The three evil Rangers surged forward, forcing those they cared about to defend themselves. The Black Ranger began, tackling Dominic and Theo, taking them down quickly in a whirlwind of attacks.

"Remember they're masters!" RJ called out, attempting to restrain the Shark Ranger. "As much as we don't want to fight, we can't go easy on them, they're too strong!"

The Shark Ranger called forth a duplicate of the Shark Sabres, swinging around and slashing them across RJ's chest viciously.

"I bet you're wishing you paid a bit more attention to the shark technique." Finn sneered as he brought them down again, smashing RJ out of his Ranger mode. He threw a kick, which RJ blocked, but as he was about to throw a counter, he found himself stopping in his tracks, unwilling to hurt his father intentionally. The moment's hesitation was all he needed to bring the hilt of a sabre into RJ's chin, knocking him senseless.

"RJ!" Casey yelled as he called forth his own shark sabres, surging to the attack.

"Let's see what you've learned." He replied confidently, parrying the first attack.

Dominic and Theo were faring no better with their own battle. Swoop was a slippery opponent to say the least. Since he didn't need to use his eyesight to know where his opponents were, he seemed to avoid every attack by millimetres without really trying. Every time an attack would come his way, he'd twist seemingly impossible just out of reach before launching into a skilful counter.

"Rhino Blade, Super Blade attack!" Dom called out, powering up his weapon. Swoop leapt towards the attack, swerving in a manner that didn't seem physically possible in the air. Pitching over in the air to land behind him, he powered up his Jungle Fans, locking the Rhino Blade in a hard grip, tearing it from his hand before knocking him to the ground.

"A cumbersome and clumsy weapon." He taunted him, tossing it aside. "Let me show you how a bit of style affects the outcome of a battle."

He swiped his fans around in a deadly and destructive storm of strikes, completely overwhelming Dominic, smashing him out of Ranger mode with ease.

"Swoop, you've got to stop this!" Theo yelled as he called forth his war fans, rushing to the attack.

"Good, you've learned well!" Swoop complimented him, blocking the first few attacks, before trapping his wrists in the crook of his elbow. He powered up his remaining fan menacingly as Theo struggled against his grip. "You're just not good enough."

With that, he swung his weapon, taking Theo down dismissively.

Lily quickly found herself struggling against Phant. Try as she might, her own skill with the Jungle Mace far exceeded her own. He whipped her feet away from her, sending her to the ground before a hard stomp sent a massive shockwave through the earth, smashing her out of Ranger mode.

Lily tried to crawl away to regain her composure, but he sent forth the mace, the chain wrapping its way around her left wrist. He pulled her over towards him, whipping the chain around in a skilful pattern, before forcing her to her knees before him. Lily found her wrists bound tightly together by the chain. As she struggled to free herself, she panicked as Phant began wrapping the chain around her neck, pulling it taught against her throat. Lily's face flashed red as he pulled it tighter, choking the life out of her.

"Phant, stop this!" She managed to croak in a barely audible voice. Despite quickly running out of air, she didn't really have many other options. She hoped to reach him, trying to get her friend to realise he was killing her before it was too late. "Please!"

Phant pulled the chain tighter, preventing her speaking any further. The numbness in her lips informed her she did not have long left. Her head began to spin as her vision became blurry.

"Lily!" RJ shrieked, seeing her predicament. The other two Masters interjected themselves between Lily and the other Rangers, preventing them from rescuing her. Lily felt the world beginning to fade as she prepared for the end, but it was just as she was about to give up that she felt his grip failing. Phant sank to his knees by her side, de-morphing. Lily looked at him with a mixture of confusion and concern. He had her bang to rights; she maybe only had a few seconds left when he released her. Looking at his face, he looked weaker and frailer than she had ever seen him. He looked like he was about to pass out from his efforts.

"Master Phant!" She croaked, still struggling for breath as she came to his side. He swiped her aside with his arm, continuing to view her with disgust. Whatever influence the phantoms had over him was still in effect, only his powers had failed him for some reason. It was then that Finn collapsed to his knees and de-morphed.

"What's happening to us?" Finn asked, feeling his strength quickly leaving him.

"Another day Rangers!" Swoop snarled as he grabbed his comrades. He too could feel the power draining from him, and he was smart enough to know when discretion was the better part of valour. "We'll be back to finish what we've started."

