(This chapter is dedicated to Masterpiece Shou Theater and a certain person's Jason voice. They all know who they are.)

"I can help!"

"This again? You underestimate how difficult this is; you cannot help."

"And you underestimate me!"

Every day for the last two weeks this same argument had played out, in small variants. The Renegades woke up, did their respective things, RJ made breakfast and Kendall and Shelby got into it. Often it was in the cafeteria, while people ate, and thus the good-natured wolf master had to step in to stop the madness; this left his two assistant chefs, Annie and the newcomer Heckyl who'd been dragged into kitchen duty by RJ after he was found just wandering around the ship, to stare and silently judge the situation. Other times they managed to hold off until they got to the lab Andros had helped set up for Kendall to use on the ship, a sparse but effective area that had only recently gotten the power returned to it. Kendall had successfully recreated a lot of her old lab in there, with some help, and often tried to work on the ongoing problem of looking for Energems.

Which was of course the source of the argument. The pink ranger pursed her lips, glaring at her mentor as the woman returned the look with a stern expression. Shelby wanted to help, she always wanted to help; from what RJ had witnessed, as well as others aboard the ship, the young girl was quite brilliant, especially when it came to paleontology and archaeology. She'd managed to get Tommy to show some of his old spark talking to him about various eras in earth's dinosaur filled history, the known locations of various fossil species, and it had allowed for the group to get some peace of mind. Missions continued, now mainly taken over by monster attacks from Sledge's side, and things moved and flowed as always, but each of Tyler's team found their own niche it seemed. Koda spent a lot of time with Merrick and Illeana, the only other two who found themselves on occasion discombobulated by being aboard a spaceship, three old souls from the past finding solace in each other. Tyler had been sentenced by his mother to being grounded for the last two weeks and only allowed out for meals, the bathroom and, after some discussion with Kendall and Keeper, to go fight monsters. Riley took to learning all he could from Billy and Hayley, often helping them around the ship or reading up on the Morphing Grid theories still sitting in their usual lab. Chase often sat in Kendall's lab or by himself, helping the Rangers when they needed it but mainly just seeming a bit lost. And Shelby, Shelby fought with Kendall, every day, for at least a few minutes, until...

"Stop it, both of you." Someone always stepped in; more often than not it was Abby. The woman made her way over and frowning at both of them, she sighed, "Every day, every day with this. We have military forces after us, two different team's monsters causing us trouble-"

"Actually Sledge seems have taken exception to the Nighloks attacking us when we last were down on earth," Kira said, eating her breakfast pizza, "Something about us being his prey and the Energems being his? So according to Billy, he's been blasting any that he sees to kingdom come. I'm pretty sure at this point we need to worry about Space Bounty Hunter more than Demons From Hell."

Abby sighed, rubbing her face. "Great, just great. Doesn't change the fact that we don't need these two fighting everyday over something like trying to find the other Energems."

"I have a great idea for figuring out where they are though," Shelby said turning to Abby.

"We can't just dig around anymore, Shelby; we can barely leave this ship without being attacked," Kendall said frowning, "You have no idea how complicated things have gotten now that we're stuck here, how many calculations go into-"

"What makes you so sure I don't? Give me a chance, Mrs. Morgan; I'm smarter than you're willing to give me credit for." Shelby didn't sound angry as much as she sounded exhausted; the same thing, every time, all the time. It was clear to anyone listening and watching that Kendall for whatever reason had a particular problem with Shelby; no one seemed entirely sure why. The pink was occasionally sulky about the current situation, but what teenager wouldn't be if they were trapped aboard a spaceship and wanted by the government for something they didn't ask for in the first place? She was a bit bossy at times but Kendall was far more so, allowing few to enter her lab even among the ones who could most help her; Hayley had had to force her way in to get the woman to trust her and Hayley figured it was something to do with the way Kendall saw others. Tommy called it trust issues, Abby told him pots shouldn't call kettles black; whatever the reason though it always boiled into this particular type of argument and right on cue Kendall simply got up and left the room, causing a collective sigh to go out.

Billy approached and placed a hand gently on Shelby's shoulder. "I would certainly be interested in hearing your theories and hypotheses, Shelby."

She turned to look at him and gave a weak smile before shaking her head. "No, it's fine, thanks Billy. I just..."

She sighed and walked off as well, leaving her fellow triceratops looking after her sadly. He ran a hand through his hair. He could see it was bothering her, as a lot of things were bothering many of them. It seemed that every time they took a step forward it had to be followed immediately by three steps back, a new ally came with new enemies, a new power came with more trouble. He'd been watching the news feed and as far as he could tell they were still being vilified for the most part; the battle in Amber Beach had just spurred flames and the area in which the museum had been was quarantined for investigation. Nothing seemed to going quite right but he tried to focus on the good things, had to.

"It's about that time," RJ said from behind Billy, causing him to nearly jump; staring at the wolf master with wide eyes, he saw him smile, "Your weekly examination?"

He hadn't forgotten; of all things that was one of the hardest to keep from his mind. Billy nodded solemnly and started out of the room, heading down the hallway and towards the infirmary. Most weeks he was joined by Tommy or by RJ, sometimes followed behind by Trent though the last two weeks had found the white ranger sequestered in his own room; he had meant to talk to him about that, worrying as he did about what it was bothering him but as with many things Billy felt he should do, it got buried by all the things he had to do. And in all honesty he preferred when he was left to do this by himself, not because he didn't think RJ was incapable of helping, but rather because every time Tommy followed along the green ranger ended up moody for the rest of the day, and they needed him to help the new team get adjusted. They needed him at his best, whatever that meant currently.

