He was tired of failing. Tired of following the orders of someone weaker than himself. He was supposed to be the leader. He was the most powerful Psycho Ranger and that made him the most qualified. To the dark depths of space with playing second fiddle to a second rate warrior. Sure their plan to kill the Knight Ranger had succeeded, but they had also lost Psycho Purple. Her loss struck the whole team deeply as they had grown quite close during their time of training. The death of a teammate meant the failure of a mission, regardless of the results. And it was all Psycho Red's fault. If the fool had just surrendered leadership none of it would have happened.

"Samous?"

"What Kyle?" Samous snapped, glancing over his shoulder at the unmorphed Psycho Green.

Kyle's blue eyes hardened at the harsh tone. "I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

Kyle hesitated a moment. "You're thinking about doing something drastic."

"What?" Samous growled, surprised at having been caught.

"I know what you're thinking Sam. You can't do it." Kyle continued. He was either unaware of the dark look crossing Samous's face or was choosing to ignore it. "You could kill yourself."

"Mind your own business." Samous growled. "I'll do what I damn well please."

"Think about the team." Kyle tried to reason. "What you plan on doing could destroy everything we've worked so hard for."

"Shut up!" Samous roared. He swung around and punched Kyle with enough force to take the young man down. He glared down into Kyle's wide eyes. "I don't give a damn about the team anymore! I don't care about you, the terrible twosome, or the other lowlifes on the team! Now, get out of my room!"

Kyle scrambled to his feet and made a quick dash out of the room, throwing one last hurt look at Samous. Samous watched him go as the fire died down inside him. For a moment regret flashed through him, but he shoved it away. Caring about his teammates was causing him to get hurt. But no more, because he was done being hurt. Nothing was going to ever hurt him again.

ZzZzZ

The mood on the ship was a somber one. Not everyone had known Kale very well. The three Battle Rangers had just barely begun to get to know him. Amias hadn't been very attached either, but having seen some of the Knight Ranger's darker memories, he had started to respect the older ranger. But all of that was gone. The Battle Rangers couldn't get to know him. Amias's respect couldn't turn into anything more. Kale was gone.

For everyone else the response was much stronger. The rangers were comforting each other having known Kale the longest. Of the six Hunter was the most affected. He had grown close to Kale as they had talked about the deeper aspects of being a ranger on several occasions. It hurt him to think that they would never talk again. The Knight Ranger had been such a well of knowledge and had willingly shared everything he knew with Hunter. Those were the memories that would stick with him for the rest of his life.

But none took it harder than Niko and Zadan. While both were struggling with Kale's death, they were also struggling with the changes that had come over them after accepting the responsibility of being Protectors. Niko had learned much from being in Kale's mind, but by becoming a Protector he had been assaulted with almost all of Kale's memories. Zadan was learning new things about his deceased teammate. Both of them were mourning what had been lost.

To top all of that off only moments after becoming Protectors their bodies had totally rejected the Psycho Ranger powers. Their Gems of Power had appeared in front of them, much to everyone's confusion. They knew what it meant though. As Protectors they could no longer use the Gems of Power for any reason and they quickly realized they didn't want to. Instead they were both turning to their first power, their ranger powers.

"Feels strange, doesn't it? Not to have the Psycho Ranger powers anymore." Niko commented.

Zadan shifted slightly and looked down at his hands. "Feels...lonely."

"Lonely?" Niko looked surprised and glanced at his friend. "Why?"

"Everyone around me still has a teammate. You've got Amias and the three Battle Rangers have each other." Zadan replied. "I've got no one."

"You'll always have me." Niko promised and pulled his friend into a hug. "Always."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

Niko sighed and didn't reply. Instead he took to running his fingers over the other's scalp, wishing the hair were long so he could play with it. They were both just starting to relax when they felt something shift deep down inside them. It caused them both to gasp and sit up as images of destruction and death flashed through their minds. When they came to their senses again they looked at each other with wide eyes. Something very, very wrong had happened. Whatever it was it had to do with the Gems of Power.

