The rangers all stared at the device Kardan held up between tweezers. It was no bigger than a dime and thin as well. It had been attached to Tori's neck, hidden under all her hair. The doctor squeezed the tweezers, destroying the delicate machine, and sighed.

"It's a tracking device. That's how Kalix found your Ninja Ops." Kardan said. "It was no doubt planted when Tori was captured."

"If he knew where Ninja Ops was, why did he wait so long to attack?" Dustin asked.

Hunter snarled, glaring at the ruined device. "He waited until we weren't there to defend it."

"He did the same thing to our team." Harper said, taking the tracker from Kardan. "He captured me, tortured me, and found out about our cloaked battle station. So, he planted the tracker on me and when I went back to the battle station he was able to find it, regardless of the cloak."

"Not your fault." Kardan said automatically. Harper looked like he would argue. "You couldn't help that you got captured. Craggan was careless and let you get captured."

"He never did accept that an alien got to be a Battle Ranger." Harper said, somewhat accepting what Kardan was saying. "I think he resented the fact that I was chosen instead of his brother."

"Kalix probably honed in on that and realized that of the partners you two were the weakest simply because you didn't work well together." Kardan said. With that he looked at the rangers, who had been watching. "Let that be a lesson that you don't have to learn. The better you work together and the stronger the team you are the better chance you have against Kalix. He'll find any weaknesses, any team strife and use it against you."

At that Sebastien and Hunter glared at each other. Hunter wasn't ready to trust the Ice Ranger and would have much rather had Cam fighting beside Blake and himself. Cam they could trust. This new kid, Hunter just didn't trust him. He knew Sebastien was hiding something and he wanted to know what. Until he found out that it wasn't a dangerous secret he wasn't going to put any faith into the kid.

Likewise Sebastien was tired of the dirty looks he kept receiving from the older ninja. He didn't want to put up with it, but these rangers were his best shot at getting his parents and Heather back. If that meant dealing with stuck up Thunders then that's what he would have to do. He didn't need to befriend the other rangers, just work with them toward the common goal.

"Anyway," Kardan continued, trying to ignore the tension he could feel. "There's plenty of rooms for ya here. It'll be safer than going to your homes where Kalix could find you."

"What about Sensei?" Tori asked.

"There's nothing we can do for him now." Harper replied apologetically. "You're just going to have to hope that Kalix finds some use for him."

ZzZzZ

"Well, I must say I didn't expect a rodent to be the mentor of a ranger team, but stranger things have happened." Kalix sneered, looking at the guinea pig held in Alathos's big hand. Sensei didn't reply. "You could make a tasty snack, unless you think you will be otherwise useful."

"I will not help you in any way." Sensei replied calmly.

Kalix smirked. "Willingly - perhaps not. But I think your mind holds valuable information. Like how to harness the elements."

"You may learn how we do it, but only those with a natural connection to the elements may gain the power to use them." Sensei said. "You will find no use for that information."

"You are diminishing your worth to me rodent." Kalix sneered, eyes gleaming. "If I were you I would make yourself valuable to me."

"There is nothing you can learn from me that will help you."

Kalix snorted. He couldn't believe the little rat wasn't trying to save his own tail. He had no reason to keep the pest. If there was no useful information in his mind then what good was he? He could demand the rangers surrender, but that was an unnecessary cliché villain tactic. The rangers wouldn't surrender for any reason. In fact, he had seen rangers pull off rescues under the false pretense of surrender. In any case, he didn't want the rangers to surrender. That would take away from the fun of totally annihilating them. He looked forward to that.

"Put him in a cage and hang it in the corner over there." Kalix ordered. "He may yet be useful."

"Yes Master Kalix."

ZzZzZ

"Kale! Kale it's not real!" Niko yelled, trying to get through to Kale.

Nyus was vigorously and ruthlessly torturing Kale. Niko could tell this was a much younger version of Kale, maybe only fifteen or sixteen. It was probably when Kale had first been introduced to torture and it was heartbreaking to see what he had gone through. Niko was doing everything he could to try and get through to Kale that it wasn't real, but it was as if Kale's mind wasn't acknowledging their presence.

Niko pulled his mind back, unable to watch the torture Kale was putting himself through again. He was getting tired and he and Amias hadn't managed to do anything except learn some of the painful details of Kale's past. With a sigh he looked over and saw that Amias had done the same and was looking back at him, obviously just as worn out.

"I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to interrupt you lads." Kardan said, making both jump.

Niko glanced over his shoulder at the doctor. "I was hoping it would be easier than this."

"What's wrong?"

