To: Master Kalix

From: Dareth

I'm pleased to report Team Hellion is working together better than ever. They work together flawlessly. The simulation work is beautiful. I've never seen a group work so well together. They almost don't need to speak to communicate. They've also come up with their own system of non-verbal communication that includes hand signals I'm still trying to work out. The progress is better than expected. I don't think they'll need to stay here much longer. I think they'll be ready for whatever you have planned for them.

To: Dareth

From: Master Kalix

Change of plans. I want you to tear the Hellions apart. I still want them to work efficiently as a team, but nothing more. I don't want them to be friends. I don't want them to be friendly to each other. As long as they can successfully complete missions, that's all I want. Do what you have to. Set them up for failure, Dareth. I don't want a close knit group. I want efficient warriors.

To: Master Kalix

From: Dareth

Master, with all due respect I have to object. This is the best teamwork I have ever seen. They're better than any team I've trained and that's saying something. If you tear this team apart you'll decrease their effectiveness by fifty percent. Zadan and Niko make the best team. They practically read each other's minds out there. I don't know if I could bring myself to do what you ask me.

To: Dareth

From: Master Kalix

I'm not giving you a suggestion or a choice. You'll do what I tell you or you'll pay the price of disobedience. I'll have your home world wiped clean with not even bacteria left. I want them to consider each other as teammates and nothing more. I don't care about percents or how close they are. They're my warriors and nothing more. Their feelings and any relationships they have don't mean anything. Do as you're told.

Niko sat back in his chair and looked at Zadan in complete shock. "Wait a minute, we were set up?"

"Kalix had his claw in what happened on Jaldia." Zadan snarled. "He wanted us to hate each other."

"Think he was afraid of how strong we were as a team?" Niko said.

"Probably," Zadan agreed. "And the bastard has been playing dumb this whole time."

"We have to tell them. Terik at least might care."

"I doubt it." Zadan replied. "I don't think any of them care anymore."

"You can't be sure of that." Niko argued. "Shouldn't we at least try? They should know the truth."

"And when do you plan on telling them? When they're trying to kill us for being traitors?"

Niko gave his friend a glare. "Stop arguing with everything I say!"

"Sorry." Zadan said with a sheepish grin. "I'm still trying to get out of old habits."

"It's okay, I understand. Let's just try to stop arguing, okay? We really need each other right now."

"And you didn't need me before."

Niko opened his mouth to retort when he saw the small smirk on his friend's face. He playfully punched the older man's shoulder. Zadan looked like he wanted to wrestle, but there was no room on Kale's shuttle and the Knight Ranger was sleeping in his room. Instead the two then went back to reading the files, amazed by how much of what happened had been so obviously set up. Even what happened between them. They were shocked to see that Dareth himself had been the one to do it. As a shapeshifter he had assumed Niko's form and blew off Zadan as he asked him out on a date, or as much of one as they could get on a military training base. Zadan winced at the memory it brought up and Niko was hurt to think that his friend had fallen for something like that. He finally understood where the sudden hostility had come from. As unexpected as it had been it had really hurt and the only way he had known to react was with anger.

"I'm sorry." Zadan said, though they both knew there was no reason to. "I shouldn't have fallen for it."

"Hey, none of us knew Dareth was a shapeshifter and even if we had I would have believed it was you." Niko replied reasonably. "Anyway, it's over and done with and we've moved on."

"I said some really uncalled for things though."

"So did I, so did Dareth in my form, so I can't say I really blame you for getting nasty after what he said." Niko replied.

Zadan gave his younger friend a look of awe. "Aren't you a little bit wise beyond your years?"

"My people believe in forgiveness, among other things. It's not in our nature to hold a grudge." Niko replied. "All that anger and hatred you saw was the evil Psycho Navy."

Zadan smiled, glad that they were finally actually verbally putting Jaldia behind them. He suddenly knew why Niko wanted the other Psychos to know what had really happened. It didn't change the fact that he thought they wouldn't care, but that wasn't why Niko wanted to tell them in the first place. In his heart Niko needed them to know they were forgiven, even if it didn't matter to them. And even though he knew they probably wouldn't care, some distant part of him wished that they would.

