Calvin stopped off outside an apartment block after dropping each of his friends at their homes in turn. It wasn't far from the school, just one of the conditions on the joint custody agreement Aaron and Laura had reached in the divorce was that if Hayley was to stay with him, he had to have a residence within the school district. Given his love of the ocean and everything to do with it, if he could, he'd probably live on a boat in the harbour, but that was just outside the district and so he rented an apartment in the city, something that was just within his means after he spent virtually every penny he had on his work and his research. It wasn't exactly a slum, but it was the kind of place people tended to move out of the minute they got a "real job" after college and started earning "real money."
"Well, here we are." Calvin said, looking to his girlfriend. "Do you want a hand getting your stuff upstairs?"
"I should be fine." Hayley answered, pulling her backpack out of the back. The only real advantage in getting into combat the moment they returned from Zandar was that she hadn't yet unpacked and so everything was still in her cases in the back. "It is only three flights of stairs."
"Are you sure you don't want me to help you up?" Calvin asked her.
"It's sweet of you to offer but I really just want to get up to the apartment and get a nice hot shower and a good nights' sleep." She told him. "I loved seeing Zandar, but arranging our return for the day before we go back to school was a terrible idea!"
"I know what you mean." Calvin answered as they got out and Hayley removed her case from the back. He kissed her softly.
"Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow morning?" He asked her. Hayley shook her head.
"It's alright, the school's only a couple of blocks from here." She reminded him. "I'll see you tomorrow OK?"
With that, Calvin got back into Nitro and headed for home. Hayley punched in the code and opened the door, making her way up the stairs to the third floor. The anonymous halls were just the same, no real identifying marks or personal style as befitted the rotational nature of the majority of the residents. Hayley was confident that she probably wouldn't recognise more than half of her father's neighbours now. As she got to his door, she pulled out her key, letting herself in.
"Hey dad, I'm home!" She called out. She heard a bit of a shuffling in the background, before her dad's head rounded one of the doorways. He had a kind, round face and a bald head, what little hair he did have shaved in more out of convenience than anything else. It made caring for it a non-issue while he was at sea. He had thick glasses.
"Hayley, you're…you're here!" He rushed out as he saw her. "Um…I wasn't expecting…wasn't your flight due later?"
"Slight change of plans. We ended up leaving Zandar a little early." Hayley answered as she put her case aside. She sniffed the air. "Is that…is that your tomato and basil pasta?"
"Yes, I knew you loved it." He said as he grabbed some things and started to move them around frantically. It was something of a ritual of his whenever she came around. Aaron tended to treat everywhere, his entire office, his classroom, even his home as a work space. It did look like chaos, as though a hurricane had hit a filing cabinet but as inscrutable as his system appeared to be, he always seemed to be able to find exactly what he was looking for. Of course, it did mean he'd sometimes need to clear a seat on a couch when someone else planned on living there. "Come through, help yourself!"
Hayley made her way to the kitchen, leaving her dad to keep clearing up. She went to the kitchen finding the pot on the stove top. She got a bowl out of the cupboard and lifted some pasta for herself.
"So how was Zandar?" Her dad asked from the hall. "Was it nice?"
"It was beautiful." Hayley told him.
"And the wedding?" He asked her.
"Yeah, it was eventful." She answered. It wasn't as though her dad was deliberately ignorant of world events beyond the ocean, but she didn't think telling him about the attack would be a great way to kick off their reunion if he didn't already know. She heard the front door close. "What was that?"
"Oh…um…the door return's just acting up a little." He told her. "It just takes a little while for the door to close properly these days."
"Oh, OK then." She replied as she headed through to the Living Room. She saw a bowl on the table, along with a candle and a bottle of wine. "Well, I see you're dining in style at least."
"Oh, I just thought I'd treat myself a little. My latest data sets are really neat!" He said excitedly. "I'm planning to publish my journal in the next issue of…"
"Yeah, that's great dad." Hayley answered as she sat down. Her dad sat with her, and slid across a dish of parmesan. She took some, sprinkling it on her pasta.
"So, are you looking forward to going back to school?" He asked her. She just nodded.
"I'm sure it'll be great dad." She sighed. Same old, same old."
"Well, don't let things get TOO regular." He told her. "I mean, it's worth changing up the routine once in a while and…"
"You know what? I'm a little tired." She answered, picking up her bowl. She didn't really feel much like being lectured about routine by the guy whose life seemed to have hardly changed in any way in the last decade. "I think I might finish this in my room and go straight to bed."
"Sure thing sweetheart." He replied. As she was heading out, she heard a crunch underfoot. Looking down, she kicked aside some newspapers and saw a broken wine glass.
"Oh…I was um…wondering where I put that." He stammered. "You know what? It's alright, I'll clean that up."
"OK." Hayley replied. "Good night dad."
"Good night sweetheart." He answered as she went to her room.
Up on the Warrior Dome ship, Wrench came into Cosmo's office, closing the door behind him and activating the scramblers. Cosmo was sitting at his desk with a cigar.
