A/N: We've reached the end! I'm not thrilled with this final chapter, as it got a little torn between wrapping up Kira's and Summer's arcs in this story and setting the stage for their next appearances in the series. The result is messy, but considering the next story picks up immediately from the end of this one, I suppose it works.

As for the news about JDF, I'll say more on AO3 since today's Back in Space chapter is basically a tribute to Tommy anyway. But I'm just heartbroken.

Disclaimer: What you recognize as canon belongs to Hasbro.

Chapter 21: The Return

It wasn't long at all after Kira's knock that her mom opened the door. "Kira!" Her mom pulled her into a tight hug. "You didn't say how long you would be gone this time."

"I didn't know," Kira replied.

Her mom pulled away and turned to Summer. "Who's your friend?"

"Mom, this is Summer. Summer, my mom."

"Pleased to meet you." Summer shook her hand, watching as the woman looked her up and down. She looked a lot like Kira, but Summer's experience with her own mother told her that didn't account for much in terms of similarities beneath the surface.

A little boy appeared from behind the woman, and Summer was introduced to Kira's little half-brother.

"I have something to show you." Jacob took Kira's hand and led her into the house, and Summer followed. Reaching his toybox, he opened it and pulled out an action figure of none other than Kira herself, morphed.

Kira stared at it. "You got the yellow ranger? That's awesome."

"Yeah. Daddy got it for me."

"I figure there's a lesson to be learned from it." Both rangers turned as a man entered the room, accompanied by a girl who was very obviously his daughter.

"Hi, John."

"Hi, Kira. Welcome home." John approached and extended his hand towards Summer. "I'm John."

"Summer. Pleased to meet you." Summer shook the hand, then turned towards the girl. "And you must be the really smart step-sister."

The girl went a little pink. "She said that?"

"Yes."

The girl cast a brief glance at Kira. "I'm Steph." She shook Summer's hand.

"So where are you from, Summer?" asked John.

"I'm from Corinth."

"Corinth? What brings you all the way out here?"

Summer glanced uncertainly at Kira.

"We met in Italy," Kira explained. "And... traveled around together for the past week." She gave Steph a look for help.

"That sounds really cool," said Steph quickly. "How long are you in Reefside?"

"Um..." Summer had been wondering about that herself. When she left her world, it had been morning, and she had arrived in the evening in Italy. The time difference, if she was correct, was more than just the geographical shift would account for. If she left here in the evening, therefore, would she arrive earlier in the day in her world and force herself to have a really long day before she should sleep again?

It would probably be better to leave this universe in the morning, therefore. As eager as she was to see Dillon again, she didn't want to be falling asleep on him in the middle of the day. But she also didn't want to impose in Kira's world for too long. "TBD."

"Well, you should stay for dinner," said Kira. "We can figure out the rest afterwards."

Summer nodded. "Thanks."


"So what did you mean TBD?" Kira asked.

Summer explained what she had been thinking.

"So stay here tonight. It's no trouble." Kira wasn't eager to see her go. She was beginning to realize how much she had missed out by being the only girl on her team. Not that she minded fighting alongside the boys, but having girl teammates was an entirely different experience.

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose too much."

Kira smirked. "Compared to the past week, this is nothing."

"Alright. Thanks."

They joined the others who were settling down in the living room. Once again, Jake had chosen the movie. Steph stayed this time, however, sitting down with the others and leaving room for the two rangers.

Kira found her gaze repeatedly straying to the toybox. Just like the poster in his room, Jake now had an action figure of her, even though he didn't know it. She had to fight to keep the smile off her face. Her brother was way too young to appreciate her music, but she was already an idol to him, of sorts. And he was definitely her favorite of her fans.

Once again, the youngest and the two eldest members of the audience were all asleep by the end of the movie. Steph quietly shut it off, while Kira lifted Jake to carry him to his room again.

Summer followed her, and raised her eyebrows when she saw the poster. "She looks familiar," she said softly, nodding at the image of Kira morphed. "Nice pose."

Kira sighed. "I really hope I never actually made that pose. I don't know where they got the idea." She turned to the poster, looking at her teammates.

"He has no idea it's you, does he?"

"No."

"That must be pretty cool."

"It is." Kira nodded towards the exit, and they silently exited the room and shut the door.

"So, I'm guessing you were at Turtle Cove," said Steph. "What exactly happened there? The news is just confusing."

Kira led them into her room. She and Summer sat on the bed, while Steph sat at the desk like last time. "There was a computer program built on KO-35 to facilitate communication between the human worlds. But the artificial intelligence had other ideas."

"Really? Like in The Matrix?"

Kira chuckled. "Sort of, I guess. But we didn't let it get that far."

"So how did that lead to an air force base being destroyed in Turtle Cove?"

"We destroyed the AI on KO-35, but it had already sent itself to Earth. We chased it here, and it sent a bunch more robots like the ones at the Grand Prix. Then it turned the air force base into a giant robot."

Steph stared at her.

"It's not my most unbelievable story."

"You haven't told me your other stories yet."

"True."

Steph turned to Summer. "Speaking of stories, how much of what you told our parents is actually true?" Kira smirked at the memory of Summer quickly coming up with a fake backstory for herself during dinner.

"Barely any of it."

"I had a feeling. So, what's your real story?"

Summer glanced at Kira, who shrugged. "I'm from an alternate universe."


Summer waited while Steph simply stared for a while. "What?"

"A parallel Earth. I didn't lie that I'm from Corinth. Just not the Corinth you know."

