Lothor was not happy. Everything that had seemed to be going so right in his life was suddenly becoming more complicated than it needed to be. Destroy the rangers and rule the world. That's all he wanted or cared about. Instead, the rangers were doing their annoying ranger thing and thwarting all his plans. Well, not his plans, but in thwarting Kalix's plans they were essentially thwarting him.

"General Kalix, what happened?" Lothor demanded.

Kalix hesitated. He didn't want to explain the Gems of Power to Lothor. "Psycho Blue is...temporarily out of commission."

"I gathered that." Lothor snapped. "Tell me how those rangers managed to defeat her. No, better yet, tell me what you're doing to do to retaliate."

"I haven't thought that far." Kalix admitted. "I will come up with something."

"You do that."

Kalix cut his end of the communication and turned to glare fiercely at the Psychos lined up before him. Psycho Blue wasn't present. She was in the infirmary recovering from the sudden loss of her power. Dr. Radkee had told them that she would eventually recover, but it would take her a little while. The backlash of the Gem had taken its toll on her system. That did nothing to quell his anger toward Psycho Yellow for leaving her behind to deal with first two and then three rangers by herself. His piercing glare burned straight through Yellow's visor.

"I'm still most displeased with you Psycho Yellow." Kalix growled. "You never should have left your teammate behind."

"She told me to go." Yellow replied. "Serves her right for blasting me like that."

"Serves her right?" Kalix repeated, fury causing his voice to shake. "I should beat you within an inch of your life because it serves you right for abandoning her!" He watched with satisfaction as Yellow winced. "As it is I'm going to be generous and give you a chance to make up for it, but I have other things to deal with first."

"Yes Master, I won't fail you." Yellow said respectfully.

Kalix huffed in a way that suggested he doubted it. "All of you get out of my sight. Go do something productive while I think."

"Yes Master."

ZzZzZ

Red found himself standing awkwardly in the doorway of the infirmary staring at Blue's prone form. No, not Blue. Psycho Blue was gone. What was left was Aurias. Aurias, the woman he had first met over a year ago. The woman who had shown classic signs of insanity quite a bit, but had also worked hard to try and make them a team. The Aurias that had tried really hard to break through his shell - to crack his defensive wall.

He missed that Aurias. He had never let her get close, not really. That never stopped her though. She tried every day to get through to him. She might have even been breaking through before Jaldia happened. To the dark depths of space with Jaldia. Aurias hadn't been the same after that nightmare. None of them had.

Red looked around to see if anyone was close by, but found the halls empty. With a little hesitancy he walked into the infirmary and stopped beside Aurias's bed. Her long black hair was spread across the pillow in a stark contrast to the white of the sheets. She looked...peaceful. Perhaps for the first time in a really long time she looked peaceful. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. It wasn't the first time he had noticed, but it was the first time he had admitted it to himself. He reached out a hand and then hesitated. He was still morphed and wouldn't be able to feel her skin, skin that suddenly looked soft and inviting. With another hesitant look around he demorphed and reached out to touch her.

"She'll kill you."

Red jerked his hand back and spun to find Navy standing at the door. "Are you spying on me runt?"

"No, I came to see my teammate." Navy replied truthfully. "I just thought I'd stop you before you did something she'd make you regret later."

"She would never know." Red murmured and looked back at his unconscious teammate. He glanced briefly at Navy as the younger boy joined him. "Unless you told her."

"You pick on me and make me miserable sometimes, but I'm not following Terik's lead forever." Navy replied. Instantly his mind latched onto the idea. Here was his chance. "It's his fault, y'know. He was too focused on showing off to notice Aurias leaving the area."

"He's a lousy leader." Red grumbled. "His overactive ego blinds him to everything else."

"You should stand up to him and take your position back." Navy insisted. "You are a way better leader than he could ever be. You never beat any of us, except Terik who really just brings it on himself."

"Physical punishment is Kalix's duty."

"You have to stand up for yourself Dariv. Not just for your sake but for the rest of the team's sake. If Terik keeps leading, the rest of us are going to join Aurias."

Red's hands clenched into fists. "I won't let that happen. His dictatorship has gone on long enough."

Navy watched with hidden satisfaction as Red turned and stormed out of the infirmary. He saw a flash of red light as Red turned the corner and knew his teammate had morphed. He smirked. Tearing the team apart was going to be a lot easier than he thought.

ZzZzZ

Sweat trickled slowly down Kale's brow as he concentrated on his kata. He had never been big on it when Rez had tried to get him to do katas more. Then again, he had never liked meditating, but Kora had insisted that he do it every night before bed. But with both of them gone he grasped on to the last things he had that they had given him. Rez had taught him a kata to focus himself and in hard times he turned to that to help him deal.

