Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the laptop I'm using to write this story.

In the morning, Z woke up and did her daily routine of showering and dressing before walking out and finding Bridge being his normal oddball self. He was doing a handstand against a wall while reading, occasionally transferring all of his weight to one arm to turn the page. He was still reading Sky's book.

"Hey Bridge." She said. He spotted her and turned himself right side up and smiled. "What's up?"

"I've been reading Sky's book since he went on his weekend morning jog. It's a very disturbing book about this psych ward after a war, and this guy's a schizophrenic who can't speak…and it's just a very interesting book. Seeing Sky as we have, I'm not surprised about it." He picked the book off the floor. "It makes he hungry."

"Me too."

"Cafeteria, table for three?" A voice called from the doorway. It was Corona.

"Hey there, Corona." Bridge said with a smile. She noticed a green package in her hands. "What's that?"

"Well, I heard that a certain somebody has to follow me everywhere, and that certain somebody doesn't have a large wardrobe, so when I went clothes shopping yesterday, I got that certain somebody a few things."

"Oh, you didn't…" Bridge blushed.

"Well, since we're about the same height, I just picked out some clothes I thought you'd like." She gave him the box and smiled.

"I'll open it after breakfast."

"Oh, you're going to have breakfast?"

"Yeah. We're just going to the cafeteria. You wanna come with us?"

"Of course!" Corona replied. The three then sauntered down to the cafeteria.

To Z, breakfast had never been as pleasant and heart-warming than sitting at a table with Bridge and Corona. She felt like she was watching Jack and herself dining together; smiles were had, jokes were exchanged, and meaningful comments were said. Z also watched Corona's toast habits and smiled. It was interesting to find that Bridge noticed the tiny quirks in her personality and commented on them, something Jack would do as a lighthearted joke from time to time. Bridge seemed to be a lot less skittish around her as well; perhaps it was the lack of time between each other, or her lack of calling him out for the stupid things Z had become used to noticing and mentally writing off as 'stupid antics'.

She was also beginning to take Bridge's side on why he was so pissed off at Sky; Corona was as much of a nice girl as much as she was a tough one, and she just seemed lonely above all. There was nothing wrong with her that Z could see, and her judge of character was fine-tuned from her years on the street. She enjoyed Corona's light-hearted humor, her witty retorts, and all around polite manner. If Z had never seen proof that Corona was once a part of an intergalactic crime ring, she would have assumed that Corona had grown up in a white collar, low-high income family, and had gone to MIT before joining SPD.

"Officer Delgado?" Corona asked, snapping Z out of her observant trance.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to the mall, and since Bridge has to go with me, would you like to come as well?"

"Um, maybe tomorrow? Cruger has me and Syd doing some patrol work. In fact, I think I'm late." Z looked up at the clock. She was indeed late, by almost five minutes. "See? I'm late. I'll see you both later. Tomorrow, you, me, Syd, mall?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Corona said. "Good luck today, Officer Delgado."

"Oh, don't call me that. Z will do just fine."

"Okay, Z. That sounds like a stellar plan!" Corona said with a smile.

"Sounds good to me too. It was nice to finally meet you, Corona." She extended a hand out for a shake.

"It was nice to meet you too, Z." Corona nervously reached out and shook Z's hand, giving a pained look when her shield went up.

"Oh, don't worry." Z said. "Bridge told me about your shield. You're amongst the odd bunch now."

"Oh?"

"I'll explain later." Bridge said.

"Okay." Z grabbed her apple and ran out.

Up on the Terror Spacecraft, Grumm was growing increasingly infuriated with Mordom. He had entered Mora's room thirty minutes before, and found the two having a tea party.

"Emperor Grumm, I am merely entertain Miss Mora to keep her out of her hair. What's the use of having a tool that refuses to work for you?" Mordom's hypnotic suggestion was strong enough to work on Mora, and making her tell him how to persuade Grumm without spending a dime was easy. Grumm, however, was in the dark about all of this.

"That is not the point, Mordom. I hired you to destroy the Power Rangers, and you run away like a coward every time!"

"A good assassin knows when it is right to strike, and when it is right to leave. The Rangers are weakest when they are apart, yet they've all been together whenever we have met on the battlefield. I have a plan to take down the Rangers once and for all, but it takes many soldiers and many steps, but it is foolproof."

"If you give me a good reason as to why I should allow you to do your plan, I won't vaporize you!"

It was horrible to have the hired help ordering you around, but to have them have a better plan than you was worse. This was Grumm's dilemma.

"How much longer are you going to wait?" Grumm asked Mordom.

