Chase was working at the kitchen table, with a pile of folders and documents in front of him. The one folder he had opened was filled with papers that were burnt in most places, and what hadn't been burnt was unreadable. He sighed heavily, running his hand over his face. It didn't seem to matter how many times he had looked through this folder, every time it was the same thing, a dead end. Nothing had changed. He kept on hoping that one day he would open the folder and would be able to read the papers and unlock the secrets it held. He heard the door open and shut behind him.

"You're coming in a little late…." Chase closed the folder up and stacked it with the paperwork he had brought back with him from work.

"Yeah." Megan walked in slowly, dropping her bag down. She was still feeling the effects of the information she had uncovered about Chase, a horrifying tragedy, much like how it had been for her father after her Uncle Wes had died during a fight. "Sam and I were in the computer lab, working on something."

"Oh…" He got up and put the files on the dresser in his bedroom. "Were you guys doing research for a project for class?'

"Not exactly…" Megan followed him, feeling a little uneasy. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know what. What could she say to a guy who has lost everything that was ever important to him? "Umm…. Where's Sky?" She recalled not seeing his bike out in the parking lot.

"Hopefully out with Sydney," he answered. He could tell right away that Megan was acting strangely and was not her usual cocky self, that something was off about the way she was acting. "Is everything okay, Megan?"

She sighed heavily, knowing there was no way she could keep this from him. Chase was pretty good at picking up on things and knew when something just wasn't right. "Callie Corbett, your fiancée…." She bit her lip. "….She's dead. And so are your friends, …..the other Rangers."

Chase bit his lip, and just replied flatly, "Where'd you hear about that?"

"I hacked into the SPD confidential files." She looked him in the eyes, with a heavy heart. "….I'm sorry."

"Sorry that you hacked into sealed files?" He looked her in the eyes, not sure what to think or how he should feel about this. "….Or that you found out?"

"I'm sorry about what happened to you," she answered. Though she didn't know just how it felt to be him, she did know what it could do to a person. She could recall very early in her life, vague memories of her father dealing with the guilt and pain of the loss of his friend, his teammate, his brother. "…..I know it's not easy."

Chase licked his lips; for some reason he couldn't be angry with Megan, after all he couldn't expect her to leave everything the way it was with him saying he just had nightmares. "Because of your dad?"

"Yeah. He took Wes's death real hard. Things were so bad that it nearly cost my parents' marriage."

"How'd…..How'd he get through it, get past it all?" Though he was moving on with his life, a part of him just couldn't let go of certain things. He had accepted Callie's, his teammates', his friends', deaths months ago, but his nightmares just wouldn't go away, and it made it all the harder to get past it.

That had been one of his reasons for leaving; he just could no longer look Commander Corbett in the eyes, the man who in some ways had been like a father to him. It just became too painful for him to be around him, to look him in the eyes every day, after what happened. So after a couple of months of training the commander's son Mikey, the brother of the woman he would always love, he put in his transfer papers.

"He started over, it took a few years, but he was finally able to move on and forgive himself."

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive myself." He might be able to move on with his life, make new friends and maybe someday fall in love again, but he wasn't too sure if he could ever truly forgive himself for what had happened. He was the leader, he was the one everyone counted on and they were all lost under his command.

"I've missed you," exclaimed Syd as she wrapped her arms around Sky's bare back. He had shown up just a few minutes ago and the two had headed straight for her bedroom and started making out, anticipating what would follow…

"Syd, we see each other practically every day." Sky kissed her, taking in the scent of her skin.

Syd giggled when he went over a ticklish spot on her shoulder. She ran her hands down his arms and looked into his blue eyes, eyes she had come to love. "I know, but it's not the same. You're always doing something at the Academy…"

"Well…. it is work." He grinned. "That kind of means I need to be making sure everything's in order, no criminals running amuck, following orders from Cruger."

"I know. I just wish you'd have fun every once in a while, and not work yourself too hard."

"I am having fun." He looked her deeply in the eyes, as he leaned down and kissed her deeply on the lips. It did feel good to get away from work, put all his problems behind him and just spend some quality time with Syd.

Syd ran her hand across his muscular chest, just feeling the smoothness of his skin and enjoying Sky's soft gentle kisses. She ran her hand further up towards his shoulder and noticed something different, that wasn't as smooth. "What's that?" She opened her eyes.