ZzZzZ

The shock wave that rippled through the nearby Gems of Power was enough to render the connected Psychos unconscious. The three from the first team felt the ripple at a smaller dose and only experienced a shock of discomfort. The three brushed it off until Kyle exploded into the command room, having recovered from the shock wave quickly. He tried to explain what had happened, but he was so upset he was barely making any sense. After a moment of annoyance Crimson grabbed the older man and flung him to the ground. Kyle's rambling cut off immediately as anger flashed through him.

"Stop rambling and make some damn sense." Crimson snapped. "What the hell is going on?"

"Samous has absorbed his Gem." Kyle announced. "Can't you feel it?"

Frowning, the three original Psychos exchanged a look. They could feel something, a greater power within the Gems, but it didn't make sense. All they had ever done was harness power from the Gems to morph and give them power attacks and all that. This was different. Someone wasn't harnessing the power, they were absorbing it. Judging from what Kyle was saying that someone was Samous and he was becoming more powerful by the moment.

"He's crazy." Kyle murmured. "He doesn't care about anything anymore. He's going to kill us all with is foolishness."

"This isn't good." Blue frowned, looking at Red. "What are we going to do Dariv?"

"He's still adjusting to the power." Red mused. He cast a quick glance at Kyle. "Go get the other Psychos and meet us at Samous's room. We have to kill the crazy fool before he's ready to kill us."

"Right." Kyle nodded and scrambled to his feet.

Crimson cast a look at Red. "This isn't going to go well."

"When have things gone well for us?" Red retorted bitterly. He quickly blocked out those feelings and stood up. "C'mon we've got to get to Samous before it's too late."

ZzZzZ

Samous gasped. It felt like his whole body was on fire. Not just on fire, but burning from the inside out. He almost expected to see his skin melting away, except he couldn't see a thing. His eyes were so tightly squeezed shut that lights flickered behind his eyelids. He felt as if he were going to melt into one big puddle of bubbling goo at any moment and was seriously beginning to regret accepting the Gem into his body. But he couldn't take it back, only grit his teeth and wait for it to end.

Suddenly the fire was replaced with the cooling sense of power. Every cell in his body felt energized. He felt more alive than ever before and reached out with all his heart and soul, absorbing as much of the cool energy that he could. The sensation made his head swim, but it felt so good he couldn't stop himself. Abruptly his body seemed to sense itself reaching a limit and stopped the flow of power, though he could feel so much more just beyond his reach. He was smart enough not to reach for it, unsure of what kind of effect that would have on him. From what he was feeling, he didn't need more power.

Then he felt something. Movement nearby stirred the air and he snapped to his senses just in time to grab the fist aimed for his face. With a snarl of rage he squeezed the hand with unnatural strength, enjoying the sound of bone crunching, and swung his attacker around and into the wall. Rage filled him to the breaking point as he looked around and saw his teammates standing around him looking ready to fight.

Crimson felt his eyes widen behind his helmet. Samous's eyes had changed. They had once been a cool gray, but no more. What stared back at them was emotionless, pulsing white eyes that betrayed the amount of power held within the man's body. They didn't need evidence of the power though. Every Psycho Ranger in the room could feel the power radiating from Samous as if it were heat from a fire. Never had they felt anything so powerful.

"You dare attack me?" Samous boomed, his voice as distorted as it usually was when morphed.

"Holy shit." Silver gasped, taking a step back. He got back into his stance with a slap to the back of the head from Gold, but he had spoken what was on all their minds.

"Bow before me and swear your allegiance." Samous ordered.

"Snap out of it Sam, this isn't--."

Samous turned to Psycho Gray and the look on his face caused her to pause mid sentence. Without warning he raised his hand, palm up, and pointed it right at her. Everyone knew what was coming next, but none of them could move fast enough to stop it. Pure energy shot from the open palm, concentrated into an arrow of sorts, which went straight through Psycho Gray's armor. She gasped and stiffened before she fell to the ground and demorphed. The bolt had gone straight through her heart. She was dead.

A wave of shock went through the Psychos, especially her teammates as they felt her death. Psycho Bronze whimpered softly at her loss. How could he have killed her so heartlessly? Dani...I'm sorry. Bronze looked up at Samous, rage filling his entire being as he tensed to attack. A firm grip on his shoulder kept him in place and he glanced over to see Psycho Teal had grabbed his shoulder.

