"What the hell happened?" roared Cruger.

Kat frantically worked at the computer trying to reestablish a connection, but wasn't having much luck. "I don't know. Everything appears fine." It just wasn't making any sense. Everything should be working correctly as far as she knew, none of the computer reports showed any errors of any kind, none that would cause this type of problem. She turned to Cruger, her face unsure. "I don't know what the problem is!"

"Something has to be causing it…." Cruger moved closer to the blank screen, hoping to pick up some image even if it was just a glimpse, but nothing ever came. He again tried to communicate with Sky. "Lt. Tate, come in. Report…." But still no answer came. He and Sky were at odds, but that wouldn't prevent from Sky from reporting to him, letting him know what the situation was.

"Sir, should we send in one of the squads?'

"No…" Cruger's eyes grew weary, fearing that would be a very bad idea. "Not until we know what we're dealing with." He didn't want to risk the lives of anyone else, not before he knew just what or who they were dealing with. He would not send in another squad blindly. He turned to Kat, giving her very direct orders. "I want you and Boom to process the last scan you received, see what attacked the Rangers. I will continue to try to make contact with them."

"Yes. Sir." Kat took the disk from the last scan she had received of the unidentified creatures that had attacked the Rangers; further testing with their more high-tech scanning system might be able to give them more detailed information of what this new threat was, or even more, tell them why they had lost communication with the Rangers. "Boom, I need you to meet me in my lab…." Kat announced into her communication device that hung over her ear, as she exited the command center and headed straight for her lab.

"Okay. I'll be right there…."

"Hurry Boom, the lives of the Rangers may depend upon it."

"The Rangers…. I'll be right there…."

Cruger's face grew grimmer as he stared at the blank screen once more. He knew he should turn away, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so, at the time it seemed like the only thing he could do was just stare and hope. Though he knew the Rangers were the best he had ever had in all his years, that didn't stop him from recalling that even the best of the best can fall. A feeling he was all but too familiar with. He was not prepared to lose another Ranger team, not while under his watch. His heart continued to race as he stared at the blank screen, hoping to see something, anything. Anything to tell them that they were okay, that they were still alive. But nothing ever came… "Be strong, my Rangers…."

The Rangers huddled together, feeling as hands that couldn't be seen reached out to them, trying to grab at them, separate them from each other and break the only advantage they had: each other. Z was right, how could they fight what couldn't be seen? And even though Bridge could make it so they could have some idea of where these intruders were, that wouldn't work as a lasting effect.

"I can't get a hold of the base….." exclaimed Z, who for the last minute and a half had been trying to contact Cruger or anyone who was listening back at the base. "All I get is static." It didn't make any sense to her; it had been working fine not too long ago, but even since these things started causing trouble the connection between them and the base had gone dead.

"Something must be blocking our communication," announced Chase, knowing that was the only logical explanation. He was willing to bet that these creatures or whatever sent them here was responsible. Though he couldn't see the creatures, he could sense them, almost feel them, a skill he had learned while growing up on his home planet. He could hear the screeching and hissing sounds they made, his heart raced with fear, as this all took on an all too familiar cast. Something he wished to forget…..

"Sky, what are we going to do?" asked Syd, as she hung close to his shoulder. She too, like the others, could hear the sounds the creatures made; the sounds seemed to echo throughout the whole warehouse, making it seem even more frightening, especially when they couldn't see what was making those sounds.

Sky didn't answer her, and he knew the rest of the team was wondering the same exact thing, himself included. His face was unsure. And this wasn't the time or the place for him to freeze up and be unsure of what to do in this kind of situation. He was red Ranger, red leader. It was his job to make quick decisions right on the spot, without question. This was what he had trained for all his life, so that when he got here he would know what to do and not have to think about it. But training and actually doing were two entirely different things. Z's very words kept playing over and over in his mind, how can we fight what can't be seen? He could feel his heart pounding against his chest; he had to come up with something this second, because he knew any second from now these things would attack them without warning and there wouldn't be a damn thing they would be able to do to stop it. He looked up and noticed the sprinkling system. I wonder…..he thought. "Anybody have any objections to a little water?" he asked as he raised his blaster up.

Bridge followed his gaze, looking up, and saw what Sky was talking about. "It might just work…."

"Good…" Sky narrowed his eyes onto the target. "Because it's the only solution that I can come up with at the moment."

"Oh, I so shouldn't have gotten my perm today…." Syd exclaimed, knowing that this would not do wonders for her hair.

"Sorry, Syd…." Sky pulled the trigger and the sprinklers poured down the water, soaking everything in sight, but on the upside it did do what Sky intended it to do. What couldn't be seen before could be seen now, though it looked like light purple ghostly-like creatures, but still a step up from seeing nothing at all.