"It's nothing…." Sky answered as he hushed her with more kisses, deepening them the more he got into it. "Don't worry about it."

Syd was going to let it go, until she ran her hand over it again. Something wasn't right and she wanted to know why. "No! Sky something's wrong with your shoulder." She pushed him off of her and that was when she noticed a rather large red and blue mark on his shoulder, a sort of burn marking. "How'd that happen?" She started to reach towards it, but Sky gently pushed her hand away.

"It's nothing, Syd. Just a little bruise."

"Just a little bruise!" she exclaimed. "It doesn't look like it to me." She had seen little bruises before, and had had quite a few. In her line of work, it was fairly normal to end up bruised after a day's work. But the one on Sky's shoulder looked more like someone had used him as target practice and had won. She couldn't quite figure out why she hadn't noticed it until just now, but with Sky smothering her with kisses it was no wonder she hadn't noticed - and she was one hundred percent sure that was why Sky was doing that, knowing she would react and become upset.

"So now you're a doctor?" he replied flatly, with a little annoyance. Cruger had already gotten on his case, the last thing he needed was for Syd to do the same thing.

"No…" she answered, a little hurt by the tone of his voice. "I'm just worried about you, is all. Is that so wrong?"

"You don't have to be." Sky reached for his shirt which was lying on Syd's bed and put it back on. "I'm a big boy, Syd. I don't need anyone to worry about me!"

"Well, somebody has to…." She watched as he got up from her bed and headed towards the bedroom door. "Where are you going?"

"Home!" he answered, as he turned to face her. "I can't be around you when you're like this." He hated it when people questioned him and got worried about the things he did. He had taken care of himself for a long time and had turned out just fine. He didn't need someone to be on his case every time he got a little banged up.

"What! Me being worried about your wellbeing?" Syd yelled, getting into his face, angry and hurt that he was going to let something like this ruin their night together. "Well, I'm sorry if you can't get past that thick head and your damn pride to see that I care about what happens to you!" No longer able to hold back her emotions, they all came out in a sob, as her eyes filled with tears. Upset, she turned away from him and went towards her bed, dropping down onto it, crying softly.

Sky started for the door and had his hand reaching for the knob, fully intending just to get out of there and let Syd be, not wanting to deal with this. He sighed heavily, knowing he couldn't just leave things the way they were. He didn't want to be one of those jerkish guys that he knew everyone thought he was ….unlike Syd who thought the world of him and chose to see a different side of him.

"Sydney…."

"What?" She pouted as she turned around to face him, eyes sparkling with tears. "Did I say something else that made you angry?"

"I'm sorry…." He crawled onto the bed with her, drawing her into his arms. "I was a jerk and I shouldn't have overreacted like that." He kissed her gently on the forehead.

"I'm sorry I worry about you so much…." She snuggled against him, glad that he hadn't left and that they were able to work things out.

"It's okay." He smiled faintly, drawing her closer to him. "I guess I do need someone to worry about me every once in a while." He kissed her gently on the lips. "From now on I'll try being more careful in the simulator."

Syd smiled, her eyes now only sparkling with a few tears that hadn't been shed. "Thanks." She caressed his cheek, and gave him a kiss of her own.

He grinned. "Besides, I didn't make it all the way to red just to be killed off in the simulator. I intend to be around for a long time."

"You better be; we need you, Sky, I need you…." She looked deep into his eyes, just lost in this moment, a moment she never wanted to end. "I love you…." she finally admitted, no longer afraid to say those words. They had been the very words she had wanted to say after they had defeated Gruumm, but had been too afraid back then.

Sky just smiled as he gently stroked her cheek, running his hand through her blonde curls. He leaned in and kissed her softly, wanting it to last, feel her body against his, as they sank down on her bed, as that soft gentle kiss drew into a deeper passionate hungry kiss.

Mirinoi

A large group of over a hundred cadets ranging from ages seventeen to twenty-four, all were training in the rather large training room that had everything you could think of that would be essential to training. Some were practicing in the shooting range; others were lifting weights, while the majority was paired up, sparring with each other.

