You'd think that after literally defeating the greatest threat since Astronoma, (aka Scorpius), we'd take a break from fighting. You'd be wrong. Leo's dragged me out today to spar, and I'd reluctantly agreed. Now, sweat drips from my forehead as the metal of our Sabers clang in the still air.

"That all you got, Red?" His gaze wanders down to my mouth for a split second before snapping back up to my eyes, and panic flashes through me for a moment.

"No way." He pushes my Saber away and goes in for a jab, but I reach out, easily flicking the sword out of his hands with my telekinesis. Then, before he can scramble for it, I spin around him, holding my blade up to his chest. "Okay, you win. But let's be real, you kinda cheated with that last move."

"I could teach you, if you'd like." A shade of sorrow passes over his face, as well as through our bond, and I frown.

"It belonged to you and your team. I can't take that away." I sheath my Quasar Saber, shaking my head.

"You're not taking it away. I'm giving it to you freely. Now," I pause, going over to stand by Leo's side. "Close your eyes. Deep breaths in and out. Focus on your breathing."

"Like yoga?"

"Shut up." For once, he agrees, and I place my hand on his shoulder gently. "Relax." A large tree branch sits on the other end of the clearing, and I nod. Perfect. "There's a pretty big tree branch about ten feet in front of you."

"I saw it earlier."

"Good. Visualize the space between it and you." Leo's brow furrows as he concentrates, and when I glance at the branch, I think I can already spot it trembling. "You don't need to necessarily move your hand to move the object, but it might help." When the Red Ranger lifts his right arm, the branch starts to lift off the ground, and I grin. "Check it out, Red."

He opens his eyes, and his gaze quickly fills with amazement. "Whoa." His focus snaps immediately, and the branch drops to the ground, but what matters is he did it. "That was… incredible."

I can't help but smile, his excitement contagious. "Unfortunately, when it comes to combat, you won't always have the luxury of being in total concentration. What you need to do then is dig deep, as quickly as you can. And given the right motivation, you'll be able to do anything."

My partner opens his mouth, probably about to give a sarcastic comment, but his next words are cut short. Lasers shoot out from within the forest, and I'm knocked to the ground, and Leo and I scramble back to our feet, glancing around for the source.

"Rangers." The voice is at our backs, which is never a good thing, so we spin around, facing the robotic figure.

"Who are you?"

"I am Villamax. Noble warrior, loyal only to Trakeena." Ugh. If I never heard that name again, I'd be jumping for joy. Leo and I exchange an exhausted glance. "She is the queen whose father you struck down!" Villamax's gloved hand points accusingly towards my first-in-command, and I frown.

"Let's do it, power up!" We morph in unison as we dash towards our new opponent, flipping over his head.

"Let's go!" I urge, and we strike in unison, slashing across Villamax's chest before blocking his counterattack. Leo punches high, and I go low, sweeping my leg out in hopes to trip our opponent, but he jumps over me and knocks me to the ground. I have to admit, he's a worthy foe, matching my attacks blow for blow, and as my energy lowers, Villamax gets in a good strike to my midsection. I'm thrown to the ground, a ways away from Leo, pain radiating out from my wound.

"Kara!"

"Eyes up, Leo!" I manage to reply through gritted teeth. Then, I lift my communicator up to my face, "Guys, we need some backup." I trust that the bracelets that Kai and I share will have alerted him to the situation already, but just in case he's not with the others, I had to radio in- A cry of pain escapes me as Villamax fires off his blaster towards me, and I lay there, stunned, head whirling.

"We're gonna finish this," Leo promises Villamax, and through my blurred vision, I think he prepares to strike.

"We meet again, Aqua Ranger." I'd know that voice anywhere. Unfortunately. Deviot hauls me to my feet, arm clasped around my neck in a chokehold. "Red Ranger!" Leo turns towards me, and through the bond, I feel his heart drop in his chest, anger beginning to boil inside him. "Now that I have your attention, I have something else to show you." Chains clang against each other from the other side of the clearing, and I glance over to see the others. Backup had arrived, that's true, but they'd walked right into a trap.