"Why, hello," grinned Z as she got into a fighting stance, quite content with herself that she finally had a chance to see their attackers. "Nice to finally see you face to face…"

"They don't seem too happy that they're no longer invisible to us," noted Bridge, seeing how violent their behavior had gotten, seeing the glow in their eyes and the lashing out. Already he could sense that these creatures would put up one hell of a fight.

"Well then, we better give them a big welcome," answered Chase, giving a wide cocky grin as he got into a fighting stance, ready for action. "Ready when you are, Sky."

"Let's bring it to them!" Sky exclaimed as he led his team into battle, against the mysterious unknown creatures. "But be careful, we don't know what they're capable of," he ordered them all. It was his job to stay on top of things, to make sure that when the fight was over that all team members were accounted for. He had to prove to Cruger that he was worthy of more, much more….maybe then the old dog commander would see what he really was capable of.

"Right!" they all answered in reply, agreeing with their leader that they should be careful and watchful, at least until they knew more about what they were dealing with and where these strange creatures came from.

The girls teamed up against the mysterious creatures, throwing punches and kicks at their attackers, which showed themselves to be admirable opponents, blocking every move they threw. The rushing down of the water wasn't helping in making this fight any easier, but their training had prepared them for situations such as these. The girls turned to each other and nodded their heads; time to step it up a notch. They pulled out their morphers and Rangered up.

"Let's show them what girl power is made of, Z!"

"Right there with yah, sister!" exclaimed Z, as she and Syd combined their moves together, doing a rush attack against one of the purple creatures, sending it smacking against the wall.

"One down…."

"And over a dozen to go…." Syd replied, as she turned to face the other purple creatures that were facing them. She quickly got into a fighting stance and was back in action. Z turned to the purple creatures to Syd's other side; she tightened her fist together and charged towards them, fully intending to take each and every one of them down.

Sky fought valiantly against the creatures, taking on three to four at a time. He used quick and swift moves that he had learned over the years while in his time at the Academy, and even a few moves that Cruger himself had taught him. He drew out his blaster, and fired a few shots at an oncoming attacker. In another quick move Sky tossed his blaster up in the air, and quickly morphed into the red Ranger. Catching his blaster before it hit the ground he fired another shot, hitting an oncoming attacker square in the chest.

"Hah…. Is that all you got? I was expecting more…." He had spoken too soon. Not a second later, Sky felt as an arm wrapped tightly around his neck and another around his chest. The creature had somehow managed to pull his Ranger helmet off and tossed it to the ground. The red Ranger struggled to get free, but the hold the creature had on him was too strong.

The creature leered his mouth closer to Sky's ear, breathing his hot breath. "I have a message for you, Sky Tate…." it hissed. Sky angrily turned his head as best he could to meet the blazing yellow eyes of the creature.

"Oh no…" Bridge, now fully morphed into the green Ranger, could see that Sky was in trouble; he started towards his friend but several purple creatures jumped in front of him, preventing him from reaching Sky. He tried to move past them but the creatures shoved him against the gas tasks, causing the tanks to fall over. Bridge was quick to recover and was back on his feet in no time. He drew out his blaster, getting ready to fire, until he saw they were getting ready to fire back at him. And as if he saw a quick image in his head, his heart skipped…. Oh crap… He turned and saw the tanks and could only watch as if in slow motion, as the creature fired at him, hitting the tanks in the process.

The creature breathed his hot breath against Sky's face. "From an old friend of yours….." Sky had no time to gather his thoughts when…..

BOOM! The explosion was so intense that it threw everyone back, including the creature that had been holding onto Sky. Everyone was on the ground, unmorphed, smoke and fire filled the room causing the other tanks in the building to explode, so much fire that the water that was sprinkling down was having a hard time keeping up with it and causing steam to spread throughout the building.

"Bridge!" cried out Z, seeing her friend lying on the ground, not moving. She jumped to her feet, only to be pulled back by the creatures. Syd jumped to her feet and started towards Bridge, but was soon in the same predicament as Z was. The two found themselves being cornered by the creatures

Sky lay on the ground coughing heavily from the smoke intake. He was in a daze from the force of the explosion; he had hit his head hard against the ground, there was a large cut running down the side of his head. Through fire and thick steam from the water he could see Bridge's body lying several feet away and to his other side, he could see Syd and Z in trouble with several of the creatures ganging up on them.