Mikey Corbett, who had become one of the top fighters in his squadron and class, was sparring against one of the older officers who oversaw their training. Van Wheeler had been at the Academy for a number of years, but had never been quite good enough to make it to Ranger mode. Officer Wheeler was throwing everything he had at the young cadet, he had been under high orders to work the young Corbett boy hard, harder than any of the other cadets, so that no one felt that because he was the Commander's son he would get special treatment.

It didn't seem to matter what kind of kick or punch he threw at the boy, Mikey found some way of blocking it, by either avoiding it or coming in with a counterattack. Officer Wheeler could tell that the young Corbett was training hard every day, and had improved since three weeks ago when they had started this session. He took a deep breath and then went on the attack, throwing punches and then did a roundhouse kick, aimed straight for the boy's head, but Mikey was ready; he avoided the attack and saw his opening and knocked the officer's feet out from under him, sending him down to the mat.

"Excellent, Corbett…."

"Thank you, sir." Mikey held out his hand to help Officer Wheeler back to his feet.

"Attention!" rang in a voice.

"Yes, sir!" On cue, all the cadets and officers in the room stood at attention as their Commander faced them. His eyes were hard and stern; this was one of the few times that some of them had seen him in the months since the passing of his daughter and several other cadets and officers.

Mike Corbett eyed them all, walking back and forth with his hands behind his back. He stopped in the center to face them all. "I want you to know first, that I am very proud of each and every one of you. You all have worked hard and have improved greatly in these last few weeks." He paused for a moment, needing to gather his words. "….But unfortunately, I can only select ten of you to move up to Ranger level." They had not trained for long and normally it took over a year before selecting a team, but with no active Rangers he needed to choose two new teams to replace the teams he had lost months ago. He pulled out a sheet from his pocket and eyed the cadets once more. "I want the cadets whose names I call to come forward." He cleared his throat. "Bo Davis… Tyler James, Vee Minks, Alison Woods, and for red leader, Duncan Black."

Mike eyed the five with a very proud look on his face. "Congratulations, you are the A Squad Power Rangers. I know you will make all of us proud."

"Thank you, sir!" announced the new A Squad Rangers as they saluted their commander.

Mike nodded to one of the officers to hand over the A Squad morphers to the cadets. Bo Davis received the blue morpher, Tyler James received the green morpher, Vee Minks received the yellow morpher, Alison Woods received the pink morpher, and their new leader Duncan received the red morpher.

Once again Mike eyed the group of cadets; there would be only five more names he would call, for those who would take on the position of B Squad rangers, an equally important job as the A Squad. He cleared his throat. "Step forward when I call your name: Kylie Jones, George Banks, Maxwell Michaels, Zoë Hunt, and for the leader of the B Squad Rangers…" his eyes wandered until they locked with the one cadet he was the most proud of. "…Michael Corbett Jr." He looked at the five. "Congratulations, you are the B Squad Power Rangers. I know you won't let us down."

"Thank you, sir!" announced the new B Squad Rangers, as they, like the A Squad, saluted their commander. One by one they each received their morpher. Kylie got pink, George got green, Maxwell got blue and Zoë got yellow. It was Mike who walked up to his son to hand him the red morpher, just as he had done years ago with his daughter.

Mikey looked his father straight in the eyes, thankful for this opportunity; he would not let him down. He had a lot to live up to; he came from a whole family of Power Rangers and was honored to carry on the tradition.

"To the rest of you, I want to thank you for your hard work and dedication, and hope that you all carry on here as cadets and officers of SPD, working alongside the Rangers. Even a Power Ranger needs help every now and then," Mike announced as he eyed the cadets who had not made it to a Ranger squadron.

"Yes sir!" they all announced, and saluted their commander.

Back on Earth

Sky awoke the next morning to find Sydney asleep cradled in his arms. After their argument and workings things out, both of them had gotten exhausted and decided just to stay in at her place. He looked over at her clock; it was five in the morning. He carefully unwrapped her arms from around his body, then pulled the covers back over her, knowing it would be a couple more hours until she would wake up. He got up and quickly got dressed. Before he left he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I'll see yah later, Syd."

It was about twenty minutes later when Sky walked into his darkened apartment. He set his keys on the counter and headed into his room to change his clothes. He made enough noise to cause Chase to walk into the main living area with a baseball bat; he heard noises coming from Sky's room but saw no lights on. He slowly made his way over to the door and then got the scare of his life when Sky opened the door the rest of the way to reveal himself. Both of them startled each other.

