Reese was at home for once. Without his Morpher Rocky instructed him to take some time off and relax. "Spend some time with your family, you'll appreciate it later." Reese had laughed at that. He hadn't spent time with his family since he was born.

Reese was leaning off his balcony, feeling the slight breeze hit against his face. The sun was just peaking over the horizon, casting the world in flaming red. A figure stepped next to Reese, he turned around to find his father. He was dressed in formal clothes, his face was clean shaven and he smelled of an expensive colon. He tapped a cigarette out of his pack and slid it into his mouth.

His father took a hard drag, his wrinkles seemed to become more define. It made him look impossibly old. Strangely he reminded Reese of Jonathan. "Hey." His father said.

"Yeah?" Reese muttered it didn't even occur to him his father might simply be greeting him.

"I tried okay?" His father asked. He took another drag and exhaled. "I tried to be the best father I could."

Reese didn't know what to say. Hearing his father speak was jarring enough.

"Have I ever talked about your grandfather?"

Reese shook his head, he wasn't even sure his grandfather existed. "He wasn't a very fun guy, very strict, very controlling. He made me the man I am, but the road there wasn't lined with daisies" He turned to Reese, a frail smile on his face. "I tried to step back, tried to let you develop into your own person. I didn't want you to feel as suffocated as I did. You told us you were gay, and I accepted that I figured that was a step in the right direction." His father kept his gaze fixed on Reese, "That wasn't enough I suppose."

"Dad…" Reese managed to choke out. He could feel the question burning in his throat. It was going to spew out. "Whose David?"

Reese's dad took in a deep breath. He expelled something akin to a swear word then whipped a bead of sweat from his brow. "I figured you'd ask me that eventually." He took another drag, he seemed lost in thought.

"Look… Sometimes people make mistakes, you understand that right? Well sometimes those mistakes create even bigger mistakes that spiral out of control, it's like how a tiny crack in a window continues to grow until the entire window shatters. That mistake was a woman I met in high school."

Reese nodded, he wasn't sure where his father was going with this, but it seemed pretty important.

"The exact details are pretty pointless right now, so I'm going to make it brief. That mistake spawned an ever bigger mistake… literally."

For a moment, Reese had no idea what his father was talking about, but then, in a sudden flash of clarity everything made sense. "Was David his name?"

He sighed, "Yeah…" His father turned his gaze out into empty space. He seemed to be consulting the moon as if it was his couch and this was the start of the climax in some cliche sports movie. "Like most high school boys in that situation I bailed. I didn't want to face my mistake. Because of my reaction, I was able to finish high school, get into a good college, and be where I am today. I know that's not a very good excuse, but it's just about all I got."

"So where is he?" Reese asked. The idea of having a brother, or at least of a half-brother, made Reese feel strangely giddy.

Reese's father shrugged, "He's probably out of the house by now. I don't know. I just hope he's doing something with his life."

Reese's father patted him on back, "I've got to go to work, I'll see you around kiddo."

Devon stood with Vexacus. The two of them stood in an empty field, the grass was just long enough to extend up to Devon's ankles. They had been standing there for a little over an hour, and Devon was starting to feel a little restless.

"Shouldn't he be here by now."

"Yes," Vexacus said. He seemed annoyed, but more so at Devon then their missing comrade. Devon gazed at Vexacus. His metal was still jarring to look at, it was almost impossible to believe that Vexacus was really in there.

There was a faint rustling. Devon prepared himself, he stood on his toes, ready to strike down anyone who tried to harm him. He quickly scanned the immediate area, but he didn't see a thing.

A shadow exploded from the grass, it was vaguely humanoid and moving far too fast. Devon jumped away as the shadow fired energy orbs that hit the ground and combusted. The figure landed, it was a jester-like creature with a pale white face and red mask.

"Shimazu…" Vexacus mumbled.

The Jester laughed, "It's been awhile Vexacus. You look a little different, did you get a haircut?"

"You know why I called you."

"One Shard away from freeing Zoltar, of course, I know." Shimazu kept his wicked grin. "Why not charge in and take it now?"

"Those Power Rangers," Vexacus said.

"You have more than enough power to take them on, more so now that the Red Ranger is out of commission."

Devon felt a jolt inside his chest. "What happened to him?"

"Someone snatched his Morpher, the poor boy is completely powerless."