"No," Leo hisses.

"We even got Magna Defender," Deviot announces, a sick sense of pride in his voice.

"Excellent work, Deviot."

"What do you want with us?" Leo demands.

"You're the one Trakeena wants, Red Ranger," Villamax informs, and I grit my teeth, thrashing against Deviot's hold. Just wait until I get my hands on him- "Surrender, and I'll release your…" He pauses. The bastard pauses, as if he knows Leo's feelings towards me, "friends, you have my word. Or, I'll have to destroy all of you."

"It's a trap!" Damon shouts.

"Don't do it, Leo!" Mike warns.

"We'll be fine, whatever you do, just don't surrender," I urge. None of our words work. Instead, Leo tosses his Quasar Saber to the side, and I let out a cry. "No! What are you doing-" Deviot tosses me against a tree and I knock my head against the trunk, momentarily stunned.

"Power down," Leo commands, and the next thing I know, he's removing his morpher, throwing that down as well. "Let my friends go."

"Get him," Deviot commands, and the Stingwingers that'd appeared rush to tie his hands behind his back. I've seen the Red Ranger stare death right in the face. I've seen him command literal fire. I've seen him be the most badass out of our team of badasses.

But I've also seen him crack jokes during our hangouts. Seen the truly caring heart he has, the one that made me agree to be his second. And yes, seen the way he looks at me when he thinks I don't know.

I'm not going to let him go this easily.

"You fucking bastard!" I scream. "Let him go, or else I'll-"

"You'll what, Aqua Ranger?" Deviot snarls, and I shut my mouth, "That's right. Your little boyfriend is going with us." I want so badly to protest that he's not my boyfriend, but that has little meaning in the face of this situation.

"Take him away," Villamax orders, and I growl as the Stingers march away, Leo in tow. Deviot tosses me to my knees, and I stay there for a moment, hands digging into the fallen leaves.

"No, please." A while ago, I'd swore never to resort to begging again. But they're taking Leo away to do God knows what to him, to maybe even kill him, and what if this is the last time I see him, what if I lose my first in command and the one who understands me the most and- "Please don't do this-" He's gone in a flash of black and green light, and I demorph, my tears pooling onto the ground beneath me.

"As promised," Villamax begins, stalking towards me, "We get the Red Ranger, and you get your freedom." In the corner of my peripheral vision, I see him rear his leg back, but I don't bother to block the kick he sends. The pain barely registers as I collapse onto my side. "Now get out of here before I truly destroy you."

None of us says anything as we trudge back to the guys' room. I'm limping from the fight, my stomach still bruised from my injuries, but the physical pain is nothing compared to my emotional pain. As soon as the door slides open, I stumble into the room, and Mike rushes to support me.

"It'll be okay," he reassures me, but even his tone wobbles ever so slightly, "Leo's strong."

I nod, but deep inside, fear still settles in.

The Red Ranger has many regrets.

One: despite not having admitted it to anyone, for a time, he despised the Magna Defender. Hated his guts worse than anyone he's hated before. The original one, of course.

Two: he knows the untapped power he has yet to utilize. It sits just beyond the limits of his abilities, and he knows this thanks to Kara's teaching him how to use telekinesis.

Three: Kendrix. Damon. Kai. Maya. Mike. Kara. More time. He regrets not having spent more time with them.

Four: Kara. His second. His teammate. One of his best friends. And more.

Five: he wishes he knew what to say to her. He wishes he knew how to take the pain away, how to make the grief for her old team disappear. If he could take it all onto himself, he would. Realizing that was the first time he realized he might value her as more than a friend.

Leo focuses on these regrets as electricity spikes into his veins. These regrets that he'll live for, that he'll live to make sure he never has again.

He will live.

