A/N: Don't mess with Kerri. She'll stab you with her diploma.

Chapter 4
In or Out

Location: Angel Grove

"You want me to do what now?" Kerri demanded, arms folded.

Jake sighed. "I'm building a team. A team of... crime fighters. I want you on it."

"Crime fighters?" Kerri said skeptically. "Like... you want me to wear spandex?"

"No!" Jake said. "...yes. But no. Not... augh!" Jake was getting frustrated. He looked around Kerri's living room as if he was expecting someone to appear and listen in on their conversation. "Look, I just... I'm recruiting you. I want you to be a Power Ranger."

Kerri started laughing. "A Power Ranger?! Are you serious? You want me to believe that you're a Power Ranger?!" She laughed more.

In frustration, Jake dropped his head onto the back of the couch behind him. He stared at the ceiling with a sigh. "I better not get in trouble for this..." he muttered before standing up. He pulled out his morpher and pushed the button, opening the front plates. "Tyrannosaurus!" he shouted. In a brilliant flash of light, Kerri was staring at the Red Ranger.

"Wh-huh? Y-you just... and... so you're... what?!"

"Yes, Kerri, I am a Power Ranger. I'm building a team to lead into battle against the monsters attacking the planet. I want you on it." He produced a gold coin embossed with the image of a Pterodactyl. "I want you to be my team's Pink Ranger."

Kerri stared blankly at the coin, eyes widening and breathing becoming heavier. He wanted her to be a superhero? A Power Ranger?! Her? What did it mean? Was this what she had been looking for? A way to make a real difference?

Without thinking, she began to reach for the coin. Before she touched it however, Jake pulled his hand back, closing his fist around the coin. "Before you agree, there is one thing. Being a Ranger is going to be hard. Your grades will suffer. Your social life will be gone. Being a Ranger will consume a lot of time." Kerri looked at him blankly, like she didn't fully grasp what he was saying.

Jake demorphed. "Look at me, Kerri. Listen. You cannot be a Power Ranger and Valedictorian. You just can't. If you take this coin, you're making the decision to be a Ranger above all else. The world will be depending on you. I'll be depending on you."

Kerri nodded, and Jake offered the coin once more. She took it quickly, staring at it deeply. "This is unreal."

Location: Angel Grove High Study Lab

Three Months Later...

"Contention Three," Kerri muttered to herself as she typed the words frantically. "Presumed consent is just because it does not violate autonomy. Subsection A: Presumed consent is an opt-out system..." As she started to blank on the rest of the sentence, she looked up at the clock. Twenty minutes. She had only twenty minutes to finish. One contention, the closer, a couple of cards to support it... she could get it done. She just had to focus.

Focus.

"The need for parental consent... ends at 18 so the opt-out system would..." she grit her teeth as her sentences were getting more disorganized. This was the home stretch! She just had to finish the case for the debate tournament this weekend. She couldn't compete herself (Zedd was rather fond of attacking on Saturdays though his attacks had let up recently), but to make up for it she was helping to build multiple cases for the rest of the team. But to make the grade in the class, she needed this case done soon.

Her communicator vibrated, the white flashing lights indicating the source was the Command Center itself. Kerri stared, shocked, at the device. This was the worst possible time! She was so close! She looked around the room to confirm it was still empty before pressing the button. "This is Kerri."

"Ai yai yai! Kerri, the Command Center has picked up an energy disturbance we can't pinpoint! We're gathering the team to investigate!"

Kerri glanced up at the clock. "Okay... I just need a few minutes and I'll be right there, I swear."

"Hurry!" Alpha yelped. The line went dead.

Location: Command Center

"What's going on, Alpha? Where are the Veteran Rangers?" Aiden looked around as his team began to arrive one by one.

"Billy and your father are working in the basement while Katherine is at the Juice Bar," the little robot responded. "Tommy is stuck on detention duty at Reefside High."

"What's important is that you are here," Zordon said. "My sensors indicate a disturbance somewhere in Angel Grove Woods. Our scans aren't showing anything, however, and it's possible Lord Zedd is intentionally shielding the area from us."

"It's been two weeks since his last attack," Alpha commented. "In that time, Zedd may have been working on a very complicated spell."

"So we should go check it out," Aiden said.

