The battle against Ryjax was intense. In his enlarged form, his power grew immeasurably, to the point that even the Ultrazord had difficulties keeping up with him. In the end though, a lucky blow at the last moment had been the difference between victory and defeat.

Everyone was rushing around the base as the teams brought the Rangers and their damaged Zords back to the base. The Rangers' medical transport stopped in the garage, letting them out directly in front of Joanne and Roxy. Roxy ran and immediately hugged Ravi, kissing him repeatedly everywhere she could.

"Hey, hey, I'm a little tender here." He chuckled as he backed away a little tenderly.

"How are you? That looks bad, can we get a doctor? CAN WE GET A DOCTOR…?" She started screaming. Ravi grabbed her and turned her to face him.

"Roxy, I'm fine, it's just a little electrical burn from my console." He tried to assure her.

"Yeah, thanks for that." Joanne answered sarcastically. "God, these things look thrashed! Guess I'm doing overtime for the foreseeable future."

"Just think of all the cool games coming out soon you'll be able to buy." Devon answered her. She just rolled her eyes, but smiled a little. One of the few benefits of working for a private military contractor was that it wasn't too hard to get overtime pay signed off. She was a little put out by how much damage Ryjax had done to the zords, but Devon did have a point. By the time they were done, she'd have plenty of spare cash for her next gaming haul. He looked back to the others. "I'll…make it up to her later."

"Good luck with that." Zoey grumbled as she held a cold pack to her head. "Come on guys, we have an appointment with the infirmary."

"Hold on, I just need to get my arm." Steel said, reaching into the back of the medical transport, picking up his disembodied arm. He started to make his way towards the medical bay when Joanne stopped him.

"Steel, where are you going?" Joanne asked him.

"Medical." Steel said, holding up his arm. "I think I hurt it…I mean, for a while I couldn't find it."

"Funny." Joanne replied, before pointing to a corner of the workshop. Steel watched the rest of his team going with the doctors, before just hanging his head and making his way towards a workbench, lying down on it.

Back in the Crystal Dimension, Evox was watching the battle being replayed over and over. He didn't care too much about Ryjax. The odds were when he was no longer useful to Evox, he would have tried to find a way to destroy him and get his collection of weapons for himself. However, he did like it when those he invested in completed their task before he cashed them in.

"Too bad, the Rhino went by bye." Blaze said somewhat dismissively. "On the plus side, those Zords looked to be in a pretty sorry state."

"Yes, if there is any kind of saving grace to this debacle it's that the Rangers will be reeling for quite some time from that." Evox mused. "Not to mention Ryjax's arsenal is hidden somewhere on the planet. All we need to do is find it before the Rangers do."

"Funny you should mention that." Roxy said with a sly little smirk. "We've got someone working on that actually."

Evox just laughed.

"I knew there was a reason I didn't destroy both of you." He told them. "Recall your asset. I want to hear this for myself!"

In her office, Commander Shaw was waiting on the Rangers' reports of the battle. She knew it would be a while before they were finished with the medics and could give their own reports. Joanne was giving her regular updates on the Zord repairs.

She heard a knock on the doorframe, and looked up, seeing Chaku standing there.

"Its protocol where I come from to report to the Commanding Officer as soon as possible once the battle is over." He began. "Is that the same here?"

"It is." She said, inviting him inside. "Would you like something to drink?"

"I should be fine for now." Chaku told her. "So, my report…"

"That can wait for now." She interrupted him. "I just got a call from one of your superiors. A Lieutenant Farsight."

"I thought you might." Chaku replied. "I've already sent my resignation."

"She was disappointed to hear you were leaving them." Commander Shaw stated. "I was a little surprised that he asked whether or not we would be making provisions for your family."

Chaku didn't say anything.

"You didn't mention that you had a family." She pointed out, pouring herself some mineral water. "It's not a problem; we could very easily make some arrangements…"

"That won't be necessary." Chaku told her. "My family will not be joining me."

"It really would be no trouble…"

"It's not an issue. My family will not be joining me." Chaku reiterated. Commander Shaw looked confused.

"Captain Chaku, you're aware what we're offering you is not a short-term placement. It's a permanent position." She said for clarification.

"I'm aware." He replied.

"Your family…"

"With all due respect, my family is my business." Chaku interrupted her. "Now, if you're not ready to receive my report, permission to return to my quarters."

"Permission granted." She concluded, seeing that this conversation was going nowhere. As Chaku left the room, she took a sip of her water, trying to make sense of what she had heard. Her intercom sounded, drawing her attention. She just leaned forward, answering it.