"So, were you followed?" He asked.
"Absolutely not." Wrench giggled childishly. "Odious is having way too much fun yelling at Badoni. She's FURIOUS about her losing the Super Ninja Steel!"
"Perfect!" Cosmo replied. "Which means of course it'll be down to us to look at all the most recent applicants for Galaxy Warriors!"
"I'm guessing it's not going to be a long search." Wrench surmised.
"Oh, believe me, it's not." Cosmo told him. "It's really easy to make sure our guys are getting picked when we're the ones going through the applicants."
"So, who do you have in mind?"
"Well, unfortunately some of the really heavy-hitters are still going to take a while to convince." Cosmo told him. "But I think this one should really shake things up for the team."
He handed Wrench a tablet, at which he inspected the recording. He looked up to him and nodded.
"Interesting." Wrench commented. "Has Lord Dracon…?"
"Oh, he's been pretty quiet. He's letting us handle things here for the time being." Cosmo answered. "Meanwhile his other agent is already working on the other part of things as we speak."
"OTHER agent?" Wrench asked.
A long way from Summer Cove, over in Reef side, Dr Tommy Oliver was just heading back to his home after another long day.
It didn't look like much had changed for him, but in a lot of ways that was the way he liked things. It was something of a happy accident when he first came to Reef side and took a teaching job all the way back in 2004. He'd only gone there because he was tracking the movements of Messaging and knew he had to find a way to keep his activities under wraps, but over time, he found that teaching was something he really loved. As much as it always drove him crazy when Cassidy would try to turn every class into an interview or he'd find Kira writing song lyrics when she was meant to be taking science notes or confiscating Conner's soccer ball, he absolutely loved watching the kids growing and becoming young adults. By the time his tenure with the Dino Thunder team was over, as much as he'd loved being a palaeontologist, he didn't think twice about staying.
Fate had been kind to him in a number of ways. Not only had a job he had a passion for just dropped into his lap, a couple of years after he started at Reef side High, another thing that he hadn't realised he had been missing had come to him in the form of a former fighter pilot turned physical education teacher named Sandra. What had stared with some harmless flirtation as they exchanged workout tips and ended with them getting married and having a son together, Jason Jarvis Oliver, known as JJ for short.
As he pulled into the driveway, getting his gym bag out of the back of his truck, he approached the house, seeing a bike lying across the porch. He just rolled his eyes as he saw it, picking it up.
"JJ, I thought I told you not to leave your bike out!" Tommy stated. That was when he noticed something a little odd. The handle and brake lever that were on the ground were covered in mud, like JJ had thrown or dropped the bike in a hurry. JJ was never that careless with his bike. He'd loved BMX ever since his Uncle Jason had bought it for him. Even though he would sometimes leave it lying out he'd never just drop it or throw it down, he was always very careful about maintaining it and the settings. Putting the bike back down, Tommy approached the front door, and noticed it swinging open slightly. He opened it silently, heading inside quietly.
"Sandra? JJ?" He called out, getting no answer as he looked around. It didn't take long for him to find more things out of the ordinary. There was no sound, no television, no voices, nothing! His house was never that quiet! Shortly afterwards he found overturned furniture, scattered ornaments and…worst of all, blood! Clear signs of a struggle. He bent down as he noticed some green liquid on the ground. Dipping his fingers into it, he rubbed it between his fingertips and inspected it.
"Viviks?" He asked out loud, before he heard something outside. He ran out, finding a huge, hulking creature standing before him.
"Sledge!" He snarled, seeing the alien bounty hunter standing before him.
"Ah, I see my reputation precedes me." He responded.
"More like your legacy." Tommy scoffed. "Since you clearly know who I am you should know I'm a Ranger Historian. I'm all about Ranger HISTORY. I thought the Dino Charge team turned you to ash ages ago!"
"I got better!" Sledge replied. Tommy reached behind his back, but Sledge snatched up his blaster, pointing it straight at him. "Easy! As much as fighting the 'Ranger Legend' would be fun I'm sure, I think you might want to think twice before going for that morpher!"
He waved his hand, at which an image appeared in the air. It showed Poisandra up on Sledge's new ship.
"Yoo hoo, is it time yet Sledgeums?" She asked.
"Yes, my precious poisey poo!" Sledge answered. Tommy just sighed.
"God, and my friends thought me and Kim could be sickening." Tommy commented. "Would you mind getting to the point before I lose my lunch?"
"Would you like to show him my sweet?" Sledge asked her.
"Whatever you say Sledgeums!" She replied, moving aside. "Now, I don't know how familiar you are with space ships…"
"I've been on a few." Tommy interrupted her. She just stomped impatiently.
"RUDE!" She whined. "Anyway, this is an air-lock, and right here inside…"
She brought the image up to the window. Tommy's heart froze as he saw Sandra and JJ inside.