Steph blinked, and looked to Kira for confirmation. Kira nodded.

"The AI that we destroyed—On my world, a version of it took over the planet, and nearly wiped out everyone."

"So, more like The Matrix."

Summer hadn't seen the movie. "I guess. Anyway, we destroyed it. And then I learned of this universe..." She blinked, realizing that she still didn't know for sure if this was the same alternate universe that Scott had been in. "Or of alternate universes, at least. So I came here to try and prevent the creation of Venjix. I arrived a little too late, I guess."

"But just in time to stop it," said Kira.

Summer nodded, watching Steph process her words.

"So what will happen on your world now?" Steph asked.

There were a number of questions that Summer expected, but that wasn't one of them. "Well, we're spreading beyond Corinth again, and the countryside is regrowing. Hopefully, we'll find other survivors out there."

"It's like surviving the apocalypse."

"Basically."

Steph looked at Kira. "There must be a way that our world can help restore hers."

Both rangers were caught off-guard by the thought. "Maybe," Kira replied. "I wouldn't really know."


Kira opened her eyes and blinked, looking around. She didn't remember falling asleep. The three of them had stayed up talking late into the knight, with Kira and Summer swapping stories of their adventures and battles and Steph asking questions that repeatedly reminded them that she was a lot smarter than she looked.

She looked around, noting that she was the only one in the room now, and got up, blinking as she left the room and padded downstairs. She found Summer and Steph sitting with Jake in front of his toybox, each holding one of the Dino Ranger action figures.

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

Summer held up the action figure of Conner. "He's the really fast one, right?"

"Yeah." Noting that neither her mom nor John was around, Kira figured she didn't need to hedge on her answer.

"But they're saying that she is the coolest one." Jake pointed to the action figure of Kira that Steph was holding.

"Well, isn't she?"

"You're just saying that cause she's the girl."

All three of his playmates laughed. "I guess so."

Jake looked around at the figures, then back at Kira. "Did you ever meet the power rangers?"

She was taken aback by the question. "I never got to meet them, but I did get to see them in action a few times."

"Oh. It would have been cool if you got to meet them."

"It would be even cooler if she was one," said Steph, smirking.

"Yeah, that would be really cool," Jake agreed.

"Oh, don't even make that suggestion." Kira spun around as her mom entered the room. "I would have been worried sick the whole time. It was bad enough when those monsters got close to the high school."

"Oh, yeah, that's true," Steph said quickly, hiding her reaction from Kira's mom.


After saying goodbye to Jake and thanking the parents for their hospitality, Summer sat in the back of John's jeep as Steph drove her and Kira out past the edge of town. John's jeep was similar to Gabby's, and it was striking how much it felt like Summer had come full circle, even if she was in the correct hemisphere this time.

Hopefully, it would stay that way.

Kira directed Steph onto a dirt road in the woods that felt much farther away from civilization than it was.

"Is this where your ranger hideout was?" Steph asked as she pulled off the road at a clearing and parked.

"It's not far from here." Kira got out and looked around the clearing, and the look on her face suggested she was gazing into memories.

"What happened here, anyway?" Steph asked, coming up beside her. "It looks like part of the forest was torn up."

"Zeltrax happened," Kira replied, not elaborating further. She turned to Summer, and Summer saw the sadness in her eyes. Her hand fiddled with the bracelet that no longer held her dino gem and morpher.

Summer stepped closer to her. "You alright?"

"Yeah. This just feels very final."

"Remember, if you're ever needed again, Z will bring your gem recharged."

"I know."

"Personally, I hope we never need power rangers again," said Steph. "Although, given our track record..."

Summer nodded. "And like you said in Italy, we're rangers forever, no matter what happens."

Kira gave a small smile. "I hope you come back someday. Just not to warn us about another new threat." Her smile turned sly. "And bring your boyfriend. I want to meet him."

"Sure thing."

"And my offer still stands. Free backstage passes."

Summer grinned, and looked at Steph. "Ready to see something cool?"

"Always."

Summer stepped back and drew her morpher and the Vector Vortex. "R.P.M., get in gear!"

Steph took a moment to study her suit when she was morphed. "What's with the seatbelts?" Kira laughed.

Summer shrugged defensively. "It just goes with the whole vehicle thing."

"Okay." Steph replied dryly. "Hate to say it, but I prefer hers." She nodded towards her step-sister.

"It's not a competition." Summer looked at the Vector Vortex. She really hoped that nothing had happened to the calibration. She had been in a lot more fights than she had anticipated when she came here.

"Good luck restoring your world."

"Thanks." Summer looked at Kira, who was looking somber again. "I have a feeling I'll see you again."

"I hope so. Take care of yourself."

"You too." Summer activated the Vector Vortex, and the cloud of purple energy emerged.

"Okay, that's pretty cool," said Steph.

Summer didn't have time to respond as she was pulled in. Again, she felt the sensation of being tugged through an extremely tight pipe. Then, suddenly, she was falling.

She gave a shriek of surprise as she fell several feet, landing on the side of a dune and rolling down. When she reached the bottom, she groaned and looked around. It looked like she was somewhere in the wasteland.

Unmorphing, she got up and began climbing back towards the top of the dune, hoping she would see Corinth from the top.

Then two figures appeared at the top of the dune, and she paused. "Dillon!" She began running as he and Tenaya descended towards her.

When they reached each other, however, he held up his hand, stopping her at arm's length. "Who are you? And why are you calling me Dillon?"