He pushed himself to his knees and grabbed a hold of his morpher. "Bridge…." He coughed. "Do you read me…." Seconds passed without a word, he could feel his heart pounding against his chest. He knew Bridge had been very close to the explosion, but he had been morphed during the time the explosion had gone off, but maybe it had been too much for his young green friend to handle. "Bridge…. Respond," he called again, hoping against hope, that his friend had somehow survived.

"…..I read you, Sky…" came a very faint voice.

"Bridge…. Are you okay?"

"I think so…"

"Can you move?"

Bridge was flat on his back; he could feel the hot fire around him. He tried to push himself up from the ground, but was unable to do so; an intense pain struck through his leg. He gritted his teeth tightly as he lay back flat on the ground. "I think my leg's broken."

"Just hang in there, buddy."

Sky got to his feet. He turned towards the girls, seeing that they appeared to be doing slightly better than before, than the last time he had checked up on them. He felt a shadow creeping over him. Sky reacted quickly and elbowed his attacker in the gut, then grabbed a hold of him and sent him flying towards the creatures that were threatening the girls. "You…guys think you can handle the rest? I got to get to Bridge."

"Yeah. We can take on the rest…." Syd answered, knowing that Bridge needed more help than they did at the moment.

"Have you seen Chase?" yelled Z, as she fought off her attackers. "I haven't seen him since the explosion…"

"No…." Sky shook his head. He had almost forgotten about their other team member in the commotion. He turned his head, looking all around, but couldn't find Chase anywhere. "Chase!" he shouted out. "Chase!" Sky continued to look around, and then he saw him, there was Chase huddled back in a corner, looking as though he had seen a ghost or something worse; he looked as though he was in shock.

Sky ran to him, having to jump over a small rising fire. He looked at his teammate. "Chase, are you all right?" As far as Sky could tell Chase didn't appear to be injured. "Can you help the girls? They're really outnumbered back there. I need to get to Bridge, he's broken his leg."

Chase didn't answer; his eyes just remained fixed on the fire as if he was lost in his own world. He didn't move, he didn't do anything….. "Chase!" Sky's voice rang out again. This time Sky got right into Chase's face, grabbing a hold of his shoulders and shaking him, trying to snap him out of whatever kind of trance he was in. "Chase!" Chase's eyes locked with Sky's. "Can you help the girls?"

"I….I…." The fire, the smoke….. It was all starting to come back to him, in quick violent flashes, he could hear their deathly cries, the blaster being shot, explosions going off in massive combinations. He could hear them crying out his name for help, but he couldn't help them, get to them in time…. The darkness… The death…The horror….

"Chase? ….Damnit!" Sky yelled again, but realized that right now Chase was useless to him. He raised his morpher to his mouth. "Z, you need to replicate, Chase is in shock and is in no condition to fight." Sky reached for Chase's blaster and handed it to him, he stared him directly in the eyes. "Think you can handle shooting these things, to give me some cover to get to Bridge?" He didn't even wait for Chase to respond as he headed straight towards Bridge, having to take down a few of the creatures in the process.

Thanks to Z's replicas of herself, she and Syd managed to take out most of the remaining creatures that surrounded them. They turned and saw Chase huddled against a corner. "What do you thinks gotten into him?"

"Beats me!" Z shrugged her shoulders; Chase was the last person she would ever suspect would just freeze up during a fight. She had always thought of him having more control. "Come on, we better get him and meet Sky and Bridge outside before this place blows."

"Sounds good to me."

Sky knelt down beside Bridge. "Sorry it took me so long to get to you, had a bit of a problem back there," he said as he helped Bridge up, leaning against his shoulder.

"With Chase…."

"Yeah. How'd….." He turned to Bridge, looking at him questioningly.

"Just before the explosion went off…. I picked up on something coming from him, something terrible…."

"Do you know what it was?"

"No…." Bridge shook his head.

More tanks started exploding around them. Sky quickly put up one of his protective shields to protect both him and Bridge from the impact. Once the explosion cleared, Sky put the shield down. "Come on, let's get you out of here…" Sky quickened his pace, knowing he needed to get both Bridge and himself out of this building; otherwise they would go down with it.

Outside the others waited for their friend to emerge from the now burning building. Sirens could be heard heading towards them. Syd could feel her heart racing, as she watched as the flames grow bigger with each and every passing second. A part of her had always known that Sky would die in the line of duty, she just never thought that day could come so quickly. "Sky…." she cried into her morpher, hoping for a response, but no response ever came.

Z bowed her head down, sighing, as she walked up behind her friend, gripping her shoulder. "He's okay, Syd. Just watch, any second now both Sky and Bridge will come out…" Or at least that's what she was hoping for.