Don't do anything hasty, Garnes. We don't stand a chance against him now. Teal's calm voice spoke in his mind.

But he killed Dani. I'm going to kill the bastard Brandon. Bronze snarled in reply.

When the time is right. Teal agreed. For now we should play along. A frontal assault will never work against him.

Bronze growled, but settled into his place as Samous's pulsing gaze swept around the room. The man that had once been their leader was gone. Something new and terrible had taken his place, something that was completely unlike the man they had known. The man before them was a monster.

"All of you, swear your allegiance to me or die." Samous boomed.

Psycho Red pulled himself up from where he had been slumped against the wall. His hand was throbbing and he was sure more than just a few bones were broken. But his will wasn't broken and he wasn't going to bow to anyone anymore. He moved towards the ring of Psychos and stepped so that he was facing Samous.

"We won't bow to anyone again. Power doesn't make you a leader Samous and--."

The gathered Psychos all gasped. No one had seen Samous move and yet he was suddenly holding Red by the throat. Red was squirming and kicking, but Samous possessed a supernatural strength that nothing could break. Crimson moved to help his teammate, but was swatted away with frightening ease. Blue tensed to do the same, but Green laid a hand on her shoulder.

Don't.

Blue didn't want to listen to the quiet command, but she knew she was nothing compared to Samous. She didn't stand a chance and her death wasn't going to help Red. Nothing could help Red. He was at the mercy of a madman and it was becoming apparent that Samous didn't have any mercy. Red was going to have to save himself. Apparently Red figured that out for himself as Samous was forced to release him due to the incredible amount of energy Red zapped him with. He didn't get far as Samous kicked him in the chest sending him flying into Gold and Silver who easily caught their fellow Psycho.

This is getting bad. What do we do? Silver asked, panicking slightly.

I don't know. This is...I don't know what to do about this.

ZzZzZ

"This couldn't be any worse." Zadan said to the gathered audience, voice tinged with panic. "Samous has successfully absorbed his Gem of Power. That makes him a bigger threat than Kalix at the moment."

"Makes you wonder if Kalix is a threat anymore." Kardan mused.

"Who knows, but one things for sure Samous is now a huge threat." Niko said.

Zadan nodded. "He's got enough power to blow Earth apart and I'm talking to pieces."

Horrified silence followed the statement. The Winds looked startled, while Hunter's expression was quickly turning to one of annoyance. Blake was giving his brother a weary look as if he knew what the problem was. Niko cocked an eyebrow, curious what seemed to be bothering the older Thunder.

"Hunter?" Niko called, trying to get the older boy's attention.

Hunter looked at him, frowning. "When did this all get so out of control?"

"Seems like it's been months now." Tori said. "Everything went downhill so quickly."

"I want to know when things are going to start getting better." Shane spoke up. "It's all too much for us."

"I think you're severely underestimating yourselves." Kardan said. He sighed and closed his eyes. "Have you learned nothing over these past few weeks?"

"Like what? How to get our butts kicked?" Hunter snapped, way past being irritated with everything. "Just once I'd like for us to have the advantage."

Kardan and Harper glanced at each other before Harper spoke up. "I hate to tell you this Hunter, but it's very likely things are going to get much, much worse before they ever get better."

"You all are going to have to have faith in everyone around you. You're going to have to believe in your teammates and your allies." Kardan continued. "The only way to get through this is together."

"It's hopeless." Hunter said, earning surprised looks from all his teammates. It wasn't like Hunter to give up on anything. "We don't stand a chance against--."

Hunter was cut off by a punch to the face. Everyone went completely silent; no one even dared to breathe. Blake gave his brother an angry look that startled everyone. Hunter himself stared in shock at his little brother having never expected Blake to hit him like that. Then rage began to overcome the shock and everyone feared he'd strike Blake back, but gradually the anger faded to a rather hurt expression. Seeing that he wasn't going to get hit in return everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Blake hadn't even flinched at the rage and wasn't fazed by the hurt expression either. "You deserved that. If I ever hear you saying anything like that again I won't hesitate to knock some sense into you." The hurt began to leave Hunter's face as Blake went on. "We all need to be strong and believe in one another. If you think its hopeless then you doubt us, you doubt me, and that hurts more than that punch did."

