand.
It was perhaps good luck then that Tsuki had been nearby, running into the room and managing after some coaxing and time to finally calm the boy down. But even now, after what felt like a thousand years but which Kira knew to only really be at most a day or two of time, space could be such a disorientating place, she still could barely understand what had happened. What they knew was that Abby had gone missing and in trying to find his mother, his only parent after his father had disappeared years before, Tyler had ended up at the Wind Ninja Academy just in time for the attack. He'd gotten swept up in the fighting that went on and in the end had been knocked out, which had been how they found him. But since waking, after the initial upset and confusion, he had turned quiet and quiet he had stayed, walking beside Merrick like a sort of specter of himself. At the very least since arriving back on Earth, in what looked to be the depths of the Colorado Mountains, the boy seemed a little less down; the sights of caves and mostly untouched wilderness seemed to speak to him in some way and revitalize him even just a bit. Still Kira worried.
Not so much about the other boy though; he's awoken soon after Tyler, perhaps because of the screaming, perhaps not, but for the most part he'd been calm. Though the realization that soon followed his awakening had shocked everyone including him; the boy, who could remember his name to be Zack, remembered little else, not where he came from nor why the government had locked him up nor even how old he was. Nothing seemed to come to him; Hayley summarized that trauma likely caused the amnesia, though what specifically that trauma was was unknown to her and to everyone else. He didn't seem too terribly worried either, saying how if he couldn't remember a lot most of it couldn't be too important though there always seemed to be something weird in his eyes when he said that; he mainly stuck around with Billy, seeming to become instantly attached upon hearing the scientist's name. It was like his eyes widened and he refused to leave his side, trying to help whenever he could even though it became obvious he was still too weak to do much of anything; his imprisonment, his unconscious state it had done a lot to him and even now as they climbed and walked, Kira couldn't help but notice him stumble a few times, his legs nearly giving out before he grabbed hold on something and managed forward. His gaze seemed to be everywhere at once and she could swear she almost saw recognition in Zack's eyes though he didn't say a word about it, simply walking alongside them through the rocky trails and hills. Still it occurred to her that perhaps the others would be interested in it, most specifically Billy and Tsuki; Kira made a mental note to tell them once the group returned to the Megaship. But before that they had to investigate this.
Since the attack on the Ninja Academy the majority opinion of those aboard thespaceship had been to stay put; many of them had been shaken, both among the ones who had gone to the school and experienced the chaos and massacre firsthand, and those who had simply heard about the insanity once their comrades had returned with the injured and unconscious. And Blake; Blake's death had especially hit them hard, a psychological strike that left a cloud of depression over the whole group. Hayley had heard and Andros had witnessed the death of Ethan, it wasn't as if the Navy Thunder Ranger had been the first to die, as horrifying as the concept of that mattering was, but Ethan's death, the entire rounding up of Rangers, it was made worse by what happened to Blake. Because in the end it meant that it had not been a fluke, it had not been a mistake; Rangers, allies, they were going to die if they kept fighting, without a moment of hesitation, without a moment of rest. As Tsuki and Billy and Hayley worked on the ship, as Kira helped take care of the injured, as Tommy and Andros and Merrick tried to disscuss their next step and everyone tried to recover, the fact there had not been any more alarms and calls for help was greeted with more relief than worry. Lana had taken to staying by her brother's side and it hadn't escaped Kira's notice how she flinched when talk about Jason came up; still the golden warrior played at strong well, taking up a similarly good natured response to the young Tyler and Zack as Tsuki generally had. Laura, Dustin's sister, often visited the infirmary but Kira couldn't think of a single time she spoke directly to the other woman, alays finding her by Dustin's pod, watching, waiting, or otherwise moping somewhere with Hunter; the loss of his own brother seemed to have instilled a strong need for him to stay by her, watch over Dustin and when not with Laura watch over Tori. He'd been the first to speak up when Tori had volunteered for the newest mission but he'd been convinced, they all had been convinced, and they had been allowed to leave after what felt like years cooped up aboard the ship with the melancholy and silence.
