"What are you guys doing?"

Kali blinked and opened her eyes only to find Theo standing over her. "Uh, what does it look like?" she asked.

"I thought you didn't mediate?"

"I don't."

"Then why are you sitting with RJ and Casey in a meditation pose?"

Kali shrugged. "Call me a glutton for punishment," she said. "Besides, it's either this or clean up the mess you left in the pantry last night."

Theo paused; his face screwed up in thought. "What mess in the pantry?" he asked. "I give it a thorough inspection last night. You know, it was really fun, to be fair, I did it all while walking on my hands. I'm trying to prefect it so I can use it in battle."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen any time soon," said Casey, shaking his head.

"Why, what happened after I left the pantry?" Theo asked, curiously.

"You left the fridge open," said RJ.

Theo's face fell. "Oh, so you mean all the perishables…?" he trailed off, wincing at the thought.

"Perished," said Kali, nodding. "The smell was astounding when Rylie and I went to get the dairy products this morning. $1500 down the drain."

"Whoops," Theo gulped. "I'm sorry?"

"Maybe you should avoid Rylie if that's your attempt at an apology," said RJ, shaking his head. He uncrossed his legs and stood up, just as the monitors flickered to life and the alarms started to blare loudly.

Kali jumped up, stretched her muscles, and inspected the screens. "I'll get Lily," she said, disappearing downstairs.

Casey and Theo shared a look, inspected the screens themselves, and then headed for the exits.

~X~

"Blades!"

"Charge!"

Kali ducked as a black bird swooped down low, almost taking her head off with his sharp feathered wings. She rolled forward as a second bird, this time white, attacked from behind, narrowly missing her shoulders. "What's the deal?" she asked, getting back to her feet.

"They must know you're the Hellhound," said Casey, circling up with the others around their team mate.

Kali grit her teeth and looked up into the skies. "Theo, Lily, take the white bird," she said. "Casey, you and I have got the black."

The team nodded and broke apart.

"Hey, big bird, this way!" Casey called, waving his arms in the air and gaining the attention of his target.

The white bird turned mid-flight and swooped down on the pair. Kali stepped backwards, to avoid being hit, and managed to glimpse his whole appearance. He looked like a crane, but she wasn't entirely sure. Birds had never been a favourite in terms of animals.

"Hey, get off!" Casey cried, as the crane took off into the air again. It's long talons dug into Casey's shoulders and lifted him up, his feet barely scraping the pavement.

"Let him go!" Kali said, hurling a fireball at the bird.

Casey groaned as he hit the ground. "Thanks," he said, scrambling to his feet and looking at Kali.

"Don't thank me yet," said Kali, shaking her head. "He's not -" she broke off as the Crane was hit from behind, its attention drawn to the person who dared interfere.

Spreading it's wings, the crane took to the skies, setting its sight on Theo.

"What is he -?" Casey started.

"Theo, go back!" Kali yelled, noticing Lily over his shoulder. Now that she was alone, she was fair poorly.

"You need help!" Theo called, as he summoned his Jungle Tonfa.

"Lily needs you more!" Kali argued. "Go back and cover her."

"I'll deal with this freak first, and then go back!" said Theo. He leapt into the air and met the Crane head on.

Lily cried out as she was smashed into from all sides.

"You okay here?" Kali asked Casey.

Casey nodded and attacked the Crane, while Kali disappeared in a flicker of magic and reappeared beside Lily. She fired several fireballs at the crow, knocking him back a step or two, and then took a running leap forward.

"Jungle Blades!" Kali called, summoning her two swords. She raised them above her head and slashed down, through the air.

The crow squawked and stepped back. "Carden," he screeched, spreading his wings and raising back into the air. "Let's show them what we can do!"

The crane - Carden - spread his wings and followed his friends. There was a split second before they both disappeared, leaving the Rangers heavily defeated.

Relinquishing her swords, Kali turned to Lily and helped her stand. "You alright?" she asked.