"Rangers, this is most likely a trap," Zordon warned.

Jake nodded. "Yeah, but we don't have a ton of options."

"Stay alert," Zordon said, "and may the Power protect you."

"Hold on," Aiden interrupted, holding a hand up. "Where's Kerri?"

Alpha shuffled toward the group. "I contacted her, but she said she needed a few minutes, and that she would be here soon."

Aiden nodded. "I'm sure she wouldn't delay unless it was important," he said. Jake and Ty exchanged nervous glances. "Once she's ready, have her start exploring the woods, sticking to the trees. Everyone else, we're going to split up, but be careful. Contact us the moment you see or hear anything out of the ordinary. It's morphin' time!"

Location: Angel Grove Woods

Bryan wandered through the woods, carefully taking quiet steps and listening for any noises that were out of the ordinary. He couldn't help but feel nervous as he tiptoed along, just waiting to be ambushed by something monstrous.

The Angel Grove Woods were verdant and beautiful, overgrown with all manner of plant life. The sun filtered through the trees, the birds sang, a light breeze rustled the trees, and all of these things should have made Bryan feel more at ease. Yet despite his surroundings, he was thoroughly and utterly nervous.

It was fifteen minutes of apprehensive wandering before a call from Jake beeped inside his helmet, causing Bryan to jump. "Found a monster," he whispered harshly. "Looks like a giant candle. Sending image and location." The image arrived first. The monster indeed looked like a white candle with a red base, but with the addition of arms and legs. Its face was menacing, but it looked like it was... meditating? What was it waiting for? Not that it mattered - if the monster wasn't ready, now was the perfect time for them to attack. A small map appeared in Bryan's HUD indicating where to go, so Ranger Blue took off for the designated location.

Once Bryan arrived, Jake put a finger to the sculpted mouthpiece on his helmet, indicating that he should be silent, before pointing toward the monster in the clearing. Bryan peered around a tree to take his first look at the monster. Putties were weirdly dancing around it, but just like in the image, the monster was sitting cross-legged, hands on its thighs, eyes closed, and just... absolutely still.

One by one the other Rangers arrived. Aiden looked like he was about to communicate something via charades when a message pinged in the Rangers' helmets. "Rangers, it's Billy. Command Center sensors indicate a severe energy buildup in your location. We can't pinpoint it, but that monster's definitely causing it. It's probably building up energy for something. If you don't stop it now, there's no telling what it could do."

Ranger Black nodded and produced his Power Axe without a word. The other Rangers followed suit, summoning their special weapons. Aiden held up three fingers.

Two fingers.

One finger.

Five Rangers leapt out of the woods into the clearing, their bladed weapons cleaving a putty in half each before turning their attention to another. Amid the kiais and explosions and chunks of stone falling to the ground, the monster remained unmoved. Within a minute, all the Putties were rubble. "Now!" Aiden yelled. The five Rangers charged the meditating monster... only to be stopped by an army of Putties that materialized right in front of them.

Almost a literal army. Zedd sent down thirty Putties at once that formed a wall between the Rangers and the monster.

Thuy grabbed two putties with her chains and yanked them to the ground. Two more appeared to take their place, blocking her from advancing.

Ty shattered four Putties with his dagger's music. In a flash of lightning, five more appeared where they had stood.

Aiden blasted the ground beneath the Putties with his axe, freezing the earth to make them slip. The fallen Putties were trampled by new ones to take their place.

Bryan impaled a Putty with his lance and was using it to ram his way through the others. A large group grabbed his legs, tripping him, and pulled him away from the monster despite his loud and angry protestations.

Jake's sword tore through Putty after Putty, but he couldn't make a hole to get through.

The defense was just too perfect. And as the Rangers fought, wearing themselves out, the monster opened its eyes and stood up. Bryan's eyes widened as he stabbed the ground with his lance to hold himself in place and kicked the Putties away. He stood to his feet only to be smothered by five Putties at once. Thuy attempted to grapple into the tree above to get an aerial advantage, but the Putties held on to her legs, dragging her down. Aiden's axe was knocked out of his hands. Ty and Jake's bull rush for the monster was repelled by a wall of stone monsters, like the world's most unfair game of Red Rover. As the Rangers continued to struggle, the comm went off in their helmets. "Rangers!" Adam yelled. "The oxygen in your area is falling rapidly! I think the monster is draining the area faster than it can be replaced!"

