"Get down!" Liam shouted at the top of his lungs. The boy couldn't believe his eyes; his best friend was about to get cooked. Without thinking, he took off full force.

"No!" Liam called out focusing his Power from Within into his legs. The trees around him were falling apart. Jared, Alicia, Chris and Asher were being held up by Shadowlites.

The cloaked Demon let loose a gigantic fireball that sailed over at Noah who was protecting Sonia while unmorphed.

"Noah!" Liam shrieked in desperation as he threw himself in front of the attack. In seconds, the Green Ranger felt pain in all sense of the word.

"Liam!"

~ 12 Hours Earlier ~

The Rangers were in the middle of a small scuffle with some low level demons; a bunch have been attacking lately, people and Rangers alike.

Liam was cornered by a leather clad humanoid with red skin and deep black eyes. The demon opened his mouth and let fire shoot forward. The Ranger put a barrier up between himself and the six foot tall fiend.

Across the battlefield, a city street, Asher and Chris had finished off a group of Shadowlites with a mixture of Light and Darkness.

"You're getting the hang of it." Asher complimented giving Chris a quick pat on the shoulder.

"Thanks but- Hit the deck!" Chris took Asher and dove behind a car to avoid a loose energy ball.

Sonia struck down two demons with her daggers and front flipped off a car and kicked another demon away from Alicia.

Jared was literally running on walls fighting a fairly large demon who resembled the one attacking Liam.

Sonia slammed the ground with her left hand and sent a sound wave through it, knocking Liam's attacker off balance. Liam took this chance and kicked him in the chest, but the Demon grabbed the boy's leg and threw him across the street to where Noah was. Noah saw this and ducked, letting his best friend fly into a lamp post.

"Liam, you ok?" Noah called out. Liam struggled to his feet. The Blue Ranger stepped to help his friend when he heard Sonia shout in pain. The Demon had kicked her into a car and started stepping on her repeatedly.

"Get away from her!" Noah yelled in a quick rage. He jumped into the air and drove his Kwan Dao into the Demon's back. He lifted the fiend up and threw him into the air. He dropped his weapon, punched upward in the Demon's direction and sent small bursts of ice from his knuckles, freezing his target.

He then held out his hands and created a deep blue orb made of pure Power from Within. He fired it off and destroyed Sonia's attacker.

"You alright?" He asked, helping her up.

"More than alright." She answered by giving him a tight hug.

As this happened, Jared had dug his sword into the last Demon's chest, vanquishing it.

The seven met up and demorphed, clearly exhausted.

"Good work, everyone." Jared smiled. "These demons are appearing more and more."

Alicia said, "But this is weird; these Demons aren't known to work in groups."

Chris asked, "So what does this mean?"

Asher answered, "Something's changed."

"But for now," Noah said, placing his arm around Sonia's shoulder, "we rest up. Right?"

"Right." Jared laughed. "We could all use one."

The seven split up to take the rest of the day off. As Noah and Sonia walked by Liam, the boy look on in sorrow.

~ Cue Theme ~

Deep in the woods, Liam walked through the dim setting. He could hear the insects singing a symphony as the bird calls rang across the treetops. The boy stopped at a tree which happened to be bare unlike all the other ones. He pressed his right hand up to the trunk and smiled.

"Have some." He whispered, focusing his powers. His hand let off a light green aura and the tree sprouted beautiful leaves of numerous colors, though they weren't supposed to.

Liam stared in awe at his creation, the reds, yellows and oranges filtered the light into a colorful show.

Moving past the now fully alive tree, Liam sighed a long sigh. He was almost there. After minutes of walking, he came up to an old treehouse. It was high up and fairly big; it was about twelve feet by fourteen feet. Normally, he'd climb the old wood planks nailed to the trunk, but they were old and brittle. So, he focused his power into his legs and jumped up thirty feet and through the window.

Immediately greeted by the smell of old wood, a rush of memories came back to Liam. This treehouse was built by his father and Noah's father before the latter disappeared.