"What the hell are you doing with the bat?"

"I thought you were an intruder!" exclaimed Chase, as he lowed the bat and set it aside. "What were you doing in the dark?"

"Changing into a clean uniform before I headed to the Academy for training."

"Did you just get in?" Chase looked at the clock; it was about 5:35 A.M.

"Yeah. Spent the night at Syd's."

"Oh. So you did go see her." Almost implying that he hadn't expected that to happen. He knew he had told Syd that Sky would show up, but at the time he had just been saying what he knew Syd wanted to hear.

"Yeah," answered Sky, a little annoyed that everyone seemed to believe that he wasn't devoted to Syd and would let her down. "I did promise her I'd be there for our date. I'm not that heartless."

"What's going on?" yawned Megan as she joined the two, stretching her arms out, having been awakened by the conversation. She had always been a light sleeper, and could be woken up by the sound of a pen dropping.

"Sky's just getting back from his night with Sydney," grinned Chase, winking over at Megan.

"Great," sighed Sky as he pushed past Chase. "It was bad enough when it was just her, now it's the both of you." He headed towards the door, grabbing his keys from the counter.

Megan yawned again, still a little sleepy. "Where you going?"

"To the Academy."

"But we don't have training sessions for another four hours."

"I know." Sky turned, eyeing Chase. "I'm going to go and train in the simulator until then." He then turned his eyes onto Megan. "I expect you to behave yourself and do your homework." With that said, Sky was out the door.

Chase turned to Megan. "You'd think that since he's moody during the day, that in the morning he'd be perky."

"Sky, perky? That'll be the day." Megan yawned. "I'm going back to bed."

"You both are going down!" announced Sky, as his eyes were locked on both Merloc and another alien creature. He held his blaster out at both of them, shooting and dodging the blasts they sent at him by jumping behind a pillar.

The shots reflected off of the pillar, missing Sky completely. The red leader Ranger turned and blasted several shots, each of them hitting right on target. "You call this a fight? I didn't even break a sweat." Sky watched as his target got up from the ground, ready for another round. This wasn't the workout that Sky was hoping for, this wasn't even a challenge to him; it was all just too easy. 'Simulator, change level to danger zone."

"Simulation, changing levels. Enemy targets now at extreme max power…."

Sky watched as Mirloc blasted a shot at the pillar he was standing behind, it was so powerful that it caused the pillar to break down. Sky jumped and rolled out of the way just in time. "That's more like it." He fired two shots at Mirloc who reflected both of them, sending them flying against the left and right walls.

"Surely you can do better than that, Lt. Tate," sneered the simulated version of Mirloc. He was like the real Mirloc in almost every way, right down to his determination to take out Sky, a type of programming setting that Sky liked to have. It made the battle all the more real and not like a regulated simulation.

"I'm just getting started." Sky clipped his blaster to his belt, then waving his hand, calling the simulator to equip him with a sword. He swung it a few times in a quick swift motion and just grinned at Mirloc. "This is more like it." His eyes narrowed down right onto the alien form that represented the beast that had taken his father's life. "You're going down, freak!" Sky made a loud battle cry as he jumped forward, slashing Mirloc with the swords, sparks flying everywhere. He then twirled around, slashing the purple alien in the arm. "Well…"

Mirloc's yellow eyes just glowed a bright yellow. "Time to step things up."

Sky watched in amazement as Mirloc called forth a weapon. Something that he had never seen happen before in the past levels, the simulator enemy targets had already come equipped with everything they needed and never had been able to even communicate with the simulation process of asking for weapons, yet alone anything else. "What…."

"You're not the only one with tricks." Mirloc made a comeback, jumping high and raising his sword just above Sky. Sky reacted quickly, raising his sword to block the hit, but Mirloc's swing was hard and the moment it made contact with his sword it sliced it in two. "Seems you underestimated me. …..So much like your daddy."