The Rangers struggled, but made no headway. "Kerri, if you're there, now would be a great time for your bow!" Aiden hissed into his helmet. He looked around frantically for any sign of pink in the trees.

Suddenly, the Putties let up and vanished. The Rangers, who had been pushing against them, stumbled forward after their hasty exit. They looked up at the monster, and without a moment's pause, charged him.

"Goodbye, Rangers," the monster simply said. Then the flame on its head lit.

Location: Command Center

It was just a little flame. A small flame on the top of a candle. It was a wonder that it was visible on the screen. But Adam, Billy, Zordon, and Alpha 7 looked on in horror as that tiny flame wreaked absolute devastation. The moment it lit, a wave of intense heat emerged like a dome around the monster. Instants later, the Rangers were gone, as was a square mile of forest. Every tree, bird, grass, and insect was vaporized in less than a second. The surrounding trees should have been on fire, but the rapid consumption of oxygen ended the fire the moment the monster willed it. It was absolutely precise, perfect destruction.

Billy frantically replayed the video at the slowest rate he could. The dome of heat expanded from the monster and vaporized almost everything it touched. The trees just ceased to be as the wave passed. It picked up the Rangers and immolated them, then sent them flying in separate directions.

The monster looked around, pleased with its work, then vanished.

"Where are the Rangers?!" Zordon demanded.

Billy frantically threw holographic control panels about the room in a circle around himself. "Found Green... Blue... Yellow... Red... Black! All about two miles from the detonation site! Teleporting them back now!"

The bolts of energy that brought the Rangers back gave way to a searing heat that permeated the Command Center. Billy and Adam were almost knocked back by the painful inferno of hot air the Rangers were radiating. The kids were screaming in pain, and their suits were literally starting to melt through the floor. Adam bolted for the fire extinguisher while Billy yelled at the control panel. "Computer, send an alpha-level alert to Kat!" He continued flipping through screens and adjusting various controls while Adam attempted to cool down the Rangers any way he could.

"I could use a little help here Billy!" Adam yelled with a twinge of annoyance.

"Help's on its way," he said as Kat teleported in. "Kat, grab an extinguisher and put the Rangers out!" Billy continued to operate the main computer. "Those suits are the only things keeping them alive right now," he explained. "If they demorph, they'll catch fire. I'm trying refractorize the Morph waves to stabilize their connections to the Morphin Grid and vent some of the energy bursts to keep them in their suits." It was then that Tommy bolted in the door from the medical bay area and grabbed an extinguisher.

Ten minutes later, Billy was still struggling to keep the Rangers morphed. Kat, Tommy, and Adam had gone through every fire extinguisher in the Command Center, Billy's old foam gun from the early days, all the fire extinguishers in the Youth Center, and even the Command Center's fire suppression sprinklers. Finally the heat died down and the Rangers' cries started to calm. Aiden and Thuy stood up shakily, only for their suits to spark off excess energy, causing them to jerk in random directions before falling back down again.

"I can't keep those suits up much longer!" Billy yelled. "Get some protective gear and get them away from that area of the floor..."

It was right then that the Rangers passed out.

Location: Command Center Medical Bay

"Jake... Jake!" A female voice called out to the Red Ranger from somewhere really far away. No. Sleep. I want to sleep. It hurts. Everything hurts. "Jake, talk to me, please..."

Jake's watery eyes opened to a blurry image of his mother and... someone else? Not Dad. Not Aiden. He blinked and squinted. Kerri. Mom and Kerri. What happened? Pain. So much pain. There was a mission, and a monster, and Putties, and...

"What happened?!" he groaned loudly attempting to sit up. But his arms gave out on him and he plopped back down on the hospital bed.

His mother caressed his arm, but this caused Jake to loudly suck air through his teeth in pain. Kat recoiled her hand but spoke softly to him. "There was a monster. He created a massive fireball that sent you and the other Rangers flying. You're in the Command Center in the medical bay. Try not to move too much. Rest."

Kerri spoke. "I'm so sorry, Jake. This is all my fault. If I'd been there..."

