Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney and the like, which I am not affliated with.

The portal opened up right by the Rangers. "I keep coming upon you two in compromising positions," Elsa said, sounding amused. "Normally, I'd use that to my advantage, but you two don't have long left on this earth, so I'll let you make the most of it."

Conner wasn't happy to have his moment with Kira interrupted, and he glared at Elsa. "What do you want," he spat, his arm secured around Kira's waist in a fierce display of affection.

"It's not what I want; it's what the Master wants. And he wants you two."

Conner wasn't going to go without a fight. "Yeah, well, he's gonna have to work for us," he said, releasing Kira so he could fall into a ready stance. Beside him, she did the same.

Elsa only smirked. "I was hoping you'd say that," she said, and raised her weapon.

The two Rangers lurched forward, knocking into Elsa with their fists and feet. Conner moved without thinking, only vaguely aware of the excellent timing he and Kira had, evident of a lot of practices together. Or maybe something more. No, he wasn't going to dwell on that. There would be plenty of time to think about their relationship or whatever it was between them once he had gotten them the hell out of here.

But she was ready for them. She was more than ready for them, and she was more than a match for the two of them unmorphed. They put up a good fight, but it didn't last long. Battered, breathing heavily, Conner and Kira stumbled back. Elsa was looking like she hadn't even broken a sweat. "Are you done yet?" she asked, bored.

"I'm only getting started," Conner panted, and he rushed her again, slamming into her with a burst of super-speed. She flew backwards, slamming against a tree trunk. Conner skidded to a stop, grinning slightly. "Still got powers, though. Didn't see that coming, didja?"

"Good idea, Conner," Kira said, and when Elsa began to stalk towards them, finally looking mad, Kira released a ptera-scream louder than anything Conner had ever heard. He covered his ears right before it struck, having known it was coming, but Elsa was literally bowled over. Her helmet --or was it her hair?-- hit against the trunk of the same tree she had just pushed off of, and she crumpled to the ground.

"Now we move," Conner said.

"Yeah," Kira agreed quickly, grabbing his outstretched hand as the two of them darted off into the thick of the woods.

Twigs snapped beneath them, fallen leaves shuffled loudly as the two teenagers clamored through, and Conner's breaths were coming so few and far between, and so raggedly so, that he thought his chest would explode. When he was beginning to think he couldn't run anymore, they came into a clearing. Conner all but collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.

"She's going to find us," Kira said weakly. "We left a trail."

"We also left her unconscious," Conner pointed out. He pulled himself to a more dignified sitting position. "We have to come up with a plan."

"Right. What sort of plan?"

"I don't know." Conner knew that by running, they weren't saving themselves, they were only prolonging the inevitable. Furious, he punched a nearby tree trunk, too angry to even feel the pain in his knuckles. "This sucks!" he cried.

"Calm down. We'll think of something." How quickly the tables had turned, how quickly he had run out of ideas. He was probably facing his last moments, and all he wanted was to just stay here, in this quiet, cool clearing, with Kira.

What kind of leader am I? He kept endangering her life, the person that he cared about most. He stood up, taking Kira's shoulder in his hand gently. "You go."

She cocked her head, frowning up at him. "What?"

"You go. The water's that way--get to it. Get yourself back to Reefside any way you can."

"And you?" she asked.

He cracked a smile. "I can't swim, remember?"

She didn't return the smile. "No. I mean, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to turn myself in. I'm going to go and find Elsa, and I'm going to go back to the fortress, and I'm going to be a distraction that'll get you out of here. Mesogog has your morpher, but if you get back to Ethan and Dr. O., they should be able to keep you safe."

"And how are you going to escape again?" she asked. He didn't answer for awhile, but the pause was enough to convey what words couldn't. "You don't think you'll be coming back."

"No."

"This is crazy, Conner. That's not a plan."

"That's a perfectly good plan," he argued. "And you're going to do it."

"Like hell!" she said. "You think I'm gonna run off while you let yourself get killed?"

"You think I'm going to risk your life yet again?" he countered. "Nothing doing, Kira."

She shook her head, pure determination in her eyes. "I'm not going. More importantly, I'm not leaving you alone. Not again. We go big or we go home, Conner. Either we work together, or we don't do anything at all."

"We can't win, Kira," he said. "You know that, right? We can't make it out of here, not both of us. This is the only way that either of us could."

"Why do you think I kissed you, Conner?"

He shrugged. If he allowed himself to think about the kiss, he was only going to make himself more miserable. "Because we're about to die?"

"No, you idiot. Because I care about you. Listen, you do stupid things, you don't ever think--because you're acting from your heart. And yeah, that's probably going to get you killed one of these days, but it's not going to be today, if I have anything to say about it." She cracked a weary half smile. "All or nothing."

After a pause, his own lips curled up. "All or nothing."

They bumped fists tiredly. "Okay, so now what?" Kira asked.

"We need to find another portal," Conner said. "And for that, we need--"

"You need me," a deep voice broke in behind them, and Conner felt a wave of annoyance and trepidation rush over him.

Trent was back.