Entering the room he didn't expect to find someone already there, or rather, he didn't expect who he did find there to be there already. Chase Randall was sitting on the table, feet on a chair, and staring over towards the occupied beds; Billy didn't know what to say to him. Truth be told Billy rarely knew what to say to him or many people; despite having been aboard this ship since the beginning, he was often left unsure of how to handle situations and conversations. Least of all how to talk to the one member of the Dino Charge team, save for Kendall, who had not yet integrated completely with the rest of the group. He seemed friendly enough but there was a sort of detached sort of quality to it and Billy couldn't help but notice it again now. The newest black ranger seemed to not notice him immediately, confusion filling his face at first once he did before slipping away to what seemed to be his easiest smile.

"Morning mate," he spoke and the blue ranger nodded acknowledgment of the greeting, "I was just looking for somewhere to sit for a bit and found this place; it's the infirmary, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"Looks pretty well put together, not like it just got restored or something."

"The infirmary's power and most of it's systems are separate from the rest of the ship; when the Megaship was shut down, this is one of the few places left largely unaffected by the virus." A saving grace with all the injuries and battles they had ended up in since that first day.

"Really?" Chase spoke with some serious curiosity and Billy watched him as the young man glanced around the room. It seemed reasonable enough that he'd be intrigued by an alien ship and the med bay aboard it, even if the place really didn't look all that different than what might be found on Earth. His attention, while moving from inch to inch in quick successions, always seemed to return to the same general area, to where the longterm residents of the room lay and Billy could read the question etched into Chase's face long before the words left him. Yet still he found it hard to prepare for it.

"So...who are they?"

"The one in the pod is Dustin; he's Tori's teammate and Laura's brother," Billy answered, deciding that if he must do this, he would start with the first of them, the one who had been there the longest. The slumbering slowly recovering Earth Ninja Ranger.

Chase's face paled and his gaze turned onto Billy. "So he's from the Ninja Academy fiasco?"

The Ninja Academy fiasco. That honestly sounded so strange to Billy, and he wasn't entirely sure why that was. A fiasco sounded like a blunder, an accident, some borderline amusing event where things hadn't gone quite as planned. A fiasco was not a genocide, where so many so many young lives were lost, including that of a good man saving another's life. It did not involve a person left in a coma as to save him the pain of consciousness, of countless burns and lacerations, locked up in a cryostasis capsule so he could try to heal.

But Chase meant nothing by his choice of words and the blue knew this all too well. The black had no idea; the Morphing Grid kept Dustin alive before the courthouse even was a thought in anyone's mind, and when Tsuki had upstarted the connection for them all, Dustin too had benefited from it. Many of his injuries had healed, and like Billy and many others, he too had been deaged to as he had been when he was active as a Ranger. But he was still badly hurt in multiple ways and Billy did not expect him to wake any time soon, no matter how many times Laura asked about it.

"He's slowly recovering, the cryogenic technology of KO-35 as well as the energies of the Morphing Grid has rejuvenated much of the damaged tissue," Billy said, an answer and not one all at the same time; he did not want to talk about the Ninja Academy, the scars far too fresh, the traumas far too close.

"And the older guy?" Chase had left his perch and now stood before the sleeping trio. Billy allowed hs gaze to move over as well and regarded the eldest of the ones sleeping there, the only male. He moved to approach, starting his examinations with him. While DECA had managed to be restored just enough to be able to record their life signs, take care of the majority of the day to day requirements of having four people all in states of general inactivity in bed, Billy still had his weekly examinations and as much as he found himself terrified by them in a way, seeing his comrades like this, it also helped him not to worry as much if he just did something other than watch. Thus he did what he could and checked up on their status.

"Anton Mercer, friend of Tommy's and Trent's adoptive father. He was assisting us with repairs to the ship before Tyler came across you and the others. He...was at the courthouse as well." Anton had had the medical kit; he'd taken over much of the medical duties, even though Tsuki and Billy still often helped out as necessary. The image of him in that chaos, scruffed up and bruised, gun in one hand as they all prepared to leave the scene of the disaster that had happened; this was etched in Billy's mind and it often found itself overlaid with what they had found the following mourn, when people realized they were missing and Trent walked in with Billy to find the two who had drugged themselves. No one understood why that was until months later but it did nothing to erase the sour taste that scene had left in all their mouths, or the pain Billy had felt watching Trent try to wake his father in vain, Andros calling out Karone's name over and over in growing desperation. Billy didn't find out about Karone's death so many years ago until a few hours later when Abby choose to explain.

Chase turned to look at Billy then back at Anton. "Mesagog right?"

"Abby told you?" Abby knew far too much and she had taken it upon herself, maybe as penance for keeping secrets before, to tell the newest dino team up to speed on everything they needed to know about the Power Rangers.

"Trent did," Chase corrected him, taking Billy by surprise; seeing that, the black shrugged, "He was sitting alone, I sat with him, talked with him for a bit. He was a bit...unsteady, but he told me about his dad, what he used to be, what apparently he's turning into now."

"Anton's mutation is slowed by the drug -induced coma he placed himself and Karone into but yes, his DNA is changing and reestabilishing the existence of the Dino Thunder's primary enemy Mesagog."

"I wonder what it's like, turning into a monster."

Billy shook his head, feeling heavy. "Not pleasant I am sure."

"I guess that makes the pretty blonde one Karone?" Chase's tone was playful but there was an edge of carefulness to it; Billy nearly chuckled and almost smiled.

"Andros' little sister and once upon a time she was the Queen of Darkness Astronema, so try not to flirt with her. She's slowly becoming Astronema again," he responded and pushed up his glasses.

