Kotoha was doodling on a napkin, feeling miserable for all sorts of reasons. A week or so after the Great Legend War, Kotoha was behind the counter of the bamboo shop when Mako came home from work. Mako noticed that Kotoha was in the same spot she was in before Mako left. She didn't care and sat next to Kotoha, resting her head on Kotoha's shoulder. They sat like that for a few hours, barely moving until two people came in. They weren't regular customers, but Kotoha and Mako recognized them right away, even without the two pandas that were with them.
"Hello." an older man in a green shirt and leather vest said as he rubbed his hand through his gray-black hair. He was Shirou Akebono, the former Battle Kenya. "I heard you had a bamboo shop so me and Kenji here" he said while indicating his panda, sniffing at one of the bamboo chairs with a little too much interest "wanted to see what products you had to offer."
A yelp alerted them to the man in a red sports shirt and black pants trying to keep his panda from destroying a table and centerpiece.
"No, stop that Hiroki" the man said, managing to pull his panda away from the table. He succeeded just as Shirou had to get between the chair and Kenji. The man in red was Jan Kandou, the former GekiRed.
Cheered up a little by the appearance of two other Sentai Rangers, Kotoha went to the back and grabbed four little sticks of bamboo, came back and offered them to the pandas to eat and former Rangers to lick and chew. She gained four new customers.
"This bamboo is gooku-gooku!" Jan said gleefully. Jan's tone told Kotoha it was good more than his words did.
The two samurai talked with the two wild men for a while, gaining an idea about how they and their teams were handling the loss of their powers. The Gekirangers were still training in the Beast Arts while the Battle Fever team were either already retired or were still in the military but had not transformed for a long time. Mako and Kotoha smiled as they told about how the Shinkengers were back in their own lives, especially Takeru, who no longer had any reason to maintain his aloofness and headed out on a world-wide trip with Hikoma and the Kuroko. The other common thread was there was still that slight worry that trouble would come and no one would be there to protect the Earth. A look into each person's eyes told them their powers wouldn't stop them or their teammates from ending any threat.
"So how are you two doing?" Jan asked innocently. Immediately, Jan realized he hit a sore subject by how Mako and Kotoha seem suddenly uncomfortable. Although Shirou shot Jan a look to not ask again, the two samurai explained how their best chance for a child was destroyed by the Zangyack.
"I am sorry." Shirou said to Mako as Jan snuggled next to Kotoha. "It's probably not much comfort, but don't give up hope. I've seen too much to say things are completely hopeless."
Mako and Kotoha gave small smiles, but they were not cheered up much. There wasn't much time for cheering up anyway, as there was loud screaming outside. The four former Rangers ran out and saw a group of monsters: two of them, a red phoenix-like and a yellow garuda-like beast, were flying through the air and dive-bombing several people, a blue mermaid/shark creature swimming through the ground and nipping at everyone in its path, a pink fairy-monkey monster flitting around shooting magic beams that turned people into pink penguins, and finally a green Taurus using a hammer and just smashing stuff up. The four Rangers looked at the mayhem in awe and horror. The next thing they did, they did because that was in their nature.
"Fever!" Shirou shouted.
"Boil Over, Power of the Beast! Beast On!" Jan shouted.
"Ippitsu Sōjō!" Mako and Kotoha shouted.
They went through their transformation movements... and promptly remembered they had no powers to call upon. They paused a moment... and promptly went into battle anyway. If there's one good quality of Sentai Rangers, its that they're not afraid to save lives even if all they had was a wooden spoon and a cup of melted cheese. Thankfully, they still had their skills.
Jan climbed a truck and jumped to attack the phoenix and garuda while Shirou grappled with the Taurus. Kotoha deflected the fairy's beams with her Shinkenmaru and slashed at it. Mako, with her Shinkenmaru, ran at the mermaid. As the mermaid came at her, Mako jumped over the mermaid's head, jumped in the water-ground, and grabbed the mermaid beast, trying to choke it into submission. No luck as the mermaid flipped Mako out of its magic water-ground and onto solid ground, near where the Taurus threw Shirou, where the phoenix and garuda monsters dropped Jan, and where the fairy surprised Kotoha with its strength and threw her over her head to where her allies were.