There was a part of it that had been about getting away; there had been no distress call after all, no messages at all. The mission had been mostly built on tidbits of information, specks gleamed from the various members aboard, rumors they heard, whispers spoken of only between the community who were in the know; the current belief was that while a large number of ex-Rangers were currently in custody there did seem to be a small number who were still on the run, individuals that the government either couldn't quite find or didn't yet know about. There was at least two or three teams that Tommy couldn't verify the status of and there were some stray individuals who couldn't be accounted for. What to do had been a discussion point more than once; some, like Hayley and Merrick, wanted to wait for distress signals, not to leave the relative safety of the Megaship to return to Earth unless they had real reason too. Others like Tommy wanted to go out to see if they could follow the rumors, check up on the things they heard through grapevines, through staticky communications and the barely working system to piggyback on the radio waves that they somehow managed to pick up from outside the atmosphere. Arguments and discussions, loud debates that made Kira spend more time in the infirmary rather than the cockpit where Andros tried to play mediator as the group went at it trying to decide what they wanted to do. Lana stood with her brother, Tsuki and Billy mainly were on Tommy's side though they tried to stay neutral in the conversations, too busy with other things to let the arguments get to them as well.
Then they got the most recent rumors. It had come over a scrambled frequency, a mistake as Hunter had been messing around with the radio at one point only to come across the broadcast. The voice over the waves was none they recognized, not Tommy nor Hayley or Andros or Tori or Hunter, but there seemed to a connection to the Rangers; the ex-Green had made clear his thoughts it might be the ally of one of the other teams, perhaps even a member of one of the still missing teams. Yet in the end none of that mattered; what did was what they had said, a soft semi-scared voice that murmured in whispers yet there was hope and there was excitement. And what they told them, the possible gossip that brought to their attention the location of one of their own, a friend of theirs.
Kira had been the first to jump on it; Tommy had been trying to argue going with Merrick, there being no proof the voice was right, if they were even reliable. But Kira wanted to go; hearing the name the voice had mentioned, her heart had lifted into her throat and her immediate reaction had been to want to go, to do this. Tori had spoken up her intention, a surprise to everyone who had half forgotten what her voice sounded like, and Hunter had tried to counter with an argument that it would be too dangerous, that she should stay behind. Zack who choose to follow them, as Tyler asked to go along, the group that got sent in the end, down into the Colorado Mountains, was small; Tsuki offered to go along but before she could she was overruled, reminded of how sick she had been after using her powers so much, that she was needed on the ship. Merrick though had chosen to go along, had demanded that if they were going to send the younger members of their group, if they were going to let Tori and Tyler who were still recovering from the Wind Academy Massacre go along, if they were going to send them out he go as well to make sure they were able to at least have enough capable of really fighting right now to do so if needed. The ex-yellow fiddled with the pink communicator still attached to her wrist, thinking about the others, thinking about what they were doing; Hayley had relayed a message after they touched down in a small forested area still relatively deep into the mountains, telling them coordinates, directions, and promises of more if needed. To call if they required assistance; Kira hoped they didn't. She wanted them to do this on their own, she wanted to find the one they were looking for without needing help, and was hoping strongly that they didn't come across any trouble on their way.
"Kira," spoke up Tyler's voice and she looked over at the boy again; he was looking at her and when she turned at him he gestured with his head, "I think I heard something over there."
She blinked and looked over towards where he motioned towards. It took a moment but then she heard what she thought he had too, noises, sounds of more than one voice speaking; she couldn't really make out what they were saying and she was half worried that it might be civilians who might come across them and ask questions if they don't recognize her at the very least. Kira started to move, trying to get them off the trail so they might not be noticed as quickly, but felt Tori reach out to grab her arm and stop her, making her stare at her before finally realizing she knew one of the voices. She knew that tone, that soft laugh, and though she hadn't heard it in a long time, even with everything she had gone through and seen since then and how their last meeting had ended, she couldn't help but be happy. Kira couldn't stop herself from changing course, trying to drag herself towards the noises, Merrick frowning for a moment before helping Tyler follow, joined by a confused but half smirking Zack and silent Tori. They stumbled, they nearly fell, the rocks under Kira's feet crumbled once or twice yet she still tried, she still climbed and they still followed, all the way to across the rocky but not terribly steep slope and to the other side.