Karone was a difficult case. Anton's mutations came with physical changes, and from what he had been told, there would be psychological differences between Anton and his dino self; they were effectively two separate entities who shared one body. When his eyes were checked, as Billy did with each week's exam, he found Anton's eyes tinged slightly gold, and there were scales in various places of the older gentleman's body. But Karone was nowhere near that simple; the only way he or RJ had been able to tell there was changes was through scans of her body and looks at her brainwaves. Even the dark energy that was starting to build up inside her again was not easy to record and he'd had to modify the equipment a bit to be able to pick up on it.

Yet she like all the others required examination and Billy was nothing if not diligent; he approached her bedside and picked up her hand, feeling the coldness of her skin, checking her pulse. He had to make sure she was healthy and that nothing serious had changed, just as he did with Anton. Just as he would do with the final member of the trio. He took note, outside it all, that Chase had fallen silent and he found himself curious to know what was going through the boy's mind at the moment.

"She looks so sweet though," Chase finally spoke up, "Not at all like a villain or anything but a nice girl..."

"Looks can be deceiving...but for the record, Karone is a very kind person, and the way I heard it she only became Astronema because she was tricked and forced. Both her and Anton choose to go to sleep rather than put us at risk with their darker selves awakening." It was the only explanation any of them had for why the two would do what they did.

"What about the third girl?" Chase asked and Billy froze, still holding Karone's hand in his. The young man watched the other and what felt like an eternity passed before he resumed, "Her name is Tsuki, right?"

The blue stared at nothing in particular then nodded slowly. He returned to work, checking Karone's eyes, her IV and reflexes, anything he could think of to keep him from thinking too much. Chase watched him, frowning lightly before glancing from the dark haired sleeper to the genius who was obviously trying not to look as well, to talk about her. Billy was far from the only one. "No one will talk much about Dustin or Anton or Karone. The others all seem too traumatized by what has happened and it's not like I can blame them for it because what I do hear about sounds pretty nasty. But it seems to me that everyone especially avoids talking about her."

She looked like she was sleeping to him, a pair of slumbering princesses with Karone beside her. The only real difference was the items that floated about her; he was smart enough to figure out some things, like that they appeared to be all related to morphing, including the small blue gem similar to Kira and Trent's, strange characters like Lauren's, morphers like Tori's. Ones not seen before had recently appeared and he remembered seeing Tommy's face when the man hand seen the most recent one, shock and pain that colored his face and no words had left the older man as blood dripped from tightly clenched fists. The parasaur ranger had honestly been in the infirmary a lot as of yet, the silence giving a sense of serenity; no fighting, no hatred, no need to deal with the tension and unease that other parts of the ship had spades. He could feel alone and yet be around others at the same time; he had been curious about the four constant presences there. But the one one one seemed willing to talk about was the one he tended to watch the most.

"She's a sore subject," Billy said after what felt like eternity."

"I heard Lauren say she's the embodiment of the Morphing Grid or something?"

Billy laughed lightly. "She's not really."

"Then who is she?"

"Just a woman who did something very reckless for the man she loves."

"For you?" Billy was checking the readings collected by DECA on Karone and as Chase spoke, the blue ended up almost destroying all the data as he lost concentration and his hands slipped over the keys.

Turning bright red he looked at the other man and damn how earnest Chase looked. The blue tried to think but words failed him for a long time coming, causing only small squeaks and stutters to leave him temporarily. His voice was still little too high when he finally figured out words again, "Wh-what...why would you think such an incredulous assumption?"

"You're the one who visits here the most though," Chase said, "Well other than maybe me. And you always look so sad whenever you look at here. I just figured, with how everyone acts, and how careful you are with her, you had to have had something. So you two really weren't an item?"

The answer dried out before they started and Billy stared at the other Ranger though he found he no longer saw the young man. He saw a hilltop at night, with pin pricks of stars dotting the sky and a moon that seemed in the darkness as bright as the sun itself. And someone humming some gentle, warm song as their long thin fingers, callused by years of swordplay, ran through the strands of his hair. He saw himself lying there with his head in their lap, her lap, and he remembered peace and contentment. As well as a heavy tinge of regret that embedded in his chest.

"She's Tommy's girlfriend." he half murmured, glancing over the readings without really reading any of them, "She invoked the Morphing Grid to save him."

To save them all. They were all in danger but almost losing Tommy had been a catalyst. She called out and the Grid had answered, an interesting inversion of the norm; she'd healed them, restored them, given them a better chance at surviving against the difficult, but the cost seemed rather high.

He moved to approach Tsuki finally; Karone's readings looked like usual, some abnormal brain waves, but he was used to that by now. Every week during the testings it was pretty much the same sort of thing, he expected no different with this week's examination, not least of all being that this was also the same order with which he normally did them. He had his reasons for saving her for last, multiple of them, but one of the biggest came down to the satellites that constantly surrounded her. Taking a deep breath he reached out and felt immediately the sensation of electricity coursing through his veins, not in entirely painful way but still rather unpleasant. One of the constant satellites, the blue Dino Gem, glowed and seemed to react to him, sending a second wave of prickling shocks. He held out though, knowing that they would subside as they always did; the first time it happened had been a surprise to say the least. Hayley had found it unbearable and became unwilling to try after the first time it happened to her, and RJ's hypothesis was that the Grid was protecting her itself. Only Rangers were welcome it seemed but not terribly easy; it was akin to shoving a fork in an electrical socket. Billy had the added issue of the blue gem resonating with his original morphing coin so it seemed especially inclined to strike at him. Kira tried to suggest it was trying to bond with him, always spoken with a sad tone, but Billy was always quick to deny that. The implication of it had nothing to do with his personal preferences as much as it did the fact he knew why it made her so sad to think about it.

