"You're a horrible leader! So far under your command Zadan has been injured and Aurias lost her Gem!" Psycho Red roared. "And you let the Knight Ranger escape!"

"I was framed! And it's not my fault if the rangers take advantage of their weakness!" Psycho Crimson yelled in replied.

The two Psycho rangers stood only a few inches apart in the middle of the hall where they'd collided. At first there had just been some general snippiness, but it had quickly grown to more. They were yelling insults and accusations back and forth. The Lizarians that had been walking the hall quickly turned down other halls or went in the opposite direction. Even the emotionless Deder clones diverted away from the fight. It was obvious to anyone who saw them that it was going to get physical real quick.

"As leader you should keep your teammates out of situations they can't handle!"

"You mean baby-sit the weaklings!" Crimson sneered. "I'm no babysitter!"

"You're no leader either!"

"I can still kick your ass!"

"That doesn't make you a leader!"

"Yeah? Well you're not much of a leader either! You let Jaldia happen!"

Oh, that was a low blow and they both knew it. Crimson just barely had time to tense before Red practically tackled him to the floor. Crimson managed to get his feet in Red's gut and sent him flying across the hall. Red slammed into a wall, but was up instantly going at Crimson again. The two went at each other with a fierceness that had never been there before. Most of their strikes were blocked, but when they did land hits they were devastating and definitely doing damage under the suits.

Red landed a kick in Crimson's gut that sent his rival skidding down the hall with sparks trailing him. He leapt into the air and meant to bring both of his feet down on Crimson's chest, but Crimson rolled while sweeping out a leg that knocked him flat on his back. Red rolled to the side as Crimson lunged at him and swung his body around to kick at Crimson's side. He hit nothing but air as Crimson rolled away and to his feet. Red flipped to his feet and was caught with a blow just under his chin that sent him flying back into a wall, leaving a dent behind. He ducked away and listened with satisfaction as Crimson's fist hit solid metal with a bang.

"Y'know, if you just trusted my lead, most of what happened on Jaldia wouldn't have." Red said as he backed a few steps away from his opponent.

Crimson didn't bother with a response. He pulled his shield and lunged at Red with the intent of bashing his head in. Red dodged to the side and landed a round house kick in the small of Crimson's back. Crimson spun and lashed out with a bolt of searing energy. Red swatted it away with his saber, which he had pulled seconds before, and they both completely ignored the hole the energy left in the wall. They went at each other with aggressiveness that had been building up since Jaldia. Oh, they'd had a few rumbles, but this was the big battle they'd been building up to.

"I don't trust you to make dinner, what makes you think I'd trust you with my life?" Crimson growled as he pinned Red to the wall.

Red growled at the reminder of their first argument after joining Kalix's recruits, it was over who cooked dinner no less. He stuck his foot behind Crimson's and then shoved forward with all his strength. Crimson was forced to take a step back, but the foot caught him and he fell onto his back. Red tried to pounce on him, saber ready to stab through his suit, but Crimson used his shield to fling Red away. Red flew right through the hole they had created and Crimson could hear some smashing sounds and chuckled as he got to his feet.

"ENOUGH!"

Crimson flinched at the roar and barely had time to register Kalix was in front of him before pain exploded through his head and the world flashed white. When he came back to himself he was laid out of the ground with the reptilian man standing over him, glowering with a look that would have killed a lesser being. He grimaced as Kalix kicked him once for good measure, before the general turned his attention on Red as several Lizarians dragged him back out of the hole.

"I've had enough of this foolish fighting. I could choose to appoint a leader, but that won't solve this problem." Kalix rumbled. "I have a better idea and a most fitting punishment. Deder."

Crimson glowered at the armored being as Deder joined Kalix's side, a pair of manacles in hand. Crimson opened his mouth to argue, but didn't get a chance. Deder moved swiftly and the next thing Crimson knew he was shackled to his worst enemy. The day just wasn't getting any better.

"Master--."

"Until you two can work together as a team you'll stay shackled together." Kalix growled, cutting off any pathetic whining from the two. "Have fun."

"Master--."

And just like that the two were shackled together and on Earth. Red groaned. Things just couldn't get any worse.