"I don't doubt you Blake." Hunter argued.

"Sure sounded like it to me." Blake replied, crossing his arms in a very Hunter-like fashion. "If we lose it'll be because you failed the team."

The room gasped collectively. Hunter took a step back from Blake, eyes wide. What's come over him? Why is he being so vicious? It was totally unlike Blake to say anything so cruel.

"Blake--."

"I think you should go think about how you see this team Hunter. If you can't believe in us you'll only bring the team down."

"Blake!" Tori exclaimed, completely blown away by his behavior.

Hunter stared at his brother's hard eyes, unable to believe it was his little brother saying those things to him. When Blake only continued to glare back Hunter made a soft sound of distress before he turned and fled the room. The room was silent and everyone could only watch in silence as Blake followed his brother's lead. The three Winds looked to Cam for an explanation, but the Samurai just shrugged. No one was sure what had just happened, but it didn't look good.

ZzZzZ

"Samous stop!" Blue pleaded.

Samous was beating the life out of Red. The Psycho Ranger was still morphed, but it didn't seem to matter. All of Samous's attacks either dented or went straight through the armor. Half of Red's helmet was shattered leaving the whole left side of his face exposed and it was all covered in blood. Both his arms were broken from trying to defend himself. Almost all of his ribs had been shattered on his left side and had punctured a lung. He was bleeding internally and his back had almost been broken from a harsh kick. Red was too far gone and his healing abilities could only do so much.

"This is an example to all of you! Join me or die!" Samous roared.

Crimson made another move to help Red, but a brutal backhand dented his chest plate and cracked three ribs. He lay on the ground wheezing, unable to do anything as Samous prepared to give Red a final blow. Dariv. I'm sorry.

Not...your fault. Dariv replied, his mental voice weak. Just promise me one thing.

Anything.

Go home and make things right. Unite our two people. Bring peace to the world.

I'll do everything I can. I promise

Aurias.

Yes Dariv?

I love you.

Aurias gasped. I love you too! Don't you dare leave me now!

I'm...sorry...

Samous lifted Red with one big fist wrapped around the Psycho's face. White energy pooled at Samous's fingertips and made it look like he had claws. Every Psycho in the room gasped as they figured out his plan, but knew they could do nothing to stop him. A positively sinister smile crossed the madman's face as he pulled his free hand back and then plunged it forward. The energy claws tore right through Red's chest plate and into the flesh below. Red gave a soft, weak cry of agony as Samous's claws sliced through shattered ribs and grabbed his still beating heart. Samous gave a cruel smirk before squeezing his fist closed. Red's whole body spasmed once before going completely limp. Samous pulled his bloody hand back and let the demorphed body of his ex-teammate fall to the ground.

Blue fell to her knees as tears filled her eyes. Dariv! How could you confess your love to me and then die?

"Now, all of you kneel and swear fealty to me or suffer the same fate." Samous demanded with a maniacal gleam in his eyes.

Everyone do it. Crimson ordered.

Samous watched with glee as all the Psychos kneeled before him. No one can stand up to my might now! Earth will fall and Kalix's empire will be mine!

ZzZzZ

Niko gasped and put a hand to his heart as pain flashed through him. He looked toward Zadan and saw his friend doing the same. They knew what that meant. They knew who it was.

"Dariv." Niko whispered. Everyone still on the bridge looked at him. "Samous killed him."

"Psycho Red is dead?" Shane asked.

Zadan nodded. "I can feel Terik and Aurias's distress." He frowned and put a hand to his head. "This is too much."

Zadan left the bridge with Niko hot on his tail. Everyone else was left in silence. They didn't understand everything that the two ex-Psychos had been talking about. The only thing that was clear was that Samous had killed Psycho Red. They also understood that things had just gone from bad to much, much worse.

"Bloody hell."