Chase's attention was once more dragged towards what Billy was up to and seeing the obvious marks of discomfort that crossed the blue's face the skater opened his mouth to say something. He seemed to be in pain yet the other Ranger didn't pull away ad after some time Billy started to tend to her/ And there again was that sad look, mixed with whatever emotions the blue had following Chase's question. He was still not convinced of his answer though he would admit some of it made sense; Tommy was the most hesitant it appeared to go near the place and multiple times when Chase found himself drawn towards the place for the peace it offered him, he'd occasionally found the red there as well, standing in front of the door to the infirmary and frozen with an expression of intense pain and anger and yearning all at once. But it always ended in the same way: Tommy would leave without a word and later on Abby would be seen giving Tommy a strange sort of look but Chase never heard any of their conversation.

Chase was aware of the Incident at Angel Grove Courthouse, the same way most civilians did. He'd heard the news reports, seen the papers; the Renegades, as always, had been painted as a dangerous terrorist group, led by a madman obsessed with the Power. It was almost hilarious to think that was supposed to be the same man who got overly excited by fossils and it appeared was actively avoiding seeing his comatose girlfriend. Chase had overheard the conversations in the museum cafe, people who murmured about right and wrong, unaware a Power Ranger was listening. But people generally tended to underestimate him anyway and he couldn't say that he didn't like to take advantage of that; carefree as he appeared, from the moment the Energem bonded to him, he'd had to play the fool far more effectively. Even the Renegades seemed to not expect too much from him, though he tried his best to help out where he could, and with Kendall distracted, Shelby fighting to be seen, Koda being confused by the ship itself, Tyler dealing with his mom and Riley drowning himself in working on the ship, Chase took full advantage of his chance to just be left alone somewhere safe.

In the end nothing was said by him about Tsuki, or about her companions in Dreamland, and the only noise quickly became the movements of Billy as he did his examination and the soft beeps of life support systems. Chase leaned back and closed his eyes, letting the sense of ease wash over him; he supposed there might be something wrong with finding this place of all places peaceful but he did. And he had no plans of complaining about it either, not when peace was such a rarity now, a treasure to value and hoard. But the peace, like anything, came with a price and as he let himself relax, his mind buzzed awake. He thought of the museum, laid to waste after their escape, and he thought of home. Not Amber Beach, though he liked the city; he thought of New Zealand, his home, where his mom and baby sister Claire were. Did they know about what he had gotten involved in? Did they have to suffer consequences because of him? Allies of Power Rangers, their families, Rangers themselves, the reactions to them were all pretty much the same and he knew only a little of what had happened at the Ninja Academy. And that too was a subject no one liked to touch on. But he knew enough;those students were made into sacrifices for a supposed "greater good", because they dared to be connected to the Wind Ninja Rangers. Because they dared defend them. The mere thought that something like that could happen to his only family caused a crushing sensation to erupt in his chest, centered on his heart.

"May I inquire something of you, Chase?" Billy's voice was the first to break through the silence and it startled the skater enough to make him almost fall out of his seat. He caught himself and with a puzzled expression he looked over. Billy was not turned to him at the moment, checking Tsuki's eyes, but it was clear his attention was not entirely on her.

"What?" Chase asked confused."A question," the blue responded, "I wish to ask you a question."

"Oh. Well mate, shoot." He'd asked Billy a lot; it seemed only for for him to return the favor and answer a few himself.

"Why does Kendall seem so antagonistic towards Shelby?"

That was certainly a question, Chase would give him that. He'd go as far as to say it really was the question, when it came to his teammates at least. Even he felt it was odd at times just how dismissive the older woman was towards their new pink; he reveled in being dismissed normally, as a flirt and as a carefree idiot, but Kendall's frustrations with his own mistakes seemed so minor compared to how she treated Shelby, that strict, rigid, ice cold way she spoke to her. It had only intensified once Shelby became a Power Ranger, and while there were those much harsher to the newest Rangers, Abby for instance when it came to Tyler, it was different for Shelby. Every time she tried to prove herself capable, every time she tried to help, especially when it came to the ongoing search for the Energems, it usually ended with that same argument and that same frustration. It was causing more tension and stress than it was worth, in Chase's opinion at least.

Thinking to himself in search of a proper answer, he ended up shrugging. "Ms. Morgan doesn't mean it to come out like that I'm sure; she just-"

His next few words, while they did leave his mouth, were drowned out by a cacophony of noise and shouting, coming from outside their quiet little room. Both stopped and Billy stared at the door with wide eyes, wondering what it could be that was causing all it; there were crashes and two familiar voices arguing and both Rangers jumped to action, rushing out of the infirmary. Chase glanced over his shoulder at the sleepers, muttering an apology before leaving.

The lab used by Kendall Morgan was not far from the infirmary, which was not as much a coincidence as it was necessity; the Megaship was getting more and more fixed up every day but there was still a dire need for everything to stay relatively close together. Arriving quickly at the room, Chase and Billy found that there were more than just them that were drawn to the noise. Trent was there as well, looking still rather pale but more alert than he had in months; Zack stood nearby and upon seeing the blue gave his half crazed grin before gesturing towards the inside of the room where the yelling could be heard more clearly.

"Kendall and Shelby hit a climax in their argument," he said causing Billy to frown before moving closer.

"I see," Billy spoke and tried to look in.

"Oh no, you haven't yet."

It wasn't the first time he'd seen the lab but it was certainly the first time he'd seen it look like this. The makeshift cradles for the Energems were the only things that seemed untouched in the chaos, currently all empty as the chosen all preferred to have them on their person at all times; the rest of the lab though was not so lucky. It looked sort of like a tornado had touched down there and in the heart of the mess was Kendall, looking positively livid, and Shelby, who was holding what looked to be a fossil in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. Riley was standing behind his pink teammate, pulling on her arm with a frown and trying to separate the two, the fear on his face making Billy feel pity for the boy.