"So, how do you plan on telling them?" Zadan finally asked.

"One on one." Niko replied.

Zadan glanced at him. "You sound like you have a plan."

"I do, but it won't be easy." Niko said.

"Most things worth doing aren't easy." Zadan retorted thoughtfully. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well..."

ZzZzZ

Shane dodged Psycho Red's sword, spun around and flipped several ninja beams at his foe. Red batted them away with bored ease and flung his own energy beam at the Red Ranger. Shane used his sword to deflect them back at Red who simply absorbed his own power. The two charged each other for the third time that fight and as usual Shane quickly found himself on the receiving end of a brutal attack.

Not far away Dustin and Hunter were tag teaming Crimson with little success. The Crimson Psycho Ranger was hardly phased by having two opponents and easily managed to throw them both around. When the two did start to gain an advantage he simply knocked Dustin to the ground and pinned him with one foot while batting Hunter around with embarrassing ease.

Blake and Tori were dealing with Psycho Blue together and were working as a good team, but Blue was no push over. She kicked Blake up into a tree and in the same movement knocked Tori flat on her back. Tori rolled away and to her feet, trying to use her ninja ropes to gain some kind of advantage, but Blue used the ropes to throw her around. With a hard jerk Blue made Tori stumble toward her only to be caught by a viscous kick to the shoulder that spun the Blue Ranger to the ground.

Psycho Navy glanced at Psycho Yellow as they watched what was happening. "Quickly."

"Quickly." Yellow agreed. "Just like Tarasis IV."

Crimson pushed down hard on Dustin's ribs as he sent a searing bolt of energy into Hunter as the Crimson Ranger tried to help his friend. Crimson laughed and looked down at his captive and therefore didn't have a chance to defend himself. One moment he was standing over the Yellow Ranger and the next he was wrapped tightly in energy ropes of yellow and navy coloring and being quickly hauled away from the battle. Somewhere behind him he heard Red give a shout of anger, but it quickly faded as his captors zipped even further away. Then he had felt the familiar tingle of teleportation before he was finally placed on the ground.

Crimson was in complete shock. He was still trying to catch up with what had just happened to him as he looked around his surroundings. There was not much to look at. He was in a small cave with no exit or entrance that was a perfect circle just big enough for him to stand up and move around comfortably. Or he would have been able to move around if some of the space wasn't occupied. White-hot rage flashed through him as he realized what had happened.

"You!" He roared, unwisely leaping at his ex-teammates.

It was unwise because his upper body was still wrapped tightly in yellow and navy energy ropes. Yellow simply held out a hand and shoved him backwards. Unable to move his arms to keep his balance, Crimson stumbled and fell on his butt. He watched with pure rage as his two captors demorphed as if he were no longer a threat. He tried using an energy wave to break the ropes, but was unsuccessful.

"Calm down Terik, we just want to talk." Niko said.

"Rot in the depths of space, traitors." Crimson snarled.

"It's about Jaldia." Zadan added, ignoring Crimson's insult.

"I won't believe your lies." Crimson growled. "You betrayed us."

"Kalix--."

"This isn't about Kalix!" They both jumped at Crimson's enraged roar. "This is about you betraying us, me, Dariv, and Aurias. You betrayed your team."

Zadan snorted. "There was hardly a team left Terik. We all hated each other."

"We weren't friends, but we were still a team. A somewhat dysfunctional team, but a team nonetheless."

Niko could feel the situation slipping away from them. Terik was pulling further and further away and they had to reach out to him before it was too late. "It was all Kalix's fault. He ordered Dareth to set us up, to tear our friendships apart."

"Bull." Crimson snapped. "You just want to turn me against Kalix. It won't work."

Zadan and Niko glanced at each other. They had hoped it wouldn't come down to more forceful measures, but their ex-teammate was being stubborn. Zadan stepped forward and pulled an electro-disk out from behind his back. He'd changed the charge to be shorter than usual, but pack more of a punch. It would be enough to demorph their captive. At the same instant Niko reached out to the connection between himself and Crimson and waited for Zadan to make his move. Crimson tried to scramble backwards, but Zadan lunged and slapped the electro-disk on his chest. Crimson grunted and jerked as the charge ripped through his suit, everything went white for a moment and then he demorphed. Instantly he felt an intrusion in his mind and tried to close himself off, but it was too late and information suddenly flooded his mind. It wasn't just Niko telling him what had happened, it was Niko's memories of reading the messages between Dareth and Kalix and that included Niko's emotional reactions to the revelations.

