As the sun rose over Manalua Island, Octoroo was standing with some Moogers and Dekker, watching Serrator sitting by a brazier, performing some kind of ritual. He didn't really know what he was up to, but he knew that he wanted to see whatever it was. It also gave him his first meeting with Dekker, where the Cursed Warrior hadn't threatened to destroy him in some time. He hoped, that somewhere in all of this, he would get a chance to catch Dekker alone and initiate his part of the plan to drive the wedge between him and Serrator, and deprive him of a powerful ally.

Dekker was sitting a little way off, holding the Bane of Life, the blade that Serrator had given him in place of Urumasa, waiting impatiently. He had little patience for magic, or schemes. He was eager for the battle to start.

"I have waited so long for this moment." Serrator declared as he placed another piece of parchment with an incantation written onto it. "With this ritual, I shall drive a wedge of despair into the heart of this island so deep, it will be felt in the Netherworld."

"He's making a whole island afraid?" Octoroo snorted, chuckling in a low voice, so only Dekker could hear. "Ooh...that's so impressive."

"I don't care." Dekker stated honestly. "If it brings the Red Ranger, that is all that I care about."

"As the flames burn, and the ash falls over the island, the humans minds will be clouded by fear." He told them. "Unable to tell friend from enemy, they will tear each other apart in their terror!"

"OK, that actually is kind of...impressive." Octoroo admitted under his breath. "Turning the humans on each other in their fear will cause untold misery."

As ash rose into the air, and started to fan out across the island, Serrator rose to his feet.

"Soon, the destructive terror will spread like wildfire, bringing my ultimate goal one step closer." He continued, before turning to Octoroo and Dekker. "And you my minions, will be right here to play your part."

"Hey, I'm not your minion." Octoroo reminded him. "I only serve Master Xandred!"

"And I act for his benefit." Serrator reminded him. "And I believe you volunteered to assist me, so for now, that makes you my servant."

Octoroo gripped his staff tighter in his frustration. If it wasn't for Serrator's power, he would act directly. For now, he needed to let things play while he figured out Serrator's endgame, and figure out a way to turn it to his advantage.

Back at the Shiba House, once everyone was Emily was sitting with Mike, lying across him as he held her, gently stroking her hair. She had told him all about hearing about the suicide attempt at the school, and of the subsequent conversation she'd had with Cody. She knew she wasn't qualified to talk with any real authority on the subject. She'd not done much study into the subject, and to the best of her knowledge, no one she'd known had ever had suicidal thoughts.

"Wow." Was all Mike could say after hearing her account of her difficult day. He didn't really know what to say himself. "That's pretty...wow. Um...how are the kids?"

"I think Cody was more confused than upset." Emily told him honestly. "I really hope what I said helped him understand, but I'm not really sure I understood it myself."

She shifted a little to look up at him.

"I said that if he had any questions, we'd try and answer them." She told him. "I really wish I could have said or done something more."

"I'm sure that poor girl's family and friends probably feel the same way." Mike commented. Just then, Antonio came in.

"Guys...whoa." He stated as he came to a halt. "Am I interrupting something?"

"It's not what you think." Mike told him. Antonio noticed that Emily seemed to be a little upset about something. He wanted to press the matter, but he had come in for a reason.

"Mentor wants us in the main room." He told them.

As they got to the main room, they found Ji looking at the map. He had focused on Manalua, an island a short ferry ride from the city. It was a nice place, one that Ji had often said they would visit for a day trip, but they just never seemed to get around to it. He looked troubled by what he saw.

"What's up?" Mike asked.

"I'm getting some very strange readings from Manalua Island." Ji explained. "There's no sign of a Nighlock attack, but there are very unusual supernatural energy signals."

"I tried to get a closer reading, but I couldn't find anything." Antonio told them.

"We also tried contacting some of my contacts on the island." Ji informed them. "There was no answer."

"That definitely doesn't sound good." Emily remarked. Jayden thought about it for a while.

"Despite its size, Manalua has a lot of people there this time of year. It's a bit of a hotspot for short breaks." Jayden informed them. "If there's something going on there causing misery, then they'll have a lot of victims, and the Sanzu River will rise pretty significantly."

He considered his options for a moment. He knew that it would be unwise to just leave the city undefended. Ji just nodded.

"Brenda has her appointment with the cosmetic surgeon tomorrow." He told them. "I want to stay close by in case she needs me. I guess it's for the best that I stay."

"Then the rest of us will go." Jayden told them. "Everyone get ready, the ferry ride's pretty long."

"Ferry?" Mike asked nervously. "You mean...like a boat ferry?"

"No, he means like a flying unicorn ferry." Kevin teased him. "Why would...wait a minute...are you seasick?"

"Just a little." He complained. "Dad took me on a day cruise once. I ended up hanging over the side for the whole trip."

"Well, just try not to think about it." Jayden suggested, throwing Kevin the keys to the SUV. "We've got a long journey ahead of us."

Over at Central High School, Mal came into the school slowly, not really looking at anyone. He could hear some whispers, and when he did look around, he just saw kids looking away sharply and continuing their discussions. He suspected that by now word would have spread about what had happened. As he got to his locker, he saw Spike, Vicky and Jimmy waiting for him. Spike approached him.

"I'm kind of surprised to see you today." Vicky told him, in reference to what had happened. After all, it was only a day earlier; he had watched Melanie slash her wrists only a few feet in front of him.

"Mom didn't want me to come." Mal told them, shaking his head. "I just couldn't sit around though. All I'd do is keep going over it and over it."

"How's Melanie?" Spike asked him.

