Serena was a little down as she made her way to the clubhouse for training. Since he had told her he was going back to school, Spike and Bulk had moved their training time to after school to accommodate his new timetable. Bulk had insisted on keeping training at the clubhouse though, all the equipment was there, and it meant they didn't have to worry about damaging anything at his house.

She still felt a little troubled by the talk she'd had with Mentor Ji earlier in the week. She was a little annoyed that he paid so much attention to her personal life. He had been the one that invited Stephen to stay once they had determined that he wasn't going back to the Tengen Gate. He had been more than happy to make use of Stephen's talents upgrading the surveillance and computer systems, and he never complained before now. It was only now that they were getting closer that he seemed to object.

However, what really bothered her was, thinking about it, she could understand his point of view, and even accepted that he had a point. Since the other Rangers had gone, and they were only in the house with Ji, who had spent a lot of his time training when he wasn't out covering the Rangers' duties, they had kind of forgotten that they actually shared the house with anyone. They had started to get a little carried away as they got closer.

As much as she didn't like the thought of her little sister taking the next step, of her no longer being the baby sister, she knew that Mike was good for her, and had accepted his place in her life. She was beginning to come around to the idea that it was looking likely it was more a case of when their relationship would progress than if it would. Mia and Kevin on the other hand had been quite far along in their relationship for a while. They had already agreed to marry, to spend the rest of their lives together.

She had to admit that she had never been particularly concerned about sex. For a good while, during her illness, it looked like it was just something else that was never really an option for her. Even after that, while she was human, and had occasionally thought about it, she had never really been with anyone and given it more than passing thoughts.

She was happy with Stephen, but thinking about it now, that step was something that she had just kind of taken for granted. It was something that Mentor Ji had already spoken to the others about a few times and warned them about. Mike and Emily, even Kevin and Mia were all well aware that their duties came first, and had made that sacrifice. She guessed that Ji kind of had a point all along. If it hadn't been for the fact that the others were away right now, she would have to think that it would be a little insensitive to flaunt their relationship to the others.

She arrived, finding Bulk and Spike starting their warm-up exercises. She smiled a little to see them. It would be the first real lesson since Spike had returned to school, and she was eager to get back to it. She figured it would be a good distraction. She was hoping to be in a better mood by the time she saw Stephen again later, it wasn't going to be the easiest of conversations to have.

"Alright guys, how have you been?" Serena asked them as she dumped her bag on the ground near them.

"Things have been pretty good." Bulk told her. "Spike was just telling me about the new friends he's made at School."

"You're making friends already?" Serena asked him, playfully punching the young man on the shoulder. "Way to go. I knew you had it in you."

Spike just gave her a little smile as he started stretching off, preparing to start. He had been back at school for a couple of days now, and he was starting to find it rewarding already. While he had been starkly reminded of a lot of the reasons he had been home schooled very quickly, he was enjoying getting to know his new friends.

"Well, we should probably get started." Serena stated, picking up a bokken. "Now, you've both had a couple of weeks to learn the last kata, I expect to be impressed."

Meanwhile, over in Corinth, Mia and Kevin arrived back at the Garage, finding everyone except Summer, Mike and Emily waiting for them. Even Hicks had managed to arrange the schedules so that he could be there.

"Where are Mike and Emily?" Kevin asked the others, looking around. "I thought everybody was coming for movie night."

"They called; they said they're having dinner at their other selves' house." Jayden informed them.

"Again?" Kevin asked as he took a seat. "They're spending a lot of time round there."

"Well can you blame them? They turned out alright here." Mia reminded him. "I mean, they're married, have a nice house, things are pretty ideal for them here."

"I guess it's only natural they want to spend time with them." Antonio replied. "By comparison, they really lucked out in this reality."

"Need I remind you I'm a doctor of forensic science?" Kevin chuckled.

"Yeah, that's great for you." Mia reminded him as she sat down, putting an arm around him. "In case you forgot, here I'm probably going to spend the rest of my life in jail."

"I'm already dead." Jayden said with a shrug. "And Antonio..."

"We all know what I do here." Antonio complained. "Do you need to keep reminding everyone?"

"Hey, maybe if we ever come back to your dimension we can look ourselves up." Scott suggested.

"Hey, you know it." Jayden replied. Just then, Summer came back into the room, looking over the others as they settled down.