"You would be lying in a hospital bed too," Kat reassured her. "This is not your fault." She stood up. "Everyone is alive and slowly recovering thanks to your Power Coins. Take it easy for a while. I have to go check on Thuy now." She patted the bed lightly in lieu of touching her son before disappearing behind a privacy curtain across the room.

Kerri stood up from her seat at the foot of Jake's bed, about to walk away. "She's wrong, you know," Jake said. Kerri stopped to look at him. He looked terrible, covered in bandages, bruised all over. "About it not being your fault. It is."

Kerri's eyes widened in shock as Ty rolled over, wincing, to look at them. "Jake..." he started.

"No Ty," Jake interrupted. "She needs to know. There was a moment that Aiden called for you. A brief moment right before the monster did this. He was relying on you. We were relying on you. If you had landed a blow with your Power Bow right then, you could have stopped the monster. You could have saved everyone." Jake turned his head slowly to look at Aiden in the next bed, still sleeping. His chest rose and fell rhythmically most of the time, only to be interrupted by a pained coughing fit. "But you weren't there." He turned back to her. "I think I know why."

Kerri looked away, but despite the pain, Jake reached out and grabbed her arm. "Tell me I'm wrong!" he hissed, making sure not to rouse the others or alert Kat. "Tell me you had a good reason! Tell me you didn't ditch us because you're still trying for Valedictorian!"

Her refusal to meet his eyes told him everything he needed to know. "I told you when this all started that you had to make sacrifices. We all do. We gave up our social lives. We gave up our grades. Aiden gave up the newspaper, Bryan gave up the robotics team, I gave up qualifying for state in Aikido, Ty gave up SGA..." he paused to catch his breath before continuing. "Thuy has to give up spending time with her aging "bà ngoại" - grandmother... to come out there and save the freaking world. You think you're the only one sacrificing something you want or need to do this?"

Jake released her arm and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. "Consider yourself lucky for now," he said in a half-whisper. "Lucky that Aiden and the others can't hear us. Because if I was still the leader... I don't know that I could let you keep your Power Coin. And I'm your friend."

There was a long pause as Kerri's eyes teared up. She felt ashamed and angry at herself. She struggled to come up with something to say, but there weren't any words. Nothing was good enough to make up for how she'd let them down.

"Go away," Jake said in a hoarse whisper. "Just go... get away from me." Kerri wiped her eyes and vacated the room.

Ty opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. Jake was absolutely right. And that scared him more than any monster.

The air conditioning system roared loudly as Kerri entered the still-warm control room of the Command Center. Aside from the heat, the first thing she noticed was the melted linoleum and scorch marks between the suit displays and the first row of consoles. The Rangers had been burned badly based on that. Their skin didn't look burned in any way, so the suits' protection was apparently pretty damn good.

It didn't make her feel any better.

Billy had a holographic screen open with a newscaster talking about the incident in the woods. "Again, officials have so far declined to comment, but various reports indicate the Power Rangers were seen just outside the radius of the supposed blast injured before vanishing. Now, if you look behind me you can see that the destruction of this area is absolute, with virtually no trace of the forest within the blast area. We still don't know what caused it, but authorities are still investigating. We'll continue to provide updates as they arise. Tom, back to you."

Billy dismissed the news feed with a horizontal slice through the holographic panel. Kerri felt a hand pat her on the back as Tommy walked right past her, making a beeline for Billy. "How are they?" he asked.

"Stable," Billy replied, taking a break from the screens. "Kat's report says their vitals are within normal limits. No signs of burns or permanent damage. Their skin is going to be hypersensitive for a while and they have more than their fair share of bruises and bumps, but they'll live." He turned back to the screens. "The Morphin Grid was damaged, though. Nothing as bad as the Thrax incident, but I couldn't redirect all of the energy overload, and the Rangers came close to losing their connections to the grid. Alpha's doing damage control, but it'll be several hours before they can morph again."

Tommy thought for a few moments before asking, "...what happens if it comes back?"

Billy shook his head. "That monster expended a lot of energy creating that explosion. It will need at least a day to recover, not to mention the hours it took to build up the energy on Earth in the first place. Plus, now that I know what to look for, we'll catch it a lot earlier." He turned back to Tommy. "Failing that, there's always Plan Zeta."