"Commander Shaw, there's an issue in medical." One of her medical technicians stated.

"Is everything alright? Are the Rangers OK?" She asked, starting to panic a little. "If there's anything you need, I can make a call and have it within…"

"Commander, the Rangers are fine, it's all minor injuries. Bumps and bruises mostly." The technician told her. "It's a security issue."

"Security?" She asked.

"We just got an alert; someone was trying to get into the records." The technician told her.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" She asked, completely baffled.

"Ma'am…I think it's probably best you come to security." The officer replied. "I think it's probably best you deal with this in person."

"I'll be right down." She replied, before finishing her drink and heading for the door.

In the infirmary, the Rangers were just finishing up being treated. Zoey rolled her head in circles, stretching out her neck as Steel walked back in.

"I can see why it took Chaku years to track Ryjax down." She muttered. "If this is what it feels like taking him as a team, I can't imagine what it must have been like trying to go toe to toe with him single-handed."

"I do, I just got this thing back!" Steel joked, pointing to his arm. "Get it? Single handed, because..."

"Yeah, we get it Steel." Ravi answered with a smile. "Got to say, I envy you right now. I've got burns and it hurts like hell. You just lost a hand and you're fine twenty minutes later."

"Hey, look who it is!" Devon announced as he saw Chaku. "Hey, Chaku, we were just saying, it took this much out of all of us to bring down Ryjax. Don't know how you could have faced off with him for so long alone."

"It wasn't easy." Chaku greeted her as he arrived. "I can only thank you again. I just wish there was more I could have done when..."

"Hey, we don't keep those Zords around for fun." Devon assured him with chuckle, wincing as he aggravated some nasty bruising. "But seriously, we were glad to help. Even if he wasn't coming for us, someone that powerful running around throwing it at innocent people is someone that needed taken down."

"And now that he has been, I can join Grid Battle force and leave him behind me." Chaku stated. The Rangers looked among themselves.

"Would you mind giving us a minute?" Nate asked the medical staff. They all left the room, giving the team and Chaku some privacy. As the door closed, Chaku realised they were all looking at him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"We know you don't want to go back to your daughter because of your implants." Zoey began cautiously. Chaku stood with his hands on his hips defiantly.

"Why is my family situation any of your business?" He demanded. "I agreed to join your team, that's all that should matter."

"But we want you to be happy more than anything." Devon told him. "Look, all of us have family situations; we know that family's not always easy. I lost my mom when I was young and while we're getting better now, my dad and I...we really had to work at it to get there."

"I lost my dad when I was just a kid." Ravi added.

"My dad left before I was even born. Decided kid number three was one too many for him." Zoey sighed. "My mom and my brothers might drive me crazy, but I wouldn't be where I am without them."

"My family is my business!" Chaku put down a little more forcefully. "I've made my decision."

"But you make your decision without knowing all the options." Nate told him. "Look, I don't know how extensive your cybernetics are, but it might be possible to remove some of the ones you don't need anymore."

"It...might?" He asked. Nate just nodded.

"Most of your cybernetics weren't replacement, they were augments. If you don't mind not being able to flip cars or access databases wirelessly anymore I might be able to take some of them out." Nate offered. "And the ones that replaced anything vital that we can't take out? Well...we're getting better at making things a lot less conspicuous."

"I don't follow." Chaku responded. Steel sat on a crate in the corner, folding his arms as he listened to them.

"I've been working on a kind of synthetic skin substitute. It was something I was developing for Joanne to conceal her spinal implants." He continued. "It's still in pretty early development, but if you don't mind acting as a test candidate, it might be possible to conceal some of your implants and make you more like you were."

"I...I don't know what to say." Chaku stammered, trying to think about this. He took off his helmet and looked at his reflection in it, running his hand over his implants. "You think you might be able to make me look like...like the dad my Starlight knew?"

"We could try." Zoey offered. For the first time since they'd met him, Chaku smiled.

"I...I really don't know what to say." He replied in a kind of nervous, but grateful laugh. "You would do that for me?"

"You did us a good turn." Devon reminded him. "Besides, helping others is kind of what we're all about, right?"

Steel got up from the crate and started to head out the door while the other Rangers gathered around Chaku, while he took a seat, trying to imagine the possibility of being returned to normal, or at least as close to normal as it was possible for him to be. Nate saw Steel leaving.

"Hey, Steel." He called out. "Where are you going?"