Devon's smile grew even larger. "Let's do it then, let's kill them all and get that Shard."

Reese walked alone, he kept his hands firmly in his pocket. His mind was a million miles away. He thought what his dad told him, his mysterious half brother. He wondered what he looked like, what kind of life he had, and what he was doing with it.

Reese suddenly detected a strong Ninjetti close to him. He felt for his Morpher, but suddenly remembered it was gone. There was a moment of fear, a sudden flare of insecurity. He felt naked and vulnerable.

He paused and took a deep breath. He still had what Sankari had taught him. Powers or no powers he still was a weapon. He darted around, ready to strike down the intruder.

Cooper stood very calmly, he smiled at Reese. "Wanna go for a walk?"

The two of them were silent as they moved down the trail. It was probably six o'clock by now. Cooper kept his hands in his pocket, he was dressed in a loose sweatshirt and jeans.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Reese asked.

Cooper shrugged, "It's pretty complicated. You'll just have to see."

There was a wooden stage at the end of the trail. It was presumably used for wedding and other big events. The dark oak was surrounded by benches and things of that sort. Reese was confused by the way Cooper stood in the middle of the stage.

He threw Reese a piece of wood. Reese caught it, he marveled at it for a few moments. It was a training sword. Cooper brandished his own wooden sword. He held it with a surprising level of skill.

Cooper performed a stance that more closely resembled a fencer. Reese kept his legs over and his body low, while Cooper was tall and powerful.

"You want to spare with me?" Reese asked.

"I figured it was the one to really get to know each other." Cooper jumped forward and an alarming speed. He then thrust his blade at Reese's face, but the Red Ranger knocked it away. "You'll have to excuse me, the time I used a sword was in college. I was on the fencing team."

Reese swung his blade, he aimed towards Cooper's head, but the Silver Guardian ducked. Cooper managed to strike Reese in the chest. The Ranger fell forward, the wind knocked out of him.

"The military had to pay for my college because my mother was dirt poor." Cooper stood over Reese, he kept an emotionless look on his face. "Get up." He said coldly.

Reese regained himself and the two of them repositioned themselves. Reese dove towards Cooper, Cooper swung down but Reese dodged. He slammed his sword against Cooper's head. The blond haired boy took a few steps, his eyes were blurry and unfocused. Reese went for another strike but Cooper caught the wooden blade. "My mother worked her life away trying to give me a good future. While you got to prance around and enjoy the fruits of life. How is that fair?"

"What do you mean?" Reese asked. Cooper didn't respond instead, he used the sword to knock Reese off his feet and send him to the ground. Reese felt a pain stab up his spin, he tried to bit back to urge to cry out."

Cooper stood over Reese. "I missed my entire childhood, and my mother missed her chance at a decent life." Cooper kicked Reese in the gut, he gasped for breath and suddenly threw up. "Your father stole that from us. He did it because he was afraid, he couldn't handle his own mistake."

Reese stared at Cooper with glossy eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "David…?"

"David Cooper, in the flesh." David reached into his pocket and revealed a hunk of metal. He dropped in front of Reese. The red glimmered and Reese grabbed hold of it. It was his Morpher.

"What are you trying to do?" Reese asked as he picked himself up.

"I want one more match." David Cooper said with a sly grin. "This time for real."

Reese watched with dull confusion as he drew back his sleeve to reveal a Morpher of his own. "Ninjetti Power!" David called out. A dark pulsing energy enveloped him. His armor was black as midnight, made of a loose robe-like fabric and a black helmet identical to Ninjetti Reds.

"Ninjetti Power!" Reese called and Morphed into his armor.

"Let's see who can win this sibling rivalry." Ninjetti Black said and rushed at Ninjetti Red.

Ninjetti Black held a long katana in his hand, it clashed against Ninjetti Red's blade, causing sparks to fly. Ninjetti Black jumped back and sent a barrage of shuriken at Ninjetti Red, the blast of the weapon knocked him back.

Ninjetti Black swung his blade down at Ninjetti Red, the Ranger rolled away as his blade stick into the wood. He pulled it away but Ninjetti Red changed his blade to gun mode and fired into Ninjetti Black.

Ninjetti Black circled Ninjetti Red. "I've waited my whole life for this moment." Ninjetti Black said with a gleeful tone. "I knew I didn't get the short end of the stick," He slashed into Ninjetti Red. "I knew my struggles made me stronger." Sparks and smoke flew from Ninjetti Red's armor, "I knew my struggles weren't for nothing!"