With that, they returned to Dai Shi's fortress, leaving the Rangers behind. RJ helped Lily to her feet as she stroked the red mark on her neck left by Phant's Jungle Mace.

"What happened?" Casey asked. "What was all that about?"

"I have an idea." RJ commented. "But in the meantime, I think we should regroup back at the restaurant. Something tells me they won't be gone for long."

Back at the fortress, Swoop had no sooner arrived back with the others than his powers failed him and he collapsed to the floor with them. At a gesture from General Scorch, a couple of Rinshi warriors helped them from the room to recuperate.

"What happened?" Dai Shi demanded, entering the room. "I thought you said they were ready!"

"The transformation takes a lot of energy my lord." Scorch responded. "Their power is undeniable, they almost defeated..."

"I am not interested in 'almost' Scorch." Dai Shi snarled, interrupting him. "You want me to be your Phantom Beast King, then I expect results. Power them up and send them back out there."

"They will take time to re-energise." Scorch informed him. "Sending them out there too soon will destroy them."

Dai Shi didn't really care about the welfare of the masters, but he had to admit that the Spirit Rangers were a powerful weapon in his arsenal. Especially since the Rangers seemed to be holding back. He knew the reason they hadn't destroyed him the few times they had a chance was because they hoped to save that fool Jarrod, and most of them didn't even like him. The masters had strong emotional ties to the Rangers that he was hoping to exploit, and it had seemed to be working so far.

"Re-energise them and get them back out there." He demanded. "I expect at least one Ranger destroyed by the end of the day."

Scorch watched him go, a low growl rumbling from his throat. He knew the power of the new Rangers was going to be useful, all it required was a little patience, but Dai Shi was unwilling to wait. He pondered his decision to go along with the other general's decision to side with Dai Shi. They had provided him with their power for this long already, and yet he spoke to him with no respect. He considered why he should accept being treated as a mere servant by one less powerful than himself, but let it go. For the time being at least, his objectives would be best served just accepting the situation as it was. He could always settle up with Dai Shi later.

Back in the restaurant, Fran and Camille were finishing setting up the restaurant for the grand re-opening at the end of the week. Dr. Hartford had paid the construction crew a considerably sum to get their living quarters ready to move into ahead of schedule, and the finishing touches were being made on the restaurant, leading to renewed hope that they would be able to re-open soon. As much as they complained when it was busy, everyone had really missed the restaurant and they were glad to be back in familiar surroundings.

RJ and the Rangers had come back a little while ago and gone upstairs to regroup after their recent defeat, not really in any mood to help with the decorating. She turned to the door as she saw it opening, preparing to tell whoever had come in that they were not yet open for business, before seeing her boyfriend standing before her. A smile came to her lips as she saw him. He seemed to be in much better spirits than when he had come back earlier. She guessed he must have gone for a walk to clear his head after the battle; he had a bit of a habit of going off by himself when he needed to think. She rushed over to him, hugging him tightly.

"You shouldn't take it so hard." She told him, drawing away a little, before kissing him deeply before he could say anything. "It wasn't your fault, you..."

"What the hell's going on here?" Theo roared from the kitchen door. Fran did a double take, looking between Theo and the other arrival in disbelief. Theo saw his twin brother and groaned loudly, realising what had happened.

"Luan, I told you not to come over, things are really busy!" He grumbled.

"Theo I'm sorry I..." Fran began. "Who is this?"

"He's my twin brother Luan." He replied.

"Theo, you never told us you had a twin brother." Fran gasped, realising her mistake. She turned a little red as she turned back to Luan extending a hand for a handshake. "I'm Fran, Theo and I have been dating for a while."

"I wish I was greeted everywhere I go like that." Luan said cheekily, taking amusement in Fran's embarrassment. He guessed she must have been more than a little embarrassed by what had happened. "You're a lucky guy Theo."

"Luan, I told you, we can catch up another time but right now we're really busy." He told him. "We still have to rebuild the restaurant and..."

"Well I'm not doing anything." He interrupted. "Maybe I can help."

"Well it would be good to get to know the family." Fran said cheerfully, giving Theo a little look over her shoulder that informed him they would have a lot to talk about later. He placed his palm over his eyes and shook his head, completely defeated as he realised that his brother had once again managed to waltz into his life and throw everything out of kilter. They had been apart for a long time now, and he was used to his life being ordered. He just knew Luan turning up would cause trouble.