It was the fortress for Noah and Liam; it was the place where they played for hours, taking turns being the heroes of their made up stories.

Those echoes rang back to the sixteen year old. By now the decorations, as well as the memories, were faded.

Today was the very day the treehouse was erected. Though the two never really visited it anymore, it was on this day they'd spend time hanging out just the two of them.

Of course, today was different. Letting out one last breath, Liam jumped down from the window and landed gracefully.

~ Dark Void ~

The throne room was silent and empty, save for Cepheus who sat in deep meditation. "How will I conquer the surface world just as my great ancestor wished?" He thought to himself. No one would disturb him at the moment, nor for a while. Every year, for two weeks, Cepheus would enter a deep semi-comatose state to help maintain his powers. He had just gone under after leaving Wiseman in charge.

Wiseman had decided to let Slade have his time in sending Demons from the Underworld after the Rangers. However, seeing the emotional state of the Green Ranger gave him a cunning idea.

"Slade." He called out telepathically. "Send Barbas."

~ Bayview Skate park ~

Liam hadn't really had time to skateboard anymore; finally able to do so brought a great sense of relief to him.

As he went down the half pipe, thoughts of his best friend not being there anymore disrupted his balance making him fall off his board.

Feeling pain all over the right half of his body, Liam groaned in irritation.

"You alright there?" Asked a familiar voice.

"Noah..." Liam said.

"That's my name, don't wear it out." Noah answered in his same joking voice clearly not aware of the day.

"Where's Sonia?" Liam asked indifferently as he picked up his skateboard.

"Home... why? Is something wrong?"

"I don't know, Ryder. Is there? Check your watch."

Still oblivious, Noah looked down at his right wrist. Next to the glowing blue "8:45 PM" was the date. In a flash, Noah's eyes widened in realization.

"Liam, I'm so so sorry!" Noah apologized.

"It doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done."

"I was..."

"With Sonia. I know."

Noah crossed his arms and glared at his friend, who's eyes were glued to the ground. "When'd you get so bitter?"

"When'd you stop being my best friend?"

Noah was taken aback. "What?"

"It's not just today, Noah. It's been this way for weeks. I hardly see you outside of Ranger duties."

"I'm spending time with my girlfriend." Noah felt a surge of irritation about to explode inside him. Sarcastically and impulsively he said, "I'm sorry, do you need me to hold your hand all the time, Scars?"

The nickname: Scars did it for Liam. It was the nickname a bunch of people branded him with when most of the student body found out about his diagnosed depression as well as his now old habit of self cutting. It was the nickname that temporarily alienated the two from each other...

With a rush of more terrible memories, Liam gripped his left shoulder; his self-inflicted scarred left shoulder. Again, realizing what he had done, Noah tried to step closer to Liam.

"Liam... I-"

Liam cut him off by raising a barrier between them. "Please... leave..."

"Liam... Just let me-"

"NO!"

Suddenly, energy balls collided with Liam's barrier, causing him to fly backwards. A new demon stood in front of the two. He was an aged man with a thin stature. He had long grey hair with black streaks that brushed above his cold emerald eyes. His black robes were faded and surrounded the demon's body like a blanket.

"Who're you?!" Noah demanded.

"Barbas... please tell me: what do you fear?" The man asked with a piercing calm voice.

In a swirl of blue lights, Noah morphed and charged forward. For a Demon who looked old, he was very agile as he deflected most of Noah's assaults. Liam tried to get himself up, but the energy balls severely disoriented him.

Noah rose icicle spikes from the ground, but Barbas jumped over them and kicked Noah in the chest, sending him into an in-ground half pipe.

Sensing the emotion coming from Liam, the Demon smiled. Barbas shimmered into thin air and reappeared behind Liam. He grabbed the boy by the collar and shimmered away with him.

"WILLY!" Noah shrieked calling his best friend by his childhood nickname, which rarely happened.

As he demorphed, the other Rangers arrived too late. Not caring that they were around, Noah broke down letting all his tears go in a cascade of sorrow, regret, and terror.


A/N: Please Review! Later Days!