The blue took a deep breath but Chase was the one to speak, "Crikey, what happened here? Why does this place look like the aftermath of a monsoon hit here?"

"Shelby tried working on her new idea for finding the Energems," Riley said quickly, "Ms. Morgan came in and-"

"You cannot just touch my lab equipment without permission, Ms. Watkins," Kendall interrupted, her tone stern.

"The equipment belongs to the Megaship last I checked; we all have a right to use it," Shelby responded curtly, glaring back at Kendall.

Kendall narrowed her eyes in response and Billy, sensing more trouble on the horizon at this rate, moved to get between them. He held up his hands, wondering why it was he seemed cursed to deal with hotheads for eternity. "Shelby, what is this idea that you were working on?"

The pink froze and she wasn't the only one; everyone else just stared at Billy and he choose to ignore it all, focusing on Shelby instead. She appeared to have not expected that and she shuffled her feet some before speaking, "I just figured...since we can only really leave the ship in short bursts, you know because of the stuff with the Initiative and people hunting us and having to deal with Sledge and all that, we need a more effective way of searching. We have five of the Energems: red, blue, pink, black and green. They all correspond to one of five dinosaurs: T-rex, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Parasaurolophus and Velociraptor. The five remaining Energems are then: the gold, bonded to the pteradactyl; the aqua, attached to the ankylosaurus; the graphite, connected to the pachycepholosaurus; the purple, bonded to the plesiosaurus; and finally the Silver Energem which should contain the spirit of the brachiosaurus. Both the red and pink Energems were found in fossils in common enough areas to find t-rex and triceratops fossils, and likely the black and green were the same; thus we can assume we'll find the other Energems in standard deposit areas for their dinosaurs. But according to my research that's a helluva lot of ground to cover since most of the remaining dinos can be found all over North America but pteradactyls are mainly found in Europe and many of the fossils for the others can be found on other coastal areas too. We can't just wander aimlessly through forests and quarries and backyards with how things are, we need a plan."

"Understood. And your solution to this conundrum is...?" He glanced pointedly around the trashed room.

She pulled out her Energem, hanging from it's cord as it often was."Each is bonded to a different dinosaur, but our powers all seem to be pretty similar nevertheless; they're not like the Dino Gems which were each unique, with their own unique abilities attached to them, and thus with their own unique energy signatures. I know for a fact Ms. Morgan has done tests on the ones that we do have in our possession; I figure with the data on them she's collected, we could probably build some sort of device that could zero in on the ones we're looking for with the knowledge of the ones we have."

"Because theoretically the Energems all share a basic core energy signature, a common wavelength that would allow for more focused investigation of the missing five's whereabouts," he answered, getting a nod in response; he did the same then turned to Kendall, "Shelby seems to have put much thought into her actions."

Kendall did not answer him immediately, still looking annoyed. He paused as well then sighed. "It occurs to me, with how stubborn you are being, that this is more than a simple case of lack of belief in her skills. Shelby has thought over the issue and in her deliberations come across a possible solution that has a testable hypothesis. And the cost of doing the experiment and seeing where her theory will lead seems to me to be neglible in comparison to the potential gains of retrieving the missing Energems sooner. Why not simply attempt it?"

"We have no proof that it will work," Kendall finally spoke, "Not even a precedent to go off of. She knows little of the Energems themselves, about what they are and what they are capable of, and only guesses to support her idea."

Chase raised a hand. "Excuse me, I'm no scientist or big dino nerd like Shelbs is, but isn't most sciencey stuff usually guesswork?"

She gave him a look but he didn't back down or look at her for that matter. Billy regarded the room again. "How did the lab get into such a state?"

"I came into her looking through my files and using my...the lab equipment by herself and I stopped her," the ex-curator answered then glanced around herself, "We may have gotten a bit overheated and lost control of ourselves."

"I came into the two practically at each other's throats." Riley piped up.

"Sounds like both of you are at fault here then," Zack said, "Though I'd say Kendall is way worse than Shelby," he pointed at the pink who blinked at him, "You shouldn't have gone behind people's backs and ruffled through her files like that, not to mention try to mess around with dangerous equipment without having someone watching your back at least. I mean I understand being reckless and being a stupid teen better than most, but if your intentions really were to try to make something, you should have at least gotten one of the eggheads at your back. Did you learn nothing from Tyler's little side trip almost getting you both killed?"

Shelby looked ashamed and Zack then turned to Kendall. "But you lady, where do I even begin? You really need to chill out and learn to trust your teammates and the rest of us Renegades; if you haven't noticed you're on a spaceship, floating above the earth, and the government leveled your museum as easily as if it was made of tinker toys. You are way too hard on everyone but especially Shelby and it stinks. If you're worried she doesn't understand something then how about just telling her what you think she needs to know? You treat her worse than Zordon did my team when we first met him and he was a verified dick in a wall. Just chill and help her out instead of yelling at her and getting angry because she's a teenager doing teenager things and trying to be of help. And also, how about not being so possessive of this lab, huh? You're not some dragon hoarding a great treasure, and people are tying to help you out. At this rate you'll end up as grumpy and isolated as Lauren is."

Kendall stared at him and Billy wasn't sure whether he wanted to agree or to scold the boy for using the emotionally damaged Samurai Ranger as an example like that. It wasn't like everything Zack had said was wrong, or even the vast majority of it; it just didn't feel fair to even make a side jab at a woman who had suffered a great loss and was in need of time before she could really heal. And at least she talked to RJ and Annie and Heckyl, the usual trio in the cafeteria. But when it came to Kendall and her attitude he really wasn't wrong.

Moments passed and no one spoke again, not the two had who been bickering, not the green who looked concerned by what the women might do to each other, or the two blacks who both seemed to just want a resolution to the conflict. And certainly not the blue staring.