Sky looked at his sword, not much was left of it; the rest lay on the floor. It was useless to him now, he would not be able to defend himself with half of a sword. "Time for you to die…." He heard Mirloc's voice echo in his head. Sky looked up and watched as Mirloc prepared to take a swing at him. He quickly dropped the broken piece of sword to the ground, getting ready to create one of his protective shields, but to his disbelief the other alien that he had been fighting earlier appeared behind him, grabbing a hold of both his arms and preventing him from using his shield. All Sky could do was watch as Mirloc attacked him with the sword, slashing it against his chest, cutting his uniform to shreds.

Outside the simulation room, Bridge was walking past and heard an alarm start to go off. He looked up at a screen that began to flash EMERGENCY over and over. His heart skipped a beat. He turned towards the window and watched as Sky dropped to the ground, both the simulator created alien criminals attacking his best friend and leader. "Sky!" Bridge immediately rushed towards the door and began to enter in the code. Once he was inside: "End simulation!"

"Simulation cannot be stopped. Error 509 code TW02 Red….. Clearance card needed to terminate simulation."

Bridge ducked his head as a couple of blasts drove above him. He slowly lifted his head up and saw another code box, but the simulator creature must have caught wind of what he was doing as they began shooting at him. Luckily Bridge had been able to jump far enough and reach the area where the other code box was. He quickly pulled out his ID card and swiped it through the scanner. He turned and watched as the simulation began to wither away, as the room returned to normal. He watched as both Mirloc and the other alien disappeared. He took a deep breath and gave a sigh of relief. Then remembering Sky: "Sky…."

Bridge ran to his fallen leader, who was barely moving on the ground. He dropped down next to him. "Sky…. Sky….." the green ranger repeated several times over. "Are you okay?" he asked as he reached to check him over.

"I'm fine…." Sky shoved Bridge's hands off of him and attempted to stand up, but felt a sharp pain in his chest. "Ahh…." Sky cried.

"I think you've cracked a couple of your ribs," noted Bridge, watching as Sky clutched tightly to his chest, not surprising since his uniform shirt had been torn to shreds. "I need to get you to Kat." Bridge carefully put Sky's arm around his neck and helped his friend to his feet.

Kat was working in the lab, when Bridge walked in with Sky. She turned around and her eyes widened. "What…What happened?' she rushed over to them and helped Bridge get Sky over to one of the medical beds. "Was there an attack?" she asked, as she careful pulled the remaining pieces of Sky's uniform shirt and jacket off so she could get a better look.

"No. I found him like this in the simulator…."

"The simulator?" Kat exclaimed, as she turned to Sky, knowing there was only one possible way for Sky to have the injuries he had. "Did you have it set above the regulation standards?" Sky just turned his head away, not wanting to answer the question, knowing that he would just get another lecture about how reckless and stupid it is to have it set at the highest level possible. "Do you have any idea how stupid that was, Sky? You're lucky that Bridge showed up when he did, otherwise…."

"Otherwise what?" he snapped, as he turned to face her. "I could be dead? I knew what I was doing, Kat. I can take care of myself…."

"Sure you can." She knew it was pointless talking any sense into his thick stubborn head, especially after something like this. There was no way Sky was going to admit that what he had done was not only dumb, but careless. "I'm going to get some tape for your ribs, and once I'm done I want you to take the rest of the day off and come in to see me tomorrow."

"I can't take the day off. I have a class I need to teach with Chase in an hour,"

"Not today you don't. You're lucky, I'm deciding not to contact Commander Cruger about this, otherwise your ass would really be in hot water." She turned to Bridge. "Bridge can take your place today with teaching the class."

"Yeah. It's really no problem, Sky. I'd be happy to help." He gripped his friend's shoulder. "I can even call Syd for you; maybe she can come pick you up and…."

"No!" Sky's face tensed as he felt Kat wrap the tape tightly around his ribs. "Don't call Syd. In fact, don't tell her about this, she doesn't need to know."

"But Sky…"

"Don't tell her, Bridge," he looked his young friend deep in the eyes, a look that said if you tell it, I swear to God I will beat the living daylights out of you. "You got it?"

"Yeah." Bridge sighed heavily. "I got it." He didn't like it, but he would agree to it.

"Good."

"Oh, it's been too long," announced Hayley as she hugged her old friend tightly, overjoyed to see her after all this time.

"I know what you mean." Lilly returned the embrace. She and Hayley hadn't seen each other for years; the last time they had really seen each other was briefly at Hayley and Eric's wedding, but they hadn't had much of a chance to talk.