ZzZzZ

The rangers were sparring quite aggressively as they waited for something to happen. All of them had woken with a feeling that something was going to happen. None of them had been able to agree whether it was going to be good or bad. However, they all agreed it would probably include a battle and decided to spar to warm up. Strangely enough it was Dustin and Hunter against Tori, Shane, and Blake. Still, the two were holding their own against the other three

Cam sat at the computer reading through Psycho Blue's file. It hardly seemed worth it now that she was out of the picture, but something deep down told him they hadn't seen the last of her yet. He was always amazed with how professional and detailed the reports were. It was like someone without any emotional attachment, or no emotions at all, was making the reports.

It was like clockwork. As soon as he really started to get into what he was reading the Psychos had to show up. Only it was just Red and Crimson and they were shackled together. Cam stared at the screen for a moment before calling out to the rangers. It was too good to be true. There was no way the Psychos would be able to fight as a team like that. He had a brief flashback of Tori, Dustin, and Shane in almost the same position when they first became rangers. Two of the most powerful Psychos were basically being handed to the rangers on a silver platter.

"This is perfect." Shane said, echoing Cam's thoughts. "We can take them both out at the same time."

"Be careful rangers, they are still dangerous." Sensei warned.

"Yes Sensei." The group replied. The rangers then morphed and streaked off to meet their opponents.

ZzZzZ

"This is all your fault!" Red roared, jerking his arm toward himself.

"My fault? You attacked me!" Crimson bellowed in reply, jerking his arm back toward himself.

"You insulted my leadership when everyone knows I'm ten times the leader you'll ever be!"

"Tell that to Walker." Crimson hissed, then mentally winced. Walker was another sore subject with the whole team.

Red was seething with fury, his whole body shuddering. "Asshole!"

Crimson used his free hand to block Red's wild swing and tried to use his shackled fist in return. Red jerked his arm to the side causing Crimson to stumble right into a kick. Crimson growled and was going to tackle his rival, but stopped when he saw the rangers arrive. Red and Crimson tried to fall into fighting stances, but they each wanted their shackled arm in a different position and it caused a brief scuffle before they both agreed to leave the arms in question at their sides. They faced the rangers with as much unity as they could while still wanting to throttle each other.

"Opportunistic little weasels." Crimson sneered. "We weren't even causing trouble this time."

"You don't cause trouble, you are trouble." Hunter replied. "And apparently you're now in a lot of trouble.'

Crimson growled. "Don't get cocky ranger, I can still take you."

"Oh yeah? Bring it." Hunter taunted. He knew what was going to happen.

Crimson lunged forward. The short chain between his manacle and Red's manacle went taut. Crimson was snapped backward, while his momentum jerked Red forward. Both Psychos landed on the ground with dull thumps. Red scrambled to his feet and used the connection between him and Crimson to pull him up. With a growl he grabbed Crimson's throat.

"Don't do that again." Red snarled.

"Or what? You'll tell Kalix?" Crimson sneered.

"I'll show you what happened to Marxus."

Crimson shivered at that and strangely enough didn't say anything else. With a satisfied nod, Red turned his attention back to the rangers, who had been watching the whole thing. Crimson gave his teammate a wary look before he too focused on the rangers.

"Together." Red growled.

"Yeah right."

The two charged the rangers at almost the same time, but it was a disaster from the beginning. They managed to use the chain between them to clothesline Shane to the ground, but that's where their cooperation ended. Crimson swung a punch with his free hand that Hunter blocked and then tried to use his other hand to block a kick from Blake, but that jerked Red's arm. Red had been trying to block a kick to his head by Tori, but with his arm jerked back the kick landed with teeth rattling force. He fell to his back, the connection dragging Crimson off balance. A kick to Crimson's chest put him on the ground too. They both managed to get to their feet in unison, but each tried to go a different way and ended up lying on the ground again.

"Stop that!" They yelled at each other.

"Y'know, they make a great comical pair." Dustin commented.

Red heard him and growled deep in his throat. He shoved to his feet, ignoring the pull on his wrist, and threw an energy bolt at Dustin. With a cartwheel Dustin easily dodged the attack and snapped off a few ninja beams in reply. Red batted them away with his one hand, and then grunted in surprise as a kick landed to the side of his head. He started to stumble, but the connection to Crimson pulled taut again and he caught his footing. He turned in time to block Shane's second kick and swept the ranger's feet out from under him. With a growl he looked toward Crimson, who had yet to get up.

"You could help, y'know!"

Crimson shrugged the mocking in his voice unmistakable as he replied. "You look like you're doing a bang up job by yourself." He said something in a language the rangers didn't understand.