What they found was a relatively small open space; there had perhaps once been a meadow here, grass and flowers and trees all over the place, and maybe it had been beautiful, a pretty sort of place. But now instead there was a hole in the ground, filling up a large portion of the open space; it was small relative to the size of the Megaship for example but walking closer they saw it went down quite a distance and Kira could hear Tyler gasp, turning her head to see him pull away from Merrick, eyes glistening as he looked into it in fascination. "Is this..."
"It certainly looks to be a dig," Tori said in a low voice.
Kira nodded then looked around again. It took her a moment to catch sight of the source of the voices that had led them there and though it had been quite a while still she recognized the tall figure, sun kissed skin that glistened with sweat from what she could only guess was a hard day's work; his white shirt was stained, mainly by dust and dirt, and she couldn't stop herself from calling out to him, stepping down into the dig site itself, causing him to turn around and dark brown met hazel for a moment. "Trent..."
"Kira?" Trent Fernandez looked confused at first then serious and stiff; it didn't take very long for him to reach for a trowel, perhaps the closest weapon, and realizing the problem Kira opened her mouth but Merrick moved into position in front of her first, putting up his hands in defense.
"We come in peace I assure you," the silver warrior spoke carefully and Trent narrowed his eyes at him.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Merrick Baliton; I am...was the chosen of the Wolf Zord, Lunar Wolf Power Ranger for the Wild Force team," Merrick said and held up the wrist on which he still work the black communicator, "I am an ally of Tommy Oliver's now, as are my associates."
"Dr. O?" The old nickname coming from Trent made Kira smile and Tori made her way over to stay beside Merrick, catching Trent's attention as well. "Wait, you're Tori right? From the Ninja Storm team."
"Hey Trent," she said waving a little, "Merrick's right though; we're here for good reasons, we're not with the government, we're with Tommy."
"You'll excuse us if we don't believe you on that." A second voice spoke up and it occurred to Kira that she knew it too, she knew the second figure, and she should have realized it sooner; after all how many times had she seen Trent's adoptive father and somewhat enemy of the Dino Thunder Team Anton Mercer, how many times had she seen him after the end of Mesagog when she and Trent had still been close? He looked older, far older than perhaps he really should, and it occurred to her that it was maybe the stress of everything more than actual age that brought the lines to his face. Yet as the older man turned to face them there was that familiar frown, a stern look of a man looking upon children, and though he wore far simpler clothes than she had ever seen the multi-billionaire wear before, a off-white collar shirt with the sleeves rolled up, dirty pants, a dusty hat, he somehow looked no less the rich man he was.
His arms crossed over his chest and she took note of the tools in his hands, a small chisel and brush, and he raised an eyebrow at them. "Do you have more proof than just your word and some toys?"
"Dad," Trent said with a frown, turning to look at Anton.
"I understand your hesitation to believe us," Merrick said calmly and Tyler and Zack joined the group in the pit, both looking intrigued by the work around them; Kira too couldn't help but notice, her mind thinking of Tommy and those days in science class or as a Ranger having to dig up fossils and tend to their dinozords. They had been good days indeed.
"Why are you two together?" Kira asked, more than a little curious, "I thought Anton was letting you do your own thing finally." Last she'd checked at least but it had been a while since last she actually spoke to Trent.
"When the government passed their stupid law things got real hectic real fast," Trent said, scratching his head, "I mean no one knew my part in things course but you should have heard some of the talk I was hearing. Then when Rangers started actually getting rounded up my dad showed at my gallery showing one day and dragged me out without a word. I heard later that it was only moments later that the police showed up looking for me."
