A/N: Some mild slash references in the next few chapters, so if you are not comfortable with this subject, just skip over those parts; they're not essential to the storyline.

Back in Ninja Ops - having finished their report of the encounter with Sensei Omino - Sensei Watanabe and Shane were once again poised in their respective positions on their pedestals next to Cam's machine, ready to receive the energy surge that would transport them back into their rightful bodies. The atmosphere in Ninja Ops was downright jubilant; especially between Blake and Hunter, who hadn't stopped grinning ever since they heard the news about the successful contact with their head teacher.

Cam flipped a switch, and the lambent green light bathed them immediately, effectively changing things back to the way they were.

Shane patted his leather-clad chest with both hands. "Man, it's good to be back," he said, looking pleased as he stepped off the pedestal and Molly was glad to hear the right voice coming from its corresponding body once again. He came towards her and his smile faltered a bit as his eyes met hers. Apparently their mental voyage into space had left her looking paler than she thought.

"Hey, are you all right?"

Molly cast a quick glance back at Cam's machine. "You mean apart from the fact that I've just watched you guys make the Twilight Zone look like Sesame Street? Twice? Sure!"

Shane let out a laugh at her underlying sarcasm, and to Molly's surprise he spontaneously put his arms around her to envelope her in a relieved hug. Unfortunately, he let go again way too fast. Molly hid her disappointment behind a grin.

"This has got to be the strangest day of my life," she said, and her lips twitched again as she gazed at Shane. "But I'm sure glad to see you back in your body."

"Me, too," Shane replied. "It hadn't been much fun the first time, and it wasn't much fun now, either." Then his face lightened up. "But hey, we got some good results, so it was definitely worth having fur for a little while."

They smiled at each other and Molly embraced the warm feeling that spread through her.

"So…are there any more surprises I should prepare myself for?" she asked half-teasingly while they turned to join Sensei and Tori who were talking animatedly by the low command table. Shane shook his head, a carefully blank look on his face.

"Ah, no," he said, but it didn't sound convincing enough.

"Good," she said nevertheless. "Because I think I've had enough of those for one day."

Tori rose as they approached. "I was just telling Sensei, that was a great job you two did back there," she said with an appreciative smile.

Molly waved off the compliment. "Thanks, but it was mostly Sensei's doing. I was just along for the ride."

"Not true, Molly," Sensei countered. "You played an important part in this contact and I am grateful for your help."

Molly beamed at the guinea pig before she turned towards Tori. "All that's happened this past hour is playing a number on my bladder," she murmured. "Is there a bathroom around here?"
"Yeah, I'll show you," the blonde girl said, and with a parting smile to Shane, Molly followed the Water ninja to the far side of the control room that led to Cam's and the Thunder ninjas' living quarters.

When the girls had left the room, Shane plopped down onto one of the cushions strewn around the command table, picked up Dustin's MotoX Magazine and used his newly re-gained human hand to thumb through the pages – until Dustin's voice finally registered.

"Shane. Shane!"

"Huh?" He looked up to see his best friend grinning down on him.

"You're humming, dude," the brunet boy said.

"No, I wasn't," Shane replied automatically, but Dustin just turned his head and looked pointedly at Hunter, who was standing next to him. The Thunder Ranger nodded.

"Yes, you were."

Shane went for the casual shrug. "All right, maybe I was. What's it to you guys?"

Dustin continued to look down on him with a bemused expression. "You only hum after you've won a skate demo, or after you've managed to get the number of some girl that you like. And since I remember you only coming in third at the last demo…"

"You had to go there, didn't ya," the Red Ranger grumbled and pretended to turn his attention back to the magazine. But the intense gazes of his teammates wouldn't let up and with a sigh he looked back up. "What?"

"You're such an open book, dude," Hunter grinned.

Feigning exasperation, Shane shook his head, studying the ridges in the wood of the tabletop; otherwise he would have seen the knowing look that passed between his two friends.

"Not me, dudes. But I have this friend…" he told the tabletop.

"That would be you," Hunter quipped.

Shane ignored him. "And my friend likes this girl…"

"That would be Molly," Dustin said, managing to keep a surprisingly straight face.

Now Shane didn't have to feign his exasperation as he glared at his two friends. "You know, you two take the whole fun out of being insecure."

Hunter and Dustin moved on some unseen cue, both lowering themselves into the cushions on the opposite side of the command table at the exact same time. Hunter's face suddenly turned serious.

"Shane, if you like Molly, why don't you just ask her out?"
"I don't know…what if something happens and I make a complete idiot out of myself…" Shane stared unseeingly at the magazine page before him.

Dustin just shrugged. "Dude, you do that every day, what else is new?"

Shane didn't even grace him with a reply. "Or what if she doesn't like me?"

"Hey, I've seen the way she looks at you when you're not looking," the Yellow Ranger said softly. "She likes you, trust me."