"I-I think so," said Lily. She clutched her arm to her side, wincing with each move she made.

"Careful," said Kali, sliding an arm around Lily's shoulder and holding her close. "Lean on me."

"Lil!" Casey called, racing over.

"Let's get back to the loft," said Kali.

Casey nodded.

~X~

"RJ!" Kali called, rushing Lily into the loft. She set her down in a nearby chair and stepped aside as Rylie appeared with a wash cloth and bowl. As Rylie set to work cleaning up Lily's face, Kali turned to the Wolf Master.

"What were those things?" Casey asked.

"And more importantly, how do we beat them?" Lily asked.

Rylie turned Lily's face back to her, and gently wiped at the crusted blood near her hairline. "Don't worry about what's going on over there," she said, gently.

Kali looked away from Lily and folded her arms, her focus back on RJ. "Well?" she said.

"They're called Bai Lai and Carden," RJ answered. "They're insanely powerful creatures."

"Yikes," Theo muttered.

Spinning wildly, Kali caught Theo by the collar and shook him. "Yikes?" she repeated. "YIKES? That's all you're going to say?"

"Kali, easy," said Casey, jumping up to put a hand on her shoulder.

Untangling himself from Kali's grip, Theo stared wide-eyed at her. "What is your problem?" he asked, straightening his clothes. "What did I do?"

"What didn't you do is the better question," Kali seethed. "You didn't listen! I told you to cover Lily, both of us did," she added, roping Casey into the scenario. "But no, you had to show off, didn't you? And guess what, Theo, you're showing off got Lily hurt. Look at her!"

Lily winced as she tried to move, and Theo's face fell slightly. "I'm… sorry?" he offered, weakly.

Kali scoffed. "Sorry? That's the best you can do!" she growled.

"What do you want me to do?" Theo asked.

"I want you to… focus!" Kali snapped. She pushed her palms against Theo's shoulders and shoved him back. He stumbled, tripped, and hit the floor.

Casey swung himself in front of Kali, grabbing her wrists and forcing her back, away from Theo.

"You made your point," said Casey.

Theo huffed and picked himself up from the ground. He brushed his palms on his sleeves and readjusted his jacket. "You've got some nerve," he said, glaring at Kali. "I saved your asses out there, both of you!" he added, looking at Casey. "I was focused on helping you."

"We didn't need your help!" Kali argued.

"Then you should've said so."

"We did!" Casey and Kali yelled, both rounding on Theo.

Stepping between the trio, RJ held up his hands. "Okay. Okay, enough," he said, calmly.

"Hey, who's that?" Lily asked.

Kali turned to the cheetah and noticed that she was staring at the ceiling. Turning her gaze skyward, she gasped, her eyes widening, at the elder gentleman that was hanging from the rafters.

"Master Swoop," Rylie said, smiling gently.

"Greeting's, Rylie," said the elder gentleman. He spread his arms, showing his Master tattoo on his inner wrist, and the three-pronged fan in his hand. He hovered for a second and then turned right ways round, and landed on the ground, his knees bending slightly as to hold his weight.

Theo cocked his head to the side and turned to RJ. "You know this guy?" he asked.

"Master Swoop was my favourite Master at the academy," said RJ. "Taught me the Swoop technique - fighting without eyesight."

Master Swoop smiled fondly as he turned to the Wolf Master. "You taught this blind man a few tricks yourself," he said.

Theo furrowed his brow and stalked forward, waving his hand in front of Swoop's face.

Kali grit her teeth. Talk about disrespectful, she thought.

"Yes, Theo, I am blind," said Master Swoop, startling the jaguar. He removed his glasses, showing a smoky white haze covering his eyes. "But that does not mean I enjoy you waving your hand in front of my face."

Kali laughed, earning a glare from Theo.

"You always did like to make an entrance," said Rylie.