"That's it!" Red roared and lunged at Crimson.

Crimson smirked and planted his feet in Red's chest, remembering their connection a second too late as he launched his opponent over his head. He yelped in slight pain as the power behind his toss caused Red to go flying and the connection dragged him along for the ride. A spark of pain shot from his wrist down his arm as he and Red both lay on the ground. Red recovered first and pinned his teammate to the ground, hands clenched around Crimson's neck. Red was swearing fast and furious in the same language Crimson had, his hold tightening with every word.

"That wasn't my fault!" Crimson protested as if his teammate wasn't trying to strangle him. He kneed Red in the groin and shoved the other Psycho away when the grip loosened around his neck. "I told you not to open that compartment, but you did anyway! The epidemic was your fault!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I must have missed when you told me opening the compartment would unleash the worst plague to hit our planet in 10,000 years! Oh wait, that's because you didn't say that!"

The rangers watched, wondering if they should take advantage of their opponents' distraction. Still, they were getting a better idea of the inner workings of the Psychos without having to read the files about them. And if they were lucky the two Psychos were going to destroy each other.

"I thought telling you not to open it for your own good was warning enough!" Crimson yelled back. "You were an enemy soldier in enemy territory, what did you expect!"

"Not a plague designed to kill half the people on our planet!" Red barked. "How could your government do something so vile!"

"We were getting desperate!"

"So were we, but we didn't engineer a virus to kill millions!"

The two stopped for a moment, both panting from nearly screaming at each other. Red felt the eyes staring at him first and turned to glare at the rangers. Crimson followed his lead as they both remembered they had an audience and who exactly the audience was. They both got to their feet and took fighting stances. Crimson charged, but Red stood still and flexed his arm, waiting for the impending jerk of the chain. The chain snapped to it's fullest and Crimson gave a soft yelp of pain as his wrist jerked backward and he was on his back again. He'd lost track of how many times he'd been on his back during the fight. He scrambled to his feet and lunged at Red.

"Asshole!"

Red caught Crimson with a side kick to the ribs and braced himself enough to withstand the jerk and looked down at Crimson with disdain written in his body language. Crimson got to his feet again, but didn't make a move at Red. They stood at a stand off as the rangers watched from a few feet away.

Rangers first. Then I'll deal with you. Red growled mentally. He smiled suddenly, a devious plot forming. We'll kidnap the girl.

I'm the leader, I make decisions. Crimson snarled. But you have a good idea. He projected his suggestion for a plan of attack and Red agreed.

Without any kind of warning they attacked at the same time. The rangers were barely able to prepare before they were under heavy attack. The two Psychos were still struggling slightly to fight with one arm incapacitated, but they managed not to mess each other up too bad. And then they struck so quick Tori barely had time to widen her eyes. The next thing the Rangers knew the chain was wrapped around Tori's throat and she was trapped between the two Psychos with her feet barely still touching the ground.

"Tori!" Blake tried to lunge at them, but Hunter grabbed his arm. At his slight movement the two Psychos lifted Tori a little higher and she started making choking noises. "Let her go!"

"You took Psycho Blue from us, so we're taking your Blue Ranger." Red said, revenge dripping on every word.

"Later losers." Crimson sneered.

And with that the two Psychos vanished, taking Tori with them.

ZzZzZ

Zadan was thinking. That's all he could do while he was in the infirmary. He talked to Dr. Radkee some, but that just turned into the doctor trying to get him to talk about deeper feelings. He was more comfortable thinking about them rather than talking about them. His deeper feelings were a confusing mess of changing emotions. He wasn't sure what exactly he felt for Niko, but he knew what he'd almost said.

Love. That was an emotion he never thought he'd feel again. Something told him he wasn't supposed to feel it. But he did and for the one person he'd never seen coming. Oh, he and Niko had hit it off pretty quick. They'd bonded together because it had all been overwhelming in the beginning. Twelve people, mostly strangers, of varying ages were thrown together into a rigorous training regime with brutal trainers who expected more than any of them could give at first. Zadan could still remember the first time he'd actually spoken to Niko on Hadis, where all five hundred potential recruits were dropped.

God that place had been Hell. They'd both originally tried to kill each other to survive, but when another man got in on the game they formed an alliance and took him out. They'd stayed together after that, surviving by any means they could for the next five days as the number of recruits on the planet dropped to more acceptable numbers. When they'd been rounded up and returned to a more civilized world they still stuck together and were placed on the same team and their friendship had grown from there.