He hadn't wanted to believe it when he read that Aurias was Psycho Blue. She was the sister of one of his deceased teammates, Valin. By all their customs the oldest child was the one to receive the ranger powers from the parents. She was the oldest, but her father had seen instability in her that would make her dangerous. Valin had been chosen instead and the Green Knight Ranger powers had been passed to him in the ceremony. Aurias had been beyond pissed off, but had ultimately proven herself unworthy by killing her father. After doing the deed she had tried to escape capture, but Kale had known where she would go and had captured her and turned her in. She was banished from the planet and Kale never knew exactly what happened to her, only that she had given Shadow Rogue a tip on a very strong power source. And that had been the end of his civilization.

"I've never seen a kata like that before."

Kale's concentration was broken and he looked up at his observer. "I am from a different planet Hunter, I'm sure I know a lot of katas you don't."

"Ditto."

Kale's face screwed up briefly with confusion, but he brushed it off. "Did you need something?"

Hunter hesitated. "I, um, I wanted to say thank you for putting Dustin in your healing chamber."

Kale eyed the thunder ranger carefully. There was something in his tone that said there was more to that situation than what Hunter was saying. None of the others had personally thanked him, except Dustin of course. Then again, the ninja rangers were none of his business.

"You're welcome." Kale said. "Nothing I wouldn't do for a fellow ranger."

"Is there some kind of ranger code or something? Rangers help other rangers?"

Kale smiled at the question. "I wouldn't say a code...more just instincts and a calling." Seeing Hunter's slightly confused look he went on. "Your powers are spiritual, so it might not be the same for you, but for those ranger teams that harness a, for the lack of a better word, "magic" energy, there is a deep connection between all holders of the power. The Morphing Grid, for example, is the source of hundreds of ranger powers, mine included, and I have a certain...connection to others harnessing the power of the Morphing Grid."

"So you know if rangers harnessing the Morphing Grid are in trouble?"

"In some form or another, yes." Again Kale's words earned a somewhat confused look. "The feeling I get depends on how dire the need of the ranger or rangers is. At the weakest it's just a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, and an inexperienced ranger wouldn't think much of it. At the strongest it's an insistent pull toward the ranger in need."

"But an inexperienced ranger might just ignore it as nothing."

"It happens."

"Wait a minute; you said my powers are spiritual." Hunter said. "I thought they were created, like they're technology or something."

"I thought so too at first, but your power runs deeper than that. It's a spiritual power that your morphers simply tap into and harness." Kale explained. "Nothing can take your power away from you and even if you lose your morpher the power will always be inside you."

ZzZzZ

Yellow and Navy sat quietly together in the rec. room. Kalix had tapped into satellites and they were capable of getting almost 1000 channels. They were watching an interesting show where four humans traveled through a stabilized wormhole to other planets. They were both captivated by it all. The bad guys; the good guys; just the idea of humans originating on Earth was intriguing.

"Jackson seems naïve." Yellow commented.

"I don't think he's a naïve as you think." Navy replied. "His glass is half full."

"Huh?"

"He's optimistic."

"He's idealistic in a world that will chew him up, spit him out and laugh about it."

"There's nothing wrong with finding positive things in a situation." Navy retorted. "Not everyone has to be cynical."

"No, but they should be realistic." Yellow insisted.

Navy turned to Yellow for the first time to directly address him. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

"Maybe, but then again you never were good at subtle messages."

The relaxed atmosphere instantly turned hostile. The TV show was forgotten as the two bolted to their feet. Neither morphed, and for the first time in a long time they could see the anger on each other's faces instead of reading body language. Niko had almost begun to forget was Zadan really looked like. The older man's buzzed blond hair reminded him of the Strike Force officers from his home planet while Zadan's reddish-brown eyes were completely unique as far as Niko was concerned. The yellow pendant necklace that Zadan always wore caught some light and reflected it like it had that night in the hall. It reminded him of what had almost been.

"I think I got all of your messages pretty clearly on Jaldia, don't you? You made everything perfectly clear to me." Niko snarled.

Zadan's eyes flared with emotion. "Yes, you made that apparent. Obviously, I got your message too."

"Oh? Then what was my message Zadan? What was I telling you?"

"That."

"Psycho Yellow report to the command room."

The two stopped and glared at each other as the announcement interrupted their argument. Zadan morphed and once more became Psycho Yellow, his helmet hiding his emotions. To his surprise Niko did the same and to his utter bewilderment, followed him out of the rec. room as if he was going to follow him all the way to the command room. Yellow spun on his teammate.

"What are you doing?"

Navy shrugged. "You went with me the last time Kalix summoned me."

Yellow thought about arguing, but decided against it. For some reason he still didn't understand he felt better when Navy was around. Even if they were arguing he still felt more comfortable when his teammate was around. So, he let Navy follow him without saying anything else.