Too much...Terik whimpered mentally, his mind overloaded by all the new information.

Sorry...Niko pulled out of Terik's mind. The information had been inserted and it was up to Terik to sort it out.

"What did you do?" Zadan asked.

"I showed him what he didn't want to see." Niko replied.

Terik mentally struggled to sort everything out, but there was so much. He felt everything Niko had felt upon reading the messages. He was overwhelmed by the emotions and for a long while he could only watch the scene playing in his mind. Slowly though he gained control again and was able to move through the memories and read the things for himself. At first he felt everything Niko had, anger and betrayal. He wanted to make Kalix pay for what had been done to them. He wanted to make Kalix pay for taking the only meaningful friendships he'd ever had away. But like a wave of cold water his anger was washed away by realization. There was nothing he could do. What was done was done and he couldn't do anything to Kalix for it.

After a long time of stifling silence Terik finally spoke. "So what?"

"What?" Zadan and Niko asked in unison.

"I didn't stutter. I said so what? What the hell kind of difference does it make?" Terik snapped. "So we were all turned against each other. We had to have pretty flimsy friendship to fall apart so quickly in the first place. Maybe it was only a matter of time and Kalix forced it before we fell apart at an inopportune moment."

Niko gaped at him. "You don't really believe that. Did our friendship mean nothing to you?"

"Of course it did." Terik said honestly. "You guys were like little brothers to me. But maybe that was part of the problem. Emotional attachment gets in the way. I should have known better, I've been a soldier my whole life. I never should have gotten attached."

"Then you regret it?"

"No! I didn't say that." Terik quickly replied. "You guys were a bright spot in my life where there had been only darkness, but it wasn't meant to last. I can't be a good soldier while being attached to anyone and a soldier is all I am."

"That's not true." Zadan argued. "I don't care what your government beat into you before, it wasn't true then and it's not true now. You can still be our friend."

"You turned your back on your team." Terik said firmly. "I don't care if you betrayed Kalix. You betrayed your team."

Niko shook his head. "You never seemed to care about the team or any of your teammates. Where have you been hiding this attitude?"

"You should know better. I hid my hurt behind anger, but...I still care even though I tried not to." Terik replied. "But you've crossed the line now and I can't say that I don't understand why. You guys are both rangers, never meant to fight for the bad guys. I understand you're good guys, but that doesn't change how I feel about your betrayal."

Zadan and Niko shared a sad look. Niko wished Aurias was there so that they could have a final meeting of the Blue Dragons. He found it hard to believe that a group of six that had sworn to stick together had fallen apart within a year of its formation. First Walker had been killed in a live fire training mission when Dariv ordered him to secure a tower on his own. Then Zadan had been forced to kill Alexi on Jaldia and that had been the toughest thing Zadan had ever done. Now, two had broken the pact and the Blue Dragons were broken for good. The tattoo they had all gotten meant nothing.

"For what it's worth," Niko said, "I forgive you."

Terik looked a little stunned as he fumbled with what to say in reply. "Huh?"

"For what happened on Jaldia and afterwards. I forgive you."

"Oh." Terik looked from Niko to Zadan, who shrugged, and then back at Niko. "Well, I forgive you for all that too, but not for the betrayal. I can never forgive you for that."

"I understand. Will you share what you've learned with the others." Niko asked.

"It won't change things." Terik said.

"I know."

"Then why share it?"

"Because I need you all to know I forgive you for what happened." Niko answered.

Terik gave him a weird look, as if unable to understand his ex-teammate. "Whatever you say Sparky."

Niko and Zadan glanced at each other, a grin spreading across Niko's face at the old nickname. The Navy Psycho quickly hid his grin and motioned with is head toward the still bound captive. Zadan nodded and they both looked back at their ex-teammate.