He wanted those times back. More than anything he wanted everything to go back to how it had been when they'd been training. Trying to ride goraths, tag teaming Venn and Samous when the two big bullies thought they could get a one up on Niko, those were things he desperately wished for again. He knew that those innocent times were gone now that they were Psycho Rangers and bound to duty, but he still wished for them. Most of all he just wanted Niko. He'd settle with being friends but he found he wanted more, more than he should have. And it hurt because he was pretty sure he'd been blowing Niko off too much for things to be reconciled.

"You're thinking about him again." Dr. Radkee's soft accented voice broke into Zadan's thoughts.

Zadan shot him a vaguely annoyed look. "How do you know?"

"You've got that look about ya."

"What look?" The Psycho Ranger was getting even more annoyed.

Radkee grinned. "That sparkle in your eye you always get when you're around Niko. It's not visible so much anymore because you're always morphed, but I'm sure it's there."

"You're mistaken doctor."

"Like hell I am. You bloody idiots are the only ones who can't see it." Radkke retorted. "You're both too oblivious to see what's right in front of ya."

"What are you talking about? He hesitated in calling me friend. As I recall he didn't even answer when I asked him if we were friends. How can we be anything more if we aren't even friends?" Zadan rambled furiously.

The doctor sighed and put down the datapad he had been looking at. He looked at Zadan with an expression that clearly stated how much of an idiot he thought the young man was being.

"He's afraid of being hurt."

"I wouldn't hurt him."

"Aye now, but a week ago I heard you threaten his life, twice in one day." Dr. Radkee said. "If you want his trust you've got to earn it lad."

"He's never been scared of anything before." Zadan argued. "He's brave."

"And he got hurt, deeply from what I gather." The doctor sighed and brushed a hand over his face. "I don't know what happened on Jaldia and no one will tell me, I understand it's a raw subject, but I do know that a lot of bonds were shattered and some hearts were broken. Yours included."

"What does that---."

"That has everything to do with it you—" The doctor cut himself off before he insulted his patient. "You've both got to deal with what you've said and done both on Jaldia and after before you can hope to move on. You're not incapable of talking like adults, being a Psycho Ranger doesn't change that. Talk to him."

As if on cue Niko himself burst into the infirmary, unmorphed. "Have you heard what happened to Terik and Dariv?"

Zadan and Dr. Radkee both shook their heads.

"Kalix has shackled them together until they can work as a team." He burst out laughing at that.

Zadan smirked. "Like that'll ever happen. Those two have hated each other since way before we started training."

"They'll never get along. They'll probably kill each other first."

"Good riddance."

Niko looked over at him, the laughter coming to an abrupt halt. His blue-green eyes widened just slightly and Zadan was very confused by the look he was being given. He quirked an eyebrow at Niko, waiting for the younger boy to say something.

"You don't mean that do you? You wouldn't be happy if they killed each other, would you?" Niko asked. There was something in his voice that sounded a warning in Zadan's mind.

Zadan didn't reply, simply studied his teammate carefully. A week ago he was sure that Niko would have been dancing a happy jig if Red and Crimson killed each other. While his teammate's behavior had slowly been changing since their arrival at Earth, it seemed as though his attitude had taken a sudden twist. It was almost as if Niko expected them to be a team, like the rangers were.

Then it struck him, like a slap to the face. The spell over Niko, the one Kalix had the sorcerer Go'kua cast, had been broken. Which meant it had been Niko to let the Knight Ranger escape and on top of that it probably hadn't been an accident. Niko was a traitor. His duty required he turn him in to Kalix...but his heart screamed at him not to do it. Then he would be just as much of a traitor. At the same time Kalix was doing a lot to piss him off lately and it wasn't like he was siding with the rangers by not telling Kalix that Niko was a traitor. Oh what a mess he was finding himself in.

"Zadan?" Niko's voice brought him back to reality.

"What?" He snapped, feeling a little anger toward his traitorous teammate. Niko was putting him in a very tough position, even if he didn't know it.

Niko seemed to recoil, drawing away from Zadan's bed a little. "Sorry, I—never mind. You're probably tired."

Zadan watched him go, ignoring the exasperated look Dr. Radkee shot his way. Not for the first time since being recruited by Kalix he found himself wondering why things couldn't be simple.