Back in the fortress, the masters were locked back in a cell. They struggled against their restraints as they felt the power of the eyes slowly beginning to strip away their will. Since the battle, they had begun to regain control over the actions. They knew it was the eyes that made them act that way, though fortunately Dai Shi had been too impatient to allow the eyes to completely transfer their power, making the transfer permanent. Phant sat slumped in the corner, completely dejected. The battle had taken a lot out of him. As much as he felt completely drained, by far what made him feel the worst was the pain he felt over his actions towards Lily.

He could remember feeling the chain sinking into her flesh, squeezing her windpipe. The look of fear and betrayal in her eyes as he squeezed the life out of her haunted him. A few tears formed in his eyes as he thought about her.

She had done so much to help him since he'd met her. She never gave up on him even when he had succumbed to self pity following his retirement. Her energy and enthusiasm had lifted him out of his low ebb. He had been overjoyed when she came back into his life after all that time, and he was thrilled for her when he found out about the engagement. RJ was a good man and he could see that she loved him dearly.

Finn on the other hand could only feel his own disappointment in his weakness as he failed to resist the eye's power. He had fought his own son yet again, this time with a murderous intent. He had also hurt Casey very badly during the battle. He didn't like to say anything, but in a lot of ways his relationship with Casey was kind of a selfish one.

Casey's determination and force of will reminded him so much of his own son that at times he had to do a double take to realise that he wasn't RJ. In many ways, he had resigned himself to the fact that while his relationship with RJ had become cordial over the last few months, there was still a distance there between them. There were many issues between them that he wasn't sure they would ever get over, so in many ways he saw Casey as a second chance to have that relationship he longed for so much, even if it wasn't with his son.

"Are they ready yet?" Dai Shi asked as Scorch observed the prisoners.

"They are still trying to resist the power." Scorch told him. "In time..."

"I want them ready to do battle with the Rangers again soon." He interrupted the general. "In the meantime, send one of your beasts against them."

"I have just the beast in mind." He replied.

Back at the restaurant, RJ had sent the Rangers down to the restaurant to help redecorate and take their minds off the battle with the Spirit Rangers. As much as they wanted to talk through the issue, but they'd ended up just talking themselves round in circles, resigning themselves to the fact that they were not getting anywhere with finding answers. Instead they had taken to finding out more about Theo's brother.

"I can't believe he never mentioned him." Fran commented to Lily as she opened a fresh can of paint.

"I know, I've known Theo for years and he never said anything." Lily replied. "I can't believe how different they are."

"Man, can you believe how cool Luan is?" Dominic remarked coming over to them. "He was just telling me about the last time he went diving with sharks off the coast of Australia. How come you never told us about him Theo?"

"We just don't get on that well, so we tend to stay away from each other." He replied. "We get together a couple of times a year for holidays, but if we're together for too long we just end up fighting."

"Hey, all brothers do that." Dominic chuckled, taking the tin of paint from Fran and heading back towards the restaurant, out the kitchen door.

"Why do you fight so much?" Fran asked him. "I mean you're different and all..."

"We're not just different, we have no common ground." He responded. "He's never focussed on anything in his life. We're just…"

"Night and day?" Fran suggested. Theo nodded.

"We try to get along, but he just can't understand what's important to me, so we end up at each other's throats."

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I could use some fresh air." Lily told them. "Theo, RJ wants us to get some supplies. Theo, do you want to come with me?"

"If you mean do I want to get away from Luan for a little while, then fine. Just let me change out of my coveralls." He replied, heading for the stairs.

Up in the back room, RJ was checking over footage of the Ranger's earlier fight with the Evil Rangers, trying to find something, anything he could use to tip the scales in their favour. He knew it was hard for the Rangers to fight against them, even he had his reservations. Finn was his father, and so facing off against him wasn't exactly a tempting prospect, but then again he'd also been friends with Swoop for years and didn't really want to fight him either.

That said Master Phant's assault on Lily had shown him the stark reality of their predicament. The Masters were under the control of the phantoms, and so like it or not their lives were in danger. He noticed Theo coming over to him.

"I thought you were helping the others." He replied.

"The big blonde guy bumped into me and spilled paint on my clothes." He replied. "I had to borrow this from Theo."

RJ minimised the image on hi screen to prevent him seeing what he was working on. He had figured out from the conversation that this was Luan, not Theo who was in the back room with him. "What are you working on?"