Picking up an Orange, RJ grinned. "Think fast…" he said, tossing it at Swoop. The Master caught it with ease.

"Sweet," Casey breathed.

"We can only guess why you are here," RJ continued.

"Yes. My bat spirit picked up a sonic disturbance in the skies. Bai Lai and Carden have returned," said Swoop. He paused, and added, "May I have a word with you, RJ? In private."

RJ nodded. "Sure. Guys, do you mind?" He looked to his team.

"Great. You two Master's catch up," said Theo, trailing backwards towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go make some sauce, figure out how to defeat those beasts, and -" he cut off as he tripped, landing on his back at the top of the stairs.

Kali scoffed. "Careful, Theo, it's a long way down to the kitchen," she said, walking past. "We wouldn't want you getting hurt."

Theo glared, scrambled to his feet and followed after her.

~X~

Kali paused as a black and purple vortex appeared high in the skies of Ocean Bluff. The last time she had seen this form of transportation had been when Leanbow was Koragg.

"I've had enough of these birds!" said Lily. She wasn't fully healed from her last battle, but she wasn't about to leave her friends to fight two Rinshi alone. Especially when Theo was elsewhere with Master Swoop.

"Rangers!" the two birds screeched.

"Back for more?" Casey asked, clenching his fists.

"Ready for another bird buggle?" Carden laughed, his hand clenching around his sword. Bai Lai did the same and the pair headed straight for the trio of Rangers.

"I got Bai Lai," said Kali, breaking off from the other two. She summoned her Jungle Swords and swung them up, meeting Bai Lai's attack.

"You can't fight with the big boys," Bai Lai laughed.

"Don't be so sure!" Kali said. She shoved all her strength into her swords, throwing them up into the air, and then jumping up. She drew her feet together, slammed them into Bai Lai's chest and sent him careening backwards into a wall.

Bai Lai shook his feathery head, his eyes narrowing at Kali. "You'll pay for that," he promised.

"Don't bet on it," said Kali. "What kind of warrior hits someone when they are down, anyway?"

"The kind that plays to win."

"Now you're talking my game." Kali rolled her swords over in her hands,

"You're too late, Rangers," said Carden, hovering inches above the ground as the Rangers regrouped. "The Vortex is almost ready."

"Almost," said Kali. "We can still stop you."

Bai Lai laughed. "Try it," he challenged.

Summoning her Jungle Blades, Kali took a running leap and swung one of her swords at the crowd. She missed as Bai Lai swung backwards, avoiding the blade. "To slow, Ranger," he taunted.

"HEY! PUT ME DOWN!"

Kali turned, her eyes widening as Casey was lifted into the air.

"Casey," Lily called, desperately.

"Let go of me!" Casey yelled. He swung at Carden, hitting the only part of him he could reach - his leg. The sudden pain caused Carden to drop Casey, leaving him to plummet towards the ground.

Conjuring up her Mystic Morpher, Kali pointed it a Casey and muttered a spell. Several strands of black magic wrapped themselves around his arms and legs, and then lowered him slowly back to the ground.

"Thanks," Casey said, breathlessly.

Kali patted his shoulder and looked up. The vortex had grown bigger since they had arrived, and even she could sense that it was almost time.

"You're time in this world is over, Rangers," Bai Lai called, swooping across Carden as they both circled the vortex.

"When the city is gone, Carnosaur will rule this land," said Carden.

Kali furrowed her brow. "Carnosaur?" she queried. "Why does that sound familiar?"

Lily and Casey shook their heads.

"We need Theo!" said Lily, desperately.

"I'll try calling RJ," said Casey. He tapped the side of his helmet as Kali and Lily stepped forward, covering him.

Bai Lai and Carden laughed.

"Call in all the reinforcements that you need," said Bai Lai. "It won't stop the inevitable."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!"

Kali, Casey, and Lily looked around as they spotted Theo running fully out towards them. He twisted his arms around himself, cutting through the air with a sky fan, similar to the one that Master Swoop had shown at the loft.