Trent, who alone had said nothing through all this and simply watched, looked from person to person, reading their expressions before finally opening his mouth. He did so with a grimace and his hands rubbed his temples.

"Can we all agree at least that this whole thing was stupid and move on?" he asked shortly and turned to the older woman, "Is her thing testable or not?"

"Well-"

"Yes. Or. No."

She frowned at him. "...Yes."

"Then test it. If you need more dino facts or something go find Dr. O; I'm sure if you wind him up, he'll tell you everything you could ever not want to know about every dino you need. If you need more hands for building the thing then obviously none of us have anything better to do than stand around and deal with your two bickering. But can we please do something other than argue and fight and yell because frankly I can't take much more of this and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one sick of listening to you two fight every single day."

Shelby looked at Kendall and Kendall stared back; the pink sighed and held out a hand, a peace offering following their storm. The other woman froze up before nodding one and taking it in her own; Billy let out a breath he had not known he was holding the whole time and Riley relaxed visibly, stepping back but staying close still.

"We should get to work then," Kendall said, "We should start with cleaning up the lab."

"I'll help," Chase said and turned to Billy, "You can go back to the infirmary if you want; we should be fine here."

Billy blinked then shook his head. "No, I'd much rather stay and help out as well."

The ones in the infirmary were going nowhere, unlikely to awaken any time soon. But here was something interesting and he was curious to see where this idea would lead. Call it the scientist in him, wanting to see new innovations at work, young minds at work and trying to change the world; it brought a smile to his face like nothing else.

In the end Tommy was not needed, and frankly neither were any of the boys. Once forced into a state of cooperation, Kendall and Shelby proved to be a formidable team, more than capable of handling things while Billy and the others cleaned up and got the lab back into working order. Trent leaned against a wall, arms crossed as he watched them carefully and Billy joined him in watching Shelby and Kendall's work coming to fruition. The blue though kept an eye on the white out of the corner of his eyes at the same time; he was aware of the issues that Trent was likely dealing with. He of course had no concrete proof, only theories and observations, and Trent rarely if ever talked much as of late; his previous speech was an oddity in the days post-Courthouse but it gave credence to the blue's personal theories. Kira had told him about when Trent had become the white ranger, and Billy had taken to keeping an eye on him whenever they were in the same room because of his increased aggression, his moodiness, the hints of sadness and anger that showed in his face whenever he looked upon his father. Billy didn't believe that could possibly be easy to have to see, and with the added problems of returned powers, and potentially returned darkness, only made things more complicated he was sure.

"It's complete!" Shelby's excited voice drew attention and the collected forces turned their attention to look at what exactly had come of the scientist and the triceratops' collaboration.

There were visually two parts, one of which was steadily more and more familiar; instead of always inserting the Energem into their morphers, Kendall had created what she called Dino Chargers, little batteries to replace the crystals in battle. It was likely for safety, to keep the powerful and valuable gems from potentially falling into Sledge's hands all that easier. Each Energem infused Ranger had their own set of them, matching their zord and color. And there on the table sat yet another of those batteries, though it was notably different than any of the others they had around. It's color was different for one, as was the dinosaur on it, and Billy tried his best to examine it while not moving too close, intrigued by it. Riley spoke from nearby, his own voice tinged with curiosity as well.

"So these will help us find the Energems?" he asked, examining not the battery but the other device that sat beside it.

It looked a little clunky to tell the truth, silver with various parts and portions. An opening on one side looked to be perfectly suited for the Charger and it looked exactly like what it was: a semi hastely put together invention with whatever materials were on hand at the time. Yet still much better than what could be really expected under their strange circumstances.

Shelby smiled, looking rather proud. "Yup!"

"Theoretically," Kendall spoke, clearing her throat and trying to look stern as usual, though it was hard to hide her own smile, "We used the batteries of the other Energems, sampled the energy signatures of each of them to create what we are hoping is a close approximation of the Aqua Energem; combining that with known data on where ankylosaurus fossils have been found before, this E-tracer should be able to pick up on the Energem connected to this charger."

"Or the Ankylo Zord truthfully," Shelby added, "There's a chance that it could find the Zord instead of it's Energem; they share the same energy signature after all, the Energems directly power the Zords for the most part."

"Where did the Zords for the Energems come from anyway?" Zack asked, tapping his chin, causing the others to turn to him, "I mean they had to have come from somewhere; they didn't just come out of thin air. Did Keeper make them or sis the Energems somehow materalize them?"

"The Wild Zords of Animaria are pretty mysterious as well," Billy said with a nod, "I think though that when it comes to the question of where Zords come from, that that is just one of those things that is just too complicated to try and get into. Especially when we have other more important things to worry about."

"The important thing here is that the ones we're looking for share their energies with the Energems that match them, making it possible that we'll come across them instead," Shelby said.

"Even if we do, a Zord isn't too bad either, even if we can't activate it without it's Energem," Chase responded to a crowd of agreeing nods.

Kendall cleared her throat again. "Now we don't know for certain this will even work the way it's supposed to yet. We only made the one charger, for the one Energem, and theoretically it could be used to power the Zord though likely only for a few seconds at best; it's a really weak imitation of a proper Charger. If our device worked though we can then move forward with making chargers for the other four Energems."

Riley looked intrigued and moved to reach out to it. "Then let's turn it on and see what it can do."

"Wait," Billy interrupted and the blue approached.

Everyone mostly just watched him as he picked up the E-tracer and examined it for a moment; his brow furrowed and grabbing some tools he went to work on it. Shelby opened his mouth, her expression stating how much she wanted to object. Kendall raised a hand though, stopping her, and they proceeded to wait.