"A bit longer, Emperor…just a bit longer…"

Back down at SPD Headquarters, Bridge had long opened his gift box and gotten dressed in one of the two outfits Corona had bought for him. Today he was dressed in a long olive green winter jacket with a faux fur-lined hood and matching leather gloves, a plain white teeshirt, a snugly fitting pair of khaki jeans, and his green sneakers from the day before. He decided to not struggle with his hair, but he had opted to put gel in it after his shower to give himself the feeling that he had some sort of control over it. He walked out and greeted Corona. Corona had opted to wear a blue corset underneath a red wool trenchcoat with a pair of blue jeans and brown steel toe boots this time around. She had obviously watched the weather channel; today's weather called for a cold rain shower.

"I assume that you're ready." Corona said.

"Whenever you're ready."

"Good to hear." Corona smiled.

Out on their street patrol in the Delta Cruiser, Syd and Z saw this as just another day without a monster to fight. Z decided to pitch the idea of hanging out with Corona out to Syd.

"Hey Syd," Z said, breaking the silence. "you remember the mechanic Bridge's bodyguarding?"

"That Corona girl from the video last night? Yeah. Why?"

"I was thinking…do you wanna hang out with her and I tomorrow? Ya know, have some girl time with her." Z started decelerating at the red light.

"Sure. I mean, we do get Sundays off, and I have nothing planned, so I'm game."

"I mean, Bridge might have to come along…"

"Oh, Bridge's harmless." Syd replied with a cheery tone to her voice.

Bridge was about the most asexual member of the team, as far as Syd knew; he was the only one that she knew of that had never attempted to make a pass at anybody, both inside and outside of SPD. She knew that even Sky had once made a pass at a cadet named Laura when they were both in D Squad, and that had abruptly ended when she taught him the reason why a male should wear a cup during a sparring match.

"I don't know. I mean, there are some things that guys should just not do." Z gave Syd a quick suggestive look, then accelerated as the light turned green.

Jack was busy training with Boom; another simulation where Boom had to be a villain and get pummeled by Jack. Boom could only hope Corona would finish the project she had promised Kat that she'd finish soon; he was sore from all of the fighting. Having low stamina and a low pain tolerance was the exact reason why he flunked out in the first place.

Jack, however, was both crafty and a crack shot, so this was going to be easy. He lied against the wall, sunglasses reflecting a light that would have otherwise impeded his vision. He had his standard issue pistol in hand, ready to fire away at the first sight of Boom. However, Boom had poor reflexes, and he had slammed into a box in the warehouse simulation's northeast wing. Jack phased through the wall quickly then turned around, scanning the area for anything out of place. Jack noticed a box out in the middle of the walkway about a hundred or so yards off, making him grin.

"Too easy." He slowly began making his way around, phasing through whatever was in his way. He spotted Boom after almost a minute or so, and he thought it lucky that Boom was facing the opposite direction. Boom's costume looked ridiculous; he was dressed up to look like a Van Gogh-ified version of Commander Cruger dressed in a clown suit. One quick shot to the spine and the simulation was over.

"Gee, Jack, that was a quick one!" Boom said.

"Well, I'm a quick one, aren't I? That's why I'm the Red Ranger." Jack said with a cocky tone in his voice.

"Yeah…"

The alarm sounded. "All B Squad cadets, report to the command center immediately."

"Oh good. Some excitement."

"Wow…" Bridge said in awe as he walked into the mall. The sheer wideness of the interior of the Newtech City Mall was just so much to him. The pure volume of shops was amazing.

"We can go wherever you want, Bridge." Corona said.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Do they have a bookshop in here?"

"They have three. You wanna go to a comic book shop, an educational book shop, or a fiction book shop?"

"Oh, I can't choose!"

"We can go in order then."

"Awesome…" Bridge smiled.

It was beginning to rain outside, and Syd was pouting and wishing the Delta Cruiser had a roof.

"Oh, I hate the rain!" Syd whined.

"Well, it's not like you're going to a party or anything. Relax; a little water never hurt anybody."

"Well, I guess you're right…" Syd replied.

Suddenly, a small pack of Krybots appeared in front of the Delta Cruiser. Z made an evasive move to avoid crashing into them. She stopped mere centimeters away from one of them, which gave them to excuse to jump the Delta Cruiser.

"Oh shit! Syd, out!" Z shouted.

"Bridge…?" Corona said as she caught up to him.

"Yeah?" Bridge replied.

"I have something to say to you…"

"What is it?"

"Well-" Corona was interrupted by a woman's scream. "what was that?"

Bridge aura scanned the area from where the scream rang out and caught Krybots on his radar.

"Krybots in the mall. I'll take you back-" He grabbed her arm as he began to turn around, but she responded by grabbing his hand.

"No. I'm staying with you." Bridge gave her a concerned look as he turned to face her. "I'm a big girl. Besides, you might need backup."