The two turned to look at Kerri, who was just standing there, sweating in the heat of the control room. "Um... do I need to leave?" she asked. "This sounds like it's getting personal."

Tommy shook his head. "No, you're fine. This is just... it's a mess."

"The kids are doing alright." Katherine's soft voice flowed through the room as she entered. "They need a few hours before they can go home, but they'll be sore quite a while. The Power Coins are infusing them with energy, speeding the healing process, but life isn't going to be fun for them for a few days."

There was a moment that Aiden called for you. A brief moment right before the monster did this. He was relying on you. We were relying on you. If you had landed a blow with your Power Bow right then, you could have stopped the monster. You could have saved everyone.

Kerri's hands were shaking as she opened the control panel and set up the teleporter. She hid her face behind the panel to ensure her tears weren't visible. "Call me if anything changes," she said as she vanished.

Location: Angel Grove High

One day later

"Hey Kerri," Bryan said as he slowly approached her. His body language indicated he was still in a lot of pain.

"Hi, Bryan," she replied, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. "How are you feeling?"

Bryan chuckled as he slowly opened his locker. "Lousy. Everything feels like pins and needles on my skin, including my clothes."

"Why is that, anyway?" Kerri asked, looking around.

Bryan leaned in slowly. "According to Billy, it's a result of our connection to the grid. Something about how the excess energy runoff from the suits when we were burned was backed up. The suits protected us from pain, but we're full of that bad energy, kinda like being charged with static. Just have to wait for it to transfer off or something. I didn't pick up on all the technobabble." He slowly and deliberately removed his backpack and placed it inside the locker. "Oh man, I'm so glad to be rid of this thing for a while. You heading to lunch?"

Kerri hesitated. She wanted to get to the computer lab to finish another assignment she'd fallen behind on. But isn't that what happened last time? She chose school over her team? "Yeah!" she said with manufactured cheer. "Let's go, I'm starved."

The two slowly walked to the cafeteria. Bryan led her to their usual table (she'd only sat with them once the whole school year) where Thuy and Aiden were already chowing down on their homemade lunches. Jake and Ty were still in line for food. "Hey, how are you guys feeling?" Kerri asked.

"It feels like my whole body's asleep," Aiden said with a small shudder. "Every little thing feels weird, if it doesn't outright hurt." Thuy reached over and flicked Aiden's shoulder. He yelped and almost jumped out of his seat.

"See?" Thuy quipped. "It's pretty terrible." Aiden shot her a glare, but Thuy had already gone back to eating her meal, deadpan as always.

Ty and Jake approached with their trays. "You got the pizza?" Bryan asked as he pulled out his own lunch. "Nobody gets the pizza. It's cardboard."

"Cheese on cardboard is still cheese," Ty quipped.

Bryan rolled his eyes. "Oh, okay. That explains everything."

Ty and Jake gingerly sat down to begin eating. Kerri tried to avoid his gaze, but Jake every now and again glanced at her. Maybe it was her imagination, but the glance didn't look very friendly.

"Kerri? Where's your lunch?" Aiden asked.

Her eyes snapped from Jake to their leader. "Um? I don't usually eat lunch. I kinda get busy, so I don't really bother with it..."

Aiden slid a fruit cup to her. "Oh no, it's fine, I..." Thuy put a chicken wing on a napkin and gingerly sent it over. Bryan placed an apple in front of her. "No, really," she insisted. "You don't have to-"

"You gotta keep your strength up," Aiden said as Ty passed his milk carton to her. "Besides, we have plenty of food. Gotta look out for our teammates, especially when things get as rough as they have been."

Oh, this is so not fair! Kerri thought as she looked at the food they'd given her. It's like they're trying to make me feel bad! But the look on Aiden's face was sincere, and none of them, save Jake, gave any indication they thought less of her for being absent in the last battle. They probably didn't know. Jake was right - Aiden would have every right to kick her off the team after what happened. Jake and Ty must have kept their mouths shut.

She sighed as she slowly at the food she was given while the others talked and laughed. But Jake's stare kept boring through her.

Kerri sat in the computer lab an hour later typing up a report. She was running out of time and had to get the file into the system in fifteen minutes. She finished the last paragraph and began to scan through the document, looking for typos.