"This is your wife and your little brat IN an air-lock!" She told him. "At least…for now, until I press this little button right here and send them on a little space walk without space suits!"
"JJ! SANDRA!" Tommy screamed. "Let them go you monster!"
"Oh, that's a really unfortunate choice of words!" Poisandra told him. "Should I?"
"Not yet my sweet!" Sledge told her. He looked to Tommy and extended his empty hand. "Hand over the morpher and come with me or your family become blocks of ice drifting in space for all eternity!"
"Tommy, don't!" Sandra called out. "He'll do it anyway!"
"It's your choice!" Sledge told him. "Poisey? On the count of ten, press the button! Ten! Nine…"
"WAIT!" Tommy called out. "If…If I do this, do I have your word that they'll be safe?"
"You're not in any position to bargain!" Sledge told him. "EIGHT!"
"Kendall always said if nothing else you were a man of your word!" Tommy told him. "If I think there's a chance you'll do it, I may as well morph and take my chances! If you tell me right now they'll be safe…I'll go with you."
"Fine." Sledge said, almost sounding disappointed.
"But Sledgeums!" Poisandra whined. "I wanted to dump them into space!"
"I gave my word!" Sledge put down firmly. He beckoned Tommy with his hand. "Now I just have to see what your word is worth."
Tommy carefully unclipped his morpher, before throwing it to Sledge.
"Thanks!" Sledge said, before firing his blaster. Tommy fell to the ground unconscious. Sledge went over, grabbing Tommy and picking him up as he pulled out a communicator.
"Draven?" He asked. "Yes, it's Sledge. I've acquired the first!"
He carried Tommy into the trees, before dumping him into a transport pod. He tapped a few keys, programming it, at which it closed and blasted off back towards his ship.
"No, it was no trouble at all." Sledge told him. "I'll bring him in right away."
With that, he fired up his jet pack and blasted off, heading back to his ship.
The following morning, Summer Cove High was officially open once again, and the kids were coming in with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The Rangers walked in, smiling brightly and positively bouncing.
"You know, after that 'holiday', I think I'm actually glad to be back at school." Brody commented, making the air quotes with his fingers.
"Yeah, you never really know how much you're going to miss this place until you have to fight of an inter-dimensional invasion." Preston agreed.
"Wow, they fixed this place up really good." Calvin stated. "It's like it hasn't changed at all!"
"Well, there have been one or two changes." Mick told them, coming over, carrying Dane's old Martial Arts trophy. "For one thing we actually have the paint room back. For another…well…let's just say I have a little more living space."
"You're still living here?" Brody asked. "I thought you'd be moving in with us!"
"Oh, I'll still be spending plenty of time there helping your dad and Redbot with all the weapons." Mick assured them. "But I figured that now you and your dad have the farm up and running again, it'll be better for everyone if you have a little space for…you know…family stuff."
"Mick, you're our family too." Brody reminded him.
"I know but…there comes a time everyone should move on." Mick answered. "Anyway, I have a class to teach soon so, I'll just be going!"
As he left, a piece of paper fluttered out of his pocket. Sarah picked it up, trying to chase after him.
"Mick! You dropped this!" She called after him, but he was already too far ahead. She looked to the paper. "Huh, that's strange. It's a receipt for a take-away."
"And?" Calvin asked with a shrug of the shoulders.
"It's dated three days ago!" Sarah told them. "Mick's been back for at least three days!"
"Well, why didn't he come find us earlier?" Hayley asked. That was when they noticed him stopping by Principal Hastings, talking with her briefly, before taking her hand and following her into the office. They all looked to each other and smiled.
"Booty call!" They chorused together.
"Well, I guess it's inevitable some things change." Hayley answered.
"AAAND some things never will." Preston said as he pointed over to where Victor and Monty were coming in. They were wearing aloha shirts and jean shorts, and both of them were well-tanned. Victor went straight to the trophy case, beginning to count his trophies and keep track of his record.
"They dressed like that on purpose?" Brody asked.
"Yeah, I heard after the news stories died down a bit some cruise ship company hired them to be an attraction." Sarah told them. "They got paid to spend all day telling people the stories of their heroics."
"I still say it sucks that they get the credit and we don't." Calvin answered. "Still, I guess if everyone knew about us, we'd be doing a pretty sucky job of being ninjas."
"You know what though? Something just feels right about all of this doesn't it?" Sarah asked them. "Despite everything, it kind of feels good to be back."
"You know what? It actually kind of does!" Brody agreed. "And now that we've got the Super Ninja Steel, Odious, Psycho Green and Drakkon won't know what hit them!"
Just then, a huge laugh went up from a crowd of students. Victor started flailing around as he tried desperately to beckon them all back.
"No, no, don't listen to…that's not what happened…COME BACK!" He called out. The team all started laughing.
"Yup, it's good to be back."
FIN
A/N: Well, there it is folks, a little bridging story to cover the gap between the two seasons. Hope you liked it. No need to worry, a new story will be starting very soon.