After a few minutes he seemed done; he lifted his head, surprised to find so many of them just staring at him. Billy blinked. "A device like this would no doubt be a pretty prize to anyone who might want the Energems or to use it to find us easier. Ms Morgan and Shelby did an amazing job of putting it together and I simply wished to help by adding a little security to protect their beautiful invention."

"Because the government is after us," Trent mused aloud, getting a nod from Billy; the pale artist smiled lightly, "Not a bad idea."

"We also have Sledge after us and the Energems, and who knows what that creep might have on hand on his own ship that could make things more difficult for us," Shelby added, coming to terms it seemed with Billy's actions; while the entirety of the Renegades were aware Sledge's ship was orbiting somewhere nearby, they had yet to have any issues from the bounty hunter, causing Keeper to theorize that Sledge's ship was unaware of the Megaship as of yet. And they all were hoping to keep it that way for the most part.

Billy smiled, handing the E-tracer back to the ones who had worked so hard to make it. "That said and done, I'd love to see it at work so if you would do the honors of starting it up?"

"We'll actually need to go to the surface to use it unfortunately," Kendall told him, "Up here while the E-tracer could link up easier to the satellites nearby, it won't be able to as easily pinpoint anything on the ground unless we're at least closer to level to it."

That was somewhat disappointing but he understood and nodded. He glanced over at the others then at Kendall. "Then I would certainly be interested in going down with you if you would allow me."

"No, we need you to stay here, keep an eye on the data for us," the woman answered, "Someone needs to monitor things from up here and be able to warn us if anything comes up or happens on this end. Of everyone here you're the most capable in that regard so you're the best choice for having stay behind to do so."

He supposed that made sense, though a part of him was tempted to argue that Hayley or Riley could do that as well, if only because he really wanted to go. But he choose to bite his tongue on that and watched as Shelby and Kendall got prepared; while Billy got himself relegated to monitoring duty, Trent had succeeded in securing his own place on the away team, along with Chase who refused to let them leave without him. Zack on the other hand seemed happy to stay behind with Billy and Riley and after the others had left, he turned to Billy with his usual bright half-crazy smile; the blue thought of how he'd been after the courthouse, when his memories came back and just more questions popped up. Yet Zack had recovered and there was some gladness in Billy for that.

"I can keep an eye on the energy signatures from over here; could you and Riley monitor the screens, keep an eye out for any movement from Sledge's group?"

"Got it Billy!" Zack saluted, causing him to chuckle before settling into his duty. At the very least they could try to do that right.

The three had quickly lost track of time, lulled into a calm state by the lack of much activity on their end. There didn't look to be any problems, everything seemed to be working as they should be, and when they got the message from Chase that they had indeed found the Ankylo Zord, Riley had gone to relay that to Tommy, seeing this as a success. While not an Energem, it was still a big start and a Zord was no small thing, in multiple ways. Finding it was a good sign in Billy's book.

The blue adjusted calibrations and took readings, allowing himself to actually feel good about things for once. This was a mistake of course and within the span of a few seconds everything turned to chaos. All over the lab alarms started going off and Billy panicked for a second that they would start going off elsewhere as well, and he could heard screams for assistance coming from what sounded to be Kendall's voice, coming through the monitors. He could barely make it all out but based on what he did catch Fury was there, with friends, and it was more than they could handle. Billy could hear Trent yelling orders and there were explosions; Zack frantically reported what he could see which turned out to be not a group of four but six fighting for their lives. The blue was curious but his curiosity was drowned by fear and concern and he knew this was not the important thing here.

Getting them back safety was. "Zack, I need you to go to the room with the teleporter equipment; set it to bring them to the cargo hold. I'm going to the infirmary to grab a med kit then going down there; meet me there." He didn't doubt there would be injuries; there always was.

"Got it Billy!" Zack responded and both went their separate ways, the blue running out of the room and back to the infirmary as he had said. He contemplated, for a second in time, sending another message to Riley, to have him know what was happening to his teammates and to relay to the others what was actually going on. But this was dismissed by other urgencies and he continued on his path, grabbing what was needed before making his way to the cargo hold without another moment's hesitation.

Upon his arrival he was glad to see Zack had succeeded in his own mission; the whole point of having them teleported to the hold was because it was perhaps the only place a Zord could be held on the ship yet the first thing he noticed as he rushed over was the noticable lack of a Zord. Second though was the new Ranger with them, his suit very similar to that of the rest of Chase's team, though colored differently. They were helping a morphed Chase hold Kendall, who looked worse for wear and more than a little miffed. Shelby, also in her suit but helmetless, was holding the E-tracer in her arms and glancing around; seeing Billy she ran to him, "Billy!"

"Shelby what happened?" he asked, looking at them all; Trent demorphed and moved to help Kendall, muttering something in a low voice to the mysterious aqua ranger, "Is everyone...okay..."

He paused as he saw the sixth member, the second stranger. This man was not morphed, and while Billy did not particularly recognize his face, there was something distinctly familiar about it and it sent a strange sensation through his body. He didn't understand it, or why he felt such unease for a moment looking to the man. But he noticed what was in the man's hand and his blood suddenly ran cold.

It took him a bit to recover and realize Chase was speaking to him, and he shook himself to hopefully clear his mind. He tore his eyes away to turn to the skater; collecting himself he spoke, "Are you all alright?"

"We're fine; Fury surprised us but it was more a surprise than anything else. And I don't think they found us because of the E-Tracer; more likely they just happened to notice we were back on the planet and decided to attack. But we were taken off guard and if not for those two's help, we might have ended up roasted," Chase said and gestured to the ranger and the stranger, "Looks like the Energem found us instead of the other way around."

"Good thing too," Billy answered and moved to take Kendall, looking to the aqua, "Thank you."

"It was the least I could do." The voice was not one he knew, though he could tell it was male, likely older than Billy was currently.