"Just go for it, man," Hunter added, nodding vigorously. "'cause if you won't, you're just gonna end up doing this whole 'what if' thing after you've missed your chance…"

The sound of approaching footsteps brought an abrupt end to the conversation as Tori and Molly re-appeared in the doorway.

Ever since the brief but successful contact, Molly's mood had improved significantly and she showed it by sporting a big grin as she sank down onto the pillow next to Shane. "All right, so now that we've proven Zurgane wrong once and for all…what do you guys do for fun around here?" she asked.
Hunter shrugged. "Oh, we basically just hang around here and annoy Cam."

"And that's fun for them, believe me," Cam remarked from halfway across the room.

Shane spread his hands. "But mostly we get together here and plot our great, big rescue plan."

"Yeah, if we can ever think of one," came Blake's sarcastic comment while slumping down next to his brother.

"We'll think of one," Dustin said. "Our great leader here will come up with something eventually." He clapped Shane on the back, then froze when the dark Air ninja's sharp glare made him realize what he just said. Oops!

"Leader?" Molly echoed, "Leader of what? The club of leftover ninjas? Can I join?" Her chuckle sounded more cynical than bemused.

Dustin scratched his head while he racked his brains trying to come up with something to say that would do for damage control. "Ah, well, every group has to have a leader, right? I mean, even a small, motley one like ours."

From across the table, Blake's eyes said 'weak, dude,' and Dustin winced.

Shane was playing it cool. "Yeah, and this bunch needs an exceptionally strong leader," he smirked and winked at Molly, while all around the table, eyes rolled and a collective 'humph'-ing could be heard.

Shane stuck out his chin as he looked into the round. "What? I think I'm a darn good leader. I'm strong, brave, wise…"

Blake laughed. "Dude, I don't know who you're describing…"

"Yeah," Tori joined in, equally chuckling. "I really don't know about that 'wise' thing."

Dustin turned to Molly with a grin. "Like this one time when he had the 'wise' idea to put a basketball hoop up at Ninja Ops when Cam was out of town for a few days…"

Cam, who was sauntering over to join the banter, let out an audible breath. "Oh Jeez, don't remind me."

From the smirks all around Molly concluded that she was about to hear a pretty infamous story.

Shane promptly made an irritated noise in the back of his throat while glaring at Dustin. "Dude, as far as I remember, you had as much fun dunking balls as I had."

"Yeah, but I wasn't the one who missed his shot and ended up shorting out the entire super computer when his ball hit the main console!"

"Aw, come on, so I made one bad shot…"

"One hell of a bad shot!" Hunter interjected, but his frown was only half-hearted. "Dude, we were sitting here in the dark with nothing but candles, and Cam had to streak back all the way from L.A. to fix your mess."

"Hey, I thought all those candles made for a nice atmosphere," Shane said in a weak attempt to salvage some face. All the while Molly just followed the verbal sparring with a bemused expression and an occasional chuckle.

"If you want to call dungeon-like darkness 'atmosphere'…" Blake complained good-naturedly, and Shane only got an eyerolling in before they were suddenly and rudely interrupted by the blaring sounds of warning klaxons coming from Cam's computer. The technician shot up like a coiled spring whereas Shane just hung his head. "Aw man, not now," he sighed while Cam was already at his console, bringing up the cause of the alarm.

The five ninjas all got up as well, hurrying towards the computer, and Molly, whose curiosity was now piqued, trotted after them.

All fun was instantly forgotten when they saw the scenario that was playing out on the huge screen before them.

After the incident with the Gem of Souls a few months back, Cam had taken to monitoring the Sacred Mountain of Lost Ninjas and the surrounding forest. Now, in a clearing about two hundred yards from the entrance to the Cave of Souls, the usually peaceful scenery showed a monstrous alien Zord of metallic purple and silver, armed with a humongous sword and a laser canon mounted on top of each shoulder. As the seven ninjas and their teacher watched in morbid astonishment, the Zord raised its heavily armored arm, and with one swing of the gigantic sword, cut down a massive pine tree in its wake.

Cam zoomed in on the cockpit and was hardly surprised to find a familiar evil space ninja behind the controls.

"Seems like we have the highly dubious honor of fighting The Man himself," he observed.

"Dude, I didn't know Lothor had his own Zord," Dustin exclaimed, staring at the screen where the giant machine had turned west, towards Blue Bay Harbor, with the obvious intention of causing some serious damage there. Every tree in its path fell victim to either the lasers or the sword, and Cam intentionally left the supercomputer's speaker system off. He was in no mood to hear his uncle's maniacal laughter that now undoubtedly floated through the forest.

The rest of the gang shifted uncomfortably; all were aware of the immediate need to move out, but with Molly here…

Sensei made the decision for them. "You must take care of this threat right away, Rangers, before he reaches the city," the Wind teacher said energetically from his spot next to Cam's keyboard.

Molly's eyebrows rose. "Rangers?"