"If you feel we're no longer friends, then this is it. After this we fight like enemies. No more holding back on our part." Zadan said. "The Blue Dragons are disbanded."

Terik nodded, not able to find the words to say. Something, somewhere deep inside him cried out in distress. He watched as his ex-teammates' faces hardened and their emotions were locked away. He opened his mouth to say something more, but he was teleported away. In stunned silence he sat on the forest floor, his mind trying to catch up with everything that had just happened as the yellow and navy energy ropes dissipated. He allowed himself only a moment to mourn the true loss of the friendship, before he closed himself up and became the heartless Psycho Crimson once more. But no matter how hard he tried to ignore it a part of himself kept screaming at him that he had made a big mistake.

ZzZzZ

"Wait a minute, you had Psycho Crimson captured and at your mercy and you let him go?"

Niko and Zadan shared an exasperated look as Hunter went into full on rant mode. "Look, that was personal. You wouldn't understand."

"I understand you had a dangerous enemy in a position to keep him out of commission and you let him go." Hunter snapped. His eyes lit up with accusations and neither Psycho were surprised by his next words. "You faked capturing him so you could tell him everything you've learned!"

"Not a chance." Niko replied quickly, but not quickly enough to appear overly defensive. "We found out the truth about what happened to tear our friendships apart. We had to share with him what really happened on Jaldia."

"I've seen that mentioned in your profiles." Cam said, finally paying attention to the conversation.

Niko and Zadan shared another look and Zadan chose to speak first. "Jaldia was the location of our final month of training. There were eight of us that survived training and didn't wash out. At first everything was okay, the first week was amazing. We surpassed all of Dareth's expectations as a team."

"Then things started to go horribly wrong. On the second week there we were on a live fire exercise. Walker made a risky move and paid for it with his life. That just set the stage for the rest of it. A few days later Dariv paired Samous and me up for a quick infiltrate and sabotage, but something went wrong. Samous and I got separated somehow and then Dariv gave the word to abort the mission and I followed abort procedure, but I couldn't find Samous. Dariv made me leave him behind." Niko explained. He swallowed hard and looked to Zadan for comfort. "We never saw him again, but Dareth wouldn't tell us how he died. In fact, we were ordered to never speak of him again."

"Like we could just forget about a teammate so easily." Zadan grumbled.

"After that things went down the hole." Niko said. "Terik was really mad at Dariv for forcing me to leave Samous behind and he was really mad at me for doing it. Things just didn't get better from there."

"Wait, you said eight. That leaves six." Blake spoke up.

Instantly the mood changed between the two Psychos and it was Niko offering Zadan support. "I...um...I was forced to kill one of our other teammates, Alexi." He took a deep breath. "Dareth woke me up one night for a late night training exercise. He told me it was live fire and that if I didn't kill I would be killed. He called it the Hunter vs. the Hunted and had me transported to a section of the jungle. There it turned out that I was the hunted, only equipped with a knife and one flash bomb. He had a plasma rifle with a sniper scope, an electro-disk, and a blaster. I..." Zadan trailed off, swallowing hard as the memories came back to him. "I set a trap for him and blinded him with the flash bomb...I looked into his eyes when..."

Zadan didn't finish, but he didn't need to. Niko wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders and pulled him close. "Things just went to hell from there and now we find out that almost everything that happened there was set up to tear our friendships apart."

"Kalix feared our strength as a team."

"Wow, he makes Lothor look like an angel." Dustin said.

Zadan shot a look at Hunter. "That's why we captured Terik, we had to tell him the truth. I wanted to believe that it would make a difference, turn him against Kalix for what he did, but too much damage has been done."

"If we'd known what we know now before we betrayed the team it would be a different story, but we've crossed the biggest line and there's no going back."

ZzZzZ

"Kalix set it all up?" Dariv asked in shock.

"Maybe not all of it, we did a good job helping it along, but all of the major stuff was set up by him." Terik said. "That slimy reptile took the only good thing I've ever had away from me."

"He played us for fools." Aurias snarled.

"No more." Dariv said firmly. He glanced at his two remaining teammates. "The moment we get a chance to make him pay we show him that you don't mess with Psychos."