"Yes apparently someone spilled Trent's ex-identity as the White Dino Thunder Ranger," Anton said and Kira half-bristled at the thinly veiled accusation.
"I can assure you it wasn't me, and it certainly wasn't Tommy or Hayley or Tsuki or Ethan," she said.
"What of Conner McKnight though?" Anton asked then looked over at Tyler, "Or your mother, Tyler right? Was your mother captured already?"
"My mom would never tell the government anything about the Power Rangers, that's ridiculous," Tyler said sounding almost astonished by the mere thought of it, "She's on the run still."
"How do you know that? Have you seen her lately?" The boy had no response to that and looked down at his feet, brow furrowed as he frowned deeply.
"You're certainly throwing around a lot of accusations, mister," Zack spoke up, arms crossed as well as he regarded the older man, "But how do we know you didn't tell them yourself?"
"And what, go steal away my son and go into hide because it amused me?" Anton asked raising an eyebrow.
Zack shrugged. "Could be. Or maybe you told them so they'd be distracted trying to find the others and give you the time to get Trent away, distractions and all that."
"My dad definitely didn't tell the government anything," Trent said, "He may have his faults but he wouldn't sell out Dr. O and everyone like that and he certainly wouldn't do it in such a way that made it necessary for us to go into hiding."
"Let us just drop the accusations, alright?" Merrick said looking from Trent and Anton to Kira, Tyler and Zack then back over to Tori, "It does not matter at this point in time how the government came to know the identities of the Dino Thunder Rangers, no more than it is necessary for us to argue about how they learned of the location of the Wind Ninja Academy."
"Wait they found the school?" Trent asked frowning and looked over at Tori again then to Kira, "Is that why Tori is here? What happened, is everything okay?"
Kira wasn't sure how or even if she wanted to answer that. Part of her wanted to just tell him a lie, pretend like what happeend didn't but a bigger part tugged and told her that it would be no use; even if she tried to hide it from him it would come out eventually. Better to let him know now.
Anton's frown deepened as she took a deep breath. "Actually..."
In the end she told them the whole story, from being rescued from her concert to the attack on Tommy's house, the escape to Angel Grove and the retrieval of people from the NASADA building and finally the massacre at the Ninja Academy. Both men were silent but the color visibly left Trent's face and Anton put a hand over his mouth, his expression turning complicated but certainly not the face of one who had been working with the government for any reason.
"That is horrifying," the business man said and he shook his head, "It sounds like something that a villain might think up."
"I suppose you would know," Kira said without thinking and realizing how it sounded she quickly added, "I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"No, it's fine," Anton cut her off raising a hand, "I understand. It's not like Mesagog was not in some way me; we were one being and though I did not agree with his methods all the time and I was glad for his destruction in the end, he was created from me. E didn't just share a body, he was a part of me, albeit one that I was glad to be free of when I was. You are not wrong that of all of us, I would likely be the one to best understand how a villain thinks."
"I too was made to share my body with a monster," Merrick spoke up and everyone looked to him; he looked solemn, "I made a choice in trying to save Animaria from my group's enemy Master Org; in doing so I almost condemned myself to an eternity trapped in the body of a monster who wished to the destroy my would-be allies and almost did."
"I was evil for a time," Trent reminded Anton, putting a hand on his shoulder, "But you did save me from that, Dad."
"You made mistakes but so have all of us," Kira said with a nod, "You might have shared your body with Mesagog and he might have been born from a part of you but you aren't him."
"This is a really weird conversation," Zack brought up then followed it almost immediately with, "I like it though."
Anton smiled lightly and shook his head. "I suppose I should apologize for thinking you all to be agents of the government. You must understand though why I feel so cautious; when I learned that Trent would be targeted, as much I wished to let my son live out his dream, I couldn't just leave him to get picked up and tortured. We were given no choice but to go on the run though somehow I feel you all more than understand that feeling."