She heard movement next to her. When she turned to look, Aiden was gingerly sitting down with a grunt. "Oh man, I wish my dad had gotten me out of gym today. Why did it have to be dodgeball?!" Kerri chuckled in spite of herself as Aiden looked closer at her monitor. "You have Ms. Morris for English, right?" He pointed to a sentence. "She has this pet peeve where she hates it when you use a noun adjunct when an adjective will do. Change 'woman' to 'female' or she'll deduct some points."

"Oh, thanks," Kerri said as she made the change. Aiden helped her comb through the rest of the document, and with every correction, she felt lower and lower.

Kerri wiped the sweat from her brow as she walked home. It had been a long and emotionally trying day, and she just wanted to go home and rest before something else happened. But a car pulled up next to her.

"Hey, Kerri!" Bryan said from the passenger window. She turned to see it was Thuy driving them both home. "Where's your car?"

"Oh, yeah, that old clunker gave out two weeks ago. I'm going to be without a car for a while."

"Get in," Thuy insisted. "I'll give you a lift."

Without any justifiable reason to say no, Kerri climbed into the back seat, putting her backpack down next to her as she buckled in. "I'm going to be driving a little slowly," Thuy warned, "but I'll try to go faster than you would have walked." She grinned slightly, then returned to the street. Every now again the car would bump, causing a pained grunt to emit from the two Rangers in the front seat. She sighed and stared out the window.

"So what's wrong with your car?" Bryan's question snapped Kerri out of her daydream. They were only about a minute away from her house.

"It won't start."

"Does the engine turn over? The lights turn on?"

"No, none of that. We tried jumping the battery but it didn't work."

Bryan mulled it over. "Let me take a look at it." The group arrived at her house. "Is the car in the back driveway?" Kerri nodded and let the two in. They headed to the back to take a look at the car. Bryan popped the hood and looked around. "If it's not the battery, it's probably the alternator. Do you have $200?"

Kerri was taken aback by the question. "Huh? Um yeah, I think my dad has money put aside case of car problems. I was going to take it to a mechanic..."

Bryan waved her off. "Nah, no need. I can replace the alternator for free, and I know a guy who can get me one for only $200."

Four hours and $230 later, Bryan had very carefully (and painfully) installed a new alternator in Kerri's car. Sure enough, once the keys were in the ignition, the car started up without a hitch. "Oh my god, thank you Bryan!" She hugged him and he yelped, causing her to jump back. "Oooh, sorry! But thanks! You just saved me a lot of money."

Bryan shrugged as he very gingerly wiped his hands with a rag. "Hey, that's what friends do, right?"

Kerri silently kicked herself.

Location: Angel Grove Computer Lab

The next day

Kerri was hard at work on an assignment after the final class let out when her wrist communicator vibrated and beeped. Was the monster back?! How were they going to beat it? "This is Kerri," she responded.

"Teleport to the Command Center now," Tommy said. "The monster's back."

Kerri looked at her paper and sighed. "Be there soon," she said as she submitted the half-complete essay to Blackboard.

Kerri appeared in the Command Center as others were arriving. Aiden was the last to appear. "What's going on?"

Billy pointed to the viewing globe. "Sensors in this area of the forest have recorded a massive spike of energy followed by heavy drops in oxygen. The monster is definitely there, and is definitely attempting to lure you out."

Adam stepped in front of the Rangers. "Aiden, Jake... all of you. This might be too much. I... I don't know how I feel about sending you out there to fight our war." Tommy nodded in agreement.

Aiden sighed. "This isn't your war. It's our war. Humanity's war. And we've all said yes to this mission. We're not stopping now."

"What's the plan?" Ty asked. "We're going to try sneaking up on it again?"

Aiden shook his head. "No. It's unconventional, but I think we're going to try a more direct approach."

Location: Angel Grove Woods

It was quite a sight. The silent, serene forest was suddenly in an uproar. Birds flew away, animals skittered from tree to tree, all because a multi-story tall robot in the image of a mastodon crawled up. A saber-tooth tiger, T-Rex, and a triceratops rolled up as well, surrounding the point where the monster sat. A pterodactyl hovered well above, running scans of the area.

"You guys sure you don't want Dragonzord too?" Ty asked.

"Not yet," Aiden said. "Let's see how the Dinozords do first."