"I've got a night shift starting soon." He reminded his brother. "It's not like I was hurt or anything is it?"

With that, he just walked out the door, while Nate returned to Chaku, showing him some of the research he'd been doing on covert cybernetics.

In another part of the medical bay, Commander Shaw arrived, finding some security guards gathered around one of the rooms. They saluted her as she arrived, which she waved off.

"At ease." She stated. "Report."

"I was just doing some work, trying to get some records to help the team helping the Rangers when I heard someone in this room." One of the clerks reported. "I saw the door was slightly ajar, which it shouldn't be because it's a secure room so I went in to have a look."

He led her inside, where she found a couple of filing cabinets open and one of the computers cordoned off. Commander Shaw just looked around.

"What in the world?" She asked.

"I thought the same thing when I saw this." The clerk told her. "I didn't see anyone in here, I thought they must have left, so I started trying to see what they had accessed, then I heard someone run out behind me. I tried to see who it was, but they moved too fast. That's when I called security right away."

Commander Shaw just looked to the filing cabinets. Many of them were open, but none of them had been forced. It looked like whoever had done it either had a key, or had been able to pick the locks.

"As you know, medical records are strictly confidential. We take security very seriously." The clerk continued.

"Alright, it looks like you have things under control here." Commander Shaw said as she looked to one of the security personnel. "Have this area secured, and report anything you find to me. Otherwise, I'll leave this in your hands."

"Ma'am!" The clerk called out. "There was another reason we called."

"I appreciate the report, but I really think security can handle..."

"Ma'am, the reason I called you down here is this." The clerk told her, gesturing to the computer. She just sighed and went over, booting it up and looking at the screen. She furrowed her brows. "Ma'am, I've been over all the records, nothing's missing, and the only records they accessed...they're yours."

Commander Shaw stiffened as she heard this. She stood upright and turned to the security guard.

"Take this place apart. I want every millimetre of this room tested to see if we can find who did this!" She stated. "If someone thinks I'm going to take this lying down, they obviously do NOT know who they're messing with!"

Later that night, Nate brought Zoey with him into the lab. She had a big smile on her face as they got there, checking around to make sure they weren't followed.

"You think anyone saw us?" She asked excitedly. Nate shook his head.

"No, I think we're clear." He told her.

"I can't believe we're doing this." She squealed jubilantly. "I can't wait to see the look on Chaku's face when he sees what we're planning!"

Nate pulled up a communications link on his computer. Shortly after he booted up, he saw a face appearing on his screen. It was a woman in gold armour, much like Chaku's, though it had some different decorations on it, including some writing in an unfamiliar language inlaid in red. She had purple hair, which was waist length, and was styled into a braid which she hung over her right shoulder. She had ice blue eyes. She looked into the screen, confused.

"Lieutenant Farsight, G4 Galaxy Police." She greeted them. "How can I help you?"

"Sorry, I understand your confusion, let me introduce myself. I'm Nate Silva, I'm from Grid Battleforce."

"Grid Battleforce, yes, I recall getting a call from your Commander earlier." She replied. "Um, this is a private line, if you don't mind, how did you...?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry for the intrusion." Nate said, trying to brush off the fact he'd just hacked the personal communications of a law enforcement officer. "I wanted to talk to you about Captain Chaku's family."

"Yes, I was a little surprised to hear he was leaving us." She sighed. "A little disappointed too. How can I help?"

"We were wondering if you could help arrange a little surprise for us." Zoey chipped in, stepping into view. "We were hoping we could bring his daughter here to Earth."

Farsight just smiled in response.

"So, Chaku changed his mind." She said, sounding relieved. "Of course, I'd prefer if he returned to us, but if he's going to leave, I was hoping he'd reunite with his daughter."

"He's...not really agreed anything yet." Nate conceded. "We're going to be doing some procedures to help make him a little more comfortable with his implants so he could see her. We were kind of hoping we could surprise him with a friendly face when we were done?"

"Chaku has been a wonderful officer for us. I'm sad to see him go, but he's done more than G4 Galaxy Police could ever have asked of anyone." She replied cheerfully. "I'll prepare my personal transport. She should be with you by tomorrow morning."

"That would be amazing!" Zoey shrieked. "Thank you so much, Lieutenant Farsight."

"For Chaku, anything." She answered. "For the greater good."

"For the greater good." Nate returned the greeting as he signed off.

A/N: Before anyone comments, yes, I did write out Chaku's mech. Because it was only in one fight of one episode, I really didn't think it added much overall to the story, and so I opted to just do without it.