"Kale's mind is only letting us observe, not interact. We can't convince him to come back to consciousness if he won't acknowledge we're there." Amias explained. "We have to figure out how to actually get into his subconscious mind."

"It's not going to be easy." Niko added. "It takes trust and though he trusts me on some level I don't know if he trusts me enough to let me in."

"He definitely doesn't trust me. He doesn't even know me." Amias continued. "We need someone his mind will trust completely, because forcing our way in will do more harm than good."

"For the time being you lads are going to get something to eat and sleep. When you're properly rested you can start again." Kardan said, his voice brooking no argument.

The two younger boys nodded in agreement and left the room and headed for the rec. room. Kardan glanced at Kale's prone form and sighed, frustrated he couldn't do anything. He pulled a sheet over the sleeping man, dimmed the lights, and left the room. He hoped that Niko and Amias would be able to help Kale, because he couldn't.

ZzZzZ

Dustin hesitated outside of what had become Sebastien's room. His hand was close to the buzzer, but he couldn't bring himself to ring it. As perhaps one of the most perceptive members of the group to other's feelings, Dustin almost felt it his duty to talk to Sebastien. He could tell that the younger boy was feeling overwhelmed and alienated and Hunter wasn't doing anything to help that. He felt a brief flash of anger at the thought of the Thunder's treatment of their new teammate. So what if Sebastien was hiding something. Everyone had their own secrets and they were entitled to them as long as they weren't hurting someone. Dustin doubted Sebastien's secrets were deadly or dangerous.

Finally, Dustin bit the bullet and pushed the buzzer button. There was a bit of a pause before the door slid open. Sebastien stood there, out of his ninja uniform for the first time Dustin had seen him. Obviously Sebastien had used the synthesizer Kardan had showed them to get some casual clothes to wear. He had to admit that Sebastien was adorable in the boy-next-door way with his black cargo pants and white shirt. It was a good thing for Hunter that when it came to guys, Dustin was more attracted to sexy and alluring rather than cute and adorable.

"What's up?" Sebastien asked.

"I just wanted to talk to you." Dustin replied.

Sebastien cocked an eyebrow. "About what?"

"A lot of things." Dustin replied, implying he wanted to talk inside.

Sebastien seemed to hesitate before finally stepping aside to let Dustin enter. Dustin stepped inside and stood awkwardly at the door until the younger boy motioned toward the bed. Sebastien sat at the chair provided for the computer and turned to face Dustin. They just stared at each other for a few minutes before Sebastien averted his eyes.

"I don't belong here." He said softly. "I'm not a part of your team."

"Do you want to belong? Do you want to be a part of the team?" Dustin asked.

"Who doesn't want to belong?" Sebastien replied. "I mean...normally I wouldn't care about fitting in but...my whole world has been turned upside down. I have no one I know left to talk to."

Dustin felt bad for the younger boy as he heard the unspoken statement. "Believe it or not Sebastien, you're not alone. With the exception of Hunter you can talk to any of us about anything. We're here for you."

"You guys don't need me." Sebastien replied. "I just throw a wrench into your teamwork."

"We're just not used to your fighting style yet dude. Give us a little while." Dustin said with a big smile.

"Oh yeah and time is just something we have lots of right now what with evil beings trying to take over the universe." Sebastien said sarcastically.

"See, now here's a big problem with being a part of the team. You're so stand-offish dude, lighten up a little bit."

Instantly Sebastien's face filled with anger. "That Lothor goon took my parents, my school, and my girlfriend! I'll lighten up when he's floating in space dead and rotting! I don't need friends and I don't need a team!"

"That's ridiculous dude, you can't fight this battle alone." Dustin argued, a little shocked by Sebastien's anger. "We've all got to work together if we have any chance of winning. There's more at stake now than ever before and we can't let petty differences get in the way. I don't know how long you've been a ranger, but being a ranger means looking out for others before yourself and we've got a whole planet worth of others to look after."

At first Sebastien was angry and being scorned like a little child, especially by someone he didn't really know and was only a year older. But when Dustin's words sunk in he felt a little ashamed at his outburst. Dustin definitely had a point that he had to agree with. As much as he wanted to believe he could do it all by himself he knew that realistically he wouldn't stand a chance.

"You're right," Sebastien admitted. "It's just...this has all just been so much for me to deal with and I've been alone trying to cope with the loss of everyone I care about when I thought they were all dead. Now I find out that some goon is holding them prisoner and that someone worse has just taken his place. I'm just feeling overwhelmed."

"That's understandable dude, you've had a lot to absorb in the day and a half. Just don't think that you're alone, 'cause you're not alone anymore."

Sebastien smiled slightly. "Thanks Dustin. Maybe in a few days it'll feel that way."