"How'd you learn about what they were going to do anyway? And why are you here?" Tori asked curiously.
"I still had some contacts not simply with the military but with congressmen and other legislators," he answered shrugging, "I unfortunately despite my best efforts couldn't prevent them from enacting the Ranger's Initiative but I was able to at least make use of my connections to find out some of the information they learned. Like the identities of some of the teams. The only saving grace for Trent was that they had not gotten far enough to start going after the ex-villains as well until after we'd already gone into hiding."
"You'd think finding the villains would be a higher priority than imprisoning Power Rangers," Zack said and the others including Trent and Anton all nodded.
"As for why we're here," Trent said smiling lightly, "We figured considering everything they wouldn't really think to look for my rich guy dad or artsy me to be out digging up dinosaur bones."
Anton chuckled. "It is apparently easy for people to forget I'm actually a paleontologist just like Tommy is. But I must admit being out in the field is rather enjoyable and the Colorado Mountains turned out to be the perfect place for this; most people leave us be if they come across us and we're rather isolated for the most part. I'm honestly just surprised you found us here."
Kira looked to Merrick and the wolf warrior sighed slightly. Trent seemed to pick up on it. "How did you know we were here anyway?"
"We have been monitoring radio transmissions from the Megaship in orbit above the Earth," Merrick said, "We received a rather interesting one."
"Interesting?" Anton asked and Kira nodded.
"Yeah; it was the voice of someone none of us recognized but who for all intensive purposes seemed to be an ally of us Rangers. Maybe even a Ranger themselves; they made mention of a rumor that," she said then stopped herself, not entirely sure how Trent or Anton would feel about hearing this; still she knew they should know, if only to help them try to be safe, "That you were here in the Colorado Mountains, Trent."
No one spoke for a moment; Anton was looking at Trent and the ex-white was looking at them, almost as if expecting them to say more. But there wasn't more; they had come following a rumor and the rumor turned out to be true. Taking that into consideration, Kira realized there was a rather uncomfortable thing here, dangerous as well as awkward; if the voice knew about Trent's current location who else did? And who else might have found that frequency?
"We should go back to the ship," Tyler finally spoke up after the silence went on for too long; the young man, turning his attention from the group towards the path they had come and the reddish brown mountains in the distance and all around them before returning his gaze to them, "As much as I really would love to do some exploring, now that we've found Trent and Dr. Mercer we should bring them with us to the Megaship."
"You want us to come with you?" Trent asked mostly looking to Kira; she felt her face heating up and she rubbed her arm. She felt an old feeling and suddenly remembered the cyber cafe, that first time she met him, and there was something almost comforting in that familiar shyness, the way it felt to have her heart sort of leap being looked at by a cute boy. Even if he was someone who she had been with and then broken up with.
"Well yeah," Zack said like it was obvious, "You think we came all the way here for our health and the sites? Because yeah that too but also to come find you and bring you back to the Megaship with us, to join the Resistance."
"Surviving free Rangers and allies are becoming scarce," Merrick stated, "And considering you are also on the run you may as well come join a group of us who are trying to figure out how we're going to survive in this new world order."
"Plus having Dr. Mercer will be really useful," Tyler said, causing the others to look at him; he smiled sheepish, "I mean I know we have Hayley and Billy and Tsuki and Andros but it's not like having another people who is good at science and could help with fixing up the ship and it's systems is bad. Then there's the infirmary; maybe he could help out with Dustin or with everyone who is injured. Which is, well, everyone."
"I'm not really a doctor of medicine," Anton said furrowing his brow, "My degrees are more in bioengineering and paleontology. But I did have to have an understanding of biology and I do have some training as a proper medical doctor so I can at least try I suppose."
"You want to go with them, Dad?" Trent turned to Anton and the other man nodded.