"Ready on your mark," Thuy said.

"Fire!" Aiden yelled. The T-Rex zord fired lightning from its mouth. The tiger emitted a bolt of lightning from its tail while the mastodon began to chill the air down to a frigid 20 degrees. The explosion from the energy blasts was sky-high, but when the smoke cleared, the monster was still there, completely unaffected. It had surrounded itself with a heat dome that neutralized all the attacks and was even keeping his section of the wood balmy and warm.

"Rangers, get back!" But Billy's warning came too late. The flame lit on the monster's head, and the devastation was immediate. The individual Zords, though able to hold their ground, suffered severe heat damage as the trees evaporated in the wake of the flaming dome. Sparks flew from control panels and the Rangers cried out as they were blown all over their cockpits and onto the floor, half slumped over the chair.

The burst of heat created pockets of extremely hot air around the dome. The hot air rose rapidly, sending the Pterodactyl straight into the sky. Kerri screamed as she rocketed up almost into space where the heat began to die down. She was shaken, but her Zord remained largely undamaged.

"He's vulnerable!" Ty yelled. He immediately brought the Dragon Dagger to his mouthpiece and summoned Dragonzord. The massive behemoth charged out of the water and made a beeline for the forest. As it approached the devastation, it slowed to a stop and shot its drill tail at the monster.

The flame lit again. Dragonzord's tail melted due to its proximity and fell over, Ty yelling into the mic before the line went dead.

Kerri got the readout on her HUD. All the other Zords were inoperable. As she sat on the cusp of the Earth's atmosphere, she pondered her options. In the end, she wasn't able to do anything to help! And once again, she was going to walk away without a scratch while the others suffered.

It was because her Zord could fly. A massive thermal had pushed her up until it couldn't push her anymore.

"Kerri, get back to the Command Center," Tommy ordered. "There's nothing else you can do."

...until it couldn't push her anymore.

"Kerri, did you hear me?"

Until it couldn't push her anymore! The flame had died down because the oxygen was so low up here. That meant...

Suddenly, Kerri put the Pterodactyl into a nosedive. "Kerri, what are you doing?!" Adam demanded. "This was obviously a trap! He made us think the monster could only pull that move once! Get out of there!"

She shut the distractions out. As she approached the monster, she flipped the Zord upside down so the pterodactyl's head was below the shield body. Then she retracted the head and rotated the Zord so that only the Megazord's "chest" was showing. The monster, upon seeing the approaching Zord, fired off another burst, but Kerri gunned the rockets. She was thrown slightly off course, but was able to compensate because this blast had been weaker than the other two.

That's what she was counting on. And it was all she needed.

With her controls in the red and the Zord having taken heavy damage, she reoriented the dinosaur until its "beak" jammed straight into the monster's body. She pulled up on the controls as the pressure of her momentum kept the giant candle glued to her Zord. Then she ascended. Straight into space.

The monster, in a panic, fired off several lower-powered bursts of flame. They were nothing to laugh at, as Kerri's alarms clearly pointed out, but she wasn't giving up. Higher... higher... higher...

"Kerri! What is she doing?!"

"She's taking the monster into space! She's trying to nullify his power by depriving him of oxygen!"

"Will her Zord hold up long enou-" Communications were reduced to static as some important part of the Zord melted in the heat. But higher they went. The control console to her right exploded in her face. But she was unmoving. "I'm sorry guys. I'm sorry I let you down. But it's not happening again. I'm not going to be Valedictorian. But I am a Ranger. And I'm going to prove it."

The Pterodactyl burst through the highest layer of clouds and straight out of the Earth's lower atmosphere. Absolute silence all around as the monster's yells made no sound. Kerri jammed on the breaks as the Zord kept sparking and the lights were starting to fade. The monster flew off the nose of the Pterodactyl and kept going, out into space. Once at a safe distance, Kerri slammed her hand down on the weapons button, firing repeating twin lasers at the monster that tore through its body before it finally exploded in an eerie silence. The Pink Ranger sighed and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. She'd done it. She just had to turn around and...

Another alarm sounded. She looked at her screen and realized that firing the weapons had overheated the Zord, and all functions were shutting down. But not before the control panel in front of her blew, overloading her suit and knocking her out.

