The football team pursued Spike as he ran through the city. Rounding a corner, he paused in a doorway to catch his breath. His legs felt like jelly through a combination of the exertion of trying to outrun the football team, and the fear at the thought of what would happen if they did catch up with him.

He cursed his rash actions as he struggled to get his breathing back under control. He had finally become fed up with all the torment thrown at him and his friends by the football team, with the faculty either not doing anything about it, or in the case of the coach, actively encouraging it as a way to keep the jocks happy.

He had actually won the fight, and in pretty short order too. Brad had completely underestimated him. He was half his size, so Brad hadn't been expecting him to be able to defeat him one-on-one. Spike had only intended to show him up, to demonstrate to the others that there was someone willing and able to fight back, and show him, and by extension his friends to be cowards, unable to enact their cruelty unless they had back-up. Unfortunately now, he was beginning to understand why Serena had been so adamant that fighting should be his last option.

He hadn't intended to hurt Brad badly, he only intended to take him down, but in the midst of the fight, he had ducked a punch, which ended with Brad slamming his hand full-speed into a steel dumpster. It became obvious as the others checked on him that his hand was probably broken. As the team quarterback, that put the whole team in jeopardy. Now, the team was after him to exact revenge.

He saw a few of the teens rushing past, and pulled deeper into cover, trying to hide. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief, when unfortunately, one of the team stopped by the end of the alleyway, his curiosity causing him to look down. Spike froze as he realised he had been seen.

"He's here!" The football player called out. Spike looked down the street. It had a high wall at the end, seemingly cutting it off, but seeing a dumpster by it, he ran towards it, leaping up. The team filed into the street after him, but by the time they reached the end of the alley, Spike had already thrown himself over the wall to the other side.

He wasn't far from his home now, once he got there, he knew he would be safe. At least, he would until he had to go to school the following day, and Serena would be there for training. He was sure she would have something to say about his rash actions at the gym, but right now, he could only hope she would have some kind of recommendation what he could do to stop the football team tearing him apart the next time they saw him.

He then turned as he heard the first of the team scrambling up the wall.

"Crap!" He screamed, before taking off again at full tilt, heading for home.

Over in Corinth, the Rangers were all in the main hall of the City Hall, where the party was already underway. Most of Corinth had been there to see them being presented with the key to the city, symbolically meaning they were always welcome in the city.

Summer was by the buffet, carrying a plate, and looking around the selection available and trying to choose. Dillon came across, taking the plate from her.

"Dillon!" She shrieked.

"Are you sure you should be eating this stuff?" He asked her, looking at the food a little judgementally. "Aren't these snacks full of chemicals?"

"Dillon, give me back the plate." Summer warned him. "I'm hungry!"

"I think I saw some fresh fish and some fruit over..."

"Dillon!" She snapped, elbowing him in the stomach and snatching the plate back. "Take food off me again, and you know what I'll do with it!"

As she stormed off, he noticed Mia chuckling, before coming across.

"I have another eight and a half months of this of this to survive." Dillon grumbled.

"You know, maybe you should try to relax a little." Mia suggested. "Pregnancy really puts a woman through a lot. She could use support more than fussing."

"I remember seeing what Tenaya went through." He told her. "I just...I really want to help."

"Well, I can give you one hint for a start." Mia continued. "Getting between a pregnant woman and food? Not a good idea."

She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

"It's a pretty stressful, frustrating and confusing time." She told him. "Believe me, if you want to be a good husband and father, then the best thing you can do is just be supportive and help keep her comfortable. Give her some space and be there when she needs it. She'll let you know what she needs."

In another area of the party, Emily and Mike were waltzing slowly, enjoying the music as the night wore on. Mike gestured to Emily to look up as he saw Em and Michael, also dancing.

"Hey, it's great to see you here." Mike announced happily. "We thought you'd be busy with the fields."

"We managed to finish early today." Michael told them happily. "In fact, we've got a progress report here. If we keep working at this rate, the field will be finished soon."

"In fact, we've done the maths, and we think that you should be able to go home whenever you want." Em added.

"Really?" Emily asked them. "That's really good to hear. You're making great progress."

"Well, we wouldn't have been able to do any of it without you." Em told them as the song ended. They followed the Samurai Rangers off the dance floor to take a little rest from the dancing. Em looked to her husband.

"Would you take Mike to get us a little punch?" She asked her husband. Mike and Michael went off to get their respective partners a drink, leaving Em and Emily alone.

"So, I guess you've enjoyed your time here in Corinth." Em asked her. Emily nodded.

"It's nice here. I really enjoyed it." She told her other self. "I guess we could stay a little longer..."

"We wouldn't ask that of you." Em told her flatly. "We appreciate everything you've done, but we know that you'll want to get back home."

"I guess I have been missing it." Emily replied. "Dr. K said she had set up some kind of communications system that basically lets us e-mail each other across dimensions. I guess we could always keep in touch."

"Really?" Em asked her. Emily just nodded.

"Summer promised to keep us up to date with the pregnancy." Emily told her. "If you spoke to Dr. K, I'm sure she'd let us keep in touch."

"I'd really like that." Em told her. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a piece of paper, handing it to Emily. "Here's mom's apple pie recipe, just like I promised."

"Thanks." Emily said with a bright smile. "Serena's going to be so jealous when I tell her I have this."

"Yeah, could you do something for me?" Em asked her. Emily just nodded.