Billy turned to help Kendall sit down on a nearby crate, examining her quickly; she winced and tried to weakly struggle but he ignored it for the most part, used to stubborn patients by now. There was a particularly nasty gash on her forehead, and a few other cuts and abrasions, but he was glad to see she wasn't terribly hurt and set upon cleaning her wound and bandaging her up.

"The E-tracer works it seems," he said and she stayed silent, "I'd call that a success."

"Agreed," came her answer and he could see the smile return to her face, and the strength in her voice made him smile as well, "Attack notwithstanding, it was a major success and we proved the theory correct."

"Shelby's theory."

Kendall didn't hesitate. "Shelby's theory."

There seemed to him to be many victories in this unfortunate event and he was willing to live with that. He started to finish up with her, wanting to go on to checking the others; he'd noticed something strange with the stranger's face but he didn't get a chance to approach to get a better look. The elevator had opened and he could hear people demorphing nearby as he started to stand; he nearly lost his balance out of shock, and honestly terror, as he heard someone yell, their voice a mixture of anger and surprise. It was a single word, a name. "James!"

He knew that voice; Billy looked over to see Abby standing there just outside the lift, Tyler and Riley on either side of her; Tyler too looked to be in shock and following mother and son's gazes he was pulled over to where the aqua ranger was, now out of his suit.

The resemblance was uncanny; he looked very much like an older Tyler in many ways though he was likely only in his mid to late twenties. He too stared, and seemed confused for a moment as he spoke Tyler and Abby's names. Kendall grabbed Billy by the arm and pulling him to her she whispered, "Billy, get James."

"Wait, why?"

The answer came a little too quick. One minute things were tense but not quite volatile. Next thing he knew though Abby's helmet seemed to move in slow motion through the air, passing by him before slamming right into James, with enough force to cause him to stumble and put a hand to his face. Billy squeaked and rushed over to the other man, seeing blood trickle between his fingers; managing to get James to let him look, he was glad to find mostly just a cut, from where the helmet likely made contact. But he had no doubts there would be plenty of bruising later.

"Where have you been?!" Abby exclaimed, approaching only to be stopped by Trent who moved to quickly block her; she didn't force by him, simply continuing to address the now injured James, "Eight years, James, eight years; you left on your trip eight years ago, promising you'd come back, and you never did! We thought something happened to you, that you were dead somewhere, yet here you are in a Ranger suit, holding an Energem. Where the hell have you been, James?!"

"I...I didn't want to put you and Tyler in danger, Abby; I found the gem during my trip, I almost got killed by the same cat creature that attacked Kendall and her group, and I-" Billy barely managed to force James' head down in time to avoid the second helmet that came flying. Seeing the pink Dino Thunder helmet join it's silver sibling, he was suddenly very thankful that unlike Tommy she hadn't stayed for the Zeo team, or the Turbo team. And Tyler wouldn't give his mother his helmet so she could try killing his father with it, would he?

"Tell me, James, how many times have I been a Ranger? And you seriously thought that I, of all people, wouldn't be able to handle it? James Navarro, I am going to-"

"Mom please!" Tyler said pulling on her arm, trying to drag her back, "Please don't-"

"What in the name of Zordon is going on here?!" Billy wondered if maybe he was cursed because the only way he thought this could get worse was if Tommy arrived on the scene as well. Which was of course exactly what happened.

The green walked out of the elevator, approaching the madness and glanced at each person there, waiting for an answer for his question. The blue opened his mouth but was beat to the punch.

"There was trouble on Earth and we were brought here to escape it; Abby saw the young man in the suit, who seems to be her husband James, and started throwing helmets at him; Trent Fernandez got in the way, her son Tyler tried to stop her, Billy saved James from getting hit again, and then you of course walked in." The voice was familiar on multiple levels, though Billy realized it was different than it had been those many decades before. But he got the strange feeling he had heard this exact voice recently somewhere.

Tommy turned to the stranger who had been the one to spoke. And he saw what was in his hand; eyes widening some, the green stared until he seemed convinced of what he was seeing. "Wait, you..."

The stranger gave a weak sort of smile. "Hello Tommy."

Tommy morphed far too quickly for anyone to have been able to stop him even if anyone but Billy and Abby understood what was happening; drawing Saba, he attacked the other man and found himself blocked. By a staff, and the giant silverish Z on the end of it gave a momentary glow before he pushed the now white ranger back. Tommy was not to be stopped though and tried again, and again, and again, over and over, and to the same result; he swung and the man blocked. Billy moved to try to stop his teammate and got pushed harshly to the ground for his troubles, despite having morphed as well. Chase rushed the white ranger and tackled him to the ground, pinning him down. The man with the staff approached, lowering his weapon and looked to Billy and opening his mouth only be by cut off by Tommy.

"Riley, Tyler, this man is to be confined to the nearest empty room immediately," he spoke, not loud but clear and cold, his eyes practically burning with some deep dark emotion. The two teenagers, one still holding to his mother, the other having simply had to watch this chaos unravel, hesitated at first.

"I concede," the man spoke and walked over; Abby moved to shield her son at first, causing the man to glance at her before yet another weak smile crossed his face. And Billy really wasn't sure what was going on anymore in their lives.

Tyler dislodged himself from his mother and he and Riley moved to direct the man to the elevator, taking their collective leave.

It was not quiet in the cargo hold, any more than it ever was, yet no one spoke for the longest time. The ship moved, James groaned a little, and Billy could hear his blood pumping past his ears.

Tommy managed to get free of Chase, both powering down at about the same time; the martial artist pushed himself to his feet and still exuding annoyance and anger, but trying his best it seemed to control it now, he spoke, "So anyone wanna explain to me why Lord Zedd is here?"