"She's in the hospital." He informed them. "They managed to stop the bleeding, but she's still...I can't...look, I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, that might be a bit hard." Jimmy told him, handing him a local newspaper. Mal read the article in it. It was pretty small, and buried in the middle pages, but he could see that there was a reference to a teen suicide attempt at a local school. Mal just threw it into the trash.

"There's more." Spike told him. "I'm guessing you've probably not been online yet."

"No." Mal said in response. "Why?"

"Um...what happened, it's been kind of a big thing on Facebook." Vicky told him. "Vicky's Facebook page has become kind of a focus for things. It's not been pretty."

"That's an understatement." Jimmy replied.

"Let me see." Mal told them. Jimmy handed him his I-phone, at which Mal just looked at some of the comments in disgust. He threw the phone down in anger. Picking it up, Jimmy checked, and was grateful to see that it wasn't broken.

"Dude!" Jimmy protested.

"Those sick, twisted, evil minded bastards!" He roared at the top of his lungs.

"I agree, but it's not my phone's fault!" Jimmy chimed in again. Mal looked around, and saw a group of cheerleaders, the ones who had dumped slushies on Melanie, looking his way. He started to storm over towards them as Spike tried to grab him, pulling his arm away as he went.

"What, do you think this is funny?" He yelled at them. "Do you think what happened is something to laugh about?"

"Mal..."

"I saw what you wrote on her Facebook page!" He continued as Spike and the others tried to get him away. Vicky was trying to catch his attention about something, but he wasn't paying attention. "Do you know what it's like watching someone do that to themselves? Do you have any idea what that's like?"

"Mal..."

"I was there!" He screamed at them. They all started to back off, looking a little shocked. Mal was rarely the kind of guy to cause a scene. Students were swarming all around them by now.

"It's easy for you to say, my Gran lost her life's savings because of her dad!" Someone called out. Mal just rounded on him.

"And what the hell does that have to do with Vicky?" He asked him. He just looked around at all of them, seeing a number of judgemental, angry expressions. He just threw up his hands. "You know what? Screw all of you! You all make me sick!"

"Malcolm!" He finally heard an authoritative voice behind him yell. He looked around, seeing the principal. The commotion had drawn his attention. "My office."

"What?" Mal called out. "You're getting on my case?"

"My office, NOW!" He reiterated a little more forcefully. Malcolm just looked to his friends, before storming off in the direction of the Principal's office. The Principal just looked around the assembled student body. "All of you go home. First thing tomorrow, there's a mandatory assembly."

"Sir..."

"I said go home Mr. Skullovitch!" The principal cut him off. "I meant now."

With that, they all started to gather their things and file out of the building. Normally, a day off school would be a cause for celebration, but right now, Spike and his friends didn't feel like there was much to celebrate.

On the ferry, on the crossing to Manalua Island, the Rangers were taking a little time to prepare themselves. One of Ji's contacts was in the ferry office, and so to prevent the chances of any unfortunate tourists unwarily making their way to the island into a potentially dangerous situation, they had cancelled all ferries under the pretence of essential repairs. It also meant that the ferry they were taking was reserved purely for them, offering them privacy.

Emily was resting on a guard rail, a little way from the others, who were taking time to relax when Antonio came over. He presented an ice-cream cone to her.

"The captain said he didn't mind." He told her. Emily took it gratefully, forcing a little smile. "I have one for Mike too, but I can't find him."

"He's over there." She sniggered, pointing a little way down the barrier. Mike was there, leaning over the side. Antonio strained to see. "I don't think he'll want any ice cream though."

"Wow, he really is taking this 'Green Ranger' thing seriously." Antonio chuckled, in reference to the slightly unhealthy shade Mike had turned. "Did you know he gets seasick?"

"I do now." She answered with a little smile. "I'm afraid of flying, and he gets seasick. I guess the honeymoon options are limited to the mainland then."

"You're not going to let him forget this are you?" Antonio asked her. She shook her head.

"He teased me for days after the flight home from Japan." She reminded him. Antonio shifted a little closer.

"You...um...you seemed upset earlier." He commented. She just sighed and nodded.

"It's Cody." She informed him. "He started asking some questions, looking for advice. I'm not sure I was too helpful though."

"Questions?" Antonio asked her. "What about?"

"Apparently a kid in Spike's year tried to kill herself." Emily told him. Antonio just furrowed his brows.

"I think I read something about that in the paper." Antonio told her.

"Cody didn't really understand why she would do something like that." Emily informed him.

"What did you tell him?" Antonio asked her. She just shrugged.

"I just told him that people's lives are different, that we don't know what people are going through." She told him. "I also reminded him that Samurai used to commit suicide if they lost a battle and survived."

She just shook her head.

"I said he could come and ask if he had more questions for us." She told him. "How was I meant to talk to him about it? I'm not sure I understand it either."

"Not many people do." Antonio told her. "It's a pretty taboo subject. People don't like talking about it; it just makes things harder to understand unless you have pretty direct experience."

"Do...do you have direct experience?" She asked him. Antonio just smiled.

"I'll tell you what. How about when we get back, we look some stuff up and go talk to Cody together?" He asked her. "Maybe together we can make sure we have more to tell him."

"Thanks Antonio." She answered. Antonio just smiled and put his arm around her.

"Hey Mike, when you're done losing your breakfast, we'll be in the harbour soon." Antonio called over. "I have ice-cream..."

Mike just wretched even more loudly, and leaned over the railing. Antonio and Emily just laughed.

"Sorry amiga." He said to the Yellow Ranger. "I couldn't resist."