"If their claim is correct they found you by way of someone else who supposedly heard you were here; even if we assume only Power Rangers somehow are supposed to be able to hear that broadcast there are Rangers who are working with the government and they could be on their way here right now," Anton said, "There's a risk to us staying here and as much as I would like to keep digging and finding out whatever we can find, I would more like to make sure you're safe, son. And with a group of others who are in our same situation would be the best way to do that."
"Do you not want to come with us?" Kira asked frowning and he shook his head.
"No it's not like that," he said, "It's just surprising that's all. I mean honestly if someone told me I'd be on the run with my dad, exacavating fossils in the mountains, being hunted by the government and being approached by my ex and a bunch of other Rangers and Abby's kid, I probably would have called them crazy. Everything has just been completely off kilter ever since that kid died; I thought that it wouldn't be a bad idea you know, trying to take the Rangers to account for their actions, the damage we used to do. But this..."
Merrick shook his head. "We understand, believe us, and we have all thought about it much like you. I for one never foresaw myself interacting with other Rangers, certainly not like this. But there is safety in numbers, there always has been for us, and at the moment we need that safety."
"You're right," Trent said, "Still I can't help but worry."
"Well you can still worry but maybe we can do it aboard the Megaship?" There was a slight urgency to Tyler's tone and Kira glanced to him, seeing him looking up at the sky.
She was hesitant to look and she heard Merrick start up his communicator, sending the signal back to the ship to beam them up; the ex-yellow only caught a glimpse of aircraft in the air, the quick defeaning noise of engines as they approached, and she moved quickly, grabbing Anton by the arm with one hand and Trent with the other before pulling them close.
"Hold on tight, this might feel a bit disorientating the first time," she tried to warn them before the Megaship picked up on them and they were teleported aboard the ship, landing in the teleportation room with unceremonious thumps.
Anton groaned, sitting on the floor. "You guys can't make a teleportation system that doesn't break all our bones?"
"Unfortunately we haven't properly calibrated it for old men with sensitive butts," half snarked the voice of Tommy and Anton looked over to see his friend standing in the doorway to the room, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Hello Tommy," the ex-villain said sounding more friendly than he thought he might.
"Hey Anton," the ex-Ranger responded and he smiled before going over; he offered his hand to help him up as the others picked themselves up, carefully and gingerly, "Want some help, old friend?"
Anton didn't hesitate in taking the hand, though there was a time perhaps he would have; he stood and squeezed Tommy's hand in his. "Good to see you alive and well."
"Good to see a friend who doesn't want to murder me. You don't want to murder me right?" Tommy asked and it was half joking and half serious.
"He'll have to go through us if he did," Tsuki piped up walking into the room with Billy; she smiled at Anton and gave him a hug, a friendly gesture.
"Tsuki, I see you're still lovely and still with Tommy somehow," Anton said smiling at her and returning the hug.
"Why does everyone think Tsuki should leave me?" Tommy asked turning to look at Billy.
The ex-blue tried not to laugh, putting his hand over his mouth to hide his smile. "I have no hypothesis, Tommy."
"Probably because you're a giant grumpy gus and Tsuki could do much better," Kira chimed in, "Like dating a giant octopus."
"I am not dating an octopus," Tsuki said with some indignity and pulled away from Anton; she shook her head then looked from him to Trent, "I'm so glad you're both safe; I heard the rumor over the radio about Trent but I'll admit I didn't expect to find you both together like this."
"Safety in numbers right?" Trent said smiling some himself, to which she nodded before making her way over to Tyler and Zack, checking up on the two teenage boys to see if they were okay; they didn't complain or fight, almost seeming to revel in the motherly attention they got from her.
"Indeed," Tommy said, "Well then, we better give you two the grand tour I suppose; welcome to the Megaship, home to the Renegade Rangers."
"Nice name," Anton said.
"Thanks," Trent said smiling and the group, settled and in far better shape than the last time a group went down to Earth and came back, made their way out of the teleportation room with two more members. Far better than last time, a godsend none of them were about to take for granted.