"Summer, we were just about to start." Scott told her. "We were thinking of starting with "Gone in 60 Seconds."

"That's alright, just go ahead and start without me." She told them. "Dillon, could you come with me for a moment?"

"Summer, the movie..."

"You've seen it about 6000 times." She reminded him. "It'll just take a little while."

"Just start without us guys." Dillon told them with a little groan as he got up. He knew better than to argue with his wife when she wanted to talk about something. "We'll be back later."

Over at Em and Michael's place, Emily and Mike were enjoying a home-cooked meal, while they watched their other selves. Em traced a little symbol in the air, and cast it at a small trough of earth in their living room. It rumbled a little, before the soil turned over, and it started to take on a different colouring. Emily forced down a mouthful of roast potato, and looked to her counterpart as the soil came to rest. She reached into the trough, and picked up some of the soil, rubbing it between her fingers.

"That's...that's perfect!" Emily complimented her as she cleaned off her fingers on a napkin. "That soil is ideal!"

"Michael's coming along as well." Mike told her, presenting her with a bouquet of flowers. "These were just shoots half an hour ago."

Emily accepted the flowers with a huge grin, kissing her boyfriend excitedly.

"All that coaching really seems to have worked." Mike told them. "I'd say pretty soon, you're not going to need us here."

"Really?" Michael asked, looking kind of pleased with himself. He had already told Mike that just like himself; he hadn't done much practicing with his symbol power as a kid. Between that, and the fact that he then hadn't had the benefit of training under Mentor Ji, it was hard for him to learn about his inherited ability. Mike had seen how much he had worked to improve now that he had someone a little more experienced to help him out.

"Yeah, I'd say so too." Emily assured them. "We're going to talk to our friends; I don't think it'll be much longer before we head home."

Michael and Em seemed a little less happy hearing that part. Mike had to admit that he had enjoyed his time seeing what they had made of their lives there, but the fact was that they had family and responsibilities back home. As much as they loved their time in Corinth, they missed home and they wanted to get back.

"You're doing amazing work here. The fields are almost finished." Mike reminded them. "It won't be long before you're looking at the next stage of expansion."

"I know. It's just..." Michael shook his head sadly. "Could you at least let us know when we can come to see you off?"

"You know it." Mike assured them.

"Um...anyway, do I smell apple pie?" Emily asked. "It smells like mom's..."

"Yeah, mom showed me the recipe." Em told her. Emily just looked slightly aghast.

"But...she never told us the recipe!" She complained. "No fair!"

"Tell you what, how about I give you the recipe?" Em giggled as she got up from her seat. "Come on Michael, help me serve up dessert."

Back in their own dimension, Serena was just finishing up the training session with some hand-to-hand work. Bulk helped Spike back to his feet as they finished up.

"Alright, it's about time to start clearing up. I do have a life outside of this training." Serena told them. "Spike, mind if I talk to you for a minute?"

She gestured him aside, taking him a little way from his uncle.

"You seemed a bit distracted at the end there." She told him.

"It's alright..."

"Are you sure?" She asked him. "Is everything alright at school?"

"It's all fine." He told her. Serena just looked at him, completely unconvinced.

"I saw Emily try and lie about what she went through. I know all the signs." She told him. "So, how are things really?"

"I don't want anyone to worry." Spike told her. "I really want to stay."

"I didn't ask about that." Serena reminded him.

"It's nothing big, it's just the usual." He muttered. "My friends, they're not the cool kids in school, so they get kind of a hard time."

"Just your friends?" Serena pressed on.

"Jimmy and Mal haven't brought lunch money to school since their first week because the big kids keep taking it." Spike informed her. "It's nothing too heavy, just some name calling. I found someone trying to put Jimmy in the trash once."

"Kids never were the most creative." Serena commented. "How are you getting on?"

"They don't really bother me so much." Spike admitted. "I've been called a few names, and the jocks were going to kick my butt once, but the head showed up."

"So, what are these kids like?" She asked him. "Is it always the same ones?"

"It's most of the football team." Spike told her. "Most of the donations from boosters come through the football team, so they kind of get a free rein to do what they want. Most of the staff don't care what they get up to."

"That sounds familiar." Serena sighed. "Alright, the first thing is, you haven't fought any of them have you?"