Ninjetti Red was knocked to the ground. He struggled to lift himself but he was too weak. Ninjetti Black hovered over him. "I've been sending him letters my whole. I never asked him for support or money or anything like that. I just wanted him to know how I was doing." Ninjetti Black kicked Ninjetti Red in the gut. "He never bothered to reply."

"This isn't going to change that…" Ninjetti Red mumbled.

Ninjetti Black halted his attacks for a few moments, he looked at the Red Ranger, unsure how to reply.

"He wasn't there for me either. Sure he fed me and kept me safe, but he wasn't ever a real father to me." Ninjetti Red picked himself up. "Despite that, I still know he loves me, just like he loves you. He told me that he worries about you every night. He said that he hopes you're doing okay."

Ninjetti Black returned to a fighting stance. "You're lying!"

"You know I'm not."

Ninjetti Black lowered his sword. "We'll finish this later." David Cooper muttered and fled the scene. Ninjetti Red fell back to the ground. It seemed softer this time, more welcoming. Reese's armor melted away, but that didn't matter much. He was just happy the fight was over.

Reese eventually crawled back to Rocky's dojo. He barely made it in before he fell to his knees. He looked around, trying his hardest to catch his own breath. A T.V had been carelessly set in the middle of the Dojo and Cameron and Luke were watching Shrek.

"I don't understand why you like this movie so much," Cameron said boardley. "It's mean-spirited and hardly counts as satire."

Luke chuckled a bit, "I think you're missing the point." Luke said then looked to Vega, who was sitting quietly next to him. He frowned at the way she gazed indifferently at the screen.

Vega quickly turned to Reese, who was then on the ground. She rushed over and helped him up. She silently moved him onto one of the benches inside the room. "Are you okay?" She asked in a very flat tone.

Reese nodded and displayed his Morpher to her.

"Looks like you've got one hell of a story to tell," Luke said and went to retrieve Rocky.

Rocky arrived with a disturbed expression on his face. Reese figured he should be used to people arriving in such a bloody condition, but he seemed deeply disturbed none the less. He examined Reese and determined nothing more than a few bruised ribs had occurred.

"You're lucky," Rocky said after Reese told his story. "You could have been banged up way worse."

"Yeah…" Reese said. His stomach was a pretzel knot, it twisted itself into a shape that would make any contortionist blush. His own brother had appeared from the woodwork. Reese figured this was supposed to be some warm-hearted meeting. Instead, he was faced with another foe. One stronger than anything he had ever faced before.

Cooper and Alice stood outside of the Dojo. Cooper bit his lip suddenly, watching as the figures stalked closer. The leader of the group, the crimson armored fool was only a few meters away. Cooper took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he was about to do. He jumped in front of the Dark Ninja Legion. He locked eyes Devon who was currently unmorphed.

"Got a problem?" Devon asked.

"You could say that," Cooper replied.

"Are you gonna move?" Devon asked, his eyes flashed crimson, "Or will I have to lug your corpse away?"

Cooper shrugged. "I was hoping you'd leave instead."

Devon threw his fist at Cooper, but the soldier quickly caught it.

"Cute…" Devon said as he morphed into Twisted Crimson.

"Ninjetti Power!" Cooper yelled as he was enveloped with his dark armor.

Twisted Crimson threw his blade at Ninjetti Black, but the Ranger quickly dodged it. Ninjetti Black then jumped into the air and fired a barrage of dark orbs at Twisted Crimson.

Smoke arose from Twisted Crimson's armor. "If you think you have enough power to defeat me alone then I have bad news for you."

"I'm not alone." Ninjetti Black said.

Twisted Crimson wasn't prepared for the Gold Ranger that jumped down at him.

"Why are you even helping him?" Twisted Crimson asked Ninjetti Black, "Don't you hate that Red Ranger."

"I have my own battle to fight," Ninjetti Black replied, "I can't humiliate Reese if he's dead." A dark energy surrounded Ninjetti Black. "You can have him when I'm done, but until then you need to back off."

Twisted Crimson bit his tongue. He looked at the two Rangers for a moment before fleeing.

A/N: So we finally get the official story of David Cooper. Ninjetti Black has slowly become one of my favorite characters of this story.