"I'll call for it if it's needed." Bridge replied sternly.

"Forget it. Let's save some people, just you and me."

Bridge sighed. "If anything happens to you, I'm blaming your stubbornness for it. Got it?"

"Crystal clear." Corona replied with a smile.

"Officer Landors, there have been numerous energy readings around the town that indicate a massive assault by Grumm. There's at least one Ranger in every area but one. I'm deploying you to the unmanned area in Sector 2. Now go." Cruger quickly debriefed Jack, since there wasn't much time to waste.

"Yessir." Jack replied as he saluted and left.

Cruger huffed as Jack left. Kat walked in shortly after.

"Have you been able to contact Sky at all, Kat?" Cruger asked.

"No I haven't. I saw him leave early this morning; he looked like he was going out for a jog. He hasn't returned to the base since."

"I told him not to go anywhere alone…I purposely sent Corona to the ship to ensure that he wouldn't be alone, and that only caused more trouble, so I decided to not do that again, and now he just goes off without telling anybody where he is! This is ridiculous."

"Sir, Sky's the strongest member of B Squad. If anybody can defend himself, it's him."

"But this Mordom…you saw what he did before. You saw the tape with me; you know what he's capable of…I'm more worried about losing my best cadet to this monster than anything, especially if he does what he did on the Tantalus."

The security log Sky had brought back had severely unnerved Cruger; Mordom had not only brutally murdered every member of the crew, but it had forced a young female cadet to do all of the dirty work. The young girl wasn't more than Corona and Sky's age at the time, and it was unknown what her name was, since nobody on the tape had time to speak it, but it was disheartening to think that something such as that could happen, but it was horrific to know how far the creature would go to get what it wanted.

"Try one more time to get a hold of Sky." Cruger commanded.

"Yessir." Kat relayed one more message to Sky.

"Sky, can you hear me? This is Dr. Manx."

A garbled message came back in response. He was obviously far away. "Ye-…can…rdly her-………st be far ou………"

"We want you to return to base immediately."

The reception got a bit better; Kat was now able to tell what he was saying.

"I'm at the cemetery, and I ran here. I'll be there as soon as I-" He cut off for a moment. "I've got trouble. I may be later than I thought."

"Sky, what is it?" The reception was cut off. "Sky…?" Nothing but dead air.

"That cadet will be the death of me, I swear." Cruger commented.

Sky was in a bit of a pickle after walking out of the mausoleum. Mordom was outside waiting for him.

"Holding a service for the retired loved ones, Nova?" Mordom taunted.

"You're a sick freak, you know that?" It was beginning to rain at the graveyard now.

"Well, I have a proposition. Either you join me willingly, or we can have it out right here."

"Well, I guess I got warmed up this morning for a reason then." Sky said as he got into a fighting stance.

Syd and Z fought off the Krybots one by one; Syd used her genetic power to gain 'fists of steel' from the hood of the Delta Cruiser, and Z made a duplicate of herself. Syd then proceeded to bash the hell out of the Krybots, sometimes getting a lucky shot and driving her fist through a random spot on a Krybot. Z and her duplicate double teamed whatever Syd had targeted, using swift and steady movements to trip, toss and maim every Krybot into submission. As the fight ended, Syd contacted the base.

"Commander, we've taken out about a dozen Krybots. What do you want us to do?"

"I want you to report to Newtech Cemetery immediately." Cruger said through the fuzz. The storm was affecting their communications.

"Yessir." Syd and Z got back into the Delta Cruiser. Syd sighed. "I was hoping he'd tell us to go back to base."

Bridge and Corona ran towards the Krybot group. Corona summoned up her shield spike as Bridge tightened up his gloves. Corona destroyed one Krybot that was trying to attack an elderly woman.

"Alright everybody! SPD's Here! File out in an orderly fashion!" Bridge called out. The crowd, however, wasn't too keen on 'filing out in an orderly fashion', as they nearly trampled Bridge to escape the food court. Corona helped the elderly woman get to her daughter and grandkids before joining Bridge in the fight.

Bridge was quickly tossed into the middle by the Krybots. He kicked a chair at a few Krybots coming towards him, knocking the whole group back. Corona drove her spike through some of the Krybots knocked back by Bridge.

"I'm coming, Bridge!" Corona shouted as she sliced through a few more Krybots. Surrounded and outnumbered, Bridge hatched up a plan. "Stand where you are, Corona, and get prepared to have things flung at you." He said as he went after one of the Krybots. He picked the Krybot out of the crowd and tossed it at Corona, who quickly gouged the Krybot, then tossed it into a small crowd to her left. Bridge then kicked a chair into the group behind Corona, taking out a few more Krybots.