He hears Villamax order Deviot to stop. He's grateful the pain is over. Trakeena walks in. Leo narrows his eyes as the disgusting monster steps over to him. He's upset. Distraught, even. But he won't show it.

"Anger, if honed properly, is a weapon," his second had said. He'd teased her, that she sounded "old", and she'd made a face at him.

Trakeena threatens him, but Leo isn't afraid. At least, until his enemy opens up a literal flaming pit of lava in the floor.

"Throw him in," she orders her Stingwingers. (Leo has never liked those stupid creatures.) He gazes over the edge, heart thrumming in his chest. "The news of your destruction will strike fear throughout the universe. They will tremble when they hear the name Drakeena."

The Red Ranger thinks that it's a stupid name to tremble in fear over. His gaze sweeps over to his Saber, his morpher.

The Saber and morpher he'd thrown away to save his friends.

What'd I tell you, Red? It's her. In his head. At first, it was strange. And painful, knowing he'd taken away the last link she'd had to her old team. To the man she'd loved back on Earth.

Who'd abandoned her.

He's angry again.

"Given the right motivation, you'll be able to do anything," the Red Ranger utters, and then he's grabbing onto a Stingwinger and hurling himself into the pit. Even for him, someone who can control fire, the lava is blazingly hot as he hurtles closer and closer- Then, as he'd suspected, he starts to rise, and as he does, he starts to gather his concentration.

All you need to do is get your Saber and morpher. They're fairly small, smaller than the branch from earlier. You can do it, love. Just reach.

Love.

Oh, he's so fucked. He knows she calls everyone that… but still. He's got to admit, he's absolutely fucked. As he falls from the grasp of the Stingwinger and onto the gravel outside the cave, Leo throws a hand out, and his Quasar Saber flies into his grasp. He knows he can't take all these enemies on at once, though, so with one final look back, he dashes off.

"He's alive?" Maya asks for the billionth time, and I nod, tears filling my eyes. (I'll cry when he comes back. When. Not if. When. When he survives. When he lives to tell us exactly what happened so we can joke about it later. When. Not if.)

"Thank God for your guys' mind reading," Damon jokes, but it's half-hearted.

"You could say that again."

"Red Ranger." That's him. The Red Ranger. The leader of the Power Rangers. The dude that needs to get the hell back to his team. He turns. "I've been planning for this day." His opponent presses a remote, throwing up a barrier around them. Trapping him in.

Not for long, he determines. There's no way he's losing to a lady that wears insect eyes on her head.

"You won't escape this time."

He has to, so he will. All of his training, all the combat experience up until this point, has led him here.

His older brother would call it destiny. Leo has to agree.

"If that's the way you want it, that's exactly what you'll get."

Trakeena's stalking towards Leo when we get to the place the coordinates directed us to. A Leo that's very much alive. A Leo I've never been happier to see.

I'll also be very happy about this. With a push of a button, I send lasers showering down on our foe, and she cowers, letting the Red Ranger stand. I scramble out of my Jet Jammer, nearly hurling myself to the ground in my hurry. No words can express how grateful I am to see him.

"Thanks for staying alive, Red." He's quiet for a moment.

"I just had the right motivation." Trakeena makes a noise of disgust, then sends a flash of green lightning arcing towards us.

"Bye bye, Rangers." Well. My joy lasted approximately- A roar sounds from behind her, and a monster I've never seen before rises up to its giant size. It stomps a foot down, and I stumble as the ground shakes. Trakeena lets out a growl, and then she's gone, leaving us to deal with the giant monster. Admittedly, it shouldn't be much of a problem, and we take it down easily.

Our celebration that Leo's still alive and kicking only lasts a few moments, though, since Trakeena reappears atop a mountain next to us. "Maybe not today, and maybe not here, but mark my words. You will pay for destroying my father. And when you're all gone, evil will reign. From here, to forever."

"We'll be ready for you, Trakeena."