"Sure, what?" Emily asked her. Em looked to the ground, finding it hard to compose herself as she prepared to ask. She was playing with her hair nervously.

"When you get back, could you...could you hug Serena for me?" She asked. Emily felt a little sadness in her as she heard her ask this. Something she had almost forgotten, taken for granted, was that she was going back to her family. Serena was waiting at home, and while it would be some time before she'd see them, her parents were waiting too. In this reality, Em had made it to Corinth alone. Serena had succumbed to her illness before the invasion, and her parents had died in the initial attacks. "I know it'll be a while, but your mom and dad too?"

"Of course." Emily replied, hugging her counterpart tightly. "Take care of yourselves."

"I will." She assured her.

Back in their reality, Spike was still being chased by the football team, but he was closing in on his home. He was almost home and free.

He cast a glance backwards to see if they were close, but unfortunately, in doing so, he failed to see a bunch of trash cans on the curb. He ended up face planting straight into the concrete. As he tried to scramble back to his feet, he felt a boot coming up into his ribs; driving the wind out of him and sending him back down.

He covered up his head as he was quickly surrounded, and the team started to hammer into him with hard kicks and punches.

He was eventually dragged to his feet, and slammed into a wall, at which two of them held his arms in place tightly. One of the linebackers approached him, grabbing his face tightly.

"You couldn't leave it well enough alone could you kid?" He asked him, slamming a fist into his gut. "You hurt Brad..."

"Brad hurt himself." Spike spluttered out. The linebacker just lost his temper, swinging hard punches into Spike's face and body as the others cheered him on. Spike could hardly see, his vision blurred in and out of focus, but he finally felt the hold on his arms loosening and he was thrown into the garbage. He saw the team crowding around him.

"Alright man, he's had enough." One of them stated.

"I don't think so." Pete, the kicker stated. "I reckon it's time for the special teams.

"You're going to kill him!" One of the others screamed as Spike was brought up to his knees, and held over, his arms held tightly so that his head was exposed. The kicker lined up, and started to bounce in place, preparing to go. Everyone else was cheering him on, while one of them was still trying to calm the situation. "Look at him, he can't even stand by himself, you're going to kill him!"

"He's the one that wanted a problem, well now he's got one!" The Linebacker replied. "Go on Pete, fifty yards!"

Pete started the run-up, but was cut off as someone leapt into view, kicking him hard in the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground. Spike could hardly see straight, but he could focus enough to see that it was a woman that had saved him, and he remembered where he was. He had managed to get to his street. Serena must have seen what was happening from the house.

"Alright, that's enough!" Serena snarled angrily as she stood by Spike. Bulk arrived too, carrying a bokken. "You've had your fun, now clear out!"

"Or what?" Peter asked her. "In case you hadn't noticed..."

"In case YOU hadn't noticed, this is a nice neighbourhood." Bulk told him. "The cops patrol by here all the time. There's a car due any minute."

"Best case scenario, you end up going down the station." Serena warned them. "Worst case scenario, you all get your asses kicked by a girl. Your choice."

"Come on guys." Pete snorted. "This isn't worth it."

"Don't think this is over Spike." One of them taunted him as they left, laughing as they went. Serena turned back to where Bulk was helping his nephew back to his feet, but Spike was barely conscious, and certainly in no state to stand by himself.

"Alright, get him inside." Serena told him. "We can check him out there."

The following day, the Samurai and RPM Rangers assembled on the platform of a train station. They had talked for a long time after the party, and although they had enjoyed the time they had spent there, they had eventually made the decision that it was for the best that they went home. Corinth no longer needed them, and they had their own responsibilities to deal with.

Scott summoned the Paleomax Train onto the line. Jayden approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It gets easier. I can tell you that from personal experience." He assured the Red RPM Ranger. It had only been around a week since he had lost his father. Other responsibilities had kept him busy, and stopped him from really taking the time to grieve properly. He just nodded.

"Thanks." Scott told him. He just forced a little smile. "Can you believe that Hicks asked if I wanted to put my name forward for the Mayoral elections?"

"Are you thinking about it?" Jayden asked him. "I don't know any better hands the city could be in."

"Politics was always more my dad's thing." Scott told him with a shrug. "I'm a flyboy. I belong in the cockpit, not a board room."

"We downloaded all the data we could get from the battle onto this." Gem told them, handing a CD to Antonio. "Hopefully you can find something useful from this."

"Well from what we saw, that Black Box is really going to help." Antonio told him. "Something tells me that we're going to want it sooner rather than later."

"We'll keep in touch." Summer assured them. "Make sure you keep us in the loop."

"You make sure you do the same." Mia replied. "We'll want to see pictures of that baby when it comes!"

A loud whistle sounded from the Paleomax Zord, at which Jayden just smiled.

"I guess that's someone telling us it's time to go." Jayden replied, shaking Scott's hand. "Thanks again for having us. It was...interesting."

"Well, it was interesting seeing your home too." Scott agreed. "Good luck with Master Xandred."

With a few more goodbyes and some hugs, the Rangers all boarded the train, allowing the doors to close behind them. It was somewhat bittersweet. They all wanted to go home, to get back to their own lives, but they knew that this wasn't just a little bus ride. Their friends lived in another dimension, and so far the only way they were able to cross was with the Paleomax Zord. It wasn't like they could just hop on a bus to go and see them.

As the train pulled away, it gathered speed, before disappearing in a flash of light, carrying the Samurai on their journey home.