"Bridge!" Corona cried out as a Krybot began to flank Bridge.

"Huh?" Bridge muttered before he was tackled to the ground. Several Krybots joined the dogpile on top of Bridge. Corona gasped, but was quickly relieved, as Bridge managed to toss all of the Krybots off, then quickly dispatched them all with swift and steady punches.

As a Krybot dived for Corona, Bridge grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him. She stopped as she collided with his chest, making her blush slightly. "Thanks."

"It's my job." Bridge replied with a smile. She regained her composure and realized that Bridge still had her hand, making her feel like they were about to dance. "I have an idea. Being separated isn't helping us."

"Agreed." He took note of the Krybot behind Corona and gave her a look. However, Corona noted the same thing. They both kicked backwards, smashing the Krybots into tables. They then both went back to the stance they had been in. They took a waltzing position and began using each other as weapons against the few remaining Krybots. After the fight was over, Bridge's morpher sounded.

"Officer Carson speaking."

"I want you and Miss Corona back at the base immediately."

"Yessir!" Bridge replied as he closed the morpher. They began to walk out until a small crowd of people who had been standing around watching the entire fight stopped them and thanked them.

"You two are such amazing Rangers." A small voice called out from amongst the crowd. A little girl walked up to Corona; both Bridge and Corona thought she looked familiar.

"I'm not a Ranger, little girl."

"But shouldn't you be? You could be a Red Ranger, even!" The girl smiled demonically.

Corona was unnerved slightly. "Where's your mother?"

"Let's go, Corona. We have things to do." Bridge said, grabbing her arm and yanking on her.

"Goodbye, Corona." The girl replied as she waved goodbye with her little doll's hand.

Sky was fighting frantically against Mordom. He had tried morphing, but had his morpher shot out of her hand. He had tried putting up his shield, but Mordom had shattered it, rendering it useless for at least several hours.

"Just like on KO-35, isn't it, Nova?" Mordom taunted.

"I don't go by that name anymore. Things are different now." Sky replied.

"Ah yes. A few inches taller, a few years older, but still the same scared boy I defeated years ago."

Sky shot a death glare at Mordom and charged at it with an extended left arm, preparing what could be a devastating blow. Mordom, anticipating a risky move, grabbed Sky's fist and twisted his arm, forcing Sky to turn and drop to his knees.

"I see your pride is still intact…haven't you learned anything since you left?"

"I've learned how to be a good guy, that's for sure."

Mordom wrenched Sky's left arm harder, causing Sky to cry out in pain. "I assume that they taught you how to lose your temper, be arrogant, and make erroneous moves in these courses, or did you do some of your own learning?"

Jack arrived at the final Krybot gathering; a junkyard on the outskirts of town. Jack had morphed long before he arrived, and was ready to put the smackdown on some Krybots. He parked his Patrol Cycle outside the lot, drew his Delta Blasters and ran in. He quickly spotted the Krybots and let loose a flurry of shots, blowing holes through numerous Krybots. A Bluehead emerged from the crowd and fired back, but Jack dodged the shots and returned fire, disarming the Bluehead. He ran in for a flying kick and nailed the Bluehead in the spot where the two rings around its head connected, crushing the helmet in. He then roundhouse kicked a Krybot into a stack of cars, causing the entire pile to fall forwards on top of a few more Krybots. A few more shots from his Delta Blasters cleared out the area.

"That was easy…too easy." Jack said to himself as he powered down. He then called in his report.

"Return to the base, Jack."

"You got it, sir."

Z and Syd were riding into the cemetery when two Krybots jump in front of the cruiser.

Z duplicated herself and had her duplicate drive while she stood in the backseat and fired at the two Krybots with her pistol. She then dropped her double and took the wheel once more.

"Nice shooting." Syd complimented.

"Thanks." Z said with a smile. A shot then rang out, nearly striking the front right tire. Z swerved to avoid the shot, then stopped. She spotted a heavily disoriented Sky, with a bruised cut to his forehead and a torn up shirt. He gave a shocked look as he lowered his weapon; he held his left arm softly due to his injuries.

"Did I hit you guys? I'm sorry! I thought it was a Krybot coming!" Sky said as he ran up to the cruiser.

"Are you okay?" Syd asked.

"Cruger told us to come here. Are you alright?"

"I'm pissed, that's what!" Sky replied. "Mordom got away! He tossed me against a tree, and I got knocked out for a few minutes, and I woke up to find that he had left!"

"How did he get away?" Z asked, perplexed.

"Like I said, he escaped while I was out!"

"Ugh, just get in the cruiser!" Syd shouted. The rain was agitating the hell out of her. She hated the rain more than Kat did. Sky jumped in the back, Z pulled the cruiser around, and the trio headed off back to the base.