To everyone's relief, but especially Sarah's, the seizure was nothing serious. The following seizures were nothing serious. The doctor had mentioned that they were possibly going to be more common than before, but that if they were mild, there was little to worry about.
Sarah's headache had also improved. She no longer felt like she had lost a fight to Oedius and instead was starting to feel more like herself again. Her word confusion had also improved to the point of disappearing (unless, like Hayley, she was tired).
She had been discharged from the hospital and while the doctor had recommended she go home for more rest, Sarah didn't want to head home. Her injury had been a good distraction from her parents' death, but that was still on her mind. She couldn't go home, not while still recovering, when she knew her mother wouldn't be there to help.
Shane told her he would be at home with her. He assured her that whatever she needed, he would get. He understood when Sarah told him it wasn't the same. He missed his sister too and living in her house without her felt weird. It was why he was so eager to move out. It would be hard leaving her home behind, but it would be a fresh start for the new family. They would be sure to take her pictures and the memories, so as not to leave her behind.
Sarah also didn't want to go to the Romero's. Since their base at the school had been converted back to a paint room, it was the Romero home that served as the new Ranger base. Unfortunately, Oedius had destroyed the workshop when she killed Sarah's parents and Sarah didn't even want to step foot on the property.
"I get it," Brody nodded after Sarah tried to explain to him why she might never visit him again. "You'll remember I didn't visit this place at all until we found Aiden."
That much was true. While Brody did always have a home once he returned to Earth, after discovering that his brother wasn't there, he didn't want to go back. It was the place where he used to think he had seen his father die, and the place where he had been abducted. It held bad memories for him too. Aiden's return had helped him forget those, at least enough to return, but Brody still remembered hating his home.
"I guess it's kind of bad luck," he said.
"So now where do we go?" Calvin asked. "School's out, the workshop is out…"
"There is somewhere," Shane said. "Trust me, you'll love it."
He drove the Rangers from the hospital to the site of the Ribbon Tree. He parked the car and led them up to the tree. There, the Rangers saw Mick, RedBot, Serena and Gia waiting for them, as well as Shane's friends Tori and Dustin.
Shane pointed to the tree, "Tada!"
"Great, we have a tree fort," Brody said sarcastically with a frown. "Okay, I know we're just kids to you, but we're real Rangers, you know."
"We know," Tori said with a chuckle. "You're real Rangers, and you need a real Ranger base."
"And since I can't loan you my pirate ship," Gia chuckled, "And since you're ninjas, we came up with this."
"This part is so cool," Shane smirked as he watched Dustin turn to the tree, then walk towards it. None of the Ninja Steel Rangers were sure what he was trying to do, until it appeared the tree had sucked him inside.
"It's Ninja Ops," Shane said when he saw their eyes go wide in shock. "Well, not our Ninja Ops but… it's a new one. It's yours."
"How did you…"
"I can't tell," Shane shook his head. "But I can promise your base is bigger than it looks."
"Can we try?" Brody asked and the others cleared a path for him to follow Dustin. Brody walked to the tree, both nervous and excited as he approached. Suddenly, he was on the other side, but instead of being inside the tree, he was in what was very obviously a command center. They had their furnace set up to forge new Power Stars, computers and monitors so they could keep track of monster attacks, a place to rest, with a couch, a TV and a video game console, and a small kitchenette, where they could prepare some simple meals, if they got hungry.
Everything they would need was in their base.
"This is incredible!" Brody smiled as his friends joined him. "You built all this for us?"
"You Rangers need a spot you can unwind," Serena said. "We had the Shiba House, with all the comforts we could ask for."
"We has Gosei's cave and the ship," Gia said.
"We had Ninja Ops," Dustin told her.
"We kind of combined all three," Shane explained. "The comforts of the Shiba House, the isolation of Gosei's cave, and… well, the secrecy of Ninja Ops."
"The park isn't completely isolated, though," Preston said. "People visit all the time. Won't someone see us disappear into the tree?"
"Symbol Power," Serena blew on her Samuraizer and smiled. "There's symbols all around the park. Protection symbols. They'll keep Oedius and her monsters away but allow humans to walk through. Anyone who isn't a Ranger, former or current, will forget what they saw, if they saw you walk into the tree."
"Thus, the isolation," Gia said. "You have your own place to hang out or hide out. You can talk freely about Ranger missions, or even just do your homework out here."
"Okay but… that hill is a bitch to climb in the chair," Kelly said as she pointed outside. "Am I really meant to haul my ass up and down once a day?"
"There is another entrance in shop class at the school," Mick told her. "The paint room is already locked with a passcode. You enter the digits 0828 instead of the paint room code and when you walk inside, you'll be brought here."
"You can enter from the school after you're done classes," Shane said. "Or if you're coming from after a battle or need to leave to a battle without drawing attention from the school, you can exit the Ribbon Tree."
"And I'm already working on flight for your chair," Sarah promised her girlfriend. Everyone looked to her in surprise. She shrugged, "What? I have a working hoverboard. You don't think I'm going to come up with a way to make my girlfriend's chair hover too?"
"That's pretty cool," Kelly smiled.
"Once you can hover, the hill should be no problem," Serena said. "So, what do you think?"
"Does it have any games?" Calvin asked. The former Rangers frowned.
"The base?" Dustin asked.
"The base doesn't have… how could it have games?" Tori asked.
Calvin pointed to the console. "Does that have any games, or do we have to buy them ourselves?"
"It's got games," Gia chuckled.
"Sweet! I gotta call my parents and tell them I'll be home late," he said as he dove to the couches and picked up the controller. As the other joined him, ready to unwind and enjoy their new base, Shane walked over to Sarah.
"It doesn't have everything, but until we move, you can stay here," he told her. "I know going home is hard."
"I'll be home from time to time," Sarah promised him. "I've gotta make sure you're doing okay, right?"
"I'll visit too," Shane assured her. "And I promise, if you ever need anything…"
"I know," Sarah smiled.