"Just give us a chance, okay? You'll be alone as long as you make yourself alone."

"Thanks."

ZzZzZ

"You're leaving me?" Kale asked.

"I can't stay here anymore Kale."

"You can't leave me Zac, I need you here." Kale argued.

Kale felt tears prickling at his eyes as Zac placed a hand on his shoulder. "Kale, you know that no matter how far away I go we're always connected. Twin thing, remember? I'll always be with you."

"How can you leave us when we still need you? Jadikai is still a major threat."

"I have to go. You may not be able to see what's happening, but I can. I'm not going to stay and be witness to our world falling apart because of internal strife." Zac said. "I'm not going to be treated like a freak because I have purple eyes and can move things with my mind. They're not placing restrictions on me."

"We can deal with it together." Kale argued.

"Come with me Kale, we can go someplace where our differences won't matter." Zac urged. When Kale shook his head Zac's eyes grew dark. "That's right, you chose your boyfriend over me."

"It's not fair to make me choose."

"Life's not always fair Kale." Zac replied. His eyes softened again and he pulled his brother into a hug. "I'll keep in touch."

"You better." Kale said into his brother's neck. "Take care of yourself."

"You do the same. Good luck."

With that Kale watched as his twin brother transported into his Zord. The giant silver robot looked down at Kale one last time before the rockets fired and the Zord shot into space. Kale felt tears filling his eyes. He could already feel his brother getting further and further away and he knew there was nothing he could do to bring him back. He didn't even flinch as a hand landed on his shoulder and he turned to look into caring brown eyes.

"He's gone Nick." Kale whispered.

"It'll be okay. He'll be back." Nick said comfortingly.

Kale allowed himself to be pulled into Nick's arms. "I have a bad feeling that he won't."

"I know it doesn't compare, but you'll always have me Kale. I promise."

ZzZzZ

Hunter stopped as he started to enter the rec. room and found that the two Psychos were in there. He turned to leave again, but stopped when Niko called out to him. He hesitated between leaving anyway, so he just stood in the doorway waiting for Niko to continue. He felt Niko approach, but was surprised as he was yanked into the room and slammed against the wall. He was shocked to feel how much strength the smaller and younger man possessed.

"What's your problem Hunter? Are you too good to be in the room with us?" Niko demanded, his blue-green eyes flaring.

"Niko." Zadan admonished with one word. "If he's got a stick up his ass it's not our place to remove it."

"Hey!" Hunter was mildly insulted by both their comments. "I'm not stuck up and I don't think I'm too good to be in the room with you. I just don't like or trust either of you."

"You know, you're awful close minded for someone who has had their own experience with evil." Zadan mused. "I mean, you really have no right to judge us when you hunted your own brother while under a spell."

"Yeah, how does that make us different?" Niko demanded. He was getting really fed up with getting the cold shoulder from Hunter.

"How do you know about that?" Hunter demanded.

"Unlike you the rest of your teammates have forgiven us." Niko said. "We were talking with Dustin and Blake and it just came up."

"That's beside the point though." Zadan cut off whatever comments Hunter was going to make. "You don't know us and yet you judge us? Why?"

"You hurt Dustin." Hunter said, glaring at Zadan. He then shifted his anger to Niko. "And you hurt my brother."

Niko growled with frustration. "That wasn't us! What part of spell don't you understand? Didn't you hurt your brother when you were under a spell?"

"And I bet he still hasn't forgiven himself for it." Zadan said before Hunter could. "You can't forgive others if you can't forgive yourself."

Niko gave Hunter a bit of a shove before releasing him and stepping away. "One of these days you're going to realize we're on your side. I hope it's just not too late."

With that Niko stalked out of the room. Zadan and Hunter stared at one another for a moment, Zadan trying to make Hunter understand, and Hunter just glaring. When he realized how futile it was Zadan sighed, got up, and followed Niko out of the room. Hunter was left trying to soak in what he had just heard. He looked up in surprise as Blake entered the room through the swinging door leading into the kitchen. Blake gave him a probing look that Hunter couldn't avoid.

"You still haven't forgiven yourself? I thought we talked about this already." Blake said.

Hunter shifted his eyes. "It's not that easy."

"God Hunter, you know I don't hold anything against you and neither do the Winds. Why can't you just let it go?"

"Because I hunted you with a single mindedness that terrifies me. My only thought was finding you and then killing you. I wanted to kill you Blake and that...I just can't forget that or forgive myself for even thinking it." Hunter replied.

Blake shook his head. "That wasn't you bro, that was the steam you got blasted with. I know you would never think like that. You don't think you're capable of that, do you? You're not scared that the thought is planted somewhere in your mind, are you? 'Cause that's ridiculous."