Shane avoided her questioning gaze by turning to his teacher. "Sensei, should we wait with…you know?" He held up his morpher wrist in emphasis, but Sensei shook his head.

"No Shane, we simply must trust in Molly's discretion now," the tiny teacher replied. "You cannot fight Lothor unmorphed, and especially not while he is in his Zord."

From his seat in front of the computer console Cam added, "Besides, it's not like she could miss watching the battle from here anyways." He waved his hand at the huge computer screen.

Shane just nodded resigned.

"Excuse me, but what are you all talking about?" Molly's voice was beginning to sound annoyed, and from the look on her face Shane could tell she was getting tired of being kept out of the loop. He squared his shoulders and faced her.

"Remember when you said earlier that you had enough surprises for one day?" He gave her a strained grin. "Well, I'm afraid you're in for one more."

He left her standing next to Cam's chair and took up his customary position in front of his team. "Ready?" he called the morph.

"Ready!"

"NINJA STORM…"

"THUNDER STORM…"

"RANGER FORM!"

Immediately after the morph, the Red Ranger turned his head to see Molly leaning heavily onto the back of Cam's chair, a hand pressed to her throat, looking utterly thunderstruck. He opened his face-plate and came towards her.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," he said quietly. "I meant to tell you…eventually."

Molly just stared at him.

His eyes flickered briefly to the computer screen and cleared his throat. "Look, when this is all over…"

"Yeah, I know," she cut in, but to his relief he saw the beginnings of a bemused smile creep into her stunned features. "You'll explain later." Molly poked her finger into Shane's red-clad chest. "I knew there was more to this color than just 'an Air ninja thing'!" she grinned, and Shane smirked back.

"Actually, I was going to formally ask you out, but I guess that'll have to wait until after the battle now."

Molly shook her head incredulously. "You have one hell of a sense of timing, Shane."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"If you mean dinner and an explanation, then – yes."

"Cool! Then I'll try to make this quick," Shane grinned with another quick glance at the scenario on Cam's computer screen.

Unperturbed by Molly's reaction to the Power Rangers' revelation, Cam spoke from his spot in front of the super computer. "I'm activating the Zords for you guys now. You should go right into Megazord formation once you reach Lothor out there." He didn't speak to anyone in particular, so Shane answered for the team.

"Agreed. We better not take any chances with that thing," he said, referring to the Lothorzord that was slowly making its way through the woods and towards the city.

Cam's fingers were flying over the keyboard, releasing the five individual Zords from their stations in the underground bay when he suddenly felt a presence right behind him.

"Damn, that's one big Zord," Hunter said as he leaned over Cam's shoulder, peering at the screen. "I take it you're not coming?"

Cam shook his head. "I better stay here with Molly for now and monitor the battle. But I'll be there if it gets hairy for you." The samurai sensed rather then saw Hunter nod behind him. He felt a gloved hand on his shoulder, and without taking his eyes off the computer screen, he moved his own hand over Hunter's.

"Be careful out there, ok?" he mumbled.

Hunter's hand squeezed his shoulder in response. The exchange had been quick; nevertheless Cam cast an anxious glance around. But the rest of the team was already heading towards the exit, and Molly was too fixated on Shane. No one had noticed their brief display of affection.

A few feet away, Shane gave Molly one last smile before he turned and sprinted after his team to face Lothor.

Recollections…

Molly stood behind Cam's chair, still somewhat incredulous, as she watched the Rangers' Zords confront Lothor in his monstrous machine, then transform into the Megazord.

It had all suddenly clicked into place: Dustin and Shane's reluctance to talk about the Power Rangers at the mall's food court a few days ago, Dustin's apprehensive vibes every time she brought up the subject - and of course the color auras…

At the same time, Cam was staring at the computer screen, frowning. The Rangers had just completed their transformation while Lothor had just stood by idly, waiting instead of taking advantage of the brief moment when the Rangers' vulnerability during the Megazord transformation sequence was at its greatest.

Not like his uncle to let a good opportunity like that just slip by. Strange, and for some reason he couldn't put his finger on, disquieting. He leaned forward, steepled his fingers and glared hard enough at Lothor's Zord to burn a hole through its body armor.

Until Molly's voice cut through his concentration.

"I seem to recall that on the news they had been showing a sixth Power Ranger lately," the Air ninja said with a sly expression and a pointed look at Cam's green-trimmed uniform. "How come the Green Samurai Ranger's not out there with them?"

"Because someone has to supply them with the necessary equipment during battle," Cam replied evenly, but Molly sensed that he was clearly not happy to still be relegated to the role of tech support despite his new Green Ranger status.

Cam let out a sigh. It was true; he was itching to be an active part of the battle. Some things, however, only he could do - and only from Ninja Ops. Such as dispatching the upgraded Power Disks he was about to transfer to the Rangers in the Magazord. He had a feeling they were going to need them!

TBC…