"Are you kidding?" He asked her. "The smallest guy on the team is twice my size. Most of them look like they eat about my entire bodyweight each day!"

"It doesn't matter how big someone is, how many times do I have to tell you that?" She reprimanded him. "Technique and brains will always win out over muscle."

"I guess." He responded with a shrug.

"Now, the main thing you have to worry about is numbers." She told him. "No doubt, they generally travel in packs."

"Like you wouldn't believe." Spike grumbled. "I don't think I've ever seen less than six of them at once."

"Well, I guess all you're going to be able to do is just weather the name-calling and try to keep out their way." Serena stated.

"So that's it?" He asked. "Run and hide?"

"Hey, I didn't say that, just remember. There's no point fighting if you don't have to." She told him. "Would you like to spend every lunch time and home time for the next three years dodging punches?"

"It would be good training I guess." He said, letting out his usual, snorting laugh. He looked up, and saw that she wasn't laughing with him, just glaring at him.

"Until they stomp you into roadkill." She commented. "Like I said, defend yourself if you don't have a choice, but other than that, be smart about it."

"I suppose that's for the best." Spike answered, slightly disappointed. Serena just pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"Well, if you are going to get hassle, I suppose I could show you some basic self-defence."

"I thought we were...?"

"There's a difference between self-defence and a fight." She explained. "It's just getting a guy off you long enough to get away. For example...grab my shirt."

He looked at her a little hesitantly. He had seen her smash boards and throw his Uncle Bulk around like a rag doll. He wasn't too keen on it.

"I don't want..."

"Look, I won't do anything too bad." She assured him. "Just grab my shirt."

He did as he was told, but again, did so rather gingerly at best. She just glared at him.

"Do you really think one of those Neanderthals is going to hold you like that?" She asked him. "Like you mean it!"

He grabbed her shirt, and held on tightly. She just looked at him.

"Alright, now I'm not planning on starting anything, I just want you to let go." She told him. She grabbed his wrist, and he felt her jam one of her fingers into the flesh. His muscles seemed to relax, and she just shoved his hand off. He started to rub his wrist and just looked at her.

"Two fingers, that's all I needed." She told him with a smile. Spike thought about it, and just grinned.

"Show me how to do that!" He screeched. She nodded her head.

"Alright, but just remember. None of this is about fighting; it's just about getting you room to run." She reminded him, grabbing his shirt with her hand. "Alright, grab my wrist."

Back at the Garage, Mike and Emily arrived back, finding the others, except for Summer and Dillon sitting around watching another movie, this time one of Mia's choices, Bridget Jones' Diary. They all looked up as they arrived.

"Glad to see you remembered where we live." Flynn teased them. "How was dinner?"

"We just lost track of time." Emily told them. "Jayden, how are things going with the rest of the project?"

"The foundry seems to be getting along fine." He told them. "The new reservoir seems to be getting along fine."

"Well, pretty soon you can score the agricultural sector off the list too." Mike informed them.

"Really?" Scott asked them. "It's going that well?"

"We came up with an idea that might help it along a little." Mike told them. "We've been teaching Em and Michael more about their symbol power."

"You did?" Jayden asked them.

"They're getting really good." Emily told them, bouncing a little excitedly. "The fields are nearly done. As long as they keep practicing, they won't need us anymore."

"I guess that means we can start discussing when we're going home." Jayden replied, looking to the others. "What do you all think?"

"I just know Corinth Military will want to do something to celebrate everything you've done for us." Hicks told them. "You have to at least let us do something at city hall."

"I guess we'd like a little time off to look around before we go." Mia remarked. "We haven't seen too much of it."

"No, you've mostly seen the bedroom." Antonio commented, causing her and Kevin to look a little uncomfortable.

"I've been recovering." She told him.

"Is that what they call it now?" Antonio asked, arching an eyebrow. Everyone just laughed as she and Kevin started beating on him with pillows to stop the teasing.

Just then, Dillon came into the room, carrying Summer in his arms, with a huge smile on his face. The others all looked around, seeing them both beaming at them brightly.

"Uh, guys, didn't you do the whole carrying her across the threshold thing?" Flynn asked.

"Guys, we have a special announcement." Dillon told them. Summer pulled her arms tighter around his neck.

"Well?" Ziggy asked as Tenaya held his hand. "What is it?"

Summer and Dillon just looked into each others' eyes, preparing to announce their news.