"Like my fan?" Theo asked. He jumped over his team, landing between them and the two birds.

Bai Lai pulled up and then swooped down, scratching at Theo with his claws.

Theo stepped back and twisted his fan behind his back, he side-stepped, following his own movements and then, opening his fan as far as it would go, he pulled upwards, dragging the pointed tips across Bai Lai's chest and stomach.

The crow howled as he clutched at his chest, his wings faltering and sending him crashing back to Earth.

"My turn!" said Carden, swooping low over Theo.

Theo sniffed and made easy work of Carden, sending him crashing into the sidewalk, just like he had done Bai Lai.

"Ready for an encore?" Theo asked. He summoned a second fan and took a running leap. He leapt over the two birds, narrowly missing their attack, as they hit one another instead, and hovered in the air before the Vortex.

Kali watched as Theo wielded his fans through the air, using a criss-cross formation to unleash a barrage of energy into the gaping hole in the sky.

There was an explosion and the vortex disappeared.

"No!" Bai Lai screeched.

"You'll pay for that!" Carden swore.

They turned to one another, and then started to grow.

Casey nudged Kali and Lily. "Ready?" he asked.

"Ready!" the pair replied.

"Animal Spirits, Unite as One!" Lily, Casey, and Theo called. "Jungle Pride Megazord!"

Kali stepped back as the pair joined Theo. "He seems more focused than he was this morning," she said, turning to Master Swoop.

"Yes. He does, indeed," Master Swoop agreed. "You're not surprised to find me here."

"I don't need the Swoop technique to trust my other senses," said Kali. "Plus, I have the Hellhound. It's known for detecting magic. Normally it's just dark magic, but over the years I have been able to detect a lot more."

Master Swoop bowed his head. "Your trust in your spirit is admirable," he said. "These cubs could learn a lot from you. Have you considered becoming a Master? I'll admit, the academy hasn't seen a Master of the Hellhound for many years."

Kali furrowed her brow. "Pai Zhuq had a Master for the Hellhound?" she asked.

"I believe his human name was Halwyn."

Kali gasped.

"I take it you knew him?"

"Not personally," said Kali, shaking her head. "But, he was my mother's brother. He died during the Great Battle in the Mystic Realm. Gave his life to save mine."

"He gave you more than just his life," said Master Swoop.

"What do you mean?" Kali asked.

Master Swoop then shook his head. "If you do not know it yet, then you are not ready," he said. "But, the Hellhound is more than just one spirit inside one person."

Kali opened her mouth to reply, but broke off as Master Swoop stepped past her, his gaze locked on the Megazord battle. When he spoke, it was not to her, but rather to Theo, encouraging him to use the Bat Spirit in the fight against Bai Lai and Carden.

Turning her gaze skyward, Kali watched as the Jungle Pride Megazord sprouted wings and shot off into the air. It hovered high above the two birds, they then swooped down, cutting through Bai Lai with relative ease.

Carden howled in anger as he watched his brother's remains crash into the sea below. "You'll pay for this, Rangers!" he snarled, pointing at the Jungle Pride Megazord.

He then turned and flew off into the distance.

~X~

Later that evening, Kali sat at the kitchen table with her earphones in and a book open on the table in front of her. She had folded her legs up, bending them at the knee and hugging them as the balls of her feet rested on the edge of her seat.

As her gaze skimmed the words of the page in front of her, she became acutely aware of eyes on her. Blinking, she looked up, meeting Theo's gaze as he hung from the rafters.

"What?" Kali asked, pulling out an earphone.

"I feel like I owe you an apology," said Theo. "A proper apology. Not the ones that I kept coming out with before."

Kali shrugged. "I'm not the one who got hurt because you couldn't focus," she said, turning her attention back to her book.