"It's just...sometimes I'm scared of what I'm capable of and how easy it was for them to use me." Hunter admitted. "I'm a danger to everyone."

"You're no more a danger to anyone than the rest of us are." Blake said. "I know you can't forget what's happened, but you have to forgive yourself and move on. You have to forgive Niko and Zadan for the things they did when they weren't themselves, because we're all on the same side now."

Hunter smiled slightly, the heavy mood lifting. "I thought I was supposed to be the wise older brother."

"You're still older." Blake teased with a smile. He knew it would be a little longer before Hunter completely forgave himself, but at least he was on the path.

ZzZzZ

Kardan leaned against the doorway, watching with amusement as Sizvu tinkered around in his lab. Didn't take him long. He noted with interest that the two Gems of Power that that the rangers had managed to secure were in the lab, surrounded by a glowing force field. Whatever Sizvu was tinkering with was small and taking up all of his concentration. With a smirk the doctor slid into the room and easily crept up behind his teammate, whose back was to him.

"What're you fooling with?"

Sizvu jumped about a foot in the air and spun to glare at his older teammate. "Are you tying to give me a heart attack! Bugger off!"

"Oh, have a sense of humor kid. You're getting as bad as Lorku was." Kardan said.

"I'm not that bad." Sizvu said, face twisting at the comparison. "You just startled me is all."

"Yeah, well Harper thinks you're a crotchety old buzzard and our guests think you're an anti-social grouch."

"I am an anti-social grouch, but I resent being called a crotchety old buzzard. I'm not a bird and I'm not old." Sizvu said, his attention already being drawn back to whatever he was working on.

"You still haven't answered my original question."

"Huh?"

Kardan shook his head at his distracted teammate. "What're you working on?"

"Augmentors." The younger man replied. He looked up, cat-like eyes shinning. "That's all I'm tellin' ya. It's a surprise."

"You and your bloody surprises."

Sizvu smirked, humor filling his eyes. "You didn't complain the last time."

"Yes, well…good point." Kardan consented. "Just don't forget to rest, yeah?"

"Yes Da."

ZzZzZ

"Okay, so, let's talk to his out." Niko suggested as he and Amias sat by Kale's bed. They had both eaten and got a few hours of rest and were back to working with Kale. "We could get into Kale's subconscious mind if we tore in together, like Kalix did, but that would just do more damage. His mind is only letting us observe, but we need to be able to interact to pull him out."

"That's the problem summed up." Amias agreed with a sigh. "On a fundamental level his subconscious mind doesn't trust us enough to let us into the wall he built up. It's like...we can see over the top and into what's going on, but we can't actively participate."

"I sure felt like I was in the middle of it when Nyus nearly blasted me." Niko mumbled.

Amias either didn't hear or just didn't care to comment because he continued on. "What we need is someone his subconscious mind will trust that we can take in there and pull him back out."

"All of his teammates are dead and…wait a minute! He's still partially connected to them through their gems. Maybe we could reach through the connection and get one of them to help." Niko suggested.

Amias snorted. "You're suggesting we talk to the dead?"

"No, we can't even do that. What I'm saying is their minds are imprinted in those gems and it's likely that unless he lets someone else use those gems their minds and souls will stay connected to it. It's like...their bodies are long gone but they haven't moved on yet."

"Like ghosts?"

"God no." Niko was getting a little frustrated. "Okay, we both know that there are three parts of the mind. Conscious, which is the awareness of what's going on and reactions to them; subconscious, memories, instincts, in-depth things like that; and unconscious that deals with the bodies functions that we can't control."

"Everyone with psychic powers knows that." Amias said. "What's your point?"

"My point is that all they've lost is the unconscious mind. Both the conscious and subconscious are still connected to their gems somehow. Whether that's a default of their power or a result of how they died or maybe even a result of how Kale acquired all theirs powers, the point is they're still there. If anyone can pull him out of his subconscious it would be one of them."

Amias shook his head, amazed and proud at Niko's understanding of it all. "Okay Mr. Smarty Pants. How do we contact them? He's unmorphed otherwise we could just reach out to them through the gems."

"Okay, from what I understand from Kale's explanation of his powers they're internal, completely absorbed into his body from the gem. He doesn't have a morpher and could morph without his gem. He morphs by just concentrating on the power, basically using his mind. It's a mix of subconscious and conscious actions, but I think that his subconscious could trigger it."

"I think I get where you're going with this." Amias said, even more amazed. "Let's do it."

"It's a good thing we got some rest. We're going to need all the energy we have."