Chase just stood back, watching the flames, since the moment he and the girls had run outside to escape the blazing building. He had snapped back to reality, but now could only watch as the building burned with two of his teammates still inside. He bowed his head down, sighing, unable to watch his friends' impending doom, nor hear the soft cries coming from Syd who was distraught over Sky still being inside. What have I done?

"I see them!" shouted Z.

Chase looked up, and sure enough there was Sky with Bridge hanging over his shoulder. Their faces were dirty and clothes half burnt, but they were alive. He watched as the girls ran towards them, but he stood back. He was ashamed of how he had reacted inside knowing his actions or rather non actions had put all of their lives in danger.

"Oh Sky, I was so scared," cried Syd as she threw her arms around him. Z had taken hold of Bridge and walked him several feet away from the building towards the sidewalk where they could wait for the emergency vehicles to reach them.

"It's okay, Syd." Sky put his arms around her. "I'm okay…." He gently stroked her cheek, looking her in the eyes, reassuring her that he really was okay. "I'm okay," he repeated breathlessly fully knowing that both him and Bridge had come close to not making it out of there.

"Oh Sky." She buried her face into his chest. It never really had occurred to her how much losing him really did scare her. It was the worse feeling in the world and she never wanted to feel that way again which is nearly impossible for their line of work.

Sky watched as his teammates headed out of the medical room, leaving only him and Chase. They had all been treated for mostly minor injuries, except for Bridge's leg, which had to be put in a cast. He would be on leave for a few weeks and have to walk on crutches, but other than that he was going to be just fine.

"What the hell was that all about!" yelled Sky as he shoved Chase back against the wall. He was obviously still upset over what had happened back during the fight, with Chase just completely losing it in there and not being of any use to anyone. He had put the entire team in danger.

"What are you talking about?" Chase shoved Sky firmly away, looking him straight in the eyes. If there was one thing he hated, it was someone backing him up into a corner and getting into his face.

"You, blanking out back there!" Sky again shoved Chase's shoulder. "We nearly lost the fight because of you. Bridge could have died back there!" he shouted. "You're just damn lucky that Z was able to replicate herself to save your sorry ass." Sky was about to shove at Chase again, but this time his teammate responded, grabbing a hold of Sky's wrist and forcefully pushing it away from him. But Sky wasn't about to back down, not until he got the answer he was looking for. "I can't have a guy on my team who isn't being truthful, and having their actions affect this team immensely!"

"Excuse me?" Chase's eyes widened as he glared right at Sky. Now it was his turn to get into Sky's face. "Those are pretty strong words coming from a guy who does the exact same thing!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not the only one with secrets here, Tate." Chase's eyes widened. "We all have our secrets."

"Yeah. Well at least I don't let mine affect the outcome of this team's status."

"The hell you don't!" Chase could see he was really getting to Sky and though he knew he was out of order since Sky was team leader, at this exact moment he didn't care. If Sky was going to be lashing out at him for his own problems, he was going to make sure he pointed out Sky's. "Syd…."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know your secret, does she?" he questioned him. He knew there were some things that Sky kept to himself and would not share with the team or even the woman who loved him. Not even Megan knew the secrets that Sky hid deep inside and Chase knew deep down that those secrets were affecting Sky greatly whether he wanted to admit it or not.

"It doesn't concern her." Sky folded his arms against his chest.

"The hell it doesn't! You're sleeping with her, aren't you….?" Chase watched as Sky slowly began to lose his composure. "You probably know everything about her, but she doesn't know a damn thing about you." Chase got right into Sky's face, nearly breathing down his neck. "You know what I think?" he exclaimed. "I think you're using her…"

"Shut the hell up!" Sky yelled as he rammed Chase against the wall. "I wouldn't do that to her!"

"What is going on in here?" roared Cruger.

Sky quickly let go of Chase and turned to face Cruger who was staring both of them down, waiting for an explanation from both of them.

"Well…?" He waited. "Isn't one of you going to tell me what that was all about?"

"It was just a misunderstanding, sir," answered Sky, not wanting to get into it with Cruger at that very moment.

Cruger knew full well it was more than just a misunderstanding. He turned towards Chase. "Lt. Ryder, do you have anything to add to what Lt. Tate told me?" he asked sharply, knowing Chase was the more reasonable one.

Chase straightened his uniform and gave Sky the coldest look he could ever give. "It was just as he said: a misunderstanding."

Cruger's eyes narrowed down on both of them. He could press further on the issue, because he knew that both of them were not being truthful, but he decided that for now it might be best for the two to work out their problems on their own. They were both adults and teammates, who were both capable of working out their difference without his meddling. "Very well. Both of you are dismissed to go home; you have the rest of the night off."