In the command room Kalix was waiting with a strangely familiar device in his clawed hands. Upon seeing Yellow he thrust the device at him and waited as the Psycho Ranger took it from him. He shot a brief glare at Navy as the other Psycho stood close by.

"Normally I'd tell you to both go, but this is for Psycho Yellow to prove himself. You will tag the Knight Ranger with a tracking device and follow him back to his ship. You will plant this bomb and we'll be rid of that wretched Knight Ranger." Kalix said, fixing Yellow with a pointed stare. "Should you fail you will be punished."

"Yes Master."

ZzZzZ

Kale watched Hunter's back as the young man headed back to Ninja Ops. He was pleasantly surprised by Hunter's curiosity about other rangers. For Kale it was no big thing meeting other teams of rangers, but he gathered it was something special to this group. He had patiently answered all of Hunter's questions until they started getting on the subject of his team. His team had been dead for many hundreds of years, but that didn't make thinking about them any easier. That came from how they died. It was not a death of old age, because his people aged very slowly, but of brutal murder at the hands of the Shadow Rogue.

Hundreds of years later and he still had nightmares of it. He relived the deaths of his family, then his teammates, and most of all his entire civilization. All of them gone within a week. Except for Aurias. They were the two sole survivors of what had been a mighty, highly evolved civilization. Nothing could ease the pain in his heart when he thought about it. The worst thing was that if nothing bad happened he would not join them for at least another two hundreds years. His death was the only way to reunite with everyone he had ever cared about, but as long as the Gems of Power were his responsibility he was tied to life.

Kale banished the depressing train of thought and turned his attention to the current problem. He had one of the Gems back, but there were still four more to get and he knew things would only get harder. The one trump card they had was Psycho Navy. He was playing for their side and Kale could only hope sowing dissention in the ranks or doing something to help them. He had a feeling that the Psychos were going to fight with a vengeance at the loss of one of their own. On some level or another, the whole team had to have been affected, even if they didn't want to admit it.

Yellow balanced carefully on a tree branch high above the Knight Ranger's head. He had only one shot to get it right. Aiming carefully he dropped a small device that couldn't have been any bigger than a spider. The device dropped straight and true and the little hooks on it caught on the back of Kale's shirt. Yellow smirked triumphantly and waited for the Knight Ranger to go back to his ship, assuming like the arrogant fool he was that he would be safe. He watched as Kale transported away dropped from the tree to follow on foot.

Kale had no idea he was bugged or that Psycho Yellow was able to find his ship. Once back on board his ship he set his computer to do a routine system check that temporarily shut down everything except the cloak hiding him. He knew with an old ship like his it was critical he make sure everything was working properly. Most importantly shutting down the systems conserved power and he knew that without a recharge unit his generator would run out of power. How soon that happened depended a lot on how much power he actively used.

While that was going on he went to his room to catch up on some sleep he had definitely been lacking. He was completely unaware of the fact that Psycho Yellow had literally bumped into his ship and was busy setting a bomb to send him to join his teammates in the spirit world.

"Goodbye Knight Ranger." Yellow snickered as if finished setting the bomb. A big red segmented bar began glowing as the only indication of the countdown.

Yellow watched as one segment faded and smiled with satisfaction. He was going to gain favor with Kalix once more as well as prove to the other Psychos he could do something right. It would also send a message to the rangers that anyone who stood up to them would be destroyed.

He stood up and was just about to transport away when he was shot from behind. He stumbled slightly, but caught his balance and whipped around to face his attacker. That's when he saw it was the whole ranger team, not just one of them. They had come to stop him and save their new buddy. Typical ranger heroism. It made Yellow sick to his stomach.

"Whatever you're up to, you won't get away with it." Shane challenged.

Yellow smirked behind his helmet. "And you think you wimps can stop me? Just try, if you dare. I'll even turn my back."

The rangers watched as Psycho Yellow turned his back to them in an extreme show of arrogance. Dustin saw the perfect chance to get even with his evil counterpart. He pulled his ninja sword and lunged at his enemy's back. In a split second Yellow shifted and caught Dustin with a brutal kick to the chest. Dustin was sent flying back to land at his teammates' feet. Shane and Blake pulled him to his feet and Shane smacked him on the back of the head.

"Don't attack first." Shane scolded.

Psycho Yellow laughed. "Is that the best you have Yellow Ranger? Is that the best any of you have?"

"You Psychos may be powerful, but there's something we've got that you'll never have." Tori commented.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Yellow asked with amusement.

"Teamwork."