The four Rangers got up to face the beasts, who all changed into bulkier forms with spikes all over their bodies. However, they turned around and walked away. Mako, Shirou, and Jan are confused by these actions until Kotoha let out a horrified gasp. The other three turned to look around the monsters and saw the monsters going towards a group of young children. To make it worse, light was glowing from all the monsters mouths, like the fairy's beam attack but brighter. It was fairly obvious that the beastly group was about kill the children.
All four Rangers did not even think about what they were doing as they ran towards the kids. If any of the Rangers could be considered more scared for the kids, it had to be the two former Shinkengers by an extremely thin but soon to be important margin. It didn't matter to the Rangers as they jumped in front of the kids just as the monsters beams shot out, hitting the powerless Rangers square on.
Kotoha was groggy as she woke up. She sat up and felt her body, feeling better when she realized nothing was amiss. She closed her eyes to try and remember what had happened.
The monsters shot beams at us.
Kotoha looked around quickly and saw she was in an enormous, perfectly white throne room. A quick look around showed Kotoha that Mako, Shirou, and Jan were with her, stirring themselves and trying to form in their minds what had happened.
We're dead All the Rangers thought.
"Not quite" a woman's kindly yet booming voice told them. All four Rangers look around the room looking for the source until a swirling cloud appeared over the the giant throne. The cloud dissipated showing an older woman, big enough to give their mecha a run for their money. She was wearing a thick white gown and a headdress of thick white braided material and a gold M. The M all four Rangers recognized from their adventure/friendship with the Magirangers as it was an M similar to the Magirangers' belt buckles. Mako and Kotoha knew right away that this woman was in fact Heavenly Arch Saint Magiel.
Magiel didn't seem to notice the four Rangers dumb-founded looks and chanted a spell. Almost immediately, the five monsters from before appeared. Magiel saw that she should've said more as the four Rangers got ready to attack again.
"Do not fear." Magiel said with a smile. With a wave of her hand, the five monsters turned into different, less threatening, forms. "These are the Heavenly Saints of Magitopia." The five Saints bowed their heads towards the four now confused Rangers.
"What's going on?" Shirou shouted, not caring he was yelling at a being with magical powers likely higher than the Magirangers'.
"You and Jan were never meant to be involved. This was meant as a test for Mako and Kotoha." Magiel said.
Mako and Kotoha looked at Magiel then each other, wondering what the heck they were being tested for and why it involved monsters attacking people, most of them with no connection to the two. Just then, a screen magically appeared. On the screen, the Rangers saw what they recognized as the victims of the attack... except they didn't seem shaken up by the attacks.
"No one remembers those attacks." Magiel said. "I only wanted to see your hearts, whether you would forget your pain if someone needed help. All four of you passed, but only two of you wanted something I could give."
With that, Magiel raised her hands. "Goolu Gonga Goludiiro" she chanted. Two light balls formed around her hands then went to Mako and Kotoha. The balls grew and enveloped the two. The two balls then switched girls. After a few seconds, the balls shrunk and placed themselves inside each one. When all this was done, Magiel looked a little perturbed.
"Uh." Magiel said. "Good news is you're having a baby." Mako and Kotoha were beyond ecstatic.
"Urara said you wouldn't do it yourself." Kotoha said.
"I figured this was a special case." Magiel said. "You thought nothing of your pain when there was trouble. Granted, so did Shirou and Jan, but the spell would've only worked if the love between the two parents was strong. Yours is."
Kotoha and Mako smiled, same as Shirou and Jan. Magiel, however, seemed uncomfortable.
"Actually, your love may've been too strong." Magiel continued, uneasy.
"The baby is coming soon then?" Mako said, amused at how quickly the spell seems to be taking effect.
"The babies are coming soon." Magiel sail with a "oopsies" smile. "You're both having a baby."
Mako and Kotoha looked at each other in shock and happiness.
We have to get ready for two babies. Oh dear.
We're having babies.
It would be an overstatement to say Mako and Kotoha's day improved greatly.