"I'm just creating some new menus." He replied, gesturing to the other document on the screen. "I lost my computer and the originals in the fire. Anyway, sorry you lost one set of clothes, no point risking Theo's wardrobe. Lily should be going out for some groceries soon. Maybe you should tag along."

Luan wasn't entirely convinced by the response, but he had gotten a little bored of decorating and so just nodded and left the room, passing Theo on his way out.

"Hey, I needed to borrow some clothes, do you mind?" He asked.

"No problem." Theo grumbled, waving him off. Luan headed past him and back down the stairs. "Of course usually it's customary to ask BEFORE you borrow someone's clothes."

Back in the restaurant, Lily saw Luan coming down the stairs and gathered her belongings.

"Come on, let's get going." She said cheerfully, gesturing to the door. "I want to get the groceries before the stores shut."

They both left the restaurant, only a little before Theo came down the stairs, coming over to Fran.

"Hey, where's Lily?" He asked her "We were supposed to be going to the store."

Fran did a double-take between Theo and the door. She moved a little closer, sniffing his clothing.

"Theo, she just left with Luan." She replied.

"Oh great, there goes getting some fresh air." He groaned. "So what was the sniffing all about?"

"You're wearing the aftershave I gave you for your Birthday." She replied. "That's how I knew it was you."

"If it was anyone else, I'd think that's weird." Theo remarked, kissing her softly. "So what if Luan was wearing it? Would you have kissed him again?"

"I knew he wouldn't be it's so hideous that only you would wear it, and even that's to spare my feelings." She responded. "I think it's kind of sweet, but I know you Theo, I could tell you hated it."

"So, mind if I ask if you noticed a difference?" Theo asked, shrugging off her revelation about the aftershave.

"I don't follow." She replied cheekily, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling him closer, biting her lip thoughtfully.

"You know…between me and Luan?" He asked.

"Oh there were differences." She replied, deliberately not letting him off the hook that easily.

"So who do you prefer?" He asked jokingly.

Fran drew a little closer, stopping only as her lips were a short way from hers, before pulling away and turning from him.

"If you think I'm answering that, then you're the weird one." She replied. Theo laughed, grabbing the skip of her cap and pulling it down over her eyes.

"You're going to pay for that." He teased her. "Trust me."

Back in the fortress, the masters had very little of their control left. They were only dimly aware of their own thoughts as the power of the crystal eyes continued to energise their Spirit Ranger forms.

"I want you to set them loose on Ocean Bluff." Dai Shi commanded. "I have been patient enough."

"They still have not yet completed their power transfer." Scorch warned him. "It may prove to be a costly mistake."

"Do it Scorch." He reiterated in a growl. "Send them with your creature. I want to see results."

Back in the restaurant however, RJ's research was not going as well as he'd have liked. Dominic came into the room, approaching him from behind, placing a hand on his shoulder. RJ almost jumped out of his skin as he felt the hand on his shoulder.

"Don't do that." He complained, holding a hand to his chest. "I'll have a heart attack."

"RJ, what are you looking for?" He asked. "I know you know more than you're letting on."

"It's all just theory at this point in time. I'm working on why they suddenly lost power and stooped fighting." He replied. "I'm working on a theory that may help us to defeat…"

"RJ, I've known you too long for that to wash." He interrupted. "If you thought you knew how to beat them, you'd have told us by now. What's really going on?"

RJ sighed and showed Dom the screen he was working on.

"Energy readings." Dom commented. "So what am I looking at?"

"Morphing Grid energy." He replied. "The Spirit Rangers have it."

"I would have guessed that." He replied. "So why is that a worry?"

"As you know our powers come mainly from our animal spirits." He explained. "But to harness them into Morphing Grid energy, they are bolstered by the power of our morphers."

"So what's that got to do with anything?" Dom asked him.

"The masters don't have moprhers, so that extra energy has to come from somewhere." He continued. "The way they weakened so quickly, I think I know what it is. I think the extra energy is being drawn from their own life forces."

"Which is why Phant collapsed first." Dom gasped, realising what RJ was getting at. "Being the oldest…" RJ just nodded to confirm Dom's thoughts.

"Dad being the next oldest went second, while Swoop's only a few years older than us." He continued.

"So if the power's coming from their life forces…"

"That's right Dom; the more they fight in Ranger form, the more of their life force they'll use up." He stated sadly. "If we can't stop them in time, they'll keep coming after us until their life force is completely depleted. If we can't stop them in time and they keep using those powers unchecked, they'll die."