"No, you're right," said Theo, stopping her from putting her earphones back in. "And I will find a way to make it up to Lily, but, I also put you and Casey in trouble today, too. You were so focused on covering my ass that you left yourselves open for an attack, and for that, I'm sorry."

Kali rolled her head back and forth on her shoulders, wincing as her muscles cracked under the strain. "I know you're good at what you do, Theo, and it's hard not being able to show off that knowledge," she said. "But I have been doing this for a long time. I know what can happen when we get too cocky, or to ahead of ourselves. Trust me, when I tell you that your actions today could've been a lot worse."

Theo lowered his gaze.

"You've been locked away at the Pai Zhuq academy for over a decade," said Kali. "Probably only heard snippets of news from the outside world. But, when I first became the Black Mystic Ranger, me and my team became so cocky in ourselves and our magic, that we almost handed the world over to the Darkness."

Theo's eyes widened. "The Dark Wish," he said. "I remember Master Mao telling us about that. He was nervous about something, and disappeared for days at a time, occasionally cancelling our lessons in favour of something that was 'more important'."

"He was probably in the place where they kept Dai Shi," said Kali. "At the time me and my team didn't know about Dai Shi, or any of the other legends that should've stayed just words on a page. I can't say we would've done things differently if we did know, I'd like to think that we would've, but I can't go back in time to prove my theory."

"Plus, you would change your actions because you have the knowledge you have now," said Theo. "It would be unfair testing."

Kali nodded her agreement. "My point is, Theo, if we all focus on what is to come, we miss what is," she said. "With us focusing on the next battle, we failed the one that was currently happening. All we could think about was finishing it before it started, so we used Jenji, our genie, and he got captured and used for bad things. We almost lost everything."

"But you learned from your mistake, right?" Theo asked. "We wouldn't be here if you hadn't."

"Yes, we did, but it came at a cost," said Kali. "The whole six months that we had been Rangers had been erased and rewritten with Darkness in control. Can you imagine the people who had survived the first time, only to die the second? The wish was reversed, yes, but it didn't reverse everything. Families were still torn, and that was our fault. Do you get what I am trying to say?"

Theo nodded. "My actions today could've cost us Lily," he said. "Not only would we be down a Ranger, but we'd be down a friend, and her family would be down a child."

"And sister," said Kali. "Lily has an older sister that I care about, dearly. I don't think I'd have it in me to face Tori and tell her what happened to her sister. Could you?"

Theo shook his head. "In the wake of your story, saying 'sorry' doesn't seem fair," he said. "I feel like I should be doing something to make up for my stupidity."

Kali shook her head. "Just promise me from now on you'll think before you act," she said.

"I promise."

"Good."

Turning back to her book, Kali had just put one of her earphones back in when the door opened and Lily, Casey, and Master Swoop walked inside. Tugging the earphone out once more, Kali smiled at the trio.

"Have you seen Theo?" Lily asked. "Master Swoop would like to see him."

"I've come to say goodbye," said Master Swoop.

"Theo's hanging around here somewhere," Kali said, with a teasing smile. She looked up and the others followed her gaze, each laughing softly.

Spreading his arms wide, Theo let go of the rafters and flipped over, lowering himself onto the ground. He bent his knees as he landed, and then straightened up. "I was just meditating," he said. "It keeps my mind stay focused and on task."

A chuckle swept through the room.

"I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you, Theo," said Master Swoop. "You are an excellent student, and I will miss you."

Theo bowed his respect.

"But, don't forget," added Swoop. "You have to sweep out the stock room, roll some pizza dough, make pizza sauce, and focus on saving the world."

Kali bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at the look of concentration fell from Theo's face, he turned and brushed past Swoop and his friends, pausing only as he reached the top of the stairs leading to the kitchen.

"Wait a minute…" Theo murmured, turning back to his teacher.

"Gotcha," Swoop said.

Casey, Lily, and Kali laughed as Theo shook his head, a small smile of amusement edging its way onto his face.