"Yes sir." Sky saluted as he walked past Cruger and headed out.

Chase was just a few feet behind him, until Cruger got in his way. He may not interfere in whatever was going on with him and Sky, but he would when it came to individual concerns, especially ones that effect ones reactions to certain situations. He knew full well what happened to Chase in that warehouse. "Is there anything else you like to talk about, other than what went on now between you and Sky?"

"No sir. I have everything under control. I can assure you it will not happen again."

"I still have nightmares too…" Cruger admitted turning to Chase, watching as the young lieutenant headed out of the room. "If you ever need to talk, Chase, please don't hesitate to come to me."

"Thank you, sir." Chase smiled faintly as he made his way down the hall and headed straight towards the men's bathroom. Once inside, he just stared at himself in the mirror, disgusted with himself and how he had reacted during the fight. He thought that if he stepped down a couple of ranks, that he would be able to handle things better, but apparently he had been wrong. Dead wrong…. "Damnit!" he yelled, slamming his fist against the mirror shattering it.

Angrily he stormed out of the bathroom, not even caring about the cut on his hand, and headed straight down the hall, nearly bumping into Z who had just come from the memorial to honor Rangers who had fallen during battle.

"Sorry," said Z, as she stepped back a few feet. She then noticed the blood from the cut on Chase's hand and could see pieces of glass sticking out from it. "What'd you do to your hand? You should let Kat or Dr. Felix look at it."

"It's fine…." he hissed.

"What the hell is your problem?" asked Z. "You're not acting like yourself…"

Chase glanced at the door she had come from; it had been the same room he had seen her in and coming from for months now. "What were you doing in there?" He got right into her face knowing exactly what she was doing. "You were looking at his picture again, weren't you, Clifford Chan?"

"So what if I was? What's it to you?" She shoved him away from her, not liking his attitude one bit. "I owe him my life."

"Your life." Chase laughed shaking his head in disgust. "He may have saved your life, but he destroyed mine!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ask your brother…." Chase walked past her, brushing against her shoulder. Damnit. For the third time today, he had once again blown it, first the fight at the warehouse, then his argument with Sky and now his run-in with Z, who has done nothing but made him feel welcome here. "…..I'm sorry," he said finally as he turned down the hall.

"Were you able to find out anything?" asked Cruger as he walked into the lab where Kat and Boom had been working for the last couple of hours, trying to gather whatever information they could on what had attacked the Rangers.

Kat and Boom shared a wary glance, they had indeed found out something, something that frightened the hell out of both of them. Not too hard to do in Boom's case, but for Kat to be frightened meant this was really something. "Whatever attacked the Rangers wasn't living…which is why they were very similar to Z's ability of replication. Someone sent them to attack the Rangers and whoever did is more powerful than we ever imagined."

"Were you able to pick up a signal indicating whom or where they were being replicated from?"

Boom gulped in heavily. "It was a weak signal and we're not even a hundred percent positive, but it seemed to be coming from one of the prisons…."

"You're saying one of the criminals is doing this?"

"It's very likely…."

"I want you to gather every bit of information you can from every prisoner in SPD lockup. Find out which ones would have this type of ability," ordered Cruger. He knew that time could be short, because if it happened once, it could happen again.

"Yes, sir."

Sky and Chase sat across from each other at the kitchen table eating their dinner, but this time was much different than weeks past. Back then they would talk about how the cadets were doing and their training. This time however, was complete dead silence followed by cold deadly stares and dirty looks.

"Sorry, I know I'm late, but I stayed after to help Sam with…." Megan took one glance at the two and knew immediately something was wrong. The eerie uncomfortable silence was already starting to take effect, which was something that she did not like. "Did I miss something here? What's gotten into you two? You guys look like you're about to kill each other…."

"Well, that's definitely one way of putting it," answered Sky taking a sip of his beer.

"At least I don't go around screwing a girl whenever I can't deal with my problems…" remarked Chase. Sky pushed his plate away from him, nearly knocking it off the table. He got to his feet, his eyes still locked onto Chase. "You got something to say to me, Tate?" Chase was on his feet, ready for anything.

Sky clenched his fists together. Though he didn't want to, he knew that he should just back away. He couldn't do this in front of Megan. "I'm going out!" He grabbed his jacket and slammed the door on his way out.

"So I take it you two had a bad day," exclaimed Megan, knowing that it just wasn't like the two to bump heads like that. Sure they had had fights before, but nothing as bad as this. This was something different.

Chase sighed heavily. He didn't know why he had said that to Sky; it had just come out like that. He slumped back into his chair, running his hand through his hair. "Something like that…."