The rangers then charged together. Yellow dodged the two Thunder brothers, but moved right into a kick from Shane. He stumbled slightly, but managed to duck Tori's sword only to get a boot straight to the face. He used the power behind the kick to back flip away, but when he stopped he was assaulted by the Thunders. Yellow used one arm to block Hunter's staff and then did the same to Blake and received twin kicks to the ribs for leaving himself open. He found himself on his back with two thunder sabers to his throat before he could even figure out what was happening. The sabers weren't an immediate danger, they didn't have a point after all, but they served as a warning of what would happen if he continued. Yellow was enraged. With a roar of fury he unleashed a shock wave of energy. The three Winds were simply knocked to the ground with a few sparks, but Hunter and Blake was sent flying with their suits sparking wildly.

"Pathetic upstarts." Yellow hissed as he got to his feet. "Your teamwork can only help you so much."

With that Psycho Yellow pulled his scythe and really got to work on his enemies. Within minutes the Winds had lost possession of their ninja swords. Shane was curled up in pain against the tree he had become too familiar with, while Tori was floating somewhere between awareness and unconsciousness, leaving Dustin by himself to face his worst nightmare. Dustin pulled his hammer and for once was prepared for Yellow's little weapon stealing trick. As soon as Yellow locked the blade of his scythe under the head of Dustin's hammer the Wind Ranger jerked with all his might and caught the Psycho Ranger off guard. Yellow was swung to the ground hard, but flipped to his feet only to receive a kick to the faceplate. With a grunt Yellow landed on his back and stared in shock as Dustin stood over him, hammer pinning him by his throat to the ground.

"You arrogance is your downfall." Dustin remarked, almost as if he were giving a teammate advice.

"You foolishness will be yours." Yellow snarled. He sent a powerful charge of energy through Dustin's hammer right into the unprepared ranger.

Yellow stumbled to his feet and was finally satisfied that he was the only one left standing. Glancing quickly at the bomb he smirked. Only five segments left. He was going to accomplish more than his original goal. He was going to destroy them all with one well-placed bomb. That would give him bragging rights for life.

Suddenly the Knight Ranger's ship shimmered into view and Yellow felt his blood urn cold. The ship's main weapon, a devastating cannon, was pointed directly at him. Several smaller armaments were pointed at him as well, but it was the cannon that made him sweat. He was powerful yes, but he was sure that a blast from a cannon like that would be too much for him. He was completely frozen, couldn't even think of transporting away. It was the first time in a very long time he had felt fear.

"You get one warning Psycho Yellow. Only one." The Knight Ranger's voice boomed from the outside com.

That brought him out of his stupor. The stupid ranger wasn't even demanding he stop the bomb. A quick glance at it brought a smirk back to his face. Two segments left. They were all as good as dead. They couldn't possibly disarm the bomb before it went off.

"Have fun in the afterlife." Yellow sneered and then transported away.

Kale instantly transported beside the bomb and swore as he recognized the type. Any attempts to transport it would cause it to detonate immediately. Moving it was out of the question as well. If he moved his ship it would move the bomb and the thing would still go off. He had only one choice. Try and disarm it.

"Oh Max I could sure use your help now." Kale murmured. Then an idea struck him. Without any effort at all he reached inside and flipped the mental switch that caused him to morph. For the first time in a long time he tried to reach his deceased friends. Max, if you can hear me I really need help now.

You've always needed help Kale, but I never held it against you. Max's teasing voice replied, the purple gem on his chest glowing slightly. There should be a panel that you can lift open, do so. Get your bomb kit out of subspace.

While Kale followed the instructions being given to him by his dead teammate, the Ninja Ranger were pulling themselves back together. None of them had imagined that one Psycho by himself could do so much damage to them all. It was like nothing they did even fazed him. All they did was piss him off. It was disturbing.

"You all should get out of here. I'm not sure if I'll be able to disarm this in time." Kale told the team. "You can't afford to go with me."

Have you lost that much faith in me? Max asked sounding a little hurt.

It's not you I have no faith in. Kale replied truthfully. I put the clips on the booby trap wires, now what?

Kale ignored any replies and focused on the task at hand. It was down to the last segment and he could hear a soft beeping getting faster. Max was giving him directions as quick and detailed as he could, but a lot of techno babble was leaking in and Kale was getting a headache. Kale groaned softly and his hands trembled slightly.

Just cut the red wire. Nick's voice piped up. It's always the red wire.

Max? Kale looked to the techno whiz for confirmation.

Couldn't hurt. Well, if it's the wrong wire you'll be reduced to nothing but basic atoms along with your ship. Just be careful that's the only wire you cut. If you cut the green one it could—

I get the point. Kale cut off his rambling friend. He glanced at the rangers, who despite his warning hadn't moved away, and knew that if he cut the wire andhe was wrongit wouldn't matter how far back they stood. Everything within 100 yards was going to be gone. With that thought he focused back on the bomb. With his hands still trembling from the effort he used the small wire cutter and snipped the red wire.