Location: Command Center

"She dispatched the monster, but her Zord is completely immobilized," Billy said as the other Rangers demorphed. "Life support systems won't last long now that she's demorphed."

"Seriously," Jake complained. "Why is her Zord the only one that can fly? This seems like a huge oversight on you guys' part."

Tommy ignored his son. "Billy, teleport her back, quick."

Billy shook his head as he operated the controls. "We can't get a lock. Before you ask why, do you really want me to explain why? It'll take several minutes.

Tommy groaned and facepalmed. "At least tell me we have a tractor beam built into the Command Center."

Billy scoffed. "After King Mondo almost launched me into the sun? How could I not? Bryan, Alpha, come help with the calculations."

Location: Earth's Exosphere

Kerri opened her eyes and slowly, coughing and shivering. Life support was low. She was demorphed. How long had she been out? It couldn't have been that long. Maybe there was a crack in the Zord that was leaking air? Not that it mattered. Either the others were coming to save her, or... this was it. The end of the line.

Was it worth it, she wondered. Was it worth it to divebomb the monster in a suicide move to make up for her earlier failure? Did she do it to make up for that failure? Or would she have done this stunt anyway? Kerri didn't know anymore. Maybe it didn't matter.

She tried the controls. They were unresponsive. There was no power. Not even an emergency light. The cockpit was mostly dark, and she was (thankfully) facing away from the blinding sun. She pulled out her Morpher and pushed the button. But when she tried to breath in to shout, she began coughing wildly, and let go of the Morpher, which began to drift around the cockpit.

By the time she got her coughing under control she was completely out of energy. She leaned her head back, looking up at the ceiling and watching her Morpher drift around. She raised a hand to reach for it, but the cabin suddenly lit up with a soft green glow. Kerri jerked her head up and looked out the window. She felt movement. Was she falling?

Her question was answered when her Morpher fell out of the air and onto her head.

Billy got a lock by the time the Zord had entered the stratosphere. With the Zord still being pulled, he teleported Kerri to the control room. The Rangers rushed her, catching her as she almost collapsed on the floor. "Thuy, help Kerri to the med bay," Aiden ordered. As the two stumbled off, Aiden wandered over to the corner of the control room while the others talked about what happened and how Billy got her back. He stared at the last costume tube, currently displaying the Wild Force Lunar Wolf Ranger. After a few moments, Jake walked up to him. "Hey, Aiden. Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something."

Aiden turned to him. "I'd say Kerri more than made up for ditching us."

Jake's eyes widened. "You knew about that?"

"Come on, Jake. What could she have possibly been doing that was more important than going on a mission? If it had been something legitimate, she would have said so by now. Her avoidance of the topic spoke volumes." He looked at Jake with a sheepish grin. "That said, Thuy was the one who figured it out, not me."

"You never wanted to kick her out?" Jake asked cautiously.

Aiden sighed and shrugged. "Not that it didn't cross my mind, but Kerri is... a very driven person. She just needed to learn her priorities. She needed to figure out what was most important to her."

"So the lunch thing..."

"...was calculated, yes," Aiden said. "So was Bryan fixing her car. We weren't trying to make her feel bad, per se, but she needed to be reminded what a team was and what her team was willing to do to support her. That said, I didn't want her to go on a suicide mission, but I think it's safe to say that she's with us now." Aiden turned to look at the Command Center while the others continued talking. "I hate that she has to give up her dreams for this. I miss the newspaper and all the other stuff we did in our free time. And if Kerri wanted to walk away from all of this to continue her dream of graduating at the top of our class, I wouldn't have judged her. It takes someone special to do this kind of work willingly."

Jake remained silent.

"You did well, Jake. You chose well. I think we both did. Hiccups like this are bound to happen. We all have our flaws and weaknesses. But Kerri proved today that they wouldn't keep her down. You proved that a few weeks ago yourself. One of these days I'll have to prove it. But we have a solid team. A team Zedd can't take down." He almost clapped his hand on Jake's shoulder, but suddenly dropped it, remembering the sensitivity issue.

Adam approached the two. "Kerri's okay. Exhausted, but okay. She'll need to rest for a while." Jake and Aiden nodded, and Adam walked back to the medical bay.

"Good," Aiden said with a grin. "She still owes me a fruit cup."