Once the two pulled apart, Hayley began to introduce her to everyone, starting with Eric, her husband. "You should remember Eric."

"Hey." Eric put out his hand, giving her a firm handshake. "It's good to see you again."

"You too." She smiled. "It will be really nice to get to talk to you, to get to know you."

Hayley walked over to her kids, putting her arms around them. "And this is Erin and Wesley, our two youngest. Megan's in Newtech City, attending the SPD Academy."

"Hi," said Erin, putting out her hand to greet her mother's friend.

"It's nice to meet you Erin."

"You're pretty," grinned Wesley, putting on his little boyish charm that he had always given the ladies.

"Well, aren't you the little charmer." Lily looked over to Eric. "Must get that from his dad."

"I don't know if I'd go as far as saying that," announced Tommy as he joined the group, coming in from the kitchen. It had been a good number of years since he had last seen Lilly; even at Hayley and Eric's wedding the two hadn't talked or even seen each other.

"Tommy." Lilly smiled, and she wrapped her arms around her old friend. "It's been a long time." It had been at least twenty-three years since the two had last seen each other, since Tommy had upped and left the college they had attended together to go work with Mercer.

"Too long."

"Well, how 'bout we all head out back." Hayley smiled, putting her arms around two of her oldest friends. "Drake and his daughter should be here shortly."

"Now Hayley, I thought I told you I wasn't ready to date…"

"I know. Drake's just a friend." She looked her friend in the eyes. "And if you're going to be moving here, you're going to need all the friends you can get," exclaimed Hayley. All Lilly could do was just grin, leave it to Hayley to set her up with someone, just like she had back in their college days.

A couple of hours later the group was sitting out on the back porch, while the kids played soccer with the dog. Hayley got up and started to clear off the dishes, motioning to Lilly to just stay seated. Eric followed his wife's lead and helped her with the dishes, but not before firmly pushing Drake back into his seat. Lilly just had to grin, she couldn't deny that Drake was pretty cute; he definitely did not look forty-eight and he was strong too, almost military-like, he just did not seem the security guard type.

"Your daughter's very beautiful."

When Drake didn't answer, Tommy kicked him in the ankle from under the table. "….Thank you." He didn't know why he was so nervous, it wasn't like this was a date or anything, just a small gathering to get to know each other, make a new friend. "She gets that from her mother."

"You must miss her."

He did miss her. Everyday. Jill had meant everything to him and more, it had been because of her that he understood what love really is and how much you would do to keep it. It also had been when he had truly learned what had gone on between Wes and Jen; how it was possible to fall in love with someone from another time, someone you could never have. "Everyday." He sighed heavily. "Excuse me…." He got up and left, walking around the front of the house.

Lilly watched as he went and turned to Tommy. "I hope I didn't upset him."

"No." Tommy shook his head. "He just gets like that sometimes. Hasn't had the easiest life…" And that would be an understatement; Drake…or Alex, rather, had experienced so much throughout his life, more than most people face in a lifetime. "He'll be okay."

Lilly nodded her head; she had a feeling there was more to it than Tommy was telling her, but that was something she was used to. She remembered Tommy as being this mysterious guy who seemed to have this whole other life he kept hidden from everyone. "So how've you been…" A grim smile came over her face. "Hayley told me about Kimberly. I'm sorry."

"Thanks. It's gotten easier, just been keeping busy." And while it had gotten a little easier to get up in the morning, he knew he might never really get over something like this. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be…"

"Don't say that." She reached out and gently gripped his hand. "You guys can work things out, try again."

"No. I don't know. I'm not as young as I used to be."

"You're forty-two, that's hardly that old." She looked him in the eyes and smiled. "Remember, we're only a couple months apart. If you're old, that makes me old. And I like to think of myself as still very young."

Tommy had to laugh at that. "Thanks. But I think I'm just fine, being the good old uncle." He turned, watching the kids play and run around. Wesley and Erin and their sister, who was away, had become his whole world the moment they walked into his life. He had been grateful when Eric and Hayley had asked him to be both Wesley's and Erin's godfather.

Lilly watched Tommy, smiling faintly to herself, but there was a hidden sadness in her eyes as if she carried a great weight over her shoulders.