ZzZzZ

Shane sighed, sitting alone at one of the ships many nooks, looking out the big windows to the ocean outside. Tori was with Blake and Dustin was either busy trying to get through Sebastien's wall or hanging out with Hunter. He had no doubt that they didn't know how lonely he felt and if they had known they would have done something about it, but he had no desire to draw attention to it. He wasn't desperately in need of attention and he could deal with being alone. He was just feeling out of sorts and kind of wished he had someone to talk about it with.

"Why so glum, chum?"

Shane jumped, surprised by the voice, and turned his head enough to see Zadan watching him. "I'm not glum."

"Riiiiight." Zadan said, clearly not believing a word. "You just sit by yourself staring out a window all the time, right?"

"Not all the time." Shane replied shortly.

Zadan cocked his head thoughtfully. "Something's bothering you."

"It's nothing." Shane dismissed, looking back out into the depths of the ocean.

"Look, I know we may not have met under the best circumstances and you don't have a very good impression of me, but I was kind of hoping we could all be friends." Zadan said, surprising Shane a little bit with his openness. "If you need someone to talk to I've been told I listen really well."

Shane watched as Zadan turned and started to walk away before his brain caught up with what the older man was saying. This was his chance to get his feelings out and even if it wasn't to Dustin or Tori it would probably do him some good to talk. Then he came to another realization just as quickly. Zadan was probably feeling just as lonely as he was what with Niko working almost constantly with Amias trying to bring Kale back to consciousness. They could keep each other company.

"It's the water."

Zadan stopped and turned as he heard Shane speak. He raised an eyebrow. "What about the water?"

"I'm an air element." Shane said, as if that would explain everything. He only received another confused look. "Being underwater here makes me feel trapped and a little anxious."

"I get it." Zadan said, moving to take a seat across from Shane. "It's a lack of freedom, right?"

"More like a lack of connection to my element." Shane replied. "I mean, there's artificial air in here, but it's just not the same."

"I wonder why the Thunder Rangers aren't affected or Dustin for that matter." Zadan mused.

"Simple. The Thunders aren't actively connected to their element. They can generate their own lightning, but they only get truly connected to their element when there's a storm." Shane explained. "And Dustin isn't affected because this ship is resting on the ground, albeit under hundreds of feet of water, and he can still feel a connection to his power through the floors."

"But your element is the air and you're used to it being constantly around you, moving through you, and just being a part of you." Zadan said, fully understanding the problem. "Nothing short of being on the surface is going to help you."

Shane sighed. "Probably not, but it's not like it's something I can't deal with. I'll feel better the second I breathe in some real air."

"I never realized just how closely you ninjas were tied to your elements, especially you being air."

"Sometimes it's a blessing." Shane said.

Zadan opened his mouth to say something else when something beeped in his pocket. He closed his mouth as a confused look flitted over his face. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the remote to Kale's ship. A green light was flashing in sync with the beeping and Zadan had no clue what it meant. Obviously something was going on with the ship.

"What does that mean?" Shane asked.

Zadan shrugged. "No clue. I guess I'll have to go see what's up."

"Can I go with you?" Shane asked the idea of getting fresh air too good to pass up.

"Sure thing."

ZzZzZ

He blinked blearily, mind foggy and slow. Where was he? What had happened? Why did he feel trapped? Then he realized he was trapped. He was in a small space barely big enough to move in and no way to get out. There was some kind of vapor in there with him too. Was he being poisoned? He started to panic.

Suddenly there was a clicking sound to his left and all the vapor rushed out of the chamber. Light flooded in and he rolled to the left, dropping into a crouch as he landed. He barely had time to register anything before a hand was helping him stand. He lifted his eyes and though his mind was till foggy he recognized the young man in front of him.

"Shane?"

Shane felt his heart ready to burst with happiness. "Cam, man, you gave us quite a scare."

"What happened?" Cam asked, still trying to make sense of everything.

"You were seriously wounded in the ambush, remember?"

"No." Cam mumbled.

Then all too suddenly he did remember. He remembered the ambush and fighting hordes of monsters and foot soldiers. He remembered the Psycho Rangers arriving. Most of all he remembered Psycho Crimson using Hunter's gauntlet to stab him several times. Then everything got foggy from there, but he didn't remember the outcome of the battle.

"Is everyone okay?" Cam asked.

Shane shared a look with someone Cam couldn't see and the Samurai turned, surprised to see Zadan. Shane drew Cam's attention back to him. "Everyone survived."

"That's good." Cam said, relaxing a little.

Shane and Zadan shared another look. "Come on Cam. We have a lot of things to catch you up on."